Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Romans 1 and Hebrews 11. One of the benefits of pastoring a non-denominational church like ours is that we’re reminded of, or rather introduced to, Christian traditions in other like-minded congregations that we (ourselves) might not have known. For example, I grew up in a Baptist congregation and the church that I was in didn’t celebrate or acknowledge – at least in any formal way – Reformation Sunday. So, just before last week’s service, Geneva Larson, who comes from a Lutheran background, was eager to remind me that it was Reformation Sunday.
If you’re wondering, Reformation Sunday is the Sunday closest to October 31, and it’s called Reformation Sunday because it’s a reminder and celebration of the reformation movement that began when an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther had no intentions of splitting the Catholic Church, rather, he just wanted to address some of the excesses and abuses that he had seen and become convinced were opposed to God’s Word. Nevertheless, what sprang from that attempt to correct the Catholic Church did, indeed, lead to the Reformation, and ultimately to the establishment of many Protestant denominations of today.
So, although it’s a week late, I thought I’d offer a nod to Reformation Sunday as we start this new 3-part series: Faith, Hope and Love, by considering faith. After all, it was Romans 1:16-17 that God used to gain Luther’s attention about how someone is “made right,” or “justified” before a holy God. And Hebrews is tied into Romans by the fact that Hebrews 10:38 quotes the same verse from Habakkuk that Romans 1 uses. Plus, the author of Hebrews gives us a working definition of faith. With that as our introduction, let’s read these two passages together.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed beginning and ending in faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him [God], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.
“Our God and our Father, we do pray that we might have that kind of faith. We pray that You would help us to understand what genuine faith is. Speak, then, into our lives now as we open your Word. Do for us what we cannot do for ourselves; make the Bible come alive. Show us ourselves, our need, our Savior, and bring our lives under the truth of your Word and in conformity with its application. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
What is faith? What does it mean to live by faith? Are you a man/woman of faith; and specifically, have you placed your faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ? That’s what I want us to consider this morning. See, this matter of faith is not a marginal issue. It’s not something that we can place far off in a corner, something we can push away for another day. It’s a pressing matter today, and every day. Faith is the indispensable channel of salvation. Faith is the corridor down which we walk into the experience of what it means to truly be a Christian.
For example, in Ephesians 2:8–9, in those well-worn words, we read this: “For it is by grace you have been saved,” and then comes the phrase, “through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” Where do the works come in? The works come in as an expression of faith, not as a replacement for it. Even faith itself is not something that we generate, but is a gift from the hand of God. So, let’s explore this for just a moment.
In seeking to say what faith is, it’s important for us also to make clear what faith is not. In fact, the Puritans did this all the time when they preached. When they were giving a definition of something, they would always spend a long time explaining what it wasn’t, so that in finding out what it wasn’t, you would move closer to what it was. So, let me tell you what it isn’t, and perhaps we can narrow it down.
First of all, it is not simply a subjective religious feeling. It’s not a religious feeling that’s divorced from the truth that God has revealed in His Word. That may seem like a bit of a mouthful, and indeed it is, but it is very important. Faith is not simply a vague and internal feeling, “Oh yes, I’m a person of faith” – but it’s not connected to, it’s not tethered to, it’s not informed by objective truth found in the Word of God. That’s not genuine faith.
The Bible says that people who deny objective truth in favor of feelings (only) are not only deceived, but are contrary to Jesus. 1 John 2:22: “Who is the liar? It is the [person] who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a [person] is the antichrist – [they] den[y] the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” So, faith isn’t simply a feeling – regardless of how warm and fuzzy it makes us feel. There must be an objective reality that informs our faith.
Secondly, Christian faith is not the kind of positive mental attitude that seeks to make our dreams and our desires a reality. This, of course, has been popularized in the book The Power of Positive Thinking. Now, it is good to think positively. It’s nice to be around people who are positive rather than people who are negative. But positive thinking is not biblical faith. This is what Norman Vincent Peale says. He says, “Before you get out of your bed in the morning what you ought to do is say out loud in your bedroom, ‘I believe, I believe, I believe.’” Now, he doesn’t say in what or in whom; doesn’t really matter. Yes, it does! It’s crucial! You see, it is the object of faith that gives it significance; it’s not the immensity of our internal sensations or our mind’s ability to dream up stuff that gives foundation to our faith – it’s the person and work of Jesus.
So genuine biblical faith is not simply pumping ourselves up to believe that which the evidence precludes. Real faith, as Hebrews 11 makes clear, is not based on our feelings, which are unstable and fluctuate with the circumstances. Rather, genuine faith – biblical faith – is reliable because it’s based on the trustworthiness and the reliability of God. That’s the reason I included verse 6, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” In other words, we start with God.
That’s where Genesis 1:1 starts, is it not? “In the beginning God…” It doesn’t start with an argument for scientific creationism. It doesn’t start with an argument concerning the existence of God. It says, “In the beginning, God.” And every individual who’s been created has been stamped with the very handiwork of God; they’ve been made in the image of God. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1, 53:1).
So, back in Hebrews 11:1, the writer isn’t talking about a wistful longing for something that may or may not happen. He’s not talking about believing in the improbable. He’s talking about a belief in what God says as opposed to what man suggests. This faith creates surety of what we hope for and certainty of what we do not see.
Do you ever wonder why it is that you believe what you believe? Do you ever think about that when you get down on your knees and you pray? And there’s no one in the room. And you can’t see anyone, and you can’t hear anything. And you say, “O God, I know that you hear my prayers.” How do you and I know that? How are we so certain of that? “O God, and I know that you know my circumstances, and that you mark my steps, and that every day of my life was written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 37:23, 139:16, paraphrased). Where did that come from? “O God, I know that when I die, I’ll go to heaven, but I’ve never seen heaven. I only have those descriptions at the end of the Bible and in various other places.” Where does all this come from? It’s a result of God’s grace and mercy to us in opening our eyes to the truth of who He is, and such faith creates certainty.
Believing faith is not the fluctuating notions of some kind of subjective dimension within the spirit of a man or a woman, but it is that which is engendered in us as a result of a consideration of what is before us and saying, “I’m going to examine it and look at this. And I am concluding that it takes more faith to believe in nothing than it takes to believe in a creator God.”
But you see, in our foolishness, and in our rebellion, and in our disinterest, and in our selfishness, and in our unwillingness to allow anyone else to take charge of our lives, we do not choose to believe in such a God, because such a God will have every right to make demands upon us. Such a God will have every right to call us into conformity with His commands. And so, rather than have to face the fact that we have broken God’s commands, and that we must say we’re sorry for that, and that we must accept His forgiveness for that, we choose, instead, not to come and confess! We would rather go on our own way. And when people ask us about faith, we’ll say, “Yes, I have faith. I’m optimism about tomorrow.” But it’s not biblical faith.
If you were to continue with Hebrews 11 – the Hall of Faith (as it were) – then you’d discover that all of these people heard the Word of God, they heard the story of God, they trusted the promise of God, and then they lived in the light of the promise. They heard the story, they trusted the promise, and then they lived their lives in faith.
Here’s the story: “I’m gonna flood the world.”
“Okay.”
Here’s the promise: “As you build an ark and the people run into it, they’ll be safe.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, build the ark.”
Some of us have okayed the first two, but we’ve never built the ark. Some of us have said, “Yeah, I understand the story, and I actually heard the promise, and I think I believe it.” But we never took the final step. And that’s why, when asked the question, “Are you a man or a woman of faith?” the answer has to be, “No, I’m not. I’m sorry, I’m not.” And what I want to say to you this morning is, you don’t have to walk out this building in that same position. You can, in a decisive act, make certain that you are a man or a woman of faith.
First of all, knowledge. Faith is dependent upon what can be known about God. In John 17, Jesus, as He’s about to pray to the Father, says in John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” How can we know God? Well, He’s shown Himself in creation, He’s shown Himself in the Bible, and He’s shown Himself in Jesus.
In the opening chapter of John’s gospel, we read, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, [but Jesus] has made Him known” (John 1:14-18).
The fact of the matter is that Jesus is the exegesis of God. That’s the word that’s actually used here. When somebody says, “Well, how can I know God? How would God make Himself known so that I could know Him?” the answer is, in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why it’s so important to consider the claims that Jesus made. Because it’s in knowing Him that we know God. And it’s this knowledge of God which gives the basis for our certainty.
When you travel as you do and some of you quite frequently, so that you know this stuff off by heart – “Good morning, Mr. Norris. Do you have a form of identification?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Have your bags been in your possession at all times?”
“Yes, they have.”
“Did anyone ask you to carry anything for them?”
“No, they flat-out did not, and if they had, I would have said no, because I don’t even want to carry my own bags,” and so on it goes.
But the issue is, did anybody unfamiliar to you get access to your stuff? Because you don’t want untrustworthy people getting ahold of things. You’re not simply gonna entrust that which is precious and important to you to just anybody. If we protect our luggage with great care, certainly we ought to give great consideration and care to our souls, right? So, you’re gonna have to use your mind as you read God’s Word to ask the question, “Is what God has made known of Himself – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – such that I may with confidence, on the knowledge that I have, move forward from here?”
And 1 John 5:9 says, “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that He has borne concerning His Son.” In other words, if we are prepared to trust relatively untrustworthy people at significant points in our lives – at the bank, on the bus, crossing a bridge, undergoing heart surgery – wouldn’t we trust God? What kind of proud arrogance is this, that I would trust my bank manager and I wouldn’t trust God who has revealed Himself in the person of His Son? That I would trust the airline pilot, but I would refuse to trust Jesus Christ?
The second thing involved in faith is assent. Not money. Not “a cent” but assent (a-s-s-e-n-t). Once we’ve recognized that certain things are true and are to be believed, then it involves our giving mental assent to them. Biblical faith is more than simply giving assent, but it is never less than giving assent.
You see, we talk about individuals who are inspirational, or who command confidence – someone who is so trustworthy that we’d be compelled to trust them even against our will. You sometimes listen to people… I watch these documentaries on World War II and listen to the stories of those in Korea or Vietnam or even Iraq and Afghanistan, and you find yourself saying “Why would you run over there like that? Why would you rush the beach, or climb out of the trench, or jump from that airplane?” And often they say, “Well, we had a captain. I’d trust him anywhere. He said, ‘We’re going,’ we’re going. Everything inside of me said, ‘I’m not going,’ but the captain, he compelled my belief. He compelled confidence in me.”
Folks, if you read the Bible and consider the claims of Jesus Christ, you’ll discover someone who compels belief. Everything inside of you is saying, “I don’t want to believe this stuff. I don’t want my life taken over. I don’t want somebody in charge of me.” But when you come and lay your life open before Christ, and when you see Him on the cross, and you understand that He bore your sin and all your rebellion and all of your emptiness and lostness and brokenness, He will compel belief in you. And knowledge will be followed by assent.
Finally, genuine faith involves trust. Faith that is “sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” involves not only knowledge and not only assent, but it involves trust. Intellectual assent, alone, cannot be equated with genuine faith. James makes that clear in James 2:19, where he lets us know that the devil and the demons are not atheists; they have an orthodox view of God. There has to be the transfer from the knowledge to the assent to the trust.
We see the summons to trust Christ in all of his invitations. He says, “Come to Me all you who are heavy laden, and I’ll give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Your life is all messed up; you’re carrying around shopping bags full of disgruntlement and disenchantment and all kind of things in your life. He says, “Come to me, and I’ll take those shopping bags for you. I’ll take all that rubbish.” He says, “If you would take my yoke upon you – in other words, if you would bow down underneath My commands and you would let Me run your life – if you would take My yoke upon you and you would learn from Me all the things I’ve told you in here, then you would find rest for your souls. And you would discover that I’m lowly, and I’m gentle, I’m humble in heart, and I’ll take care of your life” (Matthew 11:29, paraphrased).
Genuine, biblical faith is knowledge in an objective reality – Jesus. It’s acceptance of that knowledge, and it’s trust on the basis of the knowledge.
Well, one final time; let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to 1 Peter 5. We made it. Or, rather, you made it. You hung into the very end, and you didn’t kill me in the process. I don’t know your feelings about 1 Peter, of course, but I’ve very much enjoyed our time together – running our fingers through the pages of this epistle.
When we come to the end of 1 Peter, as we have today, what we find is essentially a postscript. Last week we concluded with the doxology that is found in verse 11, and really that ends all that Peter has to say to the believers who have been persecuted and alienated and are dispersed throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. And I was tempted to just skip over these verses, until I began thinking about the importance of a P.S. at the end of a letter. The P.S.’s can make all the difference in the world. Like the fellow who wrote to his girlfriend:
Jennifer,
I love you so much. I would climb the highest mountain, swim the widest ocean, and cross the burning desert just to be with you. I will see you on Saturday.
P.S. …if it’s not raining
The P.S. made all the difference to the mushy, romantic expressions of love that came before. Or how about this one:
Dear Fred,
Seldom have we had such an employee of quality and consistency, as you. For productivity you’re hard to beat. As a team player you’re an example to all. As the year ends, we want to acknowledge the fine job you’ve done.
Sincerely, the District Manager
P.S. You’re fired.
See, you have to be careful with the P.S.’s, and here, in verses 12-14, not only do we have an apt summary of what Peter has written, but we also find three foundational elements of genuine Christian experience. Follow along with me as I read our final verses.
12 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. 13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
“O Lord, Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Give us grace to receive Your truth in faith and love, and strength to follow on the path You set before us; through Jesus Christ, Amen.”
The first foundational element of genuine Christian experience is…
We spoke about this last week when we considered the God of all grace. So, why talk about it again? Because our Christian experience is marked by it. Loved ones, grace is the sum and substance of our faith. That is to say; you cannot call yourself a Christian if you haven’t received God’s grace. You can come to church (and I want you to), you can help build a house for a homeless person (and I pray you might), you can speak kindly and lovingly to your neighbor (as you should), but unless and until you recognize the sinful and heinous nature of your heart and life before a holy God and cast yourself upon the mercy and love of Jesus Christ, which is grace, you are not a Christian. There must be a genuine surrender of ourselves to God’s grace.
It’s so fundamental that Peter talks about it in every chapter of this short letter. 1 Peter 1:2, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” Question: Peter, how might I experience this grace and peace? Answer: 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” That’s grace. And what’s more, it’s also the gospel. It’s the Good News.
Like any good pastor, Peter closes this letter and says, “Folks, if you’ve heard nothing else that I’ve said, if you’ve not paid attention to any of the 105 verses that I’ve written, then please hear this; what is contained in this piece of mail is nothing but the TRUE… GRACE… of GOD.” There’s absolutely no doubt in Peter’s mind concerning it, and he wants his readers to be absolutely convinced about it too. And I, as the pastor of this church, want you, the flock, to be in no doubt concerning it either.
I don’t want you to walk out into another Monday believing that your Christian experience fights for its place on the vast array of religious opportunity. I want you to walk out into another Monday realizing that you, by God’s goodness, have been introduced to THE… TRUE… GRACE… of GOD. And until that becomes the conviction of our hearts, we’ll never be able to communicate it to a world that’s in desperate need of it.
Peter talks about grace in chapter 1:3. He talks about it in chapter 2:24, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” He talks about it in chapter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” Again, and again, and again. Over and over and over again, Peter reminds us of the significance of the grace of God. No one here, today, knows anything of a genuine Christian experience unless you’ve made the discovery of Amazing Grace.
Next is the priority of love. Peter says, “Greet one another with the kiss of love.” Some of you are getting excited. “Oh boy, I didn’t know we were called to kiss one another. What’s that all about?” Well, Jesus established the standard of love that we’re all called to live by. John 13:34 says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” Yes, I understand that, but back to the kissing thing. Where does that come into play?
Well, it was a custom of the Jews. It was normal for a disciple to kiss the cheek of his Rabbi and to lay his hands upon his shoulders. It was customary. Some of you have seen this. Both hands would be placed on the shoulders of the person in front of you and you would simply kiss them on the cheek. Hence Mark 14:44, when Jesus and the disciples are in the Garden of Gethsemane, we hear Judas’ instructions, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize Him and lead Him away under guard.” It was customary for disciples to kiss their Rabbi, and this was Judas’ way of identifying Jesus to the authorities.
And as the pattern developed in the early church, it became part and parcel of Christian worship. The inward recognition of the grace of God upon someone’s life would lead to this external expression, and both Tertullian and Augustine refer to it. However, like expressions of love often do, it began to be abused, and another early church father, Athenagoras insists in his writings that the kiss must be given with the greatest care for “if there be mixed with it the least defilement of thought it excludes us from eternal life.” Clement of Alexandria, writing only about 75 years later, condemned the shameless use of it saying, “certain persons make the churches resound and thereby occasion foul suspicions and evil reports.”
By the 4th century, this kiss of love, was reserved for people of the same sex. And by the time of the 13th century the custom was tossed out altogether. The western equivalent is essentially a handshake, and probably safer all-round. The obligation to love is timeless, but the expression of it will vary with time and culture.
Finally, peace with God. At the center of this idea is Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The expression of this peace is found in Philippians 4:7, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” But we can’t experience that peace until we’ve been made right with God by means of Jesus – the Prince of Peace. Colossians 1:19-20 says, “For in Him [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him [Jesus] to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”
As the midterm elections are looming, there are so many voices expressing anxiety and uncertainty and fear. People longing for peace. And I’m not talking about the ceasing of wars and violence. I’m referring to the inner turmoil, the inner anguish of hearts and minds. Many are searching for peace, but they’re trying to do it without God, without acknowledging sin and their need of a Savior. Loved ones, I tell you it can’t be done. Jesus, Himself, testified that it’s impossible to find lasting, meaningful peace, apart from Him. John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.” And Peter confirms this in the final sentence of this letter – a letter written to those in need of a reminder of the peace that we have (notice the last phrase) “Peace to all of you who are in Christ.” No peace without Jesus.
One commentator put it like this, “No one can enjoy real peace apart from Him, and all may enjoy it who belong to Him.” But this last sentence also poses a question: are you “in Christ?” Not, “are you in church?” Not, “do you know about Jesus?” But are you “in Christ?” Is this not a message for us to proclaim over the next 7 days (and beyond)? How can I come to terms with the living God? (Answer: grace.) How may I live in genuine relationship with people around me? (Answer: love.) How may I come to terms with myself as I make my journey through this life? (Answer: peace.) Three postscripts from Peter. Three essential elements of genuine Christian experience. Are they yours this morning? They can be.
Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to 1 Peter 5. One of the things I’ve learned from listening to other preachers and theologians and Bible teachers is the significance of poetry in presenting the gospel. During my primary education, I wasn’t very fond of English and Grammar – what was called Language Arts, in those days. I was much more interested in History, Math and Science. But, alas, God has a sense of humor, and He called me to a vocation that’s dependent upon Reading and Writing and Grammar. Well, one of the things we were encouraged to do – maybe you were too – was to have some exposure to poetry. And since I didn’t like Language Arts anyway, I certainly didn’t understand the need to appreciate poetry. But that’s changed in the last decade.
What I do from week to week isn’t simply a matter of relaying information (at least it shouldn’t be). Yes, the Bible and the biblical story of Jesus Christ is information, but it’s more than people, places, and things. The truth contained in this book has a supernatural quality to it. It literally has the power to change our lives for all eternity – not just change our lives here on earth but impact our eternal destinies. And poetry, like hymnody, is one of the ways we communicate this eternal truth. There are few Christian poets (in my opinion) that rival Annie Johnson Flint, and He Giveth More Grace is one of them:
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction, He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.
His love has no limit; His grace has no measure.
His pow’r has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!
That’s today’s scripture passage and sermon in a poem. The God of all grace giveth, and giveth, and giveth again. Follow along with me as I read 1 Peter 5:10-11:
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.
“Father, what we know not; teach us, what we have not; give us, what we are not; make us, for Your Son’s sake, amen.”
In these closing verses, Peter highlights for us six qualities about God and the first is…
We need to know God’s character. Peter says He’s “the God of all grace.” This is one of the great titles of God. The apostle Paul called Him “the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Peter calls Him “the God of all grace.” It’s how God introduces Himself to Moses back in Exodus 34. He says, “I am Yahweh, the LORD God, merciful and gracious” (Exodus 34:6).
Please note that Peter did not refer to God as “the God of all fairness” or “the God of all justice,” although He absolutely is. Peter didn’t even refer to God as “the God of all truth,” or “the God of all correctness,” though He’s certainly those things as well. The one thing Peter wanted to leave with his audience was that their God is “the God of all grace.” David in Psalm 86 said, “But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious” (Psalm 86:15).
Grace; that’s a great word, but when we come to the New Testament, that word takes on a whole new complexion. It’s the very covenant we relate to God with. It’s a covenant of unmerited favor. In just a few weeks we’ll be reading verses like this, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). So, under the law, God demands righteousness from man; but under grace, God gives righteousness to man. Under the law, righteousness is based on our good works; under grace, it’s based on Jesus’ good work, His finished work on the cross. Under the law, it only takes one sin to make you a sinner; under grace, it only takes one Savior to fix it all. So, to put it in its simple form: grace is how God deals with us. It’s not based on what we deserve, it’s based on what Jesus did.
Many of you know the acronym G-R-A-C-E: God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” In other words, God treated Jesus like we deserve to be treated, so that He can treat us like Jesus deserves to be treated. That’s grace. We’re saved by it. We’re secured by it. And ultimately, it’s “grace that will lead us home.” That’s His character.
The second thing we need to know is God’s calling. Verse 10 continues “[May] the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory” stop right there. This tells me that God’s purpose for my life goes beyond a grace-filled life NOW and includes an eternal life LATER. Do you remember Jesus’ prayer in John 17? It’s often referred to as the High-Priestly prayer. In that prayer Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory” (John 17:24a) Remember that? God, the Father, will answer that prayer one day and will take you to be with Jesus in His glory. But only if you know Him as “the God of all grace.”
See, this second truth (God’s calling) is based on the first truth (God’s character). Only if we know God as a result of the grace of Christ Jesus can He call us to His glory. What this does for Peter’s audience (and hopefully you and me) is that it raises their horizon. It lets them see beyond the pain of the immediate, beyond the pain of this life to something that’s beyond this life. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world” (NLT). Life can hurt. But beyond the hurt, there’s heaven and, honestly, we often forget this when we’re in the midst of the pain.
That’s why it’s so important (from time-to-time) to slow down and just meditate on the realities of heaven. Think about the eternal glory that awaits. I know that none of us can speak with any authority beyond what the Bible has to say. None of us have been there and back – though some claim to have had out of body experiences or near-death encounters. But folks, one day, we’re actually going to see with our own eyes the glory of heaven. I think of the words of the old gospel song I Bowed on My Knees:
I dreamed of a city called Glory,
So bright and so fair.
When I entered the gates I cried, “Holy”
The angels all met me there:
They carried me from mansion to mansion,
And oh, the sights I saw,
But I said, “I want to see Jesus –
He’s the One who died for all.”
I bowed on my knees and cried,
“Holy, Holy, Holy.”
I clapped my hands and sang, “Glory,
Glory to the Son of God.”
As I entered the gates of that city,
My loved ones all knew me well.
They took me down the streets of Heaven;
The scenes were too many to tell;
I saw Abraham, Jacob and Isaac
Talked with Mark, and Timothy
But I said, “Timothy, I want to see Jesus,
‘Cause He’s the One who died for me.”
I bowed on my knees and cried,
“Holy, Holy, Holy.”
I clapped my hands and sang, “Glory,
Glory to the Son of God.”
That does something to you when you slow down and think about it. The apostle Paul says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though we are wasting away outwardly, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. And so, we fix our eyes (there’s the horizon) we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporal, what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV). Live looking forward to what’s beyond life. There’s grace to make it through this life, and there’s glory that we’re called to afterwards.
But there’s something attached to it. I don’t want you to miss this…
There’s a condition. Verse 10 says, “the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in [or by] Christ.” I mentioned this just a minute ago: you won’t automatically enjoy God’s grace in life and automatically enjoy God’s glory in heaven, without coming to Jesus. The first two qualities – God’s character and God’s eternal calling – are dependent upon this one. God’s grace and God’s glory are dependent upon knowing Jesus. It’s not automatic. Have you accepted the reality of what the Bible says concerning Jesus? Have you acknowledged your own sinfulness and confessed that sin? Have you thrown yourself upon the mercy and grace of Jesus and genuinely received His redemption, His pardon, His forgiveness?
One of the realities of pastoring is conducting funerals. It’s part of the job. I’ve been to a lot of funerals, and I’ve officiated my fair share. And some that I have been to, if I were just to walk in and listen to eulogies and listen to some preachers, I could assume by what I hear at some funerals that the only condition for you to get to heaven is to just be born. Be born, that’s all you gotta do. Live any way you want, make any choice you want, but at the end we’ll find some preacher who will push you into heaven, and say nice things about you.
I heard about the funeral of a scoundrel. I mean, this guy hated God, never wanted to go to church, never wanted God mentioned in his house, and everybody knew that about him. When he died, he had a funeral, and some preacher who didn’t know him gave the eulogy and gave the sermon and talked about how wonderful he was and went on for about ten minutes – offering words of praise and adulation. And everybody in the audience is like, “What!?” Finally, the man’s wife nudged her son and said, “Go up there and look in that casket and make sure that’s your dad. We might be at the wrong place.”
Folks, as much as I might want to tell you that’s all you have to do – be born – it’s not. According to Jesus, we have to be “born again” or “born from above” (John 3:3). Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Heaven is exclusive. And perhaps one of the biggest surprises in heaven will be who’s there and who’s not there. And we might just look at each other and go, “Larry, you’re here? After what you said on hole 13?” And Larry says, “Pastor, you’re here? After what you said when you missed that fish?” I know… It’s only by the grace of God through or in or by Christ Jesus.
God’s character is grace. God’s calling is glory. God’s condition is Christ. Fourth is…
Again, Peter is summing up his whole letter, and notice what he says, “May the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while.” Remember who Peter is writing to – the persecuted, separated, alienated people of God – those who are suffering. Everybody goes through suffering. It’s a part of life, but it’s also a part of God’s curriculum. Pain happens to everybody, but purposeful pain only happens to the child of God. Everybody goes through pain, and for the average person they look back and they say, “I don’t get this. I don’t understand. That’s just a bad thing that happened.” But not for a believer. A believer knows the truth of Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” Everything works together. Purposeful pain is what children of God get.
I know there are people that will hear this sermon or read this sermon and want to challenge me. There are some folks within the body of Christ that believe all of our problems, all of our pain, all of our sinful habits and tendencies just go away when we receive Jesus as our Savior. They believe that it’s never God’s intention for us to suffer. They struggle – some genuinely, others not so genuinely – to have a place in their theology for righteous suffering. And yet many giants of the faith confirm that reality. I’ll only offer three, for the sake of time.
The apostle Paul says, “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations [speaking of his visions of heaven] a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited” (2 Corinthians 12:7). So, even if it was from Satan, it was allowed by God. Why? To keep Paul’s ego in check. To help him rely upon the grace of God.
King David said, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes” (Psalm 119:71). Affliction, good? According to David, if it wasn’t for the affliction, then he wouldn’t have learned God’s commands, God’s truth.
And who can forget poor ole Job? The way that book opens, everything that Job experienced was allowed and permitted by God, through Satan, in order to bring about His divine purposes and glory. Do you remember what Job said to his wife after they experienced the pain of losing their children, their house, their business, everything that we value in life? He said, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10, NIV). Again, I will grant you that those tribulations and trials and sufferings were brought about by the hand of Satan, but God allowed them in order to strengthen Job, in order to bring Job to a deeper understanding of who God is. In ways we can’t fully explain or comprehend suffering is a part of God’s curriculum to bring Him glory and honor, which is the next quality…
Please see it: “[A]fter you have suffered a little while, [the God of all grace] will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” That’s God’s intention. If you’re suffering today, that’s what He’s after. He wants to make you “strong, firm and steadfast.” Do we wish He’d often times use different methods? Sure. Could He do it another way? Absolutely! Would we write our own stories with the pain of divorce, the death of children, verbal and physical abuse, addictions, and so forth? Probably not. But God uses those sufferings to “confirm, strengthen and establish” us.
As I said, I can’t fully explain it – at least not to my own satisfaction, and certainly not to yours – but even if I could we probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend it, which is why our churches and our faith have as its primary symbol the cross. It’s in the cross of Christ Jesus that we see God’s commitment brought to its rightful conclusion. It’s in the cross that we see the cruelty, the brutality, the horrifying pain and agony and suffering that God brought upon His son, Jesus, for our sake. And it’s also in the cross that we see God’s commitment through the power of the Holy Spirit to resurrect Christ from the grave. “After you have suffered a little while, [the God of all grace] will Himself restore you.”
You might ask, “What does God get out of all of this? What does God get out of giving us grace to live and calling us to glory and giving us through Jesus Christ the benefits and the refinement even through our own experiences. What does He get out of this?” Look at verse 11 and we’ll be done, “To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Peter, like Paul, is just brought to a place in his writing that he just offers a word of praise. The word benediction is Latin (see, it ain’t always Greek). And yes, it’s made up of two Latin words bene meaning “well or good” and dictio meaning “to speak.” So, literally it’s well-speaking or good words. Peter just finds himself overwhelmed with all that God is and all that God does, and all that God has in store for those who are His and he just worships, he just praises God, he just blesses the Lord.
I began by quoting poetry and I mentioned that some of our best poems have been turned into hymns and one of those was written by Frederich Lehman titled The Love of God, and the third verse reads:
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
and were the skies of parchment made;
were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill,
and ev’ryone a scribe by trade;
to write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry;
nor could the scroll contain the whole,
though stretched from sky to sky.
“God of grace and God of glory, we come to You – each of us – in desperate need of being restored, of being strengthened, of being made steadfast, of being established in Christ Jesus. Lord, we thank You that the Word of God does the work of God by the Spirit of God in the lives of us, the children of God. So, accomplish Your purposes in us, we pray. Keep us ever in Your will, and grant that we might be a help and not a hindrance to one another, as we follow Jesus, so that on that day we might stand before You complete in Him. It’s in His mighty name, the name of Jesus, our Christ, our Savior and our Lord that we pray. Amen.”
Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and go with me to 1 Peter. This is our 22nd week in 1 Peter (that’s almost 6 months), and I’ve discovered that I’m having a hard time bringing it to a close. But you know what; I’ve also learned that it’s not my fault. Isn’t that what our culture teaches us? “It’s not my fault.” Well, who’s fault, is it? It’s Peter’s fault. He keeps saying stuff, and some of the stuff that he says really needs to be considered. “Like what?” you ask. Well, like the fact that we have a real enemy – the devil. We’re only going to look at two verses today (1 Peter 5:8-9).
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
“Father, we pray because we want to say that we depend on You. We need Your help. It’s fairly plain to understand what we’ve just now read, but we need the help of the Holy Spirit to make real consideration and application in a way that would change our lives. Lord, I pray with what we discover today, as for some it will be eye-opening and sobering. O God, that we would rejoice because of the ultimate truth that this text bears out. We look to You, Lord, we thank You for this day that we can gather together and worship as Your flock, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
As I was considering the passage and the title for today’s sermon, my mind kept going back to that song from 1939. The one that was originally written and recorded by Solomon Linda for the South African Gallo Record Company under the title “Mbube.” You know it, right? No? I figured since my Greek was getting a little stale, perhaps Zulu would interest you. You speak Zulu right? Let me give you another word. How about this, “a-wimoweh, a-wimoweh, a-wimoweh.” How about it? (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)
Fun fact: the word that we sing as “a-wimoweh” is really uyimbube. Mbube is Zulu for “lion,” and in order to call a lion (like calling a kitty cat) you say uyimbube. But when Pete Seeger of The Weavers was translating the song into English, he misunderstood the word and wrote in “a-wimoweh.” And you mock my sermons…
But seriously, what if the lion doesn’t sleep tonight? What if the lion is on the prowl? What if the lion wants to destroy? We have an enemy. We have a brutal, attacking, destructive, unrelenting enemy and he’s described for us in these verses. Imagine this scenario with me for a moment. You’re at the zoo, and you’re there with your family and you’re wandering around the park, and suddenly over the PA system you hear this announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, we just wish to inform you that the lion has escaped its enclosure and it’s roaming about the park. And, by the way, this lion hasn’t eaten, so you may want to keep your children close.” You laugh, but this actually happened back in 2014, in Sydney, Australia. A lion got out of its enclosure in the park during operating hours and dozens of people had to be brought inside in order to be protected.
We have an enemy. He’s a real enemy, an invisible enemy, a deadly enemy, far deadlier than any lion on this earth. The apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:12 says, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.” So, as we unpack these verses, there are four things I want us to understand about our enemy: his identity, his strategy, his territory, and his frailty.
Notice what it says in verse 8, “your adversary the devil.” Let’s just consider that for a moment. The word “devil,” diabolos in Greek, means one who slanders or one who will attack another by slander. It’s a term that’s used 35 times in Scripture. He’s called “the devil.” Another 54 times he’s referred to as “Satan;” another 5 times he’s called “the evil one;” another 8 times he’s called “the wicked one.” He’s also called “the destroyer,” “Abaddon,” “Apollyon,” “Lucifer,” and a host of other names.
He first appears in Genesis 3. His last appearance is in Revelation 20. In other words, his work spans all of human history. Now, I realize that some people hearing this or reading this flinch whenever they hear somebody like me talk about a literal devil. We live in a day and time when a lot of people deny the existence of a literal devil. Certainly, people who are unbelievers don’t give him much thought; and even born-again Christians, many of them, don’t consider the devil to be real. He’s just a cartoon character. He wears tight, little red underwear and has a funny goatee and hops around and goes from one comic book to the other.
The Gallup Organization said that although 70 percent of Americans believe in the devil, about half believe he’s just a metaphor for evil, not a real person, just evil in general. That doesn’t concern me. Here’s what concerns me: a poll from the Barna Group – polling only born-again Christians, or those that claimed to be – asked evangelical Christians: “Do you agree/disagree that the devil is a real, living being, and not just a symbol of evil?” Of those who said they were Christians, 32 percent “strongly disagreed,” 11 percent “disagreed somewhat,” and 5 percent “don’t know.”
When you add the “strongly disagree” and the “disagree somewhat” and the “don’t know,” you end up with 48 percent of Christians leaning to the idea that the devil is not a real being but just a symbol of evil, or they just don’t know. So, just in case I’m talking to any of that ilk, let me propose a question to you: How much stock do you put in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ concerning the devil? That’s really the issue. The issue is one of authority. Where do you derive your authority? Everybody gets authority from someplace.
Maybe your authority is your culture, what everybody else thinks about something – you want to go along with them. Maybe your authority is your tradition – what’s been passed down. Maybe it’s what your friends think? Perhaps your thinking and convictions are tightly associated with your emotions, so your authority is based upon how you’re feeling at any given moment? Or, is your authority from the Bible? And do you put stock in what Jesus said about the devil? See, when Jesus talked about the devil, He never referred to the devil as an “it” or a “that,” but a “he” and a “him” (personal pronouns). In Luke 10:18 Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” Those were Jesus’ words, His experience. D. L. Moody used to say, “I believe in the devil for two reasons: 1.) the Bible says he exists; and 2.) I’ve done business with him.”
I find Peter’s language of animals in this chapter fascinating. There’s something about this lion that we read about here; Peter pictures him as “a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” wandering around. However, this lion often wears a disguise. He’s portrayed as a lion in the text, but Jesus said he usually shows up like a wolf in (what?) sheep’s clothing. Isn’t it interesting that Peter has just been addressing the shepherds and then he talks to the sheep, and no he refers to one that he calls a lion but is really a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
He’s all about the cover up. He’s all about deception. He doesn’t come off as an enemy, but as a friend. When Satan first appeared to Eve, he questioned God: “Did God really say…” He comes off so deceptive. Paul says, that “Satan masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14) so friendly, not at all like a lion.
I read an interview with Mel Gibson about his movie The Passion of the Christ. (Can you believe that movie is almost 20 years old?) The interview caught my attention, because if you remember that movie, the actor that portrayed the devil was just creepy. And I’ve often wondered, “Ugh! What’s that about?” Well, the interviewer asked Mel Gibson this question: “Why was the devil portrayed by a person you couldn’t clearly identify? Was it a beautiful woman or a hideous man? Sometimes the character looked good and other times the character looked ugly.” Mel Gibson responded by saying, “I wanted it this way because that is how the enemy is. Evil looks good until you turn it around a little and you see the whole spectrum, and then you see the ugliness.” Oh, what a statement.
The ugly, brutal lion goes undetected. In fact, the world doesn’t see him as a lion, they’re going around calling a household kitty cat, “Here kitty, kitty, kitty” not knowing who he really is. Satan is either your friend or he’s your enemy, and for born-again believers he’s indeed our enemy. So, that’s his identity.
Let’s look at his strategy. Peter says he “prowls about.” He’s on the prowl, “seeking someone to devour.” The word “devour,” is a very strong word. It means “to drink down, to swallow, to consume.” How does the devil devour people? Well, let me kind of boil it down and just get down to brass tacks. First, he wants you to burn in hell forever. How’s that for a bottom line? That’s what he wants. In John 10:10 Jesus said, “The thief comes for no other reason except to steal, to kill, to destroy.” That’s Satan’s intent. We know that hell was not made for people; it was made “for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). But misery loves company, and he wants to get as many people as possible in hell with him and his minions, and he wants humanity to burn in hell forever.
Second, if he can’t get that – and the only reason he couldn’t get that is if a person said “no” to him and said “yes” to Jesus – if he can’t get the heart of a believer, then the next best thing is to make you weak. Get you so weighed down and distracted with the piddly little stuff of life: this thing, that thing, your career, your boat, your project, just get you swimming in all of that and not thinking about advancing the kingdom of God. In that case, you’re just existing. You don’t really pose a threat to Satan and the kingdom of darkness, because you’re just impotent, you’re anemic, you’re weak.
So, here’s the bottom-line statement. Satan is hungry and gullible; and ill-prepared Christians are on his menu. He’s on the prowl, “seeking someone to devour.” Can I take your mind back to a familiar passage in the book of Job? You don’t have to turn there but recall it with me. In Job 1:8, God asks Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” That’s a rhetorical question. It would be better translated: “You’ve been considering my servant Job, haven’t you?” The word “consider” means “to set your heart on, to study.” “You’ve been studying Job, haven’t you? You’ve been looking at him. You’ve been watching him, haven’t you? You’ve been eyeing him.”
So, Satan had been studying Job and thinking, “How can I undermine this blameless, perfect man?” Looking for weak points. Looking for a time to attack. This leads me to a couple conclusions. First, Satan is actively studying you. Does that make you feel a little unnerved? I hope so. It makes me feel a little creeped out. Ever been in a restaurant when you realize that person across the restaurant has been looking at you staring at you the whole time? It’s like, woo-ooh, that’s just weird. We have an enemy who studies us. All of us have weaknesses.
There are areas of our lives where we’re prone to sin, prone to stumble and fall. For some it could be anger. For others it could be lust and pornography. For others it can be a bad habit. For others it might be insecurity and lying, trying to project an image, because you always want people to accept you. Whatever that is, and you know what those areas are, you have an enemy who also knows what those areas are. And the point is this: whatever temptation Satan sends your way is custom made just for you. “You’ve been considering my servant Job,” that’s the idea of prowling around.
The second conclusion is that Satan operates within parameters. He can only act by permission of God and in line with God’s purposes, much like the demons who inhabited a man at Gedara. And before Jesus cast them out, they said, “Permit us to go into that herd of swine” (Luke 8:31-32). They operate only by permission. That give me comfort. I know I have an enemy who’s studying me and attacking me, but I have a Lord who’s sovereign over him permitting him certain freedoms and curtailing and restricting other freedoms. So, he can only go so far. So, this is what it means to me: when I’m in the fire of a trial or I’m in the fire of a temptation, I know that God has His eye on me and His finger on the thermostat. He knows what I can take. Paul said, “[God] 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” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
So that’s his identity and that’s his strategy. Consider now his territory.
Look at verse 9, “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” Consider that phrase. Who’s “your brotherhood?” Fellow believers. “Throughout the world;” where’s that? Well, it could mean scattered outside the church, the worldly system. But it just means everywhere on earth where there are believers Satan is attacking. So, listen to this: Satan has access to the entire world geographically, but his focus of attack is on believers specifically, “your brotherhood in the world.” Did you know that three times Jesus Christ referred to Satan as “the ruler of this world?”
I’ve never liked that. I like to sing, “This is my Father’s world.” And it’s His world by creation, and it’s His world by sovereign purpose controlling everything, but He allows this devil, this Satan certain liberties and freedoms to move and to do. And though he’s on a leash (frankly, sometimes I wish the leash were a little shorter) he has access. The world is his oyster. It’s his platform of attack. Like the lion, who is considered to be the king of the jungle because he can roam just about anywhere, so too, this enemy roams wherever he wants. He roams. He searches. He looks for prey.
Go back in your mind to Job 1, the story I mentioned just a minute ago. Job 1:6 says, “Now there was a day when the sons of God (that’s angels) came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” So, Satan appears before God to give an account. And the very next verses says, “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.’” So, he appears before God for some personal accounting, but he’s been cruising the earth.
Satan has access to heaven and earth? Stay with me here. He has some access to heaven. He had some ability to appear before God to give an account, but he was cruising the earth. Let me remind you of something else we often forget, or maybe you never knew this, but Satan is not in hell. He’s never been in hell. One day he’ll be in hell. He’s going there. But not yet. And oh, when he gets there, he won’t be in charge. He’ll be in chains. He’ll be the chief victim. But until then, he has freedom, and he wanders, and he works. He commands the demonic realm, but the theater of operations of that demonic realm is in the human world. So, this is what we’re dealing with: we have an invisible army in a visible world. It’s pretty tough. It’s like they’re everywhere, but you can’t see them. He’s not omnipresent, like God is, but he’s active all over the world.
So that’s his identity, his strategy, and his territory. I’ve saved the best for last; that’s his frailty.
He can and must be engaged and he can be defeated. And that’s found in these words: “Be sober-minded, be watchful.” Also, verse 9, “Resist him, firm in your faith.” Listen, your enemy cannot be ignored. You can’t hunker yourself down in a church and say “I just don’t want to think about the devil.” That’s what some churches do. That’s why so many Christians attend churches that don’t talk about Satan – they think they can just pretend he doesn’t exist. But we have to engage him. One commentator put it like this, “The devil is never too busy to rock the cradle of a sleeping saint.” He has to be engaged. And it begins in the mind – where you think.
Let me point out three things (quickly) and we’ll be done. “Be sober-minded.” That’s a word that means “to be self-controlled, to be disciplined, to think clearly.” In other words, don’t allow yourself to be intoxicated by the amusements of this world. Be sober-minded. The battle always begins in the mind, folks, it always begins in the mind. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7, NKJV). Every behavioral scientist in the last several decades has said that most people are governed by sub-conscious thought. So, we begin in in the mind – what we think about. We have to think clearly.
Second, “be watchful.” The word means to be alert, to be vigilant, to be on the lookout, don’t fall asleep on the job. I think of Peter and James and John in the garden of Gethsemane, and I wonder if that wasn’t still resonating in Peter’s mind when he wrote this. Remember, Jesus came to him, and he said, “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). So, watch out for attacks in weak areas. Watch out that you don’t get in a compromising position or a situation where you would be more apt to yield than to resist. Watch out.
Third, verse 9 says, “Resist him.” He can be resisted. We like to throw up our hands in frustration and weariness and say, “I just can’t resist…” as if the call to fight sin and wage war against our bodies is a waste of time. It’s not. We can resist Satan. Maybe not perfectly. Maybe not all of the time. But we can and we have. James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” But notice that it also says to do this “firm in the faith.” Now, this is one of those places where I actually don’t like the ESV. Normally, the ESV is a very good, very dependable, very accurate translation, but not here. The ESV says, “Resist him, firm in your faith.” The Greek uses the definite article “the faith.” This is so clear to us in our day. How many times have we recently heard people in our western American culture talk about “your truth” and “my truth.” “Well, that might be ‘your’ truth, but it’s not ‘my’ truth. Speak ‘your’ truth in this/that situation.” No, there’s only one truth. The question is whether you’re on the right side of truth.
The same is true for faith. There’s not ‘your’ faith and ‘my’ faith, as though we can pick/choose which parts of the gospel we want. The faith is the truth of the gospel as embodied in the Scripture. In Jude 1:3 we read, “Contend earnestly for the faith, once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude was speaking about the body of truth that has been passed down by the Holy Spirit in the written Word of God. What did Jesus do when the devil assaulted Him in the wilderness? He quoted Scripture, “It is written . . .” You gotta know what’s written before you can say, “It is written . . .” That’s why we need to know our Bibles, otherwise when we’re attacked, we’re going to say things like “Okay, uh, God helps those who help themselves. Oh, wait, that’s not it. A stitch in time saves nine. Oh, wait, I got it ‘Cleanliness is next to godliness.’” Standing firm in the faith is how you resist the devil. Be sober-minded. Be watchful. Resist him, firm in the faith.
Let me close with this, because otherwise you’ll leave here today saying, “Yeah, I heard a great sermon. I got an enemy who wants to kill me. Woo-hoo! It feels so good!” Listen, our enemy is a vicious lion. He’s a brutal lion, but he’s only a second-rate lion. He roars a lot. He sounds intimating, but he’s a second-rate lion. There’s a lion that out-ranks our enemy and He goes by the title the “Lion of Judah.” And John sees Him in the book of Revelation, and he says, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered” (Revelation 5:5). C. S. Lewis wrote a whole series of books, Chronicles of Narnia, and the Christ figure in that series was the lion Aslan. That’s what John was referring to.
The prophet Amos predicted, “The LORD roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem” (Amos 1:2). When Jesus was on the cross dying in Zion, our lion King, the true lion King, the Lion of Judah, roared from Jerusalem with these words, he cried out with a loud voice, “It is finished!” He made that proclamation. And one day our great enemy, Satan, the second-rate lion, the crafty, deceiving, manipulating lion will be “thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).
Until then he roams around, but until then we can be sober-minded, watchful, resisting him in the faith because “greater is the Lion of Judah that’s in us than the roaming evil lion that is in the world” (1 John 4:4, adapted).
“Father, we thank You for these truths. We thank You, Lord, that You don’t leave us in the dark about who our true enemy is, and what he does, and what we’re able to do – resisting him, standing firm in the faith. O God, most of all, we’re grateful that You and You alone are the true Lion of Judah, our King, our Savior, our Lord, for we offer this prayer in the name of Jesus, amen.”
As always, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to 1 Peter 5. When we finish a sermon series, there’s one thing I know for sure: you don’t have any problem finding that particular book of the Bible. As is frequently the case, in the Pauline and Petrine epistles, when you get to the end of these letters, it seems as though they both speed up their delivery and begin peppering the discussion with lots of little imperatives. “Do this. And, oh, don’t forget to do this. Oh, and one more thing…” And so on.
In fact, when you pick up a commentary on most of the New Testament epistles, you find a great deal of material on the chapters that come before the final chapter, and when you get to the last chapter you get maybe a page or two. But there’s still so much to be learned in these short instructions. For example, this morning we’re going to learn that there’s a connection between humility and anxiety – at least in Peter’s mind. Strange bedfellows, indeed, but maybe not as strange as we initially thought. Follow along with me as I read these three verses, beginning with verse 5:
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.
“Our gracious God, and heavenly Father, in whom is the fullness of light and wisdom, enlighten our minds by the power of the Holy Spirit, and give us grace to receive your Word with reverence and humility, without which no one can understand your truth. For Christ’s sake, Amen.” (Adapted from a prayer by John Calvin)
Last week, we heard Peter address the shepherds, the pastors, the elders in the church and give them some instruction and encouragement in their role as leaders of the congregation: properly feed, protect, guard, and guide the sheep. And this week he extends that instruction to the next generation – those who are younger – and then to all of the people of God. I was tempted to ask Bob Larson if he wouldn’t mind preaching for me this morning, because last week as he and Geneva were leaving, he stopped at the door and said, “Pastors need sheep that will listen.” And he’s right. That’s essentially what Peter says here: sheep, you have a responsibility too.
And I want to give you the three principles. You know, sometimes you go, “Boy, he does things in threes a lot.” Two weeks ago, we had 6 points, but I just find that three is a good, biblical number and it’s generally not too much to remember. There are three verses and three major principles that I see, here. I’m going to give them to you in sentence form. Number one: Responding to authority helps leadership.
Nothing is more helpful to those who are in authority than to find folks who will respond to that authority. Notice what he writes: “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders” – now let’s pause right there. This isn’t an unfamiliar theme, is it not? Peter has written a lot about submission so far. Back in chapter 2, verse 13, he writes, “Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” In chapter 2, verse 18, “Servants, be submissive to your masters.” In chapter 3, verse 1, “Wives, submit to your husbands.” In chapter 3, verse 22, Peter writes about angelic beings being in subjection or submission to Christ. In other words, submission is a part of every single realm of life. Like it or not, submission is a foundational attitude for all of life.
You can’t be saved without submission. Did you know that? In order to be saved you have to repent, turn from what you know is wrong, your own selfishness, your own previous choices. And repent means to turn around and go in a new direction. And therefore, you are now in submission to an alien will. You cannot follow Christ unless you are willing to submit to Christ as Savior and as Lord.
All of society is built on submission. There are laws that you must keep. And if you don’t keep those laws, then there are policemen out there whose job it is to enforce those laws in order to help you remember. Not only is there government, but there’s also submission at home to parents. If you go to work, you have to submit to rules and regulations of the company or the vision and instruction of the boss. In virtually every part of life there is a structure, a chain of command for anything to work, and so it is in the church.
The writer of Hebrews puts it like this, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (13:17). Now, I’m not bringing this up in a self-serving way hoping that you will respond to my authority. It’s simply part of the biblical text. Peter addresses the elders, then he addresses those who are younger in response to those who are older. And then, he addresses all people in the congregation after that.
But here’s what I want you to know about submission: submission to any authority on earth is an act of faith. And I say it’s an act of faith, because when you submit to a person as a believer, you’re trusting that there is God behind them who is sovereign and in control, in spite of what boss you have, or what the issues are, or who the leaders are. It’s an act of faith.
I have a couple dogs at home. And they’re two different sizes, but the little one is very full of herself. And the big one could take her any time she wanted. But they tussle and they rumble, and they look like they’re fighting, but they’re just playing. You’ve seen this, when dogs play. There’s a signal that a dog gives when it submits. It’ll get on its back and expose its stomach and neck. And at any time, I think, “Man, that dog could just go keek and it’s over.” That position of submission could destroy that dog, but in reality, that signal is how the dog is spared. And in any organization and in any group, in any structure at all, people are spared, the unit is spared when there is submission. So, it is in the church, and Peter says: responding to authority helps leadership. Here’s the second principle: Living in humility enhances fellowship.
Continue in verse 5, second sentence. “Yes,” says Peter, “all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for” (and he quotes Proverbs) ‘God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.’” Peter begins this chapter by addressing the elders, then moving to the younger – likely because they had more difficulty recognizing proper structures of authority. Linda Schaub has a magnet on her refrigerator that says, “Hurry! Hire a young person now before they forget everything.” One preacher put it like this, “Peter started out with the elders, then he addressed the younger, and finally he spoke to the y’all-ers.” He spoke about the action of submission, and now he speaks about the attitude of humility. This is the attitude that lubricates relationships. When the gears get tight, submission and humility are the oil that keep it flowing smoothly.
You know that I like to offer Greek and Hebrew terms when I preach, but trust me, I’m not even going to attempt this one. The word “humility” means to get low or low-lying. Sometimes it’s translated “lowliness of mind.” For example, Paul says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). So, a low-minded person. Clothe yourself with humility. I like the way the J.B. Phillips translation reads: “Indeed all of you should defer to one another and wear the ‘overalls’ of humility in serving each other.” Dwight Moody used to pray, “Lord, make me humble, but just don’t let me know it.” That’s the attitude.
And Peter tells us why by quoting Proverbs 3:4, “[F]or ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” Just chew on that for a minute. One of the quickest ways to pick a fight with God is to be proud. You want resistance from God, be proud. God hates pride. Just another little footnote, here. This proverb was quoted by James in his epistle, too. So, pride and humility were ideas that Peter, James, Paul, John, all of them talked about. And why not? Jesus said, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
I’m reminded of the story of two brothers who grew up on a farm out in the middle of the country. As they grew up, one of the boys decided he would stay on the farm and take over for his dad as a simple farmer. The other one left the farm and went to school and became highly educated, got into politics, became very wealthy, grew in prominence and importance. One day, he came back and visited his brother on the farm.
After supper they took a walk out in the fields. And the educated, wealthy, politician brother put his arm around the farmer brother, and he said, “You know, you ought to think about leaving this farm. Make something of your life. You know, do something important where you could hold your up high. Get off this farm.” So, the farmer brother put his arm around his prominent brother and said, “Look out at that wheat field, brother. You know it well. Notice, only the empty heads stand up.” And he continued, “those that are filled always bow low.” Another way of saying that is, “The branch that bears the most fruit is the one that is bent lowest to the ground.”
Clothe yourself with the very virtue that people of this world despise, humility, lowliness of mind. Responding to authority helps leadership. Living in humility enhances fellowship. Here’s the third and final principle in these verses: Resting in sovereignty acknowledges lordship.
Let me give you the flow of the passage. This is where we’ve come from. Peter says, “Whether you’re old or whether you’re young, whoever you are, all of you together must have the action of submission and the attitude of humility, because God graciously favors humble people, and he aggressively fights proud people. So, therefore humble yourself.” That’s the flow of thought. If pride is the barrier to God’s blessing, then humble yourself. Under what? Notice, he calls it “the mighty hand of God.” That’s a phrase that’s used frequently in the Old Testament to refer to God’s all-powerful ability to work in any and every situation and circumstance.
In Exodus 3:19 it’s called a “strong hand.” In Exodus 32:11 it’s called a “mighty hand.” In Deuteronomy 3:24 it’s referred to as “the right hand of power.” Job 30:21 calls it the “might of Your hand.” The idea is that we’re aware of God’s sovereignty. We’re resting in God’s ability, His Lordship. We’re acknowledging His Lordship in that act of submission. We’re recognizing that He’s capable, and so we willingly surrender.
When you go to the hospital for surgery, we often say that we’re “going under the knife.” They put you under anesthetic and you go to sleep. That’s an act of faith. You’re submitting yourself to the capable hands of a physician in hopes that in due time you will be raised back up. Right? In the same way, just as Jesus surrendered to the will of the Father and went to the death of the cross and God raised Him up, as we surrender to the will of God, we put our hope in God – the One who will raise us up. And that submission and that humility before God is what then allows us to “cast all our anxieties on Him, because He cares for us.”
Let’s chew on that verse as we close, shall we? Pastor and Bible teacher, Skip Heitzig calls this verse a “soft pillow for tired hearts.” Many of you have this verse underlined in your Bibles. Jesus said, “[D]o not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing” (Matthew 6:25)? Alright, I spared you from the Greek earlier, but not this time. The word “care” or “anxiety” or “worry” is the Greek word merimna. That’s the noun form. The verb form is the Greek word merimnaó. It comes from two words put together: one is merizó, which means “to tear or divide;” the second word is noós which means “the mind.” I always remember that because I associate it with “noodle.” So, literally the word means “to tear or divide the mind.” James said, “The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways” (1:8). That’s what stress does. Anxiety… Worry… Cares of this life take our minds in two different directions.
I went to the doctor on Thursday for my annual physical. I’m one of those hard-headed guys that only goes to the doctor when something isn’t feeling right. Anyway, in my initial check-in, the nurse was going through the usual battery of questions, and she asked if I had any depression or suicidal thoughts. Now, I recognize the seriousness of those questions, but it’s a sad situation when so many people – including Christians – are either unable, because they don’t know the Prince of Peace and the Wonderful Counselor, or worse still, unwilling, to cast their cares on Him, and instead try to carry the weight of all those things themselves.
The fact of the matter is that most of us are in the latter category. It’s not that we don’t know the One who can bring peace. It’s not that we’re unaware that He’s more than capable of handling all of the anxieties and cares of our day. Rather, it’s that we’re unwilling to give them to Him. And for that, we need to repent. We need to acknowledge the sin of idolatry, the sin of thinking we’re doing God a favor by not giving these concerns to Him. We need to acknowledge the sin of distrust and disobedience. We don’t trust God enough. And we’re not nearly as obedient as we should be.
I’m reminded of an exchange that the great British preacher G. Campbell Morgan said he had with a dear lady in Westminster Chapel in Londan. She asked Dr. Morgan, “Shall we pray about the little things in our lives or just the big things?” Morgan, in his witty British manner said, “Madam, do you think there’s anything in life that’s big to God?” See, it’s all small potatoes to God. Not that God doesn’t care. He cares about all of it. But it’s not like, “Oh my goodness, this is a big one!” So, “cast all your anxieties, all your cares, all your worries upon Him.” Why? Look at the last four words: “He cares for you.”
That’s the one message you need to walk away with today: God cares for you. And I guess you have to decide what kind of a God you believe in. Do you believe in a close God, a personal God, a caring God, or do you believe in a cold, aloof, passive God? The God of the Bible cares for you and me so much that He came to us – in spite of our sin, in the midst of our brokenness – Jesus came to live among us, to walk among us, to go to the cross and take upon Himself the punishment, the death, the suffering that we deserved because of our sin. That’s our God. That’s what Jesus did for us. Why? Because He cares for us.
“Father, we leave these things – the concerns of our hearts, the people we struggle with, the leaders in our lives – we leave them in Your capable hands, O Lord. Help us, O God, as an act of faith, to surrender to You and tie around ourselves the aprons of humility, put on the overalls of lowliness. The virtue that both ancient and modern worlds despise is the very virtue that You extol, because Jesus was humble. Lord, these are the compliant attributes that we desire to display in our lives. May You, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives, make it so. For we pray these things in Jesus’ name, amen.”
Take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to 1 Peter 5. We got a little reprieve last week, hearing from Tuvya about the ministry he’s engaged in – sharing the gospel with Jews. I enjoyed not having to preach, and I’m sure that you enjoyed not hearing me preach. (It’s okay; we can be honest like that.) Today, however, we’re back in Peter’s first epistle to a scattered and persecuted church – believers in Jesus who find themselves as aliens and exiles living in Asia Minor. The finish line is in front of us. We’re that close to being done.
When you read the Bible, you often find that the shepherd is one of the most heartwarming pictures of the relationship that God has with His people. It’s a picture of care. It’s a picture of diligence. In fact, just like Amazing Grace is universally known and sung around the world by Christians and non-Christians alike, so too, Psalm 23 is almost universally known and loved. The image and idea of the Good Shepherd is the one that Jesus chose for Himself. It’s timeless. It’s encouraging. It’s comforting. It’s Jesus.
Sheep, on the other hand, are not always put in the greatest of light. For example, Mark’s gospel includes this statement, “When [Jesus] went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). Or how about Isaiah, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – everyone – to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). In fact, the only time that sheep are placed in favorable light is when they’re under the supervision of a good shepherd. And that’s what Peter turns to as he closes his first letter. Follow along with me, as we read the first 4 verses:
1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
“Father, as always, we gather acknowledging that You are with us. As we come to Your Word, we ask that the Holy Spirit convey truth to our hearts. We thank You, Lord, that we’ve been able to be encouraged and instructed by one of Your closest earthly friends. His letter to a struggling church, which is Your letter to a struggling church, fits us so perfectly. Lord, as we continue to look at it, I pray that You would give us grace to make application, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
Peter has three main things to say to pastors, three main responsibilities or qualifications. The first is relationship. The second is calling. And the third is desire. Those three things: relationship, calling, desire. Pastors must have a personal relationship with Christ, a practical gifting to serve Christ, and a powerful desire to please Christ. So, let’s look at these three qualities.
By the way, some of you are thinking, “Hey, this passage is all about pastors and that ain’t me, so I’ll just scroll through my phone.” I know you. In many ways, I am one of you. And while it’s true that these verses are primarily directed at people like me, it’s also important for you to know what these verses say for at least three reasons:
So, I hope that you’ll engage with the text and not just let me preach to myself.
In verses 1 and 2 there are three words that I want you to notice with me. The first is the word “elder.” Peter is specifically addressing the elders, and he counts himself among them. That word is the Greek word presbuteros. We get the term “Presbyterian” from it. It refers to somebody who is mature, often older, wiser. It’s a term that’s borrowed from the Old Testament and brought into the New Testament. You might recall the advice that Moses’ father-in-law Jethro provided shortly after the Israelites were safely across the Red Sea – how he suggested that Moses appoint judges and leaders to help attend to the needs and concerns of the people. Well, that’s the background of this word “elder.”
The second word is in verse 2. It’s the word “oversight.” It’s a different word, episkopos. We get the word “episcopal” from that – a bishop, an overseer. And the third word is the word “shepherd,” also found in verse 2. Although it’s used in its verb form here, it’s often used in a noun form and the word in Greek would be poimēn. Now, here’s what I want you to know: all three of those words describe one person.
Some of you come from church backgrounds where the organizational hierarchy was such that pastors/elders were on the bottom at the local church level and the bishops were above that on a regional or managerial level. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that (per se) but the New Testament church wasn’t developed enough, at the time, to justify having the levels of ministry that some of our churches have today. So, when Peter is writing and when Paul is establishing churches, they aren’t operating with this mindset. Thus, the presbuteros (elder), episkopos (bishop), and poimēn (shepherd) were all the same individual.
So, Peter speaks to the elders as a fellow elder. Peter doesn’t come off as somebody superior – although he could have. He doesn’t say, “I, Peter, the great apostle…,” he says, “I’m a fellow elder. I come to you as one of you.” Remember, this is the same Peter who, along with James and John, was among the inner circle of disciples. And yet, he doesn’t come as one of the three most intimate friends, but as a fellow elder, and one who had a personal relationship with the suffering and risen Christ.
Notice the wording. He says that he’s, “a fellow elder and a witness.” A witness is simply somebody who sees and hears
something and then tells others what they’ve seen and heard. That’s all a witness is. Peter was personally with Christ. That’s his past tense: “I was there when He suffered.” But now looking to the future he says, “And also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed.” So, “Unlike you, I was personally with Jesus and watched Him suffer; but like you, I’m waiting for Him to return.” What I want you to notice over all of this is that Peter writes as one who had a personal encounter, thus a personal relationship with Christ.
That’s the first mark of a good shepherd. It’s a man who personally walks with God and is growing in that walk with God. In fact, I’ll say it this way: As the shepherd goes, so go the sheep. As the shepherd grows, so grow the sheep. If the shepherd is growing, sheep are growing. If the shepherd is stagnating, the sheep will be stagnating. Which means that church leaders should always be growing in their personal lives, their spiritual walks, the gifts they use, their knowledge – all summed up in 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and in the acknowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Here’s the second thing: a practical calling to serve Jesus. Verses 2 and 3 say, “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.” It’s as if God says, “I will entrust you to take My flock and be a steward over them.”
Here’s the long and short of it: a shepherd must be called. There has to be a calling. I know that’s a mystical kind of thing. It’s hard to describe exactly what it means to “be called” as a minister. But I believe the late Fredrich Beuchner, who recently passed away in August of this year, described it best in a little red book that I have in my office called Wishful Thinking. Of calling, he writes:
There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-Interest.
By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do, and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, then you’ve presumably met requirement (a) but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b) but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed, then chances are you’ve not only bypassed (a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
Pastors have to be called. They need a practical gifting to serve Christ. And Peter gives us two areas where that “calling” or “gifting” should be evident: feeding sheep and leading sheep. Look at the first one: feeding the sheep. That’s found in the phrase “Shepherd the flock of God.” The King James Version says, “Feed the flock of God.”
What’s interesting about this section of 1 Peter is the obvious connection that it has to Peter’s own life. You can’t read these 4 verses and not be reminded of Peter’s encounter with Jesus after the resurrection, where Jesus reconciles and restores Peter following his denial. You remember that? Jesus is on the shore cooking fish over a fire. The disciples come in from a night of fishing (not having caught a thing, which is the typical story for them), and Peter gets around the fire with Jesus, and Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” “Yes, Lord, I love you.” And Jesus said, “Feed my sheep,” (John 21:15-17) sometimes translated “tend” or “care for,” but, “feed my sheep.” It’s what shepherds do; they feed sheep. “The Lord is my Shepherd,” David said, “He leads me beside still waters.”
You’ve all heard the story of the man who wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now, and in that time, I’ve heard something like 3,000 sermons, but for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the preachers are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”
This started a real controversy in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ column. Much to the delight of the editor, it went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: “I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this… They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would physically be dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”
I know that some of you would prefer that my preaching style would allow us to move around a little more, or that my sermon series were shorter and had “catchier” titles. I get it. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s just not my style. My philosophy (right or wrong) is that if you want strong sheep, then you need to preach through entire books of the Bible. Paul writes to Timothy and says, “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3, NLT). I’m not suggesting that’s what every other pastor does, but there are many pastors out there who are feeding their sheep poison.
Second, he has to be gifted to lead the flock. You’ll notice in verse 2 it says, “exercising oversight”. I told you the word is episcopos, episcopal, meaning bishop. Literally it means somebody who “sees over;” hence, the word “overseer.” It’s somebody who looks over a group of people and sees what they need, looks over a flock of sheep and looks out for them. That’s the idea of an overseer. He’s gifted to lead them. And he does it in a few different ways.
Notice it says, “not by compulsion but willingly.” In other words, not because you have to, but because you want to. One Sunday morning, a wife says to her husband, “Come on, it’s time to get up and go to church.” “I’m not going to church this morning,” he said. “You gotta get up and go to church,” she replied. “No, I’m not.” “Oh, yes, you are!” “No, I’m not. They don’t like me and I don’t like them. Give me two good reasons why I have to go.” The wife replies, “Number one, you’re 55 years old. And number two, you’re the pastor!” Willingly, not by compulsion.
Peter also says that pastors ought not serve as shepherds “for shameful gain, but eagerly.” There were many false prophets that peppered the congregation in ancient times and were out just to get money out of people. Read Ezekiel 13 and Ezekiel 34. God had some stern words for shepherds that fed themselves and clothed themselves and were self-centered. (Now, I want to take just a second and say that you have always been good to me and my family, and to my knowledge, we’ve always been good to the other staff when it comes to salaries and compensation. And I’m not just saying that. It’s true.) Pastor and shepherd eagerly, not for shameful gain.
The final qualification is in verse 3, “not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.” The greatest sermon ever preached is one taught by example. John Maxwell is a pastor and an expert in organizational leadership. He said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Pastors lead by example with their personal relationship with Jesus, their practical calling to serve Jesus, and finally their powerful desire to please Jesus.
Look at verse 4, “And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” Remember, up to this point Peter is encouraging a suffering group of people, and one of the ways he encourages them is by saying, “Hold on. It’s tough now, but later on when Jesus comes back, you’re going to get a reward. The best is yet to come. Look toward the future. Look toward the goal of God’s glory.” That’s 1 Peter 4:13, “rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.” He says the same thing now to the pastors. Our motivation for ministry is to please Jesus Christ.
I’m reminded of the story of the shepherd the little boy and the donkey. They were walking from one village to another and as they got to the first village the people said, “He ought to be riding the donkey.” So, to please the people the shepherd rode on the donkey. When they got to the next village the people said the shepherd was cruel because he was letting the little boy walk while he was riding. So, to please the people, he got off the donkey and put the little boy on. When they got to the next village, the people said that both the boy and the shepherd ought to ride. After all, that’s what donkeys are for. So, to please the people, both the shepherd and the little boy rode. When they got to the next village, (a lot like America) the people all shouted, “Cruelty to donkeys! Poor little donkey is supporting the weight of two people. It’s horrible.” The last time they saw the shepherd he was walking down the road carrying the donkey.
Any kind of work, including ministry, should be done to please the Chief Shepherd. Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Because, at the end of the day, we won’t stand before our peers; we’ll stand before the Chief Shepherd. And notice what He’ll do if we do it right: “You will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” We can labor for different kinds of crowns. Some will labor for a crown of fame and popularity, others will labor for a crown of personal empire building, others will labor for a crown of people’s applause. But the best way to labor is for God’s approval. The most common desire that people share with me – people that love Jesus – is to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). That’s what we want to hear. That’s what we’re waiting for.
“Father, thank You, as our Chief Shepherd, the One that we look toward, that we serve, that we love, that we worship. You’re the One we do it for. Help me, O God, to shepherd Your flock well. And Lord, help us (all) to stay accountable with our hands to the plow and our feet marching ahead and our eyes always toward you, the Good Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd. As we come to Your table, may we remember Your example, may we follow Your example, and may we please You in all that we do. For we offer this prayer in the name of Christ Jesus, amen.”
Today’s message is delivered by Dr. Tuvya Zaretsky with Jews for Jesus. This sermon connects the Old Testament feasts and festivals with the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, in the New Testament.