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If you'd like to follow along, they're in First Peter again this morning, looking at looking at actually half a verse.
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I'm going to read the context starting at uh chapter 5 verse 1 and reading down through verse 4. Peter wrote and I think by the Holy Spirit writes to us, therefore I exhort
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the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and are partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed. shepherd
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the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sorted gain, but with eagerness, not
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nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive
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the unfading crown of glory. Let us pray. Again, pray. Again, Father, I invite you to send the Holy
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Spirit that he might by his power speak to our hearts and minds about these things to proclaim this word of encouragement and
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consolation and of your plan for your flocks around the world. And so we ask, Father, that you would teach us, you
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would enlighten us as you build your church for your glory and honor. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
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The motif of shephering of shepherds in scripture um is is an image or a metaphor found in in many places uh in the Old Testament. Um, I did not consult with uh Aaron this
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morning as I read Psalm 23 knowing that we would I didn't know we were going to sing the Lord is my shepherd. Um, God's providence is good. But even in
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that, we sang the Lord is my shepherd. speaking of the sheep and their need for that shepherd. We even uh in the reading
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uh that Josiah read, we read the section that we've looked at before.
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Yeah. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. Zachchariah. If we go to Exodus chapter 3, what was Moses doing before God called him from the
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burning bush? Moses was pastoring the flock of Jericho, his father-in-law, when God said, "I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people,
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the sons of Israel, out of Egypt." He was a shepherd who became God's shepherd. And what about the shepherd boy in the
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wilderness? Samuel had to keep on asking Jesse, you know, who who else do you have? Are these all your children? I'm supposed to pick one to be a king. And Jesse says to
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him, there remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep. And then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the midst of his
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brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. He became a shepherd in God's house. Again, we've read Psalm 23, which
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we'll look at a little bit deeper in a few moments. But in other Psalms, we have that shephering motif or the the idea of Psalm 100, for example, we are
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his people and the sheep of his pasture. But it's not all, as we've seen in Zechariah, it's not all positive. It's
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not all that pastoral scene that we think about with sheep. We we do have one in our new place where we live. We come out of our road and meet the
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intersection for the main road uh leading us to town and across the way is a little farm with sheep grazing peacefully. at least when we've seen
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them peacefully grazing. It's a beautiful scene beautiful scene and yet it's not all beautiful. You're probably familiar with the
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passages in Ezekiel 34. God has his dander up. Woe shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves.
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Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool? And I'm paraphrasing here because it's a long passage, but some
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that are sick are not strengthened. Some that are diseased are not healed. Some that are broken are not bound up. Some that are scattered. They didn't bring back. The loss they didn't even seek.
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But with force, God says, "And with severity, you have dominated them." So why does Peter issue this challenge?
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It's only one little phrase, but it is his challenge to the elders. Shepherd the flock of God among you.
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I think it's because what was true in the early years in the days of Ezekiel are is still true
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God says they were scattered for lack of a shepherd and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every hill. My flock was scattered over all the surface
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of the earth and there was no one to search for or to seek for them.
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passage. He says, "Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in this day, when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for my sheep."
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And how does God fulfill that promise? He fulfills that promise with another promise found in Jeremiah 3. Then I will give shepherds after my own
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heart who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. God's promises are sure. He is going to appoint. He is going to have elders,
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shepherds after his own heart, who will feed his sheep, bind up the brokenhearted, heal those who need healing, strengthen
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those who need strength. That's the promise that God has made, and he will do it. But the task is no walkover.
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As one of the commentators said, every church is in entirely composed of sinners. He went on to say, the church is the one
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organization in which all who join first declare themselves unworthy to join.
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Sheep are not independent travelers. They, if you read the quote, they need to be led. They're born followers.
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And if not led, they will wander aimlessly. We do sing that song, right? Lord, I'm prone to wander. Lord, I feel it.
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Prone to leave the God I love. There's a reason why this sheep motif goes throughout the scriptures. God knows what we're like. And the sheep is
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a description of what people are like and also what they need. They need fresh food. They need fresh water. They need rest. They need to be brought
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into a fold at night. They're not like those that cattle that stay out or horses that stay out at night. In short, they need a shepherd.
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And as I've hinted at, I've decided to divide up this section because I I see three things here. In 2A, it's the description of the task of shephering the elders qualified,
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and we'll talk about this word as overseeing the flock. And then Peter gives in 2B I call it through three these
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job qualifiers. job qualifiers. Timothy and Titus Paul Paul outlines the qualifications for the elder. I don't think that's what Peter does. We scripture
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helps interpret scripture and complements scripture. But I think here what Peter is giving us is some qualifiers. Verse two and three say
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here are the how not to behave contrasted with the standards how to
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behave and then the reward the reward of faithfully shephering the flock is certainly there but it's also a
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reminder to the elders that they are under shepherds under the chief shepherd. Literally interpreted it as the arch
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shepherd, the one who has the shephering responsibility over all the under sheeperds. It's a beautiful picture. It's a
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biblical picture. biblical picture. But we need to understand
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what Peter is saying. Why Peter is saying he is telling them verse 2A shepherd the flock of God among you the flock of God in their care would be
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the literal translation the flock the flock again our first image is like my image of the sheep serenely grazing on the
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hillside contented with the verdant hillside verbiage and It's food for them, suitable for them, not weeds, not
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toxic things that could kill them. But our second image may be Peter's vision that he's also given us in
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chapter 2 verse 25. For you were continually straying like sheep. There is the pastoral
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image, but there is also the pastoral image of straying sheep. straying sheep. Sheep that need a shepherd.
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The idea of a flock brings to mind all of the shephering images that we have discussed. The sheep, gentle but
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defenseless, liable to stray, needing a shepherd, happy, peaceful under his care, but pitiful when lost or scattered or
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cast down. cast down. The term certainly communicates dependence and the need for continuous care.
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That's the flock. The well-being of the flock is dependent on the welldoing of the caretakers,
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their skill, their attention, their love for the sheep. But Peter
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But Peter gives the ownership here. The the flock of God.
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I hope you know. I hope you know that by calling us, this congregation, the flock of God, this is a high and wonderful title for us. This is this is
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not just something, well, you know, we're we're the flock. There's those dirty sheep out there eating. No, we are the flock of God. There's there's
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something here that communicates not only our dependence and continual care needed but God's ownership of us
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in the olden days and I guess now maybe more than ever the idea of having a flock I is is a measure of wealth. mouth. The the sheep were prized for their
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wool, for their milk, and the cheese that you could make from that, and for the meat, and and also for the skin that would be used for leather goods.
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God is an owner, and he bought his flock at an exceedingly great price, and it is very precious to him.
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In Acts 20, Paul says it is the church of God which he purchased with his own
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And Jesus claims his ownership over us in John chapter 10. I am the good shepherd and I know my own and my own know me. know me. That's what makes the church God's
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flock. We are so valuable. In fact, Peter has said we are a people for God's own possession. So again, when you read the flock,
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don't just think of, yeah, those old, you know, sheep, they don't know what they're doing. They You are valuable. You are owned. You were bought with a
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But he calls them the flock of God among you. Or again, as I say, the flock of God in your care. God has entrusted to under sheeperds. under sheeperds. And even saying that it's like that
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that's a that's a a a sentence we have to just get in our God entrusted to undersheperds. God who has this precious flock that he bought
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with his own blood and yet he entrusts it to men. Yes, he entrusts it to under sheeperds. And because the flock is so very
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precious to God, it is a very great trust that God puts in to the hands and to the heart and to the mind of the
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They have a privilege, but they have a very great responsibility to pattern their shephering after Yahweh. The Lord is my shepherd, David said. But I think in saying that we're
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the elders are saying that's my pattern. The Lord is my shepherd. And yet the way he patterned, the way he shepherded, the
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And who is that chief shepherd but Lord Jesus Christ himself? I am the good shepherd, he says. But he wants the elders to pattern their shephering after his shephering.
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his shephering. And that's why when Jesus gave Peter that challenge on the beach that day, that day, tend my lambs, he said, "Shepherd my
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And I missed this last week, but I came across it this week and I don't want to miss it. That that's a poignant meeting where Peter dives out of the fishing boat and swims to the shore and Jesus
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gives him this charge. Peter, do you love me? And if you love me, tend my lambs, feed my sheep, tend my little
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lambs. And then he follows it up later and says, "Follow me. "Follow me. Follow me."
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Follow me." He was given the charge and he was shown the pattern. He lived with the pattern for three years. And that is the pattern that I think he is
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now saying to his fellow elders, shepherd the flock of God among you according to the pattern which you've seen in me and you have seen in Christ.
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Now there are two words used here. One in verse one the the elders the presbuteros and it is translated elders. And in this verse we see this idea of um
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and in I think the New American Standard hits it better exercising oversight. There is a word overseer. It is the
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episcopas and they are used interchangeably in scripture. When we looked at Titus 3 this morning he he's talking about charging the overseer. The some people
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translate that as bishop. And again, I'm not going to argue the two office view, three office view, but I see two. There are elders slashbishops/pastor
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teachers and there are deacons. And that's how we're going to move on here. There are different views of course, but to me to be to shepherd is the task and
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here it's a participle. So exercising oversight is what qualifies the shephering. You are an exercising oversight shepherd
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I think is how the words ought to read. To oversee is to shepherd and to shepherd is to oversee. And I don't think Peter and some of the
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commentators do that he's referring to an ecclesiastical office. But uh to me he's he's laying out as a shepherd the work of the shepherd the work the
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shepherds are to be busy doing and the way they are go supposed to go about that work that work they are supposed to shepherd the flock
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and there's a lot of things and I'm hoping to look at a few things from Psalm 23 here but I agree with one of the commentators who wrote on
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shephering. Everything depends on feeding the sheep. Everything depends that they get food. They get the right food at the right
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time that is needed for them. But if I were to take Psalm 23 and look at it from the sheep point of view, I I
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saw this in Matthew Henry. He used one of these words um I think he used the word well-guided and I decided oh and I perhaps I can see some other things
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related to that and this is close as you're going to get from me waxing poetic but if we looked at Psalm 23 from the
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sheep's point of view and what the shepherd would want to accomplish I would come up with these four words
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wellplaced and wellfed, and wellfed, well-guided and well led. These are the things that I see in Psalm 23, wellfed by the word of God. Doesn't
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the scripture say, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." And what does David say? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall never be in want. I I
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I'll be well fed. I'll be well taken care of by the word, drawing their conscience to his care, to his love, to his providence, [snorts] to his glory.
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And even in the presence of danger, and that's what you see in Psalm 23, is it not? He leads me to beside still waters. I I'm lying down in green pastures. But
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there's also time where we're walking through the valley of the shadow of death. And even in the presence of danger, persecutions, enemies,
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David says he prepares a table for me. Well, what is the table? It's for eating. He lays out the spread that they they will be calm because they are being fed and they are being taken care of.
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They're well-guided. He says he restores my soul. Well, how is his soul restored? I think by the word. Using the word to help them see the error.
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Help them to come to repentance and come to restoration of fellowship. He guides me, he says, in the paths of
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righteousness. Well, how do you do that? You direct people by the word and by encouragement to follow to keep in step with the Holy Spirit. And what does the
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Holy Spirit do? He guides you into all the truth. David in another psalm, I believe it's a psalm of David says
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contrasting the paths of righteousness with other paths. He says, "I I do not take the counsel of the wicked or the path of sinners or the seat of scoffers." In Psalm 1,
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we ought not to take the paths of meanness, the paths of arrogance, greed, or lies.
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They're wellplaced. They're lie down in green pastures. They're led beside the quiet waters. The elder must know where is the best nourishment for souls. Where is the
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water of life found? And yet in the scriptures, I am the bread of life. Christ said, I am the living water.
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I think of water, this quiet water. I've read many places about sheep. If they're not led to those places, they will stop and drink at every pool in the path. And
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what's in the pool in the path? Mud, filth, and sheep poop. And they will stop and drink it if they
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are not led to the quiet waters, to the still waters that will restore their
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The tender care of the shepherd is evident in this psalm. But in the elder, the tender care must also be evident. His affection has to be real and his voice has to be trusted
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and his presence as it was with Peter. So I think it is for the modernday elder
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care for God's flock is sparked by love for Christ.
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Shepherds do not work as Peter goes on to say under compulsion for shameful gain or to doineer over
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But as I've read about some shepherds of the older days when I guess more flocks were to be observed,
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the sheep were serene. They were following in what one described as a stream, listening their to the voices of their individual shepherds and somehow knowing how to go and follow those
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shepherds. But when the observers looked at the face of the shepherds themselves, one man said he looked more like a warrior going to battle. You've seen the
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Robert Hook paintings where the shepherd is always smiling and the lambs look
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But I think the shepherd has to be prepared for battle. Be prepared to fight for the flock. Always vigilant. Always vigilant. But I didn't go into it here and I'm
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sorry, but I I have these images in my mind of my reading. The he says as as the sheep, David says, even the rod and the staff that the
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shepherd has are comforting to him. And when you think about that shepherd's staff and you think about them, the hook on the end, pulling that sheep back from falling off a cliff or as he's cast down
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and can't get up, turning him over. And he says, "Those things are a comfort to me." And that that rod that he describes, it's it has a fancy name in in Africa.
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It's called a cobb carry. And one man said, "Yeah, I mean, this was in the 30s or something, 40s, and he said, 'I I saw the shepherd bringing his sheep, leading
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his sheep across a highway, and the cars saw him obediently stop, but there was one that kept edging through and was going to hit the sheep." And he said, "I
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saw that shepherd just walk to the front of that car to the hood with his cob carry and go, you will stop here and smash the hood with that rod."
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I think I would be comforted if I was a And then we come to this, as the New American Standard calls it, exercising
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And I was very disappointed when I looked at the commentaries. I think they gave it short strift. They called it personal care and vigilance. Some said, well, you know,
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it's he's a guardian. He's a superintendent. He's a supervisor. But I don't think that that's what Peter has in mind here. Again, it's not a title. It's a thing. It's what they do.
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it has two risks. One is because I'm I'm expounding on something that I think the scriptures indicate, but I don't read in other places, and
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that's always a time for knocking knees and a little nervousness. And the other is that I'm going to try to explain this in terms of a game that
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I do not really understand and I have only tried to play twice. I don't understand the beautiful game football. You can I do not I can never
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see on my own what offides is. And when I've tried to played, I wore a 20 yard path along the sideline because I didn't know how to go out in the
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middle of the field. So, I just ran back and forth and the only time I touched the ball was when they made me go get it when it went out of bounds. But what I see here is this. The idea of
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oversight, overseeing, oversight, overseeing, as I say, it's the word episcopas, the scopas, is the seeing part. It's
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where we get our words telescope seeing far or microscope seeing near. And I think it's the task of the elders
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to see far and to see near but also to see in between. Perhaps that's kaleidoscope. Seeing the patterns of people's lives.
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I haven't watched, and I'll admit, I have not watched a minute of any of the World Cup stuff, mainly because I'm too tight and I don't want to pony up the money.
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But I am old school and I found a broadcast of one of the matches on the radio, Spain v. Belgium, narrated by
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English. And the English were not really interested in telling me about the game. They wanted to tell me about the players, especially those who played in England when they were not in the World Cup. And so I was only half listening
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until they got to a discussion on what makes a good player from a great player. And this is what they said and I quote,
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"A great player sees the play before it develops." Let me say that again. A great player sees the play before it develops. And my
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first thought was, are they clairvoyant? Are are these have a crystal ball? Are they cheating? they cheating? Or does he have, if [clears throat] I
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could say this, and again I'm in danger here, but does he have a spidey sense, some precognitive superpower that warns him of an imminent attack in the box
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or that allows him to read to read be react before consciously perceiving a
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And I don't know who they were talking about. I you know the names. Erling Killian Messi, somebody like
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But I don't think it's all that unusual when I thought about it more seeing the play before it develops. It's kind of what my dad tried to teach me about the less beautiful game. He didn't want me
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to be that kid in right field standing flatfooted alternating between yawning and chewing on my glove. And the only thing I was going to only
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fly I was going to chase was a butterfly. He was trying to prepare me. If the ball comes to you, what are you going to do? What base are you going to throw it to? Where is it going to go?
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And I think you moms and dads have a sense of this. If you were to see your toddler shoving a chair toward the kitchen counter,
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one of those chairs where they have to belly up to, right? They punch it in their belly and then they grab themselves and they pull themselves up. You see the play before it develops, do
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you not? You go. There's the toddler in the chair and there's the cookie jar and you make those connections, do you not?
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But I would say that this idea of seeing danger, seeing things, seeing the play before it develops is perhaps as much or maybe more needed by elders in the
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one of the authors that I I don't agree with everything he said, but he has been a pastor or is a pastor currently. And some of the things he says are relatable because he's been in church. He hasn't been just talking about church. And he
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says quite frankly, church can be disappointing. We have our heartaches when people don't get along. We have our heart breaks when
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people leave and we don't understand why. And there can be yes shallow relationships, lazy prayers as he says, dull worship, weak preaching, or
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But I think this is why true overseeing in elders is needed. Who see the situation before it develops and know what to do.
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One who sees the dangers and doesn't let them develop. them develop. One who sees the opportunities and figures out how to make them develop.
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one who sees the needs and tries to figure out how do I develop strategies to meet those needs.
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and most importantly at all of all I think sees the people the sheep and tries to figure out
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how to to develop them into maturing into maturing godly Jesusloving
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and Maybe I'm only speaking to myself up here. I hope not because I hope you will pray for overseeing elders, men who will be able to see the play
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and men. He will take Peter and his great shepherds at their word, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight.
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exercising oversight. Let us pray. Our heavenly father, we we do ask that you would build your church. Father, we
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are those who wandered aimlessly, not knowing how to be fed and where to go. And you have called us to be your children. You've called us to be sheep
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in your flock. You've called us to be as what we heard in Zachchariah when you say to us, "I will be your God." We will say, "And we will be your people." And
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so I ask, Father, that you would build us. You will strengthen us. You will call us call us to be sheep who honor you in all that we
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do. And I pray that you would raise up shepherds after your own heart as you have promised, not only in this congregation, but all the congregations throughout this land, that your
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undersheperds would follow this call to shepherd the flock of God in their care. We ask that you would do this in Christ's name. Amen.
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Please rise for the benediction from Hebrews chapter 13. Now the God of peace who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep
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through the blood of the eternal covenant covenant even Jesus our Lord equip you in every good thing to do his will working in us that which is pleasing to in his sight through Jesus
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Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
