2. In spite of his position in the church and the respect with which he is held he writes this as an appeal – not a directive. He is not a celebrity or a CEO. He is simply a co-elder. He is not writing as the Pope or even as an apostle or leader of the church.

Titles, positions, rank and hierarchy have no importance for him. The days of arguing about who will be the greatest or who is the most loved are over. We don’t have many letters from old men in the New Testament – only Peter and John and perhaps James – and they share some of the same characteristics. They are appeals. They are wisdom literature and best read and understood when you have some mileage on you.

His identity is in what he has to share with the young church – not in what he has accumulated or owns. We are reading from a wise old man who has been through suffering himself and not been distorted by it. These are the themes of his life: endurance, perseverance, submission, humility and suffering.

3. What are the traps of service in the life of a shepherd in the church?

A sense of compulsion: This is something I resent but I have to do is common.
A sense of compulsiveness: This is something I do because it gives me my identity. Ulterior motives of “base gain”.

Base gain is not always money. It is for some but not for many. The other forms of greed are just as dangerous – respect, power, influence, misplaced love, position, deference. All these things are as appealing as money to many. In a sense, base gain is what happens when we live with an expectation that doing good will serve our purposes instead of serving with no ulterior motives or expectations. It doesn’t sound very appealing but it is serving because it is your assignment – not really your volunteer work. It’s not always something we enjoy doing. There are times I would rather not have the responsibility of teaching or times when teaching may not be personally rewarding but it is my assignment. It is a large part of what God expects of me. We don’t always do things because they are satisfying or they are gratifying. We do them because they are right to do.

I think it is important to think about what Viktor Frankl says in Man’s Search For Meaning:
“It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”

The more one forgets himself–by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love–the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence.

I’ve seen examples of this: Mark and Monica Barret with Parental Care Ministries, Ricky and Melanie Roberts at Gentry Parkway Youth Center and Romey Kilgore at United We Serve.

C.S. Lewis says about humility: “It is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less.” It really is a self-forgetting. Not self-neglect or self-abuse but simply a self-forgetting.

4. Old men and young men.

What do older men “owe” to younger men? This is not a gift or even a choice but an obligation.

– An example: “Cat’s In The Cradle”, I want to be just like you. We have an obligation to be an example that younger men want to copy – and not one they want to avoid.
– We owe responsibility as elders – legitimate responsibility that grows them.
– We owe an eagerness to serve – enthusiastic for service not recognition or position.
– We owe not lording it over them. Read 2 Samuel 2:12-16:
12 Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon.(U) 13 Joab(V) son of Zeruiah and David’s men went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool and one group on the other side. 14 Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight hand to hand in front of us.” “All right, let them do it,” Joab said. 15 So they stood up and were counted off—twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David. 16 Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger(W) into his opponent’s side, and they fell down together. So that place in Gibeon was called Helkath Hazzurim.

– We owe an investment in their future – not a sense of competition or intimidation.

What do older men have to give to the young? Not an obligation but a gift.

– Patience – Barnabas and Saul/Peter and Mark
– Time – Peter Greer’s 2+2+2. Two hours/Two times a year/Two years.
– Mentoring – Wisdom from experience.

What do young men owe the older? Not nearly as much. Respect for age.

I think younger men are best served by being proactive in seeking out older men they can respect. Even though it is owed to older men, it is far more productive to find men who have earned a respect not just because of their age.

What do the young have to give to the older?

– Hope for the future. Spending time with them gives me hope.
– Value for experience
– A taste of glory – Melanie Robert’s wall of college graduates at Gentry Parkway Youth Center. When I get discouraged I go in and look at all the kids who made it out of here.

5. Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

The word for cast is not like the word for throw or toss. It comes from Leviticus 16:20-22: 20 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat.(AM) 21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat(AN)and confess(AO) over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins(AP) to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.

The word for “cares” means “that which divides us”. It’s not immobilizing fear but those things that distract us and cause us to be somewhere else. In Psalm 86 David asks God to give him an “undivided heart” and that is the opposite of what Peter is describing here. We live with divided hearts and divided minds. We have something else on our minds constantly.

63% of people surveyed report worries about money as the biggest distraction in their lives followed by health, relationships, aging and work. It’s always in the back of their minds. Here’s what is more interesting: 41% of those surveyed admit to manufacturing reasons to worry. They make up scenarios that are unlikely to ever happen. They live in anticipation of trouble.

These cares separate not only our minds and hearts but they separate us from other people because we are always distracted – even when we are pretending to be listening.

That is why the words from Leviticus are so important. Put both hands – our full attention – on those cares and lay them on him.

We are not to live a burden free life. Jesus lived with suffering, hardship, sorrow and burdens but he did not live with anxiety. He understood how God cares. God has an undivided heart toward us. He is not distracted.

I think the care of God is not just comfort. I think it goes back to what Frankl said about life. God gives each of us a task in life – a responsibility and expectation.

I thought about these verses yesterday watching a talk by Eric Greitens – the author of The Warrior’s Heart. Eric was a Navy SEAL. His initial class of 221 was reduced to only 20 men who finished the training. He said, “I saw very few men quit while they were doing something harder than they could imagine. They quit when they started anticipating how hard the next thing was going to be.” It is not difficulty that makes us quit but the anticipation of difficulty.

He said something else. Most of the men who returned home and experienced PTSD did so because of two things: they were disconnected from people and they lost their sense of mission. That is why he created “The Mission Continues” for wounded and disabled vets. He links them with mentors and helps them create meaningful missions of service.

That is exactly what the church can be and that is what is described in these verses. Relationships that keep us connected and focused on service, humility, perseverance, wisdom and the crown of glory that will never fade away.