1 Peter 5:1-14 Series

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1 Peter 5:1-4

The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

After addressing the issue of suffering, and how we need to endure it if it is God’s will that we suffer, Peter then turns his attention to the leaders who lead the church, reminding them how they need to execute their service to the Lord as they lead.

He begins by mentioning the fact that he himself is an elder, and therefore advises his fellow-elders in how to conduct themselves in the church. Let’s remember that back in the days of the early church, an elder was actually an older person in age, and not just a designation in the church that could be held by someone of just about any age.

Not only does he identify himself as a fellow-elder, but he also identifies himself as a person who witnessed the sufferings of Christ, namely His crucifixion at Calvary. That’s not something many an elder could have claimed to be witnesses of back in the day.

He goes on to say that not only was he a witness of the sufferings of Christ, but that he was assured that he would partake of the glory of God to be revealed when Jesus returns. What he was saying in effect, is that that those who suffer for the sake of Christ can be assured that all the suffering they endure will be worth it all in the end, when we will partake of the glory of Jesus, when He returns the second time to judge the world. Peter was in effect saying that he had also suffered for the sake of Christ in His ministry to the Lord. He seems to echo the words of the Apostle Paul who said in Rom. 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

He then begins to give the elders certain instructions to help them as they carry out their God-given responsibilities. He tells them to ‘Shepherd’ the flock that they’ve been entrusted with by God. We know he’s not referring to sheep, but rather to believers in Jesus. He tells them to take care of the believers just as a shepherd would take care of his sheep, protecting them and providing them with the proper food they needed to grow. In the same way, the elders were responsible to do all they could to protect their sheep from false teachers, and to provide them with the spiritual nurture they needed to grow in their faith.

He then uses another word to describe an elder – an overseer. An overseer is a person who oversees the affairs of something. He does not control them, but merely oversees them. This is something we need to take into account today, when so often a pastor or elder seems to exercise so much control over his flock, rather than merely being overseers of them.

He then reminds them what attitudes they need to not have and what attitudes they need to possess as elders. He tells them to not exercise their duties as if they had no other choice, and were being forced to do it, but rather to do it willingly. Any job done out of compulsion will be done with mediocrity, but a job done out of one’s own free will is done a lot better.

He then cautions them against serving in this position for dishonest gain. Leadership in the church was not supposed to be used as an opportunity for one to deceive people, and make money for themselves in the process. Instead one was to serve as an elder, serving with eagerness. Serving with eagerness is a lot more than even serving willingly. It means that the person serving is doing so with enthusiasm and passion. Have you noticed how the quality of a job is far superior when it’s done with enthusiasm and passion, rather than when it’s done half-heartedly?

It appears that just as serving the Lord can be seen sometimes as a means to make dishonest gain today, there were people who perhaps had the same intentions back then, and hence his caution against this selfish reason for serving.