Sermon Tone Analysis
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*God’s Men for God’s Flock *
*1 Peter 5:1-7*
* *
*Turn on Tape, Turn on Microphone*
* *
Introduction:
When the world looks for a leader, it looks first and foremost for someone who is smart, flashy, good with finances, naturally talented.
Someone who can take a corporate disaster and turn it into multi-million dollar enterprise.
Someone with superb skills in the art of managing people.
But when God looks for a leader, he looks for something entirely different.
There’s a reason for this.
In the church, there’s an entirely different dimension.
That is the spiritual dimension.
One cannot master it by going to school, one cannot master this dimension with talents.
One can’t even master this dimension with personality.
When God wants to raise up leaders for His church, He wants more than just human talent.
He wants Divine giftedness, spirituality, character.
This morning we want to discuss the subject of spiritual leadership in the church.
1 Peter 5:1-4 (read it)
We see three things in this passage in regards to elders.
Verse 1 presents the reason for having elders
Verse 2 shows the responsibility of elders (vs.
2, 3)
Verse 3 talks about the reward of elders (vs.
4)
I.
The reason for having elders (vs. 1)
A. Peter begins the fifth chapter by exhorting (or encouraging) the elders in his audience.
The Greek word “presbuteros
B. In this passage it refers to someone who holds an official position in the church.
The officially recognized men who see to the care of the church.
C.
But now, where do we get our modern concept of elders; how they come to be and what they do?
1.
Just a few observations:
a.
The concept of elders, atleast in part stems from the days of the Old Testament.
Israel had certain men who were elders.
They were responsible for the oversight of the nation.
They were mature leaders.
They were responsible to make decisions.
They were to see that justice was served.
They played a very vital role in the direction and future of the nation.
These elders of Israel.
b.
Carry that over to the N.T. and we see that these elders of Israel are often mentioned in the gospels along with the priests and the chief priests and the scribes.
c.
When the church came onto the scene, it appears that the concept of elders carried over in part from the nation of Israel.
d.
In the early church, we see a number of things about elders:
aa.
To begin with in Acts 14:23- elders were first appointed by the apostles
bb.
Acts 15:2- The elders in the early church helped decide what was proper practice in the church.
Some people had been teaching circumcision for salvation.
The elders decided otherwise.
They guarded sound doctrine.
So the modern-day concept of eldership is not a new one.
It’s rooted in the authority of the Old and New Testaments.
It is rooted in the authority of the apostles.
It was practiced in the early church.
Is every minute detail the same?
Probably not.
However the objective is the same.
So when the board of elders meets together, it’s not a just a business meeting.
Will business be discussed?
Yes!
Will areas of finance be discussed?
Yes!
But each subject discussed is for the spiritual welfare of the church.
The testimony of the church.
The spiritual health of the church.
It’s a spiritual meeting, not a business meeting!
2. Notice that Peter exhorts (or encourages) them as a “fellow elder”- I believe that this is very important.
Why?
a.
There are some who feel that Peter was the 1st pope to ever exist.
But Peter doesn’t say that.
Peter says look, I’m just a “fellow- elder.”
b.
While he was an apostle, he was humble.
He was even known to err (though never in his recording of Scripture).
In his life, he fallible, human.
He was not the first pope.
c.
He called himself a “fellow elder.”
d.
And so it is with the elders in any church.
Biblical elders, though supernaturally called of God are going to make mistakes.
Not perfect.
They don’t know all the answers.
You know why it’s important to keep this in mind?
Because it gets the leadership of any church off the pedestal.
Godly men don’t want to be on that pedestal.
They don’t want that kind of pressure.
It also keeps people from becoming critical when elders don’t do everything exactly perfect, or don’t know all the answers.
It kind of reminds me of the story of two ministers (but it could just as easily be two elders).
A Baptist Minister and a Presbyterian Minister are sitting next to each other on a long flight from LA to NY.
The Presbyterian leans over to the Baptist and asks if he would like to play a fun game.
The Baptist just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks.
The Presbyterian persists and explains that the game is real easy and a lot of fun.
He explains “I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me $5. Then you ask me a question, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll pay you $5.”
Again, the Baptist politely declines and tries to get to sleep.
The Presbyterian, now somewhat agitated, says, “Okay, if you don’t know the answer you pay me $5, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll pay you $50!”
This catches the Baptist’s attention, and he sees no end to this torment unless he plays, so he agrees to the game.
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