The Call To Elder

Well, we're in First Peter chapter 5. Good morning. Verses 1-4 if you want to find your way in your Bibles. Today, we're talking about the call or the role of the elder. And so, [snorts] we'll read this passage together and then we'll we'll pray again. Um, and then we will attempt to unpack it.

[snorts] 1 Peter 5 verse one. Give me just a second here. I've been dealing with asthma all morning. Peter writes, "So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not doineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Father, again, we are in desperate need of you. God, we need you to broaden our minds. We need you to illuminate this, illuminate our hearts and our minds to understand by your Holy Spirit. Father, we want to understand this from your perspective. We want to be kept from error. And yet, we want to discover and see the truths of your word that even the things that we maybe haven't learned yet.

And so, Father, we need your help to do that. We can't do anything without you, but with God, all things are possible. You tell us that. And so we ask you to do these things this morning in the name of your son Jesus. And the church says, "Amen." [snorts] If there is a need that I had to identify as what is among one of the greatest needs facing the body of Christ today, one of those is the development of effective leadership in the church of Jesus Christ.

and mainly or primarily through three different things. Not necessarily in this order, but these three. The first one being sound biblical training. There's a great need for that. Number two, faithful me uh mentorship. There's a huge need for that.

And number three, the guidance of the Holy Spirit of course. And I say this this morning because in any institution, in any organization, and for us more importantly this morning, and more precisely the church, is that she does not and will not advance beyond the spiritual development of her leaders. All of the data shows that. You can look it up for yourself, do your own research. There are such places such as Ligonier Ministries, State of theology, uh Barnes, State of the Church Reports. There's a lot of others out there.

You could do that for yourself. And in many leadership circles, we simply call this the law of the lid. Li lid, which basically tells us that the leader sets the lid of the grove of the spiritual progress of the church. And that's important. Now, that being said, concerning our text this morning, at this point, I think that Peter has a lot of investment in this, and I say that because after the first four chapters, Peter starts with this simple word. He says, "So, or therefore, or in light of everything that I just wrote before this, all four chapters, everything I just told you, so I exhort the elders among you."

Now that word exa uh exhort it's translated in the New Testament as a lot of different ways. It's to beg to beseech to entreat to implore to admonish to urge and some others but really depending upon the context because Greek is a very contextual language. So it can have a lot of different emphasis depending on how it's used that particular word in a particular sentence. For example, in Romans 12:1, Paul uses this same word, but there he uses it with apostolic authority where he says,"I appeal." And that's the same Greek word, their appeal. But he's using it here in the sense of admonishment.

He's admonishing them. He says, "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers." And he's doing it with all authority, apostolic authority. But when Peter uses it here in our text this morning, even though he's already identified himself as an apostle in the beginning of this letter, so he has the apostolic authority to do that, yet instead he now gives this exhortation to these elders. And notice that he does so as a fellow elder. In other words, he's saying, "Guys, I am just like you.

I understand what you're going through and I serve the chief shepherd just like you do. There's no uh hierarchy here in this concept of suffering. There's no Pope Peter. And so what he does right from the start is that he begins to establish this relationship between himself and these elders. And that being one namely of brother equality or camaraderie with himself. In other words, this is how I want you to receive this exhortation.

I want you to hear it as a brother. I want you to hear it as a fellow elder. And then he goes on and he refers to himself as a witness, a martus of the sufferings of Christ. Now, this right here has at least two matching or complimentary meanings at the same time. [clears throat] Excuse me. Peter number one literally witnessed most of the events surrounding the sufferings of Christ.

For example, we know that he was there at the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus agonized in prayer because we know that Peter fell asleep. We know that Peter's was at the arrest of Jesus because the gospels tell us that and he cut off Malchus' ear. We know that he was there during parts of his trial and we know that he was in the courtyard because that's where Peter denied him. So, he was there during the events that lead up to the crucifixion, which means Peter had a firsthand knowledge of Christ's humiliation and suffering. And so, by implication, Peter is saying here that I'm not speaking theoretically about this, but I saw him suffering firsthand. Now, secondly, it also means to us that he was a preacher or a proclaimer of the sufferings of Christ.

And we know this because we see throughout this particular epistle right here that Peter says over and over. He says things like that Christ suffered for sins. He's proclaiming that in chapter 3. Christ suffered as an example. He proclaims that in chapter 2. Christ suffered in the flesh.

He proclaims that in chapter 4. And so this word witness martus right here not only means that he saw it but he's saying also that he is a proclaimer or a preacher of the sufferings of Christ. Or in other words this is my call as a witness which is to tell everyone about what I saw concerning his sufferings. And so Peter says listen I know about suffering. In fact, he's at the point now where he's about to be martyed himself. And he says,"I know about Christ's suffering, so I know what what suffering is."

And then he says also in that same verse, he says, "Well, as well as a partaker." In other words, I I already have a share in this with you, right? And I caught a glimpse of it temporarily. You say, "Well, what?" Well, he says in the glory that is going to be revealed. Meaning, we haven't seen the full manifestation of that yet.

Now, he's going to talk a little bit more about this towards the end. So, if there's anything that we've learned about Peter's epistle, and we say this every week, is that the theme of this book is about what? It's about suffering. This has been his theme. But now, what he's doing, he's he's tying these two concepts together. this one about suffering along with this new concept that he's going to bring up and it's the concept he says of glory.

Now I know we like this one better because who wants to suffer. Uh but for our example you remember we saw in chapter one he's writing at that point to all of these believers we said who are dispersed throughout modern day Turkey or Asia Minor and they're under intense persecution. And then he writes beginning in verse 6, he says, "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials." You say, "Well, Peter, why is that necessary?" Verse seven, he says, "So that the tested genuiness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." In other words, he's saying number one, it is necessary.

Number two, it has to happen. And number three, importantly, that there is a distinct purpose for this. And he says that is to show us the condition of our faith that it be tested. In other words, it's not to reveal to God to test it for his sake, but it's for our sake so we can understand where our faith stands. And he says ultimately number four, that is to to glorify Christ. And then he comes back here now in this fifth chapter that we're studying.

And now he's reinforcing this same idea of suffering with an exception though now that he's done so with the addition that the expectation of ever experiencing anything of glory is directly connected to this whole concept of suffering. You say, "What does that mean?" It means that you can't have one without the other is his point. Now that's important. But also as important, he's also establishing the truth that one, listen to me, that one of these makes the other worthwhile. That's his second thought.

And so he's here, he's encouraging them, these elders, to hold on to this eternal hope of glory. He's saying, "Listen, don't give up. You need to persevere because why?" He's saying because it's going to all be worth it in eternity. And so now with the now with this truth, which I think his life is emblematic because his life, his sufferings, his failures, they're all well documented. They're all well known even at that time.

And so Peter moves with this intention here now is that he wants to encourage these guys these elders he calls them. Now again he uses this word elder presbuteras in Greek and it can mean a couple of different things. Again it depends on how you use it but it can mean elder in the sense of uh church leadership. It can also mean an elder in the sense of age or maturity or it can even mean a mixture of those two combined. Now for us again context we know is everything and we can know what the emphasis of Peter's meaning is because he uses it also in context with two other words in verse two. First of all, where he says this, he says, "What?

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you." Now, this word shepherd, it's a it's a verb right here, and it's written as an imperative. So, it's a it's a command. It's it's not optional. We'll talk about what that means. But secondly, he also uses another verb in the same verse.

and in in connection with this word elder. And he says this by by exercising oversight by exercising oversight. And so it gives the idea for us that of what we call an overseer or a guardian. Some of the older translations such as the King James translation use the word bishop here. [snorts] Now for instance, Peter also uses this same word concerning Jesus in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 25. if you want to look there, but it's where Jesus is referred to as the shepherd and the overseer, the episcopos of your souls.

So again, those words are tied together. So Peter right now, he's tying these all together and he's saying, listen to me. You have elders who are mature people who shepherd or pastor the church and are overseers who give or who oversee as the leader of the church. And listen, they are all synonymous and the same persons. And in this context, he's referring to the visible leaders of the local church. And the idea is that they are all interchangeable and they mean the same person, but from a different emphasis of what they do and who they are.

So you have elders in the church and if you do, then biblically they are also pastors and they are also overseers. Dwayne is a pastor who is also an overseer and who is also an elder in the church. So is Chris. You say, "Well, okay, then we could ask, well, how do we how do we qualify these guys?" Well, we don't nearly have enough time to dig into all this today. So, you may want to note this down for further study, but uh you could find them and their qualifi qualifications are mainly outlined in 1 Timothy 3:es 1-7 if you want to follow up on that and Titus 1:es 5-9.

And they mainly focus on character and spiritual maturity. But you'll see things there that that it says things such as an elder must be blameless. He must be self-controlled. He must be hospitable. He must be able to teach sound doctrine. He ought to be able to manage his household well.

Uh while also maintaining a good reputation within the church and also outside the church and some other things there. So character formation is equally as important there. Which is why I say that mentoring is so important amongst leadership in the church. Now, beginning in verse two, he begins to unfold this exhortation. And notice he begins with a command. He says, "Shepherd the flock that is among you."

And you could think, "Okay, well, that sounds great, but what does that even look like?" Well, that's a legitimate question. And so, for a real simple definition I'm going to give you this morning, I want to give you four ways on how that is to be done biblically. asthma. The shepherd is one who number one feeds. Number two leads, number three loves, and number four protects.

I'll give them to you again. He feeds, he leads, he loves, and he protects. And it's important that we get this is, and that is that he does all of these through the use of the scriptures. Now, there are tons of biblical reference to shephering in in the Bible. We heard Psalm 23 this morning, and I intentionally didn't go there because I had a feeling you was going to pull that up. Uh, but that's a good one.

You guys can read that and look at it because it basically explains how God shepherds his people, and that's important to understand that. But there are other texts out there. Isaiah 40:es 10 and 11, Ezekiel, uh, practically all of chapter 34 if you want to do some cross referencing and do some more study on that. Uh, and there's so many others, but one that I use and has always been a a great one for me at least to meditate on uh is Jeremiah 3:15. And God is speaking to his uh people Israel through the prophet. And in future tense, God is saying through the prophet concerning his people Israel, he says, "And I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you."

Well, how will they feed you? And with what will they feed you? Well, he says with knowledge and understanding. And so, the short point is that you cannot shepherd without the scriptures. In fact, you can't even know the heart of God without the scriptures. And if I could drive home any point here concerning care for the church, it would be that the scriptures number one, the pullpit number two, and prayer are the priorities of the elder slashpastor.

Those cannot be neglected. And I say that because it is impossible to communicate the heart of God to his people per this passage in Jeremiah without those. You just cannot do it. Now, I'm sure from Peter's perspective, he had to remember what Jesus told him when when he restored Peter back to ministry. I'm not going to turn there. You can if you want to, but I'm just going to refer to it.

But John 21 15-17, you remember that Jesus three times he asked Peter if he loved him and three times Peter says, you know, I do. And I think most of us most of us know the account and the um the nuances at least that are found there. But that's a completely different lesson. But for our focus today, I find it interesting that every time Peter answered Jesus yes that he did love Jesus, Jesus said something equally in response. In verse 15, the first time he says Jesus tells Peter, "Feed my lambs." The second time in verse 16, he says, "Tend my sheep."

[cough] In other [clears throat] words, take care of them, lead them, love them, protect them. And then verse 17, the third time, he says, "Feed my sheep." And so the idea is to feed them and to take care of them. And all of this is still in Peter's memory as he's communicating these things to the elders in Asia Minor. So there's that, but also there's an emphasis of ownership in John 21 because Jesus says all three times in verse 15, 16, and 17, he calls them my sheep. My sheep.

And so I have to believe that Peter remember that lesson also because when we look back in 1 Peter 5:2 where we're studying Peter exhorts these elders not just to shepherd the flock but he says shepherd the flock of God. And so his point is listen they're God's sheep. They're not my sheep. They're not your sheep. And if you're in leadership, when you are handling God's sheep, it would be of great benefit for you to remember that because they belong to him. And so elders, he said, are to shepherd the flock of God.

And so you feed them, you love them, you lead them, you protect them. That's the idea that he's making. You say, well, okay, Peter, then here's a question. Which one of God's sheep? Because they're all over the place, right? I mean, they're all over the world.

They're down the street. They're everywhere. where he says in the end of that same verse, he says, "Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, that is among you." And the wording, at least for me, was interesting because it's not that you're among them, but they are among you. In other words, they're in your midst. They're they're underfoot of you, those around you, not those who are down the road, not those who are on Facebook, not those who are on YouTube tube, and not even the sheep that you wish you had.

Because the truth here is you can only shepherd the flock that you've been entrusted with and who follow you. And so the thought Peter's making is listen, if they're not following you and and if they're not underfoot, then yes, love them, but focus on those whom God has given you. Now, I'm not talking about evangelism here. That's something completely different. Sure, we reach the lost, people we don't know, but you shepherd those who are underfoot. They get in your way all the time.

They're underneath your feet. Kind of like your kids. [snorts] Now, as a contrast for the sheep, the sheep in the same way, you need to follow the pastor that you have, not the one that you wish you had, not the one on social media, not the one on YouTube, because guess what? He can't help you. In fact, he probably doesn't even know you. And so in that context is the next statement that he makes where he says exercising oversight or do the work of the you know oversight.

Now I read something written by John Stodd. He was a great English theologian and he had this same thought in mind and he he he kind of does this with a sense of humor but he summarizes two of the greatest failures of a pastor and he said this and I quote he said it's a dreadful thing if you have a pastor who is invisible Monday through Saturday and incomprehensible on Sunday and so somewhat humor humorous there but the warning is to pastors who fail to both be present in their community and at the same time clear in their teaching because you cannot exercise oversight if you're not allowing them again to be underfoot. And so elders slashpastors are to keep watch over the sheep's well-being. Then [clears throat] he tells us, excuse me, what this oversight is supposed to look like or or or not look like. He goes on to says and says, "Not under compulsion." In other words, in other words, no one's making me do this.

In fact, I I do it on my own and I have an eagerness to do this. I want to do this. I have a desire to do this. And I don't wake up in the morning thinking, "Oh my god, I have to do this again." Or, "Oh god, not these people." But instead, there's this certain joy that you have and knowing that this is it.

This is what I want to do. And I'm not compelled to do it. I remember when we went to Peru and we were living down there, people said, "Oh, that's such a hard thing you're doing." And I'm like, "No, it isn't. I get to do this. Oh, you're making such a sacrifice.

No, I get to do this. Not God doesn't pick everybody to do this. I get to do this. It's not something that I had to do. I was compelled to do, but I wanted to do it. And so, there's this certain joy in knowing that this is it.

It's what I want to do. And he says, 'But willingly as God would have you. In other words, being consistent in his will. And so your attitude is now, you know what, I can't wait to do this. And you think as an elder that, you know what, I would rather do this over anything else. I do it willingly.

I do it voluntarily. I do it freely. And I do it of my my own desire. And he says this. He says, "Not for shameful gain, but eagerly." And I want us to get this because even though it kind of does, it really has nothing to do with money.

Although the church according to the scripture should provide for the pastor, but this is more about motivation. It's about the heart because it's about about greed and and and why we do what we do. And so gain has nothing to do with our calling. has said it's like I would do this anyway. I would I would sit down and and and take care of you anyway. I would teach you the scriptures anyway.

I will watch out for you anyway. And so there is often a tremendous sacrifice in pastoring. Having said that, now the third one and verse three, it says not doineering over those in your charge. That verb pretty self-explanatory. It has the connotation of to exercise dominion or to lord over or to subjugate or to overpower. And so the implication is using what harsh forceful or you probably see an authoritarian control over people.

And he's saying that isn't to be your calling elders. It's not that way. And again, you can only shepherd those who follow you, not those who you dominate. And again, he points out the who in that same verse. He says those talking about those sheep who are in your charge. Now that word charge, I like that word because the implication when you look at the original, it's it means an allotted portion.

It means an inheritance like or or or a charge. And in the context of the early of early church leadership, it refers to the idea of an individual congregation or group of people that God has listen to me allotted or entrusted to the care of a specific elder. And so the idea is that God gives you what he trusts you with and he gives you what you are capable of tending well because those are his sheep. They're just allotted to you. And so the concept is that we ought to be faithful simply in what God has allotted to us, what he trusts us with. He says if you'll be faithful in the few, you will get more.

Now there's a lot of mess up thinking about uh this out there in some circles uh mainly the Roman Catholic Church uh some of the charismatic circles and you know they'll talk about there's a bishop over a territory or an apostle over a territory uh but this is not what the scriptures teach they simply say those sheep whom God has given you in your charge he says that is the elers's responsibility And then he adds to that by saying this, and this is important. He says, "But being examples to the flock, being examples to the flock." I there's a passage that I love uh when Paul the Apostle is writing to his young proteéé uh Timothy and and it really amplifies this concept here. It doesn't take away from it or or go in a different direction. It really takes it and just amplifies it. So I want us to read it.

It's in 2 Timothy chapter 10. And I'll begin in verse uh 2 Timothy chapter 3. I'll begin in verse 10. But Paul writes, he says, you and again he's talking to Timothy. However, have followed my teaching. So Timothy, you've sat under my teaching.

You know sound doctrine. You've been there all along. But notice as important. He says this, Timothy, you also saw what? My conduct. In other words, you saw the way I behaved.

You saw how I responded to everything that came at me. You saw the way that I dealt with other people. You saw my integrity and you also learned from that. And then he goes on to say that you saw my aim in life. In other words, you saw my focus, you saw my goals, you saw my my values, you saw my desires. And he says, "My faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, you you saw how my faith kept me and led me in all of it."

He's saying, Timothy, you say, "Well, all of what?" Well, he goes on and to say in verse 11, he says, "My persecutions and and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, at Lististra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me." He's saying, Timothy, you even saw the bad stuff in my life. You saw my life. You saw how I reacted to it. You saw how we're supposed to face it all through Christ.

I gave you an example to follow. If there's anything that I think young believers need in the church and especially young leaders is a biblical example of what that even is supposed to look like. It needs to be modeled. And Peter says to the elders in the same way, but be examples to the flock. So in context, in all of this suffering, dispersion, and persecution that the church is going through, Peter's saying, "Hey, don't just tell them how to do it. Just hang in there, brother."

That's not what he's saying. Don't just tell them how to do it. But he says, "Show them how. Mentor, mentor, mentor. Be a living example for the others to follow. Let them see your failures.

Let them see your victories. Let them see your faith. Let them see your perseverance. Let them see your love for God. Let them see your love for Christ. And let them see all of the things that make us disciples of Jesus Christ.

And here's the question. But is it worth it, Peter? I mean, this is so much to carry right here, right? the suffering, the persecution. You know, we do without. We go hungry.

Our names and reputations among the unbelievers. We're trashed. They made up names for us. They call us Christians. [laughter] And and you still want us to be an example, but it gets hard. And Peter said, "Yes, I know, but verse four, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory."

Now the elders in this letter would have understood Peter's meaning. This was a a culture where victors received these wreaths made out of leaves when they won events and stuff like that. But but they never lasted, right? Kind of like the things that we labor for in this life that they're just going to all fade away anyway one day, right? you know, every trophy, every record set, every plaque, every ribbon, every award that we could ever possibly earn, maybe a generation, two generations, probably possibly three generations. Somebody's going to throw it in the dumpster.

All the things that you held so dear. And so Peter's contrasting those temporary honors with an eternal reward. And he's saying, you know what? This one's never going to fade like that. It's never going to grow old. It's never going to wither.

Christ sees it all and he won't forget. But he says, you know what, that's for another time though because he says this. He says, when the chief shepherd appears. And so the emphasis Peter is making here is the esqueological focus of when Jesus comes back one day. And the thought is whatever we give up we will be it will be more than worth it in that moment. I think the only regrets we'll have is that we didn't give more that we didn't do more that we didn't surrender more to Christ.

And so all of the things that are so valuable to us in this life they won't compare. Peter is saying when we see him face to face. And so Peter says this is how you endure if you're a believer and if you're an elder because it's it's really if you think about it, it's all about what has value for us. That's what it boils down to. Let's pray. Father, again, thank you.

You [clears throat] kept me even with my breathing here. Father, you are faithful. You are a faithful God. You are good to us. You have been good to our children, our grandchildren. You have been good to our wives and our husbands.

And you have healed us. And you have delivered us so many times. And you have set us free from things that weren't weren't any good for us. You've put faith in our hearts. And you've extended grace in our lives. And none of this we deserved or could earn it.

And yet you love us. Father, I sense your presence. I sense your love in this place this morning that you love your sheep. You love your sheep and you're for us. You're not against us. And so, Father, help us to uh help us to retain that that understanding that make that real in our hearts.

And let these truths that we learned today be established within us, Lord, and not just something that we heard about or we read on paper one time. Father, we ask you those things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.