POST OVERVIEW. A study of Peter’s instructions to the elders of local churches. How is the elder to discharge his duties such that he is pleasing to the Lord?

5:1-3. [IMPERATIVE] Peter gives instructions to those who are in the role of “elders” regarding what they are to do and how they are to fulfill their responsibilities as overseers and teachers in the local church. (See above for DOCTRINAL TEACHING on the role of the “elder.”)

Shepherd the flock of God among you. – 5:2

First, then, elders are exhorted to “shepherd the flock of God among you.” Notice that these sheep in the local church do not belong to the elder but are part of the “FLOCK OF GOD.” Thus the elder is a STEWARD of God’s most precious possession. An elder is given the responsibility to nurture and feed and train God’s flock so that the Lord of the flock will receive His deserved produce (Matt. 21:34). The elder, therefore, is accountable to the Chief Shepherd (5:4) for his instruction and for his shepherding of the church. He is not free to lead the Lord’s flock as he pleases but is to shepherd them as the Lord requires and instructs. (Matt. 24:48-51)

An elder is given the role and responsibility in a local church, because it is the flock of God “among you.” This means the elder is given the role in a local fellowship by a local fellowship. These are men who are to care for the flock so that all the Lord’s sheep are healthy and all the sheep make it safely home.

Second, the elder is to exercise joyful voluntary oversight for the flock. “Oversight” means primarily faithful instruction from the word of God, but it also includes guiding the church in a direction that maintains a focus on the gospel while allowing the church to grow and change as the Lord works in and through the Body. “Oversight” also means “equipping the saints for the work of service” (Eph. 4:12). This means that the elder should also be spurring the sheep on to greater holiness and usefulness. 

Third, the elder has no authority to “lord it over the flock” (5:3) because these sheep are not his. He is a steward of the Master’s sheep and must care for the sheep according to the Master’s instructions. The elder is not superior to the sheep, so he has no authority to “lord it over the sheep.”

Fourth, the elders are to be “examples to the flock” (5:3). Elders are to be model disciples. They are to be those who walk the walk and live the life of a disciple of Jesus. They are to provide the flock with an ongoing, living, breathing example of how disciples are to work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). All these instructions are IMPERATIVE.

There is a promise (5:4) that those who perform their role faithfully will receive “the unfading (see 1:4, “will not fade away”) crown of glory” from the Chief Shepherd.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 7/3/2024                     #708