Shepherding the Sojourners 1 Peter 5:1
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
I. Reason for Shepherding
I. Reason for Shepherding
So, I exhort the elders among you,
This is one of those cases I prefer the NASB reading of the opening of Chapter 5. It reads,
Therefore, I exhort the elders among you,
The main reason is often we can read past the little word so, and miss the context of the verse. Therefore grabs our attention, causes us to ask, what for? What is driving Peter to exhort the elders, why does he turn to charging the elders with Christlike shepherding?
Why is it so important for the church to have faithful shepherds? Remember the context of the letter?
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness 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.
1 Peter 1:
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
1 Peter 2:
For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
1 Peter 3:
And the immediate context,
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
1 Peter 4:
It is in the context of gospel centered suffering, suffering for the sake of Christ, according to the will of God that Peter exhorts the elders to shepherd the flock of God.
Consider this, when suffering comes even outside the church, who often gets the call? The local pastors, when someone dies, often even unbelievers seek a pastor to preach the funeral. When sickness comes, unbelievers will often ask their believing friends and family to pray, or even reach out to their pastor to pray. Pastor/elders are known for caring for people in the midst of suffering!
Think about how brothers and sisters in Christ need to be pointed to;
The Gospel in the midst of suffering, reminded that we have a future inheritance reserved for us in heaven kept by the power of God. This is not our best life now, we are looking forward to the glories to come.
Christ as the one who suffered perfectly for us. He suffered in our place so that we might not have to suffer the eternal judgment and wrath of God. But Peter tells us he also suffered that he might be our example in suffering.
Our sanctification in suffering, Peter has spilled no small amount of ink explaining how the Christian ought to live in the midst of suffering and in light of Christ suffering. We are to live lives separated from sins of the Gentiles, in war with the passions of the flesh, and in submission to God given authority.
How many of us have learned these things over our lifetime? How did you learn them? Did you just decide one day;
I believe the gospel!
I understand Jesus Christ is the propitiatory, substitution sacrifice for my sins?
I think I will start growing in holiness today.
I think I will start having a sympathetic and humble mind today.
I am going to commit to loving my brother earnestly from a pure heart today?
Absolutely not, if we came to the understanding of these truths is is because we were fed them by the shepherd of God from the word of God!
Peter knows none of us are going to be saved, sanctified, and suffer like Christ apart from faithful shepherds “taking heed of the flock of God” as the King James says it...
Elders are God’s gift to the church so that she might be conformed into the image of his Son. Consider the OT promise found in Jeremiah.
“ ‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Israel had rebelled and the LORD was calling them to repent and return and promising them he would give them shepherds to feed them with knowledge and understanding. We are not Israel, but isn’t that what God has done for us. He called us through the preaching of the word to repent and come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ His One and Only Son. He saved us into a body and placed us under the care of a elder shepherd so that we might be fed with knowledge and understanding of who God is and what He has done for us!
That is why Peter writes,
So, I exhort the elders among you,
In these next few verse Peter is offering exhortation specifically to the elders of the exile church throughout Asia. Peter here is not just asking these elders to shepherd the flock, he his exhorting, calling, beseeching, imploring these men to this charge. He is about to lay out their duty, give them their job description, role, and responsibility as an elder/shepherd.
He is calling them to a specific task. Peter calls these men to faithful leadership since they have been appointed to this task as the church was being built upon the spread of the gospel in the book of Acts.
And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.
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.
Peter is continuing to teach and exhort the elders whom had been appointed to care for the church of God that He purchased, and had made them overseers.
Notice what Peter does here, he doesn’t jump right into the thrust of the exhortation. He doesn’t just start telling the elders what to do and how to do it, Peter first provides his,
sh
II. Resume of a Fellow Shepherd.
II. Resume of a Fellow Shepherd.
. 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:
The first thing Peter say’s about himself is I exhort you as a,
A. Fellow Elder
A. Fellow Elder
Notice the humility with which Peter begins. Not with his apostolic office, but his qualification as a coequal presbyteroi elder, shepherd, overseer. He wants these elders to know that he is one of them. he has the same calling, he is committed to the same work.
There is not much that gains someone’s ear and trust as letting them know you understand their work. This is one of the things I enjoy the most about my role at Osmose. We are a very organic company so most of our leadership has come up in the field, most of us started out as Foremen, digging holes, inspecting, and treating poles. Wading through swamps, sweating in the summer til your pants were soaked through, working to the point of exhaustion.
But when we go out and visit new crews in the field most of them don’t know where we come from. When we send an email exhorting them to do something, they just think we are sitting up in the office making up rules to make their life harder.
However, when we go out in the field and pick up a shovel and the learn that we know how to and still can do what they do (for a little while anyway) all of the sudden they have a desire to listen, they begin to trust that we are telling them things that are true and will help them.
So when Peter tells them I exhort you as a fellow elder, the elders of his day would be ready to read or hear what he was about to say. Even now, I love learning from other pastor/elders. Give me a sermon from someone who had been in the trenches, sit me down under a pastor/teach who cannot only exegete the text, but who can explain to me how to shepherd someone through;
Sin, Suffering, Coming death, etc. Give me a pastor/elder who has planted a church, spent years at a small country church with 20-30 people, who has been on the mission field, these are the elders we can learn from. These are the elders that have suffered and stayed faithful in Christ.
More important than experience, give me an elder that is finds their authority, in the inerrant, infallible, all sufficient word of God. Peter not only believed in the authority and sufficiency of the Word he was used to write the Word.
Suffering,
In consideration of Peters exhortation as a fellow elder,
Robert Leighton writes, “Oh! Let us remember to what we are called; to how high and heavy a charge; to what holiness and diligence ; how great is the hazard of our miscarriage and how great the reward of our fidelity. They should be often whetting and sharpening one another by these weight and holy considerations.”
Notice Peter’s next, qualification, he was a,
B. Witness of the Sufferings of Christ
B. Witness of the Sufferings of Christ
Peter knew how to Pastor through suffering because he witnessed the one who suffered perfectly.
Peter saw Jesus walk through general suffering, living as an itinerant preacher, rejected by his own people, living without a home, not knowing where his next meal would come from.
Peter heard Jesus predicting his own suffering and death. Peter saw Christ fulfill his own predictions of suffering on the cross. Even though Peter essentially ran and refused even knowing Christ at the time of his suffering, he saw it. This was not a highlight of Peter’s life, this may have been one of the lowest points of Peter’s walk with Christ. When hem mentions being a witness of the sufferings of Christ people will probably remember Peter’s weakness when Jesus’s suffering was the greatest.
The point here is not to point to Peter’s weakness, but to the mercy and grace of Christ. The fact that Peter failed and Christ fully forgave and restored him would be the thrust of Peter’s statement.
The most beautiful thing about Peter’s witnessing of Christ’s suffering was his being restored when Christ returned from the dead, when Jesus walked up on that beach when Peter was fishing with the disciples. Let’s take a minute and read this account from .
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
When we look at this text and see the exchange between Peter and Jesus you can almost here the desperation and sincerity in Peter’s voice as Jesus continues to question him Do you love me? One of my favorite statements in these verses is Peter saying, Yes Lord; you know that I love you. Peter not only professes his love for the Lord, but he professes his faith and understanding the Jesus is the Omniscient Son of God that knows all things.
1 Peter The Basis of Peter’s Leadership and Message
The lessons are clear. First, no Christian leader is self-qualified, morally or spiritually. No one deserves to lead the church. Jesus forgives, appoints, and qualifies his apostles and elders. Second, the core of an elder’s qualification is the love of Jesus, both experienced and returned.
What else in this text would point us to Peter and his understanding and credibility when it comes to being a witness to Christ suffering?
Jesus tells him he is going to suffer!
Notice verse 18,
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”
Jesus said Peter up until now you have been able to do pretty much what you wanted. You have been able to fish when you wanted to fish, run when you wanted to run, and go where you wanted to go, and wear what you wanted to wear. But not any more.
From now on, you will follow me, you will go where you are carried, you will wear what others put on you, and you will go places you don’t want to go. In other words, these sufferings of mine that you have witnessed will now become your sufferings.
(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
As Peter is writing to the elders, he has to be thinking not only of Christ sufferings but of his own. Not only the sufferings to come, but the ones he had already experienced.
So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
Acts 5:38
Peter not only witnessed the sufferings of Christ, but he was living in such faithfulness that he had been experiencing the sufferings of Christ. After Pentecost, Peter had been arrested, imprisoned, and even beaten for preaching the name of Jesus.
When we read So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, we ought to tune in, listen up, and pay special attention to what Peter is about to tell us. Because he was not only an apostle, but a fellow elder appointed by the apostles who witnessed and walked in the step of Christ suffering as he calls all of us to do.
1 Peter 3:
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
The third thing Peter writes of himself is he is a,
C. Partaker in the Coming Glory
C. Partaker in the Coming Glory
Notice the progression, So I exhort the elders among you,
as a fellow elder - as one of you, one called, and charged to shepherd the flock of God
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ - one of the few who saw these horrendous acts committed on Jesus Christ and was charged by Jesus to suffer in that same way.
but as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.
Peter says he his a partaker.....
34.6 κοινωνός, οῦ m; συγκοινωνόςa, οῦ m: one who participates with another in some enterprise or matter of joint concern—‘partner, associate, one who joins in with. Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 446). New York: United Bible Societies.
There is something that Peter looks forward to, longs for, and desires to be a part of as he shepherds the flock. It is the coming glory that is yet to be revealed. Peter understands that even in the midst of suffering, persecution, and this war with sin there is something greater, something worthwhile, something glorious coming that will eclipse all this pain and affliction the church is facing now.
Paul explains it to the Romans this way,
Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 446). New York: United Bible Societies.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans
He says the Spirit comforts us, assures us that we are God’s children that we are partakers, that we will enjoy the inheritance Peter speaks of, but this comfort and inheritance is conditional…He says provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Paul says you have recieved the Spirit in order that you may know that you are sons and daughters of God and heirs with Christ, however you will see a self denial, a suffering in some sense as you live out your life in Christ, but in light of that you will be glorified with Him.
Then Paul follows that in,
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Do you see the parallel. Paul says these sufferings are nothing compared to the glory that is going to be revealed to us (the elect of God).
Peter says, I am a fellow elder of the flock of God, I have been an eye witness to the sufferings of Christ and by extension suffered myself, but more importantly, I am a partaker of the glory that is going to be revealed to us!
Have you ever been anywhere that was this majestic, beautiful place but you could only stare at it through the gate?
Most recently, we were able to visit Buckingham palace. We stood outside the gate wandering what it looked like inside. Imagining what it would be like to be able to walk around in the rooms of the palace, sit down at meal at one of the large ornate tables, served by the Queens staff. Maybe even being able to spend the night in one of the massive bedrooms. But we peered in between the bars for a few minute only to turn around and go back to our hotel still wandering what it would be like.
As a partaker of the glory to be revealed there is a destination, a location, a place amongst the people of God in the abode of God that we will one day enjoy the privilege of entering. We won’t be standing outside looking through the bars, instead we will be ushered inside, into the presence of the King, and we spend not just a few minutes, not even a few days and nights, but forever and ever worshipping in the glorious, bright, majestic, ornate, and pure presence of our Triune God!
Peter here is pointing us to the second coming of Christ, when Christ will return and gather his bride in all of His glory.
Tom Schreiner explains it this way, “All of the parallels here here make it quite certain that the glory promised in 5:1 is the eschatological reward that will be given when Christ returns. Peter encouraged the elders to follow Christ’s example, enduring suffering in the present so that they will receive the eschatological reward in the future.” (Schreiner Pg. 233)
Listen to how the apostle John describes the New Jerusalem,
Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 21:9
Now there is all kinds of glory to be revealed in the New Heaven and the New Earth, but what is at the center, repeated over and over that will be the most precious part of the glory to be revealed, the glory that Peter is a partaker of? The LAMB!
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb!
So before Peter gives us the rules for shepherding, he lays out his resume. Why should the elders among us listen to Peter?
Because he is a fellow elder.
Because he is a witness of the sufferings of Christ.
Because he is a partaker in the glory of the Lamb that is going to be revealed to us!
III. Rules for Shepherding.
III. Rules for Shepherding.
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.
1 Peter 5
A. Shepherd the flock of God
A. Shepherd the flock of God
B. Exercise Oversight Willingly
B. Exercise Oversight Willingly
C. Eagerly not Greedily
C. Eagerly not Greedily
D. Examples to the Flock
D. Examples to the Flock
IV. Reward for Faithful Shepherds
IV. Reward for Faithful Shepherds
And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.