November 3, 2024 | Called to Glory

Transcript:

I'm excited about this text. I've looked forward to preaching this text the whole time that we've been doing 1 Peter, really because it's the conclusion. It's where Peter ends with all the things we've talked about, some of which are difficult, some of which are easy,

but it drives to the point of everything he's been saying, and it's what gives us the confidence to trust in everything that he's been saying. This past week, I've particularly enjoyed a recent song by Sovereign Grace Music called It Is Finished. And in the song, it uses four short quotes to frame God's working throughout history.

In the first verse, it looks at creation and God's statement, it is good. The second verse, it looks at the cross and Jesus statement, it is done or it is finished. In the third verse, it looks at the present and here's God saying, you are mine. And the last verse, it looks to the future and says, come and rest.

I could preach a sermon from those four and we could just stay there. But as we've gone through first Peter, it's really the last two that I want us to focus on. It's built on the first two, but it's the last two where God looks at his people and says, you are mine. And he says, there's a day coming. You're going to come and rest.

What does it mean to be his? That's what this whole book, we've gone back to this over and over. What does it mean to say, I belong to God? Well, it means many things. One of which, it means, my protection is tied to God's reputation. What do we think of someone who doesn't protect their own children when they could?

Our view of them is not so good, is it? See, as God's children, our protection is tied to God's reputation. The same is true of our provision. He provides for his Children, and he is going to provide for his Children. Because his reputation is tied to that. His attention. What do we think of somebody who never pays attention to their own Children? It doesn't matter how busy they get. Part of their reputation is tied to paying attention and caring for their children.

The most important thing in the world is to belong to God, to be His, because if you're His, that means He must use His power, His grace, His love, and His wisdom for your good, or else He's not really God.

It's exciting. I hope it's exciting to you to hear this is what it means to be God, but it's also humbling, because if I'm His, that means I am not the center of the universe. He is. I am not the best treasure, the thing to be protected at all costs. He is. I am not the main goal of my life. If I'm his child, he is.

So it's exciting, but it's humbling. It's sobering, because if I'm his child, then my actions also should represent Him And so since we are his, this book really has made two statements about us. We are loved as his children, but we're living as exiles or strangers in this world. And you can't have one of those without the other because they're both built on the same truth that we belong to him.

So with that as the background, the theme throughout 1 Peter, how does Peter end? Let's read 1 Peter chapter 5, beginning in verse 8. 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 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 to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 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. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

Let's ask God for his help. God, we are yours. I don't know every heart in this room, but for all who come to you by faith in your Son, we belong to you. That means we don't belong to ourselves. So teach us as you see fit today. In your name. Amen.

First, let's talk about this last section where we see some things that come often at the end of New Testament books. We see comments about this person and this person and greetings and, and all of these things, like we might put at the end of a letter that we would write. But let's notice a few things.

For Peter, true grace for his hearers happens in the context of relationships. Peter's not speaking like a distant oracle on a mountain somewhere who just drops this book and says, who cares who it came from? Here's truth. Go figure it out. For him, the grace of God flows through people that know each other.

So he starts by mentioning Sylvanus. Either he was, like, the secretary or the scribe who dictated the letter or he delivered the letter or possibly both. We don't know exactly, but we know he says, well, by Silvanus. Somehow he's done this. And Silvanus is just serving. He's not doing anything, like, that seems incredible to us.

He's either writing it down or carrying it or both. And yet he's faithfully ministering. And Peter says, I want to make sure I praise him. And I want you to know, Silvanus loves you enough to do this. He continues with greetings. He says, she who is at Babylon now, Babylon at this time was used very commonly as a code word for Rome. So when, when he says that it's probably she who was at Rome, the question is who is she? Two main options could be personifying the church at Rome and saying, well, the church who is also chosen like he described the churches he's writing to at the beginning of this book as chosen, the church who is also chosen sends you greetings.

We know the early church did that. They would talk about the church as she, she was this expression of the bride of Christ. And then John Mark, who wrote the gospel of Mark, was very close to Peter. So it would have been normal for him to call him his son. So it could be that he's saying the church at Rome and John Mark send greetings.

Alternately, we know Peter was married because scripture tells us he has a mother in law. It could be that he's referring to his wife who lives in Rome with him and Mark may be his real son. There's some commentators who have done some interesting work to try and work through different arguments that would say, maybe it's that direction.

For our purposes this morning, either way, what he's doing is pointing you to say, the grace I've communicated is not grace that's only for you. It's in deep and personal relationships with others around you. Whichever one he's referring to, he's saying, these people greet you and they love you. And you need to know that at the end of this book.

Then he has this phrase, greet one another with the kiss of love, which is one of those convenient phrases we often try to forget exists. Now, in their culture, of course, this was a normal way of showing family affection, even among people who weren't your family. That's true in plenty of places today. Uh, back a few years ago, I went to Argentina and spoke there, preached through a translator and had a whole lot of people put their cheek next to mine and make kissing noises.

That was just their way of saying, we appreciate you're here. We love you because of Jesus, right? There's a cultural way to express welcome and family love. And the point was to do that. Don't let the difference of culture distract you from this point. They were supposed to live out the grace Peter had told them in deep, committed, affectionate, family relationships with one another.

Does that mean we have to kiss like Argentina? No. But there should be some way to show that. And our culture attacks this a little bit. It should not be weird for two men to walk up to one another and say, Hey, I love you, brother. But we might hesitate. Especially if we do more than just a quick, Oh, I love you, but no, no.

Hey, I really love you, brother. I appreciate what you're doing. You mean a lot to me. They guys have a harder time with that probably than ladies typically, but if there's not a way to show welcome and deep family affection in our culture, then we need to put it there. Because that's what we're called to do.

When he says, greet one another with a kiss of love, he doesn't tell you you have to look like a first century culture, but he does tell you you have to show deep affectionate relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ. So for Peter, one of the things we see is the grace of God that he communicates comes out of family relationships.

The second thing from this ending, Peter knows and declares that this book he's written Is the true grace of God. You see that phrase in verse 13? No, sorry, 12. The end of 12. I've written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Grace means God's favor. Peter is saying, , this is God's favor to you.

What I've told you is God's favor to you. He started the book saying, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. Now he's saying what I've told you that was grace, and he ends with the statement. All of those in Christ should feel and know the peace that comes. He begins and ends his book with grace and peace to you.

He calls it true grace, because there are things that might seem like grace that are actually false. We'll talk about that in a little bit, but he's given you examples over and over from the beginning of this book He's given you new life And the kind of joy that can't be taken away by suffering. That's grace.

He uses grace the word he says we are heirs-- we inherit from our father-- we are heirs of the grace of life Of God's favor that gives us life Some of this true grace Peter's talked about is he, he chose us and he changed us so that we see God's excellencies and proclaim it, and so guard our souls. That's God's favor poured out to us that we can even see that, that we are protected and that we can guard our souls against the things that would harm us.

He used the word grace when he said we are stewards of his varied grace. God pours out favor, work, Here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here. And he doesn't just give you favor so that you can hang on to it, and you can live your life. He gives you favor so that you can then pour out favor for this person. That's ultimately from God. Stewards of grace. Peter is over and over, he's saying, I'm declaring to you what I wrote is the true grace of God.

So, he says, stand firm in it. Don't waver, don't wander, don't limp or collapse in it, but stand in it. God has shown this favor to me, so I will not go anywhere else. Stand firm in it. So that's the way he ends his book. I've given you true grace, I've shown you true grace, and that grace happens in relationships.

So let's back up. Right before that conclusion, what else does he tell you? If we look back at verse 8, it tells you you have an enemy.

He tells you, you are supposed to be carefree, because you cast your cares on Jesus, carefree and careful, but not careless. It's easy to It's easy to think. Oh, cast your cares on him because he cares for you. Great, I can just go along. I don't have to worry about things in my life. I don't need to worry too much about sin and, and challenges.

I don't have to worry about that because I'll cast all my cares on him. I can carelessly stroll. But we're like, we're like elementary school children in an inner city context, playing on the streets at night in the shadow of gang warfare. None of us would sit here and say, those kids ought to be sitting in a corner in their room wringing their hands and not able to do anything because they're so afraid.

But we would say, you can't be careless. You're living in a context where there are dangers. We want those kids to live carefree childhood. Go enjoy the things every kid should enjoy. But don't be careless. And Peter points to his readers and he's told them, cast all your cares on Jesus, but you have an enemy.

He says, be sober minded. We talked about this before. It's literally the word that you would say, be sober. Don't be drunk. Don't be influenced and out of control by other things, but be controlled by God's spirit is the parallel used in Ephesians. Keep your eyes open. He says, be watchful. Why? Because you have an enemy.

None of us like talking about our enemy very much, but we need to know how he works. You have an enemy who's, first of all, a seducer. He wants to give you something that looks good and say, here, come take a little drink of that. It'll make you feel better. That's how Satan often starts with us. Maybe he doesn't start that way every time, but it's one of his patterns.

He says, look, just come have a little bit of pleasure over here. Forget what God says about that. Come try to control your life a little bit over here. Forget what God says about that. Just come and have a little bit of self pity. Come and live for approval of others. Just come and have a little sip. He's a seducer.

He says, look, this is good. It'll make you feel better for right now. Come and get it. Well, here's what he does right after he's a seducer. Satan is a liar. So he says here, come enjoy this. Then he says, Hey, that sin that you are fighting, it's not a big deal. Don't worry about that sin. Don't worry about your, your harsh words towards somebody because you were angry. Don't worry about that. Not a big deal. Don't worry about your unkind thoughts that you never spoke, but that reflect a heart that's not following after God. Don't worry about your anxious fears. Those aren't a big deal. Don't worry about your selfish priorities. Don't really fight against Any number of little, we call them little, respectable, maybe, sins. The kind people don't look at and go, Oh, no. Satan seduces you with a little bit of this will be good. And then he says, Don't worry about those little sins. They're not a big deal. Don't fight them. Besides that, they really deserved those harsh words you gave them anyway.

Because they didn't, they didn't. Help you to deal with the control you wanted. They made your life seem more out of control. So they deserved harsh words. They didn't come and approve you when you thought you deserve their approval. So they deserve your unkind thoughts. You see, Satan will do this. He comes, he seduces us with something that feels good, and then he lies and says, God said you shouldn't do this, but really it's okay.

And once he gets you there, He convinces you the sin's not a big deal. He gets you to commit the sin. Now your enemy is not a kind enemy. So what he does then is he turns on a dime and he's a seducer, he's a liar, he's an accuser. And as soon as you then commit the sin, he'll go, look at you, terrible person. How could you ever say that? You can't tell anybody about that struggle. You can't bring it to the light. You can't tell him that you had those horrible thoughts about that person. He comes and accuses you. He says, if you do bring it to the light, people won't understand anyway, and God won't really forgive you.

And we may know better, but that's the lie he whispers to us, or shouts to us, over and over and over again. And then he says, well see, now God, he's not really going to forgive you, unless you earn it somehow. So Satan goes from a seducer, to a liar, to an accuser, and then he becomes a terrible master. And he says, see, come do all this stuff and then you'll earn favor. And he pushes you to do stuff you'll never be able to live up to, and he swings you right back to the beginning of the cycle. Your adversary is working in ways, and you, apart from God's grace, Through both his spirit and through those around you, we will all be under attack in ways we don't even recognize.

So Peter ends by saying, cast your cares on him, but don't be careless. There's a seducer, a liar, an accuser, a taskmaster who is your adversary.

About a month ago, there was a zookeeper Named Babaji Daule. Or maybe I mispronounced his name. I'm not sure. It's a great name though. He worked at a wildlife park in Nigeria. One day he goes in to do his job. He's supposed to feed the lion. He's done it day after day after day after day. This particular day, he had gotten comfortable enough with the lion that he decided, I'm gonna leave the safety protection gate open. I'm just going to bring the food in, put it down, never been a problem before, he was attacked and killed.

We might say, what did you think was going to happen? It's a lion. It's an apex predator. That's what it does. And you brought it things to eat.

But we act like this. Satan's a lion. Like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. The sin Satan traps us with is just as dangerous as that lion's teeth and claws. Maybe the zookeeper thought, It's a lion, sure, it's dangerous, but I'm just going to keep it caged over there. And then he says, You know, I left the cage unlocked one time, accidentally, and nothing happened.

We do the same with sin. I'm going to keep my angry, harsh words caged up in my brain. It's fine. It's over there. I don't need to worry about it.

And really, I can imagine if Babaji had some friends who acted like churchgoers do sometimes, and he goes, I'm going to lock the cage. And they go, legalist, why would you do that? See, there's some people who would say, I'm just going to, I'm going to go sin. It doesn't matter because I can cast my cares on Jesus.

Then there's others who, who will try to cage the sin in different ways, but not kill it.

Legalism will put all the cages up all day long, but not kill it.

We can think, I have Satan locked in this corner of my life, and he's not going to actually hurt me. After all, I've sinned like this a thousand times, and it's never seemed to bring any bad consequences. But he is still a lion.

There is still warfare on our souls. And it's not just about you, because you may have that sin cornered in your life for now, and nobody may ever find out about it. But that lion sneaks out through your sinful thoughts and actions, and harms others around you.

So what does he tell you to do? Verse 9, resist him, firm in your faith. Resist him by being firm in your worshipful trust that God cares for your soul. Faith is not just knowing something. Faith is, I know this truth, so my mind engages with it. My will engages to say, I choose to trust this truth. That's still not enough, because I have to love it. I can't sit here and say, oh yeah, I trust it, but I hate the fact that Jesus died for me. We go, there's a problem there. That's not really trusting. Real faith is your mind, your will, your emotions. You say, I know this is true. I trust it, and I'm so glad for it. Be firm in that faith.

It's one thing to know God's mighty hand can protect you. It's another thing to choose to rely on that instead of defending myself. But it's a whole different thing It's another step of firmness in faith to say, he can protect me. I rely on that. And I'm so glad that he protects me that I don't have to notice when he says resist Satan, he doesn't say resist Satan by avoiding suffering in your life. In fact, he says, when you resist him, you know that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

There's a, there's a famous modern preacher who says this. who teaches that believers should resist Satan's attacks by declaring healing in their lives. The idea is that, well, all of these diseases should be healed right now, so therefore resist Satan's attacks.

Now, pray for healing. God heals in amazing ways. We pray for that. But our resistance to Satan is not avoiding suffering. The dangerous attack is not the suffering, it's what Satan does towards our soul. And so he says, resist Satan, not by having the power of positive thinking about your health, but by having a rock solid trust in the shepherd of your soul. Resist him, firm in your faith.

So as Peter concludes, he says, here's the true grace, cast your cares on Jesus. Know that you have an enemy, so resist him in trust in Christ. And then he concludes. With this doxology, this praise that we've talked about, we've used at the end of our service for months now. And in this doxology, there's, it could be summed up in three phrases. He talks about your God, your destiny, and your promise. You want to know the true grace of God, what you can rest in? You need to know your God, your destiny, and your promise. He says in, in verse 10, after you have suffered a little while, it's a limited time. It might be your life on earth, but That's still limited. It might be a whole lot shorter than that. Or your life on earth may be cut shorter than you think. But it's a limited time after you have suffered a little while. The God of all grace.

Now kids in this room. I want you to look up here. I'd love to have you do this with me. You don't have to but I'd love to have you do it. I want to show you a couple of motions, hand motions to remember what we're talking about and maybe adults this might help you too. Helps me. He's the God of all grace. If you just do that. This is what grace is. Grace is God saying, like Psalm says, he opens his hand and he satisfies the desire of every living thing. He's the God of all grace. He looks at his children and says, I like you. Let me give you this. I like you here. I like to give you good things. Here you go.

And he gives you varied grace here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, so that we can steward and then we can all receive grace from a million different ways. You have to know your God. He gives all of His grace. He's the God of grace to shepherd you and protect you, even though you have this enemy.

We could say, He's the God of all favor. Grace is undeserved favor. You know God plays favorites? And we're all like, wait. No, he doesn't. No, no, hold on. God does not treat his people the way he treats everyone. Now, God is not partial among his people. You don't have this rich guy gets a whole lot more favor and this poor guy gets a whole lot less because, no. But he treats his people with favor that he does not treat everyone with.

But, if that makes you uncomfortable, I understand. But the beauty is that he is a wide open offer for anyone to be part of his people.

What good would it be to say, I'm going to treat everyone the same, terribly. That's not helpful. What good would it be to say, you know what, if you live up to my expectations, then I'll treat you well, and if you don't, then I won't. That's not a God of grace. The God of favor says, I love my children and I care for them and I like you and I want to give you this good grace.

But he also says and anybody who wants that anyone who will come and believe come and receive it It's there

He's the God of all grace. So that's first thing. You need to know your God the God of grace second thing You need to know your destiny So kids if you want to do emotion, we can do this you can point up your eternal glory in christ You have your God of all grace Lead you to the eternal glory in Christ.

God's voice is powerful. Think back to the beginning of the Bible. When God said, let there be light. Did you have to wonder if darkness was going to win? No. Let there be light and boom, there it is. It's done. And when God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, you don't have to worry if darkness is going to win.

His voice is just as powerful to call you like that as it was to say, let there be light. He guards you throughout your life through faith so that you will go to eternal glory. In Christ, if that's where your trust is, even if you feel like I am crushed and beaten down and the only thing I can do is look up and cling to Christ.

Great, that's the only thing you have to do. Look up and cling to Christ. That is our destiny. That destiny, he says in verse 10, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ. It's not separate from Christ. That's what he looks forward to. He says, your connection to Jesus means that we will all be glorified to be like him, and we will enjoy his glory forever. If your faith is in Jesus, that's your destiny. You don't have to wonder where you'll end up because he's not the stingy God who called you. He's not the weak God who called you. He's the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ.

So then you need to know his promise. And there's four elements of that. It says, He will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Himself. He will Himself do this. Not, He'll give you the resources so maybe if you figure it all out and get your life put together, you'll do it. That would be a useless promise for me.

But He will Himself. Restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. When you feel like you're falling over and you're broken, He's going to restore. He's going to take you. He's going to stand you up.

When you feel shaky, unconfident, and you say, I don't know what the future holds. I don't know how this is all going to work out. He will confirm you.

He will Himself restore, confirm. When you feel weak, He will strengthen. Suffering can do all of these things, right? Suffering can make you feel broken, like I've fallen and I'm done and there's no point. Suffering can make you feel shaky. I'm just not sure. I tried to follow Jesus. I don't know how it's going to work out.

Suffering can make you feel weak. I don't have the strength to do this. The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. He will put a foundation under your feet. You ever been in a river, water's moving and you're trying to get footing, you're trying to walk across it and you can't find it. And you finally get that rock and you say, I'm safe. I can stand up. He will establish you.

Now, if that's your God, the God of all grace, If your destiny is eternal glory in Christ, and he said he's going to restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you, why is it so hard to rest in that God?

It's because verse 11 is not a throwaway verse. To him be the dominion or the rule forever and ever. Because here's what we do. We think, yeah, I want to cast my cares on him. Yes. If we get this far, I want to cast my cares on Jesus. I know he cares for me. I know I have an enemy I know i'll suffer. I know God is gracious.

I know he promises all of these blessings But I still want to hold on to a little bit of dominion for myself So I can't rest. I still want to have a little bit of control a little bit of self rule a little bit of independent governing of my life.

And so Peter ends, for us to rest, Peter ends with the God of all grace, who calls us to eternal glory, who will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you, and he ends, to him be the dominion forever and ever.

And if we don't go here, we'll never rest in the rest of it.

Only in that kind of worshipful humility that says, I'm not my king, I don't control my life, he is the one I want to rule forever and ever, do we find peace in resting in our God, our destiny, and his promise. The same humility that lets me entrust my soul to him has to be the humility that bows before him.

The same humility that stops trying to rule my own life Is what lets me rest in peace.

Now it's not passivity. It's not God, you rule my life, so i'm not going to do anything. It's like a knight with a sword bowing before his king and presenting the sword. My sword is yours God, use it. You've given me grace. Let me steward it well. It's not passive, But it is bowing. To him be the dominion forever and ever and ever.

If you feel like I've tried to cast my cares on him. I've tried to be looking out for my enemy and my enemy is still torn into my soul. I've tried to rest in my God and my destiny and to trust in all of his promises. I've tried to do all of that. I don't find peace. I would ask you, do you really bow before him and say, my sword is yours. I don't have control. I don't rule my life.

To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

This morning, we're going to conclude by celebrating communion, and I'll invite you to think, do you really believe what we've just heard? Do you believe that promise? Do you believe that bowing before him and letting him have dominion, saying, I want you to rule in every element of my life. Do you believe that that is true? If you're a believer in Jesus, we invite you to join with us in celebrating communion.

If you're not a forgiven follower of Jesus, then we'd say, this is not going to help you. It's not magic. So we'd invite you to observe what we're doing. And we'd love to talk with you about how you can have this relationship with Jesus. In John 6, Jesus said, In that text, coming to Jesus and believing is parallel to eating.

Because when you eat, you take something from out here and you don't let it stay over there. You bring it into you and it nourishes your body.

That's what eating is. And that's what believing is. So as we come to remember Christ's death for us, if you believe that Jesus died for you, then you know He is the God of all grace. Because look at this greatest grace He has poured out for you. If you know Jesus died and was raised to glory, then you know if you're connected to Jesus by faith, then your destiny is eternal glory in Christ.

And if your faith is in him, then you are committing to say, I want to die to myself. I do not rule my life to him, be the dominion forever and ever.

If your trust is in him, his death and life for you is what guarantees that he will restore, Confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

I want to ask you if you believe those things are true, don't let it stay outside of you as a Sunday morning sermon to be pushed aside with good advice any more than you would let your Sunday lunch stay on your kitchen table to not be eaten. But instead, take these truths, remember Christ, and eat.

Let those truths, as you open this and take the cracker, let those truths come into you and nourish your soul by faith, the same way food nourishes your body. Let's pray.

Jesus, you died on the cross for us. We could never deserve it. You and your grace looked down and saw us and loved us, gladly gave yourself for us. I pray that the truths we've seen from 1 Peter would go into our souls, would nourish us, would protect us by your power. In the name of the Lamb who was slain, Jesus. Amen.

Remember his body broken for you and let's eat together.

And if you know, as Jesus said, this is the new covenant in his blood, then you know that Jesus will remember your sins no more. And all of the places where we failed to cast our cares or trust in him, he promises forgiveness and not only forgiveness, but a new heart that he will establish us because he is our God, that he will strengthen us by his grace.

So, take these truths. and drink together.

Jesus, we thank you that you have given us truth, that this truth can nourish our souls in a way that is deeper than we could imagine. I pray for each person here, each struggle, each challenge.

Lord, Satan is a vicious, ruthless enemy. who will seduce and lie and accuse over and over and over. And we can be so overwhelmed that we can't even find our way up. So strengthen us. Let us take these truths into our bodies, into our souls, not only so that we can live, so that we can fight against our enemy, so that we can have the peace and joy that you promise, but so that we can help one another.

And we thank you for all of your promises for us. And we thank you that every promise Is yes and amen in jesus, and because you died for us and you were raised and you sit at the right hand of the father Jesus, we know that every one of these promises will come true. You will restore and confirm and strengthen and establish your people. So lord we bow. To you, be the dominion.

Don't let us sit up on our own fake thrones of our lives, attempting to rule and control our responses and our circumstances, but let us bow before you and hold our swords before you and say, wherever you want us to go, whatever you want us to do, whatever conversations you want us to have, our king, you rule. And that is good.

In your name, amen.