EverGrace Church

Dennis White: All right, well, thank you for coming. I'm Pastor Dennis of EverGrace Church, and we just thank you for being here. Let's open our Bibles today to 1 Peter chapter 5, and guess what? We're going to finish 1 Peter today. I'm excited about that. So, 1 Peter chapter 5, and we're going to read verses 5 through 11.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can gather. Thank you for those quick little announcements. I'm sure there'll be more, but we're excited about the work of God. That is the reason why we come here: because we live and we work in the world, and we are tired of it. We're tired of the negativity, we're tired of the garbage, we're tired of the devil and his lies. We are tired of it, Lord, and we come here because we love you and we are hungry for your presence.

We ask, Lord, that today, like every Sunday, that we will hear your voice and that today's message will come alive to us. Any burden, any care that is on our heart right now, we cast it aside so that way, in this moment, we can be in the presence of God so that it can bring healing and joy to our spirits. We just thank you and we praise you.

In Jesus' name. Amen. 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 5, it says, "Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourself, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you."

Verse 8: "Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you into his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen."

This is an amazing passage, isn't it? I have heard many messages on different passages here in this passage of verses. I've heard many sermons about humility, many sermons about the devil, many sermons about anxiety, many sermons about standing firm in our faith, haven't we?

But when we read the Bible line upon line, precept upon precept, meaning we take the Bible and we read it and we study it in one chunk, we find that all these amazing, impactful verses are right there in this one little section. These ones that we have memorized from childhood, these ones that we actually quote to ourselves to stir our own faith up, they're all right here in one little section.

And there's a reason for that. Because here at the end of 1 Peter, Peter is giving one last kind of exhortation, one last hurrah, one last punch in his sermon, in his letter to the church before he says amen. We know that in time, he would die pretty soon. He'd be crucified on a cross upside down. So these words are very important. And what are the words of Peter? What is he saying? It's interesting that he's actually saying that as a church member, there are certain responsibilities that you have.

Isn't that amazing? Very interesting, isn't it? See, when I go to church nowadays, in general—not picking on anything, but in general—I don't think of church as a place where I have responsibilities. Here, if you are a part of the team, meaning you come up early and you put out signs, or you set up the music, or you sing—so great, as Ben does even when he's tired and feels like he has a frog in his throat—it's still amazing, isn't it? Whatever we do, we think, "Okay, well, they have responsibilities because they're the important people in the church."

But for me, I'm just a church-goer. I come, and my job is to come, and I need sustenance for the week, which is true, isn't it? I need to come and receive from God because I need to have fuel for Monday through Saturday. For some people, this is the only moment where they are set aside from the world's system and they can be in a place where they experience the presence of God.

This might be the only time where they hear the voice of God. This might be the only time where they have a chance to slow down and open their Bible and listen to what God might say to them through scripture. Isn't that amazing? This is it. So, I don't have any responsibilities. There is nothing for me. But actually, Peter is saying something very different.

A church is a place that if you belong, then you have a responsibility. And there's actually some assumptions that we have to make before we continue this passage. Assumption number one that we have to make is that I belong to the church. Notice how I say that, two important words: belong and the church. Today at almost 11:30, right, we are having church service. How many other churches are having service right here in Frederick? I mean, quite a few.

We could sit here and we could say we're the best church and there's something wrong with other churches. But notice what is assumed, and this is in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13, it says that when we become believers in Christ, we are baptized into the church by the spirit of God. The church, meaning every single person who confesses Christ to be their savior belongs to the church.

That means that it's not me against Calvary Assembly in Walkersville, it's not me against Calvary Chapel just down the road, it's not me versus the mega-church or the larger church, FCF. We are the body of Christ. We are the church. So the first assumption that has to be is: Am I a part of the church?

Because if I am not—meaning if I am not even a believer—then honestly, what Peter says, the responsibilities for a believer, doesn't mean anything to me because I don't belong to the church. How do I belong to the church? Take a few classes, prove your loyalty to Jesus, right? No, Jesus says believe in me. Anyone who confesses my name will have eternal life.

It is simply an act of faith, and we often accompany it with a prayer just to seal the moment in your life where you say, "I now have Christ as my king, and I belong to the church." And if that's not you, you have not made that decision to become a part of the church, well, you can either become part of the church now or just not listen for the rest of the service. No, I mean, we want you to be a part of the church.

The second assumption that has to be made is that I belong to a church. See, the Bible actually makes a distinction between the church—we're all part of the church—but then in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 through 25, it says, "Let us now consider stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting the meeting together as a habit is of some." Meaning that you belong to a place that you call church. It is a place where you belong.

One of my pet peeves is I hear this often as a pastor. They say, "Hey, this is your church. You're going to do this, this, and this." Or "Hey, this is your church" or "this is the church." This bothers me. Why? Because it doesn't show belonging. They're putting ownership on someone else besides themselves. It is a small little detail and it's trivial, I understand. But it does speak a lot about the condition of someone's heart.

This church is not mine. Whose church is it? Number one, it's God's. It is God's. And I am a part of the body of Christ. I'm a part of a church just as you are. And it just happens to be that the piece of the body of Christ that God has put me in is the pastor-teacher of the church. That doesn't make me better or worse than anyone else in the church. It just says this is my place in a church.

I go to another church and guess what? My place is different. I go visit a church and guess where I am? I'm sitting in a pew and my place is different. But in this, I have a place. I have a place of belonging. It is not mine; it is God's. It's to be understood, right? That could be assumed. But it is your church. No, it's not. Because it is, secondly, your church.

It is not mine. What kind of church would this be if it was mine and I was here only? I could preach to myself and encourage myself. It'd be a little weird. You know, sometimes as preachers we do do that, though, because no one's listening. But you know what? It is your church. So, the second assumption that I have to be clear in my own heart is: Do I belong to a church? And I encourage you to find a church, find a place where you belong.

The third assumption that we actually covered in 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 through 4, is also very, very important. The third assumption is that godly under-shepherding is being done well. Meaning that you're being pastored well. Very simply, what is that marker? It's not, "Are you entertained?" "Does your pastor dress well?" Very simply, I'll say this: a good marker is, is the Bible being taught? That's all a church is supposed to do.

One word for a pastor, actually, is a herald. You know what the job of a herald was? To read a script that was delivered to him by the king to share to other townships in the surrounding area. That's what a herald is. And that's used as a preacher. That I am a herald. I just speak the word of God. Is the word of God being preached? Because look at the first words in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 5. It uses the word "submit."

That word "submit," is it abused? 100 percent. We talked about this earlier in 1 Peter where it says, "Wives, submit to your husbands," didn't we? But there's also a call for men to be as Christ. It's the same thing here, that there is a call for the congregation. This is why these prerequisites are so important because these next things, these responsibilities for me as a church member in particular, mean nothing if I don't belong to the church, if I don't belong to a church, and my pastor is not pastoring well. It means nothing.

Assuming these three things are happening, what is Peter telling the church? Two simple things, actually. Number one: put on humility. I want to tell you both of them right now just in case I lose you later on. Number one is put on humility. Number two: it is to have spiritual fortitude. We're going to dive into these things.

Number one: what is humility? Charles Spurgeon once wrote, he said, "Humility is to make a right estimation of yourself." Humility is to make a right estimation of yourself. Meaning an estimation of value, description—who are you? I've heard it said you don't think highly of yourself, you don't think lowly of yourself, you just don't think of yourself. That's an okay definition.

But a very special way to put this—and I like this definition here—it's two parts. Humility is to be aware of my personal strengths. We talked about this a little bit on Thursday nights. God has given me some personal strengths. Anyone here have personal strengths? Yeah, I mean, there are things that you're good at. No one else can do them the way you do them.

Some of you guys are even hired because you have those personal strengths. Some of you guys might have even been fired because of those personal strengths and everyone around you was jealous. We have personal strengths. So humility is that we are aware of our personal strengths and we are thankful to God for them, and we maintain a dependency on God for them. Isn't that good?

I know my strengths. I say, "God, thank you for this." But I'm also in the midst of this—I'm not leaning on my natural ability; I'm depending, I have faith in you to help me to continue to do this. The second part of humility is that I'm aware of my weakness. How many of you are aware of your weakness? Yeah, all of our hands can raise up because we are aware of all the things that we do wrong. But humility is aware of our weakness, and in those, we are dependent upon God.

Whether it's our strengths or our weaknesses, the common denominator is that I am dependent on God. And it's this that Peter has in mind. Now, if you could open your Bibles to John chapter 13. This is why I love 1 Peter: because every time he opens his mouth, it brings us back to a story where Peter did something kind of silly.

John 13, verses 1 through 5. It says, "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come to God and was going back to God, rose from supper, laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured out water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and wiped them with a towel that was wrapped around him."

Notice what Jesus did here. What did he do? Took out the garments. Remember, he is a guest. We read in the context that his hour is soon coming. He is soon going to be betrayed. We see this in the text. And instead of kind of sitting down and relaxing for a brief moment before his trial starts, before he's beaten, he takes his outer garment off and takes a towel and wraps it around his waist and begins washing the disciples' feet.

Isn't this a great—actually, when you read it in John chapter 13, this is an idea of how we can do or be humble towards one another and serve one another in love. But I like how Peter is connecting us with this passage because Peter says in 1 Peter 5, verse 5, "Clothe yourselves with humility." Now, the idea of clothe yourselves, not like in the morning you get out of your jammies and you throw on your dress shirt and your pants and get ready to go for work for the day.

The idea of clothe yourselves with humility is the same idea as we see in John chapter 13 where you are getting ready to serve. It is a word that actually describes someone who puts on an apron and is ready to go into the kitchen. And what do we see with Jesus? It's the same exact word, actually, that Peter's using because he wants us to understand that Peter himself experienced this in the life of Jesus.

Peter experienced this in the life of Jesus. He was a partaker of Christ's humility. Not at the death of the cross, he's talking about very simply that Jesus washed Peter's feet. Why? Because he put on humility and was ready to serve. This is interesting because although Christ was Rabbi, although he is the Savior, although he is Creator—these are all different titles for Jesus up until now—although he is a miracle worker, he still exemplifies humility.

I love that because when I think about Jesus—and this could often be the case—like, "Hey, I know what I am doing. You're good at something, right? I'm good at something. So thank you, God. I don't need humility here because I'm good at this and I can do this without any help. I can do this without any suggestions. I, I, I." Jesus is absolutely the I Am. He is great. He is powerful. He is creator, miracle worker, savior, on and on who he is. And yet he still exemplifies humility.

That means in my life, when I think I know what I am doing, it doesn't give me the excuse to put off humility. When I think that I am good at something and I don't need anyone else's help, it doesn't mean that I could put humility in my bag and put it on later. It actually means that even then, at that moment, I am someone who can put on humility. Isn't that good?

The world doesn't need any more know-it-alls. The world needs more relationship. Relationship doesn't happen when someone's right and someone's wrong. That's what happens at work. Relationship happens when there is conversation, when there is partaking of each other's ideas. That's when relationship happens, when both parties are burying humility.

But there's also something else that's very interesting in this passage, that we do see the humanity and the weakness of Jesus. I underlined these in my Bible here. It says Jesus knew his hour had come. Jesus knew that he would be betrayed. That's a very heavy, heavy time for Jesus, isn't it? Can you guys think back of a time in your life that was very heavy? Maybe some of you not to think back very far. Maybe it's today. Maybe it was last week.

But think about a time in your life that is very heavy. What is your response in general? I know what mine is. Get a blanket, sit on the couch, just take a nap. It's all going to go away when I wake up. I just want to sit and just forget about it. I want to look inside and be quiet and get away. Some time to myself.

Remember that other part of the definition of humility is to know my weakness yet still depend on the Lord. See here, in Jesus's ultimate time of weakness, when he knew that his hour would come, where he would be beaten, crucified, mocked, when he knew that his own disciple would betray him—he knew these things.

What was the confession of Jesus? He says this: Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands. There's something else that he knew. He knew his Father. He says, "You know what, Father, despite my experience and my position, my position is I am God. My position is I am creator. But my experience is I'm going to be betrayed. Despite all of those things, he exemplified humility."

He still clothed himself with that towel, got down on his hands and knees with that basin of water, and washed those gross feet. Isn't that amazing? So when Peter says, "Church, you have a responsibility." "Oh, what is it? Take out the trash after church, bring the coffee, show up a little early and help with the chairs?" No.

Something even more important that actually defines our Christian walk: that we need to be humble. Humble before God and humble before others. Isn't that amazing? The second responsibility that we have we see in verses 8 through 9. And the only thing that I could think of that would wrap all these ideas in verses 8 and 9 together was spiritual fortitude.

This idea of spiritual fortitude means the ability to have foresight and put into action. I found this very interesting. I want to read verses 8 and 9 again. It says, "Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world."

You see those three exhortations that Peter has for the believer? Be sober-minded, be watchful, and resist the devil. Three exhortations that Peter gives. I was thinking about the devil. Do you guys ever think of the devil? C.S. Lewis once suggested that Christians make two mistakes. They either make light of Satan or they don't talk about Satan.

And I thought about the USA, America, that we say, "Hey, Satan, yeah, he's real, but it's kind of a joke, right?" Halloween's coming up and Satan has these pointing horns and a tail and a pitchfork. That's how we see Satan. Or we just ignore the fact that Satan exists, that his kingdom exists, we ignore the fact that he is here and there's a spiritual war going on right now. Maybe even this morning, right here as we meet together.

That's what C.S. Lewis is saying. And I was thinking about it. Do we joke about Satan? I mean, I would say that I generally probably do. I make jokes about Satan. Do we think that Satan's impact in this world is small? And I would say based on our actions that we generally do. But you know what? The devil is real.

How does the Bible picture Satan? Well, he's depicted as the prince of this world. He's moving from place to place. He's depicted as a spiritual being in active rebellion against God. He leads many like himself in this rebellion against God and his kingdom and his people. He's depicted as crafty and cunning, which gives him the ability to disrupt and confuse believers and to ruin the church.

And I look at that definition and how the Bible shows us who Satan is, and you know what? I see that happening today. As I pick up the phone and call people and how they're doing in life, I see that happening. That the devil is devouring people. I also found this very interesting because when Christ died on the cross, who did he defeat? He defeated the devil.

Does Satan have authority? Yes and no. Satan has no authority except that which we give him. And actually, I've recently heard this argued that because I'm a believer, I can do anything I want and Satan has no authority over me unless I give him authority. Did you know you could give the devil authority in your life? How do you do that? By doing the opposite of these exhortations that Peter's saying.

It is done by the opposite: by not having any spiritual fortitude and making light, joking about Satan, or not even believing that he has any effect in this world. If that's the way you think, then he's already got you. But in these exhortations that Peter gives, it's interesting because they are all in the active voice and the imperative mood. Meaning that it is your responsibility to be sober-minded, to be watchful, and to resist.

What does it mean to be sober-minded? It means to have self-control. Meaning in the things that I do on a daily basis and I consume, that has the ability to either push Satan away or draw him closer. And it is my responsibility to have self-control. To be watchful means that I am aware that I am awake. Am I sleeping at the helm? Is there a fire in my belly for the word of God?

Am I excited about Jesus? Am I excited that I belong to the church? Am I excited that I belong to a church? Is there something going on in my life by the hand of God? And the answer, if I begin to even look closely for a minute, I can find the answer is yes, God is doing something in my life. So therefore, I need to be awake at what God is doing in my life and I am actively resisting Satan.

And you know what "resist" means? It means to continue in the same place. You know, I've done a little bit of fishing this summer and we go out on the boat and we're casting. If you don't put the anchor out, what happens is that the boat begins to drift either with the tide or because of the wind. So oftentimes, I would forget because it was my responsibility—I'm a bad driver—so my responsibility is the anchor.

Throw the anchor out so that way we can sit there for a few minutes and fish in this section. It's the same way with us in our relationship with God, is that we cannot be tossed about by every demonic accusation, we cannot be tossed about by every demonic doctrine, we cannot be tossed about by every time someone comes and calls me a name.

We can't be tossed back and forth. We have to have the anchor, and the anchor is Jesus Christ. And that allows us to stand in one place and resist Satan. I think this is so important in my life. And I look at these things, I'm like, "Hey, wait a minute, God, I don't have the ability to have this kind of spiritual fortitude."

Well, you see, this ability to have spiritual fortitude rests in the fact that Jesus is Lord. Spiritual fortitude is not a muscle that you exercise and you become better at; it is a person that you depend on. And I want to give you a couple things. We're going to close here in a minute. I want to run through these things quickly.

What do I want you to take home? You might be asking that question. Number one is that I want you to allow the work and teaching of Christ to saturate your entire life. How does this relate to me as a church member having responsibilities? Well, let's look at it. When I hear Matthew chapter 6 and Jesus talks about how he cares for the lilies of the valley and he cares for the sparrow, how much more will he care for me?

When I hear that, what should happen in my heart is that I actually look and say, "Hey, I need to get rid of my fear and anxiety, not because I have a positive outlook on life, but because I believe in a God who loves me." See what happens in my life is that I know that the work and the teaching of Christ comes into my life and I can depend on him as a person. Back to humility: I can depend on God.

How can I resist Satan? Not by spiritual fortitude in the sense where I pull up my bootstraps and I'm ready to get in the mud and wrestle Satan. No, I have spiritual fortitude because I have learned to depend wholly on God. Are you allowing the work and the teaching of Christ to saturate your entire life?

Number two: know the devil is real, and he also has a plan for your life. We always talk about Jeremiah 29:11, God's plan for us and his thoughts for us, they're amazing. But you know what? There's someone else who has thoughts for you. There's someone else who has plans for you, and that is the devil. And his plan for you is to be right between his jaw, to be devoured, consumed, eliminated out of the race.

Meaning you're not going to lose your salvation, but you could be missing out on something great that God has for you in your walk with him. Number three: take Satan's authority away. If I have allowed the work and the word of God in my heart, if I realize that Satan has intentions for me, then the next thing is that I have to realize that I have to take his authority away.

He has no place because I am a child of God. That means when those voices come, those accusations come, what do I do with them? I give them to God. When times get difficult, what do I do? I give them to God. I mean, Peter says actually here in this passage, he says the same God who has allowed you—this is the verbiage—the same God who has allowed you to be humbled, the same God who has allowed you to be persecuted, depend on him because he's the one that will also allow you to be exalted and lifted up.

He's telling a persecuted church who is being fed to the lions, who is being burned at the stake, who is being crucified, and he's saying, "Yes, God is allowing this. But yes, that same God will be the one responsible for lifting you up." Meaning this: that despite your experience and your present position, God has ultimate authority. Lean in on that authority. Realize that Satan has nothing.

And the last one is express humility in the church of God. And we've been saying this a lot recently, but we're a ragtag group of people. Meaning that there are opportunities for us to clash because of our personalities. We can be different. We can have dislikes and argue about them. There are things that we might not like about this church or we might not like about someone in the church.

How do we deal with this? We yell, we scream, we leave the church to find a church with more people that are just like me? No, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says, "Clothe yourself with humility." No one person in our church is better than the other person. No one person in this church is more spiritual than the other person.

We're all at the same place where we are at the foot of Jesus Christ saying, "We depend on you." And that's what I would like our testimony to be as a church. Not that we were mighty, not that we have a lot of power, not that we have a lot of wisdom on how to church plant and make a church grow. I want our testimony to be that, look, the presence of God is here.

I want our testimony to be that, "Hey, they are humble and they love the Lord and they will love you." I want our testimony to be that this is a place where all people are welcome, that we will deal with all kinds of people because the reality is that we are one moment away from the eternal gates of glory.

We are one moment and one decision away actually from ourselves being in so much trouble that we find ourselves far from God. We are one moment away—and you can fill in the blank there—but because of God's grace, because of his love, because of his humility that was exemplified in his life, that we can extend that grace, extend that love and forgiveness towards other people that we would never even be in the same room with. Browns fans and Ravens fans. That's where grace stops, right there. Too far. Amen?

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time and we just ask, Lord, that you will be glorified. Lord, we could sit here and we could say, "Lord, why am I going through this problem? Why am I going through that problem? What is wrong with my life and if I was a better person, then I would be exalted now."

But it's more than likely that this church that Peter is writing to never saw glory on this side of the planet, of life. They never saw glory. But their first view of glory was when they saw Jesus welcome them into heaven saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Lord, for some people here, that could be the truth: that our life can be difficult, can be very humbling.

We don't want to fool ourselves believing that Christianity is going to make our life easy, but we want to believe in Jesus because we love you. We love you, Lord. And though life may drag us through some mud, we love you. We want others to have this relationship that we have.

So, we just ask, Lord, for us to grow in our walk with you. These two responsibilities, humility and spiritual fortitude—we ask that we can grow and we can learn. We just thank you and we praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen.