You guys have all probably been in a situation where you kind of have to react quickly to a disaster that's about to happen.
So maybe something's falling over your head and you have a bodily instinct to immediately put your hands up to protect your head.
And those are good, but sometimes our bodily instincts are not good.
So for example, when you're falling from a building or you're about to get hit by a car, the human body often tenses up, become rigid.
And that actually makes, if your body's rigid and not relaxed, when you're hit, the impact actually is far more likely to damage your vital organs.
So you suffer more as a result.
And in a similar way, our spiritual instincts often lead us astray.
They mislead us as well.
And especially when it comes to suffering.
And Peter has been talking so far throughout these passages that we've been going through in 1 Peter,
that Christians should expect to suffer.
And that suffering comes upon us not because God's abandoned us, because we are God's people.
Because we belong to Him and not to this world, that it's normal and it's for us to experience suffering and persecution in this life.
But when we suffer, sometimes our instinct is not good.
Because when we are encountering hardship, often we'll try to seize control of it ourselves and take things into our own hands,
rather than letting God take control and submitting to Him and what He's trying to do, as this passage tells us to do.
And sometimes we would try to escape the pain and suffering that we're experiencing by numbing ourselves with distractions,
no matter what form that could take, instead of being alert and sober-minded and watchful, as this passage teaches us to.
And finally, in suffering, we can often think that we're suffering alone.
We have such an exaggerated or aggrandized view of our own suffering that we say,
no one else can understand, no one else knows what I'm going through, they can't relate.
So because of that, we isolate ourselves from community.
And all of these things are what we might be prone to do because of our sinful condition,
but they are not what this passage teaches us to do.
In short, if you look at 1 Peter 5, 5-11,
it tells us that we ought to keep the glory of Christ in view,
and that would enable us to endure suffering with humility and watchfulness.
Keeping the glory of Christ in view enables us to endure suffering with humility and watchfulness.
And first, I'm going to talk about the humility in suffering,
and then I'll talk about watchfulness in battle.
And then third, I'm going to talk about the glory in Christ that finally motivates us to be humble in suffering and watchful in battle.
So if you look with me at verse 6 and 7,
and keep your Bibles open, follow along with me because I'll be going back and forth throughout.
First, it says,
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God,
so that at the proper time He may exalt you,
casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.
So He had already told us in just the preceding verse in verse 5,
clothe yourselves with humility toward one another,
for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
And we talked last week in the sermon about how pride is the total anti-God state of mind
because it doesn't let God be sovereign.
Instead, He wants to be God Himself, the prideful person,
and therefore renders God irrelevant and unnecessary.
And in contrast, humility is the quintessential Christian virtue, right?
Because it encapsulates the idea of faith.
Because we're saying we are at an end of ourselves.
We can't save ourselves, but only God can save us.
And that's the humility that God calls us to.
But unfortunately, when we're facing suffering,
our tendency more often is to let pride rear its ugly head
rather than humbling ourselves in suffering.
And this is what I mean is that we will often replay the mistakes that we made
to get into this situation over and over again in our heads,
maybe thinking that perhaps by doing so we can somehow change the situation,
make it better.
Or we will go to the other direction and our minds would race
with all the possible worst-case scenarios
and try to come up with contingency plans
and get anxious and worked up and edgy as a result.
And we lose sleep.
But you might be asking then, how is that a sign of pride, right?
Because that kind of looks like weakness.
That looks like that person's helpless, not prideful.
But that's where this passage is so insightful.
I think it's very counterintuitive,
but it teaches us something that's very insightful into the human condition.
And namely, what it teaches us is that anxiety is not an admission of weakness
when you become anxious.
It's a boasting in your strength when you become anxious.
That anxiety is not a sign of humility, but a sign of pride.
How so?
How is anxiety a sign of pride?
Because in any given moment, the sense of control that we have is an illusion.
Because your vital organs can suddenly fail, right?
At this very moment, you could get bit by a mosquito
that's been infected with the Zika virus, right?
And at this very moment, your loved one can get into a car accident somewhere.
At this very moment, or later, as you're going home,
you're getting on the subway, a terrorist can detonate a bomb
and you could die in the midst of a crowd of people.
In fact, Acts 17, 28 teaches us that in God we live and move and have our being.
In other words, everything that we do now,
we're walking around breathing and moving and thinking.
Everything that we do, we don't have ultimate control over it, right?
We are able to do those things because God sustains us and God enables us.
We don't have ultimate control over anything that happens in our lives.
And at any given moment, a million things can get out of control, right?
So when this is the case, even that idea of losing control is an illusion
because we never had control to begin with.
So how can we lose control over a situation, over our lives?
And so it's exceedingly prideful than when we think
and presume that we have both the ability and the power
to control our lives and the situations around us.
And that's why we become anxious,
is that we want to take control of things.
We want to make sure everything's going okay.
And we think that we have the power and the ability
to make sure that that happens.
That's why it's prideful, he's saying.
And this is why the first exhortation here in verse 6,
humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God,
is modified by the phrase in verse 7,
casting all your anxieties on Him.
It's only those who have humbled themselves before God
and have acknowledged that it is only God
who ultimately has control over all things
that can really cast all anxieties on Him.
Because if you do not humble yourself like that,
then you will be wrecked with anxiety.
And sometimes we might mistakenly think
that it's people who are pridefully confident in themselves
who have things under control.
But it's really, if you look below the surface
and when push comes to shove,
the most prideful people are really the most insecure people.
And when things are not going as they planned or as they wish,
that they become more irritable and edgy and sensitive and defensive
than people who have humbled themselves before God.
That those people have the rock solid foundation to be stable
even when the storms of life come upon them.
And then Peter,
so Peter tells us to be humble,
to humble ourselves,
and then he concludes his exhortation
by giving us the reason
why we ought to humble ourselves
and cast all our anxieties on God.
And that's at the end of verse 7.
He says,
Because He cares for you.
If God were just an all-powerful God,
a being,
then He could do anything that He wanted to do,
but He could also just be a really powerful tyrant, right?
That revels in messing with our lives
and making our lives miserable, right?
But that's why it's not enough that God is simply powerful,
but that this powerful God also cares for us, right?
As the Bible consistently tells us,
this all-powerful, sovereign God is not just powerful,
but that He's also good, right?
And He loves us and He cares for us.
And that's what this passage reminds us of.
This mighty God,
the God with the mighty hand,
He cares for us.
And it's when we get those two things together,
the might of God and the care of God,
that we can live freely and fearlessly in this life.
And to illustrate that,
the person that's the most brutally honest in my life
is my wife, right?
So when it comes to how the ministry is going,
how my sermon was,
or how my character, my parenting,
or my function and role as a husband, right?
So she could tell me things
that no one else would dare tell me, right?
And that's because,
and she also has my ear more than anybody else.
And that's not just because
she knows me better than everybody else,
which she does,
but also, even more importantly,
because she loves me more than anybody else, right?
Because I know she cares for me, right?
And so I'm willing to put up with the harsh criticism
and the painful things that we have to deal with
because I know she cares for me, right?
In the same way,
when we understand that this all-powerful God,
almighty God who rules the universe,
really cares for us, right?
That he's not just strong and powerful,
but he cares for us,
and that really will relieve the sense of burden
and the fear and the anxiety that we have about life
and about the things that are happening to us.
So when you feel burdened, overwhelmed
with what's happening at work
or with the difficult relationship that you have,
remember that God cares for you in those situations.
Or if a tragedy hits
and then you're starting to wonder,
how can God let this happen to me?
Remember that God in that moment still cares for you.
And as Peter has been telling us,
even if you're mocked or unfairly treated
for your faith in Christ,
you're persecuted,
remember that God is not unaware
and he's not unconcerned about what is happening.
He cares for you.
And so he says,
verse 6-7,
Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God,
so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
casting all your anxieties on him
because he cares for you.
When suffering and persecution come,
and as they will for believers,
we have to humble ourselves
under the mighty hand of God.
That's Peter's first exhortation.
And his second exhortation follows
in verses 8 and 9.
It says,
Be sober-minded,
be watchful.
Your adversary, the devil,
prowls around like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour.
Resist him,
firm in your faith,
knowing that the same kinds of suffering
are being experienced by your brotherhood
throughout the world.
There's really three exhortations here.
So it's just be sober-minded,
be watchful,
and then resist the devil.
But all of those are really getting at the same idea.
And Peter,
if you've been here with us
throughout this series in 1 Peter,
you know that Peter likes to tell us
to be sober-minded.
This is, in fact,
his third time telling us
to be sober-minded.
Again, getting back to the idea
that a drunken man,
someone that is in a spiritual stupor,
he's not able to,
he's not prepared
and he's not ready
to respond to the trials that come in life.
You have to be sober-minded and watchful.
And the reason that Peter gives
is that your adversary,
the devil,
prowls around like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour.
And this is continuing that motif
of the sheep and the shepherd
that Peter was just using
in chapter,
earlier in chapter 5,
because he told us
that the church is the flock of God
and then the elders are called
to shepherd the people, right?
But when the lion is prowling
around the flock,
the shepherd and the sheep
are not sleeping, right?
I mean, they know danger is out there.
They're not sleeping.
They're alert.
They're vigilant.
That's the image here
of the church.
That's what Christians are called
to be watchful,
as if we are a flock of sheep
and there's a lion prowling around.
And the word that's used here
of the devil to describe him,
the adversary,
it's the language of court and battle.
So you could think of it
like the devil is prosecuting you,
accusing you,
trying to get us locked up in jail
for something.
Or you could imagine
the adversary,
him being in battle array,
trying to destroy us,
in battle against us.
This is our adversary,
our enemy.
And if you pay attention
to politics
or you listen to the radio
or things like that,
a lot of the doomsayers today
say that
the World War III
is not far in the horizon.
So they will warn us of that.
Now that may or may not be true,
but this I know is true,
and that's that already,
presently,
we are in a spiritual battle
of eternal significance
that far outweighs
and overshadows
any imaginable
nuclear World War III.
And that's what
the Bible teaches us.
It's that Satan
is a more potent
and pernicious enemy
than Nazism,
Communism,
or even militant Islam.
And yet,
and this battle,
this war is happening
not just in a distant country
somewhere that we find out
about on TV,
but it's happening
in our country.
It's happening in our city,
our neighborhood,
and even in our own minds
and hearts.
This battle is being waged
all around us.
And the casualties
of this war,
it's not just,
you know,
bodily limbs
or earthly lives,
but it's eternal
perdition in hell.
That's what the casualties
of this war are.
Yet,
so many of us
live as if
this is not the case.
We live as if
we're living in the peace times,
right?
Not war times.
And in war,
like if you look at history,
read in history books
or textbooks about
World War II,
World War I,
there's no room
for dilly-dallying
or, you know,
wasting time
and money,
right?
Because the whole
energy of the nation,
all the human resources,
economic resources
are concentrated
and expended
in order to win
this single war
because they know
that the luxuries
and the leisures
have their place
at another time
because if you don't
win this war,
you're going to have
no luxury
or no leisure,
right?
I mean,
it's time for war,
right?
And so in a similar way,
then if we lose
this spiritual war,
we lose everything,
right?
If we are lost
without Christ,
apart from Christ,
if the people
that God is calling us
to reach in mission,
if they're lost
apart from Christ,
they're lost forever.
They're lost in eternal perdition.
And as Mark 8.36 says,
what does it profit a man
to gain the whole world
and forfeit his soul?
Right?
Following Christ
is not a hobby
that we devote
just a part of our
leisure time to,
but it's a life
or death warfare
because the adversary
that of all of us,
of all believers,
the devil is prowling
around like a roaring lion
seeking someone
to devour.
And that's what we're called
to resist him
firm in our faith.
So then we have
to ask ourselves,
you know,
in what ways
are we living as group
if we're living
in the peace times
and not in wartime,
right?
What are the things
that we indulge in
that intoxicate us
or numb us
and distract us
from the battle at hand,
right?
And that could be
a number of things.
It could be things
that seem as innocent
as, you know,
playing, you know,
Pokemon Go too much,
right?
Or it could be things
as seemingly innocent
as eating too much,
you know,
and becoming slothful
as a result,
gluttony, right?
Or it could be
something like,
you know,
binge watching
on weekends
on Netflix
as a way
to evacuate,
as a way
to escape
from the burdens
and the realities
of life,
right?
Or it could be
something that
seems seemingly
more serious
like addiction
to pornography
or drugs
or alcohol.
All of these things
from seemingly trivial
to the serious,
they can all
distract us
and take us away
from this wartime
mindset
so that we are not
sober-minded,
so that we're not
watchful.
And I'm not,
I don't know,
I don't say this
as a way to condemn
you as a church.
This is something
that I battle with
every day as well,
right?
And I repent of it
on a regular basis,
you know,
I don't know how many
times,
you know,
I lie in bed
and then I think of
what if I spent
those times
that I did this
and this
or I was surfing
too much online,
what if I pray
during that time
for the brother
that's struggling
with a certain sin,
maybe then that brother
would see more victory
in his life,
right?
Maybe
this,
the people
that are struggling
or suffering
around us
and if those people
that maybe I could
have been reaching
out to those people,
if I could have been
reading this book
instead of doing this,
then maybe my sermon
could be more compelling
and powerful
and that people could
and it could really
serve people,
right?
Those are all things
that I struggle
with as well.
but it's something,
but God's calling us
as our church
to be sober-minded
and watchful
because this is
a serious business.
We're in a wartime
and in this,
the culture
that Peter is writing
in especially,
Christians can be
persecuted
for a number of things
but because they
possess,
they claim
exclusive allegiance
to God,
in a polytheistic culture.
They were at the risk
of losing their status
in their family
but also in their society
at large
and of losing
their livelihood
and potentially
their life
and to these people,
Peter is telling them,
when you're suffering
this way,
when you're suffering
be mindful,
be sober-minded,
be watchful,
stay firm
in your faith
knowing that the same
kinds of suffering
are being experienced
by our brotherhood
throughout the world,
right?
And that's again
a huge source
of comfort as well
because if you have
gone through suffering,
if you've gone through
a particular tragedy
in your life,
you know that it could be
an isolating experience
because when you're suffering
you feel like
other people
just don't understand
because they haven't
gone through that
or they just don't know
what's going on
but this is hugely comforting
because he's telling us,
no,
we're not alone
when we suffer
as believers.
We're not alone
when we undergo suffering
for being Christians
because Christians
all throughout the world
he's saying
is undergoing
the same kind of suffering
and this is the reason
why when you're getting
counsel from someone
and someone who has
gone through the same experience
comes alongside
to help you
and to pray with you
it matters a lot more
it's more impactful
it's because you know
that that person understands
that person knows
and so in a similar way
this could be
a tremendous comfort
for us
knowing that we're
not alone in this
but the church
throughout the world
is experiencing
this kind of suffering.
So Peter exhorts us
to endure suffering
with humility
and watchfulness
humility and suffering
and watchfulness
in battle
and Peter finally offers us
the motivation
for this fight
how we can persevere
in this way
and he says
in verses 10 to 11
and after you have
suffered a little while
the God of all grace
who has called you
to his eternal glory
in Christ
will himself restore
confirm
strengthen
and establish you
to him be the dominion
forever and ever
amen
it's the glory in Christ
that Peter is ultimately
pointing us to
because if you
if we admit
you know
people never voluntarily
subject themselves
to suffering
right
they have to have
a reason for it
so the Olympics
have been going on
so if you look
at those athletes
you know
they did not
you know
subject their body
to so much pain
and daily rigor
and discipline
over the last four years
or eight years
for some people
just for the sake
of doing it
right
just because they
like the pain
or discipline
no they're not
doing that
they did that
they subjected
subjected themselves
to that suffering
that pain
and rigor
with the goal in mind
knowing that
they're going to win
the gold medal
that they're going
to break the world record
that they're going
to be remembered
for what they did
right
so they strove
that goal
in the same way
Christians
we don't suffer
in vain
we don't suffer
for the sake
of suffering
saying oh no
this is just
we're just going
to suffer
because we like
suffering
suffering is good
in and of itself
no rather
we suffer
knowing that
that points
to our future glory
knowing that
our alienation
in this world
is a sign
of our reconciliation
with God
it's because
we are with God
and belong to Him
that we don't belong
in this world
the fact that
when we're rejected
by this world
that's a sign
that we're accepted
by God
right
that we're
His elect
that He elected us
He chose us
that's why
we're able
to suffer
and endure
because of the glory
that we foresee
that is coming
in Christ
and the word
glory
Peter uses it
throughout his epistles
to refer to what
Christ has accomplished
and what awaits us
in the future life
to come
when Christ
comes to judge the world
and to redeem
all creation
and you hear
an echo of this
even earlier
in verse
verse 6
it says
humble yourselves
therefore under
the mighty hand
of God
now that's not
simply referring
to the fact
that God is mighty
but the mighty hand
of God
is a phrase
that occurs
repeatedly
in the context
of the Exodus
right
so if you look
read throughout Exodus
it will say
by the mighty hand
of God
God delivered
Israel from Egypt
mighty hand of God
God led Israel
through the wilderness
right
and so the mighty hand
of God
is a phrase
that hearkens
back to
people
to Israel's
history of redemption
the fact that
God one time
redeemed you
from slavery
and if you look
at the New Testament
New Testament
takes that metaphor
and then applies
it to Christ
and describes
the redemption
that Christ accomplished
as a second Exodus
right
so the first Exodus
God sent Moses
to deliver his people
from slavery
Egypt
in the second Exodus
God sends his own son
Jesus Christ
to deliver his people
from slavery
to sin
right
and Christ
pays the ransom
price
for sin
he dies
lays on his own life
so that we might be saved
so that we can partake
and bask in this
eternal glory
that belongs to Christ
that Christ won for us
and it's that glory
in Christ
that enables us
to be humble
in suffering
and watchful
in battle
right
because we know
because of what Christ
has done
that we will be vindicated
just as Christ suffered
and now he's in glory
we too
we suffer now
we'll be vindicated
and we'll be delivered
as it says
the God of all grace
says
has called us
to his eternal glory
in Christ
and he will himself
restore
confirm
strengthen
and establish
us
so
those all
those four words
it's kind of like
a crescendo of assurance
that God will one day
make all things right
he's going to restore
confirm
strengthen
and establish us
as a household of God
right
and
and compared to
this eternal glory
that we anticipate
the suffering
that we experience
is going to be
only for a little while
it says
right
the suffering
seems interminable
sometimes
but it says
it's just for
a little while
and compared to
the eternal glory
that we're going
to experience
if you
have
please don't mind
my daughter
it's the second time
this has happened
that if you have
not yet made up
your mind
about whether or not
to follow Christ
these promises
obviously are not
for you
that God will himself
restore
confirm
strengthen
and establish
because those promises
are for those
whom he has called
to his eternal glory
in Christ
so if you have not
repented
of sin
and if you have not
trusted in Christ
for salvation
then we invite you
to do that today
right
don't forfeit
the eternal glory
that you have
that you could have
in Christ
for the temporal glory
of this world
don't ignore
the spiritual warfare
that's going on
all around you
simply because
you don't see
the devil
right
it's kind of like
if you look at
the modern
modern warfare
the warfare
is not waged
any longer
it's simply
in the brick and mortar
spaces
but it's in
cyberspace now
right
in the same way
the fact that
we don't see it
doesn't mean
that it's not happening
right
spiritual battle
is waging
all around us
and it's even more
insidious
because we don't
see it
don't ignore it
you will ignore it
at your own peril
but if you are a Christian
then I want to join you
to remember the glory
that is in Christ
that is yours in Christ
that is ours in Christ
because that's what's
going to ultimately
enable us to persevere
through the suffering
and to be watchful
to remain watchful
in battle
and that we are
children of God
cared for and guided
by the mighty hand of God
that we are the soldiers
of God
that are supposed
to be part
of this battle
and to battle
against the adversary
who is out
to get us
and I love how
this passage closes
this is really
the main
the end of the body
before he goes
into the greeting
and to conclude
his letter
it says
to him
to God
be the dominion
forever
and ever
amen
because
Peter's writing
in the Roman Empire
and Christians
are facing persecution
and soon
you know
statewide persecution
under Nero
and in this
climate
it would surely
have seemed
to all the believers
that dominion
belongs to the Rome
dominion belongs
to the emperor
not to themselves
not to God
but yet
in this context
Peter writes
to God
be the dominion
forever and ever
amen
and he concludes
this letter
and then we see
2,000 years later
the Roman Empire
is just the page
in the history books
now
but the church
has endured
God's people
has endured
and the kingdom
of God
continues to advance
dominion does
belong to God
and God alone
so then when
it seems to us
that power
glory and dominion
is not ours
but it belongs
to the world
when it seems
that way
say it along
with Peter
and the believers
who have been saying
this over the centuries
to God
be the dominion
forever and ever
amen
and it will be so
in eternity
with that
let's respond
in prayer