Why are we so fixated on counting numbers? Why do most pastors think of success as it relates to numbers?
Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus tell us to count the sheep. He tells Peter if you love Me then you will feed my lambs, care for my sheep, and feed my sheep.
Many churches today have a paralysis brought on by analysis; they are so busy gathering and reporting numbers that their lambs and sheep are not being fed, and their flock is not being cared for. Resulting in spiritual paralysis.
I have heard it said that many Christians count sheep when they cannot sleep. Jesus says that we should be talking to the Shepherd for a good night sleep.
Many pastors spend an inordinate amount of time going to seminars to increase their numbers. They are trying to figure out ways to meets the wants of our culture. Jesus tells us to focus on feeding and caring of those He will send to us.
How have we missed the message of our Lord and Savior? We must never confuse our activity with His accomplishment.
Many pastors call for outside help for revivals and doctrinal studies for their church. Whom God calls, He equips!
Illustration: Mama says everybody loved Uncle Ceph. Cephas Poe was Mama’s daddy, but everybody called him Uncle Ceph.
Uncle Ceph pastored in a different world. First Assembly of God stood on a hill outside a little town tucked into the Arkansas River Valley. Men worked in the cotton fields and coal mines. Despite the Depression, people still grew their pole beans and bought peaches off the truck and canned them, got milk from the cow and eggs from the store, baked biscuits and cornbread, fried chickens, and once in a while treated themselves to a store-bought candy bar and a Coke.
Pastoring in that context wasn’t idyllic. Seems the radio was causing people to waste a lot of time on Fibber McGee and Molly and baseball games. Families weren’t broken on the outside, but cotton farmers and coal miners could be a hardened lot who worked hard all week, drank and danced in the sawdust honky-tonks on Saturday night, fished all day Sunday, and didn’t think much beyond their families’ physical needs, if that. AIDS wasn’t a scourge, but Black Lung was, and suffering and death feel pretty much the same whether or not branded with an acronym and federal funding.
Uncle Ceph took care of his family. In addition to preaching out on the hill on Sunday morning and Sunday night and in town to the colored church in the afternoon, he delivered bananas during the week, hauling them in his pick-up from the train station in Clarksville to fruit stands and grocery stores. Mama remembers flying around Ozark hairpin curves, singing "God Will Take Care of You" and believing it was true.
I don’t know if Uncle Ceph had to carve time into a busy schedule for his family; Mama remembers his coming home from work, drawing a bucket of water, putting a chunk of ice in it, and making lemonade for everybody. They all drank out of the same dipper.
I never knew Uncle Ceph. Before I was born his heart wore out with caring for Adabelle, whose own heart was worn out. But I’m glad he lived in a different world.
I’m glad he didn’t have to wrestle with reams of ideology about the effectiveness of his cross-cultural ministry and could devote himself to feeding some small-town folks with different skin. I’m glad he didn’t have to feel guilty about his limited exposure to the most innovative ways of building bridges, and went about instead being who he was to the fruit sellers and depot workers and neighbors and dime-store owners. I’m glad he wasn’t made impatient with his "bi-vocational ministry" and gave himself to faithfulness there instead of straining to stretch it into a church where success was measured by a growing budget.
I’m glad he didn’t have to worry about what the experts say about methods and marketing and expectations and options and cultures, and just did what he thought God wanted him to do. What grief to think of such a servant being greeted in Glory: "Mediocre job, Ceph. Your ministry wasn’t marked by excellence and efficiency. But come on in and enter the joy of your Master anyway."
I’m glad he was met in heaven by Someone with standards different from ours.
Debra Allen, Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 2.
Theme: We pastors must stand ready to give an account of our feeding and caring of the flock that has been entrusted to us, not on the number in attendance on Sunday morning, nor the number of Baptisms for the year.
1. Feed My lambs.
a.The babes in Christ are the first to be fed. Why? Because Jesus says so.
b.They will not survive on their own. The devil will devour them while they are weak and helpless.
c.They are hungry and require many more feedings than we do to grow in Jesus.
d.We must start them off with the milk of the Bible, and later introduce them to its meat.
2. Take care of My sheep.
a.This is a full time job. The sheep that we undershepherd need continuous care. We must not substitute how-to seminars or books (outside of the Bible) at the expense of not caring for the sheep.
b.We must not waste valuable time away from the flock to teach or preach elsewhere. Our main focus must be with the care of the sheep in our flock. While we are gone some of our sheep may be lost. Again, we will have to answer to the Shepherd for our neglect.
c.Some have been called to be evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Let us put all of our energies into being pastors and taking care of the sheep we have at home.
d.Caring for the sheep is not easy. But, like our own biological family, we care for them because we love them. We put up with all of the challenges, all the hurts, all the work, because we love Jesus.
3. Feed my sheep.
a.Now we get to the meat and potatoes of loving Jesus as His undershepherd. Teach them all that Jesus has taught us.
b.We need nothing more then the Word of God. His Holy Spirit will change lives when we use His Word.
c.The Holy Spirit will help in the digesting of the Word.
d.The Holy Spirit will turn the Word into spiritual energy so we can grow, in our relationship with our Father who is in Heaven. In our Heart, where His Spirit lives. With our Savior, who sits at the right hand of the Father as our only true advocate.
4. When we feed and care for the flock, who do we focus on? Is it the important? Is it the wealthy? Is it the educated? Or, is it the ones that need it the most?
Illustration: When I preach I regard neither doctors nor magistrates, of whom I have above forty in my congregation; I have all of my eyes on the servant maids and on the children. And if the learned men are not well pleased with what they hear, well, the door is open. – Martin Luther
5. It is amazing to me that we need all of these new ways to show our love for Jesus.
6. I believe with all of my heart that if we will simply follow His Words in His Ways, we will get His results, for His Purpose and His Glory.
7. It never has been, nor will it ever be about numbers. It is about love and obedience to Jesus!
Theme: Theme: We pastors must stand ready to give an account of our feeding and caring of the flock that has been entrusted to us, not on the number in attendance on Sunday morning, nor the number of Baptisms for the year.
Final point: This message has changed my focus as it relates to staying, caring, and feeding the flock that the Lord has assigned to me. May it also bless you!
