Thursday

Related Verses
1 Pet. 5:2
2 Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God; not by seeking gain through base means but eagerly;

Eph. 4:29
29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good for building up, according to the need, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Col. 3:16-17
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.
17 And whatever you do in word or in deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Micah 5:4
4 And He will stand and feed His flock in the strength of Jehovah, In the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God; And they will abide, for now He will be great Unto the ends of the earth.

1 John 1:6-7
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth;
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.

Heb. 13:20-21
20 Now the God of peace, He who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, in the blood of an eternal covenant,
21 Perfect you in every good work for the doing of His will, doing in us that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Related Reading
In his first Epistle, Peter speaks of Christ being the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul, our inner being and real person (2:25). Then in 5:1-2 he tells the elders that their obligation is to shepherd God’s flock according to God. According to God means that we must live God. We must have God on hand. We have God in our understanding, in our theology, and in our teaching, but we may not live God when we are shepherding people. When we are one with God, we become God. Then we have God and are God in our shepherding of others. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness…We must shepherd the young ones, the weak ones, and the backsliding ones according to these four attributes. Then we will be good shepherds. 

If we want to enjoy life and minister life to others, we must shepherd them. The real ministering of life is shepherding by visiting and contacting people. (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” pp. 114-115) 

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Years ago I thought that the overseeing was to observe who is wrong and who is right, who is doing well and who is doing poorly. Later, I came to realize that to oversee is mainly a matter of overseeing the need…[A shepherd’s] oversight is related to protecting the flock, leading the flock, and feeding the flock. 

As Peter says, the elders should oversee “willingly, according to God” [1 Pet. 5:2]. To oversee according to God means according to God’s nature, desire, way, and glory, not according to man’s preference, interest, and purpose. The elders should not oversee according to their opinion, concept, or likes or dislikes. Instead, they should oversee according to God’s choice, desire, intention, and preference. The elders must oversee the church altogether according to God’s thought, feeling, will, and choice. They must oversee according to God’s likes and dislikes. 

In 5: 2 Peter warns the elders not to seek gain through base means but to eagerly exercise oversight. This means that the elders should not take advantage of the eldership and use it as a means to gain money. They should eagerly take the oversight like parents who eagerly exercise care over their children. (Life-study of 1 Peter, pp. 290-292) 

How much we can help these members [who have a peculiar, stubborn disposition] depends on how much our own disposition has been dealt with. The Lord uses their disposition as a mirror to reflect our disposition. We may say that their problem is their disposition, but the Lord may ask us, “How about your disposition?”…If our disposition has been dealt with by the Lord, they will know this…This will help them to allow their disposition to be dealt with…Today the church in our place is tender and fresh, but after a number of years the peculiar dispositions of some of the saints will be manifested. Whether we can help them depends on how much we have allowed the Lord to touch our disposition. 

Fellowshipping with brothers and coordinating with them may help us to get out of our disposition. We may receive help simply by following the brothers with whom we are coordinating…Most people with strong dispositions think that they are smarter than others. They think that they have more insight and more foresight than others. Thus, they do not trust in others, and as a consequence, they do not follow others…This kind of person may be helped by simply following others. 

In order for us to help people to be dealt with in their disposition, we must take the lead to have our disposition dealt with. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, pp. 487-489) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 7