Peter's Exhortation to the Elders (And Nola Baptist) part 2

Well, I have to be honest with you. I feel very strange standing up here without the pulpit. I don't know if you realize it, but preachers are mostly creatures of habit. The few times when I preach in other places, I always feel awkward without the pulpit that I am used to. And we removed everything, obviously, for vacation Bible school. And we'll keep it like this Sunday or two and then put the old faithful pulpit back up. But that does remind me to be thankful for everything that we did this past week during vacation Bible school. I'm very thankful for everybody's efforts. Thank you for serving.

You might say, "Well, Brother Chris, I only did a little bit." No, you did a lot. Everybody pitches in to do this work. We had a good crowd of young people. I have said this numerous times. I feel like it's money in the bank. We're just putting spiritual truth into the lives of the young people, not just our children, but also our teenagers that help and serve. And I know that that's forming them into the people that God wants them to be. And so I want to say thank you for all that you did this week. We'll take your Bible. Please turn back to 1 Peter, Chapter 5. Turn back to 1 Peter, Chapter 5 and those five passages that I read earlier.

This morning we're in the part two of Peter's exhortation to the elders. Like I said earlier, we covered verse one. The beginning of verse two last week. And then this morning we'll finish up on down to verse five. I think I've said this before. This is really one message and we needed to divide it up because of time and just having the time to get out of it all that the Lord would want us to have. Now I've said several times that the past two Sundays we're in what I'm calling our summer series, which is messages from the pastor's heart. We picked that series up from time to time. You know that.

And we're examining a few subjects and needs that will prepare us for the future. I've used some different language to speak of our future. I believe we have a grand future. I believe we have a great future, a monumental future. Jesus has already declared that, did he not? He's taught us that he will build his church. That's not a hope so. It's a guarantee. We don't know what that'll look like, but if we're obedient, he will do that work through us. And all of this is for our future. Now I will explain this a little more. I'll help you a little more with this. I don't want to be vague. I'll go back to our old friend Peter.

Remember we looked at Peter a couple of weeks ago in what I called his exegetical testimony. And I declared that we see ourselves in Peter. We see ourselves individually. We see ourselves corporately. That is, as a church. Peter had disappointments, but he had a great and grand future. He could look back at those events in John 21 and at the beginning of Acts 1, and he could see a great spiritual work within him. And I believe we could say that those days for Peter were a spiritual monument for him.

The children of Israel could look back at those monument stones that came out of the River Jordan, and those stones represented a great work that God did for them and in them. And that's the same for Peter. Peter could look back and see a monumental work which prepared him for his monumental future. And this is what's going on in the life of our church. And I do believe in two years, three years, ten years, twenty years, we will look back on these days and see this as preparation for our future. Now last week we examined verse 1 and the beginning of verse 2. This was Peter's exhortation to the elders. That title is simple.

It came right out of the verses. And we see how Peter lovingly called these men, these elders, to their duty. He called them to their office. And he was identifying with these men as an elder in their work. From his heart, I believe Peter was saying something like this, "Listen men, I am one of you. I am working just like you, and I am fulfilling the same calling that you are fulfilling." But he still had his authoritative position as an apostle, and he was commanding them to do this work. Now simplistically, look at what Peter was doing here just in verse 1 and the beginning of verse 2.

He was calling them to their primary job of feeding and protecting God's flock. He was calling them to govern the flock, and he was calling them to their duty. That was Peter's concern with all of these verses. He wanted them to be faithful to their duty as God called elders over the flock of God, which was at their care. This morning we're just continuing. This is part 2. This is really one message. Again, we divided it for the sake of time. Now last week we looked at two questions. I divided those verses in two questions. Who addresses who? Peter is the first who. The elders are the second who. And then what is the concern?

It was their duty. And then here this morning in part 2, we're really going to ask one question, and that is the question how. But we're going to ask this question how in three ways. How is he to operate there at the end of verse 2, all the way down into verse 3? And then how is he to be motivated? This is in verse 4, but we'll go back to verse 1, and then how are we to relate? So this one question how is woven all through these verses. I want us to go back to the verses and read them again. I do that purposefully so we'll have them fixed in our mind.

And when the verses are familiar to us, as they should be, when we're going through the message, the verses are just in the back of our minds. They're ringing in our ears. So let's start with verse 1. Peter is writing, "Therefore I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder, and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed. To the flock of God among you, exercising oversight." This is where we will start this morning. "Not under compulsion, but voluntarily according to the will of God.

And not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, not yet lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men likewise be subject to your elders, and then all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another." Four. And then Peter is quoting Proverbs, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Now, you see how we'll divide the verses. That's before you. It's easy for you to take notes and write these main truths down.

But notice number one, our first observation, or our first major truth. This first question, "How is he to operate?" How is the elder that Peter is addressing, how is he to operate? Now, if our previous verses that we covered last week relate to the elder's duty, then these verses that are before us this morning, they relate to the elder's heart. Use the question, "How is he to operate purposely?" This question, "How is he to operate?" is to reveal what should be in the elder's heart.

So you might want to write down this word, "how," with a question mark, and then you might want to write down this word, "heart," because the heart will determine how, and the how will reveal what's in the heart. Now here, Peter gives three points of instruction to the elder. It's obvious. He gives this in the negative and then the positive. Notice the nots here in the verses, they speak of the negative instruction. I'll just go back to the first one. Not under compulsion, but voluntarily. And then he contrasts the negative with the positive, and those start with the buts all through the verses. Remember, this is how.

How he does his duty, which comes out of the heart of the man, the elder, these elders. So first, in this instruction, the elder is to lead willingly. You can write down the word willingly. That will help you. The elder is to lead willingly. Go back to the middle part of verse 2, "not under compulsion, but voluntarily." Now the new American that I'm reading from says, "voluntarily." The English standard says, "willingly." Now Peter, here Peter is saying that the elder is not, and I say that emphatically, not to see his work as a heavy burden that is imposed upon him.

He is not to see his duty as drudgery or the old fashioned grind, if you know that language. The elder is to engage in the work willingly out of a personal and divine calling. The heart expressed here is, "I get to do this, not I have to do this." But there is a work, and there is a duty that is attached to this calling. We studied this last week. We see both duty and heart, heart and duty. Now there are two verses that will express this heart and express this duty. They come from Paul, the Apostle Paul. First Corinthians chapter 9 verse 16, what does he say? "For if I preach the gospel, it gives me no ground for boasting.

For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel." For me, I see one word out of Paul right here in 1 Corinthians 9, 16, and that is duty. Paul is plainly saying that he is compelled to a duty to preach the gospel. And then in Romans 1, 15, Paul says, "So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome." Now for me, I see this word heart here. What does he say? "I am eager. I want to. It's my duty." Yes, but it is in my heart. Part's heart was for his duty, and his duty was not disconnected from his heart. So Peter is calling these men to the heart of the how? And I don't mean to confuse you with those words.

Peter is calling them to willingly throw themselves into this work. Why? Why would they do this? Because they have a divine calling that has affected their heart. They get to do this work. They don't have to do it. So the elder, the elder, is to lead in his duty willingly. And then second, notice the elder is to lead eagerly, to lead eagerly. Go back to verse 2. Not for "sorid gain," but with eagerness. Now the New American and the English Standard both use this word eagerly or eagerness. Same thing. Now here we see one of the biggest problems for ministers, and that is dishonest or shameful gain.

There is the shameful gaining of money through positions that the elder can hold. And that is an obvious reality. And this is one of the biggest motivations of the false teachers that we see all throughout the New Testament, especially the epistles. I'll pick a couple of verses out that will help you see this. You see this in 2 Peter 2, verse 1 and verse 3. Really in verse 1, 2 and 3. What does Peter say in verse 1? "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you." In verse 3, what does he say? "And they're greed." Don't overlook that. They're greed.

"And in their greed they will exploit you." So this was not to be the case of these men here in our verses before us this morning. They were to serve with eagerness not for what they could get. They were to serve with eagerness not to get gain out of the position. Now this leads us to a question that comes up in the life of the church. Many times it's dealt with improperly, and the question is, does the elder have the right to be paid for his services? Does this mean that the elder, the pastor should serve for free? No, that's not the case. Scripture is crystal clear that the church should pay their pastor, pay their elder.

2, that I ran across in my study. There are many more. 1 Corinthians 9, 17 to 14. And 1 Timothy 5, verse 17 and 18. But what are we seeing here in these verses? Peter is calling these men not to be motivated by money, not to fall into the trap of shameful or dishonest gain, not to use their office for what they can get. They were to lead eagerly, no matter what the guy. And then third, the third point of instruction, the elder is to lead by example. The elder, he is to lead by example.

Look at verse 3, "Not yet as warding an over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock or the flock of God." Here we see Peter directs these men not to use their office to lord over or dominate God's people. This word speaks of manipulation, domination, intimidation. There are two realities that are associated with the elder position which contempt the elder to fall into this trap that is lording over the people. First, the elder is in a position of authority over the people. He is in a position of authority over the flock of God. And then second, the flock of God are under the charge of the elder.

Having the position of the people under the elder can lead to this temptation. And this domination was the habit of many of the false teachers within the church, especially the epistles Paul tells us. Diotraphes is a famous false teacher who lorded over the flock, dominated and manipulated the work and the people of God. In 3 John we see the story of Diotraphes. He dominated and he manipulated the people of God and the work of God. But that is not to be the case of these elders that Peter is writing to. They were to serve as examples to God's people, the church, the flock of God. We see this in 1 Timothy 4, verse 1.

Paul is instructing Timothy as an elder there at the church at Ephesus. He calls Timothy to be an example how in speech, in personal conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. So in summary what do we see here? These are some short verses but they were power packed. This is how the elder is to shepherd and oversee the flock of God. This how listed here can only come out of a true heart for God. This comes from a work of God within the man. Now I point out the negatives and the positives. Do we not see that in the verses? But notice the negatives and the positives.

The negatives are a work of the flesh whereas the positives are a work of the spirit within the man. Peter is showing us how true elders operate in the church. Let me go one step further. Peter is showing us how true elders operate in the lives of the flock of God. I go one step further. Peter is showing us how true elders operate in the lives of God's people. People just like you and me. The church is the flock of God. The flock of God are God's people. Now let's continue on. I want us to notice our second major truth or our second observation out of the verses and that is this motivation. How is he to be motivated?

How is the elder to be motivated? I said earlier this is in verse 1 and in verse 4. Now whether we know it or not we touched on some of this motivation last week. To me in verse 1 there is a hint of a motivation. Now none of the commentators or scholars that I consulted mentioned this. So maybe I'm going out on my own and pulling this motivation into verse 1 but I see it there. But there definitely is a motivation in verse 4 that is plain to see. Now I want to examine a motivation in verse 1 first and then this motivation in verse 4. And I believe you will see that this impacted the elders in a great way.

First there is a motivation from those around. Now go back to verse 1. What does Peter say? I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder. That is the who addressing who. And we know that it was Peter. This is the Apostle Peter. He was exhorting the elders as a fellow elder. We know that Peter's apostolic authority it would have been known to these men as well. But I did not mention the plurality of elders that is seen in verse 1. There would have been multiple elders receiving this letter.

Now a careful study of the New Testament churches and the teaching in the New Testament revealed that the churches were governed by a plurality of elders. There was always, always, always a plurality of elders. So what am I saying here? These elders were surrounded by each other. They were close to each other. They were elbow to elbow in the work. They were in the trenches together. They all had the same successes and failures. They all had the same calling and the same duty. They were all different but yet they were very much alike. And then they had the great leader.

This was Peter and he was exhorting them as a fellow elder but yet as an apostle. It is safe to say that he would have been a hero to these men. So this would have been tremendously motivating to them because they were surrounded by one another and they were surrounded by the Apostle Peter and this fellow elder Peter as he identifies with them in this role. So to me, they were motivated from those around. And then the obvious, second, there was this motivation from the future. This motivation from the future.

Verse 4, "And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." Now this motivation is definitely more obvious. Now the chief shepherd, it is obviously Jesus. Here Peter is directing their attention to the second coming of Jesus. He is saying that the chief shepherd himself will examine their ministries. Of course, this is at the judgment seat of Christ. This is spoken of in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Now this is when men will be rewarded for the deeds done in the body. Peter goes on to say that these elders will receive a crown of unfading glory.

On their day, crowns were given to signify the victorious achievements of athletes and soldiers. And their crowns were temporary. But the crowns described here for these elders pertained to the characteristics of their eternal life and their eternal reward. And this should have been a tremendous motivation for them as well. So what are we seeing here in verse 4 and back in verse 1? These elders were written to in verse 1. They should have been energized for their work. They should have been energized by all of those around them. Imagine with me one elder being energized because he has seen the work of God in his brother right next to him.

So for each other, this should have energized them. From Peter, this should have energized them. From Peter's specific exhortation and his apostolic authority. They should have been motivated by the potential of their future reward. Simply these men should have been energized spiritually when they looked around at each other. Then they should have been energized when they looked up to that eternal reward. This should have charged their batteries for the work, for the duty, for the calling that God has or had for them. And then our third major truth or our third observation shifts from the elders. Notice the question, how are we to relate?

How are we to relate? Now go back to verse 5 with me. You younger men likewise be subject to your elders and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another for God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Now for me, I see two things here in verse 5. I see a conclusion and a transition. First I see the conclusion. In verse 1 and the beginning of verse 2, Peter is calling these men to be faithful to their duty, their job, their position. In the end of verse 2 and on into verse 4, Peter is showing these men the heart that they should have in the work. Their hearts determine who they were and what they would do.

Now to me, verse 5 is a conclusion to this exhortation. But also I believe we see a transition. To me, Peter takes a big step back here in verse 5. He takes a step back and he addresses the church as a whole, not just the elders. So he's addressing the elders and the church as a whole in verse 5. Now I see three points of instruction out of these verses or this verse. First notice the younger relating to the elders. Go back to the verse. You younger men likewise be subject to your elders. Now you might not realize it but there is a small debate as to who this is being addressed to.

Some scholars say this pertains to the younger people within the church and how they should relate to the elders. But some say this pertains to the deacons or those subordinate church ministers and how they would relate to the elders in the church. Now those who say that this refers to deacons and other church leaders say that the word in the original for younger cannot mean a layman or a layman in general. They say that this just will not allow for it. So it seems that Peter is encouraging younger leadership, men like deacons and leaders in the church, to be subject to the elders that are over them.

Again we have seen that the elders are to oversee and govern the church. Peter seems to be reminding those younger leaders to submit to that authority that is over them. And then second notice all relating to one another. We have all and how they relate to one another. Go back to verse 5. What does he say? "And all of you." See I think that's a transition from younger leaders. "And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another." Now here it is obvious that Peter is shifting to the congregation. It's obvious he takes that big step back. Now there are two key words here which emphasize what Peter is saying.

The first key word is this word "clothe." In the original this word refers to an outer garment. Some say it was like an apron, a long white apron, and it was a common garment worn by slaves. A second key word here is this word "humility." This speaks of being lowly in mind. Now question why the time with these details? What bearing do these details have on Peter's instruction to the congregation? Peter is telling the congregation that they had to be willing to take any place of service. They had to be humble enough to serve in any capacity. They were to be willing to be slave-like in their service within the church.

They were to be clothed with this humility, with this slave-like service. They were to be clothed with this work and demeanor. See this is how they were to relate to one another. And then third, it is a warning. There is a warning, and I see a warning here for all. And this is in the quotation, Peter's quotation of the book of Proverbs. What does he say? "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Specifically, Peter is quoting Proverbs 3.34. Now what is Peter trying to say here? He is warning them not to let pride creep into their hearts and lives. This is a warning. Any man in a position of leadership can become prideful.

Any lay person who is in a position of leadership can become prideful. And any lay person in the pew can become prideful as well. Notice the contrast. Peter calls the congregation to slave-like humility in service while warning them that God will oppose them if they grow in pride. Peter knows that the sin of pride is always lurking around the corner. Peter fell prey to this pride in his past. It's always lurking around the corner, and Peter knows it. And I think Peter knows from his personal experience that he better warn these people. So in summary, what do we see here in verse 5? Again, I think Peter takes a big step back.

He steps back from the specific instruction of the elders to the church as a whole. He calls for the subordinate leaders and ministers to submit themselves to the elders that God has placed over them. He calls them all in the life of the church to clothe themselves with slave-like humility and a slave-like service. And he warns them, "Be careful. Oh, be careful, and don't let pride creep into your heart and life." Now last week when we dealt with our part 1, I stated that these verses here were what I call life verses. I can't say this enough. Throughout the years, I have studied these verses. I have prayed over these verses.

I have wept many tears over these verses. I have many life verses that God's used throughout the years, some that I've moved on from. Not that they don't have a bearing on my life, but this one is so real and powerful to me because it speaks to my calling. This speaks to my duty. And I'll be honest with you, this exhortation is really first and foremost for me. And of course, these verses pertain to you as a church as well because I am the pastor here and so if it affects me, it affects you, and I don't think I have to convince you that this is for all of us.

And there is a lot that we need to be taught here in the life of the Nola Baptist Church. I've also said repeatedly in our messages, messages from the pastor's heart in this series that there are three purposes in the messages here. We have a reminder. We always need to be reminded of truths. We are forgetful. We can move away from things that the Lord has taught us. And we need to be corrected because we can move to the left and to the right of truth and many times we just need to be corrected slightly. Sometimes we need major correction. And then I believe this definitely prepares us for our future.

Now just like last week's and last week's message, I'm going to make application in three questions. First to me, to you, and then last to Nola Baptist Church. First, how does this apply to me? How does this apply to me? It's obvious, I think, for you to see that I must be an elder, a pastor, a minister of the gospel that operates his life in these verses, the second part of verse two and verse three. This must be my heart. This must be my heart that determines what I do. See, I must willingly serve. I must willingly, not under compulsion, I must voluntarily serve the work of the church and serve the people of God. That is you.

I must eagerly serve. I must eagerly serve, not for what I would get, not for monies or possessions that I would attain in the service of the church. And I must serve as an example to the flock. To be honest with you, that's the one that groups me the most. And see, this must be my heart. This must be what I do. So a question comes out of this. What is my motivation? Why do I do what I do? I think I can answer that question accurately in many ways. First of all, I love my Lord and I love the calling that He has on my life. And I do what I do because the Lord has called me.

Yes, it's my duty, but I willingly, lovingly do my duty because first and foremost, it is a calling, not a job. I've had opportunities to move and leave and I never did that. Why? I love calling. This was my duty. This is where God has had me. Through difficulties, there are people who ask me why we didn't move, maybe move back closer to home. No, this is where God had called me to be. And my motivation was to be faithful to the calling that God had on my life. And then specifically to the calling that God had here. But then if you continue to ask me what is my motivation, I would have to say it's a love for you. I love you.

You're God's people. You're God's flock. This is the work of God. This is the church of the living God. And God has called me specifically to be an elder here and you are the flock of God that is before me. And I love you because God loves you. And I love the work. I love the work of the church, no matter what that may be. So I'm motivated in many, many ways. First, because my God has called me and He's done this work in my heart. Then another question, how does this apply to me? I move on to verse 5. How do we relate to one another? Is there submission to the office that God's given me?

Is there submission to the authority that God's given me? I say that humbly. I don't say that with a balled up fist behind a bully pulpit. No, a true shepherd of God never has that demeanor. And there has to be some submission to the position and the authority and the office that God has put me in. But then I must move on to how do we relate to one another as we are in the church of God together. Are we relating to each other and the work of the church in a slave-like humility, in a slave-like service, with the heart of a slave, a desire to humbly serve one another and the work? How does this apply to me?

I think it's obvious this applies to me. This must be my heart. See what you have before you, church, is a true pastor in these verses. I'm not saying me, no. I am not the perfect example, but out of these verses, this is what a pastor and an elder should be. Now I want to issue a warning here, and I don't say this arrogantly. I've fallen into this trap before. Be careful of allowing celebrity preachers to be your pastor. I'm very thankful that there are so many solid and strong celebrity preachers out there today.

I have been in churches, weaker churches, where to feed myself, I literally had to go to places like that, outside of the four walls of the local church where I was serving. But be careful, because there can be a danger that we look to the celebrity preacher to be our pastor. The celebrity preacher can never serve you like we see in these verses. I'm not chastising any of you. If you listen to a celebrity preacher, don't take that too far. I would encourage you carefully to do that. You have to be careful, because sometimes they might not be who you think they are, but what am I trying to show you? This applies to me.

This is my calling, and you must recognize that in me. I think I bled over to the second question, son. The second question is, how does this apply to you? How does this apply to you? First of all, you should expect any and all elders here at Nola Baptist Church to operate with this type of heart. Period paragraph, no questions asked. We can't lower the standard. You should expect any and all elders in the life of Nola Baptist Church to operate with this kind of heart. This is how they function. This is what they do, and it comes out of their heart. Now, I want you to write down two words here.

First, the word "standard." This is the standard. Right here is the standard. And then the other word is "perfection." Write down the word "perfection," and then cross it out. Why? Because no one will ever attain perfection in the role and function of an elder. Oh, this is the standard, but we can never reach perfection. Not that we would lower the standard, no. And see, you are God's flock. We are God's flock together, and we are expected to live these verses out, and we are expected to live verse 5 out together. I am happy to see the younger leaders that God is raising up in the life of the church.

You are relating to the elder in the office of the elder in a biblical way. This is the standard, and God is doing that work in you. But, oh, one day there will be a test. One day there will be one who will rebel against the elders in the life of the church. You might say, "Preacher, you're being a prophet of gloom and doom." No, it's going to happen. We also must be a people who are all clothed in this humble, slave-like humility and service. Noel the Baptist Church must be clothed in a slave-like, humble attitude and service.

The garments of humility and slave-like service so that we can serve each other and serve the work, and we must always be on guard for pride. I'll never forget, quite a few years ago, I was at a conference, and I heard a preacher standing up there, and he began to talk about how humble he was. He began to talk about the kind of clothes he wore. He began to talk about some of the things that went on in his family. He began to talk about some of his possessions. You know it didn't hit me at first, but a few years later it dawned on me. It was false humility. Listen, any time we brag on our humility, it's not humility. It was false humility.

Any study of the Beatitudes will show you that. See what I'm showing you is we must be clothed with true Christ-like humility. It's not tainted by any pride at all. And I'm so afraid that famous preacher stood up there, and he described certain things about his life, and it came across as great, great humility when actually it was prideful. Because any time you brag in any way, it comes right out of a heart of pride. So how does this apply to you and to me? We must be clothed in humility. We must be clothed in slave-like garments to serve one another, no matter if anyone knows or if we get a pat on the back to serve the work of the church.

And I believe Paul, or excuse me, Peter, gave us this warning because we are always having the beat, the flesh, pride back. Why? Because as soon as we start to serve, as soon as we start to do, pride must well up in us. And then the third question, how does this apply to the Nola Baptist Church in our future? I want to repeat something I said last week and then I'll add to it. Last week I said the future of the Nola Baptist Church depends on godly leaders. Oh church, the ship sails, or the ship sinks, on solid elder leadership. And I add to that statement, the health of the church depends on how we relate to one another.

If verse 5 is not being fleshed out in the life of the church, then we will have a lot of selfish, sinful attitudes and actions and listen, it will just pollute the work of the church. I remember a church where I served where there were people in the life of the church who couldn't grasp verse 5 and because of a power vacuum what did they do? They rose up with sinful attitudes, self-seeking agendas and what did they do? They polluted the work of the church. They weren't verse 5. I've seen it happen. Now I want to close with three more words of application.

I'm not trying to just drive this application down our throats, no, but we need to take the time to apply this. So I want to close with three more words of application. This really helps us relate to one another properly. I think it's very needed. First word in this application, the word time. Oh, please write down the word time. And what I want you to see is this. It takes time to see if an elder has this heart. Oh, you can't see this heart with a resume. You can't see this heart with a handful of sermons. You can't see this heart on a slick, pretty website. No, it takes time. It takes time.

It takes time to see if an elder is going to serve the church like this. I've served the church for years, many years. Not perfectly, no, but I've done it willingly, not out of duty. Why? Because the work that God has done in me. I've served the church eagerly, not for what I could get. I'll never forget the very first paycheck I got in ministry. I looked at it and in tears, I said, "Lord, I can't believe I'm getting paid to do what I would lay my life down to do." And as best I know how, I'm striving to be an example to the flock. And that's you. And what am I trying to show you? Time. There's no substitute for time.

And in our fast food microwave mentality today, we don't want to take the time. It takes time to see if this is in the heart of an elder. And look in that time. We see crisis in their life. We see trial in their life. We see opportunity in their life. All types of things come down the pipe. Why? To test them in that time. The second word I want you to write down is the word closeness. Please write down the word closeness. See, when we look at verses like this, we realize that we must see an elder's life up close and personal. How's he going to exemplify what a true elder should be if we're not up and close and personal?

And I know pastors who say, "Oh, you can't get close to your people." And see, we must see that there must be a closeness between the leaders that God has and God's people. You must know Him if you're going to see that He is a true example to the flock. I'm going to be real personal with you, Nola. I've been real, real personal before you all these years. I've opened up my life to you. You've always been welcome into my home. You've always been welcome into my life. You know me. I believe you know me. And I don't have some artificial wall between me and you where there's another me out there. Brother Keith, can I test this?

And some of you have been close enough to me to see, "No, I'm not perfect, but I'm not some fake or some charlatan." There is this closeness that must be between the leaders and God's people. And that takes time. And then I want to bring up that word I asked you to x out earlier, the word perfection. Write down the word time. Write down the word closeness. And then write down this word perfection. And I want you to see that you cannot expect perfection. And I can't expect perfection out of you. Listen, I am not lowering the standard. No, I am not advocating cheap grace.

But if you have an expectation of perfection out of me, it will destroy you and it will destroy me. And if I have an attitude of perfection out of you, it will destroy me and it will destroy you. We will destroy each other. Now again, I'm not trying to lower the standard. And I'll be honest with you, I see many of my faults. I see many of my inadequacies. The longer I do this, the more I see some inadequacies and faults that I did not see before. But yet there are some things in me that you see that I don't see. But you know, there's one person in the Scripture that gives me hope as a pastor. It's the young Timothy.

God can use Timothy, then God can use me. I go back to our old friend Peter. Oh man, what disappointment. But if he can have a grand future, a monumental future, then we can. I jotted a few things down about Timothy, some inadequacies, hindrances, maybe things that would have made his resume be at the bottom. Timothy came from a mixed-race family with an absentee father. That's a term we could use. It's called dysfunctionalism. It appears that he did not have a father that loved the Lord, but he did have a mother and a grandmother that loved the Lord.

And if you study Paul's relationship to Timothy, it is obvious that Paul had this father-type figure, this father-type relationship with Timothy. But what do we see? He did not come from a solid family. And he even came from a mixed-race family with a seeming absentee father. That's one strike against him. Timothy was very young for his position. Young. Paul said, "Don't let anybody look down on you because of you. You are so young." Oh, that's a strike against him. Another one, Timothy had health problems. Paul's telling him to deal with his health problems. He just wasn't healthy. Oh, that's a strike against him.

Maybe somebody in the church could say, "Oh, we need a young, vibrant, healthy minister, not that sickly young man over there." Another personality quirk that he had is that he struggled with timidity and this apprehensive demeanor. And it was always coming up in his ministry. He just didn't seem to have some of the backbone, maybe, that some of the other men had. Timothy was seemingly too inexperienced for such a big church like Ephesus. You got to remember what Ephesus was. It was a flagship church of the area. Oh, it would have been the first Baptist church.

Now, if you study Timothy's life, he went a lot of places and did a lot of things for Paul in his ministry. But he was mighty young to be in such a big, influential church like Ephesus. Now, you could continue with the list. What am I trying to show you? We're not going to have perfection. I'm not lowering the standard. No, I want the standard to be as high as we can make it. But what am I trying to show you? If we have the standard of perfection for each other, we're just going to destroy each other. Now, what have we been seeing here in these verses? I believe a lot. Peter's exhortation to the elders.

But remember what I've been doing all along, changing our title. This is Peter's exhortation to the elders. This is Peter's exhortation to me. This is Peter's exhortation to you. This is Peter's exhortation to us. Now listen to you, pastor. If we're going to be who God wants us to be, we must have this in the life of the church. It's key. It's key. I'll repeat what I said earlier. If we don't have elders like this in the church governing the church, the ship will sink. And if we do not relate to each other like we see in these verses, especially in verse 5, it'll be nothing but anarchy and war and no peace.

But oh, if the Spirit of God takes these verses and does this work within us, they will be a sweetness. They'll be a service. They will be a humility. They will be a work. They will be a bonding over the work and with God's people. Oh, there will be something going on that can only be explained by God. So what have we seen the past two weeks? First Peter, chapter 5, verses 1 to 5. leaders exhortation to the church. Let's pray.