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[3828.58 --> 3835.70] all of them can be used and manipulated and coerced for your own benefit for your own peace
[3835.70 --> 3839.94] and your own power fundamentally that's paganism
[3841.78 --> 3850.74] in christianity gospel christianity is something else altogether because our hope is other worldly
[3850.74 --> 3859.78] and if you don't believe in anything beyond this world then of course that doesn't make sense
[3861.54 --> 3867.14] but the truth for us that we know is that when you come to see god and jesus when you have been born
[3867.14 --> 3875.46] again into this living hope this is actually the only way to make sense of anything in this world it's the only way to see
[3875.46 --> 3884.90] here's the hard truth then that the the world struggles so much to understand
[3887.94 --> 3889.70] any suffering
[3892.34 --> 3902.66] hear that any suffering only makes sense if and when consummation and god's glory fills it with purpose
[3902.66 --> 3910.66] any rejoicing only makes sense in light of the consummation and god's glory as the utter fulfillment
[3910.66 --> 3919.06] and climax of our joy right the truth is an otherworldly hope and an otherworldly mindset is the only way to
[3919.06 --> 3928.34] make sense of anything in the world right now and these two threads running through the whole letter of
[3928.34 --> 3935.06] peter are pulled into his penultimate discussion here about being a humble community
[3937.22 --> 3937.78] he writes
[3938.58 --> 3939.86] to the elders among you
[3941.06 --> 3945.94] be shepherds of god's flock that is under your care watching over them
[3945.94 --> 3949.70] not because you must but because you are willing as god wants you to be
[3949.70 --> 3956.74] not pursuing dishonest gain but eager to serve not lording it over those entrusted to you but being examples
[3956.74 --> 3958.02] of the flock
[3960.18 --> 3968.26] one commentary that i read this week in this section here asks the question how does this make any sense
[3968.26 --> 3976.58] in a world where the very stuff of leadership is coercion and money and power and the answer is it doesn't
[3976.58 --> 3979.38] it doesn't it doesn't make sense
[3981.06 --> 3981.86] or at least
[3981.86 --> 3983.70] it only makes sense
[3983.70 --> 3986.02] if what you know is
[3986.02 --> 3987.70] and when
[3987.70 --> 3990.58] the chief shepherd appears
[3990.58 --> 3992.50] you will receive
[3993.06 --> 3994.74] a crown of glory
[3994.74 --> 3996.18] that never fades away
[3996.18 --> 4002.90] but that the kind of living that changes history the kind of of living that changes the world
[4002.90 --> 4010.02] the kind of leading that changes the church can only happen when you think beyond history when you think of another
[4010.50 --> 4011.46] world
[4011.46 --> 4014.34] and elders speaking specifically to you now
[4014.34 --> 4017.22] elders if you want to be good at your job
[4017.22 --> 4021.70] if you want to be faithful to your calling as an under shepherd of jesus
[4022.66 --> 4024.74] you need to be captivated
[4025.06 --> 4028.02] completely and utterly captivated
[4028.02 --> 4029.46] by this truth
[4030.02 --> 4033.06] your hearts need to be full of rejoicing
[4033.06 --> 4034.66] and overjoycing
[4034.66 --> 4035.86] at the consummation
[4035.86 --> 4037.78] and the celestial city to come
[4037.78 --> 4040.18] your imaginations need to be overwhelmed
[4040.18 --> 4041.14] by the beauty
[4041.14 --> 4042.34] and the majesty
[4042.34 --> 4043.38] of the gospel
[4043.38 --> 4045.78] so that you may live and serve
[4045.78 --> 4048.02] in the midst of hardship
[4048.02 --> 4048.98] and suffering
[4048.98 --> 4049.94] and trial
[4049.94 --> 4050.50] and
[4050.50 --> 4051.62] with purpose
[4051.62 --> 4052.26] and joy
[4052.26 --> 4054.50] whether that is your suffering and hardship and trial
[4054.50 --> 4055.78] or entering into
[4055.78 --> 4058.34] the sufferings of others
[4058.34 --> 4059.86] to do that with purpose
[4059.86 --> 4060.42] and joy
[4060.42 --> 4061.70] with integrity
[4061.70 --> 4062.98] and with diligence
[4062.98 --> 4065.30] you need to be captivated
[4067.06 --> 4067.78] by this truth
[4070.42 --> 4071.86] but of course not just the elders
[4073.14 --> 4073.38] right
[4073.38 --> 4074.66] in the same way
[4074.66 --> 4076.10] you who are younger
[4076.10 --> 4076.34] now
[4077.06 --> 4079.38] most scholars agree that that is a term
[4079.38 --> 4082.18] that refers to those who are spiritually younger
[4082.18 --> 4084.90] as well as those who are numerically younger
[4084.90 --> 4088.18] the idea really is to catch up everyone who's not serving
[4088.18 --> 4089.54] the church as an elder
[4091.54 --> 4092.58] in the same way
[4093.38 --> 4094.02] peter writes
[4094.74 --> 4096.26] submit yourselves
[4097.30 --> 4098.10] to your elders
[4099.70 --> 4100.66] there's that word
[4100.66 --> 4101.70] submit again
[4103.30 --> 4107.38] and since the elders calling is to care for and to
[4107.38 --> 4110.58] usher you into the presence of jesus
[4110.58 --> 4114.74] whether that's our pastoral elders or me as a teaching elder
[4114.74 --> 4118.34] and and to be sure i know that in our church tradition we don't really make that kind of
[4118.34 --> 4122.34] distinction formally but practically of course we do because
[4123.70 --> 4126.26] your pastoral elders aren't up here preaching yet
[4126.26 --> 4137.54] since the elders have a responsibility to see you grow in your faith and in your relationship to jesus
[4137.54 --> 4144.74] since the elders may have cause to correct or to teach or to rebuke so that you can be transformed
[4144.74 --> 4152.90] ever more into the image of jesus christ peter says that we have to submit to their oversight too
[4152.90 --> 4158.74] and again to the world around us that doesn't make sense
[4159.54 --> 4164.18] and let's let's be honest right because to some of you sitting here right now and who've been
[4164.18 --> 4166.18] sitting in a church for your entire lives
[4167.86 --> 4169.30] that hardly makes sense to you
[4170.66 --> 4173.38] you mean i have to submit to someone else in authority over me
[4174.90 --> 4176.34] that's not how we work in this world
[4176.34 --> 4186.10] and yet this is the exact structure that jesus has given his church this is the exact purpose
[4186.10 --> 4193.14] that jesus has designed in his kingdom come and his kingdom coming because the truth is we all
[4193.14 --> 4199.38] wander right the truth is we all waver in our commitments and the sad truth is we all walk away
[4199.38 --> 4208.02] from obedience at one time or another and the good shepherd who goes after that one lost sheep
[4209.62 --> 4214.98] like the good shepherd who goes after that one lost sheep a good elder will go after you
[4216.18 --> 4222.66] a good elder will not give up on pursuing you a good elder may have to say enough