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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 5:1-7
Prayer: Lord, show us Your way in the eldership. We ask You to cleanse us with Your precious blood. Because we are often polluted by our old man, our fallen nature, and our flesh, we need Your cleansing and Your forgiveness. Lord, open Your heart and open our mind so that we may have a way to get into Your Word.
First Peter 5:1 says, “The elders among you I exhort, who am a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory to be revealed.” Peter’s main thought concerning the elders is about the same as that of Paul. We should pay special attention to the main points in Peter’s charge.
First, he exhorts the elders as a fellow elder, a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory to be revealed. Although Peter is directly referring to only his own status, all the elders should be witnesses of Christ, especially of His sufferings, and partakers of the glory to be revealed. This indicates that we should live a life that is absolutely one with Christ, a life that is Christ Himself. Such a life is a life of sufferings in this age and a life of glory in the future. The Greek word translated “witness” also means “martyr.” If we are martyrs, those who share in the sufferings of Christ, we will be partakers of the glory in the coming age.
The qualifications of the elders are not matters of ability but altogether matters of their life, living, and person. Being a witness who shares in the sufferings of Christ and being a partaker of the glory to be revealed are matters not of what we can do but of what we are. It is possible to be a very capable person yet not be a witness of Christ or a partaker of glory. Therefore, we should care more for what we are than for what we can do. An elder should be a martyr, sharing in the life of Christ. We should live a suffering life because Christ, who is still the suffering One today, is life to us. Such a living prepares and qualifies us to be partakers of the coming glory. It is a basic thought in the New Testament that suffering comes first and glory follows (Rom. 8:17; 1 Pet. 1:11). If we suffer with Christ, we will surely reign with Him. However, the main thought here is that the eldership depends not on what we can do but on what we are and the kind of life we live.
First Peter 5:2a says, “Shepherd the flock of God among you.” Peter also calls the Lord Jesus the Chief Shepherd (v. 4). In order to understand the concept of shepherding and martyrdom in 1 Peter 5, we must remember the words of the Lord that Peter heard in John 10 and 21. Peter heard the Lord say, “I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (10:11). The Greek word translated “life” in this verse is psuche, which refers to the soul-life. The Lord laid down not His divine zoe life but His human life. As the good Shepherd, He sacrificed His psuche life for His flock. After the Lord’s resurrection He found Peter and asked him, “Do you love Me?” Peter said, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” The Lord responded, “Shepherd My sheep” (21:16). After the Lord charged Peter to be a shepherd, He prophesied that Peter would be martyred (vv. 18-19). Eventually, Peter was martyred because of his shepherding of the Lord’s flock. Because the Lord laid down His life for His sheep, He was the first martyr — He lived a life of suffering for His flock. Peter was also a martyr. The elders today must live as martyrs, sacrificing their lives for the church, the flock of God.
To be an elder requires us not only to be humble, temperate, and sober but also to be ready to suffer as a martyr for the church. As the good Shepherd, the Lord laid down His life for His sheep. Today He is the Chief Shepherd, and as His fellow shepherds, we must follow His pattern to sacrifice and live His suffering life as martyrs for the flock of God. The eldership requires not only that we give hospitality but also that we give our soul-life in martyrdom. We must give our life and our being for the church. If we have such a spirit of martyrdom, we will be a proper elder even if we cannot speak or pray eloquently. We must be willing and even aspire to give our life for the church. We should love the saints under our care to the extent that we would give our soul-life for them. If we do this, we will be partakers of the glory to be revealed. In order to be proper shepherds caring for God’s flock, we must be witnesses of the sufferings of Christ and partakers of the glory to be revealed.
In Acts 20:28-29 Paul said to the elders in Ephesus, “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” In Matthew 10:16 the Lord said, “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.” Because there are wolves, the elders must be martyrs in order to shepherd the flock. The wolves in the Lord’s time and the apostles’ time were mainly the Judaizers, who were the Jewish religionists. In the same principle there are religionists today who seek as wolves to damage and destroy the flock of God. When we consider 1 Peter 5 together with John 10 and 21 and Acts 20, we can see that to be an elder requires a spirit of martyrdom. Although we may not suffer physical martyrdom, we must be willing to sacrifice our life for the church.
First Peter 5:2b says, “Overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God; not by seeking gain through base means but eagerly.” Here Peter uses the word overseeing in his word to the elders. Paul similarly uses the word overseer to refer to the elders (1 Tim. 3:1-2; Titus 1:7). To oversee the church is not to rule it but to safeguard, preserve, and protect it as a shepherd oversees a flock. Not under compulsion but willingly means not by constraint, pressure, or force. This is like a mother’s care for her child.
According to 1 Timothy 5:17, in the ancient times some elders were supported financially by the churches. Thus, there was a temptation for material gain. Therefore, Peter writes, “Not by seeking gain through base means” (1 Pet. 5:2). Paul uses similar terms in 1 Timothy 6:5, which says, “Perpetual wranglings of men corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth, supposing godliness to be a means of gain.” Paul knew of some who pretended to be godly in order to get money from others. This is shameful. Brother Watchman Nee purposely avoided having special contact with wealthy saints, because he was not seeking base gain. We must overcome the temptation to seek gain through base means. We must earnestly love the saints and be willing to give our life for them without any thought of material gain.
First Peter 5:3 says, “Nor as lording it over your allotments but by becoming patterns of the flock.” We daily lord it over our possessions, such as our house, furniture, and cars, but elders should not lord it over the saints, because the church is not their possession. The church, which includes the elders, is the possession of God. An elder should not be the lord and should not consider the church or the saints his possession. Instead, he should be a pattern. The elders’ being patterns indicates that they are on the same level as the other saints.
Verse 4 says, “When the Chief Shepherd is manifested, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” To receive the unfading crown of glory is to be a partaker of the glory to be revealed. The Lord is the Chief Shepherd, and He became a martyr for His flock. In a sense, He is still suffering. Therefore, the elders, who are His fellow shepherds, must also suffer for the flock with the view that some day they will be with Him in glory.
Verse 5a says, “In like manner, younger men, be subject to elders; and all of you gird yourselves with humility toward one another.” The phrase in like manner implies that the elders are on the same level as the younger brothers. According to our natural thought, the young ones should be humble toward the older ones, but the older ones do not need to be humble toward the young ones. This thought places the elders and the young ones on different levels and creates ranks with the young ones of the lower rank submitting to the elders of the higher rank. However, the phrase all of you in verse 5 places us all on the same level. In the church there is no rank. The word gird describes the way a servant puts on a serving apron. The elders’ girding themselves with humility indicates that they are serving ones. This thought is precious. The elders must reject any thought that they are higher than others. They should not rule but should serve the saints. Paul has the same basic thought when he writes, “Not a new convert, lest being blinded with pride he fall into the judgment suffered by the devil” (1 Tim. 3:6). These two apostles had the same concern about pride among the elders.
In the eldership there are two main temptations: base gain and pride. If a leading brother’s love for the church causes him to labor to take care of the church full time, the saints may honor him by giving him material support. However, if his intention is to gain the support, he is seeking gain through base means. We must reject this temptation. The other temptation for the elders is to think that because they are elders, they have a special rank and are higher than others. Those who think this way have fallen into the pit of pride. We must be on the alert against these temptations.
In his exhortation Peter does not rank the elders above the other saints but puts all the believers on the same level. This is important. As elders, we must not rank ourselves differently from the other saints. Instead, we must consider ourselves lower than the others because we serve the saints. The serving ones are always lower than those being served (cf. Luke 22:27). Because we elders are the serving ones, we must continually gird ourselves with humility.
First Peter 5:5b says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” The church needs genuinely humble elders, for they will bring in grace. I have seen churches where the grace was lacking because of the elders’ pride. The pride of the elders frustrates God’s grace from coming to the church, but the humility of the elders keeps a living flow of grace coming into the church. Therefore, whether the elders are humble or proud makes a great difference.
Verse 6 says, “Be humbled under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.” Verses 5 and 6 both concern humility. We need to humble ourselves because pride frustrates God’s grace from coming to us. If we are humbled, God will exalt us in due time, in the next age. Verses 1 and 4 also allude to the coming age. The present age is not the time to be exalted but the time to be humbled.
Verse 7 says, “Casting all your anxiety on Him because it matters to Him concerning you.” Because this verse is often quoted out of context, we need to see that it continues the thought in the foregoing verses. Hence, the anxiety mentioned in this verse is the anxiety that should come from our concern for the churches. As elders, we should not be anxious for our possessions or family, but we must be concerned for the church and the saints. We should not be indifferent to the condition of the church. There should be times when we are so burdened and anxious for the church that we cannot sleep. At such times we need to learn to cast all our anxiety for the church on the Lord because He cares for the church and the elders. In 2 Corinthians 11:28 Paul writes, “There is this: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches.” Paul probably had no anxiety other than his concern for the churches. The elders should follow this pattern.
Question: When the saints come to the elders for advice concerning a practical situation, how should we help them without lording it over them?
Answer: For an elder to rule or lord it over others is easy, spontaneous, and natural; for an elder not to rule is quite difficult. I recently noticed that even my young granddaughter likes to rule over others. Everyone’s natural man likes to rule as a king. Therefore, when a brother becomes an elder, his natural tendency is to try to rule over the church. This is true even for those who are not ambitious. We have to fight the battle to resist this tendency. Peter uses strong words and expressions concerning the elders not lording it over their allotments and girding themselves with humility. Those who are natural may be offended by these words. It is a shame if elders behave like kings and treat the saints as their servants. As an elder, we must consider ourselves as the servant of the saints.
The elders should serve the church as martyrs who are ready to give their life for the church. We should not be judges. We must love and care for the saints as fathers love their children and as shepherds care for their flocks. We must drop all the natural concepts, practices, and tendencies and see the light that there is no rank in the church. The elders serve the saints. They love and care for the church with an anxious concern for the church’s condition and the saints’ growth in life. However, they also need to cast this anxiety on the Lord, trusting in Him because He cares for the church and the elders.
Question: How should we apply this word in our localities?
Answer: The leading ones in each locality should fellowship and pray together. The advance of the Lord’s recovery can be greatly frustrated or greatly helped by the elders. The apostles are important, but the Lord’s move depends more on the elders because the elders are the ones directly responsible for the churches. The proper eldership is necessary for the Lord to go on. Practically speaking, God’s economy depends on the eldership. Even when God spoke to Israel in the Old Testament time, He often spoke directly to the elders (cf. Jer. 29:1). The apostle Paul called for and spoke to the elders of the church in Ephesus because the condition of the church in Ephesus depended largely on the elders (Acts 20:17). Therefore, the elders in the churches today should spend time to fellowship and pray together concerning their view of the eldership. Our concept is the basic factor. If our concept is proper, everything will follow.
The New Testament mentions the elders and deacons but does not give detailed instructions concerning the administration of such ones. An overly strong church administration may eliminate the serving ones’ seeking the Spirit and life. First Timothy 3:1-13 and 1 Peter 5:1-7 concern the life of the serving ones. Therefore, to be an elder or deacon is not mainly a matter of administration but a matter of having a proper life. Although my practice is not to propose anything to the churches, when the church in Anaheim moved into a new building in 1976, I asked the brothers to do away with the service groups, because I saw that a hierarchy was being built up. The service of the church should not depend on the organization of such service groups. When I visited the church in Taipei in the past and saw many different forms in the service office, I asked the elders to destroy those forms. When I went to Taipei in 1975, I saw that many of the elders, deacons, deaconesses, and leaders of the home meetings were not active in their service but merely occupying administrative positions. I showed them that over a period of twenty-five years an organizational administration had gradually accumulated and pushed out the Spirit and life. I suggested that many should drop their administrative positions and spend more time to seek the Lord in prayer. Hundreds resigned, and many were happy to be released. Some felt awkward at first because their position had become a crutch. However, when I visited again in 1977, the situation was very good. Nevertheless, I am concerned that an unnecessarily large administration may gradually return.
