Peter's Principles for Shepherds, Part 1

Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 5. Tonight we want to embark on chapter 5 and look at some principles that God gives to us through the pen of Peter.

That particularly deals with shepherds. Next week, we're going to talk about the sheep and what principles are for them. But tonight, as we examine this together, I want you to see yourself as an overseer. I want you to see yourself as a leader. If you're a mom or a dad, if you're a parent. you have shepherding responsibilities. Of course, if you're an elder of the church, you have supreme shepherding responsibilities because you are held accountable for God for how you oversee the church. It's his flock and you're designed as an unders to oversee the church of God.

If you teach a class, if you have people under you and you have the opportunity to shepherd them, then to some degree you have shepherding skills. If you teach a woman's Bible study, You have shepherding skills, and the principles we give tonight are going to apply to your life, although Peter directly applies them to the leaders of the church. But before we begin, I want to talk to you about what Mary Ann Peop has written in a book entitled All We Like Sheep. She out for us several characteristics of sheep.

She emphasizes the fact that sheep need full-time supervision. They are the only animal that does need full-time Supervision. In fact, there are other herds of animals that you can fence in. You can Feed them, you can water them, and you can check on them occasionally. But with sheep, you have to watch over them continuously. They need full-time. Supervision. They must be watched day and night. And then she begins to describe to us some of the characteristics as to why that need to happen. She says, number one, you have to watch sheep all the time because, number one, they are not train.

They are not tra. The problem is, sheep never learn from their mistakes. They do the same thing over and over and over again. Trainable animals learn from their mistakes. They respond to punishment. They respond to favor. They remember pain. Sheep do not. She goes on to say that sheep knowing are not trainable, but they need full-time supervision because they are afraid to drink From running w. Sheep are afraid to drink from running water. Still water is sometimes stagnant, very harmful. Sheep are not aware of their need for water.

They can sit all day and graze at a field. With water nearby, but never go to the water and die because of dehydration. That is why sheep need full-time supervision. Also, because they have a natural tendency to follow the leader. You can't drive sheep. You must lead. Sheep. If you drive them, they will scatter. They recognize the voice of their shepherd and they respond to his call. Sheep need full-time supervision because when they fall on their spine, they do not have the ability to get back up.

Someone has to turn them over so they can stand on their four hoofs. Sheep, sheep, need full-time supervision because they cannot carry heavy loads on their back. Meaning this, you'll never see a sheep with a wagon being pulled behind them. Their backs are too fragile. They will break. So the shepherd must know his pasture. He must know where water is so that he takes them from place to place, making sure they have everything that they need when they arrive, because sheep can't carry anything on their backs.

Sheep need full-time supervision because they are absolutely defenseless. Their te are not used in any way, they never growl. Their hooves are not used to do anything ex walk and sometimes shuffle and Sometimes trot, but they don't do anything. Sheep cannot defend themselves. They are absolutely defensive, so someone has to be able to defend them. And also, sheep need full-time supervision because sheep need a daily touch. They will come daily. To the shepherd, and they will rub up against the shepherd, his leg, his arm, and they will wait.

For a pat on the head. Then they go away satisfied. Satisfied sheep eat, drink. Get fat and grow wool. They fulfill the purpose for which they were created. Now, having said that, you understand why God's analogy of his people is that they are sheep. You know, when the Lord dec to call us sheep, he knew our condition and our character. It's no wonder he's called the chief shepherd or the good shepherd. And God assigns under sh. People who will nurture his flock, nurture his people. In fact, if you think back in the Old Testament, the two greatest Old Testament leaders Were shepherds.

Moses and David. Why? Because in order to lead God's people, you had to have the characteristics of a shepherd. Moses would spend 40 years in the backside of the desert tending Jethro's sheep. It took him that long to figure out. The condition of sheep and why sheep do what they do, so that he would be able to handle two million murmuring Jews in the wilderness. But God prepared him. Because his people are like sheep. That's why in Isaiah 53 it says, All we like sheep have gone astray. Each has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Moses learned about human nature, tending Jethro's Sheep. David was the other one. David had been anointed the king of Israel. After being anointed at a very young age, what did he do? He went back out to tend sheep. And as he would be that shepherd boy, he would learn how to take care of the defenseless. How to watch over those who needed full-time supervision. Because as king, that would become his responsibility. He gained valuable experiencing tending sheep, and of course, he would write Psalm.

23, the most familiar of all the Psalms in modern-day Christianity. Well, Peter, in 1 Peter chapter 5, picks up on that. And tonight he's going to give us some principles about what shepherds need to do. Next week, he's going to tell us about principles about what sheep need to do. And so tonight I want you to notice two main points.

One is the prompting of Peter. What would prompt him to go this direction? And number two, the principles from Peter.

What are the principles that he gives to those who Consider themselves shepherds, under shepherds in God's kingdom, those who have the responsibility to oversee others. And Peter's very, very practical. Let me read to you the text, then we'll discuss it together.

1 Peter 5, verse number 1. Therefore, I exhort the elders among you. As your fellow elder, and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you. Exercising oversight, not under comp, but voluntarily according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. Not 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 the un.

Crown of glory. There are four principles here. I will take one from the Old Testament to give us five all together. But first of all, the prompting.

What would prompt Peter to address shepherds, elders, overseers in the church? Number one deals with his identity.

Number one deals with his identity. Peter says, Therefore, I exhort. The elders. Now you think that it's sort of out of place because he just finished chapter 4. Of course, there are no. Chapter breaks in the letter. We have put them there to help us understand a little bit more the text, but there are no chapter breaks in his original letter. So he goes right from judgment beginning in the house of God. And talking about entrusting yourself to a faithful creator and goes right into talking about elders, shepherds, those who oversee others in the church.

Why? Simply this. If judgment's going to begin in the house of God, it begins with those who lead. That's why. It begins with those who le. If you're going to have a pure church, you've got to have a pure leadership. If your leadership is impure, if your leadership goes the way of the world, it will lead the flock of God that direction. And there are a lot of people who go to churches that are overseen by impure leadership, and without them even knowing it, they are slowly but surely being led down the primrose path of impurity.

Because he gets so sucked into what's happening. And Peter says, if judgment's going to begin, let it begin, first of all, with the house of God.

And if it's going to begin with the house of God, it's got to begin with those who lead in the house of God. And Peter says, I am your fellow elder. He says, Therefore, I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder. He says, If judgment's going to begin in the house of God, it's going to begin with guys like me as well. Now, notice what he doesn't say.

He doesn't say, Peter an apostle. I'm an apostle, and you guys are just elders in the church. But I've seen the risen Christ. That wasn't his point. He's a humble man. This old fisherman has been humbled. By God. He doesn't view himself as above them, but alongside of them. That is his identity. He too is a shepherd. He too is among others who shepherd the flock of God. His experience in the past Does not make him better than anyone else. In fact, it really truly humbled him because you go from his identity to number two, his testimony.

Listen to what he says. He says, And witness of the sufferings of Christ. Again, notice what he doesn't say, he doesn't say a fellow elder as a witness of the resurrection.

Of Christ. He doesn't say that he was a witness of the trans. I was up on the mount and I saw the flesh of our Lord being unzipped and the glory of the Lord shining forth as a fellow elder. I'm a witness of the trans. I'm a witness of the resurrection. That is not what he says. He points to a very specific element of the life of Christ because it was that element that affected him the most. He's a witness of the sufferings of Christ. He's mentioning the most painful episode of his life. When he denied his Lord amidst all of his Lord's sufferings.

He denied him. He hid. He ran. He denied his God. How come? Why does he say that? Maybe to let them know that no matter how bad you think your situation is, restoration is always pos, no matter what you've done. And if judgment's going to begin in the house of God, and it begins with us first as leaders, if there's been something in your life that needs to be.

Disciplined or chastised by God Himself, let it be. But know this, that He is the restorer of man. He restores man to his original condition or to the condition that God Himself wants him to be. Because God is in the restoration business, God is in the reconciliation business, God is in the mending business, and Peter emphasizes that. With those who are fellow elders. Maybe in their aspect of suffering, maybe in going through their difficulty, they've even denied the Lord. Maybe in going through all the difficulties that they have gone through, and we have talked about them at length throughout our study of 1 Peter, that maybe they have not been the kind of leaders they need to be.

And they have sinned against the Lord. And Peter's saying, Look, restoration is possible. Look at me.

I was a witness of the sufferings of Christ. I was there. I denied him. But look what God has done with me. And look what God can do with you. That's good news for all of us, isn't it? He says, Look, a witness of the sufferings of Christ, the boy, I'm a partaker of the glory of the Lord. That's what God does. That's what God does. I've sinned, I've repented, I've been restored, and I will share with Christ in His wonderful glory. And there's a man who's come full circle. There's a man who has grown tremendously.

Peter is prompted, number one, by his identity, number two, by his testimony, and number three, by his responsibility.

He says, sh the flock of God. It's God's flock. It's not your flock. It's not my flock. It's God's flock. Isn't that good? This is not my church. It's my church in the sense that it's your church because we're part of the body of Christ and we're part of this local ministry. It's our church in that sense. But in all reality, the body of Christ is God's flock. This is His flock, these are His people, and God is very concerned about how people lead. How leaders lead his flock. Believe it or not. God's very concerned about, as parents, how we lead the little ones that he entrusts us.

us with. God's very concerned that as a leader of a group of people, maybe it be a Sunday school class or maybe it be a Bible study or maybe it be just some Discipleship ministry, God's very concerned that as a shepherd, as an overseer, as a leader, I do it his way and not my way because it's his people, not my people. That's important, isn't it? Shepherd the flock of God. He's the owner. He's the owner. And he uses a very unique word, po, which which. Peter used or was used in John chapter 21. Remember the confrontation with Peter and Christ when he said, Peter, do you love me?

Yes, I do. Then Feed my sheep. Then he says, shepherd my sheep. And then he says, feed my sheep. He uses the word bas, and then he uses the word po. Bos twice means to feed. Poim means to shepherd. All that to say this: that the primary emphasis of the shepherd is to feed. That's why Christ said, feed my lambs, shepherd my lambs, feed my lambs. Because the primary responsibility of the shepherd is to make sure the sheep are fed properly. They have the proper diet. They are able to understand what it is they are to be feeding those they lead.

Shepherd the fl of God. How are you going do that? Two ways. Provide for them and protect them. Turn me over to Acts 20 for a moment. Paul would say this to the Ephesian elders. Verse 28, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. To shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you. Not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

There, be on the alert. Remember that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one of you with Tears. And now I commend you to God and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Paul says, remember that for three years, day and night. Constant care, constant supervision, because sheep need constant supervision. I warned you with tears: two things you need to understand about the shepherd, and Paul explains them to us.

One is you need to provide for the sheep. How do you do that? Two ways: feeding and leading. Number two, you need to protect the sheep.

Two ways. How? Watching and warning. That's what Paul says. You need to be able to somehow provide for the sheep. To do that, you've got to feed them. That's what it means to. Shepherd the flock of God. In other words, do all the shepherding. You are the overseers. If you're going to feed them, you got to lead them as well. You got to go before them. You are the overseer. You are the shepherd. And shepherds lead by exam. So you need to be able to provide for them, provide for them the steady diet they need on a regular basis.

And on top of that, you've got to protect them. You've got to watch over them and you must warn them. You must be on the alert, watching for false teachers, watching for tares among the wheat, because many false prophets. Will arise. Matthew 7:15, Christ said, Beware of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Christ would say that in his first sermon there in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7 on the Sermon on the Mount where he would try to explain, look, that there will be people, shepherds who come among you that really are wolves.

They're in sheep's clothing, but they're wolves. And they will seek to destroy the people of God. So, as overseers, you to be a shepherd, you got to be a watcher, you got to be on the alert. And not only do you watch over them, you warn them. You warned them. You admonish them. Paul says, I admonish you. I was alert. Because he expected false teachers to come in. And sure enough, they did in Ephesus not too long after he left. It can happen to the best of churches, can't it? Sure it can. That's why those who lead must lead in a proper way.

That's those who lead must lead God's way, foll His word. So that's Peter's prompting. That's where he is. Look, God wants a pure church. So if judgment is going to begin in the house of God, it's going to begin with us first.

And I'm one of you. I'm no better than anybody else, Peter says, because I'm a witness of the sufferings of Christ. And it was his identity, his testimony, and the responsibility that God had given to him when God said, feed my sheep, shepherd my sheep, feed my lambs. Peter, you got to do that. You got to do that. That's your responsibility. Peter says, I understand that. And I want you men to understand that. You know, would it be that more of us who led in the church would understand the responsibilities that are there?

As a practical note, for those of us who lead our families as shepherds, fathers. To be able to provide for our children a steady diet, to watch over them and to warn them, to protect them from the evil one. That would be our responsibility, wouldn't it? Sure, it is. But Peter, he gives some principles. That's main point number two.

Let me give you five of them. Four are in this text, one is in the Old Testament. He says this: Shepherd the flock of God, verse number 2, among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God. Okay, number one, here it is.

Ready? B. Enthusiastic. Be enthusiastic. When you lead, don't do it under compulsion. But do it under volition. You know, whenever you're made to do something, you're not a very happy person, are you? If someone makes you do it, you feel compelled to do it. You have to do it. It's not very much fun, is it? You know, I can honestly say: no one makes me do what I do. I do it voluntarily. I do it willingly. I do it enthusiastically. Because I understand the will of God in my life. Here's the point. Be enthusiastic because of your calling.

Be enthusiastic because of your calling, not by compulsion. If you're going to shepherd the flock of God, don't show up and say, ah, well, let's go. I got to lead you. So follow along. That's not the kind of attitude you need. It's kind of like going to your Sunday school class and saying, well, you know, I know your teacher didn't show up today, so I'm all you got. So sit down, shut up, and listen to what I got to say. Because I got to be here because nobody else wants to teach you kids. That really doesn't want to make them listen to what you have to say.

But sometimes we find ourselves under compulsion. How much longer do I have to be in this position? When can I get out of it? I don't like it. We find ourselves almost feeling trapped. And Peter says, you know what? You need to do it according to the will of God. You need to do it according to your calling. Of course, maybe you haven't been called, but if you've been called. You need to be enthusiastic because of your calling. You need to do it willingly, not grudgingly. Not out of compulsion, not because you're pushed into service.

Whenever there's compulsion, there's a feeling of pressure. Whenever there's volition, there's a feeling of pleasure. Did you get that? Whenever there's compulsion, there's a feeling of pressure. But whenever there's volition, there is a feeling of pleasure. This is what you want to do. But you want to do. I love what Walter Moble used to say. He says, if one-tenth of what you believe is true, you need to be ten times as excited as you are. Well, let me tell you something.

Everything that we believe is true. It's in the word of the Lord, right? So we need to be a thousand times more excited than we are. Be enthusiastic because of your calling, because you need to do it willingly, because it's what God's called you to do. According to the will of God.