A Story About Lions, Humility, Peter and You
Notes
Transcript
Humble Lion Defense
Humble Lion Defense
5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. 10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 11 All power to him forever! Amen. 12 I have written and sent this short letter to you with the help of Silas, whom I commend to you as a faithful brother. My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace. 13 Your sister church here in Babylon sends you greetings, and so does my son Mark. 14 Greet each other with a kiss of love. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ.
I remember rowing in after a long night, with nothing to show for all our work. This is just not worth it sometimes. Doesn’t look like anybody else caught anything either, at least I know it’s not me. Might as well get the nets cleaned up. Hey John look at this huge crowd of people following this teacher. John is like yeah too bad there aren’t that many fish out there.
Jesus now approaches these guys and says take me a little way from shore so I can teach these folks. They probably agreed out of hospitality and they could keep washing nets a little way out this way they would have someone to listen to while they did it. When peter writes about pride and humility he is teaching from his own story, his own experience.
Peter knows by experience what He is teaching. God uses stories to teach us about Him and ourselves. When we divorce the teaching of Jesus from real life situations and make it about religious ideas/practices or a moral system we are in danger of separating Jesus teaching from our everyday situations. Jesus came to give us life even at work, at play, at conflict. God shares stories with us in 75% of His word because his way is for everyday things not just theology classes and Sunday mornings.
When we read Peter’s letters we can see His experiences shaping his teaching and encouragements, we can feel his concern for the people he is writing to and see the christ likeness shining through this rough, uneducated gallilean fisherman.
My outline is fluid today I am going to walk through this passage in light of Peter’s story with Jesus. Pter is one of those who really stands out.
1- Dress for success
5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
I remember preaching at the first church to support Angie and I when we were raising support to go to Ecuador. I had recently purchased a suit to get ready for africa and thought I would make a joke. - I haven’t prayed, read the word, studied but as long as I wore my suit I figured everything would be OK. silent nods...
The idea of clothing yourself or putting on a spiritual attitude is found throughout scripture. put on love, put on the new self, put on Christ, put on the full armor of God. Think of it like when you get a new outfit and put it then go out for the first time. People see, they respond to it. In Christ we have the Holy Spirit empowerment to put on humility.
Peter then says I will never deny you, and weeps bitterly after he does it. Jesus restores him through prayer. I have prayed for you Peter when you are restored restore the others.
Peter watched Jesus tear into the Pharisees calling them sons of the Devil.
Peter knows what he is talking about. This is a participle phrase - humble yourself under the might hand of God, BY - casting your cares on him for He cares for you. I like this picture Peter is a fisherman who cast nets into the vast depths of the sea hoping to catch fish, he know casting out cares to God will catch his ear.
Peter knows the personal care of Jesus. He was visited by the resurrected Jesus and given a charge to feed the sheep. Peter knows because he has received the care of God.
how to cast - prayer, word, community, faith.
2- Watch out!
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
Peter knows first hand about the devils schemes he has been played by the Adversary, the accuser. When Peter declares Jesus is the Messiah
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.
21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. 22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
Peter fell into the trap of the devil. He also watched Judas one of the 12 a person he had no suspicion about even when Jesus said he would be betrayed, be devoured and sell Jesus for 30 peices of silver. Betraying him with a kiss, signature move of the devil.
Peter knows this lion has no teeth for those in Christ, and that He can be resisted. James Peter’s close partner in Rome writes
5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
Peter heard Jesus story of resisting the devil’s temptation in the desert, He learned Jesus strategy -
Answer with the word - assuming?
Prayer
Go be with Christians, do christian stuff.
Firm in your faith - is to actively engage the practices of the faith as part of life, because you firmly understand through experience they work. Faith does not grow through emotional mountain top experiences, it grows in the dirt of everyday life practice. This is the firm foundation. Peter says know that you are not alone in this, read biographies of people who have followed Christ see what their lives are like. We turn to theology or spiritual self help books, but in that we miss the reality of the suffering our brothers and sisters throughout the world are going through and what Jesus is able to get us through.
Following Jesus is in everyday life in your story, just like in Peter’s you can see the Gospel working out making people whole.
3- Sufferring is a path to strength.
10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 11 All power to him forever! Amen. 12 I have written and sent this short letter to you with the help of Silas, whom I commend to you as a faithful brother. My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace. 13 Your sister church here in Babylon sends you greetings, and so does my son Mark. 14 Greet each other with a kiss of love. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ.
Read the book of Acts to see Peter’s story continuing the work.
Peter was rejected by some in the church after he had dinner with a Gentile, racism can divide believers. He suffered even though obedient to a vision, and angel, and the Holy Spirit proof.
Peter lead the church but watched James be taken prisoner and executed by the authorities
One night Peter sat in jail in Jerusalem soon after they had arrested and beheaded James the brother of Jesus and leader of the Church. He knows God’s care for him.
These early Christians are real people - Silas, Mark, Babylon.
Church let faith be a foundation for your everyday life, one of the verses which I say almost everyday,
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
Jesus is at work in your story. He cares about you and proved it by giving his life so that you could receive wholeness in this life. God filled his word with stories, 75% narrative. He wraps his truth in history and the stories of people ...