0:28
We're in First Peter chapter 5 again this morning. We're looking at the section um chapter 5 verses 1- 4 and uh I did
0:43
appreciate the discussion in Sunday school this morning and I do tell you in all honesty Tim and I did not u double team y'all um in the Lord's providence
0:57
we ended up speaking about the elders and the qualifications and hear the list of qualifiers of qualifiers um at the same time. So listen to uh
1:08
Peter's words in chapter 5. Therefore I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker also
1:20
of the glory that is to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily according to
1:32
the will of God, and not for sort of gain, but with eagerness. Nor yet as lording in over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to
1:42
the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Let us pray.
1:54
Our father, we do again marvel as we just sang how how did we come to
2:04
participate in the reward of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Or as we have often sung in another hymn,
2:21
why why have I been chosen to sit at the table with our lord as the head of the table? But you have chosen us and you have called us to be your children. And you are merciful and you are gracious to us.
2:35
And yet you have called us to live holy, a life of holiness as you are holy. We ask, Father, that you would strengthen us, help us,
2:47
show us how we may live that life that pleases and honors you. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.
3:03
It has been my experience over the years uh both in the Lutheran church uh that I grew up in and later um in the mid 80s in this church that when there is a
3:15
pastoral vacancy pastoral vacancy um there's a call a call goes out for another pastor to come and shepherd the
3:25
flock And that call is not really that spiritual. someone picked up the phone and called the usually the um
3:38
seminary uh of choice and uh I guess tried to get the placement office and uh ask if there are candidates and uh I
3:48
guess now you go on u one of these uh electronic websites electronic websites um and uh listen to the radio too much but um They assure me that um four out
4:03
of five businesses get a qualified candidate within the first day. And what would happen is and again it happened here as I said in the mid 80s.
4:15
The man comes and he preaches a sermon. And I guess if he lives close enough by, you might give him a second Sunday sermon and then determine is this the
4:27
man that we want to be our elder, our pastor, our undersheperd. Um Peter doesn't see it that way. Uh we
4:39
do not see that the scriptures um allow it that way. Um there are many who go by what a man looks like on first
4:50
appearances. I guess we are uh like Samuel in that regard. Uh God does not regard um his outward appearance but the
5:00
heart. He looks upon the heart. I can remember uh one of my fellow seminary seminary um students um in at least one of my
5:13
classes came and visited our church a couple of Sundays and uh he had a magnificent baritone voice and when he prayed and we were meeting in the
5:24
downstairs room downstairs room uh the room would reverberate with his prayers and I remember after the service, one of the men uh came up to me
5:36
and he said that that man's going to be a good preacher because of that voice and that authority that he exudes. What he did not know is that young man
5:50
was um he had the reputation at the seminary being named Coralum didn't get along with the administrators or any of his
6:01
instructors any of the teachers and he lasted about a semester and a half before he just disappeared.
6:18
Outward appearances can be deceiving and even training can be deceiving. Having the qualifications is not necessarily going to make a good elder. An elder as
6:32
Peter says it who will receive the unfading crown of glory.
6:43
The charge that he gives to them is in verse 2A. We looked at last week. Shepherd the flock of God among you exercising oversight. exercising oversight. The manner of that
6:56
position or the behavior or motives of that position are given to us in 2B with contrasts. the negative and then
7:09
followed by the positive in 2B and verse three and then the reward is given in verse four. When the chief shepherd appears,
7:22
you will receive the unfading crown of glory. These three contrasts that Peter gives
7:32
here are again are more than just what a man knows and what he looks like or sounds like. As Edund Clowney wrote, Peter is
7:42
concerned with their motives more than with their methods. An Egypt contrast could begin um could
7:53
be um prefaced by that phrase that we looked at last week. Exercising oversight. Exercising oversight not under
8:03
compulsion but voluntarily. Exercising oversight not for sorted gain but with eagerness. exercising code of sight not yet as lording it over those allotted to
8:16
your charge but proving to be examples to the flock. I think there's a couple of things going on in here.
8:27
Perhaps Peter remembering the words of the Lord Jesus when he met with the Pharisees and they were charging him with with all sorts of things and he
8:40
turns to his disciples and says, "But are you looking at the sheep? they are being harassed or distressed
8:51
and they are downcast. Not that they were uh despondent so much, but he's taking that illusion or that metaphor of the sheep being cast down on their backs
9:02
and cannot get up, helpless, distressed and distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd.
9:13
And then he says to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his
9:27
harvest." I think there's two two lights that we could shine on this. One is the practical urgency. practical urgency. I mean he we Peter's been talking about
9:39
the suffering and persecution to come the alienation that they would feel the ostracization or ostracism I guess I should say
9:50
and he's looking at this you are you are strangers and sojourers here who is going to shepherd this walk
10:00
but he's also has an esqueological urgency and we just sang of that in one of those psalms. The the fact that eternity is in the heart of man, but
10:14
it's also in the heart of God. And he's saying the manifestation of the arch shepherd, the shepherd who is the chief shepherd over all the undersheperds,
10:25
who among you will prove to be faithful at his coming. And I think scripture shows that this is
10:36
amounts to a a balancing act. We read one of those verses in Sunday school this morning. There is the desire, but there's also the reality.
10:49
In first Timothy 3, we read, "It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do."
11:01
But that is balanced by the reality in James chapter 3. Let not many of you become teachers knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. Th this
11:13
is not just uh some list of of dos and don'ts of a of a behavior that a man can can just switch on and switch off as as
11:24
needed or as wanted and desired. And I would say this, remember that this is a letter to a congregation. This isn't a little, you
11:36
know, these verses are not like an appendix that that that well, if if you're an elder, then read this part, but otherwise skip on to verse 5.
11:47
What he's saying is you need to understand these things as a congregation. You you you need to understand what I'm saying to yes there
11:57
are men who are officers in the church but you are also sheep under a shepherd. So let's look at these things. I I wrote
12:10
this this phrase no pressed man under your outline point number one. It's man under compulsion under
12:21
constraint. Um the the definition is that they're they're acting as a result of being forced, being pressured, being compelled to do something. And and it's
12:35
hard to know exactly what Peter may have had in mind um about these men who were pressed into service. Um maybe it it was
12:45
that maybe they felt pressed that we have no one else. You must do this. Or perhaps there are men who agreed to serve but they have not counted the
12:57
costs of that service. Or perhaps he's just talking as some of the commentators believe these men are just lazy or they are those lukewarm men
13:09
as regards the needs of the When the British Royal Navy became a European player in the and I'm told it's
13:20
16th century to maybe mid 19th century, it suffered a perennial problem getting men to serve on Navy ships
13:32
because it was a horrible job. It was brutal and it paid a pittance compared to the pay and the conditions of a
13:43
British merchant ship. So men didn't want to do it. So and some of you are familiar with this if you've read the Horatio hornblower novels, the press
13:56
gangs. They they were basically bands of thugs sometimes led by a Royal Navy officer. And what they would do is they would round up men off the streets and
14:10
take them and put them on a Royal Navy warship and send them to sea to fight. Taking the the king's subjects, as one
14:22
writer put it, to serve on the high seas. It didn't matter if they were a blacksmith or a farmer or a shoe maker.
14:34
They would usually take them to a tavern or find them in a tavern, ply them with some libation until the point where they could drag them out. And it became so
14:45
bad that these press gangs would basically watch when one warship was returning after two or three years at sea. They would take some of those men and put them on another ship and out
14:56
they would go and they wouldn't see their family for many years. They were not volunteers. They were under constraint.
15:11
And perhaps the elders chosen and appointed by others are among those who once they were exposed to the hardship, to the reality of
15:21
and the pressures of and the dangers of shephering the flock that they were not inclined to accept the duties,
15:32
the duties, the long hours of study, the structure with the languages being first in line for blame,
15:44
the misunderstandings, misguided accusations that can quench the desire to serve. One writer wrote, "An elder under constraint loses his joy,
15:58
and the church will suffer for it. Not every man can or wishes to carry the weight of pastoral care, especially in
16:09
the light of the things that Peter has been speaking of here in chapter 4, the fiery ordeal among you, he calls it.
16:22
But what should this service look like? An elder must serve because he wants to, not because he has to.
16:32
not meaning to be urged to do his task, but Peter says according to the will of God. Perhaps the oversight is to be done
16:58
what Peter has here according to the will of God. probably as I [clears throat] see it according to the pattern that we see in Christ
17:13
asking himself how did Jesus shepherd the flock how did he gather people how did he pastor them how did he defend the flock asking himself how will the church not
17:33
But I do know that it does not mean that oversight is to be done to the norm of the society in which we live. That's what Peter, I think, is speaking against. Not under compulsion, not
17:45
lording it over, not greedy, poor, filthy lucr. I did come across this quote
17:57
and I didn't get to read the article and I forgotten who wrote it but it made me stop and think. It said AI can teach a classroom full of
18:10
students but it cannot guide their souls. There are people who can teach. There are people who have qualifications,
18:22
but can they guide people's souls? Can they defend the flock? Can they do those things that we talked about last week? Can they keep the flock well
18:34
placed and wellfed and well- guided and well led?
18:46
The elder must embrace God's will. God's will for the church, not make the church follow his own will. And yes, there is some duty that is
18:58
drudgery. I call it grunt work, things that have to be done and the elder must do it to the best of his ability. But I think as one author says, the main
19:11
motive cannot be just the duty. The main motive cannot be an expectation that my reputation will increase or that I will have attain some social status.
19:30
Paul says to the Corinthians, "Each one must do as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. But that cheerful giving is not limited to money.
19:48
But giving in terms of service also counts and begrudging service in the house of God is not acceptable. But again I think it goes back to that
19:59
that love of Christ and love for Christ. It yields the willingness and the willingness yields the diligence and the
20:09
diligence yields the readiness and the readiness yields to wholehearted desire to shepherd the flock.
20:25
But Peter also says that exercising oversight is not for sorted gain but with eagerness. It's not for the sake of what some of
20:38
your translations call filthy looper or dishonest gain. dishonest gain. Not greedy for personal gain but but eager to be of service. Or another
20:49
translation could be of a ready mind. Scripture supports the practice of financial compensation of elders.
21:05
Galatians 6, the one who has taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. But scripture also warns of its abuse. In 1 Timothy 6, Paul writes, "But those
21:18
who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction."
21:29
As he goes on to say, the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. So the problem is not receiving payments
21:42
but serving for the sake of payments rather than serving the Lord.
21:54
He could be talking about embezzlement. That's theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one's trust in which you take them for yourself. [clears throat]
22:04
Someone called these type of people mercenaries. Their primary concern is making money
22:15
without any regard to the ethics involved. And one who serves merely for the pay. There are mercenary fighters around the world even today.
22:26
He could also be called a hierling. And if we read John 10, you meet the hireling. But as soon as the wolf comes, he's out of there. He has no regard for
22:39
the flock. It is for his own advantage, his own gain. [cough]
22:50
Last year, I read a book called The Confidence Game. Confidence Game. It's a book about how people take advantage of other people. Starting from the shell game, going up to chapter 10,
23:02
which has the intriguing title, the real oldest profession. oldest profession. And in that chapter, the author uh tells
23:12
us of a man by the name of C. Thomas Patton. He said the C stands for cash. and his wife BB had a ministry under the
23:26
Fundamental Ministerial Association in California in the 1940s.
23:39
They held rallies and revival and they and they supposedly taught the word of God, preached the gospel. By the mid 1940s, they were raking in5
23:51
to $6,000 to $6,000 a week. Their method was basically to say to the congregation
24:04
that they had a revelation from God that he would provide so much money that night. For example, one night he said, "I the Lord told me that there is $50,172.89
24:21
here, and if God says it's here, it is here. Now, who's going to be the first to come forward and drop their money in?" And we'll be here until we raise
24:37
By 1950, the couple had $1 million in the bank. the bank. They had four Cadillacs, two Packers, one Lincoln, one Chrysler, one Oathmobile in the garage, and apparently
24:48
and apparently 200 pairs of $200 cowboy boots in the glove. But they also had
24:58
indictments on charges of grand theft, fraud, embezzlement, and obtaining money under false pretenses. false pretenses. They were not a cult.
25:09
They were exploiting the need for people to believe in something, but they were doing it for their own private gain. They claim to be raising
25:21
money, for example, to build a church, to build a school in Guatemala or Uganda. They were, of course, needing money to
25:34
spread the gospel. But it was all fraud. Wrongfully and criminally
25:46
deceiving with the intended result of financial personal gain.
25:57
But it was worse than fraud because it was done in the name of the Lord and to his flock. They fleece the flock.
26:12
Peter's warning. Avarest blinds a man. That slow growing greed. When they made a little money, they wanted more money. And when they made
26:24
more money, they wanted even more money. And that slow brewing greed corrupts good motives and ministries.
26:40
And I think Peter's concern is as he has called them before resident aliens. You're you're in the midst of a watching, distrustful, watching, distrustful, suspecting society.
26:52
suspecting society. And any hint of scandal revealing greedy ministers is going to bring enemies like sharks to
27:04
blood. That's what they're looking for. And as we saw this morning in Sunday school, any of these types of things
27:23
enemies of the church of God and brings shame upon the church itself because of the leaders. The opposite of course is what Peter is
27:33
calling here eagerness. a ready mind, a willingness to do this. But I see also
27:43
plainly in the words of Paul again to the Corinthians, the Corinthians, I do not seek what is yours, but you. I will most gladly spend and expend
27:57
myself for your souls. That is the attitude of the overseeing
28:11
But Peter adds one more. Nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but becoming examples to the flock. Perhaps Peter is remembering the words of the Lord Jesus. In Mark chapter 10,
28:24
for example, those who are recognized as elders of the Gentiles lorded over them and their great men exercise authority over them.
28:34
over them. One issue is that they're using their position as an officer in the church to rule over people to advance their own interests by lording it over them.
28:48
Pastoral oversight is not dictatorial rule. It is not a weing of power. But the danger is the man
29:01
becoming recognized or wanting to become recognized. Attracting notice that starts to draw people to himself.
29:12
to himself. But if he draws attention to himself, it takes attention away from God
29:30
issue is these men undermine the authority of the scriptures either by adding to it or subtracting from it and by that make
29:42
men's consciences weak. That they lord it over them by telling them things that are not the truth of scripture.
29:53
And elders must present God's word, not their own decrees. Elders must exhort that people follow God's will, not the elders wishes.
30:11
And what is the counteractivity? Continually becoming examples to the flock. When when Peter writes in verse two, the flock of God among you and
30:22
those allotted to your charge in verse three, I think those are the same thing. The people entrusted in God's providence to the elders,
30:41
they are the object of those northern. Those are the ones that he is speaking of. And this idea of this allotted, this word lot, word lot, it it meant a a marked object like a a
30:52
dice that they would toss or cast to make decisions, but it also was used to tell that assignment that resulted from
31:03
that casting that dice. In the Old Testament, we we see that it was the the lots were God. This is what God ordained or aortioned or distributed.
31:16
And so possibly this metaphor that Peter uses, this allotting [snorts] to their charge is meant to show that it is a divine appointment of the elders to this
31:29
particular flock. particular flock. But if that's true, if this is God appointed, God ordained, God's
31:45
providence, the elders need to recognize that the Christian believers among them are sheep assigned by God to their care.
31:56
That responsibility. That responsibility. But as I said before, remember that he's writing to a Christian congregation.
32:08
Christian congregation. So if God has ordained that this is the flock under their care, the believers also need to acknowledge the elders as their appointed elders, their
32:23
undersheperds, their guardians. And elders, I think we also can see, lead their portion of God's flock. There
32:36
is, and we'll see this with the arch shepherd, all of God's universal church, his people. And yet the elders were not responsible for all of them, but for the
32:50
flock allotted to their charge. And I think by that he means these are the ones that you are among. These are the ones that you know. Which again when
33:03
I say that you know churches call a pastor and if he preaches an eloquent sermon oh he's the one we want he does not know the flock.
33:13
It's a dangerous practice I think to bring someone in who does not know the flock. And again, I think that's what Peter is saying here. But to be examples
33:27
and be [clears throat] becoming examples to the flock. One of our sons attended a church in Charleston um by by satellite. They went
33:42
to a place, an auditorium, and then at an appointed time appeared on the big screen, and it was beamed to five or six other churches,
33:53
other churches, and that was church. And he realized that that was not a real church and left there and went to a smaller real congregation.
34:05
But I was thinking about that when one of the commentators wrote, "Sheep cannot be managed by telecommunication. Sheep need
34:16
examples. They need someone there. They need to be the elder needs to be seen. He needs to be known
34:31
by those for whom he cares because their lives must support their
34:42
Example setting is more about the heart than it is by design. It's more about the motivation within than the method
35:04
So Peter lists for the safety of the flock, for the the joy of the congregation, both the elder [clears throat] and the sheep. Three sins that owners can fall into.
35:17
Begrudging their duties. Greed for filthy luer. Lording it over the congregation for personal gain.
35:27
I think he makes these not as just suggestions but three demands. volunteer eagerly volunteer eagerly with unselfish devotion
35:39
and be a model that sheep want to pattern their lives after. Let us pray.
35:50
Our father, we do thank you for this vision of the flock and the undersheperd and the joy that is to be
36:02
be part of life even amidst the persecution and suffering. However they walk, wherever they walk, that there will be a joy knowing that the shepherd cares
36:17
and the sheep respond. They hear his voice and they know it and they are willing to follow because he is trustworthy. He is found faithful. And
36:29
so I ask, Father, that you would not only build this church, strengthen Chuck, strengthen me, any that would follow us
36:41
to do this job. And I pray that you would strengthen the congregation to understand what it means to be a church, what it means to be a flock of God. And so I ask
36:53
these things not for my glory but for yours not for my gain my gain but that you may build your church and
37:04
she may be a glorious thing in your sight. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. name. Amen. Please rise for the benediction
37:14
from Psalm The Lord will protect you from all evil. He will keep your soul.
37:26
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever more.
