Brad Jones continues our series through 1 Peter by teaching some of Peter’s guiding principles for leading the people God has entrusted to us, and the importance of imitating the humility of the perfect shepherd: Jesus.
Key Takeaway
God has placed us in a community, sheep in a flock, and He has placed shepherds over us to help lead us to Him. Jesus is the perfect Shepherd and worthy of following.
1. We are like sheep.
Sheep are defenseless, feeble, helpless, timid creatures. They are also easily startled. They have a mob mentality and get themselves into trouble.
Left to our own devices, we're all capable of injuring ourselves, getting stuck, going our own way, getting lost.
2. We are called to be part of a flock.
God's gift to us is to be part of a church community.
See Ephesians 2, Psalm 68:6
Iron sharpens iron, Proverbs 27:17
Sense of belonging
We need people and people need us
We contribute, we don't consume
The Church is what God uses to show Himself to the world
3. The Great Shepherd has entrusted imperfect shepherds to lead His Church.
Be shepherds of God's flock under our care. The flock is not ours, it's God's.
We don't start churches, Jesus started the Church two thousand years ago. We plant churches.
Leaders are eager and willing to serve.
People need leaders. They are an example that calls them higher. They care about our character and integrity. We need to be able to seek advice. We need to have authority over us that can speak into our lives.
There is such a thing as poor leaders that disappoint, hurt, and fail you. We are not meant to blindly follow, but it does happen and we are let down.
Always look to Jesus first and then allow leaders to point you towards Him constantly.
Aspire to be a leader in God's House. Be an example. We all need a Paul who's over us, speaking into and encouraging us. We all need a Barnabas who's like a brother, sharpening us. We all need a Timothy, someone to pour into.
Live a life worth being followed.
4. Jesus's People are marked by humility.
Be branded, and have His mark on us.
Clothe ourselves by putting other needs ahead of our own.
Clothe ourselves with recognition of God's greatness.
Clothe ourselves with loving people well.
The greatest danger to the Church comes from inside through selfishness and pride. Pride repels, humility attracts.
See John 10. Jesus is the good Shepherd. He has other sheep, He has told us to go and tell them about Him. God does the saving, but He uses us. Are you available?
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"We are an imperfect people in an imperfect church with imperfect leaders led by the Perfect Shepherd."
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Brad Jones
Discussion Questions
Why are believers referenced as sheep so often throughout scripture?
Do you see sheep as dumb and skittish or helpless and desperate?
In what ways have you been a typical sheep?
Brad said God's gift to us is to be a part of the Church. How has this been proven in your life?
What are some of the benefits of being a part of the Flock?
Even though earthly leaders are imperfect, why are they necessary?
Some leaders demonstrate poor leadership and hurt the people they are supposed to be serving. What is a way to heal from that situation?
What were the three types of people that Brad mentioned we need in our lives?
What are God's people marked, or branded, by?
How can you do your part to expand the Kingdom of God?
Scripture References
1.To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2.Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3.not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4.And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.5.In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”5:5 Prov. 3:346.Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
1.The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.2.He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3.Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his100:3 Or and not we ourselves;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
14.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—
16.I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17.The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18.No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
1.Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2.He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3.He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4.Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5.But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6.We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7.He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8.By oppression53:8 Or From arrest and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.53:8 Or generation considered / that he was cut off from the land of the living,/ that he was punished for the transgression of my people?
9.He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10.Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes53:10 Hebrew though you make his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11.After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life53:11 Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint); Masoretic Text does not have the light of life. and be satisfied53:11 Or (with Masoretic Text) 11 He will see the fruit of his suffering / and will be satisfied;
by his knowledge53:11 Or by knowledge of him my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12.Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,53:12 Or many
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,53:12 Or numerous
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Made Alive in Christ
1.As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2.in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3.All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh2:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit. and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4.But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5.made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6.And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7.in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8.For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9.not by works, so that no one can boast. 10.For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ
11.Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12.remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13.But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14.For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15.by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16.and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17.He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18.For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19.Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20.built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21.In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22.And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Imitating Christ’s Humility
1.Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2.then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3.Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4.not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5.In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6.Who, being in very nature2:6 Or in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7.rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature2:7 Or the form of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8.And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9.Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10.that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11.and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Do Everything Without Grumbling
12.Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13.for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14.Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15.so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”2:15 Deut. 32:5 Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16.as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 17.But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18.So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Timothy and Epaphroditus
19.I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20.I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. 21.For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22.But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. 23.I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. 24.And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
25.But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. 26.For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. 27.Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. 28.Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. 29.So then, welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him, 30.because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.
Jesus Has Risen
1.After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2.There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3.His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4.The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5.The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6.He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7.Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
8.So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9.Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10.Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
The Guards’ Report
11.While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12.When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13.telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14.If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15.So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
The Great Commission
16.Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17.When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18.Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19.Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20.and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
About the Contributor
Ben Stuart is the pastor of Passion City Church D.C. Prior to joining Passion City Church, Ben served as the executive director of Breakaway Ministries on the campus of Texas A&M. He also earned a master’s degree in historical theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, live to inspire and equip people to walk with God for a lifetime. View more from the Contributor.