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Welcome to day two of our look through 1 Peter chapter five. We're learning in
this chapter how to lead from the great leader of the early church, Peter. And
first, he's teaching us that you have to have the heart of a shepherd in order
to lead.

You can't drive sheep. You have to go before them and lead them. That's what
leadership is all about.

We talked yesterday about the motivations that are behind having that kind of
heart, that love for the sheep, three qualities that begin with doing it not
because you must, but because you're willing. And let me read for you again
those verses we looked at, began to look at yesterday, 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, that being examples to the flock. " So he talks here about two other kinds
of motivation that work. When he says not greedy for money, but eager to serve,
he's saying you can't be motivated by selfish gain.

You have to be motivated by serving others. If you want to lead well, lead like
Christ, you can't be motivated by selfish gain. You have to be motivated by
serving others.

For the Christian servanthood, it's not like an entry-level position. I serve
for a little while and then I get to get to the higher positions where I get
more for myself. It's our highest calling.

Jesus came to serve. We want to be like him, so it's our highest calling. So
when it comes to leading like Jesus, it's not about what I can get, it's about
what I can give.

It's not what's in it for me, it's what's in it for them. Now he specifically
says here watch out for money because money can be very deceiving. It looks like
you're making an impact when all you're doing is filling a bank account.

If you want to change the world, you don't do it by filling a bank account.
Yeah, that might do some good things for you, but that's not going to change the
world. And Christian leadership leading like Christ is all about changing the
world.

Now is having money the problem? No, that's not the problem. Money is a tool.

It can be used for good or it can be used for bad. Greed is the problem. He says
greedy for money.

This unquenchable desire to get more, greed deeply affects your leadership.
Greed keeps you from being satisfied with what you have because you're always
reaching for something more. Pretty soon you start using people because you love
things when you should be using things to love people.

That's what leadership is all about in Christ. Using whatever things he's put
into my hands to love people and to lead people. So he says don't get caught up
in being greedy for money, but instead here's the right motivation.

Be eager to serve. Be eager to serve. Leaders are servants.

Peter received one of the greatest lessons on leadership ever given the night
before Jesus died. And it wasn't a seminar that he went to or a three-day
conference that he attended. It was a simple experience of watching Jesus, how
he served.

You remember what happened. The night before Jesus died they all showed up in
the upper room for a Passover celebration. And the Bible doesn't tell us this,
but my thinking is that as they came in usually somebody would have been there
to wash their feet because their feet were always dirty from the dusty roads.

But somehow a servant wasn't there and none of them wanted to do it. In fact the
Bible tells us certainly that they were having an argument about which one of
them was the greatest. It may have started with the fact that no one wanted to
wash anybody's feet.

Jesus walks in the room, sees what's happening, picks up a towel and walks
around. And with that towel on the basin he starts to wash each of the disciples
feet. Here's a lesson on leadership.

Leaders serve. Leaders don't stand around arguing and comparing about who is the
greatest. Leaders look for a place to serve and begin to serve.

Now Jesus, of all the people in that room that day, maybe he most deserved to
have his feet washed. Not only because he's God in human flesh, I guess that's
more than enough, but also because he was the one who was facing death on the
cross the next day. But he's the one who led.

And Peter learned that lesson. Leaders serve. They're eager to serve.

That's what it means to lead like Jesus. So the motivation is service. The
motivation is willingness.

And then Peter talks about a third motivation. What it's not and what it is. He
says not lording it over, but by being examples.

Leaders are not motivated by power. They're motivated by influence. Some people
think they're a leader because they have power over others.

But real leadership only comes when you influence others. Impact is not gained
by how many you command, but by the respect that you command from those that you
lead. Because that's the only thing that's going to change a life.

That's the only thing that's going to change a church or change a family or
change history. And leadership is all about change for the name of Christ. You
do not make a lasting impact by telling others how.

You make a lasting impact by showing others how, by being an example. The world
does not need, I'm sure we all agree the world does not need more people to tell
us what to do. The world needs more examples of what we can do, what we should
do in Christ.

So you want to be a great boss, be a great example. You want to be a great
parent, be a great example. You want to be a great spouse, be a great example.

You want to be a great Christian leader, be a great example. Because your power,
your power is not in your words. It's in your example.

Here's a boss who gives an impassioned speech to his entire workforce about cost
cutting. And it's such an incredible speech that people are crying as he talks
about the need to make sacrifices to tighten the belt. And at the end of the
speech, very end, he says, "I am so committed to helping you through this that
I'm going to give you the number of my hotel in Bermuda where I've come to study
for these next two months how to better cut costs.

" That one last sentence doesn't matter what he said. His example is going
against what he said. So immediately all the words are lost.

And so that old phrase, "Do as I say, not as I do," you can say it all you want.
People are still going to do as you do. So the motivation has to be this
motivation of being an example because your influence on other people is through
your example.

That's the greatest kind of leadership. Now after talking about these three
motivations of desire and service and influence, those are the things that
motivate you towards having the heart of a shepherd, a heart of love towards
those people that you lead. After talking about those motivations, Peter adds
one other.

In verse 4 he says, "And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the
crown of glory that will never fade away. " Great leaders live for the right
rewards. When it comes to the way that you lead, the things that motivate you
and the reward that you're looking to is going to completely determine the way
that you lead.

Living your life for the reward of God's glory will make you a greater and
greater leader. And if you live your life for the reward of anything less than
that, it's going to lessen your leadership. Now it's interesting here.

It reminds us here that as we shepherd, Jesus is our shepherd, when the chief
shepherd appears. It's an interesting study as you walk through the New
Testament on this. In John 10, Jesus is the good shepherd who died for the
sheep.

In Hebrews 13, Jesus is the great shepherd who lives for the sheep. And here in
1 Peter 5, Jesus is the chief shepherd who comes for the sheep. He's the
shepherd.

And the reward is this never-ending share in His glory and honor. Now when we
read about this reward, the share in His glory, our first thought is that
somehow we're going to get a portion of Jesus' eternal riches. And there is
something to that, but there's something much deeper than that here.

The deeper meaning is not that we'll get some of what Jesus has, but that you
and I will become more fully who Jesus is. That's the crown of glory that will
never fade away. First John 3, 2 says, "Dear friends, now we are children of
God.

We've not yet been shown what we will be in the future, but we know that when
Christ comes again we will be like Him because we will see Him as He really is.
" That's the greatest reward of all, the reward of the fulfillment of what we've
been looking forward to all our life on this earth, being more and more and more
like Jesus. So when you look at your leadership, the way that you lead, the two
questions that Peter begins with here is what's motivating your leadership and
what reward are you looking forward to?

Are you motivated by the things that you can get? Are you motivated by the
opportunities to serve? Are you motivated by some lesser reward or are you
motivated by eternal rewards?

Depending on your motivations and your rewards, you're going to find yourself
leading like Jesus, more and more like Jesus, or like the world, more and more
like the world. I want to lead more and more like Jesus. I know you do too.

So let's ask Him for that strength right now. Our Father, we pray that the truth
of Your Word would make its way into our hearts and into our lives. That Lord,
You would purify our motivations so we could be better leaders, we could better
love the people that are around us.

And Lord, You'd clarify our reward so we'd be looking forward to the right
reward, the eternal reward, motivated by that and not some lesser reward. The
reward of being like You, Jesus. Thank You for the joy of knowing You and thank
You for the joy of helping others to get to know You better and better.

Use us, I pray, in our families, in our churches. Use us in our places of work
to lead like You lead, Jesus. Help us to have the heart of a shepherd, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow, we're going to look together at a second key
quality that you see in the heart of every Christian leader.