Facing the Roaring Lion
I Peter 5:8-10
"Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom" -- a familiar saying in our country. We remember from Pearl Harbor what it's like to get caught off guard. The enemy can be so deceptive: Japan's peace envoys were seated at the negotiating table at the very moment the attack was launched. Our country depends on a strong defense -- on being watchful so we are not surprised by a sneak attack and on being powerful so that we are prepared to fight when we have to. The same holds true in the spiritual realm.
On April 28, 1944, during World War II, Allied soldiers were engaged in Operation Tiger, a training exercise in amphibious beach landings in preparation for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Suddenly, enemy gunboats appeared and killed over 700 American servicemen in a surprise attack. Today, a monument stands on Slapton Sands to commemorate the sacrifice of those young men who died while training for battle but were never able to enter the conflict.
That tragedy is a picture that warns the believer in Christ. We too are involved in combat with an enemy who is powerful and deceptive. That is why the apostle Peter warned: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
Strong confidence in God (4:19-5:7) does not justify carelessness or laziness. We still have an enemy and we still need to be alert.
One reason we have troubles and persecutions and cares is that we have an enemy.
Peter wants to give us three practical lessons so we can stand firm and not be intimidated by our enemy.
I. Respect Him.
He is dangerous. He’s not a joke. He’s not a caricature. He’s not a little person who sits on your shoulder (and an angel on the other one) trying to influence you. He’s dangerous!
Jude 9 says that even Michael the Archangel was very careful during his dispute with Satan. If even the archangel understands Satan’s power and schemes, we need to respect him, too.
Understand that Satan is crafty. How are we to respect him? What is he up to?
A. He oppresses -- “Satan” means adversary. “Devil” means accuser or slanderer.
The picture here is that Satan acts like a lion circling the flock at night seeing if there is one sheep that strays away from the security and protection of the shepherd and the flock. He’s trying to intimidate us.
B. He prowls – he’s always looking for an opportunity to discourage and catch us unaware.
Peter knows this from experience. In Luke 22:31, Christ has told Peter that Satan was prowling around looking for an opportunity to get Peter. Peter wasn’t alert…he fell asleep instead of praying. Peter woke up and acted impulsively and cut off Malchus’ ear…then Peter wilted and denied Christ.
He’s prowling—he’s always active. Respect him…he’s dangerous.
C. He wants to devour . Some preachers want to characterize Satan as a toothless lion that can only roar but cannot harm you. That kind of preaching is also dangerous because SATAN DOESN’T JUST WANT TO SCARE US…HE WANTS TO DESTROY US.
Even though he has been defeated, he is still dangerous.
I read about the death of a man named Paul Reimers in Queensland Australia. Even though he lived in a part of Australia where crocodiles were common, he was so afraid them that he would never go in water more than a few inches deep. Even so, a 15 foot crocodile with only three legs and half a tail stalked Reimers in the shallow water and killed him. Just because the crocodile was “handicapped”, he was still dangerous.
Satan may be defeated, but he is still crafty and dangerous.
Remember the old TV program from the 1980’s called HILL STREET BLUES?
It was a police drama based on a precinct in NYC. It always started in the ready room of the police station with roll call. At the end of roll call, when everyone was ready to go on patrol, the old Sgt would always end roll call with the same send off. He’d say “Let’s be careful out there!”
The advice was sound. The old Sgt. Knew the danger the officer’s faced. He knew that around every corner, down every alley, even in broad daylight… The potential for danger existed.
He also knew that the greatest danger to his men was…complacency.
By the way, the word used here for alert or vigilant is used in other Greek writings for people who are crossing a stream by stepping on slippery rocks. If you aren’t careful you could slip up, so you have to concentrate and focus and careful measure each step. That’s why you can’t get lazy in your spiritual life.
If you aren’t paying close attention, you could end up in disaster.
II. Recognize Him
II Corinthians 2:11 says that we need to be careful so that no advantage be taken on us by Satan, for we
are not ignorant of his schemes.
As in any sport you must know your opponent. The best team is the most well prepared team, the team whose coach scouts the opponents. The well prepared coach profiles every player, watches game film, understands even the stadium or the lighting of the basketball court. The same is true of every Christian; Before we can be victorious here on earth we must know the enemy and this will allow us to prepare our lives for battle. We always want to tell people to put on the full armor of God, but a soldier in battle armor without knowledge of the enemy is still is not prepared for battle. We don’t need to spend an enormous amount of time studying Satan—I’d rather you studied Christ -- but we need to know what he is like in order to prepare ourselves to resist him.
I Corinthians 11:14 says he is so crafty that he even appears as a good angel—an angel of light.
John 8:44 says that he is a deceiver, a liar and the father of lies.
Revelation 12 tells us that there was a war in heaven. Satan lost and was kicked out of heaven and a third of the angels who had rebelled were also kicked out. That is the enemy we are facing. Satan has help. And they want to scare us and discourage us and attack us. Recognize that the war we face is not a little skirmish like missing a car payment or walking down a dark street. Our battles go much deeper than that. Satan wants to attack your faith…he wants to destroy your reputation…he wants to disrupt your happiness.
II Corinthians 10:3-5 He attacks our confidence in God…He attacks our thinking processes…he attacks our desire to obey Christ. Those are spiritual battles.
Ephesians 6:10 Our battle is not a fleshly one, but against spiritual forces of wickedness in high places.
While I do not see Satan behind every thing bad that happens, he is still very active. We live in a sin-filled world dominated by sin-filled people. But when bad stuff gets worse, and the persecution gets overwhelming, you can be sure that Satan is prowling around somewhere. Recognize who he is and what he is up to. By knowing what Satan does, you can put on your armor and stand firm against him.
III. Resist Him
Resist him =/= attack him. No where are Christians told to rebuke Satan. We don’t have that authority—it was given to apostles. We don’t have that power—he’s stronger than us. And he isn’t omnipresent, so he probably isn’t right there with us anyway! His demons are!
Resist him =/= bind him – that’s not in scripture, except in Revelation 21:1-3 where an angel from heaven comes down and binds Satan and throws him into the abyss.
Resist him =/= mock or belittle him. Remember, respect him…he’s dangerous. It is dangerous when we belittle Satan and make him less powerful and less dangerous than he really is. We are minimizing his ability to come after us.
Stand firm—resist him. Grab your weapons and stand your ground.
Ephesians 6:10-13 stand…withstand…stand.
James 4:7 Submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Look at what vs. 9,10 say about resisting Satan
Just as the key to submitting to God is faith (4:19), the key to standing fast against Satan’s attacks is also faith. (vs. 9)
Remember Luke 22. Christ told Peter, Satan has demanded to be able to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
Why faith? Because Satan attacks our faith. He wants us to dilute our confidence in God. He wants us to doubt God’s intentions, God’s plans and God’s goodness. He attacks our faith.
In the context of suffering, Satan will try to convince you that God doesn’t care, that God cant’ get you through tough times, and as vs. 9b suggests, that God isn’t strong enough to deliver you out of difficulties. Satan will say, “This is how God treats His people? And you want to follow Him?”
God wants you to stand strong in your faith.
We can stand firm because others are standing firm.
Satan says, “God has left you all alone…You are the only one going through the kind of trouble you are experiencing…nobody knows the trouble you’re in.” AND PETER SAYS, “You are not alone…Christian brothers all over the world are going through similar trials.” That pity party is from the Devil. That self-pity is wrong. Read Hebrews 11 and you’ll see that other people went through all kinds of trouble—by faith—and they made it.
Vs. 10 Have faith that God is still working His plan and purposes.
The same circumstances that Satan wants to use to discourage and defeat you are the circumstances that God is using to develop us. Have faith that God is still at work.
Then, Peter concludes with this word of encouragement:
Vs. 10 Peter says, in verse 10, that we are dealing with the God of all grace,--the God of all resource, all adequacy, all provision. This is like a fanfare, building in intensity, in volume, in enthusiasm. If it were choir or orchestra music there would need to be a great crescendo. Tympani rolling, it would be getting louder and fuller and stronger. It's hope that we hang on to!
The promises, in verse 10, tell us that God will do four things for us as we go through times of suffering.
1. The first thing Peter says is that he will restore us. Literally the Greek word means "to repair or mend a net," or "to set a broken bone." Peter was a fisherman so he'd think of sewing or repairing the holes in his fishermen's net. Suffering will add to our character, it will repair flaws in our character, making us more like Jesus. Suffering will add a needed dimension to our life.
I found in one of the commentaries a beautiful example from the life of Sir Edward Elgar, the British composer who wrote oratorios, symphonies and operas at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of this century. He was listening to a young woman, a soprano with a beautiful voice singing his music. She was singing exquisitely. She had a beautiful voice technically, there was clarity, range and purity. Someone overheard Elgar say, "She will be truly great when something happens to break her heart." Though she had a beautiful voice to start with, there was a missing dimension of authenticity. You could say that suffering is meant by God to add grace notes to our lives.
2. The second thing Peter says is that God will establish us. Literally, the word means "to be as firm as granite or steel." We're being hardened and solidified and toughened through suffering, like fired and tempered steel.
3. The third phrase Peter uses is that God will strengthen us. Literally, we will be "filled with bodily strength." “They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.”
4. Finally, Peter says God will settle us. He uses an architectural term in Greek. It means "to lay a foundation for a building." Suffering will drive us to the bedrock of our faith, to our foundation which is Jesus himself. In suffering we figure out what's superficial in life, what's unnecessary, we're stripped of all the excess baggage and driven to the one thing that we can really build our lives on, Jesus Christ himself
I think it is interesting that Peter builds this book to a great crescendo, but then ends with this quiet, calm, confident hope. After the fanfare and after the battles, there is that settled feeling that we are solid and secure.
