HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2012 / FALL / LEAD, FEED, AND PROTECT
F A L L • 2 0 1 2
VOLUME 13, ISSUE 3
Lead, feed, and protect
COLLEEN TINKER
On Sunday, August 26, 2012, my husband Richard was commissioned as an elder at Trinity Church. The commissioning charge delivered by senior pastor Gary Inrig was based on Acts 20:28-32:
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Gary emphasized that the three primary functions of elders are to lead, feed, and protect the flock, and Richard’s promise before God was to honor that three-fold charge in submission to the Lord Jesus.
The heart of this passage that Gary chose for Richard’s commissioning is the warning that fierce wolves will arise from among those who are leaders, teachers, and elders of the flock and will teach false doctrine and twisted things which will not be true spiritual food. They will lead the flock astray and will not nourish them with the meat of God’s word, and the flock will become weak and sick. Godly leaders are to protect the flock from false teachers masquerading as true shepherds and from their deceptive and deadly teaching.
I am moved that Richard’s promise is not limited to Trinity Church but includes all the people whom Life Assurance Ministries and Former Adventist Fellowship touch. Adventism teaches a false gospel: a weak and fallible Jesus who could have failed, a Jesus whose death on the cross did not finish the atonement, and a Jesus who is still struggling with Satan in an attempt to vindicate God’s law and reputation.
Unsuspecting Christians need to be protected against the subtle but powerful proselytizing efforts of Adventist evangelism. Christians need to know that Adventism is not a slight variation of evangelical Christianity but rather is a dangerous deception. Knowing the truth about Adventism, Richard’s commitment to lead, feed, and protect the flock includes helping to expose the true nature of Adventism and to present the true gospel of the Lord Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection to those who are caught in its darkness.
There is yet another facet to Richard’s promise: protecting the flock—both at Trinity and among the distant sheep who have left Adventism—from deceptions that lead them away, almost unnoticed, from focusing exclusively on the Lord Jesus and accepting Scripture as their only authority.
The gospel is what changes us. The indwelling Holy Spirit gives us spiritual life, and we are no longer bound to sin. We do not grow and heal by pursuing disciplines and programs and methods of prayer. On the contrary, true deep healing results from commitment to truth and reality, to submitting ourselves to the Lord Jesus as He reveals Himself in His word, and to allowing His Spirit to renew our minds with His word.
Knowing we are new creatures, adopted by the Father, made righteous by the Son, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we can release our relentless quest for “more”. We can trust Him to know better than we know what we need in order to grow and heal. We can let Him lead us instead of holding onto our “right” to expect Him to do what we think we need. We can submit to Him because He is our Father.
Richard has been commissioned to lead, feed, and protect the flock. We, as sheep in God’s flock, are called to be discerning and to follow leaders who honor the Lord Jesus and teach His word. We are to eat the meat of Scripture, and we are to allow God’s word to protect us from seductive teachings that take our eyes off Jesus.
“And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). †
Copyright 2012 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Casa Grande, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised October 2, 2012. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
Senior pastor Gary Inrig leading out in the commissioning prayer for Richard Tinker. Pastor Inrig along with the other elders of Trinity Church laid hands on Richard as part of the service, along with the charge for Richard to “lead, feed, and protect” the body of Christ at this local church.