A look at Spiritual Assessment

1 of 9: CUZ WRONG IS NOT THE STARTING POINT

In my work experience outside the church as an Army counterintelligence officer, I routinely liaised with other federal law enforcement officers from other agencies.  The Secret Service was one of these agencies.  The Secret Service is a part of the Treasury Department and the Service’s main mission, perhaps contrary to public perception, is not protection of the President, but the safeguarding of the integrity of the United States’ currency.   One of the ways they do this job is to train other Treasury agents and bank tellers to recognize counterfeit notes.   In this training, however the trainees are rarely exposed to counterfeit money;  if they do see it, it is usually in the context of testing their skill.  It is well established that the types and kinds of errors found in counterfeit notes are too numerous for anyone to reliably learn them all.   Instead, trainees are exposed almost exclusively to the genuine article.  Such a person so immersed in the genuine, it has been found, can more readily recognize a fake bill.   Knowing what “right” looks like enables the agent/teller/cashier to recognize the wrong.   This is a method which is tried and true; and it holds for biblical doctrines and spiritual maturation as well.  In this manner, a shepherd who is well-acquainted with the attributes of the genuine but narrow Way of Life can more readily recognize and assess when a sheep has strayed into the counterfeit or delinquent way.

2 of 9 WHAT RIGHT LOOKS LIKE

Discussions about shepherding often focus on the errant, the slow-goer, the unruly, the bitter, the backbiter, etc.  In such discussions, there are many examples of what unhealthy spirituality looks like, but what about how the healthy ones appear to us?  Can we even say there are healthy sinners?  With an unequivocal affirmative nod to the fact that we are talking about sinners, it is proper to say that souls can be truly healthy and still be in need, and no less than unhealthy ones, of shepherding.  What does a spiritually heathy person look like?  Is it described by a single set of biblical character traits? Is it simply love? Undoubtedly, Scripture provides the definitive statement on what is normal, healthy, and desirable character and behavior for those in Christ, but defining what a spiritually healthy person looks like is not simply a matter of composing a list.   It seems that any list we see is a product of a logically prior presence of something else, that the observable is begotten by the unobservable.  We must remind ourselves of the danger of logically reversing the words Galatians 5:16 which says correctly, “but I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”   It is the (largely) unobservable  walking by the Spirit which produces the fruit of the Spirit we would call Christ-likeness.

it’s an inside out kind of thing…

Tragically, this truth in Galatians 5:16 is all too often subtly reversed and lived out practically by many who are trapped in the error of legalism as, “do not carry out the desire of the flesh and you will walk by the Spirit.”  Realizing that all people are sinners and therefore have some degree of unhealthiness of course, the Bible teaches that the life which is truly transformed by grace and ‘subjected to Revelation,’ gives unmistakable evidence of the Spirit’s working in them which is prior to any deeds they might engage in.  The Spirit’s work is always prior to whatever good works a person does.  Salvation involves continuing, ongoing change which substantially conforms to Christ according to His word.  When all things become new, as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, it is unimaginable to think that changes will not occur and continue to be made to occur by the Holy Spirit of God.   It is foreign to the Word of God that there be no change in people’s thought feeling and action if they are Spirit-filled.  And the apostle Paul writes and Galatians 5:22-26 of those spiritual fruits which are produced when the indwelling presence power and provisions of God’s spirit are working in someone’s life.   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.                                                                                                  (Galatians 5:22-26) Paul, in Galatians 6:1 collectively calls those who exhibit these fruits “you who are spiritual,” in his call to ‘restore such a one caught in trespass in a spirit of gentleness.’  Spiritually healthy people are spiritually fruitful people.  The Old and New Testaments abound with descriptions of spiritual people such as we find in Galatians 5.[178]  All behavior, thoughts, feelings and emotions are to be ultimately measured, nurtured and tested by the word of God, but to the making of checklists there is no end.  Robert W. Evans offers a very helpful way to render a portrait of spiritually healthy people.  Evans’ portrait is helpful because it considers a healthy soul as exhibiting a distinctively Christian synthesis of believing, thinking, feeling and socialization.  The following as hallmarks of spiritually healthy people which correlate well with Scripture:

Integrity.  Spiritually Healthy people are consistent with themselves and across situations; they in do what is right no matter who is watching, they are straightforward and genuine in their speech and persona.  They do not quibble or equivocate; they are without guile. (Matthew 5:33-37; Ephesians 5:11-16, James 5:12)

Personal Courage. Spiritually Healthy people face adversity, persecution, opposition and danger in the fear of God, and not in fear of man; they do not posture or adjust in order to please others.  Their lives are a long obedience in the right direction even if, and especially if, that obedience is not popular with others. (Galatians 1:10; Acts 5:27-32, Psalm 15:4) 

Loyalty. Healthy people are able to follow through on what they say they will do.  They are faithful and reliable in their commitments; they take care to keep their promises, vows and calling; they are dependable and devoted to God and to their brothers and sisters in the Lord. (Luke 16:10-16, Revelation 3:15-16)

Self-control. Spiritually Healthy people are able to express a wide range of emotions without sinning; they neither hard-hearted Easter-Island stone-faces nor are mercurial self-defensive loose cannons.  They expressions both of joy and anger are biblically motivated and expressed. (Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 3:5; John 2:13-22; Acts 17:16; 2 Corinthians 4:5; 13:1-4, 10, James 5:19-21)

Teachability.  Spiritually Healthy people are good at what they do; they know their own strengths and weaknesses and eagerly accept instruction from others.  When biblically corrected, they receive it and make changes.  They rejoice in doing what they are good at and seeing their giftedness used for the benefit of others. (Romans 12:3-21; James 3:13-18)

Moral Responsibility.  Spiritually Healthy people personally own their words, actions and choices and do it without laying blame or offering excuses.  They do not apologize (i.e., explain why they did wrong) but instead seek forgiveness biblically (Matthew 18); and grant it readily when others request it; when in leadership they differentiate wisely showing no favoritism, and subordinate their own personal concerns to the truth and to the benefit of others. (Prov 19:11; Matthew 6:9-13; 18:15-17; James 2:1-13;  Philippians 2:5-11)

Creativity. Healthy people express their thoughts and feelings in ways that influence, encourage, help and build up others in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

Self-awareness. Spiritual Healthy people are aware of their personality and individuality and how they come across to others in their traits, tendencies feelings and behavior. They are good listeners and are able to read situations and make adjustments to their behavior and demeanor according to changing conditions. (Matthew 3:1-12; 7:1-4, 15-27; 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, 11:28; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 6:3-5)

Respect.  The Spiritually Healthy are heavenly-minded toward people and treat others as they should be treated: with dignity and with understanding their individuality, and expect others to do the same toward them.  Respect is seeing people in the eternal way, as image bearers and if in Christ, as heirs of glory. (Genesis 1:27; Exodus 20:1-17 Matthew 22:36-40; James 3:1-12)

Adaptability.  Spiritual Healthy people are comfortable with the unknowable; they are able to hold differing ideas, beliefs and feelings in tension when required; they interact with others who disagree with them without hostility; the tie of fellowship does not turn on every issue they advocate.  They avoid cliches, emotionally charged language, hackneyed catchphrases, affected spiritual talk and oversimplification of the mysteries that God.  They are OK with saying, “I don’t know,” and resist the compulsion to offer trite explanations of those ways of God which He has seen fit, according to his great wisdom and mercy, to keep hidden from us behind the veil.  Ambiguity doesn’t daunt them, rather, it moves them toward greater seeking of God through His word. (Proverbs 16:27-30, 18:17; Matthew 5:21-26; Romans 12:14-21, 14:1-23; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Titus 3:8-11)

3 of 9: THERE IS NO CHECKLIST FOR SPIRITUAL MINISTRY

The list of attributes of spiritually healthy people in the previous post is certainly not an exhaustive and complete list of every attribute which indicates spiritual maturity and health.   What is valuable about the portrait is not its comprehensiveness but its approach.  The standards are not doctrinal only, not intellectual only, not experiential only, not inter-personal only, but are spiritual, mental, relational and emotional altogether.  Only the One who searches the hearts of men can be truly accurate on these things, of course – but experience has taught me having a common, collaboratively developed, biblically informed, yet admittedly imperfect, picture of genuine spiritual health and maturity is a useful tool in the process of making an assessment of sheep.  

This task cannot be done around a meeting table.  My experience is that a lot of elders believe it can, and approach it like it is an inspection of their automobile maintenance record.  (Really an elder visit is best seen as an assessment of the shepherding ministry and not an assessment of the member’s soul).  Far too many pastors and elders set out to assess people using the visit.  But without first laying a solid, intentional and sustained foundation of personal knowledge of the sheep, they err greatly. 

All too often, elders and pastors act to bring a sheep back to the fold only after an extended period of neglect or inactivity, often attempting to make up for months of shepherding neglect by suggesting an annual visit or sending a “carefully worded letter of concern.”  But the longer a sheep fails to attend or avoids contact with the church, the harder it is to reclaim them.  The traditional approach of the “annual elder visit” is of very limited value when it comes to reclaiming sheep; in fact, when there is little or no regular and frequent (two weeks or less) shepherding contact, annual visits are ineffective as a shepherding method in general; research suggests that the timeframe for reclaiming straying members is six to eight weeks. 

WOE TO THE ARROGANT ELDER OR PASTOR WHO BELIEVES THAT NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS. 

Anecdotal evidence from my own experience suggests that the window of recovery for a straying member is even shorter than 6 weeks when there are outside stressors.  This validates a need for a more frequent and regular way to maintain contact and involvement with the sheep in an elder’s district (shepherd-elder group).  There is simply is no substitute for frequent personal involvement, prayer and the just and humble application of the Word of God in the work of shepherding to know the sheep and care for them.  The characteristics in the last post which describe healthy sheep are just some of those most useful ones in helping elders and pastors assess spiritual development among the sheep of his charge. 

Experience and personal contact are essential.   Shepherd-elders must be able to listen, observe and then to improvise and adapt, as the Westminster Larger Catechism points out, there is a difference in sanctification among believers.  It is a given precept that no two people are so alike; all too often ministers and elders wind up speaking platitudes and hackneyed formulae AT the sheep when they ought to be asking a lot of open questions TO them and then LISTENING attentively before revealing their own thoughts. 

I once worked in a nuclear weapons program as head of an assembly team.  Everything we did, including disposal of the packing materials after (ahem, simulated) firing of the weapon, was governed by a detailed checklist from which no departure was allowed.  The checklist gave us comfort and clarity in our work, and helped us lay aside the notions arising from our thoughts about the grizzly nature and implications of what we were training for.  The checklist was designed to anticipate every contingency; there was never a question of what to say or do.  In fact, the checklist even mandated, in almost every case when a situation arose which was not in the checklist, that the answer was to destroy the weapon with explosives or sledgehammers! 

I have had to endure far too many hours in the presence of elders and pastors who love to wrangle over checklists for church visitation (presbytery level) and member visitation (session level) while they remain aloof from personal contact with those they are supposed to visit.  Checklists are indeed very useful for mechanical tasks, but they are not so helpful (even are UNhelpful) for spiritual tasks.  Just about every situation in the realm of spiritual issues has unanticipated conditions; as such, TNT and sledgehammers are just not viable options for the shepherd-elder.   It seems the usefulness of a checklist to carry out a task decreases in inverse proportion to the task’s spirituality.  Nuclear weapons assembly is a purely mechanical endeavor; there is nothing spiritual or relational about it, so a checklist works very well.   But shepherding souls might properly be seen as the exact polar opposite of assembling nuclear weapons; there is nearly nothing about shepherding that is mechanical. Tinkering with visiting checklists and questionnaires is no fit way to shepherd souls.

4 of 9 MINISTRY IS ABOUT CHRIST

In assessing the sheep we ought to ask questions to get at what is essential to the ministry of Christ; in fact this is where we ought to start (and to stay).  There are no set questions, no checklist, just a spiritual precept of the nature of the ministry of Christ.  We should start by asking along these lines:

>>Is the person in question one who affirms the Gospel? 

>>If not, are they unreached or they a covenant child who has not yet professed faith? 

>>If this person affirms the Gospel, what is the state of their growth in view of the ministry of Christ? 

Four areas of exploration comprise a sort of grid through which elders may pass their assessments of the sheep.  So, for any particular sheep, we may ask questions such as these (or like questions which get at repentance, teachability, forgiveness and growth in grace):

>>What is the character of their penitence and their use of penance?

>> What is their tendency toward asking for and granting forgiveness?

>>What degree of willingness to they have to greater piety?

>>In what direction are they changing: positively or negatively according to Christlikeness (sanctification)?

Notice how none of these questions is able to be answered yes or no; that’s because we want to think biblically and according to biblical terms.   Asking these and like questions yields three, yea four categories of spiritual conditions among the body of Christ:

>>The Healthy (substantially faithful and serving in the church), 

>>The Lost (unreached and straying), 

>>The Suffering (spirit-weak and grieving), and 

>>The Unruly (flesh-strong and self-serving); 

We will discuss the spiritual traits of those who are spiritually healthy first and then get more specific about the unhealthy conditions under a separate heading. When it comes to assessing the spiritual health of sheep, keeping in mind characteristics of spiritually healthy people, I ask the questions in my thinking and also pray for the sheep along these lines, no matter what their condition.  It is imperative that the shepherd-elders are intentional about meeting together for the purpose of going through this process together from time to time. These characteristics also serve as a way to discuss how we might collectively develop different kinds of shepherding approaches to the different kinds of sheep under our care.  Assessment is not an end in itself after all – but having a useful model which is biblically faithful and reliable can provide a good starting point in the care of souls.

5 of 9 HEARING NOTHING DOES NOT MEAN ALL IS OKAY – IT MEANS YOU’RE BEING LAZY

There is a danger for shepherd-elders to be hands-off with the healthy.  There are some understandable yet unacceptable reasons for this.  First, healthy sheep will not bleat when they do not receive attention; they regard others as better than themselves, after all.  Shepherds neglect them easily under the cop-out that ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.’  One elder even brashly told me, ‘if I don’t hear anything from them (his elder group) I assume everything is fine.’  This was an elder who consistently rushed to be in front and be seen – especially during worship, but was a lazy, inert man – even a dangerous one, in his WORKship.

Shepherding by exception is slothful, and leads to discouragement among the sheep and breeds an uncaring and callous attitude in an elder.  Unfortunately, it is the most common method I have seen employed among shepherd-elders. 

In fact, the laissez faire approach leaves the sheep open to attack.  Those who are healthy can be just as vulnerable as those who are not. 

Another reason healthy sheep are often neglected is that it is something of a device of our souls’ enemy to keep us busy and in the muck because we think it is in our power to change others if we just put enough work into it.   Often well-intentioned shepherds believe the lie that they can “fix” delinquent souls if they just pay enough attention to them or say the right words.  This lie acts like flypaper and shepherd-elders wind up spending ninety percent of their time with ten percent of the congregation, often the ten percent that is not growing or interested in growing.   Meanwhile, the healthy and growing are left vulnerable.  

But healthy sheep need love, affirmation, and encouragement.  And they can help the ministry too.

They can derive great benefit from their shepherd-elders showing and encouraging them in the ways God is working in and through them.  This is especially true of the slow-grower and slightly fruitful believer. Moreover, neglect of healthy sheep is a factor in undermining the ministry of Christ.  Shepherd-elders should be leaning forward to enlist the healthy sheep among the flock as those to involve as fellow-workers in building up the body, for when the healthy sheep are tended well by their ministers and elders, they readily follow their example and become workers who can come alongside the shepherd-elders and share the load of caring for the slow-growers and recalcitrant among the rest of the flock.

6 of 9: UNHEALTHY SHEEP: THE LOST, THE SUFFERING, AND THE UNRULY

Martin Bucer’s taxonomy of lost, the straying, the injured and broken, the weak, and the strong is no doubt a good one, but there is a wrinkle in it. (Martin Bucer, Concerning the True Care of Souls, p.70) While his robust biblicism is to be emulated, Bucer’s reading of the conditions enumerated in Ezekiel 34:16 as lost, straying, injured/broken, weak and strong is a tad problematic (see italics below)

The description of “strong”  in Ezekiel 34:16 is not to be seen in a positive sense, but to identify those who are proud and self-serving.  This is evident from the following verses of Ezekiel 34, where the strong are judged and set against the rest of the sheep; moreover, there is the preferred reading of “destroy” with reference to the strong in verse 16.   This rejoinder against the proud and self-serving among God’s people is no isolated occurrence.  

Jesus rebukes those Pharisees who think they are strong in John 9:40-41: “Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”  Our Lord’s rebuke in John 9:40-41 leads directly to the John 10 shepherd illustration /parable in which Jesus reversed the tables on Israel’s so-called shepherds. It is the so-called strong, self-assured and so-called seeing Pharisees who are blind, having just oppressed the man Jesus healed from blindness, who declares Jesus as a prophet and the one who opened his eyes.  Upon learning Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, the now seeing man declares to Jesus, ‘Lord, I do believe.’ For this the blind shepherds put him out from the synagogue. 

The arrogant “we see” attitude of the Pharisees is just what Ezekiel meant when he was talking about the destruction of the strong.  They are those of whom Amos was speaking, “Those who say ‘The calamity will not overtake or confront us.’”  (Amos 9:10). Bucer’s work in “Concerning the True Care of Souls” is landmark, no question.  However, for simplicity sake, I prefer reducing and simplifying the categories Bucer offers by boiling things down a bit. 

Bucer’s use of Ezekiel 34:16 is helpful (largely the pattern I am using here) and obviously, we are to affirm the whole counsel of God in this task; there are other Scripture passages which teach about various spiritual conditions among the sheep.  It fits well alongside 1 Thessalonians 5:14 as a guide for classification of the sheep: “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” 

Jesus’ kingdom parables also give help to us in realizing the importance of this task of assessment.  The Parables of the Soils, the Wheat and Tares, the Lost Coin, the Pearl of Great Price, the Prodigal Son, the Ninety Nine plus One, are just a few.  And again, The parable of the Ten Virgins puts into perspective what is at stake – the souls of people in eternity.  Such other useful passages abound, of course, e.g., 2 Peter 1:5-11 on the increase of Christ-likeness; 1 Corinthians 13 on love, 1 Corinthians 5:9-13, Colossians 3, on the necessity of personal and community holiness.

WE ASK THE SAME QUESTIONS ABOUT UNHEALTHY SHEEP AS WE DO ABOUT HEALTHY SHEEP

It’s helpful to reiterate the questions we ought to seek to answer which we previously stated in the healthy sheep section. (v.s.)  Again, our concern is assessing the sheep according to what is essential to the ministry of Christ.

• What is the character of their penitence and their use of penance?  
• What is their tendency toward asking and granting forgiveness? 
• What degree of willingness to they have to greater piety? 
• In what direction are they changing: positively or negatively according to Christ our sanctification? 

The goal of assessing the spiritual condition sheep is to make a humble estimate as to the three (yea, four) conditions, (The Lost, The Suffering, The Unruly) so as sustain or restore them by encouraging seeking, strengthening and healing them with knowledge and wisdom.  It is helpful to make some observations and distinctions among these categories.  

What differentiates The Unruly, The Suffering and The Lost from each other?  There is some overlap among the categories, of course.  An Unruly person is a rebel against authority, but may not be exclusively Unruly but also Suffering;  likewise an Suffering person is under a trial or chastisement in some way. 

Unruly persons can undoubtedly also a Suffering person in some way; and in fact, an Unruly person may actually be Lost.   Lost sheep are either the elect we have not met who are outside the church or are those in the visible body who are persistently straying or have rejected the ongoing exhortation to confess Christ and departs the body. 

The Suffering and Lost sheep may not be Unruly, and as most Lost sheep are initially those visibly outside of Christ (not being members), so an assessment of unruliness doesn’t apply like it does to those in the visible church.  Non-communicant children who grow to adulthood and leave the church having never professing faith are unruly, yet the shepherds’ concern for their unruliness is, initially at least, confined to their ongoing exhortation to repent and believe, i.e., to seek their conversion to Christ.  The following is an attempt to distinguish the three, yea, four spiritual conditions from each other.

NOTE:

Reading Ezekiel 34:16f as “the strong and sleek I will watch over” (Bucer) rather than “the strong and fat I will destroy” reflects textual variance between the underlying text Bucer used in his work, “Concerning the True Care of Souls” (i.e., LXX, Vulgate and Syriac) and the Leningrad Codex (BHS) which AV uses (also RV, ASV, NAS, ESV, etc.).  My church’s confessional standards imply a preference for Hebrew (WCF I.8); moreover, the subsequent context does not support a favorable connotation to the meaning of strong and sleek (or fat) in Ezekiel 34:16 (cf. Ezekiel 34:4).  The variance, however, does not at all diminish the value and impressiveness of Bucer’s work.  At all.

7 of 9: MAKING DIFFERENTIAL ASSESSMENTS

A useful tool in making differential assessments of the nature of sins reflecting underlying spiritual conditions such as the categories offered here is offered by Dr. Jeff Doll in his counseling manual, Diagnostic Prescription and Teaching Manual: Introduction. 

• Some sins, for instance, are matter of ignorance, a function of one’s lack of biblical knowledge or understanding.  James 4:17, Job 1:5 (among others) implies that simple ignorance, while not exculpatory, is in some way a mitigation which requires patience on the part of the shepherd. 

• Some sins are due to neglect of responsibility or duty or neglect of devotional life or means of grace; some are neglect borne of simple laziness. 

• Other sins may be associated with an improper response to life’s circumstances, the actions of others or to the observable effects of sin in the world, behavior (e.g., bitterness, hostility, gossip, callousness, apathy, insulting, condemnation, and maligning) toward persons, places or things.  Such sin also is observable as self-destructive behavior, such as substance abuse and addictions and even self-harm. 

• Some sins are particularly due to idolatry (though all sins are some form of it).  Idolatry of self (entitlement, self-righteousness, self-pity, overindulgence) , or things (e.g., ‘workaholicism,’ love of money, stinginess, prodigality or dependence) or idolatry of others (fear of man, pleasing, infatuation, dependence, favoritism, sycophantism).

• Some sins are borne of outright defiance of God, i.e., sins of the ‘high hand,’ (cf. His will or against proper authority or rules.)  Having a good idea of the nature of the sin behind the behavior is a key to applying the right kind of correction, reproof, rebuke, discipling, encouraging, etc.  One size does not fit all, as the word of God says in Numbers 15:27-31: ‘Also if one person sins unintentionally, then he shall offer a one year old female goat for a sin offering.  The priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally, making atonement for him that he may be forgiven.  You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them. But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people.  Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him.’”

The Westminster Larger Catechism reflects this principle of differential severity in questions 150 through 152:

Question 150: Are all transgressions of the law of God equally heinous in themselves, and in the sight of God?

Answer: All transgressions of the law of God are not equally heinous; but some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.

Question 151: What are those aggravations that make some sins more heinous than others?

Answer: Sins receive their aggravations, From the persons offending: if they be of riper age, greater experience or grace, eminent for profession, gifts, place, office, guides to others, and whose example is likely to be followed by others. From the parties offended: if immediately against God, his attributes, and worship; against Christ, and his grace; the Holy Spirit, his witness, and workings; against superiors, men of eminency, and such as we stand especially related and engaged unto; against any of the saints, particularly weak brethren, the souls of them, or any other, and the common good of all or many. From the nature and quality of the offense: if it be against the express letter of the law, break many commandments, contain in it many sins: if not only conceived in the heart, but breaks forth in words and actions, scandalize others, and admit of no reparation: if against means, mercies, judgments, light of nature, conviction of conscience, public or private admonition, censures of the church, civil punishments; and our prayers, purposes, promises, vows, covenants, and engagements to God or men: if done deliberately, wilfully, presumptuously, impudently, boastingly, maliciously, frequently, obstinately, with delight, continuance, or relapsing after repentance. From circumstances of time and place: if on the Lord’s day, or other times of divine worship; or immediately before or after these, or other helps to prevent or remedy such miscarriages: if in public, or in the presence of others, who are thereby likely to be provoked or defiled.

Question 152: What does every sin deserve at the hands of God?

Answer: Every sin, even the least, being against the sovereignty, goodness, and holiness of God, and against his righteous law, deserves his wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come; and cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ.

Yes, sin is sin is sin is sin, and all sin is forgiven only because of the blood of Christ.  Yet there is a clear sense of difference in the approach shepherding-wise between a 16 year old girl who gossips and maligns her fellows and 60-some elder or minister who does so.  One may arise from ignorance, inexperience immaturity and frailty; the other may come from a place pride, hostility and fear of man.  They are not alike, one being weak and possibly lost, and the other – being really unruly callous etc., and mulled over; not being alike, they should not be dealt with alike.

8 of 9: THE UNHEALTHY SPIRITUAL CONDITIONS

The Unruly…

… who 1 Thessalonians 5:14 directs us to admonish, i.e., confront with corrections rebuke and reproof, are those somewhat rare and truly selfish individuals who inhabit the church, but foment favoritism and divisiveness, and inwardly regarding themselves as better than others. (Titus 3:10-11, Hebrews Jude 4, 12; Romans 2:4-5). 

• Many of The Unruly are adept at disguising their behavior as Christian concern and zeal for purity, (Matthew 23:23-28) but are incorrigible with respect to sanctification themselves, evening claiming their lack of change as evidence of their faithfulness. (John 9:13-17; 24-34).
• Some of The Unruly may be those so-called sheep who having tasted and recognized the grace and power of the gospel and for a while embraced it, and perhaps have professed unbelief and fallen away. (Hebrews 6:4-8)  Scripture testifies that these never belonged to the sheep of Christ, (John 16:3) as their leaving and staying apart from Him proves that they went out from Christ because they never were of Him. (1 John 2:28-19) 
• These are also Ananias and Sapphira; (Acts 5:1-4) nominal, formalist and very likely false, likely they are not sheep at all; spiritually incorrigible and in their Christian witness is merely ersatz, (Matthew 6:1-6) one will never hear from them the question which the innocent apostles asked the Lord in the Upper Room, “Is it I, Lord?” (Matthew 26:20-25) 
• They may be generous givers, but they expect power and status for their money. (Luke 14:12-13)  They are those who exhibit entitlement, critical spirit,  show and demand favoritism, are inwardly unforgiving, unrepentant and unteachable, outwardly demanding justice, esteem and honor. (Luke 18:9-14; 2 Corinthians 11:12-15 Galatians 1:10) 
• These often use position to gain favor, they hold as hostage their participation in the work and worship of the church until a ransom of capitulation to their demands is paid. (Galatians 5:19-21) 
• They form parties and factions; these are the divisive who move erratically according to anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech and addictions to fleshly things. (Ephesians 4:25-32) 
• These lead closed off, diseased and emotionally immature lives and are ineffective Christians.  (Revelation 3:15-17)  They are the whitewashed sepulchers, sheep-fleecers, (Matthew 23:23-24, 27-28) they are the self-willed, often self-deceived, (James 1:23, 26-27) worldly minded, (Jude 17-23) what Matthew Mead would call the “Almost Christian.”

The Suffering sheep who grieve…

…are those grieving sheep who remain the in the church but are either weak or faint-hearted (grieving); 

• Grief is not always a departure from healthiness, it comes upon us all. 
• Grief becomes destructive when it is defining and persistent and the one grieving is not serving others in the church; when it becomes inward focused. 
• Grieving does not necessarily involve the death of someone; it refers to a state of deprivation of some kind. 
• Often grieving can be applied to sheep who are beset with some kind of loss, disappointment or setback or oppressed by the unpleasant or embarrassing consequences of their own sin or another’s sin against them. 
• Grief is the state of the soul in sorrow, and perhaps that sorrow is godly sorrow, perhaps it is not. 
• Grief comes upon all manner of people: the sick, the aging, the lonely, the guilty, the show that their concerns and demeanor remain focused on themselves; these are those either those undergoing trials which come upon them or who may be guilty of committing all kinds of personal sins, and are reaping the consequences. 
• Grieving people maybe they may for a time be completely fruitless. 

The Suffering who are weak …

…are sheep who, though they remain in the church and do not fall into obvious sin, are weak in faith and love and devoid of the fruits of the Christian life. 

• Weak sufferers are the slow-growers, likely very lacking in the depth of faith or personal piety; they are almost always focused on themselves; they do not serve in the church or serve others at all, really.  If they do serve, it is often in some way that affords them the opportunity to duck out of worship and hang around the sound board or get the coffee going halfway through the sermon.  Perhaps they don’t serve others because they have not been taught to it or because of temperament. 
• Weak people are often reluctant to forgive others or seek forgiveness from them, they prefer a perfunctory “sorry” to the vulnerability of asking forgiveness.   They may exhibit outward aggression (passive or active) and can be prone to anger and easily slighted and prone to “petty piques” (this is true especially those secretly addicted to pornography, drugs, alcohol or gambling). 
• These weak sheep are not usually victims others’ oppression or injustice, but can be.  Either way, they are sinners who have yet to bring holiness to completion in the fear of God.  (2 Corinthians 7:1)
• Often the weak lack heavenly mindedness, being double minded, their prayers focus on the extension of comfort in this world. (Luke 9:62; James 1:5-8, Colossians 3:2)
  • When struck with illness the weak fear death and may find fault with God over their trials. (Hebrew 12:5-11, Romans 8:18, 1 Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4, 65:17) 
  • They are still learning love and wisdom, often being loath to help their neighbor and can be gossipy and censorious. (James 2:14-17, 3:9-10, 13-18) 
  • They possess the weakness of legalism and a spirit of delight in the faults of others (Acts 15, Romans 14:5-9; Galatians 3:1-5; Colossians 2:16-29; 2 Corinthians 13:3-4, 2 John 4, 3 John 4)  they may maintain the appearance of godliness but deny its power (2 Timothy 3:1-9) when outed through exposure of their inner selves to others, they are embarrassed and devastated, often casting blame on others for their own behavior. (Proverbs 16:18; Hebrews 12:15; John 3:19-21; 16:3)

Watch for Prayerlessness

Many suffering sheep, whether grieving or weak, seem to be constantly under self-oppression and self-pity. (1 Corinthians 10:23-33) 

These sheep are those who, though they are not lost, often appear to be apart from Christ because they exhibit self-centeredness, fruitlessness, and especially prayerlessness. (Romans 14:1; Matthew 12:33-37; Psalm 14:4; 53:4; 79:6; Isaiah 43:22; 64:6-7; Jeremiah 10:21,25; Daniel 9:13; Hosea 7:7; Zephaniah 1:6).

The Lost Sheep…

…are those who include all those elect who do not yet call upon and recognize the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord; they are those who are outside the visible church; they are the unreached sheep. (Matthew 24:22; Revelation 6:11) 

• Lost sheep can also be those who are straying; typically straying sheep are those who have tasted the heavenly gift and walked with Christ and have been involved in the Christian life; (Matthew 13:18-23)  perhaps these have been baptized into the visible church but yet remain outside the invisible church. 
• Often they are the “Christmas-Easter” type of member. 
• Perhaps their idleness and detachment is owing to some slight or embarrassment; perhaps they have become unevenly yoked with unbelievers or consumed with the love of money.  Whether they have gone away from the Christian life through negligence, through slackness, through caring more for the world, through fear of persecution, they appear to be outside; they are strays, and shepherd-elders must work to rescue them restore them to the flock.
• The Lost are like the five virgins, their lamps untrimmed, their souls unconcerned and unprepared for the bridegroom to appear (Matthew 22:1-10).  They are recognizable in the church as those (especially young people in the church) who, when invited to the feast spend their time with other things of their own interest, with sampling other faiths, other spiritual pursuits, worshipping the god of their making. (Romans 1:28-32) 
• These are those who hear the call to escape God’s fearsome judgment, who hear the call to faith and repentance but back look longingly upon Sodom and Gomorrah, (Genesis 19:23-26) who look back once they put their hand to the plow. (Luke 9:62).
• The Lost are guilty of personally excluding themselves from Christ, (Hebrews 12:23; 2 Chronicles 30:8) by outwardly exhibiting an individual divisiveness and inwardly regarding Christ as worth nothing. (Hebrews 6:4-8) 
• They are the prayerless and those bereft of faith. 
• The souls of many of these, if they are not the soil of the trodden path, are the thorny and rocky soils cowed by worldliness and persecution, both of which bear no fruit.[198]
  • Seeking the Lost Sheep.
    • The unreached sheep simply do not know Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Word and true preaching of the Gospel.  Ignorance and unbelief are their main traits. 
  • Returning the Straying sheep.
    • …on the other hand, often manifest in acts of gross private and public immorality, neglect of means of grace (especially prayer) and unresponsive, even evasive, when confronted.  Many of these are very familiar with the language of Zion, but lack understanding and have never known Christ truly. (1 John 2:19) 

In both cases, whether unreached or straying, it is the shepherd’s duty to seek and rescue them, to bring them into the flock (Ezekiel 34:11-16; Matthew 18:12-13; John 10:16) through the preaching and demonstration of the Gospel with power and boldness. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

9 of 9: MOVING FROM ASSESSMENT TO ACTION

The aim of this series of articles has been to delineate and attempt to qualify what is meant by delinquent members and healthy members.  It is every Christian’s responsibility in the body of Christ to care for and love each other according each one’s general office.  

The shepherd-elders, are those general office (of believer) holders who are particularly elected, ordained and installed into another office (of elder) to carry out and to devote themselves particularly this love and care as a calling from the church (of believers and their children). 

This care cannot be done by exception, (i.e., only acting in cases when  straying becomes obvious); in other words, the elder must not have the attitude that ‘no new is good news’ when it comes to caring for souls.  The true care of souls must be taken up conscientiously, constantly, intentionally, and wisely – but never without others’ similarly called, elected, ordained and installed as they are – (i.e., without a ‘multitude of counselors’). 

Assessment of others’ souls is not to be done from afar or rashly; rarely do objective criteria (such as attendance and giving) yield a good picture of a soul’s condition.  Assessment, then is fraught with danger when it relies primarily on paperwork.  Such care demands  that an elder and his brothers join with their minster(s) to do the work up close and over the long term in the assessment of the spiritual condition of the sheep.  This is what love demands and it must done be out of a sincere love for the sheep — who, after all, belong to none other than Jesus, the Good Shepherd Himself. 

Faithful shepherd-elders must be constantly aware of the weight and importance of their calling, and as holders in one of the perpetual offices of the church, dutifully and faithfully carry out their stewardship of the keys of the kingdom of God as their do the work of nurturing the saints.

This is an age in which the Church is seen more as a theater in which to perform than what it really is, the place for the care and cure of sick souls.  Christ, the Great Physician, through his servants, restores what is lost through sound diagnosis and wise treatment of the afflictions with the medicine of the Gospel.  John Chrysostom (347-407 AD) says:

“For indeed the school of the church is an admirable surgery, a surgery not for bodies but for souls. For it is spiritual, and sets right, not fleshly wounds, but errors of the mind and of these errors and wounds the medicine is the word.”

The shepherd-elder work involves “pressing flesh” with the sheep; it is involvement and investment with the sheep.   The ministry of the Word and prayer is essential in this.  Shepherd-elders should men of prayer and possess wisdom in their use Word of God.  Sadly many are more concerned with the show of souls on Sunday than with the care of souls on Monday.

The shepherd-elders must spend themselves in the work of giving biblical counsel and spiritual remedy (medicine) in getting the sinner to recognize their sin as it truly is. Most times gently, sometimes sternly, but always ‘truthing it in love’ (cf. Ephesians 4:15) they are to exhort them, relying on the Spirit of God, to a position of true sorrow and regret for their sins.  Their work is no mere exercise – it really is ‘where the rubber meets the road,’ so to speak, for prayerfully assessing and discerning whether godly repentance is evident is the essential beginning to their work.  This work is no thing to be taken lightly or ignored. 

Encouraging the penitent, and exhorting the rest, they are to comfort the souls of Christ’s sheep with a view toward strengthening their hope in the grace of Christ so that they may become more engaged and desiring of true sanctification in this life and glory in the next. 

Whether they be delinquent or healthy, unreached or straying, otherwise suffering, or even unruly, all the sheep of the flock are to be cared for and loved by the shepherd-elders.  This care and love, as many who have undertaken to instruct elders in their tasks have written and taught, is shown in four areas or functions: Knowing, Tending, Guiding and Guarding.

NEXT:  Getting to work.