1 Peter 5:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Peter 5:2

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Here is the standard for elders: ‘Feed [Shepherd] the flock of God.’ A shepherd, of course, leads his flock to pasture, so that the flock may physically feed. That is an illustration. The pastor or shepherd feeds with the word of God, that is obvious. So we could say, ‘teach the flock of God which is among you.’ Peter had denied him three times. When the Saviour brought him under deepest conviction for this, he said, ‘Feed my lambs’, then, ‘Feed my sheep.’ Lambs, once; sheep, twice. Repent, Peter, and you will be restored, and this is your calling.He doesn’t say, ‘Feed the flock’; he says, ‘Feed the flock of God.’ Any teacher, elder must be conscious of the fact, that it is God’s flock and he is answerable to him. Mislead them and he is in trouble. Fail to teach them all the counsel of God, fail to comfort as well as challenge, fail in any of the departments of ministry, and it is God’s possession or flock that is injured. It isn’t your flock, says Peter. You cannot keep a flock of sheep and neglect to feed the sheep. The shepherd's primary basic task is to see the sheep safely into pastures. ‘Taking the oversight’ – does that term indicate some elevated office, being in charge? No, it means watch carefully, guard and protect them, look out for the needs of the souls of the people. Watch for attack, false doctrine, any needs, any trials. These were times when persecution was beginning. Soon the Roman persecution under Nero would be unleashed and that would last for just about two centuries. The leaders, the teachers would be the most vulnerable of people. They would be very afraid; they would know what might well happen to them, and it may be – and even this is noble – that a high sense of duty and calling would compel them to do their work: ‘I must do this, because God demands it of me.’ Says Peter, even though you might be in great danger and doing this work chiefly out of a sense of duty, it is not enough! You have got to do it willingly, with great delight and a sense of privilege. What a standard he lays down for those days. Willingly because you want the flock to prosper and Christians to advance and the grace of God to be manifested. You want them to rejoice in their walk with the Lord and to receive his blessings in abundance. There is an equivalent today. We don’t have so much physical persecution but we have all sorts of other pressures upon the people of God and upon the churches. Pastors, elders, and all the leaders in the church of Jesus Christ have got to function in an eager, willing way in spite of the pressures against them.

Application

We divide the work of preaching into four. You are to preach the gospel, the saving grace of God, earnestly and persuasively. There must be a regular portion of your ministry that is always evangelising. Then you have to teach the doctrines of the faith systematically, and clearly; teach about God and his being and his character, his ways, how he saves, how he sanctifies, and future things. Then he has to exhort. You can't just teach. If you teach without exhorting, it's a waste. It ranges from words of comfort, to words of correction. It's the whole scope of application of the word to the heart, to conduct, to duty. The fourth is to glorify, to lift up the hearts of the people, to help them to see what it means, to move and to see the glory and the wonder of it, so that saved people will feel their indebtedness to God and all that they owe, and their love will be increased.

What are the pressures today? The persecution today is mainly intellectual and now increasingly political, rather than physical violence. There are great problems. There is all the worldliness coming into the churches. The devil now isn’t sending people against us, armed to take our lives, but he is infiltrating the churches with worldliness everywhere. Are we going to take a stand? It has to be said that many pastors take the easy way out. They say, ‘Well, we must allow some of this or we will be unpopular; people will oppose us. These are the modern trends. We can do little to stop them, so let the contemporary music scene come in and take us over.’ But the call to faithful pastors is to resist things which are wrong and to teach clearly what is right and what is wrong, and to take a stand. It may make them unpopular; it may bring them under heavy criticism in their circle, their group of churches, but that is their calling.

How much should pastors be paid? You hear of some who are paid a fortune, and if anybody comments, a host of voices will say, ‘Oh, but he’s such a clever chap. If he were earning his living in the world he’d be CEO of a big company, so he’s worth it; we shouldn’t question this.’ But it isn't the standard of Scripture. The implication is there that they will go on the make, and further, they will get wrongful gain. We should take care of the servant of God; we should make sure that they are free to minister and not troubled with great financial concerns and worries or living in privation. But on the other hand, they shouldn't be greatly better off than all the people. If you overpay pastors, what do you achieve? You remove them from their privileged position. Remember Christ. He said the servant is not greater than his Lord, and he went about as an ordinary man. He even had not where to lay his head. What about the apostle Paul? No different. If a pastor is paid like a big company CEO, you may make very proud, and he will no longer be an ensample, as he is commanded to be. It is the leaders and the pastors who have got to constantly encourage the people to adopt biblical standards and resist excess.

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1 Peter 5:2 Commentary and Bible Study