Under God

This morning we are getting back to our theme for the year of Living Expectantly.

A journey that is taking us through the 1st and 2nd letters that Peter wrote to the church.

Our verse is found in

2 Peter 3:14 NKJV

14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;

Peter expected that the people that read his letters would be encouraged to live in an expectancy of these things that he wrote about in their lives.

These things that Jesus had died and resurrected to secure for us in our lives - blessings beyond his greatest gift of all, our salvation.

These are the things that we have looked at so far.

We have a Glorious Inheritance

It is a new life in Christ - an eternity in heaven and we experience it in our living hope and genuine faith.

We have experienced God’s Amazing Grace.

It is how we have the ability to get up every morning and face each new day with the real assurance that we are the children of God, who are loved and accepted by our heavenly father.

We have recieved his Powerful Word

It tells us who we are.

It tells us how to live.

because it tells us who our God is.

when we know who we are

We find our spiritual place and position.

When we are right with God, we have a right to expect God to move.

We serve a covenant God. When we are honoring our side of the covenant, we can always be sure that God is honoring his.

As we live in our spiritual position

We are Being Changed

God’s presence is filling us and becoming more active in our lives.

As His Holy Spirit becomes more active, we get more active

And we become more like Jesus

And

We Experience His Blessing

We no longer have to fear, for God has given us our spiritual armor and weapon to overcome the fear attacks of the enemy.

We are becoming people of the Word which gives us a spiritual boldness and an overwhelming peace

We are learning to live in total trust and reliance upon our God.

We Experience God’s Glory

That is the manifestation of God’s presence in the world of humanity. Vividly and powerfully recognized as such.

WE need to make sure that it is a matter of prayer for us - Lord Reveal your power in our lives that others might see it and that you would be lifted up

We need to live in a way that will set an atmosphere for God’s glory to be seen.

We need to live in expose God’s glory wherever we do life.

Today we finish up Peter’s first letter by looking at Chapter 5

1 Peter 5 NKJV

1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. 5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 12 By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. 13 She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

First we see some expectations for those who lead - primarily Pastors of the church, but it can also be applied to other ministry leaders as well.

If you are in a ministry here at the church, please go back and read these verses 1-4 this week and ask the Lord to do this in your heart.

Shepherd those under your care - make sure that you are caring for them, providing for them from God’s Word and these other expectations of the Christian life that we have been talking about.

Make sure that there are none left out or lost

Do it from a heart of compassion for them and not compulsion

Do not fleece the flock - a shepherd term for stealing from them or taking advantage of them

Be examples to them, not as someone who is a dictator, but as one who is following Christ - The great shepherd

I pray that you see all of those things in this man today.

But we want to get into the message today

We are called to Live Under Authority

1 Peter 5:5–11 NKJV

5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 5:

This is being Submissive

Submissive to authority

Estamos llamados a vivir bajo autoridad.

What is Godly submission?

First it is the recognition that with age comes respect.

We respect our elders.

Leviticus 19:32 NKJV

32 ‘You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the Lord.

1 Timothy 5:1 NKJV

1 Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers,

Continue to

1 Timothy 5:2 NKJV

2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.

Proverbs 20:29 NKJV

29 The glory of young men is their strength, And the splendor of old men is their gray head.

God planned for there to be a marked respect for those people who had lived life and experienced it

Why, because they knew things that the young had not yet learned.

They would need help as they got older

They were the ones who had gotten you this far

God wanted them taken care of

But if we look up at the passages to the leaders what does Peter call them? Elders

I love the way that God does things. I love the way that in his Word, he makes sure that all things (with the Help of the Holy Spirit) can be understood.

When we read this, we are like, wait, verses 1-4 - Couldn’t Peter have written them some place else. They seem like a break in content and thought. But we see here that they aren’t.

This is a continuation of thought and it really spells out Godly submission.

Paul says it like this -

1 Corinthians 11:1 NKJV

1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

I as an elder of the church and anyone else who is in such a position, really have no right to be respected if we don’t respect God’s authority over us.

Basically, Godly submission is submission to God’s authority over our lives.

So we honor Him first. We respect Him first, and we praise HIm only

Then we give God the praise for those whom he has placed over us to do what?

shepherd and care for us

and be examples of Godly living for us

again those who

are doing it out of compassion and desire

not doing it for dishonest gain

and not being dictators over us

So he says here have Godly submission. Honor God in the lives of those around you.

the younger to the elders

The sheep to the shepherds or elders

and look at the continuation of verse 5 - to one another.

(give examples - as I see God moving in your life, my heart becomes submissive to you)

I honor the God in you

I praise God for what he is doing in you

and I seek God’s face to bless you in even greater ways.

Can you see why this is such an important expectation in living.

That we can expect that God would be at work in those around us

That we can expect that others would see God at work in our own lives

And that we would celebrate those things

Godly submission in Pre-marital - Walking side by side with one another through life, recognizing God’s hand in the creation of the one on our left or right and celebrating that with one another.

a wife that is in submission to her husband will honor him and stick by him through all the hells of life

A husband that is walking in proper Godly leadership in his marital relationship, will submit to his wife as God’s blessing and gift to him to assist in the joys and problems of life.

Hand in hand, celebrating God

And Paul tells us in Ephesians, that the marriage of a man to a woman is a picture of the relationship that we have in heaven with Christ.

PRAY for submission to each other

It is being

Submissive Under Authority

He says be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble

Proverbs 11:2 NKJV

2 When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.

So humility brings wisdom.

la humildad trae sabiduría

Can I tell you that you will never learn anything from anyone if you cannot be humble before them and admit that you just don’t know it.

It’s the same with God. If you are not humble before him, you don’t sense that you need him and so you will not be able to learn from Him.

The world will tell us that wisdom is power.

I would say that they are right, as it relates to being humble

Humility is power.

I think that is such a great example of this for us

Philippians 2:

Philippians 2:5–8 NKJV

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

To the world, the cross was weakness. But the one thing that I notice every Good Friday when I watch the Passion of the Christ is just how powerful Christ really was.

He gave his life

He sacrificed himself - it was in his timing that it happened.

He was in control. He could have stopped it any time. But he loved you.

I want to tell you that no other man in his condition could have done what he did that day. He is my hero. and that is why I submit to him as my God and my savior and my kIng

That is why I call him Lord.

Humility is power. That you can allow yourself, in this world to look weak to fulfill the mission of the Kingdom of heaven over your life. That is humility.

Humility is service

Humility is giving

Humility is being okay with who God has made you to be.

There are no false fronts in humility

You will respond rightly to false treatment in humility

You can defuse arguments when you are humble

WE will ask for forgiveness in our humbleness

We will have right attitudes with all around us in humbleness

Therefore, in Peter’s language, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time

Let God lift you up

Let God create your purpose in you

Let God declare who you are and what you are called to

Trust God in everything, knowing that he cares for you

being humble doesn’t mean that you won’t suffer. it means that in your suffering, you aren’t discouraged because you know that Jesus Christ is going to will perfect you, establish you, strengthen you and settle you.

Isn’t that what verse 10 says there?

And finally

Submissive With Authority

When we honor that authority over us

When we see God in life all around us and submit to Him

He sobers us up and makes us vigilant.

Los humildes reciben sabiduría y saben utilizarla.

The humble receive wisdom and know how to use it.

and we have victory over the enemy.

notice what it says here. The enemy doesn’t have power over every person. it doesn’t say her those he will devour or can devour, but those he may devour

What does that mean? That our victory over the enemy or our defeat by him has something to do with us.

You will be someone that the enemy may devour or someone that he can’t. And that has to do with where you are with God.

That is everything that we’ve spoken about up to this point.

Are we living in God’s Grace and His Word?

Are we in our proper spiritual place and position under God and in the family of God?

Are we being changed by all of that?

Are we living in his glory

Are we submitting to his authority

This is where your victory lies my brother and sister.

Peter goes on to say that if we are living expectantly of these things that we can resist the devil by being steadfast in the faith

Knowing what we believe - that’s our inheritance

not shaken every time something comes against us. Knowing that sufferings will come.

Knowing that they are not uncommon to men

being confident that our sufferings do not mean that God has abandoned us or given up on us

But that in our sufferings, God shows himself to be even stronger than we knew him to be previously

And again that through those sufferings, Jesus is at work in our lives to perfect, establish, strengthen and settle us.

To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. AMEN

Let’s Pray