Shepherding the Saints according to God by Following the Pattern of the Apostle Paul

The Lord Jesus as the great, chief and Good Shepherd is now the pneumatic Shepherd in our spirit as the life-giving Spirit, and He is both shepherding us and shepherding others through us. When we read the Gospels we see how the Lord was with those around Him, and when we read church history and listen to testimonies of fellow believers we can see how the Lord shepherds man, again and again, to bring him into His house, the church, to be part of His corporate expression.

We need to follow the steps of the Triune God to shepherd others, we need to follow the pattern of the Lord Jesus as our Good Shepherd to take care of people, and we also need to follow the proper patterns of people in God’s economy who shepherd people according to God for the building up of the Body of Christ.

One of the greatest patterns of shepherding in the New Testament is the apostle Paul; he cooperated with the Lord’s shepherding to the uttermost to not just preach the gospel but shepherd people according to God for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

We need to shepherd people according to the pattern of the apostle Paul as a good shepherd, taking care of the flock of God among which God has placed us all (1 Tim. 1:16; Acts 20:28).

Initially, Paul was not a good pattern: he hated the believers in Christ and persecuted them, but he got dynamically saved by Jesus Christ, and the pattern of the Shepherding Jesus was infused into Paul to constitute him as a pattern.

Paul didn’t merely preach the gospel, teach the truth, establish churches, go on missionary trips, or write letters to the churches, but his being, his words, and his living was a shepherding to the saints and the sinners wherever he went so that others were gained for Christ not only by his preaching but also by his shepherding. We need to take a look at some of the ways Paul shepherded the saints, and we need to follow his pattern to be a good shepherd, taking care of God’s flock.

Shepherding the Saints as a Nursing Mother and an Exhorting Father

In 1 Thes. 2 we see that Paul did not only tell the believers in Thessalonica to love the Lord, live a proper Christian life, and enjoy the Lord, but he reminded them of his pattern, how he was among them. He was outrageously treated in Philippi, but he still came to those in Thessalonica to preach the gospel to them, and together with his co-workers he was gentle in their midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children.

Paul didn’t just preach the gospel to the people: he yearned over them and was pleased to impart to them not only the gospel of God but also their own souls, since he loved them so much. He was like a nursing mother, gently and tenderly caring for the new-born babies, and he was also like a father who exhorts and consoles and testifies to his children, so that they might walk in a manner worthy of God.

In cherishing the believers as their own children, the apostle considered himself a nursing mother, and in exhorting them to nourish them with God’s word, he was like an exhorting father.

This is how we should also shepherd others. We shouldn’t try to convict people of their sin or criticize them but love them, cherish them as a nursing mother full of tender care, and exhort them not as a teacher but as a father loving and caring for his children.

In all this, Paul had an intimate concern for the believers (see 2 Cor. 7:2; Philem. 7, 12), and the saints even became his heart – he was so one with the Lord that the Lord’s heart became his heart, and the saints were constantly in his heart.

Lord Jesus, may we be like Paul, as a nursing mother and an exhorting father to the believers. Lord, we want to cooperate with You as the inward good Shepherd to love You and love the saints, tenderly care for the saints, and lovingly exhort them. Make our heart a duplication of Your heart so that the saints would be on our heart and we would love them and care for them as You do and as Paul did!

Shepherding the Saints by Teaching them Publicly and From House to House, Even with Tears

Paul shepherded the saints in Ephesus by teaching them publicly and from house to house (Acts 20:20), and by admonishing each one with tears even for as long as three years (Acts 20:31, 19), declaring to them all the counsel of God (v. 27).

He didn’t just teach them publicly, declaring the counsel of God and speaking of the economy of God, but he also visited them one by one in their homes to exhort them and advise them with tears. He slaved the Lord as a slave with all humility and tears, not ceasing to admonish the saints where he was.

The way to shepherd others is not merely by ministering Christ to them through our speaking in the meetings but also all the more by visiting them in their homes to exhort them, encourage them, shepherd them, and even shed tears for them and with them.

We need to be one with the inward pneumatic Shepherd to visit the saints in their homes and admonish them with tears related to Christ and His enlargement so that we may dispense Christ into them for the building up of the church.

We shouldn’t “manufacture tears” but be desperately one with the compassionate, loving, and caring Shepherd in our spirit to love the saints, care for them, and admonish them with tears. What a pattern Paul was to us in caring for the saints!

May we follow his pattern in shepherding the saints according to God by declaring all God’s economy with tears as we admonish the saints both publicly and from house to house.

Lord Jesus, we want to be desperately one with You as the inward organic Shepherd to care for the saints, love them, and admonish them by declaring to them all the counsel of God publicly and from house to house even with tears. Lord, make our heart a duplication of Your loving and caring heart so that we may diligently and lovingly care for the saints in their homes for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!

Writing Living Letters of Christ with the Life-giving Spirit as the Essence on the Saints’ Hearts

In 2 Cor. 3:2-3 Paul declared that the Corinthians are his letter, inscribed in his heart, known and read by all men, since they were manifested to be a letter of Christ ministered by him, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of hearts of flesh.

Paul didn’t only preach the gospel and minister Christ to the saints, but he wrote Christ into the saints with the Spirit of the living God as the ink, and as he wrote Christ into them, they were also written in his heart.

Because the believers are a letter of Christ, they are also a letter inscribed on the hearts of the apostles; today, while we are ministering Christ to others, Christ is simultaneously written in them and also in us. This means that we can NEVER forget those to whom we have ministered Christ, since they are written on our heart and we are written on their heart; the one writing produces two original copies and involves two hearts becoming one!

We shepherd others by ministering Christ to them to write Christ into their hearts, and as we do this, they also get inscribed into our heat. As we minister Christ to one another, we become one with Christ and one with the saints for the testimony of Jesus.

Lord Jesus, fill us with the Spirit of the living God as the ink so that we may inscribe Christ into others to be letters of Christ. Lord, we want to cooperate with You to minister Christ to others so that Christ may be inscribed into them and they also may be inscribed on our heart. Oh, may the church life be filled with the ministering of Christ for the mutual inscribing of Christ into one another for us to be letters of Christ for His testimony!

Coming Down to the Weak Ones’ Level to Gain them for Christ

The way Paul preached the gospel and brought God’s kingdom into cities and countries all over Asia and Europe was by coming down to the weak ones’ level, becoming weak to the weak so that he might gain him for Christ (1 Cor. 9:22). He even said, Who is not weak and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I myself did not burn? (2 Cor. 11:29)

He visited people, shepherded them, and cared for them by becoming weak as they are so that they might be gained for Christ. He burned in sorrow and indignation over the cause of the stumbling of the fallen ones, and he ministered Christ to them in a way they could receive, enjoy, and digest.

The Lord Jesus said that He came as God’s servant and He wouldn’t break a bruised reed or put out a smoking flax….and Paul became a duplication of Christ – he became weak to the weak so that they might be gained for Christ (1 Cor. 9:22 cf. Matt. 12:20). What a pattern our dear brother Paul was to all of us!

May we not consider ourselves as being NOT weak while everyone else IS weak, but may we humble ourselves and contact people in the humility of Christ, burning for them, being weak to the weak, and ministering Christ to them for the building up of the church.

This is how Christ was and this is how Paul lived; we need to be filled with the pneumatic Good Shepherd as the life-giving Spirit to have the right attitude toward people so that they may be gained for Christ.

Lord Jesus, save us from considering ourselves as being strong and not weak, while others are so weak….may we be one with You as the Servant of God and follow the pattern of Paul to be weak to the weak that we may gain the weak for Christ. Lord Jesus, may we be those who shepherd people according to God by coming down to the weak ones’ level that we may gain them for Christ, so that the church may be built up as Your corporate expression.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 6 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Need for a New Revival, week 5 / msg 5, Shepherding according to God (1) Shepherding People by Cherishing and Nourishing Them according to the Pattern of the Lord Jesus and of the Apostle Paul.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # To the lost world minister Christ, / The very Christ you enjoy, / Imparting Christ to all your friends / As all their boast and their joy. (Song on Ministering Christ)
  # Foll’wing Thee, Good Shepherd, I would feed, / Shepherd those allotted me, / E’er I’d touch Thy heart’s desire, / Live in Thine economy. / O my Lord, All thanks to Thee! / Goodness, mercy follow me; / I’d ever dwell within Thy house, / As Thy Body glorious! (Hymns #922)
  # I’m a sinner without one plea, / But the Lamb of God in me; / I was lost and without hope / But my Savior came and sought me out. / ’Tis my story and my song; / To the world I say so long; / I now walk and live in light / With the New Jerusalem in sight. (Song on Preaching the Gospel)