Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends and welcome to the weekend!
I wonder if you’ve ever been the recipient of a cherished trophy. We’ve all watched Olympic medalists receive their medal which honored their athletic achievement declaring them to be, at least at that moment, one of the very best in the world at their sport. Perhaps you’ve been to a home where you’ve seen a trophy case, or trophies on the walls. Trophies are treasures aren’t they, but guess what… trophies decay with time, and the harsh reality is, others win trophies and records are broken and it isn’t long and past trophy recipients are forgotten in the celebrations of new champions.
I’m happy to tell you all this is NOT true in heaven! Over the past two days we’ve been looking at one of the most amazing things about heaven. It’s a place of trophies and specifically we’ve been looking at CROWNS which will be awarded to normal people, like you and me! People who have trusted Jesus to be their Savior and when they arrive in heaven receive God awarded crowns that Jesus has earned for them! We’ve already considered the Crown of Righteousness which Paul mentions in 2 Timothy 4:7,8. Then we looked at the Crown of Life which James wrote about in James 1:12. Paul also wrote about a Crown of Joy or Rejoicing in 1 Thessalonians 2:19. Finally yesterday we considered the Imperishable Crown which Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 9:25.
Now today, let’s consider the fifth and final crown I find in the New Testament. The apostle Peter refers to a Crown of Glory in 1 Peter 5:4 “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the Crown of Glory that will never fade away.” Please note that Peter addresses these first several verses of this chapter “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings, who will also share in the glory to be revealed. Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them – not because you must, but because you are willing as God wants you to be, not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:1-4) You may recall Jesus referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd who “…lays down His life for the sheep”. (John 10) In that chapter Jesus was contrasting Himself with ‘hired hands’ or careless shepherds who don’t care for the sheep. Here Peter is referring to Jesus with the title “Chief Shepherd” and he’s reminding the elders who have been entrusted with responsibility to oversee the churches that they are “shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care…” I believe this means this Crown of Glory is very special and intended for those people who have handled the ‘shepherding’ role well and with integrity. Who are they? Who are their flocks? Who entrusted them with that awesome privilege? What standard of shepherd care are they held to? Now those are big questions aren’t they, my friends?
As the Jesus movement spread both in numbers of people and geographically, all across the Roman empire, the apostles faced many great challenges. The teachings of Jesus were so radical as compared to the false religions and even Judaism, that the apostles needed to focus their time on teaching and writing the truths Jesus had taught them according to Act 6:1-6. Often, they spent prolonged time traveling from place-to-place meeting with clusters of new Christians across the wide region we today know as from India to Europe and from North Africa up to the Baltics! But even with Paul and Barnabas, and later Timothy, Titus, Priscilla and Aquila, Mark, Dr. Luke and others, they were only a few men. So, they began teaching and raising up Holy Spirit filled ‘shepherds’ in cities and towns all across the Empire, who could guide these churches, care for the people, teach what they knew about Jesus and help them grow spiritually. Paul, in his letters to Timothy and Titus gave considerable detail to the qualifications of these ‘elders’ or ‘overseers’ and their roles and their responsibilities. It was then and is today a high and holy calling of God!!
These are the men Peter is writing to in the fifth chapter of his first letter. Remember friends, there were no Bible Colleges, no Seminaries, no online internet classes, no regional Bible conferences. These courageous men spent huge amounts of time in prayer and study of the Scriptures as they were written and distributed by the apostles. They spent as much time as they could with any of the apostles whenever they would visit their towns, learning all they could about Jesus. For many, perhaps even most of these men they called ‘shepherds‘ or ‘elders‘, they’d never met Jesus, never heard Him speak, never witnessed Jesus perform a miracle. All they knew they learned from the apostles and were personally taught by the Holy Spirit. All Christians were under great persecution but the most intense persecution was often aimed at these ‘shepherds‘ trying to lead their little congregations as they tried to figure out how to live as followers of Jesus when so much was against them. In many cases these ‘shepherds‘ were responsible to serve more than one church traveling from town to town until other leaders could be raised up and taught.This role of ‘elder‘ or ‘shepherd‘ was not new to God’s people, for in the Old Testament, going all the way back to Moses, God called out men, and sometimes women, who would serve God by serving, guiding, teaching, correcting, and even disciplining if necessary, God’s people. Sometimes they did not serve or lead well. The High Priest Eli and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas in the days of young Samuel are examples (1 Samuel 2,3,4) as are Korah, Dathan and Abiram in the days of Moses. (Numbers 16) In both cases God smote these leaders dead for their failure in leading God’s people.
In fact, in the days of the prophet Ezekiel, God gave to His people one of the most powerful messages of all time. Listen to these strong words of warning from God to Ezekiel: “…prophecy against the shepherds of Israel, say to them: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves. Should not shepherds care for the flock? You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So, they scattered because there was no shepherd and when they scattered, they became food for the wild animals…. Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I am against the shepherds, and I will hold them accountable for My flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue My flock… I Myself will tend My sheep…” (Ezekiel 34) And during the harsh days of captivity and the destruction of both Shiloh and later Jerusalem, and the demolishing of both Solmon’s great Temple and the second Temple, God accomplished His warned punishment of those failed Old Testament spiritual leaders of His people.
But Peter is calling us to recognize that through all time, there have been good hearted, honest, hardworking, selfless, prayerful, humble, servants of God whom God has called and led to shepherd His people, especially in difficult times and places. As the vastness of the worldwide church grew, so many women joined with men in leading and serving clusters of Christians in all types of wonderful ‘shepherding’ roles. But these shepherds of the flocks of God’s people all around the world are a primary target of the demonic forces of the dark kingdom. This is why there appears to be a special Crown of Glory which Jesus, the Chief Shepherd Himself, will award to those who have faithfully, humbly, and effectively fulfilled the calling of God upon their lives, and courageously served, loved, led, taught and in every way shepherded God’s people.
I believe Jesus will give this crown to ministry leaders of all types, all skin colors, all languages and yes both men and women, for down through the centuries God has greatly used courageous women in a wide range of ministry roles, to serve and shepherd God’s people!
May I urge us all to take some time right now and pray for those men and women we know who are seeking to faithfully ‘shepherd‘ a group of people seeking to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ. I’ve chosen today a special worship song which combines the glory of these crowns, all of which are given for the glory of God, with the wonder of Christmas which also is for God’s glory!
Today’s Scripture is 1 Peter 5:1-4.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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