A Pastor's Pledge

Thank you so much, Aaron.

So good to see you all.

Really blessed to be here.

I heard there was a queue coming up.

Was that right?

Oh, yeah, that's bad.

We'll try and talk to the management

and see if we can get more lifts up.

But you know when there isn't a queue?

Nine o'clock.

No queue then.

Ten o'clock.

No queue.

10.30 for the pre-service prayer.

Guess what?

No queue.

So if you want to have no queue,

that's when you come.

But honestly, we're trying to figure things out.

It's a special...

It's been actually an exciting

but also a reflective week for me

because this is the three-year anniversary

of us being in the Admiralty Center.

Three years.

We've been doing this for three years

and it feels as though every few months

we have to do some kind of changes.

We have to install some kind of fans

because people are fainting.

We have to add more chairs.

We have to change into a different floor.

And we are still figuring it out.

And what I do really cherish

is that we have a community

that is willing to have grace

and figure it out together.

Yesterday we had a group of leaders again

just going,

what do we do?

How are we going to go about this?

And where's God leading us?

And just constantly trying to communicate

and just ask,

Lord, what is it that you want from us?

And what is it that you desire for us

as a church?

And so we're actually going to take

a bit of a break from Genesis.

We've been going through the book of Genesis

since Easter.

So it's been quite a long time.

We've gone all the way to Genesis 24

and we're going to take one week intermission.

And I realized it's because

as I look around now,

as I look and I see,

I see familiar faces.

I see new familiar faces

and I see just completely new faces.

And then I'm just like,

well, every, again,

every few months,

I feel as though it's time to do

just like a little pause

so I can introduce who we are

and also a bit of housekeeping

and a constant reminder

of why we do what we do.

Those gathering statements,

honestly, they're there for me.

They're there for me

because I'm coming every Sunday going,

what am I doing here?

Why is it that I'm here?

And so actually those are

almost my mission statements.

I'm here because it's a complex time

and I'm trying to live

in the most simple way that I can.

I'm trying to walk daily

in the ways of Jesus.

I'm trying to know him

and I'm trying to enjoy him.

That's what I'm trying to do

every single day.

And then I'm trying to gather

with people who I perceive

a spiritual family,

people who I'm hoping to raise up,

people who I'm hoping

will raise up my sons and daughters.

Daughter.

Only one daughter.

No more.

We're done.

Daughter.

So that's it.

Three.

We're good.

Lord have mercy.

And then I'm also going,

okay, how do we disciple leaders

of the next generation?

We started this

when I was still part of Young Life,

which is now headed up by Aaron.

And there's quite a few of you here.

How do we pour into the next generation?

How do we continue to see people

who are growing up,

who are young,

but are worshipping the Lord

and who are choosing

to follow the way of Jesus?

And how do we reach those

who are on the fringe,

who actually,

if we don't go out and reach them,

they won't even come in.

So we're trying to figure that out.

Of course,

logistically,

that means then there's some issue

as we try and bring more people in.

Then we get more cramps.

There's less oxygen to go around.

And then we're trying

to figure that out.

So we are continually praying,

Lord,

what is it that you want us to do?

And I realize a lot of this is on me.

It's a humbling experience for me

because these last three years

have been the most enjoyable,

most rewarding,

but also the hardest

because you're constantly

having to make decisions

that not everyone likes.

And actually,

more importantly,

I realize for me,

we as a church,

we will only go as far

as I go

in terms of me being a leader.

I think we look at the world right now

and what do we see?

We see a leadership problem.

We see there are not enough

godly leaders out there

who would humble themselves

and lead in a way

that God actually desires.

In fact,

I personally think

you can trace all of the world's problems

back to a lack of good godly leadership.

And that's humbling

and terrifying for me as a leader.

And actually,

it's Alistair Begg who said this,

that the church does not advance

beyond the spiritual progress

of its leader.

They did a survey 80 years ago

for the Anglican church in England

and they were looking

at all the different parishes around

and seeing which of the churches

and the communities that are thriving

and which ones are not.

And you know what they found?

It all came down to

whether there was a shepherd,

there was a leader

in that congregation.

Oh, that's a humbling,

terrifying experience

for me to say the least.

So I'm constantly asking myself,

how am I with the Lord?

Do I love the Lord?

If I want you to love the Lord,

then I need to be growing

in the love of the Lord.

If I want you to be reading

and abiding in the word daily,

then I need to be abiding

in the word daily.

I want you to be praying.

I want you to be scattering.

Guess what I need to be doing?

Those very things.

How do I walk and go from the front?

And that's a tough thing.

And I'm going to share with you

from a passage today

which I hold dearly to my heart.

I think it makes it into my prayers

on a weekly basis

because I can't do without it.

Because when we're talking about

what it means to be a shepherd,

Jesus talks directly about it.

And actually in John 21,

just before he leaves,

he picks out one of his leaders

who made tons of mistakes,

a guy called Peter

who denied him three times

and by the fire,

he goes to Peter in John 21,

do you love me?

And if you love me,

you'll feed my sheep.

For me, that's the constant question

that I ask myself.

Lord, do I love you?

I should only feed your sheep.

I should only pastor if I love you.

And I can tell you this.

It's an honest confession.

You can go by in ministry

not loving the Lord.

You can completely ignore the Lord.

But that's not my hope

and that's not my prayer.

And actually,

that's my request for a prayer

from you to us

and to our leaders.

Would you continue to pray

for your leaders

that they would continue

to love the Lord,

continue to know the Lord

and continue to enjoy the Lord.

And of course,

after Peter says,

yes, I do love you,

I do love you,

I do love you,

unknowingly,

knowing that actually

Jesus was trying to restore him,

restore him for those three times

that he actually denied him,

he ends up in a place

where it's okay,

you are now going to feed my sheep.

Peter, many years later,

writes a letter.

He writes a letter

and this is the passage

that we're going to focus on today

is 1 Peter 5, 1 to 11.

And it's talking about

how do we as shepherds

actually shepherd the flock?

And hopefully,

with this intermission,

with this bit of a breather

from Genesis,

which we'll be back in next week,

Gabe is going to go

into Genesis 25,

but this week,

we'll just have a breather

and go, okay,

what is the heart behind

everything that we're doing in this?

And what is my heart?

And what is God's heart

for our flock here?

So as is our tradition,

can I invite you to stand

for the word of the Lord?

Kelly is going to come up

and read it to us

and maybe I'll say a quick prayer

before we do that.

God,

we stand for your word

because we

we don't only respect this,

we revere your word.

We depend on it.

We are filled with awe

that these words are from you,

that you would speak to us

in a way that we would understand.

And Holy Spirit,

there are times

when we are hard of hearing,

we don't understand.

So Holy Spirit,

would you guide us today?

Would you speak to us today

through your word?

Minister to us, Lord.

1 Peter,

1 Peter 5:1–11

chapter 5,

verse 1 to 11.

Shepherd the flock of God.

So I exhort the elders among you

as a fellow elder

and a witness

of the sufferings of Christ,

as well as a partaker

in the glory

that is going to be revealed.

Shepherd the flock of God

that is among you,

exercising oversight,

not under compulsion,

but willingly,

as God would have you,

not for shameful gain,

but eagerly,

not domineering

over those in your charge,

but being examples

to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears,

you will receive

the unfading crown of glory.

Likewise,

you who are younger,

be subject to the elders.

Clothe yourselves,

all of you,

with humility

toward one another,

for God opposes the proud,

but gives grace

to the humble.

Humble yourselves,

therefore,

under the mighty hand of God,

so that at the proper time

he may exalt you,

casting all your anxieties on him,

because he cares for you.

Be sober-minded,

be watchful.

Your adversary,

the devil,

prowls around

like a roaring lion,

seeking someone to devour.

Resist him,

firm in your faith,

knowing that the same kinds

of suffering

are being experienced

by your brotherhood

throughout the world.

And after you have suffered

a little while,

the God of all grace,

who has called you

to his eternal glory in Christ,

will himself restore,

confirm,

strengthen,

and establish you.

To him be the dominion

forever and ever.

Amen.

This is the word of the Lord.

Please take a seat.

Thank you, Kelly.

Just a bit of context here.

He's writing to the church

and he's writing this letter

and actually,

most of the letter,

he's actually just talking

about suffering.

He's saying,

when you become a Christian,

it's not about health and wealth.

It's not about how you

then have your purpose

that makes you feel

completely satisfied

and then you can walk around

happy,

singing in the rain.

It's way more than that.

In fact,

there's going to be

a lot of suffering

that happens in your life.

That's what he's talking about.

And then in chapter 4,

verse 17,

he says,

there will be judgment.

There will be judgment

and it will start first where?

It will start first

with the church.

The church who has received

the good news,

who has been entrusted

with this good news,

who knows how to live,

who at least knows

how they should live,

judgment is going to start

with the church.

And then he jumps into

this leadership passage,

which tells me that

it not only starts

with the church,

it starts with the leaders

of the church.

And actually,

for us as we're here,

you might be sat here going,

oof,

thank goodness I don't have to

be in the pulpit every week.

Oof,

thank goodness that I'm

not an actual pastor

and a leader.

No, I'm talking about

anyone who's a leader for me.

I'm looking at this passage

going,

oh,

this is what it means

to be a leader.

Of course,

1 Timothy 3 says,

he who desires

a leadership role

to be an elder,

that is a noble thing.

So we should all

continue to strive

to be the leaders

in our communities,

in our families,

in our workplaces,

in our friendship groups.

But right now,

he's talking to these elders here

and it's funny

because he's talking to them

as a fellow elder himself.

So he's kind of going,

say,

hey,

I'm the same as you.

And then he starts

on this passage.

So he's talked about suffering.

He's talked about judgment

that will come

and he says judgment

will start from the church.

So the church needs

to not have any hypocrisy.

Say what you believe,

do what you believe

and actually live it out

so that the world can see.

Sadly,

that rarely happens

sometimes, right,

is what we feel.

People outside keep saying,

I don't go to church

because of the hypocrites.

And that's just

the heartbreaking thing.

And you look at this passage,

you say,

that's not what it's supposed

to be.

And so then he goes

and he talks about the suffering

and he says,

so I exhort.

That word is an old-fashioned word.

Anyone use the word exhort recently

in just conversations?

Jojo has?

Did you just put your hand up?

Well, yesterday.

Oh, nice.

Between the two of you,

look at that.

We have some great leaders

already in our church.

The word exhort for me means,

it was actually a word

that was used by Greek warriors

standing in front of the soldiers

trying to exhort them.

What were they trying to do?

They were trying to pour courage

into them.

Encourage.

Pour courage into them

so that they could go into battle.

They were trying to move their hearts.

That's what I'm trying to do here.

I'm trying to use this book,

the word of God,

which gives us life,

and I'm trying to speak it

into your heart

so that your heart

would be moved

so that you would then

have a desire

to know him more,

to enjoy him more.

That's what I'm trying to do.

So he's exhorting these elders

and he's saying,

hey, me,

I'm a fellow elder as well.

And guess what?

Not only am I a fellow elder,

I was a witness

of the sufferings of Christ

as well as a partaker

of the glory

that is going to be revealed.

This is interesting.

He's saying,

if you're going to be a leader,

if you're going to be an elder,

you will have suffering

and you will have glory.

How many of us

just want the glory?

How many of us

just want a thriving small group?

Just want a thriving

church community?

Just want a thriving business?

The Bible doesn't seem

to talk just about glory.

He's talking a lot

about suffering as well.

Romans 8 talks about this,

that if we're going to

be glorified with him,

if we're going to be raised with him,

we also must suffer with him.

And so he's talking about

suffering in the sense

that it's not just about the hype.

There is way more.

And actually for Peter,

he was a witness

to the sufferings of Christ.

Why?

He was there.

He was there when he was dragged

from the garden

to the cross.

He was also there

in Mark 9,

Luke 9,

at the Transvigoration,

where he's up in the mountain

and he sees Jesus

just in all his glory.

So much glory

that he's like,

Jesus,

let's build three tents here

and let's just stay here forever.

We love the glory that is here.

And what does Jesus say?

He says,

well, no,

we're going back down.

That passage is fascinating

because as soon as they go

back down the hill,

where do they end up?

Into chaos.

There is demonic possession.

There are seizures happening.

And it makes you think,

wow,

they wanted to stay

in the mountaintop,

but they had to come back down.

But he also knows

that at some point

the glory is going to be revealed.

That's where Romans 8

comes back in and says,

creation is groaning.

There is suffering.

But my goodness,

there is going to come a day

where Jesus is going to return

and we're going to see

that glory again.

I,

as a fellow elder,

exhort you

as a witness

of the sufferings of Christ

as a partaker

in the glory

that is going to be revealed.

This is my instruction.

This is my advice.

Shepherd the flock of God

that is among you.

Shepherd.

Careful.

Watch over

is what he's saying.

Shepherd the flock of God

that is among you.

And of course,

straight away,

we're thinking shepherd.

What does a shepherd do?

Is anyone a shepherd here?

No.

Hong Kong's mostly lawyers,

bankers,

doctors,

no shepherds.

But a shepherd,

if you go back to Psalm 23,

you'll see

someone who cares,

someone who leads

the sheep

to the green pastures,

to the still waters,

to the right path,

but also to the valleys,

the valleys of the shadow of death.

Also prepares tables

in the presence of the enemy

in the sense that it protects.

The shepherd protects,

guides,

and pursues.

Surely his goodness and mercy

will follow us

all the days of our lives.

A shepherd,

someone who cares.

And it's interesting here,

it says,

the shepherd,

the flock of God.

That,

for me,

I paused straight away

as I read that

because it's not

shepherd the flock

of James

or shepherd the flock

of Gabe

or Christine

or Joe

or Alex.

It's shepherd the flock

of God.

You're not actually mine.

Thank goodness

you are not mine.

You are the Lord's.

But all that does

is make it even

harder for me

because I'm like,

oh,

I best look after this.

I best look after this

because this isn't mine.

You guys are not mine.

I've got to care for you,

watch over you

so when the chief shepherd

appears,

you will be beautiful.

Shepherd the flock

of God among you.

The word among you

is basically

the ones in front of you.

What does this tell me?

I cannot choose

who to pastor.

If you're sat in this room,

I'm hoping to shepherd you,

to care for you,

to watch over you.

If you're sat in this room,

it also goes the other way.

You're looking at me

and going,

well,

this is my shepherd.

That's all I've got.

There's this relationship

which is,

we're going to shepherd

the flock that is

in front of us,

not the group

that we wish to have

because when we look

at sheep,

when we look at each other,

when we look at people,

it often gets ugly.

Inherently flawed

is what I am,

as are you.

But we shepherd the flock,

we look after them

because they're

entrusted to us.

And we exercise oversight

to over,

just,

again,

in Psalm 23,

you'll see,

even though I walk

through the valley

of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil.

Your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

Why?

Because sheep would wander.

So the shepherd would then

actually have to use

a rod and a staff

to drag them out of the bushes,

to take them away

from the cliff edge.

And so it's this constant

of just caring and overseeing

and to making sure

that they're okay.

And I don't do it,

it says here,

and not under compulsion,

but willingly.

And I can tell you this,

I willingly,

and it excites me

and it loves me

and it's my way

of loving you

when I come up

to open up this word

to you every day

because I know

that this is how

I'm going to love you,

this is how I'm going

to shepherd you

by telling you

not just my wisdom

and not just my truth

because there is limited

wisdom and truth

that comes from me,

but from this book.

And I love that.

And no one's forcing me

to do this.

I loved being a teacher

in England.

I can imagine sometimes

going back to there

because the students

would do what I say.

You guys don't really

do what I say,

but I love it.

I love it

and I wouldn't choose

to be anywhere else

is what I'm saying.

Not for shameful gain,

but eagerly

and not domineering

over those in your charge.

I'm not here

to force anyone.

I can't force anyone.

Everyone's here

by their own volition.

Everyone here

has to make that decision

to follow Jesus themselves.

That's a hard one for me

and I'll talk a little bit

more about this later,

but I have this idol

which is control.

I want to,

well,

mostly control myself

and the circumstances

around me,

but that can translate

into how I shepherd the flock.

I can't force anyone

to do anything.

I'm not here to do that.

All I'm here to do

is to then be

an example to you.

We've had a group

called The Fellowship

this last year

where we were challenging

each other going,

what does it mean

to be a disciple of Jesus

in Hong Kong

where schedules are packed?

And so we decided,

actually,

if this is the most important

thing in our lives,

we will make time

to read the Bible.

We will make time

to pray for one another

and guess what?

We did.

Every day,

well,

every weekday,

we managed to do that

but the main premise

of that was,

hey,

I'm not going to force you

to do this

but here's the real challenge.

How about you

call yourself higher

and me as your shepherd,

I'll simply hold you there

because we all know

we need people

around us

to help us.

We need accountability.

accountability.

I have,

again,

I've shared publicly

that I've been trying

to exercise more

and one day

I'll be able to beat

my wife in a wrestling match

and so therefore

I signed up to the gym

and I had brothers around me

who will remind me,

have you done leg day?

And I said,

I don't want to do leg day.

Leg day's painful.

But they're like,

no,

it's important

for your overall health

as you're building

muscle everywhere.

You need leg day.

So I do it once a week,

one set

and that's it.

But we need people

around us

to do this.

But the whole point is

I can't do it for you.

I can't force you

to do anything.

I wouldn't want to.

But you call yourself higher

and I promise

I can hold you there

or at least I will try

to hold you there.

I will do it with you

is what I'm saying.

I'll be an example to you.

1 Corinthians 9.27

is what was etched

onto my basketball shoes

as a university player

and it said,

I discipline my body,

training it to do

what it should

lest after preaching

to others

I myself might be disqualified.

For me,

I'm all about,

if I want you to do it,

I'm going to do it first

and I'm going to do it more.

I discipline myself

because the last thing

I want is to tell you

to do it

and then you end up

doing it and I don't

and then I end up

being disqualified.

That's not what I want.

That's why Paul says,

1 Corinthians 11.1,

imitate me

as I imitate Christ.

Like look,

we all want to follow Jesus.

We want to follow

in the ways of Jesus

but Jesus we can't see right now.

It's pretty hard

but guess who they saw

at that point?

Paul.

Guess who you can see

at this point?

You can see me.

You can see Jojo.

You can see Kelly.

You can see Hank.

You can see Gabs.

You can see people who,

okay,

they're doing it.

I'm going to follow them.

That's the whole point

of why we're gathering here together

because it's hard to do it

on our own

but once we start seeing

other people do it

who are setting the example

for us,

then maybe we have

a better chance

of doing it ourselves.

Shepherd the flock

of God among you.

Not domineering over those

in your charge

but being examples

to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd

appears,

oh,

that's it.

So I'm not the boss.

Thank goodness.

I'm the under shepherd.

There is a chief who's coming.

There is a glory

that is going to be revealed

and when he comes,

I will receive

the unfading crown of glory

as will those

who are leading,

who are laying your lives down

for the people

that you're trying to lead.

When you're pulling teeth,

pulling people,

if you stay,

if you stay on that road,

if you continue to persist,

when the chief shepherd appears,

you will receive

the unfading crown of glory.

That's the one

that a racer gets.

That's the one

that an athlete gets.

That's the one

that the warrior gets.

The crown belongs to you

should you do all of this.

But before he carries on

with that,

he then says,

stop.

Likewise,

you who are younger,

Mervyn, Jasper,

Hannah,

who else is younger?

There's lots of people

who are younger here.

He turns

and he says,

you who are younger,

be subject to the elders.

That's a,

he kind of,

he's on the same topic

but then he kind of

turns on the young people.

He says,

look,

you're around a lot of people

who are older than you

and you might think

that you know everything

and they don't get

this new era,

this new generation

of way of doing things.

He turns to them

and he says,

hey,

be subject to the elders.

This is a tough one.

This is a tough one

because you've got to

look at the people above you

and often you disagree with them

because they don't

understand you either.

But when he's talking

to the church,

when he's talking

to the younger people,

he's saying,

hey,

you're still going to have

to be subject

to the elders.

There is still wisdom there.

I find myself,

okay,

so I think,

I feel as though personally,

this is a bit of a sharing

of a midlife crisis situation

right here,

is I think the young people

think I'm old

and the old people

think I'm young.

And I'm kind of,

I'm kind of stuck

in this middle ground.

At least that's what

I think anyway.

But,

I think what happens is

I end up getting

to see both sides.

The older people

looking at the young ones

going,

oh,

we can't trust them.

We can't trust them.

They make stupid mistakes.

And on the whole,

you know,

you're pretty stupid.

You know,

because you make stupid mistakes,

as did we.

But then the younger people

are like,

you don't understand us.

You don't understand us

and you don't even know

how to use your phone.

All you know

is how to crush the candy

and that's it.

And you know,

no one uses Facebook anymore.

And I sit in the middle

and I'm going,

you know what,

there's such great things

that can be learned

from both sides.

If only both sides

are willing to listen.

If only the young people

will just look up

and go,

wow,

you've lived so many

more years than I.

Yes,

I really was in nappies

when you were already

doing this thing

called life.

There is something

to learn from you,

even the mistakes

that you made.

There's something

that I can learn from you.

And for an older person

to then say the same

and going,

oh,

wow,

how do you use

this device?

How do you join

the TikTok?

Oh,

you have to move

out of Hong Kong.

Okay.

And he carries on

and you know

that's what he's saying

because he says,

clothe yourselves,

all of you,

with humility

toward one another.

So he says,

clothe yourselves

with humility

but then he says,

all of you,

just before the old people

cross their arms

and say,

yes,

you young people,

be subject to us.

He turns,

he says,

all of you,

humble yourselves

toward one another

for God opposes the proud

and gives grace

to the humble.

And this next part

is the prayer

that I pray always.

So therefore,

humble yourselves

under the mighty hand

of God

so that at the proper time

he may exalt you,

casting all your anxieties

onto him

because he cares

for you.

That's my prayer

so often.

he touches on the topic

that I think

is the most important topic,

humility.

Humility.

I'm reminded of a

somewhat prideful

and embarrassing moment

for myself.

Growing up as a young pastor

and who liked to talk,

I saw,

I met a pastor

who was very well known,

very experienced

in speaking

and I said,

hey,

I've got a couple people

who,

you know,

around the same age as me,

same stage in ministry,

would you like to mentor us

and teach us

how to speak,

how to speak like you?

And then he just said,

no.

I was like,

oh.

I said,

I said,

why?

He said,

well,

I think I've done that

quite a lot

and one of the dangers

of that is

if someone has the gifting

but they don't have

the character

or the humility,

it just ends up

in the wrong place.

He'd been in ministry

for 42 years

and every scandal,

every moral failure,

every just problem

that has happened

in the church

comes from this issue

called pride.

What happens

before the fall?

Pride.

And he's talking

to everyone,

young and old.

He's talking to you

and me

and you

and you.

Clothe yourselves.

Clothe yourselves

in the sense

that it's not natural

to you.

You don't wake up

and suddenly

you're humble.

In fact,

it's almost unnatural.

You have to go

and deliberately,

intentionally go

and clothe yourself

with humility

toward one another

for God opposes

the proud

and gives grace

to the humble.

And then he moves

into anxiety

which is really interesting

because he goes

humble yourselves

therefore under

the mighty hand of God

and then he says

casting all your anxieties

onto him

because he cares for you

and that speaks to me.

I humble myself

under the mighty hand of God

and then,

I mean,

I'm a very anxious person

so I cast my anxieties

onto him.

He's not jumping topics here.

It's the same thing.

Why?

Because anxiety

is actually a form of pride.

If you're an anxious person,

if you're anxious about studies,

if you're anxious about your work,

if you're anxious about your relationships,

did it ever occur to you

that you're actually being prideful?

John Piper says this,

anxiety is a fruit of pride

because it is an attempt

to carry a weight

that only God

is designed to bear.

Humility casts

its burdens,

pride clings to them.

Let me read that

one more time.

Anxiety is a fruit of pride

because it is an attempt

to carry a weight

that only God

is designed to bear.

Humility casts its burdens,

pride clings to them.

As a leader,

I think about that

all the time.

I have lots of anxieties

about how to keep

a big group of people

in a small office space

in Hong Kong

cool.

How to fit everyone,

how to welcome people.

So, you know,

you were very kind

in saying the gathering

was very welcoming,

but the truth is

it's so big,

we can't really

quality control that.

Someone can walk in here

for a whole month

and not have anyone

speak to them,

and that breaks my heart.

There's nothing,

we can't,

we haven't got a system

in place yet

to figure that one out.

So I'm anxious about that.

I'm anxious about

the life groups that we have.

I'm anxious about

the leaders that we have.

Are these groups

growing towards Jesus

or are they just

becoming social groups

where they're just

wanting to hang out?

I have all these anxieties

as a pastor.

Am I shepherding the flock well?

And then God reminds me,

you know that anxiety

that you have, James,

about a pretty good thing

which is trying to care

for people?

Well, that's pride.

Because this isn't your flock.

One of the first people

that I discipled

was when I was 19,

I was in second year university,

I had a friend

who was two years younger

than me,

brought him to Christ

and then I would lose sleep

over him

for the next four years

because he then

showed up at university,

started hanging out

with the wrong crowd

and I would spend,

how do I stop him

from hanging out

with that crowd?

How do I stop him

from going to these parties?

How do I stop him

from doing all these things?

And I would get so caught up.

I'd be like a parent

lying in bed going,

where is he?

1 a.m.

He must be still out.

Every parent just has

that sad laugh.

We all know

what that feeling is.

And then God reminded me

then going,

whew,

who taught,

you're treating him

like your project.

You're treating him

like he's yours.

He's not.

He's mine.

Shepherd of the flock

of God

that is among you

and cast all your anxieties

onto him.

What about you?

If humility

is the key trait

of whether you truly

understand and grasp

what the gospel is,

do you have

this humility?

C.S. Lewis

has that quote

which is,

humility is not thinking

any less of yourself.

It's simply thinking

of yourself less.

So you're not so

self-centered.

My favorite quote

of humility

is being as close

to the truth

as possible.

C.S. Lewis

has another quote

which is,

the best view

of a man

is from below.

Recently quoted

in the Odyssey

as well.

Because when

you look

at how someone

treats someone

who is junior

to them,

you will see

whether they are

truly humble

or not.

Paul talks a lot

about this

in 1 Corinthians

that it's not

the wisdom

of the world

that we need.

We need people

who are willing

to be fools

for Christ.

Who recognize

that any wisdom

that we have,

any consulting firm

that has these

great things

to teach you

about how to live

and how to make

profits,

that is just

the wisdom

of the world.

And that's foolishness

when it comes

to the wisdom

of God.

And then be

sober-minded.

Be watchful.

Your adversary,

the devil,

is prowling

like a roaring lion

seeking someone

to devour.

I look at

all of us here

and I'm like,

the moment we leave

this sanctuary,

we go out,

we are bombarded

by messages

and images

that we are not enough.

You've got voices

in your offices

that tell you

what you should be doing,

the roles you

should be pursuing.

And what's that?

For me,

that's just the adversary,

the devil,

prowling around,

seeking someone

to devour,

someone to just

pluck away.

But then it says,

resist him,

firm in your faith.

And actually,

it's interesting,

I looked into this

this week

and I was praying

over this passage,

the Bible actually

never says,

flee from the devil,

never run away

from the devil.

The closest thing

is James 4,

James 4:7

verse 7,

which says,

submit yourselves

to the Lord

and the devil

will flee

from you.

Sorry,

submit yourselves

to the Lord

and resist the devil

and he will flee

from you.

This imagery

that the devil

is a prowling,

roaring lion,

what Paul

and Peter

do not say

is,

fight him.

Because I don't think

there's anyone

who can fight

and beat a lion.

I look around

this room,

I mean,

maybe Gabs

and Ken

might have a chance

at doing it.

But it doesn't say,

stand up to the lion,

fight him.

It says,

resist.

It's really interesting.

Submit yourself

to the Lord,

resist the devil

and the devil

will flee from you.

So actually,

this lion

that's prowling around,

whilst it looks scary,

doesn't actually

have any power over us.

Isn't that interesting?

This prowling lion

doesn't have

any power over us.

Psalm 23,

4,

even though I walk

through the valley

of the shadow

of death,

it's not even real.

It's a shadow

of death.

Imagine if we lived

in such a way

where that lion

cannot touch us

and all we need to do

is resist

and stand firm

in the faith.

And knowing

that the same kinds

of suffering

are being experienced

by your brotherhood

throughout the world,

that what you're going

through right now,

you are not alone.

That's one of the

enemy's lies as well.

That everything

that you're going through,

whether it's with

your relationship

that you have,

at work,

at studies,

whatever it is,

and the temptations

that you're facing,

you're not alone.

It's being experienced

while you're

brotherhood all

around the world.

You are not alone.

I think that's another

reason why we gather,

to remind ourselves

that we are not alone.

And after you have

suffered a little while,

so just nonchalant,

so casual,

okay,

you're going to suffer,

but you're going to

suffer a little while,

but you're going

to be okay.

It's 2 Corinthians 4,

17.

It says,

do not lose heart.

Though your outer

cells are dying,

wasting away day by day,

your inner cells

are being renewed.

And these light

momentary afflictions,

light,

feather-like,

momentary afflictions

are nothing when

compared to the

eternal weight of glory

that awaits you.

There's going to be,

there is suffering,

but it's going to be

only a little while

when compared to the

glory that is going

to be revealed

when the chief shepherd

comes back.

Hang on.

If you are suffering,

you are in the

right place.

More importantly,

God is with you.

And after you have

suffered a little while,

the God of all grace

who has called you

to his eternal glory

in Christ,

he himself will be

the one that restores

you,

confirms you,

strengthens you,

and establishes you.

Not the shepherd,

not the ordained

pastor,

he himself

will do it.

He will restore you.

Whatever's broken,

whatever's fractured

in your life,

in your heart,

he will be the one

that restores it.

And then when it says

confirm and strengthen,

he's going to be the one

that stops you

from collapsing on yourself.

He's going to be the one

that stops you

from toppling over

in this life.

And he is the one

that's going to establish you

and root you in the ground

so that you won't fall away.

He himself.

The lion can do nothing.

The pastor that you have

is simply an under-shepherd

Called just to exercise oversight

and be an example to you,

to care for you.

But you can take encouragement

that the chief shepherd

is coming back

and all you will have to do

is suffer a little while

and then he will call you

to his eternal glory.

Of course,

when we think about the shepherd,

when we think about Psalm 23,

we're only really thinking

about one person.

Jesus.

The shepherd who,

if we have him,

we will lack nothing.

We will have no wants.

Jesus is the one

who leads us

to the green pastures

where we will be fed

with the truth of God,

the bread of life.

He is the one

who leads us

beside still waters

where he will grant us peace,

this peace that this world

cannot give.

He was the one

who will lead us

on the path

of righteousness,

the right path

for us,

for his namesake.

It will be for him.

And sometimes that path

will lead you

to the valley

of the shadow of death.

But even when you're there

and you're surrounded

by shadows

and you're surrounded

by roaring lions,

you will not fear

because his rod

and his staff

is the one that guides

and comforts.

In fact,

your greatest fear,

whatever your greatest fear is,

he invites you

to come and sit

at the table

with that fear

because he's prepared it there.

He's not even afraid.

He's chilled.

He's sat down.

And when he anoints you,

your cup overflows.

And all this while,

while you've been a sheep,

trying to cling on

to the shepherd,

trying to pursue him,

thinking that the Christian life

is hard,

guess what?

Surely his goodness

and mercy

will follow you

all the days

of your life.

It's not been you

chasing after him.

It's been him chasing

after you all along.

That is the true shepherd.

That is the chief shepherd

who laid his life down

for us

and humbled himself

to the point of death,

even death

on the cross.

He who gave us

his crowns,

he gave us his robe

so that we would have life.

That should humble us

to the core

and anxiety should flee.

We're going to take

communion later,

but before that,

I'm going to invite

a friend up.

I said I've been trying

to do this a little bit more.

We won't do this every week,

but when it comes

to shepherding,

it'll be of great comfort

and consolation to you

that I am not the only one

who is shepherding

this flock here.

We have a group

of leaders

that we all met last night,

but then there's

a smaller group

called the lead team

that has been here

from pretty close

to the beginning.

I'm going to invite

a dear friend up,

Alex Lee.

We're going to have

a little chat

and hopefully he'll tell

you some stuff

that maybe I have

no way of telling you

either.

Can we give you

a round of applause?

Hey, Alex.

Let's take a seat

so you don't look as tall.

Thank you.

Tell us about yourself.

About myself?

Well, my name is Alex.

Alex.

I grew up in the States.

I'm sorry.

The son of two immigrants

who left Taiwan

to raise me in the States

with nothing

and so I spent most

of my life in the States

before coming here

to Hong Kong.

now married to my wife,

Cara.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

And I moved here

at the very start of COVID

to marry Cara

to start my new job

in the global

telecommunications industry

and then fast forward

kind of six and a half

years later

and meeting yourself

and just many people

in this body.

Just grateful

to be seated here now

and of course

we had our two young daughters

as well who were upstairs

and here we are.

And did you go

to the same college

as Hank?

Is that...

We did.

Wow.

Not at the same time.

100 years apart

or something like that.

Roughly speaking.

And of course

you're here to leaders

and servers as well

and you're always

encouraging to me

and I share this passage

with you

at the beginning

of the week

and you've been

ruminating over it

and praying over it.

What's come to mind

for you that you think

is good to bring up

here today?

I think the first thing

I mean before even

like speaking about

this specific passage

is I think my main

takeaway and kind of

well honestly

meditating over this

not just this week

but as a lead team

we went through this

I can't remember

maybe three six months

ago now

and the very kind of

obvious takeaways

for all of us

is like oh this is

this is just a passage

about leadership

and then we read this

again last month

and honestly what God

was speaking in that

moment to me was

this is a passage

about identity

because you read verse

one and you see

just how in tune

Peter is

I mean of course

I mean you probably

have to read the rest

of first Peter

to kind of understand

like the rest of the

book is a book about

what does it mean to be

a Christian?

What does it mean to be

a disciple of Christ?

What does it mean to

follow him to endure

his sufferings?

Like he talks literally

just about suffering

at the end of chapter

four just before this

so really this leadership

piece is almost kind of

just like a small

appetizer like in the

middle of it

but really I think

yeah it just kind of

weighed on me just how

Peter just really wanted

the church at this time

to understand just how

much the glory of Christ

weighed on him

and our life group

talked about kind of

like earlier this week

what does it

what does God's glory