1 Peter 5 v 5-9
Title: Standing on the rock!
Context: Total dependence on God leads to victory
Text: 1 Peter 5 v 5-9
@ Nelson Road on 13th July 2008
Introduction
During the building of the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay, construction fell badly behind schedule because several workers had accidentally fallen from the scaffolding to their deaths. Engineers and administrators could find no solution to the costly delays. Finally, someone suggested a gigantic net be hung under the bridge to catch any who fell. Finally in spite of the enormous cost, the engineers opted for the net. After it was installed, progress was hardly interrupted. A worker or two fell into the net but all were saved. Ultimately, the time lost to fear was regained by replacing fear with faith in the net. God has given us a safety net to work over as we cross the bridge of life.
You started your journey of faith by God’s grace and you will finish it that way. Throw yourself on God and He will lift you up. That is our safety net.
That’s the kind of message Peters is passing on here….don’t rely on ourselves…rely on God…don’t think we are clever enough to make it though ….humble yourself and rely on God….and he will help you to be all he wants you to be
He is are safety net
A) Be humble!
In Peter’s conclusion of his letter, Peter has been calling his hearers to stand fast in the faith he has declared to them, and to do so in the midst of the sufferings they must expect.
His calls for two attitudes that he has been describing throughout his letter: on the one hand, humility toward others; on the other, bold resistance to evil.
These attitudes are essential for Christian living in this present world.
And they are by no means contradictory, as Jesus showed by his example.
These verses we are looking at this morning confirm the fact that mutual submission is the essential ingredient of Christ’s church
The young men mention here could be young in years or young in the faith, but in practice it means less mature in leadership.
Those who are older may not have had such a good education as those who are younger; they may not have traveled as widely, but they have what the young cannot have — experience.
For good order to exist in the church there must be an acknowledgment of authority, and we reveal a lack of maturity if we are not able to accept this.
But it is sometimes hard for young people to take this on board …”for it rarely occurs to teenagers that day will come when they’ll know as little as there parents”
Because they still believe that ….” The best substitute for experience is being 16”
A new bible collage graduate had just preached his first sermon, and he was certain that others were as impressed with his effort as he was. In the car on the way home, he asked his wife, “Darling, how many great preachers do you think there are in the world today?”
She smiled lovingly, put her hand on his shoulder, replied "fewer than you think dear"
But Peter’s call to humility is not just for the young. We all are to ‘tie on humility’ in our relations to one another
And we know we have a greatest example of tying on humility in Jesus Christ Himself …as we are reminded in Philippians 2….
Spurgeon put it this way "Never was there a poorer man than Christ; he was the prince of poverty. Look at his dress; it is woven from the top throughout, the garment of the poor!
As for his food, he was often hungry; and always was dependent upon the charity of others for the relief of his wants! He who scattered the harvest o'er the broad acres of the world, had not sometimes the resources to stay the pangs of hunger?
He, who dug the springs of the ocean, sat upon a well and said to a Samaritan woman, 'Give me to drink' (John 4:7).
He rode in no chariot; he walked in his weary way, foot sore, o'er the flints of Galilee! He had not where to lay his head. He looked upon the fox as it hurried to its resting-place, and he said, 'Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but I, the Son of man, have not where to lay my head.'
He who had once been waited on by angels, becomes the servant of servants, takes a towel, girds himself, and washes his disciples' feet! He, who was once honored with the hallelujahs of ages, is now spit upon and despised! He who was loved by his Father, and had abundance of wealth of affection, could say, 'He that eats bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me' (John 13:18).
Now that is an example of true humility…he knew who he really was…but didn’t force it upon others but walked in our shoes for the glory of God
The verb here suggests the tying on of a servant’s apron.
A garment commonly worn by slaves, and thus a badge of servitude
Pride doesn't serve anybody but itself, whereas humility is fundamentally a willingness to serve others. All of this is in the present tense which indicates that it is an ongoing process. It is a lifestyle.
Peter now quotes from Proverbs 3:34: and says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Pride is a characteristic of opposition to God.
But humility recognizes that all that we are and all that we have is by the grace of God.
And therefore expresses absolute dependence upon God and so is the direct opposite of pride.
And all of this is powerful evidence of the work of God in our lives.
James pursues the same truth when he states that ‘the Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” ’ (James 4:6). Grace is given to the humble, not to the proud.
God hates pride! Indeed, says Peter, he opposes it. This conveys the image of God lining up his forces against it.
Clowney expresses it like this: ‘God opposes the proud … not only because pride despises our fellow creatures, but because pride rebels against him. The proud person sets himself against God, and God, in turn, sets himself against the proud.
B) Be Patient
So from his heart Peter says: Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time (v. 6).
The exaltation in due time will be God's good time.
It may not be as quickly as we would like, but it will be as one translation renders it ‘at the proper time’ (NASB), and if that is God's time, it is obviously the right time.
Peter introduces this thought to save his readers, and us, from being over anxious in their circumstances.
They were not to despair.
Not to trust in God is to trust in ourselves and that is pride!
We are not to try to make things happen
We are not to try to move God along.
For this too is an open door to frustration and disappointment. Not least because we may activate something which is outside of God's will for us.
But we are to wait for him to do the lifting up. It will come in due time….in his perfect time
And in his good time maybe either in this life or in the next but he will lift you up
And Peter clarifies in the next verse as he says: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (v. 7).
Peter is quoting David from Psalm 55:22: ‘Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.’
This term “cast” indicates a definite and decisive act in handing over our worries to God.
Excessive anxiety, which is what Peter has in mind, will wear us down. The word for anxiety suggests a pulling apart, which well describes how we feel when we
are anxious and weary.
To truly cast our care on him will mean that we have a peace of heart which the world cannot give.
That in turn may help us to quietly determine what action we need to perform in that situation and then trust enough to leave the rest with God.
The very act of casting our cares upon the Lord often changes them.
Releases us from the burden so we can see what s really happening around us
I hared about a program on TV which featured a celebrity learning to be a Sherpa and escorting a walking party in Nepal. He had to carry sixty pounds of kitchen equipment and soon realized he was short of the kind of fitness needed for such heavy work. The strain on his back and neck were incredible, added to which, the load meant that he wasn't able to see anything except the ground he walked on. When they arrived at the place where they were to take a lunch break you shared with him in the bliss of allowing that heavy burden simply to drop from his back. But not only was the weight removed, for the first time he was able to look around at the beauty of his surroundings. That is something of the idea conveyed here. Peter says release your burden and lift up your head.
And why should we place such peaceful trust in the Lord? Because, says Peter, he cares for you.
We have a God who really cares for us really wants the best for us….and use us to glorify his name and will give all we need to do that….
So we don't submit to circumstances, but to the Lord who controls circumstances.
C) Be Alert
But at the same time that believers can cast all their cares on God, they must still be self-controlled and alert.
These words are also translated, "Pay attention! Wake up!"
This warning needs to be heard!
And we need to remember that that Peter's speaks out of his own experience
He was certainly not self–controlled and alert when he denied his Lord.
So Peter reminds his readers that by virtue of belonging to God's family every believer must recognize that he is in a spiritual battle, and that battle is against a superior power, the devil.
And the idea here is that we cannot afford to be lazy in our faith, but we must maintain discipline and steadfastness.
As soldiers wait and watch, so believers must be constantly alert for the enemy.
All of the persecution facing believers ultimately comes down to one source: your enemy the devil.
He hates God and is God's archenemy; thus he also hates God's people and is their enemy as well. While Satan has no power against God, he does what he can to harm God's people.
Peter describes him as prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Lions attack sick, young, or straggling animals; they choose victims who are alone or not alert.
Lions prowl quietly, watching and waiting, suddenly pouncing when their victims least suspect it. They use fear caused by their roar to drive their prey into the jaws of another lion.
He wants to devour us — eat us alive, literally to gulp down. That certainly brings the lesson home! The same term is used of the fish that swallowed Jonah (Jon. 1:17).
Satan is the godless, relentless, brutal, yet brilliant adversary of our souls who lives to bring us down… to watch us fall.
He is looking for any weakness which he can exploit and sometimes he attacks through an area we had seen as strength.
An enemy once took Edinburgh Castle from its steepest side because the occupants assumed that no one would try to do that. All their defenses were placed on what they believed to be the weakest approach, the more gradual slope, and they were deceived and defeated. So it is true that the devil can even use against us those characteristics which we believe to be our assets.
We need to stay alert! All the time!
But as we do we can resist the devil
Resist him, standing firm in the faith (v. 9).
Not reason with him… but must resist him, and there is only one way to do that and that and that is by using the Word of God and by prayer.
Christ himself used these weapons when tempted in the wilderness (Mark 4:1–11). We can do no better.
Both James and Peter offer similar advice. ‘Submit your–selves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you’ (James 4:7).
That instruction provides us with the clue on how to resist such a powerful foe — by first submitting to an all powerful God. Peter's experience had been in contrast to that. He resisted the Lord and then had to submit to the devil.
We have no resources of ourselves. We cannot resist Satan in our own strength.
This foe can only be defeated in Christ, so Peter urges a standing firm in the faith.
The word "resist" is a term of defense rather than attack. The best way for believers to resist Satan is to remain steadfast in [their] faith.
The word "steadfast" in Greek is used in Isa 50:7 I have set my face like flint," referring to rocklike resolution.
We need to stand by saying God is true….and his word is true….and I am standing on it….and not moving!
It means recognition of our ultimate dependence on God and an entering into the victory already won by Christ against the devil at Calvary.
The good news is that when faced with this the devil will back down.
There is nothing to worry about, for he is now faced with a superior power (v. 11). So in the words of Paul, ‘Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the whole amour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes’ (Eph. 6:10–11).
Peter's readers can also be encouraged by realizing that they are not alone in their struggles: You know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
That we are not alone in our suffering
Other believers scattered all over the world were suffering for the faith; this fact should give us strength. All of this, of course, is under God's control and he is accomplishing his purposes.
Others may not be facing identical pressures to ours, but no believer is excused from suffering, because wherever we live, we are in a godless environment.
In these circumstances it is a great encouragement to know that in standing firm in the faith we belong to a family and that we have brothers. It is a morale booster to any man fighting in a war to know that the whole army is engaged in the same battle.
Conclusion
So what is your attitude this morning, are you trying to make it though in your own strength ….not caring about others …or about what God wants?
Are you humbling yourself before God ….and others …as you rely on God to give you all you need to be all he wants you to be?
Are you …casting all your cares on …Him knowing he really cares for you?
And as you do so and are you staying alert…and watchful….always ready to stand on Gods word, as the devil, tries too pull you down?
That’s the place of safety….relying on God and his word in this fallen world!