1 Peter 5:1-4 | How to Help the Hurting

Sunday Morning | February 9, 2025 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

In Sunday’s sermon on 1 Peter 5:1-4, part of the Finding Joy in Suffering series, Pastor John emphasized the call to lead with humility and purpose. Peter, addressing fellow leaders, demonstrates strong self-awareness by relating to them as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings, and a partaker in future glory. The message urged believers to stay focused on their main purpose—shepherding God’s people with willingness and devotion. Pastor John also warned against common leadership temptations: serving out of mere obligation, pursuing shameful gain, or misusing power. Instead, he encouraged leading by example, with Christ as the ultimate Shepherd who rewards faithful service.

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Transcript

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Thank you. Isaac. Welcome. Good to see everyone this morning. I’m glad to be here. I don't know about any of you, but our family struggled with sickness this week. So I'm glad to be standing here with you. I thought I could pull in Colby at the last minute, but he was like, no, I'm staying home. So here we are. And you know, as I prepared for this week, we've been working through the book of First Peter. I was reminded of maybe you've read the book“Killer Angels” or seen the movie “Gettysburg” about the Civil War. There was this one general in particular. His name was Joshua Chamberlain. He wasn't. You can show the image of him. He wasn't a general at first, but obviously worked up to that. But he was on the Union side of the war and came from Maine and became very famous in particular for his leadership abilities, his wisdom, his ability to assess the situation and apply great wisdom, courage, bravery. So we had Joshua Chamberlain. He's preparing for Gettysburg, which is the biggest, likely the biggest battle of the the whole war. He's trying to gear up his troops. But then here comes a group of prisoners. They're delivering a group of prisoners to him for him to now handle these prisoners, as well as everything else he has to deal with. Now, normally, that would just be part of normal war. The weird part of this, though, was that these prisoners were actually also Union troops. Here I am having to fight on behalf of the Union. But now I've got to handle my own guys who have mutinied. They've said we're not going to fight anymore. In fact, there's this image from the movie of him giving them a speech, trying to encourage them in the midst of their discouragement. What had happened was they felt like, hey, we did what we were asked. And yet you're continuing to string us out, you're continuing, and now we're being mistreated and we're done. This has gone on long enough. We did what we were asked. We're done. Well, when they were brought to him, they were rough handled, shoved, pushed. They turned him over to him and said, by the way, you can do whatever you want with them. Feel free to shoot them if you need to. Not a great way to start out a relationship with another group of people. Knowing that you have the threat of taking them out if you need to. The first thing he did, though, showed so much wisdom. The very first thing he did was he pulled aside their leader and said, tell me what's going on? Tell me your story. There's so much wisdom in that. Just taking the time to listen. I wonder how many people actually took the time to listen to someone in their group. You know how much power there is in just listening to someone who is struggling, who has been suffering, who feels they've been wronged? And then he said, all right, gather your men, and I'm going to meet with them. I'm going to talk to them. And then when he approached them, and I love this, he didn't approach them like you would a normal group of soldiers. He didn't come issue an orders. All right, man, here's how it's going to be. Here's what we're going to do. No, they came to him- They came to him as those who have been suffering. Listen, I heard your story. I'm sorry about what you've been through. It sounds like it's been really hard. Met them at their level. Let me tell you guys, we've got probably the biggest battle in the whole war coming. He turned from-- let me just try to relate to now, let me cast vision again for why we're here. Let me remind you of why we're in this situation. Because I need help. I don't want to go out there alone. I can use every soldier that will help. When I read back over that speech, listened to his speech given to them, I thought one of the great things that showed so much wisdom that we're going to see in today's passage is how you can meet the needs of someone who's hurting in the midst of their pain. How do you, as a leader, engage with someone who's hurting? Meet the needs of the suffering. How do you minister to those in the midst of their suffering? We saw last week in First Peter. We were wrapping up chapter four. We saw that he was encouraging them, saying, look, don't be surprised that suffering has come upon you. Don't forget you signed up for this. And sometimes we don't want to be reminded of that in the midst of suffering. Sometimes we don't want to be. Yeah, I know, but it's still not fun. How do you meet people in the midst of the suffering, when they're ready to give up, when they feel like this isn't what I signed up for. I don't want any more of this. How do you still lead the hurting, lead the suffering in the midst of the challenge? That's what we're going to see today in the book of First Peter. If you can turn to first Peter chapter five, if you have a church Bible that will be on page 955, the page will be on the screen. First Peter chapter five, and we're going to read verses one through four. He's going to address the elders. He's going to address the leaders directly. First Peter chapter five. 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. What we're going to see in this passage today is three ways to lead those who are hurting. Three ways to lead. To continue to give leadership and direction to those who are hurting. To those who are in the midst of suffering, to those who are ready to give up. How do you continue to engage, to lead, to serve them well? I want to see three ways here. And the first one is in this very first verse. The first one is all about showing a strong sense of self-awareness. You can't lead others in the midst of their suffering if you don't already have a strong foundation, a strong sense of self-awareness to lead others. In fact, you've had those leaders in your life who didn't have that. They seemed oblivious to everything else that was going around them. It was only about them. I remember one summer I was serving on a project, and the leader of that project seemed to lack self-awareness. Had a lot of talent, a lot of gifts. Very brilliant, but seemed to really lack a sense of situational awareness, self-awareness. In fact, one day I came to him. My grandmother had passed away over the weekend, and this was my grandmother. You know, for many years I was her only grandchild. So I got all the attention till my brother showed up and ruined it all. But I was the, let's say, most favorite grandchild for many years because I was the only one. She meant a lot to me for many reasons. Not just because of all the well, probably because mostly all the attention she showed me, but it was hard to know she had finally passed. She lived a long life. She was 93. But I said, listen, I'm going to need to fly to the funeral. I leave this afternoon. I'll be back this time. Still engaged with the project. Here's my plans. I've got people stepping in for me. And his response was, so sorry to hear that. When you get back, here's what we're going to do next. Here's the next step of the project. Here's the task. It was like he didn't even hear a word I said. Never missed a beat, just stayed on the topic of business for the project and everything he was a part of. And I thought, I'm never working with this guy again. Just complete lack of situational awareness. You need to show when it comes to serving those, to leading those who are hurting, struggling, suffering, ready, ready to give up. You got to make sure you have a strong sense of self-awareness. And Peter does that here in three ways. Look back at verse one. So I exhort the elders among you, I'm getting ready to give direction to you, the leaders. Here's what you need to do. But first, I am a fellow elder. He's going to relate to them on three levels. First, as a peer. I'm a fellow elder. And look, if anybody could say I'm not the same as you, it would be Peter. Peter could say, look, Jesus put me in charge, actually, of all this, if you remember, let me take you back and quote you what he said to me word for word. I've memorized it. This is the kind of thing Peter could do. He didn't do that. He says, I'm a fellow elder. At one level, we are on the same playing field. Every Christian could say that no matter what gifts or talents God has given you, no matter what leadership position he's given you, God doesn't look at my family and goes, you know that the dad is really the most important person here in terms of he's worth more to me than his kids. No, no, no, we are worth the same to God. We have different responsibilities. He doesn't look at the church and go, you know, the pastor really is worth more than anybody else in the church. No. Look, at one level, we all are believers, children of God. He comes to them as a fellow elder on the same playing field, comes to them as peers. Then he comes, the second level, he relates to them not as a peer, but as a subordinate. Now it's kind of veiled here, but look at what he says next. He says, I come to you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Now, at first glance, that seems like a subtle flex. Hey, by the way, I was there, I was I saw how things went down. You weren't, but I was. It seems like a subtle flex. But if you remember how that went for Peter. Yeah, he was there when Jesus was being crucified. How did he respond to that? I've never even heard of the man he cursed. He said, leave me alone, I deny him. I don't want anything to do with him. I don't know about you, but I don't usually tend to bring up my biggest failure of all time very often. The beautiful part of that, though, was how Jesus responded to him. Because if you remember when we studied the book of John at the end of the book of John, Jesus was on the shore while they were fishing. Peter's like, I think that's Jesus. Jesus says ‘Cast your net’, they get a bunch of fish. That is Jesus. He swims back to shore and Jesus had waiting there a charcoal fire. That was the one place where that phrase was used. The only other place it was used is when Peter was warming himself at a charcoal fire. Actively denying Jesus. Jesus sets the setting. Remember the last time you saw me? It was around a charcoal fire. Remember what you were doing last time? You denied me three times and so he asks him three times. Peter, do you love me? Peter? Do you love me? Peter, do you love me? If so, here's was his charge to him. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. Three times. Tend my sheep, feed my sheep. Care for my flock. And he restores Peter. Now the reason why this is him coming as a subordinate. I was a witness to that saying, look, I'm not above any of you here because I have done something none of you have done which is to deny him at his worst moment. And if he can forgive me. And by the way. I don't know what you've done. I'm sure there are some people here today who think like. I think God could never forgive me for that thing I did. If he can forgive Peter, who in his lowest moment said, I don't want anything to do with you, he can forgive you. He will forgive you. Don't believe the lie that he can't forgive you. That is the enemy lying to you, trying to keep you in a place of unforgiveness. It doesn't matter. He will forgive you. And Peter comes as a subordinate. Yeah, I was there. But you remember how that went down? I'm no better than you. Lastly, he relates to them this way. Fellow elder, as a peer I witnessed the sufferings of Christ as a subordinate. But then he does come as a superior, not positionally, as a superior, but experientially. Let me tell you what I have experienced, that none of you have. Listen to what he says, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. So Peter says, let me tell you, I have tasted of the glory of Christ like none of you have. We don't know exactly what he's referring to here, but many believe it's the what's the word? It's escaping me all of a sudden. Transfiguration. The transfiguration, when he's standing there with Jesus. And then the cloud comes down and the bright light. And there's also Moses and Elijah there. And he's like, this is the holiest moment I've ever experienced, because it was the presence of God and a strength that no one else had experienced, and it absolutely overwhelmed him. When you've had that experience, you've had a taste of the glory to come. Like like few others in the history of humanity have tasted. And so he comes to them and says, look, before I even give you instruction, we're peers, by the way. I'm your subordinate. By the way, let me tell you what's coming. So come first with a strong sense if you are going to try to lead others who are hurting, just have a strong sense of self-awareness. And if a guy comes to me with this sense of humility that Peter showed, look, I'm no better than you. I'm going to be a lot more open to hearing from them their direction for my life. So that's the first way we help others, lead others who are hurting, suffering, ready to give up. Now the second way here starts in verse two and the second way is focus on your main purpose. Focus on your main purpose. Look at verse two here he says, A fellow elder, I exhort you, Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight. So here's the direction Peter gives to the elders. He says, Shepherd the flock that's among you. He is calling them to focus on their main purpose as leaders is to shepherd the flock. There are a lot of different directions that a pastor or a staff member at church can be pulled throughout the week. I mean, I can be involved in choosing paint color. I could serve as what seems like a general contractor. Might be a part of a wedding or a funeral, or give marriage advice or ideological direction or book recommendations. Probably my favorite part of the week. There can be 100 different directions you can be pulled over the course of the week, but at the core of the responsibility of a pastor of this church is to shepherd the flock, to care for the flock. And if I mention that story of Peter being restored, the two words that were given to him feed my people, feed the sheep, tend the sheep. The word there for tend is the same here as shepherd the flock. Feed and tend, deliver the Word of God to them. Feed them with my word. That's the core of what our church is about. Our foundation is His word. If we do all that other stuff throughout the week, but we're not feeding you his word, then we've we've missed it. If we're not focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ presented in His Word, we can do all that other stuff all throughout the week. Great. And we've missed it. So the starting place when it comes to helping those who are hurting, leading those who are suffering is to not give up on your core calling. Don't forget that what whoever is hurting needs more than anything else is the Word of God and Jesus Christ presented in it more than anything else. Focus on your calling. Focus on the core of your calling. Don't get distracted. All the other things. This is what he's saying to the elders here. Keep feeding, keep shepherding. Keep tending. Keep caring to their needs. Don't lose focus in the midst of the suffering. Now the third way he gives them direction here. And this one's important. Know your temptations. Anyone who has been in a leader leadership position and look, that could be as a parent, that could be as a boss. That can be just the time you got the opportunity to pick the team on the playground. Anyone who is in a leadership position knows there are temptations to abuse that, to use it for your own advantage rather than for the good of others. Anyone who's been in that position knows how that that little taste of power feels. Feels good. I kind of like this. How can I use this for me rather than for others? You need to know your temptations, specifically the temptations of eldership leading in a church. What are some of those primary temptations that elders church leaders are going to face? He's going to address a few here. Look back at verse two. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight. Now he's going to give three contrasting pairs of temptation and antidote. First, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have. So the first temptation is the temptation of obligation, of compulsion is to think that, well, I guess I got to be an elder in the church. I guess I have to be a leader. They didn't have anybody else. They asked me to. I don't really want to, but I guess I will. No. He's saying that may be a temptation to feel, just feel like, I guess I got to serve because I have to. But no, that is not to be the case in the house of God. And look, we all have plenty of areas of life where you are obligated to carry out your responsibilities. You're obligated to serve whether you want to or not. Maybe it's your schoolwork. I can't tell you how many times I didn't want to do my schoolwork, but I still did it. Or it's your job. Maybe you don't want to do your job, but you still did it out of obligation. No one went. You know what, I -- I don't really think you can work here anymore because you didn't really want to. No. Great. You got it done. That's all we care about. Now, your attitude may play into it eventually. You know what I'm saying. One example of this that's always stood out to me is Andre Agassi. Do you remember him? Andre Agassi, the tennis player back in the 90s. He was on all the camera commercials. The funny part of him was for the longest time, he had the long hair. That was kind of his image. Image was everything for him. Like his hair had fallen out years before. Then he was wearing a hairpiece for the longest time because of how much of his image that was. The thing about him. I read his biography. He said, let me tell you, from a young age I absolutely hated tennis, and I hated it my whole life, but I was good at it. I experienced success and I thought, well, I guess I'll keep doing this. And my dad made me, but I hated it the whole time. I always hated it. No one went, Andre, you've ruined the game of tennis because you don't like it, yet you keep playing. Oh look, that works in plenty of other fields of life. But the point he's making here is not here. Not under obligation, but willingly. We want our elders. We want our church leaders to feel like God has made me to do this. This is the greatest privilege that I do out of joy. And of course, there'll be moments where you go, okay, maybe not today. Something came up. I'm not happy, I get that. But in general, in general, it should be. Thank you God, this is a great joy, a great privilege, a great delight. And if that's not the case, have the courage to go, maybe this isn't the season for me to serve in this way. And we've had people do that. And I think that shows wisdom. But the temptation is to just keep going, even though you're not even sure you should be doing it. Willingly. Instead, that's the first temptation is just to serve out of obligation. The second temptation here, though, is look at the next pair, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly. The second temptation is the temptation of shameful gain, shameful gain. The context here specifically is financial. Finance is gained in the wrong manner, done for the wrong reasons. Now, gain inherently isn't bad, meaning it's not wrong to serve in ministry. I feel a little self-serving saying this to be paid to serve in ministry. It's not inherently wrong, but if your main motive is for money, that's a big problem. And it's a temptation, by the way, that churches face all the time. That's why we have a lot of controls in place around our finances. I mean, the people who collect the money are different than the people who count it, are different than the people who deposit it in general, different than the people who then check the deposits versus those who said what they said they deposited and versus-- it's different even then, than the person who comes back and checks each individual transaction. In banks, we have one control over another to protect the church and to protect the people who are handling money. I've had instances where people try to give me a pile of money. Hey, look, we just had this event. That didn't sound right, but I'm talking about in terms of if there's, like, a conference or we had a men's breakfast. Hey, here's here's the money we got from people who paid for breakfast. And I'll say, oh, before you hand that to me, you count it and you text the number to the person I'm going to give it to. And so then we've got accountability. The amount you gave me, there's no wonder. There's no reason to question where did that money go? I wonder what he did with it. I saw him shove a big wad of cash in his pocket. Here's the amount he's going to give it to this guy. That guy knows how much is coming. He's going to count. He's going to let him know that I got it. There's a lot of things we put in place to protect, to protect our own hearts. Because we're not in this for financial gain. And I hope that God blesses the church financially. I hope he blesses every one of you financially. But that's not any of our main motives for being here. It's not. It shouldn't be. What's the contrast here that he gives? Because he said, if it's not for a shameful gain, and this is interesting, you would think that the response to that would be not for shameful gain, but for good gain, for healthy gain. Look at what he says here, not for shameful gain, but eagerly. I love this contrast, not for shameful gain, but eagerly. The point being that we are not here because of what we get out of financially. We are here to serve, to see God move in the lives of every person here. That is where the eagerness is. That is where the excitement is. Yeah, it's great when a big donation comes in, but let me tell you, the excitement around that doesn't compare at all to the story of one kid coming to know Christ, the eager, the excitement of that is a hundred fold of a large gift that comes in. Our eagerness is around the gospel word, not the financial part of it. That's part of it. A church has a business side, but that's not the point. It's not where we give our passion, our energy, our excitement. It's an eagerness for the gospel. But the temptation is to make it about the numbers. But we can't get stuck there. And if you want to lead others well in the midst of their suffering, you've got to stay focused on the gospel. The third temptation he presents here, not under compulsion, not for shameful gain. And then, number three, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. The third temptation is just the temptation of power to use your place to get what you want to run roughshod over people. And you've had this happen where people just keep talking on top of you to get their way. They don't let you have a voice, but they use their power to get their way rather than using their strength to serve. Jesus said this to the disciples when they came to him in Mark chapter ten, a couple of them said to us, Hey, Jesus, will you? You give us anything we ask? Which, by the way, that's a terrible way to start a conversation. I want to ask you for anything. I just want you to say beforehand that you'll give it to me. I mean, whoever says yes to that. But Jesus was like, what? What are you asking? We want to sit at your right and left. He's like, you have no idea what you're asking. You really have no idea. Oh, yeah, we do. Yeah, yeah. You think you do. And here's what he says to them. He says the ruler of the Gentiles, they lord it over their people. They lord their leadership, their rulership over the people. They make sure everyone knows how powerful they are. They make sure everyone knows they are the ones in charge. But the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many. The temptation is to use our power to get what we want. The temptation is to go, well, here's what you're going to do. I know you're suffering, but you need to give with it. We need you here serving at church. Stop questioning. Stop doubting. Stop struggling. What's the problem? Get with it. If you really believe you wouldn't have any problems, That’s the temptation, to start shouting that at people. It takes a lot more work and care and shepherding to go tell me what's going on. How can we come alongside you? In fact, you want to know what takes the most work is the example he gives here. It's what he says. The antidote is not domineering, but being examples to the flock. Especially in this day and age, it doesn't matter what you say, I mean it does at some level, but you can say the right things all day long. But if you're not living it, I'm not going to listen. You're not going to listen. You might for a little bit till you figure out the game and you realize, oh, he's a fake. He says one thing and does the other. I'm out of here. Be an example. The charge given here instead of domineering. It's not. So be nice. It's be an example. Focus on what God is doing in your life. Focus on your own growth. Focus on being the kind of elder they need. We talked about this last week, where the temptation for many is to just focus on what I think you need. I really hope Sally was listening to that. She needed to hear that. Or Billy gosh man, I'm going to remind him after that was a point he really needed to work on instead of going, what does God need to do in me? How do I need to keep growing? Parents, if you want your kids to follow Christ, to passionately pursue him, to know him and have him as their greatest priority -- you want to know the most powerful way to do that? It's for you to be passionately pursuing Christ, to be going after him in all things. It doesn’t... it almost doesn't matter in comparison what you say to them if you're not doing that as well. I'm not looking for perfection. None of us are going to pursue him perfectly. But start, start there. And how can I grow hungry for him? How can I pursue him? I remember in college when my dad was on fire for Christ, like I hadn't seen before. That caused me to want to get to know Christ better. And he wasn't preaching at me. He was coming up here during the week, getting mentoring, spending time with a group of men, starting prayer groups, and I'm like, what is going on? This is exciting. Become on fire for Christ if you want to see your kids on fire for Christ. And it's crazy how this works. The statistics show you want to know the best predictor of who you will become. Everyone in this room, statistically, the number one predictor of who you will become in life in terms of health, job, where you'll live, how long you'll live, how much money you make, your education rate the number one predictor more than anything else. Is your parents. Statistically speaking, when you look across society, they can pretty much tell you, yeah, here's here's probably who you'll be. People don't like to hear that, especially if you're like in high school, you're like, no way. I'm not becoming like them. Okay, don't try to tell me I get it, I get it. The charge for us is. Don't fall into the temptation of power. You're going to do what I say. Be the example. Passionately pursue Christ. Especially when people are hurting, when they're struggling, when they're wondering, how am I going to get back on track now? Here's the reason why. Here's what this all comes down to. Here's where this all points. Because here's the hope for the leader in the room, for the elder in the room. Why am I doing this? Why am I doing what's not natural to serve those who are struggling? Look at verse four. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. The motivation for the leader in the church is not. Let me just show you how many people I can influence. Now that's a piece of it, man. I hope God uses every one of us in here to see many, many, many come to know Christ, and there's so much joy in being a part of that. But that doesn't compare to being able to receive an unfading crown of glory. And there's a lot of confusion, I think, in Christian circles about crowns and rewards in the Bible. Let me tell you what the elders do with the crowns they get. Because we know it's in Scripture. There are 24 elders in revelation chapter four. And when they get their crowns and they're before Jesus, what do they do with them? They put them at his feet. Whatever you've given me, hey, it's yours. Thank you. It is worship. And at the end of the day, our leaders in the church are to be the example of those who say, Jesus, everything you've given us, it's yours. We worship you. We worship you. We fall down. We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus. If you know those who are hurting, who are struggling, who are wondering, how am I going to make it through the suffering and you want to lead them well, pursue Christ, keep worshiping him, keep him at the center of your life and all that you do, and watch him use that to soothe their souls and to lead them back to him. Let's pray. God, we thank you for this morning. And we thank you that even in the midst of knowing Peter knew his audience was struggling, there was suffering. They were under a heavy burden. And he still knew. We've got to lead well, we've got to continue to minister, to continue to pour into their lives. And I know I'm sure there are people in the room today who are on the verge of just going, I don't know, I'm not sure I can bear up any longer. God, I pray they would feel comforted today. This world wants to beat us down. This world wants to point out everything we do wrong. This world wants to make us feel like we're not good enough. And you just say, come, come to me, come all who are weary and heavy laden. Take my yoke upon you. For his yoke is easy. His burden is light. His his yoke, his joy. I pray those who are on the verge of giving up on right now. Back where you are. Just pray. I pray that there would be a crying out of the soul today. God, would you bring comfort? And I'm going to call out some words and you just pray those silently as if that word hits you where you are. God, would you bring comfort? Would you bring peace? Would you bring hope to endure? Would you give wisdom? Whatever suffering continues to be piled upon, would you give wisdom for how to handle that? Would you restore joy? I thank you for the example of so many that have gone before me, and set the example for me to follow. God help us to be an example of a faithful follower of you in the coming days. We love you, Jesus. Amen.