About this sermon
Peter charges the elders to shepherd the flock of God among them. Pastors and ruling elders are to know, feed, guard, and care for the sheep actively, as the OPC Form of Government describes, not only on Sundays. They must avoid serving under compulsion, for shameful gain, or by domineering over the flock. Jesus taught that greatness in his kingdom is service, and he, the chief shepherd, laid down his life for his sheep. Faithful elders will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Sermon transcript
Please join me in prayer as we ask the Lord to bless the preaching of his word this evening. Our gracious Lord and Father in heaven, once again we thank you for your word. It is a lamp unto our feet, a light into our path. We pray that you would illuminate us, open our minds and our hearts this evening by your Holy Spirit, that we might behold wondrous things from your word and help us Lord to see the relevance and significance of this passage to our lives as individual believers, to our life together as a congregation, a covenant community, and to the church universal as well. And help us Lord to bear spiritual fruits of obedience and renewed faith as we consider this portion of your word. Give me the grace Lord to declare your word with clarity and power and with the assistance of your Holy Spirit.
We pray these things, O Lord, through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. Well friends, the title of my sermon this Lord’s Day evening is Shepherd the Flock of God. This is part two. I addressed some aspects of this passage on the last Lord’s Day, but we continue to consider this passage this evening. And the key words that the young people can be listening for tonight are Shepherd, sheep, flock, elders, and reward. Well my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God in his word often speaks of his people as his sheep. And he reveals himself as the divine shepherd of his sheep. One of the best-known passages of scripture, namely Psalm 23, begins with those unforgettable words, the Lord is my shepherd. We sang that earlier in the service this evening.
And in our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, the Lord is referred to in verse 4 as the chief shepherd. On the last Lord’s Day evening we began to explore the meaning and significance of this passage as we focused especially on what passages like this one revealed to us about the shepherd heart of our God. We also began to consider what this passage teaches us about the identity of Christ as our chief shepherd and the elders of his church as his under shepherds. Well this evening we continue our consideration of this passage as I mentioned. And as we do so, we would do well to keep in mind the situation that was faced by the original readers of this divinely inspired letter. As believers who were facing a fiery trial of persecution for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, these believers to whom Peter wrote this epistle needed faithful shepherding as they faced the dangers and the uncertainties that were before them.
What a comfort to know that Jesus Christ, our chief shepherd, protects, leads, guides, and defends our souls, whatever may be our outward circumstances in life. And even if we have to face a fiery trial of persecution or affliction. Well dear friends, in my sermon this evening we’re going to consider three main points from our passage. First of all, we’re going to consider the apostolic charge to the elders to shepherd God’s flock. We began to consider that on the last Lord’s Day, but we’ll give further consideration to that point this evening. Secondly, we’re going to consider the kinds of shepherding, quote-unquote, that the church’s elders should avoid. And finally, we’re going to consider the gracious reward promised to faithful elders, faithful under shepherds of Christ. So let’s first of all dive in. Let’s first of all consider the apostolic charge to elders to shepherd God’s flock.
The apostolic charge to the elders to shepherd God’s flock. Now again, this is an exhortation as we learn in verse 1. Peter, as he’s beginning to wrap up his epistle, he addresses his readers with these words. He says, so I exhort the elders among you. And so he exhorts in particular the presbyterous, the elders among them. And I did mention on the last Lord’s Day, I believe that there’s good reason to think that the particular elders that Peter had in mind are what we would today call pastors or teaching elders, although certainly the principles that are applied to these under shepherds that Peter is addressing would apply as well to those whom we would call ruling elders. And so the principles, so I’m just going to assume that throughout as we consider this passage, that it speaks principles that are relevant both to pastors and to ruling elders.
And you may say, well pastor, I’m never going to be a pastor or ruling elder, what relevance does it have to me? Well it has relevance to all of God’s people because we are all the sheep of Christ and we need to know what the requirements are to be faithful shepherds and we need to know what to look for in faithful under shepherds in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he turns his attention again, as I mentioned, to exhorting the elders. And notice he exhorts them as a fellow elder. Though he is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, an eyewitness to the resurrected Jesus, a one who was himself personally called by Jesus to be the Lord’s official spokesman, as was the case with all of the Apostles, the Twelve plus the Apostle Paul.
But he addresses them as their fellow elder. And under the higher offices, if you will, are subsumed all of the duties and responsibilities of the so-called lesser offices. And so he can do this and he’s doing this to appeal to them. He’s putting himself, he’s saying, look we’re equal here and I am a fellow elder and under shepherd and these are concerns that you should have as well. I exhort you, not I order you, I command you, but I exhort you. I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. What does he exhort them to do? What is his charge to them? He says very simply in verse 2, shepherd the flock of God that is among you exercising oversight.
The concept of shepherding is a concept that brings to mind care, protection, guidance, rescue, and so forth. And so I would have us consider what it means to exercise spiritual shepherd care in the body of Christ. And what kind of shepherd care should you as the people of God expect from the church’s pastors and elders? How are the church’s elders to go about shepherding God’s people? Well we’re told that they are to exercise oversight. Now this is, I’m preaching from the English standard version, some of your versions may may not include this phrase exercising oversight. And the reason for that is that this phrase is not found in some of the older manuscripts of the New Testament, copies of the New Testament. And so there are some textual questions regarding whether or not this was in the original writing, the original letter that Peter wrote.
But while some ancient manuscripts omit the words exercising oversight, this phrase has early attestation among many ancient manuscripts. And so it seems likely that these words were in the original letter as penned by the Apostle Peter. But even if they weren’t, the thrust of this whole passage indicates that exercising oversight is indeed the task that under shepherds of Christ are to engage in. The rest of the exhortation included in this passage shines the light on what Peter means by shepherding the flock of God. And of course whatever it means, and I hope that we have a clearer concept of that as we as we consider this passage, it’s clear from this passage that the shepherd care of God’s people requires attentiveness, it requires diligence, and it requires great personal care. Now with this being the case we need to ask ourselves, and I want to challenge you, some of you brothers, to consider, may God be calling you into the office of ruling elder.
Do you believe God might be calling you to serve as an under shepherd in Christ’s church? Well if that is the case, what subjects should you study to equip yourself for that shepherding task? And what are the subjects of the shepherd study? How are shepherds to be equipped to provide this kind of shepherd care, this kind of spiritual oversight? Well in order for pastors and ruling elders to effectively shepherd the flock of God, they must seek as much as possible to know their sheep. Jesus knows his sheep. Jesus the good shepherd, he knows us his sheep, and not only that, he knows us by name, he calls us by name. And therefore I would suggest that it is advisable for ministers and ruling elders in being equipped in their shepherding tasks to focus on three main subjects of study, and I will list these subjects in the order of importance.
First of all, the under shepherds of Christ must first of all be devoted to the study of God’s Word, for they are to minister the Word of God to the people of God, and you have the right to expect that your pastors and your elders will seek to shepherd you in the Word and in devotion to the Word of God. So they must be devoted to the study and exposition of God’s Word and to biblical truth that is grounded upon and based upon God’s Word. But a close second subject of study is the study of God’s people. Under shepherds of Christ must not only exegete the Scriptures, they must exegete the sheep of Christ. They must seek as much as possible to get to know the sheep of Christ and to be accessible to them and to understand their particular life circumstances, their particular challenges, their particular joys, and so forth.
So the under shepherd of Christ must be devoted to the study of God’s Word, must be devoted to the study of God’s people, and also must be devoted to the study of God’s world, for the people of God live in the context of the world that God has made. And so the exercise of spiritual shepherd care involves exercising oversight. And what does this exercise of oversight involve? Well it involves, among other things, keeping watch over souls. And here I would have us consider another passage of Scripture as we compare Scripture with Scripture, for it’s all God’s Word. It is a unified divine revelation. And in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, the author of Hebrews says this about the leaders, and by the leaders here he means the spiritual leaders of the church, elders, and so forth.
Hebrews 13 17, I know I quoted this last week, but let’s go back and look at it briefly again. The author of Hebrews says, obey your leaders and submit to them. Again he’s not calling for blind obedience. You are to submit to your leaders in the Lord, and insofar as they submit themselves to and administer the Word of God. But nonetheless, that being assumed, obey your leaders and submit to them. Why? For they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Brothers and sisters in Christ, on the Judgment Day I will stand before King Jesus as your pastor, and I will give an account to my Lord for how I ministered the Word to each and every one of you. And when I think about that, you know, when I really pause to consider that, you know, my knees shake.
I get shaken to the core of my being, and I realize, woe is me, without God’s grace, who is sufficient for such a task. But this indeed is the task of your pastors and your elders. They keep watch over your soul. That’s what they are called to do, and if they neglect to do that, they will be held accountable to the Lord for that. And then it says again in verse 17 of Hebrews 13, obey them, submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Praise God for his amazing grace. Praise God that the sufficiency of your under-shepherds, of Christ’s under-shepherds over you is a sufficiency that comes from the Lord and the Lord alone in his grace alone.
So what are the responsibilities of such shepherd care? What does this shepherding of the flock of God look like in terms of practical outworking in the life of the church? I want to quote from a source that many might regard as a rather boring source, but it’s important. I want to quote from our OPC form of government, a few sections of the government. Chapter 8, the chapter on pastors, it’s a brief paragraph here, but let me read this and take this to heart, and I believe that all of this is based upon and agreeable to the Word of God. It says this in chapter 8 on pastors, Christ’s under-shepherd in a local congregation of God’s people who joins with the ruling elders in governing the congregation is called a pastor. It is his charge to feed and tend the flock as Christ’s minister, which means servant, and with the other elders to lead them in all the service of Christ.
It is his task to conduct the public worship of God, to pray for and with Christ’s flock as the mouth of the people unto God, to feed the flock by the public reading and preaching of the Word of God according to which he is to teach, convince, reprove, exhort, comfort, and evangelize, expounding and applying the truth of scripture with ministerial authority, not with legislative or domineering authority, but ministerial authority, authority that serves and administers the truth. As a diligent workman approved by God to administer the sacraments, to bless the people from God, to shepherd the flock and minister the word according to the particular needs of groups, families, and individuals in the congregation, catechizing by teaching plainly the first principles of the oracles of God to the baptized youth and to adults who are yet babes in Christ, visiting in their homes, in the homes of the people, instructing and counseling individuals, and training them to be faithful servants of Christ, to minister to the poor, the sick, the afflicted, and the dying, and to make known the gospel to the lost.
And this is why pastors only work once a week, right? But you see, friends, this is a very active kind of shepherd care that the pastor is called to. And the same thing with ruling elders. In chapter 10 of our form of government in section 3, it says this about your ruling elders. It says, ruling elders individually and jointly with the pastor in the session are to lead the church in the service of Christ. They are to watch diligently over the people committed to their charge to prevent corruption of doctrine or morals, evils which they cannot correct by private admonition. They should bring to the notice of the session. They should visit the people, especially the sick, instruct the ignorant, comfort the mourning, and nourish and guard the children of the covenant. They should pray with and for the people.
They should have particular concern for the doctrine and conduct of the minister of the word and help him in his labors. In other words, your elders, one of their tasks is to keep me accountable, to make sure that I’m walking in line with scripture and to correct me if they see me going astray. But this is very different from the way that many folks today view the tasks of church leaders, especially pastors as well as elders. There are many misconceptions today among Christians and in society in general about the roles and functions of ministers and ruling elders. For example, when it comes to ministers who serve as pastors, many folks tend to view pastors simply as religious functionaries, as basically religious professionals who are assigned certain sacerdotal and ceremonial functions. So, for example, those of a more high church mindset often seem to view pastors and church leaders as religious masters of ceremony whose main function is to dispense sacraments, to perform rites of passage, and to perform other ceremonies at important stages in people’s lives.
Those who have more of a sort of a nominal approach to the Christian life, you know, the so-called Christmas and Easter Christians, will often, in my experience, they will often view the pastor. Well, it’s the pastor’s job to baptize babies, officiate at wedding ceremonies, and to help oversee funeral services, to administer or preside over funeral services as well. In other words, the pastor’s job is to baptize, marry, and bury people, or to put it crassly, to hatch them, match them, and dispatch them, right? But on the other end of the theological spectrum. Another common view today, at least in the more broadly evangelical world of mega churches and celebrity preachers, is the view that pastors and other church leaders, namely the elders, are basically religious businessmen. The pastor basically being the local church’s CEO. In fact, in some of the mega churches out there, the senior pastor is sometimes given the title executive pastor.
And so he’s viewed as the one who is charged with running the administration of the church. And so that’s his basic function, to run the business of the local church and to deliver inspirational pep talks to the people at Sunday services. But the pastor and the other church leaders, like the elders in such contexts, are basically otherwise quite distant from and uninvolved directly in the lives of the average congregant. That is the corporate business model for how to do church. That is not the biblical shepherding model for doing church. And you know, even in some reformed circles, it seems that the minister or pastor is viewed almost exclusively as a preacher with few other responsibilities. And certainly preaching is one of these central activities. In fact, I would argue the central activity of the minister of the word, and that’s the chief way in which the pastor at least helps to shepherd the flock.
But while all pastors are preachers, pastors don’t merely preach, just as elders don’t merely administer the business affairs of the church. Now, certainly activities like preaching the word and administering the sacraments, these are some of the ways that the pastor and the undershepherd shepherds the flock. And of course, part of what pastors and ruling elders are called to do involves church administration. And most pastors as well also do things like officiate at wedding ceremonies and at funerals, even though the Bible doesn’t list that as part of the pastor’s job activity or job description. Those are activities that are generally regarded as proper to the shepherding role of the pastor. But friends, the point here is that the main responsibility of ordained ministers and ruling elders in Christ’s church is to spiritually shepherd God’s flock. And true spiritual shepherding is much more involved than simply preaching, teaching, administering sacraments, and administering the affairs of the local church.
Although, again, all of those activities are important aspects of shepherding God’s flock. A faithful undershepherd of Christ will, like the divine shepherd he serves, seek to actually know the sheep, to have at least a basic acquaintance with them and their basic needs. He will seek to study the sheep entrusted to his care, seeking to know their joys, their sorrows, their triumphs, and their trials. In some, my friends, the church’s elders are not called to merely manage or manipulate the flock. No, they are called to shepherd the flock of God. They are called to do so as attentive, caring, loving, undershepherds of Christ. And once again, brothers and sisters, you as God’s people have the right to expect your pastors and your elders to provide you with this kind of shepherd care. Your shepherds, your pastor and your elders will not do this perfectly.
We all sin, we all fall short, and we don’t fulfill our callings perfectly. But, nevertheless, this is what you should be looking for in Christ’s faithful undershepherds. But that leads me to my next point as we consider verses two and three. Let’s consider next the kinds of shepherding that the church’s elders should avoid. First of all, there is compulsory shepherding. The exhortation, the charge is to shepherd the flock of God. And then he goes on to say in verse three, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you. God would have us serve willingly. God would have us fulfill our callings, our vocations willingly and not under compulsion. The church’s overseers should desire to serve. They should aspire to the office. Consider what the apostle Paul writes, for example, in 1 Timothy chapter three, verse one, as he lays out the character qualifications of those who would aspire to the office of overseer or bishop.
And by the way, in the New Testament, the bishop and the presbyter or elder are two different terms that refer to the same office. And Paul writes this in 1 Timothy three, verse one. He says the saying is trustworthy if anyone aspires to the office of overseer. He does what? He desires a noble task. Theologians talk about both the internal and the outward call to the ministry or to service in church office. There has to be both. There has to be the internal calling, namely an internal desire to pursue the office. And that desire has to be confirmed by the church seeing the gifts for office in the one who aspires to the office. But in terms of the internal calling, there has to be a desire. Those who would serve as Christ’s under shepherd should be willing to serve, aspiring to office, not pressured into such service.
So if you’re a man and you’re wondering, well, am I called to serve as a ruling elder in the church, for example? Let me ask you this. Do you desire that? Do you aspire to that? Because if there is no desire, then there is no call, at least not at this point in life. And that’s okay. God calls us all. We all have a calling. We all have a vocation. It may not be to church office. It might be to other things. And that’s fine. We should recapture a robust sense of calling and vocation in the church of Jesus Christ. And not everyone is called to church office. And that’s all right. We are all called to the general office of believer, however. And we are all to admonish one another and encourage one another in the Lord.
But in terms of shepherding, the true shepherd must not be so under compulsion. Another form of shepherding that should be avoided is greedy shepherding. It goes on to say in verse 3, nor not for shameful gain, but eagerly. Not for shameful gain, but eagerly. The churches under shepherds are called to serve, to feed, and to lead God’s flock into the green pastures of his grace and truth. They are not to fleece the sheep. They are not to use them as sources of personal financial enrichment. Of course, this does not invalidate the equally biblical truth that those who labor in the word have a right to be paid for their services. The apostle Paul makes it very clear in First Corinthians 9 verses 7 through 14 that that is the right of those who labor in the word to be paid for such labor.
Paul himself chose not to make use of that right, but he recognizes that the right is there. But here’s the balance, brothers and sisters. We know that God is greatly dishonored by church leaders who are motivated by greed. A few individuals cause more harm to the witness of the church than those who are obviously in it for the money. An obvious example being the charlatans out there, the prosperity preachers out there, who if you watch them on their programs, they’re always appealing for you to send in that seed money, to send in that gift, or to buy this product, or that product, and so forth. And obviously, that’s an obvious example of such a greedy shepherding. But it’s also neither honoring to God nor a good witness for the gospel when faithful pastors are underpaid, under supported, and underappreciated.
And I thank God that that’s not the case here at Grace OPC. Let me say very quickly, I’m very thankful to serve such a graciously generous and supportive congregation. But over the years of my ministry, I’ve seen colleagues in the ministry who I believe were not appropriately appreciated or valued by their congregations. And that too is a dishonor to the name of Christ. So again, compulsive shepherding, greedy shepherding, these are forms of shepherding that should be avoided. Another form of shepherding that should be avoided that is mentioned in verse three is domineering or abusive shepherding. Again, look at verse three, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. Not domineering. Oh friends, faithful under shepherds of Christ are not to be intrusive control freaks or heavy-handed micromanagers over God’s flock.
And they certainly are not to be bullies. Sadly, there are some who enter into the ministry because they have a desire to control people. And that is not the character, that is not what a man who would aspire to be an under shepherd of Christ, that’s not the kind of character that ought to be sought. They are not to lord it over the flock. Instead, they are to shepherd God’s flock as servant leaders. Following the example of Christ, the chief shepherd, and what did Christ do? He laid down his life for his sheep. He didn’t abuse his sheep, he laid down his life for his sheep. Let me just read what our Lord teaches in Matthew 20, beginning at verse 20. I want to read this brief passage to you. Matthew chapter 20, beginning at verse 20, we read this.
In other words, please give my sons the highest places of honor and authority in your kingdom. And what does Jesus say? Jesus answered, 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. That’s not how you are to lead my sheep, in other words. 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 a ransom for many. Dear ones, Christ is the good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep, his elect church. Even though he is indeed Lord over all, he’s King of kings and Lord of lords, he doesn’t exercise his lordship over his flock with harshness or with cruelty or with abuse.
Jesus is Lord, but he’s not a divine bully. Instead, his yoke is easy, his burden is light. He is gentle and lowly of heart. And though he is the royal messianic King before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess him as Lord at the end of this age, nonetheless, he humbled himself to wash the feet of his disciples. A disgusting, filthy, menial task, the lowest task of the lowest servant. Jesus did that for his disciples. And he expects his under-shepherds, the church’s pastors and elders to follow his example in the way they shepherd the flock of God entrusted to their care. And you as the sheep of Christ, we as the sheep of Christ, ought to expect such servant leadership from those whom God raises up as under-shepherds in our midst. And dear listener, let me ask you this.
Do you know Christ as your divine shepherd and Lord? Jesus laid down his life for his sheep and he welcomes all who would come to him, come to Jesus, trust him as your savior and your shepherd, and he will take you into his fold, and he will lead you beside the still waters and in green pastures. But finally, and very briefly, consider the gracious reward that is promised to faithful elders. We read of this in verse four, where it says, and when the chief shepherd, that’s Jesus, when the chief shepherd appears, you, you who are faithful under-shepherds, will receive the unfading crown of glory. Again, the chief shepherd is obviously the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says when he appears, what’s that referring to? That’s referring to his future glorious second advent. When Jesus returns in his eschatological glory, those who are faithful in serving him will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Here, Peter uses imagery from an ancient athletic contest where the contestants who won were rewarded with a garland crown that was woven with branches, either from an olive tree or from some other tree. And as Dr. I. Howard Marshall points out, Peter describes the crown as being made of amaranth flowers, and amaranth flowers did not fade away. But the same contrast but the same contrast between perishable earthly garlands, even of amaranth, and the everlasting imperishable divine award, that comparison is made by Paul as well in 1 Corinthians 9. But the crown is a metaphor for the glory that the church leaders will share with Christ. But this is not just something for church leaders to look forward to. Faithful shepherding, my friends, indeed all forms of service to the Lord can be exacting and at times even wearying.
However, this gracious promise is meant to assure God’s servants that it will be worth it in the end. And not only is this true for the church’s elders, as under shepherds, not only is it true for them in their shepherding role, it is true for all of us as God’s people as we faithfully seek to serve the Lord in our various callings and vocations. Dear Christian listener, your service to our Lord, whatever form that service may take, is not in vain, for the Lord will graciously reward your service even as he promises to reward his faithful under shepherds with the unfading crown of glory. But understand that this unfading crown of glory and this language of reward with this unfading crown of glory, this crown is not a crown that is earned or merited or deserved.
We don’t deserve this crown. We’re not worthy of it. Ultimately, it is a reward of grace, not a reward of works or merits or worthiness. You know, one aspect of God’s amazing grace is that God’s amazing grace is all the more highlighted by the fact that he chooses to crown his own gifts as a reward. And that’s why on the final day, when we have those crowns, we will cast our crowns before him. And we sang earlier in the service today, to God be the glory. We will say on that final day, who we who by grace are in Christ, we will say, when the Lord says to us, well done, thou good and faithful servant, we’ll say, to God be the glory. To God be the glory. Not to me. To God be the glory.
And therefore, let our boasting always be in him and in him alone, even as our reward will be of his grace and of his grace alone. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you that you have chosen Jesus Christ as the good shepherd. We thank you, Lord Jesus, who laid down your life for your sheep. And we thank you, O Lord, that you provide under shepherds for your church, that you choose to shepherd your people through these under shepherds. But Lord, we know that it is only by your grace that under shepherds can shepherd faithfully. And so, Lord, we would pray that you would bless your churches with faithful under shepherds, pastors and elders, who will shepherd your sheep, who will shepherd the flock of God faithfully, exercising godly oversight. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said.
Amen.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.