First Peter: Humility | Part 5: Leadership — A Shepherd's Calling

A Shepherd’s Calling - 1 Peter 5:1-4

1 Peter 5:1-2, The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;

Regardless of whether you ever have the title “pastor,” every Christian is called to shepherd others’ souls. Every church member is called to be a minister. Every disciple is called to “make disciples.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

1)  A shepherd’s calling is to lead. 1 Peter 5:2-3, “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”

Leadership is not lordship. Leadership is influence – it’s the trust you gain through the example of your life. Hebrews 13:7, “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.”

Humility is an absolute prerequisite to carry spiritual authority. 1 Peter 5:5, Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

2)  A shepherd’s calling is to feed. Peter never forgot Jesus’ charge three times – “tend” and “feed My sheep.” (See John 21:15-17)

John 21:15, “Feed My lambs.” 

John 21:16, “Tend My sheep.” 

John 21:17, “Feed My sheep.” 

We are all called to take the Word of God and invest it into the souls of men and women. 1 Peter 4:11, If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.

3)  A shepherd’s calling is to bleed. Peter 5:1, “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ…”

Jesus taught the shepherd’s calling is to lay down his life for the sheep. (See John 10:7-15)

John 10:7-15, Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

1 Peter 5:4, “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”

The “crown of glory” is the shepherd’s crown awarded by the Chief Shepherd to those who have shepherded others well.