Sober Mind
Notes
Transcript
Next week is Pentecost, but I am going to jump a bit ahead today and draw our attention to part of the passage out of the book of Acts that describes what occurred on the day that the Church was born.
For those who are familiar with the story, you know that in Acts 2, Jesus’ disciples, following his instruction to go to Jerusalem and wait for the “promise of the Father”, were gathered together in a house when suddenly they experienced the presence and power of God in a new way. The Bible tells us
Acts 2:2–3 (ESV)
...there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
They were baptized in the Holy Spirit and one of the signs that accompanied this event was the sudden ability to speak in other languages. They begin praising God and talking about the mighty works God has done throughout Israel’s history. Pick any psalm of praise out of the Bible and you get a sense of what they were singing - for instance Psalm 145:1-8
I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Now imagine walking by this house and hearing this being sung out in a dozen different languages all at once. It drew the attention of the crowds.
You see, this was happening during a very busy and crowded time in Jerusalem. It was the “Festival of Shauvot” which commemorates Moses receiving the law from God on Mount Sinai. If you were a Jew living anywhere in the Roman Empire, and if what possible for you, this was the place to be - in fact, you would have been expected to be there. Scripture tells us they came from all over - using today’s list of nations - they came from Greece, Turkey, Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Bahrain.
Now imagine walking the crowded streets of Jerusalem, shoulder to shoulder with other pilgrims, and suddenly hearing God being praised in your own tongue by a bunch of local Jews - all of which are speaking a different language - you would be perplexed to say the least.
Upon encountering this, we are told that everyone was amazed and confused and were wondering what it all meant.
But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Now pay attention - this is why I am sharing this story a week early.
Some in the crowd thought that the disciples were intoxicated. That they were no longer in full control of their faculties. That what they were so inebriated and excited they could not think clearly.
Peter responds to the crowd - and I will paraphrase, but he says “not so my brothers - it is way too early in the day for that to be happening. Take heed to my words, we are stone cold sober and, in fact, it is you whose thinking is muddled.”
Filled with the Spirit of God, Peter knew exactly what was going on. I would argue his mind was clearer in that moment than any other time in his life. He saw not just with his physical eyes, but also with his spiritual eyes. He understood what was going on.
So he speaks to the crowd and quotes from the prophet Joel,
“ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
He goes on to give a rousing sermon - sharing about Jesus’ death and resurrection and how to receive forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
The crowd who had come to Jerusalem to worship God had been walking around in darkness - their minds unclear, their understanding of the times murky, their lives bound up in sin. Peter, on the other hand, can see. His mind is clear, he understands the times, and he has been freed from the power of sin. So Peter can speak truth into the moment. Peter can stand firm in his faith because the Spirit of God resides in him.
Now let’s jump over to our last look at his letter, 1 Peter. As stated last week, and summed up nicely in the first half of our reading this morning - Peter is writing to new Christians who are experiencing suffering and hostility due to their faith in Jesus. In this letter, he is providing them strength through clarity. Don’t be surprised when you face trials, God is testing your faith. Rejoice that you have been found worthy enough to face the same things that Christ himself faced. You may suffer for awhile, but one day you will rejoice when Christ returns.
Throughout this whole letter, Peter has labored to instill in the suffering Christian the unwavering determination to keep their eyes on Christ. Trust him in all things. Remain loyal to Him. He loves you, he has been through what you are going through and he will get you through it as well.
We hear it in 1 Peter 5:6-7
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.
Peter Davids in his commentary on this passage says,
“When pressures come on the Christian the proper response is not anxiety, for that comes out of a belief that one must take care of oneself and a lack of trust in God. It is rather a trusting commitment to God in the assurance that God indeed cares and that his caring does not lack the power or the will to do the very best for his own.” NICNT, The First Epistle of Peter, by Peter Davids
I’ll pause here and ask you, are you anxious about anything? Is your response to whatever you are anxious about causing you to run around and try to fix it, or to incessantly worry about it, are you losing sleep over it? If so, I encourage you to take it to God in prayer and trust that he will work it out for good - leave it in his hands.
I dare say that we all struggle with this. I also believe when we begin to trust God with things that are out of our control, and we are patient, we in time see that He can be trusted to get us through.
Now God is not the only one interested in our response to trials. Whereas God is interested only in that which is good for those who belong to Him, there is also one who is interested in using suffering to draw us away from God.
Again, Peter Davids writes “the reason there is persecution and struggles is that there is a devil who wants to destroy those who are committed to God.”
Therefore Peter warns us:
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Be sober-minded, not confused, but possessing a clearheadedness, realizing that you are engaged in spiritual warfare.
There is a spiritual enemy at work in your life and it is fully to his advantage to take you out of the game. Satan can’t stand it when we are living out our faith well and leading others to Jesus. Living a holy life, a life pleasing to God, weakens the falsehoods that so many people buy into today. He has convinced the crowds to chase after false idols, to measure their worth by their possessions and status, to rely on their own strength and power - and in doing so, reason that there is no need for God.
Yet God’s Creation is not set up to function that way. And when the crowds are presented with the truth - and see the power of God at work in his children - then the enemy loses ground.
So how does the enemy try to take you out of the game?
Peter says he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” This is imagery tied back to the Old Testament.
In Psalm 22:12-13, a Messianic passage describing the suffering God’s servant would face:
Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
And in Job 1:6-7, we hear of Satan prowling around...
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
The Bible gives us this description of Satan prowling around the earth, like a lion who has no time to sleep but is on the hunt, looking for someone to swallow whole. And like a lion stalking prey, he is looking for some weakness that he can exploit - some advantage he can use to his favor - to neutralize your witness. He cannot force his way upon one of God’s own, but we can give him an opening.
He is cunning and efficient. He observes, he probes, he identifies your weakness and then he capitalizes on it. He knows how to tempt you - we all have different triggers but none are unique to humanity.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Satan tempts. God at times permits it to happen to test your faith but God also provides a way out. This is the battle we face - and we must be sober-minded to recognize it and stand firm.
Maybe your trial will come through a common temptation of the flesh. Desire for wealth, or power, or maybe it is sexual sin. Maybe it is a desire to escape reality or experience a high through alcohol or illicit drugs. The enemy knows our weaknesses.
Maybe he will send hardship your way - he will use the weaknesses of others to direct hostility and persecution toward you. Wear you down, try to force you to give up.
Paul warns of this in Ephesians 6:11-12
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
How are Christians to withstand such tactics?
Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 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.
Notice Peter does not say, “you can avoid the enemy’s attack by simply following this 3 step program.”
The way I read this - he is telling us, you will be attacked, and you will suffer for awhile, stand firm. You are not alone - your brothers and sisters in the faith are suffering the same things all around the world.
Resist the devil.
This is the same instruction we find in James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Stay firmly committed to Christ - trust Him to protect you and see you through.
If our faith is firm, then we know the power of God’s Word and we can follow Jesus’ example when Satan tempted him in the wilderness found in Matt 4. I’m not going to read it, but Jesus drew on the Word of God. So stay in God’s Word, study, absorb, may God’s Word be richly embedded in your heart - so when the time comes, you can draw strength from it.
It will not always be this way. No one enjoys suffering, but there is an end game. There is light at the end of the tunnel. One day, Christ will return and the enemy will be bound up and bis reign of terror will come to an end.
In fact, when we stand firm, when we proclaim God’s love to all people even while we are suffering, it will be our commitment to Christ that ends up conquering our enemy.
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
So be sober-minded. Understand the times in which we live. Know that the enemy is prowling and see things for how they really are. Stand firm. Amen.