1 Peter Bible Study #15: Grace, Guts, and Glory

Mission’s Sunday - 3/3 morning - pancake breakfast that morning and special offering that morning as we give towards local, national, and international missions efforts

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We’ve finally made it to the end of our study through 1 Peter! This book has taught us much by the way of trusting in the Lord during times of suffering and standing firm on the Gospel truth even whenever everyone else is compromising or refusing to stand with you. This has been a helpful study for me and I pray it has been the same for you as well. Tonight as we prepare to conclude this study and cover the end of 1 Peter 5, this wonderful conclusion to a wonderful book, we come across a few final reminders for all believers. Be humble, trust in the Lord, stand on the Word, keep your eyes forward. One of the recurring words in this book is humility/being humble. David read out of Philippians 2:5-11 on Sunday before we sang the song, “Jesus Only Jesus” that reminds us of the truth that Jesus is worthy of praise and we are not. We must humble ourselves, get ourselves out of the way, and remember who exactly Jesus is.

What are some things that prevent (or tempt) us from being humble?

Personal Pride

Societal Pressure

Misunderstanding what Humility is

Humility is something the Bible talks about an awful lot, but many people (even Christians) don’t take the time to practice it today. Let’s dig into the Word tonight as we wrap up this study and see how humility helps us see God’s grace, His glory, and produce spiritual guts as we stand on His Word even in difficult times

1 Peter 5:6–14 CSB

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. 8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 9 Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world. 10 The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while. 11 To him be dominion forever. Amen. 12 Through Silvanus, a faithful brother (as I consider him), I have written to you briefly in order to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it! 13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, as does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

What a text and what a reminder! Compare this with what Peter shared at the very beginning of his letter in chapter 1

1 Peter 1:3–6 CSB

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials

This book begins with some incredible news that is based on our standing in Christ. How we have this living hope. How we are God’s chosen people. Yet, in the midst of this remarkable status and hope, we’ve seen throughout this book and we see in our text tonight that we are a suffering people in this life. So, how do we fulfill the exhortations in this book?

How Do We Stand Firm, Stay Joyful, and Suffer Well?

Remember Your God of Grace (6-7)

Look at verses 6-7, we see this command (passive imperative in the Greek) to humble ourselves before God. This isn’t always easy to do, but it is necessary for all believers. Look at how we humble ourselves - under the mighty hand of God. You and I can embrace the suffering that we experience in this life as we submit to God’s plan and trust that He is working all things for His glory and our good. We embrace the suffering that happens in life because we stand under the protection of God’s mighty hand.

Think of a place in your life that represents safety - how do you feel when you are there?

Home - I feel at peace (at least when the kids are behaving!)

With family/friends - I feel able to be myself without fear of being backstabbed or gossiped about

Can you think of a safer place to be in the universe than under the mighty hand of God? I can’t! How do we humble ourselves underneath God’s mighty hand? We live with complete dependence on His provision, grace, and mercy! We remember WHO our God is. We remember ALL that He has done. We remember what he PROMISES to do. So, we humble ourselves by remembering WHO God is and who we are. We are not the potter, God is. We are the clay. But so often in life we get that flipped, don’t we? Within our human nature is a temptation to rebel against God’s rule and reign and to trust in self. This command isn’t easily done, but look at what follows it in verse 7. It is difficult to humble ourselves before God, but we all know that we face anxiety and difficulties in this life. It is a blessing to be able to cast them upon our God. It is a blessing to know that God cares about us. A God who knows us. A God who hears us. A God who loves us.

In this life, we are humbled in more ways than one. Sometimes it’s by being proven wrong - no one really likes that one, at least initially. But we’re also humbled in other ways. We suffer in this life, at times just for being a Christian and this humbles us. This might be hard to fully grasp in our culture, but take our brothers and sisters in places like the Middle East and South East Asia for example. It is estimated that over 200 million Christians live under life and death type persecution each and every day. Prison time, murder, torture, economic exclusion, the list goes on. In fact, I came across a story a few years ago of a pastor who visited an underground church in China to pray with and support several pastors and churches there. He attended a service and the preacher couldn’t understand much of the message because he didn’t know much Mandarin, but from what he could tell the preacher gave a straightforward message about trusting in Jesus and living for Jesus. After the sermon, the American asked one of his guides if this pastor was a good preacher - the guide said that the preacher was phenomenal not because he was a great speaker, but because he had spent many years in prison for Christ. This pastor in China humbled himself to the point of going to prison for his faith and in China, this meant to his congregation that he was a great pastor who was faithful in the fire of suffering. We can be faithful in suffering because we know that this present suffering isn’t the end of the story

Romans 8:18 CSB

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

This is the hope and confidence for all believers as we remember God’s grace in sending Jesus to save us

What we see in Scripture is that our exaltation follows our humiliation as eternal glory comes after earthly suffering

We humble ourselves and we trust in the Lord to provide. This is literally verse 7 - we acknowledge that we are not our own savior. We need help. We could literally read verse 7 like this, “Be humbled by casting all your cares upon Him.”

As we go through the rest of our week, year, and lives, let’s be a people as Christians who don’t take matters into our own hands but instead place them in God’s because He has the power to deal with whatever it is that is troubling us.

How has 1 Peter 5:7 been an encouragement to you in your Christian walk?

God cares even when no one else does

Remember that God provides in His time and in His perfect way, not according to our timeline and not in accordance with our desires. He knows best! Remember His grace

Realize That Perseverance Takes Guts (8-9)

So, we remember God’s power and grace and salvation that Jesus accomplished for us. We’re good to go, right? Verse 8 comes up and we realize that we’re in a battle here. Think back in Peter’s own life. He writes to be sober-minded and alert. What happened in the Garden of Gethsemane? Jesus told Peter to stay awake and be in prayer. What did Peter do? On this important night, whenever Jesus was in agony, whenever the enemies were at the door, after Jesus told them what was to come, what did Peter do? He slept. We could say that he wasn’t alert. He wasn’t prepared for the task at hand. What followed? Peter failed. He didn’t listen or trust in Jesus’ words, he took matters into his own hands. Peter knows what is like to not be alert when spiritual warfare comes knocking on the door - during this conclusion, he gives 2 more commands in the Greek - be sober minded and be alert. Why? Because we face an enemy and is powerful.

What are some complications that can arise if we are not spiritually prepared when temptation arises?

We give in and sin when we know better

Our enemy is said to be a lion. This is an interesting metaphor for Peter to use because who do we also see likened to a lion in Scripture?

Jesus!

We could say this: Satan is a cheap imitation of Jesus, the true Lion of Judah. Satan, as Martin Luther put it, is a lion on a leash - God is stronger!

CS Lewis shared an illustration of this truth in The Last Battle as there was a monkey and a donkey who came across a lion skin and deceived people into thinking that the donkey was actually a lion. Some people from a distance believed that the donkey was in fact a lion. From a distance, some might even think that the donkey was Aslan, the great lion of Narnia. But what was this “lion” in actuality? A donkey. Eventually the trick was discovered and shame fell on the two. Satan might prowl around like a roaring lion, but as a Christian, what have you to fear? We stand firm. We trust in Jesus. He holds us fast. This isn’t necessarily easy, but by faith we can stand firm.

Juan Sanchez shares several reasons in 1 Peter to stand firm in the faith while we wait on our Lord to return

We stand firm knowing that while this world can take away much, it cannot take away our identity in Christ and our eternal home in glory (1:1-2)

We stand firm knowing that even though we face death in this life, we have a living hope in Jesus Christ (1:3-5)

We stand firm knowing that our pain is not purposeless, God uses it to refine and purify us (1:6-9)

We stand firm knowing that our Savior walked this road of suffering long before us (2:21-25)

We stand firm knowing that it is a blessing to suffer for doing what is good (3:8-22)

We stand firm knowing that as we share in Christ’s sufferings, we demonstrate our faith in Christ (4:12-19)

We stand firm by humbling ourselves under God’s mighty hand, knowing that He will exalt us at the appointed time (5:6-11)

We must stand firm until Christ calls us home. Our hope to this task is not found in trying harder internally, but by trusting more in our faithful God who cares for us.

Look at how Peter grounds this encouragement in standing firm. One of the biggest lies that Satan throws at God’s elect, to use Peter’s own words, is that we are the only ones to give into temptation or the only ones to suffer this particular way.

“If you ask ‘Why is this happening?’ no light may come, but if you ask, ‘How am I to glorify God now?’ there will always be an answer!”

How does this reframe our suffering?

We’re not alone in our suffering and we’re not the first people to suffer the way that we do. When you suffer and have a great need, remember that you have an even greater Christ! Instead of asking “Why Me?” ask this, “Why Not Me?” Lindsey’s grandma passed a little more than a year ago due to cancer and it was sudden and unexpected and during all of her pain and suffering several asked, “Why you?” You’re a blessing. You trust in Jesus. You’re kind. You’re a good person compared to the average person on this planet - why you. She’d just say, “Why not me?” Friends, we’re going to suffer - but we don’t suffer alone. When tough times come, look to Scripture, remember that others have suffered for Christ as well. Remember that He is with you. Persevere in Christ - this takes guts but it also produces guts. We have brothers and sisters all around our world suffering for their faith - when we look to them, we should be encouraged and challenged.

Rejoice, Glory is Coming (10-14)

Think of some of the statements concerning who God is in the Bible

God is holy

God is just

God is love

God is sovereign

God is omnipotent/omniscient/omnipresent

God is merciful

God is patient

Here we see that God is gracious. What a blessing to know that God doesn’t give us what we deserve (mercy) and He gives us what we don’t deserve (grace). We are saved by the grace given from the God of grace.

Look at our eternal hope, Christian: God will

Restore

Establish

Strengthen

Support

His people! This is our hope - this is our future. These are future tense verbs indicating that they are not a pipe dream but Christian promises.

How do these promises encourage you in the midst of earthly suffering?

God has a plan!

God uses suffering to make us more like Him!

John and Chales Wesley’s mom, Susannah, had 19 children in all. Y’all, I can’t even begin to imagine that! Susannah’s father was a pastor as well and had experienced much by the way of suffering in England. This is what was written on her tombstone:

1 & 2 Peter and Jude—Sharing Christ’s Sufferings Finishing in True Grace (vv. 12–14)

In sure and certain hope to rise,

And claim her mansion in the skies

A Christian here her flesh laid down,

The cross exchanging for a crown.

Christian, rejoice, glory is coming. In this life we take up our cross, but in the life to come, we get a crown.

Grace > Guts > Glory