What is the difference between a shepherd and a hireling

Fear gripped the countryside, and Oscar Romero promised them that the violence would end. That peace would come to El Salvador. That he was with them in their fear and in their struggle.

Bodies were dumped in streams, and in the garbage dump of San Salvador. Oscar Romero took to the airwaves, and in his weekly homily, promised that he would not rest until all the violence was ended, until peace came to El Salvador. He not only spoke out, he made frequent trips to the massive garbage dumps, accompanying families who were searching for the bodies of their loved ones.

The next day, while saying a public mass, Oscar Romero was shot in the chest by a man standing at the back of the church. Romero fell behind the altar, at the feet of the massive crucifix of Jesus, who was shown bleeding from the wound in his own side.

There Romero died, a martyr for God, a good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. The passage he had just read was,. Thanks for sharing your sermons on the web. Share this: Click to share on Twitter Opens in new window Click to email this to a friend Opens in new window Click to print Opens in new window Click to share on Facebook Opens in new window. Like this: Like Loading Bl blessed.

Engaged churches, enriched communities. Blog at WordPress. Follow Following. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. Log in now. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. How can you identify the hirelings?

It is not always easy since the hirelings are often very good at appearing spiritual and self effacing. I think that Ephesians provides some insight to help distinguish between hirelings and shepherds. If a pastor is seeking to control the congregation, if he is the center of all the activity, if he maintains his place in the spot light, you might find that he is a hireling and not a shepherd.

On the other hand, a shepherd will be seeking to develop the gifts in his congregation, he will be feeding them from Scripture, he will focus on equipping the congregation to fulfill the mission of the church. He will then turn them loose to do the work of ministry.

If you are pastoring primarily because you need a job, save all of us a lot of grief and go get a job outside the church. This will be a daily reminder for me to share my gratitude with those I love as to never waste another minute…. Being Human Beings All of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Perhaps Peter was saying that the best response to humans in crisis is to be human, to be aware that we are all the same.

But what if we consider our humanness to be part of our offering in our world? Jesus teaches us how to live fully human, as servants recognizing we are all the same.

Imagine the difference we might make when we respond humbly—as fellow humans who work together with other humans in crisis. Have you noticed that when people receive a great honor for their accomplishments they often acknowledge their humble roots? Even legendary athletes admit that they were just an everyday kid from somewhere—just like us. In recognizing their high honor 1 Peter , Peter urges followers of Christ to remember that once they had no sense of belonging to God; once they had not received mercy At best we are all common folks from somewhere who have been called to love others as God has loved us.

Like Like. Like Liked by 1 person. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. If I stayed put, it looked like my lot in life would be to pastor a church with growth rate of about three to five people a decade. But eventually, things started to slowly turn around. North Coast experienced some modest growth. After five years, I was able to hire another staff member! Then out of nowhere I received a letter from the pulpit committee of a church I had long looked up to as the kind of church I hoped North Coast would be someday.

They wanted to know if I would consider candidating to become their next senior pastor. But I was pumped. I remember reading the letter and immediately fast-forwarding to all the great things that God would do once I had a larger and more prestigious platform. I thought he was giving me a Get Out of Jail Free card.

A few of those closest to me were incredulous, including some family members. They thought it was career suicide. All of us keep score. Yet, somehow when the last inning comes, everyone knows when one of the kids has hit a game-winning home run or made a game-losing error. My dad taught us a game when we were kids.

Winning by losing was the point. It was a great metaphor for life, marriage and leadership. Unfortunately, most of us have been taught to keep score like a hired hand. Jesus put it this way when a much younger and less wise Peter drilled him about the earthly rewards that the disciples could expect in return for all that they had given up to follow Jesus.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

Or that every spiritual leader should stick it out no matter how miserable the experience might be. Jesus even told them to shake the dust off their feet and move on if they found themselves unwanted. And Paul sought to go to Rome in an attempt to increase his influence and to have a greater platform from which to proclaim the gospel.