Sermon Page 5-4-08

^NIV1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. ⁸ Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 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.

Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,

I remember hearing these verses when I was a child and the verse that stuck out was the end of verse 8: Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. It stuck out in my mind, I think, because you can just picture it, can’t you? It is easy to picture the devil as a prowling, hunting, devouring lion—something to be wary of—something to fear. St. Peter definitely uses powerful picture imagery here. So powerful that we take notice and we become watchful for the devil and his schemes in our lives.

But is that the main point of this text? Are we simply supposed to remember that the devil is out there and he wants to devour us like a hungry savage lion? Is that all the advice from God’s Holy Word that we have in this section of Scripture? Watch Out, the devil is out to get you! Is that all we have for the confirmands this weekend? Well, no. There is more there in our text. Certainly, we are told to watch out for the devil, but that is only part of the text that we have before us this day. It is always important that we do not take a verse of scripture out of its context, no matter how powerful the imagery in it is.

So what is the greater context of this section of Scripture? Well if we step out of the verses we are in right now and look to the first verse of the book of 1 Peter, we see to whom Peter was writing. He says that he is writing to “God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” Basically, this is saying that he was writing to all Christians. He gives a region, but there is no specific church or group of people. He is writing to Christians scattered all over a region. How easy it is then to see that he is also writing to us.

But what is the main thrust in this section of Scripture? What is he trying to convey to all Christians? Well, let’s look a little closer at the text before us. ^NIV1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. ⁸ Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 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.

The main thrust of this section of Scripture is encouragement to remain steadfast or firm in your faith. It is mentioned directly twice in these 6 verses and is brought out more subtly elsewhere.

So we are to remain steadfast and firm in our faith. Now that’s not bad advice for Confirmation week, huh? But how? How do we do such a thing? How do we make sure that we remain in the faith even in the face of death (as Amber and Mike just/will promise/d in their confirmation)?

Well, let’s take it apart. He begins this section by saying, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” The world does not revolve around you. The world does not revolve around me. We are to humble ourselves. Sometimes God may allow afflictions and hardships in our lives to humble us. I had one member just tell me this week that if he and his family didn’t have so many challenges in their lives to keep them humble, they probably wouldn’t come to church. They wouldn’t see the need. That’s kind of how we all are, isn’t it. If everything goes great all the time, why do we need God? But life isn’t like that is it? It’s not always easy. And when these afflictions come our way, it is tempting to chafe under them, and pride may fill us with a spirit of resentment and complaint. But true, humble Christians will willingly bow themselves under the chastening, directing hand of the almighty God.

In this humbling of ourselves, we trust entirely in God and his strength and not in our own. God will in mercy lift us out of the pit of affliction , or he will give us sufficient strength to bear whatever cross has been placed upon us. He will eventually exalt us and all believers to the everlasting realm of heaven, where we will taste his glory forevermore.

St. Peter continues, “⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” It’s very difficult to remain steadfast and firm in one’s faith having at the same time to bear up against all the anxiety and worry that we have to face in life. But God, through St. Peter, tells us not to. He says to cast it all on Him. Every care and worry we have, everything that bothers us, can be cast upon our Heavenly Father. And then there is no need to worry. God is handling it. I am reminded of the short note that many people have in their office or on their refrigerator that is as if God wrote us a note saying, “Good Morning, This is God. I will be handling all of your problems today. I will not need your help, so have a miraculous day.”

Peter continues, “⁸ Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” While trusting in God, we also need to stand firm against the attacks of Satan. We are to be alert and watch. We are not to be caught off-guard. Why? Because the devil is a powerful adversary. He is compared to a lion on the prowl, “the king of the beasts” who roars loudly and intimidates his prey until they cower before him helplessly. Similarly the devil uses all forms of evil and temptation in an attempt to reduce Christians to a state of helpless terror or weaken them, so they are easy prey for his attack. His hope is to draw as many souls as possible away from Christ and into the kingdom of darkness.

He then writes, ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. Peter encourages the Christians to be on the defense. They are to remain steadfast in their faith and are to resist Satan’s temptations. Peter’s colleague James gave a similar exhortation, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Faith which clings firmly to Christ and His Word can defeat Satan. Remember, Satan may be powerful, but “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” As Martin Luther pointed out in “A Mighty Fortress,” “One little Word can fell him.” We draw on the arsenal of God’s Holy Word to win the victory over the evil one.

It is also comforting to know that we are not alone in this struggle with Satan. Our brothers and sisters in the faith throughout time and the world are or have been undergoing the same sufferings and the same temptations.

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. The Apostle Peter now closes the main body of this letter. Our strength and hope are in God’s grace, the underserved love which he shows us. By grace God has called us into his kingdom. By grace God sent His Son to die for our sins. By His grace in Christ we look forward to eternal glory.

Peter now focuses our attention on how we do all this. How do we humble ourselves? How do we cast all our anxieties on Him? How do we remain steadfast against the attacks of the devil? How do we resist the devil? Through the God of Grace. Peter appeals to this God of Grace to help us endure the sufferings of this life, which really are just and drop in the bucket in comparison with the joy and glory of eternity. God will make us strong, firm and steadfast in the faith.

¹¹ To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. Could there be a better ending? I don’t think so. In the name of Jesus, Amen.