WWUTT 336 Shepherd the Flock?

The pastor of the church is to shepherd the flock of God, exercising oversight, willingly, with zealousness, not domineering over those who are in your charge, but being examples to the flock, when we understand the text.

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Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Peter’s Charge to Elders in 1 Peter 5

Thank you, Becky. We are in 1 Peter chapter 5 today, and this week, the last week in 2016, we will finish our study of 1 Peter, our New Testament study we do Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And we'll also finish our Old Testament study we do on Thursday in 1 Samuel.

Pretty nice. We can get both of those books to line up with one another. Then at the start of 2017, next week, we'll begin a study of 2 Peter and 2 Samuel. 1 Peter chapter 5 is where we are today, verses 1 through 5.

Peter says, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those who are in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders, clothe yourselves, all of you with humility toward one another for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

So this is a section that is particularly convicting for me because I am an elder. I am the pastor of my church. So we have these first four verses here that are directly speaking to the elders. And then the last verse being charged to those who are under the care of those elders.

There still is that command, which we'll get to in just a moment, to be subject to the elders and the way that that's worded. You just got to love it. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders because it makes it sound like elders are old people.

I'm still in my thirties, so I'm not really all that old. And then the younger makes it sound like everybody else under the elder is a youth. But in this case, we would be talking about those who are spiritually mature, are in the position of pastor or elder, and those who are spiritually immature are under their care and their teaching.

We'll expound on that a little bit more when we get to it. But first, let's look at verse one here where Peter says, so I exhort the elders among you. So we have that first word is so. And this goes with what we had read at the end of chapter four.

Our therefore was actually in chapter four, verse nineteen. Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. And this is Peter coming back to a statement that he made earlier when it says that Jesus, when he was reviled, did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. That was chapter two, verse twenty three. So then we have that same charge given to those who are the servants of Christ.

Let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. We don't take revenge into our own hands, nor do we even boast about our own accomplishments because we don't feel like we're getting the credit that we are due.

So we take matters into our own hands and say, look at what I've done with somebody. Would you like to give me recognition for this? And when somebody is reviling us or when somebody is ridiculing us, or if we are physically persecuted because of the faith that we have, we do not get revenge.

We don't take that matter into our own hands either, but rather we suffer according to God's will, entrusting our souls to a faithful creator while we do good. As we have it said for us in Romans chapter twelve, vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, I will repay.

So you leave it to God, who is the one who is supreme, who will judge the living and the dead. He will give to each one according to their works, as we read in the book of Revelation and in other places.

And so we need to entrust ourselves to God. If we know that we are doing the work of Christ, then it is God who will vindicate us, not us who will vindicate ourselves. God will vindicate his name. We have this section that started in chapter four, verse twelve, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

So this section began in chapter four, verse twelve, and it will end in chapter five, verse eleven. So we're still continuing in this section that is talking about suffering as a servant of Christ. So with that in mind, we get to chapter five, verse one.

So I exhort the elders among you as those who are leading by example over the flock of Christ as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

So what Peter is saying here is this. I have witnessed the sufferings of Christ, which I am telling you to take part in. Plus, I am also a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. In other words, Peter is saying, I have suffered also, and I have also been a witness to the glory that we will share in for those who have suffered for Christ.

What is this glory that Peter is talking about? Well, he was on the Mount of Transfiguration. He got to see Christ in his glory and Elijah and Moses appearing there with him. In fact, Peter didn't even know what to do with this situation.

We read about it in Mark chapter nine. Well, it's in all of the synoptic gospels, but Mark nine is what I'm thinking of off the top of my head. In particular, Peter did not know what to do with this situation.

And so he's going, hey, let us make a tent for you. We'll make one for you and for Elijah and for Moses. And then the voice of God cuts off Peter and says, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him. In other words, God's glory is not going to be contained in places that are made by the hands of man. The glory of God has been revealed in the face of Christ. As we read about in second Corinthians four, six, and I'm only able to remember that passage off the top of my head because I just preached on it yesterday.

So anyway, talking about the glory of God has been revealed to us in Christ. That was my my Christmas message. And we would not be able to handle the glory of God in all of its glory if he were to appear to us in that way.

It would incinerate us. We would die. We would be vaporized by the power of the majesty of the glory of God. So God showed himself to us in Christ, his glory that was given to us in the flesh, fully God and fully man.

So that way we could see the glory of God and not be vaporized by it. That's one of the important things to understand when we study the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ is that he is the glory of God who is revealed to us.

And we know the glory of God in everything that we see in Christ. So when Peter says that he's a witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed, Peter has seen both Christ's sufferings and he has seen the glory of Christ and has gotten glimpses and tastes of it, which is going to be revealed to all of us who suffer with Christ.

At the very end, we will all partake in this. In 2 Peter 1, now we'll get to this here in a couple of weeks. But in 2 Peter 1, Peter says, for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God, the father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So there at the beginning of Peter's next letter, does he also come back to being a witness to this transfiguration of Christ there on the mountain when Christ was transfigured before them and his robes became radiant, bleached whiter than any robe could ever be white on earth?

I kind of picture this in my mind. It's incredibly difficult to picture because you're talking about trying to picture the glory of God. How can you possibly do this? But what I am thinking about is kind of the way that Christ is described in Isaiah chapter six when Isaiah looks into heaven and sees Christ in the throne room of heaven and the train of his robe just fills heaven.

I don't think it's like a literal flowing of a robe, but rather it's just like these almost like these white flames that would come off of him that would just billow out. And Isaiah doesn't have any other way to describe that, except it looks like his robe is filling the throne room of God.

And so it's the same sort of a thing that that Peter and James and John being with Jesus there on the Mount of Transfiguration, that's what they saw. They saw Christ transformed into this radiance and he's just kind of flowing in this spiritualness that is so difficult to describe because our eyes can barely behold such a thing.

And so the best way that Mark who is who's writing there and Mark likely is capturing Peter's gospel in the gospel of Mark. So as Mark is writing down what Peter has preached, that's about the best way that he can come up with.

It was just it's just a radiant robe and the light was so bright that it looked like a flowing robe was just coming off of him. And we can't barely fathom what it is that that Mark was describing or that Peter was talking about there, because it's something that that we have never seen, but Peter saw it.

He was witness to it, along with James and John. So it was not just himself and Peter or I'm sorry, Jesus even said to those three disciples, tell no one about this until after he had died and was resurrected.

And so Peter now sharing about these things concerning Christ, that he was a witness not only to his sufferings, to his being arrested, to his being beaten. And Peter was so intimidated by this that he denied Christ three times, but also to Christ's crucifixion and then to his resurrection, a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

I saw Christ resurrected. And so, therefore, I can say to you that all of us who are in Christ, the grave is not our end. The grave cannot hold us down. There is no one who has the power over life and death except Christ himself, whom I saw resurrected.

I got to see this glory that we will all be partakers in those who suffer with Christ. And so, as Peter is saying, this is what I've witnessed. And so I say to you, if you suffer with Christ, you will be a partaker with him in his glory.

You will receive his eternal life. So I say to you particular and again, we're talking to the elders here. I exhort the elders among you, shepherd the flock of God that is among you exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you not for shameful gain, but eagerly.

OK, that's on the other side of the semicolon. So let's go back to verse two here, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. So in understanding that we are to suffer with Christ and we are going to receive his glory, all those who are in Christ Jesus, we need to shepherd the flock of God, teaching the word of God to those who are of the people of God.

The Apostle Paul said to Timothy, first Timothy four, 13, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Now, that verse could apply to, you know, standing out in public and preaching the gospel.

I won't say that it doesn't. But in context, we're actually talking about declaring the word of God to the people of God. Absolutely. We're supposed to go out and and share the gospel. But in this context, particularly here in first Peter, chapter five, Peter is talking about the way that a shepherd or an elder of the church is caring for the members of his own congregation.

And that shepherd is going to issue a certain kind of oversight and judgment over his flock that he's not going to do with people that are out there in the world. You're not really looking out for the needs, particularly the spiritual needs of those who are worldly, except to know that they are lost in their sins and to preach the gospel to them so that they will repent and come to Christ.

And then as they become part of the church congregation, then that shepherd is looking out for their spiritual need, knowing where they're at in their spiritual maturity and how to grow them in their walk of sanctification.

So this is specifically talking about how a shepherd cares for his flock, the people of God. It's stated there in verse two, Shepherd, the flock of God that is among you exercising oversight and exercising oversight can mean anything from discipline to encouragement, from weeping with those who weep to rejoicing with those who rejoice.

You know, there is going to be a general teaching that a shepherd or an elder, a pastor will do for the church congregation. In particular, I think of preaching on Sunday morning. But then there's also going to be individual counseling or accountability or encouragement or admonishment that a that a teacher is going to do with each member of his congregation.

So shepherding the flock and exercising oversight, knowing how to encourage or admonish each person, knowing how to pray with or for each person, not under compulsion, Peter says, but willingly as God would have you.

So a preacher can't be going to work every Sunday going, OK, here I go again. I'm coming to preach the sermon. You know, it's just what I do. It's because I've got to make my paycheck and I can't think of doing anything else to do.

That would be doing it under compulsion. He feels like he's doing it because he has to do it. He doesn't actually have any joy in it. But an elder, a pastor who needs to set an example for his flock must be as zealous for the word of God as he would be exhorting the members of his congregation to be zealous.

So there needs to be a strong example in in the shepherd in that way that he is willing, he desires, he's got zeal for the word of God as God would have you as God would direct, not for shameful gain, but eagerly and shameful gain does not have to mean that we're talking about a pastor who has his position because he wants to get rich.

It could also mean a pastor who has his position just because it's the only job he knows how to do and he has to make a paycheck from month to month. That would be that would be shameful gain. He's just doing it for himself, but he needs to be eager.

He needs to desire to want to teach the people of God or share the gospel with the lost. He's eager to do these things, to continue the ministry, to continue the work of God, the commission that he has given to every one of his disciples to do, to go into all nations and to baptize in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.

The the elder, the shepherd, the pastor is eager to to fulfill that great commission that Christ has commissioned each one of his disciples to do and being an example to the rest of the flock in this verse three, not domineering over those who are in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

So a pastor is not a it's not a position of power. It's a position of service, even though the elder is the teacher and the deacon is the one who meets the physical needs. So the elder meets the spiritual needs.

The deacon meets the physical needs. The elder is still going to be a servant in his own right as well, doing home visits, caring for the sick, caring for the poor. I did a lot of that this past week, even heading up to Christmas, just making sure that members of my congregation were being provided for and everybody had a place to go, somebody to be able to spend Christmas with.

I didn't want to leave anybody at home alone for the holidays. So so being an example to the flock, not domineering, not using your position as some sort of authoritative power that you could exhort or enforce, that'd be the better word in force over somebody else, but that you would be an example to the flock, an example of service, serving someone in caring for the spiritual needs that they have.

And when the chief shepherd appears. So prior to becoming a head pastor myself, I served under a couple of other pastors and I think all of the pastors that I served under all referred to themselves as under shepherds, which is a great analogy, an under shepherd.

We are under the great shepherd, the chief shepherd who is Christ. When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. So talking again about the glory that Peter witnessed in Christ is a glory that we will all be given at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And when you read in the book of Revelation, we'll take those crowns, we'll throw them down before the throne, knowing that this crown that we have received has only been given to us because of Christ.

It is ultimately his work, not ours. Likewise, verse five, you who are younger be subject to the elders. Now, again, as I said in the very beginning, when we have this illustration of the younger being subject to the elder, oftentimes we hear that word elder.

We think of somebody who is old, but elder in this case would be somebody who is spiritually mature, though you may not be called to ever be an elder. You should aspire to the kind of spiritual maturity that you see in your elders in church.

I come back to Hebrews chapter 13, verse seven. Remember, your leaders, those who spoke to you, the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. And then I also want to read from Second Thessalonians.

My pages won't stick together here. I'm sorry, it's First Thessalonians chapter five, where Paul says the following. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Be at peace among yourselves. And there's another passage there in Hebrews that I didn't mention in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account.

Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. So here, Peter says, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Don't make it difficult on them in the way that they care for your souls, for that would be no advantage to you if you become such a miserable congregant that you make your elders groan, but rather be subject to your elders and look up to them as witnesses, as examples, as a mature Christian should be.

Ultimately, we have a pastor, an elder that has been placed over the flock of God who is serving as an example of mature Christianity. So when you're thinking about a mature Christian, who should you be looking at?

I hope that you can look at your pastor and see an example of what mature doctrine, what mature behavior should look like among the people of God. Clothe yourselves, all of you. So now Peter is saying to both the elders and those who are under the elders, clothe yourselves, all of you with humility toward one another.

So not just so particularly the elder, the person that is in the position of pastor, be very easy for him to think haughty of himself or be boastful of himself because of that position that he has or for a congregant whenever he stumps the pastor to be able to say, hey, look how much better I am than this pastor because I knew more than he did.

Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We're going to pick up there tomorrow as Peter gets into verse six where he says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.

The Shepherd’s Glory, Suffering, and the Transfiguration of Christ

Let's conclude with prayer. Our wondrous God and Savior, we thank you so much for rescuing us out of darkness and into your marvelous light. And so as the light of God has come to us in the face of Jesus Christ, the glory of God has been revealed to us in Christ.

I pray that knowing our eternal life has been secured, sealed by your Holy Spirit, that we would not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, nor afraid to proclaim it, even though doing so will result in suffering and being reviled and persecuted for the name of Christ.

But we know that when we suffer for this name, we are sharing in the sufferings of Christ and will share in his glory as well when his glory is revealed. We have these witnesses to the sufferings and the glory of Christ as Peter, whom we read from in the gospels and grow according to these things, the word of Christ that was given to them.

And so let us look to those who have been entrusted with administering the word of God to the body of believers and let us be submissive to those authorities. For those of us who are in authority, speaking particularly of myself, keep us faithful to the word of God, speaking the whole counsel of God, leaving none of it out so that the people of God will be fully equipped and ready for every good work.

It is Christ who has spoken these things to us by his word and it is in the name of Christ.

That we pray.

All glory and honor in his name.

Amen.

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