Thought On This Chapter
1PET 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth
for you.
We can cast all our care upon the Lord because He truly
loves us. His love is perfect, unlike the love of man. Our love is
tainted with pride, self interest, and many other things. His love is
genuine and true. It is complete and unending. People can say that
they love you, but their actions show otherwise. We can say one thing and
mean another. It is a different story with Jesus. He is without sin
and He cannot lie. When He says He loves you, you can count on it.
And with Jesus it is more than just words. He proved His love by going to
the cross for us.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
He loved us when there was nothing in us worth loving.
If you ever get a hold of the depravity of man and what Christ did for us on the
cross, then you will never doubt His great love.
And since He loves us, then we can cast our cares upon
Him. We know that He is concerned about us.
1PET 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth
for you.
He cares for us in a way that we can only begin to
fathom. We live in a day where we need to cast our cares upon Him.
The context of this verse is interesting. The
verses before are talking about submission and humility, and the verses
afterward are talking about being vigilant and steadfast. We need to cast
our cares upon Him, but we also need to do it in humility. And casting our
cares upon Him does not mean that we can then be spiritually lazy. We are
to trust in Jesus, and at the same time be walking the walk.
Thought On This Chapter
1PET 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you,
taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy
lucre, but of a ready mind;
A Pastor is to take the oversight of the flock.
This means he is to be in charge. He is to oversee what goes on. The
gossip ladies club is not to run the church. A board is not to run the
church. The Pastor is the one who is to take the oversight thereof.
And he is to do it for the right reason. He is not to be in it for the
money. I believe that God's man is worthy of double honor. You are
not to muzzle the ox that treadth out the corn. The pastor is worthy of
his hire. He should be paid well, but the paycheck should not be his
motivation. He should want the job because he loves God and loves people.
1PET 5:3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage,
but being ensamples to the flock.
A pastor is to be in charge. However, he is to
walk a line. He is NOT to lord over God's heritage. He needs to
always remember that the people he is ministering to belong to God. God
loves them and God pays close attention to how the pastor treats them. The
pastor is not to lead with threats, intimidation or bullying. He should
not use tricks or shady tactics or embarrassment to keep people in line. A
pastor is NOT to run a church like the military. So a pastor is to
oversee and be in charge, but not by lording over the flock. Then how is
he to lead? Verse 3 tells us, by being ensamples to the flock. If
the pastor is firm but loving. If he leads by example, if his life backs
up his preaching, then it sure is easier for people to follow. He needs to
be a servant who truly loves people as well as a man who stands firm for the
truth. This is a hard thing to accomplish. And quite frankly, it is
impossible without the grace of God. I think that is part of the point.
The pastor needs to be constantly completely dependant upon God for guidance and
grace.
1PET 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye
shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
The word and in verse 4 is interesting. It
connects the event in verse 4 with the job done in the above verses. And
the job of pastoring was presented with very specific instructions on why a
pastor is to take the job, his attitude toward the people he pastors and how he
is to treat them and lead them. Then comes the word and. Then he
gets the pastor's crown. So what happens if a man holds the title of
pastor, but instead of doing the job God's way he is a tyrant? Will he
still get a pastor's crown for doing the job in a way that is rebellious to
God's commands?
I am of the opinion that he will get a rebuke at the
judgment seat of Christ and not a Pastor's crown. I am not saying the
pastor has to be perfect. He will make mistakes, but he needs to have a
real heart for the people and try to do the job the way the bible instructs him.
That is just my opinion.
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