The Shepherd and His flock

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Sept 15/2024 | 1 Peter 5:1-5 | Expository Sermon by Shayne Poirier

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This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.
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Brethren, we have been, I trust you along with me, have been looking forward to this day for a very long time.
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This installation of a new elder and pastor in our local church is the culmination, not of days or weeks or months, but of years of careful preparation and discernment.
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As many of you know, our brother Sam Kelm, for the last two and a half years, has been diligently studying and serving in preparation for this pastoral office.
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For those of you who are closest to him, you know some of the extent of our brother's rigorous studies.
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Hours and hours and hours of lectures, stacks of books, hours and days and I believe months, cumulatively of time spent in God's Word and study.
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For some of you, you have observed our brother and you have benefited from his visits in your homes and in your hospital rooms.
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Still more of you have been challenged by his sermons or have been encouraged by his counsels. Today, after much preparation on his part and after months of prayer and fasting and discerning on the church's part, we get the opportunity to see our brother appointed as an elder in this local church.
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As we prepare to lay hands on our brother and commit him to the Lord's service in this office, this should be an occasion that is characterized by two things that should be before us.
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By both solemnity and joy. When we read about the installation of elders in God's Word in a number of passages, in each of these accounts we find this mingling of sobriety and of gladness.
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In Acts chapter 14, there's one example. In verse 21, we read that when
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Paul and Barnabas went out and preached the gospel in Derbe, they made many disciples there. And then from there, we're told that they went to Lystra, returning there and then to Iconium, and then to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples.
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Encouraging them to continue in the faith and then saying that it is through much tribulation that we are to enter the kingdom of God.
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And then in verse 23, it says that when they had appointed elders in every church, with prayer and with fasting, they committed them to the
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Lord in whom they had believed. The appointing of elders was not something that Paul and Barnabas took lightly, but it was accompanied by the most earnest prayers of the people, by fastings and warnings and by committing these new elders to the watchful care of God.
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In 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 22, we read Paul's warning to Timothy not to be hasty in the laying on of hands when appointing new elders.
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He says, lest Timothy partake in the sins of those men. But the laying on of hands was to mean something.
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It was not to be done without due care and reverence, but it called for the greatest measure of the church's caution.
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And then one last reference, if you'll entertain this, is in Paul's second letter to Timothy. In chapter 1 and verse 6, when
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Paul reminds Timothy, his protege, of his appointing by the laying on of hands, he highlights the significance of this event and he exhorts him to fan into flames the gift that was given him through that pivotal moment.
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And so while the act of installing an elder, and I want us to be crystal clear on this, while the act of installing an elder is not an ordinance that Christ has given to his church, it is not that.
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It is nevertheless a pivotal event where a man is committed to God by the laying on of hands to serve the local church as an under -shepherd of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. It is a practice that finds its basis solidly in scripture.
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And like everything that God commands, dear saints, we should enter into this as an act of joyful obedience in a spirit of holy reverence.
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And when we look at how other Christians have sought to carry this out over the centuries, we see this same attitude in them.
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One author describes the appointment of pastor elders among the early particular
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Baptists in the 17th and 18th centuries. Interestingly, the author of this book is the pastor of a church that our dear sister
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Mayanna comes from in Lethbridge. And he says this, the ceremony would last anywhere from three to four hours, sometimes even longer.
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We won't be here that long, I assure you that. And he says they were solemn events because they were convinced that they stood before an almighty and holy
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God who in condescending to save mankind from sin formed the church through redemption in Christ and gave them the task of proclaiming the gospel to the world.
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The pastor, as a steward of God, was particularly accountable to the judge, hence the solemnity.
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But, he says, they were also joyous events because the gift of a pastor was an indicator of the
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Lord's blessing and favor on the congregation. There was often a feeling of optimism and excitement and hope.
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The installation of a new pastor was such an exciting event because it heralded the hope of prosperity as a result of God's blessing.
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The pastoral office is a weighty office not to be entered into lightly and yet to see the installation of a new pastor is to receive a gift from Christ himself.
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And so oftentimes these services would have two sermons, one for the prospective pastor and then one for the congregation.
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Sometimes there'd be a dozen or more other pastors involved in praying and reading scripture.
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It was not unusual for the church to meet two or three hours before the service for an extended time of prayer.
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For a man to be appointed as an elder was a matter, it was a serious matter.
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It called for a serious mind and, if I can sound like John Piper for a moment, serious joy.
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So this afternoon as we receive the gift of a new pastor in our church, we're going to a text that captures this mingling of seriousness and of jubilation that should accompany this occasion.
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Last week we were in 1 Peter 1 for the sake of ease and because of the
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Lord's providence, we're not wandering too far but we're going to go to 1 Peter 5. And together we're going to look at this relationship between the shepherd and his flock.
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In the time that we have together, I want to bring a charge to you, our brother
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Sam. I know this might make you uncomfortable but I want to speak directly to you often and I want to share it with all of you saints.
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To you, Christ Church. There is a charge here that has many folds, many aspects and it applies to our brother and to our brother pastors who are present and to Christ Church in respect to this
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God -ordained relationship. And so if you can turn with me, if you haven't already, to 1 Peter 5.
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I want to read together our text and then we'll dive in. 1 Peter 5 and verse 1.
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Peter writes, So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and as a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.
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Shepherd the flock of God that is among you. Exercising oversight, not under compulsion but willingly as God would have you.
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Not for shameful gain but eagerly. Not domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock.
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And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
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Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.
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For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
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This afternoon as we come to 1 Peter 5, we find the apostle
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Peter concluding this letter to these churches that we heard so much about last week.
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Some of you will recall that he is writing to these Christians who have endured suffering, real suffering, for the sake of the gospel.
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And he is preparing them still for the tribulations and the subsequent glories that are to come.
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And he devotes one of the final paragraphs of this letter to the elders in the dispersion of this church.
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Now, usually special weight is given to the final words in one's letter, especially here in the epistles to these suffering
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Christians. But leaving it to the end of the letter isn't quite enough.
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And I want you to see with me how Peter adds still more gravity to his appeal.
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In verse 1, Peter could come as an apostle and dictate to these elders what they must do, but instead he comes with persuasion in solidarity with them and relates to these men as a fellow elder.
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He is not a stranger to the demands of pastoral ministry, but he knows what it means to labor in the trenches.
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But moreover, he appeals to them as one who has witnessed the sufferings of Christ.
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Peter is, think about this for a moment, an eyewitness of our Lord's life, and of His death, and of His resurrection.
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He can attest to the veracity of the gospel message. He knows that it is true, that this gospel is true, and it is worth living for, and it is worth dying for.
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And he invokes the coming glory that is to be revealed on the day of Christ, the reward that awaits the faithful.
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And with our full attention, dear saints, brother, dear church, with our full and undivided attention then, he issues a charge that is directed to the elders, but that calls for a faithful response from the church as well.
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Now I originally had this as a six -point sermon, but I frantically messaged our sister
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Amy before the sermon went to the presses and said, it's going to be a three -point sermon. We're going to revamp this a little bit.
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I love the pastoral calling, but I'm not going to do a six -point sermon. But what we're going to look at are three aspects of the role of the pastor, the role of the shepherd in relation to the flock.
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And the very first one that I want us to look at is the duty. We see it in the beginning of verse 2, where Peter says very plainly to these elders, shepherd the flock of God that is among you.
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Dear brother, I want to bring before you the duty or the duties that God has called you to.
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Brother pastors in this room, let this be a reminder of you. For those of you who aspire to ministry, might this fan the flames of that aspiration.
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To be an elder in the biblical sense was not just to be an old man. That was true, but it was more than that.
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But to be an elder in the church as an officer was to be a man whose life was characterized by spiritual maturity.
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The term itself speaks to the quality of the man who is appointed to the office. He is a mature man.
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He is a faithful man. He is not perfect, but he is above reproach. He lives an exemplary life.
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Yet the term elder does not give us many clues as to the responsibility of this office.
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Peter does not write and say, I, Peter, as a fellow elder, tell you to do the work of an elder.
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But he gives us the job description in one imperative verb. Peter lays it all out with this one word when he says, shepherd.
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Shepherd the flock of God that is among you. The same Peter who from the risen
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Christ received that charge. Peter, tend my lambs. Peter, feed my sheep.
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He now addresses every elder that is to come after him. Sam, brother, he addresses you in a very real sense.
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For the last 2 ,000 years, he has been passing this baton down to every elder after him.
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To be an elder then is not to hold a ceremonial office. But as an elder, one is called to one of the most noble tasks on this side of eternity, namely to shepherd the flock of God that has been purchased at the cost of Christ's own blood.
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The title of pastor, which comes from the Greek word that Peter uses here, poimen, or poimeno in the verb form, was never meant to be an honorific title that we are to be greeted by as we come and go in the marketplace.
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But it's a word that when we hear it, we recognize that it carries with it the entire job description of an elder.
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And we know that the duties of a shepherd are manifold. We're going to look at just a couple.
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What are the duties of an elder? A shepherd, as a shepherd, an elder is tasked with protecting the flock.
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We see that in the very concept of the shepherd as one who, with crook and staff, watches over carefully the flock as they feed.
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In Acts 20 and verse 28, we see Paul reference this as he is speaking to those
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Ephesian elders. He says, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the
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Holy Spirit has made you overseers. He warns that fierce wolves are coming and he urges, therefore, be alert.
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As an under -shepherd of Christ in this church, Brother Sam, you must realize that you are now tasked with being the first line of defense against anything or anyone that would seek to harm these people,
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Christ's people. And this is a task that is deadly serious.
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Though Christ, the captain of our salvation, has won the decisive battle, the last remnants of the war are still being waged.
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And there is a roaring lion seeking not only to devour your soul, but now all of the souls entrusted to your care.
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To quote Thomas Jefferson in his book, the minister as shepherd, he says this, the journey from cradle to the grave is hazardous.
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Dear saints, this is true of you, it is true of me. It is hazardous if every man, he says, is surrounded by perils.
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If the universe is alive with forces hostile to the soul, then watchfulness becomes one of the most critical of all of the pastor's responsibilities.
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And I can do no better than to commend the example of Christ. He said in John chapter 10 and verse 12, speaking first of the hirelings, he says, he who has a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming.
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And what does he do? He leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
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But of himself, Christ says in verses 14 and 15 in John chapter 10, he says,
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I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the
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Father knows me. And I know the Father and what I lay down my life for the sheep.
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The elder must never have the attitude of a hireling, who when difficulty comes, and it's going to come, looks out only for himself.
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But the faithful shepherd, the faithful pastor, must imitate a good and faithful shepherd, the
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Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for the sheep. Brother, this task requires your greatest diligence.
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And it can be so easy to grow complacent. Speak from experience.
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Day after day after day, it is so easy to let one's guard down. And yet, you must devote yourself to this.
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You must devote yourself to careful study, so that you might be able to give instruction and sound doctrine and refute those who contradict it.
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It requires that you confront difficulties head on. You must be, in the words of Calvin, a pastor with two voices.
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One for gathering the sheep, and one for driving away the wolves. It may mean imprisonment, the
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Lord knows. It may mean great difficulty, but you must buy the truth and never sell it.
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But that's not all. The duty of a shepherd encompasses far more than protection.
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But as a shepherd, the elder is tasked with feeding the flock. In almost every robust commentary on this passage, the authors highlight this task as the chiefest of all shepherding duties.
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To feed the flock. And dear saints, as those who
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Christ has purchased you by His own blood, what is our brother to feed you with?
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Is he to feed you with stories, and with anecdotes, and with quotes, and with poetry, and with chicken noodle soup for your soul?
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In Jeremiah 3 .15, we actually read about what it is that the
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Lord has designed for His church, and what the design, or what the diet, excuse me, of His church is to be.
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In Jeremiah 3 .15, the Lord says to His people, and I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you.
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And feed you with what? With knowledge, and with understanding.
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In this way, when a faithful shepherd elder feeds the flock from God's Word, he becomes, in an astounding way, the fulfillment, or part of the fulfillment of God's prophetic promise to His people to provide for the spiritual nourishment of their souls.
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Therefore, while others are scratching itching ears, brother, our call is clear.
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Many of you in this church who have the opportunity to engage in the ministry of the Word, the calling is clear.
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It may never be the most popular ministry methodology.
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It might not be the flashiest. It may never draw the biggest crowds, but it will always, always, always, attract the approving gaze of our chief shepherd to preach the
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Word. Paul says in 1 Timothy to his young disciple, he says, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
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He reinforces this in his second letter in 2 Timothy 4, in verses 1 and 2, he invokes
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God Himself. He says, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the
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Word. Recall the story of Martin Lloyd -Jones, who in his first pastorate was found by the church secretary nailing the pulpit to the floor of the church.
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He resolved never to let any other activity to displace the primacy of the preached
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Word of God in his ministry. And brother, if I can say it this way, nail the ministry of the
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Word of God to the place of greatest prominence in your life and in your public ministry.
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When the apostles found themselves preoccupied with serving tables, did they say, this is the most worthy task.
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We must do this. Some of you who are not pastors or elders or have no desire to the pastoral office, you might not understand this.
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Why the highlighting of, the emphasis of, the prioritizing of the preached
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Word? Because that is what we find in the Word.
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When they were preoccupied with serving tables, they did not stay there long, but they delegated those duties to others so that they could give themselves to what?
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To the ministry of the Word and of prayer. Be one such minister who preaches the
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Word with the utmost integrity. Robert Hall.
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I did a bunch of reading this week on different pastoral ordination and installation services and reading different quotes and I love this one.
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Robert Hall Jr. was one such brother who speaking to a fellow minister said this at his ordination.
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He said, Preach the Word purely and fully. Mix nothing with it that does not belong to it or may not evidently be inferred from its language.
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State every doctrine and opinion as near to the mind of the Spirit as you can ascertain.
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It is your duty not to bring down the Gospel. Hear this, saints.
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Not to bring down the Gospel into conformity with carnal man, but to change them into a conformity with the
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Gospel. But how is this done? It's not enough to say preach the
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Word. By this point, brother, you know that if we come into this pulpit having not nourished ourselves in the
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Word and studied to show ourselves approved and to do the hard labor, you're saying,
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I have a confession to make on behalf of every preacher. We have nothing to offer in and of ourselves.
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How then do we do this? We must be the most earnest students of Scripture that we can be.
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To be the most effective minister of the Scriptures that we can be. We must give our all to, as we read in our institute a couple of weeks ago, to giving ourselves to studying and to teaching, to understanding, and to obeying the
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Scriptures. Brother, your preparations, I know you know this well already, that they have not ended, but they have only just begun.
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As one put it, it was an interview with John MacArthur and another brother, he said, your calling now is to a lifetime of study, but that without a graduation or diploma.
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The faithful pastor doesn't need a PhD, but I assure you, the faithful shepherd of Christ's flock will do enough reading and studying and writing that he would amass the amount of work that would be completed over the course of many
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PhDs. You must be skilled in the Word of God. Brother, like a soldier, you must master the use of the sword that our
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God has put in your hands. Like a top -notch surgeon, you must learn to wield God's Word as a small scalpel for the welfare of the saints.
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You must be an approved worker, rightly handling the Word of Truth. And this will not come only by good intentions, but it must come through the dedication that is required.
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It comes only through great time and great effort. It will only come through a resolved and concerted faithfulness, a plodding along faithfully in the same direction year after year after year, and of learning to love such faithfulness.
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There's a story about a man named Joseph Parker who was asked often about the secret to his energy in the pulpit, the secret to his power.
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And Parker said this, there was no need of explanation. If I had talked all the week,
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I could not have preached on Sunday. That is all. If I had attended committee meetings, immersed myself in politics, and undertaken the general care of the empire, my strength would have been consumed.
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That is all. Mystery, there is none. I have made preaching my work, my delight, the very festival of my soul.
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That is all. And then he says to you and to many others, brother, go young brother, go thou and do likewise, and God bless thee.
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But it's not enough to protect and to feed. There is still another duty.
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As a shepherd, you are tasked with caring for the flock. In Acts 20 and verse 35, we read
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Paul's words there to those elders in Ephesus, where he says, In all things I have shown you that by working in this way, we must help the weak, and remember the words of the
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Lord Jesus, how he himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.
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When the sheep are weak and wounded, you are one of God's appointed means of restoring them to health.
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The elder and your saints, we need to expect this of our elders. We need to pray this for our elders.
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The elders must never be too busy to care for the afflicted Christian. The elders domain is not only that of the study and the pulpit, but it is the living room.
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It is the hospital bedside. It is the phone. It is the place wherever weak and faint hearted saints of God can be found.
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We read in James chapter 5, how the sick are when they are ill, to call upon the elders and let them pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the
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Lord. We read in many places, how we are to encourage the faint hearted.
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That we are to bear our brothers and sisters up if there is one group of people that bears the greatest burden for bearing the burdens of the saints.
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It is not those who are tasked with shepherding and caring and praying for them. In Acts chapter 6, we read that the ministers of the gospel are to be ministers of the word.
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But not ministers of the word only, but ministers of the word and prayer. There are many men.
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There are many, many men who are eager to stand behind the pulpit and preach to God's people.
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We could advertise this on a Christian Facebook group. And we would have a line up outside of the building and down to the road of those who might be willing to preach in this pulpit.
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But find me men who are prepared not only to stand behind the pulpit and preach to God's people.
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But find me men who are willing to kneel in their closets and pray for that same group of people consistently, faithfully, without fail.
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That is what it means to care for Christ's flock. Philip Keller says all the care, all the work, all the alertness, all the skill, all the concern, all the self -sacrifice.
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All of these are born out of the shepherd's love. The love for the one who loves his sheep.
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Loves his work. Loves his role as a shepherd. That is our charge to our brothers.
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Our brother, excuse me. And dear saints, I give you this charge in response to that. See in verse 5.
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It says likewise you who are younger. Now young men and young women, that is speaking to you. I think it's speaking broadly to a younger category.
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But then generally, you who are younger be subject to the elders. But then clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.
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For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Dear church, my charge to you, scripture's charge to you.
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It says our brother seeks to faithfully carry out his role as a shepherd. Would you by God's grace and by his strength seek to submit to his ministry?
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To receive the blessing of our brother's labors. I can assure you,
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I don't know of a man who steps into our pulpit ever who has not come here after hours and hours and hours and hours of diligent study.
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Of careful preparation. Of praying. Of crying out to God for help, oh Lord. Send light.
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I know our brother is one such man. And that he loves you.
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And he's not a perfect man. But we could say, by God's grace, he is God's man.
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Would you receive our brother's ministry? More than that, would you receive this gift that God is giving you in his ministry?
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There are people that ask and debate about the use of that word pastor. Should we call these men elders?
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Or pastors? Or overseers? Or bishops? Or what do we call them? And I think that we can use that term elder.
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That term overseer. And even the term pastor. We see it in Ephesians chapter 4.
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In verse 8, we're told there that when Christ ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men.
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What were those gifts? Well we see him then list these office holders in Ephesians 4 .11.
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And he gave the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists and the shepherds and teachers.
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Or shepherd teachers or pastor teachers. When our
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Lord gives our brother Sam to us as an elder, he gives it as a gift. And dear brethren,
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I encourage you, I exhort you to receive the gift of our brother's ministry. And when he has carried it out, he will be a trustworthy steward.
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A faithful overseer. A steward of the gospel and of God's people. And that is the lion's share of what
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I want to say today. But I want to speak to just a couple of other details. We've seen the duty. Let me show you the demeanor.
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In verses 2 and 3. In the second part of verse 2, we read that elders are to shepherd the flock of God that is among you.
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Exercising oversight. And then we see the demeanor. Not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you.
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Not for shameful gain, but eagerly. Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
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Pastoral ministry is hard. In various times, the man who serves in this ministry, his flesh is going to buck against the spirit.
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It is going to grow resentful of some of the good and glorious things that man has been called to in that ministry.
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And Peter understands this. And so for this reason, he not only gives us the duties of an elder, but he gives us the demeanor that we are to have.
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The manner in which we are to shepherd. And he says here that we are to do first the work willingly.
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Not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have it. Peter is familiar with common ministry pitfalls.
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He's not only going to warn us against those pitfalls, but he's going to prescribe the remedy. A man should never enter into ministry because he feels he has to.
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He should never enter into under compulsion. And yet, in my experience, the pressures of ministry have a way of eroding the willingness of men in this office.
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I think there's a stat out there somewhere that says something like 80 % of men in pastoral ministry last less than 5 years.
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That's devastating. That's one who is either not sure that this is what the
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Lord would have for them, or those are the ones who just burn out like a skid mark on the highway. How do we protect ourselves from these things?
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Rather, disappointments in ministry abound. In my experience, one of the greatest occupational hazards in pastoral ministry is discouragement.
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It's not just something that might come. It is a given. It is coming. And dear saints, lest you think that you are the discouraging ones,
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I want you to know with all certainty that the greatest encouragement of my ministry is you.
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It is God's people. Then where comes the discouragement?
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I will tell you, the greatest discouragement that an elder will feel, Sam, the greatest discouragement that you will experience is not going to come from Christ's people.
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It's not going to come from criticism. It's not even going to come from comparisons that you make with others.
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But your greatest discouragement is going to come from you. It is going to come from your failures, from your flaws, from your sinfulness.
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I can tell you, the worst sermon I have ever heard is a sermon that I have preached several times.
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It is a discouragement that comes in recognizing the exalted nature of our
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God and the glory of the gospel and our own failures in trying to convey that both in word and in life.
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But dear brother, how then are you to remain faithful and remain willingly faithful?
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It is by realizing that his power is perfected in our weakness. Dear saints, how are we to remain faithful when we become discouraged with our own difficulties, our own flaws?
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It is by realizing that we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power does not belong to us, but to God.
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And then trusting that the power belongs to God and that God is pleased to use weak and dull and failing instruments.
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We throw ourselves into the work that God has called us to. Brethren, in everything that you do, you must seek to maintain a willing spirit as God would have you.
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Your ministerial effectiveness demands it. Your personal fruitfulness, your joy requires it.
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But even more, God insists upon it as God himself would have you.
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John Henry Jowett says, on the high plains of spiritual service, no number of pressed men can take the place of one volunteer.
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You find me a million men who have to be there and then one man who wants to be there.
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I tell you, who will bear the most fruit? Who will enter in with the most joyful service?
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Brother, be that such man. But he says, not only to do the work willingly, but he says, not for shameful gain, but eagerly.
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There are many who think and who have found that some form of feigned righteousness, that some form of peddling the word of God can make a great profit.
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We are not such peddlers of God's word. We must be. Some are motivated by their love for money.
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But we as elders, brother, you as an elder must be motivated by your love for God, your love for his people, and your esteem of the pastoral office.
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I'm reminded of Edward Payson. He used to sit in his study and slap his knees and say, I cannot believe that God has called me, of all men, to be a minister of his word.
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This must never, ever, ever be lost on us. Spurgeon goes so far as to say that if God calls you to be a minister, don't ever stoop to becoming a king.
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Brother, show your fellow saints what it looks like to serve
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God. To serve God with eagerness. To serve
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God with enthusiasm. That it is a joy. And, dear saints,
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I know you know this. That it is a joy to serve the living and the true
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God. To lay it all out on the line. To be sold out in his service.
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To leave nothing left in the tank. But to give your all to him.
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But not just that. Not just willingly. Not just eagerly. But in verse 3, he says, not domineering over those in your charge, but being an example to the flock.
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There are some who want to shepherd in Christ's church because they want to be the power brokers in that church.
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They want to steer it where they would will. Christ speaks about such leaders in Mark 10, verse 42.
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He says, Jesus called them to him and said, You know that those who are considered rulers of the
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Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
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Brother, the call to shepherd Christ's flock is a call to be last and least.
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Not to be served, but to serve. To give your time.
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To give your energy. Brother, you're in your 30's. To give your youth.
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Not spent on the lake. Not snowboarding on the mountain. Not giving your life to those things, but giving your life to Christ and to his people.
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And it's to be a man of integrity. When I was training for law enforcement, one of our instructors, one of the things that he said, ad nauseum almost, was this.
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It's something that we see in the news all the time. He said, when you go out and you're in uniform and you're living and working as a police officer, don't do anything that you wouldn't want posted all over the front page of the newspaper.
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And just watch. In the next couple of weeks, if you watch the headlines, you will find a police officer in Edmonton who has such misdeeds posted on the newspaper.
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Brother, if I can tweak that a little bit and offer it back to you. Don't do anything that you wouldn't want announced before the church of the living
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Christ. More than that, don't do anything that you wouldn't want to be confronted with as you stand before the living
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God, to whom we must give an account. The one who said, not many of you, dear brothers, should aspire to be teachers, for they will endure a stricter judgment.
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Brother, not only don't be a negative example, but be a positive example.
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You're a young man, probably a little bit older than Timothy, but in 1 Timothy 4 .12, we read, let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, and in purity.
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For elders, and for those who are aspiring elders in this room, seek to be a sterling example of what it looks like to walk with God.
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A man, or dear sisters, though you will not serve as elders in our church, you have an important ministry function here, be one who not only possesses a bookish knowledge of God, but an experiential and practical knowledge of the living
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God. One who can say, I know God, and as I follow
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Christ, so follow me. Robert Murray McShane, our
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Scottish brother, in 1840, he wrote a letter to a man named
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Dan Edwards, who was just ordained to ministry. And in this letter, he says this,
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I trust you will have a pleasant and profitable time. Interestingly, he was going to Germany.
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A pleasant and profitable time in Germany. I know you will apply hard to learn the
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German language, but do not forget the culture of the inner man.
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And he says, what I mean is the heart. How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean and sharp.
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Every stain he rubs off with the greatest of care. Dear saints, this is for you too.
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Remember, you are God's instrument. I trust a chosen vessel unto him to bear his name in great measure according to the purity and perfection of the instrument will be the success.
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It is not great talents that God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus.
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A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. This is counsel that McShane himself took seriously.
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On another occasion, he was speaking to a fellow pastor and he said this, my people's greatest need is my holiness.
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And dear church, how are you to heed this as you seek to submit to the elders as you submit to Christ?
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Hebrews 13 verse 17 and 18, maybe turn there with me.
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We see the terrifying call of the elder and the sobering call of the flock.
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Sam and I have talked about this. Brother Melvin, as a shepherd elder,
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I'm sure you have trembled at this text. For those of you who have served as elders in other locations, this text has haunted you.
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It says obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls.
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Now that is terrifying enough. But the author of Hebrews has to go further. As those who will have to give an account.
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It is a terrifying prospect that the elder will not only go before God to answer for himself and a man for his family, but an elder for his church.
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And dear saints, the writer of Hebrews says this, and I charge you with this.
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Let them do this with joy and not with groaning. For that would be of no advantage to you.
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Pray for us for we are sure that we have a clear conscience desiring to act honorably in all things.
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Just as you receive our brother's ministry, so in the same way, submit to our brother's ministry in such a way that he rejoices every day when he thinks that he gets to be one of your pastors.
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If our brother is groaning, it is of no advantage to you. But it is to your great advantage.
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If he can be encouraged by your walk, if he can be encouraged by your prayers, if he can be encouraged even by your repentance, and commit, dear saints, as this author says, pray for us for we are sure that we have a clear conscience desiring to act honorably in all things.
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Oh, dear saints, would you pray for us? Would you pray for Sam? Would you bear him up in prayer tonight?
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He is a marked man. He has entered into the Lord's service in a new way and you can guarantee it.
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The whole force of Satan and his army will be against him.
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He needs your prayers. And I say with my brother that the best of men are men at best.
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And how dependent we are at every single moment upon the power of God brought about by the prayers of his people.
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And then lastly, I've looked at the duty, the demeanor, and I want to look, last of all, at the reward.
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In verse 4, Peter writes, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
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If you look at the front of your bulletin, you will see that I've written that this sermon is entitled The Shepherd and His Flock.
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Some of you might look at that and go, that is a presumptuous title. That is elevating the role of the shepherd a bit too much, is it not?
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And it may or may not, but that reference is not primarily,
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Brother Sam, to your relationship to this flock, but as a reference to the great shepherd, to the chief shepherd, to the
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Lord Jesus Christ in his relationship to this dear flock, this dear body, this bride of Christ, that you do not exist as a shepherd in and of yourself, but you are, and repeat this to yourself as often as you remember to do it, an under -shepherd of Christ.
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That these people are not your people, but you, dear saints, are
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Christ's people. That you belong, not to the elders of this church, but you belong to Christ, and we must answer for the stewardship that we have here.
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One of the mottos of my life and ministry, and Brother, no doubt you have heard me repeat this several times,
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I repeat it not to make much of myself, but because it's a reminder every single time I say it, that our calling to love and to labor and to be poured out as a drink offering, it is not so that we can be seen.
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It is not so that the church exalts in the under -shepherds. You've heard me say this,
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Brother. We serve Christ, and we serve his church, and the aim of our ministry is this.
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It is to labor in obscurity, to die and be forgotten, that Christ himself might be remembered and glorified forever.
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Our calling, Brother, is to lift up Christ. We're going to sing that hymn in a few minutes, before the throne of God above.
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Our call, above all things, is to point all of you that in everything, that even in this service, you would not see
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Brother Sam, but that you would see Christ and his great care for his people, his great care for his church, that we would, as the song goes, behold him there, the risen lamb, our perfect, spotless righteousness, the great, unchangeable
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I Am, the King of glory and of grace. And when,
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Brother, when we have made much of our Christ, then we will have him as our reward.
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One of my favorite things, when it talks about the dividing of the inheritance in the ancient land of Israel, and it speaks about how
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Simeon got this, and Judah got this plot of land, and I don't know if you've ever paid attention to this, but my favorite inheritance of all belongs to Levi.
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What was the inheritance that Levi received? And the
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Lord shall be your inheritance. Paul says to Timothy, to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hopes set on the living
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God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
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The Lord will have houses in the new heavens and the new earth. He will have treasure in the new heavens and the new earth.
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But the greatest blessing that we will enjoy in the new heavens and the new earth is our greatest pursuit in this life.
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The living and true God and fellowship everlasting with Him. Brother, you will remember a couple of years ago in the
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Fundamentals of Expository Preaching course that we took about Calvin's school of death.
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Some of you have heard of Calvin's school of death. What would happen is these Christians in France would faithfully labor amongst the
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French Huguenot people. They would be persecuted. And they would leave France. They would go to Geneva.
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And there in Geneva they would discover John Calvin. And there in the school of John Calvin they would study under him and learn the great doctrines not of the
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Reformation but of Scripture. And of the exceeding worth of Christ above all things.
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And then an interesting thing would happen in Calvin's school of death. They would learn and they would serve and they would experience for themselves the matchless worth of Christ.
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And then what would they do? They would go back into France and they would die for Christ.
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One of the greatest massacres of Christians in the 17th century was when the
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Huguenots in France were killed by the Roman Catholic neighbors. Upwards of 30 ,000 martyrs.
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And amongst those men who graduated from Calvin's school of death when they weren't killed and they were pushed out of France they went to our brother's homeland our brother and sister's homeland to Brazil to preach the gospel there.
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Brother why were those men prepared to go back to France? Why were they prepared to die?
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It was because they treasured Christ. And the calling that He had given them above all things.
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Strauch writes about that day. He says, What a time of victory and vindication and joy
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Christ's appearing will bring to lowly unnoticed elders who have faithfully shepherded
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God's flock. Hardworking selfless shepherds may not have many earthly goods to show for a lifetime of toil.
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But someday the chief shepherd will come and fully reward his under shepherds.
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Their work will no longer go unnoticed or unappreciated for he will reward them publicly before the host of heaven.
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He will bestow on them heavenly honor and glory. All elders are to keep their eyes steadfastly fixed on His appearing and on the day of reward that is coming.
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So when we look at what it means then to be installed as an elder in a church we can say again looking at the history of pastoral installations one text that was repeated again and again and again was 2nd
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Corinthians 2 and verse 16 where it says some of you might be familiar with this Who is sufficient for these things?
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Brother who is sufficient for such things?
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We are not sufficient for such things. By God's grace we are who we are and yet we must say with the
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Apostle Paul who says in the very next verse he says Who is sufficient for these things? And then he says
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But as men of sincerity as commissioned by God in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
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We will never be sufficient for such things but for sufficiency's sake we were not called but we have been called to find our sufficiency in Christ and finding our sufficiency in Him.
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Him we proclaim. And dear saints the greatest gift that you can give to us as undershepherds in Christ's church the greatest gift that you could possibly bless us with is that we seek to make
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Christ our all that you would make Christ your all and that long after we have died and been forgotten
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Christ would be remembered. Let's pray to that end. Thank you for listening to another sermon from Grace Fellowship Church.
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