1 Peter chapter 5, we've been going
through the epistle, epistle general it's called, because
it wasn't directed to any specific congregation as such, and yet
the apostle does speak about some specific things. He spoke
about a fiery trial recently that he knew was going to befall
the men and women to whom he wrote. And he has been both specific
and general in some of the things that he has said. We're going
to begin reading 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 1. Just a few verses today from
the opening of this chapter. Peter writes, 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 looker, but of a ready mind. Neither
is being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading. Our precious Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, often used, as indeed does the whole of scripture,
language of the shepherd in order to describe for us those heavenly
things that he would have us know and learn. He speaks of
shepherding things, things to do with the flock, things to
do with the care of the flock, and he describes himself and
he describes his people and his role in shepherding terms. He is the Lamb of God. And John the Baptist could say
of him, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of
the world. He called himself the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gave his life
for his sheep. And he called his church his
little flock. Fear not, little flock. It is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom." And so we find these words, this
vocabulary of the shepherd coming through a lot in the Saviour's
own talk and discussions. And in John chapter 21, when
the saviour was giving his commission to his disciples, to the apostles,
we discover that he calls upon Peter specifically and the other
disciples generally to feed his lambs and to feed his sheep. There is a feeding going on when
we think about a shepherd and his flock, a care and an attention,
the provision of good things and well-being for those that
are the object of attention. And the Lord Jesus called on
the apostles to look after and to feed his sheep. And I think it's beyond coincidence
that almost the exact phrases that the Lord used in John 21
to Peter, when he was about to leave and go back to heaven,
to ascend into heaven following his resurrection, when the Lord
spoke to Peter, Peter then takes almost exactly the same words.
and conveys them to the elders to whom he is writing here in
this epistle. Peter's getting old now, and
it seems as if he is getting ready to pass on the responsibility. Christ was the good shepherd,
and he committed to the apostles as undershepherds those duties
of feeding the flock of God. And Peter, in his aged state,
now looks to the elders in the congregations that have been
established in order that they should take the responsibility
that he and the other apostles were now becoming too old to
fulfill. The church as God's flock is
a very apt title It's an apt analogy. Sometimes we don't like
to think of ourselves as sheep, and yet that's what the scripture
calls us, and aptly so. Maybe you know the word sheepish.
Sheepish, you're easily frightened, you're sort of introspective
and not outward going. Sheep. are easily frightened. Sheep are prone to wander. Sheep are generally foolish. I don't see so many sheep around
in the fields here, but where I used to live in England, there
were sheep everywhere. We were a hillside community
and the farmers around about us, they raised sheep. And you
could get up in the morning and open your curtains and there
would be a flock of sheep in your garden. And they would be
eating all your vegetables. And they were just so foolish
that if they saw a wall, they thought that was a challenge.
And they would just leap the wall and they would be in the
middle of the road and you would be driving along and you would
be saying to yourself, silly mother sheep, get your lambs
off the road. And yet, that's what we're like. We're foolish and prone to wonder,
we're easily frightened, and the Bible speaks properly when
it calls us a flock of sheep. But I think, in truth, the principal
reason for speaking about the sheep as such is really to draw
our attention to the shepherd. because it's the shepherd of
the sheep and it is the role of the shepherd and it is the
identity of the shepherd that is the principle view that we
ought to have. Yes, our Saviour is a good shepherd
because he has all of the attributes and the character of one who
looks after his people. And as he is the shepherd, so
we are the sheep. And whether we're thinking about
Psalm 23, where it speaks about, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want, and making ourselves see the way in which the Lord
God and the Lord Jesus Christ fulfills so many wonderful roles
and responsibilities for us. or whether it's where we think,
as Peter has already spoken in chapter two and verse 25, that
there is a shepherd and bishop of our souls. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the shepherd, the great shepherd and bishop of our souls. So he is the one who provides
for us and he is the one who leads us and the one who guides
us in this life. And we are his sheep. and we
follow after him. And there are under-shepherds
who have been appointed to fulfil a role in the flock of God and
it is these to whom Peter is speaking in these opening verses
of chapter 5. But before I think about the
elders or the pastors, these under shepherds that I want to
draw your attention to, I want to do one other thing here. I want to think about what Peter
says in this opening verse about the sufferings of Christ. Because
Peter had the right, as an apostle, he calls himself an elder, thereby
identifying with these elders to whom he is writing, but he
calls himself an apostle also. He says that he was an apostle
because he was a witness of the sufferings of Christ. And that
was one of the characteristics of the apostles, those who had
the first rule, the apostolic responsibility and authority
in the New Testament church. a witness of the sufferings of
Christ. And I want you to realize, once again, just how Peter has
drawn our attention to the sufferings of Christ. Peter had the right
to say, now here's the instructions, here's the rules, here's the
law, here's what I require of you, here's what I demand of
you, here's the job description. But he doesn't do that. He says,
think about Christ. Think about what the Lord has
done. Think about how the Lord has suffered for you. And I say
to you from this pulpit, as I will undoubtedly repeat many times,
we don't need rules and regulations in the church. We need to look
at the sufferings of Christ. Because if we see the suffering
Christ, we will know how to act. to him, and to one another, and
to this world. Because the suffering Christ
is the one who is to fill our attention and fill our gaze. So he draws our attention to
the things that the Saviour suffered. And it's interesting that he
uses the word in its plural form. It's the sufferings of Christ.
He could have said the suffering of Christ, but he doesn't. He
says the sufferings of Christ to remind us that the Lord Jesus
Christ suffered in so many different ways. He suffered in his body. He suffered in his soul. He suffered
in his mind. He suffered in his emotions.
There is not a form of suffering that you experience today that
the Lord Jesus Christ is not intimately identified with. He knows what you're going through.
He knows what you feel because he's walked that path before
you. And Peter, I'm sure, knew full
well some of the breadth of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Lamentations 1, verse 12,
we read, Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. This is a messianic prophecy.
It's to do with Christ. Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. That was Christ. God his father afflicted him
in the day of his fierce anger, and there's not a form of suffering
that the Lord Jesus Christ did not endure. That's why we sometimes
call him, as Isaiah did, a man of sorrows. A man of sorrows. And I think that Peter was conscious
of the personal hurt that he had caused the Lord Jesus Christ. The personal hurt that he had
inflicted upon his friend. You remember the situation where
the Lord had been taken into the judgment court and there
he was being abused, he was being spat upon, he was being punched. They blindfolded him. And then
they hit him. They mocked him. They took a
reed and they whipped him. They took a crown of thorns and
they put it on his head. And they said, dance for us. And a little girl said to Peter,
aren't you one of his disciples? And with swearing and cursing,
he said, I never met this man before in my life. And the Lord
Jesus Christ turned round and looked at him. You want to know
what suffering is? I think there was more suffering
in that look than there was in the punches and in the beatings
that the Saviour took in his body. Peter calls it the sufferings
of Christ because our Saviour took them all. Turn with me to John chapter
21. I just want to make a reference there if you'll allow me the
time to do so. John chapter 21. to the way in which that particular
passage of feeding the sheep was laid upon Peter and the other
disciples. John chapter 21, and look at
verse 17, just for context. It all had come from it, it all
flowed from that moment where Peter denied the Lord. And he
said, verse 17, he saith unto him, Christ is speaking to Simon,
Simon Peter, he saith unto him, 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. 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 thine hands, and another shall gird thee,
and carry thee whither thou wouldst not. This spake he, signifying
by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he saith unto him, follow me. Okay, you see what has happened
here? Peter was given this commission
to feed the sheep of God. But then the Lord Jesus Christ
told him, Peter, you're a fine man. You're a strong man. When you were young, you wrapped
your belt around you and you could get those nets, you could
get that boat and you could drag that boat out of the water by
yourself. But see Peter, see when you're
old, they're going to come and take you away. And they're going
to tie your arms to a cross and they're going to carry you where
you don't want to go. And this, Peter, is how you're
going to glorify me in your death." Well, Peter was now old, and
he takes that commission that he was given to feed the sheep,
and he's passing it on to these elders. He's saying to these
elders, now I'm old. This is about to happen to me.
What the Lord said is about to happen to me. They're about to
come and take me away. They're about to come and tie
me to a cross as they did my saviour. Soon I am about to partake in
that promised glory that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about. We naturally recoil from death. But spiritually, a believer should
embrace his death. There should be an anticipation
about it because the dying of a believer magnifies the glory
of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. The death of a believer is, each
and every one of them, a testimony to the fact that that soul doesn't
go down to hell, but is taken into the presence of the Lord.
Every single soul that rises into heaven is a testimony of
the accomplishments of our Saviour Jesus Christ. And therefore every
believer that dies partakes in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
in their very death. We live to his glory as best
as we are able and we will die to his glory because the Lord
Jesus Christ will be glorified even in the death of his saints. That was the first thing I wanted
to say to you. I want to also just draw your attention to what
Peter said with respect to these elders to whom he was writing. because there has been from the
very earliest time a structure and an order in the church. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
leave us to randomly go about the business of church establishment
and worship without leadership and direction. and Paul and Peter
and James and John, they all speak about, in their letters,
they all speak about elders and bishops and presbyters and overseers. And these names are all essentially
the same. If you want to get out a Bible
dictionary and go back into the Greek and the Hebrew and look
at the examples of the history of the synagogue and the temple
and try to work out all the different names, where they've come from,
you spend your time doing that. But let me tell you that as far
as the New Testament usage is concerned, it's pretty much all
the same. And I want to make a point here
about that because there are a plethora of denominations around
about us and they're all structured differently. They've got their
bishop here and their ministers there and everybody has got their
structure. You know what? It doesn't amount
to a heap of beans, the structures of a church. It's the calibre
of the people that serve and lead. That's what's important.
That's what's important. And all of these names recognised
that nevertheless the Lord Jesus Christ committed the spiritual
oversight of the local church into the hands of those who were
fitted to serve and minister to the local congregation. These men had a responsibility
for leadership, for teaching and for pastoral guidance. Jeremiah chapter three, verse
15, we see this prophetically anticipated. We read there, I
will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. Okay, that was the Lord saying
way back before the Lord Jesus Christ ever came in the days
of Jeremiah, he said, I will give you pastors according to
mine heart. which shall feed you with knowledge
and understanding. And then in Ephesians chapter
four, verse 11, Paul writes, and he gave. That's the fulfillment
of the promise of Jeremiah. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. So these elders to whom Peter
is writing here, the elders which are among you, I exhort, he says. These elders or pastors or whatever
we want to call them, presbyters, bishops, whatever, it doesn't
matter, overseers, these are undershepherds. These are pastors
called, directed to lead and to feed the people of God. Now, let me just get something
out of the road here. Elders, pastors, are men, okay? They're men, they're male, they're
masculine. They are the husband of one wife, that is one of the
qualifications for them, and they are apt to teach. The teaching
role was committed to men in the church. The apostolic testimony
for that is clear. So these elders and pastors are
men. And while it appears as an office
in the church, it is best rather to think of it as a function.
Okay, you can appoint anybody you like to be your pastor or
your bishop. or your elder. You can appoint
whoever you like. The question is this, can they
do the job? Are they up to the function of
doing the job? It's not a position, it's a role. It's something that is evidenced
by its fulfillment. And a rigid structure, a rigid
hierarchy is less important than the caliber of the man that fulfills
the role. Does he have the gifts to do
the job is the question. So the feeding of the flock is
the function that Peter identifies here in this opening verse. The
feeding of the flock of God. It's God's people, they're God's
flock, God's people, and they are to be fed. Okay, now you
feed sheep on grass, but that's not what you feed God's people
on. You have to bring forth spiritual nourishment. The feeding that
we're talking about is spiritual. It is to nourish the souls of
men and women. You nourish the souls of men
and women by lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ. You nourish their
souls by declaring the gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus
and the things that he has done. And that presentation of Christ,
it will be milk for babes and it will be strong meat for those
who are strong men, more mature. And so there is a role of bringing
forth spiritual truth, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
plan of God, the purpose of God, the covenantal purposes of God
from all eternity to establish and gather to himself a flock
of his own, his own church, that we bring forth week by week as
we endeavor to build up the church and feed and nourish the souls
of men and women in the gospel. This is a delegated role from
the Lord Jesus Christ. We stand in the place of Christ. He is the good shepherd. We are
the under shepherds. First it was the apostles and
then those to whom the apostles committed it and delegated it.
And so we are told, feed my sheep. These are his sheep. There is
a responsibility to watch over the flock. A responsibility to
know the people to whom we speak, have a knowledge of them, be
aware of their spiritual state, be aware of their circumstances.
There is a responsibility to what is sometimes called administer
the ordinances. What does that mean? It means
we preach the gospel. It means we lift up Christ. and
whether that preaching is done vocally from the front or whether
it is pictorially in the ordinance of baptism where the individual
goes down into the water and is raised again or whether it
is pictorially again as the elements are taken, the bread and the
wine, and are broken and are distributed. This is all the
preaching of the gospel. It is all the bringing forth
of spiritual food and nourishment to the body of Christ. We are to lead worship. We are to visit the sick. We
are to comfort those who mourn. We are to pray with the people
and pray for the people. And surprisingly frequently in
the lists of the responsibilities that fall to the pastors is that
they are to be hospitable. So these are the things that
we find are the function of the people to whom these things are
committed. And it was established by Christ
for the well-being of the church. Done well, and the flock prospers. Done badly, and the people of
God suffer. Let me point this out too, that
the Lord Jesus Christ himself is the pattern for this pastoral
leadership. And pastors serve, just to move
down into verses two and three. Pastors serve who do so not by
constraint, but willingly, willing to protect
the flock. David was called a good shepherd. He wasn't a hireling who ran
away when trouble came, but he defended the sheep at the risk
of his own life. When the lion came, when the
bear came, he stood in front of the sheep and he took his
life in his hands and he killed the lion and he killed the bear.
And I think in a wonderful picture form, we see that even in so
doing, he was being prepared to kill Goliath, to take down
the giant and therefore be seen as the leader and pastor, as
King of Israel. In picture form, we see even
there, the pastoral role being fulfilled. And surely we see
a picture in all of that of the Lord Jesus Christ, that epitome
of the good shepherd, who fought for us, who defends us. We rest on thee our shield and
our defender. And he, as he came into this
world, was willing and he was brave and he was dedicated to
the salvation and deliverance of his people, even to the receiving
the very wrath of God upon his soul and all the sufferings that
came upon him. They do not serve for personal
gain, but they are compelled to serve. Ministry is a calling,
it is not a career. The minister serves, he is a
servant of the church. And yet the laborer is worthy
of his hire and the ox is not to be muzzled as it treads out
the grain. But he serves as one dedicated
to the cause of Christ, for the good of the flock, for the well-being
of the people. And he does not become entangled
in the affairs of the world. But he studies, as Paul tells
Timothy, to show himself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. That's the
elder, that's the pastor, that's the bishop, that's the one who
is charged over the flock of Christ. He's not domineering,
but he leads by example. The sheep hear the voice of Christ
and they follow him. They hear the voice of Christ
from the man that Christ has placed before the congregation. This is God's church. It's not
mine. This isn't my church. This is
God's church. It's God's heritage. He forged
it. He won it. He calls it and he
preserves it. We are Christ's bride and we
respect a bride, don't we? We should. We respect a bride. We hear the bride and the groom,
we hear the bride giving her promises, making her commitments
to honour, to serve, to love, to cherish, to stand by her man. and we respect that and we honour
it. The Lord would not break a bruised
reed, and neither should I. The Lord would not quench smoking
flax, nor should I. He would be gentle, kind, faithful,
And I should be also kind to you and gentle in my dealings
with you, faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been
received from the apostles and from the Savior himself, exhibiting
qualities to emulate and to engender amongst us of faith and good
doctrine. And when I fall short, and when
I fail, and when I get it wrong, and thereby lead the Lord's flock
astray, may the Lord grant forgiveness to me. And may he grant speedy
recovery for pastor and for people that the name of Christ be not
damaged and the work of the gospel be not brought into disrepute. Lastly, we have this. that the
Lord Jesus Christ promises everlasting glory. There is a provision from
the Lord, pastors to lead. There is a pattern that he has
given, and we've seen that pattern. We're not domineering, we're
not in it for filthy lucre, we're not seeking to aggrandize ourselves. But here is the promise that
there is everlasting glory to be found in the church of Jesus
Christ. The chief shepherd shall appear
with crowns of glory that never fade away. That's a blessed comfort
for the people of God to know that our saviour is coming soon. Our saviour is coming. Hey! Our Savior is on His way. He is on His way. It's an encouragement to persevere.
Peter has been talking about these fiery trials. He has been
talking about the fact that there is a need to lead. We're not doomsday people. We're
not saying, soon it'll be over. It doesn't matter what we do.
Let's just buckle in because it's going to be a bumpy ride.
No, we're recognising that we are to grow in grace and a knowledge
of the truth. We are to encourage one another.
We are to develop one another. We are to seek to honour the
Lord in the things that we say and do. We are to be open-handed
to the men and women of our community. We are to seek the opportunity
to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ that he might enter into the
hearts and lives of men and women and save them and join them with
us in the flock of God. But the promise at the end of
the day is this, that Christ is coming and he's coming soon
and it's an encouragement to us to press on in these labours. not that we serve for honour,
not that we serve for glory or prominence or privilege. God
forbid. Rather, we say we are unprofitable
servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. Yet, in his grace, the Lord has
prepared a crown of glory for his people. an unfading inheritance
of peace and joy and never ending happiness. All free, unmerited
and gracious. I serve a saviour who suffered
for me. A shepherd who leads and guides
and nourishes my soul. A king who is returning in glory
for me, all for his love and all of grace. So what if trials come? And what if hardship looms before
us? And if our service exacts a high
toll and wearies us and weakens us in this flesh, Peter says, your Savior is on
His way. Your Savior is coming soon, even
now, coming for you with crowns of glory in His hand and wreaths
of honor in His train. We will never earn his blessing. We will never deserve or merit
it. Yet out of love, he delights
to do us good. He delights to bestow glory upon
us liberally and to enrich his people with gifts of goodness
and grace and glory. May the Lord inspire his church
and his people to follow him ever more closely with renewed
visions of his excellent loveliness and an enlarged view of his grace
towards us. Amen.