Shepherds of God's Flock (Part 4)

I invite you to turn in your Bible’s to 1 Peter.

It’s been quite a while since we last studied 1 Peter, so maybe a quick refresher is in order

Remember, that Peter’s goal in writing this letter is to help his listeners understand what it means to live as Chosen People

He is saying, “As Believers in Christ”, you have been called by God and chosen to be His holy people. You have been called to be holy and set apart.

Just as God called the Jews to be His holy people, so, also, we, through faith in Christ join the global family of God’s chosen people.

We become a place where God dwells through His Holy Spirit

At one point in this letter, Peter uses the picture of God’s people being built into a temple.

Just like in the Old Testament, when God told Solomon to build a temple, and then He came and dwelt there,

So, Now, God is building another temple.

But this time, instead of using cold, dead granite to build His temple, like He did in the OT,

Now, he is using living stones, that is, you and me, Believers in Christ, to build up His temple. His dwelling place

So we have been chosen

Now, how does that look on a practical level? What does this mean for our lives?

Well, Peter tells us in this letter what this looks like on various levels.

We have instructions to servants, to masters, to husband and wives, what it means for our relationships with each other

And now, here in 1 Peter 5, we have another set of instructions for a specific group

1 Peter 5:1–4 “1 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: 2 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; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

PRAYER

So, Peter addresses the elders among the people to whom he is writing

That is, The Elders among them

So, who are these elders that he is addressing? What is their position? How do they minister in the church?

Well, fortunately, I think the New Testament gives us a pretty good idea of who these elders are and what they do in the church.

And so I’d like to look at that a little bit this morning.

And as we do that, I have to admit to you honestly this morning that this is one of those subject that I wade into with a bit of nervousness because I know that there are a lot of very respected church leaders who have done a whole lot more research on this and have delved into the writings of the early church fathers and so on.

And you may think, after hearing what I have to say is that I, as a “solo” pastor am shooting myself in the foot

Maybe I am a bit, depending on how you look at it.

But, honestly, I’m

just sharing with you some of my heart and

And my hope for all of us is that we never stop exploring the mystery of this community called CHURCH

And I use that word “mystery” very deliberately because I hope we never get to the point that we think we have church all figured out

My desire, and I hope, our desire is to investigate, to dig, to learn, and explore

To ask questions. Not with the purpose of tearing down our beliefs, but with the heart of strengthening our faith and our worship

Because CHURCH is not man’s creation. It’s not OUR institution.

This is the BODY, the BRIDE of Jesus Christ for whom He died. IT is a living, breathing, growing, changing organism, with Christ as The Head, and the Giver of Life

So, let’s do a bit of that this morning

And as we study this, we might find that the picture that we find in the NT, might be a bit different than the way that we are used to thinking.

As we think about church structure and leaders and so forth, the idea that we might have grown up with (at least the idea that I grew up with) went something like this

On top you have God

You have Jesus as the Head of His Church, the LORD of His church

And rightly so! That’s biblical. That’s what the Bible says about Jesus

Colossians 1 says that Jesus is the Head of His Body, the Church

But then, right under God, we have someone that we call “The Pastor”

It depends on what tradition you come from. Some of us might call this person “The minister”.

Sometimes, or many times in our conservative churches, there is more than one of these men

We have a team of ministers, or pastors

But even if there is a team of pastors, one of them is going to be “the senior pastor”. The one with whom the buck stops

And this man, or these men, the ones with the title “PASTOR” most times have the ultimate say so when it comes to decision making and direction

He is the top spiritual authority in church. He is the one that does the marrying, the burying, communion, opening and closing the Gospel Echoes programs with prayer, etc.

That’s the pastor

Then, under the pastor, both in decision making authority, and in spiritual authority, you have the elders.

And it depends on which church you are a part of as to what the elders do

But many times the elders are a group of men that are formed to be sort of an advisory board to the pastor.

They are there to assist him in making decisions.

The are there to his job performance evaluations.

This might be a bit of a generality, but in many cases, the elders or the elder board serve more of an administrative role.

Then, of course, under God, the pastors and the elders, you have everyone else.

Again, this might be oversimplified just a bit, but the experiences that I have had in church went something like this

But if this is our idea about how church should be structured, I wonder, could we make a case that this is how God intended His church to function?

Could we turn to the NT and say, “Yes, we’ve got it right and this is the way it should be”

To be more pointed in my question, if we read the New Testament, will we find anything out about the “pastors” of the various churches?

Do we have any instructions for the pastor of the church in Jerusalem or the pastor of the Antioch church, or so forth?

Do we read anything about the Ephesian church ordaining a new pastor or anything like that?

Do we read of any churches that had a senior pastor or an associate pastor or an executive pastor, or a worship pastor?

I would have to say that I haven’t ever read anything like that. And I’ve read the New Testament “a few times” in my life.

I don’t see anything that indicates that the New Testament church had a single pastor or a team of pastors that ran the church

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And again, when I read the New Testament, I don’t see anything written to or about solo church pastors or senior pastors

Not that this word “pastor” isn’t used. It certainly is!

But I believe that it is used in a way that is different than what it has come to mean to us.

But, we’ll get to that.

What we do read, though, is a lot about the elders of the early church

What we do know is that the early church had elders.

And this makes a lot of sense because the early Christians, being Jewish, understood this concept of having elders in their community.

In the Old Testament there are various references to elders and it is apparent that elders were an integral and very important part of community life.

The term “elder” could refer to someone who was indeed older, or it could refer to someone who was vested with religious authority, or authority to help make decisions and settle disputes and so forth

in Deut. 21:19 and in Deut. 22:15, elders were men who met at the city gates to help settle disputes, discuss property settlements (the book of Ruth), here judicial cases and so forth

They were a team of men who together helped to make sure the community ran smoothly an in order

This was a concept that the Jews were familiar with, and so in the New Testament, when the church was formed,

It was natural that elders would have a prominent in the life of this new emerging community; that is, the Church.

And so we read quite a bit in the NT written to and about Church Elders

So, looking in the NT, what are some observations that could be made about church elders

Well, there is A LOT that could be said about elders, but I don’t want to overwhelm us with too much information. Here are a few observations:

Elders were always men

In the OT Hebrew, the word for elder was a masculine noun

In English, we don’t have masculine and feminine nouns necessarily, but in other languages nouns are either masculine or feminine

And in the OT Hebrew, this word is a masculine noun

And that doesn’t change when we move into the NT Greek. The word that is used there is presbyteros which again is a masculine noun

And every indication that we are given in the NT is that the elders in the early church were always men

And this indicates to us, I believe, that this is part of God’s design and plan for church elders; they should be men

Much more could be said about that. But I want to affirm that this is what I believe as well

Elders were always plural

One of the things that becomes rapidly apparent in the NT is that this word “elders” is always plural.

There are a few times when the NT talks about a specific elder.

For example in our passage today, Peter identifies himself as an elder

But when it talks about church leadership, we always read elders (plural)

Just a few examples

The very first time that we read about elders in the NT church is in Acts 11. That is when it was prophesied that there would be a famine all over the world and so the Believers in Antioch sent a gift to the Believers in Judea

And it says that Barnabas and Saul brought this gift to the elders.

Acts 14. Paul and Barnabas on a missionary trip. They are in the area of Lystra and Iconium and it says that they strengthened and encouraged the souls of the disciples there and that “…they appointed elders for them in every church”

Not an elder in every church, but elders in every church

When they returned to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the apostles and elders (chapter 15)

And we could go on with examples which indicate to us that each church location had a team of elders. Not just one pastor or a solo elder

And the strong indication is that these men were the leaders of the early church

There were some men who were higher, or who exercised oversight of multiple churches, like Paul and Timothy

But in the local church, the elders were the ones in charge

So what was the job of the elders? What kind of things did they do

Well, this is an area that, again, we could talk a long time about

But, somewhat briefly, looking at

The gifting the elders

Well, as we are seeing, the term “elder” is a general description for the men who are in charge of leading the church

And within that group of men, you see different giftings called out

let’s look at some gifting of elders. Ephesians 4:11-12 is a good passage that describes some of the gifts that elders are given

To set the stage, Paul is talking about unity in the Body of Christ.

And that Christ, in His sacrifice, fulfilled all things and He gave gifts to men (that is, mankind). And these gifts are that He gave (that is, He allowed) men to have

Apostles

Prophets

Evangelists

Shepherds (there’s that word where we get our idea of pastor. Our word “pastor” comes from a Latin word which mean....shepherd.

Pastor and Shepherd. The same word. In fact, in Portuguese “The Lord is my Shepherd” is said, “O Senhor e o meu pastor”

Teachers

Shepherds, or pastors is tucked right in there with 4 other giftings that Christ has given to His church

Now, this passage doesn’t say that these giftings are specifically for elders.

I believe that you will find these giftings all through the Body of Christ.

Some of you are really good teachers, for example

Others of you are very good evangelists—very good at sharing your faith and so forth

But it stands to reason, I believe, that the elders of the church should also have these giftings.

Because, as Paul goes on to say in verse 12, these giftings are for the purpose of building up the body of Christ, so that we can attain unity, be matured, and so that we aren’t easily swayed or carried away by every doctrine or teaching that comes along

And, as we will see later, it is part of the job of elders to strengthen or build up the church

In fact, some would say that unless all 5 of these giftings are present among the leadership of the local church, then there is something wrong and the leadership is not complete

I’m not sure that I’m ready to say that

Nevertheless, the fact that Scripture specifically names these 5 things as being something that Christ has given His church, should be something that makes us consider how we think about church elders

Do we emphasize one gift over another? We say we need a church pastor, that is, a shepherd

Sure, but don’t we also need to have an evangelist, or an apostle, or prophets, or teachers?

Is one of these more important than other?

is it up to the pastor to display all 5 of these giftings?

Or do we need these gifts to function together in unity?

Responsibilities of the Elders

SHEPHERDING—from our passage today. Peter says “I exhort (urge, or strongly encourage) the elders among you…to shepherd the flock of God that is among you.

Notice, he doesn’t say, “I exhort your pastor to shepherd the flock”. He says, “I exhort the elders to shepherd the flock”

This indicates that all those who are recognized as elders in the church have a responsibility to shepherd the flock

This word “shepherd” has the idea of leading the flock, yet being one of the flock

I love how Peter puts this. He says, “I exhort the elders among you”. Not the elders over you but the elders among you.

And he instructs the elders to shepherd the flock that is among you.

It gives this beautiful picture of shepherds also being a part of the flock, yet having this responsibility of watching out for the flock.

Example: a captain on a sports team

Which puts into context what Peter says about how they should shepherd the flock

Not under compulsion, but willingly.

Elders are to have a willing heart and not feel like well, I don’t really feel like I’m called to it, but the bishop asked, or the church asked, so I should do it.

Or, someone has to do it so I guess it needs to be me

Or, man, I wish I was doing something else.

No, it needs to be willingly

The word used here means, deliberately or intentionally.

Which speaks to me of something that is not a mistake and not by chance

It gives this idea of “being all in” and taking it seriously

Not for shameful gain

We don’t do this to get rich

And we don’t do this for our personal reputation or because of a power trip

Which there are many, many church leaders who are getting insanely wealthy and many who love power

completely opposite of being a good shepherd

Do it eagerly

Again, doing it willingly,

but putting effort into it

Don’t domineer, but be an example to the flock

I am grateful that in the recent years there has been a big emphasis on servant leadership

So, the shepherd, as one of the flock, should, by the way he lives, his attitude, his conduct, his walk with Jesus, be an example to the flock

The elders as shepherd, should be an example to the flock in their humility

The shepherd lives among his flock and does not domineer his flock.

He doesn’t dictate how the flock should live

He doesn’t force the flock to act a certain way

If we think about a shepherd of sheep, the shepherd can’t force sheep to act in any other way but like a sheep would act.

he can’t force the sheep to eat the grass or drink the water.

But rather, he shows the sheep where these things are, and invites them to partake of it

So the elders, are responsible to be shepherds, living with the flock eagerly serving the flock and setting a good example for the flock

Another responsibility is to PROTECT the flock

As a shepherd, an elder is to be responsible for protecting the flock

Acts 20:17 “17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.” Acts 20:28–31 “28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert,

Shepherds work to protect the flock that they are among

Notice here that there is danger, not only from the outside,

But there is danger even from those who call themselves elder

“fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things

And we could go on with the responsibilities of elders. There are many others

Being spiritually alert (also acts 20)

They need to care for the physical and practical needs of the flock

anointing with oil—James

When someone asks to be anointed, all the elders will show up if possible, not just the pastor

They should have the qualities found in 1 Timothy 3.

Above reproach (a tall order)

husband of one wife

Soberminded (one who thinks clearly)

self-controlled

respectable

hospitable

Able to teach

Not a drunkard

Not violent, but gentle

etc. You can read the list

The calling of the elders

All of what we have talked about is to emphasize that the calling of an elder is a very serious and sacred thing

And we are given examples and instruction in the NT about how elders are put in place

They are appointed

In Acts 14, a passage that we already referred to, Paul and Barnabas, return to Lystra and Iconium and after strengthening the disciples, they appoint elders to the church

In Paul’s letter to Titus, he says, Titus 1:5 “5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—”

So, we have two examples at least of how elders in the early church came to be elders.

They were not elected by ballot. They were not chosen by lot.

Rather, They were appointed to the position by someone with spiritual maturity. Paul and Titus who served as overseers of multiple churches

They were assigned the position.

they were appointed with prayer and fasting

This was not something where the apostles just breezed in and said, “Hey, you look like a good candidate”, or “Hey this guy speaks well”, or “This guy seems pretty popular”

No, they were appointed with prayer and fasting

One of the things that we have been challenged with here at Fairview is to make prayer and fasting a regular thing in our lives

I’ve challenged us

Firman has challenged us

But I confess that I have not done nearly enough of it

But The apostles certainly understood prayer and fasting to be a vital part of their ministry

In Acts 6 when the early Christians were choosing deacons to care for the Greek widows, the apostles said, let’s find a solution to this problem, because we can’t give up preaching the word.

And later they said, “we will devote ourselves to prayer and fasting and the ministry of the word”

And I believe the apostles did this regularly

Because in Acts 14, a passage that we have referred to several times already, it says in verse 23, that they appointed elders to every church with prayer and fasting

And if prayer and fasting accompanied the appointment of elders there, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the normal way of doing things

And what this tells us, again, is that the appointment of elders is not a spur of the moment thing. It must be done

Carefully

thoughtfully

And with much prayer

Seeking the face of God

And that is how elders are to be appointed, I wonder if the removal of an elder should be just as serious

So, I know that I have thrown a lot at you this morning…I hope I didn’t lose you

But why have I spent so much time on this? Well, it’s because I want you to hear my heart regarding our elders

I know that this subject of elders has brought some tension to our fellowship.

I have the privilege of serving with 3 other men in this congregation. Dallas, Kevin, and Steve

And, While I do lead the elder team,

I want you to know that I view my position on the team as being, not their boss, but as one of them. As much as is possible, I view my position as being one of the elders.

And I am urging them to help me shepherd the church together.

See, some of the tension that we have faced over this might be a matter of definitions and intentions

When some of you hear the word “elder”, you might hear one thing

When I hear “elder”, I think of What I have laid out for you this morning

And the best way that I can understand it is that the local church was led by a team of elders. Not by a pastor with elders underneath him

And these elders were appointed with prayer and fasting and that they held spiritual authority in the church. They shepherded the church together

And that is how I view these 3 men whom we call elders here at Fairview.

I believe that these 3 men have been called and given the anointing to help shepherd this church

And it has been rumored to me that because of the changes that I’ve desired for elder terms,

some people are saying that Conrad has his “yes men” around him and he just doesn’t want to let anyone else on the elder board.

And I just want to say that this is simply not true. And it dishonors and misrepresents how these men actually function

I seek their council and I strive to listen to it. Have I always done a good job of it? No probably not

But it is my desire to do that. And these men don’t always say “yes” to me.

There are many things that we have disagreed on and sometimes decisions take a while to make because we are not all agreed

And when that happens, we take a step back and agree to pray about it until we can move forward as a team

So, we desire to be led by the Spirit and we desire to function as a team. Again, I know that we don’t do it perfectly, but that is our heart

And I know that I can speak for all the elders when I say that it is our desire to live among you, taking our responsibilities a shepherds seriously and joyfully, and serving you as God gives us strength and grace

English Standard Version Chapter 5

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: 2 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; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.