1 Peter 5:1-11--Shepherd the Flock of God

1 Peter 5:1-11 English Standard Version (ESV)
LISTEN:   https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/1Pet.5.1-1Pet.5.11
Shepherd the Flock of God
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. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

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Peter starts to wrap-up his letter here by addressing the other elders.  The elders are the spiritual leaders of the church and may sometimes be pastors or bishops in some congregations.  The don't always preach from the pulpit but they seem to have some responsibility for preaching and/or teaching the Word of God and making sure it is done so accurately, attending to the sin issues in the congregation (we've already read in the book of James that someone who is sick should call the elders so that they may pray for the person and their sins may be forgiven), and to act as under-shepherds of the flock where Jesus is the Good Shepherd like we see here in the passage.

Peter encourages and urges them to exercise proper oversight and take care of God's people and the teachings of Jesus and to do it neither out of compulsion when they are not gifted and equipped to do so nor out of greed as some people do where they get into religion so they can take a large amount from the offerings and live comfortably.   Those who serve God in this capacity must do so willingly, selflessly, and eagerly.  While they are to be in charge, they are not to be authoritarian to the point of telling people "do as I say, not as I do," but instead should lead by example so they can say "Follow me as I follow Christ."  There seems to be a special crown (a reward in heaven) for those that care for the Church and do so rightly.  Ultimately though we see in other passages that all crowns and rewards will be placed at the feet of Jesus so it's still not about us and all about Him.

Once again we come back to a key theme of this book to be subject to every authority placed over you.  Peter first addresses the elders to remind them to be subject to the authority of God, then he addresses the Church to remind them to be subject to the authority of the elders (specifically the younger members of the church).  Both leaders and followers alike should be "clothed in humility toward one another" because we are reminded that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

We then go back to another sub-theme of the book--God will make everything right when He comes in judgement of both the living and the dead.  Those who humble themselves will be exalted and those who exalt themselves will be humbled.  Maybe that won't happen the way we want it when we want it, but it will happen in God's way in God's time.  Because we know that God is in control and going to take care of us and all of our needs, we can humbly bring all of our needs and cares before Him because we know He cares for us and only wants good things for His children or, if you prefer the imagery used earlier in this passage, we could say the Good Shepherd takes good care of His sheep.

We are reminded once again that we are engaged in spiritual warfare with an adversary that works with the world to be opposed to the things of God and the people of God.  He is hungry to devour anyone whom God allows him to devour, but God will not allow His sheep to be devoured.  How exactly are we to resist the devil in faith?  Do the sheep individually or as a group do battle against the lion?  No!  They believe in the protection of the Good Shepherd and run to Him for protections.  In the same way we resist the lies of Satan by believing in the promises of God by faith and believing in the person and the world of Jesus and that He will protect us.  He has given us tools to protect us in a defensive manner (we'll talk about those when we get to the book of Ephesians), but our only offensive weapons mentioned in Ephesians 6 are prayer and the Word of God.  Both really aren't weapons that we are wielding ourselves but we are putting our faith in the power of God to act through His Word and through the resources at His command and trusting that the victory is His and His alone.

We are also to remember that Satan has been about this job for a long time attacking the faithful children of God from the very beginning.  and these common sufferings we experience actually unite us and make us stronger in our brotherhood of faith as we come together for encouragement in our local congregations and lean more heavily on Christ and long for the day when Jesus will have total victory over all of His enemies and the enemies of His people when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  Our suffering on this earth is only temporary and one day we will enter our Sabbath rest (see Hebrews 4) when we cross the proverbial Jordan River of death into the Promised Land of heaven, but until then we appear to be living our lives wandering in the wilderness simply following God each step of the way like the children of Israel followed the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire.  God is providing for all of our needs in supernatural ways, and yet we still find ways to grumble and rebel, much like they did.  Let us be a people of God that is fit to enter the Promised Land and not be like the rebellious people that God had to tell, "You will never enter my rest" (again, see Hebrews 4).

It is all about God and it is God that will let us partake in the eternal glory of Christ and will one day restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us.  We will know and be known by our true identity in Him.  He can and will accomplish this because all authority in heaven and on earth (and under the earth) belongs to Him the King of Kings and Lord of Lords now and forevermore!  He is sure to bring these things to pass and the "Amen" that this letter closes with says just that--it is a statement that we know this is true and trustworthy.