This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom, and I want to welcome you to chapter 5, our last
chapter, our look through the book of 1 Peter, day 1. We've been talking all
through this book about how you and I can live a cut above in this world below.
And we've seen that this applies to the way that we look at the future, the
character that we have, the way our relationships work, the way we face
suffering.

This week, we're going to see that it applies to the way that we lead. There's a
different kind of leadership that's pointed to in the Bible. It's a different
motivation for leadership that results in a different kind of leadership.

The truth is, every follower of Jesus is a leader. You may not think you're a
leader, but you are because you're a follower of Jesus. So who needs to know
this about leadership?

Moms and dads need to know it because you're making an impact in the way you
lead your kids. Managers and bosses need to know it. You're making an impact in
the way that you manage those that work under you.

Single parents need to know it. Youth workers need to know it. Young adults need
to know it.

All of us need to know it because all of us have an opportunity because of what
Jesus has done in our lives to make an impact on the world around us. And when
we evaluate our leadership as followers of Jesus, there's some simple and clear
guidelines here that Peter gives us. Now the thing that excites me about this is
these are words from Peter, one of the great leaders of the early church.

And you and I, it's as if we get a chance to sit down and hear firsthand from
Peter about the kind of leadership that we need. Listen in verse one of chapter
five to the authority that he speaks with. He says, "To the elders among you, I
appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings, and one who will
also share in the glory to be revealed.

" Now as he talks to elders here, he's talking to the leaders of the church. The
words elder, pastor, and bishop are overseer. They're used interchangeably in
the New Testament for those who lead the church.

So he's saying, "I've got something to say to the leaders here. " And he says,
"I'm saying it with the authority of a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's
sufferings. " Jesus gave his life for us on the cross and Peter was there when
it happened.

And one who will share in his glory when it's to be revealed, share in his glory
in heaven. Here is a leader. Peter is a leader who is worth listening to.

And he talks to us about a few simple things in this chapter that we need to
understand to lead like Jesus, to lead as a Christian leader. First he talks
about the heart of leadership. And he says to us that leaders lead with the
heart of a shepherd.

Verses two and three, "Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care,
serving as overseers not because you must, but because you're willing, as God
wants you to be. Not greedy for money, but eager to serve. Not lording it over
those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

" As Peter says, "I want you to shepherd the flock of God. " These are words
that are close to Peter's heart. Remember, it was Jesus himself who said to
Peter, "I want you to feed my sheep.

" When he met with Peter on that Galilean seashore in the resurrection
experience. And those words are still beating in Peter's heart. He's still
sharing them with other people.

"Feed my sheep. " A leader has to have the heart of a shepherd, of caring for
God's people. As I was reading about this this week, I was remembering years ago
when our oldest son Ryan was four or five years old.

I used to ask him every night, "What story do you want me to tell you? " And
he'd always say, every night he'd say, "Tell me the story about Woolie. " And
I'd tell him about a sheep, the one of the 99 that was lost.

It's a made up story. In fact, the story simply went like this. There was a
sheep by the name of Woolie who, 99 sheep went one way following the shepherd.

Woolie decided to just one day go a different way and Woolie got its little paw
stuck down in some bramble bushes and couldn't get out. It was trapped. It was
starting to get colder and colder and the little sheep thinks it's going to die
because it's going to be out there all night.

And just at that moment, there's like a dark shadow that comes over the sheep
and Woolie thinks that it's a wolf that's going to eat him. But he looks up and
it's not a wolf. It's the shepherd and the shepherd bends down and carefully
extricates Woolie's paw from the bushes and gently picks Woolie up and carries
him back because he cared for the sheep.

He cared for the one that was lost. He cared for the one that was hurting.
That's the heart of a shepherd that we care always for those that God is
reaching out to, those that are hurting and we're all hurting.

The truth is we all need a shepherd. We all need Jesus. But the truth is also,
as a follower of Jesus, we all need to shepherd.

We all need to be leaders, caring leaders in our family, in our work, in our
church. To lead with the heart of a shepherd, Peter says very clearly here, you
have to lead with the right motivations. Whatever motivates you as a leader,
whether it's in your work or your family or your church, whatever motivates you
as a leader will determine the kind of leader that you are.

If you're motivated by selfishness, you're going to be a selfish leader. If
you're motivated by power, you're going to be an overbearing leader. Peter talks
here about three motivations that cause you to lead like Jesus.

This is the beginning point of leading well. First he says you do it not because
you must, but because you're willing. He's saying here you can't be motivated by
duty.

You have to be motivated by desire. To lead with the heart of a shepherd, you
have to change doing what you should to doing what you want because willingness
is an absolute key to making an impact on others. You have to do it because you
want to.

Now think about this as a parent. If you're leading your children as a parent,
if you're always thinking, well I have to pick John up at school today, I have
to go to the kid's play, then you're not going to lead them in the right way.
You don't have the heart of a shepherd.

You're doing it because you must, not because you're willing. Willing means you
not only have my presence, you also have my heart. Let me tell you four words
that never change the world.

If I have to. That never changes anything. Well, I'll do it if I have to.

If I have to, Columbus would have never sailed to America, Armstrong would have
never stepped on the moon. Can you imagine David being told to go out and face
Goliath and saying, well, if I have to? No.

He had a desire to do it. Or Paul being told to go on a missionary journey, if I
have to. Or Jesus being told directed to go to the cross, if I have to.

No. He did it because he was willing to. This is key to our leadership because
leaders have to have energy.

And there is great energy that comes from willingness. When I'm doing it because
I have to, there's not much energy. Even the words, if I have to, there's no
energy in it.

But if there is willingness, then there's energy behind it. Just think of a
fourth grade boy being asked to take out the garbage. There's a if I have to, if
there ever was one.

Even if they do it, there is no energy in them doing it. But that same fourth
grade boy, you tell him, you get to go out and play center field? All of a
sudden, there's great energy because there's willingness.

Now one of the big questions for leaders in all of life is, how do I trade in
this idea I'm doing it because I have to, I'm doing it because it's a duty. How
do I trade that in for desire? How do I change a should into a want?

And there's a one word expression of how, love. You do it through love. In John
10, Jesus talks about the hireling and the shepherd and he says the hireling
who's doing it just for the money, they have to, is very different from the
shepherd who's doing it because the shepherd loves the sheep.

One does it for pay, the other does it for love. So my question to you is, when
it comes to the places God has called you to lead right now, whether it's at
work or in your home or with your family or at church, is your leadership for
your sake or for their sake? Do you care for the sheep or you care for yourself?

Do you love? If you need new energy for leading, then strengthen the love that
you have towards the people that you're leading. That's where you get the
energy.

That's where you get the desire. Now in leading like Christ, the place to start
is always to say, Lord, help me to love those that I lead. So let's ask him for
that right now.

Would you pray with me? And just pray that simple prayer. Jesus, help me to love
those that I lead so that I can do it not out of some need that's being pressed
upon me, something I don't want, but so that instead I can lead out of a desire,
a heart of a shepherd, because I love the people that I'm leading.

Lord, you love everyone. You love every person that I'm leading. And if my
desire has been waning lately, if my energy seems to be going away from me
lately, I know you can give me new energy and new desire by putting your love in
my heart.

And I pray you do that right now. I ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Join us
tomorrow.

We're going to talk about two other motivations that are behind the heart of a
shepherd.