1 Peter 5:6

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 95:1-7
• Hymn — O God Beyond All Praising (#660)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Hymn — All the Way My Savior Leads Me (#605)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 5:5-14
• Sermon
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Humility Before the Mighty Hand of God

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:6-11

I. Humility Submits to God

A. The word "therefore" in 1 Peter 5:6 ties humble submission to God to the entire preceding argument of the letter

1. Peter establishes a theme of submission beginning in 1 Peter 2:13 — submission to civil authorities, masters, husbands, and elders
2. All earthly submission ultimately flows from and reflects submission to God who has ordained those authorities

B. The pattern of humiliation and exaltation

1. Jesus models the "up-down-up" pattern in Philippians 2:6-9 — equal with God, made himself nothing, exalted to glory
2. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector illustrates the same principle: "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:14)
3. A practical guide in gray areas: ask not "how do I save face?" but "how do I get low here?"

C. God's power and tender care are held together in 1 Peter 5:7

1. "The mighty hand of God" evokes the sovereign Creator and the God who led Israel through the Red Sea
2. Yet within the same breath: "he cares for you" — transcendence paired with tender condescension
3. Cast all anxieties on him because this mighty God holds his people close

II. Humility Resists Satan

A. First resistance: watchfulness (1 Peter 5:8)

1. The devil prowls like a roaring lion seeking to devour — not a threat to be ignored
2. Christianity does not retreat to safety; it goes out where the lion roams, armed with the full armor of God (Ephesians 6)
3. Watchfulness means going out with senses heightened, not heads in the clouds

B. Second resistance: solidarity with the church (1 Peter 5:9)

1. "The same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world" — we do not suffer alone
2. Four advantages of this truth (Samuel Bénétreau):
   • Encouragement: you are not uniquely isolated in your suffering
   • Unity: the bond to Christ joins you to the global family of God
   • Expectation: suffering is inherent to the Christian life
   • Hope: the spread of trials points to the nearness of the consummation
3. The great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) — past saints who suffered likewise are an encouragement
4. Satan's tactic is to convince us no one has ever suffered as we have — this breeds pride, bitterness, and isolation from God and others

III. Humility Rests in Christ

A. Four verbs of divine restoration in 1 Peter 5:10: restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish

1. These are both present realities tasted now in the pilgrimage and future realities fully realized at the consummation
2. We cannot know the restoring, confirming love of the Father unless we humbly receive his help and lean upon him

B. The verb "strengthen" (Greek hapax legomenon in the New Testament) appears in noun form in Job describing the strength of a lion

1. We face a roaring lion, but we go out with the Lion of Judah whose strength makes the devouring lion look like a weak cub
2. The strength of Christ is for us — he is our Lion

C. All grace, calling, comfort, and care come to us in Christ: "the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ"

1. With the incarnation, God's tender care for his people is not merely metaphorical — the sovereign ruler of the universe physically held children in his hands
2. Cast all anxieties on this God, who came down in the person of his Son, and who now and into glory cares for his own