SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/16/2017
6:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
A Desire to Please Christ Alone
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 Peter 5:4
Message of the
verse: “4 And when the Chief
Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”
I have to say that it has been a while since I have
looked at 1 Peter, sometime in 2005 was when I was studying this letter that
Peter wrote, and now as I look at the list of Spiritual Diaries I cannot find
the remaining ones for the last chapter of 1 Peter and so I have decided to
study this last chapter in order to put them onto my blog. The chapter from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary is
entitled “How to be a Good Shepherd,” and it covers 1 Peter 5:1-4, and so we
are at the very end of this section with one more section to go which will
cover verses 5-14. I have mentioned that
this section brings back some not so fond memories for me as the last pastor
that we had at the church we went to did pretty much the opposite of what Peter
is talking about in this section which caused us to leave after being there our
entire time after we became believers.
The letter of 1 Peter is a message of hope and what
greater hope do true believers have than the second coming of Christ which is
mentioned in 1:7-8 along with here in this verse too. The job of a faithful pastor is to please the
Lord, to teach and preach what it is that the Lord leads the faithful Pastor to
do along with the other duties that comes with this job that is a job that is
always called by the Lord.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who
died for the sheep (John 10:11), the Great Shepherd who lives for the sheep
(Heb. 13:20-21), and the Chief Shepherd who comes for the sheep (1 Peter
5:4). As the Chief Shepherd, He alone
can assess a man’s ministry and give him the proper reward. Some who appear to the be first may end up
last when the Lord examines each man’s ministry.”
Now as we look at the remaining part of this verse we see
that Peter tells of the reward that a faithful pastor can receive, “the
unfading crown of glory.” There are
different crowns mentioned in the Word of God that believers can receive for
work that they have done for the Lord.
One of the crowns is a crown received for those who have died for the
cause of Christ. Dr. Wiersbe writes “The
one Peter mentioned was the athlete’s crown, usually a garland of leaves of
flowers that quickly fade away. The
faithful pastor’s crown is a crown of glory, a perfect reward for an inheritance that will never fade away.”
I want now to quote the final paragraphs of this section
from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary, words that we should hear and follow: “Everything in the local church rises or
falls with leadership. No matter how
large or small a fellowship might be, the leaders must be Christians, each with
a vital personal relationship with Christ, a loving concern for their people,
and a real desire to please Jesus Christ.
“We lead by serving, and we serve by suffering.
“This is the way Jesus did it, and this is the only way
that truly glorifies Him.”
7/16/2017 6:51 AM
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