I.　John 21 reveals the apostolic ministry in cooperation with Christ's heavenly ministry:

A.　On the one hand, we should shepherd people by dispensing the divine life into them.

B.　On the other hand, we should teach them the divine truths in the divine, mystical realm.

C.　If we practice these things, there will be a real revival in the Lord's recovery.

D.　We must be shepherds with the loving and forgiving heart of our Father God in His divinity and the shepherding and finding spirit of our Savior Christ in His humanity.

II.　The elders should shepherd the flock of God according to God—1 Pet. 5:2:

A.　God acquired the flock of God, the church of God, with His own precious blood—Acts 20:28.

B.　Now God Himself, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), cares for the church through the elders, the overseers.

C.　According to God is according to God's nature, desire, way, and glory, not according to man's preference, interest, and purpose:

1.　According to God means that we must live God; we must have God on hand.

2.　To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes: love, light, holiness, and righteousness.

III.　The elders should not lord it over their allotments—1 Pet. 5:3a:

A.　The elders are shepherding God's flock, which is God's possession allotted to the elders as their portion, entrusted to them by God for their care.

B.　Among the believers, besides Christ there should be no other lord; all should be servants, even slaves—Matt. 20:26-28; 23:8-11; 2 Cor. 4:5.

C.　Lording it over the members of our church under our shepherding is a strong sign of our pride.

D.　An elder's function is not to rule but to oversee the flock, which is related to protecting, leading, and feeding the flock in order to supply the flock with whatever is needed—Acts 20:28.

E.　The elders should be one with Christ as the Shepherd and Overseer of the saints' souls, caring for the welfare of the saints' inner being and exercising oversight over the condition of their real person—1 Pet. 2:25; Heb. 13:17.

IV.　The elders should be patterns of the flock—1 Pet. 5:3b:

A.　The elders should be patterns of humility, taking the lead to serve and care for the church, that the believers may follow.

B.　They should be a pattern to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity—1 Tim. 4:12.

C.　The self-exalting and domineering Diotrophes is an evil pattern—3 John 9-11.

V.　The elders should be slaves to the saints and should humble themselves under the saints—1 Pet. 5:5:

A.　Always remember that humility saves you from all kinds of distraction and invites God's grace—James 4:6.

B.　The elders should gird themselves with humility toward the saints:

1.　Peter's charge here evidently came from his impression of how the Lord girded Himself with a towel when He humbled Himself to wash the disciples' feet—John 13:4-7.

2.　The Lord girded Himself with humility to wash the feet of the disciples, but in resurrection, He is girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle, signifying Christ's divinity becoming His golden energy, exercised and motivated by His love to nourish the churches—Rev. 1:13.

3.　If we gird ourselves with Christ as our humility toward the saints, we will have His divinity as our golden energy, exercised and motivated by His love, to minister to them the unsearchable riches of Christ.

VI.　The elders' willing and faithful shepherding will be rewarded with the unfading crown of glory at the manifestation of the Chief Shepherd—1 Pet. 5:4.

VII.　If the elders shepherd the church according to the aforementioned points, they will make the church under their care today's Paradise, a foretaste of the New Jerusalem—Rev. 2:7.