Living as Exiles - Week 10
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Announcements:
Council Meeting tomorrow at 6:30pm
Wednesday at 6pm deck the halls! Bring snacks to share/wear an ugly sweater
Next Sunday - Holiday fellowship.
This is our final week. We have made it through the whole of 1 Peter! My desire in this series was to work through and survey this book. We didn’t cover everything, we couldn’t have in any reasonable amount of time. Our goal was to see what Peter would say to us, as we understand ourselves to be living as exiles. Stuck here when we would rather be elsewhere.
By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
Through Silvanus, a faithful brother (as I consider him), I have written to you briefly in order to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!
Peter says he wrote briefly. Some of you might feel otherwise, as we have been studying this for like three months. He wrote briefly, and his purpose was to exhort and encourage, and to testify of the true grace of God.
More than 30 times throughout this book, he tells us how to live.
In 1:13 he says to hope fully
in 1:15 he says to be Holy
in 1:17 he says to conduct ourselves in fear
In 1:22, and again in chapter 4 he says to love each other - love covers sin.
in 2:13 he says to subject yourselves to authority
in 2:17 he says to give honor to everyone
In 3:10 he says to keep your tongue from evil
in 3:15 he says to honor christ as holy
in 4:7 he says to be self controlled and sober minded
In 4:12 he says not to be surprised at trials
in 4:13 he says to REJOICE!
In 4:19 he says to entrust ourselves to God
In 5:5 he says to clothe ourselves with humility.
One after another he instructs us, because this life is hard.
Living in exile is hard.
Loving people is hard.
He tells us how to live because we need it, if we are going to make it.
Today we are going to focus on his last section of instruction, found in verses 6-11
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time,
casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.
Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.
The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while.
To him be dominion forever. Amen.
We are going to work through some of this.
Starting in verse 6, he says to humble ourselves - because in verse 5 he told us that God resists the proud.
As a part of that instruction, he reminds us to where and whom we are humbling ourselves. It isn't just that we are laying low ourselves, but in reality retreating into the comforting embrace of the father. And he is powerful. Strong. Mighty.
We aren’t forsaking ourselves for no good reason, or into any kind of undernourishment. We retreat to a strong tower, under the care of the Father.
And he says the reason that we do that, continuing in verse 6… is so that God may exalt you at the proper time.
Believe it or not, God’s plan for you - at the proper time, is for YOU to be exalted. For you to be lifted up and honored.
But we can mess that up.
We can mess that up by getting in the way, by being prideful or arrogant.
Our focus of course is to give God glory, but His plan, is to exalt you and I, at the proper time.
Peter says to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.
Then he goes on, as a part of that humbling to say -
casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Casting all your cares, all your anxieties on him.
Anxiety is real. The cares of the world are real.
The enemy is real. We are going to identify him today.
We can’t pretend that the issues don’t exist, because they do!
The way that we deal with the things that trouble us, our cares, our anxieties, is a part of our pride, and it - matters. It matters to God.
In arrogance, I might say hey, I can handle that myself.
I can do it all on my own.
I just have to deal with this.
I can figure it out.
Maybe we just don’t want to be a burden. We don’t want to overwhelm God.
Our problems are just little problems.
But the bible tells us that the way that we handle this is critical. If we hold on to it, it can destroy us.
In the book of matthew Jesus talked about different types of soil, telling a parable about how people would receive the gospel.
Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
We don’t want to be that kind of soil. We want the word to take root in our lives and grow and flourish.
If you study bible, you will find that there are really three ways that we can handle cares and anxieties.. and only one of those is the right way.
Numbing ourselves with drugs/alchohal
Distracting ourselves with money or other things - convincing ourselves that these things will solve the problems.
As 1 Peter 5:7 says, casting them upon God.
Casting means to transfer ownership.
Not like fishing.
We like to treat our cares like that. Like fishing.. we throw them out just to bring them back.
We give them to the Lord and leave them there.
I heard a pastor friend of mine say the other day that it feels like every morning when he wakes up, praises God, and straps a boulder to his back to carry around all day.
and I identify with that.
But that isn’t what God has called us to.
Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
This comes from Peter’s experience.
“Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.
But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
“Lord,” he told him, “I’m ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”
“I tell you, Peter,” he said, “the rooster will not crow today until you deny three times that you know me.”
Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.