November 24 – 1 Peter 5:1-14

Main Focus: God’s people are called to Christ-like humility, produced in them by God’s active grace which also enables them to stand firm in their faith.

We’re at the end of 1 Peter, which means Advent (and Christmas!) are right around the corner. We’ll wrap up our time (eh?) in Peter’s epistle with his final comments to the church, and here he presents (that one’s a stretch) a vision of the church humbly related to one another and to God in faithful obedience.

First, in discussion we’ll ask what major takeaways we each have from 1 Peter, which here at the end of the series should help us put a bow on it (okay I’ll stop). Next, when you read Peter’s exhortation to the elders of the church (5:1-4) it might not feel very relevant to you, but Peter’s entire letter is for the entire church. These comments to your pastors are for you to know too, so that you have a frame of reference for how your shepherds are called to shepherd you, as determined by your shepherds’ Shepherd (Jesus). In addition, the exhortation for us all to clothe ourselves with humility communicates the continuity of what typifies the people of God, elder and non-elder alike. That mutual humility is especially the focus of the question “how does this passage describe life among God’s people?”

Then we’ll move on to the next section, 5:6-11, which returns to the topic of endurance in the midst of trials. We’ll narrow in on verse 8 for two reasons: 1. So we can focus on what it means to be sober-minded and alert and 2. So we can talk about what it means that Satan prowls around seeking someone to devour. Like any predator, Satan’s greatest objective is to convince you he isn’t actually a threat, to lull you into thinking he isn’t hiding in the bushes ready to pounce.

However, we can overemphasize this verse to our detriment, living in hyper-vigilant fear of Satan as many Christians throughout time have. You can’t miss the encouragement prior to verse 8—“[cast] your cares on [God], because he cares about you” (5:7)—or the sure promise at the end of the passage—“To him be dominion forever and ever” (5:11). If that warning about Satan causes us any anxiety then we know exactly where to take those worries, and we can rest assured that all things, even Satan, lie under Christ’s total dominion.

We’ll take that point about being sober-minded and continue to talk about that in the next question, reflecting on those areas of our life in which we are not as alert and watchful as the Lord would have us. This isn’t meant to produce worry or guilt; instead, this should help us receive the exhortation in this passage rightly, turning our eyes onto the threats that exist in our own life. And if you’re honest, between the threat of Satan and the threat of your own sin, the latter is the one that’s closer at hand and more likely to swallow you whole.

We’ll end by noticing all the things Peter mentions in the passage that strengthen our resolve for standing firm in our faith. God’s promises is one of them (5:6) and the shared temptation/suffering of other faithful Christians is another (5:9), but foremost is the active presence of our loving, gracious God (5:10). He himself is our confidence for enduring temptation and suffering, and he himself is the prize for which we strive—we stand firm not as those who have yet to prove ourselves but as those to whom the grace and love of God has been proven, fully and finally, in the work of Christ.

Resources