A Sermon at Wonersh
by James Cooke on December 10th 2006
1 Peter - Series No.5
Lookup – BibleGateway.com - 1 Peter 5;
Some years ago I went by train to
visit some friends who lived in
That’s why I chose the Beatitudes as our gospel reading – because they illustrate beautifully how Christians are to live counter culturally. They’re all about Christian character. I wonder, do we know people who are willing to acknowledge that they are spiritually poor, who weep with those who’ve lost loved ones, are passionate about righteousness and opposed to prejudice? In their own lives there is an almost heaven-like purity, and they’re willing to suffer for what they believe without bitterness. Clearly Peter is challenging us to live in the way that Jesus himself was calling us to.
(1) Our passage tonight from 1 Peter 5 continues with the same theme (even though the word ‘stranger’ is not in the text). What characteristics of the world does he highlight that we should particularly resist? There are quite a few and to try and make things simpler I’ve grouped them under 3 headings all beginning with A. The first A stands for Arrogance. If you look at verse 5 you’ll see that Peter uses the word ‘proud’ rather than arrogant. He’s quoting the Old Testament (Proverbs) when he says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. We were looking at this passage in a homegroup I went to a few weeks ago, and someone said, “What’s wrong with being proud – surely it’s OK to be proud of your children, for example? And aren’t we meant to take pride in our work so that we do it to the best of our ability?” The difficulty here lies with the use of words. In some contexts ‘proud’ refers to a wholly proper valuing of yourself, as when a schoolchild makes something good in woodwork lessons, for example, and is proud of what he has achieved. But there’s another meaning, and that’s when it refers to having an inflated view of your own importance and superiority. Nowadays arrogance might be a better word for it, and it’s this that Peter is referring to here. In his book “Mere Christianity”, CS Lewis wrote these words:
There is one
vice of which no one in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes
when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except
Christians, ever imagine they are guilty themselves. There is no fault which
makes someone more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in
ourselves. The vice I am talking of is
pride or self-conceit. As long as you
are proud, you cannot know God. A proud person is always looking down on things
and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see
something that is above you.
And that last bit, about looking down on others is maybe why the Message translation renders verse 5 like this, God has had it with the proud. He wants us to know him and to enjoy his love and peace and joy in our lives. He wants to give us himself and he cannot do that if we are so convinced of our own importance that we don’t attach any importance to other people - or to God himself. The opposite of pride, of course, is humility, but what are humble people like? Are they like Uriah Heep in David Copperfield, rather greasy, hypocritical people who are always telling us that they are nobodies? The chances are that if you meet a truly humble person, you won’t realise it at first – they seem cheerful and friendly and it’s often only later that you remember how they took a real interest in what you said to them. But the first step in becoming humble is to realise that you’re proud and repent of it.
There’s one particular aspect of arrogance that Peter focuses on in this passage, and that’s our attitude to those in authority over us, our spiritual leaders. If you look at the first few verses of the chapter there is a very daunting list of the qualities of an elder or a church leader (vicar, we might say, if we were to apply it to Wonersh church). He is to be a shepherd of God’s flock, not greedy for money, eager to serve, an example to the flock. Who can live up to a description like this? [I wonder how many of us pray regularly for Ian - perhaps that God will help him in these 4 areas, especially] But what of the rest, who aren’t elders? Young men, Peter calls them, but what he says could be applied to any in a church congregation, be submissive to those who are older. That word ‘submissive’ doesn’t fit easily into today’s world, does it? Why should we do what others tell us to do? Our educational system teaches us to question authority, and at times that is right and proper. But, with the questioning there is sometimes a lack of respect, and a lack of understanding that submissiveness works both ways. So, wives Peter told us (in chapter 3) are to be submissive to their husbands, but husbands are to treat their wives with respect. I guess that means that if we find ourselves at odds with Ian or any others in positions of leadership in the church, we should aim to express our feelings in a way that is respectful and not dismissive, remembering that they may have reasons we know nothing about for the way they do things, and are living under pressures we can only guess it. To dismiss what they do as worthless is often just a sign of our own arrogance.
(2) The next A that describes the world around us is Anxiety. As it says in verse 6, cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. In the parable of the Sower I wonder if you remember the seed that fell among thorns? The worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. How hard it is for people to allow God to rule in their lives if they cling on to their worries or are very rich. JD Rockefeller, who was the richest man in the world in the early 1900s, was once asked how much more money he needed to be happy, and he replied “Just one more dollar”. There is no peace for the wicked, we say, but I think that should say ‘no peace for the rich’. But worry is not exclusively the preserve of the rich. Do we let worries come in and choke our faith? Peter’s response sounds simple: cast all your anxieties on God. The trouble is, how do we do it? One of our difficulties is that when we are consumed by worry God seems a million miles away and we find it hard to trust that he really is in control. I had the privilege this week to sit in on a conversation between a headmaster and a worried pupil. Something had happened at the boy and he was worried that soon all the other children in the school would be talking about it. The headmaster said something like this: “I will make it my responsibility to see that it doesn’t happen. I will tell all the teachers about it and if anyone is talking about it they will stop them. And if you’re worried about anything, I want you to come here to my study and tell me all about it.” And then he said something I found really surprising, “I don’t want you to worry about this for a moment longer, because I am going to do all the worrying for you.” And the look of relief on the boy’s face was clear. The burden was lifted. And if a headmaster can do that for a worried pupil how much more can God do it for us.
It’s especially appropriate that this passage has come up tonight because as you know at the end of the service there is an opportunity for any of you to come into the lady chapel after communion for prayer – prayer for healing, or prayer about any situation which is troubling you and which you may need help in casting on to God. So, do come if that describes you – those ministering would find it a privilege to pray with you.
(3) And now we come to the last of the A’s. Apathy. So many people in the world drift through life without caring passionately about anything or anyone apart from themselves. And of course, apathy is a killer when it comes to faith. If the devil wants to stop people putting their trust in Jesus he will plant the thought in their minds that there’s no urgency - it can wait, wait until they are older. “Don’t let believing in Jesus stop you doing what you want to do”, he says to us. “Put it off until you’re old and you’ve lived all the best bits of your life”. In verse 8 Peter gives us the antidote to apathy. Be self-controlled and alert. Other versions use the words watchful or awake instead of alert. We need this watchfulness as well, don’t we, when it comes to temptation? I wonder if you’ve ever come across the Jungle Doctor stories? There’s one called “The Small Wisdom of Feeding Vultures” and it’s about a little monkey called Tichi who was fascinated by the curved and dangerous looking beaks of vultures. One landed near him in the tree where the family of monkeys lived. Tichi stared at every inch of its foul body, and when no one was looking threw it some food, then clapped and shouted “Be gone!” Next day two vultures came and landed near Tichi and again he threw them food before shouting, “Be gone!” Soon, more and more came to the tree and Tichi was now so scared he started throwing stones at the big birds. But, as the weeks went by the vultures grew bolder and bolder, and drew closer and closer to Tichi. Some were above him and some were below, while others started circling above his head. Tichi started screaming and clapping frantically but there were too many for him. The vultures landed and there was one final shrill cry as the monkey was devoured. Such is the danger of a fascination with sin, and (as Peter puts it) the need to resist the devil: Your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion (or a dangerous vulture) looking for someone to devour. Resist him, firm in the faith. Oscar Wilde once famously said, “I can resist everything except temptation” but if that’s our attitude then we will be easily led astray. Let’s not be apathetic about temptation and the activity of the devil in the world. But let’s also remember that Christ defeated the devil when he died on the cross and if we turn to God for help in these situations we can be sure that he can help us resist. Part of the secret is to train our minds to think God’s thoughts – keep reading the Bible, keep coming to church, go to a homegroup – and then we will be stronger to resist.
So, we have been given 3 ways to live if we are going to be successful as Strangers in the World. Develop humility in our lives by renouncing arrogance; practise giving our anxieties over to God and enjoy his peace in increasing measure in our hearts; and be alert, turn away from apathy and resist the devil who would love us to lose our faith or abandon the fight against sin in our lives. But sometimes it’s hard to see just how we are going to manage this task; there are times when it seems too hard for us, too demanding. Just as we might be starting to feel that, the most vital thing we need to help us appears over the horizon. Look at v. 10,11. (read it) What a great way to end this letter! How encouraging for us as strangers in this world, people who often struggle and fail, that God is the God of all grace, loving us to the end even though we don’t deserve it. Look at the verbs Peter uses in v 10 to describe what God will do. He will restore us and put us back together again when we are broken and fragile. He will make us strong – literally he’ll establish us so that we won’t any longer be like the wobbly or unstable chairs we so often are (spiritually speaking). He’ll make us firm, giving us renewed energy to press on in the Christian life, and he’ll make us steadfast which is all about making our foundations firm and settled on Jesus, our rock. And all this means that however often we fail or struggle, God is behind us, graciously picking us up and restoring us. We can be sure that we’ll survive in the Christian life and be brought to heaven because the God of grace has promised to finish the work that he has begun in anyone who has turned to him.
May God help us not be squeezed into the world’s mould but to go on living as strangers for him.