LEAD BY EXAMPLE. 1st Peter 5:1 Christian leaders have a serious responsibility to care for God’s people, nurture and protect them, and help them mature spiritually in a biblical way. Leading other people, and a church in particular, presents a unique set of problems because pressure is applied by the world system to conform to its ways, purposes, and social mores.
Each local assembly of believers in a scripturally gathered church is to have a group of elders, often called an “oversight,” who are men of spiritual maturity and usually of mature age and experience. The faithfulness and character of these men are of great importance, especially in times of persecution. An elder is a person we can respect and trust who has demonstrated spiritual discernment and understands the people for whom he cares, as well as the time and place in which they live.
An elder is to be able to teach others biblical truths in ways people can understand and to meet the needs of both older and younger believers. He is to be a person who is trustworthy, with a nature and personality that allow him to empathize when needed and to correct and rebuke when necessary. He must have a good reputation in public testimony, and his character and conduct must be consistent. He should be approachable, reasonable, understandable, flexible, and considerate of others. He knows how to care for, comfort, and provide consolation and guidance to the Lord’s people. His heart and his intellect function in harmony to bless those he leads and cares for.
Each assembly has more than one of these “shepherds” to guide, lead, make decisions for, and oversee the activities of a local church in ways that will glorify God and testify to the lordship of Christ within that company of believers. They will know what it is like to suffer in one way or another and can come alongside suffering saints who need to know that a wise person is there to help them.
Peter could identify with these elders because he was one himself and had witnessed the sufferings of Christ, the Chief Shepherd. Long before the readers of the epistle he wrote, he had been guiding the Lord’s people in the assembly at Jerusalem. He was a partaker of the glory of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew the sufferings and the glory that the elders experience. He had watched the Savior on the cross pay the price of sin with His life and bring glory to God in His death, burial, and resurrection. Then, looking ahead, he looked for the glory that believers will share with the Lord when He is revealed in all His inherent and acquired glory.
The suffering and glory of Christ was the theme of the Old Testament prophets [1st Pet. 1:11]; the cause for rejoicing among suffering believers [4:13]; and in this verse, it gives elders who were under pressure in many ways the motivation to be faithful in their work of shepherding the people of God.
God knows His servants well; to this I must pay heed. The roles He assigns, we must fulfill. To whom much has been given, from the same much is required; to give back our best for Him is the response love inspires in us. The flock of God is precious, and their needs are always present. God, in His grace, chose more than one to share the load of care. Each “elder” aids the others, and together they oversee, as “bishops” and as “pastors,” the flock they feed.
A witness passes on to others what he sees and knows. To witness the Lord Jesus Christ die literally, as Peter did, shows his true devotion. I’ll never see this visibly, but in my mind, from week to week, faith burns brighter in my soul when I speak of my Lord at the Lord’s Supper, where saints gather to remember. Faith often begins to burn more brightly in my soul, not just as an ember. As the Word of God is read and truth is spoken from it, our witness for the Lord grows bold, and our mouths are opened to speak for Him.
Glimpses of His coming glory through God’s Word are sometimes given. There are places where we read about what heaven is like. Peter saw, for a few brief moments, what Christ is like in glory, and he never forgot the sight. Its impact in the Gospel story is clear. I don’t know very much about what the future will reveal. But this I know; I will be there when His glory is not concealed, for every eye will see Him, and those who now labor for Him will share in that glory. We will see His glory in all its fullness and reflect it, for we’ll be there.