Rev. David Holwick ZF
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
October 12, 1997
1 Peter 5:5-11
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I. "It's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?"
A. Read Flora's book on Vietnam.
1) Presidents saw a huge conspiracy forming against America.
a) If one nation fell to Communism, others would follow.
b) Also didn't want to be the first to lose a war.
2) "Middle road" approach dragged out war.
B. I remember as a time of great turmoil in America, and personally.
1) My Dad serving as an advisor to a Vietnamese battalion, 1970.
2) Continual protests in Germany and United States.
a) Great domestic unrest, especially between generations.
b) Moratorium against war debated in schools.
c) Very uptight time in our country.
C. Today's passage deals with conflict and anxiety.
II. Christians need to hang together. 5:5
A. Cooperation between generations.
1) Respect for aged.
a) Young men, be submissive to elders.
1> "Young men" probably means everyone not an elder.
2> Generic so includes women.
b) (SonBeamers and senior Thanksgiving Dinner performance)
2) Mutuality.
a) Elders must serve faithfully.
b) Application from "Promise Keepers."
B. Humility is for everybody.
1) God opposes proud, gives grace to the humble.
2) Greeks did not view humility as a virtue.
a) Neither do many Americans.
b) But it is a distinctly Christian virtue.
1> Comes from word for slave's apron. John 13:1-15
2> Not a feeling of worthlessness, but of service.
Ac 20:19
3) Humble servants are the backbone of any church.
C. Ultimately, we humble ourselves before God.
1) Under his mighty hand.
a) God's controlling providence.
1> Deliverance of his people. Exodus 7:5
2> Judgment of his enemies.
b) Humble - not passive resignation but active co-operation.
1> Difficulties enter our lives with sovereign approval
of God.
2> If God has allowed you to enter a difficult place,
be meek and learn.
2) He will lift you up - in due time.
a) God doesn't want us to be crushed.
b) Due time = God's time, as late as Second Coming.
c) Be patient with your tough situation.
III. God's grace can sustain us in our most difficult hour.
A. Cast anxieties on God.
1) People are anxious about many things.
a) Every food causes cancer.
b) Bankruptcy could be just around the corner.
c) Your family may stop loving you.
2) Greek root for anxiety means "to divide."
a) Anxiety divides our attention and distracts.
b) Anxiety can lead to "attacks" that freeze you up.
3) Antidote is trust in God.
Jamie Buckingham tells about a pilot in Ecuador who was
involved in a plane crash because of a passenger's fear.
The wheels of the heavily loaded Cessna 206 had barely left
the wet jungle airstrip when the passenger, sitting in
the co-pilot's seat, panicked.
The pilot had the throttle pushed all the way forward to
the firewall.
He had done this many times before and was confident they
would clear the huge trees towering at the end of the
little airstrip.
The passenger, an American who had been visiting the Indians,
had never taken off from a jungle airstrip.
Looking up, all he could see were the on-rushing trees
filling the windshield.
Why doesn't the pilot pull back on the controls? he thought
in terror.
Fearful they were going to crash, he tried to help.
He grabbed the wheel and pulled back.
That was the worst thing he could have done.
A plane needs to build up airspeed before you point the
nose skyward.
Otherwise, the plane will stall.
The plane did stall.
It pitched up, lost critical airspeed and began to settle
toward the jungle below.
The pilot wrenched the controls back and tried desperately
to get the nose down.
But it was too late.
As the airplane reached stalling speed, the heavy engine
pulled the nose over sharply, and the craft spun to earth.
By God's grace, no one was killed, but all were injured
because of a passenger's lack of trust in his pilot.
How like that frightened passenger some of us are.
We are continually grabbing the controls from God.
We damage our health with worry.
We deny our dreams because we fear risk.
We dampen enthusiasm and joy with our anxiety.
How we need to turn our lives over to God and trust His
promises!
#2273
B. Christians shouldn't worry because:
1) For believers, the worst that can happen is already past.
a) Sin is judged.
2) For believers, however dark it may be, the present
has a brighter side.
3) For believers, the best that will happen lies in the
future.
#942
a) To recognize God's hand in life's trials is to be
freed from the anxiety they produce.
C. God cares for us.
1) Do you ever feel that no one does?
From 1986 to 1990, Frank Reed was held hostage in a Lebanon
cell.
For months at a time, Reed was blindfolded, living in complete
darkness, or chained to a wall and kept in absolute silence.
On one occasion, he was moved to another room, and, although
blindfolded, he could sense others in the room.
Yet it was three weeks before he dared peek out to discover
he was chained next to Terry Anderson and Tom Sutherland.
Although he was beaten, made ill, and tormented, Reed felt
most the lack of anyone caring.
He said in an interview with Time, "Nothing I did mattered
to anyone.
I began to realize how withering it is to exist with not a
single expression of caring around (me)...
I learned one overriding fact: caring is a powerful force.
If no one cares, you are truly alone."
#1860
2) Christians are never truly alone.
3) A caring God is unique among world's religions.
IV. Christians are responsible for their actions. 5:8
A. Our dependence on God's care doesn't preclude our own action.
1) Humbling ourselves and turning our fears over to God
requires action on our part.
2) His command to be self-controlled and alert is even stronger.
a) Be on lookout for Satan's schemes.
b) Resist them when they come.
B. Devoured by sin.
1) Sad to see people destroyed by sinfulness. Interesting, too.
2) Jesus can put destroyed people back together again.
V. God is stronger than Satan.
A. Devil is against us.
1) "Satan" means accuser, in a courtroom setting.
2) God is our defense attorney.
a) He never loses.
B. Make sure your faith is stronger than your fear.
1) Stand firm in the faith.
2) Other Christians are also suffering. (Keep in perspective)
C. God is calling us to glory. 5:10
1) He will restore us.
a) May follow a period of suffering.
2) Will make us strong, firm, steadfast.
VI. How strong is your faith?
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COMMENTARIES
I. Mounce.
A. Young men.
1) Adolescent males?
2) Deacons?
3) May be detached fragment from 2:13-3:9.
B. Submission to the elderly.
1) Gospel's revolution is not in interests of disorder or chaos.
a) It was in interests of God's order.
2) Respect for age is still a valid social convention.
C. Humility.
1) For all believers.
2) Comes from word for a slave's apron. Cf. John 13:1-15
a) Not a feeling of worthlessness, but of service. * Ac 20:19
3) Theological basis. Prov 3:34
a) Pride is the original sin.
b) Humility is recognizing the intrinsic worth of others.
1> Doesn't compare self with others, but serves others.
4) Practical lesson - humble selves under God's hand.
a) Difficulties enter our lives with sovereign approval
of God.
b) If God has allowed you to enter a difficult place, be
meek and learn.
D. Cast anxiety.
1) Tied with above, not separate sentence.
a) To recognize God's hand in life's trials is to be freed
from the anxiety they produce.
2) Greek root means "to divide."
a) Anxiety divides our attention and distracts.
3) A caring God is unique among world's religions.
a) He is the father of the prodigal.
E. Be alert for Satan.
1) Putting away anxiety does not mean lapse into inactivity.
a) "Sober" has an eschatological intent.
2) Satan wants to devour us - gulp down. Jonah 1:17
3) Resist him.
4) Persecution is the lot of all who remain faithful.
F. Four-fold promise.
1) Restore you.
a) Used of mending nets. God will repair our "damage."
b) God does this himself. (no secondary means)
2) Make you strong.
a) Establish and make solid.
3) Make you firm.
a) Fill with strength.
4) Make you steadfast.
a) Make a firm foundation.
G. God of all grace.
1) His unmerited favor is sufficient for any and every situation.
2) We are on our way to glory.
H. Doxology.
1) The attribute of power (kratos) is used only of God in NT.
I. Main points. McKnight
A. God is stronger than Satan.
B. God's grace can sustain us in our most difficult hour.
1) If we are tempted, God is on our side. 1 Cor 10:13
C. Christians are responsible for their actions.
1) Humble themselves in trust before God.
2) Hand over to God their fearful hearts.
3) Be on lookout for Satan's schemes.
4) Resist them when they come.
I. Barclay.
A. There is a law of humility before God.
B. The law of Christian serenity in God.
C. The law of Christian effort and vigilance.
D. The law of Christian resistance.
E. The law of Christian suffering.
1) Through suffering God will restore us.
2) He will establish us.
3) He will strengthen us.
4) He will settle us.
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