Word of Salvation – September 2026

Title: God’s Battle Plan: The Local Church

Sermon by Rev Jesse Gollan

Series: How to Survive in a Hostile World
Passage: 1 Peter 5:1-14

God’s Battle Plan: The Local Church

Have you ever wondered why Rome became a great empire and so many of the other ancient civilizations didn’t? Well, historians tell us that one of the main reasons is that they figured out how to win battles and win wars.

They figured out that you could take a farmer with no training and issue him a huge shield and a short sword, and as long as he marched and fought right next to other soldiers as a unit, as a team, and they obeyed the instructions of their leader, they would become one of the most lethal fighting forces in the ancient world.

Time after time, Roman armies with less experience, less muscles, and smaller armies would defeat much more powerful enemies. It was because they figured out how to work together to defeat their enemy.

Peter does something similar in our passage this morning. We’re right at the end of the book of First Peter, and he has been talking to us about suffering, about the fact that there is hardship that we are going to go through in this world.

In this very passage, he reminds us that the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking people to devour in verse eight. Peter all through the book has been trying to equip us to go through suffering and be okay.

But here, in the very final passage, God through Peter wants us to know that a big part of standing against the devil is being next to other believers in a local church.

The local church is an important part of God’s battle plan to keep his children spiritually safe. In the first half of the passage, he addresses the leadership in churches.

In the second half, he shifts to talking specifically about those who are not in leadership in the church, and then he has some general advice as well because he’s finishing off a letter. But it’s interesting and worth noticing that in the very last words, like you just slip in the most important thing before you sign off, God makes time to talk about the local church.

The Identity of an Elder (1 Peter 5:1)

We’re going to start in chapter 5, verse 1, which says:

“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.”

We’re going to pause there because there’s a lot that we need to unpack and understand before we keep going, stuff that’s relevant to us.

Firstly, Peter calls himself a fellow elder. He doesn’t call himself a pope, or a bishop, or an archbishop, or anything else.

Peter is saying that his calling and his dignity is the same as that of elders in local churches. He emphasizes that by saying that he was a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and we’re meant to remember that he walked with Jesus for three years.

Peter knew that everyone… elders and congregation members were going to read his letter, and he wanted them all to know that their local elders were not less important than him. That’s an application that we are meant to draw out of this passage. If you are in a local church, then your elders are holding the same spiritual office as Peter did after Jesus was resurrected and he became an elder in the very first church in the world. God wants you to know that your local elders have got an important role to play in your local church and in your life as a member of that local church.

Peter emphasises that by saying that he is a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

This is really important because Peter is saying his reward is going to be the same reward as that received by elders in churches all across the world. And indeed, not only elders, but congregation members as well.

Peter is saying that the most important thing about him isn’t that he walked with Jesus for three years. The most important thing about him is his eternal destiny.

There’s just a brief application in there for all of us: the most important thing about you is not your wisdom, or your equipment, or your job, or your age, or even the sin that you have committed.

Do you know one of the reasons why Peter knew that he was a witness of the sufferings of Jesus was because he contributed to it? He denied Jesus three times, even swearing violently that he never knew him at the moment when Jesus most needed a friend. But the most important thing about Peter is his eternal destiny, and you and I both have that same identity.

That same future, that same hope, is so big and so glorious that it should color how we live today. That identity as partakers of the glory that is going to be revealed should play out in how we live today.

Because we don’t need to defend, or uphold, or approve other identities. The most important thing about us is not our nationality, it is not our riches, it is not our smarts, it is not our health, it is not our age, it is not our physical strength.

It is not even how many or how egregious sins we have committed. The most important thing about you and about me is that we are partakers in the glory that is going to be revealed, or conversely, that you will not be a partaker.

The Weight of Spiritual Oversight (1 Peter 5:2-3)

But Peter here is a believer, and he’s speaking to believers. It’s amazing, I can already tell that we’re going to struggle to get through the passage!

He says in verse 2:

“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.”

Then verse 3:

“Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”

The role of elders, as given by God in this passage, is to exercise oversight over the believers. This is super controversial in Australia; no one in Australia likes to be under oversight.

We all want to be individualized items, deciding our own fate. But God is saying that it is his design for believers to be in local churches with multiple elders who are exercising spiritual oversight.

It is a weighty task. It horrifies me constantly, actually, what God has called me to do. The weight of it is huge, and elders, you need to feel this weight as well.

God has called us to exercise spiritual oversight, not to shirk that responsibility. The church is not a business; it is something much more involved, something much more serious than a business.

But church family, let me encourage you because there’s application for you here, too. Please pray for the elders.

Peter was not perfect; even after he was the first lead pastor of the church in Jerusalem, one of his sins is recorded. It wasn’t just a sin, but he wronged a brother in the Lord while being an elder in the church. Friends, this task is bigger than what we can handle; we can only do it if the Lord is upholding our arms.

We need his help. Please be praying for the leaders in this church:

• Pray for wisdom.
• Pray for gentleness.
• Pray for courage.
• Pray for foresight.
• Pray for love.
• Pray for care.
• Pray for strength.

This task is bigger than what we can handle with human strength, so please pray for us.

Then, there’s a whole series in this verse of contrasts: “not under compulsion, but willingly.” Even back then, there was a difficulty of elders serving under compulsion, serving because they felt like they had to do it rather than that they wanted to serve God in this way. God is saying here that elders—pastors included, but all elders—need to serve willingly, as God would have you, it says.

There’s an implication there: if you are beginning to resent being an elder, you may need to step down for a time. If the task grows too great for you, and you are not able to keep up with it, you may need to step down or step back.

This is serious stuff; even back then, it was weighty stuff. Church, please pray for us and help us.

There’s also the instruction not to be elders for shameful gain, but to do it eagerly, which is an interesting contrast. What it’s saying is that elders in the house of the Lord, the family of God, in local churches, need to serve not because of what they get out of the role.

They need to serve because they are excited and eager to bless, love, and serve God’s people. No pastor should be a pastor because he is trying to get rich.

No elder or pastor—and it’s all elders—should be an elder or a pastor because they love the honor or they love the power. They are to do it motivated by love for others, not love for themselves.

And there’s one last contrast in verse 3: “not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.” The elders are to be an example to the church of how God would have them live.

They are even to be an example to the church of what the Great Shepherd is like. Elders are under-shepherds underneath the Great Shepherd, underneath the Lord.

Elders have a responsibility to care for members of a church in the same way that God cares for them. He is not domineering over his children.

He is loving, he is forgiving, he is merciful, he is kind, he is gracious. He is creative in the pursuit of the well-being of his children, and also his friends.

Lest we forget, the Lord is intentionally shaping, correcting, and discipling us to more and more reflect the glory of God in our lives. That is also the responsibility of the elders of a church.

They do this through their own personal lives, through the conversations that they have, the words they say, the way that they say them, through the actions that they take, and the way that they take those actions. And also, through their shaping of the whole church. It is God’s responsibility given to elders to be shepherding congregation members.

The Unfading Crown and Enduring Hardship (1 Peter 5:4)

And then verse 4 says:

“And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

We know from elsewhere in the scriptures this will be given to believers. Peter here felt the need to encourage elders specifically, to remind them that they will be rewarded for this hard calling.

Most of the people in this room won’t be elders, so there is an application here again. Friends, it is hard to be an elder:

• There are late nights.
• There are sleepless nights.
• There are huge time sacrifices.
• There are relational sacrifices.
• There are emotional sacrifices.

I’ve seen it over and over again: godly elders are sacrificing and going through hardship out of love for God and for his children.

So please pray for and support them. Not just me—although please, I need your prayer and your support—but pray for and support all of the elders in our church. If you move away because of work or any other reason, continue to pray for and support the elders in your new church.

There’s a big macro headline here: God wants you to be in a local church with elders.

Watching sermons online will not do the trick. Participating in a Bible study group, no matter how good, will not do the trick. It is God’s plan and God’s design for there to be men who are sacrificing to disciple, care for, and shepherd the children of God in local churches.

So make sure that you remain in a local church, even if you move away.

Humility and Submitting to God (1 Peter 5:5-7)

There’s all kinds of depth in the rest of the passage, but I’m conscious of the time, so I’m just going to summarize the rest of the passage for us. Verse 5 says:

“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.”

These are instructions for congregation members: be subject to the elders. Obey them, promote their leadership, and support their leadership.

This is God’s design and his plan for local churches. Help your local church to be the best that it can be for the glory of God.

Do it not for your glory, or for the glory of the elders, or the glory of the pastor, or any other reason, but for the glory of God. There is all this stuff in there about humility, and humility isn’t talking about a kind of depression or a hatred of yourself.

What it’s talking about is an others-centeredness; it’s talking about not being focused on yourself. There are two kinds of pride:

• The pride that says, “I’m amazing, I’m going to spend all day thinking about myself and doing things for myself.”
• The other kind of pride says, “I am terrible, I’m going to spend all day thinking about myself and doing things for myself.”

Biblical humility involves being focused on loving God and on loving your neighbour.

That instruction for humility is for everyone, not just for the congregation members in the church, but it is also for the leaders in a church. That’s why the instructions in verse 6 are to humble yourself 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.

In other words, don’t be consumed with your own wants; be consumed with love for your neighbor and love for God.

God will exalt you, and he does care for you. He will exalt you at the proper time.

That may be in this life, or it may be in the next—probably Peter primarily had the next life in his mind. And he does care for you, and you know that because Jesus died for you, gruesomely.

That is like paying the most expensive price ever for something, or in this case, someone. God is not about to throw away his investment in you, and in me, in his adopted children; he cares for us.

Resisting the Enemy (1 Peter 5:8-11)

In the last verses of the book, we are reminded that there is an enemy who desires our destruction, who is loose in the world. We are instructed to resist the devil and to be firm in our faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

The point of reminding them that Christians throughout the world were also suffering is to say God has not forgotten you. The temptation of the devil in the time of suffering is for you to believe the lie that God hates you, or God has forgotten you, or God doesn’t care about you, or God is bad.

Peter is saying that that is a lie from the mouth of Satan.

If you belong to God, if Jesus died for you, if you are one of his children, God loves you. He cares for you and he has not forgotten you.

And after this suffering, it says in verse 10 that the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us. In other words, we have a champion who will not let us down; he will make sure that we win.

The True Grace of God and the Kiss of Love (1 Peter 5:12-14)

There are just two more things, just as we close the sermon and the whole book, that I want to point out in verse 12 and in verse 14. Firstly, he tells us that he has written briefly, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God; stand firm in it.

He has to remind them of that, because when you go through suffering, it is easy to believe the lies of the devil. It is easy to respond in worldly ways rather than in Christ-like ways.

It is hard, in other words; you need to pray about this, and you need to be intentional about this. As this passage shows, you need to be a part of a local church.

And that’s what we see in verse 14: “Greet one another with the kiss of love.” Back in their day, that was a customary way for people to express care for each other.

There were no sexual connotations at all; it was relational, it was familiar, like a family. The way that we apply this verse today does not look like kissing each other on the cheeks every Sunday morning, and every time we get together for a Bible study.

But it does look like intentionally going out of our way to show care for the other believer when we see them.

For guys, that might mean that you give a brother a hug or a firm handshake, and for ladies, it might mean to give each other a hug. It might mean, through the words that you say, that you express that you really do care about them: “How was your week, actually?”

God wants the church to be a place of refuge for his children who are and will be going through suffering. He wants there to be friendships in his church that will help his children get through the hard times.

So friends, go out of your way and sacrifice time for the sake of friendships in the church. Do it on Sunday morning, do it at Bible studies, but also:

• Come to the women’s breakfast.
• Come to the men’s breakfast next Saturday.
• Come to the working bee; even if you can’t do anything physical, just sit on a chair and be present.

The church is an important part of God’s plan to care for us, his children, as we go through suffering. And you will need to make sacrifices, whether you’re an elder or a congregation member.

For everyone, we need to be making sacrifices so that we have real, genuine, deep friendships. We need men and women who can stand next to us when we are in the middle of a terrible battle with suffering, when we experience real hardship and sadness.

It is God’s gift to his children; let’s embrace it with two hands. Let’s embrace it rather than, as some people do, taking the gift of the church and putting it up on some high shelf and forgetting about it.

Let’s pray again.