Again, good evening. When Scott and I were discussing what topic or theme or text I would look at with you all during this time, He had popped into a breakout session that I was doing somewhere earlier in the year, primarily on missions or responsibilities of a missionary, a biblical missionary, and had suggested that I talk about that same theme. That may seem like a difficult connection in your mind. There are a few missionaries here, but the majority of the people of us who are here are local pastors or aspiring ministers. The reason that it works in both contexts is because we've created this new category in our minds of some missionaries and other would be church planters that somehow you don't have to meet the biblical qualifications of a minister to serve in those capacities, nor do you have to do the commands or keep the requirements of Scripture for those who hold the offices within the church.
So I'm going to consider, I think your booklet there says, Shepherding the Sheep. I've changed the title a little bit for this evening and called it pastoring God's people. I want to look at 1 Peter 5. As you're turning there, I'll mention Ephesians 4, the familiar passage where the Apostle Paul says, Christ gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. If you are a pastor and teacher in the church, you are God's gift to the church, but not like being God's gift to women.
You are God's gift to the church with expectations for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. This is the responsibility of shepherding, of pastoring, of ministering among God's people. I want to use 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 1 through 4 because It is a wonderful exhortation to the elders. When Peter begins it, I exhort the elders among you. It's an exhortation, but it's not just an exhortation to the elders.
It's also helpful instruction for the church at large. I think we would all agree with regard to the sufficiency of Scripture, it is intended for all of us to be affected by it and influenced by it. There aren't these little portions that are applicable to this group of people or that group of people. And so this section of Scripture, though immediately intended for the elders and their responsibilities, it also serves us well as instruction for the entirety of the church. They're very clarifying words from Peter here.
He doesn't beat around the bush with regard to what his expectations are for pastors and elders. It's clear, based on the job description that he offers here, that elders and pastors are not merely teachers or administrators. There may be some of that, and there will be some of that, but that isn't the primary responsibility that God has called us to. Nor are they psychiatrists or social workers or life coaches. The church's expectation for their elders ought to be kept in check based on these biblical requirements for elders.
This ought to help our churches know how to pray for us, how to help us and come alongside to know what the expectations are. God has made it clear in His Word how we ought to serve, how we ought to lead, how we ought to shepherd and pastor. Peter is a perfect example, the exemplary person for us to go to in order to learn what pastoring looks like. I mean, he himself, this man, the apostle, learned from Jesus. He learned how to shepherd from the chief shepherd himself.
Not only did he watch Jesus dealing with other people, he experienced the dealings of Jesus with his own soul. Do you not think Peter would be a remarkable person to go to when you were discouraged? After having basically gone back to his former way of life after spending three years with Christ, seeing him go to the cross, seeing him twice after the resurrection, before the ascension, and still he goes back fishing, And still Christ, full of compassion, comes out and meets him there on the boat. He is a wonderful person, Peter is, for us to learn from, these words of God recorded by the Apostle Peter. I love the book of 1 Peter, 2 Peter as well, but the entirety of it has such a contemporary ring.
The applicability is wonderful. Listen to this assortment of verses from the book. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers they may because of your good deeds as they observe them glorify God in the day of visitation. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for doing what is good?
But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. Yet with gentleness and reverence, and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. Then look with me in chapter 4 verse 12.
Beloved, Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you. But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or evildoer or a troublesome meddler, but if anyone suffers as a Christian he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.
And if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Therefore those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right. Therefore, " Peter continues, Because this is the reality in which you live, Peter writes to the original recipients. Therefore, because it's the reality in which we live, we've been called to live godly lives in the midst of a culture that is wicked all around us.
Therefore, Peter says, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker also 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 sordid gain, but with eagerness. Nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Leadership is never more necessary than when difficulties arise. When the stresses of life happen, Christians, and oftentimes non-Christians as well, look to pastors.
Just in the past month I've had people from the gym that I work out at in the next town over where I live come to the office here, walk into my office, sit down, two ladies. One said, I've been having an affair with on my husband for eight months and I need help. We know that Christians are going to look to pastors and church leaders, but even those around us in the world are going to look for real answers, for solutions, which is why Peter says here, in the midst of the world in which you live, with all the difficulties that are happening, the suffering, the persecution, the trouble, I exhort you. Follow these instructions. Shepherd Christ's people.
Pastor God's flock. I want to break this passage up into four different sections. They won't be broken very evenly, but we want to look at four specific things by asking four questions. The first one is who. The second, what.
The third, how. And the fourth, why? Who, what, how, why? First, who? I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.
Who is writing? It's Peter. I mentioned. What a glorious thing that it's this man who has pinned these words that we might benefit from them I'm a fellow elder. I'm your fellow elder.
I'm one of you. He's identifying with us He puts no emphasis at all on his apostleship. He easily could have said, listen, I'm one of the twelve. Pay attention. Do as I say.
He writes as an equal, not as a superior. He highlights what identifies himself with his readers, not what separates him from them. Why? Because Peter is obviously more concerned with the glory of Christ and with his own dignity. He's not trying to win the affection and the worship of the people that he's writing to.
He's attempting to win Christ's glory by Encouraging the elders to shepherd the people of God in a way that's pleasing to the Lord. He's comfortable and Content to be among the believers he in no way wants to be over them It basically we can understand it in this way. Peter is not just writing to the elders among the original recipients. He isn't just writing to us as ministers of God's people. But he's writing, he's preaching it to himself.
This is the experience that he has learned and out of a lifetime of experience, he is letting us know these are the expectations of a minister of Christ. This is what is pleasing to the Lord. This is what will benefit God's people the most. I'm a fellow elder. Not just a fellow elder, I'm a fellow witness of the sufferings of Christ.
Peter writes with a very intense awareness of the price that was paid for his salvation, of our salvation. In chapter 1 verses 18 and 19, you were redeemed with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. I wonder how much of our ministering is done with that in view, that His blood was shed for our souls. He's a fellow witness. Because the blood of Christ was shed for our souls, we promote Him.
We are constrained by the love that was expressed in the gospel when Christ coming and living and dying and being raised again. You are redeemed, Peter says, with precious blood. He's a fellow witness of Christ's sufferings. Not just an eyewitness, he saw it happening, but he shared in those sufferings. We read chapter 4 verse 13, to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing.
This has been the experience for him. He knew that seeing Christ crucified with spiritual eyes was key, a key sustaining ingredient for the minister of the gospel. Peter saw Christ being crucified with his physical eyes when he was following from a distance and denying him. But when he really saw with spiritual eyes, when he recognized this is the Lord, when he had that infamous conversation there on the beach, do you love me? Shepherd my sheep, tin the flock of God?" Peter knew that seeing Christ in this way was the sustaining ingredient.
So he says, I'm your fellow elder and I'm a fellow witness of the sufferings of Christ. And not only that, but a fellow partaker of the glory that is to be revealed, the coming glory." Continuing there in chapter 4 verse 13, so that also at the revelation of his glory, you may rejoice with exaltation. Immense, infinite, unending bliss and rejoicing awaits us. And so Peter says, keep on pressing on in the midst of the difficulty, in the midst of the suffering, if it's persecution, in the midst of the trial and the trouble keep on rejoicing in Christ. Peter wasn't the only one singing this song.
The Apostle Paul writes to the church at Rome, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him." This is the pathway to heaven. It is witnessing by faith Christ's suffering, sharing in that suffering as we live lives unto him, and soon the glory comes and we're transferred into his likeness, transitioned, made like him, away from sin so that we can worship him in a way that he really deserves. He's not just a fellow elder but he's marked by these redemptive realities, a fellow witness of the sufferings of Christ, a fellow partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. These redemptive realities that are marked by the two advents of our Lord. He came and suffered and died and he's coming again to consummate his glorious kingdom.
Peter is driven and balanced by these two great realities, the cross and the consummation, the reality that he came and that he's coming again. I'm a fellow elder, a fellow witness, and a fellow partaker, he says. This is who is writing to us, so we can perk up and Listen, listen to the word of God from this man who walked with him and learned from him. What did he learn? The second point, what?
Verse 2, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. No yet as lording it over those who allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. What? Shepherd the flock of God among you. Shepherd the flock.
We hear those loud echoes that I've mentioned already of Peter's own call to pastoral ministry. I can't imagine a more clear call to the ministry of the gospel. Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Tin my lambs.
Simon, son of John, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know that I love you Shepherd my sheep Simon son of John do you love me? Peter was grieved Lord you know all things. You know that I love you." Jesus said, tend my sheep. Tend my lambs.
Shepherd my sheep. Tend my sheep. Pastor the people of God, Peter. Shepherd the sheep of God. What does that mean?
What's included in that mean? I don't have an all-inclusive list, but I do have a few things that it definitely includes. Peter provides spiritual nourishment for them. Feed my sheep. That is our responsibility as ministers of the gospel.
God has determined that we feed his people the Word of God, that we preach the gospel. I mean, for the elder, for the pastor, preaching is pastoral. We don't preach on Sunday and pastor during the week. We ought to be pastoring even from the pulpit. And the goal of pastoral preaching is pointing sinners to the Savior, strengthening the weak, relieving the burden, granting clarity to the confused.
And it should go without saying, but unfortunately, it needs to be said, if we are going to provide spiritual nourishment for God's people, then we should only be serving sheep food. The lost should not be very happy about what they hear from ministers of the gospel. Their conscience ought to be bothered. They ought not to be comfortable. They ought to be as uncomfortable as you would if we serve dog food for lunch tomorrow.
It's not made for you. Serve the Scriptures. Preach Christ. That's what we're called to do. But not just provide spiritual nourishment, but to protect.
I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. What a pattern we have in our Lord. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand.
He's not concerned about the sheep. I am, Jesus says, the good shepherd. And again, Acts 20, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood." You want motivation to shepherd well? Christ shed his blood for their souls. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock." There's a promise.
Listen, if there aren't wolves among us we're doing something wrong, we have a promise. There will be wolves, therefore we need to be shepherding well. It will protect the flock from the wolves if we are gathering them together, if we're protecting them and providing for them. Not just providing spiritual nourishment and protecting them, but caring for them, caring for the sick and the injured. Ezekiel 34, those who are sickly, you have not strengthened the diseased, you have not healed the broken, you have not bound up the scattered, you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost, but with force and with severity you have dominated them.
May this not describe us as ministers of God's people. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd. They became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high heel. My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.
May it not be true in our day. May God grant us the grace to be ministers of His gospel who care for the sick and the injured, who strengthen knees when they're weak, who come alongside and put an arm around them and continue on the journey towards Christ's likeness. We must provide spiritual nourishment and protect the flock and care for the sick and the injured and seek after lost sheep. What man among you, If he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it. This isn't easy.
Six or eight weeks ago, we had an issue here in the church where a young person was on the verge of departing from the faith and made terrible lifestyle choices. And it required a massive amount of emotional energy and spiritual energy and took me away as a result from pretty much all of the normal pastoral duties for the better part of two days. And I can remember coming in and saying to my co-elders, I feel like I have let the church down. I feel like I'm disconnected because I haven't been doing the normal duties. And one of them said, What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
And the burden just rolled away. Right. Okay. It's okay. It's not just okay.
It's mandatory that we go after the lost sheep and woo them back to Christ, calling them to repentance, pointing out the sin, showing them the glory that awaits if they'll repent and believe. Providing spiritual nourishment, protecting the people, caring for the sick, seeking the lost, and separating the sheep from the goats. But when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left." I do not want you to hear me suggesting any harshness with regard to this separation that is mandatory, but I do want you to hear that we as ministers of the gospel, of all people, ought to be able to discern what our fruits in keeping with repentance.
If we're going to protect our people well, we need to know our people and where they stand with the Lord. We need to know the difference between sheep and goats. I spent a lot of time in Ethiopia, lived there a couple years in the mid-2000s. And most people who've never traveled outside of this country or haven't grown up on a farm don't realize that all sheep are not those fleecy white ones that are in children's books. In fact, they are shaped and the color of and look very similar to goats.
And they often are mingling together out when they're grazing. Many, many times when I'm with people, would be with people from America, like traveling through the city or even going out on the countryside, and they would say, wow, look at those goats. No, those are sheep. Those are sheep. There's a difference.
And you can even tell the difference once you learn them well. There's a very distinction, A very clear distinction. And in the same way, obviously we can't see the heart, but we know what lives look like. We know what a life looks like of someone who is humbling themselves below or underneath the word of God and seeking to honor Him and obey Him. God has called us to provide and to protect, to care for, to seek, and to separate.
Shepherd the flock of God. Let's just take that phrase, shepherd the flock. In the original, the verb and the noun are from the same root. If we say it this way, we understand it. Shepherd the sheep.
We can hear it, even in our language after the translation. The work of the minister of the gospel is inseparably connected to those that he's called to serve. Shepherd the sheep. Everything that a minister does is done with the sheep in mind. Every decision that we make should be in the best interest of the people that God has entrusted to us.
The welfare and the edification of the flock must always be in view. Remember, we're God's gift to the church for her edification, for the building up. So everything we do has to be with that in mind. We're given to that. We're given to our people.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Shepherd the flock. And not just any flock. Shepherd the flock of God. This is great.
Don't shepherd your flock. You don't have one, but God does. It's God's flock. The people are God's people. He made them.
He fashioned them with his own hands, and not only that, but he's made them his own. He saved them. He sent his son. His son came down, robed himself in flesh, lived and died to redeem a people for himself, and he is constantly sustaining them by taking up residence within them. His Holy Spirit lives in them.
These are God's people. It's these people that he says to us, shepherd them. Shepherd the flock of God. Even in their weaknesses, especially in their wonderings, They belong to Him. Let's go back to the conversation on the beach between Jesus and Peter.
What did Jesus ask him? Do you love my sheep? No, do you love me? It is important to love the people of God. You must love them.
But the question was, Do you love me? Here's the secret to pastoral ministry. If you really love Christ, you'll be able to shepherd His sheep. You'll be able to love His people, the weak ones, the ones that require an extra measure of grace, the wondering ones. You'll be able to respond like the Savior who sought after them, who sought after Peter.
Like the shepherd in the parable, When the one sheep veers off, he leaves the ninety-nine and goes after it to rescue it. Not only is the flock God's flock, but He has allotted them to you, to us. He has privileged us with the task of serving in the place where we are. He has determined the times in which we live and the boundaries of our habitation, in His kind compassion, in sovereign orchestration. He has given us a people, and he desires us to invest in them, to build them up in edification, to make them a bride that's spotless and ready to be presented to the groom at the final marriage supper of the Lamb.
However difficult it may be, however dreadful your work may seem, we must fight any discouragement by trusting in the all-wise sovereign kind dealings of God. He bought them with His own blood. He's privileged us with the responsibility and opportunity of caring for them. Shepherd the flock of God, Peter says. Shepherd the flock of God among you, The ones that are among you, not the ones that are reading your blog, not the ones that are reading all of the Facebook posts or the tweets.
A shepherd will be among his people. And if he's among his people, he'll smell like the sheep. It was very common in Ethiopia to see a little shepherd boy carrying a newborn calf or a newborn lamb around his neck. I mean, for me, the first thing I see is, man, he's gonna smell bad at the end of the day. I know exactly how he's gonna smell because I know what that animal smells like.
A shepherd should smell like the sheep. We should be rubbing shoulders with our people. May the days be long past where there's this unnecessary separation of clergy and laity. One old writer said, a preacher who is invisible six days a week will be incomprehensible on the other. Our preaching will improve if we are with our people.
You want to better preach at their conscience? Get to know them. Learn their patterns of thinking. Learn the doubts that they have. Adequate preaching requires intimate knowledge.
As pastors, God has called us to be a specialist, a specialist in caring for people's souls, for helping them along as they're seeking to be conformed to the image of Jesus who saved them. Shepherd the flock of God among you. And not just that, but secondly, Verse 2b, exercising oversight. There's a responsibility to be overseers if any man aspires to the office of overseer. Timothy says it out, it's a fine work that he desires to do.
This is an analyzing, a spiritual analyzing and assessing the situation of the congregation. This is required for the man of God to diagnose the spiritual condition, to deal with the various issues that exist among the people, to rightly discern the conditions among them, to apply the right remedies in the right way at the right time. This shepherding among them and oversight over them, there has to be a healthy balance. A minister who does not provide loving care for his people doesn't have the privilege of offering oversight in their lives. At the same time, a minister who does not properly oversee is not well informed about the people and therefore ends up being in no position to feed them properly or adequately.
I often hear, it's a well-meaning statement, but I hear pastors say when they're actually attempting to pretend that they don't know what's going on in the lives of their people so their people won't feel like they're preaching to them. I have no idea why they would do that, but you've heard it said before. You probably have said it recently, and I probably have said it mistakenly, and I will try to never say it again, but I don't really know what's going on in your life, but in case this applies kind of thing. Why don't you know what's going on in their life? That's our responsibility.
We ought to know. We ought to have our thumb on the pulse of the people that God has entrusted to us. It is not okay to say, I don't know anything about you. I don't know what's going on in your life. Now sometimes that's the case if you know you're preaching away or at a conference.
But just assume that you're preaching to needy sinners. Preach to the conscience. They're like us, right? It's not difficult for me to know what you all need because I assume you need what I need. We're humans.
We're sinners, saved by grace. We need Christ. We need more of Him. We need more of His Word opened up and explained, and the sword stuck within and twisted around so that it might seep down deep in, affecting every fiber of who we are. Shepherd the flock of God among you.
Exercise oversight. That's the what. Now the how. Because God is not only interested in what we do, but how we do it. And the fourth point will be why we do it.
God hasn't just given us a list of things and said, if you get all these things checked off, all will be well. He has determined that we do it all with the right motive, with the right intent. He's offered some contrasting couplets here that deal with motives and attitudes in order that we might Avoid laziness and passivity and greed and covetousness and being a dictator and a despot. Exercise oversight, not under compulsion, not compulsory, but voluntarily, not reluctantly. There's an action here.
Exercise oversight. Don't be reluctant about it. Don't be resentful. It's not a heartless work. Don't just go through the motions.
It must not be a dreadful labor. Don't allow it to become forced external obedience. But do it voluntarily, that is with joyful consent. Yes, Lord, I will minister to your people. Yes, Lord, I will again lay down and sacrifice what I think I want and what I think I need for the sake of your people, recognizing that it's your son's blood that was shed for their soul and you've called me and given me this responsibility.
Whatever you do, " the Apostle Paul writes, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for me. And knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, it is the Lord Christ whom you serve. This is true for every single vocation. Surely we can apply it to the minister of the gospel. Not under compulsion, not compulsory, but voluntarily according to the will of God.
According to God. With reference to Him, keeping Him in view, His glory, His honor is the primary goal. You know, even the most unexciting work imaginable can be transformed when it's done according to God. I'm not sure that our people believe that. Some of us may not believe that.
I'm fairly certain that many of our people don't believe that. And I'm fairly certain of that because I'm fairly certain that many of my people don't believe that. In fact, I sent out a text message today to five or six young men. We need some folks to help drag brush from some trees that are being cut down on Saturday morning. You can't believe the excuses.
I haven't responded to any of them yet, but I look forward to responding to them. Even the most unexciting work can be transformed when it's done according to God. We must, as ministers of God's people exercise oversight without being compulsory. We must do it with joyful excitement voluntarily according to God. We must avoid living off the critique or the commendation of the congregation.
We are so prone to one or the other and sometimes in a moment's notice. We don't do it here, but you can imagine a scenario where the pastor stands at the door and people going out and someone saying, wow, that was really confusing. I wasn't able to understand very much. His heart just sinks, you know. Three people later, the little old lady says, that's the best sermon you ever preached.
He feels better again. We are so fickle. We must minister with Christ in view for the sake of God's glory. We must, in one sense, we must ignore the frowns and the flattery of the flock. Not compulsory, but voluntarily, and not for sordid gain, but eagerly.
I love the authorized version here, not for filthy lucre. Or more pointedly, exercise oversight not for what you can get, but for what you can give. We're gifts. We are given for the edification, for the building up. There are dangerous ditches for us on both sides of this expectation of serving not for sordid gain, but eagerly.
I mean, we read it, and especially when we hear the filthy lucre, we think, I'm not a TV preacher, I'm not doing this to get rich. You know, it's really possible for the poor to be just as obsessed with money and stuff as the rich. Now, I've been in settings before where you may have someone talking about, you know, the several hundred dollar suit that they've got or the fancy ink pen that cost a few hundred dollars, but I've also been in the settings where someone is incessantly talking about how little they paid for the clothes that they're wearing, or for the car that they're driving, or how difficult it is to make ends meet. It doesn't have to be bad to talk about those things. But when a minister is driven by that, Robert Lighten said it well, if a man falls into it, he may drown in a small brook as well as in the great ocean." Don't fall into it.
Either ditch. Not for sordid gain. The dishonest gain may not be money at all. Many of us have probably given up on getting rich. We've gone into the wrong profession.
Particularly if you have any hint of confessionalism or reformed in you, You're not doing it for the money. But pursuing ministry for prestige, for power, is dangerous. This is sorted gain. Don't do it, but eagerly pursue it. Not for what you can get, but what you can give, what God has entrusted to you to pour into the lives of his people.
Then verse three, "'Nor yet is lording it over those allotted to your charge, "'but proving to be examples.'" So not lording, but exemplary. We are not called to lead the people in a domineering, tyrannical fashion. Jesus said it well in Mark chapter 10, verses 42 and 43, do not imitate the Gentiles, imitate Jesus, calling them to himself, Mark 10, 42. Jesus said to them, you know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great men exercise authority over them, but it is not this way among you. For whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many." This is another major key to pastoral ministry. Follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow Him closely. Follow Him so close that those who are around us that we're leading will remain safe and secure because they too are close to Christ. Exemplary.
Be an example, prove to be an example in every area of life. More men in our day are disqualified here, the lack of an exemplary life, than by their ability, their desire, or their giftedness. There are many men who can describe the fine details of the doctrines, and they diligently desire the task, but they do not deal well with the daily duties of the Christian life. Therefore, they do not prove to be safe examples to the flock. Rather, they prove to be unsafe patterns for the people of God.
Nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples, selfless examples, serving in the way that Christ served. Limited ability, a steady desire, decent giftedness, accented with the fragrance of Christ is a powerful and lasting influence in a local church. May God help us. Whether ability is small or great, whether desire waxes and wanes, whether the giftedness is remarkable or not. May it be accented with the fragrance of Christ because we're following Him.
We're doing all for His honor and for His glory. I mentioned that the what was shepherd and exercise oversight, And that God commands also how we do it and why we do it. So finally the why. Verse 4, when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. When the chief Shepherd appears.
When? Not if. Christ is coming. He's coming again. Therefore, Peter is saying, pastor, minister in light of eternity.
Do not scratch the current itch of societal trends, but keep the coming Christ ever before you and before your people. He's the chief shepherd. What a wonderful, gentle encouragement from Peter here. We're his servants. He's the chief shepherd.
We're under shepherds seeking to do his will. Looking at all four verses together, I find it helpful to see that as elders, We are identified with the Apostle Peter in verse 1. I'm your fellow elder, not just with Peter. I mean, as great as that is, he's the chief shepherd. We're identified with the Lord himself.
We're shepherds, shepherds of his people. He's identified with us and called us to identify with him. I mean, what an encouragement for us. When we as mere apprentices are overwhelmed, to be able to look, to gaze, and to see this supremely competent chief shepherd nearby bearing our burden, making up for all that is lacking, compensating for every shortcoming, that master shepherd who is far more involved and intimately acquainted with the church's oversight than we could ever pretend to be. He's so much more committed to caring for them than we could ever hope to be.
He has promised to present them complete and He will, He is committed to their good for eternity's sake. And we can identify with Him and watch how He deals with people. When the dreadful difficulties dominate our lives, We must be reminded again and again that Christ suffered for His sheep. We must suffer for God's people. He bears with His people, and we can depend on His grace to be patient with those people and merciful towards them.
When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You will receive it. Not now. Too many ministers are running around now looking to be crowned. When He comes, That's when we receive the crown of glory.
For now we serve, we burn out in a good way for the glory of God. May God convince us that it is the most delightful thing in the world to serve in sweet obscurity, not seeking a crown, but seeking to remain at the foot of the cross, seeing what Christ has done, serving Him and His bride now, being a witness and a sharer of His suffering now with the wonderful promise that we'll be crowned with unfading glory later. We must keep The context ever before us of suffering now, glory later. The cross is what Christ came for the first time. Consummation is when He will return.
Remembering He came to serve and He's coming again to redeem and reconcile all things. Shepherd the flock of God among you. Exercise oversight voluntarily, eagerly, exemplary because Christ is coming. And He's coming with a crown for those who have honored and served in a way that's pleasing to Him. May God work in us, so work in us that we are convinced that we are God's gifts to the church with a purpose of laying down our lives in order that they might be presented blameless, spotless, when the groom stands and comes again and calls us home.
And we see him. We see him as he is, the Apostle John says, and we're transformed into his likeness, and we worship him forever and ever unhindered by sin and the flesh, the fallenness of humanity. Let's pray. Humanity. Let's pray.
Gracious God, we thank you for your word, for the preservation of it, for the sufficiency of it, for the promises it contains, particularly the promise that you will not allow it to return void. God, we pray that you would work in us that which is good and acceptable according to your will, that you might make us men who pursue you wholeheartedly, who seek to do your people good exclusively in order that Christ might receive honor and glory and majesty, both now in our meager efforts and forever in eternity because of those efforts that you graced us with. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you.