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Willing Shepherds: Why Elders Must Serve Not Under Compulsion (1 Peter 5:1–4) · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome back to the Deep Dive. For this conversation, we are
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  planting our flag under the banner of Reformed thinking.
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  We have a a massive stack of notes here, exegetical
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  commentaries, theological essays, some historical data on
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  the 1st century church, and we are going to try to get to the
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  bottom of a specific pressing issue.
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  It is good to be here and the issue we're tackling today is
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  one that I think keeps a lot of people up at night.
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  If you are in church leadership, it might be keeping you up
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  because, well, you are stressed. And if you are sitting in the
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  Pew, it might be keeping you up because you are wondering why
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  the leadership in your church feels.
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  Off right we are looking at the heart of the shepherd.
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  Specifically, we are zooming in on first Peter 5.2.
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  But before we even get to the verse, we have to talk about the
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  problem, because Peter doesn't write this in a vacuum, and you
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  know we aren't reading it in one either.
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  You look around the modern church landscape and what do you
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  see? You see a lot of pragmatism.
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  You see a crisis in how we define leadership.
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  The world has a very specific lens for this.
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  It views leadership through corporate maneuvering, the CEO
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  mentality, efficiency, quarterly growth targets.
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  Is the boardroom model. Precisely.
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  It is the boardroom model imported directly into the
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  sanctuary. And when you do that, you start
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  looking for managers. You look for guys who can
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  balance a budget, run a committee, or maybe just have a
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  charismatic personality that draws a crowd.
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  It becomes about nickels and noses, budgets and attendance
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  figures. Which makes sense on paper,
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  right? I mean, if you are running a
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  nonprofit, you need to be solvent.
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  You want to reach people you can't just ignore the
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  operational reality of. Absolutely, and that is the
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  trap. Administrative competence isn't
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  a sin. The problem is when the virtues
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  of the manager, things like efficiency, speed, quarterly
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  results, when they displace the virtues of the shepherd, which
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  are patience, suffering, and long term faithfulness.
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  You can be an incredibly efficient manager and a terrible
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  shepherd because shepherding is inherently inefficient.
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  Right. Sheep are slow.
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  They wander off, they get stuck in brambles.
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  You can't scale a shepherd's care the way you scale a tech
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  startup or a, you know, a fast food franchise.
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  Exactly. If you try to apply 6 Sigma
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  efficiency to sanctification, you end up crushing people.
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  And that is where the biblical model is just so radically
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  different. It is almost the inverse of the
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  corporate ladder. And that is where our text comes
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  in. First Peter chapter 5, verse 2.
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  Let me just read it so we have it in our heads.
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  Shepherd, the flock of God that is among you, exercising
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  oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have
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  you. It is a sentence that stops you
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  cold if you really read it. So the mission for this deep
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  dive is pretty clear. We want to strip away that
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  secular pragmatism. We want to look at the heart
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  posture required for an elder. We are just talking about what
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  an elder does, you know, voting on motions, handing out
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  communion. We're talking about how and why
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  he does it. And we should establish our
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  coordinates right from the start.
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  This discussion is rooted in Reformed theology.
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  We are looking at this through the lens of the Westminster
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  Standards. When we talk about the church,
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  we are not talking about a nonprofit organization or a
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  social club. We are talking about the flock
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  of God, that possessive noun of God.
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  It changes everything. These people belong to Christ,
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  not a board of directors. And the stakes here are
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  incredibly high. This isn't just inside baseball
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  for pastors or theologians. No, not at all.
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  This effects everyone. If you are listening to this and
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  you are an elder, or maybe you aspire to be one, this is
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  obviously for you. But if you are a layperson, this
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  matters because the health of your soul is directly tied to
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  the nature of the oversight you receive.
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  A church led by men who are doing it under compulsion is a
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  church that is being slowly poisoned.
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  That is a strong image, but I think it is accurate.
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  If the water at the source is bitter, the flock is going to
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  get sick. So we have to look at the
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  source, the heart. OK, let's unpack the context
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  first, because Peter doesn't just drop this command out of
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  nowhere. Yeah, what is the backdrop here?
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  We often hear suffering, but can we be more specific?
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  We have to be the backdrop is the fiery trial.
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  Most scholars date first Peter to around the mid 60s AD This is
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  likely just before or right at the very beginning of the
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  Neronian persecution. Nero.
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  So we are talking about a time when being a Christian wasn't
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  just unpopular, it was potentially capital treason.
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  This wasn't about losing your tax exempt status.
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  No, we are talking about Christians being used as
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  scapegoats for the great fire of Rome.
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  We are talking about believers being marginalized, slandered as
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  haters of mankind, and physically threatened.
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  The recipients of this letter are called sojourners and
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  exiles. They aren't the cultural power
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  brokers. They are the outcasts.
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  Which changes the pressure on leadership, doesn't it?
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  It is one thing to be a leader when everything is going great
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  and the budget is in the black. It is another thing entirely
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  when the wolves are actually circling.
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  Why would anyone sign up to be a leader in that environment?
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  You're basically painting a target on your back.
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  You are, and that is why the internal leadership structure
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  has to be rock solid. If the structure is weak, the
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  building collapses under the storm.
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  If you are a leader just for the status, you are going to bail
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  the moment Nero looks in your direction.
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  That makes sense. And what I love about this text
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  is Peter's own posture. He starts first one by calling
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  himself of a fellow elder. In the Greek that is some
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  presbyteros. He doesn't pull the apostle
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  card. Listen up.
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  I'm Peter. He doesn't, and he could have.
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  He is Peter. He walked on water briefly.
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  He preached at Pentecost, but he appeals to them as a participant
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  in Christ's sufferings. He says I have seen the
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  suffering and I share in the glory that is to be revealed.
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  He stands beside them, not just above them.
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  He's saying I know what this cost is, I'm in it with you.
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  That solidarity is crucial. It feels less like a command
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  from headquarters and more like a word from a general in the
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  trench next to you. That is exactly the tone.
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  Now, we should probably clarify some terms, because in the
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  modern church we have split these things up.
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  We have pastors, we have elders, we have bishops, we have
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  overseers. It can get confusing for people,
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  but in the New Testament these are not different job
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  descriptions, are they? No, and that is a major point of
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  confusion today in the New Testament, Elder Presbyteros,
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  Overseer Episcopos, and Shepherd Poyman all refer to the same
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  office. They're interchangeable.
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  They are. So you see this clearly in Acts
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  20 where Paul calls the elders of Ephesus and tells them to be
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  overseers and to shepherd the flock.
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  Titus, one does the same thing. They're just different facets of
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  the same role. So it's looking at the same
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  diamond from different angles. Right Elder speaks to his
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  spiritual maturity and dignity. Overseer speaks to his function
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  of watching over the church, the management side if you will, and
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  Shepherd speaks to the nature of his care, his heart.
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  So when Peter says shepherd the flock, he isn't just using a
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  nice metaphor for be nice to people, he is giving a job
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  description. He is giving a command.
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  The central verb here is poymonite.
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  It is an A orist imperative. Which means for those of us who
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  haven't opened our Greek textbook in a while.
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  It means it is decisive, it is urgent.
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  It is not a suggestion. It isn't.
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  If you have time, maybe check in on the sheep.
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  It is shepherd them do the work, and the object of that work is
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  the flock of God. That goes back to what we said
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  earlier, the ownership issue. It is the fundamental
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  theological reality of the office.
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  The elder is a steward, not an owner.
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  These sheep were bought with the blood of Christ.
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  Acts 20.28 says God obtained the church with his own blood.
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  That changes the dynamic from managing people to caring for
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  God's most precious possession. You treat a rental car
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  differently than you treat your own car.
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  Maybe. But you treat a priceless
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  artifact entrusted to you by a king with absolute trembling.
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  That is a great analogy. If I lend you my lawnmower, you
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  might be careful. If the Queen of England lends
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  you the crown jewels, you are terrified of scratching them.
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  Precisely. And the modern seeker sensitive
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  or CEO models often miss this. They treat the church as a
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  demographic to be courted. They replace the bruised,
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  bleeding shepherd with a polished manager and the
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  implication is disastrous. It sets the stage for the
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  specific sin Peter addresses compulsion.
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  Because if you are just a manager, you are doing a job.
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  If you are a shepherd, you are laying down your life.
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  OK, let's get into that specific SIM.
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  Not under compulsion. This is the fleshly peril.
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  Let's dig into the word itself. What are we really talking about
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  here? The Greek word is Anna castos.
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  It is an adverb. In the extra biblical Greco
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  Roman usage, this word was heavy.
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  It was not just about peer pressure.
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  It was associated with slavery. It was associated with taxation.
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  It was associated with conscription into the army.
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  So doing something because you have a gun to your or a spear to
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  your back forces involved. Exactly.
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  Or because the law demands it and you have no choice.
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  It implies force and necessity. It describes acting because one
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  has to, not because one wants to.
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  It is the service of a man who would rather be anywhere else.
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  I think we have all seen that man, or maybe, if we're honest,
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  we have been that man in some area of our lives.
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  But where does this compulsion come from?
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  In the church, we don't usually draft people at gunpoint to be
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  elders. We don't have a literal press
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  gang dragging men into the session room.
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  No, the weapons are much more subtle.
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  The source material identifies several forms of this pressure.
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  One of the biggest is guilt. If I don't do it, I'm
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  unfaithful. If I say no to the nominating
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  committee, I'm saying no to Jesus.
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  Oh, that is a classic. The weaponized guilt trip.
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  The church needs you. If you don't step up, who will?
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  It's very effective. It is effective, but it is
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  destructive. Then you have what the sources
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  call panic pragmatism. Panic.
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  Pragmatism. I like that phrase, but let's
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  play that out. What does that actually look
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  like in a local church? It looks like a vacancy on the
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  session. Say your church bylaws require 6
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  active elders, but you only have 4.
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  The annual congregational meeting is coming up.
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  The clock is ticking. Right, we have two slots to
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  fill. We need bodies.
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  Exactly. The rotor for the prayer meeting
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  is empty. The visitation list is getting
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  long. Someone must fill the slot.
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  So you start lowering the bar. You start looking at the
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  membership roster and saying, well, Bob is a nice guy, he runs
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  a successful business, he tithes, he seems reliable.
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  We just need a warm body in the seat for the meeting.
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  Exactly. And so you approach Bob.
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  Bob is busy. Bob doesn't feel called.
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  Bob doesn't really want to do the messy work of shepherding.
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  But you say, Bob, we really need you.
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  The church is in a tight spot. So Bob says yes, not because he
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  loves the work, but because he wants to help the institution
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  survive. And that treats the office of
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  elder as a functional necessity, like a janitor or a treasurer,
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  rather than a spiritual calling. Precisely.
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  Then you have familial or social pressure.
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  My father is an elder, his father was an elder.
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  So I guess I have to be an elder.
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  Or just the fear of disappointing the pastor.
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  If the pastor asks you, it is very hard to say no.
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  And there is one where the sources mentioned that I found
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  really interesting, Mystical manipulation.
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  Yes, this is the God told me card.
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  A leader comes to a man and says, brother, I was praying
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  last night and God told me you must do this.
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  It is a form of spiritualized coercion.
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  It's manipulative. It is because it bypasses all
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  the biblical qualifications. Is he sober minded?
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  Is he gentle? Does he manage his household
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  well? And it replaces it with a
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  subjective revelation that the man can't argue with without
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  sounding like he is fighting God himself.
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  Wow, yeah, that's that's a tough spot to be in.
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  It is. And the result of all this is a
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  theological crisis. Serving under compulsion isn't
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  just a personality flaw, it is a profound theological error.
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  It relies on the flesh. Hold on, let me play devil's
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  advocate here for a second. Isn't doing what you don't want
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  to do just maturity? I mean, I don't want to do the
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  dishes, but I do them for my family.
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  I don't want to get up at 3:00 AM to feed the baby, but I do it
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  out of love. Is Peter really saying elders
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  have to feel a constant emotional high?
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  Because that sounds exhausting and frankly, unrealistic.
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  That is a crucial distinction. I'm glad you brought it up.
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  We are not talking about emotional hype or constant
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  enthusiasm. We're talking about the will you
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  do the dishes because you value a clean home and you love your
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  wife? That is a willing sacrifice.
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  It's a choice rooted in love, Okay?
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  Compulsion is different. Compulsion is doing the dishes
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  while muttering under your breath that your family doesn't
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  appreciate you and you're the only one who does anything
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  around here. The martyr complex.
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  Precisely. It's the difference between I
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  choose to carry this heavy load because I love the destination
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  and I am being crushed by this load and I hate the people who
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  put it on me. One is freedom, the other is
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  slavery. OK, that clarifies it.
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  Yeah. Now connect that to reformed
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  theology for us. How is this a theological error,
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  not just a bad attitude? Well, think about the hireling
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  In John 10, Jesus contrasts the Good Shepherd with the hireling.
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  The hireling is there for the wage.
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  He's there because he has to be, or because he gets something out
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  of it. He doesn't own the sheep, so
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  when the wolf comes, when the trouble starts, when the
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  persecution hits, he flees. Because he has no skin in the
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  game, no real investment. He has no heart in the game.
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  If a man is driven by external pressure, he is operating under
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  a legalistic burden. He is acting as if his standing
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  before God or the Church of survival depends on his gritted
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  teeth. He is forgetting grace.
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  He is forgetting that Christ builds his church, not us.
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  So the heart state of a man under compulsion is what?
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  Is it just resentment? It is external compliance, but
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  internal resentment. He is present in the session
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  room physically. He votes.
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  He might even pray, but his spirit is absent.
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  He is looking at his watch. He is dreading the phone call
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  from the hurting member. He is effectively a spiritual
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  slave in a House of sons. That is a terrible place to be
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  and what leads us right into the next segment, which is the
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  diagnostic grid, because you can't always see resentment on
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  the surface. But Peter gives us some
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  symptoms, some things to look for.
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  He does. The text in first Peter 5 verses
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  two and three actually sets up 3 contrasts, not under compulsion
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  but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not
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  domineering but being examples. The sources treat these negative
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  sides, shameful gain and domineering, as the fruits of
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  unwillingness. So if you force a man to serve,
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  these are the bad things that pop up like symptoms of a
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  disease. Exactly.
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  It is a diagnostic grid and symptom #1 is hireling neglect.
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  What does that look like in practice in the life of a
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  church? The reluctant elder does the
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  administrative minimum. He will attend the monthly
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  meeting. He will review the budget.
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  He will vote on the color of the new carpet for the sanctuary.
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  But he avoids the messy work of shepherding souls.
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  He avoids the weary Saints. The person who is struggling
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  with depression for the third year in a row.
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  The couple whose marriage is on the rocks.
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  The awkward teenager who keeps asking difficult questions.
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  Right, because that work is exhausting.
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  It's emotionally draining. If you don't love the sheep,
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  that work feels like a burden you didn't sign up for.
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  So you hide. You shield yourself with
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  policies and committees. You protect your own comfort
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  over the sheep's safety. You become an administrator, not
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  a father. OK, symptom #2 shameful gain.
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  Now, surely we aren't talking about elders embezzling funds
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  from the offering plate. Most elders I know, especially
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  in the Presbyterian system, are volunteers.
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  They aren't getting paid at all. True, but shameful gain in the
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  Greek context and in our context, is much broader than
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  just cash. If a man feels trapped, if he
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  feels compelled to do a job he hates, he often seeks
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  compensation in other ways. He bargains with God or with the
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  Church. So since I'm suffering through
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  this, I deserve what? What does he want?
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  Status deference influence the feeling of being indispensable.
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  I'm the guy who runs this place. It feeds the ego.
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  It is a psychological wage. He thinks I'm making a huge
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  sacrifice here, so you people better listen to me and treat me
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  like a king. That is dangerous.
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  It turns service into a transaction.
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  I give you my time. You give me respect.
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  It does. It completely destroys the grace
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  dynamic and it leads directly to the third symptom, domination.
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  Peter explicitly says not domineering over those in your
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  charge. Why does a reluctant man become
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  a tyrant? You would think he would just be
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  passive and checked out. Psychology tells us that a man
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  who resents his burden often tries to control it.
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  Domination becomes a way to manage his own anxiety and his
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  own recitement. If I can't be happy in this job,
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  I can at least be in charge. I can make sure nothing gets out
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  of hand. Can you give me a concrete
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  example of what this looks like? Because domineering sounds like
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  a dictator on a balcony, but I assume it's more subtle in a
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  church basement meeting. It is.
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  Imagine a session meeting. There is a complex pastoral
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  issue. Maybe a family is leaving the
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  church, or there is a difficult theological disagreement.
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  The domineering elder doesn't want to deal with the nuance.
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  He wants it resolved so he can go home.
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  He wants off his plate. Exactly.
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  So he uses procedure as a weapon.
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  He invokes Robert's Rules of to shut down discussion.
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  He says we've already decided this, let's move on.
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  He snaps at younger elders who ask questions.
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  He gets impatient with people's feelings.
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  He bulldozes people to get his way.
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  He does. He creates policies to keep the
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  sheep at arm's length. Don't call me after 9:00 PM.
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  Call the church office. Fill out this form if you want
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  to use the fellowship hall. He creates layers of bureaucracy
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  to protect himself from the very people he is supposed to be
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  caring for. So he becomes harsh, prickly.
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  He becomes quick tempered. He becomes a bully.
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  The shepherd becomes a tyrant because he lacks the internal
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  grace of willingness. He is trying to force the church
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  to work efficiently so he doesn't have to bleed for it.
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  And a church, or led by tyrants, is a church that is hurting.
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  It's a place of fear, not grace. It is a church that is being
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  scattered. Sheep don't thrive under
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  tyrants, they run away. So we have seen the disease, we
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  have seen the symptoms, compulsion, neglect, shameful
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  gain, domination. Now let's look at the cure, the
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  spiritual grace serving willingly.
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  But willingly. The Greek word is hekusis.
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  It means voluntarily of your own accord.
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  Now clarify this for us again, we touched on it, but is this
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  just personality? Some guys are just naturally
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  helpful. They are the guys who always
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  volunteer to help you move house.
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  Is that what Peter means? No, this isn't just natural
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  enthusiasm or an extroverted personality type.
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  It isn't just being a nice guy who has trouble saying no.
• 18:17
  The sources describe it as a settled readiness.
• 18:20
  It is a God word, consent. I like that God word consent,
• 18:23
  OK. The sources make a very
• 18:25
  important distinction here. Willingness does not mean the
• 18:28
  work is easy. It doesn't mean the elder never
• 18:30
  feels tired. It doesn't mean he never sighs
• 18:33
  when the the phone rings at 2:00 AM with a crisis, right?
• 18:36
  Because shepherding is hard work.
• 18:37
  It's muddy, it's bloody sometimes.
• 18:39
  It is brutal work. Willingness means he accepts the
• 18:41
  cost freely. He is not dragged to the task.
• 18:44
  He knows it is going to hurt. And he says yes anyway, because
• 18:47
  he loves the shepherd and he loves the sheep.
• 18:49
  Which brings us to the ultimate example.
• 18:51
  We can't talk about this without talking about Christ.
• 18:53
  Yeah, because if we just leave it at be more willing, that is
• 18:56
  just moralism. It's just another law to crush
• 18:59
  us. Exactly.
• 19:00
  This has to have a Christological foundation.
• 19:02
  You look at Jesus in Gethsemane. He knows what is coming.
• 19:05
  The cup of wrath, the betrayal, the abandonment, the cross.
• 19:10
  He isn't sitting there whistling a happy tune.
• 19:12
  He is sweating drops of blood. He is in agony.
• 19:15
  The text is clear about. That complete agony, and yet
• 19:17
  what does He say? Not my will, but yours be done.
• 19:21
  He. Wasn't a victim being dragged to
• 19:23
  his fate. No, John 10.18, no one takes it
• 19:26
  from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
• 19:29
  He laid down his life willingly. He walked out of that garden to
• 19:32
  meet Judas. He wasn't dragged, he chose the
• 19:34
  nails. That is powerful.
• 19:35
  So for the Reformed thinker, the elder's willingness must mirror
• 19:39
  the willing heart of Jesus Christ.
• 19:41
  If the under shepherd is resentful, if he is dragging his
• 19:43
  feet, he is lying about the Chief Shepherd.
• 19:46
  He is presenting a false image of Christ to the flock.
• 19:49
  He is saying service is a burden when Christ showed that service
• 19:53
  is love. So where does this willingness
• 19:55
  come from? You can't just conjure it up.
• 19:57
  You can't just say, OK, starting today, I'm going to be willing.
• 19:59
  No, you can't manufacture it. It is a spirit rod affection it.
• 20:03
  Bridges the internal aspiration. Paul says in First Timothy 3.1
• 20:07
  He desires a noble task and the external call from the church.
• 20:11
  And notice what Peter adds, as God would have you.
• 20:15
  That is a key phrase. It's not just willingly, but
• 20:18
  willingly as God would have you. It is.
• 20:20
  The willingness is shaped by God's will, not by human
• 20:23
  ambition. It isn't I'm willing because I
• 20:26
  want to be famous, or I'm willing because I want to run
• 20:28
  things. It is.
• 20:29
  I'm willing because God is called and I'm answering His
• 20:32
  call according to His standards. This feels like a good moment to
• 20:36
  really dig into the reformed theological framework behind all
• 20:39
  this, because we are Reformed thinking, after all.
• 20:41
  We hear these terms in seminary, indicative and imperative, and
• 20:45
  they could feel very dry and academic.
• 20:47
  But in this text, Peter is using them for life and death.
• 20:50
  He is, and if you get the order wrong, you don't just get bad
• 20:53
  theology, you get burnout and bitterness.
• 20:56
  The indicative is the statement of fact.
• 20:59
  It's who we are in Christ, what he has done for us.
• 21:02
  The imperative is the command. It's what we must do.
• 21:05
  So Christ died for you is the indicative love.
• 21:07
  Your neighbor is the imperative. Correct.
• 21:09
  And the order matters. The imperative must always be
• 21:13
  grounded in and flow from the indicative.
• 21:16
  If an elder skips the gospel, what Christ did, and go straight
• 21:19
  to duty, what I must do, he falls right into that compulsion
• 21:22
  trap. If I tell an elder, you must be
• 21:25
  willing, be more eager. That is a naked imperative.
• 21:28
  It's a law that crushes him. It's like telling a paralyzed
• 21:30
  man to get up and run a marathon.
• 21:32
  Exactly. But Reformed theology says we
• 21:34
  look at the indicative first. Christ has united you to
• 21:37
  himself. He has given you his Spirit.
• 21:39
  He has already shepherded you with perfect willingness, even
• 21:42
  unto death. That's the reality, and the
• 21:44
  command to be willing is a call to live out that reality.
• 21:47
  So the willingness isn't something I conjure up to
• 21:49
  impress God. It's a resource I tap into
• 21:52
  because I'm in God through Christ.
• 21:54
  Right. John Calvin talks about this,
• 21:56
  that our obedience is a filial response, the response of a son,
• 22:00
  not a slave. The slave obeys to avoid the
• 22:02
  whip. That's compulsion.
• 22:04
  The son obeys because he shares the father's heart and wants to
• 22:07
  please him. That's willingness.
• 22:09
  And that leads into the third use of the law.
• 22:11
  Can you explain that for our listeners who might not have
• 22:14
  their systematic theology textbook open?
• 22:16
  Sure. In Reformed theology, we
• 22:18
  distinguish 3 uses of God's moral law.
• 22:20
  The first use is a mirror to show us our sin and drive us to
• 22:23
  Christ. The second use is a restraint to
• 22:26
  keep civil society from descending into chaos.
• 22:29
  And the third use is the guide for the believer.
• 22:32
  It is how the regenerate heart expresses its gratitude to God.
• 22:36
  So the command Shepard willingly isn't a way to get saved.
• 22:39
  No, absolutely not. It is the standard for grateful
• 22:41
  obedience. It is how the sanctified man
• 22:44
  says thank you to God for his salvation.
• 22:47
  The Westminster Larger Catechism, when it talks about
• 22:49
  the duties of our station, emphasizes that we do them with
• 22:52
  diligence and faithfulness. Willingness is a fruit of that
• 22:56
  sanctification. It is evidence that the Spirit
• 22:59
  is at work in the man's heart, killing the idol of comfort and
• 23:02
  raising up the virtue of sacrificial love.
• 23:05
  And all of this is impossible without union with Christ.
• 23:08
  That is the engine that drives the whole thing.
• 23:11
  The elder can only shepherd willingly because of his union
• 23:14
  with Christ. Think of the vine in the
• 23:15
  branches in John 15. The branch doesn't struggle and
• 23:18
  strain to produce a grape. It simply abides in the vine,
• 23:20
  and the life of the vine flows through it and produces the
• 23:22
  grape. The elder draws his strength
• 23:25
  from the vine. He is not generating this
• 23:27
  willingness from his own moral reserves.
• 23:29
  He is tapping into the inexhaustible life of Christ.
• 23:33
  I think that is so freeing for anyone in leadership because if
• 23:37
  I thought I had to be an elder based on my own endless supply
• 23:40
  of patients and love, I would quit today.
• 23:42
  We all would because our supply runs out around 2.0 PM on a
• 23:45
  Tuesday. Christ's supply never runs out.
• 23:49
  So let's get practical. We have listeners who are part
• 23:52
  of churches. Maybe they are on a search
• 23:54
  committee for a new pastor. Maybe they are on the nominating
• 23:56
  committee for new elders. How do we put up guardrails to
• 24:00
  prevent this compulsion culture from taking root?
• 24:04
  Because it's one thing to understand the theology, it's
• 24:06
  another to stop the committee from panic recruiting Bob.
• 24:10
  The first guardrail is dealing with the danger of filling
• 24:13
  slots. We talked about this earlier,
• 24:15
  but we have to be firm on this. Churches often manufacture
• 24:18
  compulsion because they are terrified of empty seats.
• 24:20
  We need 12 elders because our bylaws say we need 12 elders.
• 24:23
  And so they get 12 men, but four of them are unwilling, resentful
• 24:27
  men, and those four men dragged down the whole session.
• 24:30
  The warning from the sources is clear.
• 24:32
  It is better to have a smaller session of willing men than a
• 24:35
  large session of reluctant coerced men.
• 24:37
  Quality over quantity. Gideon's Army logic.
• 24:40
  Absolutely. A unified willing minority can
• 24:43
  do more for the Kingdom than a divided resentful majority.
• 24:47
  If you only have 3 qualified and willing men, then have a session
• 24:52
  of three. Change the bylaws if you have
• 24:54
  to. Don't change the biblical
• 24:56
  standard to fit your bylaws. So guardrail #1 is don't panic,
• 25:00
  be patient. What is guardrail #2?
• 25:03
  Vetting and process We need to slow down.
• 25:06
  Scripture says do not be hasty in the laying on of hands.
• 25:09
  But we are always in a rush. Efficiency.
• 25:11
  Again, we need to get this done by the congregational meeting.
• 25:15
  We are, but discernment takes time.
• 25:17
  We need to prioritize discernment over recruitment.
• 25:20
  Stop using guilt trips. If you have to twist a man's arm
• 25:23
  to get him to the table, he is going to be a problem at the
• 25:25
  table. If you really love Jesus, you'd
• 25:27
  help us out. We need to ban that phrase.
• 25:29
  We. Do the question isn't do you
• 25:31
  love Jesus? It is.
• 25:32
  Are you called and qualified for this specific office and do you
• 25:35
  desire the work? And how do we know if they are?
• 25:37
  It's easy to fake it in an interview.
• 25:39
  A guy can say all the right things.
• 25:40
  That is guardrail #3 practical testing.
• 25:44
  Let men taste the work of shepherding before you give them
• 25:47
  the title. Like an internship or a trial
• 25:49
  period. In a sense, before you nominate
• 25:51
  a man, ask him to join the elders on some hospital visits.
• 25:55
  Ask him to sit in on a difficult counseling situation, where
• 25:58
  appropriate and with permission of course, ask him to lead a
• 26:02
  small group or a prayer meeting. See if he has an appetite for
• 26:05
  the work, not just the position. That is brilliant because some
• 26:09
  guys love the idea of being an elder, The title, the respects
• 26:13
  sitting at the head table, yeah, but they hate the smell of the
• 26:16
  sheep. Exactly.
• 26:17
  If a man comes back from a hospital visit and says that was
• 26:20
  exhausting, but I felt the Lord's presence and I want to go
• 26:22
  back, that is a very good sign. That is the Spirit wrought
• 26:25
  willingness, but he comes back and says don't ever make me do
• 26:27
  that again. It was depressing and a waste of
• 26:29
  my evening. Then you have your answer.
• 26:32
  And you got the answer before you ordained him for life.
• 26:34
  Exactly. It saves everyone a lot of pain
• 26:37
  down the road, it protects the flock from a hireling, and it
• 26:39
  protects the man from a burden he was never meant to carry.
• 26:42
  Let's speak directly to the listeners for a moment.
• 26:44
  We have different groups tuning in.
• 26:46
  Let's start with the aspiring elder, the guy who is thinking
• 26:48
  about this, who wants the job. What do we say to him?
• 26:51
  Check your heart, be ruthless with yourself.
• 26:53
  Ask the hard questions. Are you doing this for status?
• 26:57
  Do you want to be in the room where it happens?
• 27:00
  Do you like the idea of being seen as a leader, or do you
• 27:03
  genuinely desire the work of caring for souls?
• 27:07
  If nobody ever knew you were an elder, if you got No title, no
• 27:10
  recognition, would you still want to do the work?
• 27:14
  That is the acid test. Now what about the current
• 27:16
  elder? The guy who is listening and
• 27:18
  realizing, uh oh, I'm the guy serving under compulsion?
• 27:22
  I'm resentful. I dread the meetings.
• 27:24
  I avoid the phone calls. That is a hard realization to
• 27:26
  come to, but there is grace. If you are groaning under the
• 27:29
  weight, the first step is to repent.
• 27:31
  Not just to try harder, but to repent the sin of unwillingness.
• 27:35
  Go back to the cross. Remember what you have been
• 27:37
  saved from. Return to your first love and
• 27:40
  honestly, if the resentment is deep and settled, it might be
• 27:44
  time to step down for a season. Is that OK to step down?
• 27:47
  It is more than OK. It is sometimes the most
• 27:50
  faithful thing to do. There is no shame in saying I
• 27:53
  need to be shepherded right now and not be the shepherd.
• 27:56
  That is wise. Sometimes the most faithful
• 27:58
  thing you can do is step back to heal.
• 28:01
  And finally, to the layperson, the person in the Pew, what's
• 28:04
  their role in all this? You have a huge role here.
• 28:07
  Do not treat your elders as service providers.
• 28:10
  Don't treat them like customer service agents for your
• 28:12
  religious goods and services. Pray for them, encourage them,
• 28:15
  and listen to Hebrews 13.17. Let them do this with joy and
• 28:20
  not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
• 28:23
  If you make your elder miserable, you are only hurting
• 28:25
  yourself. Exactly.
• 28:27
  A groaning elder is a bad shepherd.
• 28:28
  So be the kind of sheep that makes shepherding a joy.
• 28:31
  Be teachable, be gracious. Don't be the reason he feels
• 28:34
  compelled instead of willing. I love that now we are heading
• 28:37
  towards the end, but we have to look up, we have to look the
• 28:39
  horizon. Segment 7, eschatological hope.
• 28:42
  That is a big word, but it just means last things.
• 28:45
  It is the anchor of motivation. Peter ends the section with
• 28:48
  verse 4. And when the Chief Shepherd
• 28:50
  appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
• 28:54
  What is Peter Pivot to the end times here we're talking about
• 28:57
  budgets and hospital visits and difficult meetings.
• 29:00
  Because the reward for shepherding isn't here.
• 29:03
  It isn't now. If you are looking for your
• 29:05
  reward in this life, in thank you cards, in a bigger salary,
• 29:09
  in a successful ministry, in a big building, you are going to
• 29:12
  be disappointed and you will burn out.
• 29:14
  The sheep bite, the world attacks, the work is hard.
• 29:18
  If you look at the immediate feedback loop, it's often
• 29:21
  negative. So if you are working for the
• 29:23
  paycheck of immediate gratification, you are going to
• 29:25
  go bankrupt very quickly. You will quit, but if you are
• 29:28
  working for the crown of glory that is unfading, that is
• 29:31
  secure. This fits that already not yet
• 29:34
  tension we talked about in reformed theology.
• 29:36
  It does. We labor now in the sufferings.
• 29:39
  We look forward to the glory. The sources mentioned this fits
• 29:42
  with a specific view of anticipation.
• 29:44
  Christ is coming back. The Chief Shepherd is going to
• 29:47
  inspect his flock and reward his faithful under shepherds.
• 29:51
  And that frees you, doesn't it? That changes your whole
• 29:53
  perspective. It liberates you.
• 29:55
  It frees the elder from being a people pleaser.
• 29:57
  He is playing to an audience of 1.
• 30:00
  He can be willing to make the hard call, to have the difficult
• 30:04
  conversation, to serve even when the sheep are grumpy, even when
• 30:08
  the session meeting goes until midnight.
• 30:10
  Because his reward isn't coming from the people in the room.
• 30:13
  It is coming from the King who is returning.
• 30:15
  That is the only sustainable fuel source for ministry.
• 30:18
  Anything else will eventually run out.
• 30:20
  It is the only one that doesn't burn.
• 30:22
  Dirty ambition burns dirty. Guilt burns dirty.
• 30:25
  People pleasing burns dirty. Hope in Christ burns clean.
• 30:29
  So let's summarize. We have covered a lot of ground
• 30:31
  today. We have.
• 30:33
  We have seen that the problem is a secular, pragmatic view of
• 30:36
  leadership that prioritizes efficiency over faithfulness.
• 30:41
  We looked at the text first. Peter 5.2 and the peril of
• 30:44
  compulsion, serving out of guilt, panic or force, and how
• 30:47
  that leads to neglect, greed and tyranny.
• 30:50
  And we saw the grace of willingness, a spirit wrought
• 30:53
  Godward consent that mirrors Jesus Christ in Gethsemane.
• 30:58
  We anchored it in the Reformed understanding of the Gospel, the
• 31:01
  indicative fueling the imperative.
• 31:03
  And we laid out some practical guardrails for the church.
• 31:06
  Slow down, test men, don't manipulate, and most of all,
• 31:10
  keep your eyes on the crown of Glory.
• 31:11
  That is the road map. Here's my final charge to you,
• 31:14
  the listener. If you are an office bearer,
• 31:17
  look away from your own strength.
• 31:19
  You can't muscle your way through this.
• 31:21
  You will fail. Behold, the Chief Shepherd rest
• 31:24
  in his strength. And if you are in the
• 31:25
  congregation, support a culture where willing service can
• 31:28
  flourish. Don't be the source of the
• 31:30
  compulsion, be the source of encouragement.
• 31:33
  I want to leave you with this thought.
• 31:34
  It is a bit provocative, but I think it is necessary.
• 31:37
  Consider this if the world defines leadership by how much
• 31:40
  power you accumulate, and the gospel defines leadership by how
• 31:45
  freely you lay down your life, whose definition is your church
• 31:49
  actually following? That is a question.
• 31:51
  Look at your structure, look at your nominating process, look at
• 31:53
  your heart and answer honestly. It changes everything.
• 31:57
  This has been reformed thinking. Thanks for diving deep with us.
• 32:00
  Sole deo Gloria.