Shepherd others by Giving them a Proper Pattern: Feed them with our Living of Christ

The best way for us to shepherd people, to cherish and nourish them, is to give them a proper pattern or to point them to a proper pattern in the Bible; we need to feed the ones we are caring for with our own living of Christ, setting a pattern before them to foster them and help them grow in life.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, we see the pattern of Paul; he did not only encourage the saints with the word of God but fed them with his own living of Christ.

Paul made mention again and again of the kind of entrance the apostles had before the saints.

He pointed to their own conduct as a pattern to the saints.

The manner in which the apostles were with the saints was a pattern to them.

May we be such ones. May we be those who enjoy Christ and live Christ to such an extent that even our own living of Christ feeds the saints and fosters their growth in life.

We are the Lord’s ambassadors on the earth; we express Him and represent Him.

Whether at home or abroad, we want to gain the honour of being well-pleasing to the Lord.

We want to be pleasing to Him when we live at home and when we’re not at home.

To be well-pleasing to the Lord is to live Christ, to grow in Christ, to express Christ, and to propagate Christ in every respect.

This means that we need to be one with the Lord in everything. Oh, Lord Jesus.

In our daily living, in our being with our spouse and our family, and in being with our workmates at work and the people on the street, we need to express Christ.

Our living should no longer be to ourselves or for our own goal; it should be to the Lord.

May we allow the Lord to constrain us with His love day by day so that we would no longer live to ourselves but to Him.

May His mighty love be like a great tide flooding us and leading us to where He wants us to be.

May we be under the Lord’s direction, being impelled by His love, so that we may fulfill His requirements and satisfy His desire.

When we see the Lord’s love toward us and are constrained by His love, we will yield to Him, and our living will be to the Lord, not for ourselves.

We will desire to please God, satisfy His desires, and complete what He intends to do. Oh, Lord Jesus!

May we be such ones today. May we be those who live Christ and express Him in all that we are and do.

May we allow Him to constrain us with His love so that we would live to the Lord and be a pattern to the believers.

May the Lord gain this in all of us for the sake of the church as the Body of Christ.

Shepherd People by Giving them a Proper Pattern, Feeding them with our Own Living of Christ

On one hand, Paul clearly said that we should not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, for Christ is the gospel.

On the other hand, in 1 Thes. 2:1-12, Paul shepherded the Thessalonian believers by presenting them his pattern when He was with them.

Those in Thessalonica were unbelievers, Gentiles, but Paul and the apostles went there and had a particular kind of living, with much struggling, and they had an entrance before the saints.

The apostles’ living fostered the saints, encouraging the divine life to grow in them.

To foster is to do something to warm up and encourage the growth of something, bringing in an atmosphere for something to grow well.

The best way for us to shepherd others by cherishing and nourishing them is to give them a proper pattern.

We need to do what Paul did, feeding our spiritual children with our own living of Christ (1 Thes. 2:1-12; 2 Cor. 1:23—2:14; 11:28-29; 1 Cor. 9:22; Acts 20:28).

On one hand, we feed the new ones and the young ones with the word of God.

On the other hand, our own manner of life needs to be a proper pattern to foster their growth in life.

The elders and leading ones need to learn from Paul’s example to be a pattern to the saints.

Not only them, but we all as the saints in the church life need to shepherd the new ones by giving them a proper pattern, feeding them with our own living of Christ.

What feeds the new believers and the young ones is not just teachings but patterns.

We need to show them a proper pattern, either in our living and experience or in the living and experience of other saints.

If we find that our experience is somewhat lacking, we need to tell the new ones and the young ones the story of different patterns in the Bible such as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and David in the Old Testament, and Peter, John, Paul, and Timothy in the New Testament.

Presenting the lives of Bible characters fosters the growth of the young ones.

It opens their heart and they will receive the word of God warmly.

We need to read the biographies of the proper patterns who went before us and lived Christ so that we may be infused with faith and be encouraged in the Lord.

When we read and hear about the saints who have gone before us with the Lord, we will be encouraged in the Lord, and we will have something to feed others with to encourage them also.

For example, Mark in the New Testament had a very good beginning, being with the apostles on their gospel trips, but then he was not mentioned at all for a while.

However, in one of the Epistles, Paul asked Timothy to bring Mark also, who was useful to him for the ministry.

Mark’s path was not a straight one like Timothy’s; rather, he seemed to have a falling out for a while, and then he was recovered and became very useful.

Our story is many times like Mark’s, for we don’t have a straight line but rather, have many failures; but if we read the story of Mark, we will be encouraged to go on with the Lord.

Paul and his co-workers were a pattern of the glad tidings that they spread as the gospel, and he could remind the Thessalonian believers of what kind of men they were among them for their sake (1 Thes. 1:5).

What is most important in the church is the person, not the work we do for the Lord; the person is the way, and the person is the Lord’s work, for what we are is what we do (John 5:19; 6:57; Phil. 1:19-26; Acts 20:18-35; Matt. 7:17-18; 12:33-37).

There are many needs in the church and there are many services that need to be covered in the church life, but what is most important is the kind of person we are, not the kind of work we do.

The person we are is the way the Lord has to use us, for our very person is the Lord’s work.

This was the case with the Lord Jesus and it is also the case with us; to Him, there was no difference between His living and His work, for His living was His work, and His living was His ministry.

May we follow the pattern of the apostles to pay more attention to life than to work (John 12:24; 2 Cor. 4:12).

Watchman Nee was such a person; he paid more attention to life than to work.

Therefore, when his work was stopped for a while, he still had the life, which was his work and his ministry.

In the church life what we need is not more teachers but more patterns, those who are a proper pattern to the saints.

May we pay more attention to our life and living than to our work so that there will be a proper pattern set up before the saints in our living.

May we not only preach the gospel but also live the gospel; our ministering of the gospel is not only by word but also by a life that displays the power of God, a life in the Holy Spirit and in the assurance of faith (1 Thes. 1:5). Amen!

Lord Jesus, we want to go on with You and be fostered in our growth in life for the building up of the church. Make us proper patterns to those around us, patterns of people who enjoy Christ and live Christ. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to pay more attention to life than to work. We want to pay more attention to our living Christ than to doing a great work for the Lord. Oh Lord, what about our person, our very being? We open to You. Infuse us with Yourself. Work Yourself into us. May we learn to feed on the Lord and live Christ day by day. May we be those who feed others with Christ and also with our own living of Christ. Amen, Lord, may there be many proper patterns in the church life for the sake of Your testimony! We want to not only preach the gospel but also live it. Live in us today. May our living of Christ be a pattern to the saints to foster them and warm them up to receive God’s word and grow in life for the building up of the church!

Our Manner of Life is Important in Infusing the Gospel into others and Helping Believers Grow

In 1 Thes. 2:1-12 the apostle Paul presented his own living of Christ as a proper pattern to the saints, and this fostered the saints, encouraging them to go on with the Lord and be built together as the church.

Paul didn’t preach himself; rather, he fed his spiritual children with his own living of Christ.

This is the way he took when he was caring for the dear new believers in this locality.

Again and again, he stressed their entrance to them and their manner of life.

Our manner of life is important in infusing the gospel into others and in helping the believers grow in life.

Others may not remember our words but they will remember our way of living.

They may not remember our teaching but will remember our manner of life.

It is not only what we speak to others that feeds them and helps them in their going on with the Lord but even more, our manner of life is a great help.

We may speak all the right words and impart the right doctrines, but if our manner of life is not proper, if we don’t live Christ before others, we undo all our speaking because of our living.

When we preach the gospel or visit new believers to nourish them, we need to experience God and take Him as our everything.

When we do this, suffering and persecution will not defeat us, for we will remain in an organic union with God (v. 2).

We may speak the gospel in much struggle, even with fighting, but the Lord will have a way to impart something of His life into others.

Our boldness is in God and of Him, not in us and of ourselves.

May the Lord cleanse us and purify our hearts as we speak to others so that we would not have any uncleanness in our motive, guile in our means, or deception in our goal (v. 3).

We need to both speak the gospel and live it, and our motive needs to be pure.

Others will sense what our motive is when we speak to them, and they will sense whether we live Christ and express Him when we speak to them.

The saints in Thessalonica became imitators of the apostles, for they saw their pattern and imitated them; this led them to follow the Lord, to take Him as their pattern, thus making them a pattern to all other believers (vv. 6-7).

When we follow the Lord as our pattern and imitate Him by taking Him as our life and person, we will have a certain kind of living – we will be a proper pattern to others in word and in works.

Then, others will imitate our pattern, and others will also be fostered in their growth in life because of their living.

The saints in Thessalonica became imitators of Paul, having received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and they became a pattern to all those who believe in Macedonia and Achaia. This is wonderful!

When we follow the proper patterns, we ourselves become a proper pattern to others around us, even to other churches.

Sometimes we hear testimonies of other localities passing through things and having encouragement, and this encourages us, being a pattern to us.

Among the churches, we need proper patterns.

May we realize that our entrance toward others, and our manner of life, play a great role in infusing the gospel into the new converts (1 Thes. 1:5, 8; 2:1), and may we be before the Lord concerning our daily living so that we may be a proper pattern to others.

Lord Jesus, we give You our daily living. We want to be those who live Christ and have a proper entrance toward the saints and the ones around us. Save us from not living Christ. Make us a proper pattern for others. Infuse us with Yourself and keep us depending on You in all things. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we realize that our manner of life plays a great role in infusing the gospel into the new converts! May we pay more attention to our manner of life, our way of living, and our living of Christ, than to merely preaching the gospel! Save us from any uncleanness in our motive, guile in our means, and deception in our goal. May we speak the gospel in the boldness of God, even in the midst of suffering, persecution, and struggle. Amen, Lord, may our manner of life foster the new ones and cause them to grow in life. May we learn how to care for others by presenting to them a proper pattern of living Christ for the building up of the church!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, pp. 95-108 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 7, entitled, The Pattern of Paul.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Preaching in power, in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – The day by day Christian life, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Growing by imitating, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 13, by Witness Lee.
  – Magnifying Christ in the Midst of Turmoil, article via, Shepherding Words.
  – Shepherding as Seen in John 21, article via, Living to Him.
  – The apostles’ entrance, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Oh, what a thought! Oh, what a boast! / Christ shall in me be magnified. / In nothing shall I be ashamed, / For He in all shall be applied. / In woe or blessing, death or life, / Through me shall Christ be testified. (Hymns #499 stanza 3)
  – “Consider Him,” and thus thy life shall be / Filled with self-sacrifice and purity; / God will work out in thee the pattern true, / And Christ’s example ever keep in view. / “Consider Him,” and as you run the race, / Keep ever upward looking in His face; / And thus transformed, illumined thou shalt be, / And Christ’s own image shall be seen in thee. (Hymns #656 stanzas 4-5)
  – The overflow of life is work, / The work should be our living! / What we experience e’er should be / The message we are giving. / When living and the work are one, / The work will be effectual; / When message and the life are one, / The word will be successful. (Hymns #910 stanza 1)