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Our text this morning is in First Peter, chapter five. So, I would encourage you to take your Bibles and to turn there as we continue to make our way through this epistle, verse by verse. And this morning we will be looking specifically at the concepts that the Spirit of God gives to us through his inspired apostle Peter regarding the shepherd's role and reward. Follow along as I read First Peter, chapter five, beginning in verse one.

"Therefore, I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,

"shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;

"nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.

"And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory."

On several occasions in my life, I have experienced group hysteria due to some unforeseen crisis. Perhaps you have as well. One such experience occurred sometime in the 80s when I was in the Los Angeles International Airport, and a great earthquake struck at that time, and I remember being in one of the large waiting areas and seeing this giant plane kind of bouncing across the runway, glass was breaking, people were screaming, they were running in every direction, they were running into each other, different ones were falling on the ground, others were running over them all in this terminal. It was bedlam, it was chaos. And fortunately, after a few minutes, it died down and people began to gain their composure, and then, of course, there were aftershocks, and then it would start again for a few seconds, and then it would calm down, and it did this several times; but one of the reasons there was bedlam and there was chaos is because no one was in charge when people were scared, they didn't know what to do, where to go.

This is reminiscent, I believe, of the scenario in the early church at the time in which Peter wrote this epistle. You will recall that because of the mounting persecution upon the saints of that day, people were scattered and they were scared doctrinally, many of them knew very little about the scriptures. They knew the gospel; many of them had embraced Christ as Savior, but beyond that, they were uncertain about many things. Therefore, they were vulnerable to false teachers, and some of their leaders had by this time already been killed or imprisoned, and others we believe were in hiding. Therefore, the church was in desperate need of godly leadership. But I might add that even in times of relative security, the flock of God, like real sheep, are in need of the constant care of faithful shepherds, and this has always been God's method.

If we look back in the Old Testament, for example, in Numbers 11, we can see where God required Moses to appoint 70 elders to help out in shepherding the flock of Israel, and we can read there that God supernaturally empowered these 70 men by coming to them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, even as He had Moses. And throughout the history of Israel, we see this divine model of leadership in the New Testament, this method of leadership persisted. In fact, if you read through the New Testament, you will find that elders are commonly mentioned right alongside of the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees. And even after Israel was temporarily set aside as the representative to the world for God and the church was raised up in her stead, God continued to appoint and empower elders to shepherd his people. We read much about this in the book of Acts. Elders were never elected democratically, nor did they rule democratically, but they were always appointed by God. In fact, we read of this divine appointment, for example, in Acts 20:28, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood."

And so first the elders were appointed by the apostles. We read about that, for example, in Acts 14 with Paul and Barnabas. And then later on they were chosen by other elders. They were also accountable to him, to God, not necessarily accountable to the church. And we read of this divine accountability, for example, in Hebrews 13:17 where the church is told to "obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account." He goes on to say, "Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you."

In the New Testament, this model of leadership is very clear. In fact, there are three terms that are used interchangeably in the New Testament to describe this office of leadership, there is first of all the term "elder" - "presbuteros" in the original language, and that underscores the man's spiritual maturity that is crucial for leadership. Another term that is used is "episkopos," which can be translated bishop or overseer, and that emphasizes primarily his responsibility as the guardian of the church; one that manages and supervises, and so on. And then another term is "poimén," which is translated often as pastor, and it means shepherd, and it denotes the crucial roles of leading and feeding the flock, and making sure that they are protected from predators, from false teachers, and also protected even from their own ignorance, and to make sure that they have the proper nutrition of spiritual truth in the word, lest they starve and die.

Now I know at times you will hear, especially here in the South, a pastor called "brother," and while there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, that is not a biblical term or a description for a pastor. We're all brothers and sisters in Christ, so that is not a biblical designation of the office, but we also see two other terms that are used to refer to the pastoral office. Sometimes there is the term "kēryssō, which is preacher, which really points to the public proclamation of the gospel and the teaching of the flock, and then finally there is the teacher, the "didaskalos," the one responsible for correction and instruction through the exposition of the scriptures, as well as the private ministry of the word, and counseling, and discipleship, and so on. In fact, you will see those combined in Ephesians 4:11 as pastor/teacher in the original language, denoting the office of a teaching shepherd.

The qualifications of elders can be found in First Timothy chapter three verses one through seven, and Titus chapter one, verses five through nine, and I'll not take time to go into all of that but suffice it to say that the qualifications of an elder is different than the qualifications for a deacon. Deacons are servants, they are not overseers, and the deacons are there to assist the elders. In fact, there's two very different sets of qualifications in First Timothy three, one for elders, one for deacons, and the primary distinction is that the elders have been called and gifted to lead and to guard and to teach, whereas deacons are called and gifted primarily to serve. The major distinction is summarized in numerous passages, but especially in Titus one verse nine, where we read that the elders are commanded to, "hold fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that you will be able to both exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict."

 As I was thinking about this, I reflected upon the fact that I devote probably an average of one day every week of my life to nothing more than exhorting in sound doctrine and refuting those who contradict - phone calls, email, people's letters, sometimes private counseling sessions, and so on; but as we look at scripture, we see that the church in the New Testament was ruled by a plurality of elders. It was always in the plural, it was never singular, it was never a one-man type of job. One man does not possess all of the gifts necessary to shepherd the flock, and it was also always men, it was never women. Whenever you see women in a role of leadership and authority in teaching in a church, it is a mark of defection that is made clear in scripture. There is never one place where we find a woman that was appointed to leadership.

In fact, we read in First Timothy 2:12 where the apostle Paul spoke to the church and spoke especially to Timothy. He said, "I do not allow women to teach or exercise authority over men over a man, but to remain quiet." The New Testament pattern is very clear. Elders were to be appointed by other elders, and then they would be affirmed and obeyed by the church, and they were always accountable to God, receiving their directives from the word. They were never - and I really want you to hear this, because this is contrary to the thinking of, I think, many churches, especially in our culture - the elders were never political representatives of the congregation, all right? They were never kind of voted on like you would vote for a political representative to somehow represent you and the governing of the church, but rather they were accountable to God, and we see that in many churches today, because I believe that of the commitment to the tenets of a democracy and government, as well as the rabid individualism that we have in our culture that really resents accountability. We see that in many churches, your leaders are not appointed or affirmed in this manner, but rather it's kind of a popularity contest, and they're expected to, in essence, represent the rest of the church. But you must also understand, as we look at scripture, like husbands whom God has given charge to to lead and to love and to shepherd their wives, faithful shepherds likewise will always be sensitive to the needs of the flock, because that is their passion, that is their heart's desire, that is their calling.

However, because of this, many times their decisions will not always be popular with the flock. In fact, I have learned that a faithful shepherd must learn to bear up against the relentless criticisms and slander and complaints that will come from the bleeding sheep that he loves. A shepherd must learn that he cannot be faithful and popular at the same time. It just will not work. He is driven by truth, not majority opinion. As Paul said in First Corinthians four, speaking to this very issue, he said, "Let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards to be found trustworthy." Might I hasten to add, he did not say popular, but to me it is a very small thing. He went on to say that I be examined by you or by any human court, and finally he said, "but the one who examines me is the Lord." Of course, complaining and criticism are seen frequently in the Old Testament. By the way, I'm thankful that I don't have much of that here, very little of that here. There's been times where there's been greater than others, but in the Old Testament we see that often the Israelites murmured and grumbled against the elders that God had placed over them, especially when they confronted them with their sin, their idolatry and false doctrine, and so on. And again, I rejoice that in our church we have very little of that. Sometimes when it occurs, we as elders always want to give people time to express what their contrary opinion might be, and then it is our role to rule on that and then put a stop to it. If that's the end of it, that's the end of it, and if it binds someone's conscience and they feel they must somehow begin to beat some drum and carry a banner and gain support and become divisive in the church, then obviously they would need to be confronted, according to Matthew 18, and eventually disciplined, lest they stop what they're doing; and so we must always remember that with elders is they have the calling and the giftedness to have spiritual oversight over the church. Their calling is in the area of guardianship and nurturing the church, and they ultimately receive the directives from God, not from the church.

Now with this background, we approach this text, and it's really interesting that the inspired apostle here speaks to really two things with regard to the shepherding of the church. He first of all, and I can give you a real quick outline here, he talks about the role and the reward of the shepherds. How's that? Two very easy points: the role and the reward of the shepherds. First, he's going to give an exhortation, which is a compelling, a strong encouragement, concerning their role and duties, and we'll look at that first. And then finally, he will talk about the incentive for faithful shepherding, the reward of the unfading crown of glory.

So, first of all, pertaining to the role of shepherding, notice in verses one, in the first part of verse two, he says, "Therefore..." Now I want to stop for a moment, you must understand that therefore is pointing back to the divine insights and instructions pertaining to persecution and severe suffering that he that he's been addressing. Therefore, he says, "I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you." What a powerful and humble statement that Peter gives regarding his credibility. I find it interesting; he did not flaunt his apostleship as he could have. There were no strong-arm tactics here, kind of like the old Peter, you will recall, but rather he designates himself as a fellow elder, a fellow shepherd, one who was a witness of the sufferings of Christ.

A "witness," by the way, it's interesting. The original language, it is "martys," actually. We get our word "martyr" from that, which is a transliteration of the word "martys." The reason why "witness" became "martyr" is ultimately because those who dared to witness on behalf of Christ were ultimately martyred, typically because of their faithful testimony of the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ.

Now, as we look at this, indeed, we know that Peter was one who witnessed the sufferings of Christ like no other. He was closer to the Lord than any other of the disciples. We know that he even denied the Lord three times, yet he repented, and he was graciously forgiven. And later on, you will recall that the Lord asked him three times if he loved him. Remember in John 21 and then at the conclusion of that discussion, Jesus said to him, "Peter, tend my sheep." So here we see the humility of a broken man who not only witnessed the sufferings of Christ, but now was himself suffering on behalf of Christ, awaiting his own crucifixion. He also reminded his fellow shepherds here that, like them, he was a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed. Of course, you will recall that Peter, along with James and John, were on the Mount of Transfiguration, and they were able to witness the ineffable, dazzling light of the Lord Shekinah emanate from within him when the Lord exposed that to them, and because of this, undoubtedly he's thinking of that very glimpse of glory that we will all someday experience the incomprehensible glory that awaits all Christians who have dedicated their lives to faithfully serving in the capacity for which they have been divinely called and gifted. And so he says to them, "also I'm a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed." In essence, he's saying to his fellow elders, though the suffering associated with shepherding the flock will be great, the reward will be even greater.

I want to digress for a moment. I have had a number of opportunities in the course of my life in ministry to interact with young men who are curious about their calling into the ministry, and, quite frankly, I always try to discourage men from spiritual leadership, especially that of the pastor/teacher, unless they clearly manifest two things: first of all, an external commitment to that office, as well as an internal longing to lead and to teach. In fact, we, we see this in First Timothy, chapter three, in verse one. He must both aspire and desire the work. The term "aspire" means to externally reach out, it's in other words, what he is longing to do is something that must be obvious to others. There must be people following him. You will always know you're a leader if people follow you. If you're by yourself, you're probably not a leader; but the point is, it must be obvious to all that this man is a leader because other people follow him and affirm him because of the current direction that they see in his life. It's not something that you're not doing at all, and then all of a sudden, you decide you're going to become this, but rather you begin to see elements of this being manifested in a man's life.

But also there must be the desire, which is not the external commitment, but rather the internal longing, a passionate longing, an inward motivation, a calling, if you will, and one of the reasons I say that is when, not if, the pain of leadership becomes unbearable, these two virtues - that of aspiring and desiring, combined with the testimony of the Holy Spirit of God and His promise of eternal reward - those two things, along with the Spirit of God's testimony, will become the three interwoven strands that will make up a lifeline, if you will, that will save a man from falling into the abyss of discouragement and despair. Sometimes that's all you have, but that's all you need.

Spurgeon was once asked by a young man, "Sir, how will I know if I'm called to preach?" To which Spurgeon responded, "Young man, if there's anything else you would rather do, you're not." Ours a daunting task, especially that of a pastor teacher. It is a lifetime of study and preparing. It is a lifetime filled with relentless criticism and many times slander, it is a task that requires constant care for those that you love, and indeed we have a higher level of accountability. In fact, James speaks of this in James three and verse one, when he warned, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment." I must also add, for anyone that might be considering that particular role that you think maybe God is calling you into, never make that kind of a decision in the heat of emotion, especially with some altar call or some, the music going, and all of that. Just because you have a quiver in your liver doesn't necessarily mean anything. There's a whole lot more to it than that. Nor should you ever appoint yourself to such a role, but rather, you need to be affirmed by others, other elders who have proven their calling. Let them affirm you, along with the rest of the church body.

So, in humility, Peter exhorts his fellow elders to shepherd the flock of God among you. It's interesting here, the word "flock” it’s a reference to the church, and I thought, "What I would do is give you a little lesson about flocks, about sheep." I found it very interesting. Over the years, I've spent a lot of time working cattle with horses, and I've seen some sheep, but I'm not very familiar with them, and so I called a very dear friend of mine, some of you know Pastor Mike Sheridan in California. He's a world-class horseman, and he has managed some very, very large ranches in California and also in Australia. And even though his expertise is primarily horses and cattle, he is also an expert with sheep, and I asked him to give me a little more insight about sheep, because I find it interesting that God likens us, and by the way, even though I may be one of the shepherds here, I am also a sheep, like you, okay?

Now what I'm about to share with you is not necessarily complimentary, but it is interesting indeed. One of the things that I learned is that sheep cannot survive without a shepherd. They cannot survive without a shepherd. He indicated that they are the most helpless, defenseless, and ignorant of all livestock breeds. They get sick and they get injured very, very easily. In fact, I am told that shepherds have a saying, quote, "A sick sheep is a dead sheep.' While cattle will graze over large expanses of land daily, and they will instinctively be able to travel 345 miles to wherever their water source would be, sheep, on the other hand, will literally over graze a small area and die of starvation or thirst, unless they're moved. An amazing thought. By the way, we see this kind of imagery in Psalm 23 do we not? Especially in verses one and two, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures." Not only do we eat, but we eat to our fill, and we can lie down and rest.

 In fact, just parenthetically, Psalm 23 has two primary themes about our great Shepherd, because of Him, because of Christ, we shall not want, and we fear no evil. Wonderful thoughts.

Sheep are also prone to wandering off. I understand that if they wander off just a few 100 yards from where they have been grazing, they're lost. They have no common sense. They have no way of knowing how to get back where they need to be, unless the shepherd comes and gets them. We again see this imagery that the Lord used in his parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15. Sheep must be taken to water, and it must be still water. You must give them water very carefully. If the water is moving very much, they will get their head in it too deeply, and their nostrils are down close to their lips, and they will drown, or they will begin to get the water on their wool, and they will very quickly be taken into the water, and they will drown. We are reminded that, as well, in Psalm 23 when we're told that "He leads me beside quiet waters."

Cattle can handle the elements of weather - rain and snow, and so on - but a sheep requires shelter. They require endless attention because of the lanolin that is secreted onto their wool, which is a thick kind of oily substance. We know that all manner of dirt and debris will accumulate on their wooly coats, and even though they're white underneath, they will often be very kind of a dark gray type of color, or sometimes even worse than that on the outside. And I might hasten to add, and I know this firsthand, they stink. It's important to shear sheep, especially under their tails, lest the oily mass of debris accumulate at that particular place and become so thick that they are unable to eliminate, and then they will die.

There are two kinds of sheep I understand in terms of their herding nature. There's the South Down breed, which have the white faced, and there is also the Suffolk breed, which are the black faced. And when threatened, the white-faced breed will huddle together when they are attacked. In fact, many times when they train sheep dog, they will do so on ducks, because that's what they will do. They will all kind of herd to the middle; whereas the black face sheep will scatter in every direction. That's why the white face are a preferable breed to herd. And it's fascinating when you think about it, when the white face breed are attacked, they all go for the center, because no one wants to be in the perimeter. Sheep are totally selfish, they care only about themselves and no one else. Sound familiar?

Sheep will recognize and follow the voice of their shepherd, that's one thing that God has given them instinctively to do, and we know that the Lord says, "My sheep hear My voice," and they do what? "...they follow Me." Often shepherds use dogs to keep the stragglers and the wanderers in the flock. I've heard them say, "Get behind, get behind," which means for the dog they will go to the behind part of the flock and push the flock up to the shepherd who is leading them, or they will say "away to me," and they will point one way or the other, and that means that the dog will need to go to one side of the flock or the other to balance the flock in case it's, it's kind of squirting out to one side. My friend Mike told me that he saw at one time one shepherd that had 500 sheep following him, and one very tired dog doing his best to make the sheep stay up with him. An amazing scene.

The dogs will often bark and nip at the sheep to discipline them to try to keep them in line, and I've seen them many times jump up on the backs of the sheep, so that they can get up and look over the dust in the sheep to see the shepherd, and then they'll get back down and work the sheep. This reminds me of what the psalmist said in Psalm 23:6, and I believe that perhaps the psalmist had this in mind. Two little dogs herding the sheep, he said, "Surely goodness and loving kindness..." those are the two names of the dogs..."goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

At shearing time, it's interesting that one by one the sheep will be brought to the shearer, and what the shearer must do in order to get them calmed down and quit making all their noises, roll them up onto their rumps into a sitting position, and amazingly, when that happens, they become still and silent. This is what the Spirit of God had in mind in Isaiah 53:7, where he describes Jesus as the sacrificial lamb that "...did not open his mouth, like a lamb that is led to slaughter," and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, "...so He did not open His mouth."

Well, beloved, we can rejoice knowing that the Lord Jesus is our chief shepherd, who provides and protects for the sheep of his pasture, and he does so in many ways, including the provision of under shepherds that tend his sheep.

So Peter goes on to emphasize some crucial aspects of shepherding that fall under the category of exercising oversight, which would be a very visible public dimension of leadership, and so he's exhorting them to exercise oversight; and obviously the public now is going to see this, and therefore think about it, it would make the shepherd very vulnerable to a hostile society, it would be a very dangerous position. Persecutors of the church will always go after the leaders of the church first. This has always been his tactic. The first thing that he will always try to do is eliminate true shepherds and replace them with false shepherds or leave the flock with no shepherd at all.

And it would appear that perhaps some of these early shepherds were shrinking back into the forest of anonymity, and to protect themselves, and leaving, therefore, the sheep without a shepherd. Thus he commands them in verse two, "...shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; exercising oversight..."  - "episkopeō" in the original language - it means to oversee, to manage, to watch over, to supervise. In fact, the noun is "episkopos," where we get the word "bishop" or "overseer." So, the point here is the shepherd must be involved in order to fulfill this directive. He must be involved with his sheep. He must know his sheep. He must live with his sheep. It takes years to establish that type of trust.

That's why, by the way, I believe that pastors should go to a church for life, not have their resume always updated, and be skipping from one church to another, but it does not mean that the shepherd is to do this under duress or under coercion. That's why he says "not under compulsion, but voluntarily." In other words, he's saying don't take up the task of shepherding here with reluctance, with some sense of pressure, with a feeling of obligation, dragging your feet. You're to shepherd with desire, not duress. In fact, when I think of this, I think of how often I hear a man say, "Yeah, I finally surrendered to preach." Well, you know, if that's the case, you probably have no business preaching. It's not a surrender; it's not some type of compulsion where you fight it and you fight it and you fight it. It's something that God places in your bones and you can do nothing else.

Imagine the suffering saints of the first century, desperately in need of a shepherd to come and to nourish them, and to protect them, and to lead them. And a guy comes up and says, "Well, you know, I really haven't wanted to do this, but I kind of think God wants me to do it, so here I am, follow me." Yeah, right. You know, that's real comforting. Rather, a man must be able to say to the flock, "I have absolutely no doubt in my heart that God has called and gifted me to love and to lead and to protect and to teach you. It's been affirmed by others. There is nothing in my life that I would rather do than to shepherd you." Such a man will be consumed with the truth, and he will preach the truth, or he will die. He will be like Jeremiah, who said in Jeremiah 20:9, "In my heart becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones." In my heart it becomes like a burning fire. In other words, the truth is something that is exploding within me, and like Paul said in First Corinthians nine, when he acknowledged how God had sovereignly chosen and called and gifted him to preach, and had therefore given him the stewardship of that particular office that he was to manage carefully, he said, in First Corinthians 9:17, "I am under divine compulsion, for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel." This kind of shepherd gladly gives his life for the precious flock entrusted to him. It's not something done out of obligation or duty, but out of heartfelt desire.

So he says in verse two, "...shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion but voluntarily," and then notice what he says, "according to the will of God." What is the will of God for a shepherd? Well, it entails many things, and we see these things mentioned all through the Bible, but we see a very clear list delineated in the pastoral epistles, which would be First and Second Timothy, and Titus.

John MacArthur has summarized Paul's instructions to shepherds there in First Timothy and Second Timothy, in particular, and I'm going to read these to you that he is summarized, because they have been so meaningful to me down through the years, and by the way, this is a bit of a job description, if you want to know where to especially hold me accountable, given my calling and giftedness as a pastor/teacher; and although I won't read you all of the references, the admonitions that I will read to you are summarized in the very sequence that they are found in these two epistles.

First of all, beginning in First Timothy:

a teaching shepherd must correct those teaching false doctrine and call them to a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Fight for divine truth and for God's purposes, keeping his own faith and a good conscience. Pray for the lost and lead the men of the church to do the same. Call women in the church to fulfill their God-given role of submission and to raise up godly children, setting an example of faith, love, and sanctity with self-restraint. Carefully select spiritual leaders for the church on the basis of their giftedness, godliness, and virtue. Recognize the source of error and those who teach it, and point these things out to the rest of the church. Constantly be nourished on the words of Scripture and its sound teaching, avoiding all myths and false doctrines. Discipline himself for the purpose of godliness. Boldly command and teach the truth of God's word. Be a model of spiritual virtue that all can follow. Faithfully read, explain, and apply the scriptures publicly. Be progressing toward Christ likeness in his own life. Be gracious and gentle in confronting the sin of his people. Give special consideration and care to those who are widows. Honor faithful church leaders who work hard. Choose church leaders with great care, seeing to it that they are both mature and proven. Take care of his physical condition, so he is strong to serve, teach and preach principles of true godliness, helping his people discern between true godliness and mere hypocrisy. Flee the love of money, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight for the faith against all enemies and all attacks, instruct the rich to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous. Guard the word of God as a sacred trust and a treasure.

Now that's just First Timothy. Here's the summaries for a teaching shepherd in Second Timothy:

Keep the gift of God in him fresh and useful. He's not to be timid, but powerful. Never be ashamed of Christ, or anyone who serves Christ. Hold tightly to the truth and guard it. Be strong in character. Be a teacher of apostolic truth, so that he may reproduce himself in faithful men. Suffer difficulty and persecution willingly, while making the maximum effort for Christ. Keep his eyes on Christ at all times, lead with authority; interpret and apply scripture accurately. Avoid useless conversations that lead only to ungodliness. Be an instrument of honor, set apart from sin and useful to the Lord. Flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, and love. Refuse to be drawn into philosophical and theological wrangling. Do not argue, but be kind, teachable, gentle, and patient, even when wronged. Face dangerous times with a deep knowledge of the word of God. Understand that scripture is the basis and content of all legitimate ministry. Preach the word in season and out of season, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with great patience and instruction. Be sober in all things, endure hardship, and do the work of an evangelist.

Now that's just First and Second Timothy. So that gives you an idea, and you could pretty well summarize it by saying that, especially a teaching shepherd is one that is to preach, he is to exhort in sound doctrine, refute those that are in error, to be an example in his life, to work hard at ministry and be willing to suffer hardship and persecution for the Lord's sake.

So Peter exhorts his fellow elders here to do these things according to the will of God. And notice also at the end of verse two he says, "...and not for sordid gain but with eagerness. " Now, here we have a prohibition against ministry for money, that's one of the marks of a charlatan, my friends. In fact, I believe that the majority of ministries that you see on television today are nothing more than religious drug cartels, where people are making millions; hucksters and con men making money off of naive and desperate people; it is heartbreaking. These people are entrepreneurs. They are not shepherds. They know nothing of the qualifications and the responsibilities that I just read about, they drive their sheep to be butchered by deception rather than lead their sheep to be nurtured by the truth, and whenever you hear a preacher emphasizing money or prosperity, or you know, "plant your seed faith and you're going to reap a harvest of wealth" and so on -  know that you're dealing with a predator in the pulpit. Be very, very careful with that.

In fact, later on, in Second Peter, chapter two, beginning in verse two, Peter says, "Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words." I might also add that you will typically see these men, and many times women, trying to impress you with their special miraculous spiritual abilities, their ability to heal or somehow tell your future, or that they somehow hear directly from God, or they have the miracle of tongues going on, and they are able to perform other miracles. Friends, when you're around that type of thing, you need to run from those type of people. Gullible people will often get sucked into counterfeit signs and wonders, and the sensationalism and the emotionalism that is so prevalent in our day, and once they do, the wolf will fleece you for all you're worth. Miraculous claims and material greed will always be a dead giveaway of a false shepherd. You see, ours is to be a sacrificial zeal that is utterly bereft of any desire for financial gain that is never part of the picture. Our reward is not in this life, but the next.

I also want to add here that faithful shepherds are to be supported financially by the church, and I wanted to make this comment because it's important, giving some of the things that are going on, even in our area, and certainly around the country, some of the misguided and, I believe, unbiblical positions that many home church Christians would argue, especially their position that pastors should not receive remuneration. Let me read to you what Paul said in First Corinthians nine, beginning in verse seven,

"Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?

"I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things?

"For it is written in the Law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.' God is not concerned about oxen, is He?

"Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops."

He goes on to say,

"If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

"If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things, so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

"Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar?

"So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel, now catch this, to get their living from the gospel."

So, indeed, there is a biblical mandate to financially support your pastor or pastors, as the case may be, and even more so for those who are committed to the difficult labor of preaching and teaching the word. And we read this, for example, in First Timothy, chapter 5:17 through 18, and First Thessalonians 5:12 through about verse 13.  By the way, I would also want to add, I'm glad that this is not an issue here at Calvary Bible Church.

So Peter exhorts them to shepherd, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, in other words, with joyful zeal, with enthusiasm, with excitement. And in verse three he says, "nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge," in other words, he's saying that there's no place for a control freak shepherd, there is no place for a demagogue in leadership, there is no place for a man to be overbearing or somehow lead through intimidation. Again, it's the butcher that drives the sheep. It is the shepherd that leads the sheep. Temper tantrums are not appropriate, and whenever you see this, you know that there is a severe problem with that particular shepherd, because that betrays someone who is self-appointed, self-seeking, self-promoting, and self-centered.

It reminds me of one example in scripture that is, that is so clear, that of Diotrephes. Remember Diotrephes in Third John. Here's what John tells about him in verses nine and 10, he's the one, "who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so, and puts them out of the church."

The language there is indicating that here was a guy that was kind of the keeper of the gate, he would excommunicate those who resisted his authority. There's no place for that type of demagoguery in the church. Compare that to Jesus' words in Matthew 20, beginning in verse 25. And Jesus called them to himself, and he said,

"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

"It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

"and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;

"just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Friends, this is how we are to conduct ourselves to those who have been, as Peter says, "allotted to our charge." And you must hold us accountable to that as well. Now, I speak for all of the leaders here at Calvary Bible Church when I say that our passion is to lead and to protect and to nourish each one of you, so that together we can all grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ - the Lord Jesus, who is our great shepherd - the great shepherd of the sheep, as we read in Hebrews 13:20 and also the shepherd and guardian of our souls, as Peter said in First Peter 2:25.

So together we are all his sheep, even we as shepherds, as I said earlier, we're all part of his flock, and indeed he is our supreme example, and he asks us, therefore, to likewise be in verse three, "examples to the flock." And perhaps our responsibility to this end can be summarized best by Jesus' words in John 10, in verse 11, He said, "'I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.'" Later on, in verse 15, he said, "Even as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep.'" You see, our example must be one of sacrificial love that is committed ultimately to your highest good.

Well, finally, after Peter exhorted his fellow shepherds to fulfill their divine role, he concludes by reminding us of the incentive for faithful service, or the reward of shepherding. In verse four, he says, "And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." In other words, when Jesus manifests himself, when he reveals himself in all of his glory, when he comes to take us into himself, he will reward us literally with the unfading crown that is glory. The reward not just, by the way, for shepherds but for every faithful saint. There's no exclusive group in heaven, but all who have been faithful in fulfilling what God has called them and gifted them to do will receive the unfading crown that is glory.

So we would all do well to remember that our rewards again are not in this life, but in the next life. May we all be encouraged to labor in light of these magnificent truths. Let's pray together.

Father, we rejoice in the clarity of your word, and we thank you that you have not left us without any understanding of how we are to proceed, how we're to lead, how we're to follow, how we're to function. And we thank you, Lord, that you are indeed the great shepherd of the sheep, and we thank you for your faithful care and protection of us. Lord, I pray that these great truths will resonate within our hearts and cause us to live lives that bring great glory to you, and Lord, as always, I lift up those who are within the sound of my voice, who know nothing of the Savior, I pray that you will convict them of the truth of the gospel, and I pray that today they will believe in you and experience that marvelous miracle of the new birth. We ask all of this in Jesus' name, and for his glorious sake, Amen.