The Reward of Godly Elders Declared

Introduction: The Legitimacy of Desiring Reward

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, February 13, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. As I indicated this morning, we will return tonight to 1 Peter chapter 5. I was anxious to finish this section, especially in the light of the Singles Conference next week, at which time Pastor Todd Jossen will be ministering, and then the following Lord's Day, God willing, I will be preaching at our sister church in Mevin. The brethren there told me that it's been six years since I preached there, and it will be my privilege to minister to the Lord's people there on the last Lord's Day of this month, and then at the ministers' gathering in Raleigh to speak two times on Monday and Tuesday of that following week. So it was my desire that we would complete this section in 1 Peter, and so I ask you to follow as I read. Read again in your hearing the first four verses of chapter 5. 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,

1:28 exercising the oversight not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God, nor yet for base gain, but of a ready mind, neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall be manifested, you shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away. Now again, let us pause to pray and ask God the Holy Spirit to give us understanding in this portion, of his holy word. Let us pray.

2:10 Our Father, in the hymn we have sung together, surely we have prayed what every true servant of yours would pray, that you would speak by his lips, that every wandering mind would be arrested, that we might hear you speaking through the scriptures, and we now again plead that that will be our portion, that the one who speaks may be conscious of being presently, and powerfully assisted by the Spirit, and that each one who listens and receives the word may also be conscious of the Spirit himself present, giving light and understanding and warmth and affection in the heart and faith directed to you. Gracious God, come to us, we pray, in the ministry of this your word, we ask through the Lord Jesus. Amen.

3:12 Now tomorrow morning, many of the men of this congregation, feeling and accepting the burden of being the main provider for the household, will go off to their various places of employment. Some will fight rush hour traffic going into the city, others will sit on trains, others will make a less arduous commute. And I want to ask you children a question. When your dads go off to their place of business this week, in order, in gainful employment, to provide for you and for the rest of the family, do you think it's right for your Christian dads to look forward to receiving their paycheck on payday?

3:59 Now already some of you are shaking your head. My question is, as dad goes off to work tomorrow, is it right that he should look forward to receiving his paycheck on whatever payday is marked out, by his particular company? I'm not asking, is it right for dad to spend the whole week, every day, every hour of the day, working only with the thought of the paycheck on payday? That's not my question.

4:29 You know the answer to that. But my question is, is it right to have as one of the motives in going forth to work tomorrow, that payday will come? As dad carries on his labor, in the field, on the road, in the factory, or behind the desk, is it pleasing to God that he should be both strengthened and encouraged in the midst of his labors, knowing he's going to receive compensation on payday? Well, if you know your Bibles, you know the answer to that question.

5:07 The Apostle Paul, in dealing with the fact that it is ordinarily the will of God that even gospel ministers should look forward to a payday for their labors, writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, these words. It is written in the law of Moses, verse 9, you shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn. Is it for the oxen that God cares? Or does he say it assuredly for our sake?

5:36 Yes, for our sake it was written, because he that plows ought to plow iniquity, and he that threshes to thresh in hope of partaking. In other words, Paul says, even the dumb ox, when he gets whacked on his flanks to go out and get hitched to that post that he'll be hitched to while he walks around in a circle to grind the corn, even the ox looks forward to sticking his head down and eating some of the corn. So it is right for any man in the midst of his labors, to receive both encouragement and strength in the knowledge that his labors are leading to a reward. And in the light of that very legitimate expectation, Peter, after laying out the duties of elders, they are to shepherd the flock of God, exercising oversight, after underscoring the disposition that ought to accomplish, both with respect to motive and manner, not by constraint, but willingly, not for base gain, but of a ready mind, not lording it over God's heritage, but making themselves examples to the flock. Here in verse 4,

Who Will Receive the Promised Reward?

7:04 by the Spirit of God, Peter sets forth the reward of godly elders, having given to us the duty of God, the disposition of godly elders, defined, verse 2a, the disposition of godly elders, described, verse 2b and 3, we now have the reward of godly elders declared. And as we think through the text tonight, we'll do so in terms of three very simple questions that we will ask of the text. The questions are, who, when, and what? First of all, then, who will receive the promised reward?

7:48 The text says, and when the chief shepherd shall be manifested, you shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away. Who is the you in our text? Well, let me answer the question in the pattern that Peter followed in the earlier verse negatively and positively. This promised reward will not be given to all or any who have occupied the position of an elder.

8:22 It will not be given to all and any who are called pastor or elder or recognized as a leader in God's flock. A careless surface reading of the passage might give that impression. We might jump from verse 1, When the elders among you I exhort, shepherd the flock of God, and when the chief shepherd is manifested, you, all of you who have the name and title of elder, all of you who are recognized as elders, as shepherds, who engage in some way or another in the work of giving guidance and direction to the flock, you shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away. That's what the text says. The you. The you of verse 4 is the elders addressed in verse 1.

9:15 But it would be a contradiction of the unified testimony of Scripture in both the Old and the New Testaments to assume that Peter is teaching that any and all who have ever had the name and title and function of elders will receive this promised reward. For example, in the Old Testament, one of the great plagues upon the nation of Israel was the constant presence of false prophets. Jeremiah had to contend with them continually. For example, in Jeremiah chapter 5, verses 30 and 31, we read the following, A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so. And what will you do in the end thereof? The recognized leaders, the prophets who were to be the mouthpiece of God, the priests who were to administer the life of the covenant people of God, particularly in conjunction with their worship, both were not what God had ordained they should be.

10:33 The whole 34th chapter of Ezekiel is an indictment of the false shepherds, those in civil and religious service, religious leadership in Israel, whom God indicts as being false shepherds. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 7, Not everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven. And then from that general statement, he goes on to say these sobering words, verse 22 of Matthew 7, Many will say, Not a few, many, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and by your name cast out demons, and by your name do many mighty works? Here are people who came to a place of prominence, of leadership, of great influence among God's visible people. And Jesus said, And then I will profess unto them, You never preached, in my name, you liar. No.

11:45 He doesn't in any way contest their claim that they prophesied in his name. By his name cast out demons, and by his name did many mighty works. He does not contest their claim, but he rejects their persons. Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.

12:06 Depart from me, you that work iniquity. This is Paul's testimony. He is speaking to elders in Acts chapter 20. Those who have the name and title and function of elders.

12:21 And he's looking down beyond the time when he will leave and his influence will no longer be a direct influence upon the Ephesian church. Listen to his words in Acts 20. After charging these elders to take heed to themselves and to the flock, verse 29, I know that after my departing, grievous woes, wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock, wolves from without, but now verse 30, and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. And sometimes they arise within the very eldership.

13:09 And Peter knew that, for in 2 Peter chapter 2, he writes, verse 1 of chapter 2, 2 Peter, but there arose false prophets among the people, as also among you, that same little construction that we noted in 1 Peter 5, 1, en humi, among you, within your ranks, among you, there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies. There is a gutsy realism in the scriptures that would lead us to answer this question, who will receive the promised reward to say emphatically, it will not be given to all and any who have occupied the position and title and in one way or another performed functions that could be called shepherding and overseeing the flock of God. Rather, stating the issue positively, this reward will be given to those elders who are truly God's gift to His church. It is elders who fulfill the promise of Jeremiah 3.15 that we considered last Lord's Day.

14:33 I will give them shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed them with knowledge and with understanding. Shepherds who are, in the language of Ephesians, 4.11, a gift of the ascended Christ who gives pastors and teachers to His church. Elders who are what Paul describes of the Ephesian elders in Acts 20.28.

14:57 Elders who have been made such by the activity of the Holy Spirit. Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock of God in the which the Holy Spirit has constituted you over seers. The reward, this promise to those whose entrance into the office and function within that office has been determined and framed by the Word of God.

15:27 They have the internal grace and the visible graces. They've been endowed with the requisite gifts and they are prepared to commit themselves to God's description of their task and by His grace to live it out amongst, their people. You see, as Peter writes in chapter 5 in verse 1, and now we're back to 1 Peter, and says, the elders therefore among you, he's assuming that these elders have all of the blessings of salvation that he has already described as the common property of all the people of God in the preceding chapters in 1 Peter. He's assuming that the elders are not only among them, physically, visibly, but that they are among them in the community of those who have been begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead unto an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven. He assumes the elders are among them in their common love to Christ, whom having not seen you love, on whom believing, though you see Him not, yet rejoicing with joy, unspeakable and full of glory. He assumes they are part of the redeemed community, redeemed not with silver and gold, but with precious blood, even the blood of Christ.

16:56 He assumes the elders among them are among the community who have first of all been the recipients of the transforming power of the grace of God. It is such elders that he's addressing in chapter 5. It is to such elders that the promises, given, who have not only experienced that common salvation in Christ, but who've embraced the common responsibilities of all who are in Christ. They are not only the subjects of the indicatives, what God has done, but they've embraced the imperatives.

17:33 They are seeking to abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul. They are seeking to be holy as He is holy. They are seeking as strangers and sojourners to learn, to live as the people of God. All the imperatives of the Christian life they've embraced as Christian men.

17:53 And that undergirds everything they are as Christian elders. And it is to these who are in the truest sense thoroughgoing Christian men who have overlaid upon the reality of internal grace a commitment by the strength and power of Christ to the power of God. To take the task of shepherding and overseeing and to discharge it as Peter describes it with the three negatives and the three positives. They are determined that as men committed to Christ the chief shepherd they shall live out as Christian men and as elders in the church the will of Christ who redeemed them. It is to such and to such alone that the promised reward is given. So that's question number one. Who will receive the promised reward?

When Will the Promised Reward Be Given?

18:58 Not any and everyone who has had the name and title and performed some of the functions of an elder. But elders who are thoroughgoing Christian men and elders who discharge their official task according to the rule of Christ in the strength and power of the spirit of Christ unto the good and well-being of the sheep of Christ. All right, question number two we want to ask of our text. When will the promised reward be given?

19:33 Having answered the question who will receive the promised reward now? When will the promised reward be given? Let's look at the text. And when the chief shepherd shall be manifested you shall receive take away to yourself would be a more little rendering of that verb.

19:56 When the chief shepherd shall be manifested you shall take away for yourself the crown of glory that fades not away. When will the promised reward be given? The answer of our text is when the chief shepherd shall be manifested. A little more literal rendering of that aorist participle though it's not too good in the English is and having been manifested the chief shepherd you shall receive.

20:27 In other words it's not a simple future but Peter writes as though anticipating that day he says and that day having come then the reward will be given. He identifies the time of the reward as the second coming of our Lord Jesus. And he designates that coming as a manifestation of the chief shepherd. Now the first coming of our Lord is called his manifestation.

21:00 Peter used that very terminology in chapter one. Note it with me. Chapter one verse twenty. Speaking of Christ whose blood redeems us who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world.

21:15 But was manifested at the end of the times for your sake. Obviously pointing to the first coming of our Lord Jesus. When the God man comes to earth by way of Mary's womb taking to himself in the marvelous miracle of the virgin conception a true human soul and body Peter by the guidance of the spirit calls this his manifestation. His appearing.

21:48 The same terminology is used in Hebrews nine twenty six where it speaks of Christ being manifested to put away sin in first John three nine. For this purpose the son of God was manifested, same verb. But now that verb is also used to point to his second coming. When he will be manifested.

22:10 When he will be manifested in the glory and power and majesty. that He now has. It was a glory and a majesty and a power veiled throughout His entire earthly life and ministry. There was a little outshining of it on the Mount of Transfiguration.

22:29 You remember Peter associates that vision in that incident with the coming of the Lord Jesus in His second letter. But for the most of His earthly pilgrimage, our Lord was among us in apparent weakness. He did not have a halo hanging over His head. There was no Shekinah glory following Him.

22:50 When you saw Him in a crowd, you may have been attracted by something of the moral innocence and purity that no doubt would have marked His countenance and made it a most fascinating and captivating countenance. But in terms of His garment, in terms of His whole being, the Scripture says there is no beauty that we should desire Him. There was nothing, nothing unusual about our Lord's physical appearance. But now Peter says, but when He shall be manifested, and who is the He?

23:23 The He is the One who has been received back in glory, who even now is the object of the adoring wonder of seraphim and cherubim and angels and the spirits of just men made perfect. And the Scripture tells us that when He comes again, this will be His appearing, His manifestation. But now, no longer a manifestation in weakness, but a manifestation in glory and in power. And Christ knew that this would be so.

23:54 He spoke these words, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory and in the glory of His Father. 2 Thessalonians 1.8 says, He shall come in flaming fire to take vengeance upon His enemies. He shall come in power.

24:13 He shall come. He shall come in glory. And Peter says, in answer to the question, when will the promised reward be given, he points us not to the death of the individual elders. He doesn't say, and when you die and go to heaven, you shall receive the crown of glory.

24:33 He doesn't say that. You look at your Bible. Doesn't say it in your Bible. Doesn't say it in mine.

24:38 He says, when the chief shepherd shall be manifested, when the Lord Jesus comes again, that will be the time to impart the promised reward. And he identifies the Lord Jesus in this passage, as we saw last week in our communion meditation, with a title found only here in all of Scripture. He is the Achi Poimei. He is the chief shepherd.

25:11 He is the master of the guild of sheep. Shepherds. He is the master shepherd. And Peter wants these under-shepherds, as they think of the reward that awaits them, as Christian men committed foundationally to be all that Christian men ought to be, and secondarily to be all that elders ought to be in the nature of their task and in the motives and manner of the task.

25:41 He wants them to fix the gaze of their soul in the midst of all of the joys and disappointments of their labors upon the coming of Christ, particularly His coming as the chief shepherd. The chief shepherd who will deal with His under-shepherds, all the members of the guild of the shepherds. It is the master shepherd who will draw them into His presence and He Himself will give them the reward, the reward of His grace. Now, Peter is giving us here in more pictorial language precisely what Paul had in mind when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 4-5, and I ask you to turn, please, to that passage, 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 5,

26:34 speaking of himself and his fellow ministers as stewards, those who have an entrustment from God, and that stewards are not to be clever, impressive, persuasive, but primarily faithful. Paul says something in verse 3 that every under-shepherd has got to learn to internalize. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you. Now, notice he doesn't say it's nothing to me.

27:04 Any man who can say it's nothing to me, how men think of me, something human in him has died. He's become calloused. He's become hardened to the point that it would, be frightful to have him in a place of spiritual leadership. Paul says, but with me it's a very small thing. It's not nothing, but it ain't a big deal either. It's a very small thing. A very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I judge, that is, I do not pass final sentence upon my own self, for I know nothing against myself, yet am I not hereby justified. But he that judges me is the Lord. Wherefore, judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, make manifest the counsels of the hearts, now notice, and then shall each man have his praise from God. Now, is he saying that every single human being is going to have praise from God at the coming of Christ? No. In the context, he's saying this, every faithful steward who has an eye strong enough to have praise from God at the coming of Christ, is single to pleasing his master, who has learned the discipline of relative indifference to men's smiles and men's frowns. He can fix his heart upon the

28:27 day when the Lord who has commissioned him and has deposited the stewardship with him will call into account, and he shall have his praise from his master. This is Peter's language, a bit more unadorned, with no figures, bluntly stated, but he's saying, it is precisely the same thing. When will the promised reward be given? It will be given at the second coming of our Lord Jesus, when he comes, not just generically as the Lord of glory, but specifically in the thinking of these elders as the archipoimen, as the chief shepherd, as the master of the guild of shepherds, who will praise the Lord. Parcel out the reward of grace to all of his faithful under-shepherds. You see, Peter, like all of the New Testament writers, does not focus the primary encouragement of these elders upon that which they experience at death. Death is never set forth as the focal point as the Christians hope. Does that shock some of you? Say, I want to die and go to

29:44 heaven. Well, there may be a bit of that. There may be a bit of that. There may be a bit of legitimacy in that, as I'll see from a text or two. But it's far more biblical to say, I can't wait for the day of resurrection. Yes, we know what will happen in the intermediate state. We read about it last week in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 8. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We know what Paul said in Philippians chapter 1, for to me to live is Christ and to die is Cain. Now I'm torn between two desires. I want to depart and be with Christ, and then he multiplies the superlatives. Which is very much far better. That English, but good Greek. But to remain with you is more necessary. Yes, to depart and be with Christ is better. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. Revelation 14, 13. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth,

30:36 and they rest from their labors. And it says their works do follow them. Follow them for what? For the day of the second coming. For the coming of the Lord Jesus. It is then, Revelation 11. And in verse 18, in this tremendous statement of the day of the Lord's return, we read, And the nations were angry, and your wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear your name. That's the time when the reward will be imparted. And we are thinking biblically and New Testamentally.

31:19 When? When our focal point of hope is not the intermediate state, though we face it with confidence that to die is to be with Christ, our great yearning is for the integrity of what we are as body, soul, entities, with every last atom of our being, powerfully transformed by the grace of God. And we are confirmed in the very likeness of Christ, body and spirit. And we are confirmed in the very likeness of Christ, body and spirit. Christian, that's our hope. That's what he sets before these elders. When the chief shepherd shall appear, who will receive the promised reward? Elders who are first of all thoroughgoing, real, sure enough Christian men. Men who in taking the office enter it in biblical principles, who seek under God and by His grace imperfectly, yes, but perfectly. And we are confirmed in the very likeness

32:20 of Jesus Christ. When the chief shepherd shall appear, who will receive the promised reward? Elders who are first of all thoroughgoing, real, sure enough Christian men. Men who in taking the office enter it in biblical principles, who seek some purposefully and truly to discharge their task according to the will of the master shepherd and in the power of His grace.

What Will the Promised Reward Be? The Crown of Glory

32:30 When will the promised reward be given? When the chief shepherd has appeared. Now third question. What will the promised reward be? Who? When? Now what? What will the promised reward be? Colossians 4 The Hoş Ned? The Holiness and Em Canon? The Holiness and Emnahmen? In colloquio You shall receive, you shall take away to yourself the crown of glory that fades not away. Now I'm going to disappoint some of you. I hope you won't be mad at me.

33:10 You promise you won't be mad at me if I disappoint you. You don't need to start doing neck strengthening muscles such as I try to do to keep my neck in shape. Thinking, man, if I get all these crowns God has promised, I'm going to stagger under the weight. That's amazing how Christians think they're actually going to get literal crowns.

33:28 They're going to be a crown of righteousness, a crown of life, a crown of glory, a crown of this. They'd have so many crowns they couldn't hold themselves up.

33:37 No, these are figures of speech. God's got something far more wonderful than something made of gold or platinum and studded with emeralds and rubies and diamonds and all of this. Those values of the present time will be nothing in the presence of our glorious King and the Chief Shepherd. When he says that the reward...

33:56 The reward will be a crown of glory that fades not away. This is figurative language. And at the center of it is the understanding of what the crown symbolized. It is a crown.

34:10 And then the word glory is used for you linguists appositionally. It is a crown which is constituted of glory. It's not a glorious imperishable crown as though these are two adjectives describing the noun crown. It is a crown of glory.

34:29 It is a crown that consists in glory. And blessed be God, it is unfading and imperishable. But now, what's the idea of a crown? Well, in the New Testament you have two words for crown.

34:42 One from which we get our English word, diadem. Diadema. That's a diadem. And that always refers in the Greeks and in the Roman culture to a royal, kingly, or queenly crown.

34:57 That's the kind of crowns mentioned in Revelation 12.3. It's the kind of crown used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures. You remember in the book of Esther, that king that wanted to show off his beautiful wife.

35:13 And so when all the hot shots from around the various kingdoms are there, in the book of Esther, we find that he wants to show off his queen. And in chapter 1 verse 11 we read, To bring that...

35:25 The queen before the king with the crown royal. With the diadema. That's the royal crown. But that's not the word that Peter uses.

35:37 And the most frequently used word for crown in the New Testament is Stephanos. Stephanos. You who are named Stephen. You're a crown.

35:46 You didn't know that, but you are. You're a crown. Stephanos. From a verb which means to encircle.

35:53 And it would refer either to those... These crowns made of various forms of vegetation.

35:59 Olive branches. Sometimes would be made garlands of myrtle or of even parsley or ivy. Some of those who study these things tell us. I've not looked into it.

36:11 I'm taking their word for it. And these were made of some perishable material. And they were the garland or the crown that was given for the victor, for the winner in an athletic contest. Or for a conquering military figure.

36:29 Or sometimes in festal occasions. At a wedding. At the celebration of some great event where someone was being honored. You would make for them a Stephanos.

36:41 And whatever you used to make it, that would be their crown. Now that's what Peter uses here. And most likely because this is the very area where Paul's letters circulated. And according to...

36:55 In 2 Peter, Peter studied Paul's epistles. He says, Our beloved brother Paul, who has written in all of his epistles some things hard to be understood. Most likely there was a consistency in the use of the imagery. And Paul's primary use is the crown that was given as the award at the athletic contest.

37:17 And immediately I'm sure some of you think of 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Here's a specimen passage. I only cite the one to underscore it from the scripture. 1 Corinthians 9.

37:25 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Paul says in verse 24, Know you not that they that run in a race, all run, but one receives the prize. Even so run that you may attain. And every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things.

37:44 And what is the prize? He tells us. Now they do it to receive a corruptible Stephanos. They do it to receive a corruptible crown.

37:56 But we an incorruptible. You see the whole context of this passage is the Olympic games or the other games that were held in alternate years in that part of the world. But Paul is obviously using the figure of the crowning of the winning athlete. And most likely that's the sense that would have been conveyed to those elders sitting there in the various congregations in Asia Minor.

38:25 When whoever. Stood up and read the epistle read. And when the chief shepherd shall appear. You shall take away to yourself the Stephanos.

38:37 The crown of glory. You will be manifested in that day as victors in the contest. You will all be winners. You will have the crown.

38:51 And then he says it is a crown of glory. The reward is pictured under the imagery of a victor's crown. First point. Second.

39:04 It is a crown that consists of glory. It is a crown of glory. Not a glorious crown. But a crown that consists of glory.

39:15 But what in the world is glory? Well glory is the outshining of the perfections of God. Glory is to God what the rays of the sun are to the sun. The rays of the sun that warm your cheek tomorrow morning if we have a sunny day.

39:33 Is the outshining those rays or the outshining of the very essence of the sun. The glory of God is the outshining of the brilliance and the beauty and the majesty of God. And here we are told that we are going to receive faithful elders a crown that is and consists of glory. Now does that mean we are going to be made gods?

The Nature of Glory and Its Imperishability

40:01 No. No. No. Never.

40:02 Never. To be glorified never means that the creature is anything other than the creature. God does not share his deity with any creature. But in a way that I cannot explain.

40:15 I told my elders, fellow elders that met with us to pray. I said brethren if one of you gets a gift of revelation in the middle of the sermon. And you know what this crown of glory is. Please stand up and tell me.

40:26 I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I've scoured the scriptures and I see this emphasis on glory.

40:32 And I can quote the Bible and I know I can't be wrong doing that. I may not explain it. But I know it won't hurt to quote it. Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4.

40:41 Our light affliction which is but for a moment. Our in that context is the ministers of God. Laboring faithfully in their new covenant ministry. Our light affliction which is but for a moment.

40:53 Works for us a far more exceeding. Exceeding and eternal weight of what? Glory. He said that's what we look for.

41:04 The far more exceeding and eternal weight that consists in glory. Oh what did you mean? He said I'm not telling you. It is something wonderful.

41:17 It nerves me and my fellow laborers. In the midst of affliction. In the midst of opposition. In the midst of misunderstanding.

41:26 When we think of our afflictions. They are light. Compared with the weightiness of the substance of glory that awaits us.

41:37 Romans 8.17 If we suffer with him that we may also be what? Glorified together with him.

41:48 Amazing language. Colossians 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear. Then shall you also be manifested with him.

41:57 How? In glory. You say well I thought. Glory was a place.

42:02 Yeah it is. But it's more than a place. It's a state. It's a context.

42:07 It has something to do. With the vision of God. Something to do with apprehending. And absorbing into the soul.

42:16 Something of the wonder. And the glory. Of God himself.

42:22 Can't explain it any more than that. I pray God will give me further understanding. But this much I know. For any true child of God.

42:31 And much more. Or for any true servant of God. To be told that this is your task. Shepherd and oversee.

42:39 Do it this way. Out of these motives. Not but. Not but.

42:43 Not but. When the chief shepherd shall appear. When he shall be manifested. You shall receive a crown.

42:52 That consists of glory. Servant of God says Lord I don't know what that is. But it's something more wonderful than I've ever known down here. And furthermore.

43:03 He says. It's something the expectation of which. Will lift me above. Being enslaved by both the smiles.

43:13 And the frowns of mere mortals.

43:18 No man is fit to serve in the eldership. Who has not been immunized. Against being made drunk. By the smiles of his people.

43:29 And paralyzed by their frowns. Hmm.

43:37 If you're made drunk. With the smiles of people. Mark my word. You'll either prove to be a false prophet.

43:45 For Jesus said. Woe unto you when all men speak well of you. For so spake they of the false prophets. That were before you.

43:56 You'll either prove yourself to be a false prophet. Or. Or. You'll be rudely awakened from your drunken stupor.

44:04 When the very faces that smiled begin to frown. And the ones who cry at the beginning of the week. Hosanna.

44:13 By the end of the week are saying crucify him. And Jesus said the servant is not above his master. It's a wonderful thing. To be immunized against the intoxicating influence of people's smiles.

44:32 And immunized against the paralyzing influence of their frowns. You will be an irritant to the unprincipled. You will be a barb in the conscience of people who have a controversy with God. But true.

44:46 Men and women. In the last day. Will bless God that you came into their lives.

44:53 Old John Brown. May I lean on him.

44:56 When he thinks of that crown.

44:59 This is what John Brown says. And I wonder. If he isn't getting close. To the issue.

45:06 The language is figurative. Crown of glory. Fades not away. But the meaning is plain.

45:12 He will visibly reward his faithful services. By bestowing on him. A large measure. Of the highest kinds of happiness and honor.

45:22 Of which his nature is capable. Blessings which shall endure forever. And forever retain. Undiminished.

45:30 Their power to satisfy those. Who possess them. In what the peculiarity of the rewards. Of the faithful Christian elder shall consist.

45:40 We can form but inadequate and indistinct ideas. I said thank you Lord. John Brown came right to where I came. After studying the passage.

45:48 We can form but. What does he say? Inadequate and indistinct ideas. But then he says.

45:55 There is much however to lead us to believe. That a portion. And probably no small portion of it is. To consist in witnessing the holy happiness.

46:05 Of those. To whose spiritual interest. He ministered on earth. And to know most certainly.

46:11 That to his labors and instrumentality. Their happiness has been owing. Such is the view. Which the apostles.

46:18 Word naturally lead us to take. When he calls the Philippian Christians. His joy and his what? And his crown.

46:26 And to the Thessalonians he says. What is our hope or joy or crown. Of rejoicing. Step on us.

46:34 Are not even you. In the presence of our Lord Jesus. At his coming. For you are our glory.

46:43 And our joy. Maybe that's part of it. I don't know. But is a crown.

46:48 It is the visible. Vindication of Christ. In the form of the reward of grace. And it consists in glory.

46:58 And here's the qualifying word. It is imperishable. Or the glory that fades not away. And here again.

47:09 The dumb fisherman of Galilee. Uses another word. Found only here in the New Testament. Let no one ever say in my presence again.

47:17 Well you know Peter was a rough. Uncultured fisherman. He's got more of what the Greek scholars call. Hopox logomenon.

47:25 That means a once for all use of a word. Anything else I've preached through. And it's been one of the difficulties. In seeking to be accurate in exposition.

47:35 You have no other usage in the New Testament. And very few usages. In secular Greek literature. And wanting to ascertain the meaning of the word.

47:43 Is not always easy. But here he uses a word that is. The same root that he used in chapter 1. In verse 4.

47:49 When he said. You're begotten again unto inheritance. Incorruptible. Undefiled.

47:56 And that fades not away. He uses the word. From which we get the word for a flower. Called the amaranth.

48:03 And some suggest. Since he uses a form of the word. Completely unique here. In first Peter 5.

48:10 That his readers. Would have been aware of this mythical flower. That supposedly never wilted. And never faded.

48:19 Now it's that mythical flower. To which Milton refers. In Paradise Lost. In this beautiful section.

48:27 After he describes the councils of the Trinity. Concerning the salvation of men. He then says. The multitude of angels with a shout.

48:37 Loud is from numbers. Without number. Sweet is from blessed voices. Uttering joy.

48:44 Heaven rung with jubilee. And loud hosannas filled the eternal regions. Lowly reverent toward either throne they bow. And to the ground with solemn adoration.

48:56 Down they cast their crowns. In wove with amaranth. As a word. Amaranth and gold.

49:05 Immortal amaranth. A flower which once in paradise. Passed by the tree of life. Began to bloom.

49:12 But soon for man's offense. To heaven removed. Where first it grew. There grows.

49:18 So that. Concept of the amaranth. Being this. Immortal.

49:23 Unfading flower. That bloomed in Eden. And when man fell. God took it out of Eden.

49:27 Transplanted it to heaven. Where it still grows. That may have been. I can't prove it.

49:33 I'm saying that may have been. Why Peter used. That particular word. But if he wasn't using it for that.

49:39 He was using it in the sense. Of its cousin word. In chapter one in verse four. To point to that which is unfading.

49:48 Now think of the contrast. Most of the stephanos. That you would have seen. Were made of what?

49:54 All of them. They were made. Of that which perishes. That's how Paul described it.

50:00 In first Corinthians nine. They do it to obtain. A perishable stephanos. The olive leaves.

50:07 Will eventually wilt. The ivy. Will wilt. The parsley.

50:13 The myrtle. Whatever was used. It will wilt. But now he uses imagery.

50:17 Of a stephanos. That reward. For the triumphing athlete. Which placed upon his head.

50:26 Never fades. It is as imperishable. As the God who makes it. And confers it.

50:34 And as the place. In which the blessedness. Of that reward. Is thoroughly enjoyed.

50:42 It is a reward. That God says. Is a crown of glory. That fades.

Degrees of Reward and Final Applications

50:50 Not away. Well having. Looked at the text. And asked three questions of it.

50:57 Who will receive this. Promised reward. Men who are first of all. Christian men.

51:04 And then Christian elders. Who function according to the word. In both the administration. Of their God given duties.

51:13 And in the ongoing walk. Of their own lives before God. When will they receive this. Promised reward.

51:20 At the manifestation. Of the chief. Shepherd. His second coming.

51:27 What will be the reward. The crown of glory. That fades. Not away.

51:33 There is a reward of grace. There are degrees of reward. I commend to your careful study. First Corinthians 3.

51:41 8 to 15. Where Paul is speaking of those. Who share in the building of Christ's church. Viewed as a temple.

51:49 A house. And he says. That the day shall declare. Each man's work.

51:54 Of what sort it is. And each shall receive. According to his labor. Matthew 25.

52:01 The parable of the talents. Luke 19. The parable of the pounds. There will be degrees of reward.

52:08 In heaven. For all God's people. There will be degrees of reward. For God's servants who labor.

52:15 As shepherds among his people. Everyone will be perfectly happy. In heaven. Some will have a greater capacity to be happy.

52:24 Some will have a greater stewardship of responsibility. Think of it. There will be no jealousy. There will be no envy.

52:31 All perfectly happy. But not all flatly equal. You have been faithful in little. Become ruler over much.

52:40 Ten cities. You have been faithful in little. Be ruler. Five cities.

52:46 There are degrees of reward. I don't understand all of the implications. But the scripture gives. It gives us enough to fill our souls.

52:54 With a yearning that to the glory of God. We may receive the largest possible reward of grace. That we may as it were lay it down at the feet of our God. And say because of your will and your grace.

53:09 I give back in praise and adoration. Whatever reward of grace has been conferred upon me. My final application. I want to say just two things.

Application 1: Legitimacy of Laboring for Grace-Reward

53:22 Having sought albeit poorly to open up the text. But according to my present light. Two applications. Number one.

53:30 Behold in this promise. My dear fellow laborers especially. And yet it applies to all of the people of God. Behold in this promised reward.

53:39 The legitimacy of laboring. For the reward of grace. It is not wrong to labor. For the reward of grace.

53:49 It is not mercenary. It is biblical. Paul said I run so as to receive the prize. That's not being mercenary.

54:00 Don't be more spiritual than God. I've heard people say well I want to serve Christ for no other motive than pleasing Christ. Well if you're pleasing Christ you'll think the way Christ tells you to think. And Christ says we're to think in terms of desiring reward.

54:14 Not the rewards that have been exposed so powerfully and clearly in our confession. The Roman Catholic notion that I do something that earns grace and forgiveness. And acceptance. No.

54:25 It is the reward of grace. But it is the reward. You shall receive the crown of glory. You shall take it away to yourself and for yourself is the force of that verb.

54:40 And it is not mercenary to think of that day when the chief shepherd shall be manifested and we by God's grace shall hear him say well done. Thou good and faithful servant. And that brings me to my second application. Not only to see in this the promised reward the legitimacy of laboring for the reward of grace.

Application 2: The Only Safe Focus for Elders

55:05 But behold in this promised reward the only safe focus for the labors of an elder. The only safe focus. And what is it? Of all the things Peter could have held before these elders after saying here's your task.

55:22 Shepherd the flock of God among you. Shepherd the flock of God among you. Shepherd the flock of God among you. Exercising oversight.

55:27 Not this but that. Not this but that. Not this but that. Here's what he holds before them.

55:33 And when the chief shepherd shall be manifest. He's saying to these elders whatever other motives move you. Whatever other focus is legitimate. Make this your primary focus.

55:45 The hour is coming when the heavens will part. And the chief shepherd will come with the entourage of heaven. Clouds of glory. Ten thousands of his holy ones.

55:58 To have the Lord Jesus say well done will be worth more than a thousand worlds. Paul's great concern was judge nothing before the time until the Lord come. Then shall every man have his praise from God. It is the approbation of the chief shepherd which at the end of the day really counts.

56:24 Not the approval of your fellow shepherds. And certainly not the approval of the sheep. But it is the approval. The smile.

56:34 Of the chief shepherd. And as I was preparing. For some reason my mind's just gone back to the late Dr. Tozer this week.

56:42 In the sermon I've listened to times without number. He preached three weeks before he went to be with the Lord. And in that sermon he was talking on the theme. Forward with Christ in total commitment.

56:54 And he was opening up topically. What it meant to be totally committed. To Christ in one of his points was when we're committed to Christ then pleasing Christ is the dominating passion of our hearts and preaching to a large group of broad evangelical men he said something like this this is almost a verbatim quote and I can't imitate his Western Pennsylvania twang and accent which was inimitable and he said some of you sitting here you're so anxious to please everybody. He said in secret.

57:29 Seeking to please everybody. You'll end up pleasing nobody and then he said quit it Reverend quit it it won't do you any good. And those words ring in my ears quit it Reverend quit it it won't do you any good in seeking to please everybody you'll end up pleasing nobody. God can give you no greater blessing as a people than shepherds who love you with Christ's love will love you enough to elicit your frown and your anger when necessary.

58:01 Just as any parent worth the name is willing to have a child temporarily irritated at him. For his loving godly guidance of that child. That's why Paul could say to the Corinthians he said do you love me less the more I love you even though the more I love you the less I be loved it's not going to in any way constrict my love but he says I love you enough to wound you. I love you enough to give myself to comfort you.

Exhortation to Unbelievers and Concluding Prayer

58:31 He says I. Seek not yours but you that's my great passion and the great blessing that God can give you and I follow up this morning's exhortation is that you pray God will give you shepherds whose primary fixation is upon the chief shepherd his orders his directives his rule his will for his people corporately individually labor for the day when the chief shepherd appears they should receive. The crown of glory that fades not away for those of you who sit here tonight for whom again this has been an hour of sheer boredom all I can say is I pray God you'll someday know the sweetness of what has been our portion is we've fed upon the word of God today and we've actually enjoyed it when I was preaching in California a couple weeks ago the people were so delighting in the word and I was having a wonderful time preaching.

59:34 I stopped and I said you know some of you here who are not Christians you're conscious that the people here are having a wonderful time aren't you and everybody said amen and I said you have to leave the preachers enjoying himself don't you I said come and feast it's there for you in Christ you can know what it is to enjoy digging into the Bible be ravished in your soul feel in your soul what you feel after a good sumptuous well prepared. meal when you've been really hungry you know what it is to feel satisfied God says eat and your soul shall live oh my unconverted friend go to Christ and ask him to make you one of his sheep to make you one of those who love his voice and love his word and then join this bunch that love to feed upon his truth and go into the pastures of his own blessed word and have a foretaste of what will be ours in the age to come when we will be able to eat.

60:35 When we follow the land with us whoever he we go he goes and he should lead us to fountains of waters of life let's pray our Father we do thank you for this wonderful wonderful promise held out to your servants and we pray that by your grace we may feed within upon it that we will by your grace have the eyes of our souls fixed upon that moment in human history. When that moment in human history. When that moment in human history. When that moment in human history.

61:10 The heavens will part, and the voice of the archangel will sound, and the trump will blow, and the chief shepherd will come, and we shall render up accounts to him. Oh, that we may so labor as to hear him say, Well done, good and faithful servant. We pray for your people in this place. We thank you again for them.

61:34 We think of the many places tonight where there's been all kinds of religious entertainment. And shallow, frothy religious stuff. So few places where your people gather in the Lord's Day evening, hungry for the word, desirous to learn of you. Thank you, God, for what your grace has worked in the hearts of your people here.

61:57 But we pray that that work will be deepened and extended, and that you will perpetuate it until the day when our Lord Jesus returns. Oh, God, hear us. Hear our prayer. We plead with you.

62:14 If you delay the coming of your Son, we would be bold to plead for unborn generations. That they may find in this place a haven of truth, where the voice of the chief shepherd is heard in the faithful teaching and preaching of the word. Hear our prayers, we plead. Dismiss us with your blessing.

62:35 Take us into our respective spheres of responsibility in the coming week. Full of joy and of the Holy Spirit, that we may be light and salt in this dark and needy world. Hear us for Jesus' sake. Amen.