Listen To Your Sheperds

            1 Peter 5:1-7

English Standard Version (ESV)

Shepherd the Flock of God

5 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,[a] not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;[b] 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.

In 1 Peter 5, the Apostle Peter does not command us to do things, but he exhorts us to. Exhort can be means to urge, advise, or to caution earnestly. Peter urges that we have those who are older and wiser in their faith around to advise us. As we  lead people in our church, we should have people, who are stronger Christians than us, lead us. We must acknowledge that this is done for our benefit and not to put us down. We should be happy to have someone to guide us in our leadership. And when the chief Shepherd returns, Christ, we will receive glory for following under these wiser men and leading our flock.

So as worship leaders, or any kind of leader in our church body, we must be humbled and allow those who are wiser than us to guide us in how we lead. The key for this is humility. If we do this half-heartedly we aren't honoring God by it. We must be humbly seeking this kind of guidance and be eager to have them help us. It is important for us to realize that there will always be much that we do not know. We always have things to learn from people much more wise and knowledgeable than us. Peter says in the end of verse five, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

In verse 6, Peter exhorts us to humble ourselves because this will bring glory to God and when the time comes, God will exalt you for this. All the things we do in God's name are to honor Him. If we are prideful and not humble then we are bringing Him the opposite of glory, we have brought Him dishonor. Peter gives us great comfort though in verse 7, "casting all your anxieties on him, because he care for you." We have relief that we can speak to God about our burdens and anxieties. He is the Father and we can speak to Him as a father that loves and cares for the well being of his children. You can talk to Him, and because He loves and cares for you, he will speak back to you.

From these verses, we learn that for us to lead the flock well, we need stronger shepherds guiding us. This takes great humility for us to lay down our pride but it is what God commands from us. God gives us a way to humble ourselves as leaders too. Just because of our position God will still care for us and will be there to hear our issues.