As cultivating interpersonal relationships, dealing with sin and conflict, raising children, avoiding folly, shepherding God’s people, discerning false teaching, etc., are all vital parts of life in the church, Christians must talk with and about others. 

In recent months, I have had several people speak with me about situations going on around them. Each of these parties were godly Christians seeking counsel about difficult matters involving others. Each time, they would pause and say something like “I don’t mean to gossip” or “I hope this isn’t gossip.” Clearly, they were struggling with matters of conscience regarding whether speaking of others constituted gossip.
As cultivating interpersonal relationships, dealing with sin and conflict, raising children, avoiding folly, shepherding God’s people, discerning false teaching, etc., are all vital parts of life in the church, Christians must talk with and about others. I find many sensitive believers struggle to open up because they wrongly believe to do so would be to gossip. Sadly then, the above needs are not met properly.
So when is gossip not? I studied over the answer to question 144 in the Westminster Larger Catechism (WLC) : “What are the duties required in the ninth commandment?” regarding not bearing false witness. Here are five guidelines distilled from that meditative exercise.
It is not gossip when…
The matter is public record.
I have seen people hesitate to convey information that is recorded in civil or ecclesiastical documents as a matter of public information. Here I speak of such matters as public news items in the local paper, a published article available in print or on the internet, divorce records in a civil court, or public disciplinary sanctions taken by the church. I know of situations where someone has been accused of not following the principles of Matthew 18 in speaking to a person privately when the issue at hand is already known over social media or in print. This situation is not gossip.
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If the workers obediently cast their nets into the deep Christ’s way then those drawn into the net will be genuine because they are effectually called by God Himself. When He saves someone, it is always genuine for it is not simply a human decision, but it is the result of the washing of regeneration and belief in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. These are justified by God’s grace through the faith given to them by Him.

4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Luke 5:4 (NASB)
The builder and sustainer of the Church, the Body of Christ, is the Lord Jesus not any man (Matthew 16:18). The building of the true Church is accomplished as God works through the foolishness of preaching to draw people from the darkness into the light and life that is found in Christ alone. It is built up in Christ through the means of grace, which are ordained by God not men. While we see that it is God who actually is doing the building, He has chosen to work through His servants to accomplish that which will bring Him glory. These servants that He uses as fishers of men are symbolically like the fishermen in their boats on the Sea of Galilee who cast their nets to catch fish to sell as their business. Let us make some comparisons. 
1 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. Luke 5:1-7 (NASB) 
This event happened immediately prior to our Lord calling His first disciples. Notice that without our Lord being with Peter, James and John they toiled all night and caught nothing. However, our Lord got in the boat, taught the people and told Peter, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” The difference this time was that this is a divine command, although Peter does not know it. The partners who had to come and help drag the great catch to shore were the brothers James and John. I don’t often like to make these sorts of analogies from Scripture for I have heard so many that are man-made things that some take and overuse to the deception of many. However, in this case, we are looking at something our Lord used to teach these men the truth about God and how He uses His servants to do His will in the preaching of the Gospel and the building of His Church.
If we compare the mindset of many Christians, they believe that it is their efforts, their ideas, their inovations that when added to preaching the gospel (if it even includes it) that will cause numbers to go up and that many will be added to the Kingdom because of their efforts. From this analogy, however, we learn that a true catch, the saving of many souls is always the work of God as He labors through His obedient servants. If He is not present then the fruit will not be genuine. If our Lord is not part of an evangelical push then it can only accomplish what men can do. Some may ‘decide for Jesus’ as the result of the entertainment or the glitz or the personality of the preacher, but is it genuine? No, it is as these fishermen laboring all night and catching nothing. However, if the workers obediently cast their nets into the deep Christ’s way then those drawn into the net will be genuine because they are effectually called by God Himself. When He saves someone, it is always genuine for it is not simply a human decision, but it is the result of the washing of regeneration and belief in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. These are justified by God’s grace through the faith given to them by Him. Numbers may or may not be large, but these who are effectually called and drawn by God are the real deal. The “catch” is miraculous for it is God’s work not man’s.
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There will be times where we must lead our flocks through dark valleys and dangers. Perhaps that danger comes in the form of a cancer diagnosis. Maybe the dark, shadowed valley is the loss of a child – I have been through that valley. Perhaps leading the flock in dark valleys looks like (instead of placating the sheep) calling the comfortable, fat, and lazy sheep to greater investment, obedience, and engagement in Kingdom ministry. Leading in the valley might mean making decisions as leaders that might be hard or challenging for the flock to follow – decisions that might risk offending or upsetting the flock because it calls out their intolerance, arrogance, or disobedience.

The imagery of God as our heavenly Shepherd, contained in Psalm 23, has captivated, and comforted us for thousands of years. It has aided to comfort us through times of loss and has well-reminded us of God’s intimate presence with us in all seasons of life. For many of us, we can join with Jacob and confidently state that God, “has been my shepherd all my life long to this day” (Gen. 48:15).
However, as we consider the shepherding imagery of God’s care in Psalm 23, we often have missed the leadership imagery that is latent in the concept of shepherding. In Ancient Near Eastern cultures, shepherding was often associated with kingly responsibilities and duties. As Timothy S. Laniak explains, “Pastoral images conveyed notions of rulership – both divine and human – in a wide variety of historical periods, geographical regions, and literary contexts in the Ancient Near East. Shepherd language was used in stock titles and epithets to define a king’s role as just ruler, benevolent provider and/or powerful defender. Ancient sources describe a country’s citizenry (or army) as a flock and their experience of plenty as green pastures.”[1]
This shepherd/leadership imagery is found littered throughout the Scriptures. Often, in the OT, to shepherd is also to rule. When David was anointed as King, the tribes of Israel came to him at Hebron and said, “’In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’” As well, Psalm 77:20 describes God’s leadership with shepherding language, “You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” In Isaiah 40:11, the prophet foretells of the perfect Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and describes Him in shepherding language, “He will tend His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”
The Perfect Shepherd is also a Perfect King, and the Shepherd King leads His flock.
This means that biblical leadership shares similar principles with shepherding. It is no surprise, then, that the tasks of shepherding and leading are tied to the role of Pastor and Elder in the New Testament. Listen to what the Apostle Peter says to the elders in the churches of Asia, “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you…” (1 Pet. 5:1-2). To be an elder of a church is to also be a shepherd!
As elders, then, we ought to look at how the scriptures describe our Shepherd King for guidance on how we ought to be shepherd leaders. As Psalm 23 describes (in vivid detail) how the Good Shepherd leads us, we, as elders and shepherds, therefore ought to emulate His leadership.
If Psalm 23 presents a picture of how God shepherds His people, what might Psalm 23 teach elders how to shepherd the flock of Christ? I want to suggest a few key pastoral lessons that we might take away from this famous Psalm.
1. Elders Lead the Flock to Contentment in Christ
The Psalm begins by saying, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me by still waters. He restores my soul.”
Many commentators of this Psalm have suggested “I shall not want” might be also translated, “I lack nothing” or “I do not lack”.[2] The idea here is simple yet profound – if the Lord is my shepherd, all my needs are met. True contentment is found alone in the Shepherd King. This lack of wanting is not found simply in participating in the practices of Christianity – in bible reading, church attendance, prayer, family devotions or good deeds – but rather is found in and from the person, work, will, and fellowship of Christ. The Shepherd is the source of our satisfaction.
Our desires vanish in the face of the provision that being in Christ offer us. It leads the porn-addict to see how their deepest desires are met in the grace, forgiveness, Holy-Spirit-empowered-resistance, and affections-resetting power of the presence of Jesus. It leads the social-media scouring teenage girl – who looks for affirmation from peers, boys, and strangers – to understand that the world’s shallow definition of value only leaves her empty and hungry in comparison to the dignity and worth she has in Christ.
Elders and pastors lead in this way. They enjoy Christ in such as a way that there is powerful authority when they point to Jesus and say, “THERE is life! THERE is peace! THERE is contentment! Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Turn away from your sins and come find rest in Jesus!” Elders know this lack of want, and they call others to be satisfied and restored in Christ alone.
2. Elders Lead the Flock in Christ’s Paths
The Psalm continues, “He leads me in the paths of righteousness….”
As God leads us as our Shepherd, He directs us in good ways. The paths He leads us on lead to fruitfulness, to godliness, and shape us into the image of Christ along the ways. The paths of righteousness are not filled with jealousy, anger, lust, selfish ambition, greed but rather are filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. The paths lead us to the cross of Jesus Christ, where our sins were atoned for, and to the tomb of Jesus, where we died in His death and rose in His resurrection. The paths lead us to love God and love our neighbors. God leads us to Himself, on paths that conform us into His image.
There are other paths that we could go down, paths we think can lead to satisfaction or contentment. We could chase after satisfaction through individualism, indulgence, innovation, and immorality. There are some who claim to follow the Shepherd who seek the path of self-righteousness and think their own good deeds justify them. But our Shepherd says, and His under-shepherds both model and say, “Don’t forge new paths in the wilderness. Seek first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”
As elders and pastors, we lead our people in these paths as those who have traversed them first, and the paths lead them to look more like Jesus (Eph. 4:11-13).
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