1 00:00:04,290 --> 00:00:08,370 Speaker: Well, there are professions in life that the title of the profession 2 00:00:08,370 --> 00:00:09,840 conveys what the profession does. 3 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:11,100 For example, teachers do what? 4 00:00:11,940 --> 00:00:13,050 Teachers teach, right? 5 00:00:13,350 --> 00:00:15,930 Bakers bake, uh, uh, farmers. 6 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:16,190 What do they do? 7 00:00:17,145 --> 00:00:20,775 They farm painters, paint welders, weld dancers. 8 00:00:20,775 --> 00:00:23,295 Dance pastors don't dance, so don't ask for that. 9 00:00:23,625 --> 00:00:26,355 Um, designers design things. 10 00:00:26,805 --> 00:00:28,425 Cooks, cook and butchers. 11 00:00:28,425 --> 00:00:29,175 Well, they butcher. 12 00:00:29,865 --> 00:00:32,835 If a teacher doesn't teach though, they're not a teacher. 13 00:00:33,254 --> 00:00:36,435 If a farmer doesn't farm, he may have the John Deere hat and wear 14 00:00:36,435 --> 00:00:39,405 the overalls and have the redneck and the drive a pickup truck. 15 00:00:40,185 --> 00:00:41,655 But he's not a farmer, right? 16 00:00:42,225 --> 00:00:46,245 If a coach doesn't show up during practice to go over the basics and teach the 17 00:00:46,245 --> 00:00:49,365 principles and teach the fundamentals of the game, and just wants to be there 18 00:00:49,365 --> 00:00:55,485 on game day to get the glory for the w, the coach isn't what a coach, and we 19 00:00:55,485 --> 00:00:59,925 know that because what, we know what it looks like to do all of those things. 20 00:01:00,435 --> 00:01:02,025 We know what it means to teach. 21 00:01:02,025 --> 00:01:05,385 And so if a teacher is, is saying, I'm a teacher, but you're watching their life 22 00:01:05,385 --> 00:01:07,965 and you're looking at their life saying, but I, I don't ever see you teaching. 23 00:01:08,789 --> 00:01:12,240 You're gonna stop and say, I don't, I don't really think that you're a teacher. 24 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:17,550 You may call yourself a teacher, but what you do, your, your, your actions, 25 00:01:17,700 --> 00:01:18,930 they would betray something different. 26 00:01:20,370 --> 00:01:20,730 This morning. 27 00:01:20,730 --> 00:01:23,850 We're gonna consider another profession that the title conveys 28 00:01:23,850 --> 00:01:27,900 something about what it should do, and that is this pastors pastor. 29 00:01:28,830 --> 00:01:29,640 Pastors pastor. 30 00:01:30,390 --> 00:01:33,270 But for us to be able to tell whether or not a pastor is 31 00:01:33,270 --> 00:01:36,315 pastoring, it would be helpful if we knew, what does that look like? 32 00:01:37,755 --> 00:01:39,675 And for you sitting here this morning, we're about to read a 33 00:01:39,675 --> 00:01:42,405 passage that is directed at Pastors. 34 00:01:42,555 --> 00:01:46,485 Peter's gonna talk to the elders that are pastoring these churches 35 00:01:46,485 --> 00:01:48,854 in this region that he's been writing this whole letter to. 36 00:01:49,065 --> 00:01:51,104 And so you might be sitting there this morning saying, what 37 00:01:51,104 --> 00:01:52,305 does this have to do with me? 38 00:01:52,305 --> 00:01:55,785 Shouldn't this just be reserved for a pastor's conference or pastor's meetings? 39 00:01:55,785 --> 00:01:58,035 Or maybe it should just be pastor PGF here and Pastor Rod and Pastor 40 00:01:58,035 --> 00:01:59,055 Mark in the audience, and that's it. 41 00:01:59,085 --> 00:01:59,805 We can all go home. 42 00:02:00,990 --> 00:02:03,119 But I would encourage you to tune in because this is what you 43 00:02:03,119 --> 00:02:04,530 should expect from your pastors. 44 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,220 What Peter's talking about here about what a, an elder does, what a 45 00:02:08,220 --> 00:02:09,750 pastor does, what a shepherd does. 46 00:02:10,228 --> 00:02:11,700 This is important for you to know. 47 00:02:11,734 --> 00:02:15,390 I, I, if, if you're with us, what we aspire to be as your pastors and 48 00:02:15,390 --> 00:02:18,720 shepherds, or if the Lord ever moves you on somewhere else, what you should look 49 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:23,579 for in pastors and shepherds that are gonna care for your souls pastors pastor. 50 00:02:24,075 --> 00:02:26,145 And so this morning in First Peter, chapter five, verses one 51 00:02:26,145 --> 00:02:28,305 through four, we're gonna turn there and find out what does it 52 00:02:28,305 --> 00:02:30,585 look like to be a pastoring pastor? 53 00:02:30,855 --> 00:02:32,865 And again, this is important for you because you need to 54 00:02:32,865 --> 00:02:34,605 know what are we aspiring to? 55 00:02:34,605 --> 00:02:37,185 What should you expect from us as your leaders? 56 00:02:37,454 --> 00:02:39,345 What should you expect from your pastors? 57 00:02:40,005 --> 00:02:43,335 First Peter chapter five, verse one says this, so I exhort the elders among you. 58 00:02:43,890 --> 00:02:46,890 As a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well 59 00:02:46,890 --> 00:02:50,490 as a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed right away, we should 60 00:02:50,490 --> 00:02:52,920 stop and, and we need to answer an important question, and that is this. 61 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:53,625 What is an elder? 62 00:02:54,704 --> 00:02:56,895 Peter's writing to a group of elect exiles. 63 00:02:57,075 --> 00:02:59,954 Remember, they had been forcibly repopulated, removed from 64 00:02:59,954 --> 00:03:02,865 probably Rome and settled in the outskirts of Asia Minor. 65 00:03:02,865 --> 00:03:03,645 And they're there. 66 00:03:03,890 --> 00:03:06,825 And, and the, the Romans are saying, we want to populate this 67 00:03:06,825 --> 00:03:08,175 region and expand our reach. 68 00:03:08,175 --> 00:03:10,035 So we're gonna move the people that we like the least. 69 00:03:10,035 --> 00:03:11,775 And that's the Christians we're gonna put you guys out there. 70 00:03:12,315 --> 00:03:13,545 So they're literal exiles. 71 00:03:13,545 --> 00:03:15,555 But then there are also spiritual exiles. 72 00:03:15,615 --> 00:03:19,275 This is the letter written to the church, not on vacation, but the church in exile. 73 00:03:19,635 --> 00:03:22,875 And that's something that we can resonate with and we should resonate with 74 00:03:22,875 --> 00:03:25,935 because we like them, are waiting for an inheritance that's not here, that's 75 00:03:25,935 --> 00:03:29,415 not, now we're looking forward to a future inheritance that's gonna be ours. 76 00:03:29,505 --> 00:03:33,170 And so with that comes tension with this world we find ourselves up against. 77 00:03:33,515 --> 00:03:35,734 Conflict, we find ourselves facing suffering. 78 00:03:35,734 --> 00:03:37,864 And we've been talking a lot about that in the letter. 79 00:03:38,195 --> 00:03:41,375 And so now Peter's writing to the leaders of this church, the elders, the 80 00:03:41,375 --> 00:03:43,174 pastors, the shepherds of this church. 81 00:03:43,204 --> 00:03:46,714 And he wants them to shepherd in such a way that they're gonna be effective 82 00:03:46,954 --> 00:03:49,894 in the life of this church, in the context in which they find themselves. 83 00:03:49,894 --> 00:03:51,815 And it applies to us today as well. 84 00:03:51,815 --> 00:03:52,804 But to understand. 85 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,360 This, we need to start by asking ourselves the question, what is an elder? 86 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:58,460 You may have a concept in your mind. 87 00:03:58,460 --> 00:04:01,430 Well, an elder is just an, an older person or an elder. 88 00:04:01,430 --> 00:04:03,050 Is this, that, or the other thing? 89 00:04:03,050 --> 00:04:06,860 Well, in the New Testament, there's three terms that are used for elders. 90 00:04:06,860 --> 00:04:09,560 There's elder, overseer, and pastor. 91 00:04:10,100 --> 00:04:14,510 You're gonna find those words used interchangeably in a a across all 92 00:04:14,510 --> 00:04:17,420 of the New Testament writings, and they all refer to the same office. 93 00:04:17,810 --> 00:04:20,870 There's not an office of pastor that's distinct from the Office of Elder that's 94 00:04:20,870 --> 00:04:22,370 distinct from the office of overseer. 95 00:04:22,785 --> 00:04:25,155 At least there shouldn't be when we read the New Testament. 96 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,710 The expectation is they are one and the same. 97 00:04:28,710 --> 00:04:33,180 In fact, in uh, Titus chapter one, verse five, Paul says to Titus, I left 98 00:04:33,180 --> 00:04:34,770 you in Crete that you might appoint. 99 00:04:34,770 --> 00:04:38,640 Notice elders in every town, two verses later, as Paul is 100 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:39,780 then giving qualifications. 101 00:04:39,780 --> 00:04:41,880 He's saying, and this is who those elders should be. 102 00:04:42,150 --> 00:04:43,770 They should be these type of men. 103 00:04:43,830 --> 00:04:47,280 He says, for an overseer, that's another one of the words that's here. 104 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:52,794 Pastor, overseer, elder, an overseer, just in the same context as the elder. 105 00:04:52,794 --> 00:04:54,025 What are we meant to assume by that? 106 00:04:54,025 --> 00:04:55,405 Well, an elder and an overseer. 107 00:04:55,705 --> 00:04:57,174 Those are one in the same office. 108 00:04:57,325 --> 00:05:01,435 And so these three terms that are used in the New Testament are used to help 109 00:05:01,435 --> 00:05:06,145 us understand that this pastor has multiple different responsibilities and. 110 00:05:07,740 --> 00:05:10,950 Yeah, roles that he functions as, as a pastor, as a leader, 111 00:05:10,950 --> 00:05:12,120 as a shepherd in the church. 112 00:05:12,450 --> 00:05:16,230 The word elder suggests the character and the spiritual maturity of the 113 00:05:16,230 --> 00:05:18,540 man that that should be expected. 114 00:05:18,540 --> 00:05:21,720 It is from a Greek word, pres, Eros, which is where we get our Presbyterian 115 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,120 concept of denominational leadership. 116 00:05:24,330 --> 00:05:25,530 Uh, the word overseer. 117 00:05:25,859 --> 00:05:29,159 Suggest the protection role that a pastor takes on. 118 00:05:29,489 --> 00:05:33,390 Uh, this is to give oversight, leadership and to protect the flock. 119 00:05:33,390 --> 00:05:36,510 That's a pastor's job that's from the Greek word episcopals, which 120 00:05:36,510 --> 00:05:39,239 is where we get the Episcopalian concept of denominations. 121 00:05:39,510 --> 00:05:43,200 Another word for an overseer is a bishop, and so they have a bishop Rick 122 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:46,859 is what it's called, and they report to a denominational hierarchy there. 123 00:05:47,070 --> 00:05:49,349 And then finally you've got the word for shepherd or pastor. 124 00:05:50,159 --> 00:05:53,055 And, and that word is used to convey the fact that a pastor has 125 00:05:53,055 --> 00:05:55,665 to care for those under his charge. 126 00:05:56,085 --> 00:05:58,094 The pastor's job is to shepherd the flock. 127 00:05:58,094 --> 00:06:01,275 And so you should expect us as your pastors to do these three things. 128 00:06:01,575 --> 00:06:04,275 You should expect us to be men of character, men of spiritual maturity. 129 00:06:04,605 --> 00:06:07,185 You should expect us to be men who are overseeing and 130 00:06:07,185 --> 00:06:08,745 protecting and leading the flock. 131 00:06:08,745 --> 00:06:13,245 And you should also expect us to be men who care for and feed the flock. 132 00:06:14,085 --> 00:06:16,755 There's a lot of differences out there in, uh, approach to 133 00:06:16,755 --> 00:06:17,895 how a, a church should be run. 134 00:06:18,420 --> 00:06:21,030 Some churches use the pastor as CEO model. 135 00:06:21,030 --> 00:06:23,219 They have one pastor and he runs everything. 136 00:06:23,219 --> 00:06:26,219 Everybody else reports to him and he makes all the final decisions. 137 00:06:26,790 --> 00:06:29,730 You've got some other churches that have a denominational reporting structure. 138 00:06:30,060 --> 00:06:31,289 I mentioned the Presbyterians. 139 00:06:31,289 --> 00:06:35,670 The Episcopalians do that also, the Methodists do that, so they're autonomous 140 00:06:35,670 --> 00:06:38,640 to an extent, but then they're held to accountability by a denomination. 141 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:43,500 They go and report to the denomination that provides oversight to the church. 142 00:06:43,530 --> 00:06:46,560 And then finally, you've got some that have completely abandoned the role 143 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:48,210 of Pastor Elder overseer completely. 144 00:06:48,210 --> 00:06:50,940 You've got the Quakers and you've got the Brethren movement. 145 00:06:51,420 --> 00:06:54,000 In some of those churches, you'll walk in and they will start 146 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:55,950 their service by saying, who has a word from the Lord today? 147 00:06:56,310 --> 00:06:58,740 And somebody will stand up and give the sermon that day. 148 00:06:59,250 --> 00:07:00,990 And so you've got all kinds of different approaches. 149 00:07:00,990 --> 00:07:04,680 We here believe that the New Testament model is that of a 150 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:10,260 plurality of eldership, a plurality of pastors, a plurality of overseers. 151 00:07:10,410 --> 00:07:12,720 And so here at Compass Bible Church, right, we've got Pastor Mark, we've 152 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:15,750 got Pastor Rob, we've got myself, and all of us function together 153 00:07:15,750 --> 00:07:16,980 as elders to lead the church. 154 00:07:16,980 --> 00:07:19,800 And the reason why we adopt that is we, again, believe this 155 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:20,910 is the New Testament model. 156 00:07:21,330 --> 00:07:24,720 And so in Acts chapter 14, verse 23, when the church is first getting started. 157 00:07:25,125 --> 00:07:25,844 The apostles. 158 00:07:25,844 --> 00:07:29,895 It says here that they went out and when they had appointed elders for 159 00:07:29,895 --> 00:07:33,794 them in every church, notice the language there, the apostles are going 160 00:07:33,794 --> 00:07:35,414 about, they are appointing elders. 161 00:07:35,745 --> 00:07:39,164 For them in every church with prayer and fastening, they committed them to 162 00:07:39,164 --> 00:07:40,965 the Lord in whom they had believed. 163 00:07:41,414 --> 00:07:44,085 Okay, so the apostles, as the church is getting started, what are they doing? 164 00:07:44,085 --> 00:07:45,645 They're starting churches and giving them elders. 165 00:07:46,170 --> 00:07:47,580 That's the model that they have there. 166 00:07:47,790 --> 00:07:48,570 Titus one five. 167 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:52,230 This is why I left you in Crete, like I just referenced earlier, that you 168 00:07:52,230 --> 00:07:54,270 might put what remained into order. 169 00:07:54,270 --> 00:07:57,060 Notice that Paul's saying there's an order that should be expected in the 170 00:07:57,060 --> 00:07:58,500 churches, and what does that look like? 171 00:07:58,500 --> 00:08:00,540 Well, that looks like appointing elders. 172 00:08:00,900 --> 00:08:03,810 Now it says in every town as I directed you, but at this time 173 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:05,080 the, the towns would've been. 174 00:08:05,755 --> 00:08:08,335 Equivalent with the churches that each church would've 175 00:08:08,365 --> 00:08:10,075 would've been in a given town. 176 00:08:10,075 --> 00:08:14,395 So we could have said, appoint elders in every church as well as I directed you. 177 00:08:14,455 --> 00:08:19,165 And so all this comes back to the way that we are beginning this passage where 178 00:08:19,165 --> 00:08:21,055 he says, I exhort the elders among you. 179 00:08:21,055 --> 00:08:22,465 That's what an elder is. 180 00:08:22,465 --> 00:08:24,235 We see elders other places in the Bible. 181 00:08:24,235 --> 00:08:25,375 We see him in Acts 15. 182 00:08:25,765 --> 00:08:27,235 We see him in Acts chapter 20. 183 00:08:27,445 --> 00:08:29,035 We see him in one Timothy chapter three. 184 00:08:29,035 --> 00:08:30,715 We see him in one Timothy chapter five. 185 00:08:31,349 --> 00:08:33,505 Titus one, James five, one. 186 00:08:33,505 --> 00:08:37,049 Peter five elders are throughout the entirety of the New Testament corpus, 187 00:08:37,558 --> 00:08:41,400 and again, it's elders, it's overseers, it's pastors, one in the same office, and 188 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:46,079 so we believe that the biblical model is for there to be a plurality of elders. 189 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:50,459 In our passage here in one Peter five, one, and two, just in these first two 190 00:08:50,459 --> 00:08:52,170 verses, we see all three concepts. 191 00:08:52,710 --> 00:08:55,800 He says, I exhort the, the, the elders among you. 192 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:58,560 Okay, so there's the one term SROs, elders. 193 00:08:58,620 --> 00:08:59,760 I exhort the elders among you. 194 00:08:59,939 --> 00:09:03,060 And then the second thing he, he says in verse two, shepherd, that's the, the 195 00:09:03,060 --> 00:09:06,060 verbal form of pastor, pastor the flock. 196 00:09:06,150 --> 00:09:08,490 So there's the verbal form of the word that refers to pastors. 197 00:09:08,730 --> 00:09:12,360 And then finally he says, exercising, oversight overseer. 198 00:09:12,420 --> 00:09:14,850 Bishop, I, I want you to bishop the church. 199 00:09:14,850 --> 00:09:16,050 I want you to oversee the church. 200 00:09:16,050 --> 00:09:18,480 So you see all three concepts right here, written too. 201 00:09:18,854 --> 00:09:23,145 Elders written to pastors, written to overseers, and so it's one in the same. 202 00:09:23,775 --> 00:09:26,145 And note here, Peter says, I exhort you as a fellow elder. 203 00:09:27,089 --> 00:09:28,050 Uh, this is so important. 204 00:09:28,115 --> 00:09:33,540 I, I, I know that there's a trend towards Catholicism right now in this generation, 205 00:09:33,540 --> 00:09:34,740 especially the younger generations. 206 00:09:35,189 --> 00:09:38,969 Uh, the, the idea of Peter as the first Pope is, is aberrant to 207 00:09:38,969 --> 00:09:42,209 scripture, meaning it does not, is not supported by the Bible. 208 00:09:42,689 --> 00:09:45,329 Uh, and here you see Peter writing to fellow pastors and 209 00:09:45,329 --> 00:09:47,219 he calls himself a fellow elder. 210 00:09:47,729 --> 00:09:51,930 He appeals to them as a brother, as one of equal standing with them, and he says, I 211 00:09:52,290 --> 00:09:54,900 Peter, a appeal to you as a fellow elder. 212 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,680 And, and then when he appeals to his, his witness to the sufferings 213 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:00,960 of Christ and the partaker of the glory of this to be revealed. 214 00:10:01,290 --> 00:10:03,840 I do think Peter's appealing to a higher authority, but it's 215 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:05,160 not a unique authority to Peter. 216 00:10:05,190 --> 00:10:06,690 This is his apostolic authority. 217 00:10:07,380 --> 00:10:10,980 Peter was an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ, and so Peter is saying, yes, I'm 218 00:10:10,980 --> 00:10:16,110 your fellow elder, but as an apostle, not as the pope, but as an apostle, I want you 219 00:10:16,110 --> 00:10:19,470 to know also that I have an authority to tell you this is what you should be doing. 220 00:10:20,265 --> 00:10:22,905 And so again, Peter's writing into a church that was going through trials, 221 00:10:22,905 --> 00:10:26,175 that was going through suffering that needed their pastors to pastor. 222 00:10:26,535 --> 00:10:28,694 And so he's going to give them instructions as to 223 00:10:28,694 --> 00:10:29,715 what that should look like. 224 00:10:29,715 --> 00:10:34,485 And he begins there in verse two, with this command shepherd, the 225 00:10:34,485 --> 00:10:37,064 flock of God that is among you. 226 00:10:37,815 --> 00:10:38,475 The word shepherd. 227 00:10:38,475 --> 00:10:41,235 There is again, from that word that means to Pastor Peter 228 00:10:41,235 --> 00:10:42,705 could have said, be a pastor. 229 00:10:43,005 --> 00:10:48,315 Feed care for this may call to mind in the, the back of your mind. 230 00:10:48,645 --> 00:10:52,665 Uh, another one who referred to himself as a shepherd, Jesus. 231 00:10:52,665 --> 00:10:52,965 Right. 232 00:10:52,965 --> 00:10:56,655 In John chapter 10, verse 11 said, I am the good shepherd. 233 00:10:57,225 --> 00:10:58,215 I'm the good shepherd. 234 00:10:58,365 --> 00:11:00,450 And the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 235 00:11:01,620 --> 00:11:04,320 And so Jesus is the paradigm to what Peter is calling the pastor to. 236 00:11:04,650 --> 00:11:07,440 When you think of your pastors, you need to understand that your pastors, their 237 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,070 model, their exemplar, their goal is to be as much like Christ as possible. 238 00:11:11,610 --> 00:11:15,330 As we shepherd you, we want you to be shepherded with a Christ-like 239 00:11:15,330 --> 00:11:16,860 love and a Christ-like character. 240 00:11:17,430 --> 00:11:19,740 That's the one that we are to model ourselves after. 241 00:11:19,740 --> 00:11:20,730 He's the paradigm. 242 00:11:21,060 --> 00:11:24,570 And you think about what Jesus did with the crowds, he was patient with them. 243 00:11:25,035 --> 00:11:26,385 He was loving towards them. 244 00:11:26,505 --> 00:11:28,005 He had compassion on them. 245 00:11:28,335 --> 00:11:30,825 He fed them, he hung out with them. 246 00:11:30,945 --> 00:11:32,145 He met their needs. 247 00:11:32,145 --> 00:11:32,985 He spent time. 248 00:11:32,985 --> 00:11:34,815 He ate with them, he rested with them. 249 00:11:34,935 --> 00:11:37,545 He gave his life for them. 250 00:11:38,535 --> 00:11:43,455 So you should expect your pastors to love you, like Christ loved those 251 00:11:43,455 --> 00:11:44,865 that he was in contact with as well. 252 00:11:45,495 --> 00:11:46,665 Peter's intentional with this. 253 00:11:46,815 --> 00:11:47,805 Remember Peter was there. 254 00:11:47,835 --> 00:11:49,695 He heard Jesus say, I am the good shepherd. 255 00:11:50,085 --> 00:11:53,265 And so it's not by accident that Peter says, shepherd the flock of God. 256 00:11:53,265 --> 00:11:53,955 That is among you. 257 00:11:54,510 --> 00:11:56,010 Shepherd the flock of God that is among you. 258 00:11:56,250 --> 00:11:59,670 See, a pastor without love ends up being the noisy gong and the clanging 259 00:11:59,670 --> 00:12:01,319 symbol of one Corinthians chapter 13. 260 00:12:02,250 --> 00:12:04,680 He may be a man who loves to preach, but if he doesn't love 261 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:07,650 those to whom he preaches, then he's not being a pastoring pastor. 262 00:12:08,220 --> 00:12:11,280 You should expect more from me than just to stand up here behind this pulpit 263 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:12,360 and preach to you every single Sunday. 264 00:12:13,140 --> 00:12:14,970 That's just a sliver of what my job is. 265 00:12:15,660 --> 00:12:18,660 Point number one this morning is this pastoring pastors serve from genuine love. 266 00:12:20,010 --> 00:12:21,270 They serve from genuine love. 267 00:12:21,270 --> 00:12:25,050 You should expect your pastors to love you with a, a sense, 268 00:12:25,050 --> 00:12:26,610 not just of obligation and duty. 269 00:12:26,610 --> 00:12:28,920 We're gonna even speak against that here in just a moment, 270 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:31,620 but with a, a genuine love. 271 00:12:32,939 --> 00:12:36,930 I first experienced this back in college from a man named Steve Severance, who 272 00:12:36,930 --> 00:12:40,709 was a, a pastor at a church in California in, in, called Placey to Bible church, 273 00:12:40,709 --> 00:12:42,270 now place to Baptist Church at the time. 274 00:12:43,020 --> 00:12:45,420 And Steve came in and sat down next to Amanda and I when we were dating. 275 00:12:45,420 --> 00:12:47,819 It was our first Sunday at the church, and he sat down right next to us. 276 00:12:47,819 --> 00:12:48,209 He said, Hey. 277 00:12:48,810 --> 00:12:50,040 You guys look like you're college students? 278 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:51,600 We said, yes, we are. 279 00:12:51,870 --> 00:12:52,560 You go to masters? 280 00:12:52,590 --> 00:12:53,400 Yes, we do. 281 00:12:53,699 --> 00:12:54,960 So I assume you've got a testimony. 282 00:12:55,110 --> 00:12:55,590 Uh, yeah. 283 00:12:55,590 --> 00:12:57,030 We, we do have a testimony. 284 00:12:57,030 --> 00:12:57,360 Great. 285 00:12:57,360 --> 00:12:58,530 Where are you gonna serve in the church? 286 00:12:59,100 --> 00:13:00,960 I looked at Steve, I was like, Steve, this is the first time 287 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:01,829 I've been in the church, man. 288 00:13:02,250 --> 00:13:03,180 He's like, yeah, I get it. 289 00:13:03,449 --> 00:13:04,199 Where are you gonna serve? 290 00:13:04,770 --> 00:13:09,900 See, Steve was a, a pastor who loved me towards developing a, an understanding 291 00:13:09,900 --> 00:13:11,100 that church is more than just showing up. 292 00:13:11,939 --> 00:13:14,640 And, and I needed that because at the time, I, I didn't get that. 293 00:13:15,390 --> 00:13:16,830 I had been going to Grace Community Church. 294 00:13:16,830 --> 00:13:19,740 I'd been sitting under John MacArthur's preaching, which was amazing and 295 00:13:19,740 --> 00:13:24,450 fantastic, but Grace was so big and I was, was not doing my job as a believer there. 296 00:13:24,540 --> 00:13:28,410 So it was so easy for me to just go and then leave, and I had no accountability. 297 00:13:28,830 --> 00:13:29,640 Nobody knew me. 298 00:13:29,910 --> 00:13:32,160 I didn't have any connection with the pastors whatsoever. 299 00:13:32,955 --> 00:13:35,625 And so it was easy for me to just kind of check a box on church and leave. 300 00:13:35,835 --> 00:13:37,245 Steve pastored me. 301 00:13:37,245 --> 00:13:40,335 Well, he loved me to help me understand what church really is all about. 302 00:13:40,335 --> 00:13:43,785 So when you hear us as your pastor say, Hey, we want you to be all in with us. 303 00:13:44,085 --> 00:13:46,275 We want you to be attending, connecting, and serving. 304 00:13:46,485 --> 00:13:47,595 It's because we love you. 305 00:13:48,015 --> 00:13:50,475 It's because we care about you, and we want you to have the right 306 00:13:50,535 --> 00:13:53,115 perspective, the right point of view on what the church really is. 307 00:13:54,615 --> 00:13:57,165 I mentioned John 10 earlier and Jesus saying, I'm the good shepherd. 308 00:13:57,435 --> 00:14:00,135 There's, there's another passage in John that I imagine was probably 309 00:14:00,405 --> 00:14:03,645 banging around in, in Peter's mind as he wrote these words, and 310 00:14:03,645 --> 00:14:05,115 that's gotta be John Chapter 21. 311 00:14:05,775 --> 00:14:06,704 John chapter 21. 312 00:14:06,704 --> 00:14:09,045 Jesus and Peter are on the beach together, and it says this, 313 00:14:09,045 --> 00:14:09,795 it's on the screen for you. 314 00:14:09,795 --> 00:14:13,724 It says, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son 315 00:14:13,724 --> 00:14:15,344 of John, do you love me more than these? 316 00:14:15,915 --> 00:14:17,025 And he said to him, yes, Lord. 317 00:14:17,025 --> 00:14:18,015 You know that I love you. 318 00:14:18,645 --> 00:14:20,055 He said to him, feed my lambs. 319 00:14:20,970 --> 00:14:23,760 He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? 320 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,730 He said to him, yes, Lord, you, you know that I love you. 321 00:14:27,540 --> 00:14:28,860 He said to him, tend my sheep. 322 00:14:29,790 --> 00:14:33,810 He said to him the third time, Simon son of John, do you love me? 323 00:14:34,290 --> 00:14:37,020 Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? 324 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:39,210 He said to him, Lord, you know everything. 325 00:14:39,210 --> 00:14:40,740 You know that I love you. 326 00:14:41,460 --> 00:14:43,500 Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. 327 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:45,480 I think there's two things happening in this passage. 328 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:47,850 Number one, Jesus is restoring Peter. 329 00:14:48,225 --> 00:14:51,255 Peter denied him three times, and so Jesus asked Peter three 330 00:14:51,255 --> 00:14:52,245 times, Peter, do you love me? 331 00:14:52,845 --> 00:14:56,355 He's restoring him from the denials to the confession that, yes, I love 332 00:14:56,355 --> 00:14:59,564 you, but then he's also going a step further and saying, Peter, if you 333 00:14:59,564 --> 00:15:02,745 love me, you will love the flock. 334 00:15:03,555 --> 00:15:05,985 If you love me, you will tend my sheep. 335 00:15:06,255 --> 00:15:07,425 You'll feed my lambs. 336 00:15:08,055 --> 00:15:10,635 You will shepherd the flock that is given to you. 337 00:15:12,270 --> 00:15:15,750 As we understand this, it's, it's important that we realize that your 338 00:15:15,750 --> 00:15:20,819 pastor's love for you has to flow from their love for Christ, and 339 00:15:20,819 --> 00:15:22,829 so that's another thing that you should expect from your pastors. 340 00:15:22,829 --> 00:15:25,439 If your pastors are gonna be those that serve from genuine love, you 341 00:15:25,439 --> 00:15:28,140 should expect to see that your pastors have a genuine love for Christ that's 342 00:15:28,140 --> 00:15:29,490 gonna overflow into how they love you. 343 00:15:29,805 --> 00:15:33,510 Your pastors are gonna love you well, if they love Jesus most. 344 00:15:35,130 --> 00:15:37,949 If, if, if they're simply focused on trying to curry favor with you, 345 00:15:37,949 --> 00:15:38,790 then they're missing the boat. 346 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:42,660 And so you should expect us to love from an overflow of our devotion to Christ. 347 00:15:42,930 --> 00:15:45,600 But you should also expect a couple other things as far as our attitude. 348 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:49,680 And he goes on there to explain, he says they shouldn't pastor under compulsion, 349 00:15:50,340 --> 00:15:52,110 but willingly as God would have. 350 00:15:52,110 --> 00:15:56,490 You see, a a, a pastor is not one who goes into things kicking and screaming. 351 00:15:57,300 --> 00:15:59,370 A a a pastor does it with a, a willingness. 352 00:15:59,370 --> 00:16:01,140 He's gonna say later, an eagerness about him. 353 00:16:02,010 --> 00:16:03,810 In other words, for for me to show up. 354 00:16:04,185 --> 00:16:07,695 At your house to, to spend time with you or for me to show up at the 355 00:16:07,695 --> 00:16:09,255 hospital when you have a newborn baby. 356 00:16:09,825 --> 00:16:12,555 For, for me to meet with you for counseling shouldn't be to me 357 00:16:12,555 --> 00:16:14,775 like getting jury summons, right? 358 00:16:15,345 --> 00:16:17,835 It shouldn't be like, oh man, I have to go do that. 359 00:16:18,975 --> 00:16:19,485 Okay. 360 00:16:19,485 --> 00:16:22,035 I guess I have to, 'cause I'm under compulsion, right? 361 00:16:22,035 --> 00:16:22,785 To go do that. 362 00:16:23,595 --> 00:16:24,495 That's not shepherding. 363 00:16:25,335 --> 00:16:29,445 Shepherding is to serve the flock is to love the flock from a willing heart. 364 00:16:30,435 --> 00:16:33,165 This is why Spurgeon told those in his pastoral college. 365 00:16:33,165 --> 00:16:33,555 He said this. 366 00:16:33,555 --> 00:16:35,775 He said, man, if you can see yourself doing anything else 367 00:16:35,775 --> 00:16:37,875 besides pasturing, go do it. 368 00:16:38,925 --> 00:16:39,314 Go do it. 369 00:16:40,125 --> 00:16:43,305 Because he knew that if they were divided in their affections, he knew 370 00:16:43,305 --> 00:16:46,095 if they had something else they'd rather do than spending time with the 371 00:16:46,095 --> 00:16:50,625 flock that they wouldn't be effective and they'd be tempted to abandon. 372 00:16:51,705 --> 00:16:53,595 You should expect your pastors to want to be with you. 373 00:16:54,645 --> 00:16:57,150 You should expect your pastors to have a willingness and eagerness to be with you. 374 00:16:57,405 --> 00:17:00,735 You, you should expect your pastors to be ready to walk through the valley with 375 00:17:00,735 --> 00:17:05,714 you, to walk through the trial, to do the counseling, to show up at the hospital. 376 00:17:05,714 --> 00:17:08,325 I remember one of my pastors, John Cunningham, he showed up at the 377 00:17:08,325 --> 00:17:09,435 hospital for the birth of Josh. 378 00:17:09,435 --> 00:17:11,385 And Josh was this weird looking alien baby that we had. 379 00:17:11,655 --> 00:17:12,855 He's much more attractive now. 380 00:17:13,395 --> 00:17:13,875 Um. 381 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,880 But, but he held Josh and he was like, you guys have this beautiful baby. 382 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:18,869 He lied through his teeth to us. 383 00:17:19,170 --> 00:17:19,980 I'm just kidding. 384 00:17:19,980 --> 00:17:20,940 Josh was here in first service. 385 00:17:20,940 --> 00:17:24,089 I said much of the same things to him there, but, but John was 386 00:17:24,089 --> 00:17:26,190 there because he loved us, right? 387 00:17:26,190 --> 00:17:26,880 He loved us. 388 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:27,750 He loved our family. 389 00:17:28,260 --> 00:17:29,040 He loved our family. 390 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:31,860 Well, he wasn't there because he's like, well, it's my job to be here, 391 00:17:31,860 --> 00:17:32,970 so I've gotta be here for you. 392 00:17:32,970 --> 00:17:34,950 So let me hold your baby and kiss your baby and shake your 393 00:17:34,950 --> 00:17:36,060 hands, and I'll see you later. 394 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:37,500 That's not loving. 395 00:17:38,504 --> 00:17:40,665 You should expect to have your pastors be with you with a sense 396 00:17:40,665 --> 00:17:42,075 of willingness and eagerness there. 397 00:17:42,345 --> 00:17:45,615 In fact, Jesus contrast the, the, the hired hand with the shepherd Here. 398 00:17:45,615 --> 00:17:49,125 He says in John 12 or 10, 12 through 15, he says, he who is a hired hand 399 00:17:49,815 --> 00:17:53,055 and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming 400 00:17:53,175 --> 00:17:54,375 and leaves the sheep and fleas. 401 00:17:54,375 --> 00:17:55,305 He, he's not all in. 402 00:17:55,875 --> 00:17:57,375 He's not interested in protecting the flock. 403 00:17:57,375 --> 00:17:58,455 He doesn't really love them. 404 00:17:58,725 --> 00:18:01,485 Once it becomes inconvenient for him or dangerous for him, he's out. 405 00:18:01,889 --> 00:18:03,690 And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 406 00:18:03,750 --> 00:18:07,980 He flees because he's a higher hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 407 00:18:08,310 --> 00:18:09,480 I am the good shepherd. 408 00:18:09,750 --> 00:18:12,690 I know my own and my own know me just as the father knows me. 409 00:18:12,690 --> 00:18:17,760 I know the father and I lay my life down for the sheep Church. 410 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,970 You should expect your pastors to never abandon you. 411 00:18:22,605 --> 00:18:25,965 Our love for you means that we're with you and we're here, and we're going 412 00:18:25,965 --> 00:18:28,095 to be there when you have the need. 413 00:18:28,095 --> 00:18:31,905 If a need arises, if you need counseling, you have pastors that are there and 414 00:18:31,905 --> 00:18:33,855 willing and eager and ready to help you. 415 00:18:35,145 --> 00:18:37,065 If you're in the hospital, we wanna know about it. 416 00:18:37,575 --> 00:18:40,395 I know sometimes the, the, the thought might be, I don't wanna 417 00:18:40,395 --> 00:18:42,465 burden anybody by letting them know that I'm in the hospital. 418 00:18:42,645 --> 00:18:46,965 We want to be there, we want to serve, we want to because we love 419 00:18:46,965 --> 00:18:47,985 you, because we care about you. 420 00:18:49,290 --> 00:18:50,700 And so we want to know these things. 421 00:18:50,700 --> 00:18:54,120 We want to pastor you, we want to shepherd you because a pastor who doesn't 422 00:18:54,120 --> 00:18:57,120 genuinely love his flock can't fulfill the job that God has called him to do. 423 00:18:58,470 --> 00:19:02,130 It's interesting in Ephesians four 11, uh, in in Ephesians four, just in 424 00:19:02,130 --> 00:19:05,610 general, God is, is talking about here's the gifts that he has given the church, 425 00:19:06,390 --> 00:19:10,440 and the last two he lists in this long list are, are pastors and teachers. 426 00:19:11,070 --> 00:19:15,120 Pastors and teachers, and, and, and some want to separate those two as two offices. 427 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:17,730 My view is, I think those are one and the same. 428 00:19:19,050 --> 00:19:20,790 And I think it's because of what we're talking about right here, 429 00:19:22,075 --> 00:19:25,409 the, the, the pastor, the shepherd to be effective with the flock. 430 00:19:25,950 --> 00:19:27,899 His job is more than just standing up and preaching to you. 431 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,620 His job is also to pastor you, is to shepherd you, is to love 432 00:19:31,620 --> 00:19:33,570 you, is to be with you, right? 433 00:19:33,570 --> 00:19:34,950 The shepherd should smell like the sheep. 434 00:19:36,389 --> 00:19:39,090 And so pastors and teachers I think is unique that he isolates those two 435 00:19:39,090 --> 00:19:42,240 to stress the fact that, yeah, these are both important things, but hey, 436 00:19:42,810 --> 00:19:44,159 they're both part of the same office. 437 00:19:47,085 --> 00:19:51,975 You should expect us to know you well enough to know, Hey, when I stand up 438 00:19:51,975 --> 00:19:55,725 and preach this passage, what are the people in the congregation going through? 439 00:19:56,595 --> 00:19:57,675 How's this gonna be received? 440 00:19:58,725 --> 00:20:01,514 You should expect me to be able to know how my tone needs to be with you 441 00:20:01,514 --> 00:20:03,044 at different times as I preach to you. 442 00:20:03,405 --> 00:20:05,385 The only way I'm gonna be able to do that is by spending time with 443 00:20:05,385 --> 00:20:08,625 you, by getting to know you now. 444 00:20:09,060 --> 00:20:12,450 We're, we're far from a mega church, but even at this level, 445 00:20:12,450 --> 00:20:13,440 we will be honest with you. 446 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:17,070 The, the one of the ways that you can help us most in that is by getting 447 00:20:17,070 --> 00:20:21,090 connected in community groups, because that allows us to look at our community 448 00:20:21,090 --> 00:20:24,660 group leaders and say, Hey, is there anyone specific in your, in your body, 449 00:20:24,660 --> 00:20:28,230 in your flock, in your group that, that we need to bring that pastoral touch to? 450 00:20:29,100 --> 00:20:33,270 We're gonna do our best to be as, as knowledgeable as we possibly can, but you 451 00:20:33,270 --> 00:20:36,780 being part of community groups helps bring you more under the oversight and under 452 00:20:36,780 --> 00:20:38,065 the shepherding care of us as pastors. 453 00:20:39,090 --> 00:20:41,490 To be able to love you the way that we should be loving you. 454 00:20:42,450 --> 00:20:45,630 I, I fear y'all standing before the Lord someday and getting a passing grade and 455 00:20:45,630 --> 00:20:46,980 preaching, but a failing one in pastoring. 456 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,410 Those two things are not the same, and so you should expect me to love you. 457 00:20:52,410 --> 00:20:57,300 Well, you should expect me as your pastor to serve you from a genuine love. 458 00:20:58,530 --> 00:21:00,810 In fact, that's where Paul says in one Timothy one, five, the aim of our 459 00:21:00,810 --> 00:21:05,100 charge is love, the aim of our charge. 460 00:21:05,580 --> 00:21:07,980 The whole point, Timothy, is to love. 461 00:21:09,165 --> 00:21:12,015 Love has to accompany our service as Christians in general, and for pastoring 462 00:21:12,015 --> 00:21:15,645 pastors, it's imperative to our ability to effectively shepherd the flock, shepherd 463 00:21:15,645 --> 00:21:17,745 the flock of God that is among you. 464 00:21:19,275 --> 00:21:21,735 He goes on, he says, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. 465 00:21:21,735 --> 00:21:23,265 And he says, exercising oversight. 466 00:21:23,265 --> 00:21:26,745 Lemme stop down for just a second there and talk about that word again. 467 00:21:26,805 --> 00:21:30,465 It's from another word for pastor overseer, exercising oversight is 468 00:21:30,465 --> 00:21:31,905 to do the work of the overseer. 469 00:21:32,595 --> 00:21:36,615 The word for overseer means one who leads, who exercises an authority who. 470 00:21:37,409 --> 00:21:42,929 Uh, protects the flock, and so you should again, expect your pastors to lead you. 471 00:21:43,469 --> 00:21:46,709 You should expect that your pastors, as we shepherd you are also going to 472 00:21:46,709 --> 00:21:48,449 exercise an authority in your life. 473 00:21:49,050 --> 00:21:53,040 You should expect that we will look to protect you and to guide you, and 474 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:59,250 to lead you because that's what part of our job is given the caveats of 475 00:21:59,250 --> 00:22:02,165 what he goes on to explain and how we go about exercising that authority. 476 00:22:03,180 --> 00:22:05,040 He says that a pastor is to exercise oversight. 477 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:08,280 If you look in our text here, he says, not for shameful gain, but eagerly 478 00:22:08,430 --> 00:22:13,320 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock, 479 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:20,340 how the shepherd's exercise oversight matters greatly. 480 00:22:21,060 --> 00:22:24,030 How the pastor's exercise oversight matters greatly. 481 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,810 We've already seen part of this in, in point number one, that one of 482 00:22:27,810 --> 00:22:30,689 the ways that I need to lead you and that I need to exercise the authority 483 00:22:30,689 --> 00:22:33,210 that God has given me as your pastor over your life is to love you. 484 00:22:34,260 --> 00:22:36,960 But there's a couple of other things that he gives here as far as how we 485 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,870 should pastor, how we should lead, how we should exercise the authority. 486 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,530 And it really boils down to us living a life worthy of imitation. 487 00:22:43,949 --> 00:22:47,040 And so point number two this morning is this pastors pastoring pastors 488 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:52,110 serve with Winsome integrity pastoring pastors serve with winsome integrity. 489 00:22:52,110 --> 00:22:53,280 We're gonna unpack a a few. 490 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:56,850 Aspects of character, both internal and external here in just a minute. 491 00:22:57,360 --> 00:22:59,490 But one of the things that you should expect from your pastors 492 00:22:59,490 --> 00:23:03,570 is that we are men of, of godliness, not perfection, right? 493 00:23:03,570 --> 00:23:08,400 There is no perfect pastor anywhere, but you should expect that the direction 494 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:10,380 of our lives is towards perfection. 495 00:23:10,710 --> 00:23:13,800 The direction of our lives is to want to be men of godliness, men of integrity. 496 00:23:14,355 --> 00:23:18,015 That we strive to emulate and and be like Christ as much as we can. 497 00:23:18,255 --> 00:23:21,285 You should expect that we measure up to the elder qualifications in 498 00:23:21,285 --> 00:23:23,955 first Timothy chapter three, that we are living lives above reproach. 499 00:23:23,955 --> 00:23:27,945 You should expect that from us, Titus chapter one, that we would be worthy 500 00:23:27,945 --> 00:23:29,415 of those qualifications as well. 501 00:23:29,595 --> 00:23:32,625 Those are things that you should expect from us because as men who 502 00:23:32,625 --> 00:23:35,955 are standing up here, as your pastor is exercising oversight, we need 503 00:23:35,955 --> 00:23:37,755 to exercise oversight in integrity. 504 00:23:39,255 --> 00:23:39,945 In integrity. 505 00:23:40,245 --> 00:23:41,625 Let's look at what Peter deals with here. 506 00:23:41,625 --> 00:23:45,855 He says, first, not for shameful gain, but eagerly not for shameful gain. 507 00:23:46,095 --> 00:23:50,205 Uh, this is not condemning a, a pastor making a living by being a pastor. 508 00:23:50,445 --> 00:23:50,715 Okay? 509 00:23:50,715 --> 00:23:54,795 In fact, Paul in one Corinthians nine 14 says that those that proclaim the gospel 510 00:23:54,795 --> 00:23:56,025 should make a living by the gospel. 511 00:23:56,895 --> 00:23:59,295 So this is a biblical thing to, to have paid pastors. 512 00:23:59,295 --> 00:24:03,405 To have vocational pastors is actually a, a New Testament principle and a, 513 00:24:03,405 --> 00:24:04,995 a concept that is, is good and right. 514 00:24:04,995 --> 00:24:07,670 And lemme just say this on top of that, it's actually to your benefit. 515 00:24:09,105 --> 00:24:12,645 Because if, if myself and Pastor Rod and Pastor Mark, if all of us had to be 516 00:24:12,645 --> 00:24:15,765 bi-vocational, in other words, if all of us had to have a job on the side, you 517 00:24:15,765 --> 00:24:19,575 know, changing oil or, or doing something else and, and, and then pastoring 518 00:24:19,605 --> 00:24:22,455 on the, the other part of the time, then, then our time would be divided. 519 00:24:22,455 --> 00:24:26,145 We wouldn't be able to give our full-time and dev devotion and attention to the task 520 00:24:26,145 --> 00:24:27,555 at him, which is to care for the flock. 521 00:24:28,545 --> 00:24:31,965 And so to have pastors that are, are vocational pastors, that this is their 522 00:24:31,965 --> 00:24:35,985 job is, is a benefit to you as the flock rather, the, the condemnation 523 00:24:35,985 --> 00:24:40,815 that Peter's aimed at here is for the pastor to think of his job as this 524 00:24:40,815 --> 00:24:42,975 is about me and not about Christ. 525 00:24:44,055 --> 00:24:47,055 And I think that's the best way of understanding shameful gain. 526 00:24:47,625 --> 00:24:49,815 Maybe you appreciate the, uh. 527 00:24:50,580 --> 00:24:54,660 The old English that the filthy luker that they used to talk about there in, in 528 00:24:54,660 --> 00:24:58,020 the King James version, I think says that shameful gain can be a lot of different 529 00:24:58,020 --> 00:25:01,320 things, though, a, a pastor might look at his job and say, well, it's a job. 530 00:25:01,410 --> 00:25:05,790 It pays the bills just like somebody else who's a car mechanic or who 531 00:25:05,790 --> 00:25:08,850 is a, a lawyer who's just like, ah, man, there's days I just, I don't 532 00:25:08,850 --> 00:25:10,139 want to do this, but hey, it's a job. 533 00:25:10,139 --> 00:25:10,800 It pays the bills. 534 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:15,240 If a pastor has that mentality towards you, that's, he's not 535 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:16,230 pastoring for good motives. 536 00:25:16,230 --> 00:25:17,700 That's, that's pastoring for shameful gain. 537 00:25:18,660 --> 00:25:20,670 Or if a pastor sits there and says, man, you know what? 538 00:25:21,300 --> 00:25:22,890 I wanna be the next celebrity pastor. 539 00:25:23,250 --> 00:25:24,090 I wanna be the next guy. 540 00:25:24,090 --> 00:25:26,129 I, I wanna preach in such a way that people are just firing 541 00:25:26,129 --> 00:25:28,080 off tweets of everything that I'm saying as I'm tweeting. 542 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,440 That's not pastoring for the right motives, either that's 543 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:32,760 pastoring for shameful gain. 544 00:25:33,570 --> 00:25:38,010 Or if the pastor's like, I wanna make a church, not because I wanna see all these 545 00:25:38,010 --> 00:25:43,020 souls saved and plant more churches, but because he says, I wanna build my kingdom. 546 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:45,930 And that's, that's pastoring for shameful gain. 547 00:25:47,250 --> 00:25:51,960 You should expect your, your pastors to have a, a humility about them. 548 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,530 In other words, you should expect your pastors to pastor eagerly. 549 00:25:56,670 --> 00:25:58,950 You should expect your pastors to say, I'm doing this because I don't wanna do 550 00:25:58,950 --> 00:26:00,330 anything else on the face of the planet. 551 00:26:00,330 --> 00:26:03,570 But what I'm doing right now, I'm doing this because I love 552 00:26:03,570 --> 00:26:04,560 you, because I care about you. 553 00:26:05,430 --> 00:26:07,620 You should expect your pastors to love you, not expecting 554 00:26:07,620 --> 00:26:08,940 anything back from you in return. 555 00:26:10,620 --> 00:26:13,350 I'm not loving you because sometimes you guys buy me double stuffed Oreos. 556 00:26:14,535 --> 00:26:15,405 I don't hate that. 557 00:26:15,705 --> 00:26:16,365 I don't hate that. 558 00:26:17,025 --> 00:26:18,705 But if I was loving you for that, that'd be shameful. 559 00:26:18,705 --> 00:26:19,995 Gain, right? 560 00:26:21,135 --> 00:26:23,715 We're called to love you because we love you. 561 00:26:23,775 --> 00:26:29,535 We we're called to shepherd you eagerly because we, we, we care about you because 562 00:26:29,535 --> 00:26:30,945 we wanna love you with the love of Christ. 563 00:26:30,945 --> 00:26:31,995 Remember again, John 21. 564 00:26:31,995 --> 00:26:32,775 Peter, do you love me? 565 00:26:32,775 --> 00:26:33,675 I I love you, Lord. 566 00:26:33,675 --> 00:26:34,635 Then shepherd my flock. 567 00:26:36,285 --> 00:26:38,475 You should expect your pastors to shepherd you for the right 568 00:26:38,475 --> 00:26:39,825 motives, the right reasons. 569 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:43,245 We, we see an example, a negative example of this, I think in Acts eight. 570 00:26:43,875 --> 00:26:45,135 A guy named Simon the magician. 571 00:26:45,555 --> 00:26:47,715 Simon was watching the apostles do some pretty amazing things. 572 00:26:47,715 --> 00:26:50,055 They were healing people, they were working miracles, they 573 00:26:50,055 --> 00:26:50,715 were doing all this stuff. 574 00:26:50,715 --> 00:26:52,695 And, and Simon's sitting back watching this happen, and he's 575 00:26:52,695 --> 00:26:54,405 going, how do I get some of that? 576 00:26:55,515 --> 00:26:57,705 Because people were impressed with Simon before and now they're 577 00:26:57,705 --> 00:26:58,695 impressed by the apostles. 578 00:26:58,845 --> 00:27:01,905 So Simon goes to the apostles and he says, how can I get this? 579 00:27:01,905 --> 00:27:03,975 What can I pay you to get what you guys have? 580 00:27:05,205 --> 00:27:08,385 And their response is this, you have neither part nor lot in this matter, 581 00:27:08,715 --> 00:27:10,725 for your heart is not right before God. 582 00:27:10,725 --> 00:27:12,735 Repent therefore, of this wickedness of yours. 583 00:27:14,085 --> 00:27:16,665 As pastors, we have to make sure that our heart is right before God in 584 00:27:16,665 --> 00:27:17,715 the way that we shepherd the flock. 585 00:27:18,555 --> 00:27:20,265 We have to love you with the right motivation. 586 00:27:20,925 --> 00:27:24,075 We have to love you eagerly, not for shameful gain, not for our own 587 00:27:24,075 --> 00:27:27,315 benefit, not just so that you'll speak well of us and think highly 588 00:27:27,315 --> 00:27:31,695 of us, but that you'll speak well of Christ and think highly of Christ. 589 00:27:31,695 --> 00:27:33,375 And we as His under shepherds. 590 00:27:34,455 --> 00:27:36,825 And so that's why you should expect your pastors to love you that way. 591 00:27:36,945 --> 00:27:40,275 But he goes on, he says, and also not domineering over those in your charge, 592 00:27:40,275 --> 00:27:41,320 but being examples to the flock. 593 00:27:42,555 --> 00:27:44,385 The word domineering means to Lord it over. 594 00:27:44,385 --> 00:27:46,305 In fact, that's what Jesus says in in the gospels. 595 00:27:46,305 --> 00:27:47,595 When he tells the disciples. 596 00:27:47,595 --> 00:27:51,165 Remember, they're arguing about who's the greatest, and Jesus says that the 597 00:27:51,165 --> 00:27:52,965 Gentiles Lord it over one another. 598 00:27:53,745 --> 00:27:54,915 But it should not be so among you. 599 00:27:55,905 --> 00:27:57,165 You shouldn't be the same way. 600 00:27:57,225 --> 00:27:58,575 It's the same word to Lord it over. 601 00:27:58,575 --> 00:27:58,965 It's to it. 602 00:27:59,115 --> 00:27:59,925 Exercise authority. 603 00:27:59,925 --> 00:28:01,665 Remember, pastors do have authority. 604 00:28:01,695 --> 00:28:02,835 That's a biblical concept. 605 00:28:03,225 --> 00:28:03,885 Your pastors. 606 00:28:03,885 --> 00:28:07,455 We have authority in your life as your pastors, as those that God have placed 607 00:28:07,455 --> 00:28:09,345 over you as the shepherds of the flock. 608 00:28:10,095 --> 00:28:14,085 To exercise that oversight, but there's an unhealthy, there's an improper, 609 00:28:14,085 --> 00:28:17,175 there's a wrong, there's a sinful way for us to exercise that authority as well. 610 00:28:17,774 --> 00:28:22,065 And that is to domineer, that is to be overly authoritative. 611 00:28:22,605 --> 00:28:25,395 It's to, to use position to get things in return. 612 00:28:25,845 --> 00:28:26,145 Right. 613 00:28:26,955 --> 00:28:29,024 It's the pastor who demands without demonstrating. 614 00:28:30,169 --> 00:28:33,524 I, I, it's the, the pastor who puts unbiblical restrictions upon you. 615 00:28:33,705 --> 00:28:37,185 You should expect as we lead an exercise authority that if we're gonna give you 616 00:28:37,250 --> 00:28:40,605 a, a, a, a command, if I can put it that way, I know that sounds harsh, but if 617 00:28:40,605 --> 00:28:43,004 I can put it that way, if we're gonna tell you, we believe that you should 618 00:28:43,004 --> 00:28:46,395 do this, you should expect that we're gonna be able to point to the word of 619 00:28:46,395 --> 00:28:50,175 God to show, this is why we believe that you should do this, you should expect 620 00:28:50,175 --> 00:28:52,754 that You're gonna walk away saying, I, I know what they're saying is good 621 00:28:52,754 --> 00:28:54,074 for me because I know they love me. 622 00:28:55,470 --> 00:29:00,510 That that's exercising, oversight, not domineering, but being examples that 623 00:29:00,540 --> 00:29:02,400 that's out of a, a, a love for them. 624 00:29:04,860 --> 00:29:06,720 The pastoring pastor, in other words, doesn't see the 625 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:07,800 flock as a means to an end. 626 00:29:09,065 --> 00:29:14,310 I, I, I can't exercise oversight so that I benefit off of your backs. 627 00:29:14,310 --> 00:29:18,480 In other words, and, and this is what God was condemning back in Ezekiel, 628 00:29:18,540 --> 00:29:20,730 and I think Ezekiel is running behind what Peter's talking about here too. 629 00:29:21,330 --> 00:29:24,030 Ezekiel 34, 2 through four, he says, the son of man prophesy 630 00:29:24,030 --> 00:29:25,200 against the Shepherds of Israel. 631 00:29:25,950 --> 00:29:26,850 Notice the same language here. 632 00:29:26,850 --> 00:29:31,890 Shepherds, prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God. 633 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,700 Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves should 634 00:29:35,700 --> 00:29:37,110 not shepherds feed the sheep. 635 00:29:37,830 --> 00:29:40,470 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool. 636 00:29:40,470 --> 00:29:43,590 You slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 637 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:45,210 Notice they're even benefit. 638 00:29:45,210 --> 00:29:48,210 They're, they're, they're killing the sheep for their own good. 639 00:29:49,979 --> 00:29:50,459 The weak. 640 00:29:50,459 --> 00:29:51,689 You have not strengthened the sick. 641 00:29:51,689 --> 00:29:54,030 You've not healed the injured, you've not bound up the stray. 642 00:29:54,030 --> 00:29:55,830 You have not brought back the loss. 643 00:29:55,830 --> 00:29:58,979 You have not sought with force or the loss you have not sought, and with force 644 00:29:58,979 --> 00:30:01,350 and harshness, you have ruled them. 645 00:30:03,090 --> 00:30:07,260 The pastor who rules you, the pastor who exercises oversight over you, the 646 00:30:07,260 --> 00:30:12,389 pastor who shepherds you, you should expect to do so with a humility that 647 00:30:12,389 --> 00:30:16,919 points you to the word of God that loves you, that cares about you, right? 648 00:30:18,270 --> 00:30:20,100 What does the shepherd do when the sheep wanders away? 649 00:30:20,100 --> 00:30:21,960 The shepherd goes after the sheep. 650 00:30:22,935 --> 00:30:27,240 I remember Jesus said, you leave the 99 to go for the one to bring that one back. 651 00:30:28,740 --> 00:30:30,810 The pastor should not ever look at that and be like, well, 652 00:30:30,930 --> 00:30:33,030 okay, whatever door's open. 653 00:30:33,180 --> 00:30:34,080 We're not locking you in here. 654 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:34,650 Go ahead. 655 00:30:36,300 --> 00:30:37,080 The pastor should care. 656 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,470 The pastor should love The pastor should lead and exercise 657 00:30:40,470 --> 00:30:41,879 oversight with the gentleness. 658 00:30:41,879 --> 00:30:42,570 With the humility. 659 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:43,740 Yes, with authority. 660 00:30:43,740 --> 00:30:44,490 Because That's right. 661 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:45,720 'cause that's what God calls us to. 662 00:30:46,635 --> 00:30:49,275 With the right kind of authority, with the right mentality. 663 00:30:49,605 --> 00:30:55,335 Even he goes on and clarifies it this way, not domineering over them, but 664 00:30:55,335 --> 00:30:58,755 as examples you might've expected him to say, not domineering over 665 00:30:58,755 --> 00:31:00,825 them, but, but gently with them. 666 00:31:01,575 --> 00:31:04,695 But instead he says, but as examples to the flock, and that's 667 00:31:04,695 --> 00:31:06,105 why this is winsome integrity. 668 00:31:06,105 --> 00:31:09,015 To be winsome is to, to live a life that's attractive, that's appealing, to 669 00:31:09,015 --> 00:31:10,305 say, I want to be around that person. 670 00:31:10,905 --> 00:31:11,745 I want to be like that. 671 00:31:11,775 --> 00:31:13,605 I want to hang out with that person. 672 00:31:14,220 --> 00:31:17,550 That is a winsomeness, and the pastor should be winsome in his integrity. 673 00:31:17,670 --> 00:31:20,010 In other words, to be an example, and this is why this 674 00:31:20,010 --> 00:31:21,180 is the opposite of domineering. 675 00:31:21,330 --> 00:31:22,920 Domineering is leading from the back. 676 00:31:23,940 --> 00:31:27,090 Domineering is standing in the back and just giving orders and saying, go and do 677 00:31:27,090 --> 00:31:31,320 while the, the, the leader sits in the back and just is comfortable and easy 678 00:31:33,180 --> 00:31:35,010 to lead the way Jesus wants us to lead. 679 00:31:35,190 --> 00:31:37,740 And what you should expect from your pastors is to lead from the front. 680 00:31:39,075 --> 00:31:42,045 To lead from the front, to set the examples to be like Paul said, where 681 00:31:42,045 --> 00:31:45,315 I say, where Paul said multiple times, I urge you to be imitators of me. 682 00:31:46,365 --> 00:31:50,325 You should expect your pastors to live the type of life in front of you that you 683 00:31:50,325 --> 00:31:53,595 want to follow because you think, man, if I follow them, I'm following Christ. 684 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:57,945 If I imitate him, I'm imitating Jesus. 685 00:31:59,715 --> 00:32:02,930 And that's the type of leadership that's the opposite of domineering. 686 00:32:04,995 --> 00:32:08,205 Jesus set the, the pace for us in this, in John chapter 10, verses three through 687 00:32:08,205 --> 00:32:10,875 four says to him, the gatekeeper opens. 688 00:32:10,875 --> 00:32:11,805 That is to the good shepherd. 689 00:32:11,955 --> 00:32:16,035 The sheep hear his voice and he calls out his own sheep by name and leads them out. 690 00:32:16,515 --> 00:32:20,025 When he is brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep 691 00:32:20,025 --> 00:32:21,470 follow him for they know his voice. 692 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,615 That's the, the, the shepherd, the leader that's exercising authority. 693 00:32:27,615 --> 00:32:28,725 He's calling them out. 694 00:32:29,205 --> 00:32:31,095 Notice he's saying, come on, it's time to go. 695 00:32:31,365 --> 00:32:32,265 Follow me. 696 00:32:33,060 --> 00:32:36,210 They're following him because he knows they, they know he loves them. 697 00:32:36,870 --> 00:32:38,940 He's leading a life that's worthy of imitation. 698 00:32:39,419 --> 00:32:40,590 He's leading from the front. 699 00:32:40,649 --> 00:32:41,879 He's being that example. 700 00:32:41,909 --> 00:32:44,730 You should expect your pastors to be that kind of man for you. 701 00:32:45,540 --> 00:32:46,889 That's what we aspire to be. 702 00:32:47,159 --> 00:32:49,230 That's the life that we wanna live before you. 703 00:32:49,919 --> 00:32:53,399 We want to be pastors that are gonna lead that way perfectly. 704 00:32:53,399 --> 00:32:56,760 No, but that's our, our direction every single day. 705 00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:57,690 That's what we aim for. 706 00:32:58,710 --> 00:33:01,815 In fact, it's interesting if you were to look at the qualifications of an elder. 707 00:33:02,955 --> 00:33:06,945 What you would find in that list is a lot of character related qualifications, 708 00:33:07,695 --> 00:33:09,915 not as many skill related qualifications. 709 00:33:10,905 --> 00:33:13,305 And I think the reason being is because of what Peter's talking about right 710 00:33:13,305 --> 00:33:18,254 here, because the main objective for the pastor is to live a life worthy of 711 00:33:18,254 --> 00:33:21,135 emulation, to be an example to the flock. 712 00:33:22,395 --> 00:33:24,555 So the character attributes that you see there as the, the 713 00:33:24,555 --> 00:33:25,514 qualifications for an elder. 714 00:33:25,514 --> 00:33:27,615 In fact, we went through this in, in men's Bible study and ba 715 00:33:27,705 --> 00:33:31,395 basically our argument was, Hey men, all of you aim for these things. 716 00:33:32,175 --> 00:33:33,554 This isn't unique just to pastors. 717 00:33:34,004 --> 00:33:35,774 All of you aim for these things. 718 00:33:36,615 --> 00:33:39,645 So the, the pastor is meant to live a life that's worthy of emulation. 719 00:33:39,705 --> 00:33:41,745 And again, that's why I chose the word winsome for this. 720 00:33:41,745 --> 00:33:46,185 And so I'd encourage you to expect that of us, but also to pray for us to be that. 721 00:33:47,385 --> 00:33:49,095 Pray that we would be these type of men. 722 00:33:49,304 --> 00:33:51,225 Pray that we would live lives worthy of emulation. 723 00:33:51,975 --> 00:33:55,425 Pray that we would exhibit the, the attributes of a pastor of an elder. 724 00:33:56,294 --> 00:33:59,235 Pray that we would show forth the fruit of the spirit, evidencing 725 00:33:59,294 --> 00:34:00,794 the fact that God is at work in us. 726 00:34:02,175 --> 00:34:04,155 Pray for our devotion to Christ. 727 00:34:05,295 --> 00:34:07,635 Pray for our marriages that we would be faithful. 728 00:34:07,635 --> 00:34:09,614 Husbands that love our li, our wives like Christ. 729 00:34:09,614 --> 00:34:10,245 Love the church. 730 00:34:10,905 --> 00:34:13,605 Pray that we would be good dads, all of us, all three of 731 00:34:13,605 --> 00:34:14,835 us on, on pastoral staff here. 732 00:34:14,835 --> 00:34:16,125 We all have young kids at home. 733 00:34:16,755 --> 00:34:21,014 Pray that we would be good fathers and pray that we would love you. 734 00:34:21,014 --> 00:34:23,324 Well pray that we would lead from the front in a way that is 735 00:34:23,324 --> 00:34:25,635 winsomely attractive, that you would say, I want to be like that. 736 00:34:26,445 --> 00:34:27,225 I wanna follow them. 737 00:34:30,405 --> 00:34:34,755 Pastoring pastor's concern for his flock is born from his love for them. 738 00:34:34,844 --> 00:34:35,114 Right. 739 00:34:35,114 --> 00:34:37,695 That's what we've been talking about, that that was our first point. 740 00:34:38,054 --> 00:34:38,955 This love is here too. 741 00:34:38,955 --> 00:34:41,025 And the second point, because that's, that's one of the things that's 742 00:34:41,025 --> 00:34:43,605 driving our pursuit of integrity, that's driving our leadership of 743 00:34:43,605 --> 00:34:44,864 the flock is because we love them. 744 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:47,310 And, and the flock wants to follow as a result of that. 745 00:34:47,699 --> 00:34:51,509 Uh, but again, that, that love for you is ultimately connected, 746 00:34:51,509 --> 00:34:53,370 like I talked about from John 21. 747 00:34:53,969 --> 00:34:57,509 And it's derived from a love first for the Savior who Peter 748 00:34:57,509 --> 00:34:58,950 refers to as the chief shepherd. 749 00:34:58,950 --> 00:35:03,839 In our final verse this morning, he says this, when the Chief shepherd appears, you 750 00:35:03,839 --> 00:35:06,294 will receive the unfading crown of glory. 751 00:35:07,170 --> 00:35:09,120 When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the 752 00:35:09,180 --> 00:35:10,830 unfading crown of glory Pastors. 753 00:35:11,100 --> 00:35:11,970 He's talking to pastors. 754 00:35:11,970 --> 00:35:15,240 He's saying, Hey, pastors, if you do this well, you can look forward to the return 755 00:35:15,240 --> 00:35:16,830 of the chief shepherd, which implies what? 756 00:35:17,220 --> 00:35:21,390 That your pastors are under shepherds, that your pastors are under shepherds. 757 00:35:22,140 --> 00:35:25,680 And so one of the ways that, that you should view yourself is you need to 758 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:30,149 view yourself not as belonging to any one of us human pastors here, but you 759 00:35:30,149 --> 00:35:33,299 should view yourselves as those that belong to this chief shepherd to Jesus. 760 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:34,890 And that's true of every single one of us. 761 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:36,990 I'm part of the flock of the chief shepherd. 762 00:35:37,379 --> 00:35:38,759 You're part of the flock of the chief shepherd. 763 00:35:39,029 --> 00:35:40,830 Now, for this time being. 764 00:35:40,830 --> 00:35:44,399 God has placed you under the care of his under shepherds here at our church, and 765 00:35:44,399 --> 00:35:47,910 we wanna take that job seriously and and that's what we've been talking about. 766 00:35:47,910 --> 00:35:49,049 You should expect us to love you. 767 00:35:49,049 --> 00:35:50,759 Well, you should expect the integrity from us. 768 00:35:50,759 --> 00:35:54,149 You should expect us to lead from the front and be examples to the flock. 769 00:35:54,149 --> 00:35:55,710 You should expect all of those things of us. 770 00:35:56,910 --> 00:35:59,250 But you should also expect us to understand that we're gonna 771 00:35:59,250 --> 00:36:02,370 be accountable ultimately before Jesus for how we do all of that. 772 00:36:03,555 --> 00:36:06,855 My motivation to love you well as your pastor is because I want to love you. 773 00:36:07,095 --> 00:36:07,875 I do want to love you. 774 00:36:08,145 --> 00:36:09,225 I do want to care about you. 775 00:36:09,765 --> 00:36:13,154 My motivation to to live a life of winsome integrity before you as 776 00:36:13,154 --> 00:36:15,585 your pastor is because I, I, I care about modeling that in front of you. 777 00:36:16,365 --> 00:36:19,904 I care about living a life that I would be able to say, yeah, I want my church 778 00:36:19,904 --> 00:36:21,315 to be the type of Christian that I am. 779 00:36:22,575 --> 00:36:24,285 I, I, I do care about those things. 780 00:36:25,575 --> 00:36:28,755 There's an undergirding motivation that's greater than both of those, and that's 781 00:36:28,755 --> 00:36:29,745 the motivation that's present here. 782 00:36:29,745 --> 00:36:32,445 In the end, I, I, I want to shepherd you well because I know in the end 783 00:36:32,445 --> 00:36:34,515 I'm gonna be accountable to the Chief Shepherd for how I did that. 784 00:36:36,045 --> 00:36:39,585 That ultimately is what awaits me and awaits Pastor Rod and awaits Pastor 785 00:36:39,585 --> 00:36:43,515 Mark, is there's gonna come a day when, when we're gonna be held to a 786 00:36:43,515 --> 00:36:46,905 standard where Jesus is gonna call us to give an account before him, and 787 00:36:46,905 --> 00:36:48,495 we're gonna have to be ready to do that. 788 00:36:48,915 --> 00:36:52,005 And so as we serve as your pastors, that's the ultimate reason why 789 00:36:52,005 --> 00:36:53,115 we're serving as your pastors. 790 00:36:53,670 --> 00:36:56,339 Third and final point this morning is this pastoring pastors 791 00:36:56,490 --> 00:36:59,819 serve ultimately for Jesus. 792 00:36:59,850 --> 00:37:00,149 Pastoring. 793 00:37:00,149 --> 00:37:05,160 Pastors ultimately serve for Jesus again, when the Chief Shepherd 794 00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:07,230 appears, he's coming back. 795 00:37:08,100 --> 00:37:08,819 He's coming back. 796 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:14,129 Jesus is going to return for his bride, and the under shepherds are 797 00:37:14,129 --> 00:37:15,270 going to have to give an account. 798 00:37:16,634 --> 00:37:19,214 Whether that's when he comes back for his bride or whether that's I 799 00:37:19,214 --> 00:37:22,484 live for as long as he has me live and I go to, to be with him, and 800 00:37:22,484 --> 00:37:23,895 he, he takes me home to be with him. 801 00:37:24,075 --> 00:37:28,484 One of the, the evaluations for me is gonna be, how did you shepherd 802 00:37:28,484 --> 00:37:29,595 the flock that I entrusted to you? 803 00:37:31,125 --> 00:37:33,225 Remember, you guys are his flock, not my flock. 804 00:37:34,455 --> 00:37:38,234 And so I'm gonna have to stand before Jesus Hebrews 1317 and give an account for 805 00:37:38,234 --> 00:37:40,904 the souls that I was keeping Watch over. 806 00:37:43,620 --> 00:37:46,920 And so I'm gonna have to be before the Lord and, and be able to say about 807 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,380 this family or that family, or this family, or this person or that person, 808 00:37:49,380 --> 00:37:51,360 or in this situation in their life. 809 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:57,270 Because the Lord takes this job that he's entrusted to me and to Pastor 810 00:37:57,270 --> 00:37:59,850 Rod and Pastor Mark, he takes this very seriously because he loves 811 00:37:59,850 --> 00:38:02,610 you more than, than We love you. 812 00:38:02,610 --> 00:38:04,680 We love you, but, but Jesus loves you even more. 813 00:38:06,270 --> 00:38:07,950 And so because you are his. 814 00:38:08,775 --> 00:38:11,415 He's gonna hold us to an account for how we shepherd you. 815 00:38:13,095 --> 00:38:14,505 How did we treat you? 816 00:38:14,715 --> 00:38:16,275 How did we serve as your under shepherds? 817 00:38:18,465 --> 00:38:22,545 The negative side of that motivation is, is the fear of saying, you know, Hey, 818 00:38:22,845 --> 00:38:25,275 what about that, that couple who was going through a marriage problem and, and 819 00:38:25,275 --> 00:38:28,245 you couldn't get them on your calendar because of your busyness and, and, or 820 00:38:28,245 --> 00:38:30,945 you just didn't want to and, and now they're, then their marriage fell apart. 821 00:38:30,975 --> 00:38:32,445 What, what about that, that couple. 822 00:38:34,020 --> 00:38:37,650 What about the single mom in your church who, man, she didn't have much to live 823 00:38:37,650 --> 00:38:40,590 on, but she scrounged up everything that she could to give to the church 824 00:38:40,590 --> 00:38:41,850 faithfully every, every single week. 825 00:38:41,850 --> 00:38:42,990 Did, do you remember her name? 826 00:38:44,430 --> 00:38:46,800 Man, that, that's some of the motivation for us, that causes us to go, man, 827 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:48,180 we, we need to know our, our sheep. 828 00:38:48,240 --> 00:38:51,480 We need to know the flock, and you should expect us to, to pursue you because we're 829 00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:52,500 gonna have to give an account for you. 830 00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:57,210 The positive side comes from what happens here. 831 00:38:57,645 --> 00:39:00,734 He says those that do this well from the chief shepherd are gonna 832 00:39:00,734 --> 00:39:03,315 receive the unfading crown of glory. 833 00:39:04,305 --> 00:39:05,355 This is the victor's crown. 834 00:39:06,015 --> 00:39:08,295 It was given to the one that that won the athletic competition. 835 00:39:08,475 --> 00:39:11,714 It was also given to a warrior who was particularly valiant in battle. 836 00:39:12,404 --> 00:39:15,585 It was a recognition the emperor would award it to him before everyone else. 837 00:39:17,024 --> 00:39:19,875 And so as pastors, there's a day if we do our jobs well, 838 00:39:19,875 --> 00:39:21,495 when Jesus will do that for us. 839 00:39:22,575 --> 00:39:25,785 And that is positive motivation to be able to say, man, that 840 00:39:25,785 --> 00:39:27,134 that how sweet that would be. 841 00:39:27,660 --> 00:39:28,710 To receive that from him. 842 00:39:30,270 --> 00:39:32,700 And I just balance that with Revelation chapter four, where the, 843 00:39:32,700 --> 00:39:34,740 the 24 elders are around his throne. 844 00:39:35,370 --> 00:39:37,919 They're wearing those same crowns, same word there for those crowns. 845 00:39:38,220 --> 00:39:40,890 And what they do with those crowns is they fall down and worship before 846 00:39:40,890 --> 00:39:43,200 the throne, and they cast those crowns before the feet of Jesus. 847 00:39:44,790 --> 00:39:47,520 So we don't look forward to those crowns so that we'll be able to walk with a, a 848 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,160 little bit of extra swag or pep in our step in heaven being like, look what 849 00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:55,109 I got, but rather, so we'll have one more reason that we can worship Christ. 850 00:39:56,025 --> 00:39:57,555 As we fall down in humility before him, 851 00:39:59,865 --> 00:40:01,635 but you should know that that's why we love you. 852 00:40:01,665 --> 00:40:02,745 That's why we serve you. 853 00:40:02,745 --> 00:40:05,835 That's why we want to, to live a life of ultimate integrity before you. 854 00:40:06,615 --> 00:40:08,595 That's why we want to be winsome in how we do that. 855 00:40:08,595 --> 00:40:10,515 That's why we wanna lead from the front and not from the back. 856 00:40:10,515 --> 00:40:16,185 The, the ultimate reason why is Jesus 'cause we wanna be able to stand before 857 00:40:16,185 --> 00:40:21,915 him with clean consciences and to say, Lord, we, we did not perfectly. 858 00:40:23,190 --> 00:40:25,680 We love the flock that you gave us as best as we possibly could. 859 00:40:29,009 --> 00:40:33,060 We're gonna move now towards communion in the Lord's table, and as we do so, 860 00:40:33,060 --> 00:40:36,270 I think it's helpful that we reflect back on, on even this verse, this 861 00:40:36,270 --> 00:40:41,700 final verse, verse four, when the chief shepherd appears, you know, the, the 862 00:40:41,700 --> 00:40:45,420 chief shepherd first came to be the good shepherd, and the good shepherd 863 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:46,650 came to lay his life down for a sheep. 864 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,439 And so it's appropriate for us to, to reflect on that and, and to reflect 865 00:40:52,439 --> 00:40:56,370 back on the fact that, that this is why we are here this morning. 866 00:40:58,740 --> 00:41:01,500 There's a lot of different views on, on communion, but let me just put 867 00:41:01,500 --> 00:41:05,100 one to bed, and that is communion is not here to give you any more grace 868 00:41:05,100 --> 00:41:06,480 than you already have through Jesus. 869 00:41:08,759 --> 00:41:10,470 When Jesus said on the cross it's finished. 870 00:41:11,325 --> 00:41:12,555 The wrath of God is satisfied. 871 00:41:13,185 --> 00:41:14,745 And then he yielded up his fear and he died. 872 00:41:14,745 --> 00:41:16,154 And then three days later he rose to life. 873 00:41:16,154 --> 00:41:18,404 And like we talked about last week, that was the father's stamp of 874 00:41:18,404 --> 00:41:21,285 approval saying payment received, payment accepted, payment applied. 875 00:41:23,085 --> 00:41:26,055 So where you sit this morning, you don't need the, the bread 876 00:41:26,055 --> 00:41:30,645 and the juice to convey grace to you in a salvific sense at all. 877 00:41:30,795 --> 00:41:31,305 It's done. 878 00:41:31,515 --> 00:41:32,444 It's finished to the cross. 879 00:41:33,254 --> 00:41:35,895 If you've repented from your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord 880 00:41:35,895 --> 00:41:37,964 and Savior, you are fully saved in him. 881 00:41:38,504 --> 00:41:38,745 Okay. 882 00:41:39,674 --> 00:41:43,154 What these are and why we do this is because this is what Jesus told us to do. 883 00:41:43,154 --> 00:41:47,984 To remember when the Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep to 884 00:41:47,984 --> 00:41:51,884 remember when The Good Shepherd bought the church with his blood Acts 2028. 885 00:41:53,325 --> 00:41:54,645 That's what we're doing here this morning. 886 00:41:54,915 --> 00:41:57,975 We're remembering, and that's why we do this corporately together. 887 00:41:58,544 --> 00:42:02,084 This isn't so much even just about the individual, it's, it's really about 888 00:42:02,084 --> 00:42:05,924 all of us as the church remembering Christ, his death on the cross. 889 00:42:06,134 --> 00:42:06,404 That was. 890 00:42:07,815 --> 00:42:11,444 Offered to, to form this, what we have together this morning. 891 00:42:13,245 --> 00:42:16,424 And so let me again encourage you, beware of a few things. 892 00:42:16,694 --> 00:42:18,404 First, the, the lack of conversion. 893 00:42:19,245 --> 00:42:21,795 What we're about to do is, is for believers, and so if you're 894 00:42:21,795 --> 00:42:25,605 not a believer, please let these elements pass right on by The 895 00:42:25,605 --> 00:42:27,200 second is a, a lack of confession. 896 00:42:28,770 --> 00:42:30,450 It's good for us to keep short accounts with God. 897 00:42:30,450 --> 00:42:33,240 And so one of the reasons why we do it this way, and we have the music play 898 00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:36,840 and, and everything, and then we take the elements at the end, is that this gives 899 00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:42,480 you time to get those longer accounts shortened before the Lord, to go before 900 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:47,160 the Lord, to confess sin before him that perhaps you haven't dealt with this week. 901 00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:50,490 And then finally, beware of a lack of concentration. 902 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:54,390 This is a memorial, which means that we're supposed to remember, which 903 00:42:54,390 --> 00:42:57,220 means our minds need to be engaged with what we're remembering here. 904 00:42:57,810 --> 00:42:58,890 His death on the cross for us. 905 00:42:58,890 --> 00:43:03,120 The good shepherd laid down his life for the sheep, and we are all his sheep. 906 00:43:03,690 --> 00:43:06,030 So the music's gonna play, the elements are gonna be passed, and 907 00:43:06,030 --> 00:43:11,730 then I'll come back up and we'll take them together without what the 908 00:43:11,730 --> 00:43:15,360 Chief Shepherd did for us as the Good Shepherd, there are no under shepherds. 909 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:17,130 There's no church, there's no community. 910 00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:20,730 There's no hope that we have in this life without what we're remembering right now. 911 00:43:21,030 --> 00:43:22,440 We sang it earlier, pardon? 912 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:23,820 For sin and a peace that endure. 913 00:43:25,425 --> 00:43:27,585 Thy known dear presence to cheer into God. 914 00:43:29,925 --> 00:43:30,675 There's no peace. 915 00:43:30,675 --> 00:43:31,455 There's no pardon. 916 00:43:32,085 --> 00:43:35,115 We have no presence with Jesus, with the Spirit. 917 00:43:35,565 --> 00:43:39,915 If this doesn't happen, his body broken, his blood poured out for 918 00:43:39,915 --> 00:43:43,125 us, and so this is why it's so significant that we do this together. 919 00:43:43,155 --> 00:43:44,960 This is why God said do this in remembrance. 920 00:43:45,255 --> 00:43:48,465 In fact he says it, and this is the way we end our community services. 921 00:43:48,555 --> 00:43:51,615 Every time, as often as you drink, eat this bread and drink the cup, you 922 00:43:51,615 --> 00:43:53,025 proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 923 00:43:53,025 --> 00:43:56,955 That's what we're here to do because that is what has purchased us to 924 00:43:56,955 --> 00:43:59,565 be the flock of the chief shepherd. 925 00:44:00,825 --> 00:44:05,745 And so Paul wrote this in First Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 23. 926 00:44:05,745 --> 00:44:08,385 He said, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the 927 00:44:08,385 --> 00:44:11,475 Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread and when he had 928 00:44:11,475 --> 00:44:14,120 given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. 929 00:44:14,924 --> 00:44:16,545 Do this in remembrance of me 930 00:44:27,045 --> 00:44:27,555 in the same way. 931 00:44:27,555 --> 00:44:31,455 Also, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. 932 00:44:31,875 --> 00:44:34,605 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me 933 00:44:42,165 --> 00:44:44,055 for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup. 934 00:44:44,984 --> 00:44:47,265 You proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 935 00:44:47,805 --> 00:44:48,254 Let's pray. 936 00:44:51,314 --> 00:44:55,754 Father, we are here, uh, this afternoon, this morning, whatever time of day it is 937 00:44:56,834 --> 00:45:02,750 to do just that, to proclaim corporately together, your death on our behalf. 938 00:45:04,065 --> 00:45:07,485 That you took our place even as we looked at last weekend and, and celebrated 939 00:45:07,485 --> 00:45:08,625 together, that you took our place. 940 00:45:08,625 --> 00:45:12,615 You died in our place on the cross, satisfying the full wrath of the Father, 941 00:45:12,615 --> 00:45:16,965 Jesus, you did that for us so that we might be forgiven and that you rose 942 00:45:16,965 --> 00:45:19,905 from the dead three days later so that we might know that this payment has 943 00:45:19,905 --> 00:45:21,435 been made, that it has been accepted. 944 00:45:22,665 --> 00:45:26,715 And now Lord, you have entrusted us to your under shepherds until you return. 945 00:45:27,915 --> 00:45:32,055 God, I pray that we would be a church that is faithful to your word in every way. 946 00:45:32,055 --> 00:45:33,285 I pray that our pastors would lead. 947 00:45:33,285 --> 00:45:36,705 Well, Lord, I pray that we would expect the right things from our leadership. 948 00:45:36,705 --> 00:45:40,544 I pray that we would respond rightly to our leadership as well, and I thank you 949 00:45:40,544 --> 00:45:44,024 so much that we get to do this together as brothers and sisters in Christ. 950 00:45:44,685 --> 00:45:45,225 We praise you. 951 00:45:45,225 --> 00:45:46,064 We thank you for Christ. 952 00:45:46,064 --> 00:45:46,935 We thank you for this week. 953 00:45:46,935 --> 00:45:50,115 We pray for a great week in front of us, serving you faithfully, and we 954 00:45:50,115 --> 00:45:51,705 pray for a great next week in two too. 955 00:45:51,705 --> 00:45:54,404 Should ter not return first, we pray this all in Jesus' name. 956 00:45:54,585 --> 00:45:54,975 Amen.