I Peter 5:5-9

The attitude of Grace

“Would you open your Bibles with me to...”

1Pet. 5:5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

1Pet. 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

1Pet. 5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

1Pet. 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

1Pet. 5:9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

Pray

Into

√ From shepherd to sheep

Having addressed the shepherds, or elders, Peter now turns his attention to the sheep and their responsibility within the local church.

Specifically, the younger peoples responsibility to place themselves under the authority of the elders.

Ap. Rubs the Independent spirit of American’s the wrong way!

Yet, submission as a general principle of our Christian witness has been a theme throughout Peter’s letter.

Christians are called to submit to…

Laws of the land

Civil authorities

Masters/employers

Wives to husbands

…now Peter speaks to the whole body of believers regarding the correct attitude we must have toward Godly authority, and one another.

Just as Peter spoke to the elders about their heart motivation for serving as leaders…

…Peter now speaks to the flock about their heart motivation in submitting to those Godly leaders.

Ap. Pastors can “lead a sheep to water”, but can’t make it drink. Think of the multitudes who turned away from Jesus when He began to speak to them about the “cost” of following Him.

Please listen to the Word and obey it!

Submission – the attitude of Grace (vs. 5-7)

1Pet. 5:5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

1Pet. 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

1Pet. 5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

√ Submission to people

Here Peter reminds the young people (“you whipper snappers”) that they are to submit themselves to Godly authority.

Makes sense because church leaders are typically older, if not chronologically, then certainly in their maturity in the Lord.

Peter’s instruction to those who are younger is to willingly place themselves under the authority of those in leadership.

Why?

1) It’s a bad idea to “resist” the Lord!

2) Because the elders are placed by God in the church to watch over the spiritual health of the sheep.

3) It is for the benefit of the sheep that the elders speak into their lives.

We find a similar exhortation in the book of Hebrews…

Heb. 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Godly leaders tell you the truth – even when people don’t want to hear it – because it’s what they need to hear for their own good.

Ap. Listen to Godly instruction!

I’d have a lot more friends, and people would speak better or me, if I didn’t tell them the truth when they ask for it.

But, if a person asks about God’s thoughts regarding some area of sin in their live…

…we have a God given responsibility to tell them the truth or their sin is on our head!

Do what the Word says – and listen to those whom God has placed in leadership.

√ Called to mutual submission

Note the rest of vs. 5…

“Yes, all of you be submissive to one another”

That is, it is not just the younger that are called to willingly submit themselves to the elders…

…rather, everyone in the church is to be willing to submit themselves to one another for the good of the fellowship.

Ex. Dr. Brad and the construction bandage

The bottom line is that none of us lives on an island. We’re all members of one body and therefore must work together to get the Lord’s work done.

That “working together” requires a mutual submission.

Ex. Walking – the feet have to be in agreement to make any progress.

Godly submission requires a Christ-like attitude.

√ Humility

“and be clothed with humility”- vs. 5

Once again Peter calls to mind the example of Christ. Just as he spoke to the elders regarding their calling as “shepherds” – Jesus’ philosophy of ministry to Peter in John 21…

…he now calls to mind the example of Jesus in John 13 to show us the correct attitude in our submitting one to another.

Jesus’ philosophy of service.

“clothed” = “to tie on the apron of a slave”

Peter is reminding us of the example of Jesus in the upper room!

Dirty feet everywhere

Not one willing to serve the other

Jesus sets the example…

Leaves the room

Undresses and ties a towel (apron) around His waist

Washes their dirty feet

Teaching the disciples that humility is the prerequisite for service and service is the practice of humility!

That’s the mental picture Peter has as he calls us to submit to one another by “clothing” ourselves with humility!

Not with a grudging attitude, but with the attitude of Jesus, Who humbly made Himself a slave that He might serve others!

Ap. True humility is attractive attire on anyone!

Therefore we’re called to submit ourselves to one another and to God that we might serve in an attitude of Grace and Love.

The Adversary of Grace (vs. 8-9)

1Pet. 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

1Pet. 5:9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

√ The devil

Grace is the means by which God does His work in our lives. It would only make sense then that the chief adversary of Grace is the devil!

Satan hates nothing more than to see individuals get into a right relationship with God.

So, Peter tells us that the devil…

“walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”

That is, Satan was doing his very best to frighten Christians with a bold frontal attack by means of persecution.

His hope was to scare the Christians into silence lest they continue to declare the Gospel message and bring even more people to salvation!

Ex. Nero feeding Christians to the lions at the Coliseum

However, persecution of the Church has never worked for any length of time!

In fact, most often persecution results in an even greater harvest for the Kingdom of God because the very fear that Satan hoped would silence the Church…

…serves to strengthens them!

√ Note your defense

A clear mind

A watchful eye

A strong will

A steady faith

I love this because it removes all of our excuses for sin!

Ex. “The devil made me do it!” – “I tried to stop sinning, but I couldn’t”

The Bible has just one thing to say to that excuse…

“whatever”

Christians are forever giving reasons why they continue to sin. The bottom line is that they don’t want to quit sinning!

Peter makes it very clear here that we have the power in Christ to resist the attacks of the devil!

A clear mind: “sober”, or as the NIV reads, “be self-controlled”. Self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:23). If you want to stay out of sin, ask the Lord to help you develop self-control.

A watchful eye: “vigilant”, or “alert”, that is, watch out for the traps of the devil! He uses the same tricks that he’s been using since the Garden. Stay out of places and situations that lead to sin.

A strong will: “resist the devil”, the point is that the devil can be resisted, and Christians should resist him!

James tells us…

James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

All too often people blame the devil for their sin! We give Satan too much credit. Most of the time we sin because we want to sin!

The truth is that God has given us the power by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to resist sin.

Unfortunately we usually don’t call on Him to help us.

A steady faith: once the Christian makes up his/her mind to resist the devil, Peter tells us to be “steadfast” in our faith. That is, once you decide to resist the devil, we’re told to place our faith in the power of Jesus to deliver us from the power of the devil.

√ Be encouraged by the faith of others

Peter closes his thoughts by calling Christians to remember that other believers are also suffering for their faith…

…and doing so without falling to the temptations of the devil to deny Jesus.

Ap. If Christians in the Sudan can suffer great physical persecution without denying their faith…

…we should be willing to boldly proclaim our love for Jesus here in the USA.

Close

√ Trust yourself to God’s Grace

Submitting to one another and those in authority

Resisting the devil

…confident that God will take care of you as He has promised. Obedience to God always carries a promise. God will take care of you!

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

Remember, God sets Himself against the proud, those who trust in themselves and their own power.

Make up your mind this morning to obey God and trust that He will give you the power to do His will.