Because He Cares for You (1 Peter 5:1-11)

Introduction

Goodbyes are hard. We put a lot of burden on goodbyes, because they are important. How do you get exactly the right idea across? How do you sum up years of a relationship in one final word? What does this other person need to know? There’s an uncertainty we don’t like. They remind us of all the good times and the struggles. Sometimes goodbyes are too hard so we just don’t do them. Goodbyes make us confront finality in a way we don’t love.

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Today, we are looking at the start to Peter’s goodbye. He’s beginning to land the plane on his letter to the “elect exiles” that he has been writing to. What does he want to leave them with? How does he sum up everything he has said? What has been the point of this letter?

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If you have a keen eye, you’ll see that we’ve jumped ahead a bit. We’ve jumped past chapter 4 to cover the start of Peter’s goodbye. Why? Well, this sermon is also my goodbye. Like Jim said, this sermon is my last here at OGC. So, I asked if I could co-opt Peter’s goodbye and give one of my own. Don’t worry, we’ll come back to chapter 4. But, I think Peter has some things to say to the “elect exiles” of his day that I also want to say to the “elect exiles” of my day - us all. And if you don’t like that we are jumping ahead, I promise I won’t do it again. 

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Before we begin, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you for making this move so hard. Part of the DNA of OGC is to invest in the next generation of church leaders and that is what the last five years of my life have been like here. And, of course, a lot of that investment has come from Jim, Robert, and the other elders, but a lot of it has come from you all. From letting me preach, teach, counsel, lead, and safely fail. I can confidently say that no matter where I am in 10, 20, 30 years, I will be who I am in part because of OGC. Ragan and I moved to Orlando for RTS and we were planning on getting out of here as fast as possible, but somehow you all got lodged in our hearts. So, thank you for loving us well. 

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But, the hard part of training people is that they don’t always stay. When Jim left our church in Mississippi, he said that sometimes ministry is like being stuck in a revolving door of goodbyes. So, thank you for investing in Ragan and me, even if we weren’t staying. Wendell Berry put it best when he said that we shouldn’t be afraid to plant trees we’ll never feel the shade of. So, please, continue to plant trees.

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Okay, enough sappy stuff. How is Peter landing the plane, what is it that he wants to leave these “elect exiles” with? I think this passage boils down to one phrase that Peter says. There’s one idea that he wants to leave these flocks with, and it is the second-half of verse 7, “...because He cares for you.” As Robert set up so well in the first week, the theme of 1 Peter is “living as elect exiles.” The first half of the letter is about what it means to “be elect” and the second half is about being faithful exiles. And as we have talked about almost every week, there is a lot of tension between knowing you are elect and still walking our exile faithfully.

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 So, Peter wants to be extra clear. He knows that tension. He knows we can know we are chosen and feel distant. He knows that we can explain the doctrine of election and not feel it. He knows that we can say we are chosen by God and feel that God does not like us. So, he is clear: God cares for you. God does not just put up with His church or tolerate His church, He cares for His church.

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Our passage doesn’t just show us that God cares for His church, but shows us how God cares for His church. First, through shepherd-leaders. Second, through the brotherhood of all believers. 

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“Shepherd the Flock” (vv.1-4)

First, God cares for His church through the shepherd-leaders He provides for His church. Peter starts off this section by addressing the elders of the various churches that he is writing to. And what he has to say to the elders is not just important for elders to hear. It’s important for elders, elder candidates, those who aspire to be elders, and those who nominate elders to hear. In other words, even if you are not an elder, this passage is for you.

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Peter is so emphatic about what he has to say to the elders, he gives his whole resume between saying “I exhort” and what he is exhorting. Look at verse 1, “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed…” Peter is reminding the elders that, whatever it is that he is about to say, he knows what he is talking about. He’s a fellow elder. He knows what eldering means. He knows the ups and downs, the trials and triumphs, the temptations and the perseverance. He’s not the armchair quarterback who has never played the game. 

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So, what is Peter calling his fellow elders to? “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you…” (1 Peter 5:2a). And with that call, Peter continues one of the longest threads in the Bible. We could spend weeks discussing how the theme of “shepherds” and “shepherding” appear throughout the Bible. It’s a theme that pops up over and over again from the Old Testament to the New Testament. And when Peter calls on elders to shepherd God’s flock, he is pulling on this strand to show how God cares for His people through His shepherds.

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Throughout the Old Testament, God continually calls the leaders of His people shepherds; specifically, in the prophets. Why? Because God’s people are His sheep, and His sheep need care, attention, mending, guidance, and love. God is jealous over His flock and wants to see them cared for. They are His sheep. And because of that, He called and appointed certain men to care for His sheep. These shepherds were kings, princes, fathers, priests, and other leaders in Israel. They were tasked and called to look after God’s sheep, to feed them, to nurture them, to defend them, and to mend them up.

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Peter doesn’t just stop at the metaphor of “shepherding.” He further clarifies that this "shepherding” is “exercising oversight” over the flock. And here, he provides his three comparisons.

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“...not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you…” (1 Peter 5:2b). Peter is saying that a shepherd of God’s flock should want to shepherd. That might sound like a “Well duh” thing to say from Peter, but I think it is a good reminder for us as we look for new elders to shepherd our church. So often in movies or books or whatever, there’s this idea of the perfect leader is too humble to want it. Which makes him perfect for leadership! It is okay - and even a calling! - to want to shepherd God’s people. Now, there are those who want to do it for the wrong reasons, and that takes us to the next two comparisons.

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“...nor for shameful gain, but eagerly…” (1 Peter 5:2c). Here is Peter directly countering that spirit of taking, the spirit of using the sheep. Shepherding is not about what the shepherd can get out of it. The sheep don’t exist for the shepherd. The shepherds are called to give themselves eagerly for the sheep.

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And this warning is not new. Back in the Old Testament, the “shepherds of Israel” repeatedly used the position that God had given them to do the opposite of what He called them to. God called them to feed His sheep, and instead they fed on the sheep. God called them to mend up His sheep, and instead they put heavy burdens on them. God called them to nurture His sheep, and instead they took for themselves and malnourished the sheep. 

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And that trend has, unfortunately, not gone away in the past 3000 years. It can feel like there has been an uptick in stories of real church hurt in recent years. It can feel like there is just one story after another of pastors (a word that comes from the Latin “shepherd!”) abusing the position that God has given them for their own gain. The spirit of these “shepherds of Israel” have not gone away. 

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And, I know real church hurt is a part of some of your stories here. I do not want to minimize the real spiritual abuse that happens by saying it is an old problem. I, also, don’t want it to feel like I’m just saying “Hey, not all of us are like that!” I want you to see 1) the care of God’s design for elder shepherding and 2) He takes the abuse of His flock seriously.

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“...not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock,” (1 Peter 5:3). The other two comparisons that Peter makes build to this one. This description that Peter gives is foundational to what it means to be a shepherd-leader elder in God’s church. Why? Elders are not “Christians who have made it.” Elders aren’t some next level of Christianity. Elders are first and foremost sheep themselves. No Christian “graduates” from being a sheep in God’s flock. Now, I am not saying that elders don’t have legitimate authority - they do. But, a group of elder’s authority is always always downstream of Someone else’s. Elder’s are to be examples to the flock of what being a sheep looks like.

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But, who is this Someone else? That’s immediately where Peter turns. “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory,” (1 Peter 5:4). Jesus Himself is the Chief Shepherd of His people. Think about all the descriptions of elders that Peter gave and how they apply to Jesus Himself. He did not come to redeem His people out of compulsion or an indifferent sense of duty. He willingly became like we are. He did not come to redeem us for shameful gain. Instead He gave up everything eagerly - even His life - so that He could give us everything - even His life. And He didn’t come as a domineering tyrant. He came humbly to be an example to His flock Himself!

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So, I want to say to our elders. Keep following this Chief Shepherd. Let every step y’all take be a step that He has already made. As I have gotten to know you men, you have been such an example to me. I could not be more grateful for the time I have gotten to spend with each of you. Each of you have reflected Jesus to me in unique ways. Dan Van Nada would end every prayer we had together with “Lord, help us seek your face today.” Keep seeking His face for your good and for OGC’s good. 

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And I want to say to our elder candidates and those who aspire to be elders: it is a heavy joy to get to be an “under-shepherd” in God’s flock. It can come with its triumphs, challenges, sweetness, trials, and temptations. Peter says that elders who shepherd well will “receive the unfading crown of glory” (v.4b). But, it’s important to remember that throughout 1 Peter when you see the word “glory” it is always on the backside of suffering. The two are intertwined in the Christian life because the two were intertwined in Christ’s life. And it can be hard to know “Am I cut out for this? Am I too sinful or too weak?”

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And to that, I want to remind all of us who wrote this letter. Think about the metaphor that Peter uses “Shepherd the flock of God.” We can’t always get too deep into what something may or may not have meant to a biblical writer, but I think we can here. Because that is almost verbatim what Jesus Himself charged Peter with. In John’s Gospel, after the resurrection, Jesus commissions Peter three times to care for Jesus’s people. Jesus asks Peter three times if Peter loves Him, and each time Peter does Jesus gives Him a command. “‘Feed my lambs,’” (John 21:15), “‘[Shepherd] my sheep,’” (v.16), “‘Feed my sheep,’” (v.17). And this was after Peter had denied Jesus!

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So, what am I trying to say by going back to this story in John? If there was anyone who knew that we as elders shepherd out of grace - it was Peter. He knew what it was like to shepherd God’s flock after He had been shown amazing grace. The very person who had rejected Jesus three times is called three times to care for Jesus’s precious people. Eldership is not about lording, domineering, shameful gain, or compulsion. Eldership is about being a conduit of Jesus’s grace to His people through the authority He bestows. 

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The Chief Shepherd cares for His flock through the grace-filled shepherds following after Him.

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“Your Brotherhood throughout the World” (vv.5-11)

God does not just care for His people through the shepherd leaders that He calls. He also cares for His people through all the people that He calls. And for the women in the room, if you are feeling left out with all the elder talk - this passage is still very much about you all. What Peter is about to call us all to is also for the mothers, sisters, and daughters in the church. In fact, the church would be incomplete without the call of women in the church. 

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The first command he gives for “all of you” is a call for humility. And he uses a metaphor to get across what he means: “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another…” (1 Peter 5:5b). Peter has picked a very specific word for how we are to approach one another. This word for “clothe yourselves” only appears here in the New Testament, it’s very unique and very specific. Commentators point out that this verb comes from the apron that a servant or a shepherd would tie around themselves. So, why this specific word? 

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Humility toward one another is not just a passive stance we take. We aren’t called to just “be humble.” Peter, by using this word, is saying that we tie humility on ourselves like an apron and get to work. We serve one another wearing an apron of humility. Humility isn’t an end goal, it is the starting place of loving and serving one another.

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Just like what we talked about with the elders, we have the perfect example of this in Jesus Himself. He wasn’t just humble for the sake of being humble. His humility led to something. His humility cost Him everything. From the mundane of literally tying an apron around Himself to wash the feet of His disciples to the extreme of His humiliating death on a cross for His people, no one can say that Jesus’s humility was passive.

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And what is the point of this humility? “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you…” (v.6) Just like how suffering and glory are paired together, humility and exaltation are paired together. Peter is concerned that these various flocks in exile will fall into pride with one another and pride with God. So, his first call for them is to be humble. God opposes pride and self-lifting-up, but He lifts up the humble. 

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And Peter gives us one example of how we humble ourselves before God, “...casting all your anxieties upon Him, because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7). We could easily put a “by” in front of “casting.” We humble ourselves by casting our cares on God. How does casting our anxieties, cares, and worries on God humble us? To paraphrase one commentator, its when the cares of this life start to wrap around us that we default to our pride. We default to how we can solve things. 

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What Peter is saying is good news on two fronts though. When we humbly admit that we can’t do everything, we can cast our cares on the one who can do anything. God can handle whatever we toss His way. But, not only that, He cares about our cares. God does not grumble when we come to Him again about a job search. God doesn’t complain to the angels when we pray again for a good diagnosis. God doesn't roll His eyes when we plead for the salvation of a family member. He cares about whatever cares, anxieties, or concerns are choking out the life of His people. We are His flock.

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And we have to remember that this letter is being written to churches, not just individuals. All the “yous” in this passage are “y’all’s!” We need to be clothing ourselves in humility together. We need to be casting our anxieties on Him together. We need to know that God not only cares for me but for us. Part of being in this “worldwide brotherhood” that Peter talks about is doing these things together.

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And even though there is suffering that we will face, even though the devil himself is prowling around for us, and even with the pride that continues to flair up in our hearts, Peter ends with a promise that we have to hold on to. Not just as individuals, not just as OGC, but as all of God’s flock. “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 

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God gives us shepherd leaders and one another to care for us. But, at the end of the day, we are all going to fail at caring for each other the way God wants us to. So, Peter ends with the emphatic promise that God Himself will see to it.

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Conclusion

There are a lot of things I have learned in my time here at OGC. I’ve learned a lot of practical things like how to run meetings, how to plan lessons, how to preach, and how to teach to teach. I’ve learned a lot about myself and the giftings and blindspots that I have. I’ve learned random things like where baby Jesus gets hidden every year during deck the halls.

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But, one thing that stands out above everything else that I have learned is that God cares for His church 1) more than any of us ever could 2) through ways we would never expect and 3) through the various people of His church.

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I don’t know what all God has next for me, my new church, or OGC. But, I want to leave you with what I’ll be telling myself and the new flock that God has called me to. OGC, no matter what is next, what is around the corner, what the elder board looks like in 10 years, no matter what the culture looks like - “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” Until that day when our Chief Shepherd appears, keep casting everything on Him. He can take it and He cares for you.

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