Well, if you have your Bibles, you're welcome
to turn on over to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter
chapter 5. There are Bibles in the chairs in
front of you. You are welcome to grab one of
those if you don't have a Bible, and you can
even take that with you. It's our gift to you.
Also, the scripture will be up on the board.
But there was a quote that was popularized in
the 1995 movie, The Usual Suspects, and it went
something like this. The greatest trick... The
devil ever pulled was convincing the world he
didn't exist. The greatest trick the devil ever
pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
C .S. Lewis in his book, The Screwtape Letters,
once imagined a senior demon who was teaching
a junior demon how to deceive people. And his
advice to the junior demon was, keep them laughing
at the idea of the devil. Keep them laughing
at it. Make them think that Satan is just a cartoonish
character in red tights. That way, even if they
start to suspect something is spiritually wrong,
they won't believe in the real enemy and he can
continue his work unopposed. Well, tragically,
many Christians live as if we're in peacetime
when in fact we are in a war zone. And there
are no pacifists in the Christian life. Peter
knows this, and that's why, as he closes his
letter to the scattered, exiled believers who
are suffering all across modern -day Turkey,
he gets really serious with them, and he says,
hey, you're in a spiritual battle, and you have
an enemy, the devil, and he's not idle. He's
not lazy. He is a lion. who's on the hunt. And
if you're not prepared, you will be devoured.
And when the Bible talks about spiritual warfare,
it's not a metaphor. It's an actual battle with
an actual enemy. And this isn't just about fear
-mongering. It's a warning. But it's a warning
that comes with hope. Because while the devil
is powerful, he is resistible. And while suffering
is real, God's grace is greater. Amen? And in
these final verses, the Apostle Peter gives us
four instructions to help us stand firm in the
fight. And these will be their four points today.
We'll cover them one at a time. But it's know
your enemy and stand firm. It's guard against
his footholds. Rest in the God who restores.
And then a final encouragement where Peter closes
out the letter with a word of encouragement to
stand firm in the grace of God, remain in the
fellowship, and receive God's peace. And so we're
going to walk through that together today. We're
actually going to start not in verse 6, even
though we'll cover verse 6 through 14 of chapter
5 in 1 Peter. We're going to start, though, in
verse 8 and 9. If you're taking notes. We are
a note -taking church, as we are a Bible -loving
church, and so take notes, I encourage you, that
way you hold on to what we cover. If you're taking
notes, the first point I'll have you write down
is know your enemy and stand firm. Know your
enemy and stand firm. Verse 8, be sober -minded,
be alert. Your adversary, the devil, is prowling
around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone
he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith,
knowing that the same kind of sufferings are
being experienced by your fellow believers throughout
the world. Peter's first exhortation here that
we're covering and we're looking at is this wake
-up call. Be sober -minded. Be alert. In other
words, don't sleepwalk your way through the Christian
life. Don't assume peace when we're at war. The
idea of invisible forces, this might not seem
like a modern American mentality, right? that
we function in, like the idea of superstition
or like science has solved all these problems.
We don't need the metaphysical or the spiritual.
It might seem like an idea that we've grown out
of and yet you and I both wash our hands and
sanitize our hands, don't we? Why? Because there's
invisible forces, germs, they're out to get us,
right? How many of you guys remember wearing
a mask? All those invisible forces all around
us that we didn't understand and couldn't control,
we wore a mask to prevent, right? At least we
were told. Right? We know that there are invisible
forces that make us sick, and we protect against
them. We come to the battle ready. And you have
an adversary, the devil, not a vague force of
evil or some superstition. You have a real, personal,
spiritual being who is actively working to oppose
the people of God. He is prowling around like
a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
Is that you? I hope not. We'll see. The Bible
is clear and consistent about what the devil
can do. He can deceive. He blinds. He accuses.
He tempts. And he devours. Satan isn't content
just to distract you. He wants to devour you.
He doesn't just want to trip you up. He wants
to take you out of the Christian life. And while
the devil is a real and dangerous threat, he
is not God's equal. We are not in a battle against
good and evil, equal forces. He is not God's
equal. He is powerful but limited. He cannot
read your mind. Only God is omniscient. Only
God knows the thoughts of our hearts. Satan is
a created being. But as a created being who's
been doing this for just a little while, Satan
can also observe your patterns. He can watch
you. He can observe the patterns of your life.
And he can craft temptations that fit your weaknesses.
He can whisper lies. And he can put stumbling
blocks in front of you. He cannot see into your
heart. And if you are in Christ, he cannot possess
you. Your life is claimed and sealed by the Holy
Spirit of God. The one who is in you is greater
than what? He who is in this world. And so while
he cannot steal your salvation, if you are in
Christ, he can steal your joy. He can make you
a joyless Christian. He can disrupt your peace.
He can undermine your trust in God. He can divide
you and other believers. He can divide the church
of God. He can fill your life with fear, guilt,
temptation, and confusion. He can do those things,
and that's why Peter says you must resist him
firm in the faith. You don't resist the devil
by yelling at him. You don't resist the devil
by rebuking him and binding him. You resist the
devil by standing on the truth. You resist the
devil by leaning in and trusting the gospel of
Jesus Christ. You resist the devil by refusing
to abandon what you know about God, especially
when it comes to suffering. When we're faced
with suffering, it's often the place where we
want to let go and abandon everything we know
to be true about God, everything that his word
has testified, everything that we have experienced
in the life in Christ. We let it go in two seconds
and we go, oh, God is not faithful. He is not
powerful. He will not overcome. To resist the
devil is to not abandon what we know to be true
about God, but to lean in all the more, especially
when suffering comes. James echoes a similar
call regarding the enemy. He says to submit to
God, resist the devil, and he will what? He will
flee from you. And then the very next thing James
says is draw near to God, and he will draw near
to you. Lean in. Stand on the truth. Stand on
the gospel. Lean into what you know is true about
God. That's how we resist the devil. And Peter
adds this encouragement to believers, knowing
that, The same kind of sufferings are being experienced
by your fellow believers throughout the world.
You're not the first to suffer. Sorry to hear
that, right? Sometimes we feel like we're the
first and the only and the greatest and the biggest.
You're not the first to suffer and you won't
be the last, but you're not suffering alone,
my friends. And there is strength in that. Because
if they can't endure, so can you. If they can
stand, so can you. And if they are standing in
the face of persecution and we haven't really
experienced that yet, we can look and study and
be encouraged by their life knowing that one
day we will likely experience persecution because
suffering is not a bug of the Christian life.
It's not an abnormality. It's not getting off
the tracks. It's a feature. It's a feature. If
Christianity was a television, it would be listed
right on the front. Also comes with suffering.
We stand together, shoulder to shoulder, in the
same gospel, grounded in the same grace, upheld
by the same faithful God. We're not alone. And
so, we must first... Know your enemy and stand
firm. And the second point is guard against his
footholds. Guard against his footholds. Verse
six, humble yourself therefore under the mighty
hand of God so that he may exalt you at the proper
time, casting all your cares on him because he
cares for you. Before we talk about these two
footholds that are right here in the text, the
foothold of pride and the foothold of anxiety,
let's go all the way back to the first temptation
in Scripture, all the way back to the Garden
of Eden, to Genesis chapter 3. Because Satan
did in Genesis chapter 3, he used the same strategy
that he uses today, which is he targeted Adam
and Eve with pride and worry. Genesis chapter
3 reads, The serpent was the most cunning of
all the wild animals that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, Did God really say you
can't eat from any tree in the garden? The woman
said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from
the trees in the garden, but about the fruit
of the tree in the middle of the garden, God
said you must not eat it or touch it or you will
die. No, you will certainly not die, the serpent
said to the woman. In fact, God knows that when
you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you
will be like God, knowing good from evil. He
says to Eve, did God really say, sowing doubt
and suspicion on the character of God? He says,
you will surely not die. You're actually going
to be like God, and God knows it, and God's withholding
from you. Can you see it? Pride. You can be like
God. You can be like God. You don't need his
authority. You can decide what's good and evil
for yourself. Just take of the fruit that he
said don't eat, and you will have the knowledge
of good and evil for yourself. Take it for yourself.
You're capable of ruling your own life on your
own. You don't need him. It's pride. And worry
or anxiety. God is holding out on you. He's keeping
something from you. You're missing out. If you
trust him, you're going to lose out on something
good. Worry, anxiety. And from the beginning,
Satan has been working to undermine our trust
in God's character by convincing us that God
is either not good, so we should worry, or that
we don't need him, so we should rely on ourselves.
So it's no surprise that in 1 Peter chapter 5,
Peter tells us to cast our anxieties and humble
ourselves before the Lord because those are the
same two doors that the enemy has been walking
through since Eden. So let's look really closely
at those two. Number one, the foothold of pride.
Pride says, I know what's best. Pride says, I'll
handle this. I don't need help. Pride says to
God, you can't do anything I haven't tried already.
It resists surrender. It resents any limitations
or boundaries. It refuses to come under God's
hand. And Peter says of pride, humble yourself
under the mighty hand of God. In other words,
get low before the one who is infinitely wise,
infinitely powerful, and infinitely good. Pride
is spiritual self -reliance. That's exactly the
condition the devil looks for. That's exactly
the foothold he's looking for to drag you down
and devour you because when you're full of yourself,
there's no room left for grace. C .S. Lewis once
called pride the essential vice, the utmost evil,
the sin behind every other sin. Pride leads to
every other vice. It is the complete anti -God
state of mind. Not many of us would admit to
being prideful, would we? Because of our pride.
Pride isn't just self -confidence that's gone
too far. It's this heart posture that says to
God, I've got this, I don't need you. Or I don't
want you. But scripture tells us that God resists
the proud, but gives grace to the humble in James
chapter four, verse six. In Proverbs 16, some
of you guys know this, pride goes before the
fall. Proverbs 16, 18. Speaking to the Lord in
2 Samuel 22, you save a humble people, but your
eyes are on the haughty to bring them down. Pride
puts you in direct opposition to God. It makes
you wide open to the enemy's schemes. And Satan
knows this all too well because pride was his
downfall. He wanted the throne of grace, the
throne of heaven. And now he tempts others with
the same lie, you can be like God. And so when
we elevate our opinions above Scripture, do you
know that happens in the church? I know Scripture
says that, but. I know the Bible tells us to,
but. I know the Bible says that I shouldn't,
but. What's that but? Pride. Pride. Elevating
ourselves above God's word. When we cling to
control, when we elevate our opinions above scripture,
when we call what is bad good and we call what
is good bad, pride. When we resist correction,
when we ignore the life of prayer, I don't need
to talk to God. Why would I talk to God? What
can he offer? We are knowingly or not stepping
into a spiritual battleground and giving a foothold
to the enemy, pride. Andrew Murray said, pride
must die in you or nothing of heaven can live
in you. Pride must die. Don't give the enemy
a foothold of pride. And number two, foothold
of anxiety or worry. At first glance, pride and
anxiety seem opposite. Pride says, I've got this,
and anxiety says, I don't, but I have to. I don't
have it. It's falling apart. But both flow from
the same root, a refusal to trust God. And that's
why I need to say this clearly and carefully.
Worry is not just a burden. Worry is a sin. Worry
is not just a burden. Worry is a sin. Worry becomes
sin when we cling to it instead of casting it
onto God. It's not the onset of the emotion that
I'm saying is sin. We are human. That emotion
comes well before we do anything, doesn't it?
My oldest son, he's 21 years old. Makai, play
his keys right here. Next week, we're going to
pray over him and send him on his way. He's moving
to Montana. And as a parent, this is the first,
like, launch. And I'd be lying if I said I was
totally okay. Totally lying, actually. That I
had no anxiety. That I wasn't worried. That a
thousand questions didn't come into my mind.
What ifs. He's literally loading up his car and
driving there. His car's not new. Like there's
a thousand worries just around his car. Let alone,
no offense, Kaya, but who he is and what I know
about him as a father, right? Like worry, worry
upon worry. The question is, how am I going to
handle that? The question is, when worry comes,
what am I going to do with it? It's not the onset
of that emotion. It's the refusal to. entrust
your worry to the one who says, I care for you.
Arms wide open, I care for you. Jesus said, do
not worry about your life. Anyone ever worried
about your life? Come on, admit it. Anyone ever
worried about what you'll eat or drink? Anyone
worry about what you'll wear? I literally bought
10 black shirts so I don't have to worry about
what shirt I'm going to wear every day. If you've
ever wondered, why is he always wearing black
shirts? It's like I'm Steve Jobs or Mr. Rogers
or something. You just look at my closet and
it's 10 black shirts. I don't ever have to worry
about what I'm going to wear on top. Do not worry
about your life, what you'll eat or drink or
what you will wear. Paul, in Philippians chapter
four, we'll look a little bit more at six and
seven, but he went further. He said, do not be
anxious about anything. Do not be anxious, or
another CSB says, do not worry about anything.
So when we coddle worry, when we excuse it or
normalize it, when we make it a burden we just
have to bear, we are in a sense saying, God,
I don't think you'll get this right. So I have
to figure it out. Thanks for leaving it to me.
God, I don't think you'll get this right. I have
to figure it out. And that leaves a wide open
door for fear, for doubt, for despair. All the
things that it says the enemy comes to do, our
worry will produce in our lives and the enemy
will exploit that foothold. He'll make you despair
and fall into fear and doubt and hopelessness.
So what's the way out? Well, Peter says to humble
ourselves. Under the mighty hand of God. If we
are experiencing pride in our lives. We need
to humble ourselves. We need to trust God's power.
Trust his wisdom. And this is the hard one. Trust
his timing. We trust his wisdom. We trust his
power. We just often times don't trust his timing.
We have to trust his timing. Even when we don't
understand it. And here's a spiritual truth.
put on your wall, you can write it down, you
can memorize it, you can tattoo it on your neighbor's
arm, whatever you want to do. God loves to be
trusted. Just remember that throughout the day.
Do you love God? Do you love the Lord? Well,
God loves to be trusted. He loves it. It brings
great joy when his children trust him. His smile
on his face when we throw the totality of our
life into his hands and say, you take it, you
run with it, you tell me what, you exercise your
power, your wisdom, your goodness, you define
my life for me. God loves to be trusted. And
God's hand moves in crazy, miraculous, and amazing
ways when we have trusted him. God loves to be
trusted. The other way out of worry, Peter says,
is to cast all your cares on him because he cares
for you. Don't carry them. Don't manage them.
Don't suppress them. Cast them. Hurl them. Hurl
them toward the one who's strong enough to carry
them and the one who's loving enough to want
to. You might ask practically, what does that
mean? How do you do that? When the onset of worry
comes, what do I do? Well, here's just a little
practical steps that I have found work in my
life in recent history and even in the moments
that I'm going through now. First off, just be
clear. Name your worry. Don't just say I'm worried
or I'm stressed. Go to God and say, God, I'm
anxious because I can't pay the utility bill.
God, I am anxious and worried for my son's future.
God, I'm carrying with you worry about a future
test result or an exam that I have to go to.
I'm worried about what this could be. I'm scared.
I'm anxious. Name it. Sometimes with our monsters,
That alone alleviates our anxiety, right? You
have a big, bad, drooling monster who's scary,
right? And living under the bed and comes out,
right? It's like, oh no, the big scary monster
who drools, right? But the moment you give it
a name, Bob, it's just Bob and he's got a drooling
problem, right? You name your issue, name your
care, your concern. Give it a name, the name
it's supposed to be, not Bob. What is it? Say
it clearly and bring it to the Lord. Lord, I'm
concerned about this. And the next in prayer,
I would actually imagine yourself literally handing
your concern to God. Imagine his open arms, his
arms outstretched to receive your caring concern
and say, Lord, this anxiety over my electric
bill belongs to you. This belongs to you. I release
it to your wisdom and your care. I give this
to you. And the truth is, you're going to try
to take it up again. That's just who we are.
You're going to try to pick it up again. You're
going to get a little bit away from it, and you'll
start to feel like, yeah, I think God's got this.
And then that anxiety will come back, and you'll
want to go over and pet it a little bit, right?
You'll just want to touch it, right? Just one
more time. Come on, please. Let me hold it. It's
like our phones, right? Man. Today's society,
maybe not the older folks who kind of bridge
the gap between having cell phones and not having
cell phones, but the new generation, they got
serious anxiety from being separated from their
phones. If they're separated from their phones
at all, their heart goes, they just want to touch
it. Just one more time, right? I think there
was a study that was done recently. I don't remember
the exact number, but it was over 1 ,000 times
that we touch our cell phone every day. 1 ,000
times. Just touch it. Pick it up. Set it aside,
touch it. Some of you guys are really proud that
you know you don't fall into that, right? Not
me. Name your anxieties and your cares. Hand
them over to the Lord. Lord, this belongs to
you. I release it to your wisdom and your care.
And after trying to take it up again, you're
going to have to repeat that process many times.
Don't be afraid to repeat it. Don't feel like
a failure because you have to say again, Lord,
I hand this over to you. That's okay. That's
a part of the process. Say it again and again
and again. Say it again and again and again over
and over again until you break through to peace.
And then finally, you're going to have to replace
that worry with something. You're going to have
to replace that void with something. It's kind
of like a story that Jesus told about a person
is like a home and a home that is filled with
evil spirits. Yes, they may get cast out and
the house might be cleaned and it might become
completely empty of any evil spirits and the
evil spirits will go away. But if that house
isn't filled with something, if it isn't filled
with something good, It's just an empty house,
and that demon or those spiritual forces may
go down to the local pub and grab a beer with
a couple of other spiritual forces and start
talking about that nice home they used to live
in. And they might get together and say, hey,
let's all go and see if that house is still available.
And they all move into that house, that person.
And Jesus in that parable says, the house is
worse off, the man is worse off than he was before.
And so if you release your worry, you're going
to have to fill it with something. What should
you fill it with? You should fill it with worship.
You release your worry. Lord, this belongs to
you. You need to do something with this. I release
it to your wisdom and care, and now I'm going
to fill my heart, fill that space with worship.
Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6 says, Don't
worry about anything, but in everything, through
prayer and petition, With thanksgiving, present
your requests to God. With thanksgiving, thank
God for who he is, what he has done. Thank him
for every promise that he has made and let worship
begin to fill the same space in your heart that
worry once filled. Say to him that he is good
and you acknowledge his goodness, that he is
all powerful and you acknowledge that his power
can actually do something in this situation.
That his goodness is not something of ancient,
of olden days, but his goodness extends today.
His goodness is actually pursuing you. His goodness
is after you if you're in Christ. And you can
believe and promise and worship and thanksgiving,
ascribing to God all of the qualities that are
true about him. Worship is not just some way
of, it's not my code for saying you have to sing
a song. Some of you should not. No, just kidding.
Quietly. Joyfully. Something. No, it's not a
code word for saying you've got to sing a song.
It's a code word for saying, ascribe to the Lord
things that are true of Him. Say things that
are true about God to God. Acknowledge His worth.
Acknowledge His glory. Acknowledge His power.
Acknowledge His goodness. Acknowledge His promises
as if they were true. Because you believe them.
You fill the space that once was occupied with
worry with thanksgiving. And what's the very
next verse in Philippians chapter four? What
does it say? After you've taken your worry and
you've through prayer and petition with thanksgiving,
you presented it to God. Verse seven says, and
the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Pride keeps us from surrendering. Anxiety keeps
you from resting in God. But both give Satan
a foothold in your life. Number three, rest in
the God who restores. Peter has told us to resist
the devil and stand firm in our faith. He's reminded
us that we're not alone in this battle. That
suffering is a part of the Christian experience.
And now in verse 10 and 11 of 1 Peter 5, he shifts,
and I love this, he turns our eyes from the enemy
to God himself, from the battlefield to the throne
room, from worry to worship. And he says, the
God of all grace. who called you to his eternal
glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish,
strengthen, and support you after you have suffered
a little while. And then this praise, this doxology
erupts from Peter. To him be dominion forever.
Amen. If you underline in your Bible, that would
be a verse to underline. Verse 10, if you are
someone who is suffering, if you are someone
who is going through a trial or difficulty, if
you are someone who's carrying the weight of
worry, then you can remember that the God of
all grace who called you into his eternal glory
in Christ Jesus himself will restore and establish,
himself will strengthen and support you even
after you've suffered a little while. That's
who he is. That's his heart. And that's why we
can rest in the God who restores. You're not
sustained by your own strength. You are not carried
by your own resilience. You are held and will
be restored by the God of all grace. Peter doesn't
say the God of second chances. He doesn't say
the God of pull yourselves up from your own bootstraps,
right? No, he says the God of all grace. All
the grace you need to endure. How many of you
guys need grace to endure today? All the grace
that you need to endure, he has it. All the grace
that you need to repent and overcome sin in your
life. Anyone ever dealt with sin? Ever? Ever?
Ever? You got to say that. If you say today,
everyone's like, I'm raising my hand in my heart.
All the grace you need to repent, all the grace
you need to overcome sin, he gives it. All the
grace you need to be restored after failure,
after failure, after failure, he pours it out
freely. He's the God of all grace. And there's
no crack or crevice in your life that is too
deep for the grace of God to reach. And some
of you are tired. Some of you are wounded. Some
of you are tempted to give up. But this is who
God is. He is not finished with you. He is not
far from you. And my friends, he is full of grace
for you. Peter goes on to say that God has called
you into his eternal glory in Christ. And that
means that if you are in Christ, God has already
written your ending. It's a glorious ending.
It's not pain -free, but it's glory -filled.
And trusting in God to be a refuge doesn't mean
that you won't get hurt along the way. But it
does mean that along the way, he will be with
you, and he promises to heal you from it. All
the hurt. will be undone. For some of you, that
is a message of hope, isn't it? All the hurt
done to you will be undone. You were called not
just to salvation, but to eternity with God.
Not just to forgiveness, but to fellowship with
him forever. And then Peter tags on this little
phrase. After you've suffered for a little while.
And I love it because it's intentionally vague,
right? Some of you are like, what does a little
while mean? It doesn't say. But I think, and
a lot of scholars said this in their commentaries,
it really ties to the length of your life. That's
the guarantee. Your suffering will only last
the length of your life here on earth. And then
it'll be over. And in comparison to eternity,
that ain't that much. It ain't. It isn't. It
aren't. We did this once a long, long time ago,
maybe when Pastor Jeff was still here. I think
I got a chance to preach. Imagine this wall here
is eternity, right? And your life is a speck
you can't even see on there. All the pain and
hurt that you've experienced in your life, all
the worry and anxiety, all the trouble you've
gone through and the wounds you've incurred are
but a speck on this wall in light of eternity.
And it's hard to see that now because we're in
the fishbowl, right? But it's true. His word
is true and we believe it by faith. And if that's
true, then it is just for a little while. We
can say to anything I've gone through, For a
little while. Just for a little while. And after
a little while, the promise is that he will restore.
He will put back what was broken. The promise
to persecuted believers, the promise to believers
who suffer, is that everything that was lost,
everything of value, everything of purpose and
meaning, will be 100 % restored in the glory
of his kingdom. That he will establish you, that
he will ground you and root you and make you
steady again, even if you feel tossed by the
winds and the waves. That he will strengthen
you, he will give you the power to keep going
when you feel like quitting. He's the God of
all grace. And he has grace for your quitting.
And he's the God who will support you. He is
the rock and the foundation that never moves.
If you build your life on him, you will be immovable.
And you notice, none of this language is try
harder. None of this is just buck up, buttercup.
It's all like, he's going to do it. He himself.
He doesn't outsource it. He doesn't subcontract
his restoration of you. He himself will do it.
And Peter erupts in praise after that. To him.
Be dominion forever. Amen. I think that's a word
we need to hear because sometimes it feels like
our suffering has dominion over us. And sometimes
it feels like our fear has dominion over us or
that the devil has dominion over us and they
don't. God does. He always has and he always
will. Amen? Satan may roar, but our God reigns.
The trials may last, but God's dominion is eternal.
And the pain may feel overwhelming right now,
but the promise that God makes is unshakable.
And it's something that we are to rest our lives
in and stand firm in. The final point is a final
encouragement. In these closing verses, there's
one last set of encouragement that Peter gives
to the church to stay rooted in God's grace.
And it reads, verse 12, through Silvanus, a faithful
brother, as I consider him. Silvanus, we won't
cover it in detail, but Silvanus is the long
word. It's the Jonathan to my John for Silas.
If you know Silas from Acts, Silvanus is Silas.
And he's a faithful brother to Peter. And he
likely was either Peter's secretary who helped
him write down this letter, or he was the man
who Peter entrusted to deliver the letter to
the churches. in the region. Through Silvanus,
a faithful brother, as I consider him, I have
written to you briefly in order to encourage
you and to testify that this is the true grace
of God. Stand firm in it. She who is in Babylon,
chosen together with you, sends you greetings,
as does Mark, my son. Greet one another with
a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in
Christ. And that's what sums up the letter. Peter
is basically saying, everything I've written
to you, everything we've studied for the last
few weeks in 1 Peter, about suffering, about
holiness, about the church, about resisting the
enemy, all of this is part of what it means to
live in the grace of God. This is what a grace
-filled life looks like. And Peter says this
grace -filled life, suffering and holiness, Life
together in the church, being built together,
the royal priesthood, resisting the enemy, not
giving way to pride or worry, all of this together.
Stand firm in it. Stand firm. And when Peter
says stand firm in the true grace of God, he's
using language that would have echoed in the
minds of his first readers. These are people
who lived in Rome under the shadow of the Roman
Empire. And they were very familiar with the
Roman legions and the battle exploits that they
had. And the Roman legions, they didn't win battles
by chasing down their enemies in chaotic battles.
The Roman legions were known for a move, a strategy
that they took, a tactic, which was they would
interlock their shields together to create an
impenetrable wall, both in front and on top.
And this wall of shields held together by the
resolve of your partner on your right and on
your left. created a shield of safety in front
of you, and you would stick your spears through
that shield of safety, and the enemy would, in
their arrogance, charge those shields, thinking
they could take you down and only find that they're
impaled on the spears as you stood firm. And
to help you stand firm, because you knew when
that enemy hit the front of that shield, you
were gonna wanna retreat, you were gonna wanna
push back, you were gonna be moved back by the
horses and the men who were pushing against it.
Many of the Roman soldiers would wear sandals
that were fitted, with spikes, like golf shoes,
with little longer spikes. And they would dig
those spikes directly into the ground as they
held their ground with the shield and wouldn't
give up an inch. They stood their ground. And
this is the image that Peter gives us. Not a
scattered people who are running in fear, but
a unified people holding the line. Feet grounded
in grace. Faith locked with one another. Not
backing down even when the enemy presses in on
us. The victory is not how fast we move, but
how firmly we stand. Stand firm in the true grace
of God. Not in your strength. not in your performance,
but in grace. And Peter says, she who is in Babylon,
chosen together with you, sends a greeting. This
is probably a metaphor for the church in Rome.
The church in Rome, the people of God in Rome,
sending greetings to these churches, standing
together with them, firm in the faith, reminding
them that they are not alone, that they're a
part of a much larger church family. One body
chosen together. And then he says to greet one
another with a kiss of love. Now we're not going
to start a new kissing ministry. But this principle
of the church being marked by real affectionate
gospel shaped love is probably more likened to
the hugs that we give one another on a Sunday
morning. It's a way of expressing. oneness with
each other and love. It's not cold politeness,
but it's real love. Tim Keller once said, the
church is not a place you attend, it's a people
you belong to. You look around, if you are a
believer and your neighbor or your partner or
the people in this room have their hope and faith
in Christ, then you belong to one another. You
belong to each other. And then Peter's final
words. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
Not a peace from circumstances. Not a peace from
Rome. For us, not a peace from this world. But
peace that is found only in Christ. It's the
kind of peace that surpasses understanding. It's
the kind of peace that exists in the middle of
suffering. And it's the kind of peace that...
Guarded by grace and rooted in Christ alone,
we can stand firm. Church, stand firm. Firm in
the true grace of God. And stand firm together.
Because Satan may roar, but our God reigns. Amen.