Tuesday

Related Verses
1 Pet. 5:2-4
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;
3 Nor as lording it over your allotments but by becoming patterns of the flock.
4 And when the Chief Shepherd is manifested, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Isa. 40:11
11 He will feed His flock as a Shepherd; In His arm He will gather the lambs; In His bosom He will carry them. He will lead those who are nursing the young.

1 Pet. 2:2
2 As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation,

Eph. 4:11,12,16
11 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers,
12 For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,
16 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.

Related Reading
After the believers are regenerated and receive God as their eternal life, they still need to receive the shepherding in God’s life. In His organic salvation God the Father of the Divine Trinity first regenerates us by God the Spirit and then shepherds us in God the Son as our Shepherd that we may grow and exist in His life for eternity. 

Shepherding includes feeding, as the nursing mother feeds the baby for the baby to grow, as mentioned in 1 Peter 2:2. In this way the Lord commissioned Peter to feed His lambs and shepherd His flock on His behalf (John 21:15-17). He also raised up those such as Peter to be His deputy shepherds to feed His lambs and shepherd His flock (Eph. 4:11…). (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 3, “The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation,” p. 396) 

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Nothing is as demanding as shepherding, not even gospel preaching. Just as in child raising, everything related to shepherding is not up to us; it is up to the new ones. We cannot say that we have no time or that it is not convenient. 

The way of Christianity is to hire a pastor to shepherd a church. This is not what we mean by shepherding. Some may argue that shepherding is a gift that not every brother or sister has. However, no one would say that raising children is a gift that some have and others do not. Every parent, regardless of how smart or foolish he is, has a talent for raising children…By our spiritual birth every member in the church has the gift of shepherding. To say that we do not have the gift of shepherding is to annul our spiritual birth. 

In order to be the proper, normal members of the church in the Lord’s recovery, we need to build up a daily life of the gospel, and we need to go to the Lord for Him to show us who should be under the care of our shepherding. 

We must learn how to listen to others in order to realize their true need and real situation. This requires us to stop our own thought, concept, feeling, and speaking while we are shepherding them. 

We must also learn not to say too much when we visit people. This is the hardest lesson to learn in shepherding. The longer we wait to say something, the better it is. Someone may ask, “If we should not say anything, why should we contact anyone?” The secret is simply to contact them without saying much. If we speak too much, we will be like the friends of Job. 

Because we all assume that we know so much, it is hard to say, “I don’t know.”…Strictly speaking, we do not know much, and what we do know, we do not know thoroughly. We should not contact people in order to teach them. We ourselves have a greater need of teaching. We should go to the saints and to the churches to learn of them…The secret to contacting people is not to say much but to let them say something. 

We also should never argue with people, regardless of whether they are right or wrong. Every conversation is a temptation to adjust others, convince them, or “sell” our good opinions and concepts…If we do, it will not help them. 

We must never pass on vain knowledge to people. People may ask us about many matters, but we must learn to exercise our spirit to discern the purpose of the questions…People often like to gain knowledge, asking about the elders, the brothers and sisters, and many other matters. We must learn to be wise, not be involved with questionings, and not pass on vain knowledge. This also is a difficult lesson for us all. (CWWL, 1973–1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” pp. 609, 611-613) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 3, “The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation,” ch. 2