But what I want to do this evening is to have a look at these words in 1 Peter chapter 5 and particularly the first couple of verses, maybe we'll get as far as verse 4, we'll see how far we get tonight. And this is particularly Peter coming to address those who are in pastoral charge, the elders, those who have the care of God's flock, Now I'm sure that much of what I want to say this evening I hope will help you and encourage you in the work of the church here and in the work as we seek to grow. and as we go on with the Lord. And just to look at some of these things and sometimes even if some of you are not in that position, there are still things that I think can be helpful and a blessing to us all and help us to understand the work of the church and the blessing of God's grace. I was at a meeting earlier this week and I won't say names and places but I was very sad to meet two folk who I know very well who have been thrown out of their churches. This happens sadly in evangelical churches, and it's tragic when it happens. Now sometimes there are reasons for it. If somebody in leadership acts immorally or something like that, then they should go. But this is not in that situation. And it's just sad to hear what happens and there's a very dear friend of mine, again I'm not going to say where because I know some of you know lots of evangelical churches and I don't want you to, I'm not here to say the wrong thing, but he's been over 20 years in the church where he's been and he's done a very good work there but there have been some who've risen up and made it so difficult for him he's had to leave and that's really very sad when that happens and so much so that at the moment he feels he can't possibly go back into the ministry anywhere which I think is tragic because he's a good man, a godly man, and has a family, a lovely family, and my heart goes out to people who face situations like that. Now part of that is because I've experienced it. We've been in situations like that. In two of the churches that I've been, we had tremendous trouble. One we had all took so much trouble that after we'd been there six years, some of you know, we were thrown out and given a month to get out of the manse, the place we were living, and our daughter was only in her, what, 15 months, something like that. And it was so, so, our son was a bit older, but it was just so, so difficult. And so sometimes it's just good to think about these things. But here is Peter and he is concerned for the church. He's been talking in the previous chapter about serving for God's glory and suffering for God's glory. and saying and talking about the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ and the wonders of his grace and goodness. So see this in context, it's not an isolated chapter tagged on to the end of Peter's book. These exhortations follow from what he said in the wider context to all the believers and there's so much in this book. I love One Peter. I think it's a tremendous book. There's so much that uplifts the Lord Jesus Christ and puts him in his rightful place. I'm not saying that the rest of the Bible doesn't do that. Of course not. But I just like this. You know, here is Peter. He was a fisherman. He wasn't a highly educated man. And when you read the Greek, you know, the Greek is not posh, polished Greek. And 2 Peter's even more disjointed than 1 Peter in many ways. But here's a man writing from his heart about the wonders of the glory of the Gospel of God, and the wonders of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, you know, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that doesn't fade away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God. These are wonderful words. and he speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ, and he talks about the people of God, you know, the people of God. These people who are now a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his special people, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, because they've obtained mercy and grace. But he goes on to deal with that, and he talks about how we should submit, submit to our masters, submit to the government, submit to our masters, submission to husbands, and a word to husbands, how to treat their wives, and so on. And then Christ's suffering, and the fact that he suffered once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. and then suffering and serving for God's glory. And now at the end of the book he comes to these things. Inevitable trials come upon every church. And inevitable trials come upon us all. We all face trials. Life is never easy. even for the Christian, not because we're on our own, but because we face a dreadful enemy. But we don't face the enemy on our own, we face the enemy with God. And later in this chapter, we're not going to get to this, we're told to resist the devil, being steadfast in the faith. knowing that the God of all grace who called us to eternal glory is with us and strengthens us, maybe if I come again we'll deal with that later on another occasion, but they're wonderful things. But the only way the church can stand against trials and opposition is when it is led by godly, godly people, a godly, God's appointed government, rightly administered and rightly accepted. Now elders are the most exposed to trials and judgment. And I don't think ordinary, I don't mean to be, this isn't special pleading, but I don't think ordinary church members really always appreciate that. And I don't think they appreciate the pressures of the ministry. I have had a number of people in my ministry who've come to me and said, and they're very polite, they're very kind, they're very nice, when they come and they say, oh, Pastor, you know, we really do, you know, we pray for you. And I say, thank you. And they say, we really appreciate the pressures of the ministry. We understand these things. And I smile benignly at them, I say thank you very much and think you don't know what you're talking about. Forgive me, I'm not trying to be facetious. But then maybe a bit later in life, maybe the man becomes an officer in the church, maybe he becomes a deacon. And the same person, and this has happened more than once. It's probably happened six or seven times in the years of my ministry, people have this kind of conversation. Oh, they say, Pastor, you know, now we're a deacon. We didn't understand what we were talking about before. Now we really do appreciate the pressures that you face and how you have to cope with them in the ministry. And I just smile benignly and think, well, maybe, maybe. And then maybe they move up a stage and they become, in many of our churches, what we would call elders. And maybe not full-time, but they come to me and they say, oh, what fools we were. We didn't know what we were talking about when we were deacons. Now we understand. I think, yeah, well, maybe they do, maybe they do. And then perhaps they're put into a position as the pastor or as the senior elder, depending how you describe it. and they come to me and they say, we really didn't know what we were talking about. Now we know the pressures. And I think, yeah, you probably do now. And I'm not trying, this isn't special pleading, but there are pressures. And you know, people say, well, we understand. There's something different. Do you know the difference between sympathy and empathy? You know, you can sympathize with people, And I sympathise with people, but if I come to somebody who's lost their father as a child, then I can go more than sympathise, I can empathise, because I lost my father when I was a child. And I know the problems, you know, the stresses that you go through and the difficulties through that. And you may think this is crazy. I don't know whether I've said this before. You may think this is crazy. But in a funny kind of way, funny, that's not the right word. In a strange kind of way, I still miss my father now in a way that I don't miss my mother who lived to a great age and a fruitful life. And I love my mother and you know, but I, People who haven't lost a parent when they're young don't appreciate just what happens. Some years ago in the Philippines, I was in the Philippines and I don't know why but I sometimes have really strong dreams when I'm in the Philippines, I don't know why. And one night I had this incredible dream and I was dreaming about my father and I was telling him about my wife and my children and my grandchildren and in the dream I was thinking, this is wrong, this is wrong, why am I having to tell my father about these, why doesn't he know? And I woke up and I wept, I wept. Now, I'm not trying to, I'm not pleading for your sympathy, I'm just explaining that people who haven't lost a parent when they're young don't appreciate, I'm not saying that there are other things, but I can't sympathize, I can sympathize, but I can't empathize with somebody maybe who's lost their wife, because I've not lost my wife. Do you understand? I can sympathize, but there's another level. Now the wonder of the gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ is our comforter and by the Holy Spirit he dwells within us. And he can comfort us in a way that no human can do. And he can understand when we face the trials of life and the difficulties of life. And elders, because they are exposed to trials and judgment in a way perhaps that others don't, they need all the more to follow the commands of God, of the Word of God. And while we all need to keep close to Christ at times, the highest standards is expected of them, because they should stand out as spiritual and godly. But who are these elders? Well, they're those who are appointed as under-shepherds, So what is an elder? What qualifies them for office? When are they appointed and by whom? Now, this is not unique to the scriptures that phrase elders. In Roman society, there were elders who were appointed in the Roman Senate. It was a council of elders, and it's the same word. Greeks had boards of elders to govern, to rule, to look after the affairs of the community. But elders in scripture go back to the earliest times, and that's why we read that passage from Numbers back in chapter 11. And in verses 16 and 17 of Numbers 11, We read the Lord said to Moses, gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them. Bring them to the tabernacle of meeting that they may stand there with you and I will come down and talk with you there and I will take of the spirit that is upon you and put the same upon them. Now your version says, some of the spirit, but actually it says, I think in the original, we'll put the spirit. Because you can't divide the spirit. Forgive me. You can't divide the spirit. The spirit in his fullness comes by. And that's a wonderful thing. And these elders occupied a strategic role in Jewish life and in the affairs of the synagogue greatly, generally. It was an administrative, it was a supervisory role. And then in the church in Judea we encounter them as an established order and they seem to have been there right from the start in Acts chapter 11. Very interesting, the passage in Acts chapter 11 and verses 27 to 30. Acts chapter 11, 27. And in these days, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them named Agabus stood up and showed by the spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did and sent it to the elders. by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. And verse 30, I think, is interesting. In the Gentile churches, they were everywhere established by the apostles. Acts chapter 14, 23, so when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commanded them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And Titus 1, 5, for this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. Time after time in the New Testament, apostles and elders are linked together in the work of the government and the oversight of the church. Now it seems, and please, I don't know what, I really do not know what your ecclesiology is, so I'm not, if I say anything that upsets you, please, I'm not trying to tread on anyone's toes, because I really don't know what your position is on this. But in some churches, clearly there were more than one elder. But I don't think that is established as an absolute rule for reasons that we may come to. But in the smaller ones, likely there was only one elder and that was probably the one who was the pastor. And yet it is very significant, very significant. And I've pointed this out to lots of people and nobody's given me a satisfactory answer to this, that Timothy, who was the pastor, the leader at Ephesus, is never called an elder. And Titus is never called an elder. They both acted as elders, they were clearly exercising an eldership role, but they're called ministers, they're called servants, bondservants of the churches, and they were commissioned to serve their fellow believers. And I think that's a vitally important matter. Elders are not there to rule. Now they do rule, but they rule by serving. And that is so significant, I believe. they were to serve their fellow believers. They were not to stand on ceremony, they're not to boss people around, but as humble servants caring for the flock of God. And I think Peter makes that point very dramatically here in verse one, because he says, the elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Now Peter shows here, I think, great humility. He was an apostle. He could have stood upon his apostleship, and they knew that. He could have exercised his authority, as Paul did at times, and Peter does at times, but here he doesn't. He says, I am a fellow elder, and he appeals to them, and he exhorts them as one who is serving them. And I think that's a wonderful picture. Now, why elders? Well, I think we have to say, well, not I think, we do have to say, because the church is not a democracy. You know, some people think that, you know, well, I'm pretty certain that this is your practice. Please forgive me, I don't actually know. But I think probably your practice is that the church meeting is the final arbiter in most decisions. Would that be fair to say, Richard? In most decisions. In most decisions, yeah. And that would be in Baptist congregational churches, generally speaking, because congregational principles are really, you know, in that sense, ecclesiology, that is normally the pattern. But the danger is that people think, well, you know, we have the vote, everybody counts equally, but, now, I'm not criticising that, But we are not really a democracy, we are actually a theocracy, if you understand. We are under the authority of God. And I like some of the older books that talk about church government, when they talk about the church meeting. And when they describe the church meeting in terms of what we would normally call a prayer meeting. And although decisions are made, It's always done in a spirit of prayer. And I think that's so wonderful. Now, I don't know what your practice is, but my practice over the years, and our practice down in St. Ives and up in Droyleston, was the situation that when we came to the officers meeting, we would begin with a word of scripture, and then all of it, and we would pray round. Everybody, everyone in the room would pray, one after the other, before we got down to the business. And then as we went through the business, if it came to a particular problem or a particular need, we would pray about it. And I think that's wonderful. I hate, forgive me, I hate it when churches talk about the church business meeting, and it's conducted like a secular business meeting. I'm sure you don't do that here. But you know, it's conducted like, and I've been to some church meetings like that. And there's, you know, there may be a prayer to open and a prayer to end, but there's no sense that the business is being conducted in the presence of God. Now, forgive me, I'm not, I'm not trying to, but that's wonderful when you, when you are, and you are seeking the face of God, and you're talking about the business of the church, but you're saturating it with prayer. And that's wonder, wonderful. And everywhere in the New Testament a truly constituted church has at least one, and in some cases more than one, elder. That's why Titus was to set in order what was lacking. in appointing elders in the churches. Notice that it is plural elders and plural churches because you have to go around a lot of them, a number of them. And I don't really think we can use that verse to insist on a plurality of elders, although I think a plurality of elders is a good thing. Don't misunderstand me. But what is a theocracy? Well, a theocracy is basically a benevolent dictatorship. But the dictator is God and his word. Not the elder, not the pastor, but God and his word. God is the, if we might say, the dictator, the benevolent dictator. He tells us what to do and how to live. And Titus was to set these things in order so that we are governed directly by God and his word is absolute. Now, it's interesting that I've been reading quite a lot about John Bunyan recently because John Bunyan, there's the 400th year of whatever, whether it's his birth or death, I can't remember, but there's a 400th year coming up in, I think, three years' time. Birth. Birth, is he? Right, thank you. Oh, 1690. Yeah, go on, thank you, Richard, for putting me right. And so there's a big celebration coming up and there are a number of us who are talking about that we need to make sure that we don't let it go by. And so already preparations are being made in different places to have lectures and talks about Bunyan and one or two things that are being tried to be organized for that. And it's very interesting when you read some of the early days in the days of Bunyan, just how much They were conscious that God was directing them and they sought his face in prayer and they saturated their meetings with prayer. Democracy assumes that everyone is spiritual and everyone is capable and at the same or similar spiritual standard to assess spiritual matters, but no church is like that. There are children, young, or when I say children, children in the faith, young people who are young in the faith. They may be older people, but they're young in the faith and they need teaching. We're not being unkind to them. We're not being critical of them. There are others who need building up in the faith. They need to be taught the scriptures. Some need to be rebuked because they have sinned and they're in disobedience. Now we recognize that in society. Children are immature, they need help, they need protection, they need guiding, they need training, and so in the church. And yet in some churches, and bless you, I'm sure it doesn't happen here, everyone wants their say as soon as they're converted and think, you know, I've got a right to, well, yes, they have every right to speak, but they need to be ready to be, to listen and to learn and to be taught and to be instructed. And it's wonderful when you find that happen. because the church is under the government of God. And elders, pastors, are appointed by God to lead and to guide in the way of righteousness and peace. Now in the Old Testament it was democracy of the Israelites that demanded of Aaron the golden calf. And that brought God's wrath and displeasure upon the people. It was democracy that demanded a king when Samuel said that that was not God's appointment. and they rejected Samuel the prophet and the mouthpiece of God. It was democracy that caused the dispute in Acts 6 in the early church. And I'm not convinced that that is the appointment of deacons, it doesn't say that. It may have been, and I'm not fooling out with anybody who says that, but I'll just throw that out. It was democracy that resulted in the lawsuits in Corinth And much of 1 Corinthians, Paul deals with that, and he comes with a godly rebuke about their folly. And here is Peter, but with great grace he calls the elders to rule as true shepherds, pastors, caring for and tending the flock and watching over it, being prepared for when the chief shepherds shall appear. Verse 4, and they receive the crown of life. watching over it. Elders are God's rulers, standing in His place and as such must not abuse their authority, acting with Christ-like compassion and gentleness. They are those who show a desire for the work of the ministry, not the office, but the work of the ministry, hard-working, tiring, never-ending, all-consuming. And that implies and includes having a zeal for God's glory and a compassion for the souls of men. and also, I suggest, an irresistible desire to preach the Gospel. Now, my friends, there's a sense in which, in many ways, those who preach the Gospel, there are times when you feel that you cannot preach, you feel so unworthy, you feel so unrighteous, you feel so ungodly, you know the sinfulness of your own heart. But the word of God is in your bones like a fire, as Jeremiah describes it. And you have to keep speaking the truths of gospel, of the gospel. So here is the man who is a fellow elder. Peter describes himself as a fellow elder. But he does something else here in verse one. He says, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Now, I confess that my next few headings are all from Spurgeon, and I think they're helpful, because Spurgeon tells us that this is a four-fold witness of the sufferings of Christ. Firstly, it is an eyewitness. That was what was true for Peter and the other apostles. And what we are saying when we say that is that we are not being a witness on the sidelines but one who has first-hand experience and knowledge, someone who is fully involved. Peter had seen the sufferings of the Son of God upon the cross. He had seen those awful sufferings, spelt A-W-E, for awful sufferings. They were awful, but they were awe-filling sufferings. the desolating anguish as the Lord Jesus Christ dies, the severest judgments of God the Father that fell upon God the Son, and the ugly indecencies of the mockery and ridicule of the soldiers and his accusers, the slander and scorn of the high priest and the senator, the common soldiers mocking and jeering and spitting upon him. My friends, that's one of the worst things you can do. I have on one occasion in the open air been preaching and was spat upon. My friends, it is the most degrading experience. But they spat upon our Lord and then they put a crown of thorns upon his head. And to see the calm, sovereign dignity of the Son of God moved Peter to weep bitterly at his own unfaithfulness. And it left him a changed man. He was never the same again after that. Here was one, capital O, one who faced his responsibilities in suffering for our sins as the will of God, without flinching and without turning back. And that's why Peter said, you elders who haven't witnessed in that way these things are to rule and govern in the face of impending suffering and trial, with the same tenderness and love, and without flinching when you are tried, because you are serving your great Saviour. But then not only was he an eyewitness, and these last three apply to us, he was a faith witness. What do I mean by that? Well, there were many who saw the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some rejected Him. Some saw His suffering and did not believe. Peter saw and he believed. He was a faith witness. And the Lord had come to him as he is restored with those three questions, Peter, do you love me? And Peter replies, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Peter had believed savingly upon Jesus and the efficacy of his suffering for him. My friends, we cannot be eyewitnesses of the Saviour's suffering. We will never be that in that sense. But we are called to be faith witnesses. Have we believed savingly upon the Lord Jesus, that trust we have? Do we recognise the efficacy of his death? But then Spurgeon goes on to say, not only was that, he was a testifying witness, and so are we. It's no good being a witness if you do not speak. You cannot claim to be a witness who never speaks, and you're not a witness until you speak, and unless you speak of the things which you have seen and heard. Now often when I'm talking about this, I stop at this point, and I'm going to do the same this evening, and I say we need to understand what it is to be a witness. And I go back to an incident I saw when I was, again, a child. It was before my father died. My father drove to church this Sunday morning and we had to park just around the corner because the church where we met, there wasn't a car park in the church. At the time we had to park in one of the side roads nearby and we parked in the side road where we usually parked. We got out of the car and we were about to cross the main road to go to the church and this lady, bless her, she came down the road and she hit another car and the car, and it's the first time I'd actually seen an accident, and the ricochet from the car when she hit caused her to spin round in an angle and very nearly went through the plate glass window of a shop. She just about stopped in time. And I never realised that, I mean I was a youngster, I hadn't studied physics or anything, I never realised the rebound impact that can happen sometimes when you have an accident, when you have a head-on bang like that. And the poor lady, she was shaking like a leaf and the rest of it. and my dad and mum went to her and tried to comfort her and encourage her and we, you know, I was the oldest of three kids and we stood on there sort of shaking, you know, so glad that the car didn't hit us and the rest of it. And eventually the lady was, I can't remember whether it was my dad or my mum, but one of them said, look, you know, if you need if you need a witness, we saw what's happened and we'll stand by you and we'll be a witness. And that's right, in one sense they could, because they'd seen what had happened. But when the Bible talks about us being a witness, that's not what it's talking about. The witness of the kind that the Bible is talking about is actually the lady driver. She actually experienced the accident. And she is a witness of it in a way that bystanders are not a witness. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? It's a different type of witness. You've witnessed it because you've experienced it yourself. You've gone through it. And that's the kind of witness. that we're just talking about here and our Lord is talking about when Peter and John tell the Sanhedrin in Acts 4 20 that they must speak the things that they have seen and heard they were eyewitnesses of his majesty Peter says in to Peter when he talks about this there was a sense in which they were witnesses in a way that we can't be but we are to be witnesses because we have experienced it we're not standing on the sidelines saying, oh yes, he's a Christian, she's a Christian. Oh yes, that's Christian. No, we have experienced the saving work of Christ in our souls, that's wonderful. And we can speak of the power and glory of the Lord Jesus. The power that we have experienced in our lives, that our sins are forgiven, they are blotted out. And we know it. My friends, that's wonderful, isn't it? And that's what, when the Bible talks about being witness, that's what it's talking about. Because the fourth thing is, not only a faith witness and a testifying, not an eyewitness, which we're not, but a faith witness, and all of us, this doesn't just apply to all of us, this applies to all of us, which I told you we were gonna get to that. And a faith witness, a testifying witness. And fourthly, a partaking witness. Notice what Peter says, and a partaker of the glory that will be revealed in verse one. That's what Peter says. He is. He is. And you, as my fellow elders, are partakers of that. And as we get a bit further down in the chapter, we'll find that he's talking to all of us because God resists the proud. You know, you younger people submit, verse five and verse six and verse seven, casting all your care upon him. That's what we're going to get to in week four as we look at this. But we are partakers of the glory that is revealed. There's an end in view. We must all stand at the judgment seat of Christ. But that is when we will experience and see the dazzling glory that is yet to be revealed in Christ and will rest upon us as his people. Now Peter knew something of this in a way that we don't because he'd stood on the Mount of Transfiguration when the Lord Jesus Christ was glorified. He'd seen something of the Lord's glory. He'd seen the Lord Jesus Christ ascend into heaven. And there on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Lord Jesus stood with Moses and Elijah and Peter and James and John witnessed this firsthand. and they saw the glory. And as the Lord was covered by the clouds, so he was transfigured before them. And what do they say? His face did shine like the sun, and his raiment was as white as the light. And Peter never forgot that day. Remember how he describes it in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verses 16 to 18. And I love this. We did not follow cunningly devised fables when people come along and say, oh, you're just believing a load of stories made up. No, we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory when such a voice came to him for the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Because of his future glory, Peter had an intense zeal for the glory of God. And because we share in that glory, we must live in the light of it. Peter had seen and tasted in some small way that the Lord is good and he was able to witness with living power and God-given authority. So have we caught a glimpse of the glory of God? Are we overcome with wonder and the splendor of his grace for us? Surely this should fill us with awe and wonder. And in the face of this it is no less true that we are justified by Christ, nor that He died in our place, nor that He is with us, nor that our sins are forgiven. In Him hold fast to all of these blessings and benefits. Nothing can take them away, but when that glory is revealed in full splendour, we will stand before Him exposed. And every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. My friends, that is awesome, but it's also a wonderful encouragement to live for him so that we know that when that day comes, we will rejoice rather than hang our heads in shame. Oh, we're forgiven. But I'm sure some of us, and I feel that I will, I will still be filled with shame that I did so little for him who did so much for me. Peter was filled with shame that he denied his Lord. Yes, he was forgiven, but it's there in scripture for us all to read. But one day, it'll all be covered, finally, forgiven and forgotten. and what an incentive and encouragement to live for him because of the glory that will be revealed on that great day. And on that day, these words of verse four will be such an encouragement and a reality. When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Well, let's sing a hymn, and then I'll pray, and then we've got another. 507. Hark, the song of Jubilee, loud as mighty thunders roar.