October 20, 2024 | Trusting Shepherds

Transcript:

We're going to continue in 1 Peter into chapter 5 today. 1 Peter 5, and we'll look at the first five verses.

Last week we considered Peter's summary of the book, where Peter said, Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

So how does that kind of trust Transform our lives? If we're going to have that kind of radical trust, the kind we sang about over and over this morning to say, whatever comes my way, God, you're faithful to save, to say like we did last week, entrusting my soul to God means, if he doesn't protect my soul, then it won't be protected.

How does that change our lives? And specifically in this section, how does trust like that transform what it means to lead or to follow?

Now on the surface, this text that we'll read today is addressed to elders. The Bible uses the term pastor or elder or overseer interchangeably. So this section is really addressed to pastors, whether they earn their living by pastoring or not. And yet all scripture is given by God and is profitable for all of us.

So that anyone who follows God will be complete. We'll have all that we need for every good work. So if you aren't an elder or don't think you'll ever be, why should you hear this text? Well, first, some of you, even who may not think it right now, you may be an elder one day. Men, don't assume this isn't you, wherever you are.

Some of you are very young in here and are men. Don't assume that you won't be an elder one day. You might, not only might you, I hope you are.

And by the way, the office of elder doesn't really have anything necessarily to do with age. We use the word elder and it sounds like old and it often is someone who is older, but it's really about spiritual maturity. We know that because Timothy served in the office of an elder and Paul talked about him as someone who was young.

So some of you will be elders one day and might not have that on your radar at all right now. Others, you're going to have children or grandchildren or friends who will be elders one day. And you need to know what scripture says about church leadership so that you can help those people. To learn and grow many or perhaps all of you even if you won't ever be an elder Even if you're not close to anyone who is you will be part of choosing elders either as members of the congregation That's the way it works here.

Or maybe one day you'll sit on a pulpit committee and you'll be choosing a pastor Well, you need to know what scripture says in order to be able to choose an elder or choose a pastor All of us are called to relate to elders within the church You And, this is probably the biggest point, all of us, whether you hold an office of pastor or elder, in any form, we are all called to care for others, to lead in different spheres, to teach one another, to bear burdens, to exhort and encourage one another, and those are all shepherding functions.

Some people will have the office of elder, but we all are supposed to have some spiritual influence leadership in our different spheres. And these same principles in this passage, if these teach how those in the office of an elder need to lead, teach, and care, then those same principles apply to every one of us in the different ways that we lead, teach, and care.

So let's all hear this text from one Peter chapter five. Peter says, 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, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly not domineering over those in your charge.

But being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Jesus, help us to feel your shepherding today.

Feed us with your truth, calm us with your protection, rescue us with your grace, shepherd us this morning in your name.

Peter starts off with three phrases to identify himself. He says, I'm a fellow elder. He offers no exalted title. Peter was an apostle. And at the beginning of the book, he referred to himself as an apostle. But at this place in the text, he doesn't refer to himself as an apostle. He emphasizes the fact that he's an elder, just like the elders he's writing to.

Because in the early church there, there was a hierarchy where the apostles had a certain kind of authority. Scripture had not been completed yet. And so the apostles wrote with a certain kind of authority that was different from the elders in these local churches. But as the New Testament is written, as it's completed, the emphasis goes from apostles with authority that they exercise that way to the authority being exercised through God's Word.

And the elders and pastors serving within a local church are the emphasis. So Peter doesn't say, I am an apostle above you, do these things. Peter comes alongside them and says, I'm a fellow elder. Here's how you should shepherd the flock of God. So he's a fellow elder. Second thing, he's a witness of the sufferings of Christ.

Now for Peter, he actually saw the sufferings of Christ in a way that some of these elders would not have. And certainly no one alive today did, but that's not the main point. He's emphasizing what is the same with him and the other elders. And so you can ask, well, how does Peter bear witness to the sufferings of Christ?

He's already done it in this book over and over and over again. He tells them Jesus suffered and here's why. That's what it means to bear witness to the sufferings of Christ. In chapter one, verse 16 and 17, Peter said, Jesus suffered. To ransom you from the frustrating, pointless ways of living that you could inherit from other places.

In chapter 2, at the end of the chapter, Jesus suffered so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. In chapter 3, he suffered so that he might bring us to God. In the end of chapter 3 into chapter 4, he suffered so that he would then receive all authority and be able to save his people all the way to the end.

Throughout the book, over and over, in each chapter, Peter has been bearing witness to the sufferings of Christ. Here's how Jesus suffered, and here's why he suffered. So now Peter talks to these elders, which can apply to all of us and says, I'm a fellow witness of the sufferings of Christ. We should all have that same impulse that says, if I'm going to tell you about scripture, I'm going to tell you about Jesus.

I'm going to tell you how he suffered and why Peter says, I'm a fellow elder. I'm a witness of the sufferings of Christ. And the third thing that he uses to refer to himself. The end of verse one, a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Peter's pulling back another theme from this book and saying, there is a future, incredible glory.

There's a hope to be revealed, a salvation to be revealed in the last time. And he says, and I'm a partaker of that. Notice he doesn't say one who will be a partaker in the glory that's coming, although that's implied. But Peter's not only looking forward, he's saying, I'm partaking in that glory right now.

Because, as he said earlier in chapter 4, the spirit of glory and of God rests on him. He says, God, by his spirit, dwells with me. I am partaking in the glory that is to be revealed right now. And he looks at all of the elders he's writing to. And those who would be elders. And he says, as an elder, like you, as someone who witnesses to the sufferings of Christ, like you, as someone who partakes of glory of the spirit, like you, then he gives them one command and then he'll give three clarifications.

And a motive, one command, three clarifications and a motive. His command is this: shepherd, the flock of God that is among you, Exercising oversight shepherd.

If you just think, what does that picture look like for someone to shepherd? And think, what kind of words could we put there? Because many of us don't have a lot of shepherding experience with actual sheep. I certainly don't. But what other kind of words could we say? Shepherd the sheep. Care for the sheep.

Tend the sheep. Watch the sheep. Feed the sheep. Defend the sheep. We could think of David as a shepherd and think of the way he defended his sheep against a bear and a lion.

The shepherd works for the good of the sheep. In a million different ways, sometimes putting his life on the line, the shepherd, the one who shepherds the flock of God, cares for the sheep. Now, depending on your background. You may have a slightly different view of elders or pastors as the way we would talk about it here at Berean.

So if I were going to summarize what is an elder, what's a pastor or someone who serves as an elder, what do they do? They're doctrinal, visionary shepherds. They're doctrinal in that they teach sound doctrine and warn against false doctrine. You need both sides. They're visionary in that they look ahead for opportunity.

And then they also look ahead for danger and challenge. A shepherd would do those things. A shepherd would look and say, There's a good place to take the sheep to eat. He doesn't wake up one morning and just go, Well, I have no idea where to take them to eat. He looks ahead and says, How do I care for the sheep?

What's the opportunity? What's the potential? He also looks ahead for the danger and says, There could be bears or lions or other predators. That sheep's about to fall off that cliff. I need to get them before they fall off the cliff. Doctrinal and visionary. But, but shepherds, elders, pastors, are not just doctrinal and visionary for the sake of having good doctrine and vision.

They're both of those things so that they can shepherd, so that they can care for the souls that are around them. That means elders must be full of the Word and prayer. Because the Word is how we know doctrine. The Word is how we know what's true and what's false. Whatever human vision elders may have, that vision is worthless compared to God's vision.

So we have to come in prayer, seeking His vision and His wisdom.

Now I hope that all of you, whether you would be an elder in office or not, I hope you all want to be that kind of person. Someone who's full of the word and prayer, so that you can know good and false doctrine. So that you can influence others. Amen. And lead towards opportunity and through danger to love other people well.

That's what an elder does. That's what a pastor does. A doctrinal, visionary shepherd. Who's full of the word and prayer so that he does that in God's power, not his own.

So this command, Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight. I want to draw your attention to three implications in the way he says this command. First, this is God's flock. It does not belong to the shepherd. Notice, shepherd the flock of God. That is among you. He doesn't say shepherd your flock.

He says, shepherd the flock that belongs to God. As with all other aspects of God's grace, we steward God's grace. He gives us grace and we manage it. We use it, but it doesn't belong to us. The same thing is true for elders, shepherds, and it can extend out to deacons, Sunday school teachers, Awana workers.

When you are caring for souls around you. They don't belong to you. It's the flock of God. Same principle works for kids, too, parents. They don't belong to you. You steward them. And in our experience, this kind of conversation can be really subtle or it can be not so subtle. One of the questions that sometimes as a pastor, I'll hear from other people outside of Berean, they'll come to me and say, how are things going at your church?

And I know what they mean most of the time, the church you attend, the church you serve at, but it's also not my church. It's God's church and the way Peter phrases this command reminds us that God owns his flock and his flock is bigger than any one local body. God's flock in Knoxville is a lot bigger than this room and praise God for that.

So for those who care for souls within this body, we shepherd the flock of God that is among us. Number two, another implication, shepherding happens in relationships. Notice, he says, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. The picture isn't the shepherds sit up on the hill over there and watch the flock do all their stuff.

That wouldn't work well with sheep, if you know anything about sheep anyway. But that's not his point. He says they are among them. There's no need and there's no desire for distance between shepherd and sheep. Or pastors, elders, and sheep. One reason for that is because elders are also sheep. And you could ask any elder in this room, anyone who served as an elder, and we'll tell you, we need to be shepherded as well.

So that's one of our goals as elders, as pastors of Berean Bible Church. We want to make sure we shepherd one another well, because if the elders don't shepherd each other, we can't shepherd other sheep.

It's also one reason we have a plurality of elders. We have more elders, so that we can be shepherds for one another, as well as the flock of God that is among us. Number three, another implication of this command is that Jesus cares for people through other people. Verse four says Jesus is the chief shepherd, and Jesus is the only perfect one, and he could handle it all by himself.

He doesn't need any other shepherds in order to shepherd people, but he chooses to work through shepherds. Jesus cares for people through other people. This is a huge reason why we all ought to want to shepherd and care for one another, because you get to be a part of the way Jesus cares for his sheep.

That applies to people in the office of elder, but it applies to everyone here who knows Jesus, loves him and wants to come alongside and care for someone else. You get to be part of the way Jesus loves that sheep. What a privilege. He works through people. That also means if you are distant from the people who can shepherd you, that includes elders, pastors, but includes anyone who's shepherding souls within the body around you.

If you are distant from all of those people, you are cutting yourself off from one of the normal means that Jesus uses to care for you.

I talked to someone. It's probably a year ago now. And we were talking about just nobody here. We were talking about their spiritual life and their church situation. And they were talking about some challenges. And I said, you know, is there, do you have a pastor, a shepherd, small group leader, something that you're close to that you could go talk to about these things?

They'd been in the church for a decade and they said, no,

I don't know whose fault that is. I'm not pointing fingers at the person, but I am saying that distance cut them off from something that is a normal means of the way Jesus cares for his sheep.

Command is shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight. And then there's three warnings. There's three pairs, not this way. Don't shepherd this way, but shepherd this way. The first is not under compulsion, but willingly. Not under compulsion means you don't shepherd because you feel like you have to.

It's not that you're under pressure. It's about the individual's attitude. Shepherd others, care for others, because you want to and because God wants you to. Notice, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you.

Now, I've heard people sometimes hear this phrase, not under compulsion, and then they think, Well, we can't go ask anybody else to serve as an elder because they might feel like they're compelled, like they're being forced to do it. That's not, that's not what we're saying here. As a body, in fact, It's not only good, it's necessary.

It's part of how the body works, that when people are shepherding for one another, and we as a body, you see somebody who seems to be shepherding really well, and they're helpful to you, it's great to go encourage them, and say, I see God's gifts poured out on you, and God is using it to care for me, or for that person.

Encourage them and say, Have you thought about serving in, maybe as an office, as an elder, or some other more official shepherding role? That's a good thing. In fact, as a church grows more and more in health, we ought to have more and more people who we think, Wow, they could serve in this way really well.

That's a good sign. It's not compulsion. We're not saying you ought to serve whether or not you are willing. We never want to say that. What we do want to say is, as I see God's gifts in you, it looks like you ought to be willing. Can we talk about that? What are you thinking? Elders don't serve under compulsion, but willingly.

This means, the end of chapter 4, in Trust Your Souls to a Faithful Creator, points us to the fact that these shepherds are shepherds who trust. If you don't trust your soul to a faithful creator, you won't shepherd like this. You might think, shepherding's hard, and I might get hurt, and I don't want to be inconvenienced, but I guess I have to.

You might serve that way, Without trusting your soul to a faithful creator. To trust your soul, not under compulsion, but willingly, you're saying, God, these are your sheep. And I trust you with my soul. So use me. Not under compulsion, but willingly. It applies to you in your service, by the way. Doesn't have to be the office of an elder.

Don't serve God because you feel like you have to. Entrust your souls to a faithful creator, and then serve willingly. This is what he said to do. This is what he wants for me. I'm glad to serve because I trust he will take care of me. He will care for my soul. The second warning, not for shameful gain, but eagerly.

Now the word gain here could refer to money. We could call up pictures in our minds of people who shepherd, who are ridiculously wealthy for various reasons. And we might have questions. But it doesn't have to be gain of money. It can be the gain of reputation. Or power or authority

and notice it says not for shameful gain the word for he's talking about purpose It's not about the quantity of money. It's about the master of one's heart

You don't shepherd for the purpose of shameful gain We have the picture in our mind of someone who's really really good at the business of religion and they make a lot of money But you could also have a picture i've heard of people who were serving as pastors I've heard honest conversations from them where they say, I don't even know if I trust Jesus at all, but I don't know any other way to make money.

That's for shameful gain. I don't care if you're making millions or next to nothing. Don't shepherd like that. He says, no shepherd, not for shameful gain, but do it eagerly. Notice the first two things he says. Point out, it's not wrong to want to be an elder, to want to be a shepherd. In fact, it's good. The text says a shepherd should be willing and eager.

I mean, some of you who say, right now, some of you, maybe young men, I'll let you decide where you want to put young, but I'm including all the way down to elementary school. Some of you young men, it's a good thing if you think, I might want to be an elder one day. I might want to serve as a pastor one day.

Maybe you may earn your living that way. Maybe you don't. It's a good thing to want that. To be willing and eager. Now he said you can't do it for shameful gain. So you can't do it just wanting money or reputation or power or respect. You can't want it with impatience that ignores the body around you. So you say, I want to be serve as an elder, but nobody around me thinks I'm ready.

We'll listen to the body and keep seeking to grow. But it is good to be willing and eager to shepherd God's sheep, in an official capacity or not. It is good to be willing and eager. This again is a shepherd who trusts. He's entrusted his soul to a faithful creator. He's not looking to trust his money, or his reputation, or his power.

He's looking to trust a faithful creator. So he's eager to shepherd God's sheep. for the creator, because he says my shepherd shepherds me, and I can trust him.

One of my prayers, as I looked at this text, is that God would work in hearts this morning, and maybe it's just a seed. Maybe it's more than that. But that God would work in each of our hearts to say, how can I spiritually shepherd others around me?

I'm grateful for the men who have served this body well. There's a lot of men in here who have served as elders. And I'm grateful for their service. I'm grateful for the men who serve now. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that every human elder will stop serving one day. It will not serve forever.

This group of elders will not serve forever. The next group of elders will not serve forever. The next one won't either. The next one won't either.

So as a church, we must be in prayer that God would raise up elders and spiritual leaders in every capacity because our life is like a vapor and we will pass. That means in this room, I pray that there are people. who are in their 60s, who are not serving as an elder, that God might burden you for that, and maybe you will serve as an elder.

I pray that there are people in their 50s, and their 40s, and their 30s, and their 20s, and their teens, and younger than that,

and probably babies who haven't been born yet.

Because if God doesn't keep raising up spiritual leaders in his church, then at some point there aren't any.

And if you think maybe I'd like to do something more like that, maybe I'd like to shepherd people more. We'd love to talk with you about how to work towards that goal. But I'll tell you the very first step. The easy one to say now is to look at the people around you and say, how can I help them? How can I shepherd them?

How do I care for them? How can I help them to look to Jesus and feed on him? How can I bear their burdens and love their souls? How can I do that with the relationships I have right around me? His third warning, he says, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

He says, don't shepherd the flock by being bossy. Don't be standing above others, just bossing them around, telling them where to go. Now, he does say sheep are put in their charge. They are to steward the sheep and take care of the sheep. But these elders are supposed to take care of the sheep, not with a dominating version of authority that's on top, but by being examples, exactly like Peter is, by the way.

He's telling them, don't domineer over others. And he could have said, I'm an apostle, listen to me. But he doesn't. He says, I'm a fellow elder who looks to the sufferings of Christ, who's a partaker of the same glory you are. He doesn't domineer over the top. He doesn't have a heavy handed idea of authority.

Instead, he says, let me show you how to exhort with humility. Here's how you do it. Again, this is a shepherd who trusts his faithful creator. He's not looking to command others and control them in order to protect his soul. He's saying, my soul is safe because God protects it. So I entrust my soul to God as an example for everyone who sees it.

In each of these, and we could go on and on and say other ways that pastors can display their trust in God. But the kind of shepherd that Peter points to is the kind that says, my faithful creator is worth trusting no matter what.

You could look at other examples and say, does a pastor, does a counselor, does a Sunday school teacher, are they willing to preach the word of God or teach the word of God and trust him to work? Or do they have to use their own thoughts and ideas and ignore the word of God? One of those is a shepherd who's trusting his creator, and one of those isn't.

He's saying, I've got to add something better. I remember reading a book by a popular speaker on preaching, and he talked about a sermon that he preached. He said he preached the text. He was convinced that he communicated what scripture said. And I was fairly shocked to read the next statement, which was, he said, I taught what the passage said, and I'll never preach it again.

because of the negative response he got from people.

That's not entrusting your ministry and your soul to God. That's not trusting God to shepherd his sheep. That's trusting yourself and trying to manipulate your reputation.

Another way that a shepherd can display his trust in God is to show that he doesn't have to do everything himself, and he doesn't have to make every decision. Another popular speaker, I appreciate his comments. He said, If The church always decides exactly what I would decide by myself. What's the point of having multiple leaders?

And his point was I trust God to work through his people which means This guy would say sometimes When we have elder votes, he should lose Because he's not trusting his own wisdom in his own planning. He's trusting The savior the faithful creator who's the chief shepherd So Peter looks at them and says, here's how you shepherd.

Here's who I am. And here's one motive. Verse 4. When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. When the one who ultimately can be trusted, the one who shepherds the soul of all of the sheep,

that glory you partake in now, you'll see the fullness of it and you'll partake in it even more then. He says, look forward. Aren't you glad that our chief shepherd is a shepherd like this? Aren't you glad that our chief shepherd was a willing, eager, humble example who perfectly committed his soul to his father?

That's the kind of shepherd who cares for us.

And it's also important to recognize we shouldn't try to be more spiritual than God is. If God says. Do this looking forward to a reward, then it's okay for you to look forward to the reward. Sometimes we act like, oh, I can't do it for that reason. I can't do it wanting a reward. No, if God says a chief shepherd is going to come and give you a crown, then look forward to that, trust him, and enjoy the reward that he promises.

So having addressed the elders, Peter then turns and says, Verse 5, likewise, you who are younger be subject to the elders. Now, as we've said, elder here refers to the office of elder. It's often an older person, but doesn't always have to be. Younger can be used as the flip side of that. So it could be simply younger in age, true, can also be younger in spiritual maturity.

In other words, you can't say I'm 90, so that doesn't apply to me.

And he says, for those who are younger, be subject or submit to the elders. Just like earlier sections of first Peter. This doesn't mean obey whatever they say because they're perfect. Because they certainly aren't. What it means is be inclined to follow. These people he's talking to who are younger, they may well lead and teach and serve in a ton of ways.

But they're inclined to follow and use their leadership in harmony with the elders God has put in place in His church. The picture is that elders or pastors serve by example, leading others eagerly and others who may be ready and fit to serve and may be growing into that role, others have a desire to follow and work together for the good of the flock.

And all of you, whether elders in the office, younger people, or anyone else, He says, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. When we all humbly serve one another, entrusting our souls to a faithful creator. Leaders aren't bossy and authoritarian and followers aren't rebellious.

When Peter wrote this section, I think he was thinking about a certain day by the seaside.

After he had failed and denied Jesus, when he felt paralyzed and said, forget it, I'm useless now. I tried to follow Jesus. I taught others. I even drew my sword and fought for Jesus. But now, Jesus knows I failed. Others know I failed.

And maybe worse, I know I failed.

And Jesus sat right next to him on the seaside and said, Peter, this is what is important. Do you love me? Not did you stand by me? Not will you fail again? Do you love me?

Do you humbly entrust your soul to me? Am I your treasure? And Peter said, yes, Lord, you know, I can't deny it. I love you. Maybe he thought if I hadn't failed, I could really help God's sheep. But Jesus knew he was going to fail. And Jesus sits here right next to him on the seaside. And Jesus says, if you love me.

Feed my sheep.

These aren't Peter's sheep. He doesn't say, if you love me, feed your sheep. And Peter learned his lesson because when he wrote it in 1 Peter 5, he knows it's not his flock. The words of Jesus had to be echoing in his mind, feed my sheep.

Since Jesus died and was raised and came to Peter in grace and mercy, that meant that his past performance didn't determine his present purpose.

Some of you need to know that. Your past performance doesn't mean that God can't use you. Peter's failure did not mean that he could not effectively feed God's sheep. And so Jesus says, do you love me? Feed my sheep. And in case he didn't get it, he said it three times. Do you love me? Feed my sheep. And then right afterwards, Peter starts comparing himself with John.

And Jesus says, what's that to you? Follow me. That, that day had to be burned on Peter's mind. Can you imagine if you were Peter with the guilt and weight that you felt and your savior, your shepherd sits next to you and says, do you love me? Feed my sheep.

And so he writes to shepherds and he says, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, not bossing them around, but as an example, feed my sheep and follow me. He passes that same message on, and I want to say to all of you, shepherds, elders, pastors, but also leaders in any form in spiritual life, teachers, parents, friends, brothers and sisters, feed Jesus's sheep by giving them Jesus.

He's the bread of life. He's the way that sheep get fed. So feed his sheep by reminding them you can entrust your soul to a faithful creator.

This is the kind of human shepherd that can be trusted. One who knows their weaknesses just like Peter. One who is nourished on Jesus and who feed Jesus sheep by giving them the bread of life. The kind of shepherd that can be trusted. is one who entrusts his soul to a faithful creator and therefore is displaying humility and worship before God.

Shepherds who trust like that can be trusted. Friends, leaders, small group members who come along aside you and want to help your soul and they do it by pointing you to Jesus, they can be trusted because the faithful creator that they point to The chief shepherd is perfectly trustworthy. Every human shepherd will make a million mistakes.

They'll fail in every one of these areas.

And Jesus comes along and says, do you love me? Feed my sheep and follow me.

I want to invite you to take a moment and respond to God in prayer.

May he guide us in the way that we care for the sheep that are around us. And may he raise up leaders who will serve his church for Years and decades.