The Shepherd’s Voice

For the past several weeks I have been entrenched in a study of Biblical leadership. The reason… my home church is preparing to study the service of an elder and what qualities he should have. All of this in hopes to recognize a few men of God to shepherd this flock.

One of the books that I went to re-read in preparation for this process was Lynn Anderson’s “They Smell Like Sheep”. First of all I have to say that this book is an absolutely wonderful work on this topic. Not only does Anderson deal with many “key issues” for appointing elders, but he also encourages any Christian leader to follow the biblical model of leadership.

The Bible uses one main metaphor for describing biblical leadership… a shepherd. Now, I grew up in the country (the son of a farmer even). In all those years of moving pipe and driving tractors, the country-side lacked the sight of a flock of sheep following their shepherd. This is not a picture we are used to today in our world. But in biblical times, this was a common sight. People understood the implications of what God and Jesus were saying when they compared themselves to a “Good Shepherd”.

In one particular instance (John 10), Jesus even says that the sheep follow him (and not a stranger) because they “know his voice”.

Anderson relates a story about what his friend Roy observed while watching a few shepherds pass through a gorge and “mixing” their flocks.

“As the shepherds headed their separate ways, the mass of sheep streaming behind them automatically divided into smaller flocks, each flock stringing down the branch trail behind its appropriate shepherd. When the various shepherds and their flocks were distanced from each other by a few hundred yards, each shepherd turned to scan his own sheep, noting that some strays had been left behind and were wandering in confusion among the rocks and bush.

Then one of the shepherds cupped his hands around his mouth and called in a strange, piercing cry, “Ky-yia-yia-yia-yia.” At this shout, a couple of stray lambs perked up their ears and bounded toward his voice. Then a second shepherd tilted back his head calling with a distinctly different sound, “Yip-yip-yip-yipoo-yip.” A few more strays hurried straight toward him. Then another called his strays with a shrill, “Hoot-hoot-hoot.” Each shepherd, in turn, called.

Each of the strays, hearing a familiar voice, knew exactly which shepherd he should run to. In fact… none of the wandering sheep seemed to notice any voice but the voice of his own shepherd.”

A shepherd knows his flock, and the sheep know him… they trust him… they follow him. The same should be true of any Christian leader. We need to know our flock and we need to be a shepherd they are willing to follow.