All right, brethren, we're going
to be in 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 5, the first
seven verses. So 1 Peter 5, verses 1 to 7. And the apostle now is, we're
in the last chapter, and he's drawing to a conclusion of his
letter to the church, and he's been strengthening the brethren,
giving them assurance throughout the entire letter that the afflictions
and the trials that they're going through and that they're experiencing,
he's assuring them that they are according to the will of
God for them. He's comforting in them because
the believers are being, are going through affliction and
trials that are very severe and so he wants to assure them that
this is according to the will of God for you. And then what
we see him do here in this last chapter is that he turns his
attention to the elders first, and he addresses them, and then
we'll see he turns his attention to the members there at the local
assembly. So, this morning we'll behold
the gracious words of Peter, and you'll notice that these
are humble words. He's not just authoritatively
dictating to the elders and the brethren there, but rather he
has a tender and a humble spirit in which he says these words
to them. And so pray that the Lord teach
us because he taught Peter these words. He taught Peter these
words by experience. Peter knows what he's speaking
from what the Lord had to teach him in the heart. And the Lord
was very tender and gracious to him. And so that's how he
speaks to the brethren there, to the elders and to the brethren
there at the church. He speaks very kindly and tenderly
to them. I pray that the Lord would bless
his word to sink into our ears and down in our hearts and that
it move us by the spirit, that it teach us as well as it taught
him. So our title is Caring Words. And we'll have two divisions
for Caring Words. We'll see a humble reminder and
then we'll look at this word of wisdom that he speaks to the
brethren. All right, so humble reminder. Let's look at the first
four verses. He says, the elders which are
among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that
shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which
is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but
willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. neither
as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown
of glory that fadeth not away." So Peter now is very much affected
by the thought that his time in the flesh is drawing near,
right? His death, the time of his death
is drawing near, and he seems to have in view the time when
he was with the Lord on the shores of Galilee, right? That seems
to be very much in his mind as he's saying these words, because
if you remember in John 21, verses 18 and 19, our Lord said to Peter,
verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest
thyself and walkest, whither thou wouldest, But when thou
shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another
shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not. This
spake he signifying what death he should glorify God. And when
he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. And Peter's
thinking of that time when those are probably some of the last
words that Christ spoke to him there before he ascended up to
heaven, and he's remembering the weakness of his own flesh. He's reminded that he is a sinner
and what he did to the Lord. And there's a sweet disposition
that's evident in the words that he uses because he says to the
elders, feed the flock of God. Feed the flock of God. And that
carries both a stinging reminder where he remembers how he how
he denied his Lord three times when he was going to be crucified,
when he was turned over to the council, and he denied the Lord
three times, and he remembers that, and he remembers as well
the kindness that the Lord showed him in restoring him with three
words that he said to him three times. It says in John 21, verses
15 through 17, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me more than these? And that's because Peter, when
before the Lord was taken away, Peter was very bold and he said,
I'm not going to forsake. I love you. I'm with you. I'm
not going to leave you. Everybody else might leave you,
but not me. And he said it in Mark 14 29, but Peter said unto
the Lord, although all shall be offended, yet will not I.
He was very bold and very confident that he would stand with the
Lord, but now he's humbled. He knows that it's not in him. It's not in his flesh. It's not
his ability to stand before the Lord. And so, Peter said unto
him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto
him, Feed my lambs. And that's because only those
who love the Lord ought to be feeding the Lord's sheep, his
precious sheep and his inheritance. And Jesus saith unto him again
the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith
unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto
him, Feed my sheep. And he saith unto him the third
time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because
he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. So now we see Peter humbled
and knowing that We can't boast of and talk about what we're
going to do for the Lord, because the Lord's going to show us that
we're not strong in our own flesh, that we are weak and that we
need Him. And it's His grace that teaches
us and it's His grace that sustains us and it's His grace that secures
us and secures us and preserves us in Him. And it's not our fervency,
it's not our drive and our will that's going to do that because
we're going to see that we fall and we stumble but it's Christ
and it's Him who does that. So Peter now, he's an elder and
he's commissioned an apostle by the Lord and he's a witness
of Christ's resurrection and he's rejoicing. He's remembering
that I too am a partaker of the grace that's to come upon all
the church, the grace that's to be revealed when Christ returns. So he knows how he took himself
out. but how the Lord wouldn't let
it happen. The Lord sustained him. The Lord kept him and restored
him in his grace and mercy. So now he says to the elders
of the local assembly saying, feed the flock of God which is
among you. And Christ addresses his elders
as well in Luke 12. Luke 12 42 he's speaking to the
elders and the Lord said who then is that faithful and wise
store whom his Lord shall make ruler over all all his household
to give them their portion of meat in due season so the elder
is to rule the household of the Lord well, and that refers to
the local assembly. None of us are apostles today.
The apostles seem to have more authority over the church at
large, but the elder is there over the local assembly, and
his primary responsibility is to preach Christ. That's what
he's first and foremost to be doing, to preach Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, because that's what it is to give them their
portion in due season. We feed upon the body and the
blood of Christ. So we preach Christ because that's
what is nourishing to the sheep. That's what they feed on. That's
the pasture of the sheep to feed on Christ. And Peter says in
our text in verses 2 and 3, 1 Peter 5, 2 and 3, feed the flock of
God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by
constraint but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready
mind. neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being
examples to the flock. And our Lord says in that parable
there in Luke 12 in verses 43 and 44, he says, blessed is that
servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Doing what? Feeding the flock
of God. He says in verse 44, of a truth
I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that
he hath. Well, what does the Lord have
here That's precious. It's you, brethren. You are the
precious inheritance of the Lord. You are the Lord's sheep. You're
his lambs. He loves you. He died for you. He gave himself for you. And
so in kindness, as a gift, he's given you a pastor. And my calling,
my focus, my ministry is to preach the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what I'm to speak of and to declare what Christ has accomplished
for you, how he has put away your sins, and how it's the Lord
who sustains you and keeps you and calls you to service to him,
to love him, and to love his brethren. And so I'm here to
encourage you in that, but that's what it is to to rule well over
the household of the Lord. It's not to be fed myself and
to take care of me, but rather to be spent for you, brethren,
because you're the inheritance of the Lord. You're His people,
and that's why He's given you a pastor. And so the Lord warns
the elders in Luke 12, 45 and 46. He says, but if that servant
say in his heart, he's speaking to the pastor, my Lord to lay
at this coming and shall begin to beat the men servants and
maidens and to eat and drink and to be drunken, right? If
I start to drink in the spirit of this age and the wine of this
world and the doctrines and the religion of this world and start
leaving off the Lord and start speaking to your flesh and inciting
your flesh and telling you what you need to be doing, that's
just speaking according to the spirit of this age. That's not
speaking according to Christ. That's not giving you your portion
of meat in due season. I'm now laying on you the the
way the world speaks and the way that this world is and that's
what I'm doing. Now I'm beating the sheep and
I'm mistreating you and I'm not doing what I'm called to do if
I'm not preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. So Peter is careful to
remind the elders that they have a calling and it's to minister
Christ. It's to preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to Paul's
testimony in Acts 20 verses 19 through 21. He's speaking of
himself and he says that he's serving the Lord with all humility
of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by
the lying in wait of the Jews. and how I kept back nothing that
was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught
you publicly and from house to house testifying both to the
Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ." So that we understand what we're
declaring here from the pulpit in saying repentance toward God
What we're saying is that God has provided the means of salvation
in His Son, Jesus Christ, and that through declaring Christ
and lifting up the crucified Savior, and that He is risen,
that He's accomplished our salvation, and lifting Him up and declaring
Him, God turns us from our idolatry in trusting in our works or trusting
in the false vain religions of man which looks to man's works
that we are turned from that to the salvation that God's provided
and he gives us faith and fixes it in the work that Christ has
done and in Christ himself that we're trusting that God's provided
everything for me in his son Jesus Christ. That's my hope. That's my salvation. So that's
what we're doing. We're just lifting up Christ
and he's granting us repentance from dead works to the salvation
he's provided in his son, Jesus Christ. It's that simple. That's
really what he's doing here among us and that's what he's teaching
us. But we know that that's not being done because all these
other so-called churches around us, they whip you and they beat
you by turning you back to man's works and something in your flesh
that you have to do. That's what's all being woven
in their message and in their services and their whole mission.
So Paul, an apostle, he served the Lord with all humility and
with many tears and temptations. He went through that. So it's
not an easy calling and I'm at the beginning of it. And so I
don't even think I've begun to enter into the problems that
Paul knew, or even other men, faithful men today, that they
go through, but regardless, we have the promise of the Lord
in his word that, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy, and
he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
So, it's a rewarding calling and no man who thinks or considers
the ministry should think that it's going to be an easy thing,
but there's going to be trials and hardships and temptations,
but that's what we're called to because it all works to the
benefit of the Lord's inheritance. We rejoice in that. We're happy
in that. Just as John the Baptist was
happy that he was going down and his Lord was being exalted.
We're thankful for that because that's the spirit that he gives
us because we want to see the Lord's people joyful and happy
and prospering in the Lord because that's what he does. The scriptures
even liken us to spittle clay, if you will. In John 9, when
the Lord, he uses means, so he uses men And he makes them faithful
to preach Christ and he's pleased to do that because that's what
he's pleased to do. And in John 9, when he heals
that blind man, what does he do? It says that he spit on the
ground and he made clay out of his spit with the dust there.
It says, when he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made
clay of the spittle and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with
the clay and that man received his sight and that's just a picture
of how the Lord uses means like a man to preach the gospel and
his spirit puts it in your heart. His spirit opens your mind and
his spirit teaches you and gives you life regeneration in the
new man where there was no life. He causes you to hear that word
and to rejoice so that he gives you eyes to see, that faith to
behold Christ. That he is everything and he
is sufficient and enough for me. So that's what we are. We're just spittle clay, a brittle
piece of clay that can be crushed and broken and thrown out just
like that. And Paul refers to us as earthen
vessels. We're just a clay pot, just earth,
just like clay. everyone else, and we carry forth
that precious seed, that word of Christ that goes forth into
the hearts of men as the Lord is pleased to put in our hearts. He said in 2 Corinthians 4, 7
and 8, I'm sorry, 7 through 13, but we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. We're troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. We're perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed. We're going through the same
afflictions in the fiery trial. as the brethren, so that we're
wondering, Lord, don't you want your word to prosper? But we're
having to be patient and pray and minister and just keep doing
that, waiting on the Lord to take that word and to work it
into the hearts of his children. As we'll see in the next message,
I think we'll cover it a bit, that it's the Lord who grows
and prospers his word, and we have to wait and be patient for
it because It's of the Lord that gives the increase. So, we're
persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed,
always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh
in us, but life in you. So he's teaching us through the
hardships that we would be faithful and not turn to the ways of this
world and not turn to the means and say, well, I want to grow
numbers. Let me see what they're doing down the street to grow
numbers. That's turning back to the ways of this world. That's
the drinking in of the spirit of this world. That's the beating
and the whipping by getting you guys all whipped up in the flesh. That's what that would be. Rather, we just work through
what the Lord has given us to do. We, having the same spirit
of faith, according as it's written, I believed and therefore have
I spoken. We also believe and therefore
speak. The elder is a minister sent
to the Lord to minister the grace that God has provided through
his son, Jesus Christ. That is, to lift up Christ. And
the spirit ministers grace into our hearts. He's the one who
teaches us. And he does this as it pleases him. And then Peter
says, and when the chief shepherd, he turns our eyes to Christ saying,
when the chief shepherd shall appear, verse four, ye shall
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. So that's our
motivation, brethren. It's to declare Christ because
He's our hope and our salvation. To declare that He did everything
necessary for you, brethren. He came while we were yet enemies
in our own flesh and warring against Him and walking according
to the spirit of this world and along with the children of disobedience.
He came while we were enemies and lay down his life for us,
saying to the Father, put their burden on me. I'll take all their
debt on me. I'll pay the price. And he paid
that price with his own blood to redeem us and to bring us
to himself that we would be his very inheritance, in whom he
delights. He delights in you, brethren.
He delights in you so much so that he laid down his own life
and spilled his blood to purchase you. And it pleases him to regenerate
us, giving us the spirit, causing us to hear this word, first naturally,
but more than that, spiritually, giving us life there where there
was no life so that we can now hear it and rejoice. in him. So, all right now, let's look
at a word of wisdom. So, he's addressed the elders,
he's put them in mind of what their calling is and how to execute
that calling properly, and now he turns to the congregation
and having seen the Lord's humility in laying aside his eternal Godhead
in in the sense that he he subjected himself to the father completely
he depended on him so he prayed and was weak and weary and hungered
and thirsty and even to the point where he died bearing the sin
of his people he trusted the lord fully so seeing his humility
now in in that spirit in that light peter says to the believers
in verse five verse peter five five likewise ye younger younger
in age, but you that are not called to be elders, but are
members of the church, he says, Submit yourselves unto the elder.
Yea, and all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed
with humility. For God resisteth the proud,
and giveth grace to the humble. So what does that look like,
to be subject one to another? In the flesh, it's a very adverse
concept or idea. We don't like that because we
don't want to submit ourselves to anybody. It's very unnatural
for us to consider even being subject one to another. That's
partly because we don't really know what that means, but more
than that, it's because there's an enmity. We don't want to submit
to the things of Christ. We don't want to hear what it
means in the Spirit. So, that's because in Romans
8, 5, it says, For they that are after
the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are
after the Spirit the things of the spirit, right? We have this
flesh, we know how this flesh is, we know how this flesh resists
and bucks against the truth and fights against that which is
spiritual and profitable for us and beneficial to the kingdom. So, we have the spirit of Christ,
though, dwelling in us, so we know that there's a truth here,
that this isn't said to us just to hurt us or to harm us, but
rather there's a benefit here, there's a truth here. And he
says in Romans 8, 4, that the righteousness of the law might
be fulfilled in us. Christ did what he did, that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. So what is
the righteousness of the law? What is that to fulfill the righteousness
of the law? It's to love one another, which
he says in his word, love one another. But that's the righteousness
of the law, right? You've fulfilled the law. Everything
that the law is saying is fulfilled in our love for one another,
in preferring one another before ourselves, in thinking of each
other, and caring for one another, and praying for one another,
and supporting one another. So when a person shows love to
another, whether it's someone in their family or even more
so, you see it evident in their enemy. When they show love to
another, that's the fulfillment of the whole law. He gave the
parable of the Samaritan, where the Samaritan took care of a
Jew because he had been beaten and harmed. He had no responsibility
to do that, but he saw a person in need and showed mercy and
did what he could for him. And that's what the Lord is saying.
It's not looking to the Ten Commandments and saying, right now what do
I got to do? But walking by the Spirit, it's not harming. one
another. It's not doing those things that
are going to cheat or harm or do anything that's contrary to
the law. In looking to the law, it's just
we have a spirit, so we don't want to do anything that would
hurt another. We do in the flesh. The flesh
will rise up, but we see it and the Lord humbles us and teaches
us that's not what we do. We don't do that. He delivers
us from that because that's why he gave us his spirit. We don't
want to walk in there. The flesh does. The flesh will
rise up and do those things, but he'll bring us back to himself
and show us that we're to love one another. Paul said it this
way in Romans 12.10, he said, be kindly affectioned one to
another with brotherly love and honor preferring one another. So we're to put, go to Ephesians
4, so we're to put one another first, and when we put ourselves
first, what does the other one do? They respond in kind by saying,
well, if you're not going to look out for me, I'm going to
look out for myself. And then they start putting themselves first and
taking care of themselves, right? So if you keep doing that, then
everyone's just going to keep putting themselves first. But
it takes someone saying, you know what? You go ahead. You have it, or whatever it is.
Even in the little things, it just starts with those little
kindnesses towards one another. He says in Ephesians 4, at the
end there, verse 32, he says, and be ye Be kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. And in 5 verse 1 and 2, be therefore
followers of God. As God's forgiven you for Christ's
sake, you be followers of God as dear children, and walk in
love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. And then concerning humility,
Paul wrote at the beginning of Ephesians 4, verses 1 through
3, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that
you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with
all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one
another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
and the bond of peace. So that's What it is to, that's
what he's saying when he says, be subject, be subject one to
another. He's just saying, prefer one
another, consider one another in love, treat one another in
love. When you're offended, because
we get offended, show love and forgiveness. Seek peace and pursue
peace with your brethren. Don't seek to retaliate because
as soon as you retaliate, you're just provoking them to retaliate
further and it just, there's not going to be peace there.
But if you show forgiveness and trust, Lord, You know, I don't
know what I did, show me what I did and teach me and I trust
that you'll