Connect360: Dress for Success

• Lesson 12 in the Connect 360 unit “Hunger for Holiness: Living Pure in an Impure World” focuses on 1 Peter 5:1-6.

The main thrust of today’s passage is instruction on humility and leadership within the church. Even though Peter is writing to the elders (pastors) of the church, do not skip this section of Scripture because you are not a pastor. Biblically, all Christians are priests, called to serve by God (see 1 Peter 2:9-10). Further, God gives at least one spiritual gift to each believer, to be used for the common good of the whole church (see 1 Corinthians 12:7).

Each one of us is both a leader and a follower. We follow Jesus, and we pass on to others what we have learned (2 Timothy 2:2), thereby making disciples of Jesus wherever we go (Matthew 28:19-20).

Having said this, some specific instructions given in 1 Peter 5:1- 4 address the pastors or elders of the church. In 5:5-6, Peter expanded the application of much of this passage to apply to “all” in the church. So, we will examine what this passage specifically means for church leaders, and then make application of these truths to all our lives as well.

Peter exhorted the elders to remember that they are serving God in all their decisions and interactions (5:2). Sometimes, we get sidetracked into thinking that the task of leaders is to please the people. But the leader’s first responsibility is to obey Jesus. The flock is God’s flock (5:2). We don’t belong to ourselves, we have been bought with a price, so we are to glorify God through our lives, which are his (1 Corinthians 6:20).

Once we realize God is the primary One we serve, it is also important that we serve one another. As members of one body, we help the body function better when we serve each other. Peter called himself “a fellow” elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ. In Jesus we are connected to each other and should treat each other with dignity and mutual respect. In Matthew 20:25-28, the disciples were maneuvering to see who would be the greatest in God’s kingdom. Jesus put a stop to it, then taught them that the greatest in the kingdom of God is the one who serves all the others.

Elders, pastors and all other church leaders must realize that while they carry out functions of leadership, they are still sheep at heart. To Jesus, we are all sheep who need to be humbly following him, the Great Shepherd. (See 5:2.)

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