Why You Must Become a Shepherd:Why You Must Become a#CBD12.qxd 27/0 Chapter 1 You Can Become a Shepherd In this chapter, I want to show you that there are many scriptural reasons why I believe you can be a shepherd/pastor. I believe that at a point in your Christian development, you can be a shepherd, at least at some level. The Bible teaches from many angles about you being fruitful in ministry. The Word also teaches us that "many" and not "few" are called to the ministry. For many are called, but few are chosen. Matthew 22:14 1 Why You Must Become a Shepherd:Why You Must Become a#CBD12.qxd 27/0 One Scripture which teaches us about fruitfulness in ministry is Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors [poimen] and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Ephesians 4:11,12 The usual interpretation of this Scripture is that God gave special ministerial offices to the Church for three principal reasons: 1. To perfect the saints. 2. To do the work of the ministry. 3. To edify the Body of Christ. This is true. However, we must be aware that the translators of the Bible added punctuation, which sometimes gives an unfortunate interpretation of the text. When you remove the commas from Ephesians 4:12, it gives a 2 Why You Must Become a Shepherd:Why You Must Become a#CBD12.qxd 27/0 completely different meaning, which I believe is more accurate. Remove the punctuation marks in Ephesians 4:12 and look at what the verse is saying now. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors [poimen] and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ: Ephesians 4:11,12 It is saying that God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers "for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry". In other words, these special ministerial offices are given to perfect ordinary saints to enable them (the saints) to do the work of ministry. What does this mean? This simply means that ordinary saints can do ministry work. It also means that ministry work is not the sole preserve of certain apostles and teachers. 3 Why You Must Become a Shepherd:Why You Must Become a#CBD12.qxd 27/0 Laymen can satisfactorily accomplish a large part of the ministry. When you interpret Ephesians 4:11,12 this way, it puts the responsibility of ministry on all of us and not just on a few special people. This must be the case, because the Bible says many are called! God never called a few people to do His work. God has always called many more people than have responded. If you were God and you had a huge task to accomplish - the task of saving the whole world, would you call a few people and send them out? Of course not! You would call as many people as possible and send them out. Unfortunately, few people respond to the call, therefore, few are eventually chosen to serve in the vineyard. 4 Why You Must Become a Shepherd:Why You Must Become a#CBD12.qxd 27/0 Chapter 2 The Call Is Supernatural Is the Call Such a Big Deal? We have made the call of God to be some mystical experience involving the hearing of voices, seeing of visions, and having of spectacular spiritual experiences. That is an erroneous generalization. Many are "called", but many have not seen visions of Jesus. The Bible teaches us that we are "called" to be saints. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, CALLED TO BE SAINTS… Romans 1:7 5 Why You Must Become a Shepherd:Why You Must Become a#CBD12.qxd 27/0 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, CALLED TO BE SAINTS… 1 Corinthians 1:2 It is the saints who are expected to do the work according to Ephesians 4:12. Now let us be honest. In our calling to be saints, how many of us heard supernatural voices? How many of us have had thunder and lightning frighten us to salvation? How many of us fell down on the way to Damascus? Very few Christians have had such dramatic calls to God. That, however, does not mean that we are not called to be Christians. All born-again Christians have a supernatural calling on their lives to be saints. It may not be spectacular but it is certainly supernatural. If you call yourself a Christian, then you have received a call to which you have responded. I am informing you that without knowing it, you have actually heard a call and responded to a divine call. 6 Why You Must Become a Shepherd:Why You Must Become a#CBD12.qxd 27/0 What was that call? That call was simply a conviction that came upon you about the reality of Jesus Christ. That same conviction led you to give your life to Christ, and made you a born- again Christian. Sometimes people looking out for the sensational miss the real supernatural move of God. In the same way that we are called to be Christians, God will call many of us to His service at one level or the other. You may not be called to a breathtaking level of ministry like Elijah, but it is still a calling! Look at the ministry of Samuel the prophet. Samuel was in the temple when he received the call of God. And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli… 1 Samuel 3:1 But notice that Samuel did not know what the call of God was. In fact, he thought it was something very natural, a man's voice. Many 7 Why You Must Become a Shepherd:Why You Must Become a#CBD12.qxd 27/0 people are called, but think that because it feels natural, like a thought, an idea or even a conviction, they are not called. Since the call of God is not so different from natural things around us, many just assume they have not been called. The prophet Samuel went to his father-in- ministry, Eli, thinking that he was calling him. He could not distinguish between a natural human voice and the supernatural voice of God. What does this mean to us? It means that many times the supernatural is not as dramatic as we expect. If it was that dramatic, Samuel would have immediately known that he was not hearing a human voice. …THE LORD CALLED Samuel: and he answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; FOR THOU [Eli] CALLEDST ME… 1 Samuel 3:4,5 It was Eli (his pastor or father-in-ministry) who helped him to recognize the call of God on his life. 8 Why You Must Become a Shepherd:Why You Must Become a#CBD12.qxd 27/0 The Allergic Pastor I have watched many of my church members grow up in the Lord. I have watched God calling them and have seen how many of them did not recognize the call of God on their lives. In fact, some of my best pastors were once allergic to the subject of being calledto the ministry. One particular pastor did not want to accept the possibility of the call of God. So he developed an allergy to the topic and did not want to discuss it with me at all! Today, he is a successful pastor in full-time ministry, obeying the call of God on his life. You see, you can be called without even knowing it, just like Samuel. He was called but did not even know it! The call to a small ministry is still a call. It is still supernatural. It may not be outwardly impressive, but it is still a call. I have not had the experience of thunder, lightning and heavenly voices calling me to the ministry. But I am just as called as any other minister. 9 Why You Must Become a Shepherd:Why You Must Become a#CBD12.qxd 27/0 ...but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire A STILL SMALL VOICE. 1 Kings 19:11,12 God often speaks by this still small voice. It was the still small voice of conviction that brought me into the ministry. I have just had a quiet conviction. It is that conviction that I have followed up until this time. Be Open to the Call Pastors ought to encourage their members to be open to the call. This will release many more Christians into useful ministry. It is this secret of releasing the masses of lay people into the ministry that brings about church growth. One man can do very little, but many people can do a great deal. One pastor can probably remember the names of only one hundred and fifty people in his church. 10