The Shepherd Calling Part III Peter 5:1-5

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Before the Christmas holiday we started 1st Peter chapter 5
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And what Peter does as he starts? Chapter 5 is that he transitions to give instructions to elders
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And as he writes to the churches in Asia Minor, there are certain men who have been given the responsibility
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To look after the souls in each of the people in their respective churches So our big idea in this three
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Sunday sermon is to understand that God appoints certain men to look after your soul
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And in this text we there are eight ways how and and thus far we have seen five of the tasks how
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And here with here's what they are as a reminder So you are to understand that God has given the shepherding tasks to certain men by testifying alongside other shepherds concerning Christ's redemptive work
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Leading the way longing for future glory knowing the sheep under their care Serving joyfully the flock under their care and the fifth way how?
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As we saw one week ago is by refusing to abuse their authority Now before we look at the last three points of this three
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Sunday sermon, I'm going to read the text in full So at this time I encourage you to turn with me to first Peter chapter 5
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And if you do not have a Bible we do have the red Bibles The sermon is once again titled the shepherd calling and this is part 3 first Peter 5 1 through 5 so I exhort the elders among you as a
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Fellow elder and 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 not for shameful gain
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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
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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 once again understand that God appoints certain men to look after your soul and the sixth task how is by setting an example worth emulating and we're gonna zero in in the second half of verse 3
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Where once again Peter writes? That shepherds are to be examples to the flock
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Now in the previous point we looked at the shepherd who is in the ministry for all the wrong reasons
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For his own personal gain and we might think why would anybody do that?
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people do that The ministry is full of charlatans full of people who are in it for the wrong reasons people who are frauds
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And it's the worst kind of frauds I can put up with secular frauds a little bit more than I can put up with religious frauds
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They are the worst of the worst People get into ministry for the wrong Reasons and there's a spectrum.
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This is the worst of the worst as we saw one week ago When we looked at the the story of David Platt, and then there's the people who just do it for a job
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Right not as severe as that but still Very severe because they're not in it for the right reasons
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And what Peter gives us in the second half of verse 3 is the contrast of the self -focused shepherd
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And what he writes is that shepherds must be examples to the flock. And as I mentioned a week ago the Qualifications for an elder are laid out in detail in two different places in the
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New Testament first Peter for Peter 5 as we see here, but that's not the one I'm focusing on here first Timothy 3 and Titus 1
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These two letters are both letters written by the Apostle Paul and they are written to two elders that Paul discipled
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Timothy and Titus Let's look at these qualifications first in at first Timothy 3 2 through 7 where Paul writes an overseer must be above reproach a husband of one wife sober minded self -controlled respectable hospitable able to teach
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Not a drunkard not violent, but gentle not quarrelsome not a lover of money
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He must manage his own household Well with all dignity keeping his children submissive for if someone does not know how to manage his own household
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How will he care for God's Church? He must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil
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Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace into a snare of the devil
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Then Paul gives a similar list of qualifications in Titus 1 5 through 9 Where he writes this is why
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I left you in Crete So that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I had directed you if anyone is above reproach the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination for an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach
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He must not be arrogant or quick -tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy But hospitable a lover of good self -controlled upright holy and disciplined
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He must hold firm to the trustworthy word is taught so that he may be able to give instruction in Sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it
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Okay, so those are the qualifications And as I reached the end there Titus 1 9
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The Titus 1 9 pastor is of utmost importance Do you see the first half of what he said?
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They proclaim the truth of God's Word and they rebuke those who contradict it.
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Why do I pause on that one? That one's missing in the American Church Largely speaking there are some out there who do it, but it's missing largely speaking
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And that's why we get in the problems we do frankly If you practice like if you practice the rebuking parts
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You're called unloving you're called divisive. You're called combative, but that's what a qualification of an elder is
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What Paul has written in first Timothy 3 and Titus 1 is what true biblical shepherds are supposed to look like And what you will notice in these texts is that the qualifications listed are generally the character of a
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Christian The only qualification given to a shepherd that is not given to all
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Christians is the command to be able to teach For a shepherd to be an effective shepherd.
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He has to have some ability to teach Now even though shepherds and Christians are commanded to have godly character a shepherd should have exemplary character
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He should be one of those people that when his name comes up Everyone considers this man a great example of what it means to be a follower of Christ So the name is said oh, yeah, he's a wonderful man of God it shouldn't be really
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How was he appointed to that position? He should be one of those people that when his name comes up There's that that sense that he's the right guy now.
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This doesn't mean that the shepherd is going to be perfect When the Lord calls men to be shepherds
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He's calling a man who is still very much one who wrestles with his sin But a man qualified as a shepherd is actively putting to death this sin in his life
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He's aware of the sins and he wants to turn from them when considering a man for pastoral ministry or the role of an elder a
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Good person to ask is the wife of this man if he's married The wife sees this man at home
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The wife sees how he carries himself around his children The wife sees whether or not this man is in a place to be an example to others.
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I Remember hearing the story of a wife of a pastor who contacted another pastor addressing her concerns
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About her husband's qualification for being a shepherd Now the wife shouldn't expect perfection
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But she should not see him as an actor when he's around church people Someone who is one thing at home and another in the church environment
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That happens There are some shepherds who are such good actors. They should go to Hollywood But shepherds need to be those who others want to follow
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The Apostle Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 11 1 be imitators of me as I am of Christ Several weeks back in the introduction of part one of this sermon
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I read my article that is going to be published on true script down the road, which is a
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Christian website And I'm going to give a brief section about what I wrote concerning shepherds being examples to their flock.
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Here's what I wrote Churches that have a true shepherd will be shut up to grow
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They will see that their pastor has a hunger for the scriptures and this will encourage his congregants to have a hunger for the scriptures
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Also, they will see that he is a pastor who truly loves people as he loves them
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And this will encourage them to love the people in their life. Also Pastors and elders need to be those whom people want to follow as they follow
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Christ as 1st Corinthians 11 1 says Pastors should aim to live an inspiring life that inspires others to be a soldier of the cross
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So there's the there's what I wrote Shepherds should be those that have
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Exemplary character that inspires others to follow It has been said that the congregation will not rise past the level of the spiritual leadership over them
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Sometimes you see a church that is lifeless Because the pastors and elders are just going through the motions as The pastors and elders go through the motions the people in the church whether they realize it or not also lack the zeal for the
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Lord They lack zeal to carry out their respective ministries because the shepherds over them lack zeal as shepherds
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Last spring in early summer. We looked at Jesus address the seven churches of Revelation Five of the seven churches had serious issues that Jesus addressed and one of those churches is the church in Sardis This is what he told this church in Revelation 3 verses 2 through 3
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He said I know your works You have the reputation of being alive But you are dead
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Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my
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God This was a church that checked all the boxes and On the outside looked like a healthy church, but in reality it was a lackluster church in our day
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It would be a church that maybe they do verse -by -verse preaching right because good churches do verse -by -verse through the
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Bible preaching a church that proclaims a high view of Scripture a church that Recommended the right teachers past and present this church even could be a church that generally has good discernment
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However, there is a lifelessness because the leadership are not examples very important Shepherds are supposed to equip the
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Saints for the work of ministry by teaching. Yes but shepherds of the flock need to be examples
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Shepherds of the flock need to get their hands dirty once in a while They need to do things that church people do they need to be involved
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They need to live their lives in an exemplary way. It's a it's a high standard But this is what the calling is for shepherds of the flock of God It's not enough to say you do this and then and then and then the shepherds aren't really doing much
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Shepherds are to prepare their people to be soldiers of the cross how can a
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Shepherd called people to put themselves on the line when the shepherds are not putting themselves on the line
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That's so important that needs to happen a Shepherd needs to be a soldier of the cross
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Before the people are going to be a soldier of the cross, you know, and I love that song Am I a soldier of the cross that old hymn if you if you read the lyrics of that song?
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it's saying you're gonna carry a cross you're gonna carry a burden as you go through the life of faith and The shepherds need to set that example for their people because this is what every
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Christian is going to case you every Christian carries a cross You have a cross to bear and some of you are bearing that right now
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You have a cross to bear and the shepherds need to set an example for the flock of God They must do this willingly and eagerly as Peter has already written in these verses if a shepherd treats his task like a job and not a calling this is the kind of shepherd that the people are not going to be
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Excited to follow The health of a church starts with the leadership If I hear this church is not doing well
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It's probably the leadership probably It's probably it starts and ends with the leadership.
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You know, Harry Truman once said right the buck stops with me More men need to say that as they lead
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The leadership need to be filled with the word and living out the word and when this happens It is
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God's design that the flock under their care will follow their godly leadership
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So understand that God appoints certain men to look after your soul and the sixth task how is by setting an example worth
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Emulating. Okay. So this is a prayer pray that the shepherds of this church do that pray for other shepherds
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You know pray for shepherds and other churches in our area and and more broadly speaking
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The sixth task I should say the seventh task how you were to understand that God appoints certain men to look after your soul is by realizing the reward that Awaits for faithfulness and this is what
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Peter writes in verse 4 and when the chief shepherd appears you will receive the unfading crown of glory
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There is a great reward that awaits all believers for their faithfulness
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In 2nd Timothy 4 verses 5 through 8 the Apostle Paul wrote is for you always be sober -minded endure suffering
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Do the work of an evangelist? Fulfill your ministry for I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come
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I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith henceforth
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There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness Which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me
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But also to all who have loved his appearing So in that passage the
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Apostle Paul is describing with honesty that he by the grace of God was a faithful minister of the gospel he could say that he carried out what the
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Lord called him to do and As he was faithful the Lord would give him and all who were faithful along with him the crown of righteousness
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So we see something similar That we see in verse 4 of our text a crown in 2nd
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Timothy 4 Paul describes the crown of righteousness That goes to all faithful believers and Peter describes the crown of glory that goes to all faithful shepherds
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Now is this a literal crown? No The way to translate this to make it more understandable is that the faithful receive the crown which is righteousness and The crown which is glory is
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Is what these shepherds these faithful shepherds get so the crown is figurative The hymn, holy, holy, holy
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Says we'll be casting down our crowns. Well, that's not exactly accurate. The crown is figurative
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And this is what believers receive for their faith righteousness and glory The righteousness that Paul describes in 2nd
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Timothy 4 is the righteousness of Christ that is credited to believers through faith alone When you believe in Christ his righteousness is credited as your righteousness
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This is the state of the believer in the present But In the future at death or when
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Christ returns believers will truly be righteous The sinful nature that you and I now have will be a thing of the past.
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I Love that him and I say this again that the come now found. Oh that day when freed from sinning
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I shall see his lovely face Clothed then in blood -washed linen. I shall sing my sovereign grace
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Come now Lord no longer Terry take my ransomed soul away Send nine angels now to carry me to realms of endless days the hymnist
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He's longing for that day when he will be freed from sin. What's the biggest problem in your life and my life?
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sin And it's not anybody else's sin. It's my own sin. That's the biggest problem in my life
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And how wonderful that'll be one day when we are freed from our sins
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We will be righteous We'll never have a sinful thought again. We'll never be envious of anybody else.
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We'll be humble We will truly be godly. We'll be will truly be human by the way people say
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You know you make mistakes. Oh, he's just being human The truth is we are subhuman right now.
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We were human in the garden, but when Adam and Eve were alive They were perfect and a day is coming when we will be like that We won't sin which is hard to imagine because that's what we know
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But by the grace of God through Jesus Christ He sets us free and and by the way if anyone here today has not put their trust in Christ I invite you believe in the
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Lord Jesus, and he will free you John 8 says the truth will set you free and you will be free indeed
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Sin is bondage, but Christ can deliver you from that and if you believe in him he will deliver you from that There is a day coming when
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Christ will reign with his people and This crown of righteousness that Paul described in 2nd
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Timothy 4 and this crown of glory That Peter describes in verse 4 of our text will be the belonging of a believer
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Christ people will reign with the one who has conquered the king of kings and the Lord of lords and While all future believers all present believers.
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I should say we'll share in this future glory Peter highlights the shepherds in this text to be a shepherd of God's flock is a difficult task and Peter wants to encourage his readers who are shepherds over their respective churches to keep going
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Don't quit He's saying what Galatians 6 9 says and let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season
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We will reap if we do not give up Good fruit is produced from the faithfulness of all
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Christians and in this context the faithfulness of the shepherds of God's flock This good fruit comes from faithfulness and the
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Lord recognizes this faithfulness We're gonna be judged for our faithfulness, he's responsible for the fruit right
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God makes things grow But when he examines our lives, he's gonna look at did you do what
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I told you to do? The faithful shepherd will receive the unfading crown of glory from the chief shepherd
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The chief shepherd is of course the Lord Jesus Christ Every Pastor and elder of a local church is an under shepherd when people ask who's the lead pastor of Eureka Baptist Church?
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The correct answer is not Seth Brickley. It is Jesus He is the chief shepherd of every true biblical
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Church Mark Keith Doug and myself are under shepherds of the chief shepherd
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Jesus looks on closely as to how we look after the flock of this church What mark
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Keith Doug and I need to do is have our eyes fixed on the unfading crown of glory
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Which is promised to faithful shepherds? This is a great reminder to us shepherds and every believer in this room that we should not care what man thinks
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At the end of the day the only opinion that matters is that of the Lord Jesus Christ? Who's the judge of every person?
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I think a week or two ago. I posted on my Facebook page That if you want to go to one verse to find out if a man is qualified to be a pastor or an elder go to Isaiah 66 to Here is the one to whom
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I will look he who is humble and contrite and trembles at my word
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Contrite means You're bothered by your own sin That's what qualifies a man to be a shepherd humble
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Contrite trembles that is where you are small. God is big and The responsibility is to proclaim what he has proclaimed through the
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Word of God Which means that man needs to be small it's an interesting thing
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I mean look at the prophets of the Old Testament Look at Jeremiah for example
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Jeremiah had a hard life He always told the people what they didn't want to hear
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But he told people what they needed to hear because it was what God wanted them to hear That was his that was his calling right and that's that's a calling of a shepherd
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You need to tell people not what they want to hear but what they need to hear and what they need to hear is ultimately for their blessing
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So you are truly loving people as you do that And we have talked about this before that at the judgment seat of Christ rewards will vary for believers depending on one's faithfulness
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In 2nd Corinthians 510 we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive according to what we have done
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Some will receive more honor than others every believer must aim to receive honor from the
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Lord and Oftentimes in this life. This means not receiving honor from the world
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Because the world loves their own as John 15 19 says But to receive honor from the
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Lord Jesus Christ there is an eternal reward Awaiting and that reward is the unfading crown of glory
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It is to experience his glory and to experience it increasing measure the more faithful you are
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Jesus said this about his faithful servants in Matthew 10 32 Everyone who acknowledges me before men.
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I also will acknowledge before my father who is in heaven The one who acknowledges him is one who proclaims him and follows him closely showing one's
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Faithfulness, we shouldn't care what people think right? Just we're servants of the
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Lord Jesus Christ And I've shared this before but I love John MacArthur on Larry King live, you know, he's just It's such a contrast to what some of some other some of these other
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Christians who have gone on these shows He's just telling the truth. He's just shooting darts Just saying this is what the truth is
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You know he was surrounded by the secular priest a Kind of a liberal priest and this Hindu guy and this other guy and he he's like I was on the show just to share the gospel
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And you do that when God is big and Man is small. You just tell the truth.
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This is what they need to hear Pastors need to be those and Christians in general need to be those
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That we care what people think a million years from now, okay think of it that way When people are in hell one day, they might say, you know what?
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I didn't like that guy, but he told me the truth There was a semi coming for me and he told me to get out of the way and I didn't listen
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You know the same thing with believers I you know, I didn't I didn't always like what This pastor or this elder said or even this
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Christian said but they loved me right is for the betterment of this person We want to be those who a million years from now people appreciated us
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They might not appreciate you in the present But in the big picture they will because you were serving the Lord Jesus Christ that should be our aim
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So as you think about the shepherds of this church Pray that we would have our eyes fixed on the unfading crown of glory and may everyone in this church have all also have their
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Eyes fixed on the future crown that awaits you for your faithfulness So understand that God appoints certain men to look after your soul and the seventh task
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How is by realizing the reward that awaits for faithfulness? The eighth task how and this is the final one in this three
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Sunday sermon the eighth task How you were to understand that God appoints certain men to look after your soul is by teaching their people to humbly follow
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Their biblical leadership and let's see this once again in verse 5 where Peter writes likewise
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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
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Now if we take this verse standing alone Then we might think this is saying that young people are to respect their elders.
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Okay. Well, which is of course true We see this in first Timothy 5 1 where the Apostle Paul writes to the younger do not rebuke an older man
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But encourage him as you would a father Any healthy church in any healthy society is one that honors the elderly
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But we want to understand every verse of Scripture in its context The elders
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Peter is describing in verse 5 are the elders he introduced in verse 1 These are the spiritual leaders of the church
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Peter understands that younger people have a propensity not to respect those who are older And we see this in our society to be young is to be treasured to be cool
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The thought is that old people are outdated. They're past their prime. We don't really pay much attention to them anymore
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But what mature Christians find is that the most enjoyable people to be around are those older?
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Christians who have walked with the Lord for many many years Proverbs 1631 says
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Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is gained in a righteous life So the
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Bible talks of a gray hair in the positive Okay, so next time you look at the mirror and see gray hair that should encourage you
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The Lord makes it that when people get older they get gray hair and this gray hair is meant to symbolize
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Wisdom and hopefully you have hair so that it can be gray, right? That's also a problem It symbolizes someone who has been through much
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Who understands what life is all about and this wise person is always someone who follows the
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Lord as Proverbs 1 7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom as Christians we should desire to be around mature believers, especially those older folks who have walked with the
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Lord for many years Those who are younger we should strive to be that when we are older You want to be one who others seek for guidance because you have built up wisdom over the years
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So scripture teaches that the younger must respect their elders, but once again what Peter is writing in verse 5 is for the congregation to respect the spiritual leaders of the church and In particular he targets one group you who are younger
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He does this because as I said younger people tend to have a harder time respecting those who are older Now younger people mature in the faith understand this
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They do give respect to the elders who look after their souls It is not only the younger that are called to do this, but the entire congregation
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What is important for any Christian is to make sure you put yourself under pastors and elders whom you respect?
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There are bad pastors out there and elders and so Christians should not put themselves in submission to them
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But once a Christian finds a church where he or she thinks one is a good fit and respects the spiritual leaders
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This doesn't mean you always agree by the way There will be disagreements, but but generally speaking.
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There's a there's a respect then what Peter is commanding must be done What Peter is commanding is for church people to submit to the shepherds of the church as he writes
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Be subject to the elders that word submission It's probably one of the five most unpopular words in our day
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Would you say a few months back we looked at the beginning of chapter 3? Where Peter wrote that wives were to be subject to your own husbands?
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This is God's ordering The man is created to be the head of the woman. It doesn't mean women are inferior, but this is
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God's design in role God creates men to be the leaders in the home in A similar way
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God creates men to be elders in a local church This doesn't mean that shepherds are more important than the other people in the church, but it is their
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God -given role to be in leadership Shepherds are given the task by God to help grow the people in the church
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Sometimes there are people in the church who are not yet saved. So the elders responsibility is to lead them to the
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Lord And as I said in point two shepherds lead the way in longing for future glory
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We also saw in point five that shepherds in their role must lead in the right way not for shameful gain
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But truly leading the people in the church to follow the Lord more closely what
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Peter writes in the middle of verse 5 is that shepherds and church members have the responsibility to be humble in their positions
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The shepherds are to be humble under God's authority Understanding that they will have to give an account for how they led one day
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Hebrews 13 7 says this or 17 that is Obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account
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Shepherds are to lead according to how scripture tells them to lead To abuse this is a very dangerous thing and there will be severe consequences
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So a shepherd must humbly lead the people of God in the church the people under their care must also clothe themselves with humility as verse 5 says by submitting to their biblical leadership if They ever step outside of their biblical leadership, then the people in the church have every right to question their leadership
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But as their leadership is rooted in the Word of God the people of God must humbly follow their leadership
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Now as we read the end of this text Peter at the end of verse 5 tells us what
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God loves and what he hates Peter writes God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble the
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Lord hates pride but he loves humility On January 1st, we had a prayer meeting in this sanctuary to pray for the new year and as we did this
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We use the acronym acts as we just did this morning adoration confession Thanksgiving supplication when we got to the sea confession
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I Explained to those in attendance that we need to humble ourselves before the Lord confessing our sins
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What I explained is that the people that God is going to use to accomplish much in this world are those who are humble
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Isaiah 66 to again. This is the one to whom I will look he was humble and contrite and trembles at my word the one who is humble depends on him and Cares most of all about pleasing him.
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This is the one who is going to accomplish much in this world for his sake If you think of that person is the person's invincible if you trust the
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Lord if you have Unwavering trust in the Lord think of what God is gonna do through you
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God wants us to be humble before him and one of the ways we show that humility is through shepherds
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Carrying themselves with humility as they shepherd and the congregants
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Respecting and following their biblical leadership This is what the Lord wants to see in his churches.
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This is what healthy churches look like So as we wrap up this three Sunday sermon
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Understand that God appoints certain men to look after your soul And we've seen eight tasks how so in the introduction
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I read the I went through the first five and we've looked at the last three here
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So I'm not going to repeat those But this is what we must live out So this sermon was not just a sermon for shepherds it is a sherman for shepherds, but it's also a sermon for you to pray for the shepherds in this church and As I said other shepherds and it's also a sermon that we would live in our proper roles
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That you would hold us to the standard of being biblical shepherds as you pray for us and that we would lead in a way
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That is honoring to the Lord Because above all we want to be a healthy church
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Our goal is not to be the biggest church in the world Our goal is to be the church that is the most pleasing to the
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Lord Where God is glorified and the people in this church benefit from this ministry
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And so we need to live this out The shepherds need to do their their task and the people in the church also need to do their task
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And by God's grace, I see this in our church and I want to say that I'm so grateful For the shepherds that I serve alongside.
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I'm so grateful for the people in this church in your example and How you submit to the leadership in this church?
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So I just want to say thank you for that, but may we grow in this more and more now next
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Sunday We are going to look at something that we are all quite familiar with and Peter touches on it as he approaches the end of this letter and that is the issue of an anxiety anxiety and worry
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He says cast your cares on him because he cares for you, so we're gonna take a close look at this
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Next Sunday and at this time, let's bow our heads in Prayer father in heaven.
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We do. Thank you for this time. And what a what a gift it is every week to gather at the same time
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Open up the Bible to hear from you And my prayer Lord is that we would live out
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The truth of what we heard this morning Both the shepherds in this church and the congregants in this church
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Help us to follow the example most of all of the chief shepherd The Lord Jesus Christ and may our church experience the blessing of living this out in Jesus name