Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Will you please open your Bible and turn to ?

We are coming very near to the end of our study in 1 Peter.

My intention is for us to conclude our study next Sunday.

When we do, I’m excited to say that we are going to move into a study of the greatest sermon ever recorded: The Sermon on the Mount.

So two weeks from today we will begin studying .

But today we will be looking at together.

I’ve entitled this sermon “Faithful Shepherds”.

Please read this passage with me.

Read .

Pray.

Have you every found yourself listening in on a conversation that you were not supposed to be hearing?

The loud couple at a restaurant that’s talking about personal issues a little too loudly, and you are learning details about them that you don’t care to know.

Or the coworker with an office next to yours that talks on the phone and seems to forget that there’s no insulation between the walls.

There’s something alluring about those conversations.

As much as they make us feel uncomfortable, we can’t stop listening!

This morning, you are going to listen in to one of these conversations.

You may ask yourself, “Should I be listening to this?”

You may feel uncomfortable at times but you should absolutely listen in.

The conversation you are going to listen to today is a conversation that I have been having with God this week.

These verses have come up when I needed them, with a message that I needed to hear.

This week I have been wrestling with these 4 verses.

I haven’t been wrestling with the truth of them, but with the application of them.

This morning I want to invite you to listen in.

You are a welcomed fly on the wall.

You may hear some things that make you feel uncomfortable, but it’s important that you hear.

Though this passage specifically addresses elders, you need to hear.

You need to hear because you need to hold us accountable and know how to encourage and/or challenge us when its necessary.

It should serve you to know the temptations that pastors face as well as the motivations that drive them.

So please, listen in.

To begin, however, we need to address some possible assumptions or misunderstandings.

As you can see from verse 1, Peter’s is specifically addressing elders among the churches that he is writing to.

As you can see from verse 2, they are shepherds and they are overseers of the church.

A common misunderstanding is that pastors, elders, and overseers are different offices in the church.

This is not true, according to the Bible.

This does not stop denominations from creating different offices, but when this happens it is unhelpful and unbiblical.

Instead, bishops, pastors, elders, and overseers are all descriptions of 1 office.

Pastors are elders are overseers.

These words do not speak about different offices but about different aspects of the same office.

The second thing is frankly uncomfortable for me to say but I think it should be said.

It’s that pastoring can be difficult.

There are difficult things about every job.

In many ways your job is much more difficult than being a pastor.

While at the same time there are joys in pastoring that your job does not offer.

Your pastors are routinely encouraged.

We are regularly prayed for.

We experience unique blessings that we recognize as underserved and unique.

We love being pastors, but it is not always easy.

And the challenges faced by pastors test our resolve.

They challenge our motivations.

When things get hard we have to ask ourselves, “Why are we doing this?”

And is where we turn.

describes faithful pastoring.

These verses tell pastors what their work is, their motivation should be, and the reward they can expect.

These verses tell us about the work, the heart, and the reward of God’s under-shepherds.

In short, this passage teaches us that The call of a pastor is to be a willing shepherd that serves for a future reward.

If you want to know what you should expect from your elders, if you have a desire to be an elder, you must understand the message of this passage: the call of a pastor is to be a willing shepherd that serves for a future reward.

Now let’s see how this passage teaches us this.

If you’ve been around and remember our study through this letter you know that in weeks prior we have been met with the encouragement to endure sufferings as God’s people.

The end of encourages us to endure suffering, but now we land on verses that seemingly shift the focus to church leaders.

Is this out of place?

Why such an abrupt change?

I don’t think it’s such an abrupt change.

No, I think Peter is familiar with suffering and he’s familiar with church leadership.

He knows that they relate.

How?

When fiery trials hit, its is often the leaders who feel the heat most intensely.

The same is true for leaders in the home.

When sufferings hits the church, leaders often feel the pain more acutely.

And not only do they feel the pain, but they are called to help others through the pain.

So it is only appropriate that leaders, pastors, elders understand their calling as they walk (and shepherd others) through fiery trials.

This is why Peter begins this exhortation the way that he does:

Peter can sympathize with the sufferings of leaders, though and Apostle, he was also a fellow elder.

And not only was he an elder but he was a witness to Christ’s sufferings.

He saw our Chief-Shepherd suffering willingly for the sake of you and me, which is an example that every elder must follow.

As I said earlier, the sufferings we face (big and small) will often test our resolve.

When we find ourselves vulnerable, we need to remember our calling, our motivation, and our reward.

Let’s begin by looking at the elders’ calling:

Elders Are Called To Shepherd God’s Flock

Elders are shepherds.

I can’t say it enough because I don’t want to stop reminding myself of this fact.

Elders are shepherds.

Elders are not CEOs, politicians, administrators, or visionary leaders.

Primarily, elders are shepherds.

This metaphor should stick in the mind of every current and would-be pastor.

Elders are shepherds.

We are not managers, we are shepherds.

This metaphor should inform and influence every practice of a pastor.

This should inform and influence every expectation you have of your pastors.

Peter is clear, elders are shepherds:

1 Peter

Elders shepherd sheep.

Which means that they know the sheep, feed the sheep, lead the sheep, and protect the sheep.

What does that shepherding look like?

Feeding, protecting, sacrificing, serving.

Sadly, the model that is looked to today for pastors is not the model of shepherding.

We are told that we need visionary leaders, high capacity managers, and driven motivators.

But what the church needs is shepherds.

The church needs men who know, love, serve, feed, and protect God’s sheep.

Elders are not primarily visionary leaders, they are shepherds.