Okay, all right. Well let us take a moment to turn our Bibles over to 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 1 through 4. And I'll read the section for us. We'll pray and jump into our study for tonight, okay? It says, "Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the suffering of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily according to the will of God, not for sword gain, but with eagerness.

Nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." Amen. Let's take a moment to pray. All right, God, we want to ask again, Lord, that you would truly by your Spirit enlighten our eyes, that you would move in our hearts so that both our affection, our commitment, and our minds would really draw near to your word.

Father, we are praying that as we talk today about church, the leadership, ministry, I ask, Lord, that you grant to us just a great vision of what you are doing, Lord. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. I'm going to give a silly introduction. So have you guys seen that TV show, The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, who does an amazing job imitating dogs, but he also does an amazing job basically transforming troublesome pets, troublesome dogs.

So you've got this wild like chihuahua or whatever who's like, "Brrr." And then the owner is so sad, and every time I watch those episodes, you know, owners are crying and me not being a pet person, I'm just like, "Why? Why would you put yourself through that?" Well, anyway, the owner is all crying and wondering, "Should I let go of my animal or not?

Should I give it one last try? Call Cesar Millan." So Cesar Millan shows up and the dog is all crazy. He like bites people. He yarps and yells and barks and all that stuff. And the owner is like, "See, I can't handle this anymore." And then Cesar Millan comes over and it's like, you know, and the dog is just like, and everything's like crazy, like transformation immediately.

And I think that's the draw of the whole TV show, right? Because after you watch one, like every episode is the same. But anyway, what ends up happening is there's a moment when Cesar Millan looks at the dog and he's like, "Oh, he's just been X, Y, and Z, and he needs to be in this pack." And then he goes, "But you have to be a good pack leader," right?

And he's like, "Why aren't you calm and assertive? And why aren't you being a good leader?" Right? Well, here's an interesting thing is we've been talking about, you know, congregation, congregations, should I say. Because remember he's addressing flocks in different areas, different regions of Macedonia, different regions of Asia.

And he says to these churches, you know, in the midst of your suffering, and he had said a lot, and we studied a lot, everything from this is your great gospel you have, this is the preciousness of the truth you have, and the great salvation you have. You know, this is the high calling of God in the midst of your suffering.

This is God's purpose for you. This is what God is doing, and all this kind of stuff, right? But then here in chapter 5, he says, "Therefore," and then he looks at the elders, and he says, "I charge you. I exhort you," right? And here and now we come to this portion where the exhortation of Apostle Peter is very, very strong and emphatic.

As a matter of fact, in some of your translations it might be a little bit different. The first point we're looking at is his exhortation, and the NIV says like, "I appeal to you," you know? In some translations, "I urge you." The NASB, the one I'm studying off of, will say, "I exhort you," you know?

And what is this command? It's to shepherd the flock among you. So this passage was kind of an interesting passage to study, and in many ways as I'm studying and I'm preaching at myself, you know? But I just want to introduce it by saying there is a time when as Apostle Peter is addressing the congregation, here and now it's very clear he's addressing the leadership, right?

And in so doing, he's going to give various commands, but we could all benefit from learning. As he's explaining the task at hand, as he's explaining how they're supposed to lead, we actually get an exhortation for all of us that we, as we participate in the ministry of God's kingdom, what kind of attitude, you know, what we're buying into, what kind of tasks God has given to the church, or maybe even specifically to the leadership of the church, that we might not go against it, but that we might be fully engaged into the work of ministry, okay?

So let's take a look here again. He says, "Therefore I exhort you, the elders among you, as your fellow elder, witnesses of the sufferings of Christ, and partake also of the glory that is revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you," right? That's what it had said. Now here's one of the questions that I'd asked you to do was to look at the passage and ask, "Hmm, what is the characteristic, the character traits of a good shepherd?" Right?

And actually there's a lot to glean even just from verse 1 and that first little section of verse 2, the command itself. Let's take a look really quick. The first element that I observe is this, "A good shepherd must understand," sorry, "A good shepherd understands the common witness and hope of all saints, but understands the weight of his responsibility." Okay?

So the first element of a good shepherd that I observed just from verse 1 is that a good shepherd understands the common witness and hope of all saints, but understands the weight of his responsibility. He understands that what has been delegated to him is a great, serious exhortation. It's an incredible stewardship.

It is to shepherd the flock of God, right? To shepherd the flock of God. And the way that you see Apostle Peter talking is in line with this concept that he received from Jesus Christ himself when Jesus was resurrected. Do you recall? This passage is John chapter 21. I'm going to just tell the story starting from like verse 14 and forward.

Jesus, after his resurrection, goes to seek out Apostle Peter specifically. Remember that, right? What was Apostle Peter doing at the time? Perhaps he felt guilty. Perhaps he felt ashamed. Perhaps he was discouraged. So we find in the story that Apostle Peter was going back to fishing. And when Jesus appears to him, Jesus asks a sequence of questions that tugs and pulls at the heart of Apostle Peter.

You guys remember. Jesus asks him, "Do you love me?" He asks that question three times and Apostle Peter, in response to that question, says, "Lord, do you know I love you?" And every time I read that passage, I wonder if he's, you know, the first time it's like, "Oh yeah, I do." And then the next time, as sequentially, it gets even stronger and stronger, right?

Like, "I do, I do." And the last time it's like, "Oh, you know I do." You know? But Jesus' reply to Apostle Peter after the third time was, "Then feed my sheep. Then tend to my sheep." So the calling, the exhortation, right? But the task at hand for Apostle Peter that was given directly by Jesus was this command to go shepherd the flock.

And so in Apostle Peter's perspective, this is not just like, "Man, you know, I've got one ambition." This is like at the core. It's his urge, you know? It's his dedication to shepherd the flock of God. Please turn your Bibles over to Acts chapter 20. And there is this profound passage where the Apostle Paul, he spent a lot of time at Ephesus.

And he was ministering to that church well over two years, okay? And as he's departing, there's this incredibly emotional scene where Apostle Paul and the leaders of Ephesus have this very intimate moment where they're crying over each other. But look at the words of Apostle Paul in that same similar kind of that urge, the dedication to shepherd the flock of God.

So I'm going to start reading from verse 18, like right smack in the middle of it. So chapter 20, book of Acts, verse 18, okay? It says, "You know how I lived the whole time I was with you. From the first day I came into the province of Asia, I served the Lord with great humility, with tears, although I was severely tested by the plot of the Jews.

You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you, but I've taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. And now compelled by the Spirit, I'm going to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there.

I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me. If only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." Overseers, right? So all in all, as you hear the words of Apostle Peter, all in all as you hear the words of Apostle Paul, and as you look through the scriptures, this kind of heart sentiment, we have an incredible amount of responsibility that God has given to us.

Not just as a, "It would be nice if you could do this please." You know, "Just try and it would be nice if when you have time, when you can find a way it would be nice if you try." I mean, that's not the kind of sentiment you feel, is it?

Like there is this burning passion, but there is also this weight of responsibility. Apostle Paul is saying, "God, like the Holy Spirit is compelling me and Jesus has given me this task and now my one ambition is to complete it." And I count my life nothing, all the hurdles, whatever I've been through, they're just nothing compared to this one passion and desire to complete what God has given me.

You know? So that's what I mean when a good shepherd is going to have a holistic perspective where he has an accurate view of what he's doing, the weight of it, the responsibility. Okay? Now moving to element number two, element number two. A good shepherd values the flock as Christ does.

Okay? It's one thing to be concerned over task, function, production, and goal success. Right? It's another thing to value. Like there's a perspective and heart where it sees precious the flock of God. Especially to have a kind of affection, to exhibit a kind of sensitivity and like softness, that endearing eye as Christ would.

And so the way that Apostle Peter even describes, "This is the flock of God, you've been entrusted." And remember, you look at the way that Apostle Peter is talking to this group, remember again that Apostle Peter knows full well, this is a flock that have been bruised. Right? This is a flock that has been hurt.

This is a flock that needs encouragement. These are a people who need strength. And so you, if you read the kind of the letter in whole and every passage that we're turning to, he's doing both, giving encouragement, strengthening them, and there is that affection for the flock as he sees it.

Okay? What's more? If you guys would turn in your Bibles to John chapter 10, we're going to look at some of these passages just because, man, there's so many rich biblical texts talking about the attitude, right? The attitude behind those who are leaders, behind those who are shepherds, and then here in this passage, we see the beautiful heart of the great chief shepherd.

Okay? So please go to John chapter 10, starting from verse 7 and following. Starting from verse 7 and following. It says, "Jesus said to them again, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thieves come only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolves coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me. Even as the father knows me, I know the father, and I lay my life for the sheep. A good shepherd, according to Jesus, is one who has ownership and care and says, "Those sheep are mine." There is an arrogant way to be like, "This congregation is mine." But there is a heart filled, there is a deep love of one who attaches himself to the congregation and says, "This congregation is mine just like that my family is mine, just like my children are mine, just like my wife is mine." This kind of bond is actually what really is definitive of a good shepherd.

There are pastors who sometimes come in. There are people who want to work in the church, but what they're hoping to do is just build a good church. They're good with church models, organizations, which again is not bad, but that alone is not the right perspective. What is the right perspective?

The right perspective is to make sure that both of these elements are hand in hand, that are absolutely hand in hand. You know, there was this time I remember when a close friend of mine one time asked me, "Hey, I'm going to be like out of town for about a week and a half.

Could you take care of my baby?" Now he wasn't talking about his real baby. This was a time when I was really into cars and he was talking about his car baby. And this was a car that he had souped up, modified, he customized, he spent hours like cleaning this thing, maintaining this thing.

So he asked me, "I'm going to be gone. Could you make sure to drive it around a few times, you know, maybe like once every two days. Could you make sure that when you take it out, don't drive it too hard, you know. Don't drive it too hard, I know you're tempted and stuff." Now to me, as he asked me that, I was just kind of like, "Nah." Why?

Because I don't want responsibility. The car was nice. I knew the car was valuable. I knew the car was desirable. I knew the car was, you know, like if I rode it, it'd be super cool, all that kind of stuff. In many ways, I'm relating that example because we can believe the church is precious.

Jesus sees the church as the temple of God, His holy presence. We can believe the church is the bride of Christ that needs to be purified. We can believe the church is pivotal to the redemptive plan of God, and yet, stay at a distance and say, "But I don't want to be responsible.

I don't want to be responsible when it goes bad, you know. I don't want to mess it up." See, the right heart attitude is to feel both this deep affection, "I love this church," but then to have this attitude of, "I see the immense responsibility, and I want to make sure I fulfill it." Does that make sense?

And so a good shepherd doesn't have one or the other, but rather he has both. He has both the idea of weight of responsibility, yet at the same time, he has the idea of that attachment and affinity of value of the flock. So that's section number one about the elements of a good shepherd.

Elements of a good shepherd. Next, we asked a question, "What is the task?" What is the task of the shepherd? He says, "Shepherd the flock." Okay, so what would that be? Well, we can use the metaphor, and we can just, you know, like think through the various things that a shepherd must do.

The passage gives us two clear ones. The first is exercise oversight. Okay, exercise oversight. That word is a present participle, so it should be reading like exercising, you know, regularly exercising oversight, that kind of thing. So even oversight is like a big term, is a big term. So I ask you this question, you know, in the concept of oversight and shepherding, what are some of the priority tasks of a good shepherd?

This one, audience participation, please. You guys can just yell it out. Say that one more time. Perfect, okay, great. Making sure that false doctrine is not entering the church, is not spreading, you know. So thank you, Isaac, for that. Apostle Peter is very concerned about that. In the second book of, second Peter, I don't know how to say that.

In second Peter, the primary subject is making sure that the church is protected from false teachers and false doctrine. And Apostle Peter is very strong on that, okay. What else? That's one. You guys can jot that down, make a list, okay. Guard against false doctrine. What else? Teach, feeding the flock and making sure that people are taking in, nourishing, like, you know, soul-filling truth of God, being challenged, being truly fed.

This is a primary idea of shepherding. I mean, actually, if you think about it, what do the shepherds do? They move the sheep along from where to where, pasture to pasture, making sure the sheep are fed, right. So a huge element of what shepherds should be doing is feeding.

What else? Nice, okay. Great. So he said, "I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to teach the flock to feed the sheep. Great." So he said, you know, "Sheep tend to stray and sheep tend to wander." And so there is a corrective, making sure the flock is on track and going the right way.

Good. So guiding, guidance, great. Other stuff. So oh yeah, you have another one? A student right there. Go ahead. To do everything with a good heart. That's good. Yeah, shepherds shouldn't, you know, beat the flock or use their staff to, yeah, hurt them. Good. So do everything with a good heart.

Okay. So I want you guys to think about that because earlier I introduced the topic, this passage is specifically directed at elders, okay? Elders. And so, you know, the Greek term is presbytery kind of thing. So there's a group of elders, okay? But when you delineate the work of ministry and the task at hand, aside from teaching on the pulpit, you do realize there's an element to which we can all buy in to the ministry of shepherding.

And that's why what's super encouraging to any leader of any church or any organization, for all of you who have ever done small group leading, ever done ministry on campus, ever done ministry at church, what's sweet to your heart is people connecting together and growing in the faith, right?

Where there is this constant desire to make sure we're protected from false doctrines. So you talk to each other about truth. Make sure we're doing well so you observe and find out what's going on and you oversee, right? To make sure that you guys are learning together biblical doctrine, to make sure if there's anybody hurt, you go minister to them.

And you just realize, yes, the elders are called to shepherd the church at large. But the ministry of the church is for every single person. And the ministry of the church, we're all going to be essentially, you know, contributing to piece by piece, the ministry together. Okay? I just wanted to make that point as we start listing some of these things that we have.

You know, there are other things I just kind of mentioned. You know, in terms of shepherding from a leadership level, we definitely hope to do equipping, right? Equipping as a, you know, in terms of allowing the church congregation and flock to be able to do the work of ministry.

Scripture says in Ephesians chapter 4, and that's why the Holy Spirit gave the church apostles, prophets, teachers, etc. Why? So the saints would be equipped. They would mature. So there is this maturing and building up and being equipped, right? And of course, there's the idea of healing in a sense of encouraging, uplifting the ones that are downcast, right?

So the list can go on. I don't want to take too much time with that. But again, please think on the level of just like, yes, this is directed towards elders. But these are all things that you can take initiative to contribute in terms of the work of ministry.

Okay? Now we move into the question though. Okay, so one of the tasks clearly is overseeing. But the Scripture in this section delineates how that overseeing should be done so that it's in accordance with the will of God and it pleases the Father. Okay? So here are some blanks.

I'm going to just rapid fire give it to you because it's straight from the passage, right? One, we should be overseeing, the elders of the church should be overseeing not under compulsion but voluntarily, right? They should be overseeing not for sore gain but with eagerness. Okay? Not for sore gain but with eagerness.

They should be overseeing not lording it over them but proving to be examples. Okay? So not lording it over them but proving to be examples. Okay. So, I want to talk about each one. Remember, I think I mentioned before that when you see this kind of not this but this, you know, Apostle Peter is given an emphatic challenge here in terms of the hard attitude behind how shepherds should oversee.

Likewise, think about it for you. How you serve, how you talk to people. At some point or another, there's going to be younger Christians who are looking up to you and how you minister to them. This is going to play a huge part into, right? So first, not under compulsion but voluntarily.

Not under compulsion but voluntarily. He says that there can be circumstances and situations whether you're serving in just a lay servant, you know, lay member type role or you're serving at a more official leadership role, there can be circumstances where people don't want to be there. Where maybe they have in their heart other desires, maybe they're thinking like, "Yeah, I'd rather be doing something else." Maybe they were discouraged.

Whatever it may be, they don't have the internal desire but rather the external stuff is propping them up. You know, this can happen. I know times when people because of like bad run-ins. This happens sometimes where you have a bad run-in with one individual and that completely like deflates you, you know, and you just kind of feel like, "I don't want to be serving in this team anymore." Sometimes it's because your own personal motivation is just lost, you know.

And then once you get to, you're looking for just approval, you're looking just to not be ashamed, like whatever it may be, that's happening, okay? So on that level, I just wanted to kind of describe what that kind of scenario could look like. For me as I was thinking, you know, just truthfully, "Huh, what are the times when, I don't know, like I don't want to be doing the work kind of thing?" And I was just sitting there and trying to examine my heart, you know, asking the question.

And then there wasn't anything like, "Oh, epiphany," you know. It's all the same stuff we struggle with. I noticed that when I just flat out get lazy, then everything, everything that I do is because of compulsion. Like everything that I do feels forced. And even the way I talk, like someone asks me like, "Hey, how's your day go?" And then the next words out of my mouth is what?

"Well, I got to," you know. And I hear people talk about that too. And even the regular mundane things where you're normally naturally expected to do, you start talking about it like, "Well, I got to do this," you know. "Well, I got to get up and I got to get in my car and I got to drive to work," as if like everybody in the world does that, you know.

But now everything feels like compulsion if there's laziness in your heart, you know. And I realized that's a susceptibility for every single person. And when your heart is in that condition, whether it's the church asking you to do this, whether it's your wife asking you, husband asking you, children asking you, people you love asking you, your mom asking you, what does it feel like?

It feels like extra burden, right? It feels like something extra has been placed on you. And so I want to give a challenge here. I mean, that's the, let's not be like that, you know. Describing that fallen sinfulness for us, that's so easy for even anybody, whether it's you're high on leadership or you're not on leadership, whatever it may be, you can feel like everything you're doing is, "I got to," right?

But he says, "Rather do it voluntarily. Rather do it with a free will of, 'I want to do this,' rather than begrudgingly do it gladly," right? That God, knowing that God delights in a cheerful giver, not because of compulsion, not because someone twisted your arm, someone looked at you and said, "Come on, pay up," though rather from your own volition, you decided, "This is what I'd like to give to God," right?

"This is how I'd like to serve you." And that's what he's talking about with this voluntary action. So we can have sometimes discouragement or whatever, but we have to do things voluntarily. Can I speak to you guys a little bit on a thinking about leadership thing? I remember asking Pastor Peter one time, you know, Pastor Peter, I respect him so much because he see things very clearly.

That's how I view him, you know? He's very discerning. And all the fluff and all the different things in life, he's able to like kind of cut through and say, "Hey, this is the core issue." And so one time I remember asking him, "When you look at perspective, let's say pastors, you know, young men who want to be in leadership, what are the key things you look for?" You know?

I remember asking him that. And I remember him saying, "Well, there is this, there's a typical things that you know, like he's got to be holy, he's got to be X, Y, and Z, you know, committed to the church, be a good member, all that kind of stuff." But then he says, "There's this intangible, there is this it." And I was like, "What is it?" You know?

"There is this it part of it." And he says, "There is this drive in a young man who's going to be a successful pastor because he's waiting for no one because there is this desire in his heart where he voluntarily wants to worship, pray, evangelize, proclaim, serve, and love on people.

He's not waiting for someone to give him an opportunity, so he never complains about lack of opportunity. He's not waiting for someone to provide an atmosphere. He's never talking about lack of space, time, and opportunity. He just does it because he wants to. But then when young men start to complain, "Oh, church hasn't given me, you know, a lens, church hasn't given me a platform, church hasn't given me teaching opportunity," then you realize there is a revelation of a desire in his heart perhaps for something else than the purity of voluntarily doing what God has designed.

I remember thinking, "Wow, that's true." When a young man can get so easily discouraged because he never got a pulpit opportunity, I mean, is that what he was looking for then? A nice wood-stained pulpit? You know? And that was a really big challenge to my own heart. Yeah, like in terms of doing work of ministry, serving the Lord, what am I waiting for?

I mean, I have to really ask that question, "What is stopping me?" And if I really think about it, it's just my perspective, right? It's my faith. And so anyway, we're thinking about this challenge to the elders and saying, "Don't do it by compulsion. Don't do it with begrudging, like forced duty.

It is a duty, but nonetheless, do it with voluntary." And you know that God is desiring for us in His will to serve Him wholeheartedly in that way. Next, the next hard attitude that Apostle Peter says to the elders, and he says this, "When you're overseeing the flock, do it not for sword gain, but with eagerness, but with eagerness." Here's an interesting idea about sword gain, okay?

In life, we could have a conflict of interest, right? We can be in a situation where we have a conflict of interest, and when there is a greediness in the heart, when there was a longing, not just for money. I mean, we know the people who long for money.

You know, I remember very distinctly, I was watching these interviews with one of those prosperity gospel people, and that kind of stuff, I mean, it's just so blatant, right? There is a guy named T.D. Jakes. He's so blatant, it's not even, you know, some of the other prosperity gospel guys, they'll kind of like weasel and say, "Oh, you know, like God is blessing us, and we're still pursuing God." T.D.

Jakes, I'm just, I'm flat out naming him because I've never met a guy who's so blunt. He's getting interviewed by NBC, and he said, "God is the best product out there to sell." And he just flat out said, "Jesus sells, and when you've got a good product, you don't even have to be that good of a salesman." I mean, he just would say stuff like that, and you're just cringing, like, "Oh my gosh, what's wrong with you?" How can, like, he had this event over two weekends, and supposedly 500,000 people went through his event.

Regularly on a Sunday, there's 30,000 people who meet at his church, and you're just thinking, "Mind-boggling," right? "Mind-boggling." But at the same time, you take a moment, you look into your heart, and again, this was a tough passage for me, because every time I kind of look back, and I say, "Okay, perhaps maybe, maybe, I'm not as blatantly greedy for money." But we can get greedy, you know?

I mean, who doesn't want to work and reap the benefits of it? Who doesn't want to receive credit for what he's done? Who doesn't want to at least receive whatever it may be? It doesn't have to be physical, tangible, monetary good, but he can receive other stuff. Who doesn't want more?

Want more of control, want more of X, Y, and Z, want more of this, want more of that, and there can be a greediness in our heart, even when we are serving God. And we have to watch out for that. But instead, but instead, oh, I forgot this story.

So Peter, he has words for people who have greediness in their heart, okay? There's a story in Acts chapter 8, verse 18. This was kind of a real like, "Whoa!" moment in the book of Acts, because apostle Peter is going and preaching, and there's a lot of miracles being done and people being saved, okay?

So you can turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 8. I'm going to read a section of it, starting from verse 18, okay? But just giving you the backdrop of the story, Philip goes and preaches in Samaria, and people are being converted. But at that time, the miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit visibly was seen when an apostle would come so that they could see that the authority of the apostles is giving this blessing of the Holy Spirit, okay?

So apostle Philip is preaching, people are being converted, and there's this guy named Simon who used to be a sorcerer, a magician. So it was his trade to kind of wow people. It was his trade to get money from the work of something spiritual, you know? Well, this guy Simon gets converted, and then apostle Peter comes, and that guy is like big-eyed now, he's like, "Whoa!

What did that apostle just do?" Apostle Peter just laid hands, and he was blessing people, and there was this miraculous like coming down of the Spirit, and people were really being transformed, okay? And so this is where it comes down to. He says, "Now, when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, 'Give me this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.'" And then look at this, Peter has some words for him.

"Peter said to him, 'May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could attain the gift of God with money. You have no part, no portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore repent on this wickedness of yours, and pray, O Lord, that if possible the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.

For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in bondage of iniquity.'" Dang, right? Apostle Peter has some really strong, harsh words. I mean, on the outside appearance, that guy Simon appeared to convert. He claimed the name of Christ. On an outside experience, he wanted to do maybe some work, you know?

But as soon as he said, "Ooh," he had this greed in his heart and said, "Can I do that too? Here's some money. Teach me how to do it." Apostle Peter said, "Your heart is wrong. You need to get right with God. You have no part in this portion, and you need to repent." Very strong words from a man with greediness in his heart.

And so Apostle Peter encourages them that you need to have an eagerness. You need to have this desire. The opposite of this greedy selfishness is to have a pure, loving intention for others where you are desiring for their best. An eagerness to offer, eagerness to sacrifice, eagerness to do good to all of those who are near and amidst.

And that's what Apostle Peter is challenging us to have. For the sake of time, I'm going to read to you another passage. Just listen. He says, "And now I commend you to God and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

I coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to men who were with me. In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner, you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that He Himself said, 'It is better, or sorry, it is more blessed to give than to receive.' And when He said these things, He knelt down, prayed with all of them.

He began to weep out loud and embrace Paul and repeatedly kissed them." So he says to them, look at the example that I gave to you, Apostle Paul speaking again to the Ephesians. That's from Acts chapter 20 again. Acts 20 verse 33 and on. He said, "Remember, my heart and intention was pure with you.

When I had a need, I didn't burden you." He says that to the Corinthians as well. I worked hard day and night not to be a burden to you. Why? Because I show you I'm loving you voluntarily with eagerness to give to you because I believe it's better. My God told me it's more blessed.

It's the more blessed way to give rather than receive. So rather than, you know, these wicked modern day prosperity gospel teachers looking at the congregation like, "Good. Business is good. Big old fat membership giving tithe every week. Solid." Looking at the sheep like something to be squeezed so they can have, you know, things to sell.

Rather, they're looking at the flock with heart and intention to love and to give and to minister to them. So that's not for sword gain but with eagerness in their heart. And lastly, Apostle Peter says, "The way that we ought to shepherd is not lording over those allotted to their care but proving to be examples." Not lording over those allotted to their care but proving to be examples.

You know, from when we're young, we're asked that question. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" You know? And you can just imagine all the kids saying like, "Oh, I want to be..." and then they all like name the stuff they want to be. Doctor, you know, X, Y, and Z.

And then there are those kids who are super blunt. "I want to be the boss." You know? "Why do you want to be the boss?" "Because I just want to boss people around." "I want to tell people what to do." It just starts super early. It starts super early.

This desire to not be under but over. This desire to dominate people. Feeling like to lead is actually better than to follow. Right? Our worldly convention, our worldly perspective and principle is just that. It's more blessed to lead and have dominance over people. But remember it was Jesus Christ who flipped that all completely upside down.

Matthew chapter 20, verse 25 through 28. Okay? Jesus said, "Jesus called them to himself and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve to give his life a ransom for many.'" So the concept here is just this idea like, in number one, there is an arrogance and pride that can tempt any leader, any servant. You know? I mean, there are times and moments where maybe that kind of pride was tested.

Have you ever, you know, have you ever maybe had a small group experience or maybe you were a small group leader and the guys in your small group disrespected you? Have you ever had a time when you're at work and you have a certain title but someone just put like, "Hey, Bob." You know?

Just completely dismiss your title, completely dismiss your position, whatever it may be. I mean, we know every single one of us wrestles with pride to a certain degree. Right? Well, Apostle Peter is challenging us here. We have a desire to have control. We have a desire to sometimes bully people into doing what we want, where our agenda and desire for like, how this thing should be, you know, becomes so strong that if someone else says, "I don't want to do it." It's like, "What'd you say?

Do you know who I am?" Da-da-da-da-da, you know? Whatever it may be. I want to give this challenge here that Apostle Peter is saying, of the many pitfalls of being a leader, one, we go back and just review real quick. One, we can do things out of duty and compulsion.

Two, we can do things selfishly out of gain. Three, we can do things out of arrogance and pride. Can I remind us, for us as Christians, when we do the work of God, it's not just what we do that matters. It's not even just how we do that matters.

For us as Christians, why we do what we do matters immensely. All three, what we do, how we do it, and why we do it, what motivation for what cause, what end, and if at that end, it's for my dominance, my position, and my glory, then even if we're the greatest thing on earth, God would look at us and say, "And you thought that was impressive?

Racks." Right? "And you thought you did it for me? You hardly know me." For us as Christians, all of that, in terms of the motivation of the heart, matters intensely, where our motivation can stain and completely negate all the good works that we've done. And you've experienced it probably before, where an individual who had maybe offered you to take you out, an individual who had offered you to do certain things, an individual who maybe gave you gifts, an individual who showed you a good time, and all that kind of stuff, and then it turns around, and then they start expecting things from you.

They start trying to bully you and correct you, and now all of a sudden, everything they've done is kind of like, "Whoa." Then what was all that for? Right? Likewise, Apostle Peter challenges those who would take the responsibility in church and encourages them. "You shall not exercise your oversight, lording over people, exercising your arrogance more than the love of Christ." And so rather, he says, in contrast to that lording over and dominance over people, he says, "You need to be a good example.

You need to have a pattern of godliness that people will desire to follow. There is a difference between a man who's skilled and can perform versus a man who is a model Christian, godly at heart, and every aspect of his life is exemplary as they follow Christ." That's a huge challenge.

That's a huge, huge challenge. And so, as we think about this, Apostle Peter, when he makes that huge challenge, he's the one who both encourages and he himself follows that example. What do I mean by that? Going back to verse 1, we see when Apostle Peter says, "Therefore, I exert you, the elders among you," right?

And what does he say? "As your fellow elders and as basically your fellow witnesses of the sufferings of Christ and the partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed." So what does he say? Essentially, remember I said he understands. We have a common witness. We have a common hope for the glory that's to come, and I'm with you in this experience.

So he essentially practices what he preaches. He is humble at heart. He is with them. He wants to serve them. He wants to be a humble participant in the work of God rather than over them. We easily could have said, "I'm an apostle. You guys are the ones I say, I convert it.

Do it. Do what I say." But rather, he puts himself, identifies in that position, and when he does that, you realize not only is he saying, "I have the same witness and the same hope as you," he's also saying, "Then I'm going through the same danger. I'm going through the same risk.

I'm going through the same pain, and I'm going through the same hurt," right? He is willing, more than willing, to walk with them in this rather than lording it over them. There is a difference. There is a difference when a man is willing only to command versus a man who is willing to walk with those he's leading.

It's two entirely different things. And that's why the idea of a shepherd, the metaphor of a shepherd, is good. God did not call us in ministry, in encouraging people, in really trying to edify the people around you to be policemen. He didn't call us to be drivers in the back, like, "Here's the whip.

Use it, okay?" Like, that's not what He said to us. We're trying to be shepherds, disciples, partakers, fellowship, brothers and sisters. And that's the idea, the contrast you see there between those who would lord it over versus those who would prove to be an example walking with the flock.

I want to say, now that we've kind of covered some really important parts here, right? We talked about two essential elements of a good shepherd, that he sees the weight of responsibility, he sees the value of the flock, and he's going to have these characteristic heart issues where he's not, you know, "I can't do it," you know, "these dirty sheep." No, he's desiring voluntarily.

He's not in it for sword gain, but he is eager to give sacrifice and he believes it's better to give than to receive. And he's not lording it over with arrogance, but he's walking with them, right? But all in all, in terms of a characteristic of a good shepherd, in the end it comes down to having such a care that would resemble the care of Christ.

Having such a love that it would resemble the love of Christ. Having such an affection that just as Christ would be moved when he looks upon the people, and whenever he sees a flock without a shepherd, whenever he sees people who are lost, he's broken in his heart, that, that heart attitude, those eyes, that care defines a good shepherd.

Remember, I remember for me, what brought me into ministry was the Bible. I told Pastor Peter, I said, "The Bible is the bomb. It's so good. I want to teach it." And I remember the elders sat me down and they were trying to teach me leadership in the church.

You might think it's like, "Yeah, you're going to study in your office and then you're going to like research and you're going to write and you're going to," yeah, there are pastors who do that. But in terms of the calling of God that he's given us is to love his flock, to love his people.

And that's what we need to aspire to. That's what we need to desire. Now I'm just kind of confessing to you early on when I first heard that, I was kind of like, "I don't know. I'm not that good with people. I just want to teach." But over the years I realized, I mean, the bulk of all ministry is to make sure that you are being attentive to the needs of God's flock, to make sure you care enough to know where are people hurting, to understand who they are, to understand what they need.

And I want to give an exhortation to you again, that does not require the title pastor. That requires you just simply to put yourself in the shoes of Christ and to look with his eyes and to feel with his heart, to look at people with compassion, to look at people with earnest desire to do them good, to humble yourself and say, "I consider your needs more important than mine." And that's what Apostle Peter is saying that the leader should do, but that's also what the Apostle Peter is saying, "These are the kind of examples you as a church need to follow." So I want to conclude with a final thought.

As we think about that, I'm now relaying to you that the exhortation Apostle Peter gave to the elders and said, "You need to shepherd the church." There's a responsibility obviously, yes, weighty, incredibly, you know, serious delegated stewardship for the elders, but it's also the responsibility of the whole church.

And now we have as a concluding thought, we all have to account and meet the chief shepherd. We all at one point have to meet the chief shepherd and be held accountable for that. Earlier I was talking a lot about responsibility. I use that word intentionally a lot, right?

The elders have a responsibility. We have a responsibility. We have this calling. Well where there is responsibility, there is going to be somebody who then holds you responsible, right? Where there is responsibility, then there is going to be someone who holds you responsible. And we, we have to meet the chief shepherd.

That thought sobers me so deep. And as I think about that, how am I going to prepare for this? How am I going to, you know, answer to Christ and all that kind of stuff? Then I recall in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, you can turn there, it's an important passage please.

1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 1 through 6. That in light of the sobering truth, what we do in ministry, the labor of love, that we're really doing this on the call, on the account of what our chief shepherd has designed, then to him we're going to give an answer.

But the way Apostle Paul sees it, he says this, "Let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you or any human court.

In fact, I do not even examine myself, for I am conscious of nothing against myself. Yet I am not by this acquitted, but the one who examines me is the Lord. For do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts.

And then each man's praise will come to him from God." So as we look at that, the key concept I want to leave you with is, in terms of your desires to be engaged in the life of the church and the ministry of the church, and for me in terms of my own heart's desire of thinking through, like, man, I really want to be faithful to the opportunity, the privilege, right, to be able to work for Him.

The privilege to be able to serve Him in this fashion. The main thing I want to say is, just like Apostle Paul, I want to be found trustworthy. If God has so thought it wise to place the flock in the hands of those who would be His under shepherds, then my great ambition is that I will be proven to be trustworthy.

That God would look, that the church would look and say, "This is an individual who is trustworthy because they're handling the precious flock of God with the same kind of care and love." Amen? All right, let's take some time to pray. Father Lord, we realize, God, that, you know, over the course of studying 1 Peter, you've given us such a great purpose.

You've called us to be your holy temple. You've called us to be a great nation and possession for you. You've called us to proclaim your excellencies. What's more, you've called us to be involved in the work of your ministry, making sure that the flock is doing well. I ask, Lord, that, you know, God, we just repent of the fact that we live in a generation that's truly so selfish and we look out for our own ends.

But I ask, Lord, that you would give us the humility of Christ and, Lord, that you would give us, grant to us the love and heart of Christ, that we would look out and love each other truly with sincerity and from the heart. And I ask, Lord, that as we do that, God, your work would be done and you would be glorified.

In Christ's name we pray, amen.