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Dear fellow-workers in Christ. God has put a message on my heart today for you from 1 Peter 5:1-4.
First, let me say, that I count it a privilege to serve alongside you in ministry in the Kingdom. You may be a pastor or bishop, an elder or deacon or church leader, teacher. It is my honor to be your fellow worker in the vineyard. You may be a nursery worker, a youth leader, an evangelist, an interceder, or one who shows Christ’s mercy to the hurting -- and all of the multitude of specialized ways God uses us around the world. The group you serve may be large or small. It doesn’t matter. You’re my co-worker, and it is my joy to serve Christ with you.
To Fellow Elders and Co-Workers (1 Peter 5:1)
The Apostle Peter writes his First Epistle just a few years before his martyrdom in Rome in 64 AD. He speaks with humility, with gravity. He speaks words of encouragement to those who are weary from the labor.
“To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed.” (1 Peter 5:1)
Peter is essentially saying, I may have the title of “apostle,” but I am an elder, a leader, a worker, just like you. I had the unique experience of seeing Christ suffer and I saw him risen from the dead. I am a witness. But like you, after our labor is over, we “will share in the glory to be revealed.”
The labor is hard, but the reward is glorious. It is our hope. It is our glory-light at the end of the tunnel. Be encouraged.
Shepherds of God’s Flock (1 Peter 5:2a)
“Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers....” (1 Peter 5:2a)
Yes, here he is speaking to leaders of house churches, pastors, overseers, but his words apply to all who have some kind of ministry.
Provide the care of a shepherd to those whom God has placed under your care. It may be a vast congregation or a small group. It may be a class of youngsters or a bible study in your workplace. It may be the people who don’t know God that he causes you to reach out to. People in the hospital, people in your neighborhood.
My friend, we all have a shepherd role of one kind or another. Shepherds are called to do four things: (1) lead sheep to food and water, (2) protect them against those who would attack or take advantage of them, (3) help heal them when they are injured and weak, and (4) to go out of our way to seek them out when they have strayed and bring them back as best we can. Apply these to whatever role God has given you in his body.
Now, Peter warns us about three traps that can ensnare Christian workers.
1. The Trap of Self-Pity (1 Peter 5:2b)
Ministry is hard. Leaders bear burdens that others seldom understand or appreciate, and we often bear them over a long stretch of time. If we’re not careful, we can come to a place of self-pity. If our heart is weary, we can become resentful. Peter speaks to this.
“Not because you must,1
but because you are willing,2
as God wants you to be.” (1 Peter 5:2b, NIV)
The New Living Translation puts it: “Willingly, not grudgingly.” Serving God out of guilt isn’t what he wants. Serving only out of a sense of duty will get old and brittle after a while. Rather, Peter calls you and me to serve because we are willing. Because we are volunteers.
“‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I, send me’” (Isaiah 6:8).
A volunteer’s heart comes from love, not guilt or duty.
Sometimes we can chafe against our calling. We want out. Peter is exhorting us: Let your heart re-open to him. Yes, begrudging your ministry can rise from exhaustion and pain and hurt. Maybe even genuine clinical depression. And, friend, sometimes God calls us to step back for a time of healing.
But resentment is also a spiritual problem. Father, I repent of my resentment towards ministry. Fill my heart afresh with love for you. Renew my heart, Lord. Help my attitude. Lift up my “feeble arms and weak knees” (Hebrews 12:12). Heal my heart, Lord Jesus. Amen.
2. The Trap of Money (1 Peter 5:2c)
Peter gives a second warning, about money, about pay.
“... Not greedy for money,3 but eager to serve.”4 (1 Peter 5:2c)
I know what it is to labor in pastoral ministry and not get paid. And I know that the struggle for enough money to live on can warp our willingness. We can feel put-upon. We begin to feel entitled. We resent people for being tight-fisted when they should be generous. Dear friend, our brother Peter calls us to remember that we’re not in the Kingdom for money, for Mammon (Matthew 6:24), but out of love for Jesus.
I have served in some of the poorest places in the world and in some of the most affluent. And I have learned that greed is not a rich man’s disease. It can just as easily enslave a poor man. Break free, my brother, my sister. Trust God afresh. Jesus tells us:
“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)
3. The Trap of Power (1 Peter 5:3)
Third, there is the trap of power. Peter warns us to carry out our ministry without trying to control people, without trying to show them who is boss.
“... Not lording it
over5 those
entrusted to you,
but being examples6
to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:3)
Sheep need to be led, not driven. You are a shepherd, not a sheep-dog yipping at the heels of your flock.
If you have risen to a place where you now have some authority over others, power can tempt you. We like being able to tell others what to do. We like commanding, that is, our “flesh” likes it. But power can also corrupt our spirits.
Domineering isn’t Jesus’ way. Not just once, but several times, he sits his disciples down and solemnly instructs them not to buy into the world’s power systems.
“42 You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45)
Peter also reminds us that people are “entrusted to you” (NIV) or “assigned to your care” (NLT). God has assigned a small portion (klēros7) of his flock to us. They don’t belong to us. They are Christ’s people, God’s children. We are watching over them on Jesus’ behalf. We are under-shepherds; he is the Chief Shepherd.
The Crown of Glory (1 Peter 5:4)
It’s natural to want people to notice our sacrifices.8 To applaud our work for Jesus. But friends, our reward -- recognition that means anything -- is not likely to come in our lifetimes. If we seek the reward, we get distracted from our true priorities. Peter encourages us to look instead to the prize ahead.
“And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” (1 Peter 5:4)
Now is not the time for glory, but that time is coming. I think of Paul, nearing his death in Rome, only a few months separated in time from Peter’s martyrdom in that same city. Paul writes to his protégé Timothy essentially the same words that Peter writes here to his fellow elders:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day -- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)
There will be recognition and reward, my fellow elder, my co-worker in Christ, but it is not for now. Surely, however, that crown has been set aside with your name on it, and will be awarded to you on that Day. No one may know about your service in this life. You may never be mentioned in the history of your town, your city, your province. But God knows your name. He sees your labor. He appreciates you being there as his reliable representative. On the Day of Christ’s appearing, you will be known by God and awarded a crown of glory by his own hand.
My brother, my sister, my fellow elders, my fellow-workers in Christ -- heed Peter’s warnings and look anew to the Great Shepherd of the Flock, Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Prayer
Father, you know the heavy load my brothers and sisters are bearing. Speak encouragement to their hearts today. Lift them up. Help them side-step the temptations that would distract them. Set them on Your path afresh today. I pray for them, in the name of Jesus our common Lord and Master. Amen.
End Notes
[1] “Because you must” (NIV), “by constraint” (KJV), “under compulsion” (ESV, NRSV), “grudgingly” (NLT) is the adverb anagkastōs, “by compulsion” (BDAG 60), “by force or constraint” (Thayer 36), from the verb anagkazō, “force, compel.”
[2] “Willingly” (ESV, NRSV, KJV), “willing” (NIV) is hekousiōs, “willingly, voluntarily,” an adverb of the adjective hekousios, “pertaining to doing something of one’s own volition, voluntary, as a volunteer” (BDAG 307).
[3] “Greedy for money” (NIV), “shameful gain” (ESV, NRSV), “filthy lucre” (KJV), “what you will get out of it” (NLT) is the adverb aischrokerdōs, “in fondness of dishonest gain, greedily” (BDAG 29), from aischros, “shameful, base, disgraceful” + kerdos, “gain, profit.”
[4] “Eager to serve” (NIV, NLT), “eagerly” (ESV, NRSV), “of a ready mind” (KJV) is the adverb prothymōs, “pertaining to being eager to be of service, willingly, eagerly, freely” (BDAG 870).
[5] “Lording it over” (NIV, NRSV, NLT, NJV), “domineering” (ESV), “being lords” (KJV) is katakyrieuō, “to have mastery, be master, lord it (over), rule” (BDAG 519, 2).
[6] “Examples” (NIV, ESV, NRSV), “good example” (NLT), “ensamples” (KJV) is typos, here, “an archetype serving as a model, type, pattern, model” (BDAG 1020, 6b).
[7] “Those entrusted to you” (NIV), “those in your charge” (ESV, NRSV), “God’s heritage” (KJV), “assigned to your care” (NLT) is the noun klēros, “that which is assigned by lot or simply given as a portion or share, portion, share” (BDAG 548, 2).
[8] Matthew 6:1-18.
Copyright © 2026, Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor
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