ZIklag 11.5 - True Shepherds

People Not Food

The Job is not Theology

The Job is Man of God-edness

This truth cuts to the core of what it means to shepherd as Christ intended. The primary vocation of the Shepherd is the sheep—not merely textual precision or theological acumen, but a real, living engagement with the people entrusted to his care. This isn’t a lesser calling; it’s the fullness of pastoral duty: to serve as a conduit for the Word, not in abstract terms but within the daily lives and hearts of the flock.

When a pastor’s focus shifts from the people to the words alone—when his concern drifts from living proclamation to intellectual mastery—he risks turning ministry into an exercise in expertise. In doing so, he may “feed” himself on theological rigor while starving his flock of the grace and sustenance they require. This imbalance turns shepherding into self-feeding and eventually devolves into Pharisaic adherence to form over spirit, consuming the life the Word was meant to impart.

The essence of pastoral calling is not in dissecting every word with sterile precision but in delivering the life-giving Spirit embedded within it. Christ’s own example is clear: He engaged people in their daily lives, feeding them physically and spiritually, drawing them close to the Father. He didn’t begin with crowds but with a few He knew. His teaching, while deeply true, focused on nourishing, not just enlightening, leading His followers not merely to profound ideas but to fullness of life in God’s presence.

Pastors must remember that while precision in understanding the Word is vital, it must always serve the greater purpose of feeding the sheep. To feed is to love in word and deed, to nurture by covenant and promise, to bind up by cross and cry, and to speak life into every weary soul as the Spirit enables. If this priority is forgotten, all the good in doctrine and dogma calcifies into “preceptism”—a sterile, detached practice that fills the mind but starves the spirit.

The pastoral call is embodiment, bearing the Word as a living witness. Accuracy in parsing doctrine is only as good as the ear able to hear it. Precision conveys not just the “right” answer but the “meet” one—a distinction well worth study. Flawless parsing, whether in exegesis or system, does not alone reveal the True Word. Babel’s curse has seen to that. Our task is not to make our own words last, but to feed others with the true Shepherd’s joy, which is loving others who can’t quite see it yet.