1 Peter 5:3

Plain English Version

Don’t be bossy. Instead, show them how to follow Jesus. You have to follow Jesus properly, so they will see the way you follow him, and they will follow him properly too.

Cross References

John 13:15

I washed your feet to show you how you have to treat each other.

Acts 20:28

Now you leaders have to make sure you keep on following Jesus properly, and you have to help God’s people to follow him properly too. The Holy Spirit picked you to be their leaders, so look after them properly. Remember, God bought his people with the blood of his own son.

1 Corinthians 11:11

You see, we all belong to our leader Jesus. And in his family the women need the men, and the men need the women.

1 Corinthians 3:5

Just think about Apollos and me, Paul. We are not important bosses. We are only workers for God. God gave each of us our jobs, and we helped you believe in Jesus Christ. I’ll use picture talk now. Think about a garden. One worker plants seeds, and another worker puts water on the young plants to help them grow properly. But it is God that makes the seeds grow up to be big plants. The worker that plants the seeds is not important, and the worker that gives water to the plants is not important. The important one is God. He makes the plants grow. Well, that picture story about a garden is a picture of you mob. God is making you grow like he makes those plants grow. And Apollos and me, we work in God’s team, just like those workers in that garden. I started telling you about Jesus, and Apollos taught you more about him. We both want you to have life, but we can’t give you new life. God is the one that gives you new life. We are just his workers, and you know, God will pay each of us for our work.

1 Corinthians 3:9

We are like 2 men that work for God in his garden, and you are like God’s garden. And I’ll use another picture story. This picture story shows that you are like God’s house that he is building for himself.

Philippians 3:17

My Christian friends, you know how I live, so you all have to try to live the same way. And look around at each other, and see the way you all live. Look at those people that live the same way as I live, and you do the same.

Philippians 4:9

And remember, when I was with you, I taught you the right things to do. You agreed with me about those things. And you know the things that I said, and the things that I did when I was with you. Well, keep on doing all those things. Then God will be with you, and he will get you to feel happy and quiet inside yourselves.

1 Thessalonians 1:7

You showed all the other Christians there in Macedonia country the right way to live. And you did that too for the Christians in the country to the south of you, called Akaya.

2 Thessalonians 3:9

You know, God says that if somebody tells people the good news about Jesus, it is all right for that person to ask for the things they need. But we didn’t do that. We didn’t ask you for anything. You see, we wanted to show you the right way for a Christian to live.

1 Timothy 4:12

If some people think you are too young to be their leader, don’t worry. You live the right way yourself, and that will show them that you are a good leader. Then they will see the way a Christian has to live. So talk in the right way, and talk about the right things. And do everything the right way. And love people. And believe strongly in Jesus. And always do what is right. Then everyone will see that you live right, and they will not think you are too young.

Titus 2:7

You too, you have to always do good things. Then the young men will see you, and they will do good things too. You always have to teach the true message, and remember, your job is important.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are the people God picked out for himself. Together you work for him, like the men that looked after his ceremonies. You are his own family. God called you away from doing bad things, so you can do good things. It is like you used to live in the dark so that nobody could see you do bad things there, but now he called you away from that to live in his good light. So let’s tell everyone that God is really great and really good.