God's Protection Plan
0 Amens
1 Peter 5:5-11
April 15, 2007
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 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. 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. 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.
Introduction
God has set up boundaries for his people. Back several years ago a group of psychologists decided that the fences around the playgrounds where children played were just too binding and did not offer them the freedom they so desperately wanted. So as they watched the children play and come near the fence they decided they would remove the fence. They did and instead of the children running further away when it was time to play, they huddled together toward the middle of the playground and refused to venture out past where the fence was. Why?
The fence offered protection. It kept them in and kept danger out and these children had great freedom within the boundary of that fence. Without the fence there was no freedom and they could not enjoy the playground.
God has set up fences for His people. We are all under authority, we all have to rely upon God, and we all have to rely upon each other. We have theological boundaries as well as moral boundaries. We even have built in checks called church discipline to aid us in staying within the boundary. So how is this boundary set up in our text?
If you think back over the course of our study in 1 Peter you can see a pattern developing. This pattern is centered around the verb “be subject to.” It is used in our text today and has been used a few times already in 1 Peter. Look at 1 Peter 2:13-14.
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
Here through Peter God tells His people that they are to submit to the governmental authorities. Why? For the Lord’s sake. So that people will know that you belong to Christ and that He is your savior and you in no way will you bring dishonor to His name.
There is another. Look at 1 Peter 2:18-19.
18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable . 19 For this finds favor , if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.
Here we have the slave being submissive bringing himself to submit to his master. Again it is for the sake of a good conscience toward God. Even if this master is an unbeliever and wicked he is still to submit for the Lord’s sake.
The government and the master were both for protection. Doing right will usually lead to a quiet and peaceable life. Sometimes it leads to persecution.
And then we have 1 Peter 3:1-2 where Peter addresses the wives.
In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
This was for the protection of the wives. All of these passages on submission and being subject to someone or an institution boil down to being for our good and for God’s glory. They are also for our protection. They are the fences which provides us freedom. So we have protection outside the church in societal life, in our work life, and in the home life. So now the Apostle Peter turns his attention to the church life.
If you even think about American society you will understand that our freedom is not apart from boundaries. Laws have been established to make life more livable. Consider driving for a moment. What if there were no lines within which to drive? People just drove on whatever side of the road they wanted to. After all this is a free country and we can drive where we like. How many more car accidents would there be? What if there were no speed limits? People could drive 100 mph through a residential area. How many walkers, joggers, and children would be splattered by the cars?
My point is, in everything we must have boundaries. There is no freedom in anarchy only chaos.
If you will recall with me three weeks ago we started looking at the duties of the church elders. I told you on that Sunday that the elders were men under authority. In other words they were submissive to two important things. They were men who were under the authority of the Word of the Lord and they were men who were under the authority of the Lord of the Word.
Within the
There has been a great push in American society especially for rugged individualism within the church. American culture is a culture that sees people as independent, free, and in need of no one else for the most part. We usually do not rely upon each other in this society because so many people are cut throat in business and elsewhere. So there has been an attitude that has permeated and done great harm to the body of Christ and that attitude is the “me and Jesus” attitude.
A very popular praise chorus expresses this. “All that I need is you Jesus all that I need is you. From early in the morning until late at night, all that I need is you.” Well that is a sweet little song but it is just not true. All that we need as our Savior is the Lord Jesus but if I read the Scripture correctly the salvation package is a Trinitarian package. The Father chooses, the Son provides the payment, and the Holy Spirit applies that salvation to the elect sinner. And then in that supernatural act of salvation the Lord plops us down right in the middle of His sheepfold. So we need each other. The great theologian Augustine stated that, “He who does not have the church as his mother does not have God as his Father.” I am not sure all that Augustine meant but what I would say is that he who refuses to come under the authority of the church has probably not come under the authority of the Lord or they are living in rebellion.
This morning if you have that “me and Jesus” attitude then I would greatly encourage you to listen to this message and lose that attitude because first it is unbiblical and second it does great harm to the church.
The overarching theme of 1 Peter 5:5-11 is protection. It is for protection for the flock of God. God has uniquely called and equipped the elders of the church to lead, feed, and protect the flock, as these sheep who have been called to the role of undershepherd follow the Chief Shepherd.
I want you to look at the first phrase in verse 5. My translation says:
Likewise, you who are younger The NASB says:
You younger men, likewise The KJV states:
Likewise, ye younger
And the NKJV says, “You younger people…”
What is translated is one word “neoteroi” and it means new one or young one. The debate in this passage is over this word. What these people whom this word is describing are to do according to the verses is very clear. What is debated is who these new ones or young ones are.
My translation says you “younger ones.” It is a simple literal translation without trying to pick up on the meaning or the intent of Peter. The nasb tries a little harder and translates it younger men. They simply picked up on the masculine gender of the noun.
Some have said that this is a younger group of male leaders in the church that was supposed to submit to the elders as they themselves learned how to be elders. In essence they were deacons. Others have said that this is the relationship between older people and younger people in the church. But this goes against the whole pastoral epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy. Timothy was probably one of the younger people in
I am positive that because of the context of 1 Peter 5 and the structure of Peter’s letter that the people he is talking to are the people in the church who are not in the position of elder. These are the “regular” church members if you will. These are the faithful ones who have been made new by the sovereign act of God and placed in the local fellowship of the Body of Christ. These are the flock of God that Peter had just a couple of verses above told the elders to shepherd.
The elders had duties toward the flock of God and likewise the flock has duties to its elder-shepherds.
This is all about protection. This is all about the boundaries that God has placed for His sheep to remain safe. The world is a dangerous place. The sheep that wander into the world will be devoured. That is a promise. The warning here in the text is crystal clear. Apart from the church and the elders who shepherd the flock, you as an individual Christian are in serious trouble.
Some may object. Well what about the elders? After all they are individuals who are just to submit to the Lord and they can fall and be devoured to. That is correct. And that is why the New Testament makes it very clear that each church is to have a plurality of elders and not just one. There is protection in that for the elders as well. They submit to one another in the Lord. There is mutual leadership under the authority of the Lord and the Word. There is mutual submission under that same Lord and same Word.
PNP
So from our text, I want you to see that there are four imperatives for faithful church membership.
1. Faithful church membership requires humble submission to the elders.
2. Faithful church membership requires humility toward one another.
3. Faithful church membership requires humility toward God.
4. Faithful church membership requires personal watchfulness.
Purpose
My purpose in preaching this passage of Scripture is for you to see that God has provided a means for your protection as the flock of God in humble obedience to the requirements that God has set up for His Church.
Church membership has fallen on hard times in our day precisely because people do not understand what is required of them. So often church membership boils down to church attendance and tithing. That is part of church membership but there is far more. Also churches claim members that they have not seen in decades. I heard this all the time in seminary chapels. “We welcome to the Seminary pulpit today Dr. So and So pastor of the First Church of Meaningless Membership. He has grown the church from a paltry 40 members to over 6000 members in his ten years as pastor. You think, wow, 6000 members. Then you find out in the sermon how successful this guy has been because he tells you about the trials involved in building there new 1200 seat church building. I am not a math person and I am not a fire marshal but 6000 people will not fit in 1200 seats and that is sitting two people in one person’s lap. Come to find out he actually has about 1000 Sunday morning members who attend and tithe. So that leaves about 5000 people to which church membership merely means having your name on a roll book. Folks, that is not meaningful, biblical church membership. These five thousand people, and I wish that I was exaggerating this morning but I assure you I am not, are left to be ravaged by the devil and the world.
Let me ask you, would you like to be devoured by the world? Would you like to be a casualty of the devil who desires to destroy your faith, your family, and you? Of course all of you desire to finish strong. You need the protection of the
RPNP
So look with me at these four imperatives for faithful church membership.
1. Faithful church membership requires humble submission to the elders.
Look with me at verse 5.
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.
We have already concluded that the younger ones here in the text are the church members of all ages. You are the new ones because you have been made new by salvation in Christ And now the first imperative verb in our text is the command to “be subject” to the elders.
I know that this cuts against the grain for most people. The idea of submission to spiritual authority is foreign to many people. After all in most people’s mind the spiritual life is a private matter. But from what the text states that is not in the mind of God. Spirituality is not a private matter. We do not pick it up when it is convenient and put it down when it is not. We are all under authority.
And the duties of the membership of the church is to be subject to the elders.
The idea of being subject to the elders is coming under their protection. The elders are leading and feeding the flock and if you are in the flock you are to bring yourself into subjection to the elders. This is for your protection and spiritual care.
Listen to Hebrews 13:17 and the writer’s admonition to the church.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.
The writer of Hebrews did not write this merely to insure the people would follow their leaders. It was for their protection. Listen to Hebrews 13:7-9.
7 Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings;
When you come under the authority of the elders you are coming under the authority of the Lord in obedience. Plus the elders guard your souls. They take care of preaching and teaching within the body of Christ and they take care of discipline issues that may arise for the flocks protection and for your restoration if you fall. Listen to Paul’s admonition to Timothy, one of the elders of the church in
Here is where true biblical Christianity boldly gouges popular culture. The sinful human nature has no desire to be subject to anyone. We want our way and we want to set the standard. But if you call yourself a Christian, you already are supposed to be under the authority of Christ and obedient to the Word of God. Therefore with humility and submission to Christ you submit to the elders. To not do so is to be in direct disobedience to the Word and the will of God.
But this can be dangerous. What if the elders that you are submitted to suddenly are acting ungodly and unbiblically? What are members who are under their authority to do at that point? Listen to 1 Timothy 5:19-20.
19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. 20 Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.
So the first imperative of faithful church membership is submission to the elders. Second I want you to see that:
2. Faithful church membership requires humility toward one another.
Look again with me at verse 5.
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Most churches are destroyed from within. There are no perfect people, no perfect Christians, and no perfect churches. One of the things that we have tried to do at GFC is to set up a congregation to the best of our biblical understanding. But our understanding is not perfect and we the elders publicly and humbly admit that. In admitting that we have attempted to do what verse 5 turns our attention to.
Peter changes his focus abruptly in verse 5. Notice the phrase “all of you.” So Peter is now talking to elder and church member alike. We have a command here to help the church of the Lord function correctly. Look at verse 5 again.
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another
Peter is the only New Testament writer to use this word clothe yourselves. It literally means to “wrap yourselves up in.” The picture gets clearer as you think about the clothing of the First Century. They wore robes and they wrapped themselves in them and cinched it at the waist. And here we are all called to wrap ourselves in humility.
The opposite of humility is devastating to a church. Those people who have not done what Peter has commanded here are people who are marked by pride, boasting, haughtiness, and they consider themselves better than everyone else.
They look down on people who are not as spiritually mature as themselves. After all a proud person simply looks down the bridge of their nose at everyone else.
Listen to what the Book of Proverbs has to say about pride. Proverbs 8:13 says,
13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil wayAnd the perverted mouth, I hate.
Proverbs 11:2 says:
2 When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 16:18-19 says:
18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. 19 It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs 29:23 says:
23 A man's pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.
Let me tell you what happens in a church that is filled with prideful people. When someone who truly thinks they have arrived spiritually starts looking at the people around them they begin to belittle the less mature. Instead of looking on them with love and compassion and praying for them they ridicule and attack them. It is sheep devouring sheep. It is sheep injuring one another.
Let me exhort you this morning as an elder. If pride is your problem, and it is if you are constantly finding fault with others, then do yourself and everybody else a favor and ask the Lord to show you the wickedness of your own heart. Let Him peel back the layer of self righteousness and let you gaze on the rot of envy, strife, lust, vanity, hatred, and many other things that permeate your wicked flesh. The only difference between you and the vilest of people on this planet is that you have received grace. Left to your own without the gracious restraining hand of God on your miserable life you would have by now destroyed your own life and many around you.
When you understand the depths of your own depravity and you understand that the only reason you are even in the sheepfold of God is because He had mercy on your unworthy soul and rescued you from the dungeon of death and Hell and transferred you into the Kingdom of His Son then you have no right nor reason to be transferred. When you truly understand the Doctrines of Grace you won’t be proud, you will be brought low and you will look on the vilest of sinners with compassion and mercy understanding that their only hope is to be rescued from the clutches of depravity just like you were rescued.
And when your less mature brother or sister in Christ stumbles you will risk your own life to help them up. When they are in sin you will bombard Heaven on their behalf. When they say something that upsets you, you will forgive them quickly as the Lord forgives you. When they do something that you are offended by then you will pray for them and continue to help them along lovingly.
And when new believers come in you will come along side them as a brother and sister and help them along in the faith patiently as God has had patience with you.
God calls us sheep because we all are dense and slow. Some of us are more dense and slow than others. And by the way, the sheepfold can be a smelly place and no matter how beautiful the pasture is, the minute we all walk into it we are going to mess it up. Thus is the nature of sheep.
I want you to understand this because within this clothing with humility there is punishment and reward. Look at verse 5 again.
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
God is opposed to the proud. The word opposes literally means He is at war with them and the prideful Christian will come under the discipline of the Lord. But grace is multiplied to the humble.
But where does this haughtiness come from? How are we so easily led into vainglory ad pridefulness? How do all these conflicts because of a lack of humility come from? Listen to James 4:1-6.
1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
This pride comes from your sinful heart. It is the flesh that wages war against the spirit. The spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. So if we under the Lordship of Christ do not bring our flesh into check it will rule us and ruin the church. The result will be quarrels and fights and the destruction of the church.
So faithful church membership requires submission to the elders and humility toward one another. Third I want you to see that:
3. Faithful church membership requires humility toward God.
Look at verses 6 and 7.
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.
The first two commands cannot be done without the third command. This is a biblical paradox. In order to live, you must die. In order to be great you must be servant of all. And here in verse 6 in order to be exalted by God you must humble yourselves under His mighty hand.
Adam Clark in his commentary on 1 Peter 5:7 writes this.
If we humble not ourselves under God's grace, he will humble us under his judgments. Those who patiently submit to him, he exalts in due time; if his hand be mighty to depress, it is also mighty to exalt.
—Adam Clarke's Commentary
What if all this disturbs you? What if you are disturbed by submitting to the elders? What if you are disturbed by clothing yourself with humility? What if you are disturbed by humbling yourself before God? Then look at verse 7.
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
In the midst of suffering Peter reminded his readers earlier to entrust their souls to a faithful Creator. Now Peter tells us in the midst of church life to cast all our anxieties on Him because HE is concerned with all of this. This verse alone should show us the seriousness of church membership and our relationship to the other members of the body of Christ.
A hymn that I have sang on many occasions is What a Friend We have in Jesus. Here is the first verse.
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Are you having trouble submitting? Take it to the Lord.
Are you having trouble with humbling yourself? Take it to the Lord in prayer.
And the most comforting aspect of this is the fact of the very last phrase in verse 7. Look at it and remember it when trouble comes. because he cares for you
We have seen that faithful church membership requires submission to the elders, humility toward one another, and humility toward God. Finally I want you to see that:
4. Faithful church membership requires personal watchfulness.
Look with me at verses 8-11.
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. 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.
There are three commands in these verses. Two we have previously covered in earlier verses. Those are the beginning of verse 8. Look at verse 8. Be sober-minded; be watchful.
In other words be on guard for yourselves and for others. Why? The answer covers everything we have seen already. Why should you submit to the elders? Why should you clothe yourself with humility? Why should you humble your self before God? Why should you watch out for yourselves?
Look at the rest of verse 8.
Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Apart from the sheepfold of God you are in danger. Apart from clothing yourselves with humilty and remaining in the sheepfold you are in danger. Apart from humility toward God you are in danger. If you fail to be sober and awake you are in danger. Why?
Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
What sheep is the easiest prey? The one without a shepherd. The sheep that wanders from the flock has no defense against the enemy. You will be devoured. You will be destroyed apart from the protection of the church.
The third command is in verse 9. Look at the text.
9 Resist him,
How do you do this? By keeping the commands that I previously mentioned but there is more. We do it by faithfulness and understanding. Look at the rest of verse 9.
1. firm in your faith,
In other words you are remaining faithful and practicing your faith. Anything else leaves you in danger. Look at verse 12.
12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
This is the posture of defense. This is the posture of great watchfulness.
The second way to resist Satan in:
2. By having a biblical understanding. In other words you are not alone. There is a fellowship or communion of saints. Look at verse 9.knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
Then we have a promise of enduring given to us by Peter. Look at verse 10.
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.
I can’t think of a better way to end our study of 1 Peter than to end it right here.
Conclusion
In Conclusion we have seen that.
1. Faithful church membership requires humble submission to the elders.
2. Faithful church membership requires humility toward one another.
3. Faithful church membership requires humility toward God.
4. Faithful church membership requires personal watchfulness.
I hope this morning what you have seen is the importance of being in and remaining in the sheepfold of God. To try to be a Lone Ranger Christian is not only against the Biblical order it is downright dangerous. I encourage you to pray about officially joining this fellowship. Come formally under the authority of the elders of GFC.
In all of this humility and trust in God must permeate the church. No matter what we have learned in our study of 1 Peter and what we will learn together down the road will mean very little without a good dose of humility.
May God grant that to us.
Let’s pray.
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