Sermon Tone Analysis

This week we being our study of the final chapter of 1 Peter.

We will spend the next couple of months unpacking chapter 5.

This chapter is Peter’s final instructions to the church and the elders of the Church.

Peter explains how we are to live and serve in the body of Christ.

He also goes on to give us some final warnings in resisting our adversary the roaring lion who seeks to devour us along with reminding us of our final glory that awaits us in Christ!

However, before we jump into chapter 5 we are going to spend some time backtracking to consider the shepherding theme that Peter raises in the first four verses of 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 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 domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive an unfading crown of glory.

Do you see this strong exhortation to the elders and the reason for it?

Because he as a fellow elder, and a witness to Christ sufferings (an apostle), and a fellow partaker in glory.

Peter has the authority, experience, and credibility to call elders to the role and responsibility.

But more than that he reminds the elders and the church who the Chief Shepherd is and that He is returning.

In light of this we want to look back throughout the Scriptures and understand this imagery, theme, the and doctrine of shepherding!

When you think about Shepherds or shepherding in the Scripture, where do your thoughts go?

Do you think of she shepherds in Genesis?

What or who are some of the shepherds in Genesis?

Do you think about a great king who started out as a shepherd boy?

What do we know about Him as a shepherd?

He lived with the sheep.

He protected the sheep.

He provided for the sheep.

What about the LORD’s call and condemnation of the shepherds of Israel in the OT?

There is no better explanation and exposition of the role of the shepherd in Ezekiel chapter 34.

Now I want us to read verses 1-24 to set the stage for the rest of our study of Shepherding in the OT, NT, Gospels, and Peter’s epistle.

As we read these verses I want you to look at all the things the LORD call’s shepherds to do and what he will do as a Shepherd.

Make a note mental or on with a pen on the roles and responsibilities of a shepherd as it comes straight from the voice of God.

Switch from slide to Logos Bible.

34 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves!

Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.

4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.

My sheep were scattered; 6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill.

My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10 Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep.

No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves.

I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

The Lord GOD Will Seek Them Out

11 “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land.

And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land.

There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.

15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.

16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.

I will feed them in justice.

17 “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats.

18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?

19 And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

20 “Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

21 Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22 I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey.

And I will judge between sheep and sheep.

23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them.

I am the LORD; I have spoken.

Now as you consider this condemnation of the shepherds of Israel, and the LORD saying, I will shepherd my people and that he will set up His servant David to shepherd them what is the next place in Scripture you think of, probably the most well known passage on shepherding?

The LORD Is My Shepherd

: A Psalm of David

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want

Notice how David begins this Psalm proclaiming,

The LORD, the God of Israel is his shepherd.

This is a personal profession David makes.

He is saying this the LORD shepherds Him.

He is the LORD’s sheep.

He belongs to the LORD.

We know from that means he knows the LORD’s voice and follows Him.

The rest of this Psalm is David’s explanation of what it means to have the LORD as his shepherd, what it means for you and I to have the LORD as our personal shepherd.

Derek Kidner explains it this way,

The Lord, as often in the Psalms, occupies here the first and emphatic place, and the my reveals a pledged relationship which dares to link The Lord (is) … with the incongruous I shall … Everything in the psalm flows from that.

Think about what we have learned about shepherds from the Scriptures.

What are some truths we should learn from this imagery David uses here describing the LORD as his shepherd?

Protects his sheep

Provides for his sheep

Lead his sheep

Feeds his sheep

Guides his sheep

Abides with his sheep

Tends his sheep

David is saying in this shepherd imagery these are all the things the LORD does for me as my shepherd.

So following that phrase David says in light of the I Shall…David responds to the LORD’s shepherding because of the LORD’s care for him.

Ultimately David says, because the LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

What David is saying here as long as the LORD is my shepherd I shall not lack, I shall not need anything, I shall not be without anything I need to live as long as I am under the tending and care of the good Shepherd.

Gerald Wilson rightly states, “The focus of the word “want” is not so much on the idea of “desiring” something as on “lacking” something needed.

The psalmist does not mean Yahweh shepherds us by giving us everything we desire.

Rather, those who trust in Yahweh as sheep do in a shepherd will never lack for whatever they need.”

Wilson, Gerald; The NIV Application Commentary: Psalms Volume 1; Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI; 2002 (pg.

23)

There may be times from a sheep's perspective we think we lack but that is when we have to continue to look to and entrust in the good Shepherd knowing that he cares for his sheep.

You may ask how specifically does the good shepherd care for His sheep?

Verses 2-6 tell us.

In verse 2,

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He, the shepherd, makes his sheep lie down in a peaceful, safe place with plenty to eat.

Sheep are scary critters.

They are nervous by nature, therefor for them to lay down they must be assured that there are know predators lurking outside the fold.

The also must be free from pests, lice, mites and parasites that may keep them from resting.

Along with all of that they must not be hungry if they are going to lie down.

Every time I read or think of this text, my mind goes back to the time I spent in Nebraska working on a ranch during college.

I was up in NC Nebraska in a area they call the sand hills.

This area in NE is known for it’s rolling hills, sandy soil, and massive underwater aquifer.

I was up there in 1993 as winter ended and spring began.