Servant Leaders, Part 3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. What images come to your mind when you think of the position of leader? The world's leader seeks power and renown and is lifted up based on talent, appearance, and cunning. But 1 Peter 5, 1-4 portrays the biblical image of the leader as a servant. Today, Rich unpacks the text to show how a leader must think and function within the church. God's Word presents church leadership as a weighty responsibility that requires a constant view toward the cross and eternity.

Let's listen in. This is the third part of a message titled, Servant Leaders. It was first preached on February 26, 2023. Because ministering to is nuanced in the word episcopao, to minister to with accountability, responsibility. And he says to do so willingly, the opposite of that is under compulsion, not under compulsion. And what does he mean by that? Why would somebody do that under compulsion? The idea here is that it's just simply a forced obligation.

And it could be one of two ways. Either somebody was reluctant to do it, like, hey Betty, you've been in this church for like 16 years now, it's about time for you to step up. I'm really not, I don't think, you pull a Moses on him, right? But he does it reluctantly. That's not the person you want there. You want someone who has that inner compulsion to passionately pursue Christ and be a point person out in front of others so that as they walk with Christ, others can follow him.

That's what he's looking for. But there's also another sense that this may be true, and I think that's maybe more so today, and that is a person would be doing so under compulsion if they were a lazy person. You know, the age-old joking rib against pastors is that they only work on Sundays.

Yeah, one day a week. Some people find that attractive. If you think a pastor is just somebody who gets up in front of people and talks, if that's all it is, and so you've got this classic media image of a pastor who Saturday night is cramming about what he's going to preach on Sunday morning. That ought not to be so.

People ask me, Rich, what day do you take off Saturday? It's biblical, isn't it? Help me out here. I have, for the longest time, I've been around a lot of churches. I've been around a lot of preachers. Preachers. And when I was young and in college, I got the impression that there's a lot of guys out there that are simply hiding behind the pulpit for a paycheck.

And I also drew the conclusion that is hurting the church. That's not what a pastor does. To the elders among you, shepherd the flock of God. That's not hiding behind the pulpit for a paycheck. If the role of being a pastor is approached as a mere duty, like someone could take a cardboard, piece of cardboard, and stand out on the street, on the corner, we'll preach for food, right?

That's not what he's talking about. That's not shepherding. That's not pastoring. That's not ministering to with responsibility. That's not guidance and care.

None of that is. Jesus gave an excellent, keep your finger on 1 Peter, turn back to John chapter 10 if you would, please. Just look at a few verses in John chapter 10. Because we are following the good, the chief shepherd who is the good shepherd.

John chapter 10, look with me at verse 11. John 10 verse 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Think about that, right? He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and what? Leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Now that says a lot, doesn't it? And that can be true of under shepherds. If being an under shepherd, if being the pastor of a church is simply a job, you're missing the point.

Because it's not just a job. Remember in Luke chapter 2, the wonderful Christmas story? And there were shepherds out where?

In the field doing what? Keeping watch over the flock when? By night. See, you know your Christmas story well. Think about that.

I mean, that could be so easily rolled over, right? They were out in the field keeping watch over the flock by night. In other words, the shepherds did life with the sheep.

That says a lot. That's why the Lord used that metaphor. Not only for the chief shepherd, but for the under shepherds as well. And why would a hired hand flee? Because he cares nothing for the sheep. It's just a job.

He doesn't care about people. It's just a job. There's no loving relationship there, and that's why the calling to this position is so critical. Christians, listen to me. If anybody aspires to this, and we have some in this congregation, you can't fudge on what Peter is saying here. Because if somebody is aspiring to this, just, this is the career I want to choose. That's not what this is about. This, the church, is the flock of God. That is a huge, weighty task.

And there's a very high responsibility that comes with it. Alright, do it this way. Number two, eagerly. He says eagerly.

He says, but not for shameful gain, the end of verse two, not for shameful gain, but eagerly. Let's talk about it eagerly. Passionately. Passionately.

What does he mean? The love for God, your love for God translates into the love for his people. And your love for Christ, if you are one who is passionately pursuing Christ, and you demonstrate you live a love for Christ, then you will imitate his love and care for his people. That's the idea he's speaking up here, eagerly.

The opposite of that would be shameful gain. It's going back to the idea of, it's just a job. Well, it's a career move. Anybody who tells me they want to be a pastor, and I've done it to several people even in this congregation, they come to me and say, Rich, I think the Lord wants me to be a pastor.

I try to convince him not to. Because it's not just a career choice. But if they demonstrate that God has truly laid this passion on their heart, and they have a true desire to follow Christ and walk with him, and be a point person out in front of the pack, then by all means, let's talk.

But for shameful gain, he says, not for shameful gain. And this would be the case of a person who's more eager for cash than he is for Christ's character, or for communicating the gospel. We have some of those around the country today, don't we? And they're dragging the name of Christ through the mud. They might preach the gospel for 10 minutes, and then they're begging for money for the next 20.

These are personal kingdom builders. They use the gospel ministry as a means of self-indulgence. Whether that could be through influence, or position, or self-promotion, or just flat out money. There's some extremely wealthy pastors in our country today.

And by extremely, I mean extremely. I'm not saying wealth is a bad thing. That's not at all what I'm saying. But to use the gospel ministry for self-indulgence and self-promotion is a shameful thing. Number three, being examples to the flock. Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. In other words, an elder, a pastor, an overseer, lives in the outflow. You hear me say that a lot here, don't you?

The outflow of what? Their walk with God. You know, as a pastor of a church, you can be very busy. The thing that I need to continually guard against in all the things that I do, all the meetings, all the counseling, all the sermon prep, all the teaching prep, all the envisioning, everything, all that goes into that, all of that stuff, I can be so busy visiting people, all of that stuff, I can get so busy doing that, but I cannot afford to substitute that for my walk with God. Because just because I'm doing church stuff doesn't mean I'm walking with God. You can't be an example if you're not walking with God. You have to be living in the outflow.

Your priority relationship is that vertical one, and then the horizontal is the outflow of that. That's why you need to be doing life with the flock. You can't lead by example if you're not doing life with the flock. And the chief shepherd, do you remember what he did, John chapter 13? It was the night of the Lord's table.

It was the night that he was betrayed. It was the night before his crucifixion, and he's in the upper room, and he's with the apostles, and what does he do? Puts a towel around himself, and he gets down at the position of a slave, and he washes their feet. Dirty, grimy, smelly feet of the apostles. He's doing the function of a slave. And this is the Messiah, their creator, who's washing their feet. And you know what he said? I've left you an example so that you would do the same thing also.

So much for celebrities. It is about the gospel being lived as one who is among the flock, being an example. He says just before this, it's not domineering. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, 7 Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. 7 Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.