How Does Christ Care for His Church

OPENING REMARKS AND PRAYER

While you have your Scriptures there with you, I’d encourage you to turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. We’ll be reading just the first five verses of 1 Peter 5 this morning. Briefly, and then I’ll pray and we’ll read together, as we’ve made our way through the book of Peter over these last many weeks, I want to give you a setting as we’re entering this last chapter of the book, and really the last two sermons of 1 Peter.

Where 1 Peter begins, he begins with those wonderful reminders: you are a people with a living hope. Why? Because you have a resurrected Christ. Because Christ has been raised from the dead, you are a people with a living hope, even though you might know suffering, you might know brokenness. He even walks through naming that some of the problems in this church are not just that they’re suffering from the outside, but that some of them are acting like drunkards.

Some of them are acting like hypocrites. He goes through many different lists. He even goes through some sin lists, saying that some of them have found themselves exiled in such a way because they do not partake of the orgies that are common in their community. And in all of these, he gives this heart that God’s people would be holy as He is holy—the same command heard all the way back in Leviticus.

The book takes a shift that I’ve been highlighting for you all in chapter 2, verse 12: that your good deeds might be seen and God would be glorified. This is where that back half of the book really focuses. He begins actually with governing authorities: the good deeds that you might do even as you submit to someone like Nero, who is a corrupt politician only out for his own good. And he tells you to be subject, because all authority is under God’s sovereign hand.

He then enters into the situation with masters and servants. It’s not an endorsement of slavery, but if you find yourself as a slave, even if your master is cruel to you, the way that you serve your master shows that you can glorify God.

He then takes this from not only the ordering in God’s world with civil authorities to marriage, husbands and wives, to suffering, being stewards of the grace that we’re given, that we would actually live as those who belong to God. And so, while he’s touched on, in various ways, the ordering of God’s world—the governing authorities, the household, things that God has established—in this last chapter, what we’re going to see this morning is he focuses then on the ordering of the church.

Not exhaustively. There’s a lot else that Scripture says about the ordering of the church, but he has a very particular part that we’re going to hear this morning, which for us as a mission church is a wonderful thing. Because a mission church does not have its own elders and deacons. Perhaps you even heard it in my prayer, much of it being focused on the way that God governs the church.

We will have a day as a mission church when, with the congregation and the provisional session together, we petition the Central Florida Presbytery to call us a particular church. And the biggest roadblock between here and that day is having elders raised up in the church. What we’re going to see in 1 Peter 5 is some of the character, some of what it actually means for someone to be an elder.

So you might be thinking to yourself, “I have no desire to be an elder, and nobody would ever make me an elder.” You might be thinking, “Oh, I get to tune out. I don’t need to listen.” Anybody who’s a member of the congregation, you have a right—you get to nominate and call your leaders. So a text from God’s Word that teaches us what godly leaders look like is relevant to all.

So there’s my caveat. I didn’t start the sermon yet. This doesn’t count as part of my time. Let me pray for us, and then we’ll read 1 Peter 5 together.

Our Father, Lord, give us ears to hear Your Word. Lord, we desire for the church not to be made in our own image, but in the image that Christ intends for it, in the way that He continues to care for it generation after generation. Be with us now, and move by Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

If you would stand with me for the reading of God’s Word. We’ll be reading just the first five verses of 1 Peter chapter 5 this morning.

SCRIPTURE READING

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being an example to the flock.

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God will stand forever.

You may be seated.

SERMON INTRODUCTION

There can be some interesting moments in pastoral ministry because generally, as a congregant, you know, “Hey, pastor’s kind of available.” I’ve gotten some weird calls before of people asking for help with things. This isn’t me saying don’t call in any way. Call. My cell phone number’s on my business card in the back of the room.

I’m not who you want to help change a tire. I’ve done it twice. I’m not good at it. I can get you someone who’s good at it.

An interesting one, when I was in central Illinois—central Illinois, there’s a lot of farmland. That’s probably even what you think of. Our first year living there, I got a call as a storm was rolling into town from a friend who was a new sheep farmer.

We are both equally ignorant of taking care of the sheep. He just happens to own sheep. He gave me a call as a storm was coming in because he’s had the sheep for a couple of months and he realizes, “Oh no, this storm’s going to be a doozy. I need a shelter for these sheep.”

Now, similar to where I said I can be helpful with some things, I am just handy enough with a hammer to be dangerous because I think I can do it. And that does not mean I always do a great job at it. So I’m just dangerous enough to have the confidence, thinking I can do it.

So he calls me to ask for help. “Can you come help with my sheep? The storm’s rolling in.” Well, by the time I get over there, the storm is just fully there. High winds, rains, the sheep are scattered across his field. Part of his fence has even fallen over. He got the sheep, but was not prepared to have the sheep.

So we’re miserable, fumbling around in the dark. I’m using the flashlight on my iPhone in a big field in the dark and in the rain. We are underprepared in every possible way. Have you ever spent any time around sheep?

Getting a sheep to do something in the daylight when it’s nice out can be a little bit easier. Getting a sheep that does not know you, that’s running around a field, that’s scared of the storm, trying to get into a shelter that’s really more of a lean-to of a couple of pieces of plywood nailed into a tree to kind of make a leaning thing—it’s not great. It’s not attractive.

Throughout the Scriptures, we see a lot of this example of sheep and shepherds when it comes to God’s people. We see this both positively and negatively. In Ezekiel 34, we’re given the example that the servants that God gave to care for His people are like shepherds, but like shepherds who have fattened themselves.

So God actually even, as a wonderful promise of Christ coming, says, “I myself am going to come shepherd my people. I am going to come and care for them.” Here in our passage, we read Christ, who is that Chief Shepherd. But the illustration continues, not just in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, that we have under-shepherds, that we have these elders that are appointed to come in and help care.

Now, when I was meeting my friend to try to help take care of his sheep, he’s the shepherd. Neither of us really knew what we were doing. We’re trying to get these sheep that weigh 100 to 150 pounds to do things that we want them to do. The story doesn’t end great, so I’m just going to leave it there as a cliffhanger.

But when it comes to our Chief Shepherd, really the best Shepherd, the Shepherd who’s not building a shelter in a storm because he realizes you need somewhere to hide, but the Shepherd who even takes you through pastures that are green, like Psalm 23, that cares for you, that prepares a place for you—we’re talking about Christ, who is our Shepherd.

How does He care for the church? How does He shepherd His people? Christ cares for His church through the shepherds He gives to it, through the humble submission of His people, and through the humility He works in the whole flock. These are the three things that we’re going to see today.

It’s outlined for you in your sermon notes section of your liturgy towards the back. Peter spent much of his letter, as I gave you guys that little summary, addressing Christians’ relationships to authority, particularly the government, slaves and masters, and even inside the household. Now he’s turning to the relationship of elders and sheep in the congregation.

He’s showing us how Christ orders and cares for His church even as His people endure suffering and oppression. Now, when he’s even addressing this, just because I know that the odds are, in a room with this many people, there’s probably been somebody who’s had a shepherd who was an abusive shepherd, that kicked the sheep. Maybe the sheep even bit back.

We don’t have any particulars listed here in 1 Peter, but even the examples that he goes through with those contrasts, we see very clearly from that—it’s an implied reading—they’re probably not doing all of these things great that we see in 1 Peter 5. It’s probably part of the reason even for the encouragement.

So if you’ve had a domineering shepherd, if you had one that was not really willing but was compelled to the office, this morning as we look at 1 Peter 5, please don’t let that cloud what these under-shepherds should be. We’re looking at what they are called to do.

And as we know, all Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. So it might be that you’ve had a shepherd before that needed to be taught or that needed to be rebuked. That’s one of the wonderful joys—you heard it even in my pastoral prayer—that we’re a part of a presbytery.

We have sister churches around us so that we can even do those things. Another piece that I’ll even highlight: for you as a member of a Presbyterian church, you have the right to appeal. If you feel like the shepherds have ever been abusive in any way, you can turn and go to the presbytery. You can turn and go to them to seek help.

Why? Because your shepherd might need to be corrected. There’s a system of accountability in how Christ seeks to care for His church. So if you’ve had a bad shepherd—and I hope and pray that you’ve had good shepherds, and I know for many of you that is your story—but if you’ve had a bad one, please don’t dismiss 1 Peter 5 this morning as though every leader is domineering.

CHRIST CARES FOR HSI CHURCH THROUGH ORDINARY SHEPHERDS

So how does Christ care for His church? Our first point: Christ cares for His church through ordinary shepherds. Peter writes there in verse 1, “So 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’s going to be revealed.”

Peter begins by introducing himself. It’s kind of a weird time to introduce yourself. We’re in the last chapter of the letter, but he introduces himself. It’s an appeal to who’s writing this. He could have said an apostle. He could have reminded those elders of his unique authority as an apostle, as one who followed Christ around, but he calls himself a fellow elder.

He’s giving parity as he’s addressing those other elders, an equal authority. He identifies himself with these men who are working to shepherd God’s people. He identifies himself also as a witness of Christ’s suffering, a partaker of the glory that’s going to be revealed. And as we’ve gone through 1 Peter together, he has mentioned this suffering and this glory that’s going to be revealed many, many times.

And it’s the good news for you, church. So he’s not singling that out to the elders. He’s been making this point to the whole church the whole time. Here, he’s kind of giving his credentials. Suffering and glory have been recurring themes, and Peter is writing to Christians who are suffering because of their faith.

He’s reminding them that their suffering is not the end of the story, that glory is coming. And it’s important for the elders to remember that, too. For them not to have tuned out to the first part of the letter, going, “Oh yeah, that’s good news for the sheep. That’s just good news for the sheep as they’re suffering.”

You too, elders, this is good news for you. Why? Because shepherding is not always easy. There are difficulties, disappointments, and sometimes suffering uniquely that can come with it, but the work is carried out in light of the glory that will be revealed when the Chief Shepherd returns.

Peter gives this instruction: “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight.”

There’s a lot packed into that sentence. First, I want you to notice what the church is called. It’s the flock of God. The church does not belong to the elders or the pastor; it belongs to God. Who does the flock belong to? God. These are His people, His flock, and that means the elders are not owners; they are overseers.

They’ve been entrusted with the care of something that belongs to someone else. You can think about this in Matthew 25. You have the parable of the talents, in which a master entrusts his property to his servants, and he gives them the responsibility over what belongs to him. They’re to oversee it in his absence.

When he returns, he calls them to account for what they’ve done with the talents, what they’ve done with the money that he entrusted to them to oversee. And this is a helpful picture as we’re thinking about what Christian leadership looks like. The master does not give the servants his property so they can treat it as their own. He entrusts it to them so that they can faithfully manage it on his behalf.

And we see him even there rebuke the lazy one who just goes, “Here’s exactly back what you gave to me. I did nothing with it in that time.” Same is true in the church. The Lord entrusts His people to the care of elders, but the church never becomes the elders’ possession. They are stewards of it, entrusted with responsibility and accountability to the One who actually trusted them by giving them the authority.

Secondly, I want you to notice where this flock is. It’s among you. Peter is speaking about particular people entrusted to the particular care of elders.

Shepherding is not an abstract responsibility. It is not simply preaching to an audience or building a platform; it is caring for real people in a real congregation. We see this pattern elsewhere in Scripture. When Moses was leading Israel, the burden of caring for God’s people was too great for him to carry alone.

And so in Exodus 18 and in Deuteronomy 1, we see the first appointing of elders, capable men who were appointed into sharing the responsibility of caring for those amongst them. Men drawn from amongst the people, known to the community, and familiar with the people they were going to be serving. This is the pattern of shepherding that we see throughout the Scriptures.

The shepherd is among the flock. He knows the people entrusted to him. He is not merely a voice speaking to them from a distance. One of the favorite pastors I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with could never, ever be found in the office. It was kind of a joke that his office light was always off, and it would literally be the question, “Where’s Pastor Kerry?”

He’s probably actually fixing a tire for somebody on the side of the road, and he’s skilled at it, not like me. But he was always out, and it’d be like, “Well, Pastor Kerry, when do you write a sermon?” He’s like, “I don’t know, five, ten minutes before somebody shows up, and then five, ten minutes before the next person shows up,” and he’d just go station himself at a coffee shop.

Why? He sought to be amongst the people as best he could.

When we notice this here, that the preacher, the elders, the ruling and teaching elders are to be amongst the people, to be nominated by the people, we can’t confuse it as just someone who’s preaching on a Sunday morning as a good shepherd. There is nothing wrong with benefiting from preaching, but that’s also not being shepherded.

Shepherding includes much more than just having an abstract voice speak to you once a week. I had a funny thing when I was in Bible college. A Sunday morning in a men’s Christian Bible college, just about everybody’s getting up, rushing into the bathroom, trying to get off to church on a Sunday morning.

There was one man on one of my dorm floors one year that every single Sunday morning, there he was rolling out of bed in his pajamas, and then he’d grab his computer. We had Ethernet; we didn’t have Wi-Fi at my college. You’d see him with the Ethernet cable in the lounge. I’m just going to call him Adam. His name was not Adam.

“Adam, what are you doing?”

“Oh, I’m going to church.”

And there, sitting in Chicago, Illinois, in a little skyscraper, he’d open up his computer, and he’d tune into a preacher in Seattle week after week after week. There was no “amongst.”

There’s no problem with liking a preacher, with liking a teacher, with reading books. That man was not a shepherd. That man never met him. There were no elders who knew this man that we’re calling Adam, but there he sat in his pajamas. And he’s just like, “I’ve tried. I’ve tried to go to other churches. Nobody preaches as good as the guy that I like in Seattle.” He was never shepherded.

It does not mean that it’s his pastor just because he tunes in once a week. There’s no anything of being amongst each other. That Seattle pastor did not know this man, his family, his circumstances, his struggles. There was no one to bear his burdens, no brothers and sisters in a local community. There was no pastoral oversight, no shepherding in his life.

You can benefit from a ministry without confusing the church for somebody’s ministry. The shepherds Peter describes are among the flock. They know the people entrusted to them. They exercise oversight with them. There’s an amongness to the church. We live among one another. We worship together. We pray together. We bear one another’s burdens. The shepherds of the church are not detached from the life of the church. They are part of it.

Think about it this way. If you went to a petting zoo and you had a favorite little sheep at that petting zoo, and you fed it once a year, and then you started calling yourself the shepherd of it, you’d seem pretty dumb. I’m just being honest. If you feed it once a year and you’re like, “Oh, I have a sheep. I feed it once a year,” that sheep would be starving.

You can’t confuse yourself as the carer of the sheep, as the sheep’s shepherd, if you’re never actually interacting with it. Shepherding requires presence, regular care, knowing people, not merely knowing about them.

But I want you to notice something else: that shepherding is not merely advisory. Peter writes these elders are to be exercising oversight.

Elders have been given a genuine spiritual authority in the church. They are called to teach, to lead, to correct, to protect, and to care for God’s people. Their authority is real, but it is delegated, and that’s so important to remember, that it’s a delegated authority. Why? Because the authority belongs to the Chief Shepherd.

They remain under the authority of Christ and His Word. And this is not something that the church invented for itself. It is something that Christ has given to the church. In Ephesians 4, Paul writes that the ascended Christ gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to the church.

The risen and ascended Christ gives shepherds to His church. It’s a gift. It’s the King’s gift for the King’s people, which means we want to know: how is this gift meant to be used? And praise God, in His Word, He gives us an instruction manual. How is this gift to be used? And all of it’s for this. This is what Ephesians 4 says: “To equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, that the people might not be tossed to and fro on the waves of doctrine.”

The purpose of shepherding ministry is to not make the congregation dependent upon the shepherds. It is to equip the sheep, to build the sheep up, to help them grow in maturity and knowledge of the Chief Shepherd. Pastors and teachers and elders are not a necessary evil or just a practical thing that the church has settled upon. It’s what Christ, the ascended Christ in glory, has given to His church.

It’s how Christ cares for His people by giving them shepherds who teach His Word, equip them for ministry, protect them from error, and help them grow. So when we speak about elders and their responsibilities, we are not merely talking about church government. We are talking about one of the ways Jesus Christ cares for His church. He gives gifts.

But Peter is concerned not only with what shepherds are to do, but how they are to do it. He gives the church three contrasts there that you can see in our passage. We’re going to briefly walk through each of them.

The first contrast Peter writes is, “Not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you.” The work of shepherding should not be done grudgingly or resentfully. And if you imagined it: “Hey, we’ve been a mission church for five, ten, fifteen years,” and it’s like, “Okay, we need some men to be on the session. We’re going to hold a draft. All the men in the room, put your name in a hat, and we’re just going to pull a couple out, and good luck.”

That’s not how we fill vacancies on the session. That’s not how we’ll do nominations someday. We don’t find a man and put him in a room and tell him, “You’re going to be an elder, and you may not leave until you agree with us.” Of course, there’s a difference between encouraging someone to consider being an elder and pressuring them into it.

Sometimes others see gifts and abilities in you that you might not recognize in yourself. I’ve seen it many times when a man was nominated, going, “I don’t know if I feel called to it.” It can be good to encourage someone in that way. That’s what Paul even means when he says that the man who aspires to the office of elder, of overseer, desires a noble task.

There should be a willingness to take up a responsibility. This does not mean shepherding is always easy or that they’ll never grow weary. But there’s a difference between being weary in the work and being unwilling to do it. Faithful elders will sometimes feel tired with the weight of responsibility, but they serve willingly with a genuine desire to care for Christ’s people.

And as a congregation, you should expect your elders who are willing to serve you—not be your servants, but willing to serve you. Do you hear that difference? Not men who resent the responsibility, but men who serve because they’re following after Christ, our King, who is a servant of all. The elders should serve how God would have them serve.

The second contrast that Peter writes is, “Not for shameful gain, but eagerly.” The work of shepherding must never be motivated by greed or personal enrichment. It’s not for shameful gain. An elder must not see the church as an opportunity to build a personal following, to advance his own interests, or have others find him as important.

Shameful gain can take lots of different forms. A man can be greedy for power or for recognition. He can begin to think, “I’m an elder. I’m important. People should recognize that. People should listen to my preferences now.” That’s for shameful gain. The office can become a way that feeds someone’s pride rather than serving how Christ would have them serve.

A shepherd is not there to use the sheep. He is there to care for the sheep. So what does it look like for an elder to serve eagerly? They’re glad to do the work. It doesn’t mean that the work’s not hard sometimes, but they’re glad to do the work. They are looking for what they can give to the church, not what they can get out of it.

They are eager to teach the Word, to pray with sheep, to encourage the discouraged, to visit the sick, to bear the burdens of the flock—not because every task is enjoyable, but because they love Christ and they love His people.

The third contrast that Peter writes: elders are not to be domineering over those in their charge, but being examples to the flock.

Peter’s not saying the elders have no authority. He’s just saying that they are to exercise authority, but here’s how they’re not to do it, and here’s how they are to do it. He’s not removing authority; he’s describing the character of that authority. Elders are not to be domineering. They are not to treat the church as though it belongs to them.

Here’s the truth of it. You can domineer over things that belong to you. If you have a garden bed in your backyard, exercise dominion. You want to make it potatoes one year, domineer over that piece of land. Care for those potatoes however you want. Why? It belongs to you. It’s your garden plot. When it comes to eldering, you can’t domineer over that which does not belong to you.

The sheep belong to Christ. It all belongs to God. The authority of elders is real, but it’s delegated. It is exercised with humility, but it is not therefore optional or insignificant.

So what does domineering look like? An elder who believes that because he holds an office, he always gets his way. An elder who treats discouragement as rebellion, who uses his position to intimidate, who demands loyalty to himself rather than faithfulness to Christ. He may use guilt or threats or manipulation. These are all domineering behaviors.

But Peter says that is not how Christian shepherds are to lead. An elder is not called to lead by intimidation or force of personality. He is called to lead by example. His life should demonstrate the things that he teaches. His character should commend the gospel he proclaims.

That is why the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1—notice that those are the two longest passages we have on elders in the church. Both of them entirely focus on the character, the character of the servant. An elder must be above reproach, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, gentle, not quarrelsome. He must be able to teach.

His life matters because he’s called to be an example to the flock. Elders should not be trying to shepherd you somewhere they are not actually also going. They should not teach you to love your family while neglecting their own, or tell you to be patient while they are habitually impatient.

Your elders, in any church you can ever be a part of on earth, will never be perfect. Really hear that. They will never be perfect. They will sin and they will need to repent. They should be models in what that repentance looks like then. They should be men whose lives are consistent with the gospel they proclaim, walking in faith and repentance each day. Men who are seeking to follow Christ.

And elders really need to remember themselves as under authority. James 3:1 puts it this way: “Not many of you should be teachers in the church, brothers, because you will be judged with a greater strictness.” So those who serve should soberly take their vows. I say soberly because you are inviting higher scrutiny, not from the people in the pews. Who’s the judge of the living and the dead? Christ. Those who teach God’s Word invite a greater judgment upon themselves by the action of their office.

From this contrast that Peter gives, he gives these elders an encouragement. He writes that, “When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” Notice, though, that there is only one Chief Shepherd.

Every pastor is an interim pastor. I say that, and typically we say that in a way of, “Oh, he’s just there temporarily.” I truly mean that. Every pastor is an interim pastor. Why? One day, every pastor you’ve ever had or ever will have will die, and his body will be put in a grave to await the resurrection of the dead.

Your Chief Shepherd, He already left the empty tomb. He already rose and ascended and is seated on a throne of glory. Your Chief Shepherd will never die. Every earthly shepherd you have, every under-shepherd, if the Lord tarries, will taste dirt. They are an interim pastor. They are temporary. It is not theirs.

They are stewards over it. It is true for every elder or deacon you will ever have. They serve for a season. They’re not building their own kingdom. They’re expanding Christ’s kingdom. We hope for elders who serve faithfully for many years, but eventually all of their work will end, and the church remains, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, and their Chief Shepherd will always be the church’s Chief Shepherd.

This is important for anyone who serves in the church to remember. The church does not revolve around you. You are not the master of the house. You are a servant in the house. You are given a season of responsibility and an opportunity to serve, and then that season comes to an end.

Hebrews 3 makes this distinction. It talks about Moses being a servant in the house versus Christ being the One over the house. Moses was a servant, but Christ is the Son. Moses served in the house. Christ is the owner of the house. Every elder and pastor must understand himself in that way, that he is a servant in Christ’s house, not its master.

Think about what it sounds like when someone begins to see himself as the chief shepherd. “I must have my way. This is my church. I built this. I’ll leave if I don’t get my way.” That’s the language of somebody who has forgotten who the church actually belongs to. Elders serve under the authority of another. It is not theirs.

Peter says, “When the Chief Shepherd appears.” Jesus alone is that Chief Shepherd. He purchased the flock with His own blood. He gathers His people. He feeds them. He protects them, and He gives the church gifts. There’s a warning to elders who are going to give an account to that Chief Shepherd when He returns, but it’s also an encouragement of how to serve that Chief Shepherd faithfully.

CHRIST CARES FOR HIS CHURCH THROUGH THE HUMBLE SUBMISSION OF HIS PEOPLE

But how are the people of God to respond to the shepherds that Christ has given them? This is our second point. Don’t be worried. The first point was most of the sermon.

Christ cares for His church through humble submission of His people. Peter writes, “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.” Now here, particularly the way that Peter writes and even as he’s doing these contrasts, I want you here to read that “younger” is anybody who’s not an elder. If you want to have a longer conversation on that, we can have a longer conversation.

But just simply and for time, this contrast work that he’s been doing, anybody who’s not an elder is a younger here in this passage. The point is that those who are being shepherded are to submit to their elders, and this is not a particularly popular idea in our culture. We’ve talked about this several times.

Peter’s called for us to submit a lot. Submit to governing authorities, submit to masters, wives submit to husbands. He has called for a lot of submission. And we prize our independence. We want to be our own authority, to make our own decisions, to answer to no one, and that attitude easily finds its way into the church.

But Christ has not left His church without order. He has given shepherds to care for His people, and He calls His people to receive that care with humility.

Now, we need to be clear about what this does and does not mean. It does not mean that elders are infallible. No elder speaks ex cathedra with the authority of God. Elders can be wrong. They can misunderstand Scripture. They can make unwise decisions. They are sinners who need God’s grace just as much as anyone.

It does not mean that Christians are to obey elders when they command something contrary to Scripture. Why? What the Chief Shepherd has said is more important than what an under-shepherd might say. Peter’s forbidden domineering leadership, but neither should we use the possibility of bad leadership as an excuse to reject the authority that Christ has established in His church.

In Hebrews 13, we read, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account.” Your elders over you have to give an account for you.

Notice the connection. Elders are called to watch over souls. They will give an account to God for that responsibility. The congregation in return is called to receive their leadership. Elders are accountable for how they shepherd, and the congregation is accountable for how they are shepherded. This submission means having a disposition that is willing to be led.

I mentioned trying to lead those sheep in an Illinois storm around a field. Those sheep did not want to be led.

It means receiving biblical instruction, being teachable when corrected, recognizing that Christ has given leaders for your good. They are not for your domineering. They are not for the abuse of you. They are for your care. They are for your good. It means not assuming that every decision we dislike is therefore unfaithful, though.

It means being willing to listen, to ask questions honestly, to seek peace rather than immediately assuming the worst. There is a real blessing in belonging to a church where you are known, where someone is watching over your soul, and where you can receive counsel, where you can receive correction and encouragement.

And we should be thankful for that gift, and we’re to receive it in humility. Part of this humility, we should be praying for our elders to make their work a joy, not a burden. That’s not to say that you hide. But I can actually say for a fact, even your provisional elders, if any of you are in need, they would be joyful to receive even the notice that you are in need, that there’s some care that you need.

CHRIST CARES FOR HIS CHURCH THROUGH THE MUTUAL HUMILITY OF HIS PEOPLE

But Peter does not want us to think humility is only the responsibility of the congregation. Our last point at the end of verse 5 there is our third point: that Christ cares for His church through the mutual humility of His people. So notice that he gave us this address to elders and then to those who are younger, and then he shifts as he says, “All of you.”

“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Peter has spoken to the elders, he’s spoken to the youngers, and now all of you. He’s addressing everybody, both of these audiences. Humility is not merely a requirement for those in authority or those who are called to submit to authority. It is the calling of every Christian.

Clothe yourselves with humility. Humility is something that you are to put on. It should mark the way that you relate with one another as a characteristic of the Christian. It should be like clothing that you wear. It characterizes you. The church should be a place where people are not constantly asserting themselves, competing for recognition, demanding their own way, or insisting that everybody accommodate them.

Instead, we are to be a people described as humble, like that of our Savior, who serve, listen, defer, forgive, and put the interests of others before our own. This is true for both the shepherds and the sheep, the young and the old, the strong and the weak, the mature and the immature. Peter grounds this instruction as he quotes Proverbs 3:34, that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

It’s a sobering statement. God does not merely dislike pride; He opposes pride. To live in pride is to set yourself against God, but the promise is equally wonderful. God gives grace to the humble. The church is to be a community marked by humility because we are a people who live by grace. We have nothing to boast about.

Everything we ever received has been given to us. We are sinners saved by the mercy of God, people who depend upon His grace every day, and that changes the way we treat one another, whether younger or older. If we understand how much grace we have received, we will be more ready to extend grace to others.

If we understand how patiently Christ has dealt with us, we will become more patient with one another. This is the type of church that Christ forms. This is how He cares for them.

So how does Christ care for the church? He cares for the church through gifts that He gives that are shepherds, through the humble submission of those who receive the shepherding, and by forming a people marked by mutual humility.

Jesus Christ, who is our Chief Shepherd, who is coming back, who has said, “I am going and I am preparing a place for you. Behold, my Father’s house has many rooms.” Christ cares for His church by giving His church gifts and orderings that reflect His glory.

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Father, we do thank You for Your ordering of Your church. Lord, protect the elders that are raised up, that one day will be raised up as You continue to give good gifts to Your church, not just here, but throughout the world. Lord, we know Christ continues to give those good gifts to exercise authority and dominion over the church.

Lord, help us to be a people characterized by humility with one another, listening, asking good questions. Pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.