New Testament: 1Pe 5.1–4

To read the Bible in a year, read First Peter 5 on November 28, In the year of our Lord Christ 2022

By Don Ruhl 

Peter was a preacher, but he was also an elder in a local congregation (1Pe 5.1). As an elder and an apostle, he exhorted other elders: 

Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers.

1 Peter 5.2 

He continued to give the elders instructions about their work and the kind of men they ought to be: 

…nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

– 1 Peter 5.3–4 

However, his main thrust was that they shepherd the flock of God. 

Are you an elder? Find out what a shepherd did for his flocks in the first century. Then treat the sheep in your congregation the same way. 

Are you a member in a congregation with elders? Submit to the elders, because God has appointed them to take care of you. If you resist their shepherding, you resist the work of God. 

Does your congregation not have elders? Pray endlessly that men in your congregation would grow into what the Lord wants them to be that you might have shepherds over you to help you in your Christian walk.

Questions: 

• In your judgment, why do only a few men desire to serve the church as elders? 
• Do you submit to the elders? 

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