Give Anxiety To God Series

“Give Anxiety to God”

1 Peter 5:6-14

Pastor John Bright

1 Peter 5 “6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

12 By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

13 She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

Today, we come to the end of 1 Peter. Just like the beginning of the letter, the end of the letter is formatted in the style of a letter from that day. There are greetings from others, and we also find a “code word” to describe their location. When you study the Book of Revelation, you learn that Babylon is code for the center of power opposed to Christ. In that day, it was Rome, but you could get in trouble if you wrote that name in your letter. We won’t spend much time on the ending – especially the “kiss of love.” 😊

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Assured God cares for me, v. 6-7

“6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

I want everyone to set aside their preconceived notions about God. Open yourselves to a new way of seeing. This will be hard! Our Western, individual mindset makes this new way of seeing it hard to accept. Here is the hard truth: God put you here to bring glory to HIM. Not to please you, or for you to get any glory and praise. God did not put you on this earth for you… He did it for Himself.

Now, try to hold that radical thought right at the top of your brain. Peter begins this section by urging them to humble themselves UNDER God’s mighty hand. Where else do we read this kind of wording in the Bible? We find it in the Old Testament book of Exodus. Remember all those plagues. In some of the plagues, the Israelites were protected. In others, they were not, and they felt the judgment that fell on the Egyptians. Before the plagues, their burdens were increased. When they got into the wilderness, they experienced God’s judgment directly.

We struggle with someone suffering for the actions of another. In that day, they were not so individualistic as we are in this Western World. Whenever I share the Sin of Achan from the book of Joshua, modern folks like to protest. Here’s the story: The Israelites are given a great victory over the large city of Jericho. God instructs them not to take anything from the city. There is a smaller city, Ai, nearby, so they sent about 3,000 troops. Here’s what happened: Joshua 7:5 “5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.”

The Lord tells Joshua they lost because someone sinned by taking items from Jericho. So, they found out it is Achan. Here’s what comes next: Joshua 7:24-26 “24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. 26 Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.”

We don’t think it’s fair that the soldiers had to die because Achan sinned. We don’t think it’s fair that the whole family had to die because Achan sinned. God’s judgment is always righteous, so we need to accept it and learn from it. There is no private sin. Sin always has consequences that go beyond the person who is sinning. Are you sure, PJ? Have you considered the spiritual consequences for the whole Body of Christ that result from your choices and actions? We tend only to consider the consequences of sin in the physical realm.