"Peter, Feed My Sheep” (13 Of 21)

Our Lord told Peter to, "feed My sheep.” In this particular passage of scripture, he is feeding the “Spiritual Chefs”, the ministers of the gospel. Notice that he speaks of:

I. THE ELDER

Verse 1. "The elders which are among you...”

From this verse we see who he is addressing and where they are located: “Which are among you…”

A. WHO ARE THE "ELDERS"?

The elders were probably individuals whom the apostles had placed over certain congregations after they established these churches.

We can see this in Acts 14:23, "And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed. "

Illus: Today when missionaries go to a heathen land, they first start a church, and are the Pastor of the church themselves. As the church begins to grow, and God saves a man and calls him into the ministry, they begin training him to take over as Pastor of the church. When that man, who is a native of that area, becomes the Pastor, the missionaries move on to start another church and repeat the same process.

This is what Paul and the other apostles had done, and now Peter is writing this letter back to the native pastors to instruct them in certain things because the church is going through some difficult times.

The church always needs strong leadership, BUT ESPECIALLY DURING DIFFICULT TIMES.

When the wolves are attacking the sheep, the sheep need a shepherd for PROVISION and PROTECTION.

B. WHY ARE THEY CALLED ELDERS?

When we speak of an ELDER today, most of us relate the position to one's age, but this was not the case here. It had to do with RESPECT.

When we consider the RESPECT that God’s Word is teaching, the scripture shows us a parallel between the PHYSICAL and SPIRITUAL.

The Word of God says, "...but entreat him as a father... "

WHO ARE TO REBUKE THE ELDERS (Ministers of the gospel)?

• The elders (physically) are to rebuke the elderly (physically).

• And the elders (spiritually), are to rebuke the elders (spiritually).

Notice, when Peter is writing to these other elders, he says to, "the elders which are among you I EXHORT, WHO AM ALSO AN ELDER...."

• Many times the younger folks show disrespect, and treat older folks as if they do not know what they are talking about, only to later discover that they themselves did not know what they were talking about!

• Sometimes church folks will treat the Elder of the church as if he does not know what he is talking about, only to find later that they themselves did not know what they were talking about!

God placed the Elder in the church, and He is under His control. Listen to this, this might be shocking! That "Elder' is not an employee of the church, he is God's employee!

Illus: We probably all have heard church members say, "We pay the pastor’s salary, and he had better do as we specify or we will give him his walking papers.”

Professing Christians, who express themselves in this way, generally are expressing their ignorance of the Scripture.

Illus: A minister can preach for seventy-five years, and not one time will a church ever pay his salary. I say that because the Scripture says, in Leviticus 27:30, "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord "

Every pastor’s salary comes from the tithes of which the Lord said, “…all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, IS THE LORD’S…”

Since the tithe belongs to the Lord, it is the Lord Jesus who pays the minister his salary.

If the tithe belonged to the congregation, then they could say, “We pay his salary!” But since it does not, they cannot say that.

• In the physical realm, it is the elderly that rebuke the elderly.

• And in the spiritual realm it is the spiritual Elder that rebukes the Spiritual Elders.

Peter was an elder, and Peter had the right to exhort these elders.

Illus: Remember when Jimmy Swaggert, the television evangelist, got caught with a prostitute? It made national news. And the religious leaders of the group that he was affiliated with, met with him behind closed doors, and they came to the conclusion that the disgrace he brought on himself, and the Lord’s work, warranted that he cease preaching for one year. It was commendable that they took this stand, but he refused to accept their advice.

But they had every right in advising him to do this. These were ELDERS speaking to an ELDER.