By David Ryser
Wolf! Wolf!
(The sheep in the movie Babe
upon seeing a sheepdog approaching them.)
I was reading an interesting
article in which the author divided people into three categories: sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. Most people are sheep. They are cute, cuddly, harmless, and
clueless. Wolves are predators. And they are violent. They take advantage of, and even harm and
kill, sheep. Sheepdogs are, to simplify
a bit, wolves with a conscience. Like
wolves, sheepdogs are predatory by nature and are prone to violence. Unlike wolves, sheepdogs use violence to
protect the sheep.
And sheep typically have difficulty
distinguishing between sheepdogs and wolves.
To sheep, a predator is a predator.
All predators look alike.
What does all of this have to do
with the Kingdom
of God?
A common theme in Christian
preaching and teaching has to do with wolves among the flock. Insecure church leaders use this as an
opportunity to warn their parishioners against people who will come into the congregation
from the outside and try to scatter the flock.
To steal them away and/or kill them spiritually. Such sage words of warning are typically accompanied
by guidelines to assist the sheep in recognizing wolves. During one such church meeting, the pastor
told his congregation that wolves never come from among the church leadership;
but rather, from among the other worshipers.
This is a convenient teaching. Especially if, in fact, church leaders can be wolves. But why even suggest such a thing? A wolf wouldn’t lie…would he?
Anyhow, when I read the article
about sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs (an article, incidentally, that appeared in
a non-Christian magazine), I began to be curious about what the scriptures have
to say on the subject.
As it turns out, there are very few
scriptures (only 13 verses) that even speak about wolves at all. And even fewer speak of wolves in the way the
Church speaks of them (a mere 4 verses).
In Ezekiel 22:27, the term “wolves”
is applied to the princes of Israel. Leaders.
In Zephaniah 3:3, the word “wolves” is used of the judges of Israel. Leaders.
In Matthew 7:15, “wolves” refers to false prophets. Leaders.
In Acts 20:29, Paul warns a meeting of believers about “wolves” who will
come “in among you” and do damage to God’s flock. So who is the “among you” being referred to
here? Acts 20:17 tells us that this was
a meeting of church elders. Leaders.
Do you see a pattern here?
And don’t even try to play the “Absalom
card” on me. Absalom was a member of the
royal family. A leader.
Now I’m not saying that there
should be no leaders in the Church. God
has placed people with leadership giftings in His Church to guide, protect, and
nurture His sheep. I am in favor of
godly church leadership.
They are God’s sheepdogs.
But I also know that sheepdogs
sometimes go rogue. When they do, they
run in packs as wolves (and even sometimes with the wolves), terrorizing and
killing sheep. The Church is not immune
to this phenomenon.
And if I were a rogue sheepdog, I
would want to “take out” the true sheepdogs.
I have long contended that the most
common and most persecuted gift in the local church is the gift of pastor. People with this gift are naturally drawn to
the “sheep” and the sheep are drawn to them.
Those with a pastoral gifting are loving and kind with sheep, but can be
quite violent toward those who would harm them.
They are sheepdogs. And insecure church leaders loathe them. And persecute them. And try to get rid of them.
Perhaps you’ve had this happen to
you. I have. I was once part of a large church where the
leadership did not value relationship and actually discouraged relationships
among members of the congregation. The
stated fear was that “wolves” would take advantage of false friendships and
draw the “sheep” after themselves to harm them.
Those who ignored this teaching did so at their own peril.
I knew it was dangerous to love
people in this church, but I couldn’t help doing it anyhow. I just find sheep irresistible…they’re so
darn cute.
People need to be loved. They need to feel valued. They need someone to listen to them. I was happy to accommodate them. And it wasn’t long before I had lines of
people waiting to visit with me after every service. It got to the point where a young lady in the
church printed up numbers (as a joke…she never used them) to hand out to people
wanting to talk with me.
Of course, this got the attention
of church leadership.
The persecution began with warnings
in sermons about wolves in the congregation.
My behavior didn’t change. So the
warnings became more pointed. Friends
would come to me after the church service and say, “Do you know that the pastor
was preaching about you?” At first, I
didn’t. I could not imagine a person as
gifted, talented, and anointed as our pastor being so insecure as to be
threatened by the likes of me. But over
time, I was forced to concede their point.
So what could I do? The scripture encourages me to love God and
to love people. I did my best to do both
without offending those in leadership, but was not willing to stop loving. Eventually I felt it best to leave the church
because of a piece of gossip that seemed to confirm the fear that I was going
to lead a coup of some sort.
The ironic thing about this is that
the pastor preached vigorously against gossip in the church. It turns out that the right kind of gossip
was welcomed. Only the wrong kind of
gossip was frowned upon.
Don’t ask me to explain it. I don’t understand it either.
I no longer attend traditional
church services. If I did, I would love
God and love the people. If that was a
problem for the church leadership, then it would be their problem. I would love the people without fear of
consequence. I simply refuse to violate
scripture, and quench the life and love of Jesus in me, for the sake of
insecure leaders.
Love God. Love people.
If God has made you to be a sheepdog, be what you are. Watch yourself…don’t go rogue. Most wolves in the church were once sheepdogs. If persecuted, guard your heart. If you can continue loving people without
regard to the persecution, do it. They
need love more than you need to be comfortable.
And pray for your leaders.
Responses to this article are
welcomed. You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com
This post presents a fascinating paradigm. Could you elaborate on the Scriptural references to a sheepdog and their meaning, since you provided the references for the wolves? Thanks
ReplyDeleteYou make an interesting point. There are, of course, no biblical references to sheepdogs since ancient Middle Eastern shepherds didn't use them, and dogs in general were not valued in the culture. I used the term "sheepdog" (based on the article I referenced) to express, as best as possible in modern language, the job of those whose gift is the function of pastor. This gifting might be understood as under-shepherd, but those didn't exist in Jesus' day, either. The modern sheepdog fulfills the role of under-shepherd as it herds, guides, and protects the sheep--under the direction of the shepherd.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of paradigm shifts, it is interesting to note that the word "shepherd" as applied to spiritual leaders is found only in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Jesus is portrayed as our Shepherd (John 10:11-16; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 2:25). This was prophesied by Ezekiel (34:23--the whole passage of 34:1-24 is instructive)and is fulfilled in Christ. The New Testament term shepherd/pastor describes a function rather than a position or office.
George Barna and Frank Viola have chronicled the origins of the office of Pastor as we have come to know it, and other pagan church practices, in their well-researched book "Pagan Christianity." A good read...much recommended.
As you explained, we can see that Jesus is the Great Shepherd, the number one Dude. And He fulfills the prophecy from Ezekiel 34, which was a great reference, by the way. But we can also see that right before He leaves the earth, Jesus has a little talk with Peter in John chapter 21. Peter, of course, is an emotional wreck by this time, after having denied Jesus, then finding out He was dead, seeing the empty tomb and finding out He was resurrected, etc. Talk about a roller-coaster. In this chapter, Jesus gives Peter a simple command: "Feed my sheep." I looked up the word "feed" (which is actually two different Greek words), and they are shepherding terms. The meanings in the original Greek are more broad than just "feed", but "feed" works okay.
ReplyDeleteSo we could say that Peter is a shepherd or an "under-shepherd", and he is responsible for the sheep. He is not a sheepdog, since sheepdogs can't take care of sheep if they get hurt or feed them or any of that good stuff. This is probably semantics on my part, but we can see that ultimately Peter is responsible for the well-being of the sheep. And if he doesn't feed them or take care of them, then Jesus is probably not going to be very happy.
That being said, I looked on Amazon.com at the Pagan Christianity book you mentioned and looked at Barna's and Viola's websites. I'm sure the book has some great ideas on helping God's people build a more fluid (and less stodgy) community. Honestly, I may not get around to reading the book for awhile. From what I read, the general gist of the book seems to be: There are things that Christians do that are rooted in paganism, and the authors emphasize the pagan structures of the “institutional” church. You mentioned the “office” of pastor, which you pointed out is not an “office” at all but a function. And of course it's a function, although some people don't think so. As it regards the book, I guess my question would be: Did the authors split out the shepherds from the hirelings? Because we both know that there are numerous churches (Mr. Barna could probably look up the statistics for us) run by hirelings – they take no responsibility when things go bad, they're in it for the paycheck or the title, and they run at the first sign of trouble. I would be interested to hear what they had to say about hirelings, if they mentioned it.
Again, excellent points and good questions! As you pointed out, the scripture in John 21 commissions Peter to "pasture" (not "feed") the sheep/lambs. One of the greatest misconceptions of the modern church is that it is the job of the pastor to feed the sheep. In fact, shepherds never feed sheep; instead, they take them to pasture and water. Sheep eat and drink on their own. The only place where sheep are fed is at a feedlot--and we know what happens to feedlot sheep.
ReplyDeleteAs for Barna's and Viola's view of the shepherd vs. the hireling, they do not directly address this as I recall, but they do point out that the professional/paid pastorate is unbiblical. This is not to say we are not free to use this methodology, but we must accept the risks and dangers as well. My own view is that professional pastoral ministry almost always produces hirelings, and the potential gain from the full-time local pastoral office is not worth the potential, and too-often realized, downside.
Your reference to the hireling vs. the shepherd is well taken also. The reference is to John 10:12 & 13 (which is the only time in the New Testament when the word "hireling" is used) where Jesus contrasts the hireling with the shepherd---specifically the Good Shepherd whom He identifies as Himself (John 10:10b-16). As in Ezekiel 34, the promise is not to replace bad human shepherds with good human shepherds, but to replace them with Jesus Himself.
As for taking care for the hurt and broken sheep, I can point to a number of New Testament scriptures that assign this task to the community of believers as we are commanded to love, admonish, and encourage one another. I cannot think of a single New Testament scripture where these ministrations are reserved exclusively to a professional clergy. The church elders are admonished to care for the sheep, and the sheep are admonished to submit to them, but these elders were not paid ministers, nor were they put in the place of Jesus (the Shepherd) over the flock. They sound like sheepdogs to me.
And, as such, their job/function is not primarily governmental. According to Ephesians 4:7-13, the primary purpose of all of the so-called ministry gifts is to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry--not to train them to come together to passively sit in rows, stare at the head of the person in front of them, and listen to a Christian concert and a motivational speech.
In any case, I believe you and I are in agreement that the North American Church is sick at best, and downright toxic at worst. Hopefully discussions such as ours will motivate people of pure hearts to reexamine what we are doing and why we are doing it to the end that we will begin to resemble what Jesus had in mind when He passed his ministry on to His disciples and His Church.