Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over Gods heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
[1 Peter 5:2-3]

"Feed..."

One of the most tasking jobs in any family is the daily preparation of food for the whole family. Ask any mother about her greatest challenge in the home, you will find out that it lies here, in the daily diligent preparation of food for the household. No matter how demanding the job of cooking good and balanced meal for the family is, a proper woman will never complain about taking up this enormous task, neither would she ever retire from it because of her love for her household. Instead, she does it with joy and gladness. She may spend hours in the kitchen just to prepare a single meal, especially the special delicacies that are the family delight, yet she does it joyfully. Many times, she even employs the assistance of a house maid or a cook specially for this task.
The kitchen is the most active place in the house. Resources must always be present, and exhausted foodstuffs are quickly and immediately replenished. The greater part of the family income goes right into the kitchen, and any family that fails in the area of feeding, supply, replenishment of feeding resources on a continuous basis, provision of balanced and delicious meals, that family has failed totally, no matter what else they may provide.

Feeding is work. It must not be done anyhow. It must not be monotonous. It must be delightful. The family must be daily fed, and that with balanced diet. The provision of the right meals at the right time is work in itself, and it must be thought through continuously. In addition, the mother checks up the physical appearance of the family to confirm if the food she is giving them shows on their bodies. She checks how healthy they are. She does not retire and take her hands off and say “thank God my children are now healthy, I have finished my task.” Because just a few days she refuses to feed her household properly, all the effects of the former years of feeding are wiped off. Until the children are matured to fend for themselves, the mother is not free...

The busiest place in any house, is not the bedroom, laundry or parlor, it is the kitchen. The kitchen determines the joy in any house to a large extent. If your children are looking good, it is because the kitchen looks good. Even though the kitchen is usually a hidden part of the house, which is not open to guests, yet, you cannot hide the quality of your kitchen from the public. If I need to know whether quality time, money and energy is being expended in the kitchen in preparing the best meals, I do not need to particularly visit your kitchen before I would know its quality, I only need to take a look at your household. Their outlook is a clear reflection of what the kitchen is like. It shows whether quality time is being spent in the kitchen and whether there are enough foodstuffs to cater for the wellbeing of the household.

The Bible speaks clearly here to men who have been entrusted with the flock of God. It says “Feed the flock…” As a vessel in Gods hands, your kitchen is the presence of God, and that is the place where the cooking is done. Anyone who fails to spend considerable quality time before the Lord to receive treasures from Him and cook the divine meal that will satisfy the flock, such a man is a failure already. It may take you 30 minutes to deliver a message to the flock, whereas you had spent hours before the Lord in the divine kitchen to get that glorious meal out. The pulpit is not the kitchen, it is just the dining table where the meal is served. But the kitchen is the presence of God where the man of God sweats it out, facing the heat, if the flock is going to be fed properly.

The Amplified Bible puts it like this: “Tend (nurture, guard, guide, and fold) the flock of God that is [your responsibility], not by coercion or constraint, but willingly, not dishonorably motivated by the advantages and profits [belonging to the office], but eagerly and cheerfully”

The work of feeding is not by constraint or by coercion. It is not what men should be forced, cajoled or begged to perform. It must not be done grudgingly. It must rather flow from the heart, a heart of compassion for the sheep needing shepherding and guidance, and who must never go astray. The cook (Shepherd) must search for the right kind and measure of food items/ingredients for a perfect meal for the right season, rightly dividing unto each, what is needed to specifically satisfy their individual needs.

Feeding is tasking, but the Shepherd does it joyfully. And it is NOT just filthy lucre, gifts, advantages or what he will make out of men that propels or motivates him, it is his passion to see souls saved and built up to the nurture of the Father.

“…neither as being lords over Gods heritage, but being ensamples to the flock...”

Proper leadership is not by being lords over Gods heritage, but by showing forth oneself as an example to the flock. Proper leadership is not basically an effect of speaking, it is an effect of living. It is the life that speaks, not the mouth. Commandeering and imposition cannot achieve anything spiritual in the lives of the flock. These are worldly tools and carnal methods imported from the world. They can only impose forced obedience upon innocent flocks, they cannot impute grace upon men.

Some people say “if you are not hard on the people, and you do not force them, you will not get anything done”. May I say clearly that whatever you achieve through this worldly method is not acceptable by the Lord, neither is it regarded by Him. In fact, it is written against you. Whatever success you think you achieved by carnal means, is NOT a spiritual work, it is part of those useless works that will be burnt off in the fire of Gods test, and it is a waste of energy and time. Whatever you get from the flock with the use of earthly methods that seem to work today, are the things you laid on them, not the ones coming out of them, so it is a spontaneous thing, an activity that never oozes out of life.

Many leaders use the flesh nature to do Gods work, and it appears to be moving the ministry forward. Your anger keeps men obedient, your boisterous nature keeps your subjects very submissive. People fear you because “you do not take nonsense”. You will quickly discipline people and shout over anyone who is not doing things right. You employ the self-life (which Jesus would have wanted to crucify at His cross) to perform Gods works. You engage the devils tools to augment divine assignments. And since you have become very overbearing, people tend to quickly obey and please you because they do not want problems. So things appear to be moving as you dictate and you tend to get quicker results in the so-called “Gods work” that you are doing, therefore, you think that Gods work is growing!!! No, it is NOT Gods work that is growing, it is your own work that is growing. People now fear you instead of fearing God. People become submissive to you, but with a grudging heart. They work tirelessly not as a result of their love for God, but because they are afraid of your discipline. The only Biblical way of leading is simply by examples, it is by life. Legality does not produce a true child of God, neither does it grow Christ life in men. Whatever you do because you were forced, or it was given you by rules and regulations, and it is not oozing forth out of the life within you based on your inner convictions and your personality, such works cannot produce anything for Gods kingdom.

Whatever affects the kingdom of God in the world must come from life. The works that are credited unto any man by God, and which affects eternity, are the once that protruded from a convicted heart. Whatever you say with your mouth has no effect except it agrees with your life. If whatever I am telling the flock to do with my mouth contradicts the kind of life I live, I must note that such information will not produce results, all that the flock will be catching and gathering from me, is my life, not my message.

If I want a prayerful church, then I must be prayerful. If I want a holy church, then I must be holy. I determine what goes on under me, not first by my message, but by my life. My message can only serve as a confirmation of the kind of life I carry. Therefore, the flock that I have led for some time is only a near reflection of the kind of person I am, not the kind of message I preach. Actually, my message is not the one I shout out with my voice, my true message is the one my life preaches. For spirituality to spread, it must proceed from me.

“Neither as being lords over Gods heritage...”

There are several leaders whom you want to respect or obey (because God commanded it), but you find out that you are forcing yourself to obey them. They do not command obedience by their carriage, yet they are the loudest and the most domineering. They are so boisterous and energetic, but somehow, you seem not to flow with them. The reason is because there is a question mark about their inner man that contradicts their mouth. This inner rottenness may not be visible to all, but it is present, therefore, you cannot connect with them.

A lord over Gods heritage is the leader who is more concerned and more consumed about the position he occupies than the assignment the position demands. The portfolio gets into his head and he thinks it is the nomenclature that exalts his personality. When you see a man saying “do you not know I am your Pastor?” It is clear that there is a quiet secret pride of nomenclature, an inherent arrogance that comes from worldly placements that is troubling him. Such pastors can never have a clear head to carry what God wants to place on it, because those heads are already saturated and filled up, carrying self.

“For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness, God is witness.” [1Thess. 2:3-5]

“…our exhortation… not of deceit… nor guile.”

Even though the word of God is largely preached everywhere today, and it appears as if multitudes have accepted the gospel, yet, when ministrations are being viewed under the microscopic radar of the Holy Ghost, you will find many ulterior motives behind various “call of God” we see around. Once a little talent or anointing is noticed in any life, different business setups called churches begin to spring up at all corners, shops and junctions in the name of ministries, and they deceive gullible men to get what is in their pockets.

People have hidden motives for preaching. They preach about giving to God, not because of the need for men to be spiritually balanced, but because of numerous church needs that they want met. They force men to comply, by preaching a powerful sermon on giving, and it is very evident in what is said, because all the analogies given easily betray the intrinsic desire for riches. Is our exhortation not becoming that of guile or deceits? Have we not pushed Jesus aside while still employing His glorious messages to force men to fulfill our selfish desires? Do we preach the gospel today solely because we want men to be saved and know The Lord? Is it not because you want to grow your ministry and add them to your fold? Is there a selfish motive buried in my heart for wanting to do Gods work? Do I want to be known? Do I want my name to be on the Internet and newspapers? Am I organizing church programs so that it can be on record that I also did something? What is my passion? What is my driving force? Is it Jesus and Jesus alone or there are some additions? Why do you call a meeting? Is there something you are trying to proof? Are you trying to outsmart someone or show someone your worth, or you just want Jesus to be glorified?

Are you in a new location, and you are trying to quickly register your presence? Do you want to show something in your wealth of wisdom and expertise, or you will rather wait on God for direction and guidance?

Are we beginning to heap praises, accolades, applause and special prayers upon a section of people because they gave much, thereby shaming and belittling those who do not have? Is the poor in the church now feeling marginalized and seeing God as wicked because money has not been released unto them? Are we not concentrating now on the quantity of what is given rather than the quality?

“2 mites” of a widow is now seen as rubbish compared with the $2million of a rich man because we are now celebrating quantity, no more quality. God is not interested in the quantity, He is instead checking the quality ... “Those who gave bountifully are those who gave something of greater quality, NOT necessarily greater quantity.”

“...be put in trust with the gospel...”

The gospel is a trust that God confers on the men who are bearing it about. If God has given you the word of His gospel, He expects you to guard it jealously from contamination and adulteration. Personal idiosyncrasies are not permitted to interfere with the fabrics of divine truth. God wants His words to be preserved in its raw, original form without undergoing any metamorphosis.

“...flattering words...”

Do you open special Bible passages of blessings to the people just to arouse them to give? These are flattering words, it is no more Bible. Do you heap curses found in Bible upon those who do not give? God wants our lives to radiate His glory to the world, not just our sweet mouths. God wants Himself revealed and seen as His Vessels carry Him around in the world. God is real and perfect therefore, you do not need to flatter God before God can be who He truly is, just keep it real and stick to the Bible.