We must not shepherd from behind with a stick, but from the front with love. We must lead not with harsh words from the pulpit, the “coward’s castle,” “six foot above contradiction,” but by setting an example of love for Christ and love for his people. “Do as I say not as I do” never works and is not Jesus’ way. Matthew Henry urges that elders “practise the holiness, self-denial, mortification, and all other Christian duties, which they preach and recommend to their people.” Peter concludes his exhortation to elders with a powerful motivation: 1 Peter 5:4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

There is a serious shortage of pastors and elders today. Theological college enrolments are down. Many existing leaders, whether paid or voluntary, do double duty as borrowed elders, and too many are spread as thin as Vegemite across too many roles and committees outside of their local church.

When a leadership shortage distracts us from the needs of our own flock, and from identifying, discipling, and training new leaders, then a vicious leadership-shortage circle emerges.

The collapse in Western nations of volunteerism in general, and “the busyness of twenty-first-century life”, do not explain the lack of leaders, for every age has been busy, and cars and technology have arguably given us much more disposable time than our ancestors.

As always, “the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.” Fewer Christians put up their hand to serve because they fail to understand the nature of service, and the heart that must drive it.

The first four verses of 1 Peter 5 give a powerful explanation of the true nature and right motivation of church eldership, the principles of which apply to church service of every kind.

1 Peter 5:1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed:

Peter writes in the mid-sixties AD to persecuted churches across Asia Minor. He concludes his letter with something in particular for the πρεσβυτεροι (presbyteroi), the elders of the churches.

Peter writes as an apostle of Jesus Christ (1:1): he had seen the risen Jesus and had been sent by him to bear witness to the resurrection. He writes now, ex officio,as “a fellow elder.”

During the Exodus, Moses – at his father-in-law Jethro’s urging – set aside a corps of older and wiser men to hear and judge disputes (Ex. 18:13–26). This role carried across into the synagogues, who were led by rabbis and elders. From the beginning the church, following the synagogue pattern, appointed mature men of good character with the ability to teach to the office of presbyter – to lead, teach, oversee, and protect the flock (1 Tim. 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9).

Peter writes to existing elders and prospective elders, but the whole flock must hear his words so that they know what to expect from their leaders, and because every Christian is called to exercise some degree of elder-like love and care.

As an apostle, Peter was “a witness of Christ’s sufferings.” Peter saw Jesus’ earthly poverty and exhaustion, the Pharisees’ violent hostility, and his arrest, trial, scourging, crucifixion, death, and burial. Peter writes also as a Christian, as one “who also will share in the glory to be revealed.”

Peter thus orientates the elders: “Remember the path that Christ trod: first suffering, then resurrection glory.” Jesus told Peter that he would tread this same path (Jn. 21:18–19). So must we all “share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Rom. 8:17).

Elders must expect this suffering-then-glory programme for in times of persecution they will be targeted first.

In his superb seventeenth-century meditation upon Peter’s letter, Robert Leighton urged elders to shape their hearts by Christ’s suffering:

To see the only begotten Son of God, as stricken and smitten of God, bearing our sorrows, and wounded for our transgression, Jesus Christ the righteous, reckoned among the unrighteous and malefactors; to see him stripped naked, and scourged, and buffeted, and nailed, and dying, and all for us; this is the thing that will bind upon us most strongly the duties of Christianity, and of our particular callings, and best enable us, according to our callings, to bind them upon others.

Peter urges the eldersto “be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them” (1:2a). Shepherds lead, feed, watch over, and protect their sheep. There is a note of urgency here: “Be shepherds! God’s people are threatened and needy, so step up!”

How must a presbyter shepherd? In three ways: Willingly, Humbly, and By Example.

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