by Ron Perry

A shepherd understands a couple of things about his sheep. First, that they need constant care: they need to be fed, watered, contained, and doctored. Second, that they are prone to wander from that type of care and that they seldom say thank you for it. It should come as no surprise to us that in Scripture, God compares people to sheep. We also need constant care, but we are prone to wander from it, even buck against it at times; and seldom do we thank God for His care for us.

As representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, God calls managers (who are God’s sheep) to serve more of His sheep. Quite frankly, those sheep to whom we are to minister often smell especially “sheepy.” Instead of thanking us, they fight against the things we are seeking to do in their lives for their good. Sometimes they even wander dangerously close to things that have the ability to destroy them. The “sheepiness” of the sheep can sometimes cause the one seeking to serve those sheep to begin thinking dangerously like this, “I wonder if there are any better behaved sheep out there that would treat me differently,” followed by, “You know it would be really nice to minister if only there weren’t any sheep,” and finally, “I can’t think this way; I wouldn’t have a job if there weren’t any sheep.” Did you notice what he did? He all of a sudden began thinking of his life’s work as being just a job.

When a manager begins thinking this way, he begins to seriously consider finding new sheep or just quitting. Often, he even becomes frustrated with his “job’s” benefit package, or lack thereof. The key to longevity, right attitudes, and continuing to serve with little temporal benefits is for a manager in ministry to see his life’s work as a ministry, not a job.

In John 10, we find the Good Shepherd’s discourse and two comparisons that He makes. The first one is His comparison between the thief and the shepherd. The great lesson that we managers can learn from this comparison is that our Good Shepherd owns the sheep. He paid for them and therefore has a different concern for them than the thief, who simply takes to have. Christ laid down his life for the sheep (verse 15), He saved them and takes care of them (verse 9), and He keeps them eternally secure (verses 28-29). In other words, He owns and cares for all sheep. A frustrated manager thinks he is the only one taking care of these sheep. He thinks that they are his ultimate responsibility (as though he owned them) and that if they wander or struggle, the responsibility to care for them and get them back on the right path rests completely upon his shoulders. What a tremendous relief it is for us managers when we recognize that the Good Shepherd owns these sheep, not us!

The second comparison we find in John 10 is between a hired hand and a shepherd. Many times a shepherd would get a hired hand to help him with some of his shepherding jobs; but the differences between the shepherd and the hired hand were that the hired hand fled when circumstances got tough and that he did not truly care for the sheep, as the shepherd did. As Christ’s representatives, we are serving as under shepherds for him; we are not just hired hands. Therefore, while we do not own His sheep, we are to do our best to care for them as He would, in His stead.

Our view of what we do affects how easily we quit the ministry. There is no question that danger, heartache, and frustration will be present with the job of caring for sheep. However, our response to those things demonstrates how we view what we do. The manager who is quick to think about quitting is probably looking at what he does as just a job—he is a hired hand. He thinks he is crucial to the job succeeding; therefore, if he does not see any success, he believes that he must move on. But the manager who faces the reality of shepherding sheep and continues on is one who recognizes that his is a ministry given to him by God, ultimately for his own spiritual growth.

For a number of years, I mistakenly thought that God had called me into the ministry because He needed me, or that the ministry needed me. But in recent years the Lord has shown me that I was prideful to think that way and that God actually called me into the ministry because I needed the ministry. I cannot afford to leave the ministry. I need it. It is God’s design to help me grow and develop into the man God wants me to be.

Another observation that we can make from this comparison between the hired hand and the shepherd is that our level of care for the sheep is dictated by whether we view ourselves as an under shepherd or as simply a hired hand. Notice John 10:14-15 and the extreme care the shepherd has for his sheep: He knows their names, and He is willing to lay down his life for them. Recently I watched a manager try to introduce his team, but repeatedly he found himself needing help remembering their names. A manager that cares for his sheep knows his sheep! If we were polled by those whom we manage, I wonder if they would be able to say that we truly care for them. I wonder if they would say that we would probably lay down our lives for them. If a manager sees what he does as a job, then the tasks, projects, budgets, and efficiency will always take precedence over the care of his sheep. But if a manager has a ministry that is characterized by his seeking to demonstrate the Good Shepherd’s care for His sheep, then he will listen to, counsel, teach, and get involved beyond the workplace with his employees.

The manager of a job sees the success of the project as his ultimate goal. The manager of a ministry sees the success of the people as his ultimate goal. Do we see what God has given us as a job or a ministry?