This call to feed Christ’s sheep comes with an incredible responsibility. Pastors must feed God’s people the truth. They must be absolutely scrupulous in the time they spend preparing sermons. They must make sure that their understanding of the Scripture is accurate and that they are not distorting, bending, falsifying, or even worse, replacing the Word of God with something else. Food that is spoiled poisons people. And the only food that will nurture the people of God is the food of the truth of the Word of God.
A direct implication of this truth is that there are certain things to which a shepherd is not called.
A shepherd is not called to entertain. Shepherds are called to make sure that their sheep are not lost. That’s enough to keep every pastor up at night. There are people in the congregation who may not know Jesus at all. I believe that the principal task of preaching on Sunday morning is to nurture the people of God, but pastors would be absolutely derelict in their duty if they assumed their churches were filled with nothing but the redeemed. Every Sunday, there are people in the congregation who are not regenerate, who have never heard the Word of God. And if the pastor loves them, he must feed them with the whole counsel of God.
A shepherd is not called to offer pop psychology. Self-help only heals the wound of the daughter of Zion lightly. The only thing under heaven that will nurture the sheep is the Word of God. That is the food God’s people desperately need if they are going to grow.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
