Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: how will you follow Jesus in prayer and dependence on God this week?
Main Points
In this lesson shaped by Calvary Boise's teaching on 1 PETER: Stay Committed, Christ invites us to receive truth with humility, practice repentance, and walk in faithful obedience.
Prayer and Dependence
will you turn to first Peter in chapter 5 we are going to look at the last chapter in first Peter it is the. last sermon that we will preach in this series that began looking at this book answering the question what it means to have the. born-again life in us and this will be the final sermon in the series that began in Easter and we will close it down. today and I'm gonna try to make this really simple and I think this is a very simple exhortation that comes with us in. the word this morning I'm gonna try to break it down into just two simple words and the reason I want to do it. in a very simple way for you to remember and to leave here with just two words is because truth be told this sermon. could end at any moment as some of you know my wife is pregnant with our fourth child and she is expecting any minute. and typically I use my phone for some notes and some quotes and I put it on to airplane mode today I'm leaving it. on so that she can get a hold of me at any moment just in case that happens I just want to remember two. words this is what we're gonna get at this morning to put an end on everything that we've studied in this book of the. Bible I want you to think of these two words stay committed that's it so all I want you to remember when we read. this chapter the word is going to speak to this church that was going through difficulty and suffering and it comes with the promise. that they now have the Living Hope inside of them that because Easter is a reality the tomb is empty in the same spirit. that rose Christ from the grave is now available to anybody who believes you have the hope of eternity that there's an inheritance for. you with God in heaven that will be reserved and what he won he will bring you to stay committed to believing that and. then it's not just the end of our preaching we didn't end it Easter but continued all the way to this Sunday because the. born-again life is not just so that you have the hope of eternity but also that you'd have the power for today that your. life would now be a living witness of what.
Sin and Salvation
God can do when someone is living by his Spirit we have to stay committed to that so that is the sermon we will. now continue cautiously to go into what the word says to encourage us to stay committed to those beliefs and as I say that. before we read the word I want to point out and remind all of us that those two words stay committed are the words. that will unlock any success you find in your life whatever blessing or season of fruit or success that you find it will be. because you stayed committed to what you set out to do I'll speak to two seasons that were in our summer time gathering the. first is the season of weddings this is the great time of year to get married and it is my great joy every year. around this time to get to partake in man and woman come into coming together before their friends and their family and God to. make a promise to each other to make a covenant vow to each other that the death will only do them part nothing else. Rich's health sickness all of those things non-negotiable II will not break their promise to each other and it's my job to not only. have them recite the vow but also looked at God's Word to give a short message to encourage them and every wedding you've ever. been through every sermon that's ever preached their wedding could be boiled down to those two words you want a successful marriage stay committed. whatever you promise each other in the vows that you are going to give to each other success in marriage means you stayed committed. to the day that you made those vows that's what success means and it's true also of another season that we're in we're about. to enter into July which means that we have just completed half of the calendar year we're at halftime of the year which means. it's a great time to consider how that first half went and so often as we go into a new year we set out. new goals in the form of resolutions sometimes and not often in July we look at what we've done and see that we're still. doing excellently what we actually find is so often in July we've totally forgotten about the goals of the new year but as we. go into the month of July this is our half time.
Prayer and Dependence
how are we doing and those things that we wanted to try to have this year do a little bit better than last year. sometimes those come in the form of financial commitments to spend only what you have to not go beyond your means health commitments to. eat right to diet or to get in shape through exercise how we doing with those commitments it's hard and you'll find that as. you think about July January is not always on the forefront of your mind let me share with you an article called how to. make your resolutions stick your goal should never just be another item on your to-do list at first your new way of life will. be new and exciting so you'll be inspired to make time for it and that's why every year we see gym attendance and membership. spike in January but it says in about three weeks time the novelty wear it will wear off and that's why we see gym. attendance and membership sharply decline in February the key to breakthrough is staying committed you must plan not just for the next couple of. months but for the entire decade and then it goes on to say something about commitment that I think we need to hear not. only as people who want to live well with our bodies or with our finances but also with our spirituality it says commitments mean. staying loyal to what you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left long after the. excitement of January first has worn off commitment means you keep going long after the honeymoon period is over commitment means you're still loyal. even though the emotions are fleeting and I find in my own life as I go through my desire to make commitments to the. Lord and to live for him that we also find the three-week novelty to be true in our spirituality have you ever experienced that. excitement for something that you heard preached or a desire to live for the Lord in a new and committed way and in about. three weeks you've completely forgot what you were going to do how quickly the excitement of Sunday can turn into the lull of Monday. and what we are looking at this morning as Peter closes down the exhortation that he has for these believers to live with hope. throughout suffering and also live with power throughout their different.
Faith and Obedience
placements in the non-believing world he says you got to stay committed because you live now with a born-again spirit in you that will. be tested by your flesh or your physical body the new life in you still lives in your old body and the Bible says. that there is a battle between the flesh or your body or your lusts and your spirit and the born-again life does not mean. that you are magically excited to worship all day long and to live like Jesus and everything you do the born-again life means that. you have the hope of eternity in you that you now make a daily decision to stay committed in and as we look at. the end of this series the two words you must remember for everything we've studied is now stay committed we'll look at this in. three ways this morning because Peters gonna speak to three different audiences and I want to exhort us as a body of believers to. make three specific commitments that we must stay committed to Peter's first going to talk about the commitment for leaders then he's going to. say there is a commitment for followers and then he's going to say there is a commitment for believers and if you look at. this not as Peter speaking to one person but to the churches that are dispersed through modern-day Turkey as an exhaust exhortation to the. church bodies what we realized as a healthy Church has a group of people a body of believers that are committed in those three. ways committed leaders committed followers and committed believers make up a healthy Church so what does that look like in the way that the. word will now come in and say make your commitment to be leaders this is what it starts with in verse one to the. elders who are among you I exhort you I Who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also. a partaker of the glory that will be revealed he is speaking to the leadership of these churches and verse 2 he now gives. specific exhortation or details to what he wants them to be committed to shepherd the flock of God which is among you serving as. overseers not by compulsion but willingly not for dishonest gain but eagerly and not as being lords over those entrusted to you but being. examples of the flock most of you will fit into one.
Faith and Obedience
of the three categories of leading following and believing and this specifically talks now to leadership within the bodies of believers of the body. of believers that is entrusted to help oversee the flock of God now there are many words that are already been used in our. reading of this he says elders overseers and Shepherds or pastors which is what a shepherd is and we often will look at this. through the lens of specific church roles which is good and I want to speak to the pastors and the elders the leaders in. missionaries and the leaders on the teams within our church specifically but also to realize that when he says overseers he's also speaking to. those within the body of believers that are more mature in the faith that have been entrusted with relationships that will be used to. benefit those younger in the faith meaning we can't simply look at this just for specific church leadership that's on staff and have titles. and are on specific leadership teams because there are many of you who are overseeing the flock of God in your own home there. are many of you who are helping to oversee the flock of God in ways that will extend beyond the sanctuary preaching through relationships. there are some of you who are called to be friends and overseers of those who are younger in the faith so I'd like. to broaden the audience for those of you who are not on Church specific leadership roles but are part of overseeing the flock of. God now that still doesn't include everyone because we probably have people here who are younger in the faith who mostly need to receive. leadership that's good for you as we go through this portion of the word and for all of us this also gives us guidelines. on how to pray for leaders because what we find is that there are three specific pitfalls that leaders can fall into and it. reminds us that leadership is difficult and even dangerous and we need prayer leaders need prayer overseers need prayer mothers and fathers need prayer. mentor and people in friendship relationships that are trying to help lead people in the way to follow Christ you need prayer this will. guide some of our prayers and this is for everyone to hear let's start with the first of the three pitfalls in verse 2. it says Shepherd the flock of God which is among you serving.
Faith and Obedience
as overseers now it says not by compulsion but willingly now what this is saying is in part of us staying committed to be. a church that is led well according to what the Bible prescribes as good leadership we must be willing to lead and we must. not fall into the category of leaders that all of us can be tempted and find ourselves in which has us in leadership and. in duties of leadership and we're using a heart of obligation and we're begrudging we don't actually want to do it but we found. ourselves here so I guess we just have to do it's almost Sunday so we're gonna have to write another sermon I don't want. to but I have to and if there's a there's an opportunity with those entrusted to us to pay visit to a hospital it's. kind of getting in the way of my day I don't want you but I have to there's an opportunity to counsel or to. give advice to that relationship that you have where someone's looking up to you in the faith and you don't want to but you. begrudging ly do it we cannot be those leaders and sometimes that happens because we have been misinformed on what we actually have been. even with the obligation to be willing leaders for this I think of the example of what Peter is actually using as a metaphor. but literally he's using the metaphor of shepherds caring for a flock and it gives us a good picture of what leadership should look. like and it also if we look at it literally can be a way that we sometimes misinterpret what the Duty is and I. say that because for any of you who live in the social media world you know that you can pretty much get insight into. any profession of life through Instagram and some of these other ways that you can get some of the previews and the glory moments. of anybody's career and there is actually a famous Shepherd on Instagram he and his wife are avid posters of the things that they. like to enjoy and they happen to live in New Zealand and they love sharing the life that they live as Shepherds overseeing a. literal flock of sheep in New Zealand now if all you knew about their life was their Instagram feed you may think that's a. really exciting profession because what they share are the rolling.
Life in the Church
hills of New Zealand and the modern farmhouse that has been renovated that it looks beautiful to live in and then every once in. a while they make knits they've knit sweaters out of wool with the harvest of the sheep's wool that looks glorious but I can. tell you this if you decide to move them through to New Zealand to be a sheep rancher and live as an actual Shepherd. you will have about a three week excitement period and then reality will set in because they are not sharing everything that a shepherd. has to go through a shepherd as you look at the example of literal shepherds in the Bible has to live a fairly radically. difficult life Shepherd's are often staying out overnight in the fields Shepherd's are often spending long times with the Sheep and not eating and. taking long hours away from their family or their leisure time and something that isn't often discussed on an Instagram feed is that cheap. bite and it can be hard to be a shepherd because sheep don't really care for your leader ship sometimes now if we take. it back to the metaphor sometimes we look at church leadership the same way it can appear glorious through the photos and through the. small glimpses that we sometimes get into what is required of a shepherd of a flock and we could think wow it must be. fun to be a pastor and you may desire to be a pastor and I assure you will love it for about three weeks. and then you will realize that it means that sometimes you have to go hungry sometimes you have to stay out late sometimes you. have to be away from your family and sometimes the flock will bite you it's a reality of pastoring and for the parents among. us as you oversee the flock of God in your own home there is an excitement for the new child to be brought in. for you to go from just husband and wife now to family and mother and father and you will be excited for about one. day and then reality will set in and you'll realize that you have never appreciated sleep like you appreciate it now what we have. to realize is that what we are being called to in leadership is not supposed to be this glorious Instagram version of serving God. and if we think it is we will fall our we.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.