“And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? and [Cain] said, I know not: Am i my brother’s keeper?”  (Genesis 5)

“And have no fellowship with  the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”  (Ephesians 5)

 

Christ-ians enjoy mysteries.  It is well known in the fiction world of writing that Christ-ians are a big demographic for mystery fiction. G.K Chesterton thought it was due to the Christ-ian having a “hunger and thirst” for justice and for the truth to be revealed or uncovered. Did our Lord not tells us, …”Search and ye shall find?…”  Does Hes not tell His own that the mysteries shall be opened unto His people but hidden from the wise of this world?  Did not Paul exhort the believer to “Reprove all things?”  And did not John tell us to, “Try the Spirits?”  Paul did also say, quoting Isaiah, that he would be found by those that did not search for him?

In Fiction, we find persons asking Holmes, how he knows things or what business something is to him and he would reply, “It is my trade, ”  or  “It is my business to know what others do not.”  In movies, depicting mystery fiction, like Sherlock Holmes and Hercules Poirot, The discerning, and searching eyes of the detectives are always roaming and searching persons and things around them, their ears are always open to words around them, and their minds are always turning.

In Scripture it is said of Christ that He, “Looking about, seeing all things.”  It is written, also of Christ that He, “perceiving their thoughts…”  Elisha was said to observe the face of an evil servant of a king, and was able by the servant’s countenance to know, what this evil servant would do.  It was said of Peter that he knew the naughtiness of a sorcerer’s heart and condemned his thoughts.

What am I stating by the above?  My point is, and the point of this article is this:  Other persons are the business of the believer and especially of the Minister of God and those that minister to God’s people.  The shepherd of sheep would use his rod and staff to look underneath his sheep’s wool, to see what was not evident, upon the wool.  The shepherd would lift up the wool to search the skin underneath. The shepherd was searching for that which was not healthy or good for the sheep.

I know as a pastor, who stands before a flock of God’s sheep, search the faces, the small expressions, and body language of those before me and before God.  I search the faces and movements of the persons sitting in front of me…”it is my trade,”  “It is my business.”  I am trying the spirits, and seeking to “prove all things.”  To answer God’s question to Cain, I am my brother’s keeper.

In others words it is my business or more accurately it is my calling to “meddle” and to be found by those who search not for me as Isaiah said and Paul quoted much later. If I see something in the eyes. the facial expressions or the body language of someone, I am called by God to love, and I do nothing then what am i I doing? The minister of God will answer for how he has loved, shepherded, and ministered to the flock of God.

Christ in His priestly or even shepherd’s prayer in John seventeen, (17) that he was thankful for those God had given to Him and that he had, “kept them all”… except for the foreordained child of perdition, Judas. Christ kept them all and gave them God’s Word and lost none.  Christ was doing what all pastors will do someday.  Christ was giving an account to God for those entrusted to Him by God.  This is something all pastors will do for those souls God had entrusted to him.

Pastors, take heed to this truth and even warning.  James warned you, Christ-ian pastor, that is wise not to be a teacher over other persons, because of the responsibility he will have and that he would be accountable for.  Christ-ian believer, take heed to this as well. Your pastor will be accountable for your growth and spiritual condition as he stands before God. Pastoring a flock and being part of a flock is very important and serious business and should be taken gravely and soberly.  This is one (1) reason a pastor should not be overly concerned with true church growth because he is asking for a very serious responsibility for which he will give an account for, before the Great and Good Shepherd.

Having said this, though the servant of God may not have honour in his own country or among his own family and friends, the minister of God should be interested in his own family….i’m talking about extended family members. Of course the minister of God is responsible for his wife an children but I am saying there should be a felt responsibility for the extended family: Mother, Father, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins and so forth. The minister should also be concerned for his friends, and others in his world that encompasses him.  The minister should be concerned for the store clerks and others he comes in contact with in everyday life. It is the Christ-ians business and especially the minister business to “meddle” in the lives of those around him.

I’m not pretending this will be easy or even popular with those that you are meddling with, but if you do not meddle, who will.  Turning a blind eyes should not be easy to do. i know a guy who was standing in a line, waiting behind a women, to be served and checked out. The woman in front of him starting complaining to the manger about the clerk that had been waiting upon her. This woman began saying the clerk didn’t know what he was doing and didn’t like what he was saying to her. The guy I know spoke up and told the manager that this woman was making stuff up and the guy did fine and said nothing out of line. Of course, the lying woman didn’t like being called a liar, but the guy I know and the clerk and the manager were not concerned with this woman or her lie.

In summary, Yes, Reader, You are your brother’s keeper.