2020-08-19 1 Peter 5.1-5
Notes
Transcript
1 I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed:
2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly;
3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
I. God calls pastors to serve churches.
I. God calls pastors to serve churches.
2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly;
3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
A. A pastor is called to walk with his flock through life.
A. A pastor is called to walk with his flock through life.
2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly;
3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
Illus: This recent pandemic has opened my eyes to what it means to be a pastor.
As a pastor I have always given my all to be with all of my people as they walk through life.
I have etched in my mind the moments as pastor where I have held members of this church in my arms as they were broken in the unexpected loss of an adult child.
I know the tears I have cried when precious saints step into eternity with Jesus.
Let’s talk about what this pandemic has taught me as your pastor.
There is a movement that says that this viral pandemic will change the church completely.
I read daily the church experts who tell me that if the church does not buy into online as a congregation, the church will be left behind.
I get that for a time, many still are being cautious, and I am thankful for the gift where people can watch church from home.
That said, I never want to have an internet church because I don’t think it is biblical.
When you read scripture a pastor needs to know his flock.
Following a famous pastor online or tv is not the same as a pastor who knows you.
My goal when I preach is to apply the Word of God to your life as I walk through life with you.
I cannot tell you the times because of physical attendance I have counseled and loved on people that would have never happened in a screen based church.
You need more than a talking head from a church outside of your city to lead you. You need to be involved in a church with a pastor who shepherd you.
28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.
29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.
31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.
B. A pastor is called to humbly lead his flock.
B. A pastor is called to humbly lead his flock.
2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly;
3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
Illus: Just as a pastor is called to shepherd, he is also called to lead.
When I say lead, it is not like a CEO. He is called to be a humble leader.
As we have studied the men God raised up to lead in the Old Testament it is a study in men who find their authority in themselves or their authority in God.
The pastor’s job is not be a visionary, it is to be a follower of God. His job is to be so focused on God and his word that he leads as God leads.
Humility from a pastor is to submit himself to God and to his church.
Look at Psalm 23 to how God defines what a shepherd does…
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need.
2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.
II. The motives of the pastor matter.
II. The motives of the pastor matter.
2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly;
3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
A. A pastor should never be greedy, nor should the church.
A. A pastor should never be greedy, nor should the church.
2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly;
3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
Illus: If there is ever a picture of the wicked pastor it is of the modern televangelists and other pastors who abuse the church of God through playing off people’s spiritual vulnerability for their own financial gain.
What a wicked picture of a man who pretends to watch over the flock of God but in turn abuses the flock for his own financial gain.
As pastors and Christians we should quickly condemn these men in their wickedness and call them what they are, wolves in sheep clothing.
Personally this is the reason I refuse to touch money in church. I am thankful for the servants God has given us to help with our finances, but if you came to me with money to give, I would take you to one of them.
Why? I know my heart is deceitful. I know that if I knew what people gave, it would change the way I treated others based off what they gave.
Let me turn this for a moment to the church.
In response to wicked men who use the church for financial gain, some in churches have taken the point of view that it is the church’s responsibility to keep the pastor poor.
The old adage is, God you keep the pastor humble and we will keep him poor.
Yes, the pastor does not exist to get rich off the church, but the church has the distinct responsibility to provide for the pastor.
If a church calls a pastor with a family, it has the responsibility to provide for the family.
The goal of the church should be to so provide for the pastor that even his salary should not be a distraction from his call to shepherd the flock.
17 The elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
18 For the Scripture says: Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain, and, The worker is worthy of his wages.
B. The leadership of the pastor should be for the good of his flock.
B. The leadership of the pastor should be for the good of his flock.
2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly;
3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
Illus: Early in my ministry I came to a realization about my self as a pastor.
I was more in love with my dream for what I thought the church should be than I was for the church I actually pastored.
Since then God has given me a heart for established churches. Churches like ours.
Far too often pastors love methodologies or the ways other churches do things that they miss the beauty of their individual congregation.
It is like looking at model in a magazine and asking your spouse why they can’t be more like them.
The pastor is called to love his church, and the longer I have been pastor, the more I realize it should foster a long term fidelity to that church.
I guess this is where I am landing, I want to be the pastor of this church long term. Why, because this is church God has called me and I grow to love you more and more every week.
I see so many of my friends jumping churches, and am becoming more convinced that the reason so many churches are unhealthy is because pastors don’t serve their churches as much as they serve themselves.
15 I will give you shepherds who are loyal to me, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill.
III. God has the same expectations for His body.
III. God has the same expectations for His body.
5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
A. The standards are the same.
A. The standards are the same.
Illus: There is this feeling in the text of, alright pastor, this section of scripture was for you. But wait it follows, “In the same way”.
Yes, as your spiritual leader and caregiver, my call is to be the example, yet your call is no different.
Your love of the church should mirror God’s call for the church.
You are called to be generous and humble for our church. You are called to submit both to your pastor as well as to each other.
One of the marks of our health at FBC Vidalia is whether this is a place where we come to make much of ourselves and wants, or a place we genuinely sacrifice for each other.
As your pastor I am called to be a servant leader. As a member, you are called to that same service.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.