1 Peter 5:1-4
“Shepherds serving the Shepherd”
Vs. 1 Personal experience with Jesus
Vs. 2-3 A loving care for God’s sheep
Vs. 4 A desire to please only Jesus
Intro.
Having just written five things that the persecuted Christian can do during a season of severe persecution Peter takes the opportunity to address the responsibility of the leadership of the church during such a season. What we learn from Peter’s words in verses 1-4 is that “persecution obligates pastors and church leaders to increase in their responsibilities”. In 4:17 Peter wrote that such persecution was first coming to the church and as such refinement for their maturity; since that was true for the church it is even more so for the pastors and leadership. This is the context of the words Peter now writes as he encourages them to work “faithfully, and eagerly as examples”!
Vs. 1 This section gives us a bit of insight into the structure of the early church that needs a bit of clarification as Peter describes the leadership of the local church as:
Vs. 1 Elders: Peter identifies himself by this same word saying that he also is a “fellow elder”. The Greek word defines the word as a designation of a man being advanced in years. It later became an official designation of an office in a local church who in other places is called an overseer or a bishop (Acts 20:17, 18 and 1 Tim. 3:2). The difference in these words that refer to the same person is that the use of the word describes the same person but emphasizes different qualities. “Elder” refers to the “maturity” of the officer, whereas “Bishop” emphasizes the “responsibility” of the office. The Elders were appointed to office based upon Acts 14:23 and that appointment was based upon what people already noted was active in their lives.
Vs, 2a Shepherd: Here the word means “to feed” and includes the duties of a shepherd which includes four responsibilities: Tending, feeding, guiding and guarding! Here the key aspect is a calling and not a career. Going to bible college or wanting to “get into ministry” is not what the church should be looking for in this person. This ought to be a person who is like a man who is in love so that the above four responsibilities are not duties he performs through the week but acts of love he does daily to the one he loves and adores!
Vs. 2b Overseers: The word here refers more to what “bishop’s” duties are and chiefly they are to provide “oversight” and refers to spiritual care of God’s sheep. Such “oversight” includes exhortation as well as encouragement with the key being not just sharing the victory but the pathway to it with a strong emphasis upon the “bishops” own failing and journey through the faithfulness of Jesus. The “Overseer” must possess compassion because of their own transparency thus making their life an example to fellow believers.
While these three titles can express three different people they should all fit into one person in the local church and that would be the Pastor and as such this section ought to be read regularly by those who have been so called and it is also the standard by which those we are called to serve can inspect our fruit and progress in maturity in our calling.
Vs.1-9 Shepherds serving the Shepherd
It is clear through the tone of this letter that Peter was concerned about the local leadership of the church undergoing severe persecution. The refining process requires maturity, and the pastor and leadership need to be at their best. Like children who look to their parents to encourage, guide, direct and protect, likewise the local church would naturally look to those who are called to lead! Peter offers “Three qualities that are vital for the church leader”!
Vs. 1 Personal experience with Jesus: “I who am a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed”: Notice that Peter didn’t introduce himself as a great spiritual leader but instead as a “fellow elder”. While Peter’s confession as to his position in the context of this letter seems to be minor in the scope of history it is extremely important on the front of Christianity. Peter’s confession shoots down the Roman Catholics claim that Peter was the first Pope of the Church. Peter NEVER CLAIMED NOR ASSUMED any higher position than that of an ordinary elder in the Church! And while this is remarkable, Peter does so by reinforcing his unique qualifications as a “fellow elder” that he had two encounters that those that he was now calling himself a part of didn’t possess:
Witness of the sufferings: The word “witness” in the Greek is where we get our English word “martyr” from and what we learn from the use of the word as it relates to Peter is that it doesn’t speak to the act of “SEEING” but to the act of “TESTIFYING” of what you saw! Peter is NOT merely saying that he SAW the crucifixion but rather that he was called to “SPEAK” as to what he saw. In 2 Peter 1:16 Peter says that he was an “eyewitness” and by that Peter’s testimony is that he had been called to speak of the incidents that he personally witnessed in the Lord Jesus’ life. Here Peter is saying that he is an “official witness” and called by God to testify on His behalf specifically with regards to Jesus’ “sufferings”. Peter makes mention of several;
Partake of the glory that will be revealed: Peter makes mention of several things that he personally witnessed:
- The glory that shall be revealed: This takes the reader from the Garden of Gethsemane to the cross of Calvary. Perhaps Peter remembered his experience in Matt 17:1-5 of the mount where he personally witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration which he again mentions in 2 Peter 1:15-18.
- Vs. 2 Shepherd the flock: Peter seems to have in mind what is recorded for us in John gospel in the 10th chapter where we are also told in Peter’s restoration in John 21:15-17.
- Vs. 3 Nor as being lords: This admonishment seems to be a reference to the upper room where Jesus personally demonstrated servant leadership when He washed the disciples’ feet, John 13:1-17.
Yet even though Peter had a unique perspective on the life and death of Jesus that only a few shared he never elevated himself to be above those whom he served alongside and certainly never entertained what the Roman Catholic Church has claimed for him, the papacy! Peter, moved by the Holy Spirit, wrote words down that are inspired by God. They grew out of his own personal experience with the Lord of Lords, Jesus and such an encounter was not in the PAST but continued in the PRESENT and was growing and vital to his continual transformation! Peter’s claim wasn’t that he HAD a relationship with Jesus in the PAST but that he had maintained a relationship with Jesus in the PRESENT!
By this testimony Peter sets forth a vital quality of a Pastor or leader in the local church: If the leader or pastor doesn’t continue to grow and move forward in the local church then the local church WILL NOT move forward either! It is imperative that the pastor and church leadership continue to grow and move forward in their own personal relationship with Jesus as their stagnation will mean the local church’s stagnation! This is why often we see the pastor of the local church go through trials and difficulties to drive them closer to Jesus than they would naturally choose on their own. As I have said we are either “driven” to God or “drawn”, and my being driven has not only been for my benefit but yours as well which I can only praise Him for! Far too often the local church suffers through thinking that now that they have a personal relationship with Jesus that they are immune to difficulties because that is what the local pastor believes as they act as if they are immune based upon their calling and service!
Vs. 2-3 A loving care for God’s sheep
Vs. 2-3 A loving care for God’s sheep: As mentioned above the Pastoral duties are tending, feeding, guiding and guarding but here in this section Peter only mentions three specific ones:
Vs. 2a Feeding: As mentioned the phrase “shepherd the flock” specifically refers to the act of feeding the sheep. The identification of God’s people as sheep is quite revealing as to how God sees His people and how the Pastor needs to feed them in teaching with four emphasizes:
- Sheep flock together: What this tells the shepherd is that God’s people need to be together, and fellowship is an important aspect of church life and a vital part of pastoral care. No pastor is of any good if they aren’t regularly a part of the flock of God. There are far too many pastors that crank out sermons for people they don’t want to be around.
- Sheep are prone to wander: Because of this truth it is imperative that the pastor teach the whole counsel of the word of God and not merely sermon-etts to Christian-etts. Not only are we to teach them but they look to pastors to demonstrate the way to live towards Jesus and will mimic what they see more than imitate what they hear.
- Sheep are defenseless: This reminds the pastor that their teaching must include protection from lies brought forth from the world system. The body of Christ needs not only instruction and information but also protection as given in the Word of God about false teaching and philosophies that will destroy them.
Sheep are useful: What this tells us is that our primary job is equipping them not telling them what to do but rather “reminding them who they are”. Sheep in biblical times were not primarily used for eating as it would have been very costly to do so. Instead, they were used for their wool, milk and sacrifice. The equipping of the sheep is to remind them that they aren’t members of the church they don’t just attend church they ARE the church, and as such are there to provide clothing and covering for themselves and those around them, sustenance and food for themselves and others and lastly that they are here to be a living sacrifice or demonstration of what a follower of Jesus looks like. The pastor’s job is to speak the truth in love by rightly dividing the word of God in such a way as to challenge the body of Christ to apply the word making themselves more useful for the Kingdom.
Vs.2b Guiding: The word “overseer” is a Greek word that means to “look over for the purpose of leading”. This carries the idea that the “overseer” is both “among” the sheep as well as having been given the responsibility of being “over” the sheep. Any effective pastor will need to have relationships with those God has placed in his care. He will need to be among them to guide them. There is no contradiction between pastoring and preaching nor between tending and feeding as they are both ministries of a faithful pastor. Far too many pastors have become personalities who weekly pass lectures and information about the bible to nameless faces! A good pastor is one who knows God’s sheep and they know him as he loves them and guides them through the word of God. Another unfortunate reality about sheep is they can at times be a bit rebellious and are in need of guidance. This reminds the pastor that sheep from time to time need some personal attention. Some need to be disciplined but such action must come about through love and concern from a fellow brother and not a complete stranger. Any good shepherd must always start with the realization that those under his care are NOT his sheep but belong to his Master and all have been purchased in the precious blood of Jesus. Both shepherd and sheep have a responsibility towards each other, and both will give an account to God for how they treated each other. Being a pastor THAT GUIDES has some dangers in it and Peter mentions two:
- Laziness; “Not by compulsion but willingly”: Peter reminds the pastors that their duties must NEVER be a job that they perform! They don’t “GOT TO,” they “GET TO”! Ministry can become a good place to be lazy if the servant forgets Who they work for. Many in the church have no idea what the pastor spends his time doing and rarely asks. I’ve known men who get up four hours before Sunday to prepare the message, men who spend more time on the golf course than they do among God’s people and those who “study at home or coffee shops” instead of the church. I personally believe that we can see if a person is called or has a career by the way in which they use their time, and pastoring a church is never going to be a 40-hour work week. It is much more than that as you are on call 24/7!
- Covetousness; “Not for dishonest gain but eagerly”: While the bible says that a workman is worthy of his wages and the church has a responsibility to provide for the care that the shepherd is giving them this must NEVER be the motive of the pastor. For the first 9 years of ministry, I was bi-vocational, and it wasn’t until my responsibilities at church grew to such a level that I could no longer balance family, church and job effectively that I let go of my job. The pastor must never serve for a paycheck as that would make him a hireling, instead he must be one that “eagerly” looks forward to serving God’s people out of love for God and love for those he serves.
Vs. 3 Tending: The key word in this section is, “but being EXAMPLES to the flock”. Peter is NOT suggesting the pastor become a “DICTATOR” to the flock but a “LEADING EXAMPLE” for the flock. Every shepherd knows the reality that you cannot “DRIVE” sheep, you can only “LEAD” sheep, and the church needs leaders who serve and servants who lead. I’m afraid that today there are far too many celebrities in the pulpit and NOT enough SERVANTS! It is in service as being an example that the pastor balances being “among” the people and being “over” the people as they will never be seen as “above” the people! People have a better time following shepherds who practice what they teach as they will see not merely the victory but the process to it! Pastors need to realize that they can never lead people where they themselves have never gone! God is the One who assigns the pastor to the flock and as such we have no competition in the work of God among our fellow pastors and neither should we ever be “lording over others” we are “OVERSEERS” not “OVERLORDS”!
Vs. 4 A desire to please only Jesus
Vs. 4 A desire to please only Jesus: The third of the Three qualities that are vital for the church leader after, Personal experience with Jesus and A loving care for God’s sheep is that they must desire more than anything to please only Jesus! I tell every intern the same thing, “Decide right now whom you serve and seek to please and there is only one right answer!” Jesus is the “Good Shepherd” who died for the sheep and the “Great Shepherd” who lives for evermore for the sheep and the “Chief Shepherd” who comes again for the sheep! He alone is whom I will give account to for what He has entrusted to me as His steward. We are so prone to assess the pastor, or the health of the church based upon how many attend a church and not of the health and maturity of those who attend, Jesus is not interested in how many showed up but the care of those who showed up.
Some pastors are ambitious for the temporary popularity and applause that goes with it while others view churches as “steppingstones” for bigger paychecks but these will fade away and all pastors should work only for Jesus so that when we see Him face to face His rewards may be placed back at Hs feet in worship of His greatness! The pastor must ever work at growing their own personal relationship with Jesus even above that of the sheep as they will never be more effective than when they do so!
1 Peter 5:5-14
“Greet one another in grace”
Vs. 5-7 Humble
Vs. 8-9 Heedful
Vs. 10-11 Hopeful
Vs. 12-14 Faithful
Intro.
We have finally reached the end of this amazing letter of Peter to the persecuted believers scattered abroad. He wrote to them about how their “Great Salvation” ought to have enabled them to be demonstrating to an unbelieving world. The difference between the saved and the unsaved is that the believer has a “Living Hope” and the world exists living under a hope that is enslaved to favorable situations and circumstances. One of the things that age automatically brings you to is the bursting of the bubble that is best described by the words: “This can’t happen to me”! When we are young, we live under the illusion that difficulties and adversity always happen to someone else but eventually we all become that “SOMEONE”! At the end of his letter Peter concludes with three important admonishments on glorifying God during difficult seasons if the believers were to remain Faithful, Humble, Heedful, and Hopeful!
Vs. 5-7 Humble
Vs.5 Peter had already admonished believers to be:
- Submissive to government authorities—2:13-17
- Submissive to their masters as slaves—2:18-25
- Submissive to their husbands as wives—3:1-7
Now at the start of the closing of this letter Peter tells the younger believers to submit themselves to their elders. In the Greek the words “Younger people” doesn’t refer merely to individuals but rather to an organization or association. Archaeology has unearthed evidence in the Greek cities of Asia Minor, youth guilds or organizations as they were apparently quite popular, and it seems by Peter’s use of the phrase that it had become a movement within the local church of this area. The mere fact that Peter takes the time in this letter for this admonishment, suggests that the “youth movement” was being exhorted in reference to the maturity in the older believers instead of discarding it. Youth can be a bit brash in thinking that they have all the answers, and many churches cater to the youth movement where most of the activities are centered around reaching and accommodating this element in the church. Peter’s exhortation is for them to reference the experience that maturity has brought them and to exercise “Humility”! While “quantity of years” is no guarantee of “quality of experience” with the “senior saint,” what Peter is suggesting is that younger believers ought not resist the more mature in the fellowship! The words “be clothed with” in the Greek belong to a phrase that was associated with a slave’s apron under which their loose outer garment was to be gathered when they were at work. Thus, the exhortation is that “Humility” is the “working virtue” that gathers all the other virtues of kindness, gentleness, self-control and generosity together making them useful towards others! Humility is NOT thinking poorly of oneself it is simply NOT thinking of oneself at all!
Note as well as Peter quotes Proverbs 3:34 that a person cannot be submissive to someone else until they are first submissive to God. When a person struggles with submission to someone else oftentimes it is a signal that they struggle in submission to God. So, Peter says that the believer ought to first start with submission to God and He will grant grace to be submissive to others! The reason for this is that “God resists the proud” and the word used in the Greek for “resists” is a military term that means to draw up an army for battle. Prides calls forth God’s armies and sets Himself against the proud. The Greek word for “proud” is one that means “to show oneself above others” whereas “humble” is a Greek word that describes the character of Jesus, who being in the very nature of God “humbled himself” and came in the likeness of sinful man. It was “pride” that turned Lucifer into Satan, stirred Adam and Eve to become like God and according to 1 John 2:16 is evidence of worldliness. Submission is an act of faith as we trust God to direct our lives to work out our transformation daily.
Vs. 6-7 The words “humble yourselves” is “suffer yourself to be humbled,” which suggests that the persecution they were undergoing WAS the process employed by God to bring about humility and with it will in “due time” come to exaltation. “You will need to take a LOW place before God, before He will raise you up to serve His people.” God never exalts a person before “due time”, first the cross then the crown, first suffering, then glory! One of the clearest examples of pride is impatience and it is through trials that we learn patience! No one can claim the promise of verse 7 without first owning and accepting verse 6……if we wish to cast our cares upon the one who cares for us then we will need to humble ourselves under His mighty hand! These dear saints found themselves with abundant opportunity to “worry, and Peter says that if they “submitted” to the humbling process they would be able to cast all of those worries at the feet of Him whose sole joy it is to carry those burdens. The exhortation is to cast ALL your concerns to God who has made YOU, His concern! The purpose of this is in exchange for ALL our worries that consume us, He would receive ALL our WORSHIP which is what ought to consume us!
Such worries aren’t limited to the present worries but the future as well as those would be things that they are concerned about! Worry and anxiety are contradictory to faith and humility, no one can say they are, “Trusting God, if they are actively engaged in worry!” Worry in truth is, “self-exaltation” against God inasmuch that a person is trusting in their self instead of depending upon God! Listen up dear Christian, God is far more concerned about our welfare than we could ever possibly be! Since the humbling process has been allowed by God and He has ordained it to cause our maturity then we have nothing to be worried about! The word “Cast” is a financial term in the Greek that “having deposited with” and refers to a “Direct once for all committal to God of ALL that would give us concern”!
God has everything and everyone under control and more importantly us under His care….so why worry? So, people have mistakenly concluded that in giving God all our concerns that He is obligated to make certain that they turn out to our expectations and timing, but God is NOT as much interested in “working FOR us” as He is “working IN us”!
Vs. 8-9 Heedful
Vs. 8-9 “Be sober” in the Greek means to be “mentally self-controlled” whereas “vigilant” means “to be awake and watchful”. The reason Peter is exhorting the church to be “mentally self-controlled and awake and watchful” is that we have an enemy (the devil) goes about like a “roaring lion” and the Greek word means the fierce howl of a hungry lion! He accuses, slanders, lies, and is a thief and a murderer. It is Peter’s words that give the persecuted believer three practical instructions to secure victory over him.
Vs. 8 Respect him: Words like, “be mentally self-controlled” and “be awake and watchful” suggest that Peter had a healthy respect for Satan as clearly Peter saw him as extremely dangerous. Christian, we need to take our spiritual warfare seriously and not think of Satan as a joke, ignore him nor underestimate him. That doesn’t mean that we blame everything on him and start “casting demons out of the leaky faucet”! Furthermore, we have no biblical authority to be casting out demons from the headache or flat tire!
Vs. 8b Recognize him: Next notice that Peter goes through a list of names that identifies him as our “adversary” which is a word that means an “opponent in a lawsuit”. The Greek word for “devil” is literally “to throw across or to send over” and means to bring a false charge against one that is full of hostility, malicious and insidious in nature. And as mentioned Peter calls Satan a “roaring lion” and the Greek word means the fierce howl of a hungry lion! Satan is a counterfeit that duplicates but cannot create and as such is only interested in deception and keeps us from examining his lies through the Spirit of God and the Word of God.
Vs. 9 Resist him: Peter’s exhortation is for these persecuted believers to take a stand upon the Word of God and refuse to be moved. It is interesting that the Holy Spirit chose this word in the Greek as it means to “withstand, to be firm” rather than to “strive or fight against”. The Christian need not fight against the devil they only need to “stand on the truth”! The courageous fight is one in which we stand upon the victory won in Jesus and anything else shares defeat. Dear ones before we can “Withstand against the devil we will always remember that we will need to bow before Jesus!” The Greek word “steadfast” is a military term that means a “company of heavily armed soldiers arranged in close and deep as to make penetrating through or around them impossible”. Our strategy is total dependence upon Jesus which will always be 100% successful!
I Peter 5:10-14
“ Closing and benediction: Greet one another in grace”
Vs. 10-11 Hopeful
Vs. 10-11 This encouraging doxology suggests four reasons the Christian can be hopeful in their attitude and actions even during persecution and uncertain times:
- Vs. 10a For Grace “May the God of ALL grace”: Our salvation and our sanctification is all under God’s never-ending grace that He has lavished upon us. His grace meets and exceeds every and all that life will demand of it in every situation, and He will always give us more as it is sufficient for us.
- Vs. 10b For Glory “Who called us to His eternal glory”: Oh, dear saints let us never forget that what starts with God’s grace will ALWAYS LEAD and ONLY end in God’s GLORY! If we depend upon God’s glory when we suffer, that suffering will result in glory! The road in this life may be difficult but it leads to glory and that will matter for all eternity!
- Vs. 10c For a Season “after you have suffered a while”: Such “suffering” is temporary as Paul had shared in 2 Cor 4:17 that it was only “little troubles” for a far more glorious outcome. Satan would have the Christian reverse this and make it “gigantic troubles for eternity with no benefit or outcome”!
Vs. 10d For a Reason “perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you”: Finally, Peter reminds his readers that this persecution has four important benefits for believers:
- Perfect: The word in the Greek means to make the spiritual mature and is used elsewhere in Mark 1:19 for mending fishing nets and suggests that persecution doesn’t destroy God’s work in our lives, it does the opposite in making us whole and minds us back together.
- Establish: Here the word means to “ground a building to a foundation”. Persecution shall: “Perfect us that no defect remains, establish us so that nothing will be able to shake us free of Him, shall strengthen us so that we may overcome all that tries to pry us away from His love.”
- Strengthen: Here the word means God’s strength given to meet all the demands of this life. What good would it do the Christian to stand upon the firm foundation of God’s word without the strength to apply it and act upon it?
- Settle: Here the word means to “lay a foundation” which is the same word used in Matt. 7:24-27 and the parable of the house that withstood the storm because it was anchored upon the Rock! A believer who has established their faith upon the Rock of Jesus Christ will be able to withstand all storms that come from the sea of life and neither will they be tossed about by every “wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).
Vs. 11 All of this is to the Glory and His dominion forever and ever! We must see that such a reason as stated above gives witness that His plans, purpose and time will always be that which glorifies Him the best.
Vs. 12-14 Faithful
Vs. 12-14 It seems that Silvanus was the person to whom Peter dictated the letter and says that he deemed him a faithful servant and had witnessed as much. Peter had opened the letter in 1:2 with a greeting in peace; he now closes it with a benediction of peace. He restates the reason for the letter was to admonish them to stand upon the true grace of God. The use of the word Babylon can refer to Rome but also the city of the Euphrates which had a Jewish presence.
I lean that way as there is no reason to assume that Peter was using a code for Rome as John would do later in Revelation. Furthermore, Rome is only used by that distinction one time in Revelation where it is called Babylon the Great and every other place it is called Rome. Finally, Peter suggests that they greet each other with a Holy Kiss which was a first century church practice men to men and women to women. It is only mentioned 4 times in the New Testament and was practiced by believing slaves and masters to each other. It was later banned as it was abused by men kissing women not their wives and was stopped.