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Lead Where You Are – Day 7 of 7

by | Jan 12, 2018 | Bible Reading Plan

1 Peter 5:1-6

1 Church leaders, I am writing to encourage you. I too am a leader, as well as a witness to Christ’s suffering, and I will share in his glory when it is shown to us. 2 Just as shepherds watch over their sheep, you must watch over everyone God has placed in your care. Do it willingly in order to please God, and not simply because you think you must. Let it be something you want to do, instead of something you do merely to make money. 3 Don’t be bossy to those people who are in your care, but set an example for them. 4 Then when Christ the Chief Shepherd returns, you will be given a crown that will never lose its glory. 5 All of you young people should obey your elders. In fact, everyone should be humble toward everyone else. The Scriptures say, “God opposes proud people, but he helps everyone who is humble.” 6 Be humble in the presence of God’s mighty power, and he will honor you when the time comes.

PRAY: Great God and King, I am nothing without you. Help me to see you do great things in and through my life, but as a leader help me to keep my ego and tendency towards pride in check. Clothe me with humility and deep dependency upon you, your Spirit and your Word, O Lord.

Why do I lead? What is my motive? These are two important questions to consider periodically as a pastor and church leader. Peter had his motives checked more than once by Christ during his tutorials as a young disciple. He exhibited some of the same weaknesses that we face as we grow and develop as leaders, including: impulsiveness (cf., John 18:10), overconfidence (cf., Mark 14:29), envy (cf., John 21:20-22) and controlling tendencies (cf., John 13:8). By the time he wrote his first letter he was no doubt a man familiar with brokenness and humility; not only a leader, but a “broken-in” leader. Today’s pastors or leaders are wise to consider Peter’s advice regarding leadership motivations.

The book of First Peter opens by establishing the fact that all believers (leaders included) will suffer difficulties and challenges. He goes on to say that we should learn to view such “opportunities” with an attitude of joyful expectation; to trust that God will use them to help spur and reveal our growth. The question Peter seeks to answer in this passage is this: Why should a pastor or church leader be willing to suffer? His answer: Because of the reward God has promised. Before he reveals that reward, however, he taps into this all important area of leadership motivation.

After deconstructing false (and ungodly) motivations for leadership, Peter sets out to paint a picture of what good and godly leadership looks like. He chooses the metaphor of a good shepherd as Christ used in John 10. He digs deeply into the core of a leader’s motivation and calls them to not just fill a leadership slot, not simply hold a leadership title or take on a leadership office, but to “be shepherds of God’s flock.”

“Just as shepherds watch over their sheep, you must watch over everyone God has placed in your care.…” (1 Peter 5:2a)

Peter describes the motivations of a true godly leader. He says such a person leads:

  • Not out of the pressures (of man). . .but out of obedience (to God).
  • “…Do it willingly in order to please God, and not simply because you think you must.” (1 Peter 5:2b)
  • Not for the profit (from man). . .but as a servant (of God).
  • “…Let it be something you want to do, instead of something you do merely to make money.” (1 Peter 5:2b)
  • Not after the power (over man). . .but for the glory (of God).
  • “Don’t be bossy to those people who are in your care, but set an example for them. Then when Christ the Chief Shepherd returns, you will be given a crown that will never lose its glory.” (1 Peter 5:3-4)

One question worth asking at this point is this: What relationship do “pressures,” “profit” and “power” have? Is there a common denominator? C.S. Lewis would say there is—PRIDE. Here’s how he describes it in Mere Christianity:

“Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind… [and] Pride is essentially competitive – by its very nature … Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.”

One of the best ways to keep ourselves and the people we serve humble is to keep our eyes, hearts and minds focused on the Word of God. It not only purifies but also humbles us. As leaders, our duty is to help people turn away from pride and stay engaged in the Word of God.

Peter was a man not at all unfamiliar with ego, self-sufficiency and the undesirable residue of pride. He knew and saw the motivations of pressure, power and profit in its various forms. And yet, he was drawn back to the humble and strong image of the leader as shepherd, the preferred model of Christ. The hand that had once wielded a sword and cut off a servant’s ear in order to “protect” Christ traded his self-assertion and his sword for a shepherd’s staff and, so it seems by his counsel here, a shepherd’s heart.

SCRIPTURE ENGAGEMENT MAGNIFIES A LEADER’S VIEW OF GOD & HUMBLES THEIR VIEW OF THEMSELVES.