A Tool Box for Tough Times

The Troubles

I sometimes listen to a podcast called “The Rest is History” where two historians explore various events throughout history.

Recently, they’ve just looked at a series on what is known as “The Troubles”. This is the conflict in Northern Ireland which is known for pitting the Catholics up against the Protestants.

Interestingly, while this is often pointed to as a religious conflict, the roots of this conflict are actually much more related to national rights and civil rights issues. It is true that there were key religious figures that were stoking the conflict with their religious rhetoric, but this was far more than the differences between Catholics and Protestants.

Anyway, as tensions boiled over into bloodshed, the Bristish Government started thinking about how they should get involved.

Now I’m no expert on British politics and the whole United Kingdom always gets me thoroughly confused as to which countries are in and out and who has control where. But I think this is all part of the problem.

Many in England thought they should just stay completely out of Northern Ireland and leave them up to their own devices.

But what do they do?

The trouble keeps escalating.

The Bristish had a lot of options. As mentioned, they could ignore it. They could try to go in with diplomacy. They could send the army in.

Now, if you want to hear how the British actually responded, I suggest listening to the podcast, but one particular noteworthy incident is what has come to be known as Bloody Sunday. 30th January 1972.

It started as a peaceful demonstration in Derry, albeit, the British had banned the march. But it wasn’t long before the British soldiers opened fire, killing 14 people. It was horrific.

Rather than bringing a stop to the whole thing, it just increased the tension.

Now, my intention this morning is not to debate political strategies in The Troubles, what I do want to do, is discuss our strategies when we face our own troubles.

Because, it’s very easy if we’re not careful, that in trying to deal with the troubles around us, rather than improving the situation, we can end up with our own bloody Sunday.

Our Troubles

What are our troubles? Well, they could be any number of things.

It could be conflicts we’re a part of - whether in your family, the church, workplace, or among your friends.

It could be some affliction you’re dealing with, be it a health problem or mental health illness or whatever - but it’s something that start affecting your whole life.

It could be that you’re being targetted by certain people. Maybe it’s your faith that’s the target. The targetted behaviour towards you feels too much to handle.

How do we deal with our troubles.

Do we ignore them and hope they go away?

Do we fight against them?

Do we allow them to get the better of us?

This is the question I want to explore as we come to the last chapter in 1 Peter.

The Early Church Troubles

But first, let’s briefly consider the troubles of the early church that Peter was writing to.

The Troubles of the early church might be very different to the troubles of Northern Ireland, but yet they probably felt just as obstinate.

The troubles of the early church were essentially that they were in a society that just didn’t really understand or accept them.

That’s why right back in the first chapter Peter referred to them as exiles.

For the most part, they weren’t exiles in the sense of being forced out of their own country to live in another. For many, they would have been living in the country that they were born in and grew up.

But they were exiles in the sense that as citizens of heaven, they were living in a hosile world.

This is going to cause troubles.

At times quite severe troubles. While at other times, just this ever present awareness that this difference exists between the Christian community you belong to and the world around you.

In some ways, the whole letter is Peter giving advice on how to live and get by in such tricky situations.

But as we get to the final chapter, in some ways, it can almost feel a bit like miscellaneous information that Peter wants to add, but I kind of think of it like a tool box in which someone going through troubles can use to put them in the right direction.

It’s a tool box, that if used well, will give you a much better chance of not turning your troubles into a full scale chaotic mess.

Elders

Well, the first thing in this tool box are elders.

God has placed people in his church that have been equipped to give you the spiritual guidance that you need.

But first, let’s explore what we actually mean by elders in this context.

Now it’s worth pointing out that the Greek word for elder can just mean older person, but in this context it’s talking about a recognised position of elder in the church.

This passage is actually a good one to see what the role of the elder is. The elder is to be a shepherd over God’s flock - that is, the church.

You might even notice that it sounds very similar to the role of Pastor.

Now, different churches and denominations will have slight differences on exactly how they understand what an elder is, and to be honest, I’m actually not that interested at this point in teasing out the nitty gritty of it all.

Here in this church, our constitution allows for a formal recongition of an elder, however, we don’t at this point in time have anyone in this role.

But even in a church like this one where there might not explicitly be a church appointed elder, that it is not to say that God hasn’t placed people in our church that can play a similar role.

You see, you will find godly mature men and women who can help you.

Use them!

Ask for their advice. Allow them to speak life-giving words over you.

Even if you don’t think their going to be able to give you advice, just be with them and watch them as they demonstrate how to live a godly life in the ups and downs of life.

Now, in these verses, Peter addresses both the elders and the younger people who receive help from the elders.

Now, as mentioned, Peter is talking specifically about the office of elder, but, even if you don’t have this explicit identification, don’t think you should just gloss over the first 4 verses as if they don’t apply. If you’re a mature believer, then start looking out for others as appropriate.

Allow the wisdom you’ve gained to be used by others. You might not consider the people around you as your flock, but yet, you do have a role in their lives.

Although, this being said, this isn’t an open invitation to impose yourself on others. In fact Peter explicitly says that in verse 3 when he says not to lord it over others.

As he says in verse 2, it needs to be done with an attitude that is eager to serve and not pursuing dishonest gain.

So there’s a call for the elder, but for the younger person, and by younger, we’re not necessarily just talking about age, but your spiritual maturity… the call is simple - submit.

We’re talking about an attitude here… one where you you recognise the maturity in the other.

God has placed us in the context of a Christian community, and has placed people in those communities to help us in our troubles.

How many of our troubles would have had a much smoother resolution if the less spiritually mature submitted to the more spiritually mature among us?

This is what I’m calling the first tool in our tool box.

Access to God’s Favour - humility

The second tool in our tool box is having access to God’s favour, and like any tool, you need to know how to use it - and in this case, it’s used by being humble.

In the second half of verse 5, Peter quotes Proverbs 3:34, saying: “God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble”.

Peter then goes on to say in verse 6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, uder God’s mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time”.

Here’s the thing, in the midst of your troubles, God doesn’t forget about you, and he will help you out of it, but this is not going to be because you are strong and capable… it’s not going to be because you have thought of some amazing strategy, rather it’s going to be because God wants to show you favour. It’s because he loves you.

This is so important for us to remember. It can be very easy to think that God has just forgotten us. But he hasn’t.

But knowing that it is not in our own strength, this is why we need to humble ourselves. The act of humility is the recognition that we need God.

It can be hard humbling ourselves. It can make us feel very vulnerable. In times of troubles, we don’t want to feel vulnerable. Humility feel counter productive.

Actually, thinking about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, on both sides of that conflict we saw people who felt they needed to take matters in their own hand. Unfortunately, we saw very little evidence of people humbling themselves.

And unfortunately, it happens in our own troubles as well.

So humble yourself, and finally allow yourself to see the favour of God coming on you.

Cast your anxiety

When we finally start to see the power of God, rather then humility leaving us feeling vulnerable, we actually start to learn that we can cast all of our anxieties on God.

This is the kid song that we’ve been singing lately.

It’s 1 Peter 5:7 - “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”.

I know this can be hard to do at times. If we feel anxious, it’s generally not as easy to just stop the feeling just by willing it gone.

Even for the believer, you’ve likely found that sometimes, even when you pray to God to take away the anxiety, those anixous thought still have a tendency to linger.

But that’s not to say there is no hope. We can actually start to ingrain within our thinking that knowledge that God does indeed care for us. We can start to believe that God does want to show us favour.

And we can start to cast off the anxieties.

So keep working at it. God has given you the tools you need to see his favour on your life.

Spiritual armour

The third tool that I want to point out relates to what we read about in verses 8 and 9.

We’re talking about the fact that the troubles before us, have a very distinct spiritual element to them, but we’ve been given the ability to stand against them.

Peter paints a very vivid picture (even if a little scary): “Your enemy the devil prowls aroud like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”.

Now, before I consider the tools that we’ve been given to coutneract this, I think it’s worth some comments on what is going on here.

First of all, we need to acknolwedge the spiritual element to what happens in this world.

I know for some people, you might be very much aware of this spiritual reality, but for many, it’s easy to not see it.

When a conflict happens, we just see two people fighting each other.

When anxiety comes over us, we think we’re just weak willed.

When disaster strikes, we’re just unlucky.

What we don’t see, is the evil one driving wedges between people, taking hope away, causing fear.

But, I want to add a word of warning here… it can be very easy to overplay this. That is to say, we start seeing demons everywhere. The danger comes when we dissociate with the world around us. Nothing is our fault because the devil made me do it. We stop seeking medical advice or even mental health advice because it’s just a spiritual matter.

We’ve got to be very careful here because an over spiritualizing can be just as blinding of what is happening.

I also just want to quickly make a comment about the use of the word devil here.

The devil is a supernatural adversary. The bible also talks about demons who it would seem do the bidding of the devil.

Exactly how things operate between the devil and the demons… well, we’re not exactly given detailed descriptions. But can I suggest here that when we look at this verses here in 1 Peter 5, it’s not too important if we’re talking about the devil or his demons… what’s clear, is that there are supernatural forces at pray, and just like a lion can sneak up on you unaware, these supernatural forces can do likewise.

But there is one more comment I want to make about this evil force. You see, we often picture the evil forces going head-to-head with the angelic forces of God. We picture it like they are two equal but opposite forces in a ultimate fight for dominance.

I want to suggest that concept of the fight is incorrect. These are not two equal forces. The fight has already been won!

When Jesus died and rose again some 2000-odd years ago, he very clearly demonstrated his dominance with a massive defeat of the devil.

The fact that the evil one still has a presence, is only because God allows it.

Now of course there is a massive question of why God allows it, but he does because the time for the final defeat of the devil has not yet come.

This is particularly important for us to recognise, because it’s going to get to the idea of our next tool in the tool box - we have the ability to resist the devil!

But know this - you cannot resist the devil in your own strength. It’s just not possible.

The spiritual forces that are at play are just too much for us to resist. But we can resist him - because we stand with Christ, and he has already defeated the devil.

We stand firm in faith… it’s our belief in the power of Jesus… it’s the glue that holds us close to God.

So what does this mean in practice?

Well, first of all, as Peter starts in verse 8 - “be alert and of sober mind”.

This actually repeats very similar language that we heard back in chapter 4 when he was talking about the end of all things.

We need to be alert - we need to be aware. But stay sober, in that we don’t get too caught up, we stay in a considered mind set.

From the perspective, we start to see the reality of what is happening.

When we notice supernatural forces at play… when that devil starts prowling… we call it for what it is. We take it to God in prayer.

You know, it can be good to state it out loud. “Satan, you have no power here!”

Now I want to acknowledge, sometimes, in my experience, when this is stated (or a similar kind of declaration), things can start changing straight away… but also, sometimes things might seem to move slowly. But know this, when we stand with God, we know where the victory lies. God will allow you to stand. You will see change.

Keep the faith and know that you have what you need.

I also want to add, while Peter doesn’t elaborate on it here, if we go to Ephesians 6, we’ll see Paul discussing what we call the spiritual armour. This mornings not the time to go through in detail, but it includes a belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with gospel, shield of faith, helmet of salvation and sword of the Spirit.

We have what we need to stand against the devil.

Conclusion

You know, as I listened to the podcast talking about the Troubles in Northern Ireland and prepared this message at the same time, it made me think how differently things might have been if the people in the Protestant and Catholic churches took a more spiritual approach.

If the leaders among them had been more keen to serve.

If they sought God’s favour through humility rather than force.

If they recognised the devil was having a field day, in making this into a fight between Protestants and Catholics, it was making a massive stain on the church.

Now, I don’t want to over simplify a massive struggle such as this one.

I rather just want us to think about our own troubles.

Are the spiritually mature standing up?

Are we humbling ourselves before God - seeking his favour through submission, not power?

Are we being alert to the schemes of the evil one?

Are we taking a stand against the evil one, knowing that we have the ability to stand firm in faith.

I don’t want to pretend it’s easy

But we have what we need - a full tool box if you like.

As it says in verse 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. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”