Privileged Elders to Feed the Lamp (1Peter 5:1-4)

PRIVILEGED ELDERS TO FEED THE LAMB (1Peter 5:1-4):

Peter commends the believers with many valuable teachings and reminds them about the hope and future glory that believers have. He says the believers to entrust their souls to the faithful creator who is always righteous and loving. Then Peter encourages the believers further through the exhortation to the elders, who are among the believers. Peter says the fellow elders as the witness of the sufferings of Christ. The elders will be certainly of matured age as that of Peter and they would have been mostly existed during the time of the suffering and crucifixion of Christ either directly by being in Jerusalem or somewhere near, but being heard about it, so he mentions them as fellow elders. Also, the Elders may have some association with Jesus though it may not be as close as that of Peter. At the time when Peter writes the letter, believers would be undergoing the tribulations and trials. So, Peter affirms again that the elders who stand as witnesses for Christ will be a stakeholder and partaker in the glory of the risen Christ. After the Coming of Christ as righteous Judge, the glory of the Christ and the glory of the believers who had fought a good fight and completed the good race of their life will be revealed.

Like the Shepherd takes care of the sheep under his control with at most care by providing food, shelter, and guidance, Peter says the elders to be a shepherd for the fellow believers. He advises the elders to shepherd the people as not just a flock but the flock of God. The elders are supposed to be accountable to God as every believer is a child of God. The elders should shepherd the believers by exercising oversight, influencing all their walks of life for God. The elders ought to do that not as a duty out of compulsion of being an elder but out of willingness which comes through true concern and love, as God had done to the elders. The elders should not shepherd the believers for any shameful gain that is materialistic and out of selfish ambition for a vain gain, but they need to do it eagerly for the welfare of the believer. Also the elders should not be as that of the worldly superiors who shepherd people imperiously with tyranny and domineering by their authority, but the elders are first needed to be good examples to the believers so that they do follow their Godly footsteps not by compulsion but by a willingness and Love for God.

Christ is the perfect and unfading example for believers in their walks of life. So, Peter mentions him as the Chief Shepherd who is without any blemish or selfishness but always gives the disciples and the followers, a free will to choose from the beginning of time for getting and giving the perfect love with truthfulness. When the Chief Shepherd appears, the believers will receive the glory of eternal life and reward that is unfading and sustaining.

Stimulations for Self-Reflection

1.      Whom does Peter exhort as his fellow people? What he mentions about them?

2.      Why Peter addresses the elders as fellow elders?

3.      What do you mean by ‘partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed’?

4.      What the elders are supposed to do?

5.      What do you mean by ‘flock of God’?

6.      How the elders are supposed to shepherd the flock of God?

7.      How the elder can ‘exercise oversight’ upon a believer?

8.      How an elder can be an example to the flock?

9.      Who is the Chief Shepherd? Why?

10.  What will happen when the Chief shepherd appears?

11.  What do you mean by ‘unfading crown of glory’?

12.  How we can give the elderly care to fellow believers to guide them?