I love the last verse of that song.
Then in Fellowship suite, we will sit at his feet or walk by
his side in the way that's those are some special words we got to
sing this morning. Thank you for singing them
together. Thank you for teaching me
through song as scriptures say. And thank you that you are here.
Thank you that you care about godly things.
Thank you that you share with all of us and the best thing we
have going in our lives and that is being children of God.
And what a great set of passages we get to study this morning
that we get to finish up in first.
Peter, my goal is to get through the end of the chapter so we can
kind of wrap up the 1st letter from Peter.
And, and I want to thank you for, for teaching me things that
are in this letter because there's a lot of stuff that is,
that is the ideal, that is the top goal.
And, and I hope from these scriptures we see the ideal.
I hope we don't see achievement. I hope we don't see where we are
right now. Like, yeah, this is me.
OK, cool, I did all that. I hope we see that we can be
better. And I hope that brings us hope.
And I hope that gives us some looking forward to the future as
to what we can be individually and as what we can be together
for the glory of God, as we'll see in this set of Scriptures.
So thank you for showing me what it looks like for many of you.
You've taught me so much about what these passages mean in
example. And may we continue to teach one
another what this stuff means in real life.
May we learn to apply this and teach one another.
Because I don't have all the answers.
I'm not going to exemplify at all.
And there's going to be things as we learn this letter that you
are going to better exemplify than I do simply because God
gave you a strength that I don't have.
So may we together learn this and teach this to one another
going forward beyond the words we studied this morning.
So as we continue on in chapter chapter 5, we left off talking
about, Well, we'll go back to chapter 4 a little bit.
We left off with these verses. Therefore, since Christ suffered
for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same
mind. For he who has suffered in the
flesh has ceased from sin, that He no longer should live the
rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts or the desires of
men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our
past lifetime and doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked
in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and
abominable disgusting idolatries in regard to these, they think
it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of
dissipation, speaking evil of you.
And we talked a little bit before these abominable, these
abominable idolatries were a lot of things, but their worship got
nasty, it got perverted, it got very sexual and and worship to
these idols. We as humans will mess this
stuff up when we try to do for God what we think is right for
God and become so self-centered in regard to these things.
They think it's strange that you don't run with them in the same
flood of dissipation. Why aren't you partying and
drinking and doing these nasty things to glorify God?
This is what we all do. You're crazy for, for not doing
that. That's what they would say.
They will give an account to him who's ready to judge the living
and the dead. Don't worry about them.
For this reason, the gospel is preached also to those who are
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh,
but live according to God in the Spirit.
All right, now we're back up to speed where we left off last
time, and I want to provide a point of clarification.
In verse 7 it says, but the end of all things is at hand.
And when I was discussing last week, I was talking about that
from a perspective of the end of the world.
And while some people do believe that, you've got to read a
little bit further, and I didn't get to the part where we would
have been talking about probably the more accurate context, which
is referring to the end of Judaism, the end of all things
being the end of the Old Law and the end of of the destruction of
Jerusalem. And that is, I believe, the more
precise end of all things he's talking about here.
Now, the good news is that all still applies.
Everything we talked about is still the same motivations.
He tells us to watch and pray because of the end being near.
So he's talking to these people who it says in just a minute,
verse 12, who are about to go through a fiery trial.
And don't be surprised when this happens.
We learned that the the Jerusalem is shortly after
destroyed. Now, if you're reading this
verse and you're like, how does that the end of all things mean
the end of Judaism? It seems like he means the end
of everything. Well, is this hyperbolic?
Is he exaggerating? Well, I mean, think about it.
Human history was built on the Israelite nation.
So much of God's role in this world was centered around this
national entity called Israel. And God spoke to the world
through them. He revealed his will through
them. He put the Messiah through this
lineage. He built this nation and took
them down multiple times. This nation was not some small
thing. This was God's presence on
earth. It was a nation, it was an
economy, it was the world's only true God ordained theocracy,
meaning this is a nation God is in charge of.
So saying that it's the end of all things is not exaggerating.
It's a big deal for the Jews and for the whole world who is
involved in spiritual things. And in addition to that, this
phrase at hand, as I understand, whatever at hand is used in the
New Testament, it's usually going to be something that's
like really coming soon. Not like, hey, it's going to be
coming soon. Be ready.
It's like it's here. And because of the more
immediate context of the words used, it's even more.
Clear. I believe that this is talking
about the destruction of Jerusalem, but then like I said,
verse 12 kind of confirms that. So, as we said, why be so
serious and watchful in prayer last week or last time I spoke,
all these things still apply. We need to be serious and
watchful because we have responsibility, we have
weaknesses, we have an enemy, we have people who need us, and we
have new frontiers that we need to be going into and seeking
out. But I'm just going to.
Throw at the top of this list. The fiery trial is the 1st and
primary reason they need to be serious and watchful in their
prayer life. OK.
That was a clarification and we read this verse last time, but I
want to provide a little bonus insight I didn't get into
because we're running out of time.
Verse seven said, but the end of all things is at hand.
Therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.
Let's remember who he's talking, who's writing right now.
This is Peter. Do you remember Peter the last
time someone told him to watch and pray because of present
distress? Peter, James and John were taken
into the garden of and Jesus went and prayed alone, and he
said, watch and pray. He said be serious and watchful
in prayer. That's what he's telling us.
He's telling us that because he failed when the time was near
for the end of all things, so to speak, being the Messiah's death
coming and Jesus told him, guys, you need to be wake up and pray.
They fell asleep on him. And so now we have Peter
relaying the same message to us to be watchful in our prayers
because the answer is for us. Please hear me lovingly and
gently. We will fail if we do not be
serious and watchful in the tasks that are in front of us
that are daunting. We will fail.
I will fail, you will fail. They fail because they didn't
listen to Jesus and what they go and do.
They denied Him. They they absolutely mocked him.
I don't know the man, Peter said.
And if we think we're going to be any different, the devil is
winning so far beyond what we realize we will lose.
That's why when Jesus knew something big was coming, he
knew a big temptation or challenge was coming.
He went alone into the wilderness.
Remember what Jesus did? He fasted 40 days and 40 nights.
Was that the trial in the wilderness?
No, the temptation came after the 40 days and 40 nights.
He spent time being serious and watchful in prayer when he knew
he was in the middle of a trial. Coming if Jesus needed it, who
are we to think we don't need it?
And Jesus was the example, and we'd be serious and watchful in
a prayer life. Because of things that are
coming now here's what's completely new verse 8 and above
all things. So more than anything else, he
can give us advice in have fervent love for one another.
We've talked about this I feel like several times recently.
Fervent means aggressive straining.
You know, it's not a passive love.
It's so effort driven and that's going to drive us to be powerful
examples. It's going to drive us to solve
things in the midst of fiery trials that other things won't.
Fervent love will solve that he says for for love will cover a
multitude of sins. Now that's a proverb he's
referencing. And and this is coming from
Proverbs chapter 10, verse 2. And remember, Proverbs is
general truths. Now, if you apply this statement
in too many ways, it becomes inaccurate.
So don't, please don't apply this beyond and say if people do
wrong stuff, love will just cover up your sins.
Love is just going to say, yeah, do whatever you want.
Just love is going to cover you. That's not what this is teaching
by any stretch of the imagination.
It's a proverb that's speaking a truth that I think is well
expressed in this quote, where love abounds in a fellowship of
Christians. Many small offenses and even
some large ones are readily overlooked and forgotten.
We can move on, but where love is lacking, every word is viewed
with suspicion, every action is liable to misunderstanding, and
conflicts abound. To Satan's perverse delight, one
man described this. I think that's a good
representation of what he's really trying to say here is we
need some buffer between us. We need some cartilage.
We need some. When you lose the ligaments in
your knee, you start to feel bone on bone.
The thing that's going to help us work together and not be so
bone on bone is going to be love because it's going to help cover
some of that, you know, the grinding that happens with our
interpersonal workings. And maybe you could further
explain this by saying Jesus love covered.
Now Jesus love also convicted, but his love was a covering
love. It was a protecting and a
healing love. And our submission to this
system will protect others instead of harming others.
It will heal our soul by having love for people and it will also
heal the souls of people we are trying to support if we have a
love that will cover, not seek to only expose.
Now to be clear, 1st and 2nd Corinthians letters address how
sin can't just be left to linger.
He says you have to purge out the old leaven.
Leaven is sin, right? And and it's he's saying you
can't let sin just pollute A congregation.
So that's not the answer either. You can't just let it live
because that's not loving either.
But the answer is some balance between having grace but also
being. Willing to teach.
And show what is right, OK? Verse 9, he says be hospitable
to one another without grumbling.
So he's saying all this in light of the fact that the end of all
things is at hand, primarily being understood that the fiery
trials are coming and even the end of the world is coming.
That's true too. The second thing he says is to
be hospitable, right? Yes.
The third thing, prayer. Pray carefully and watchfully,
he says, love fervently and be hospitable.
How is our hospitality individually and as a
congregation? How is our hospitality?
I want to commend so many of you because you've taught me what it
means to be hospitable. But I want to challenge us as
well because Scripture is meant to cut.
How is your home's hospitality? And this passage is kind of a
comforting, frank admission. It's a, it's a, it's a like,
blatant admission that hospitality can be very costly
and burdensome and irritating sometimes.
That's why he says do it without grumbling.
Hospitality can be burdensome, irritating and costly.
But he says don't let that be what defines your hospitality.
Don't be a person that's burdened and too aware of the
cost and too mindful of how irritating others can be.
Don't focus on that, he says. Do without grumbling.
But on the flip side of that, there's some words in Hebrews
13, I think that that helped me kind of think about the other
side of this, and maybe we also. Need to hear?
What He's writing the letter Hebrews.
He's talking to the to the congregation saying let your
leaders do their work with joy, not with grief.
OK. He's, he's like saying these
people need to shepherd you and, and watch over you, but do good
to them and don't make it hard on them to do this for you.
Don't make it hard on your leaders to lead.
Make make an environment for them where it's joyful for them
and not grievous. So I think we can say the same
thing with the hospitality. If we are receiving hospitality,
may we receive hospitality a way that doesn't make it grievous
for the people giving hospitality.
But that we would be thankful and and not overstepping and
over assuming and just take, take, take.
That is not the scriptural way. Jesus says I came to serve, not
to be served. So there's two sides of this.
But the passage is focusing on the responsibility of us to be
hospitable. So that's the the third thing in
light of the fact that the end is near.
Now in verse 10, he gives us the fourth thing.
As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as
good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
So everything we have, he wants us to start with the assumption
that everything you have to offer, whether it's an ability,
a, a thing or a how is it or a gift, whatever it is, minister
means to serve, serve it to one another as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God. I don't think I want to spend
the time to go through the full passages in Matthew about about
what it means to be a good steward.
But basically that was a a term they used to describe somebody
who was responsible for the for the investments of a more
powerful person. And God gave them the instruct
the parable. Jesus gave them the parable of
these different people who are entrusted with investments.
One of them was given a lot. One of them has given 10
talents. As I understand, the talent was
a year's worth of wages. He's given 10 years worth of
wages, maybe $1,000,000. And he was trusted with that.
And then he gave somebody else maybe 500,000 and gave somebody
else maybe 100,000. OK.
And he told them. To go out and do wisely with it
in the in this parable. And and most of those people did
good with it, but the person who had the least didn't do anything
with it. He buried it.
He didn't use that talent for the for the, for the master.
The master wanted to come back and say, hey, all these people
used my investments wisely. I hope you see, God invested a
lot in us. He put things inside of us.
I mean, aside from all the spiritual blessings we sang
about this morning, He put things inside of you.
He put things in your hands. He put things in my hands and it
doesn't matter if we think we're the 10 talent, 5 talent and one
person man, they were all required to do.
Something with it. And maybe it's a warning that it
can be easy for the people who don't think they have much to
offer. To bury it.
He doesn't say that about the 10 talent person, although it could
happen for sure. He specifically mentions the
person who didn't. Have a lot if you feel like
you're the person who has the one talent man he sell, he says
to the others, he says good and faithful servant enter into the
joys of your Lord. But to the one who buried the
talent he says you wicked and lazy servant, he calls him
wicked. He doesn't call him a passive,
he calls him wicked. Please do not underestimate what
God has has offered you as an individual.
He says, for to everyone who has, more will be given, and he
and he who he will have abundance, but from him who does
not have even what he has will be taken away and cast the
unprofitable servant into outer darkness.
There will be weeping, gnashing of teeth.
The words from Peter he says as good stewards of the manifold
grace and gifts of God, may we serve one another.
Jesus teaches pretty harshly on this matter that if we don't use
whatever little thing we have. This is a condemnation, so if
maybe you're afraid of using your gift, like I'm going to be
made fun. Of or I.
Like I don't have much to offer. Maybe this is a worse fear.
I don't know. That that seems worse to me, to
be afraid of Jesus final condemnation then whatever fears
might keep us from doing something.
I'm not implying that anybody here is doing nothing.
That's not what I'm saying. I'm just challenging any of
those thoughts in our mind that might think.
That I have nothing to bring. Now how do you do this?
How do you be the person who's a good steward?
When do you do this? How do I know that I'm not the
the unfaithful servant that he's going to cast an outer darkness?
Here's what he says actually, a couple verses later, This is
really interesting. He says he will set the sheep,
which is the good on the right hand, but the goats, the evil on
the left. Then the King will say to those
on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, and
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you, for the from the foundation
of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me
food. I was thirsty.
And you gave me a drink. He was just talking about being
a good steward and now he makes it as simple as seeing a need
and filling it. I was hungry, you fed me.
And now he goes after that to say.
He goes on to say the people said, when did we do this for
you? I never saw you, Jesus.
And they and Jesus says as much as you did it to one of the
least of these my brethren, you did it to me.
So it's serving people, serving needs.
You don't have to come up with some grand program in this grand
charity event. You don't have to cramp.
I'm not saying. That's what you need to do to do
something good. It says see a need, fill the
need. I was thirsty, you gave me a
drink. See need fill need.
Where? First in the family, our first
responsibility and our most direct responsibilities to our
own families, including people who are your extended unit,
right? So we have the people who are
maybe our siblings or our children, but our parents and
maybe even our uncles, cousins, they're part of the unit that we
are responsible to care for when they need it the most, when
they're in lacking, when they're lacking it.
So our family is the 1st place we need to see needs and fill
needs. Secondly, in the church.
There are so many scriptures written that say do this for the
brethren. Do this for the brethren.
God gives the most direct instruction and toward good
works toward first your brethren in in church.
That is our first line of responsibility.
Now that doesn't excuse the our efforts to the world.
That doesn't alleviate our responsibility.
Remember the parable The Good Samaritan?
That was supposed to be somebody that was outside of the Jewish
need for for for goodness. That was outside of their own
length. That is not their
responsibility. Jesus says.
You sure? You sure that person's not
somebody you could have helped out.
So we do have responsibility to these three groups, but let's
start with our families in the church before we neglect needful
responsibilities there. So we have to see need, fill
need where in the family church, in the world by being present
enough to see the need. First of all, to be able to fill
needs, we have to be present enough.
We need to be involved enough to even see the need in the first
place. Secondly, we need to be present
enough to be seen as a viable person to fill a need.
Some people might say, hey, nobody's asked me for anything.
I don't know, do I try? I mean, nobody's asked.
I would do if they ask. But are you there to where they
even see you as an option? Are we here in a way that people
see us as an option? Because no one's going to ask
people they don't think want to help.
Nobody wants rejection. May we be present enough in all
the ways we can manage ourselves to show people we are available
so that when times come up they don't just ask the same two
people in the congregation for every little thing, but that we
would all be a resource to everyone in this building to
where they will know there's more than just one or two.
And I'm not saying there is one or two.
I'm just saying we all carry this responsibility.
Dare and pray for the work of the church.
We as the church are the work. We are the workers, individually
as the body. It's not.
Just leaders responsibility to take care of these needs.
We are the church, we're the hands and the feet of Jesus.
May we be present enough. So we said as each one has
received a gift, minister to one another, serve one another as
good stewards of the manifold manifolds means variegated or
very coloured. We have a lot of different
skills here. We have a lot of different
backgrounds here. We have a lot of different
things that are from the grace of God to be used for others.
So how do we not waste God's gifts?
We need to know, we need to see, and we need to be.
We need to know that we are supplied with God's ability and
be aware and use our gifts as if it's not ours.
It's God alone who provides. We need to see.
We have to need to have our eyes open to needs.
We need to be present to be used.
Now verse 11, if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of
God. So we're, I think #5 right now
of things we need to do in light of the fact that the end is
near. If you're going to speak if.
You're going to open your mouth. Let it be God's words.
That's what he says, the oracles of God.
It's kind of a, it's kind of a, an epic line to describe the
Oracle of God. It's the word of God.
You get to speak that. Did you know that you, your
words should be no less valuable than the apostles who wrote
these ones? Why?
Because he just said open your mouth to speak God's word.
Isn't that what the apostles did?
The word apostle means one sent from God.
Now those are capital A apostles, because it was a
title. Given by God, but.
We are maybe lowercase A apostles.
We are sent from God to do what? To speak his words to the world.
Did Paul get to talk to my neighbor?
So my words need to get to my neighbor because Paul didn't
talk to them. So it's my responsibility to the
people who are here with me now to talk to them about the
oracles of God, to speak to them.
God's words now, just because I wasn't the first one to say it,
it's less valuable. Paul was the first one.
No, he wasn't. God said it first.
Holy men were inspired by the will of God.
God spoke it first. They just relate it to man.
And as an extension, we have a chance to speak the words of
God, no less important than the apostles themselves, to a
generation that needs it. Just because we're not the first
one who said it doesn't make it any less powerful or any less
needed. If anyone ministers the
second-half of this verse, which is serves.
If anyone serves, let him do it, as with the ability with which
God supplies. That in all things God may be
glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the
dominion, forever and ever. Amen.
We need to keep in mind these are gods, God supplying these
things so that we, when we do the things, don't get the glory,
so that we don't ask for the glory, expect the glory, draw
the glory towards us. But that God himself will be
glorified through Jesus Christ. Verse 12 Beloved, this is the
SV. I think it words a little bit
more clearly here, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery
trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something
strange were happening to you. We've talked about that a lot in
this letter. So I'm not going to belabor
this. But he's saying it's it's going
to happen for them. It was the destruction of
Jerusalem, but don't be surprised when we get fiery
trials. It's not it's not something
strange, it's expected, but rejoice.
Verse 13 in so far as or as much as you share in Christ's
sufferings, Christ's sufferings are up here, but was in so much
as you suffer, rejoice. Be happy about that.
Take joy in that, that when you also rejoice that you may also
rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.
That is the build up. Suffering is the build up so
that when he comes there is more rejoicing.
That is the lead up. That's the preparation.
So to live like there's no tomorrow.
These are what he says, Pray, love, be hospitable, serve with
God gifts, speak God's words and rejoice.
Especially when you have a chance to suffer for Jesus.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed
because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
You miserable dust of a man. Even you, God's Spirit and His
glory gets to rest and land upon a child of the dust.
God pulled us out of the dirt and we're going back to the
dirt. But for a brief time, the glory
of God himself can rest on a poor, hopeless soul.
What a beautiful from dust to glory to carry the the glory of
God for just a while. It's through suffering.
It's not from feeling good. It's not from a feeling that
enters your heart and just makes you like so happy that you're
having a good day. It's from suffering.
Now we can have joy in suffering.
So I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the good
feeling, but but that's what he's talking about here verse
15. But let none of you suffer as a
murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.
He's going to say that's a waste of time.
It's a waste of your suffering. Suffer for something good like
the glory of God, not for your own mistakes.
He says don't suffer as a meddler.
Somebody who's in other people's business, People who are all up
in people's other people's business cause suffering for
themselves. They cause toxicity for
relationships. They cause hardship for
everyone. Don't suffer like that.
He says suffer for the good stuff.
Verse 16 if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be
ashamed. Don't let people make you put
your head down and shame when they're when they're ridiculing
you. Glorify.
God in that. For it is time.
For judgement to begin at the household of God.
And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome of those who
did not obey the gospel of God? Now, I believe this is referring
to the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jude, the Judaic nation is
going to be judged and God is going to come down on them part
Why? Well, they crucified the Son of
God and there's judgment that comes with that.
And he says US. Why?
Well, Peter came from a Jewish Home.
He was a Jew. So the judgment is beginning
with the Jews. And he says, what will become of
those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Verse 18. And if it and if it is with
difficulty, this is the NASB like it says it more clearly.
And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved,
what will become of the godless man and the Sinner?
Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust
their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
When things are going well, we trust the source of our
prosperity. We trust the relationship that's
bringing us all the good stuff. We trust the money that's buying
us all the fun stuff. We trust the circumstances that
you're so good right now. We trust that stuff.
But when we suffer, we trust the source of hope for something
better. When we suffer, we are forced to
look beyond things that are temporary.
And that's when we start to trust our souls to a faithful
Creator. Going on to chapter 5, many of
the things we've already studied are covered, and we're going to
kind of move quickly through this if you're worried about
time. So I exhort the elders among
you, who are the elders? He's going to mention in a
minute, They're the shepherds, they are the pastors, they're
the God, or they're the elect, the ordained leaders of the
congregation. So I exhort the elders among you
as a fellow elder. Peter is an elder and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker of the glory
that is going to be revealed, he says.
So I exhort the leaders as someone who is to shepherd the
flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under
compulsion, not because you have to, but willingly as God would
have you. Not for shameful gain, not so
that you can get the glory and be the top dog, but eagerly to
serve. Eagerly.
Remember what Jesus told Peter. Jesus told Peter in John 21.
Feed my sheep, he says. Peter, do you love me?
Tend my sheep, says Peter. Do you love me?
He's the third time, Piers, Yes. You know I love.
You, he says, feed my sheep. The leaders are told by Peter
now relaying this to us. He's saying leaders need to
lead. This is speaking specifically
about the elders, but that applies to every single leader
in any capacity. If you're the head of your home,
you're to shepherd your home. The flock of God is the church
and to do it eagerly with love, not domineering over those verse
3 in your charge, not wielding the power over them, but being
examples to them. The shepherd doesn't go and and
whip his sheep and and and yell at them.
The shepherd leads and the sheep follow.
That's the model of a, of a godly leader who leads by
example, first and foremost, verse 4.
And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the
unfading crown of glory. If you're a leader in whatever
capacity, but especially a leader in the church, there are
burdens that you carry, and many of life's joys can fade because
of burdens and things that weighed down.
But he gives you just this, this unifying picture.
The chief shepherd is coming. Who knows what it means to lead
and suffer? Who knows what it means to
endure? He says he's going to come back.
And when he shows up, when he appears, because he's already
there, but when he appears before you, you will receive the
unfading crown of glory. There are burdens with
leadership, but Jesus says I'm going to connect with you in
that as the other shepherds who are among the congregation.
Everything in this world fades. You know that many of you who
are older, you've seen that Terry's taught me a lot about
all the all the paints, the the products, the plastics, the
wood, everything fades by the sun.
You can't hide anything from fading.
It falls apart no matter what it is.
And as I tried to. Make it make a list.
In my head, is there anything that doesn't fade?
Well, there's there's gold and diamonds, which is kind of
referred to in this in this lesson already.
But I can't think of like anything that doesn't fade, that
doesn't need a refreshing or restoring.
It reminded me of first Corinthians says, oh, now these
abide faith, hope and love. And this is tied to the unfading
crown's glory. Verse 5.
Likewise, you who are younger be subject to the elders.
That is our responsibility for those of us who are younger to
to subject ourselves to them. Clothe yourselves, all of you,
with humility towards one another.
We've covered that extensively in this letter already about
having humility and humbling ourselves, but now he just says
it's a blanket statement. We should all be humble toward
one another. Leader or not, leader or being
LED, we all humble ourselves toward each other.
If you can think of any relationship in this
congregation where you are not humble towards someone in this
congregation, or if there's any relationship in your life when
you're not humble towards them because you think you have an
excuse. He says no, there's no
relationship, there's no dynamic where humility does not need to
be shown by every person, says 4.
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
I want God's grace. Why should I want God's grace?
Because God's grace, yes, forgives.
And maybe that's the first thing we think of.
Grace is for forgiveness. Yeah, but if God forgave me and
then left me where I'm at, I would never get any better.
Grace doesn't just forgive, Grace waits.
Grace accommodates. Grace finds a way to get me from
my stuck position to a better place through mentorship and
patience. God's grace doesn't just
forgive, it waits and it accommodates.
And grace teaches, grace teaches.
So I sure want the grace of God and I need humility to get that
grace. Verse 6 Humble yourselves,
therefore, not just to one another, but under the mighty
hand of God, so that the proper time he may exalt you so that
every day you're going to feel exalted.
No so at the. Proper time.
There's been a time that comes where he will lift you up.
He will exalt you when you humble yourself.
Jesus says the way up is down. To climb the ladder we have to
bow before God. Humble ourselves under the
mighty hand of God and He will lift us up.
Verse 7 casting all your care upon Him.
How do you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God?
Part of it is by laying down not only yourself, but all of your
cares. Now the translation says
anxiety, cares and anxieties are the same thing, but I like how
this translation keeps the cares together.
Cast your cares upon him, for he cares for you.
You are his cares. He wants your cares because you
are his cares. He wants you so bad that he
wants you to. Throw casting is throwing is
dropping it. He didn't say show God your
cares and then put them back in your pocket for you to carry.
He says throw them down on the ground, throw it down, cast it
down and drop it under the mighty hand of God, for he cares
for you. We may have to, as we humble
ourselves under the mighty hand of God, we may have to be told,
stay down. You've humbled yourself, now
stay down as you get disrespected by a Co worker.
You may have. God may have to tell you humble
yourself and stay down. I know you want to rise up and
defend yourself and and show pride.
That's the world. Once the world says pride is the
option. God says stay down as you wait
patiently through a trial of life.
Stay down as your health fails you.
Stay down. Stay humbled as you as you get
criticized. We have people who don't really
understand you. God says stay down and humble
yourself as you hand over a sin that you've kept close to your
heart for way too long. Humble yourself under His hand
and release that. Sin.
Humble yourself and stay down as you clear idols out of your home
that are keeping God from being #1 There's a tendency for us to
want to humble ourselves and then get right back up whenever
something crosses our plate that we don't want to be humble to.
God says at the proper time stay down.
You stay humble and at the proper time you get up.
No, God will. Lift you up.
We don't lift ourselves up. That's not our job, the Bible
says he exalts himself. We'll be humbled if we think
it's our time now to stand up and and stake our claim.
No, that's not our place. Verse 8 be sober.
I'm almost done. Be sober, be vigilant, watchful.
The Bible says because your adversary, the devil, walks
about like a roaring lion, seeking.
Whom he may. Devour Do you know when lions
roar? Most of the time, not during the
day and not a lot during the night.
They roar at dusk, in the morning or in the evening.
At dusk and at dawn when the sun's coming up, that's when
animals feed. Lions roar when they're either
about to feed or they just got done feeding.
The devil has fed on people this week.
Maybe you picture the blood dripping from a lion's mouth
because the devil has won this week.
He's won a lot. He has just made a kill and
that's why he's roaring, but he's also roaring because he's
looking for another one. It's feeding time.
We're in the age of feeding time for the devil, but this age is
not going to be forever. The Day Will Dawn and The
Morning Star. Will come back.
If you don't have any care to cast on the Lord, do you have
cares now? Do you have cares now, knowing
that the devil is trying to get you And if you don't see any way
if you're not right now watchful and vigilant, aware of how the
devil may be getting close to you and you might be watching
his path into. Your camp, into your village.
Maybe he's standing behind you, ready to pounce.
And when you don't see how it could possibly matter now, if
the devil's whatever, that's when he's got you dead to
rights. Be vigilant, the Bible says.
Resist him verse 9 firm in your faith, knowing that the same
kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood
throughout the world. This is the ESV James floor
verse 7 says resist him and he will flee from you.
You think you're powerless to this scary line.
No, you're not. You stand firm in the faith.
You resist him. You'll be fine.
Does firm in the faith mean I carry the extremes of emotion
where I'm up and up one week down another and not say how my
faith is? No, he says.
Be. Firm.
You hold on, you be firm, you stand your ground because your
spiritual life depends on it. Are you strong enough?
No, stay under the mighty hand of God.
He through resisting through His will will lead you through and
find community through Christ's sufferings.
We do not know. I'm convinced we do not know
everybody that's out there that is faithfully serving God.
We may think we have a directory.
We don't know everybody. That's out there who is
faithfully serving God. They're throughout the world,
they're throughout the world, and if you don't see those
people, all you see is the wrong.
Just know God says there are people out there suffering for
what's right and I need to take community in the people even
though I can't. See.
I need to take encouragement knowing that there are people
out there doing this. Verse 10 and after you have
suffered a little while, 100 years, 80 years, 70 years.
Just a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to
his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect.
Some translations say restore, establish, strengthen, and
settle you. This is one of my favorite
verses. He's going to perfect.
That means to complete you. He's going to make you more
complete and more fully developed and mature than you
are right now. He will develop you.
The word restore kind of takes like, you know, taking like
Terry just took an old car and he restored it from this broken
and disheveled position and he made it new.
God will make you new. He will establish you.
He will take you from somebody who's wishy washy and flaky and
doesn't come through for people and doesn't fulfill your
responsibilities, take you from somebody who's worthless and
establish you in a stable, strong position in your family
and in the Lord's work. God will do that.
Don't think you're good enough to do that on your own.
You're not. I'm not.
God will himself establish you and strengthen you.
So you may say, OK, I'm in that role, but I'm pretty weak in
this role. God will strengthen you for that
work, and He will. Also settle you.
At times I felt decent on some of these other areas, but at
times I felt really unsettled for I can zoom in.
At times I felt really unsettled.
In my faith. But I can tell you by the grace
of God, I feel. So much more settled today than
I ever have. That's by the grace of God.
And He will do that for each and every one of us after you've
suffered a little while. To him be the Dominion forever
and ever. Amen by Sylvanus.
So he's now closing this letter. That is the closing powerful
statement, and we'll just read the closing real quick by
Sylvanus, our faithful brother for so I regard him.
I have written to you briefly. So that was 5 chapters.
That was a brief writing. Exhorting and testifying that
this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
You hold on, you stand your ground.
This is the NASB that says it that way.
She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you.
And my son Mark does also greet one another with a kiss of love,
Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus.
Amen. Greet one another with a kiss of
love, peace to all of you who are in Christ.
And that closes the letter first.
Peter, what a what an inspiring, challenging, humbling, honoring
letter we just got to read and may we live these things and may
you help me see what that looks like in daily life because I
have a lot to learn. And I believe that for every
single person in this room, better is ahead of us and what
can be by the grace of God. And today, if you haven't
started this walk, the Bible says that faith comes by hearing
and and hearing by the word of God.
So we need to hear God's word to believe it to, to understand
what God has provided for us and is is teaching us.
And we need to repent of our past life.
Luke 13 and three. We need to confess that.
Jesus. Christ is the Son of God.
There's no salvation by anybody else out there except for the
door of the gate. That's Jesus Christ and we can
be baptized as we read already in this letter in first Peter 3
where he said that the like figure unto worth baptism does
not also doth now does not also save us.
We're baptized to be saved and washed and cleaned and then from
there we're going to live faithfully.
That's the call to the Christian revelation.
Chapter 2, verse 10 says he is faithful unto death.
I will give a crown of life. That's our charge, that's our
challenge, that's our work. And today, if you haven't
started that process, if you would like to be baptized for
the remission of your sins, we could do that today.
Or if you need to get something right, you need to pray for
forgiveness. Or you need to.
Have prayers for for whatever. It might be we're here to
support and strengthen one another while we stand and while
we sing this song.