Participants: Tom Shepherd & Deyvy Rodriguez
Series Code: PBOTB
Program Code: PBOTB00017A
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00:21 Hello and welcome to "Books of the Book."
00:23 My name is Deyvy Rodriquez 00:25 and with me is Dr. Tom Shepherd. 00:27 He is a professor at Andrews University. 00:29 He teaches New Testament 00:31 at the Theological Seminary there. 00:34 Dr. Shepherd, welcome. Thank you. 00:36 Before we begin our study of 1 Peter, 00:39 the last chapter actually we're doing today. 00:41 Tell us a little more about your family. 00:43 I married to Sherri Shepherd. 00:46 Her maiden name was Bomb. 00:47 And we've been married for 38 years. 00:50 And I've been blessed by God with two children, 00:52 Amy and Jonathan. They are both grown. 00:55 And Amy has three little children 00:58 with her husband Peter 00:59 and they are Malachi and Nadia and Isaiah. 01:03 And then our son Jonathan and his wife Laura 01:05 have a little grandson name, Nathaniel. Okay. 01:08 And Amy and Peter are teachers 01:10 down at Southwestern Adventist University 01:12 as biology professors 01:13 and Jonathan works with accounting. 01:15 And they live in the Berrien Spring area, 01:17 so we get to see little Nathaniel and Jonathan 01:20 and Laura quite regularly. Wonderful. 01:22 And so, what are we studying today? 01:24 Today we're looking at 1 Peter 5:1-4. 01:27 This is the last chapter of the book. 01:30 And now he is going to talk 01:31 to the Christian community once again. 01:34 So let's read 1 Peter 5:1-4. Okay. 01:39 "The elders who are among you I exhort, 01:41 I who am a fellow elder 01:43 and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, 01:46 and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed, 01:49 shepherd the flock of God which is among you, 01:52 serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly 01:57 not for dishonest gain but eagerly, 02:01 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, 02:04 but being examples to the flock 02:07 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, 02:09 you will receive the crown of glory 02:11 that does not fade away." All right. 02:14 Now Peter opens this section in a very unusual way. 02:18 Why does he do that? 02:20 Well, the interesting thing is that he uses the term 02:23 that's used nowhere else in the New Testament. 02:25 He calls himself a fellow elder. 02:29 He says, "I'm talking to the elders." 02:31 And he says, "I'm a fellow elder." 02:33 You might expect that he would actually call himself an apostle 02:37 because that's what he did at the beginning of the book. 02:39 And apostle is so much higher than an elder, 02:42 you know, it's like way up in the sky. 02:45 And you wonder, why use a term 02:47 that puts him on the same level with each other's elders? 02:52 I think the answer to that, ties into the whole metaphor 02:59 that controls these four verses 03:03 and that is the metaphor of the flock and the shepherd. 03:09 He describes a variety of things in this passage 03:13 that have this overarching kind of ring to them of, 03:18 a metaphor of a person taking care 03:21 of a flock sheep or goats or something like that. 03:25 And the interesting parallel to this passage 03:29 is actually foundi in the gospel of John Chapter 21. 03:34 So we want to turn over to John 21 to see this story. 03:41 This is the last chapter of the gospel of John. 03:45 "And Jesus has risen from the dead. 03:49 The disciples have seen him, 03:51 recognized him as the risen Lord." 03:55 And you read the end of John Chapter 20, 04:00 he tells you why he wrote his book 04:02 and you say, well, that's a good ending to the book. 04:05 And then he says well, I have another story to tell you. 04:09 And he tells the story of the disciples 04:11 going to the Sea of Galilee. 04:14 The Sea of Tiberias is called here. 04:16 And they go fishing. 04:18 You remember the story, they catch nothing that night. 04:20 And Jesus is standing on the shore afterwards 04:25 and He calls out to them, "Children, 04:27 do you have any fish?" 04:28 And they said, "No." 04:30 And He says, "Cast the net 04:31 on the right side of the boat and you'll find something." 04:34 They cast the net and they can't pull in the net, 04:37 it's so full of fish. 04:39 And John, the beloved disciple turns to Peter 04:43 and he says, "It's the Lord." 04:46 And that's all that Peter needs to hear. 04:48 He throws on his clothes, 04:50 he jumps into the water and swims to shore. 04:52 And then they all come 04:54 and they eat breakfast together with Jesus. 04:59 The food is miraculously there. 05:01 And He says, "Bring some of the fish." 05:03 And they have this meal together. 05:05 John says that, "No one dares to ask Him who He is." 05:08 He said, "They all knew it was the Lord, 05:10 it was Jesus, the risen Lord." 05:13 Then there is this very interesting interchange, 05:16 exchange between Jesus and Peter. 05:20 We want to read about it. It's in John 21:15-19. 05:26 So I want you to read this passage. 05:28 And let's keep track of things in here 05:30 'cause there is this set three questions 05:32 and three answers and so forth. Okay. 05:35 "So when they had eaten breakfast, 05:37 Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of Jonah, 05:40 do you love Me more than these?" 05:42 He said to Him. He said to him, "Yes, Lord. 05:45 You know that I love you." 05:47 He said to him, "Feed my lambs." 05:50 He said to him again a second time, 05:52 "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" 05:54 He said to Him, "Yes, Lord. You know that I love You." 05:58 He said to him, "Tend My sheep." 06:00 He said to him the third time, 06:01 "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" 06:04 Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, 06:07 "Do you love Me?" 06:09 And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all these things. 06:12 You know that I love You." 06:14 Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep. 06:18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, 06:20 you girded yourself and walked where you wished, 06:24 but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, 06:27 and another will guard you 06:30 and will carry you where you do not wish." 06:35 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. 06:39 And when He had spoken this, He said to him, 06:42 "Follow Me." All right. 06:45 It's an interesting passage 06:47 and there's this three questions that Jesus asks him. 06:51 We are reminded that Peter denied Jesus three times. 06:55 And here Jesus asks him a question three times. 07:00 Peter responds three times. 07:03 Three times Jesus gives him a commission. 07:07 He has been a fisherman 07:08 and he is not gonna be a fisherman anymore. 07:10 He says, "Feed my lambs." 07:12 He says, "Tend my sheep." 07:14 He says, "Feed my sheep." 07:17 So we wonder what in the world is going on in this passage. 07:22 How does this take-- What is Jesus doing 07:25 and why does Peter respond as he does? 07:29 Well, you really have to look at Greek 07:32 to be able to recognize this easily. 07:35 Even then it takes a bit of pondering to look at. 07:38 There are several different words for love 07:41 and to love in Greek. 07:44 The one that is very commonly used in the New Testament 07:47 to talk about the kind of love that God has for us is agapao. 07:51 We talk of agape as the noun and agapao as the verb. 07:55 There is another verb, philao 07:59 which means friendship kind of love, okay. 08:03 And Peter and Jesus are using these terms 08:07 throughout this discussion. 08:10 We have a graphic here that displays it 08:11 in a kind of a chart form that shows 08:15 what this love will look like and the ideas. 08:19 Now you'll kind have to take a look at this. 08:21 You got questions one, two and three. 08:24 You have Christ's question on the left 08:27 and then Peter's response, then his ministry commission. 08:32 You have level of love 08:34 and the level of ministry that are involved here. 08:36 Now when Jesus first asked him, He says, 08:40 "Do you love Me more than the rest of these do?" 08:43 And he uses agapao. 08:45 So, do you have the highest love? 08:46 In fact, do you have more love 08:47 than the rest of the disciples do for Me? 08:49 Now before Jesus died, Peter had said, 08:52 "Yes certainly, I sure do. 08:54 I have that love more than anybody else." 08:57 But now he is really humble. 09:00 In fact, he doesn't even dare to use the same word. 09:03 He uses, you see there on the graphic. 09:06 He uses the word, philao 09:08 which is a friendship kind of love. 09:10 Jesus asked them again. "Do you love Me?" 09:12 He doesn't say more than the rest of these. 09:16 He kind of lowers the bar a bit. 09:18 but He still uses agapao. 09:20 Peter again uses philao. 09:22 The third time around, now Jesus uses philao. 09:26 It's like He has lowered the bar down lower, you know. 09:29 And Peter is hurt this time. 09:31 And he says, but He still uses philao. 09:35 And people look at this and they pointed, 09:37 "What in the world is going on here?" 09:39 It's even worse when you return to the ministry 09:42 because the ministry commission 09:43 seems to start at the lowest level, 09:46 feeding the lambs, the near fights. 09:49 And then it goes up to a middle level, 09:52 perhaps, caring for more mature like taking them out, you know, 09:55 and then feeding the sheep. 09:57 Now this is like the highest level, 09:58 if you were the pastor of a university, 10:01 church or something, you know. 10:03 You don't just put anybody there, 10:04 you choose a person with the highest. 10:06 So Jesus conception of what He is requiring of. 10:10 Peter seems to go down 10:11 from the highest level down to the lower, 10:13 but His commission to him seems to go from lower to higher, 10:17 and it's very strange, moving away. 10:19 So why does He do this? 10:22 Well, He is testing him. He is testing him. 10:25 He denied him three times 10:27 and so He is testing him as well. 10:29 And He is saying He wants to see 10:32 how much Peter has repented. 10:37 Now how would Peter show repentance? 10:43 Well, if he were to make-- If Jesus said, 10:45 "Do you love me more than the rest of these?" 10:47 I sure do more than anybody else here. 10:51 That wouldn't show repentance. 10:52 That would show the same old brash Peter 10:55 who was very self-confident 10:57 considered himself better than everybody else. 11:00 Peter has learned an amazing lesson. 11:03 He went through the experience 11:05 of denying Jesus and the cross, seeing Jesus die on the cross. 11:12 And we get inklings from the other gospels 11:14 when we read the story that Peter didn't feel like 11:17 he belonged anymore with the rest of the disciples. 11:19 In Mark, the angel says to the women, 11:21 "Go tell his disciples." 11:24 And Peter, that he is supposed to meet them in Galilee. 11:28 So Peter felt that he didn't belong 11:31 and probably the other disciples did as well. 11:34 That he didn't deserve a place. 11:36 I mean, if we have somebody today 11:37 who destroys their ministry, you know, 11:39 they do some foolish action and just do something terrible, 11:43 they won't be hired by the church conference 11:46 or, you know, by local churches too much. 11:48 They're pretty much out, you know. 11:50 So Peter displays a very sensitive concept of repentance. 11:57 He doesn't dare use the wonderful word agapao, 12:00 that Jesus has used that would be just cheeky. 12:03 That would be so arrogant to do that. 12:05 He takes a very low, "Lord," 12:07 he says, "Yes, you know, I love you." 12:08 And Jesus is like He is putting the knife 12:11 and He is just twisting it. 12:13 He brings the level down and finally He comes down 12:16 to the level where Peter started. 12:18 And He says, "Do you love me 12:20 with this fellowship love, this brotherly love." 12:23 And that's like questioning 12:24 what Peter had already been answering, 12:26 but Peter comes through with flying colors. 12:29 He says, "Lord, you know, everything. 12:31 You know, that I love you." 12:33 His point of reference has changed. 12:37 His point of reference has changed. 12:39 It's no longer himself. It's Jesus. 12:42 He says, "Lord, you know, everything." 12:45 And Jesus restores him to ministry 12:48 gives him a commission. 12:49 In fact, this is one of the greatest evidences 12:53 that Jesus rose from the dead. What? 12:56 That Peter was restored to ministry in the Christian church 13:01 because if Jesus had not restored him to ministry, 13:04 nobody else would have. 13:06 They would have left him out, 13:07 if they even started there, you know, their little group. 13:10 Peter wouldn't have been part of them. 13:11 So Peter never forgot this lesson 13:15 and when we turn to 1 Peter 5. 13:18 What concept of ministry does he link in to? 13:22 The shepherd 0and the flock, 13:24 he calls Jesus the Chief Shepherd 13:27 and he talks here about being a fellow elder 13:30 down at that level where he knew 13:33 he belonged along with everybody else. 13:36 He had true repentance in his life. 13:38 Well, we're just starting studying 1 Peter Chapter 5 13:41 and we'll come back and study 13:43 some more of these verses after a short break. |
Revised 2014-12-17