Go ahead and take your Bibles and turn to 1 Peter. Back to 1 Peter. And turn to chapter 5. We'll be continuing our study here and we're almost done. We probably only have one more week in this book. Again, we've had a couple weeks off. I remember a couple weeks ago we had the Awana Awards Ceremony and then last week with Mr. Pratt filling in for us. So hopefully that was a blessing for you guys and I really appreciate him and him filling in for me. As you're turning back to 1 Peter, because we've had a couple weeks off, I want to just do a quick refresher for those of you that are new. Obviously, we have some of you, this is your first time with us studying through 1 Peter, and so we're almost done with it. But as you begin the book and you look in chapter one, you'll notice Peter says that he's writing to the elect exiles. And again, this is a reference to some believers that had been scattered across Asia Minor due to persecution. And Peter lists several cities there in verse one. He says, the elect exiles of the dispersion, again, noting to us that these are believers that have been scattered across Asia Minor. He says Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. And so again, Peter's audience is a group of believers that have been plagued by persecution. And this reference to them as elect exiles, this helps us know spiritually, it's a reminder of our limited time on earth. In a sense, this is a metaphor for all believers. As we live our lives, we are as well elect exiles. We're living in a land that's not our own. And so as you consider this, understand that this was the case for these believers as well. They were living in a land spiritually that was foreign to them. They're surrounded by unbelievers, but also they're physically living in a land that was not their own. They were physical exiles as well. And they were exiles due to the persecution. But again, we understand the exile for us, this is a term that reminds us of the truth that we are not to devote ourselves to the pursuit of material possessions, we should have an eternal focus. And this is Peter's thought through the majority of the book. We see this similar thread running through, is that eternal focus. He is constantly seeking to refocus these believers, to fix their gaze on Christ, to fix their gaze on eternity and things of eternal value. And this, of course, is a great reminder for us as well, for different reasons. We're not being persecuted in the same way today, but we certainly have distractions for us everywhere in the world. The world is constantly trying to distract us from living spiritually purposed lives. And so Peter is writing to remind the believers that this is their purpose. Their ultimate purpose is to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in everything that they did. And so in chapter one, as Peter begins, he even reminds them of their imperishable and unfading inheritance. It's kept in heaven for them, again. the faithful perseverance of these believers, this is Peter's main focus. This is of utmost importance to Peter, that these believers persevere no matter what. And for this reason, several times Peter's going to talk about suffering and how the believers should suffer and to remember the suffering of Jesus Christ. how he devoted himself, he entrusted himself to the Father no matter what he faced. And so this is Peter's admonishment, his encouragement to the believers is that as they face suffering, entrust themselves to the Father as they walk through life and the different struggles. And so throughout chapter four, Peter reminds the believers, even as they suffer, even in the face of suffering, we looked at verses 12 through 19 last week, he encourages them to be good stewards of God's grace. They must continually, by the power of grace, put off fleshly desires and passions, And these desires, these sinful desires, they used to dominate their lives as unbelievers. You might even recall chapter four in verse three, where Peter said, the time that is past suffices for doing what Gentiles want to do. Literally, Peter's saying that they had sinned long enough while they were unbelievers. Now, as new creations in Christ, there was no place for sinful behavior in their lives. And again, There's that imagery of being a spiritual exile coming through again. This idea that they were not to live like the unbelievers around them. Their lives should be markedly different from the pagan culture in which they lived. And so again, Peter encourages the believers, because their lives were different, because they were stewarding God's grace, How should they interact with one another? Well, Peter instructed them to love one another earnestly. Love one another earnestly. Peter says the body of Christ should be defined by this kind of unity, this harmony that is attractive to the outside world. And this is something that hopefully as a group even, and we've talked about this the last several weeks, this is something that we are actively seeking to implement. We want our unity, our love for each other to be attractive to people coming in. We want to make people feel welcome in this way. And so this is just one way that we can show the incredible glory, the love of Christ to the world. And Peter states clearly that this is our ultimate goal, to show Christ's love, to show His glory to the world. And he says in chapter four, verse 11, in order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. As you think about that this evening, once again, Peter's writing to elect exiles, spiritual exiles, and he says in order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. This is your ultimate purpose, to glorify God, to glorify Jesus Christ, to steward the grace that God has given you, and to look more like your Savior. And so, as we consider our context and the overarching theme of what Peter is writing at, what he's driving at, and what's his purpose, notice verse one of chapter five. Verse one of chapter five, Peter's gonna continue to talk about unity. He's gonna continue to talk about the body of Christ as he specifically addresses elders in the first several verses of chapter five. He says this, 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 elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And just as a quick aside as we look at this text, One of the things that, again, as we spoke about a couple weeks ago in Sunday School, we talked about the reason that we study through God's Word the way that we do. And a lot of times when we come to a book, we like to take a verse-by-verse approach. We kind of walk through a book in that way. And you might even call that expositional preaching. Okay, how many of you have ever heard that term? Expositional. Have you heard that term? Okay, so that means to basically take a book or take a passage and walk through it verse by verse and kind of being faithful to the context. The reason that we do this, and this is a perfect example of this, is that this is a passage that you probably wouldn't really engage with much in youth group otherwise. This is primarily talking about elders. And so even some of you, as I read through that passage, you might be kind of tempted to say, it's talking about pastors, it's talking about spiritual elders in the church and their role. And so this really isn't a big deal for me, there's not a lot of application for me, but I would challenge you as we look at this passage tonight, for each and every one of you, I wanna challenge you, number one, are you a believer? And number two, are you a church member? If you can answer yes to both of those questions, yes, I'm a believer, and yes, I'm a church member, then this passage has immense application for you, incredible application for you, even as a teenager, because this is talking about your role in the church. Each one of you, even as teenagers, you are part of a bigger body of believers. And so you have a role in the church. So pay close attention to what we read here, because number one, you are tasked with submitting to godly authorities that are placed over your life, that are tasked with caring for you spiritually. And so that's number one. Number two, there is definitely the chance for all of you in the future that you will be involved someday in confirming a pastor's call to ministry, in voting a pastor into your church. And this passage deals extensively with the qualifications of a pastor. What should a pastor look like? What does a pastor or an elder, what do they focus on? What even is a pastor or an elder? What should they do? And so again, this passage outlines that for us very clearly. And so as a church member, which every one of you are, you're a believer and you're here as a part of the church, and hopefully someday as you grow up and you have the opportunity to join a church, you will do that. But again, as children of church members, you're all here and you're all church members. And so this is something that is a very important text for us to understand, and hopefully we'll be able to walk through it and glean application for each of our lives this evening. Let's go ahead and pray before we dive into this text, all right? Dear God, we're thankful for your Word, and we're thankful for the opportunity to study your Word together this evening. God, I just pray that each and every one of us would come to this passage with our eyes open and with our hearts ready and willing to be confronted by your truth, ready and willing to respond to your truth. God, we need your Word, and we need each other. And this passage speaks extensively about the role of the body and how elders function, but also how members should function. And so, Lord, would you give us strength as we look to your word that we would understand the truth that you have for us, and that it would practically impact the way that we engage with each other as church members. In Jesus' name, amen. So Peter begins in verse one of chapter five, and he says, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. And you'll notice at first, we see this term elders come up several times. What is Peter talking about when he uses that term elder? Just to really simplify, we see several different words used throughout the Bible that speak to the role of a pastor. Does anybody know what a couple of those terms would be? Any terms that we see in the Bible that speak to the role of a pastor? Elder's one of them. There's another main one. Does anyone know what that one is? Just really quickly. There you go, bishop. Yes, there's another one, also overseer. We see that one as well. Peter will use that one here kind of as a verb to describe one of the functions of a pastor. But an elder is talking about a pastor, someone that would exercise spiritual authority over the church. And so as Peter begins in chapter five, and he kind of begins to close out his epistle, he's turning lastly to instruct the elders of the churches. Remember, as we read back in verse one, and we're trying to familiarize ourselves a little bit with something we studied many months ago, but Peter's writing to many different churches. And so you'll see him use this term for the plural term, elders, plural, and he's writing to the elders, the pastors, essentially, of all of these different bodies of believers that had been scattered because of persecution. And you might think that as you begin chapter five, you would think this section kind of seems disconnected from the rest of what we've been studying in chapters three and four, and we've been reading a lot about suffering, but actually it's not disjointed at all. Peter's writing, his language suggests the opposite. He begins by saying, so, or therefore. We've noted many times in the past, this word is a logical connector. When you see an author of scripture say therefore or so, essentially they're saying because of. Because of what I said in this last text, here's the application. Here's what you should do with that." And so, in a sense, we understand chapter 5 begins, and he's continuing this thought, because of persecution. Even because believers, because members of churches have been instructed to live in a certain way, I am exhorting elders. Elders must encourage. Elders must feed God's flock. They must shepherd God's flock. And so as Peter's given many of these instructions, he's encouraged the believers to love each other well. He's encouraged believers to suffer well. He's encouraged them to live for Christ in all things. Therefore, because of all of those instructions, elders must be faithful in their task of shepherding, in their task of guiding God's people. And so if the church and the believers were to be successful in living out these truths, and even living them out in the face of immense persecution, their elders must be faithful shepherds. You'll notice also that Peter refers to himself in three interesting ways, and you might even want to underline these three characteristics that Peter uses to refer to himself. He says, I exhort the elders among you, number one, as a fellow elder. Number two, as a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and then finally, as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. And first, we notice that Peter doesn't write to the elders of the churches and arrogantly flaunt his apostolic authority, which Peter could have done. He could have written and said, I am an apostle. All of you need to listen to me and do exactly what I say. He doesn't say that. He writes to them as a fellow elder. In a sense, he's making himself equal with the elders to whom he was writing. And so in doing this, he demonstrates that he understands, he recognizes the struggles that are inherent with shepherding God's sheep. He recognizes the difficulties that they would face. And he says, in a sense, I'm right here with you in this struggle. I am right alongside you as a fellow elder. He's not judging them as a distant, uninvolved observer. And so we've seen this very humble and loving attitude from Peter throughout the book. He speaks to his readers as a loving father who genuinely wants the believers to succeed. I'm writing to you as a fellow elder. This is the similar tone that we see in chapter five. Secondly, Peter refers to himself as a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Many commentators question why Peter mentions this at this point. Why does he say that he's a witness of the sufferings of Christ? Most likely, Peter is trying to call again to the believers' minds the central theme of suffering. He wants them to continue to dwell on this, to mull this over, especially to connect the fact that Jesus Christ himself suffered. Peter's frequently encouraged the believers to remember the sufferings of Christ. In a sense to say, if our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ himself had to suffer, he had to live and die, why would we as his followers expect any different? And Jesus tells his followers this, if the world hated me, the world will also hate you. This is the natural outflow of being a follower of Christ. And so Peter wants the believers to recognize this is part of it. This is part of being a Christ follower. If you look back at, Verse 12 of chapter four, just quickly, Peter says, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you. And so again, Peter wants the believers to be prepared for suffering, to know how to handle it. Many times as this is Peter's focus, he calls us to look at the example of Christ to handle it in a similar way that Jesus did. One commentator writes that for Peter, suffering is the pathway to glory. Believers who suffered for righteousness sake, they would be eternally rewarded. And we kind of catch a glimpse of that reward in the next phrase. Peter says, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. And so once again, we kind of see this direct link drawn for us by Peter between suffering for righteousness and the eternal glory that is to come at the revelation of Christ. And so even in his opening introduction, Even as he kind of gives a little bit of a background about himself, I'm a fellow elder. I've witnessed the sufferings of Christ. Peter calls the elders, just as he's called all the believers, to keep their eyes on Christ. This is an example. He's writing to the elders and he's providing himself as an example. I am a fellow elder along with you, but I'm also a witness of the sufferings of Christ. I understand and I have counted the cost. I'm also a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. In a sense, Peter does understand the purpose and the outcome of suffering, just like he wrote in verses 12 through 19, encouraging the believers, don't be shocked by suffering. In fact, understand how to handle it. Understand how to respond to suffering. Peter is using these couple opening verses to demonstrate, I do know that suffering will come. I've experienced suffering. I've watched Jesus Christ suffer. I'm also ready and excited about the eternal reward that comes with that. And so number one, we see for elders, elders must have an eternal focus. Elders must have an eternal focus, and we see straight away in this passage the example of Peter as he's modeling the lifestyle and leadership that he expected from his audience, both the elders and the believers. And Peter doesn't have a different set of standards for his life than what we see for the rest of the congregation, and quite the contrary. He begins his conclusion to this book by demonstrating his own example as he recognizes suffering and he's prepared for it. And so again, number one, elders need to have this eternal focus. And now verse two, we get to the real meat of Peter's exhortation. He's exhorting the elders and look at verse two, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight. In Peter's exhortation, it's really quite simple. In the Greek, this literally could be translated, shepherd God's sheep. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you. And in verses two and three, Peter fleshes out exactly what he means by that. You might even recall a conversation that Peter had with Jesus shortly after the resurrection in John 21. Jesus has breakfast with his disciples on the beach and Peter uses the very same verb in this passage when he says, shepherd the flock of God, he uses the same verb that Jesus used with him in John 21. In verse 17 of John 21, Jesus says, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And he said, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep. Again, it's the very same Greek word used in both passages. Tend my sheep. And Peter says here, shepherd the flock of God. Three times in that passage in John 21, Jesus questioned Peter's love for him. And three times he told Peter to feed and shepherd his flock. This is, again, specifically the task of explaining and teaching God's Word to God's people. This is the most critical function of an elder. Don't miss that. This task of feeding and shepherding God's flock, this is the most critical task of an elder. to instruct, to educate, to guide, to protect, to lead wandering sheep back to the pasture. This is a faithful shepherd. This is how they operate. And I think as you look at this text, it's fascinating. Peter, clearly that lesson stuck with him as he sat on that beach and spoke with Jesus. And here he uses the exact same words to encourage pastors, feed God's flock. This is the encouragement. There's a quote from Charles Spurgeon. He is kind of describing his role as a pastor. And he says this, I am occupied in my small way as Mr. Great Heart was employed in Bunyan's day. I do not compare myself with that champion, but I am in the same line of business. It is my business as best I can to kill dragons and to cut off giants head and to lead on the timid and trembling. I'm often afraid of losing some of the weak ones. I have the heartache for them, but by God's grace and your kind and generous help in looking after one another, I hope we shall all travel safely to the river's edge. Oh, how many I've had to part with there. I have stood on the brink and I have heard them singing in the midst of the stream, and I have almost seen the shining ones lead them up the hill and through the gates into the celestial city." And I share that quote to demonstrate this is the faithful shepherd's job. In a sense, to lead on the timid and trembling, to confront and uproot false teaching in the church, to fight off wolves and false teachers who would seek to carry away God's people. This is, as Peter begins, this is much the same exhortation that we see in verse one, shepherd the flock of God. that is among you. And so Peter begins, and he explains what faithful pastors and elders should do. He says, shepherds God's flock, and then he's gonna, in verses two and three, kind of continue to expound on what exactly that looks like. Notice the end of verse two. He says, exercising oversight, okay? And so again, let me clarify, what do I mean by shepherd the flock of God? Exercise oversight, and 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. So we see in this passage in verses two and three, three primary motivations that must be avoided as shepherds of God's people, okay? And so remember, number one, shepherds maintain an eternal focus. And now let's look at this Second, the second exhortation from Peter, three primary motivations. Pastors, elders, must never be motivated by laziness. This is the idea of compulsion. They are not willing to do it on their own. This isn't a natural desire. They're being compelled. They're being coerced in some way, shape, or form. They have to do this job. And Peter says that's a horrible attitude for a shepherd to have. They should never be forced into the role. They should be willing as God would have them. This is a role that God calls an individual to. And so this is the attitude that they should have, a willingness and understanding that this is God's plan for their life. This is what he has for them. And so they're willing to follow that. Secondly, shepherds should never be greedy. They should never be driven by power. This is the final one, not domineering. And so once again, as we consider all three of these attitudes that must be avoided, a shepherd should never feel forced into service. They should never have the attitude of, okay, I guess somebody has to do it, and so I'll step in and fill that role. I remember reading a blog post from a former pastor, and this blog was anonymous, and so I don't know who he was or where he was from, but he had been a pastor before, and he freely acknowledged in his blog that, in his view, he was not a good pastor. And in this particular blog post, he was providing an update that somehow he had stumbled into another pastoral position, and he wasn't quite sure how it happened. And his attitude in the post was kind of like, well, I guess we'll see how this goes. I don't know how I got here. I don't really know what I'm doing. Again, to put it nicely, his attitude was very much one of compulsion. I just kind of stumbled into this role and here I am and I don't really want to be here, but here we go, I guess. And so this is not how pastors ought to serve. Peter notes, this is the first attitude that must be completely, completely avoided. Secondly, He says money should never be a motivating factor. Peter says, not only should you not serve out of compulsion, but you should not serve for shameful gain. The elder is called to serve eagerly, not because of what they can get out of it. This is Peter's point. Finally, the shepherds shouldn't serve so that they can exert dominating power over those in their care. The word domineering there, it literally means to dominate completely. This is what domineering means. And so they must instead lead by example. They're not simply teaching God's word, but they're also being obedient to God's word. And ultimately, as you consider the role, the function of a shepherd, of a pastor, an elder, their authority, it really begins and ends with the Bible. By God's grace, as a elder is doing their job, and they're doing it faithfully, communicating the scriptures, feeding God's flock by speaking the scriptures, God's word, not their own, if you have a problem with that elder, Your problem really isn't with the elder, it's with God's Word. If they're being faithful to the text, if they're being faithful to their calling, which is to feed God's people with God's Word, only God's Word, that's where their authority begins and ends. And so by God's grace, we as a church, we as a body of believers, even more specifically as a youth group, we're supposed to be striving together after God's Word. And by God's grace, that's what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to be longing for, yearning after, striving for God's word and coming to you all and explaining that word. And then you are saying, yes, we want to do that. We want to obey God's word in that way. That's the function of an elder. And so Peter says they're not supposed to dominate. They're not supposed to seek control in the pastorate or in the overseer role. Instead, they should lead by example. We even see Paul talk this way. Follow me as I follow Christ. This is the example. And so Peter says they lead by example. They're not motivated by money. They're not forced into service, but they're willing and eager to serve. And understand, if any of these attitudes that Peter lists, and he kind of gives us both positive and negative functions of an elder, don't do this, instead do this. Don't do this, instead do this. If any of these attitudes are present in an individual's ministry, there will be failure, that they are destined for Failure, this is not how elders are supposed to function. And trust me, there are a myriad of names that come to mind even now as I walk through this text of individuals who are improperly motivated. They join the pastorate for the wrong reason, whether that's financial gain or to build influence or to simply control and exert power. All of those people have had their own tragic falls out of ministry. their consequences for those faults are tragic and far-reaching. And so again, as we consider this text, and as we consider the function of an elder, it is your job, as a believer, it is your job to ensure when you evaluate an elder for service, when you evaluate a pastor for service, are they qualified? that responsibility rests on us as believers to evaluate from the Bible, is this person qualified to serve in the role that we're putting them up for? And if not, we shouldn't be putting them up for it, right? This is Peter's instruction for us. Here's what a biblical pastor should look like. And so, once again, as we consider where we've come in this text, first and foremost, elders, like Peter's example, they should have an eternal focus. Secondly, elders, they cannot be driven by compulsion, greed, or power. And so, of course, As elders do all of these things, as they seek to live up to this standard by God's grace, they also must actively submit themselves to the supreme authority of the chief shepherd. Notice verse four. Peter writes, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. This promise of a future reward, it assumes that the pastor elder is faithful to obey all of the previous commands. Peter writes, only if the elders were faithful would they receive such a reward. In fact, in James 3 verse one, James writes this, not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. And so this can go very positively for elders or very negatively If they fail to live in the way and to elder and shepherd in the way that God has called them to, they can be judged, James says, with greater harshness, with greater strictness. I think there's an excellent illustration of this truth. A story is told of a young pastor who came to visit D.L. Moody's church in Chicago, and he was recently a pastor of a very small church, and as he tried to pastor this church, he's trying to grow the church and expand the numbers, and he comes to Moody, and there's just nothing seems to be working. He can't get his church to grow. And so he talks to Moody and he says, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I don't know how to get my church to grow. And Moody wisely responded to him, perhaps your congregation is as large as you'd like to give account for. This is something that pastors, elders must be faithful to consider. We give account for every single person that is entrusted to our care. How are we leading them? How are we shepherding them? This is why we must be faithful to God's word. We must be faithful to God's word. And so again, this incredible weight is attached to the role of a shepherd, also an incredible reward for those who do faithfully serve. In Peter, in verse four, he uses a very unique word, a very unique phrase to refer to Jesus Christ. He says, when the chief shepherd appears. This is the only place in the entire Bible, never in the Old Testament and never again in the New Testament, is Jesus ever called the chief shepherd. But it reminds us all as elders and as church members, that all elders are ultimately under shepherds. That means they serve under the one true shepherd. The one true shepherd is Jesus Christ. All elders are responsible for what Jesus has entrusted to them. They are not independent agents, acting on their own, pursuing their own agendas. This is not how elders are supposed to function. They do the will of the chief shepherd, not their own. They preach His Word, not their own. They advance His glory, and not their own. And so Peter encourages the elders once again with an eternal reward as opposed to a physical one. There is no physical reward listed. In fact, Peter encourages the elders, don't get into this for physical reward, for monetary gain. That's an improper motivation. The only reward that is promised is an eternal one. And so again, we see the importance of an eternal focus in this role, but for all believers. And so now having instructed the elders, Peter turns to the believers. He uses these opening four verses to talk to the elders, but then he also encourages the believers. And so we kind of get an understanding of how the church is supposed to function in this unified way that he had talked about in chapters really two through four. Notice verse five. Peter says, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. In the beginning of verse five, this is one of Peter's imperative commands. We've seen them throughout the book. Peter says, be subject to elders. There is no alternative listed. If you don't like your elder, then you can not be subject to them. There is no alternative, be subject to elders. In fact, the command to be subject to elders, it even mirrors commands given in chapters two and three to both servants and wives. Servants are commanded the same way, be subject to masters. There's no alternative. Wives are commanded in the same way, be subject to your husbands. No alternative. Of course, we understand we're to be subject for the glory and honor of Christ. So of course, if that authority is instructing us to do something unbiblical, that would be the one occasion that we say, I can't submit to you anymore. You're asking me to do something unbiblical. But in every other circumstance, when submission honors and glorifies Christ, we subject ourselves to our spiritual authorities. This is Peter's instruction for us. And this is a command that we can see throughout scripture. This is a critical piece of a healthy and functioning body. Elders must elder, they must lead and members must follow. The author of Hebrews writes this in Hebrews 13, 17, obey your leaders and submit to them for they're keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." And so essentially, the author of Hebrews is saying, in a sense, don't give your elder or don't give your pastor a hard time. Why would we be instructed that way? Why? Because the pastor, the elder, they are there for your good. Again, Their authority begins and ends with God's word, so ultimately, if an elder's being faithful, you don't have a problem ever with your elder. You have a problem with God. This is Peter's point. This is also the point of the author of Hebrews. Elders are instituted for your good, to help guide and direct you, to help point you back to the word, and instruct you in God's word. And so if you disobey and kick against the leader of your, the leadership of your pastor or your elder, you're damaging your own spiritual walk. And so this is kind of a strange form of spiritual self-sabotage to say, no, I will not obey you. I'm not going to do what you've asked me to do. And ultimately they're pointing you back to God's word. Just follow God, be in God's word, read God's word. And so if you, again, if you push back on the leadership of your elder, you're damaging your own spiritual walk. Notice even the beginning of the church, this is a passage that we've looked at before, but if you consider even Acts chapter two, in the beginning of the church, the church has experienced exponential growth after the sermon at Pentecost from Peter. There's, again, this massive, very rapid growth, and what should they focus on? How are they supposed to move on after such rapid growth? You notice in chapter two of Acts, verse 42, we read this, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. This is a core, of what it means to be a church. This is a core element of the church. Members being fed by God's word. This cannot happen as God intends it. Members submitting to elders, and elders submitting to the under-shepherd, Christ. This can't happen unless both elders and members are defined by humility. Again, both elders and members must be defined by humility. Notice the end of verse five. Peter says, And you probably notice immediately that the group that Peter is speaking to, it's no longer just elders, it's no longer just members, but Peter's now speaking to all of God's people. He says, The reason for this is clearly stated. Why? For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. This is a quote that we see in James's epistle. It's originally found in Proverbs 3, 34. Humility is the essential lubrication for the church to operate as God commands. The church cannot function without humility. Elsewhere in Proverbs, we read this, only by pride cometh contention. That's Proverbs 13, 10. Pride has a very adverse effect on relationships, such that the Bible is clear, God resists the proud. This should really, this should give believers all the motivation they need to readily put on humility and cast off pride. When you read a passage like that, God resists this kind of person, but gives grace to this kind of person. There should be an immediate red flag. Whatever we're doing, we stop and we say, okay. Let me take special note of what kind of person God resists, because I don't want to be that. And whatever kind of person God gives grace to, that's what I want to be. This is all the motivation we need from Peter to say, put off pride and put on humility. And you notice, even the way he says this, Peter says, clothe yourselves with this characteristic. Put this characteristic on. This is an intentional action. I am going to put on humility. It is not natural to me. It is not natural to you. We put it on because we are believers. It must be put on as part of the new man. And so he instructs these believers, probably with at least part of himself understanding what a struggle this was for him. And he says, put on humility, clothe yourselves with this. And this humility, it's toward one another. Again, this is kind of the oil that lubricates our actions within the body. And so he says, do you know a sense, do you know how this happens? How can we clothe ourselves with humility? So many times we think that transitions like this, this kind of humility that we put on, it's some kind of spiritual magic that happens. And this kind of spiritual growth by osmosis. And we don't really have to do anything practically, but this growth happens to us. No, no, no, no, no. Peter says, you must put this on. You have to do it. You have to take action. Start looking to your spiritual elders, start looking to other members in the body, and recognize humbly, I need that person. Do you understand that? You need the body of Christ. You need every other person that's sitting in this room. You need spiritual elders. And so this kind of humility, it comes when we humble ourselves, when we recognize, I'm not better than that person. I'm not smarter than that person across from me. I'm not more spiritual than that person. No, God has placed each and every person in the body of Christ there so that we can grow. So that we can be sanctified, transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. This phrase at the end of verse 5, God opposes the proud. This could even be understood to mean God sets his face against the proud. This is more than merely turning his back on the proud or turning away from the proud. Scripture teaches God is actively opposing the proud. He actively opposes arrogant people. In Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4, Paul writes of the same attitude and its significance in the church. He says this, But in humility, count others more significant than yourself. So again, how can you put on humility? We're instructed clearly, this is something we must take a definitive action step to do. Clothe yourselves with humility. How can we do that? Count others more significant than yourselves. We see active steps being taken in our mentality that looks at others and recognizes, I'm not better than them. I need that person. And in a sense, they need you as well. And so Paul says, again, look at others, count them more significant than you, value their desires, their needs above your own. This is how the body of Christ ought to function. And this is how we can actively clothe ourselves with humility. And ultimately, again, we do all of this so that Jesus Christ might be magnified. And so that everything that we say and do as believers, everything that we say and do as a church, it points the world, it points the lost back to Christ. And so as we consider that and we consider this passage, let's pray and ask for God's grace to take the steps that we need to take, not only as a group, but individually to look more like Jesus, to function more like the body He's called us to be. Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you for your word and we thank you for Peter's own example of humility and his change of heart that we clearly see even in this text that he is a fellow elder alongside of the elders that he's writing to, that he encourages the believers to put on humility as they submit to their elders and as they serve one another. Lord, we pray for our hearts this evening. We pray that we would be ready and willing to take the steps needed to obey your word as we have read tonight. That we as a body of believers would be serving each other and welcoming and unified because of our humility and because of our close and fervent walk with you. God, we cannot do this in our own strength, and so we ask For more of your grace this evening, we ask that we would be good stewards of that grace as we read in 1 Peter. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.