The Duties of Elders Defined

Introduction: The Church Under Assault and the Role of Elders

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, February 6th, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to 1 Peter and chapter 5, and will you follow, please, as I read the first four verses of this chapter of the Word of God.

0:32 1 Peter 5 and verse 1. The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Tend or shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God. Nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.

1:06 Neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves in samples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall be manifested, you shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away.

1:27 Well, let us again ask God the Holy Spirit to give us light and understanding and a heart to be obedient to the light given. Let us pray. Our Father. We come again asking because in some little measure we have come to know that without your grace we can do nothing.

1:53 We acknowledge with shame altogether too many barren times when we have read your word or heard your word preached, and you have cursed our creature confidence with barrenness in our souls. O Lord, forgive us. And help us in this hour truly to lean upon you in conscious, present outgoings of faith and trust and petition that light and grace will be given as together we study your word. Hear us for Jesus' sake.

2:34 Amen. In words familiar to many of us, our Lord Jesus in Matthew 16, 18 said that, And he would build his church, and that the gates of hell should not prevail against that church. Now, in speaking this way, it is clear that our Lord Jesus never envisioned his church as a comfortable, cozy religious club in which the members would lean back in their lounge chairs and drowsily share memories of the good old days, or share their fantasies about their dream vacation in some tropical island in the Pacific. No, our Lord Jesus envisions the church that He will build as a church that will be constantly assaulted by the combined powers of hell itself. The gates of hell shall not overcome it, shall not subdue it, shall not prevail against it, but the gates of hell will indeed continually seek to do that very thing. And in the experience of the early church,

4:00 this perspective of our Lord soon became very evident. After an initial start in the context of peace and having favor with all the people, the book of Acts records that upon the occasion of the martyrdom of Stephen, persecution was let loose upon the church. Believers were scattered to the four winds. The apostles remained on in Jerusalem.

4:26 And though there were periods when that persecution was, to one degree or another, lessened and abated, by the time Peter writes this epistle, some thirty years after Pentecost already, the gates of hell have been seeking to prevail against these clans, clumps of believers scattered throughout what is called Asia Minor, or that land that we presently know as the land of Turkey. And so as the Apostle Peter is discharging his apostolic and pastoral burden, the central focus of which was to enlighten, to comfort and to exhort these suffering believers in the light of their present and future sufferings to the power of Christ, he assumes that the life of the church will continue even in the midst of that persecution. And so in Chapter 4, verses 7 to 11, he gives specific instructions to church members as to how they are to relate to one another within the life of the family of God. And here, in Chapter 5, he again returns to matters related to the life and ministry and order within the church.

Review of Previous Studies and Sermon Outline

5:46 those churches. Now, in our two previous studies of this passage, we have first of all addressed what I call the underlying assumption of this entire section. The underlying assumption is this, that all of the Christians, that is, the kind of people Peter has described starting in chapter 1 and verse 1, all the way through to this part of the epistle with all of their privileges and all of the marvelous things that redemptive grace has conferred upon them, Peter assumes that all of the Christians in Asia Minor were church members. Now, he does not assume that all church members were real Christians, nor is he stating, nor am I stating, that if you're not a church member, you are of necessity not a Christian. Peter does not say any such thing. I do not say any such thing. Peter does not assume that all church members are real Christians, but he does assume that all the real Christians in Asia Minor were church members. And this is why when he comes to this part of the epistle,

6:55 he can speak of the elders among you, that is, among the people of God, and he can speak to the elders, telling them to perform certain tasks with reference to the flock that was among them. There was a mutual commitment, sheep to flock, I mean sheep to shepherds and shepherds to sheep, and sheep to sheep, and sheep to sheep, and sheep to sheep, and sheep to flock. And then in our second study, this was last Lord's Day, we considered together the recipients of this exhortation and the person giving the exhortation. Who received this exhortation? It's those designated as the elders, those duly appointed and recognized as the spiritual leaders within the various churches. But we noted that it was elders receiving the exhortation. Now in our second study, singing three times dog barks, which, again,ampa��n no여 μ'ziem kommt par excellence montanındaki hrsik epil今日はECT In the presence of all of the people of God he exhorts the elders. And he does that for four reasons. So that all of the people of God can recognize true pastors. So that the

8:13 elders and the people of God view indigenous living beautifully when 35 years from now, Т reign よ Franklin meses with theมή finder in the presence or whether is that unitäten, have the same expectations. Thirdly, so that those who aspire to the eldership have a realistic view of the task. And fourthly, so that the people of God will know how to pray for and support their elders as they seek to fulfill their God-given task. And then we noted, secondly, the person giving the exhortation. Peter identifies himself in this threefold manner. I exhort who am fellow elder, witness of the sufferings of Christ, and partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.

8:54 I don't have time to go back over the significance of that, but there is tremendous significance in the fact that Peter identifies himself in that. Now, this morning, we begin to examine verses 2 through 4. And in these verses, we have the duties of elders defined, 2a, tend or shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight. That's the duties of elders defined. Then in 2b through verse 3, we have the disposition of the elders described.

9:33 In these three contrasting couples. Not of constraint, but willingly. Nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither as lording it over the charge, but making yourselves examples to the flock.

9:47 And then we have, thirdly, the reward of elders promised. Verse 4, and when the chief shepherd shall be manifested, you shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away. The duties, the disposition, and the reward. Now, this morning, we'll have time only to focus upon the first of those headings, the duties of elders defined.

What are the Essential Duties of Elders? Shepherding and Oversight

10:13 And we'll seek to do so under two headings framed by two very simple questions. And the questions that we ask of our text are these. What are the essential duties of elders? The elders among you I exhort.

10:29 Well, Peter, to what duty are you going to exhort these elders? He says, shepherd the flock of God. He says, shepherd the flock of God. He says, shepherd the flock of God.

10:35 He says, shepherd the flock of God. He says, shepherd the flock of God. Exercising the oversight. What are the essential duties of the elders?

10:42 And then secondly, to whom are they to discharge these duties? And Peter tells us, shepherd the flock of God, which is among you. And then we'll take a brief phrase out of verse 3, not lording it over the charge allotted to you. This identifies those to whom, and then we'll have the next text.

11:07 It's kind of a All right, so this means that elders are to discharge their God-defined duties. All right, then we come to the first question. What are the essential duties of elders? And the essence of the task of elders is packed into two words in the Greek.

11:34 It's amazing how God, by the Spirit, leads the Biblical writers to pack so much, at times, into a single word. And the essential duty of elders is packed into two words. into two words in the Greek. The first is a verbal form of the word, ordinary word for shepherd, poimei. And this is the verbal form, poimaino, to do the work and fulfill the functions of a shepherd. And then the words rendered in our English Bibles, exercising the oversight, those are three words to translate one Greek participle from that family of words to oversee, rendered in the old authorized, a bishop. In the noun form, episkopos, and in the verbal form, episkopos. And Peter sets before these elders in the presence of all the congregations throughout Asia Minor where this letter would be circulated, that the essence of the task of elders, is bound up in the aorist imperative of the verb to shepherd. That's the central duty.

12:35 Shepherd the flock of God among you, and then a participial use, a present participle of the verb, episkopos, exercising the oversight. So we have the main verb in the imperative, and then we have the supplemental perspective in the participle. Now, it would be a lot easier to simply preach out of the English text, and most of you would never know this, but that's not my task. My task is to set before you as accurately as possible the mind of the Spirit of God in the word. Now, let me try to give you an English parallel so that you won't be put off by lessons in Greek grammar. Think with me that we are witnessing a family of four, a mom and a dad, two children. The oldest is a girl, 15 years of age, named Mary. She is brought up in a well-ordered home with a mother who frames her role as a mother by the Bible.

13:34 Not by Ms. Magazine, or Mademoiselle, or McCall's. But by her Bible, her mama seeks to be a noble, dignified, Christian wife and mother. And so Mary, the 15-year-old daughter, she has grown up in a context where what it is to mother someone is second nature to her. And she's been delighted to do this with this little unexpected P.S. that came along. That's her little brother, Johnny, who's two years old. So Mary is not unfamiliar with what a mother does in relationship to a two-year-old. She's watched her mother. Her mother has given her certain responsibilities that have taught her how to mother. And so one Saturday afternoon, mom and dad need to go out shopping for a new family car. The old one has become a clunker, so they've got to go out and get a new

14:27 car, and they don't want little two-year-old running around the car lot and interrupting and the rest. So they say to Mary, Mary, mother your brother while we are gone, never taking your eyes off him. Mother your brother, constantly keeping your eyes upon him. Now, if that's the command that dad gave to Mary, what was involved in that command?

14:59 Look it up in your dictionary. The word mother can be a transitive verb. You can mother something or someone. And when they say to Mary, mother your brother, what are they saying? They're saying, now Mary, you fulfill all the roles and functions of a mother to your brother. Mother your brother, constantly keeping your eyes upon him. That is not some additional duty. That's helping her to know the framework and the sphere within which she mothers her brother. She mothers her brother, constantly keeping her eyes upon him, never letting him out of her sight. She is keeping him within her sight as she fulfills the central duty laid upon her by her dad to mother her brother. Now, that's exactly what Peter does here. He says, elders, shepherd.

16:00 The flock, exercising the oversight. It's the same kind of construction. The central duty is shepherd the flock. But in your shepherding, you do it as those who are constantly looking over, watching over the people of God. The watching over is not a separate duty. It is not an additional duty. The watching over is the non-figurative way of expressing what shepherding the flock is. You are shepherding the flock by constantly overseeing the flock. The figure shepherd is dropped with the task of looking over, watching over. Now, that's the structure that is found

The First Duty: Securing Good and Adequate Nourishment

16:46 in the text. And if I'm to preach the mind of God as revealed by the Spirit of God, I cannot do so without trying to convey that nuance of the original. So then, when Peter sits and by the guidance of the Spirit of God, he is shepherding the flock. He is shepherding the flock by constantly the Spirit writes to these elders, taking his place alongside of them as a fellow elder. Taking his place alongside of them as a unique witness to the sufferings of Christ. He knows himself to be the very one who denied his Lord in the crucible of his Lord's suffering, but who has been restored by grace to the role of a universal shepherd of Christ's sheep as an apostle, and one who already by faith has been restored by grace to the role of a universal shepherd of Christ's sheep as an apostle. And in the down payment of the Spirit partakes of the glory yet to be revealed. Peter says to them, shepherd the flock of God which is among you. What was in Peter's mind when he used that verb, shepherd?

17:47 What did he expect would register in the minds of those elders in all the various churches there in Asia Minor, as we had occasion to point out in a previous study, possibly at least ten different congregations. What did Peter think would register in the minds of these elders when he said in one terse word, shepherd, shepherd the flock of God which is among you. Fulfill the roles and functions of shepherds to the people of God viewed as a flock of sheep. Well, in giving this directive, it is hard for me to imagine that Peter was not thinking of his own recommissioning service, recorded in John chapter twenty one. Now, notice what I said. I didn't say he must have been, and I wasn't there in his head. But it's awfully hard for me to think that he was not harking back to that recommissioning service.

18:45 You remember the details of it? Some of you knew in the faith. It's in John chapter twenty one. Peter has denied his Lord, his Lord is died, risen from the dead, appeared to his own, and now by the shore of Galilee, He engages Peter directly.

19:01 And three times he asks him, do you love me? And Peter responds, yes, Lord, I love you. And the Lord gives him three imperatives. The first one is, feed my lambs.

19:12 The second is, shepherd my sheep. The same language, shepherd my sheep. And the third one is, feed my sheep. Bosco, poimaino.

19:24 Bosco twice. Feed my sheep, feed my lambs. Poimaino once. Shepherd my sheep.

19:32 Now Peter is thinking of these fellow elders. He's thinking as a hands-on pastor. And I say it's hard to believe he was not thinking of the task which his risen and gracious Lord reconfirmed in his own life and calling. Peter, you're to spend yourself feeding my lambs, feeding my sheep, and shepherding my sheep.

19:59 In the course of obedience to these directives, one day you will be martyred for my name's sake. And he goes on to tell him the manner of death by which he would glorify God. Surely then Peter must have had in his own mind the words of his Lord. And being steeped in the Jewish scriptures as we have seen again and again in this epistle, it is hard to think that Peter was not harking back to that real, rich, deep, wide vein of Old Testament teaching embodied in the concept of shepherd.

20:38 And I'm just going to give you a couple of samples and urge you to get your concordance, a Strong's or a Young's concordance, and spend a profitable hour this afternoon tracing out this rich, deep, wide vein of biblical truth embodied in the word shepherd. Jehovah is called the shepherd of Israel. Psalm 80 and verse 1. David is called the shepherd.

20:59 David is called the shepherd of God's people. Psalm 79, 70 to 72. The leaders of Israel are called shepherds and indicted for the ways in which they did not nobly fulfill that role. Ezekiel 34.

21:15 When the messianic predictions are made among the many things Messiah will be, he will be shepherd. Isaiah 40 and verse 11. Micah 5, 4 and 5. Ezekiel 34, 23.

21:27 And Jesus himself called himself the good shepherd. So this was a rich vein of Old Testament truth and perspective carried right on in to Peter's own intimate associations with the Lord Jesus. Now we come back to the question. When Peter sat pondering these elders ministering to their various flocks there in Asia Minor in the midst of increasing opposition, and persecution for righteousness sake, and he writes, the elders among you I exhort, and then the threefold self-designation, now his exhortation, shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, what would Peter have expected them to think? Without giving any footnotes, without adding any addendums, he simply lays upon him the task, fulfill the roles and function of a shepherd to that flock which is among you. Well, from the scriptures themselves, and from their common understanding and observations of shepherds fulfilling their role as shepherds to sheep, these men would have understood that their duty to shepherd the flock of God involved at least four basic tasks.

22:57 Task number one,

23:00 it is the duty of shepherds to secure good and adequate supplies of nourishment for the sheep. It is the duty of shepherds to secure good and adequate supplies of nourishment for the sheep. Now children, what psalm immediately comes to your mind? Psalm 23.

23:26 The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not, I shall not lack any good thing. Now what's the first specific thing that David mentions? As an experienced shepherd, who sees Jehovah as his good shepherd, what are the next words?

23:45 The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not lack any good thing. He makes me to lie down on barren hillsides and suck on rocks.

23:59 He makes me to lie down in what? Green. Pastures. He leads me beside waters of quietness.

24:11 Pasture and streams. Nourishment. That's all the sheep need. They need to graze.

24:16 They need to drink. And he says, as my shepherd supremely, this is what Jehovah does for me. He provides for me adequate nourishment, green pastures, quiet waters where I may drink. In Ezekiel 34, one of the rich shepherd passages in which the civil slash religious leaders in Israel, for remember, the king was to be that, not only the civil leader, but he was to keep the people in covenant fidelity with Jehovah, the God of the covenant.

24:56 Listen to this indictment of these shepherds. Verse 2 of Ezekiel 34, Son of man, prophesy against the, the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say unto them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord Jehovah, woe to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the sheep?

25:21 You eat the fat and you clothe you with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep. A whole series of indictments are about to be given, but at the head of the list, God indicts the shepherds in what is their primary and fundamental responsibility, and that is to secure good and adequate supplies of nourishment for the sheep. And this is highlighted by our Lord's words to Peter in John 21.

25:55 The three imperatives have to do, two of the three with this very thing. The verb bosco is more narrow than the verb poinsettia, poimaino. Poimaino points to the full range of a shepherd's tasks and responsibilities. Bosco is more limited.

26:13 It means to feed. And he says, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, shepherd my sheep. Surely from the analogy of Scripture and from all these men would know from their constant exposure from infancy of what it was for shepherds to be among their sheep, they would understand, that when Peter said to them, the elders among you I exhort, shepherd the flock of God, that it was their duty to secure good and adequate supplies of nourishment for the sheep. Having established that, I trust, in your conscience from the Scriptures, the great question is then, what is that food and drink which true spiritual shepherds within the spiritual flock of God, that is, within the church, are to secure for their sheep? Well, you know the answer, don't you? I trust you do. It is the answer determined by a text such as Jeremiah 3 and verse 15, where God says that under the new covenant, this is his pledge, I will give them shepherds after my own heart, who shall feed them with knowledge and understanding.

27:33 The nourishment which shepherds are to provide, who shall provide for the sheep of Christ, is nothing more, nothing less, than the pure teaching and preaching of the Word of God. I will feed them with knowledge and with understanding. This is how our Lord responded to needy people whom he viewed as distressed and needy sheep. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, notice how our Lord, the Great and the Chief Shepherd, views those who are not being taught.

28:14 Verse 34 of Mark 6, He came forth and saw a great multitude, and He had compassion on them, because they were as sheep, not having a shepherd. And not having a shepherd, what was their problem? They were not being given good and adequate supplies of nourishment. So what does the Lord do?

28:38 Look at the next statement. And He began to teach them many things. They were like distressed sheep without a shepherd, none to guide them into green pastures and by waters of quietness. He began to teach them many things.

28:59 Similar perspective at the end of Matthew 9. You remember Jesus sees the multitude as sheep without a shepherd. He says, Pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers. And then what does He do?

29:10 He commissions His own and sends them forth to preach. You see, the food by which God's people are fed is not touching sentimental stories. Pop psychology laced with a few phrases from the Bible. Thrilling, hair-raising, spine-tingling testimonies of someone's experience.

29:37 No, my dear people, sheep are fed by substantial, substantial, blocks of this blessed book being opened up and laid out and set before them. The shepherds don't have the responsibility to eat and drink for the sheep. You've got to chew it and swallow it and you've got to stick the muzzle of your soul into waters of quietness and drink. But God have mercy on us who claim to be shepherds if we don't lead you to pastures where you may think and quiet waters where you may drink.

30:17 That is the great task of shepherds. And this is why Paul, writing to Timothy who is ordering and directing the life of the church there at Ephesus, he says in 1 Timothy 5, 17, the elders that rule well are worthy of double honor especially those who labor in the Word and in teaching. He says to Timothy in his last letter in chapter 4, Timothy, I came to God by faith. Timothy, I charge you before God and before the Lord Jesus, preach the word. The time will come when they will not endure the sound teaching, the healthy teaching, but will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. You and I, as the people of God, those of us who are in this awesome place of responsibility as shepherds, must love, promote, protect, and cherish a sound, solid, Bible-based teaching and preaching ministry. The day we cease to promote that is the beginning of the end. And if you, as God's people, ever move from that, I'll give you a word of prophecy. You

31:34 will not lack for men willing to accommodate your wretched desire for something. You hear me? Young people, do you hear me? The day you cease to demand solid, substantial, biblical preaching and teaching, there will be no lack of men to accommodate you.

31:58 How do I dare make such a prophecy? Because it's based on the word of God. When God says to Timothy through the pen of the apostle Paul, preach the word, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering children, preach the word. When God says to Timothy through the pen of the apostle Paul, when God says to Timothy through the pen of the apostle Paul, preach the word, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering children, preach the word, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering children, preach the word, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering children, preach the word.

32:11 Teaching why? The time will come when they will not endure. Literally, they won't hold up under sound teaching. This studying of words and phrases and grammar, I'm sick and tired of it. I want something a little more spiky. I want something with a little more pizzazz. Something that doesn't make demands upon my mind. What will happen? When you no longer hold up under such teaching, having itching ears, you'll heap to yourself, those teachers after your own lust. There will never be a lack of those ready to accommodate you. Never! Never! They're always there. They're waiting in the wings to come into this pulpit, if you will allow it. But so long as you are determined as the sheep of Christ, that you will tolerate nothing less than shepherds who feed you with knowledge and understanding, God is committed to give them to you. He says, I will give them shepherds according to my heart, who will feed them with knowledge and with understanding. What a precious promise to plead, isn't it? Some of you younger ones who've only

33:31 known the ministry of some of us that have been around here for years, what will be like when the two Pastor Martins are in their graves? And some of the other older men, you younger ones, plead the promise. Christ has said, I'll give you shepherds. According to his own heart, so long as you're hungry for true food and true drink, he's committed to give you such shepherds. It's the duty of shepherds to secure good and adequate supplies of nourishment for the sheep. But remember, they can't chew for you, and they can't swallow for you. It's only my swallowing that water that quenches my thirst. You can't swallow for me, you can't chew for me. You get weary chewing,

34:18 you get weary swallowing. It isn't long before you start blaming the pasture and the streams.

The Second Duty: Guarding and Protecting the Sheep from Harm

34:27 This is serious business, folks. This is not something light and frivolous. The places today called evangelical houses of worship, where there is every form of trivia and cop traps, are without number. But any true sheep, Milton describes them as hungry sheep who look up and are not fed. But then I must hasten. Secondly, it is the duty of shepherds to guard and protect the sheep from those that would harm them. It is the duty of shepherds to guard and protect the sheep from those that would harm them. When Peter writes, elders among you I exhort, shepherd the flock of God. In Peter's mind was not only that responsibility to provide adequate nourishment, but the duty to guard and protect the sheep.

35:24 Luke 12.38, and in my preparation my mind went back to that beautiful illustration of this in 1 Samuel, chapter 17. When David, one little boy, he was a young man. But compared to that giant Goliath, he was but a stripling. And you remember when David says, look, I can't stand it anymore.

35:48 This dude out there cussing our God. but compared to that giant Goliath you were but a stripling. And you remember when David says, look, I can't stand it anymore. This dude out there cussing our God. Who in the world does he think he is? And you guys sitting You're going to muster your pride and testosterone. But margins are hiding our advantage. Japan and details apparent that even this world's mighty power adopts. But millions of people witnessed it for joy since I was a minister of the former yes-man in YouTube.

35:56 trembling in your boots, who profess to know the God of Israel? What in the world is wrong? And they said, David, you're just a naughty little guy with excessive dreams and visions of grandeur. You're not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with him.

36:11 You're but a youth. And he's a man of war from his youth. Verse 34, 1 Samuel 17. And David said unto Saul, Your servant was keeping his father's sheep.

36:22 David, your servant was fulfilling the role of a shepherd. And what happened? And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb out of the flock, the most vulnerable, weak, exposed creature in the flock, a little suckling lamb, barely out of its mother's belly. And the lion or the bear came and snatched it.

36:46 David said, What did I do as a shepherd? I went out after him and smote him and delivered him. I diverted out of his mouth. And when he rose against me, this beast of prey said, You take my meal.

37:00 I'll make you my meal.

37:02 When he drops the little lamb, he says, I'll go for David and I'll have me a big five-course meal. This little lamb is just a one-course appetizer. I get David from his toes to his head. What did David do?

37:16 He said, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. Thy servant smote the lion and the bear. And this, uncircumcised Philistine, he'll be like that. What's the point for our preaching this morning?

37:29 The point is this. When David committed as a shepherd to the flock entrusted to him by his father, when he saw a predatory animal come and snatch one of the lambs, be it a lion or a bear, David said immediately, in the next few minutes, there's either going to be a dead lion, a dead bear, or a dead shepherd.

37:54 But as long as I have bread, I'm going to be a dead shepherd. I'm going to be a dead shepherd. I'm going to be a dead shepherd. Yes, there'll be no dead lamb.

38:00 That's it. That's it. He didn't need to sit and confer with his papa. He didn't need to sit and cogitate.

38:09 When he saw that creature that would go after the weak and helpless lamb, David instinctively responded, took the animal out of its mouth, and when the animal turned on him, he slew it with his bare hands. Dead predator or dead shepherd, but no dead lambs.

38:31 Remember what Jesus said about the hireling who's not a shepherd in his heart? Remember what Jesus said in John chapter 10? He said, He who is a hireling, who really is not bonded to those sheep in genuine love, when he sees the wolf coming, what does he do? He says, Living wolf could be dead shepherd.

38:53 He splits. He doesn't care for the sheep. And that's exactly the point that Jesus makes in John 10. And, in verse 12, listen to the words of our Lord, how appropriate they are.

39:05 He that is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, beholds the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. He doesn't even wait until the wolf comes in for the kill to grab one of the lambs. He just sees the wolf and he splits.

39:26 The wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hireling and cares not for the sheep.

39:35 Unless some think I'm pressing this issue too much, you turn to Acts 20. It is this very aspect of a shepherd's task that Paul highlights in his charge to the Ephesian elders.

39:49 In Acts chapter 20 and verse 17, we read, From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. He reviews the nature and fruit of his own ministry among them. Now in verse 28, he turns to the elders of the church. He says to these elders and he exhorts them as Peter's exhorting the elders in 1 Peter 5 and verse 1, take heed, verse 2, I'm sorry, take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you episkopos, overseers, bishops, looker-overs, to feed, same word, poimaino, to shepherd in the infinitive form, to be continually shepherded, performing the roles and functions of shepherds to the church of the Lord which He purchased with His own blood. Now notice, I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you not sparing the flock and from among your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them wherefore be continually watching watching for what? Watching for those who would harm the sheep. Wolves from without, men from within,

41:18 shepherds looking for sheep.

41:22 Wolves from without to devour, men from within, self-appointed shepherds looking for a following, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them to be continually shepherds to separate them from their rightful shepherds. And he says you elders watch, fulfill the role of true shepherds, guard and protect the sheep from those that would harm them. You see my dear people, you must not only have shepherds committed to secure good and adequate supplies of nourishment for you as Christ's sheep, but you must have shepherds who have the discernment to recognize wolves and the moral courage to engage them and sufficient skill and spiritual weapons to drive them away. That's the kind of shepherds you've got to have. And they won't learn to become such shepherds by taking a crash course at the Crystal Cathedral, learning how to smile. They don't learn it there.

42:41 They don't learn it there. And I'm persuaded that, increasingly in the so called post-modern age, where the only heresy is to believe there is such a thing as heresy. And where acceptance of anything and everything that purports to be religious, if it's your truth, that's fine. To have men who will have the discernment and the moral courage to confront error.

The Third Duty: Guiding, Governing, and Directing the Sheep

43:09 The wolves are people who propagate error. Error that destroys, souls, lies that damn in the language of Paul to the Thessalonians. Men who will Absalom-like purport to have a new insight and wrinkle on the truth, to do what? To draw away sheep after them, self-appointed shepherds. The elders among you I exhort, shepherd the flock of God. Give yourself untiringly to secure good and adequate supplies of nourishment for the sheep. Secondly, give yourself to guarding and protecting the sheep from those that would harm them. But then thirdly, it is the duty of shepherds to guide, govern and direct the sheep. It is the duty of shepherds to guide, to govern and to direct the sheep.

44:11 Let's look back again at Psalm 23. Once David has spoken of Jehovah as his shepherd, that primary function or the first mentioned function, that of supplying nourishment, then note what he says in 3b, or 3, he restores my soul, he guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. As my shepherd David said, Jehovah guides me. He does not leave me to my own resource.

44:44 To go in the right way. He guides me by his word, by his spirit, by his providence. He guides me in the right way. That whole concept of guiding, governing and directing the sheep is embedded in the biblical concept of shepherd. Look at Psalm 77, 20. I'm going to look at several more passages with you to, I trust, persuade your judgment. This is a psalm celebrating God's mighty deeds. Psalm 77, 20. Psalm 77, 20.

45:16 Psalm 77, 20. Psalm 77, 20. The next of those is in verse 20, the culminating statement, you led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Here the people are likened to a flock of sheep and God leads them. Here he leads them by human instruments, by Moses and by Aaron.

45:37 Psalm 78, verses 52 and 53. But he led forth, he led forth his own people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. And he led them safely so that they feared not. He led forth, he guided them. He led them. It is the duty of shepherds to guide, to govern, to lead, to direct the sheep under their care. Psalm 78, verse 72. Again, so he was their shepherd. Speaking of David.

46:17 According to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. And then the Lord Jesus says of himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10 in verse 4, when he who is the true shepherd, when he puts forth his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him and they know his voice. And it's a wonderful thing that even in heaven when there is not a trace of any waywardness, left in any of the sheep of Christ, when we are all safely folded in the eternal state, even there we will need a shepherd. Even there.

46:57 Look at Revelation 7, verses 16 and 17. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. Neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd and shall guide them unto fountains of water of life. we're going to have a shepherd even when we get to heaven.

47:23 Think of it.

47:25 Oh, surely then I'll be autonomous. No, you won't be. You'll be a sheep following the shepherd who by his precious death upon the cross brought us into that blessed place. It is the duty of shepherds to guide, to govern, and direct the sheep.

47:42 Now, listen carefully. The only map which true spiritual shepherds are to use in marking out the path for God's sheep is the map contained in the precepts and principles and precedents of the Word of God. True spiritual shepherds don't make out their own maps based on their own notions of where the sheep should go. They stand under the authority of the chief shepherd, the great shepherd, the Lord Jesus Himself speaking in the Scriptures.

48:14 This is why in Hebrews 13.7, the writer to the Hebrews says, Remember. Remember those that had the rule over you, men who spoke unto you the Word of God. How did they rule?

48:26 By the Word of God. They were over you in the Lord, yes, but they were over you as they themselves are under the authority of the Lord. You are not dumb animals. This is where the analogy breaks down.

48:41 Sheep, we are told, are notoriously stupid and relatively mindless. You are sheep who are image bearers. You are image bearers of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who have God's promise of illumination upon the Scriptures. But the notion that if I have Christ as my shepherd and the Bible as my map and the Holy Spirit as my indwelling teacher, what do I need any human authority for?

49:11 Well, my simple answer is Jesus who knows you better than you do and knows what He's provided for you better than you do. He, the ascended Christ, has given to His church pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints unto works of service. So you see, the whole notion that if I have the Bible and I have Christ and I have the Holy Ghost, then really, as long as someone with some gift in the languages and structuring truth stands up there and preaches, that's the beginning, middle, and end of anything that I have to respect in the way of authority. That is a totally unbiblical concept.

49:49 When God tells shepherds to shepherd the flock of God, He's commanding them to give guidance, direction, and rule, and government subject to the Word. Yes. Always to be tested by the Word. Yes.

50:10 But it is not the same when John Jones sits down and shares with you what he received in his devotions and when a duly recognized shepherd stands up to you and says, I am a shepherd. I am a shepherd. I am a shepherd. I am a shepherd.

50:22 I am a shepherd. I am a shepherd. And rightly handles the Word of God before you. There is an element of divinely conferred authority in that shepherd that is not in your brother John.

50:37 Obey them that have the rule over you. Oh, there are some thems that have the rule over us. Yes. And submit to them, for they watch for your souls as they that shall give an account that they may do, so with joy and not with grief. And I fear that in all this knee-jerk reaction against one glaring, sad, tragic incident of pastoral abuse a few years ago in one of our sister churches, men are scared to speak of pastoral authority. Well, I'll not be scared to speak of it as long as my Bible teaches it. And you better not be scared of it. And you better not be fearful of it. Be fearful of a spirit of rebellion or a spirit of gullibility. Fear

51:28 those things. But don't fear the gracious provision of Christ in shepherds who take seriously their responsibility to guide, to govern, and to direct the sheep according to the paths marked out in the Word of God. But then in the fourth place, when Peter wrote shepherds...

The Fourth Duty: Healing and Restoring the Sick and Straying Sheep

51:51 Peter heard the flock of God among you. He not only wanted them to face afresh, for some perhaps face clearly for the first time their duty to secure good and adequate nourishment, guarding and protecting the sheep from harm, guiding, governing, and directing the sheep. But fourthly, it's the duty of shepherds to heal and restore the sick and the straying sheep. It is the duty of shepherds to heal and restore the sick.

52:21 And the straying sheep. Listen to the indictment of the shepherds in Israel. Again, in Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel chapter 34. After indicting them for not securing adequate nourishment, the next thing in that indictment is verse 4. The diseased you've not strengthened. Neither have you healed that which was sick. Neither have you bound up that which was broken. Neither have you brought. Back that which was driven away. Neither have you sought that which was lost. But with force and rigor have you ruled over them. And they were scattered because there was

53:09 no shepherd. Here the assumption is the shepherds were responsible to heal and to restore the sick and straying sheep. Isn't that what? David celebrated in Psalm 23.3. He restores my soul. And in that well-known parable in Luke 15, you have the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son. And what does Jesus say about the shepherd? 99 sheep are safely enfolded, but there is one sheep. And Jesus said that shepherd leaves the 99 and goes after the one until he has found it and then rejoicing, places it upon his shoulder.

53:53 And returns and says, this my sheep was lost and is found. Now again, there is no one-to-one parallel between literal sheep, the animal, and the people of God. No one-to-one parallel. You see living sheep, like you and like me, we may refuse the medicine that will heal us. The shepherd knows the medicine we need to deal with our sour stomach, but we think we're wiser than the shepherd and we spit out the medicine. The shepherd knows the medicine we need to deal with our sour stomach, but we think we're wiser than the shepherd and we spit out the medicine. The shepherd may see that diseased limb and know exactly what kind of ointment is needed, but the sheep says, no, the disease isn't what you say it is, and I don't like the ointment you're prescribing. So they go on with their diseased limb.

54:39 See, it isn't as simple with real live sheep like you and me, because we've got a perverse remaining corruption within us that blinds us to our broken limbs and blinds us to the various skin diseases and intestinal diseases. So there's not a one-to-one parallel. And sheep, Christ's sheep, his people at times reject the very thing the shepherd would give them for their healing. Sometimes they play hide-and-seek with their shepherds that are trying to find them.

55:13 Dumb sheep out in the field, they don't do that. They get lost. They're loss-loss. And they're glad when they hear the voice of the shepherd saying, hey, sheepy, sheepy, where are you?

55:20 You come after some of God's people and you say, look, sheepy, sheepy, I think you're, oh, no. And they play hide-and-seek with you. They won't listen to you. They won't listen to you. They won't listen to you. They won't listen to you. They won't listen to you. They won't be honest with you. Nothing wrong. Everything's fine. Things are going well in the marriage.

55:32 This idea that hands-on, in the house, oversight visits will secure a healthy flock of sheep is nonsense. Pastoral experience has taught me I've had people lie through their teeth when I've sat in their living room and said, how's your marriage? Oh, fine. Only to find out later the marriage has been rotten for years. They sat and lied. They played hide-and-seek. There's a shepherd ready to help their distressed marriage. But they won't be honest through their pride or stubbornness. Other people, they can know the will of God. God speaks to them. And you know they're making a stupid, unwise, irresponsible decision. You come after them like a loving shepherd and they say, look, keep your advice to yourself. I know what I'm doing. But nonetheless, you've still got to keep going after them. It's the only thing that keeps us going. Isn't that

56:17 right, my fellow elders? We've got a charge from the chief shepherd who says you've got to shepherd them. And you've got to go after and seek to be graciously aggressive in healing and restoring the soul. And you've got to go after them. And you've got to go after the sick and the strange. And, dear people, if you have shepherds who, with all their sins and failures, have a track record in your conscience that they're not out to abuse you, they want to get you safely to heaven, why don't you give them the benefit of the doubt when they go looking at your limb that's busted and broken and now to joined and say, look, let me help you set it. Don't tell them, no, it's fine, it's straight, anyone can see it. No, not anyone can. It's a lovely thing. like sheep. And they'll put their head down and butt you like goats. You come to a sheep expecting to treat it like a sheep and help it like a sheep and it turns around and butts you like a billy goat. Well, we've got to keep doing it. You see, our job description isn't made by the sheep. It's

The Interplay of Shepherding and Oversight, and the Rejection of Clericalism

57:20 made by the chief shepherd. So we have to do it. That's our task. By God's grace to heal and restore the sick and the straying sheep. Now, just very briefly, that's the central task. That's, Mary, mother your brother, shepherd the sheep, constantly keeping your eyes on him. Look briefly now at the participle, exercising the oversight. Peter's asserting that in shepherding the flock, these elders are exercising oversight. And he had already joined together these two concepts in chapter two and verse 25, where he said, you were a sheep going astray, but in your conversion, you have returned unto the shepherd.

58:07 And bishop or overseer, there's the two nouns. You have returned unto the poimane, the shepherd, and the episkopos, the overseer of your souls. Peter has joined those two things with reference to God, most likely a reference to Christ himself, shepherd and overseer. He oversees as our shepherd in his shepherding. He oversees us. And now he says to these elders, you are to shepherd the flock of God. Which is among you, exercising the oversight. You see, the biblical concept of overseer and shepherd or elder, pastor, they're used interchangeably in the scripture. The duty to shepherd, to bishop, to oversee, used interchangeably. Just a careless, a carefree, quick reading of Acts 20 shows this.

59:03 Paul gathers the elders to him. Then in verse 28, he says, shepherd the flock of God, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. So you have elders, shepherding, overseeing, all mingled in the one office and in the one task of the overseers. Same thing in Titus 1, 5, 7. I left you at Crete that you might ordain elders in every city.

59:28 Verse 7, he says, the bishop, the overseer must be. The elder is overseer. The overseer is elder. The elder and overseer is shepherding.

59:37 Shepherd, the terms used interchangeably and only with the rise of clericalism, eventually coming to that horrible expression in the so-called pope and vicar of Christ on earth. The Bible knows nothing of bishopric as some higher office or archbishop or cardinal. These are inventions of men that are a stench in the nostrils of God. So the participle use of overseeing is simply a non-figurative way of describing the nature of the shepherding commanded. Shepherd the flock of God among you, constantly exercising oversight. And then it stands as the transition into the three contrasting ways and perspectives that are to regulate how these shepherds exercise oversight, not but, not but, not but. So that's basically all the significance of that participle is. The elders give in nonfigurative language that the task of these pastors, these elders, is to shepherd the flock of God.

To Whom are Elders Responsible? The Local Flock

60:47 Now, very quickly in closing. To whom are the elders responsible to discharge this duty? Now, that's an important question. To whom? What are they to do? Shepherd the flock of God, exercising oversight. To whom? Well, look at the text.

61:05 Peter wrote, the elders therefore, Among you, that is, among you, the people of God in the various churches in Asia Minor, you have elders among you, and now I'm going to exhort those elders, verse 2, shepherd the flock of God, speaking to the elders, which is among you. And he sees the elders, each of them, as having part of the flock that is among them. There is this mutuality of recognition and commitment. The sheep know the shepherds, and the shepherds know the sheep.

61:40 And then, in verse 3, a very interesting term, neither is lording it over the charge allotted to you. All those words are used to try to give English equivalence to two Greek words.

61:55 The words are, the lots, the lots, plural, the lots. Peter uses the word that describes kleros, the actual casting of lots. You find it used that way in the gospel records. They cast lots for our Lord's garments.

62:16 Well, then it came to signify a portion or an inheritance obtained by a lot, and then eventually just a portion or inheritance marked out for someone. It's used that way in Acts 1 and verse 17, in two or three other places in the New Testament. And here Peter uses a plural of that word, so this is what he says literally. The elders among you.

62:38 Among you I exhort. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, not lording it over the lots, a portion to you. He uses the lots, plural. Why?

62:52 Because he envisions each of these elders in the various churches, whatever the size of the churches, how many elders were found in each church, as each one having a portion of the flock allotted to them. In other words, in answer to the question to whom are these elders responsible to discharge these duties, it is only within the sphere where the sheep have recognized the shepherds, and the shepherds have recognized their sheep, i.e., the local church and the local church alone.

63:34 That's why Paul could say in Acts 20.28, Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock of God, not over which, but in whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Those elders see themselves as within the flock of God. Take heed to yourselves, and to all of the flock of God, within which you have been made overseers.

64:04 God the Holy Spirit does not make overseers over many flocks. But over the flock within which they themselves are found. You see that? Now, I'm not saying a man cannot, in an evangelistic endeavor in a rural situation, in a missionary situation, be pastoring four or five churches.

64:26 But in each of those churches, he must be recognized as a gift of Christ within them to function as an elder.

64:35 You say, Pastor Martin, that seems quite obvious. Why press it? Because a lot of people in our day obviously don't understand it. And they're guilty.

64:42 They're guilty of the very sin Peter identifies in chapter 4 and 4.15 when he speaks of don't suffer as a meddler in other people's matters. That word used only in the New Testament is a combination of the word allotrios, which means something belonging to another, and episkopos, or episkopato, which means to look over. And it's people looking over the things of another.

65:06 Not minding their own business. Sticking their noses into matters that are none of their business. And dear people, as a church, may God help us as leaders and as the sheep to recognize we have a sacred bond of mutual commitment to each other. The elders of this church have no business sticking their nose into the business of any other church unless the duly appointed leaders of that church ask us for their input and counsel and advice.

65:40 Otherwise, it is none of our business. And what peace would reign in the churches if those who are elders would take to heart just what this passage teaches. We are to shepherd those among us who are exhorted as those who are among the people of God in which God has constituted us overseers. Well, I've sought to answer the two questions.

Conclusion: The Flock of God, Purchased by His Blood

66:11 What is the essence of the duty of elders? Shepherd the flock of God. That is, perform the functions of a shepherd. Secure adequate nourishment.

66:23 Guard and protect them. Guide and govern and lead them. And go after the sick and the straying to heal and to restore them. But in all of this, you'll notice this one little phrase I didn't focus upon.

66:39 Notice verse 2. Shepherd the flock of God. A genitive of possession. He wants the elders.

66:49 He wants to know. He doesn't say, shepherd your flock. He says, shepherd the flock of God. Paul said it in Acts 20, the church of the Lord, which he purchased with his own blood.

67:00 It gives both worth and dignity to the task to know it is God's flock purchased by the blood of his own Son. And it gives a constant sense of dread lest we intrude our will upon those whom he has purchased to make his bonds, and not ours.

67:24 This is the essence of the duties of elders. Shepherd the flock of God among you. They are to discharge that duty in the strength and grace of the Lord Jesus. And if you ask, well, how in the world did people become part of that flock?

67:42 All of them did in the way described in verse 25 of chapter 2. You were going astray like sheep, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your, so God never intends that you should have earthly shepherds and bishops, shepherds and overseers until you are first of all gone to the great shepherd and overseer. That's why elders who are responsible in their task will interview prospective members, not to get into their hearts. They can't do that.

68:16 They have no warrant to do it, but to seek to discern is there evidence that this person has first of all gone to the great shepherd. And gone to the true overseer that they have left the ways of wandering and have returned unto the shepherd and bishop of their souls. Only then is it right that they come into the community of those who in mutual submission to the great shepherd and overseer now joyfully submit to his under shepherds and overseers who seek to rule and guide and govern and feed in his name and by his authority and by means of his word. Then the experience of shepherds submissive to Christ and to the word of Christ, leading and guiding and helping sheep whose hearts with theirs are subject to Christ the chief shepherd. It becomes a blessed experience that by the grace of God we are preserved by him who said that none of his sheep shall be lost, but he gives to them eternal life. Let's pray.

Prayer for Grace and Courage in Shepherding

69:28 Our father, we thank you for your word. We praise you that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. We who are solemnly charged with this awesome task, we would confess in your presence are many failures. We have not been all that we should be in all that your word directs us to be.

69:52 And we would pray for fresh grace to be better shepherds. Oh, Lord, help us. Give us. We pray.

69:59 That determination to feed your people with the substance of your word to bring them into the green pastures of solid biblical exposition and application to lead them by the quiet waters of reflection upon your dear son. We pray for moral courage to go after wolves aggressively to deliver the lambs from their teeth. Lord, deliver us. We pray for moral cowardice.

70:27 Grant us. Grant us. Grant us the courage to face any of the lions and bears that would in any way seek to draw away the lambs of your flock in this place. Give us the discernment to recognize those men who are self-appointed shepherds trying to draw away sheep after themselves.

70:48 And may we have the courage to identify them and expose them and by means of your words see them taken away from any viable influence among your people. Give us grace to guide and lead your people by the scriptures. Give us, we pray, the tenacity and the love that bears all things as we would seek to go after the sick and the straying and the lame. Even when the sheep do not act like sheep, help us, Lord, by your grace to have the love that bears all things, believes and hopes all things.

71:24 Seal your word to our hearts and undertake for us that. a people we may more and more rejoice together in the beauty of the order you've established for your church and may our submission to that order in the power of the spirit be a monumental testimony to the saving power of our lord jesus hear us and answer us for his name's sake we pray amen