Thank you guys. Thanks a lot. I love that song. Thanks for what you do with it, too. I'm mindful of our time. The fact that we have a Congregational meeting afterwards, so work with me here. I know I tend to talk fast. I'll try to not Put it on hyperdrive here and speak clearly, but work with me here. It's more one morning at a police Police Academy retrain Center instructor was speaking on leadership and he called up one of the recruits The hand in a piece of paper piece of paper said you are in charge get everyone out of the room immediately without causing a panic Well, he was not real gifted with words and he wasn't much for years So he just looked at the piece of paper got the deer in the head like look and just handed it back the instructor went and sat down So instructor called up another young man. This recruit came up read the piece of paper You're in charge get everyone out of the room immediately without causing a panic and so he looked up from the piece of paper Said everybody leave the room right now Well, they all just sat there and looked at him like you're doing a meter right now. Nobody moved Called up a third recruit hand in the same piece of paper you're in charge get them out without causing a panic He read it smile and said all right, man, let's break for lunch And there's probably a chief of police of a large city right now or maybe the mayor We're talking about leadership this morning. There are different styles of leadership. There are different definitions of leadership Apostle Peter the leader of the early church Has something to say about it's in first Peter chapter five verses one through five you'll find on page 1892 of that Bible in front of you read it out of your own course or watch on the screens with me here Resuming our study of the book we call first Peter after a few weeks Peter writes in verse one to the elders among you I appeal as a fellow elder a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care serving as overseers not because you must But because you're a willing as God wants you to be not greedy for money, but eager to serve Not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock and when the chief shepherd appears You will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away Young men in the same way be submissive to those who are older all of you Clothe yourself with humility toward one another because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Let's pray together
Father, thank you for the word of God. This is your word We did not make it know it is making us. This is the very truth of God not the invention of any man I pray now Father that you would speak words through me to My family here this morning Father speak words of comfort to those who are hurting words of healing to those who are broken Where's a conviction to those who are wayward and have gone astray? Words of truth and mercy and grace and light and love To all of us in this place, sir, but this is your word. I pray you'd speak it now through me and that you would do this in Jesus name Is my prayer. Amen Well, as I mentioned it's been a few weeks so by way of quick review first Peter We've seen as a travel guide for pilgrims and prodigals as we sojourn through the far country on our way home to the father's house And as we go throughout this little it's a letter. We call it a book It's a letter for that Peter wrote to Christians in Northwest Asia Minor Somewhere around the year 63 AD Peter wrote this book and touches on some major themes salvation sanctification Servanthood submission and suffering This morning in chapter five your Bible might say is a heading above your text does it say to elders and young men? Once you know that's the Peter didn't put that heading in there That's just we put that in there for our convenience. That's fine. It's a good label for it So if it's to elders young men does that mean of all you ladies and all men of a certain Vintage who are not elders you all can just start your day dreaming a little early. This is not for you No, there's a lot in this text for all of us and there are aspects of it They will only apply to elders and young men We'll get to those a minute, but before I do that This is one of those passages where if we just did a word study This would be rich and deep. You know if if if this text is a field when you plow and you just turn the top soil over It is so rich and so fertile. It's dark It reminds me of the cornfields that were near the house where I lived in Indiana as a kid When the first plow that field over in the spring you said black dirt just waiting for the corn to be planted there And then it would grow a rich crop. That's what this text seems like to me So Peter says in verse one here to the elders among you I appeal as a fellow elder a witness of Christ sufferings And one who also will share in the glory of your revealed be shepherds of God's flock There's under your care serving his overseers. Let me stop there Some of you have other translations other than the NIV that we use here if you have a new American standard You may see that it begins with the word therefore There's a word therefore in there. It's not in the NIV. Why is that? Well, it's not that the men in the NIV were saving ink It's not that they said oh that's We don't need to pay attention that they decided that the that the verse read better without it in there But I think it was a mistake respectfully to leave that word out You're saying well, what's the big deal about a therefore in Greek? It's a three-letter word. What's the big deal about the therefore Think back it's been a few weeks with Easter and Monday Thursday and Pumps and they think back Where we were a few weeks ago? Just what we covered in chapter eight. I mean, I'm sorry chapter four When we were told to be prepared for and we were called to stand by one another In times of suffering and judgment and also in glory They were called to follow Messiah who's come and he's walked Amongst us. He has he's walked the proverbial mile in our shoes He has experienced the same challenges and trials and yes Even the same same temptations that we are so as people who follow that Messiah Therefore Peter says because Christ Jesus is come because he's lived and he suffered and he's died And he's risen again we As his people we also Live together and we work together and we serve together and we suffer together We laugh and we play and we cry and we worship together and yes and day we die Together because of these things and back in chapter four verse eight where Peter said above all else Love each other deeply because we're called to do these things together and to love one another therefore And that's why I think this word's important therefore chapter five verse one To the elders among you. I appeal as a fellow elder now. I'm gonna I'm gonna do a little bit of word study here and we'll have them on the screens as we go I want to I want to focus here first of all to the elders among you. I've got on screen here You'll see the English word and then you'll see it in Greek And then we'll unpack a little bit Presbyterus is a word elder. You know why this is a Presbyterian church Because we believe in a system of government that is Elder rule Presbyterus but we could translate Presbyterian it means Elder rule or representative rule we do this not because we think it's popular or trendy and not because we just think it's the the most expedient form of government We do this we embrace the Presbyterian form of government because we believe it's the one taught in the scriptures Simply put we think this is what the Bible would have us do as members of this church You don't get to vote on a lot of things. It's got sense of humor I'm preaching in this text on the day. We do have a congregational meeting We don't have a lot of congregation meetings and we don't ask you to vote on much stuff If you're a member of this church you get to elect your elders and your deacons and then you trust us To represent you to do what is Best in terms of glorifying and honoring God and in building up this body You trust us if that sounds familiar It's because and it always says with great trepidation The United States government is model after it is patterned after a Presbyterian form of government We don't have a strict or pure democracy in this country. You don't vote on everything You don't vote on every bill. You sure don't get to vote on every piece of taxation that comes down I've heard somebody say that we ought to have national elections the day after April 15th You think that might change our voting patterns a little bit Somebody lead that movement. Okay. I'll sign on somebody else lead that charge We don't vote on our event. We vote on our representatives our president vice president our senators and representatives And we send them off and end the local State legislators as well. We send them off hopefully to do the will of the people To the elders among you to the Presbyteros among you Peter says I appeal as a fellow elder Peter's an elder to and he calls himself a witness of Christ suffering Suffering a witness This is from the Greek word martis from which we get our word martyr A martyr is someone who gives a witness In this case if the cost of his own life I don't remember where I read this so I can't I can't attribute it but I read somewhere this scribe tells you what he's read And a Pharisee tells you what's wrong with you A witness tells you what he's seen when he's experienced as he follows Christ Ascribe tells you what he's read a Pharisee tells you what's wrong a witness tells you what he's seen Brandon Manning puts this beautifully. He says when we talk about our christian who that really living it out We're just travel agents reading a brochure about a place we've never really been before But a witness A witness tells you what he's seen he lives out the reality of what he's experienced As a lifestyle of following Jesus When I pronounce the benediction most every Sunday occasionally I've heard it When I pronounce the benediction most every Sunday I give you a benediction name of the father the son the holy spirit and the Last thing I say to you usually is live the life Live life. Why do I say that to you? Isn't that just self-evident? What I'm saying to you is that what we do in here On Sundays, this is not an isolated quarantine compartmentalized aspect of life And then you leave this place and you go out to to live and to talk and to think and to act and to work and to live just like The secular world like the pagans like there's no difference Between you between us and then This is not a Sunday morning spasm. It's not a hiccup It's not a blip on the radar screen then we go back to our normalize as if as if the dichotomy was you got 167 secular hours in the week and then one sacred hour or in this case an hour and 15 hour and 20 No, this is not a A speed bump on the road of life. This is not a blip on the radar screen folks. This is life This is the radar screen This is how we live is God's people everything we do everywhere we go every day There's an act of worship of someone of something We come in here to get it right and refocus and remember who we are and who's we are We're witnesses Peter says I'm a witness of Christ suffering I'm telling you what I've seen and what I've experienced and then he uses that title Christ You know people talk about let's say Jesus Christ as though that was his last name if Jesus had had a home with a mailbox on it the name wouldn't have said Christ He would have been known around Nazareth I've told this before he would have been known as Yeshua Bar Yosef Jesus the Son of Joseph No Christ is his title Christos in the Greek It means anointed one it means Messiah that's his title. That's who he is God's one and only son our Savior our Redeemer our Messiah Well, you notice something in that in that word there Christ you see what looks like an X and an a P and then an I and then you can't read the rest of it anyway That X that's the Greek letter Chi or key and it looks like an X It was an early symbol for Christ because of that X pattern it represented the cross to people When you see people write Mary X-mas, it wasn't pagan to start with Let's take it back Write an X and then tell people what it means. It's a sign of the cross symbol for Armassaya And then Peter talks about being a witness of his sufferings the word sufferings Pathema Pathema it's where we get our word Pathos Intense Passionate Distressed or involvement especially when it comes to suffering and afflictions where we get the word sympathy Empathy it's the same root as Pathos or Pathema in this one when you hear the word the passion of the Christ That's that's from another Latin word, but it's related the passion intense Striving struggling an agony of the Christ to the elders among you Peter says I appeal as a fellow elder a witness of Christ sufferings And one who also will share in the glory to be revealed this word share It means something to special to some of you here. It's from the Greek word coinonos coinonos or maybe you've heard it called coinonia It means to be a part of the fellowship Part of a fellowship in this case a fellowship of sufferings I was in the middle schoolers a little while earlier With Paul and Diane they were talking about Lord of the Rings Many of you have read the book probably some of you read the book Probably most of you have seen the movie The first part of the trilogy is called the fellowship of the ring where these nine individuals come together And they pledge their their blood and their sweat and their toil and they're very Lives to one another to help accomplish the task of destroying the one ring of power one Ring to rule them all one ring to find them one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them And Frodo the ringbearer and his sidekick Sam they are given the task of getting that ring to mount doom and destroying it And these nine If you've read her you see the movies you know Gandalf and and Pippin and Mary and Erigorn and Legolas and all the rest they come together and they say we are pledged together will succeed together or will fail to the by the way understand that Neilson Seth does a really good invitation of gollum Smegel You see Seth that I asked him to do that. Well, yeah I told Seth this would come back to haunt him You know, I also told him when he has that first date to make sure he does his gollum imitation They'll really impress the young ladies she will go back and tell all her friends. I promise
There are some heavy heavy gospel overtones to the Lord of the Rings. That's not accidental J.R.R. Tolkien did it on purpose. He was retelling the gospel story Through the device of middle earth We win we lose we succeed we fail We experience trying for defeat we live or we die We're in this thing together. That's coininos. That's coininia We have a group here that meets on Thursday nights to call themselves coininia They've been meeting together for oh, I think about 90 years No, but they've been meeting together a long time and they'll tell you and they share one another's lives The good and the bad they share the ups and downs they share the pain They share the dying together. That's fellowship folks That's what Peter's talking about who talks about their fellowship Well, we go through may not always have the drama may not be as well scripted But it's every bit is beautiful It's every bit is heavy and it's every bit is important And then we get to that word glory Also share in the glory to be revealed that's from the Greek word doxah You know the word when we see the doxology Doxology means words of praise orthodoxy means right praise Doxah in the New Testament glory means the splendor the brightness the magnificence the radiance the preeminence the majesty We'll also share in that Doxology orthodoxy right right words about God right praise about God Let's mr. Shorter catechism question number one. What's the chief in the man? What's our purpose to glorify God To share in his doxat given the glory he deserves and to enjoy him forever to glorify and to enjoy that's great That's great And that's just verse one you guys are saying stopping before he kills again I won't do anymore word studies with you But do you get the richness and the depth of this of this passage therefore Peter says the niv forgot but will remember therefore to the elders among you I appeal as a fellow elder a witness of Christ sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed Be shepherds of God's flock that's under your care serving as overseers not because you must But because you're willing this guy wants you to be I got a great analogy of this from maxicado He says imagine that you're going on a long trip and extend a trip and you're leaving your children behind And you have to interview people to come and be the caretakers of your children would you be very careful And who you interviewed and who you hired would you would you check their references very careful would you interview them within an inter their lives And when you found that person or those persons that you were going to trust to care for your children You would say to him or her then listen I'm going away I could be a couple months. I could be a year I'm not sure how long will be but when I come back I want to know that my children have been well cared for I want to know they've been guarded and guided and taught and loved and protected and welfare well cared for Would you be careful about who you left your children with? Hey elders This is a message to us Jesus says I'm going away for a while. I don't know. He knows. I can't tell you when I'll be back But I'll be gone for a while until I get back. I'm entrusting you elders I'm entrusting you with the care and the feeding and the guidance of my children when I come back I want to know that my children have been well cared for why am I telling all of you that because from time to time You do get to nominate until like your elders take it seriously folks It's not a formality. It's not a rubber stamp and not just something we just do every now in the Presbyterian church. This is This is a vital importance Elders are men to whom God has given oversight And care for his children Like any good parent God's children me more in him than life itself You think that's a strong statement What did Jesus do He came he laid in his life and he died For his children because we're more precious to him than life itself So elder what kind of men are we to be and I'm going to be very brief I'm going to give you just a couple of principles and applications of this text And you if you're not an elder Supplies so listen carefully First of all as chepherds are to tend the flock were to give oversight to the sheep that should be pretty obvious But remember who's writing these words Peter The apostle Peter the leader of the early church and he calls himself a fellow elder with us Peter the apostle calls himself an elder Along with us He also identifies himself as one who was a witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker of his glory Which is probably a reference to the transformation and also remember what happened to Peter shortly after The resurrection of Christ you can read about it in John chapter 21 Peter do you love me? I do Lord Then Peter Feed my lambs Peter do you love me? You know I do Lord Peter Take care of my sheep Peter do you love me? Yes, Lord. I love you And Peter feed my sheep Jesus tells Peter to shepherd his flock You know what you get when you cross lassie with a pit bull You get a dog that will chew your leg off and then run for help Just saying to make sure you're still with me as elders Okay, I'll say it again. You know what you get when you cross lassie And that's the people next to you. That'll come to him later Elders have to do both we have to have the rod of instruction and discipline and the staff of comfort Staff of comfort Peter gave his life trying to be faithful To what Jesus called him and do in first Peter five. He says from one elder to another from one shepherd to other shepherds Be shepherds of God's flock The son of your care servings overseers not because you must But because you're willing Has got one should be not greedy for money, but eager to serve shepherd the flock of God Give him oversight not because you have to Not because you think God will get you if you don't Not because somebody else is pushing you saying you're really ought to do this not because it looks good on your resume Not for the money Not because you want to be a big fish and a little pond Oh You're willing As God's called us to do it because it's the most incredible privilege and the most awesome responsibility to be interested With the flock of God to be interested with God's children And that's what God has called us as elders to do. Is this job difficult? No, it's impossible It's just overwhelming And there are days when I in fact I can't remember a day ever honestly and Ministry of life where I didn't say Lord I cannot do this This is way too big for me. I cannot I cannot meet these needs in these demands Yes, overwhelming But then I and the other elders we get the privilege of baptizing your children Sometimes adults too I get the privilege of marrying people that I love dearly Sometimes being there with their children as well to be to baptize them I get I get the privilege of serving Communion to you all one an awesome privilege and responsibility that is now also get the honor And I refer to this often as a very severe honor. It's an honor. I really don't want But it's an honor to take seriously when I get to be the person to stand up here or sit by a grave side and commit the body Of a loved one a husband a wife a father a mother a child commit that body to the earth It's a privilege in an honor. I don't want If you would all give me a moratorium for about 15 20 years no more funos I would I would I would appreciate that But her privilege it is nonetheless My fellow elders this is the highest compliment anyone could ever pay us if you trusted With the family with the children of God Shepherds tend to flock and then secondly they First three not lording it over those and trusted you but being examples to the flock. Where do the examples To the sheep We're to set good and we've all seen the negative We don't need to do on the person who talks a big game for God who doesn't live it in Texas. They have an expression He's all hat no cattle The guy that wears the hat and the Jeans and the cowboy shirt and the big belt buckles and where's the boots? Hasn't been on a farm or ranch in his life. He's all hat no cattle elders Gotta make sure that we're not guilty of being all hat no cattle We got to live the life listen the gospel will offend people as it is Jesus is the stumbling stone the rock of offense We don't need to be hypocritical on top of it
Mother had a bunch of people over dinner one afternoon and it was just not a great time She'd committed to do it. It was a blistering hot South Florida day And she really wish she didn't have to do it but she did So you got the dinner on the table and as you're all seeing around she asked her four-year-old Johnny Would you please would you please ask the blessing? Johnny said I don't know what to say mom Mom, so we'll just pray the way you hear me pray So Johnny about it's had and he said dear lord Why do I have to have all these people over today Got closer to home than I realized huh Folks, we're not gonna bat a thousand here. We're gonna blow out. We're gonna make mistakes And we're gonna be hypocritical sometimes We are friend of mine likes to say that there's one Messiah per universe He's not here. It's not me. It's nobody on our session There's one Messiah per universe He's not available to serve as an elder in this church, but He's the head of the church and you should have the confidence Brothers and sisters family you should have the confidence that we as your elders are trying To give our utmost for his highest We're trying to serve him sincerely We're trying to speak words of truth and love and grace We're called to send example for the flock a third distinguishing mark and I'm almost done and when the chief shepherd appears You will see the crown of glory that will never fade away Shepherds elders must never forget whose flock this is we must never lose sight of whose sheep they really are There's a lot in this verse folks We can talk about the shepherd's motivation to receive the crown of glory from the chief shepherd But I just want to point out that we as elders we're under Shepherds we serve under the oversight of Jesus John 10 tells us Jesus is the good shepherd. We're just his assistance his under shepherds at this place for this time That's why we take such pains in membership training I think such pains to plan out membership training there's one head of the church It's not me. It's not the session We don't have any bishops archbishop's we have any Cardinals we have any pokes there's one head of the church his name is Jesus We're just here to be his assistance in this church This is not my church in the sense of ownership people so I want to go to your church I know what they mean. So it's not my church Hey, if it was my church it'd look a lot different I wouldn't work so hard on these services. I'd give myself a break We wouldn't struggle so hard about what music to serve to sing and to play We wouldn't sing a lot of stuff. We do sing Doug and I do tug of war over But we do it because this is not about me folks I might take Sundays off. What about that? I get that season ticket to the marlins while I still can It's not about me. We're important folks. We are an important part of this church But it's not my church. It's not our church in the sense of ownership It's our church in the sense of membership and of belonging We got to remember elders. We don't dare lose sight of whose flock this is And let me say something to just the people of this church non-elders non-offices, but members of this church you must remember whose church this is as well Before you let fly with your criticisms Before you Before you talk down another member of this church or an elder or me remember This is Jesus's church you be careful You be careful beloved how you treat one another what we say about one another how we interact with one another you be careful Remember whose church this is Folks I realized there are things we do here that probably every Sunday we do things that somebody doesn't like Somebody doesn't like the contemporary music once all him someone once All contemporary music know him's Some people wish we could sing a song and then talk bible for the rest the hour or hour and a half Some people wish we just sing for 45 minutes or an hour all contemporary Have a have a short five-minute Encouraging talking and we'd all go to Starbucks I realize that folks We're gonna continue to do a blended form of worship because I am convinced And sessions back me on this that we don't want to lose Whole of what is rich and deep and beautiful and right and true about our heritage There's so much there But we want to stay open to the leading of the Holy Spirit as he blows the winds of renewal through his church Which he's doing and when he blows those winds of renewal Always always it is accompanied by and often led by new music So we're gonna continue to do you both You're important so my but this is not about me. It's not about you. It's about the glory of God The God who both saves the lost sinner by his grace and builds up his church by his grace But it's about God and that's who we're about on Sundays shepherds We got to tend the flock. We got to send an example for the flock We got to never forget whose flock it is and finally Verse five young men in the same way Be submissive to those who are older that may be referenced to deacons by the way certainly referenced you men All of you Clow yourselves with humility toward one another Because God opposes the proud because grace the humble Shepherds elders we got to remember we're part of the flock to we're sheep as well. I don't like that You ever been around a sheep? They are not the neurosurgeons of the animal community I've seen scientific studies that indicate you lose IQ points just eating mutton and lamb chop It just makes you stupid reading it
But the comparison is sheep to ask for someone and we're his people the sheep of his pasture Isaiah 53 verse 6 all we like sheep have gone astray That's why Peter says we're to close ourselves with humility We're just dumb sheep not you of course, but We're sheep. I don't like it very much, but I need to remember that Those of us who are called a leadership in the church We gotta remember we're shepherds, but we're sheep too and folks We need your prayer if need your encouragement we need your input We don't have the gift of infallibility. We need you to Let us hear from you about what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong. We may not agree with you We desperately need your input. We need your prayers Because this church will only be as healthy as its leadership So see your benefit as well. Keep praying for us From one elder Peter says to a bunch of others from From one shepherd to a bunch of others Ten the flock said an example for the flock remember whose flock it is and never forget the we're part of the flock too You know this morning we've been looking at the words from Peter the great apostle the great pillar of the church But don't forget to John chapter 18 Peter's denial of Jesus. I love what Kevin did last week Standing up here on the stage as he dramatically represented Peter and his denial of Jesus Ready to cut off the head of malcus the servant right there in presence of all those soldiers And then backing down From a little servant girl Why Why would he do that and he did Perhaps And remember even after that Peter still the man After that Peter still the man that Jesus said feed my sheep ten my lambs take care of my flock Perhaps the single greatest to sing wishy mark of a man who's fit to be an elder. He's very aware of how much he needs the grace of God And he stands humbly He kneels humbly before God Says not lord. Look at how good I am but lord have mercy on me the sinner
How much we all need the grace of God To make up for our lack and our wants this if you're here today And you've never never encountered the grace of God personally do it today Well, you have the opportunity to choose your shepherd
Get in line behind Jesus For those of us who've already made that decision have already said our course to follow Christ as our good shepherd Be reminded of how much we need to have spirits of repentance Humility confession Knowing how much we need how much I need God's grace to make it to the day The good shepherd the one who said I'll lay down my life for my sheep And whose name let us pray heavenly Father. Thank you so much for the wisdom and the instruction The words of your servant Peter and how they ring true to us today two thousand years later Father, thank you for Peter, but most of all, thank you for his message his gospel message The points to Jesus The chief elder the chief shepherd they head of the church And Father as we go about our day-to-day as we conduct the business of this church Help us keep in mind. This is not just business It's not just mere formality rubber stamping Notting in the right place crossing tees and dotting eyes. Well, we're about the great enterprise of being part of the kingdom of God Thank you for the privilege of letting us be a part of that We offer up our prayer and our service in Jesus name. Oh, man
Well, amen and we prepared to see the benediction We just remind you if you're a member of the church, please stay Unless you have children in children's church and then please go get them and come back children are certainly welcome in this meeting So if you're a member, please please stay here and get your kids as fast as you can if you're a Visitor especially first time guest today. I'm gonna be back here in the north x just for a very few minutes to greet you and say hello Thank you for coming and then folks We'll start this meeting as quickly as we can and shouldn't take more than just a handful of minutes before we get going Okay, now would you see the Lord's benediction Go now and the love of God the Father The grace and the mercy of God the Son the fellowship and companionship The comfort and the encouragement of God the Holy Spirit and live the life. I'm in