Leader to leader

Approaching the end of this letter Peter writes to a few individual groups: the Church leaders; the younger generation and then everyone in the Church community. He does from his position as a leader.

“To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed” (1 Peter 5 v 1)

1. He knows what it is like. He is a ‘fellow elder’. Yesterday I had the privilege as I always do to sit alongside fellow Pastors and share God’s Word with them. I love this privilege. I have pastored a small church and a large church and as I looked at them yesterday I could relate and they knew it. Sometimes we need someone who has travelled our path to come alongside us, to be a ‘fellow’. That is in every walk of life and position we find ourselves in. Be grateful if you have someone like this for you will grow if you do.
2. He has known failure. He is a witness to the sufferings of Christ. For him this is not a badge of success. He is fully aware of his involvement. From his opposition of the pathway Jesus was taking to the cross; his inability to watch and pray in the garden; his violence of cutting off of the servant’s ear; his denial of Jesus; his decision to go back to his old way of life; all of these things play out in the story of the sufferings of Christ. But his failure didn’t define him. Here he is writing to leaders as a leader.
3. He is looking forward; he has vision of the coming glory of Jesus Christ. He would remember the Transfiguration moment and he longs for more to come. He is confident he will be there in the end time, in the glory of Jesus revealed.

That’s what we all need. Fellows who know what it is like; who show vulnerability because of their stories of failure and who carry a hope and a vision for the future glory.