The Best way to Shepherd People is to give them a Proper Pattern of Living Christ

The best way to shepherd people – as see in the New Testament – is to give them a proper pattern of living Christ and magnifying Him; Paul fed his spiritual children not only with the word of God but with his own living of Christ (see 1 Thes 2, 2 Cor. 1-2).

Nowadays many people reject the gospel simply because someone can have the top religion and yet not be different in his living and expression from anyone else. But the apostles didn’t just preach the gospel and teach the truth but they also lived what they preached.

Paul, in particular, who was the top sinner persecuting the church of God, was shown grace by the Lord to become a proper pattern to the believers of living and ministering Christ as the Spirit in his spirit for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

First, the Lord appeared to Paul and called him to be a minister and a witness of the things in which Paul has seen the Lord Jesus, and also of the things in which He would appear to Paul (see Acts 26:16-19).

All Paul did was spend time with the Lord, be in His word in a prayerful way, and see the Lord, enjoy Him, and experience Him; then, he testified of what he has seen of the Lord.

We need to be those who spend time with the Lord in His word to pray and read the Bible, and we will be infused with Christ. We need to take Christ as our everything; we need to take Christ as our living, our pattern, our goal, and even our secret.

We need to live Christ, take Him as our pattern inwardly by eating His humanity, take Him as our goal, gain Him, and learn the secret of sufficiency – living and enjoying Christ.

We need to live by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, sow unto the Spirit, and minister the Spirit; we need to be spiritual men who live and serve in their spirit, doing everything in the mingled spirit. As such ones, we become patterns to the saints.

Furthermore, everything we do and all our living should be in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body; we need to give ourselves for the building up and blending of the Body so that Christ would have a corporate expression on earth.

May we learn from the apostle Paul not only to know the truth and speak it, but also to live Christ so that we may become a proper pattern to the saints in the church life.

The Best way to Shepherd People is to give them a Proper Pattern of Living Christ

What is the best way to cherish and nourish the believers in Christ, so that they may grow in life and be perfected to function for the building up of the Body? It is not merely to teach them the truth, but all the more to give them a proper pattern.

Take a look at the apostle Paul; in 1 Thes. 1-2 he didn’t only feed his spiritual children with the truth in the word of God, but he fed them with his own living of Christ, putting himself forward with his own manner of life for them to witness.

The apostles didn’t just preach the gospel but also lived it; their ministering of the gospel was not only by word but also by a life – a life that displayed the power of God, a life in the Holy Spirit and in the assurance of faith (1 Thes. 1:5).

We need to conduct ourselves in such a way that we would be a proper pattern for the new believers for them to go on with the Lord and mature in the divine life.

To be a proper pattern, we need to be pure in our motives, especially related to money; we need to be saved from the love of money, have no greed for money, and be saved from covetousness. If we are not pure concerning money, if we’re not honest and faithful regarding it, we may be those who adulterate the word of God and peddle it.

We need to come to the Lord and deal with our love for the money and greed, and we should deal with our speaking so that we may not speak words of flattery, not have any pretext, and not seek glory for ourselves.

Instead of pleasing man, we should seek to please God by living Christ and expressing Him.

The apostle Paul went to Thessalonica and preached the gospel and lived Christ, and after a while he wrote the saints there a letter, in which he reminded them how he was with them, how he behaved with them, and what kind of men the apostles were among them.

The saints in Thessalonica became imitators of the apostles, and this led them to follow the Lord, take Him as their pattern, and thus become a pattern to all other believers (1 Thes. 1:6-7).

We need to follow the ones who are a proper pattern of living Christ in the church life, and thus we will follow the Lord and we ourselves will become a proper pattern to others.

Paul gave the believers his own living of Christ as a proper pattern to them, and they ate his pattern, followed the Lord, and become a pattern to other believers.

What the Lord wants to gain today is not only a group of people who know the truth and preach the gospel but a model, a proper corporate pattern of a God-man living that will bring in a new revival, which will consummate this age and bring the Lord back.

We in the church life in the Lord’s recovery need to have such proper patterns, models of living Christ to magnify Him, and this will bring forth the greatest revival; this will happen not just by words but in our living as a proper pattern.

The best way to shepherd others is not merely to teach them or preach to them but give them a proper pattern of living Christ.

Lord Jesus, we want to take the best way of shepherding others by being a proper pattern of living Christ to others. Save us from merely knowing the truth and preaching the gospel yet without living Christ. May the gospel be our living, and may our daily life be filled with the enjoyment and experience of Christ. We want to follow the proper patterns in the church life, those who live Christ for His magnification, and we want to be patterns to the new believers for their growth in life unto maturity!

Feeding others not only with the Truth in the Bible but also with our own Living of Christ

All the mothers know that the best way to take care of little children is to feed them, and the best way to raise up the children is to show them a proper pattern. It is not teaching the children that leave a great impact on them and shape the way they are and do things but it is the pattern of the parents that influence them.

Similarly, if we in the church life only teach one another the truth but do not live Christ to be a proper pattern for others to follow, we may damage one another. We need to care for one another and feed one another not only with the truth in the Bible but also with our own living of Christ.

And if we don’t have experiences to share for others to be supplied, we need to point the new believers to the different proper patterns in the Bible such as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and David (in the Old Testament), and Peter, John, Paul, and Timothy (in the New Testament).

We need to read spiritual biographies and recommend to others to read concerning those who were a proper pattern of living Christ. The best way to foster the children and to shepherd the saints in the church life is by giving them a proper pattern.

We need to pray for one another that we would live Christ daily and have the experiences that we need to become patterns, models of living Christ.

The apostle Paul was such a one; he fed the believers under his care not only with the word of God but also with his own living of Christ, reminding them what kind of person he was among them.

Again and again Paul stressed their entrance toward the believers, putting forth their manner of life to infuse the gospel into the new converts (1 Thes. 1:5, 9; 2:1).

Sinners don’t need that much teaching; they need to be touched by the Holy Spirit, impacted by the power of God, and see and hear testimonies of those who have met Christ, so that they would see the living of those who believed into Him.

Similarly, in the church life we need not only the truth but also our experience of Christ to be testified and witnessed; we need to be proper patterns of living Christ, feeding the saints not only with the truth in the Bible but also with our own living of Christ (in a proper way).

May our way of life and manner of living be saturated with Christ to be a proper pattern to the believers, and may we learn to recommend others to read biographies of those who lived Christ and magnified Him so that they would be fostered and shepherded to go on with the Lord.

Lord Jesus, we want to learn how to feed others not only with the truth in the Bible but also with our own living of Christ. Infuse us with Yourself, Lord, and fill our daily living with many experiences of Christ for the building up of the church. Make us proper patterns of living Christ, and be lived out in us before men. Lord, may we not only teach the truth and preach the gospel but also live Christ, magnify Christ, and express Christ in our living so that we may be a proper pattern of living Christ!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru C. for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msg. 13 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Cooperating with the Heavenly Ministry of the Ascended Christ (2017 Spring ITERO), msg. 3 (week 3), The Pattern of the Apostle Paul in Cooperating with Christ’s Heavenly Ministry to Shepherd People for the Building Up of the Body of Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # “Consider Him,” and thus thy life shall be / Filled with self-sacrifice and purity; / God will work out in thee the pattern true, / And Christ’s example ever keep in view. (Hymns #656)
  # May my day be full of Christ. / May my words be spoken in Him. / May my being find rest / Lying on His sweet breast, / May my day be full of Christ. / May my mind be filled with His light, / May my spirit be shining so bright, / May His life bear much fruit, / May I be absolute, / To partake of the living Christ. (Song on living Christ)
  # Not a dead religion serving, / But in Christ as life to live; / Not theology dispensing, / But a living Christ to give. / Not the knowledge of mere doctrine, / But the message Christ should be; / Not the gifts, the forms, the teachings, / But God’s Christ-reality. (Hymns #908)