Elders

Part 5 - Affectionate Shepherds

New brides and grooms cherish each other. The groom fixes his heart on his bride. The bride holds her thoughts and affection on her groom. This is the idea behind Paul's exhortation to elders, both ruling and teaching. "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). Guard yourselves and all the flock. The American Standard Version of 1901 translates the text, "Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock."

There is a Hebrew idiom here. The original phrase contained the word mind. The injunction, take heed to yourselves, literally means, hold your mind on yourselves. The background is a text like Job 7:17. The King James gives the proper sense. "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? And that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?" (italics added). To take heed to the flock therefore means to set your heart on the flock.

The American Standard Version (1901) reads, "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him, And that thou shouldest set thy mind upon him?" (italics added). Heart shifts to mind. We should not find this objectionable. Biblically speaking, the heart is the mind, emotions and will. We find all three here. Set [action of the will] your mind [with the affection] on the flock.

Paul uses the idiom in other places. For example, he urges Timothy, "Till I come, give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching" (1 Timothy 4:13, ASV). Set your mind with affection, hold your mind, on reading, exhortation, and teaching. A few verses later Paul adds an injunction similar to Acts 20:28. "Take heed to thyself, and to thy teaching. Continue in these things; for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee" (1 Timothy 4:15, ASV). Hold your mind with affection on yourself.

In the same way, set your mind; hold your mind, with affection on the flock. Have the same care for the flock as you do for yourself. Do you hear the "Golden Rule"? "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:12, New American Standard Update). Do you see the imagery of marriage? The flock of God is the bride of Christ. Elders ought to set their hearts and minds on the flock as a bride. "Husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it" (Ephesians 5:27-28, NASU). Take heed to the flock, set your heart and mind with affection on the flock, nourish and cherish her. She is Christ's bride.

This requires the gifts and callings of God. To show this, I turn to another place where we find the Hebrew idiom, Acts 16:14. "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul" (italics added). The Lord of glory enabled Lydia to set her mind with affection on the words of Paul and embrace gospel.

In the same way, Christ, the head of the church, must enable and empower men to set their minds with affection on the flock, to be affectionate shepherds of His flock. The church must diligently seek out such men for her elders and pastors.