1 Corinthians 10:13 – “There's no temptation (or testing) overtaken you that is not firstly, common to man; secondly, God is faithful; and thirdly, He's going to provide a way of escape in the midst of it, so that you can bear it”.
We want: God, get me out of here, I'll go to another church, I'll go to this, I'll go to that. God says: no, no, no, no, I want you to trust Me with this one, I've got your back in it, and there's a way. With the problem, comes a solution; except the solution can only be seen by looking at it through the eyes of faith.
Expect to grow. Expect that every situation you face, that's difficult - you will mature, grow, come to a greater level of authority. When I teach on authority and power, everyone is wanting the power; everyone wants the authority; but no one wants the process to get there. The process to get there, is being able to abide under the pressure, so you develop what's necessary, that you gain that authority. We need to expect to grow.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 – “Our light affliction, which is just for a moment or temporary, is working for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory. It will only do that while we do not look at the things seen, but at the things unseen.”
The things you can see - if you can see and touch it, then it's temporary. Here's the thing: with all problems - they've got an expiry date, they finish. You don't know that date, but it has got an expiry date; so we've just got to understand that it will work out for us - it's temporary, it won't last, and even if it goes on for months, it still won't last. It will end, and then by the time it's ended, the big thing will not be the problem, which is behind you; but rather, what kind of person did you become through that?
It says: it will work for us, it will shape us - so long as we fix our mind on the Lord, on the things unseen.
Romans 8:18 – “I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy compared to the glory revealed in us.”
The Crown of Life is reserved for those who love the Lord, more than their own life and comfort, and hold onto Christ, and don't let their love grow cold when they're in troubles.
The last one is the Crown of Glory. This is another crown, an honour.
1 Peter 5:2-5 – “Shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers; not by compulsion, but willingly; not for dishonest gain, but eagerly; not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock - and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the Crown of Glory, that does not fade away.”
It's incorruptible! The Crown of Glory is reserved for those who ‘shepherd’ the people of God. Anyone who is called to lead, or shepherd, or has a group of people they're leading and shepherding, then God has a Crown of Glory for you! Jesus is called the Great Shepherd. He entrusts the pastoring to other people, to under-shepherds. He understands that it's a very difficult task - sometimes it's very frustrating, and sometimes it's full of grief. It's often filled with great sacrifice, and often you see little result for what you do - that would describe all of us here, who've worked with people. Sometimes it's very frustrating - you don't see a lot, for what you do. Sometimes people take everything you've given, and then walk away, with no gratitude whatsoever. All of this is a sacrifice, and it causes us suffering.
We need to understand that we're not in the role because it was a great idea. We're in the role because we were called by God, and because we were called by God into the role, you are certain of two things…
1) He will give you grace to stand in it, and grow
2) There's a crown of reward for it.
In this passage, he does speak of what it would take to qualify for that reward. He says: “shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted but being examples to the flock.” He says: This is what you do, and then when the Chief Shepherd appears, you'll receive the crown of glory. Clearly, he connects these instructions to the Crown of Glory being received, so these are the qualifying conditions.
The responsibilities of the shepherd is to shepherd the flock. “Shepherd the flock”, means: to be a friend; to provide nurture, and nourishment; to protect; to give your life for them. A major role of shepherding is to provide the word of God, and the flow of the Spirit; and then encouragement. If you're going to bring the word of God, we don't want to just say what people want to hear: nice, sweet words of encouragement; we need to bring the whole counsel of God.