As we go through the Scripture, we often notice that the figure of a shepherd is one of the most heartwarming pictures of the relationship that God has with his people. It’s a picture of care and diligence. In verses 1 through 4 of our passage today, there is a verb that all of this section revolves around.
Its in verse 2. The verb is the first word, “shepherd.” “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you.” The Lord is often seen as a shepherd in the Bible. Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalm 100, “We are the sheep of his pasture, we are the people of his hand.” And so you will have in Scripture shepherds that are put in a good light because of their care. Sheep, on the other hand, in the Bible are not always put in the greatest of light. Isaiah 53, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we’ve all gone our own way.” In fact, the only time sheep are placed in favorable light is when they’re placed under the good supervision of a good shepherd.
Because sheep get lost easily, they do not navigate well, they do not find their way on their own. They’re not like dogs or pigeons, who’ll go back to where they came from, sheep get lost. In fact, one professor of philosophy tongue-in-cheek said, “The existence of sheep is evidence against the theory of evolution. There’s no way sheep could have survived that process!” Survival of the fittest—they’re not! They require constant oversight, constant leading, constant rescue, constant cleaning, or they will die. A great book written by a shepherd several years ago includes these words: “Sheep just do not take care of themselves. They require, more than any class of livestock, endless attention and meticulous care.”
“The behavior of sheep and human beings is similar in many ways. Our mass mind (or mob instinct), our fears and timidity, our stubbornness and stupidity are all parallels of profound importance.”
And yet Peter addresses the people of God in chapter 5 as a flock. Now he does not do that to put anyone down, but simply to raise the bar of integrity saying anyone who’s going to be a leader of God’s flock has to meet certain criteria. Let’s look at chapter 5, beginning in verse 1. “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:”
“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords 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 does not fade away.” Paul has a lot to say to shepherds, pastors, elders.
Peter has three main things to say to them, three main responsibilities or qualifications. The first is relationship, the second is calling, the third is desire. Those three things: relationship, calling, desire. He must have a personal relationship with Christ, a practical gifting to serve Christ, and a powerful desire to please Christ.
So let’s look at them. The first is the word “elder.” He writes to elders as himself being an elder. That word is the Greek word presbuteros. We get the term “presbyterian” from it. It refers to somebody who is mature, often older, wiser. It’s a term that is borrowed from the Old Testament, brought into the New Testament. There were the elders of the children of Israel.
The second word I’d like you to notice is in verse 2. It’s the word “overseers.” It’s a different word, episkopos. We get the word “episcopal” from that, a bishop, an overseer.
And the third is the word “shepherd” also found in verse 2. Though it is used in its verb form here, (second person plural imperative verb), it is often used in a noun form, a shepherd, and the word in Greek would be poimēn. Now here’s what I want you to know: all three of those words describe one-role or person, same person, whether the word presbuteros, elder; episkopos, bishop; or poimēn, shepherd, is used. It speaks of one individual. Three different words to describe one person. Why? The term “elder” describes his maturity. The term “bishop” describes his responsibility. And the term “pastor” describes his ministry, he feeds sheep.
Peter speaks to elders as a fellow elder. I love this about Peter, he doesn’t come off as somebody superior. He doesn’t say, “I, Peter, the great apostle . . . ,” he says, “I’m a fellow elder. I come to you as one of you.” I imagine at that time Peter had become so famous in the early church, one of the few, surviving, original company of men that were with Jesus, that pastors, leaders, everywhere revered him. But he comes not as one of the three most intimate friends, but as a fellow elder, and one who had a personal relationship with the suffering and the risen Christ. Notice the wording. He says, “and a witness.”
A witness is somebody who sees and hears something and then tells others what he has seen and heard. That’s all a witness is. He was personally with Christ. That’s his past tense: “I was there when he suffered.” But now looking to the future he says, “And also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed.” So, “Unlike you, I was personally with Jesus and watched him suffer; but like you, I’m waiting for him to return.” But what I want you to notice over all is that Peter writes as one who had a personal encounter, a personal relationship with Christ. That’s the first mark of a good shepherd. It’s a man who personally walks with Jesus and is growing in that walk with Jesus.
When a relationship with Christ is real and being cultivated, growing, that person has a base from which to share and to minister to others. As the shepherd goes, so go the sheep. As the shepherd grows, so grow the sheep. If the shepherd is growing, sheep are growing. If the shepherd is stagnating, the sheep will be stagnating. Which means church leaders should be always growing in their personal lives, their spiritual walks, their marriages, their gifts that they use, and their knowledge—all summed up in Second Peter chapter 3 verse 18, “But grow in the grace and in the acknowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Here’s a true story that illustrates it well. There was a man who was among one of the passengers who was on a flight flying in different cities in California. They landed in Sacramento and there was a flight delay. And the stewardess gets on the intercom and she says, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to be delayed in this airport for at least 45 minutes or more. And you have the freedom to get up and go into the terminal and we’ll reembark after a period of time.” Everybody gets up and goes off the plane, except for one man. He stays seated. He was blind. His Seeing Eye dog was in the seat in front of him, underneath the seat.
The pilot of that flight knew the passenger and must have flown on the pilot’s flight several times before. The pilot gets up, goes over to the man who’s blind, and calls him by name. “Keith,” he says, “we’re going to be at this airport for about an hour. If you want, you can go out and come back.” He goes, “No, I don’t need—I’ll stay seated. But my dog would probably like to be walked.” The pilot said, “No problem. I’ll take care of it.” Imagine what it would have been like to be a passenger in the terminal when your pilot comes out with a Seeing Eye dog, wearing his sunglasses on as he walked out into the terminal?
Many people went to the counter to switch flights. Some wanted to switch airlines altogether. Why? They had no desire to entrust their lives to a man who couldn’t see to fly! In the same way, men who don’t love their wives, or don’t raise their children to love God, or don’t know their Bibles, have no business flying God’s plane filled with God’s people. He has to see to fly the plane, so he needs his own personal relationship with the living, resurrected Christ.
Here’s the second: a practical gifting to serve Christ. Verse 2, he says, “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you.” Notice, the terms “entrusted.” It’s as if God says, “I will entrust you, I trust you to take my flock and be a steward over them.”
“Not being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” Here’s the long and short of it: a shepherd must be called. I know that’s a mystical term, like, waiting around for a voice to be heard? How do you know if you have a calling? It’s pretty simple, there’s always a gifting that accompanies the calling. You can tell if a person is called by the fruit. If a person is called to be an evangelist, guess what’s going to happen? People are going to come to Christ. If you’re gifted or called to be a teacher, you’ll be gifted to be a teacher. People will be taught. They will grow in their walks.
So there will be an accompanying gift mix along with the calling. When Paul announced to the church of Ephesus, those gifted individuals that had been given to the congregation, he said, “There are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry.” Would you notice a phrase found both in verse 1 and verse 2. It’s the phrase, “among you.” In verse 1 he speaks to “The elders who are among you,” “you” being the flock. In verse 2 he says, “Shepherd the flock which is among you.” Now he speaks to shepherds who have the flock of God among them. But the term “among you” is an important term of practical accountability.
If you’re gifted, others among you will recognize it. They will know it. They will ratify it. This is why seminary alone is not sufficient. Hermeneutics and homiletics courses are fine, but they are not enough. You need more. You can teach techniques, you can’t transmit gifting, only God can do that. Some people join ministry or want to be a leader in a group because they just want to be known as the leader. They want people to notice them. They want the applause of people. No wonder James used these words: “Let not many of you presume to be teachers, for you will receive the stricter judgment.” You see, it has to be given to you by the Lord.
And when you’re among people, they will recognize God’s hand on you. Paul spoke to the Ephesian elders and he said, “Take care of the flock of God, among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” In other words, do not touch the ministry unless the Holy Spirit gives it to you.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon the preacher of preachers, said this: “All are not called to labor in word and in doctrine, nor to be elders, or to exercise the gift of bishop; nor should all aspire to such works, since the gifts necessary are nowhere promised to all. But those should addict themselves to such important engagements who feel, like the apostle, that they have ‘received this ministry.’ “No man may intrude into the sheepfold as an under-shepherd; he must have an eye to the Chief Shepherd and wait his beck and command. And if he does not so, but he rushes into the sacred office, the Lord will say of him and others like him, ‘I sent them not, neither did I command them; therefore they shall not profit his people at all, saith the Lord,’ ” quoting Jeremiah 23. It has to be a practical gifting to serve Christ. In two areas, generally speaking, Peter brings up there has to be a gifting to feed sheep and a gifting to lead sheep. Look at the first one. To feed the sheep, that’s in the word “shepherd.” Verse 2, “Shepherd the flock of God.”
The Old King James says, “Feed the flock of God,” because the term “shepherd” and the term “feed” were part and parcel with the same calling, the same nurturing. One of the primary callings of a shepherd is to feed sheep. Jesus, after the resurrection, asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” “Yes, Lord, I love you.” And Jesus said, “Feed my sheep,” sometimes translated “tend” or “care for,” but, “Feed my sheep.” It’s what shepherds do, they feed sheep. “The Lord is my shepherd,” David said, “He leads me into green pastures.” My shepherd provides me food—one of the main tasks of a pastor. I see our position as being a spiritual chef.
The words of Paul to Timothy were these: “Be diligent,” or in the Old translation, “Study to show yourselves approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Be prepared. Study hard.
I believe, if you want to get strong sheep, you teach them through books of the Bible—all of it. The Bible says that in the last days people “will not endure sound doctrine,” So what some leaders do if they don’t endure it, they won’t give it to them, but give them what they want to hear.
You’ll notice in verse 2 it says, “Serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but as examples to the flock.” See the word “overseers“? Episcopos, episcopal, means bishop. Literally it means somebody who sees over; “overseer.”
It’s somebody who looks over a group of people and sees what they need, looks over a flock of sheep and looks out for them. That’s the idea of an overseer. He’s gifted to lead them. He’s to do it a few different ways. You’ll notice it says, “not by compulsion but willingly.” In other words, not because you have to, but because you want to. A pastor should never say, “Oh, it’s Sunday again.”
So it’s a calling and it’s a gifting to feed and to lead because you want to. He further qualifies it, “not for dishonest gain“—there were many false prophets that peppered the congregation in ancient times and were out just to get money out of people—“but eagerly.” Further qualification is in verse 3, “nor as being lords over“—you’re an overseer, not an overlord. “Not as being lord over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” The greatest sermon ever preached is a sermon by example.
And here’s why: sheep cannot be driven, they have to be led. You lead sheep, you don’t drive them. You lead them and example is what goes the furthest. A leader is somebody who knows the way, goes the way, and then shows the way. He leads by example. A personal relationship with Christ; a practical gifting to serve Christ; and, three, a powerful desire to please Christ. That’s the third and the last.
Look at verse 4. “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” One of the most beautiful titles of Jesus ever: “the Chief Shepherd.” I love that. He called himself the “Good Shepherd.”
Peter heard that sermon, but here it says he’s the greatest Shepherd, he’s the best Shepherd, he’s the Chief Shepherd. We are just under-shepherds feeding his flock that he entrusted to us. Remember that up to this point Peter is encouraging a suffering group of people, right? And one of the ways he encourages them is he says, “Hold on. It’s tough now, but later on when Jesus comes back, you’re going to get a reward. The best is yet to come. Look toward the future. Look toward the goal of God’s glory.” He says the same thing now to the pastors: our motivation for ministry is to please Jesus Christ.
If a pastor gets into the ministry and just tries to just please people, he’ll be like a dog chasing its tail. It will just never happen, because as soon as you please someone, someone else won’t like it. It’s better to start when you start by pleasing the Lord Jesus Christ. Stuart Briscoe said, “Here’s the qualifications of a pastor: he needs the mind of a scholar, he needs the heart of a child, and he needs the hide of a rhinoceros.”
In the end we will not stand before any group of our peers, we will stand before one, the Chief Shepherd. And notice what he will do if you do it right: “You will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” You want to know what Peter had in mind when he wrote that. The Olympic games in Athens. When you would win first, second, or third, you know what you got for it? You didn’t get, like, a lot of cash and a new car and a big gold medal; you got a little wreath of leaves on your head that would die in about a week. You get oak leaves or laurel leaves or flowers or, in some cases, parsley. Okay, so you put all of that effort to win a race for a salad on your head. That’s it. It fades away.
And Peter said, “If you run this race and you do it right, God will give you a crown that will never fade away, ever.” You can labor for different kinds of crowns. Some will labor for a crown of fame and popularity, others will labor for a crown of personal empire building, others will labor for a crown of people’s applause. But the best way to labor is for God’s approval. It’s always nice to hear, “Great sermon, pastor,” but I can never live for that. You live for hearing Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” That’s what you want to hear. That’s what you’re waiting for, as well as I am. We all have our individual ministries in any church.
It’s an amazing privilege and incredible joy it is for me to be a part of a group of men, pastors, elders and overseers such as Brian, Gerry, Dani and new additions Blair, Joe and Jordan that love Jesus, love people, are capable and qualified men at our church. And it is our privilege to serve this flock!
Darrell
www.Upwards.Church
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Sources:
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23: Discovering God’s Love for You, W. Phillip Keller, W. P. Keller · 2007
Grace to You Ministries, John MacArthur, 1 Peter 5, Sheep and Shepherds
Connect Ministries, “Rock Solid” 1-2 Peter, Skip Heitzeg
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