1 P age. Introduction

Transcription

1 Introduction [Jeremy Wilson speaking] Well hello again. I get to announce our guest speaker this morning. We had some technical difficulties this week. Pastor Steve, via video, was going to introduce our guest speaker, but I m really happy that he didn t get to. Today s guest speaker you may not know, but he is by brother from another mother. His family joined the Church in 1991 when mine did, and we both went to Junior High together, High School together; we both interned in student ministry during college. We both came on staff after graduating college. We were in each other s weddings, etc, etc. Paul Randall Thompson then moved to Dallas in 2008 to go to Dallas Theological Seminary and then was on staff at Fellowship Bible Church in Dallas. Just two weeks ago he became the Church-planting resident at White Rock Fellowship in the Dallas area. So sometime during 2018, Randy and his wife Jen and their 4-year-old twin girls and 8-month-old son will be planting a church in the Dallas area, so I highly and strongly encourage you to consider how (Clapping) Give it up for that. If you want to hear more about what Randy is going to be doing in that church plant and how you might be a part of that to support him, he will be at the Connection Center after the service for you to get to know him. Again, it is my honor and privilege and joy to introduce our guest speaker Randy Thompson this morning. So give him another welcome. [Randy Thompson] Thank you very much. It s my honor and privilege and joy to be introduced. I m so excited to be here. As Jeremy mentioned, this is the church that I grew up in. It s my church home. It s the place where my faith really began to take shape, began to be developed where I was discipled so it s an absolute honor to be back here. I was very, very excited when Pastor Steve called me and asked me to be here. As Jeremy mentioned, we are the parents of twin girls; they just turned 4 a week and a half ago. Something happened when we had girls. I entered into this desert of sorts, after high school, and I came out of that desert a couple of years ago. It s the desert of Disney. So growing up, I watched Disney movies, and I enjoyed them and all of those things, and then after high school, I just kind of trailed off. I had no idea what was going on in Disney world, no pun intended, for a while. And then all of a sudden a couple of years ago, it was time to take our girls to their first movie. I remember a few years back there is this song that everybody was singing and I had no idea of its context It was about letting things go and you heard it everywhere. Little kids couldn t stop with the singing. I had no idea what that movie was about, and I still have not seen it all the way through. But this most recent Disney princess film is something that my girls wanted to see, so we took them to see Moana. There is something that happens in Moana It s this tale as old as time, true as it can be (Laughter) It happens over and over again in these Disney movies, where you have this young girl and Moana is the daughter of the chief, and she lives on this island. I m not going to spoil the movie for you, if you haven t seen it yet If you re in a Disney desert, that s okay. I m not going to ruin anything for you. But there is something that happens in Moana, toward the end of the first act or so. The first act culminates with her running into this council of elders the people who are in charge of the island. As Moana has grown up, it s clear that she is a little girl who is courageous, who is brave, and who is intelligent. And she knows growing up her father shows her that one day it is going to be her opportunity to lead the people of the island. That s going to be her role, to oversee everything on the island. As she is growing up, she has these dreams of what needs to happen and these ideas of where she needs to go and how she wants to lead and what the island should become. But her father comes back and he begins to place guide rails and boundaries around her for her protection and for her safety. All of a sudden you get this tug of war between her and her father, two people who love each other very, very deeply very, very much. But there is this tension because Moana has this vision for the future, and her father has a separate vision for the future and they don t exactly align. Then, like I said, at the end of the first act, it culminates, and she runs into the council to share with them her idea of the 1 P age

2 future and what things need to be like. And then something very unexpected happens I m not going to give it away; I m not going to tell you what it is, but it s the tale as old as time. This happens in Disney movie after Disney movie after Disney movie. I haven t seen Frozen, but I do know that there are two sisters and one is the older one and the younger one is questioning her authority. I remember in Beauty and the Beast that Belle opens the film walking around, questioning the conventional wisdom, singing, There must be more than this provincial life. I know Princess Jasmine questions her father s insistence that she subject herself to an arranged marriage. I know that Ariel questions King Triton s authority in the Little Mermaid because she just wants to be up where they walk, up where they run, out where they play all day in the sun (Laughter) It s not just the princesses. No, no, no It s the guys too. You think back to the Lion King ; you ve got Simba and he has got places where he is allowed to be and places where he is not allowed to be. There is a point in the film where he goes somewhere he is not supposed to be and gets himself into a dangerous situation, and you see his dad Mufasa come up to him. He goes up to Simba and he says, You deliberately disobeyed me. So you have this group of the older and the wiser who have these rules in place that are there for the protection and for the safety of all of the people and certainly the characters in question. Then you ve got this younger set who are seeking to rebel against or maybe just push back against some of those boundaries often, not because they are seeking to be rebellious or because they have malevolence in their heart, but because they have a dream of something different or something better or something bigger or something just different. Disney is not manufacturing controversy with all of this. Disney is not making all of this up. This is an example where art imitates life. This isn t something where Disney is stirring us up. The tension between youth and their elders is a tale as old as time, and we have to ask ourselves, regardless of which camp we re in, how we respond to this tension. As Jeremy mentioned, when I started in ministry here, it was in the student ministry not just as a student I was in the student ministry here as a student. But after college I came back and we began to intern in the student ministry, and I became part of the student ministry staff here. You see it in junior high; you see it in high school. These students begin to learn; they have this new-found knowledge and they begin connecting these ideas. That is when the students and the parents start doing this every once in a while. And it s frustrating for everyone. It s not just frustrating for the parents. It s frustrating for the students as well. They have these dreams, and the parents just want to keep them safe. For those of us who are older for those of us who are the ones who are the ones who are in charge of placing these boundaries, there is this pendulum that swings back and forth. On one side of the pendulum you can go in full-control mode. You have all of the rules; you ve got the laws. You become super-legalistic. You control and micromanage every single move, and you set up a world for the younger where they are not allowed to breathe without your permission. That s one swing of the pendulum. Then the pendulum swings the other way. Then you ve got this area where you have complete freedom, complete independence there are no rules; there are no boundaries. The young can just do whatever they want. That s dangerous too. Neither side of this pendulum is really safe. There s neither side of this pendulum that s really wise. There s this pendulum that s just right down the middle, and you ve got to keep this tension where you re not being too legalistic you re not giving too much freedom, but you re just staying down in the middle. And that tension can be very difficult to achieve. 1. Lead With Love. Fortunately, Scripture gives us insight into how those who are wiser and more experienced should interact with those who are younger. And Scripture gives us insight for those who are younger, how they should 2 P age

3 interact with those who are a little bit more experienced who have a little bit more wisdom. That s where we are going to be today, in First Peter chapter 5. So if you have your Bible, please turn with me to First Peter chapter 5. If you don t have a Bible, that s okay. We have one for you; there is one underneath the seat in front of you. Go ahead and grab that. You can keep it if you want it s our gift to you. Or, of course, you can just go on the phone and tip-tap over to an app and look things up that way too. As you re turning in your Bible to the fifth chapter of First Peter, let me give you a little bit of context. A lot of you have been traveling through First Peter here at HNW, but some of you maybe just popped in this morning, and I want to give you a little bit of context. When Peter begins his letter he starts his letter, directing all of the people he is writing to he is writing to a lot of churches in a region, and he tells them to make sure that they keep a focus on and are talking with one another about the glorious salvation that those who have trusted in Christ have in Him. He says, Through Christ s resurrection, we have a hope of an inheritance, an eternity with Him. If you ve placed your faith in Jesus Christ, as some of those who will be baptized later on in the service if you ve placed your faith in Jesus Christ, there is an eternity waiting for you a glorious eternity. And that is where your hope lies. It s easy to sometimes be tempted to go to the right or to the left and get your focus off of Christ, but Peter begins his letter and says, We have to focus on the hope that we have in Christ. And when we all focus on Christ and the hope we have in Him, we are built up into a spiritual house a royal priesthood. We are all bricks in this spiritual house, and we all come together. But because we are all part of the same building, there s this interconnectedness here. There s no such thing as a solitary Christian. There is no such thing as a person who is a Christian in private. That s not the way God built it to work. We are a spiritual household, all built together. And because we are all together, there are some values that we need to uphold around here. Namely, respect, and so Peter begins to talk about respect, the respect that we should all have for the governing authorities the respect that we should have for one another the respect that husbands and wives should have for each other. He begins to talk about this respect because it is very important in the midst of suffering that we have these values upheld. We ve got to stay together. In the midst of suffering, we have to keep it together. Even if you re not in a place individually of suffering right now, there might be a time in life, sooner or later, when you ll enter into a time of suffering, and it s good to prepare yourself for that. And how do you do that? By focusing on Christ, having a mutual respect for the people around you. But then Peter says something very interesting. He says, even if you are suffering, you should rejoice in that. You should rejoice in your suffering, which isn t the normal thing that I usually feel when I am suffering. When I m suffering Joy? But he says we need to rejoice in our suffering because it is in our suffering that we truly identify with Christ Jesus, who even though He had no sin, suffered and died death on a cross. Anytime we can identify with Christ, that is a reason to rejoice. So even in the midst of our suffering, we are to rejoice because we can identify with Jesus Christ. This is key, because when we patiently endure suffering, we grow our faith, and our hope increases as we anticipate being with Christ for eternity. In chapter 4 verse 13, Peter writes, But rejoice insofar as you share Christ s sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. And that s what brings us all to chapter 5. This is where Peter begins to close his letter. So that s where we are going to be today. So if you just think about the broad scope of First Peter, he starts off and says, Focus on Jesus Christ. You re being built up together as a house; respect one another because this is a time of suffering. We ve all got to be together. But in your suffering, do not despair but instead rejoice because you get to identify with Jesus Christ. And then what he does in chapter 5 is he again begins to address certain groups of people. So, again, with your Bibles, I will be in First Peter chapter 5 and we ll read the first five verses: 3 P age

4 Peter writes, So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. All of a sudden, what we see Peter doing here, is he begins to connect suffering with leadership, and those two things come together in chapter 5. This is important because there is not a time in the Church when we are not going to be undergoing suffering to some extent. That means there is not going to be a time where leadership isn t necessary. Now, as you look at these verses, you might look at these and think, Well, these verses are great, they are important. I agree with you, Randy; this is really good. But I m not an elder here at Houston Northwest. There are only a couple of handfuls of people who are elders, so why don t you all just go over there and you can preach, and we ll hang out over here until you all are done. But the truth is that when we read the word elder it definitely means the elders of this church, for example. But elder also connotes anything dealing with old age and somebody who maybe has gained wisdom over the years in their faith in Christ. It also means anybody who has any spiritual maturity. So you may not be older and wise, living on the top of the mountain where people trudge up to come and ask you questions, but if you have been at this faith for any length of time and you have some spiritual maturity about you, there might be people who come to you because they seek your wisdom. So in that sense, you are an elder as well. But it also means something more than that. It s that any time you have spiritual oversight or you have the responsibility for the spiritual well-being of another, there s an aspect of being an elder there. So, if you re a parent if you re a mom or a dad you re an elder for someone because you have responsibility for the spiritual well-being of another. If you re a Bible study leader, if you re a group leader, if you re a Bible teacher, there is an aspect of eldership here because you have responsibility for the spiritual well-being of another. If you re leading someone to Christ and they place their faith in Jesus at home or at work, somewhere in the neighborhood and they start coming to you and say, I just placed my faith in Christ. What do I do next? God has put this person in your life and He is saying, I want you to grow them up in the faith. I want you to disciple them. I want them to mature and multiply under your care. You have responsibility for their spiritual well-being and, yes, you are their elder. So you re either younger and it s time for you to learn and gain, or you re an elder and it s time for you to be poured out. And then there are obviously a lot of us who have a foot in both the elder camp and in younger camp. I m in my thirties, so there are definitely generations who have gone before who I am gleaning from and I m trying to absorb the wisdom that they have. I m also a dad, and I ve got these little girls and this little boy who are going to be looking up to me. I m going to lead a church. People are going to be looking up to me. So I have a foot in both camps, but this passage is for all of us. I want to look at each verse individually. It s very, very important because we have to understand what it looks like to maintain the tension as the pendulum might swing back and forth. Let s look again at chapter 5 verse 1: So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Peter begins to connect the suffering he has been writing about to the importance of spiritual oversight. He talks about his role in three different ways. First of all, this is Peter, right? Peter is this apostle who Jesus Christ turns to in 4 P age

5 Caesarea Philippi and says, Hey, Peter; blessed are you and on this rock, Peter, I m going to build My Church. You are going to lead things. And we see him take the leadership role in Acts when the Church begins and begins to multiply, and thousands and thousands of people start coming to the church. It s Peter who is the leader. It s Peter who is in charge. So Peter has the right to stand up and say, Guys, I m kind of a big deal here. But what does he say? As a fellow elder He looks back and says, I was there. I witnessed the sufferings of Christ. But he is also looking forward and he says, I m a partaker of the glory that is to come. So Peter identifies himself with all of those who are going to be exercising spiritual oversight of others, in verse 1. And again, I said this earlier, there s never going to be a time when Christians won t be exposed to suffering, at least to some extent, which means there is never going to be a time when leadership isn t absolutely vital. In verse 2, he says, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight Who are they shepherding? The flock of God. This is important because sometimes we think of those under our care as ours. This person that just accepted Christ and is coming to you for wisdom this person belongs to God. This congregation belongs to God. It s not an issue of ownership. It s an issue of stewardship. The children that God has given you; you only get a couple of decades with them, if even that. How are you going to steward their lives to prepare them for a life of journeying with Christ? It s not an issue of ownership. It s an issue of stewardship. Then he also says, It s the flock of God among you The flock of God among you. This has taken on even more meaning over the last several years, as social media has become a thing. Because what happens? We get on Facebook or we get on Twitter we get on something. And we see someone say something crazy. What s our first reaction? Some of us, we want to get back on Facebook and be like, Actually, the truth is, I saw a verse that said. And we start shooting truth bullets at them because we are the Facebook FBI, and we re going to get everything under control even though they live in Minnesota or something like that. They are not even part of your church. But Peter is like, Hey don t worry about the people out there. Think about the flock of God that is among you. And we see him issue his first exhortation. Elders, shepherd. He has three exhortations three commands in these passages. The first one is Elders, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. He is telling them to lead with love. How should they shepherd? Three values, Number one: Willingly, not under compulsion. Our service to one another should originate from a place of gratefulness, understanding the suffering that is around us. Our service to God and to one another, if that s done under compulsion, we need to take a time out and reconsider. We should serve willingly. We should serve eagerly, not for shameful gain. If it s your desire to be an authority over someone else so you can get something for yourself, you re doing it wrong. A lot of us, unfortunately, have been in a place where we have been under someone s authority who is either abusive or manipulative. That is not from God. That is evil. Because what God calls us to as people who exercise oversight, is to not exercise that oversight with any shameful gain, but we should be eager to do it. We can t ask ourselves, What can I get out of this? What do I get out of this? Lastly, how we shepherd as an example, not domineering. We serve one another from a place of togetherness. That follows Peter s example in verse one, As a fellow elder I m not seeking to dominate you. We are in this together. Again, I realize this can be difficult because as the one in authority, you are setting the rules. That tension can be difficult, but you re not doing it to domineer over someone else. We see, in verse 4, that when someone shepherds well, there is a reward. There are results for shepherding well. Let s read verse 4 again. Peter writes, And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. When Jesus appears again, those who have shepherded faithfully will join Peter in partaking of the glory of Jesus Christ. This is huge because the role of those who are older, in the midst 5 P age

6 suffering, cannot be underestimated. This world is crazy, and satan is prowling around this church like a lion, seeking to devour every person who walks out of those doors. This world throws temptation after temptation after temptation. And it is the role of those who are older it is the role of those who have spiritual oversight over others to keep our focus on Jesus Christ because He is our only hope in this world. It is the role of the elders to keep our focus on Jesus life. It is the role of the elders to keep our focus on Jesus love. It is the role of the elders to keep our eyes focused on Jesus ministry, on His death, on His burial, and on His resurrection... the fact that He conquered death because the only thing that can conquer the suffering that you are up against in this life is Jesus Christ Himself, and if your hope is in anything else, it is misplaced. (Clapping). It is the role of the elders and those who have spiritual oversight to maintain a sense of calm in a crazy, insane world to steady the hearts, to steady the minds, and to maintain our focus on Jesus Christ. It doesn t matter what happens in the White House. We serve a living King. It doesn t matter what happens in business. You serve the risen King. It doesn t matter the diagnosis that the doctor just delivered to you. You serve a risen King, and He is on His throne. So when you come up against suffering, if you are in a place of spiritual oversight, it is your role to train our eyes on Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith because He is the only hope we have. An early Church father his name is Chrysostom wrote this in the third century. It s kind of like the earliest Jesus Calling. I really love this quote about this passage. He talks about the reward that exists for those who are faithful, good shepherds. This is what he writes. He says, He who would be first among you, let him serve, for he who humbles himself will be exalted above all. What do you mean? If I humble myself will I then be exalted? Yes, says Jesus. For such is My power that I can turn something into its exact opposite. I am skilled and capable. Do not doubt it. The nature of things obeys My will; not the other way around. So you think about life and you ve got to humble ourselves, and we ve got to seek humility, and you say I have to bring myself low but by bringing myself low, I get lifted up? How does that work? It works with Jesus who can take something and just flip it. He is the healer. 2. Learn With Love. The first command that Peter gives is for shepherds to lead with love. But then he comes with a second command for those younger. You need to be subject to your elders. You need to learn with love. Authority is a very important subject for Peter, as you might imagine. He is thrown into the leadership role of this early Church. He has got thousands of people coming. He understands the lines of authority and how important they are. That exists in Acts, but it is all over First Peter and into Second Peter as well. Here we see the final grouping of individuals who must be subject to someone else and to somebody else s authority in First Peter. In chapter 2, Peter writes, We re all to be subject to the governing authorities. In other words, we re all to abide by the law. In chapter 2, he says that servants are to be subject to their masters. In chapter 3, wives are to be subject to their husbands. In chapter 4, he says all of heaven is subject to Christ and then here in chapter 5 he says, Those who are younger should be subject to the elders. What does this mean? It means, when you find yourself and you re in this situation where you are younger, that you need to learn with love. You need to listen to the wisdom of those older and live accordingly. If they are healthy as elders, they should be leading willingly, eagerly, trying to set an example for you. So seek to emulate this. Enter into the service here at your church and as you serve one another, willingly. Enter into service eagerly, not seeking your own selfish, shameful gain, but enter into service willingly and seek to be an example and learn from the elders about what that looks like. 6 P age

7 3. Love With Humility. Peter s first command is for those who are older, to shepherd the flock of God among them. His second command is for those younger to be subject to the elders. And then his third exhortation is for everybody, at the end of verse 5. He writes, Clothe yourselves, all of you There is nobody who is exempt. Clothe yourselves, all of you with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Regardless of where you fall in line on the authority, you could be the oldest person in this congregation or you could be the youngest person in this congregation, but there s an exhortation for you, a command for you, and it s to seek humility. We cannot allow pride to enter into our lives and take hold. Pride makes those in authority abusive. Pride makes those in authority manipulative. Pride makes those in authority controlling. Pride makes those who are younger rebellious. Pride makes those who are younger resentful. Pride makes those who are younger bitter. Pride makes all of us less and less like Jesus Christ. We can work toward humility in our lives by seeking to empathize with others, by trying to place ourselves in other s shoes. This is one of the reasons why there is another church joining for worship here in a couple of weeks, so that you can see what another congregation does in their worship of Jesus Christ, and you can empathize with others who are not of your congregation. This builds humility. But ultimately, humility is a gift from God given to us through His grace. In other words, wherever you are in that line of authority that spectrum you need the grace of God granted to you by the risen Christ. It is only through Him that someone can oversee or shepherd a flock. It is only through Him that one can subject themselves to the rulers and authorities of this world. It is only through Jesus that one can find humility. Without Christ, and His resurrection, we are hopeless but through Christ, we can be given all of these things, for His glory and our good. So what do we learn from this passage coming off this conversation about suffering? Peter is saying that in the midst of suffering, leadership is very, very important. And if you lead, you need to lead with love, willingly, eagerly, as an example. If you are younger, you need to learn with love. Regardless of the tension that arises from submitting yourself to others, you need to seek to lean on the wisdom of those who have gone before. And regardless of who you are, you need to love with humility. We must love with humility. In truth, there is no other way to love except with humility. But we must love with humility. I don t know how many of you are Disney princesses. My daughters wear dresses around our house and walk around acting like they are Disney princesses thinking that they control the place. And if I m honest, they often do that s their role. They kind of run the house at times, unexpectedly. But regardless of where you find yourself, I think these words have a very profound calling for each of us. We do not live in a society that values humility. Humility is very counter-cultural. Seeking the good of others and seeking wellbeing and the welfare of others is not of this world. It s of Jesus Christ. You ve got to strive for that. How do you strive for that? You look upon this Jesus, who even though is divine, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped so He came down to earth and humbled himself, becoming a human being, just like you and me. Not only did He become a human being, he suffered death even death on a cross. This is the object of our focus. He is the object of our faith. He is the object of our love. He is the source of humility. So if you want to seek to bring yourself low, follow the example of Jesus Christ. And when you do, you will be exalted. Let s pray. God, we thank you for the opportunity to love You this morning, to remember the sacrifice of Your Son but also to recall His victory over death that brings us this hope that Peter has been writing about. We thank 7 P age

8 you for the words that Peter gives us here in chapter 5 that helps us understand what it looks like to lead with love, God. For those in this room who have spiritual oversight over others, from the elders of this church to the mothers and fathers, to those who are discipling others, leading Bible studies, leading groups, God, I pray for Your grace to be poured out upon their lives, that they would lead with love. For those in this congregation who are younger, for those in this congregation who have not yet come to a place of leadership, God, I pray that they would learn with love, that they would seek to be discerning, that they would seek wisdom, God, that they would take that in and that they would absorb from those who have gone before, that they would draw closer to You through that relationship. God, I pray for all of us for Your humility. God, pour out Your grace on each and every one of us, God. Fill us with humility. Help us to empathize with one another. Help us to love one another with humility. God, thank you for these words from Peter to guide us, to direct us in the midst of a crazy world full of temptations. Thank you for giving us Your Son, for giving us Yourself. And it is in His name we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ; through the power of Your Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen. [Shawn Myers] Amen, Church. We are moving into a time when we can respond. I know we ve heard from the Lord; we ve heard from the Scripture and from wonderful teaching from Randy. If the Lord is placing something on your heart, stirring something within you, this is the time. Don t let this time pass. As always, the altar will be open here at the front; there are be people who you can speak with and pray. Also, if you want, you can go straight to the back. We have a Connection Center where there are people that you can pray with. But for now, Church, please stand. We are going to sing this song to precede our time of baptism, which will be wonderful. So let s just move into this and respond to the Lord, as He directs. 8 P age