1 Peter 5: 1-3, “¹The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: ²Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; ³Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock”.

1 Peter 5:1-3 (MSG), “¹I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. ²Here’s my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. ³Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way”

The law of mutual respect indicates that you don’t act like the boss to the flock that is under you. In other words, you don’t have to act like lords over God’s heritage.

The word Heritage = kleros, means, a portion (as if so secured); an acquisition, especially a patrimony, –heritage, inheritance, lot, part.

By implication all saints are owned by God being their Father and so, we are brethren first through His blood before we were made ministers – servants to serve them.

When you Lord it over God’s people, you are showing disrespect to the blood of inheritance by which you are all birthed into the faith.

When Christ was commissioning Paul into the ministry, he said to him;

Acts.26:18, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me”

So you see all saints are sanctified, made whole and accepted before God through the FAITH THAT IS IN CHRIST.

It’s a common faith. You as a leader do not have a different faith than they do.

To act like you are a super human just because of the gift and grace you carry is a total disrespect to the flock washed in the precious blood of Jesus.

When you go on prophesying and calling someone a witch in the midst of the congregation, that seriously is an act of lack of respect .The reason is simple, if peradventure he or she was really a witch and has come to repent through the power of the blood. Humans being who they are will never relate to the new status but that which was prophesied.

Now, this is someone made in the image and likeness of God. But now has been reduced to something else by reason of the operation of your gifts and being stigmatized in the society.

Are we surprised that Jesus changed the story of the woman at the well in John 4, when the disciples who went to buy food came back? That same woman delivered the city of Samaria at last.

When the Lord was to call out Paul on the road to Damascus, He spoke to him “in the Hebrew tongue” and “they who were with him saw the light but heard not the voice” of Jesus speaking to Saul (Acts 22:9, 26:14). Meaning they never knew what Jesus was speaking to Paul about. What was it that Jesus was protecting from the rest of the people that were with Paul yet they were on the same mission to Damascus?

It shows that there are certain prophesies that are not meant to be declared in the open for the sake of the individuals and their image in the society. Doing the opposite is a sure sign of disrespect to the people.

When the word says’;

1 Timothy 5:1, “Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren”

1 Timothy 5:1-2 (MSG), “¹Don’t be harsh or impatient with an older man. Talk to him as you would your own father, and to the younger men as your brothers. ²Reverently honor an older woman as you would your mother, and the younger women as sisters”.

It was the law of mutual respect that he was enforcing among the saints. So even though the elder may be wrong, you must still approach him with mutual respect as Paul has rightly stated.

Meaning the way you present the case matters even if you must correct him. The language you must use should be such that will not portray that of arrogance because you are a pastor or very knowledgeable.

No matter the grace you carry you must try to respect people even in the presentation of your message to the audience.

Do you really have respect for people of the faith and humans?

Think!

To be continued…