Shepherd the Flock Among You
The passage before us tells the elders of the church that we are to be examples for the flock. We are to practice what we preach. And that’s true all the time. We are to always labor (with God’s help) to practice what we preach. But this morning, my aim is to actually practice what I’m preaching while I’m preaching it. Peter exhorts elders to shepherd the flock of God, so I’m going to attempt to shepherd this flock of God by unpacking the meaning of shepherding the flock of God.
There are three main exhortations in this passage, addressed to three groups:
Elders, shepherd God’s flock
Young people (or, as they say in the South, young ‘uns), be subject to the elders.
Everyone, be humble.
This passage builds on the previous passage. We know this because the word “So” or “Therefore” connects them. Last week, Pastor Jonathan explored Peter’s vision of Christian suffering. Suffering is a refining fire. It separates the gold from the dross. And this separation and judgment begins with the household of God. And so it’s no surprise that having declared that judgment begins with the household of God, Peter turns to address the household of God.
What’s more, there is a clear link between 1 Peter 4 and 1 Peter 5. Notice how Peter refers to himself in this passage. He draws attention to three aspects of his life and ministry as a way of giving his exhortation weight.
There’s a scene in the movie Cool Runnings, in which Sanka demands that he get to be the driver of the bobsled because he is the greatest puschcart driver in all of Jamaica. And he says to Coach Irv, “You dig where I’m coming from?” And Irv responds, “Yeah, I dig where you’re coming from. Now dig where I’m coming from. I’m coming from two gold medals. I’m coming from nine world records in both the two and four man events. I’m coming from ten years of intense competition with the best athletes in the world.” And Sanka says, “That’s a heckuva place to be coming from.” And so here in this passage, Peter says, “Let me tell you where I’m coming from.”
First, he says, I’m an elder too. I’m not calling you to a task that I don’t have. I get the burdens of pastoral ministry because I’m a fellow elder. Second, he says, I’m a witness of Christ’s suffering. This may refer to the fact that Peter was an eyewitness to the life and ministry of Jesus. Or it may refer to the fact that he testifies to and preaches about Christ’s suffering (in the way that all Christians do). Finally, he says, I’m a partaker in the glory to be revealed. As Peter exhorts these elders, that’s where he’s coming from.
And those last two should ring a bell. Last week Pastor Jonathan noted that we are to rejoice in trials because they are the path to glory. “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (4:13). In 4:13, Christians share in Christ’s sufferings; in 5:1, Peter calls himself a partaker—a sharer—in the coming glory. This is the consistent path in the Bible. Suffering to glory. Cross to crown. There is no other way. And so Peter, as an elder in God’s church, as a witness for Christ’s suffering, and as one who will share in the coming glory and grace when Jesus returns, has an exhortation for the leaders in the household of God. And I want to explore this exhortation in terms of the What, the How, and the Why.
What Is the Task?
Shepherd the flock of God. Elders are called to pastor. That’s why we use those terms interchangeably in our church. But we need to dig deeper. What does it mean “to shepherd”? Shepherds care for the sheep. Shepherds lead the flock and feed the flock. Shepherds lead the flock to green pastures and still waters, and they guard and protect the flock from bears and wolves and roaring lions. They are attentive to the health and safety of their sheep. If the sheep begin to look sickly, shepherds examine the diet. If they come down with a disease, shepherds bring medicine to heal. If a sheep falls in a crack in the earth, a shepherd pulls him out and sets him back on the path. If a lion attacks, a shepherd grabs his rod and staff and uses it to defend his sheep, even at great cost to himself.
Perhaps we can understand this task better by noting Peter’s clarifying phrase: “exercising oversight.” Ask yourself: what’s the difference between “sight” and “oversight”? Oversight includes sight. You can’t exercise oversight if you can’t see clearly and understand accurately. But oversight is more than merely sight. Oversight is sight + responsibility. To exercise oversight means that when you see, you are responsible to do something about it. You can’t just see; you must also “see to it.”
And notice that Peter is specific. It’s not just “shepherd the flock;” it’s shepherd the flock of God that is among you. Pastors are called to shepherd their people. Not other people’s people. Not other shepherd’s sheep. These sheep. And in the age of social media, it’s easy to miss the importance of this. It’s easy for pastors to be concerned about dangers to the health of flocks over there, on the other side of town or the other side of the country. In fact, you can actually build a flock around pointing out the dangers to other flocks while ignoring the dangers to your own flock. But wise and faithful shepherds are attentive to the needs, cares, issues, problems, dangers, temptations, and tendencies of the flock that is among us.
So, if oversight is sight + responsibility to act, this means that there are, broadly speaking, two main ways that pastors can fail in exercising oversight. First, they could fail to see clearly. They didn’t recognize when the disease was spreading in their flock. They didn’t see the pack of wolves creeping over the hill. They didn’t see that the water was polluted. Failure to see, failure to discern is a failure to shepherd well.
Second, elders could fail to act. They do see the disease, but they don’t wisely apply the medicine. They do see the wolves, but they cower in fear. They do see the polluted water, but they don’t move the flock to better pastures. Failure to act is also a failure to shepherd well the flock of God.
I highlight these two potential failures mainly so that you know two good ways to pray for your pastors. Pray that we would clearly see what we need to see about this church—that we would know the needs, the dangers, the tendencies, the temptations of the people in this congregation, in this metro, at this time in history. We don’t want to be the kinds of shepherds who run around with fire extinguishers whenever there is a flood. If there’s a fire in a church across the country, and a flood in this church, we don’t want to bring the fire extinguisher; we want to bring sand bags and life rafts.
And pray that having seen clearly what we need to see about the flock among us, that we would have the courage and compassion to act with wisdom to do what is best for the sheep. Once we’ve seen what needs to be seen, what needs to be said? What needs to be done? Who needs to do it? Pray that we would have the heart and nerve to say it and to do it.
And let me insert a little parenthesis here about the importance of a plurality of elders in order to shepherd well. Peter addresses elders (plural). When you have a plurality of elders, you can see more and act better. No single shepherd has 360-degree vision. No single shepherd can pay attention to all of the macro-dangers and micro-threats. But a team can. Some shepherds can scan the horizon to the east, while others scan the horizon to the west. Some can direct their attention to distant threats—the storm rolling in, the pack of wolves settling into the valley. Others can direct their attention inward—the condition of the pasture, the health of individual sheep. When elders (plural) shepherd the flock of God among them (plural), they are able to see more and act with greater wisdom and insight than if they saw and acted alone.
We can summarize the task of pastoring in a variety of ways. Elders lead the flock and feed the flock. Elders guide the flock and guard the flock. Elders teach God’s word and elders rule or govern God’s house. Elders provide for the spiritual needs of God’s people, and they protect God’s people from threats, both from the outside and from the inside. Elders put God’s house in order, and elders are the immune system for the body of Christ, regulating the body’s health and guarding from disease. Here’s how I summarized the noble task of pastoral ministry in our series on 1 Timothy:
Pastors are called to oversee and care for the flock of God by 1) teaching the word of God with divine authority, 2) zealously guarding the doctrine and worship of the church, and 3) organizing and mobilizing the church for mission.
How Should We Shepherd?
So that’s the task. According to Peter, how should it be done? He gives three pairs of contrasts in order to describe the quality and aims of faithful shepherding. I’ll briefly comment on each of them.
Not under compulsion, but willingly. No one should pastor with a gun to his head. There must be a willingness and intentionality in the heart of the pastor. Lewis once wrote that a vocation has a double character; it’s both a duty and a desire. Duty is at times a necessity; the pastoral task is weighty, and there are times when a faithful pastor needs the Holy Spirit to strengthen his own spirit to overcome the weakness of his flesh and his passions in carrying out his calling. Duty has its place. But desire must be there. “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task” (1 Tim. 3:1). Aspiration and desire matters. Duty may carry you through a hard day or a hard week or even a hard season. But long-term faithful ministry cannot run on duty alone. There must be desire and willing service beneath it.
Not for shameful gain, but eagerly. No one should pastor for money. Now pastors should be paid. But they shouldn’t pastor for money. You can see how this one follows from the previous one. If you’re shepherding out of compulsion, then why stick with it when it gets hard? Because they pay you. Peter knows that someone without the desire to shepherd can be driven to do so by duty or enticed to do so by money. And neither motivation as a fundamental drive is pleasing to God. Our calling is to pastor eagerly, with heart. Shepherd God’s flock from the heart. Not because of greed, but because you love the work.
Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. Pastors have authority in the church. And one way authority goes wrong is by becoming domineering. Peter may have the words of Jesus in mind when he wrote this. One of the few other places that this word appears in the Bible is in Matthew 20:25-28. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus contrasts domineering authority with humble service. Peter contrasts domineering authority with being an example to the flock. And that works because Jesus points to himself as the model of humble service. He came not to be served, but to serve. And he left us an example that we might follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:21). Jesus as the Chief Shepherd (5:4) is the model of humble service for elders, and elders are models of humble service for the flock.
That’s how it’s done: willingly (not with a gun to your head), eagerly (not out of greed), and humbly as a Christ-like model for people (not lording it over or using others).
Why Shepherd in This Way?
The answer is simple: because when the Chief Shepherd returns, he will reward. Money wears out. Earthly honors fade. But the crown of glory that Jesus brings never fades. We shepherd willingly, from the heart, because Jesus has our heart. We don’t shepherd for shameful gain, because we know that Christ is our gain. I’ll say more about our future hope at the end.
To the Young: Submit
Having issued his exhortation to the elders, Peter then turns to the congregation, and especially to those who are younger. They too have a responsibility in the church. The calling of the congregation is to submit to the elders. Elders lead, feed, teach, govern, guide, and rule the church; the congregation (who are frequently younger than the elders) submit, follow, obey, and are subject to them. In the same way that all Christians are called to be subject (same word) for the Lord’s sake to every human institution (same word 2:13), just as wives are to submit to their husbands (same word; 3:1), just as servants submit to their masters (2:18), so those who are young are especially called to be subject to the elders of the church. I draw attention to those other uses of submission/subjection language in order to make clear the overlapping authorities that Peter has in view. There are civil authorities (governors, mayors, and city councils), family authorities (husbands and fathers), economic authorities (masters or bosses), and now church authorities (pastors/elders). And we are called to obey the appropriate authority in their appropriate sphere in the appropriate way.
At the same time, elders don’t have absolute authority, even in the church. They are not the chief shepherd; Jesus is the chief shepherd. But they do have a real authority in the church, and those under their charge owe them respect, honor, deference, and appropriate obedience for the Lord’s sake.
To All: Be Humble
Peter then issues his final exhortation, directed to everyone in the church, old and young, elder and congregant. “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Everyone is called to be humble, but humility takes different forms, depending on your place in the community. Elders show humility by leading and ruling and in their leading and ruling. A congregation shows humility by following and in their following. Elders show humility by feeding and teaching the word of God; a congregation shows humility by eating and receiving the word of God. Elders show humility by exercising authority and oversight and in their exercising authority and oversight; a congregation shows humility by submitting and obeying the elders and in their submitting and obeying the elders. Humility cuts across and pervades all of it, but it looks different for different people.
And to anticipate next week’s sermon a little, humility has a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God (5:6); clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. We are fundamentally called to humble ourselves before the Lord, which then finds expression in humility toward each other by fulfilling the calling that God has placed on us in our various roles and relationships.
Bringing Things Together
Let me try to bring some of these themes together by giving you a little window into my sermon preparation for this week. As I said, in this sermon I’m attempting to practice what I’m preaching while I’m preaching. I’m attempting to shepherd this flock by unpacking what it means to shepherd the flock.
So as I’m preparing to preach, I have to think, “What do I need to see about this flock? What are the needs, concerns, temptations, and tendencies of this people?” And then, “what do I need to say to this flock or do for this flock in order to address those needs, concerns, temptations, and tendencies?” And I need to do this willingly (and not under compulsion), eagerly (and not out of greed), and humbly (and not lording it over you). I need to humble myself under God’s hand and God’s word, and then clothe myself with humility toward you.
One of the things I’ve learned over the years in preparing to preach is to pay attention to my reluctances. Whenever I’m preparing the sermon, there will be times where I will have a subtle check about saying what I’m seeing out loud, or applying what I’m seeing in a certain way. A little hesitation. An intuition. An impulse to steer in a different direction, or add a qualification.
Now I’ve learned that those sorts of moments are of vital importance in preaching and teaching. I’ve learned to interrogate those reluctances, hesitations, intuitions, and impulses. Where are they coming from? And where do they want to take the sermon?
So when did the reluctance show up in preparing to preach this passage? Whenever I started to describe the task of the elders in terms of rule or authority or governance. Whenever I started to describe the responsibility of the congregation to submit and obey the elders. Whenever I started to write the word “rule” or “govern,” I felt an impulse to change it to the word “lead.” The unspoken impulse said, “Don’t say ‘rule’; say ‘lead’” (even though the word “rule” is used in 1 Timothy 5 to describe one aspect of the task of pastoring).
And so I started probing that reluctance and that impulse. Where was it coming from? Because I don’t automatically assume it’s bad. There may be good reasons to move in that direction. But I want to understand the impulse and not simply follow it. Because often that hesitation in me is revealing an awareness I have about you, about this flock. And I’m called to shepherd this flock.
So why was I reluctant to speak about elder’s ruling and governing the church? Because I had an intuition that some people might not like it. Why might they not like it? And there are a lot of answers to that question:
Because we are modern Americans in an egalitarian culture that is allergic to notions of traditional rule and authority, that bristles at talk of obedience to human beings.
Because we are very sensitive to the danger of abusive and domineering leaders, both in the church and outside of it.
And then I probed that idea for a bit. Why are we sensitive to it?
Because we’ve personally experienced such domineering leadership.
Because we live in a mass media environment in which such leadership abuses are widely publicized so that we are all aware that they happen elsewhere.
But as I thought about that source of reluctance, I realized that there was a danger in heeding it. Of course, we’re aware of the leadership abuses around the country. Scandal sells. There are no headlines for fidelity. “Prominent Pastor Abuses His Authority” gets clicks. “Local Pastor preaches 28th Faithful Sermon of the Year” does not. “Evangelical Leader Has Inappropriate Relationship with His Assistant” gets clicks. “Pastor’s Family Enjoys Third Friday Family Fun Night of the Month” does not.
In other words, our sensitivity to abusive leadership is driven in part by the reality of abusive leadership, and in part by the relative publicity of abusive leadership in a mass media environment driven by scandals and clicks. And my intuitive awareness (or at least suspicion) of that sensitivity meant that I felt an impulse to shy away from the language of “rule” and “obey.”
Why then did I want to use the word “lead” instead? I spent less time considering that question, but my first answer is that, in a democratic society, we choose our leaders. And thus, if I don’t like one leader, I can choose a different one. If the elders of one church don’t suit you, go down the street to another. If you don’t want to follow this group of elders, then you can always choose a different group.
And now I felt I had at least some understanding of my reluctance. I think I see it more clearly, and therefore (perhaps) see the needs, concerns, and temptations of this flock better (and if I’m wrong, there are nine other guys who can help me see better). So then what do I do or say in response? First, I felt I needed to say it. The words “rule” and “govern” needed to be in the sermon; they are Bible words. And elders are called to shepherd the flock of God, not coddle the sensitivities of the flock.
At the same time, some of the sensitivity is driven by the real danger of overbearing domineering rule. And so I also felt it important to use multiple terms to describe the task (lead, feed, govern, guide, rule, guard), lest the connotations of one term mislead. I felt it important to clarify the boundaries of that rule (in the appropriate sphere; there is a Chief Shepherd, and I’m not him), and the plurality of that rule (there’s a team) so that the checks and balances are clear. And I felt it was important to clearly name the danger of domineering leadership, so that you know that we pastors know that it’s a danger, and you can hold us accountable—pastor, practice what you preach.
And here’s the amazing thing—in order to do all of that, all I had to do was preach what’s in the passage. It’s all there—the boundaries, the plurality, the danger of domineering. All I had to do was to humbly stay close the text and unpack the word of God, willingly, eagerly, and as an example for you.
The Table
Now we come to the Table. Christ is the Chief Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (2:25). He rules his church and governs his church and guards his church. He leads us and he feeds us. He feeds us with the Word. And he feeds us with the bread and wine. And when we eat the bread and drink the wine, we proclaim his death until he comes. Throughout 1 Peter, the appearing of Christ has animated and motivated everything. Set your hope fully on the grace that is coming. Rejoice as you share Christ’s sufferings so you can rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. The Chief Shepherd will give the unfading crown of glory to elders who shepherd well. Pastoral ministry, endurance in trials, the Christian life as a whole—all of these are animated by our living hope, rooted in the death and resurrection of Jesus, which we proclaim as we eat at this table. So come and welcome to Jesus Christ.