Exhortations for Shepherds: Part 2

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Exhortations for Shepherds: Part 3

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Our Father and our God, we thank You, Lord, for Your presence.
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Lord, we can do nothing without the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of wisdom, the
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Spirit of holiness. God, we know these things in our mind, but Lord, may it be burned in our heart.
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Oh God, we thank You for this day. Thank You for Your Word in our own language. Lord, it's come to us on a sea of blood.
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Oh God, may we never ever take it for granted. Save us from apathy this morning,
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Lord. Lord, as we humble ourselves before You, we pray, oh
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God, speak to us through Your Word in these last days.
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Lord, You have already spoken through Your Son. That is sufficient. That is sufficient.
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Help us, Lord, to revive our reverence to the Word, to Your Word.
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Help us to tremble before it, oh God. Worship You in the beauty of Your holiness.
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Lord, quicken us. Your Word has the power to do this, to make us alive. Only Your Word has that power.
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Lord, You said it. Your Words are spirit and they are life.
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They are spirit and life. Holy sanctifies through Your Word, God. Only Your Word can sanctify us.
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Cleanse us, as we have already heard this morning from numbers. Lord, we cry out like a leper.
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We are unclean, oh God. Cleanse us. Touch us. Lord, we need
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Your blessed Holy Spirit. We thank You for that. Your Word is living and active and sharper than any two -edged sword.
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And Lord, we know that it pierces. It pierces, but it inflicts a wound that is good.
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To do an operation to cut out the sores and the infection and the sin.
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Because Your Word, Lord, it pierces as far as the division of the soul, the spirit, the joints, the marrow.
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And Lord, Your Word is able to judge the thoughts and the very intentions of our very heart. Lord, we thank
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You that heaven and earth will pass away, but Your Word will never pass away. It abides forever.
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We say with the psalmist this morning, Lord, by Your Word, Your servant is warned. We are warned.
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And in keeping them and obeying them is a great reward. So dear Lord, I pray that You lay hold of us this morning.
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Lay hold of us. And change us. We are not here just to get information,
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Lord. We need transformation. And this only comes by Your Word and Your Spirit.
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And we ask these things for Your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen. I'd like to pick up where I left off last week.
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Part 2 of exhortations to shepherds.
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To shepherds. Now, I'm definitely stepping on my own toes this morning.
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But this is the Word of the living God, right? And this is for all of us. And what is said about shepherds is from God.
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The master builder himself. And it's not only...
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This message is not only for myself, which definitely I need it. And I will be the first to confess that.
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But this is for the church to know. The truth about what the Scripture says about shepherds.
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So it's an exhortation, yes, to shepherds. But it's also right along for the church.
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Pastor John MacArthur in his book. I was reading a lot of his commentary and his books this week about shepherding.
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He has a lot to say about it. Because he has, as a shepherd himself, he has a burden to see true shepherds within the church of God.
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And I appreciate that. Matter of fact, I had the opportunity to meet him personally years back when
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I went to a shepherds conference around 2007. And I felt very intimidated.
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Because, well, this is John MacArthur. He's a veteran preacher.
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He's been around a while. He's not only well -known, but he's seasoned. And I said, well...
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He asked me where I'm from. Cave Spring. At that time I was pastoring in Rome.
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It's a very, very small church. And he looked at me and he said, you know, God loves small churches.
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God has an interest in small churches. I said, wow.
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What a servant of God. And there's a lot of, as you well know, on the
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Internet, which could be a lot of bad, there's a lot of people that's blasting him at this moment as I speak over the
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Internet. For many, many reasons I won't go into. But I just thank God for Pastor MacArthur.
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Down through the years, I started listening to him in 1987, 88, right when
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I got married. And it's been wonderful ever since. I can't get away from Bible exposition since I've heard it.
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Amen? I mean, that's the stake. I cannot be satisfied hearing something topical.
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But anyway, in his book, The Master's Plan for the
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Church. He says this, Shepherds are without status.
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In most cultures, shepherds occupy the lower rungs of society's ladder.
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That is fitting too, for our Lord said, The one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant.
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Luke 22, 26. Under the plan of God, as ordained for the church, leadership is a position of humble, loving service.
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I amen that all the way. Church leadership is ministry. Ministry.
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I mean, Paul is there for that. Ministry actually means minus. It doesn't mean to get a title to be on a platform.
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No, it's supposed to be minus, service. That's what ministry actually means. It means service.
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He says, but church leadership is ministry, not management. Not management.
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I get amen. Not management. Those whom God designates leaders are called not to be governing monarchs, but humble slaves.
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Not slick celebrities, but laboring servants. The man who leads
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God's flock must above all exemplify sacrifice, devotion, submission, and holiness.
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Jesus Himself gave us the leadership pattern when He stooped to wash His disciples' feet in John 13, 3 -17.
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A task the lowest of slaves customary did.
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And Jesus did this. And if the Lord of the universe would wash feet, no church leader has a right to think of himself as a bigwig.
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Amen. Amen. And unfortunately, there's too many bigwigs that's creeped in unawares.
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Scripture has a lot to say. We looked at last week, we looked at Ezekiel 34, and that speaks a lot about that.
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That's worth studying, isn't it? Ezekiel 34, it's loaded. I tell you, I went through it fast, and look at how much we got out of that.
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It was like a fast steak meal. But if you really look at it and study it, verse by verse, precept by precept, it's loaded up.
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You could get so much. But I'd highly encourage you to do that in your devotional time. Now, go with me with saying that to 1
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Timothy. 1 Timothy, we pick up. I want to read these verses again.
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1 Timothy, listen to me. I've got 1 Timothy on my mind. 1 Peter, I'm sorry. 1
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Peter chapter 5. You knew that, didn't you? Shepherds are definitely not perfect.
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I make many mistakes. The Word of God says this.
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Hear God's Word. Therefore I exhort elders among you, as your fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for assorted gain, filthy lucre.
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Not for money, the love of money. That's what he's saying. But with eagerness. With eagerness.
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Nor yet is lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.
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Examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd, Jesus Christ, that's who he's talking about, appears you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
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We'll stop right there. I have another.
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No, I'm going to pick that up later. But now, as we notice in our last study, as we pick this up, times of trials, times of persecution, times of hardship for the church of God as we see in 1
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Peter. And really, the book of 1 Peter is about a persecuted church, right? And Peter comes alongside as a fellow elder, as an apostle.
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Not only an apostle, which we know he is, but he exhorts the elders here, he charges them to encourage and shepherd the flock of God.
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Now, we've got to think about this. Times of hardship.
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Times of persecution. Call for godly leadership, doesn't it? That's when the leader comes and shepherds the flock of God.
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Now, yes, it could be in times while the waters are still, but it's also when the waters are running strong and persecution is among us.
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And that can happen very quickly. It can happen very quickly. It can overturn very fast in America.
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And I believe it's heading that way, as we well know and we see the times that show it.
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But godly leadership comes to the forefront. Godly and humble.
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And Peter has just actually concluded a whole section in which he has discussed the matter of suffering, right?
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And tribulation, trials and persecution, which these believers in Asia Minor were scattered abroad and they were experiencing.
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They were literally experiencing this So the apostle turns immediately to exhort, and let me say this, to give the question, to discuss a question of leadership because in times of trouble, persecution, difficulty and hardship, it demands the most faithful leaders.
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The most faithful leaders. So here in these four verses, Peter, by the Spirit of God, and we know it's the Spirit of God because the
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Word of God is God breathed. The Spirit of God directs His exhortation to the leaders of the church.
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He goes to the leaders, the leaders, the shepherds, the elders. He directs them to be sure that they fulfill their spiritual responsibility.
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The apostles had a burden from the Lord, right? I thank God for this. You see this, that you see this in Peter, you see this in James, you see this in John, you see this in the apostle
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Paul, that they all, even at the end of their life, they were passing the torch, so to speak, to the one that they were mentoring.
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And it's so beautiful how they were doing it. And I believe they learned this by the
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Master Himself, Jesus Christ. They had a burden from the Lord, they had a passion within their soul to exhort elders, bishops, pastors, shepherds, the under -shepherds in their day.
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There was a great urgency, I like to say, to do this in their day, because the charge and the responsibility of leadership within the church was extremely, not only extremely important, but it's critical.
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It's critical. Because the charge, the responsibility, the great shepherd of the sheep laid upon their shoulders,
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Jesus Himself, and it took three years, three years to take nobodies and to teach them.
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And even after that, they didn't get it until after Jesus rose again from the dead and they were filled with the Spirit of God, right? Sometimes it takes time.
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It took Moses over 40 years, maybe more. Wonderful example this is given to us in the history of the church by the ministry of the
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Apostle Paul. I wanted to get to this last week, but I'm picking this up. Acts chapter 20. Go with me to Acts chapter 20.
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I want you to see this. This is a wonderful exhortation that Paul is giving.
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Now we're talking about exhortations. This is one that really came to mind and this is
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Luke. Luke we know picked up and traveled along with the Apostle Paul.
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We see this in the book of Acts, in which Luke wrote the book of Acts. And where Luke is recording about Paul's ministry, so Acts here, this chapter 20, is a wonderful chapter.
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So much is in it, so much is in it. The latter part, the first part of it is
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Paul journeying to Greece and ministering at Troas and then from Troas to Miletus.
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And we pick up here in verse 17. I want you to see this. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus.
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He sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.
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Now let me stop right there. That's important because undoubtedly it took a considerable amount of time for the message in which he sent to reach the elders and for them to make the journey southward.
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Geographically. So however, I would like to say they were well rewarded by a powerful, magnificent message that they heard from the lips of the
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Apostle Paul. And we really get his passion, we get his burden. We just not only get it, we catch it.
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And he on purpose wants to give his burden to these elders.
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Because he's about to leave. He's about to leave.
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And he's going to be bound. So in this message we have a valuable portrait,
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I would like to say, of an ideal servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul knew this by experience, not just head knowledge like so many shepherds have today.
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And it's nothing wrong having head knowledge, but we've got to make sure it's more heart knowledge than head knowledge, right?
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But it's more than just head knowledge because Paul the Apostle bore in his body the brand marks of the
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Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He was branded for Christ. And you see this.
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He was marked by true humility. And no cost was too great for him to pay for serving
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Jesus. His ministry was a result of a deep exercise of the soul.
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Much discipline. And we know this by the Apostle Paul. And he disciplined his body so that he himself would not be disqualified.
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That he himself would not be a castaway. And he had holy boldness.
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He was fearless. And he only feared God and he feared no man. God give us leaders like that today.
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And whether he lived or died was not really important to him because he said to live is
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Christ but to die is the game. And it was of great importance for the
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Apostle Paul that the will of God was paramount and that he should carry out
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God's will and God's plan and the gospel for the glory of God.
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For the glory of God. And this is what, Paul you see this. He's passionate about the glory of God.
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And that all people should hear the whole counsel of God. He was unmoved by any difficulties.
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And he practiced what he preached. He just did not just preach it but when you saw
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Paul the Apostle you saw a walking sermon. And listen to his charge.
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Listen to his burden. Listen to his passion. Listen to his heart as he addresses these elders.
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Pick up verse 38. I'm sorry, verse 18 to verse 38.
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Verse 18 to 38. And when they had come to him they finally got there.
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I'm sure it was like a long journey. And then he said to them, he said to them, you yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia how
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I was with you with the whole time serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the
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Jews. How I did not shrink back from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house.
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He had a house ministry. Solemnly testifying to both
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Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our
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Lord Jesus Christ. There's those twin gifts. Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
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And now behold bound by the Spirit I am on my way to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there.
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He didn't know what was going to happen to him. Verse 23. Except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city saying that bonds and afflictions await me.
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But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may finish my course in the ministry which
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I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold
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I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom of God will no longer see my face.
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What a word. Listen to that. I know you will no longer see my face.
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Keep that in mind because this comes up again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent.
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I am innocent of the blood of all men. What a statement. He had a clear conscience that he was innocent, clear, pure from the blood of all men.
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Why? For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole purpose of God, the whole counsel of God.
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And then he gives a warning here. Listen to these warnings. You know, the shepherds that warn us are the ones that love us.
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Be on guard. Be on guard for yourselves, for yourselves, first of all, and for all the flock among which the
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Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God. Same thing
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Peter says, right? To shepherd the flock of God, the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.
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It's serious. This is the church in which Jesus himself died for. He shed his precious blood for.
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And then he says this in verse 29, For I know that after my departure savage wolves, what do wolves do?
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They eat sheep, right? Savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock. They're not going to spare the flock.
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Verse 30, And from among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.
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Therefore be on alert. Be on alert. Remembering that night and day for a period of three years
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I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. This man was broken.
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Tears. And then he says this, And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and to give you inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
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I coveted no man's, no one's silver or gold or clothes.
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You hear that? This man didn't love money.
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He loved God. He was rich in heaven. Amen. And verse 34,
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You yourselves know that these hands, these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.
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And in everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the
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Lord Jesus that He Himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive. There it is.
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That's the ministry of Jesus. And when He had said these things He knelt down. We get a commentary here, listen to this, from Luke of actually what happened after He said these things.
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He knelt down, Paul literally knelt down and prayed with them all. What a beautiful example of a shepherd.
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Let's pray. Let's pray. He knelt down in humility.
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Let's pray elders. Let's call upon God. Let's call upon the name of the
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Lord. And they began to weep out loud. They were weeping. And embraced
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Paul, repeatedly kissed him and grieving especially over the word which
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He had spoken that they would not see His face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.
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Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that warming? Isn't this true love? This man the
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Apostle Paul had such a burden to shepherd the flock of God.
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He sends a message to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church to give this message that was burning on his heart.
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He charges him. You know, shepherding the flock of God, shepherding the flock of God.
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Notice, that's really what it's all about because it's where He says in verse 28, among which the
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Holy Spirit has made you overseers, overseers, to shepherd the church of God which
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He purchased with His own blood. That makes me tremble. Knowing that such a responsibility is allotted to shepherds.
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Philip Keller said this in her book. A shepherd looks at Psalm 23.
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He, I'm sorry. It is no accident that God has chosen to call us sheep.
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And the behavior of sheep and human beings is similar in many ways. Some people may be offended by that but they better take it up with God because it's exactly true.
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Because sheep do not just take care of themselves as some might suppose. They cannot take care of themselves.
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And Philip Keller says this. They, as some might suppose, they require more than any other class of livestock.
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Endless, endless attention and meticulous care. End quote.
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Now I picked that up. MacArthur went to New Zealand. You'd have to listen to his message on this.
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And he said he learned more about shepherding sheep by hands -on experience and going to New Zealand in which where Willem is from.
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I think that was very interesting. New Zealand is a notorious place where lots of sheep and shepherds, that's their job.
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And MacArthur went there with his family and he said he learned more about shepherding when he went to New Zealand. And like I said, you'd have to listen to the messages more too.
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But I want to give you a kind of a long quote here. So stay with me.
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Because it's practical. It's very practical about shepherds and sheep. Listen to what he says.
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Very warm, very practical about shepherds and sheep. And he says this quote. For example,
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God has created most animals with an uncanny instinct to find their way home.
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But if sheep stray into unfamiliar territory, they become completely disoriented and cannot find their way back home as in the
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Lord's parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15, 3 -7. Sheep need a shepherd to guide them, to provide for them, to protect them, and sometimes also rescue them from harm.
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Sheep spend most of their time eating and drinking. Does that sound familiar?
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But if they become lost, they are helpless to find adequate food and water.
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They're helpless. Helpless creatures. And he goes on to say, left to themselves, sheep will indiscriminately eat both healthful and poisonous plants or overgraze, overgraze and ruin their own pasture.
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It's interesting, isn't it? Dumb sheep, dumb sheep. And they need to be led to water that is not impure and stagnant.
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Not too hot, not too cold. And water that is not moving too rapidly because they become fearful.
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They get scared. And that is why the psalmist refers to the quiet waters, the still waters in Psalm 23 too.
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That is so true. David knew all about that, right? He picks up and says, sheep are of much need of their assistance as well because their wool secretes.
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Is that right? Secretes. Secretes. Thank you.
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Thank you. I need help there sometimes. A large volume of oily linoleum that permeates their fleece and much dirt, grass, windblown debris clings to it.
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Isn't this interesting? Since they have no ability to clean themselves, they can't clean themselves, they remain soiled until the shepherd literally shears them.
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I believe, Brother Keith, you brought this out one time when you were ministering to us about in Psalm 23.
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But he says, between shearings, that dirty, sticky accumulation must be cut away from under their tails or they cannot eliminate waste and they become sick and even die.
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Sounds like a very humbling job to me, doesn't it? Well, it is. Well, because sheep are also naturally passive and virtually defenseless against the predators and when attacked, their own recourse, their only recourse,
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I'm sorry, is to flee in panic. The shepherd must be continually on guard to defend and rescue the sheep from attack.
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It is not surprising then that Jesus himself likened the disoriented, confused, unclean and spiritually lost crowds of His day to the flocks of the sheep without shepherds.
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In Matthew 9 .36 and Mark 6 .34, He looked upon them like sheep without a shepherd.
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MacArthur goes on to say they could not feed themselves spiritually and they had no one to lead and protect them.
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The prophet Isaiah also compared humanity's lost condition to that of a stray sheep.
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And Isaiah 53 .6 says, All of us, all of us, all of us, we've got to underscore that, all of us are like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.
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All the preceding imagery about sheep and shepherds was familiar to the people in the first century primarily in that society, but it still needs to be borne in mind if one today is to understand the richness of this passage.
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Certainly, Peter understood the imagery when he called believers the flock of God and commanded pastors to shepherd them.
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Since even believers are prone to wondering, taking what is bad for them, becoming unclean and are highly vulnerable, defenseless on their own, and often naive, the demand for shepherds who are faithful and responsible is compelling.
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And when the church is under severe persecution, as it was in Peter's day, it is even more vulnerable and greater need of strong, godly, effective shepherds.
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And in closing, he says this, The apostle writing to the elders of the various churches in Asia Minor and to the church elders of the eras issues several fundamental and critical commands concerning shepherding.
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And I'm going to pick these up and I'm going to use his outline because it's really beautiful the way how simple it is and how these questions actually are answered from what the apostle
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Peter gives to us about shepherding the flock of God. And it's this, the commands may be understood by asking four basic questions of this passage.
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First, what are the issues in shepherding? What are the issues in shepherding? We're going to look at that today, just that one point.
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The second one, we'll pick up Lord willing next week, is who must be shepherded?
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Who must be shepherded? Third, how must shepherding be done?
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And fourth, why should shepherds serve? Why should shepherds serve?
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And that's pretty much MacArthur's outline. I really appreciate that. It's a big help to help break down this text and put it in perspective.
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But I love the simplicity of this because it comes with questions. What are they? What? Who?
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How? And why? Let's not forget these questions. They're very important to this text because what, who, how and why will serve us actually and is an excellent outline to break down the text.
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So let's look at the first one. Like I said, I'm using this. I'm giving him the credit for it.
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I thank God for it. So what are the issues in shepherding? What are the issues in shepherding?
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That answer is actually given to us in verse 1 to 2a.
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Therefore I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.
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Shepherd the flock of God among you. I'm going to stop right there. Like I said, we want to break this down.
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We want to get everything we can out of this. And I'll tell you why. It's on my heart as well. I see amongst us and you look at the church as a whole.
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The strongest of the churches, the church that's being persecuted right now in China and Africa and in those parts,
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Nigeria, Korea, I could keep naming them, right? We see persecution, but do you notice that God is strengthening the church under the persecution?
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And the church is getting stronger and yet over here the church is getting weaker. And there's a reason.
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That's right. We're low to sleep. And there's a lack of God -fearing shepherds that's behind the pulpit leading the flock of God and shepherding the flock of God.
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I'm not talking about just preaching. Preaching is very important, okay? Actually, that's what I'm doing right now.
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I'm preaching to you. I'm communicating the gospel to you. Preaching is extremely important.
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It's God's method to reach the world. Preaching the gospel is paramount.
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I don't want to undermine that, okay? But there is a difference between preaching and shepherding.
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The shepherd must be a preacher. Now, all shepherds, if you say, qualified shepherds, we'll see this, the elders need to be graced with the giftedness of preaching the gospel and teaching the gospel.
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That's very important. And it's so critical because the word of God needs to be taught, right? But what's more important?
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We're going to look at the qualifications in a minute in 1 Timothy. It's the graces. It's the character.
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Because anybody can learn to preach. Tozer said this. Ravenhill said this. You can get someone off the streets and teach them how to preach in a shop window and show off.
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We see that all the time, don't we? There's good orators. There's salesmen that get in the church and call themselves
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Christians and they know how to sell the gospel. God help us, right? We see all of this today.
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But what we need is men of God that fear God, that are broken behind the pulpit that has a care and a heart to shepherd the flock of God.
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And this is what we're going to look at. Because this tells us the first question before it says, what are the issues in shepherding?
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And we read the text, right? Well, let's look at the definition of elders.
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We're going to go in that direction. But let's look at the first word here. Therefore. Therefore. It's a traditional word.
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It's a very popular word. It's a transitional word. It's a very familiar word you see in the
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Scriptures quite often. It's an important word. I remember a professor in seminary taught us this.
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Therefore is there for a reason. It's there for a good reason. And therefore always refers back.
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Back to the text. Carrying us back to the content. The therefore,
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I love this. Because anytime you see a therefore, always go back to the text that is before us.
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And we could go back to verse 12 and read all the way to verse 19. But that's actually the context of what he is transitioning into what he's saying in chapter 5.
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Now we know this back in that time frame. They didn't have chapters and verses. It was one flow.
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And then he comes to this transition. Therefore. Therefore. Then you back up.
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Just look at verse 19. There's another therefore. Therefore also those who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right.
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Now, if he's got a therefore in verse 19, go back another verse. And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?
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And then if you go back all the way to verse 12, what is he talking about?
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Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing.
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And as you could keep going all the way back to chapter 1, you see persecution everywhere.
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You see hardships and suffering all over this book.
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If you go to verse... I'm sorry, chapter... Take for instance chapter 2, verse 21.
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For you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.
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Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth. And while being reviled, He did not revile in return.
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While suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.
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And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
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For by His wounds you were healed. You know, isn't it all about...
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See, He's exhorting. If you look at it, He's exhorting the shepherds to shepherd the flock of God.
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To care for the flock of God. Actually, to shepherd means to care. Tenderly.
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We see this in the life of Jesus. Jesus had the characteristics of being meek and lowly of heart.
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Humility. Meekness. God give us shepherds with a heart that's broken, with meekness and compassion, but with a firmness of the truth of the gospel that would not back down even if it meant their life depended on it.
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So we see this. He exhorts the elders to shepherd their way. To shepherd the flock of God.
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Troubled and persecuted. Beaten down sheep. Peter sees this.
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He sees the persecuted flock of God. He sees that the flock of God is being persecuted. And he charges and he gives an exhortation to the shepherds.
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So the first and obvious point to note here is that the Holy Spirit of God affirms such a spiritual leadership and responsibility for the church.
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And it belongs to the elders. It belongs to the pastors. It belongs to the bishops. Now we see this word elders first mentioned now in the
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New Testament. We're going to look at the Old Testament as well. But the first time it's mentioned in the New Testament as officers is found in the book of Acts.
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Go with me to Acts. And this is the first time it is ever mentioned as officers in the
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New Testament is chapter 11. Well, keep your finger there because we're going to flip over a few chapters.
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But notice this in verse 30. Luke identifies them as leaders of Jerusalem, of the
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Jerusalem church. In verse 30 he says this, And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.
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This is the first time in the New Testament that elders is mentioned. In verse 30 of chapter 11 of Acts.
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The elders, these were the men that were the pastors, the overseers, the shepherds of the churches.
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Now, flip over a couple, a few pages, a few chapters and notice in chapter 15, look at verse 4 through 6.
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Now this whole chapter is very, very critical because it speaks of the conflict over circumcision.
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Circumcision, law keeping, was brought to the forefront and it was problems when the
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Gentiles were being converted, okay? Because you've got to understand these Jewish people,
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I would like to say there was a lot of Judaizers within here because they were from Judea, began teaching the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.
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That's law keeping. Paul deals with this issue in the book of Galatians. That's why the book of Galatians exists.
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It's important. But Paul and Barnabas, in verse 2, had a great dissension of the debate with them.
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The brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some of the others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders.
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The apostles and elders concerning this issue. And you can keep reading it.
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Therefore being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria describing in detail the conversation of the
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Gentiles and they were bringing great joy the conversion, I'm sorry, the conversion of the
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Gentiles and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. And when they arrived at Jerusalem, now listen to this, they were received by the church first and the apostles and the elders.
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The church, the apostles, and the elders. And what did they do?
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And they reported all that God had done with them. And then he says this, and some of the sect of the
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Pharisees who had believed stood up saying it is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the law of Moses.
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Again, law keeping. Right? But notice verse 6. The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter.
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This is the leadership of the church. First the apostles, then the elders came together to look into this matter.
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And then, I love it, you can read the rest of it, I don't go in detail about it because after there had been much debate, much debate,
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Peter, Peter, the apostle Peter stood up and said to them, Brethren, you know that in the early days
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God made a choice among you that by the mouth of the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.
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And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit just as He also did to us.
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And it goes on. And he goes into detail what really the gospel is really about. And at the end of it, if you jump to verse 22, they came to a conclusion of this that they would write up, and the debate was ended, they would write up what is called the
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Jerusalem Decree. The Jerusalem Decree, verse 22, that it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, the apostles and the elders both agreed upon it, with the whole church.
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The whole church had to agree with it to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, Judas called
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Balsavus, and Silas, leading men among the brethren. And they sent this letter by them and, of course, it begins like this.
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The apostles and the brethren who are elders, who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch.
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And it continues. You see? The apostles and the elders.
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So the elders are part of the leadership. This is the first time you pretty much see the actions.
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And the Jerusalem Council was a serious conflict. You know, there's going to be conflict in the churches, right?
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And the leaders are to handle this, along with the church, too. The church is involved. The apostles were involved.
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The elders were involved. This was something serious. You know why it was serious? Because the gospel was at stake.
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The gospel. The gospel of sovereign grace. There was a conflict.
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And what was causing the conflict? Circumcision. Circumcision. Interesting.
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Sometimes it's still causing the conflict. Amen? Look among us. You see it everywhere.
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Well, so the leaders of the church is unmistakably identified as apostles and elders. We see that. Apostles and elders.
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Now, I'd like for us to look at the qualifications. I don't want to go into detail on the qualifications.
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I just want to read them to you. You know them as well as I do. The qualifications for the church leaders within the church is high.
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And I thank God that the bar is high. God set the bar very high on purpose so that it will weed out anybody that would want to be a, oh,
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I think I'm qualified. I think I should be a pastor. And just by whim.
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No, there has to be a call. There has to be graces. There has to be qualifications to meet that standard.
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And that bar, it reminds me, if I don't mind giving an example, the people that are athletes, what do you call it, the pole vaults, jumpers, that bar keeps raising up.
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And they got to keep jumping. And could you imagine a bar that is so high they can't jump.
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There's some out there that can really jump it with the pole vault. But it almost makes me think
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God's bar is like, it's not low, it's not way down here where it's easy to jump. He raises it.
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And it's a high standard. And I thank God that it is a high standard. I praise God it is a high standard. Go with me to 1
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Timothy chapter 3. And you're familiar with this. 1 Timothy 3.
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Here we see some of the qualifications that is set before us of the overseers, the shepherds, the elders.
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Chapter 3 verse 1. It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires, desires or aspires the office of an overseer, it is a fine work, it's a good work, and he desires to do.
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In other words, he's not pulling back from it, this is a very good desire, if he desires that. There's a reason if he desires it.
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But there is also qualifications that must be met. An overseer then must,
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I got right here in my Bible, I got that word must circled. Must be above reproach.
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Number one. That's number one. He must be above reproach. Doesn't mean perfect, right? It doesn't mean, any shepherd is going to have flaws.
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We're all flawed, right? But that word above reproach is very important.
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MacArthur says this, literally it means not able to be held. Not able to be held.
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In a criminal sense he says, there's no valid accusation of wrongdoing that could be made against him.
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No overt flagrant sin can be marred. The life of the one who must be an example for his people to follow.
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So he must be above reproach. The husband of one wife, temperate, that means he must be self -controlled, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, that's a qualification there, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.
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Oh, listen to that. I got that underscored. He must be free from the love of money.
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Verse four. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity.
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And Paul goes to the household here, the home, because it is the microcosm in which the
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Lord looks at, because why? In verse five. But if a man does not, in parentheses he says, but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?
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It's very similar. Very, very similar. There's discipline involved, there's love involved, there's forgiveness involved, there's all these things that we see matters of conflict is involved.
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And the leader is somewhat like a parent. He's not above them actually, the father, the mother, even though he is to be honored, but at the same time, they are the servants.
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They're like the coaches. They're the leaders in which they teach, and they serve, they love, they give.
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And this example is parents within the home is very similar to those in leadership because he is to be an example.
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He sets the example, and as children, children never forget these things. It's important, isn't it?
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It's very important. It tells you a little bit there that it's, there are some pastors that don't have children, and that's okay.
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Paul the apostle himself wasn't married, right? And he didn't have a family, and he didn't have children, but he knew by the
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Spirit of God the qualifications here. But Peter we know, we don't know if he had children, but we know he was married, right?
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But what Paul is basically saying is he goes back to he must be the husband of one wife.
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So he's speaking, it's important that he manages his own household well.
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Verse 6, this is very important, and not a new convert, not a novice. He can't be green, he's got to be seasoned.
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Not a new convert so that he, why? So that he will not become conceited, prideful, fall into the condemnation, and cured by the devil.
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Lifted up in pride, in other words. How many times do you see people that's being lifted up in pride? It's usually these young whippersnappers.
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They get behind the pulpit, and they think there's somebody, something that they're not. Humility is far from them.
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And we know that's the first law of ministry, amen? Look at verse 7, and he must, note how many times he says he must.
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He must have a good reputation with those that are outside the church. Now, outside the church, sometimes persecution comes from outside the church, but we know that, we know in the book of Acts, you see kind of a paradox that takes place.
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There was those that were persecuting, but there was also those that held them in esteem. They held them in esteem, because, wow, look at them.
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They're godly, God -fearing Christians, and no one outside the church dared join the church of God because they were men and women that were giving their lives for Jesus.
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But the reputation must be good outside of the church so that he will not fall into a reproach and the snare of the devil.
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Now, then it goes into the qualifications of the deacons, which is officers of the church as well.
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Now go with me very quickly to Titus chapter 1, and you'll see some of the same qualifications that Paul listed in 1
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Timothy 3, but he gives them, and he does give some that's not listed as well.
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Verse 5, chapter 1 of Titus, For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order,
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I love that, set in order, set in order, what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.
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And then he says, Namely, if any man is above reproach, there's above reproach again, the husband of one wife, above reproach is really so apparent.
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It's like the umbrella, right? It's the whole umbrella of everything else underneath it. The husband of one wife, that's at the top of the list.
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Having children who believe, not accused of dispossession or rebellion, for the overseer must be above reproach, as God's steward,
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I love that, God's steward, not self -willed, not quick -tempered, I think the old
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King James says, not a brawler, not quick -tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, that means prideful, not fond of sordid gain, there's the money issue, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self -controlled.
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Self -controlled, that's a big one. He must be self -controlled. In verse 9, then he says, holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teachings, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine, and to refute those who contradict.
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He must adorn the gospel of God. He must have a love for the gospel, the sound doctrine, the faithful word.
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He must be able both to exercise in sound doctrine, and refute those who contradict, and hate error, right?
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And that's pretty much the qualifications. Now, that's the New Testament, there's much that could be said about that, but when's it mentioned, and let me back up a little bit here, where do we see the idea of eldership, or elders, come from in the
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Old Testament? You know, it's really God's idea. I was reading this, and I said, wow,
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I've never quite seen this before, but go with me to the book of Exodus. Now we see the first time it comes in the
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Bible, period, because this is part of the Pentateuch, and Moses wrote it, and we see this in chapter 3, right after Moses came to the burning bush, and God spoke to him out of the burning bush, and he met with God.
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God was concerned about the children of Israel. Look at verse 16.
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This is beautiful. God speaks to Moses out of the burning bush. He says, Go and gather the elders of Israel, the elders, together, and say to them,
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The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying,
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I am indeed concerned about you. God is the chief shepherd, right? I'm concerned about you.
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I care for you. And what has been done to you in Egypt?
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In other words, God is very aware, and he sees what is going on, that they were enslaved and being brutally tormented and beaten as slaves.
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Interesting to note here that the word elders in the Hebrew literally means bearded ones.
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Now, what does that make you think of? No wonder you see so many bearded pastors in the
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Reformed circles. I won't go there, okay? I know I'm tempted to, but anyway.
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Which indicated the age, that they were up in age. Wisdom is to be needed to lead.
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That's so true. Look at Exodus 12 .21. 12 .21, it says this,
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Moses called for all the elders of Israel, said to them, Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the
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Passover lamb. This was the judgment that they were to the
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Passover, and he calls for the elders. The elders of Israel to do this.
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Exodus 19 .7 says, So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and sent before them all these words which the
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Lord had commanded him. The elders, the elders. You see, it's the concept that the beginnings here of the eldership began with God in Exodus.
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The word elder simply means, it speaks of maturity, wisdom, that an older person, this is a definition, an older person should have making them qualified for leadership, and its application is more about wisdom and maturity than specific age.
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And I agree with that. Now, back to 1 Peter 5. We know that Peter is speaking to them as a fellow elder, a fellow elder.
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My time is almost gone. And Peter did not consider himself like a pope of the church.
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Let me kind of pull this together real quick. He was a fellow elder among all the elders of the church.
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C .H. Spurgeon makes this observation of a fellow elder, and I quote Spurgeon, It will always be our wisdom, dear friends, to put ourselves as much as we can into the position of those whom we address.
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It is a pity for anyone ever to seem to preach down to people. It is always better to be as nearly as possible in the same level as they are.
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That's C .H. Spurgeon. Very humble. Humility. Such are the servants of Jesus Christ.
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True humility. Well, we looked at the sufferings. Peter says he was a fellow elder in the sufferings of Christ, and I'd like to bring this to a conclusion here.
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I'm picking up on Spurgeon one more time here. Spurgeon said this, Considering that Peter may have or likely did witness the sufferings of Jesus on the cross, the remembrance of that would make his exhortations to fellow elders all the more powerful.
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All the more powerful. Because, he says, it would be as if he said, Quote, You are leaders of the people for whom
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Jesus Christ suffered and died. And I saw him suffer.
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I saw him suffer. Yet we also consider that many saw
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Jesus suffer. Now listen to this. And it did not affect them the way it affected
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Peter and others who saw with faith. They were thousands who were eyewitnesses of our
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Lord's sufferings, who nevertheless saw the true meaning of them.
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They saw the great sufferer besmeared, this is Spurgeon, with his own blood, but into his own wounds they never looked by faith.
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Thousands saw the Savior die, but they simply went their way back to Jerusalem, almost back to home, just the same.
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Spurgeon says, Some of them beating on their breasts, and none of them believing in Him, or really knowing the secret of that wondrous death.
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That's Spurgeon. Let me close. There's no single chapter outside of the
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Word of God that we have, rather than Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that describes the details specifically of the sufferings of Christ.
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And we find in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53. You can turn with me there. And I think we go to the cross of Jesus Christ.
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And even as a shepherd, and as shepherds out there, I believe this is paramount to every one of God's leaders, to preach
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Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That He is the focal point, and Isaiah 53 definitely gives us this.
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You know, Spurgeon made this observation, The pastures of the great shepherd are wide, but the sweetest grasses grow close to His pierced feet.
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Did you catch that? The pastures of the great shepherd are wide, but the sweetest grasses grow close to His pierced feet.
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Where do we see His pierced feet? Isaiah 53. Listen to this. Who has believed our message? To whom has the armor of the
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Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground. He had no stately form of majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
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He was despised and forsaken a man, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, and like one whom men hid their face.
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He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs
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He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried.
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Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, and smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions.
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He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening of our well -being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.
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All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. But the
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Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted.
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Yet, He did not open His mouth, like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers.
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So, He did not open His mouth, like a sheep that is silent before its shearers.
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He did not open His mouth. Notice, He is the great shepherd of the sheep. And by oppression and judgment,
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He was taken away. And as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off of the land of the living?
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For the transgression of My people, to whom the stroke was due. His grave was assigned with the wicked men.
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And yet, He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth, just like Peter said.
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But the Lord was pleased. The Lord was pleased to crush Him. To crush Him. Putting Him to grief.
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If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He would see His offspring. He would prolong
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His days. And the good pleasure of the Lord would prosper in His hand. And as a result of the anguish of His soul,
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He will see it and be satisfied by His knowledge. The righteous one, My servant, will justify the many.
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And as He will bear their iniquities, therefore,
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I will allot Him a portion with the great. And He will divide the booty with the strong.
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Because He poured out Himself to death, and He was numbered with the transgressors.
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Yet, He Himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.
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There you have the suffering servant, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. What an example.
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The great Shepherd of the sheep. Selfless. Came to die.
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May we not be like thousands that saw the Savior die and simply go our way back home.
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But let us go home beating our breasts in humility, believing the report, believing in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time that we can meet together in Your presence today.
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Father, we thank You for the church You purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Lord, for this great sacrifice that You gave
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Your one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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Lord, thank You for the gifts that You've given to Your church.
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Thank You, Father, for the shepherds. Thank You, Father, for those who truly serve
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You and love You and care to shepherd the flock of God. Lord, as Your Word says, no one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man, but it is
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You, O Lord, who judges. It is You, O Lord, who brings down and it is
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You, Lord, that exalts another. Lord, would You be pleased, we pray, to search out those that would lead
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Your church today. O God, raise them up. Raise men with a great passion and a brokenness to care for Your flock.
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Those that have not been trained just in seminary, but Lord, that have been born and breeded and made in the desert.
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O God, give us these kind of men for Your church that You purchased with the blood of Your Son.
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You alone make them, Lord. You alone make them. No one else makes them. You alone cause them. No one else cause them.
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You do. Lord, what too is such a great and humbling task it is to tend the sheep.
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Lord, give us true shepherds after Your own heart. After Your own heart, we pray, because,
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Lord, You desire to show Your people how strong You are. And You will do so.
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Because Yours is the greatness, the power, and the glory. And we ask this in the name that's above every name.