Sermon: The Humbled Shepherd

I would invite you to turn in your Bibles this evening to one Peter chapter five, and I'll be reading from one Peter chapter five, verse one through 11. Before we hear God's word to us this evening, let us call upon him one more time and ask for his gracious help as we come before his word. Please pray with me,

father, for the glory of your son and for the good of your people here this evening. I ask that with every word I speak, I would decrease and Christ would increase. Pray that as we listen attentively to your word, you would incline our hearts to your word and not to selfish gain, that you would open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of your word, that you would unite our so easily divided hearts to fear your name alone and that you would satisfy us this evening

with your steadfast love. We ask this in the name of our Lord and our savior, Jesus Christ, our amen. Hear now the word of the Lord to you this evening from one Peter chapter five verses one through 11. Peter writes, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion,

but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders, cloth yourselves, all of you with humility toward one another for God opposes the proud that gives grace to the humble, humble yourselves,

therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Bes sober minded, be watchful, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while,

the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to himn be the dominion forever and ever on Amen.

If you could have anyone from the past as your pastor, who would you choose? You're not allowed to choose Jesus. That of course is the right answer. But anybody else? Now to clarify, I am not primarily asking who's preaching you think you would prefer the most. I'm asking who you would want to be your pastor, the one to oversee and shepherd your soul day after day, to encourage and exhort you, to pray for and with you to know you and

counsel you to weep and mourn over sin and suffering with you, to exemplify and lead you to Christ. So it of course include preaching and teaching the word of God, but even though a pastor must be a preacher, not every preacher is a pastor. Well, I don't know what your answer would be to my question, but when I asked myself this question, two names immediately came to mind. And yes, I cheated and came up with two, one from the Bible and one from church history.

The one from church history is John Newton. You at least probably know that he wrote the him amazing grace. And I think it's fair to say I have learned much of what I know about pastoral ministry from just reading John Newton's letters to congregants and friends and others, and I'm convinced he's one of the greatest pastors who ever lived. The one from the Bible is Peter who wrote the words that I just read to you. Now,

you may argue Peter was an apostle, not a pastor, to which I would respond. He was both. Notice how he begins chapter five, he says, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. So yes, Peter was an apostle, but he says he was also an elder. And if you look at Peter's ministry, it's clear that he was one of those elders, as Paul describes in first Timothy five, who was especially tasked to preach and teach.

He was, as we say in the pca, a teaching elder. In other words, he was a pastor. Now, why would I choose Newton and Peter? Well, both were clear and firm regarding the truth of the gospel. They knew what they believed and they did not waiver from it. They were men of knowledge, of wisdom, of understanding and discernment. They were clear, vivid, and effective communicators. But what stands out the most to me is I have read Newton's

uninspired letters, and as I've read Peter's inspired letters that these were clearly tenderhearted, gracious, loving, compassionate, gentle and humble men, their love for Christ and for Christ. Sheet bleeds on every page. They were truth driven and grace permeated men. That's the kind of men we need as our pastors. And I believe they were truth driven. Grace permeated men because they were exceedingly humbled men, we need men of exemplary humility and grace

more than we need men of exemplary intellect and gifts. So they need to have those things too. So Devin, I'm sure that as you begin a life of pastoral ministry, you desire to be a useful, effective pastor, be effectively used for the exaltation of Christ's name, for the preservation of God's people and for the salvation of the dead and dying. And I believe one of the implications from the text I just read to you is that the most useful pastor is the most humbled

pastor because he is the most Christ-like pastor. The emphasis on humility in this text is clear. It's implied in the first four verses which are addressed specifically to elders who are likened to shepherds, not kings, and are under the one who is called the chief shepherd. So they're recognizing right away, you're not it. You're not actually the head and leader of the church. That's the chief shepherd. And that reality necessitates humility.

But then in verses five and six, the necessity of humility is explicitly stated. Peter's now talking to everybody in the church, but that means he's still talking to elders as he writes these verses and he says, everyone including elders must clothe themselves with humility. And then the command is even clear in verse six, humble yourselves. So humility is non-negotiable in Christianity and therefore in pastoral ministry. For pastors are meant to be examples to the rest of us.

And the connection between humility and usefulness is evident from the fact God says he only will give his grace to the humble. If you think you can do anything apart from God's grace, you are fooling yourself. Psalm 1 27, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. So God is gonna oppose proud pastors and churches, but he says, I'm going to give you my grace to those of you who are humble before me.

Again, humility is non-negotiable.

You may have noticed that I said the most useful pastor is the most humbled pastor. Why don't I just say he's the most humble pastor? I say humbled because humility is not natural to sinful men. Indeed, it is quite unnatural. Sinful nature is proud and allergic to humility. So you're not gonna be a humble pastor if you are not a continually humbled pastor. Pride is the serpent of the soul that lounges and lurks in your

heart like that devilish snake in the garden. He's waiting for every opportunity to inflame your heart with the fires of self glorification as it blows upon the coals of self-love. So humility requires constant, humbling pride is buoyant, is not easily sunk, keeps floating back to the surface and poisoning the waters of your heart. If you are not careful and attentive, the most useful pastor is the most humbled pastor because he's the most

Christ-like pastor. So how does he become a humbled pastor? Three. I see three ways in this text. Number one, the humbled pastor is humbled by the gospel. And so he pastors, he shepherds, he ministers out of what he experientially knows again, Peter says, I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed shepherd the flock of God.

So notice the experiential knowledge of Peter when he says he's a witness of the sufferings of Christ. That doesn't just mean he was a casual observer of these historical events as a witness, he experienced these events and Peter says he is a partaker of the glory to come. So he is first a partaker of the gospel and only then is he a proclaimer of the gospel. The humbled pastor, therefore is one who experientially knows the

gospel as the sufferings and glory of Christ are just summarizing the gospel. This is the death and resurrection of Jesus. And so for Peter, this permeated his life and only then could it permeate his ministry. So when the humbled pastor walks into a meeting, into a counseling session into a hospital room or into a pulpit, he doesn't walk into that room or Hal it to tell others about something he he doesn't know anything about.

He's coming to share the gospel that has transformed his life. Indeed above all else, it is this gospel that is humbled him. Peter witnessed the sufferings of Christ which humbled him because in a very real way, Peter was part of those sufferings of Christ. Remember Peter tempted Jesus not to go to the cross. He was a tool of the devil to try and keep Jesus from obey His father. Peter boasted to Jesus about his fidelity

and courage saying, yeah, all your other punny disciples are gonna run away, but I'm here. Jesus, I'm not going anywhere.

But then Peter fell asleep when his best friend said he needed him most to stay up and watch and pray with him. Can you imagine if your best friend comes to you and says, I am at my darkest moment of life and I need you with me and you just pass out and fall asleep.

And then Peter denied even knowing Jesus. He was embarrassed of his association with Jesus.

So for Peter to preach and write to fellow sinners as one who is supposed to mourn sin, Peter knows exactly what that means. Peter knows what it means to weep bitterly over your own sin. He knew in a very real way that his Jesus was going to that cross. His sin was why Jesus was going to that crawl.

If you're not a humbled pastor who mourns your sin and understands that your sin is why Jesus had to die, you'll become a very harsh pastor. But how could you possibly experience the sufferings of Christ and remain proud when the suffering of Christ reveals to you your sin, not just their sin. Knowing Christ had to die for you will inevitably humble you. But the humbled pastor also knows the glory that is going to be revealed for He

has tasted the glory as he has experienced the resurrection life and forgiveness that is his. Because Jesus rose from the dead. Peter gets the sin side of the cross. He also understands the forgiveness side of the empty tomb. He saw the glory of the risen Christ, but he also tasted the glory of the risen Christ as he received the forgiveness and reconciliation that was his from his Lord. I love how in Mark's gospel account of the resurrection,

when the angel tells that women who have witnessed the empty tune, they need to go and tell the other disciples that Jesus has risen and he wants them to meet Jesus in Galilee. Mark's gospel account notes that the angel says, go and tell the disciples and Peter all the other gospel accounts just say, go tell the other disciples. But the angel specifies, will you please tell Peter that Jesus wants to see him still, he wants to forgive and reconcile with and receive. Peter,

I think Peter needed that special word. He was probably still wallowing and shame thinking, why? Why can I come?

So Peter received the forgiveness that was his in in Christ. You're probably very familiar with John's gospel account where Jesus then specifically speaks to Peter and he asks Peter three times the same number of times, Peter was asked if he knew Jesus and said that he didn't. Jesus asks Peter three times, do you love me in this way? He's assuring, Peter, I know your sin and yet I am still gonna be sending you as one of my disciples to proclaim the good news.

So it is out of this experiential knowledge of the death and resurrection of Christ that Peter ministers, there was perhaps no prouder disciple than Peter before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I highly doubt there was a more humbled disciple after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it is this experiential knowledge that informs the command to shepherd the flock. In chapter five, the shepherd is performing his calling out of the abundance of what

he has personally received in Christ the shepherd who has been humbled by the gospel knowing his sin. And Christ's forgiveness is the shepherd who's gonna exercise oversight willingly, not under compulsion. Oh, he's compelled that it's not compelled against his will, it's compelled by his will. For his will Now is for others to know the same grace that he has received, the same peace that he knows, the same comfort he has experienced,

the same joy that fills his heart or his will is to do God's will just as Christ's will is to do the father's will. And this shepherd will exercise oversight eagerly not for shameful gain, for what other gain is there for him above and beyond what he has gained in Jesus Christ. Let the world have its pleasures. Our pleasure is Christ. You see, the man who has been humbled by the gospel is in one sense immune to both the praise and criticism of the congregation

which will come. The praise of man will not puff him up. The criticism of man will not crush him. This is actually the safety of humility because the humbled pastor cannot be brought higher than the glory of Christ. And he cannot be brought lower than the cross of Christ. This doesn't mean he doesn't care about the sheep. Oh, the humbled pastor will love the flock under his charge, pointing them to Christ instead of dominating them by his own rule.

You see the prayer in in verse 11, to him be the dominion forever and ever. When you understand that the dominion belongs to Christ, you're not gonna be domineering. It's not your dominion.

You will not love the sheet because of what they can give you. You will love the sheet because you love the chief shepherd and he loves the sheet. Remember Jesus question and command to Peter three times. He asks Peter if he loves him. And when Peter says yes each time Jesus application, okay, if you love me, this is what I want you to do is feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. The Peter Shepherds from what he knows and what he knows as the love and

grace of Christ, he shepherds from what he loves. And what he loves is Christ and everything that Christ loves and Christ loves his sheep. You see then that shepherding is exercising oversight. It is governing, it is guarding, but above all else it is feeding. The shepherd does all of this with and according to the word of God. But if he is doing all of this from what he knows, then the only food that he is ever gonna feed the sheep is the food that he is

eating himself. Preaching is sometimes compared to preparing and serving a feast. That's true. But it would be wrong to think that this is like serving food in a restaurant. The the pastor is, is not the chef who cooks the food and then the waiter who serves the food but who's never eating the food may not be the most pleasant image you can have. But I would say no. The the feeding of preaching is, is more like the feeding of a a mother bird and how she feeds her fled

lie. She is feeding fledglings from the very same food she has taken in preaching his spiritual regurgitation. What it is the pastor doesn't serve from his hand. He serves the food from his mouth. So the humbled pastor shepherds from what he experientially knows and he knows the tenderness, patience, mercy and compassion of Jesus to him, which makes him treat the others with that same tenderness, patience, mercy, and compassion.

The humbled pastor will not be a harsh and heavy handed pastor. I'm convinced that harsh and heavy-handed pastors do not know anything of Jesus Christ. Humbled pastor is humbled by the gospel. But number two, the humbled pastor is one who daily humbles himself. I said at the beginning, humility is not natural to sinful man. Humility is only the result of conversion. It's a supernatural reality that can only exist by the power

of the gospel. So the humbled man must first be a converted man. But even when this transformation takes place, pride will continue to slither and tempt your heart. And so as it is with all sin, the humbled pastor must daily humble himself putting sin to death by the death and resurrection of Christ day after day. You see this in our text. I want you to notice everyone in the church is commanded to clothe your themselves with humility.

Can you imagine the health and vibrancy of churches if everyone in the church on Sunday morning and evening was most concerned with closing their hearts with humility and not with all the other apparel they're putting on?

And the only effective way I know how to do this is to remain committed to the means of grace that God has given. You. See, the pastor is not living by a a different secret method of the Christian life other than the rest of the congregation. And in fact, he's simply to be an example to the congregation of what this method of life is. He is therefore to humble himself under the mighty hand of God as he submits himself to the mighty word of God.

You cannot grow in pride when you continue to see yourself in the mirror of God's word because God's word is gonna show you your sin and it is gonna show you the glory of Christ. And that salvation is found in him alone. The word glorifies one man and that is the God man, Jesus Christ. So for the rest of us, all we are gonna find is humility in its pages. A humbled pastor likewise humbles himself by prayer. His true prayer is an act of humility.

It is the conscious recognition that you depend upon God for everything. So Peter tells us to humble ourselves under God by casting ourselves upon God, knowing that he cares for us. The most useful pastor is the one who knows that he is useless apart from Jesus Christ, the only lasting, faithful and fruitful church is the church that the Lord builds. And so daily prayer is daily proclaiming I am nothing and Christ is everything.

One of the lines that I have to try and tell myself again every day. When I was an intern a long time ago here at U R C, one of the first things Pastor Kevin had me read was Spurgeon's lectures to his students. And one of the things Spurgeon's writes to his servants is he tells them, be content to be nothing or that is what you are. It's what everyone is apart from Christ. So when we pray, we are proclaiming I am nothing. Christ is everything.

I am weak. Christ is strong, I'm the creature. Christ is the creator. I'm the servant. Christ is the savior.

Prayer takes the position of Mary when she says, in response to the word of the Lord, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me. According to your word, the humbled pastor also humbles himself through corporate worship, through the sacraments, through Christian fellowship. The pastor needs the congregation as much as the congregation needs the pastor. The pastor needs the Lord's day as much as the rest of us need the Lord's

day. Sometimes people ask, and I understand the question, so Pastor, when's your Sabbath? My Sabbath is your Sabbath. I rest and grow the same way you do. I love this day. It's the best day, especially great when mother's day and the Lord's day come on the same two great days Lord's day. Mothers praise God for them all

the pastor needs to sing, confess, sin, hear the assurance of pardon, pray and sit under the preaching of the word. We sit under the same preaching that you do. He needs the oversight of the elders and the service of the deacons. He needs brothers and sisters who are praying for him. So in these ways, the humble pastor must daily humble himself by God's grace if he is to remain humble. Third, finally and briefly, the humbled pastor is daily humbled by God,

especially through affliction. He's humbled by the gospel. He humbles himself and he will be humbled by God, especially through affliction. So it'd be great if we were really good at humbling ourselves, but if we're honest we we don't do that very well. Sometimes God needs to help us. Our pride is too great for us to fight alone.

And I think one of the primary ways he does this is through suffering. First Peter is really all about three s's, sanctification, shepherding, and suffering. He really can't have the other two without the third. All I'm gonna say here for you Devin, and for all of you is be ready. Afflictions will come. I'm not saying you ought to pray for affliction to come. You just simply need to know it's coming. And though you do not pray for it directly,

it actually will be one of the ways that God answers all of your other prayers. I admit that the probably the prayer I am most afraid to pray is for God to sanctify and humble me. I know I'm supposed to pray that he'd very scared to pray that either some prayers were afraid to pray because we're we're afraid God won't answer it. There's other prayers. We are afraid to pray because we know God is going to answer it. And he will always answer your prayers for your sanctification.

If you pray for humility, which you must, he will graciously answer you. If you pray to be conformed to Christ, which you must, he will graciously answer you. If you pray to be useful in God's kingdom, which you must, he will graciously answer you. But sometimes that gracious answer will be a painful answer.

And when these afflictions come, what you are to do is to look to Christ, depend upon Christ and by his grace, thank him that he loves you more than you love yourself. Be out of our self-love. We would spare ourselves from all suffering, but that means we would ultimately spare ourselves from salvation.

God loves us enough not to spare us from suffering or affliction will humble you, which will drive you to Christ. And that is the only place you will find safety in salvation. And so the humbled pastor must learn in the classroom of affliction. It is more essential than seminary education. Thomas Watson once wrote, a sick bed, often teaches more than a sermon. And Charles Spurgeon once said, I dare say the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is

health. With the exception of sickness. I'm afraid that all the grace that I have, God of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows and pains and griefs is all together in calculable. Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in the minister's library.

But remember that with this humility comes great hope. God opposes the proud, but he promises he will give grace to the humble. And if affliction is what humbles us, protecting us from God's opposition and preparing us for his grace, then may we praise God for it through tears. For that grace will bring with it the unfading crown of glory. Devi, it is a privilege to shepherd God's flock. It is a task beyond any of us, under shepherds,

but it is not beyond the chief shepherd who is likewise the pastor shepherd under shepherd's, our first fellow sheep who have been loved and bought by the Good Shepherd. So know Devin, that humility is the receptacle of God's grace. God's grace to you and to all of us will never run out. For as Peter says, he's the God of all grace, not, not just some grace. He is the God of all grace. And even though you will suffer a little while,

this God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. That was Peter's hope, is your hope is all of our hope,

Devin, and you are privileged to exemplify and share that hope with the people of Mount Pleasant. For Jesus has other sheep to call in Mount Pleasant. He must bring them and they will listen to his voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. Pray.

Our Heavenly Father,

we are all often foolish in our sinful pride.

For many of us, for all of us, our cares and concerns are really the only ones we care about. We want others to think much of us. We want others to be impressed With us. We don't want any disruptions or afflictions in our life. That's just a nuisance to us.

So I pray that you would forgive us. And with fear and trembling, I pray that you would humble us,

that we might know more of your grace, which is better than all of the comforts and pleasures this world has to offer for one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. May we truly believe it. Amen.