August 1, 2004
Service Theme - "Our God Teaches Us"
1 Peter 5:1-14
How to Get Your Act Together
I. Introduction
A. Illustration - Three boys in the schoolyard were bragging about who had the better father. The first boy says, "My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, and they give him $100." The second boy says, "That's nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, and they give him $1000." The third boy says, "My Dad is even better than that. He scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a sermon, and it takes six men just to collect all the money!"
B. Context - Humility is a hard trait to master, and it is just one of the character traits God wants us to have that Peter writes about in 1 Peter 5:1-14. So let's read it together, and I'm reading from The Message.
II. Scripture Passage
A. 1 Peter 5:1-14 (from The Message) - (NEW SLIDE) I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it's like to be a leader, in on Christ's sufferings as well as the coming glory. (NEW SLIDE) Here's my concern: that you care for God's flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. (NEW SLIDE) Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way. 4 When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he'll see that you've done it right and commend you lavishly. (NEW SLIDE) And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for - God has had it with the proud, but takes delight in just plain people. (NEW SLIDE) 6 So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you. (NEW SLIDE) 8 Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. (NEW SLIDE) You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. (NEW SLIDE) It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ - eternal and glorious plans they are! - will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does. (NEW SLIDE) 12 I'm sending this brief letter to you by Silas, a most dependable brother. I have the highest regard for him. I've written as urgently and accurately as I know how. This is God's generous truth; embrace it with both arms! (NEW SLIDE) The church in exile here with me - but not for a moment forgotten by God - wants to be remembered to you. Mark, who is like a son to me, says hello. Give holy embraces all around! Peace to you - to all who walk in Christ's ways.
I. Humility Is at the Root of Everything
A. This passage has a lot to teach all of us, and not just those we identify as leaders in our church. But Peter's first words seem to be addressed only to church leaders. He shares his special concern for them, and that he understands the challenges and heartaches of leadership. (NEW SLIDE) So the first plain meaning is that church leaders are commanded to care for God's flock, the church, with diligence, humility, and unselfishness, seeking God's approval in all they do. Will all those who are the leaders in our church please stand? These folks work hard to help us move in God's direction, and we are to commend and uphold all of them in prayer. Thank you for all of your hard work for the Kingdom of God, especially for your work in caring for the flock!
B. Now, how many of you believe that these folks are the only leaders in our church? The truth is that they aren't. John Maxwell says, "Leadership is influence," so in truth all of us are leaders in one way or another because all of us influence someone else. Granted, some lead many people and some few or one, but all of us are leaders. So that expands the application of verses one through five a little further. (NEW SLIDE) Peter is calling all of us to care for each other with diligence, humility, and unselfishness, seeking God's approval in everything we do. That's hard to do because all of us have our own ideas of how we think things should be run and what our church should look like. Yet God is calling us to follow our leaders in molding our church in the image He has for it, imitating their example of holiness and humility. We're all equal in value in the sight of God, so none of us has any reason to be proud because of our personal position or authority. As the New Living puts verse five: And all of you, serve each other in humility, for God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble. That's tough, because we all get hammered so much by the world we'd really like to act like big shots in some area of our lives so we can feel better about ourselves. The irony is that the ultimate "Big Shot", the One with the greatest reasons to brag, didn't. Instead, Jesus humbled Himself and became one of us and died for us. That is a powerful truth!
C. Let me back up for just a minute, because I don't want to gloss over verse four: When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he'll see that you've done it right and commend you lavishly. (NEW SLIDE) God will commend leaders for following Him and obediently serving Him from a humble heart. That's good news, but the flip side is true as well. God will punish those who have abused their leadership. As James 3:1 puts it, Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged by God with greater strictness. I have to confess that this verse scares me a bit. But I'm thankful for God's grace that helps me do a better job than I could ever do on my own! (NEW SLIDE) The point is that all of us teach somebody else by our example, and this is especially true of leaders. People are watching our example to see if what we say and what we do lines up. That doesn't mean that we have to do everything perfectly, for then we'll just be a bunch of frustrated perfectionists, criticizing ourselves and everybody else who doesn't get it just right. (NEW SLIDE) What it does mean is that everything we do has to be done with God's love by the power of God's Spirit. And that's the gist of what Peter's teaching us.
D. In view of all this, Peter writes, So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you. God will remake us into His likeness as we follow and serve and obey Him, but He is the One who made us the way He wanted us to be in the first place. (NEW SLIDE) So we have to learn to live with those things we don't like about ourselves that He isn't going to change. There are many times in my life when I don't like being as tall as I am, especially when it comes to clothes shopping. I can find lots and lots of shirts that fit perfect in my shoulders and around me but only go down to my belly button, but it's hard to find shirts that are long enough! You can ask Kim about shopping with me, and she will tell you that when I find shirt after shirt like that, I can be a bit hard to be around. Those times I wish I was shorter, but God's not going to change that. I have to learn to be content with my height. At the same time, I can't be looking down - MENTALLY - at those who are more vertically challenged. I'm not any better than they are, and they aren't any better than I am. (NEW SLIDE) God has His hand on all of us - when He wants to honor us, He'll honor us. Otherwise, don't worry about it. Be content with those things about you that He's not going to change. (NEW SLIDE) Why? Because He's very careful to take care of us, so we don't have to worry about anything. Period.
E. Now comes the strongest contrast in the passage. Peter's just finished telling us that God will take care of us. Now he tells us who's out to get us. Verse 8: Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ - eternal and glorious plans they are! - will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does. The Greek has a very interesting way of describing Satan, roughly translating as this: (NEW SLIDE) "Your legal adversary and slanderer as a lion continually roaring walks around looking for anyone to swallow down." We tend to think of his attacks as hit and miss - like he's attacking sometimes and just heading off and harassing someone else for a while and then coming back. But the devil in fact is constantly attacking, constantly looking for weaknesses, constantly trying to destroy our faith. Kim and I know a girl who lived near Maupin whose colt came up missing. So she and a friend went looking for it. A cougar had killed it, and it started stalking them. They were almost back to their truck when it started its charge. Fortunately for them, the brother of one of the girls had driven up, saw what was going on, had his rifle out and shot the cougar. That's the kind of persistence the devil has in seeking out and attacking our weaknesses. (NEW SLIDE) Peter tells us to keep a cool head, stay alert, keep our guard up, and keep a firm grip on our faith.
F. We're not alone in suffering under attacks. Millions of Christians around the world are suffering, and God will reward all of us with eternal life if we stand firm in our faith. God will make us whole and new and firmly established in His eternal Kingdom if we will just stand firm in our faith. (NEW SLIDE) We know how Satan will attack us. Let's be absolutely sure we stand firm. No pet sins to give him a foothold, no areas of disobedience to God and His Word, no refusing to obey Him immediately when He calls. Stand firm, and we will see God's eternal glory when we get to heaven, and we will participate in His Kingdom for all eternity!
G. It's easy to think that we've gotten all the truth we can out of Peter's letter so we can skip the last minute greetings. But there's a lot of truth we can glean from them. Verse 12: I'm sending this brief letter to you by Silas, a most dependable brother. I have the highest regard for him. I've written as urgently and accurately as I know how. This is God's generous truth; embrace it with both arms! The church in exile here with me - but not for a moment forgotten by God - wants to be remembered to you. Mark, who is like a son to me, says hello. Give holy embraces all around! Peace to you - to all who walk in Christ's ways. Peter is doing more than just saying "Hi!" and leaving it at that. He's emphasizing the importance of building each other up. He calls Silas dependable and a man of highest regard. He calls Mark his son. (NEW SLIDE) It's God's will that we learn to think the best of each other. I'm not sure which Silas Peter is referring to, but I do know which Mark. This same Mark is the one who left Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. This same Mark is the one that Paul and Barnabas were so divided over that they parted company on another missionary journey. But this same Mark is also the one who wound up writing the first Gospel. This same Mark is the one Paul referred to in his later writings as "a great help to me." And now Peter calls this same Mark his son. (NEW SLIDE) It's amazing what a lot of encouragement to go along with instruction can do. It can transform an immature deserter to a true man of God. So let's be sure we build each other up as often as possible.
H. Peter's last words in this letter: Peace to you - to all who walk in Christ's ways. Peter has just told us to embrace God's generous truth with both arms. He's spent his letter showing us ways to walk with God in spite of anything that might come our way. Now he tells us the reward we experience here on earth when we walk in Christ's ways - peace. We all know what a mess our world is becoming. We all know that with rising prices, bills to pay, kids to raise, illnesses to deal with, families to support, it's becoming harder and harder to find peace. I know that, for me, it's hard not to worry and not to allow myself to become preoccupied with worrying, which tends to bring out my workaholic tendencies. (NEW SLIDE) But Peter is telling all of us that we can experience the peace of God as we walk in obedience to Christ in the midst of life's challenges. When we choose to trust Him, we will have peace. Easier said than done, but basically Peter's trying to get us to understand that worrying is a choice, and that God's got a better choice. (NEW SLIDE) Walk in His ways, receive His peace, and you don't have to worry! Will we choose to walk in the truth of what Peter's taught us today?
I. Illustration - Damien Spikereit wrote, When I was in high school my father passed away rather suddenly. It was just two days before my high school graduation. At that time in my life I was a baby Christian; immature and shallow. I was still drying off the baptistery waters. All I cared about was not going to hell. But then my dad died. I found myself in a place I'd never been before. I wanted to hear God speak. I wanted to know what he had to say about this situation; how he was going to get me and my family through this difficult time. So I prayed. And I waited for God to speak. Then came the day of the funeral. The church was packed. I sat on the front pew with my mother and two younger sisters. The Lutheran priest spoke, but I don't remember what he said. I continued to wait for God to say something. Then the service was over. It was the tradition of this church to have the family line up in the foyer. Everyone would file past us and offer words of condolence and encouragement. Tears were shed, hugs offered, and words were given. I don't remember what anybody said to me in that time. But I continued to wait for God to speak. Then I saw Kim O'Quinn. She was my age. We were in the youth group together. When she got to me, she didn't say a word. She had tears in her eyes. And she simply hugged me and walked off. But I heard God speak. It dawned on me. Just months before, I had attended another funeral; the funeral for Kim O'Quinn's father. In that moment she knew exactly what it meant to be me. If you want to hear God's voice in your life look no further than the one who knows exactly what it's like to be you. He knows what it is to be human, he knows what it is to suffer, he knows what it is to be rejected, he knows what it is to be human. If you want to hear God's voice speak, allow your soul to be quieted long enough so that you can hear the one who was in the beginning say to you, "draw near to me and I'll draw near to you" (as cited on PreachingToday.com).
J. God knows everything about us. He wants us to draw near to Him so that He can transform us. Then we'll be able to care for each other with diligence, humility, and unselfishness, seeking God's approval in everything we do; to follow Him and obediently serve Him from a humble heart; to learn to live with those things we don't like about ourselves that He isn't going to change; to keep a cool head, stay alert, keep our guard up, and keep a firm grip on our faith; to be absolutely sure we stand firm; to learn to think the best of each other; to experience the peace of God as we walk in obedience to Christ in the midst of life's challenges. If we draw near to Christ, walk in obedience to Him, and do these things, then we'll finally have our acts together. And that's a wonderful truth!
IV. Communion
A. Please bow your heads and close your eyes out of respect for God and for each other's privacy. What's God been speaking to your heart this morning? Let's spend a few quiet moments listening to what the Holy Spirit has to say to our hearts and minds.
B. This morning we're celebrating communion. The bread we eat and the juice we drink signify Christ's body and blood that was sacrificed for us. And this morning, God is calling us to sacrifice ourselves in obedience to the word He has given us this morning. So when you're ready, please come forward, take the bread and the juice, kneel at the altars and make whatever commitment you need to make to God in response to what He has spoken today. Then partake of the bread and juice when you're ready.
