While Jesus was with His disciples, He used many analogies of Him being the Shepherd and His relationship to His sheep. Yesterday, we saw how Jesus reinstated Peter to a relationship with Him as one of His disciples, and then initiated in Peter what was to be the primary focus for his ministry. Peter was to be a shepherd of Jesus’ sheep.

Since that day, over fifty years has passed.  Peter now finds himself as an Apostle of Jesus Christ and a seasoned elder of the church. In this passage, he writes in a circular letter directly to the elders of the several churches in a particular region.

1 Peter 5:1–4 (ESV)

1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

This is the only passage where the phrase, “flock of God” is specifically used. As a fellow elder, he challenges the elders as to their responsibility and their attitude.

Their responsibility as an elder is clear.  They are to shepherd the flock of God in the specific location where they live, i.e. “..that is among you.”  The chief responsibility of shepherding is that of “exercising oversight.”  We get our English word “scope” from this Greek word, episkopéō. epi means “upon” and skopeo means “to look.” The idea is that the role of the shepherd is to be constantly looking upon the sheep. Just as a shepherd keeps his eyes on all of his sheep, so the spiritual shepherd must do so as well. To put it in current vernacular, the spiritual shepherd has his scope constantly trained upon God’s flock to be sure they are safe and healthy.

The way he goes about this has to do with attitude. First, he is not to do it “under compulsion,” but because his heart wills to do so.  I’ve encountered many pastors who are simply carrying out their shepherd role because they feel stuck “in a job.”  Years ago one pastor said to me, “If I could find a different way to make a living, I’d quit pastoring in a heartbeat.”  Probably, every pastor has felt this way at one time or another.

Secondly, he is not to carry out this shepherding role for what financial gain might come his way.  No pastor should ever look upon his role as a job for pay.  That is shameful.  The attitude of a pastor should be that he shepherds with eagerness and appreciates the fact that the church provides financially to meet his needs.

Thirdly, the shepherd’s leadership style is not to be a “domineering” one over those in his charge. The NIV says, “Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care..”  People will not follow a leader simply because he demands it. They will not work well with a “control freak.”  Leadership is from the bottom up, not from the top down.  When I was in college ministry at USAO in Chickasha, Oklahoma, I will never forget one day seeing the college president picking up trash on the grounds as he walked across the campus.  He was setting an example for all to see.

The shepherd doesn’t push the sheep. He leads them by example.

There is a tremendous reward for those who shepherd well. The Chief Shepherd, Jesus, will judge the “under shepherds” as to the results of their shepherding.

Did they exercise their oversight in a joyfully willing manner? Was their focus on not what they could get out of it, but what they could eagerly give into it? Were they over-powering in how they treated the sheep, or did they offer a visual living example of following the Chief Shepherd.

In its context, it appears that the eternal reward will not be based so much on what the shepherd has done as to the attitude in which he went about doing his shepherding. Does this not make perfect sense, that leading people to follow Christ is more caught than taught?