Be Light - Take care of God's Flock
Korina Skale

Sorry about my voice, we’ll apologize in advance. I don’t often preach; I am usually just a teacher. And as I was preparing today, God’s like, “We’re doing something different.” So, we are trusting that His Holy Spirit, guides and directs, because it’s obviously not my program. What an honor and privilege it is to share and bring the Word of God.
So, let’s just take a few minutes and open in prayer. Dear heavenly Father God, we [raise You and we thank You for the opportunity to come into Your house today. That we can gather together as a body of believers. We can sing praises to your name and that Your Spirit indwells in that. Father, we thank You that we have ears to hear, and hearts ready to receive Your Word. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Today we are continuing with 1 Peter 5:1-14, and he is talking to leaders in the Church, and that is you, if you are sitting in the Church today. So, don’t think, she’s not talking to me, I’m out of here. Peter is talking to each and everyone of us. And I can relate to Peter, I don’t know if anybody else can? He’s a bit impulsive, in chopping off ears, he kind of like to talk a lot. We see that he is the first to stand up and preach on the Day of Pentecost. He generally likes to follow the rules, unless he decides they don’t apply to him. I mean hey, you thought, when the sheet came down, praise God for bacon. So, we see a lot of things like that in Peter and I’m probably close to that.
So, here’s Peter in exile in Rome from Jerusalem, and he’s addressing the leaders of the Church. It says here, “I encourage you as elders and leaders among you, the pastors and spiritual guides of the Church, as fellow elders and witnesses, called to testify of the suffering of Jesus Christ, we will share in the glory, honor and splendor that is to be revealed disclosed and unfolded.” You guys are going to have to take your Bibles out today. So, I do not prepare PowerPoints, so you actually have to use your Bible. If you need a paper Bible, they’re on the chair. You retain things better that way. I am the mean teacher this semester, so I will take that. Use your textbook, this is why God gave it to us.
He’s talking to the leaders here and he’s saying, go ahead, he’s telling us how to take care for those. So, this is the apostle Peter, who’s going to be the first Pope of the Church. He’s going to be the leader in Rome. He’s gone from lowly fisherman to one of the founding fathers of the Church. And here he is, he’s identifying with pastors on a local Church level, just as if he walked into the door here. And he’s telling us how to take care of God’s people. And I think more and more Church leaders need to read this. How to tenderly care for God’s flock.
He tells us to do it compassionately. With joy. With great responsibility. And not just because it’s our religious duty. One translation says, “To do it spontaneously.” So, as much as we like to plan and do our own thing, and like to have a system, God always wants us to lead from the heart. Just like a parent does. If you’ve had more than one child, you know, no two are alike. So, what worked for the one child is not going to work for the other. And that’s where God’s heart is here. He wants to individually have leadership pour into you. And that’s even among friends. Where you can say, ‘Hey man, I want to talk to you about something that God has laid on my heart.’ And you don’t have to do it because I’m the boss and I’m the leader. You do it because you want the best. And I don’t see it as big of a problem in this country. That we’re not teaching and about in 2 and a half there. It says, “Do not do this dishonestly, or out of financial gain,’ and I know we don’t have this problem in this Church. That we’re not here to get rich, because we’re pastors or teachers. But there are some that re that way. And there are some religious organizations that are that way. Once again, God is telling us “Guard your hearts.” (Proverbs 4:23). He does not want us to be controlling or bossy or tyrants. He wants us to be examples to each other.
3, “Do not lord it over other people who are assigned to your care but lead them by your own good example, and when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.” God is the Great Rewarder. He is the Great Shepherd. He’s the One who is looking after you. He’s the One who leaves the 99 to go after the 1. And there’s a great reward for that, as well as the great responsibility. And I know that pastor Gail has spent many times crying over people in this congregation, and bringing you before the Lord. I know, I’ve done that for my friends and I know that they have done that for me. And for me that’s amazing, and God’s reward on top of that is awesome.
But in the same way that we must lead, according to the heart of God, we must follow that way. 1 Peter 5:5, “In the same way you were younger, you must accept the authority of the elders, all of you dress yourselves in humility, as you relate to one another for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” In James 6:4-8 it says, “God opposes the proud”, and satan fell because of his pride. I don’t want to be in that category, and I’m sure you don’t want to be in that category. Where you say, ‘Look what I have done; look at the degrees I have earned; look at the positions I have achieved; look at the money I have accumulated.’ All those things are good. The apostle Paul said he had them in spades amongst everybody else. But he humbled himself. In the Passion translation, it talks about, “putting an apron around yourself,” and to me that just brought forward a picture of Jesus at the last supper. Here He is the Incarnate Son of God, and He’s putting on a towel at their feet. What better example to serve others.
In 6, it says, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Give all of your worries and cares to Him, for He cares for you.” This is telling us, yes, we are to be humble, but if you are low in God’s presence and you are faithfully serving Him, because you love Him, because He first loved you, He can take you from this lowly position, He call us up to the head of the table. He calls and says, ‘I have given you this position of honor,’ and you know if God gives you something, He doesn’t take it away. If man gives you something, if you necessarily work for something, it can change in a heartbeat. But God does not give and take away. And if you leave it in His timing, He will exalt you.
He also tells us in these couple of verses, that we are to live carefree before God, and I think of a child living carefree, sometimes we feel the pressure of being promoted to that place, and he says don’t feel that pressure; cast that care and that worry, anxiety and fear on God. You don’t have to be somebody else; you don’t have to be somebody else you admire; you don’t have to be the best singing voice. You don’t have to be the most eloquent of speakers. You just need to be free, who God has called you to be in that place. And He has called you there for such a time as this. It says that He carefully takes care of you.
So, if God has got all the big stuff, He has put you in this position of leadership, not for pressure, but to be free what He has called you to be, what an amazing place that is. Because He is saying, ‘I’ve got your back.’ You don’t have to worry about what’s being said here, what’s being said there. You’re to live that light, that freedom that He has given you to those around you. As we’re talking about being ‘the light’, one of the greatest things people will notice about you, is when you walk in freedom. You don’t even have to say a word, for the introverts. For us extroverts, we’ve probably said 25 already. But, if you have the joy of the Lord within you, you can operate freely where He has called you to be. You know He has your back. What an awesome joy that wells up inside of you. And you find that people are just drawn to that light. And they may not even know why they are drawn to you, but they know there’s something different.
I know that often happens to me here in Greece. And it’s not doing any ministry event, it’s usually when I’m on a bus, at a grocery store, hanging down in Monastyraki. I just end up having conversations with people. And I can share some of that light that God has given, because I walk in that freedom.
In 8,9 Peter gives us a warning. He says, “Stay alert, watch out, for your great enemy the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, in your faith, remembering that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings as you are.”
I think sometimes we get caught up in that freedom, that we are not necessarily aware of the danger that is around us. And God is saying, watch out be aware! Like a kid, when the ball bounces into the street, they’re playing and they’re having fun, but, if they’ve been well trained, will stop and look both ways before they run into the street to get that ball. And that’s what God says to us, ‘Be aware, there are dangerous things around you.’ But He tells you, ‘You are not alone, and He tells us to take a decisive stand against the enemy.’
And in this day and age, a lot of people have what I call, a victim mentality. They’re saying, all these bad things are happening to me. My ball went into the street. For most of us, there’s a problem with finances, or family, or sickness and disease, but we need to take a stand against that.
And in 9, it tells us, “You are not the only one suffering this way, that there are people suffering all over the world just as you are.” And what a privilege we have to be here in Greece, where we can actually proclaim our faith in Christ. For some believers they don’t have that option and they’re persecuted for that.
In 10 it says, “In His kindness, calling you to His eternal glory, by Jesus Christ, so after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support and strengthen you. He will place you on a firm foundation. All the power to Him forever Amen.” You know, we heard in the earlier chapters of this book (epistle), that God does not necessarily want us to suffer, it’s not His plan to make us suffer, but we live in this world, (which is a fallen one), and suffering happens, and none of us are immune from it.
We look at Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and dying on the cross. We look at Paul, who had a thorn in his flesh, and most of who have been Christians for any length of time, we’ve gone through and we have seen some hard times. But it says, to take heart, even if we’re suffering, the time is short, that God will restore you, He will support, He will strengthen you. Had Jesus not gone through that, we wouldn’t be here today. So, sometimes we don’t need to pray, ‘God, take the suffering from me, but You will be with me through it, and we will see Your goodness and in the land of the living, in this place.’ And it tells us that God has great plans for us. They are phenomenal, eternal and glorious plans.
And I think as we are getting towards the end of this Church age, we are going to see God pour out His glory. We will see His power being poured out like we haven’t seen in a while, and God is preparing us for that. He’s preparing you for that. To be that light in that place, to be the leaders that need this to happen, and that is the biggest thing for me that God has a preparation plan for us. For He is bringing us and preparing us for things which are to come, to be that light that shining in that very dark world. And God has always got the last word. I like to have the last word in an argument, and I’ve argued with God on many things – He wins every time. And I’m happy for that. But know, He is going to have the last word, and that He is going to bring that plan to fruition.
This is Peter’s final greeting. We’ll go through it really quickly, 12-14. “With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.” And today I want to encourage you, to assure just as Peter did, that you can stand firm on what God has for you. That there’s His grace to cover everything up you when you screw up, and He has those great plans for you.
In 13 he says, “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.” And that’s probably for his wife or the Church that is there, but I love how he ended this, in v. 14, “Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.” And that makes so much more sense to me on this side of the world, I told go around kissing people usually in the States, we may do the operative weird side hug. But there is something about that physical human connection, that God has called us to. I know there have been times in my life, very dark places, and a hug was exactly what I needed. That connection with the person of God, that just fundamentally shook me, and brought that peace in my life. Just that physical reminder that we are not alone. And I want to encourage you that, we go through all these things that Peter talked about, do not do it alone. Take somebody with you. Be that light to somebody, whether they are in the Church, or whether they are outside of the Church, and to remember to let that peace of God, reside within you, because we are residing in Christ.
So, make those connections this week; step into the position of the leader that God has for you, and you have that freedom to be who God has called you to be. Amen

Gail Stathis

There’s a beautiful passage in the section of Scripture today, and I don’t have it on the screen, we’re going to find it. It just says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.” So, we’re sitting here this morning, I was thinking about, we live in a day, that’s not very submissive. I think it’s difficult for us to be a submissive people, because our definition is often the world’s definition. But it says, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God,” and the way we do that is to be able to submit one to another. See I need you, to help me to know when I’m not doing it right. We need one another, the life of the Lord is lived out with each other, sometimes just a touch, as Korina said.