Letter to Exiles | God Himself Will Keep Us

1 Peter 5:6-14 — Sermon by Trevor Hoffman

Due to technical difficulties, this week’s sermon was not recorded. Below is a transcript of the message that was preached.

What might be said to a small group of struggling Christians in the first century? Sojourners, exiles, strangers in a strange land? What might be said to those who endure harm and hatred for Jesus’ name? What might be said to suffering saints?

And what could be said to us today? With so much uncertainty all around, the pace at which things are moving – the world changing, values shifting, a low-grade anxiety about everything. From the threat of nuclear war to dizzying technological developments to news alerts of all the terrible things happening in all places.

Pastors dropping like flies; friends once thought faithful abandoning the way of Christ; churches shutting their doors at a record pace; polarization and political turmoil at what feels like a fever pitch.

What could be said to Christians who are in a post-Christian moment, where values once thought to be axiomatic are now considered not just backwards, not just outdated, but evil?

Who knows what’s next for us! Who knows what the election holds! Who knows what kind of world our kids will inherit! Who knows if there will even be a world for our kids to inherit!

I don’t know the answer to any of that! What's so taxing now is we have so much, too much information, too much to process, and so much uncertainty...

But here’s what we do know... here’s what you and I can take to the bank, Christian, what God’s very Spirit through the writing of the Apostle Peter saidto a group of first-century Christians, and to us, to the very souls in this room: God himself will keep us.

For the past several months, we’ve been studying 1 Peter. It’s a letter to exiles – Christians strewn across affluent, pagan cities in the Roman world. They were exiles in the sense that they weren’t home; they were different by virtue of being followers of Jesus – in cities, communities, and families that didn’t share their values; kind of on the outskirts of society, considered weirdos. And some have been targeted – by soft persecution, ostracized fromsocial circles, name-calling, false accusations, loss of jobs, cut off from family, losing inheritance – all related either directly or indirectly to their faith in Jesus.

Each week, we've said... we can relate. Our culture is post-Christian – we’ve moved on from Christian values and teachings. So those of us who still value the teachings of the Bible, we’re stuck in this strange land... as exiles, wrestling with how we are to follow Jesus in a culture that doesn't share our way of life and commitments. We’ve wrestled with the reality of suffering for the sake of the gospel. Peter’s spoken of our future hope, our duty to remain distinct – to live holy, honorable lives, and our suffering as a way we identify with Jesus (and how he identifies with us).

Today, Peter lands the plane by issuing his final words to these folks... with a sober, yet incredibly hopeful word of encouragement.

Peter builds to this punchline in v.11 – God Himself will keep you.

We’re locked in! Our future is sure! We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow!

And so we’re to do two things... Trust God and Resist the devil.

First, Peter exhorts them: Trust God.

1 Peter 5:[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

This picks up midstream from verse 5, where Peter say: God opposes the proud, gives grace to the humble. Because this is so, Peter says in verse 6: humble yourselves under his mighty hand.

God opposes the proud; two things that think they’re God can’t cooperate. The problem with pride is it’s a god complex. God opposes the proud because... well, that chair is already taken.

Because God opposes the proud, humble yourselves under his mighty hand. This call to humility flows into verse 7, casting all your anxieties on Him.

Humble yourself before God; that looks like casting anxieties on Him. It looks like humbly trusting His wisdom in your life, humbly receiving the life He gives you, even in suffering, and knowing that He will exalt you at the last day, v.6.

What’s interesting to me is the connection in Peter’s mind between humility and trust. One who humbles themselves before God would trust Him, would cast our concerns about our circumstances, sufferings, and our future on Him. So the inverse is true, too, then; pride, lack of trust, gives way to a kind of anxiety about things.

We live in an anxious age, don’t we? What aren’t we anxious about? I've been reading a book in recent weeks by journalist Tim Carney; he calls what we’re experiencing "civilizational sadness.” Anxiety is the white noise of our lives. We're anxious about the future, our country, our families, ourselves. We’re addicted to safety, we’re joyless, we’re risk-averse, we’re people-averse. Those who choose childlessness cite fears of climate change. Those who have children are constantly fearful for their kids' safety, success, and mental well-being. And we are, each of us, constantly weighed down, flirting with despair.

It actually makes sense we’re so sick and sad. We live in an entirely godless age... but probably not godless in the way you’re thinking. Ours is a world where the only thing left is self. We’re self-made. Our identities are self-constructed. Our values are self-defined. Our lives and paths are self-chosen. We are the sovereign of the universe, completely free to make ourselves with no reference to anyone or anything – especially God.

And what’s the result? How has this worked out for us? A crushing weight of anxiety. Looked inward for so long, it’s like a boulder has settled on us, and we’re stuck in this position.

There's a graph we could draw, showing humility and anxiety inversely proportional; as one rises, the other drops. The same with pride and peace, right?

I’ve been reading a book with our Greenhouse guys, written by David Wells, in 1994. Wells writes.. “The modern self has experienced the exhilaration of the complete freedom to choose a destiny without reference to God, without a thought to what is ultimately right or, for that matter, what anyone else may think or how they might be affected. In most quarters, however, this brief exhilaration has passed, and a weariness of soul has set in as the self creaks beneath the weight of all the functions it is now being called upon to serve. The tension, anxiety, and bewilderment that usually follow have become the calling cards of [our day and age].” Wells goes on to say, a God you use is not a God you can obey. And I would add – from Peter – a God we use is not a God we can trust. We need a God outside of us, who is not obligated to us, who does not exist for us, who does not affirm us, who does not need us.

A God of wild otherness and indescribable glory. A God adored by the heavenly hosts. A God called HOLY, HOLY, HOLY by the dread seraphim. A God whose glory outshines the sun. A God with a mighty hand.

Peter says... Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand. Go to God. Cast your fears and uncertainties and anxieties on Him. Why? He cares for you.

I just love this so much about Christian teaching. In Christian theology, we’re given both God’s transcendence and God’s immanence. His transcendence isHis otherness. It’s the God of Isaiah 6. Holiness, strength, splendor. The kind of dread this creates. A God so big and unsafe.

AND YET, He draws near to His people. The God of Isaiah 6 is the God of Incarnation – It’s like both of these, both volume knobs are turned to 11. Dialed all the way up! He’s a God of might AND a God of intense, attentive care. That’s A God we must humble ourselves before. A God we can humble ourselves before. That’s a God we can trust.

Peter says to his readers, Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand. Casting your anxieties on Him, He cares for you. What a comfort this passagewould be! Those who persecute you, not beyond God’s mighty reach. Peter’s saying God is bigger than troublemakers (as a friend said to me this week). God is at work, God will keep you, God will deliver you. And to you; to all of this church, he says, God cares for us.

For us today, to those suffering here, maybe particularly under anxiety and depression, one of the ways our anxiety lies to us is it tells us that we're passive recipients to an indifferent blind universe. It lies that this is all we’ll ever be. But those lies are exactly that: LIES. This passage is a rock-solid gift.God cares for you. He is not apathetic, distant, or indifferent to you. Friend, God is big enough to trust. One author said, even the shadows serve Him. He is at work. He is doing something. We can cast our concerns on Him – He’s big enough to carry it. He’s big enough to see us, gloriously generous, full and warm towards His own. He takes care of us. You can submit your lives to Him, we can trust Him. And listen - even better than present care - Peter assures us, the humble will be exalted. Like Christ.

Back in chapter 1, Christ’s sufferings give way to subsequent glories. That’s the shape of our lives, too. Humble now, weighed down by hardship now, enduring suffering. But that will give way to GLORY! God Himself will keep us. So in the meantime.... Humble yourself before him and trust Him!

Not true for those who aren’t Christians: Are you tired of feeling rootless, pointless, aimless, dark, and discouraged? Our world has told you more freedom is the answer. What if it’s not? What if we’re drunk on freedom and that’s exactly why we’re stumbling through the dark? The answer? Humble yourself before God. Irony here, lose yourself to Him – on the other side of it all, you will realize we found ourselves. We were made for life with God. Come to him! But let me be clear here: God is opposed to your pride. Your conviction that It’s your life to live how you want to live, that it’s your choice to do with your life and body and heart and mind what you want to do, that you can live without reference or gratitude towards Him. God is opposed. And you will be humbled; in this life or the life to come.

First, Peter exhorts us: Trust God. Second, Peter exhorts us: Resist the Devil.[8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

Again, for the third time, this command: be sober-minded. This time, why? What’s the reason? Let me tell you a story: Caleb, our pastoral resident, before being with us, spent several years as a campus missionary. Part of that, he went on a mission trip to Tanzania for the summer. One night, they went to a safari park. You pay for 24 hours in the park. Staying in a wooden structure cost $100 extra so they planned to stay in the tent they had. The “campsite” was just a table and fire pit under a tree in the middle of the park. They built up some big fires and went to bed at 10:00, then woke up about 2:30 am to see a leopard prowling the edge of the tree line about 100 yards away. They went and slept the rest of the night in the Land Rover.

Be sober-minded, be watchful... why? Your adversary the devil prowls like a roaring lion, seeking to devour someone.

What do you think of the devil? There's not much info given about him in the Bible. He's described as the adversary – a devourer, opposed to God’s people. The accuser of the brethren wants us ground down by guilt. He's the liar, the dragon who contorts God’s word. He enslaves us with fear of death. Hebrews 2 – he’s weaponized death over us. He's the serpent in the garden, hates God, hates Jesus, hates us, hates the good. Maybe your background is one where you saw people way overplay this or way underplay this. Wherever you’re at, know this: he’s real, active, and he hates God’s people. He wants to devour us.

So be - Peter says - sober-minded. Clear thoughts. Steady soul. You know you can be intoxicated with things other than alcohol, right? Fears, worries, distractions... and the frivolities of the endless scroll – just nonstop swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, until we die – having given ourselves over to nothing. But because of the stakes, we’re to be sober-minded. Watchful. Alert, attentive like you’d be watching for a leopard in the woods because the adversary seeks to devour us. Realize what’s at stake. Do we think in these terms?

Goodness, notice the difference in the imagery here. Trust God. Be at rest under his mighty hand. He cares for you. Be on high alert. The adversary seeks to devour you.

Two questions for me: What does it mean to devour? and How do we resist?

What does he mean by devour? Helped by verse 9. Peter encourages them by saying these sufferings are common. Verse 9 says, “The same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” Again, suffering for doing good. Peter heads off the thought that it’s just bad luck or personal misfortune. He’s saying these sufferings are the sign of belonging to Jesus. These things are experienced all over the world by saints like us. Sometimes hardship can sort of single us out – make us feel alone, asif we're the only person bearing the things we’re bearing, be that natural hardships or opposition because of our faith. But the reality is, this is the life for those who follow Christ. Don’t let the enemy beat us down through these hardships, convincing us we’re alone. We walk as Jesus’ people have always walked. We walk as Jesus Himself walked. So resist the devil. Resist him. Turn that side of the magnet to HIM. How do we resist?

Again, knowing the kinds of situations Peter is addressing – suffering, intimidation, ostracization... It means... Don’t be cowered by his intimidation. It means... Don’t succumb to your sufferings, friend. Keep pressing forward with faith in God. We triumph through trust – trusting God will preserve us. Resist by persistence – stubborn trust in God despite hardships for His name.To resist is to persist. God Himself will keep us. So in the meantime.... Humble yourself before him and trust Him! And by trusting Him, we resist the devil.

Then verses 10-11. The sum of the entire letter, the whole point in Peter’s writing, right here... all building towards this... KNOW THIS... [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

We will suffer for our faith. Maybe in big ways. Maybe in small ways. We will suffer being this side of the fall. Fidelity to Jesus, fidelity to Christian teachingon sexuality. We’ll suffer broken bodies, heartbreak, loss, and aging. But after a little while – maybe 1, 5, 10, 90 years... after a little while... listen... The God of wild otherness and indescribable glory, the God adored by the heavenly hosts, the God called HOLY, HOLY, HOLY by the dread seraphim, the God whose glory outshines the sun, the God with a mighty hand. THE GOD OF ALL GRACE. HE HIMSELF has taken up YOUR cause. And He will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish US. That’s YOU, Christian. Know this: God himself... will keep you.

That’s a good word for an anxious age. That’s the way to end a letter... to exiles.

WAYWARD... Hear this... Humble yourself. Turn to Christ. Humility – confess sins, be forgiven.

WALKING FAITHFULLY Keep pressing in hope. Meal – joyous picture of our future; where God is taking us, friend!