Anchored #12 - "Grounded in God's Authority" (1 Peter 5:1-5a)

With that in mind, we come to God's Word and our current sermon series, Anchored, Stabilizing Truths for a Shaky World. This is our second to last message in the series. And as we come to this second to last message, there's still so much that Peter has to teach us, so much that God's Word has to share.

Reading 1 Peter 5:1-11 in Context

And so I don't wanna take too long, I wanna get straight to it. First Peter chapter five then. If you have a copy of God's Word, first Peter chapter five. And just to set this passage in its context, I'm going to read verses one through 11.

So first Peter five and the first 11 verses. One Peter chapter five, verse one through 11. If you're physically able to do so, can I invite you to stand with me out of reverence for God's Word as we read this passage.

First Peter chapter five, reading from verses one through 11. Our text is going to be verses one through to the first part of verse five. But again, we wanna read it, excuse me, in its context. So first Peter chapter five, reading from verses one through 11.

Brothers and sisters, these are God's words. I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed. Shepherd God's flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion, but willingly as God would have you.

Not out of greed for money, but eagerly. Not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourself with humility toward one another because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that he may exhort you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him because he cares about you.

Be sober, be alert. Your adversary, the devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.

The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while. To him be dominion forever.

Amen.

Pray that God will bless that reading of his word and grant us understanding as we study it now. Let's pray, ask for the Spirit's help, and we will get to work in this text. Our gracious God, we would ask that as we open up your word that you would open our eyes, that we would see wonderful things out of your law.

May the eyes of our understanding be enlightened so that we would know the hope to which you've called us. And as we think about this subject of authority and leadership in God's church, we pray that you would give us especially soft hearts.

Father, allow us not to be swayed by our experience or by our feelings, but simply to trust in the simple touchstone of your word. Father, as I pray for us, I pray for our friends over at Grace Church of Central Point came to understand this week that they are currently in a pastor search.

We pray that as they look for a new lead pastor that you would bless the members of the committee who have been put together to examine the incoming pastor. Pray that you would bring them somebody who loves you, who loves your word and loves your people, who desires to see people grown and matured in Christ.

Pray for their witness there in Central Point, be with them, bless them. And even in this season without a pastor, may they still continue to grow both numerically and more importantly, spiritually. And Father, even as we pray for growth spiritually, we pray that that would happen even now.

Through the ministry of your word.

For we ask you in Jesus' name and for his, amen. Please be seated. Well, faith family, our text for this afternoon, grounded in God's authority, grounded in God's authority. We're in the second to last message in our summer study through the letter of 1 Peter.

Why Peter Turns to Elders in a Time of Suffering

And I trust that this series has been a blessing to you. I know it has been for me as I have spent time studying it. I'll say more about that next week. But as we continue in this summer study through 1 Peter, for the last few messages, Peter has been speaking to God's people really about their life in the church.

He's really been turning his focus away from our sort of outwardness, as I think I said a few weeks ago. We've turned from thinking about witness to thinking about the subject of withness, how it is that we as God's people minister to one another.

And for the last couple of messages, as he has been speaking to us about how we witness or witness together, as it were, as he's been doing that, there's been a consistent emphasis on the fact that Jesus is returning, that Christ will come back, and that is supposed to influence how we live in the here and now.

In a sense, he's been pointing his audience to their future hope and allowing the light of that truth to flood their vision until it's all that they can see. Well, Peter's coming down for his descent, as it were, as we end this journey.

And as we come to this final section, really, we touch on this general theme of responsibility in the last couple of messages. Really, the emphasis of Peter as he's landing his plane is, beloved, in light of everything that I've mentioned, everything that I've discussed, there are particular responsibilities that weigh on you as the people of God.

In this final chapter in particular, there's three of them. Firstly, there is the responsibility of godly leaders, which is really going to be the bulk of what we talk about in this message. There's also the responsibilities of those who are led.

So if the first one is verses one through four of this chapter, the first part of verse five deals with the responsibility of those who are led. And then the rest of the chapter, end of verse five into 14, talks about responsibility of all believers.

We're thinking about the first two of those this afternoon, the idea of God-ordained responsibility as invested in elders, and the responsibility of those who follow them. Now, whenever we read the Bible, we want to be intelligent readers of the scriptures.

We never want to just read a passage. So as we read this, we want to ask the question, why is Peter talking about elders and oversight and shepherding here? Here? Because on first consideration, it's a little bit out of place.

He's been talking to us about suffering and how we deal with suffering and how we respond to it and what our witness should be, both externally and internally. And then he starts talking about elders.

It seems like it comes almost out of nowhere. And that was a question that really came to mind a few months ago as I was putting this series together. I'm reading through the book. I'm like, why this?

Why is it here? And then it hit me that this is not a random subject. He's still talking, in a sense, about the subject of suffering and our response to it. And I don't think there is quite a hard shift taking place from the subject of suffering to something else.

I think he's still giving us value for navigating the trials and sufferings of this life as the people of God. So again, that still doesn't answer the question. Why is this here? Incredibly important for these Christians.

See, the reality is that when trials come, one of the things, I won't say it's the thing, but one of the things, I'll say it's one of the most important things, that the people of God need are strong, faithful, godly leaders.

Remember the setting of this letter? We're dealing with people who have been persecuted. They have been spread around because of the trial of being a Christian. And in those moments, these scattered sheep, one of the most important things they need is leadership.

Thankfully, as I was studying this, I saw a number of commentators made this point. One of them put it like this, quote, "'Since even believers are prone to wondering, "'taking in what is bad for them, becoming unclean, "'and are highly vulnerable, defenseless on their own, "'and sometimes naive, "'the demand for shepherds who are faithful "'and responsible is compelling.

"'And when the church is under severe persecution, "'as it was in Peter's day, "'it is even more valuable and in greater need "'of strong, godly, effective shepherds today.'". See, the reality is that when suffering comes, the people of God can be prone to scatter, and what you need are leaders who are able to help shepherd and to guide and to protect the flock.

And so that's what we're gonna be considering this afternoon. Now, before we dive in, not going to address everything that could possibly be said about eldership. We just don't have that kind of time, and this text doesn't deal with every single thing that could come up.

I mentioned that we're starting a series in a couple of weeks called Simple Church Volume Two. When we get to that series, I will have a whole message devoted to the question of how the church is led.

And there, I will fill in with much more detail, and we'll look at more passages of scripture that help us understand the subject of leadership in the church. So I can't deal with all of that now. We'll deal with that, and it'll be much more of a Bible study-type message than a typical sermon.

For now, since I don't have time to get to all of that, allow me to give the definition of what I think is the key term in this passage. Appears in verse one. Elder, appears twice.

What is an elder?

I think let's start there, because if we can define that, at least a working definition for now, we'll come back in future weeks and flesh out some more, I think it will help us to understand who Peter's speaking to.

Here's the definition for an elder that I put together this week, based on a bunch of reading and considering the biblical sort of parameters for an elder. When we talk about an elder, we're talking about a man equipped by God, affirmed by other godly men and his congregation for serving the church through prayer and the ministry of the word, both in word and example.

Let me say that again. An elder is a man equipped by God, affirmed by other godly men and his congregation for serving the church through prayer and the ministry of the word, both in word and example.

That's my working definition. I'm going to ask you to do something that no preacher should do without due cause. Just believe me for now, we'll come back in a few weeks and we'll flesh it out. As I said, Peter's not gonna address everything about elders in our text.

There's much for which we need the whole Bible.

To get an understanding,.

But what Peter says here is plenty enough, especially for these believers who are going through in the midst of incredibly dark days. And brothers and sisters, I would put it to you that what Peter says here is no short change on his part.

He's not being lazy by not saying everything that could be said. He's saying what is most vital for these Christians who are going through various trials. And I put it to you that in this passage, we learn something about the kinds of leaders that the church needs when the church is faced with trials and faced with sufferings.

Think with me through this for a moment. Why is it that God ordains leadership in the church, that he sets up leadership in the church? And why do suffering saints need that leadership? Why is it that God sets up leadership in the church even with suffering saints?

Well, here's my big idea for today's message. Simply put, God gives faithful elders to the church to shepherd the flock through times of trial. That's it. God gives faithful elders to the church to shepherd the flock through times of trial.

You see, as the church endures suffering, as the church goes through hard times, one of the things that becomes incredibly important for the church is the presence of godly shepherd leaders, or to use the biblical term, elders.

For the rest of our time, I wanna consider four aspects of the work of faithful elders that should help the church in trials. Four aspects of the work of faithful elders, and again, it's not everything that could be said, but it is what Peter has to say.

Four aspects of the work of faithful elders that should help the church in trials. Four aspects, I'm gonna try not to be too long, but we'll see how that goes. First of all, consider with me what a faithful elder looks like.

What a Faithful Elder Looks Like

What a faithful elder looks like, chapter five and verse one. To look at verse one with me, Peter says, I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed.

The first thing we need to get right before we talk about anything else is how do you know a true elder from a false one? How do you, and let's be clear, there are false elders out there. There are people who can find themselves in the office who are not qualified for it.

Let's just be honest about that. But how do you know somebody who was called to this office or set apart for this work by God versus somebody who's just found their way in? What are the characteristics of faithful elders in the body of Christ?

Thankfully, God doesn't leave it up to chance for us to figure out what a faithful leader looks like. Thankfully, we get a picture in the person of Peter. And in verse one, we get three self-descriptions of a faithful elder from Peter himself.

Peter, I won't say inadvertently, but Peter, as he describes himself, really is describing what all faithful elders should be like.

So three characteristics.

First of all, a faithful elder is one of many. A faithful elder is one of many. Did you catch that there in the beginning of verse one? I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder. That word for fellow elder literally is what it says, is Peter literally adds a word, the prefix for together with to the word elder.

As an elder together with you. Think about who is saying this for a moment. This is Peter. He's an apostle. Not just any apostle. You could say he is one of the verified apostles. If he were on Twitter, he would have a blue tick next to his name.

He's one of those. As they said in the area I grew up in, he's not new to it, he's true to it. This is an original one of the 12 apostles. And yet, when it comes to serving the church, Peter simply describes himself as I'm a fellow elder.

I'm one of you. By the way, so much for Peter being the first pope and being kind of the supreme bishop of all the other ones. No, Peter says, listen, I'm a fellow elder. I'm with you guys. And this is astounding when you read it on multiple levels, not just because it's an apostle saying this, but because Peter is the one saying this.

If you've read the gospels, you know Peter by now. He's kind of the loud mouth spokesman of the apostles when you read the gospels. As one preacher, John MacArthur, put it, he's the apostle with the foot-shaped mouth, because every time he opened his mouth, he was sticking his foot in it.

Was willing to throw down for Jesus, quite literally. Only one of the apostles we hear about who actually practices violence in the name of Jesus. This is the man who is saying, I'm a fellow elder in this here thing with the rest of you.

What can make a man say something like this? That's not natural to a man who clearly was a very strong personality, who knew his own way, who knew his own mind. Can I put it to you, brothers and sisters, that this is extraordinary spirit-wrought humility in a man who has walked with Jesus, quite literally.

And yet, when it comes to serving the church, he says, listen, I'm just like one of you. You see, brothers and sisters, a faithful elder rightly understands that he is not the only one, that he is not the one, as it were, but he is one of many faithful men.

It's one of the reasons that we, well, one of many reasons that we believe the Bible teaches a plurality of godly leaders. Can I put it to you that when you see a pastor who acts like he is the one, and when I say the one, I mean like Neo in the Matrix, the one.

I am the special one. I'm a football fan. Those of you who know British football, there was a famous manager, Jose Mourinho. He referred to himself as the special one because he thought he was better than every other manager in the league.

When you meet somebody who thinks like that, that he only understands what it is to lead, he alone is right, and all others are wrong. He alone is lame. When you encounter somebody like that, can I put it to you that you've encountered somebody who doesn't rightly understand what he is called to, that a faithful leader recognizes, no, I'm one of many.

I'm not the only one. Not only is a faithful elder one of many, secondly, a faithful elder is one who testifies to the gospel. A faithful elder is one who testifies to the gospel. So look what Peter says in verse one.

I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ. Peter writes here as one of the 12 who had seen the ministry of Jesus from a front row seat. He has seen it all, and part of that gave him authority as an apostle.

The word for witness here is for one who testifies, one who speaks of what they have seen and speaks of what they have heard. Now, hold on, hold on, hold on. Okay, if that's true, no elder alive today can rightly say they have seen Jesus today.

I think that's a fair point to make. First of all, well done if you believe that. Not everybody in the professing church believes that. Secondly, you're right. The vast majority, in fact, the majority, if not all elders today, have not seen the Lord Jesus.

They just haven't. But can I put it to you on the basis of God's word that every time you hear the gospel, every time you hear the word of God proclaimed faithfully, Jesus is being represented by his people.

So, on verse 22, the Ephesians, after saying, listen, you did not learn Jesus like the Gentiles, in all kinds of sinfulness. He said, no, you did not learn him this way. If indeed, some of our Bible translations in Ephesians 4 .20 say, if you heard about him, but that's not what the original text says.

The original text says, if you heard him and were taught the truth as it is in Jesus. Paul says, when I preached the word of God to you, you didn't just hear me. You heard Christ speaking to you through his word.

Galatians chapter three, verse one. Those of you who were here about a year ago, we studied Galatians together. Galatians 3 .1, he says, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified.

None of them saw the crucifixion, but they heard Paul preach it. And in that sense, Paul had borne witness to the fact that there was a man named Jesus. And this man named Jesus went to the cross for the sins of his people.

And he says, listen, I am one who testifies to those sufferings. I saw it. And we who are on the other side of the life of Christ, we testify in the same way. The only thing we can't say is we saw it.

No, but we have this word of God. And every time that this word of God is proclaimed, we hear him again. And so a faithful elder is one who testifies to the work of God as we see it in Jesus Christ. That's what Paul could say in 2 Corinthians chapter four and verse five.

For we are not proclaiming ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. Show me someone who always was to tell you about them. Everything's about how great they are and how gifted they are and how wonderful they are.

How nice they are. Show me that. And I'll show you someone who again, doesn't quite understand why they've been called. Not only is a faithful elder one, not only is he one who testifies to the work of God in Jesus Christ and the gospel.

Thirdly, a faithful elder shares in the glory to come. A faithful elder shares in the glory to come. So catch the third self-description there. End of verse one. Peter says that he's a fellow elder. He's a witness of the suffering of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed.

You remember that I've said that throughout this letter, Peter will twin suffering and glory together multiple times. Well, this is one more time he does this. And this time he focuses on the fact that the glory that we partake in, that he shares in as a fellow elder is a glory that is yet to be revealed.

It's about to be revealed. This is one of two mentions of the second coming in our text. You see, beloved, in this life, this age is characterized by pain and suffering for the people of God. But on the other side is a glory that is beyond words.

Remember what Peter said last week, 1 Peter 4, 14, that if you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. That's the understanding of a faithful elder that, listen, we all are participants.

We are all partners. We all have a share in the glory of Christ that will be revealed. It's not as though what I know about the glory and you'll never know about that. No, he says, listen, I share in the glory that is about to be revealed.

You see, a faithful elder doesn't just keep one eye on the sheep, he is commanded to do that, but he keeps the other eye on the glory that awaits him on the other side. And those are our three descriptions of what a faithful elder looks like, that Peter, as it were, models by example what the character of a leader under trial looks like.

You wanna see what a faithful elder looks like in times of suffering? They look like someone who is one of many, who testifies to the gospel, and they share in the glory to come. That's the first thing that we see here.

What Faithful Elders Do and Don't Do

But secondly, I wanna draw your attention to a second aspect of faithful elders that we see in this text. Not only do we see what a faithful elder looks like, secondly, we see what faithful elders do and don't do.

We see what faithful elders do and don't do. Verses two and three. Now we get to the meat of the lineup. All that was introduction. Now we start to get into the heart of what Peter wants to say to his fellow elders.

So verse two, he says, "'Shepherd God's flock among you, "'not overseeing out of compulsion, but willingly, "'as God would have you, "'not out of greed for money, but eagerly, "'not lording it over those entrusted to you, "'but being examples to the flock.'".

The main command here, the main work of faithful elders is given to you right there in those three words at the start of verse two. "'Shepherd God's flock.'". That's the job. And he makes it clear that you don't do this from a distance.

You do this among them. These are the flock of God that are gathered around you. You shepherd those who are around you. We'll say more in the message later on about the fact that this is God's flock, not ours, but it is worth noting that he does say that.

This is, "'Shepherd God's flock among you.'". This imagery of shepherding as one for leadership is a rich one. I don't quite have the time to walk through it, so I'll just summarize. Multiple times in the Old Testament, Yahweh, Israel's covenant Lord, is called the shepherd of his people, multiple times.

You all know the most famous one, Psalm 23. "'The Lord is my shepherd.'". There was a really awful book written in the mid -20th century about Psalm 23, which I think over-sentimentalized what that was.

That language, to someone in the ancient Near East, had nothing to do with cuddly shepherds. I almost put a graphic up this week. You know, sort of cuddly shepherd with really woolly sheep that looks really nice.

No, a shepherd was an image for a king, for a ruler. Not only is Israel's covenant Lord called a shepherd multiple times in the Old Testament, Israel's leaders, both good ones and bad ones, are called shepherds in so many passages.

Spiritual leaders in the New Testament are called shepherds. We see that here. Same language is used in John 21 and Acts 20. Time and time again, this language of shepherding is used for leadership. Now, in a few weeks, when we look at leadership in more detail, we'll look at some of those passages, and we'll start to piece together what that leadership looks like.

But Peter doesn't focus so much on individual tasks here, as much as he focuses on the attitude, the mindset by which one shepherds God's flock. And again, we've got three of those to consider. Three mindsets, as it were.

Three ways in which elders exercise protection and shepherding oversight over God's people. First of all, he says that they serve willingly not by force. They serve willingly, not by force. Do you see it there in verse two?

It says,.

Shepherd God's flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion, but willingly. The idea of compulsion is that of being forced, of being pushed into doing this, of doing something not by desire, but by necessity.

I don't really want to do this, but you're making me do it. So I'll do it. That's the sense here. And haven't we all seen people who are forced into roles they hate? How many times have you labored with someone or you've been served by someone?

I think about this a lot when I go out to get something to eat. You can tell who enjoys their job and who doesn't. I know they're trained to kind of like show happiness on their face in general, but it's very obvious when they don't want to be there.

Versus somebody who has somehow managed to find some joy in what they do. They don't give it their best, any opportunity to bail. They take it without a second thought.

Why?

Because they're made to be there for various reasons. They have to be here. But if it was up to them, they wouldn't be here. They'd be doing something else. Now think about that in the context of the church for a moment.

If you've got somebody who is serving in a leadership role, but they don't want to do it, they've been made to do it. Let's ask some pointed questions for a moment. Are such people going to help God's work or are they going to hinder it?

Such people going to help God's people or are they going to harm God's people? And I'll be honest. I used to think that such people were no big deal. That you know what? Yeah, you can tell they don't want to do this, but hey, they're here and we need someone to do it.

So, okay, brother, can you help me with this? Brother, can you do this?

Sister, can you help me?

And you can just tell you're constantly having to beg them to do stuff. And it finally hit me that actually, this is kind of a big deal because Peter says, and I think this is his point in mentioning this, that God isn't glorified and believers aren't edified when somebody serves grudgingly, scripturally speaking.

Those who serve in any capacity and especially those who are leaders, I would argue very strongly, one of the basic biblical qualifications for them is they ought to want to do it. Let me prove it to you.

Two passages. Keep something here in 1 Peter. Tell me to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter three. This is a text that we will come back to in our more detailed message on leadership in a few weeks. 1 Peter chapter three and verse one.

1 Timothy, excuse me, chapter three and verse one. Peter says, not Peter, Paul says something here that apparently was a saying that was common in the early church. And he repeats it. Chapter three, verse one.

He says, this saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to be an overseer, an overseer is the same thing as an elder. It's just one of three different titles the New Testament uses for those who exercise leadership in God's house.

If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work. Paul says that if somebody wants to serve as an overseer, it's kind of implied that they aspire to this. They want to do it. Now someone will say, okay, Kofi, Kofi, Kofi, you're making too much of this.

After all, don't we all have to do things we don't like? I mean, what's the modern term we use? Adulting. Yeah, isn't it a part of adulting to have to do things you don't like? Yes. But before you go too far with that, again, think to who Peter is writing to.

These are believers who have been scattered throughout Asia. They've experienced incredible persecution, locally speaking, and it's about to be empire-wide. Now think about this for a moment. What do you think happens when a leader sees danger coming, but he never wanted to do this to begin with?

This wasn't something he wanted to do. He was kind of forced into it. What do you think happens? Thankfully, I don't have to guess what the answer is because Jesus, on second thought I want you to consider, go all the way back to John chapter 10.

John chapter 10,. John chapter 10,.

Jesus is giving this discourse about him being the good shepherd. I want you to jump in at verse 11 with me. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Pay attention to verse 12.

He says, the hired hand, and the hired hand he's referring to are the Pharisees and Sadducees. He says, the hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming.

The wolf then snatches and scatters them. This is because he is a hired hand and doesn't care about the sheep. What happens when somebody is put in a position of leadership who doesn't want to do it and then danger comes?

Please, I'm out. And this was actually a common occurrence in the ancient Near East. A wolf came, or some other predator came, or at some points, marauders came. I mean, this isn't my sheep. Listen, this is not worth my life.

I'm out.

Interestingly, in talking about shepherds, contrasts himself as the good shepherd with the hired hand. And what does the hired hand do? When danger comes, they take off running. I know this all too personally in my own life.

People who were in leadership, who were tasked with serving the body, and when things got difficult, where's the nearest lifeboat? I'm getting off. It's too hard. I can't do this. Well, Peter wants to protect the flock, but he had witnessed the good shepherd in the person of Christ.

And now as a fellow elder who's calling for these elders to shepherd God's flock, he reminds the elders, listen, you exercise your oversight from a willing heart, not from being made to do it, or don't do it at all.

Wayne Grudem, in his helpful commentary on 1 Peter, says this, no one should be pressured to accept to the church office, which he does not really want to have. God wants our ungrudging service, and he will provide another solution.

That's why I think it's a dangerous thing. You see, in some churches where there's almost kind of an arm twist, you should serve. No, if somebody doesn't want to do it, it is better for God's people that they don't do it.

Not only are elders called to serve willingly and not by force, secondly, elders are called to serve eagerly, not selfishly. They're called to serve eagerly, not selfishly. So again, look at our text in 1 Peter once again.

What does Peter say? Not overseeing out of compulsion, but willingly as God would have you. Not out of greed for money, but eagerly. The reality is that one of the great dangers of ministry, especially when everything is going well, is that it can become all about you, the person in the front, because you're the one who's most visible.

You know, people call you the leader, the visionary. Folks will want to know what the secret sauce is. What are you doing that's making this thing work? And if you're an unscrupulous person, you can get very rich very quickly, because folks will give you anything to find out how it worked.

Now, pastors being paid, and I would argue being paid well for their work, is 100 biblical. If you have questions about that, I preached a message, hopefully. Yep, there it is. I preached a message back in our Galatians series.

Some of you remember this, Galatians 6, 6 through 10. Walking together in ministry where I kind of unfold from Galatians 6 and a number of other texts, the biblical precedent for those who are vocationally given to the ministry to God's people being paid.

But for a moment, I want you to think about the reality that those who serve don't serve because there is the promise of payment attached to serving. And in fact, Peter would help us to understand that there are legitimate and appropriate reasons for being paid, and there are very illegitimate and very shady reasons for wanting to get paid.

Some of your translations will, if you have the King James Version or something close to it, will talk about dishonest gain. The King James Version uses the language of filthy lucre, where we got our lucrative from.

You see, money is neutral. It's neither good nor bad in and of itself. But when your means of getting it comes from either manipulation or theft or threatening, and when definitely it becomes your motivation to serve rather than serving the sheep, check yourself.

That's, Peter would help us to understand that that is not a shepherd's mentality. That actually, in contrast to a motivation for ministry that basically says, unless I am taken care of, I'm not going to serve.

No, the New Testament helps us to understand that faithful shepherds will serve the flock even if they are never paid. Yes, it's tough, and no, it doesn't make the strain of life any lighter, but they are willing to take on that strain.

For the sake of those who serve. Paul knew this verse, and you don't need to turn it, I'll read it, but if you're taking notes, 1 Corinthians 9, verses 15 through 18. Paul says, for my part, I have used none of these rights, nor have I written these things that they may be applied in my case.

For it would be better for me to die than for anyone to deprive me of my boast. For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast because I'm compelled to preach. And woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.