He Himself Will Strengthen

1 Peter 5:7–11 “7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

God of all Grace

Grace in OT

Grace: Not simply a static attribute of God but describes his action. Grace is God’s nature in action. It is his activity of confronting human rebellion with an inexhaustible capacity to forgive and bless. God is gracious in action.

It is his disposition to exercise goodwill toward his creation.

This favorable disposition is revealed in his face. A common phrase in the OT was hope to “Find grace, favor in the sight of someone” refers to the positive response of the one granting favor/grace that is revealed in the bright, happy countenance of the one granting favor.

Numbers 6:25 “the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;”

Psalm 25:16 “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.”

Asks God to turn his bright happy face toward the person praying, a gesture which indicates that God is favorably disposed toward the petitioner.

The opposite, God’s wrath, would be shown in God hiding his face. (Psalm 27:9 “9 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior.”)

Personal God who has revealed Himself truly

Knowledge of God - Eythyphro Dilemma (God neither invents nor transmits morality. He reveals virtue based on his eternal character)

Exodus 34:6–8 “6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” 8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.”

Grace is:

an action rather than simply an attitude or a psychological state, and the action involved is usually one of deliverance or protection.

Grace is an action requested or expected of someone who is situationally or circumstantially superior to another who lacks power or resources to perform the desired action

Grace is ‘extralegal’ meaning it cannot be coerced, the situationally superior party cannot be compelled to act and remains free not to perform the needed act.

Grace is an act which fulfills an essential need that the person in need cannot meet, and for which there is no alternative source of assistance.

Grace in NT

Embodied in Jesus

We see the fullness of God’s grace embodied in the person of Jesus Christ who demonstrates visibly the dynamic nature of God’s grace and fulfills in his ministry or redemption the old covenant promises relative to God’s gracious dealings with humanity.

John 1:14 “14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Demonstrates the love of God by giving

The concept of grace in NT especially with Paul, is the love of God demonstrated by giving; in the gospel, grace is unmerited divine favor, arising in the mind of God and bestowed on his people. It is a term of unusual generosity.

Romans 8:32 “32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

Paul also includes a couple of other words in regard to the concept of grace in Ephesians 2:4–5 “4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Enables Believers

God’s grace manifested in Jesus Christ as a man, makes it possible for God to cause believers to reflect his grace in their character and relationships. Which is much of what Peter has been exhorting us to do in all of our social relationships.

In other words, we receive his grace, we receive his forgiveness and we freely give.

Matthew 10:8 “8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”

Against Merit

Believing you must work for the blessings of God and earn his favor is to be blinded to the message of the gospel.

A merit based system wants to earn and deserve things.

“Because of what I have done, God must bless me. Or because of what I have done, I don’t deserve God’s best.”

Merit will produce guilt. Resulting in my fleshly and inappropriate and insufficient attempts to make up for what I have done. This makes self the center of your life and falls short of God’s grace. It takes the attention off of the gospel, off of the grace and mercy of Jesus and robs you of true transformation.

Reminder, the gospel (Good News) is not news about you, It is Good News for you but it’s full attention is on the work of the Holy Trinity and their love, grace, mercy, and justice.

Paul’s theology of grace and mercy is summed up nicely here in Titus:

Titus 3:4–7 “4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

In summary: God’s love and kindness are closer to what we might call His divine “attributes” while “mercy and grace” are the outworking of these attributes as he interacts with his created world.

Accompanying Expectations

The God of all grace is desires humility to give more grace and invites you to cast your care upon him.

God is caring, compassionate, gracious, abounding in love and merciful.

It is not enough to believe that God can be merciful or showed mercy in the past, we must believe that God’s grace, compassion, and mercy is boundless, free and, through Jesus Christ our Lord, available to us now in our present situation.

Micah 7:18 “18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”

Ezekiel 18:23 “23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?”

Psalm 86:15 “15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”

Mercy: deals with misery and its relief. Mercy is not merely his pardon of offenders but his attitude toward man and disposition to his creation. Mercy is both feeling and compassion (literally “from the bowels”) in action. Grace can be considered his love in action.

Jesus was moved with compassion and healed the sick.

Mark 10 (Blind Bartimaeus)

Jesus busy - Despite the shadow of the cross looming ever larger across his path, he can still hear the cries of others in distress

Bartimaeus insignificant

Proximity to Jesus - began to yell

He had a high regard for Jesus, though he didn’t have natural sight, he had eyes that could see what few others had. (Son of David - only time it is used in Mark)

Jesus may not be here physically, but He can hear me.

He was bothering everyone. The only one he wasn’t bothering was God.

The cloak would have been placed before him to collect alms by day and would have been his source of warmth by night.

Practically Speaking

God’s grace is given in expectation of a response.

No one in the ancient world would have expected a gift to be given without thought of subsequent human response. Faith / Thanks

Church Father Ambrose of Milan said, “Not duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.”

“In the New Testament religion is grace, and ethics is gratitude.”

Gratitude is the hallmark of the disciple and as Chesterton said, “It is the mother of all virtues”

So we cast our care on him

Humble ourselves, declare war on pride

We live with expectation.

The Blind man answered the call of Jesus with expectation. He knew his life would never the be the same.

1 Peter’s results of grace:

His grace towards us will do these 4 things.

Restore (complete)

To put in order, to make right. Putting right what was wrong, as a surgeon resets a broken bone. Completing by providing what was lacking. Also preparing or creating - giving initial order and shape.

Make you strong (establish us)

2 Thessalonians 3:3 “3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.”

Peter was transformed from one who denied the Lord to one who would strengthen his brothers.

It is never too late because He is the God of all grace. It is the Lord who establishes us.

Firm

(Strengthen you) - this is the only place in the bible that this verb is used. It is used in the LXX in noun form as the strength of the lion. The risen Christ removes our fear of Satan, the roaring lion.

Steadfast (Place us on a firm foundation)

God founded and established the earth, Peter used the same word to describe God’s ‘founding’ his people. Paul in Colossians says ‘established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.’ (Col 1:23)

How are we established? by the grace of God in God’s love.

Hebrews 13:9 “9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.”

Overwhelmed by the promise of God’s great triumphant grace, the apostle Peter can only worship.

Our assurance is from the power of God, the right hand of his grace that raised Christ from the dead, is our hope and assurance. This is not a wish that God’s power may endure but rather he is rejoicing in it. The power to accomplish the wonder of his will is forever his.