Wayfaring Strangers
A Study Of 1 Peter
Part 20
“A Shepherds Care”
Today we are continuing our ongoing study of the book of 1 Peter
Peter as we know was one of Jesus’ chosen Apostles
In his early walk he was quite frankly a knot head
But as we have seen I n this study he have developed into a strong
Maturing Believer
Who is all in for Jesus
He wrote this book to believers who were facing
Trials and persecution because of their faith
And as we have taught many times before
His intent is to prepare us for suffering
and to encourage us in in
Peter was not immune himself to the persecution and suffering
Ultimately, he gave his life for the gospel
And in his own execution
We see the humility that came from a life dedicated to Christ
Peter asked that he, when he was convicted and sentenced to die by the same method our Lord Jesus did
Crucifixion
Asked to be crucified upside down
As he did not feel that he was worthy to even die in the same manner as his Master
He new something about what he preached
First hand
As I read this passage of scripture over and over
A scene from Monty Walsh starring Tom Selleck kept coming to my mind
Actually 2 scenes
In these scenes
Monte is talking to the train conductor Rudy that was in charge of the Locomotive that Monte and the boys had just roped and pulled the smokestack off of
And in the other Robert Slocum the city slicker manager of Consolidated Cattle
I don’t want to get off track as I really like this movie and could go on and on
So, without spending a lot of time
In both cases
The two men are lamenting their current circumstances and situations
Focused completely on their own problems
And in both cases Monte
Looks them in the eye
And says
“You can’t have no idea how little I care”
I have had theses exact feelings many times in my life
And if you are honest so have you
We are humans
And while we as believers
Are called to be more like Christ
Who was compassionate to a flaw
We often want to be more like Monte and express our frustration with the words
You can’t have no idea how little I care
I don’t know about you
But I am so glad we serve a God who does not share that same sentiment
That brings us to Peters words in verses 6-7 of chapter 5
Last week in verses 1-5 of chapter 5
We learned that as Leaders
As younger believers (in years and in maturity)
And as believers as a whole
As leaders, and I believe we all are in some way
We have responsibilities
We must teach the word truthfully, correctly divide the word of God scripture says
This means we teach God’s word
Not our own ideas and experiences
We must care for those God has entrusted us with as he would
We must do this eagerly, willingly
And with no selfish motives or personal gain or acclaim
As followers we have responsibilities
Follow those who God has placed in authority over us
Once again willingly
Pray for them
Defend them
And make their jobs a blessing instead of a burden
Next as believers in General we have lots of responsibilities
But from 1 Peter 5 :1-5
Just one of them is humility
Peter says to dress ourselves in humility
Humility is the opposite of pride and this is where we are going today
Please open up your bibles to 1 Peter 5 verses 6-7
Let me read them for you
Then as we always do we will look for practical life application in these words
1 Peter 5:6-7
So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you
Again in verse 5 Peter addresses humility
I believe this is a huge concept in God’s word
As it is addressed by almost every writer of the New Testament
And echoes the words of our Lord
Verse 5 a
“ So humble yourselves”
What does this mean
Does it mean we are to be a door mat?
And let anyone and everyone take advantage of us
No
Does it mean we develop an attitude of weakness?
Like a cowed down border collie?
No
It means we get rid of our selfish pride
The conductor in that movie
Had no concern whatso ever for the scattered horses
For the injured men
Only for his own needs
The manger
Same thing
No concern for the men
Just his own selfish desires and self-advancement
Humbling ourselves
means we put our own selfish wants
Desires
Agendas
Aside
And look to the needs of others
Care for them and about them
In this case it means we put our needs and desires behind those God
Verse 6b
“under the mighty power of God”
Humble ourselves under the mighty power of God
If you were here Wednesday
You know in Romans Paul speaks of the power of God
We all know the stories of his shows of power
Parting the red sea
The plagues
The destruction of his enemies
And his power in love as he cared for his people over and over again even in their disobedience
Power indeed
But we need to think of God’s power as a daily event
An ongoing thing
Active in our lives
Transforming us
One step at a time
One day at a time
Into an image of His Righteousness
Beginning with Salvation
And ending with Glorification
What this means in simply terms is
Putting him first
Submitting to his will
Seeking his desires
In Cowboy terms
Letting him drive
Verse 6c
“and at the right time he will lift you up in honor”
At the right time
He will lift you up in honor
This has to do with many aspects of our Christian walk
In the area of salvation
Until we humble ourselves and yield to the prompting of God the Holy Spirt
We are living apart from God
In the area of sanctification
Which simply means becoming more like Christ
Without humility, in our own prideful state
We would always choose to go our own way
Becoming more like the world
We also know that as we grow we get blessings
And we are building up rewards in heaven
He will lift you up
Does not necessarily mean salvation
It does not necessarily mean rewards
It means both and all
Depending ion where you are in your walk
This moves us to the meat of this passage
Verse 7
7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you”
God never says
“You can’t have no idea how little I care”
Because he cares deeply
More than we can even imagine
He created us
He loves
Us
He gave his one and only Son to die for us
In spite of us
While we were still disobedient
While we were still slaves to or sins and the penalty of those sins
He cares for us
All of us
Believes and non-believers alike
You may say preacher how can you say he cares for the unbelievers
I know he does because he gave his Son
For all of us
We all have two things in common
We are all sinners
And once we were all lost
No one ins born saved
So, God cared enough for the lost
The unbelievers
To give hos Son to pay the penalty of their sins
If they would simply accept his gift
If that is not caring
Then I have no idea what caring is
So
That brings us to our worries
And cares
We could call them
Problems
Anxieties
Issues
Concerns
But Peter calls them worries and cares
Listen to me
I know for a fact it is easy to give the major worries and cares to God
When life bucks
We cry out to God
Help me get pout of this finical wreck
This relationship storms
This physical state I am in
But we often
I would wager to say
More often than not
Don’t want to burden God
Or anyone else for that mater with the little things
This even intensifies when the mess we are in is caused by our own
Bad choices
Listen to me
I can’t even begin to list all of the things we as humans worry about
But just a few are
Money
Relationships
Jobs
Family
Friends
Health
You may worry about the things you see on the news
Or not fitting in
You may worry about your appearance
Worry can take years off of your life
Worry can break a person down and place them in the depths of despair
Worry comes from Satan
It is one of his tricks to keep you focused on self instead of God
And it is one of his tactics that is so effective
Some of you may be sitting here this morning
Not getting a word of this message
Due to some worry in your life
That you are attempting to deal with on your own
Instead of learning from Gods word
You are focusing on your own problems
Maybe as insignificant problems
As I hope he doesn’t talk to long
Otherwise we won’t get a seat at the café
Worries come in all sizes
Shapes
and forms
But
Listen to
All of them
When we hang onto them
Become sin in our lives
Sin is something that separates you from God
And God says in his word that worries do that
Making them a sin
Look at the words of Jesus concerning worry
Matthew 6:25-34
“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Jesus shifts from the topic of money in this passage
Which is one of the leading causes of worry in our lives
To worry in general
And he says simply don’t do it
In Matthew 11:28 on e of my very favorite verses he says this
“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
And Psalm 55:22 says these words about worry and cares
“ Give your burdens to the LORD,
and he will take care of you.
He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.”
Listen
This is one of the most important and hardest to do things in all of God’s word
But we must
Give all of our burdens to God
He cares about the little ones
He cares about the big ones
He cares about the ones only you know about
He cares about the deep dark fears and worries
And even the seemly insignificance ones
He cares about the ones you caused
And the ones that just seemed to happen to you
He cares about these worries, cares and burdens
Because he cares about you
Personally
He desires that we put ourselves aside
Throw out our pride
And come to him
Giving him everything
And letting him take our burdens
And when we do that
When we really do that
We can soar like eagles
And
We don’t we just peck around like chickens
Head to the ground
Oblivious that there is so much more available
Listen to me
Let me close with these thoughts
God’s care is all encompassing
What I mean is this
there is no worry
no care
no burden that he is not able to deal with, remove or give you the strength to deal with
God’s care in unconditional
No problem is too big
None too small
You can’t shock God
He has seen it all and heard it all
God’s care is individual
This means he cares for you personally
No matter where you are
Where you’ve been
How bad you think you are
You are included in the All
And his care is invitational
What I mean is he says come
Come to me
All
And I will give you rest
Listen worries may seem small God wants them
Your cares may be huge
God wants them
Your burdens may be overwhelming
God wants to take them from you
Believers
You may be letting your worries, cares and burdens
Keep you from walking in the light of your salvation, the joy of your salvation
I challenge you this morning
Deal with Jesus
Give your troubles to him
Let him take you into his loving care
Let him give you rest
Some of you may be siting here worried about what will happen to you if you die
Some may know the truth Of Hell and it scares you to death
Some of you worry that you are not good enough
Or clean enough
Or that you don’t know enough
To you
Jesus says
Come
And I will give you rest
He will give you the gift of salvation
He will take that worry from you today
He will deliver you from your cares
And carry your burden
He will save your soul
If you will simply humble yourself
and come
Close from the heart
Pray
