ARE YOU A GOOD SHEPHERD? OR A HIRELING?

1. Are you a good shepherd? Or a hireling?

a) The Bible lays out the definitions of both an overseer (under shepherd) and a hireling.

i) Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money (1 Timothy 3:1-3).

ii) Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith (Titus 1:7-13).

iii) A good shepherd is a true watchman who will guard the flock against wolves from within (Acts 20:30) and without (Acts 20:29) no matter the cost to his reputation, position or income.

b) What then is a hireling?

i) Someone who has been hired to provide labor or some other service in return for money or some other materialistic benefit. The money or some other materialistic benefit has become his own self-interest.

ii) A hireling is interested in doing the least possible to get paid the most possible. Expecting to get paid to sit around and watch sheep eat, a hireling isn't going to risk his own life to protect the sheep.

c) What is the difference between a shepherd and a hireling?

i) The primary difference is their motivation for tending the sheep. 

ii)The hireling does it for his own benefit and the shepherd does it for the benefit of the sheep. In contrast, the shepherd stands in when things get tough and does what his can to protect and care for the sheep.

d) Jesus is the good shepherd and he has set an example for us to follow:

i) I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep (John 10:11-13).

e) So, if you have been called to be a shepherd, let your motivation be a good shepherd! Say NO to become a hireling!