SPEAKER_00: Cast all your anxieties on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The second reading from 1 Peter chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.
SPEAKER_00: Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Be sober-minded, be watchful.
SPEAKER_00: Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
SPEAKER_00: Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: To him be the dominion forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Think for a moment about how you typically end a long message.
SPEAKER_01: You've perhaps said your piece or gotten your point across or conveyed your sentiments, and then you reach for one of those kind of standardized boilerplate endings to a message.
SPEAKER_01: You might say, thanks for reading, let me know if you have any questions, talk to you soon, something like that.
SPEAKER_01: But you don't typically conclude a message by saying, P.S.
SPEAKER_01: Be aware of a deadly predator, a creature roaming the neighborhood or the office that if you're not careful, is going to devour you.
SPEAKER_01: Not the normal way to begin wrapping up one of your typical emails, I would say.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, this is what the Apostle Peter does near the very end of his letter, the first, the gospel or the epistle we call First Peter.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Watch out, you need to be on your guard because there is an enemy, an adversary, one that he characterizes as a roaring lion.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Be sober-minded, be watchful.
SPEAKER_01: Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
SPEAKER_01: Now Peter does end his letter the way you might expect with a word of peace, but before that word of peace, here comes this lion.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a couple ways to take this warning from Peter in the wrong direction.
SPEAKER_01: One might be to kind of laugh at it, to kind of turn it into a cartoon, the way we often do when we think of an enemy like the devil.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you dress him up in a red suit, you give him a pitchfork and a pointy tail, maybe some of those novelty ears you might wear to a party, and then the whole question of an enemy like the devil becomes kind of a joke or a punchline.
SPEAKER_01: The other thing is to become so obsessed with this enemy that we begin to exalt him to a throne that he doesn't have.
SPEAKER_01: And we might think that he's directing and shaping just about everything in our life, and so we begin to see him behind every setback, behind every every cold that we wake up with, behind every flat tire we go through, or whatever it is that we face in the daily challenges of life.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter doesn't want us to giggle about this, nor does he want us to panic either.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, he wants us to be sober-minded, to give this warning precisely the attention it deserves.
SPEAKER_01: And the sobering word that he uses to get our attention is this.
SPEAKER_01: He says, someone.
SPEAKER_01: That is, this enemy is looking not just for something, or this enemy is not just roaring around and you can hear him in a distance.
SPEAKER_01: He's looking for someone to devour.
SPEAKER_01: And you and I, we fit that category.
SPEAKER_01: We are a someone.
SPEAKER_01: And so for you and for me today to take this reading from Peter to heart, we need to consider this question: what is it that would make us easy prey?
SPEAKER_01: And how will we follow what Peter says and stand firm?
SPEAKER_01: You can think about how a lion goes about hunting.
SPEAKER_01: Typically, a lion doesn't just go running into some kind of herd of animals.
SPEAKER_01: Usually what you see is that the tactic is this that a predator like that is going to look for one of the herd that is straggling, that is maybe drifting apart from the rest of the herd.
SPEAKER_01: Because you know, when the herd is together, that's it's too big, it's too difficult, it's it's too together to be directly attacked.
SPEAKER_01: And so a predator often looks for that weak one, the one that is dragging behind and then goes after it.
SPEAKER_01: And so Peter here he says that we are to resist this enemy.
SPEAKER_01: He says, stand firm in your faith.
SPEAKER_01: And right away we have to take that the way the scriptures describe it, because we import to this reading, anytime we hear something like our faith, we import this idea that's common in our culture that faith is really about your level of strength, your level of resolve.
SPEAKER_01: And so it can be easy to read this and think, well, I need to outmuscle this predator, this enemy and adversary of mine, when in reality Peter is saying that we need to center ourselves and rest in the strength of the faith.
SPEAKER_01: That is, the confidence in the promises of God, which are his strength, not ours.
SPEAKER_01: But you could even say, in the common faith that we share together, because Peter seems to allude at that, he says that you are not alone.
SPEAKER_01: He says the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
SPEAKER_01: And so Peter's saying that in that place where you share a common faith, where the promises of God are delivered to you again and again on their strength and not our strength, that is a place where you can stand firm against this adversary.
SPEAKER_01: And so then we get to change the question about this text from where is the lion, and what do I need to personally do to build up my strength and resolve to outmuscle him and outfight him?
SPEAKER_01: And instead it becomes a question like this what is it that would make me an easy mark for this enemy?
SPEAKER_01: And what does the faith that God has given me and the church that he has blessed me with do to help me avoid being that easy prey for this enemy?
SPEAKER_01: And Peter alludes to a couple things where he can say that the devil starts to get a bit of an angle on us, or things that might make us drifting, so that we might become that easy mark.
SPEAKER_01: And the two things he points out in this reading are pride and anxiety or worry.
SPEAKER_01: And those are the things that in this reading he asks us to pay attention to as something that we'll want to give our thought and our time and our prayer towards so that we are not that easy prey.
SPEAKER_01: First, the the pride.
SPEAKER_01: Peter says this God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see how he's defining pride there.
SPEAKER_01: We often think of pride primarily as a kind of putting your chin up and looking down your nose at other people, a kind of I'm better than other people sentiment.
SPEAKER_01: That, yes, that is one of the ways that we think of pride.
SPEAKER_01: But in this case, pride is really whatever it is in you or me that causes us to resist the reception of the gift of grace.
SPEAKER_01: That it's a kind of way of saying, I'm above even that, to welcome a gift that is given to me, a gift of service, a gift of love, that says, you know, I don't need such a thing.
SPEAKER_01: And so this kind of pride can have two faces spiritually speaking.
SPEAKER_01: It's the one that says, I'm a good enough person, or at least capable enough of being better than other people, that I probably don't need the kind of grace and forgiveness that the scriptures talk about.
SPEAKER_01: I've got at least something in my side of the balance sheet that's going to make some measure of difference, maybe a lot of the difference, and so I don't need to receive God's grace as a gift.
SPEAKER_01: But then there's another side of that too, which is easy to confuse with humility.
SPEAKER_01: It's not when our chin is up, but when our head is down, and we say, you know, God's grace is beyond me.
SPEAKER_01: Because someone like me or someone who's done the things or thought the things I've done could not possibly be forgiven as fully and freely as the Word of God indicates.
SPEAKER_01: So it's beyond me, even.
SPEAKER_01: But in both of these, you see the same unwillingness to receive the free gift of God's grace that Peter says he gives to those who are not proud.
SPEAKER_01: It's a version of saying, I'm better than that, or I'm not good enough for it.
SPEAKER_01: But either way, it's us taking our word about what God would say and do, and saying that it's my word and not his that is going to be telling the truth of the situation.
SPEAKER_01: And so whichever face of pride it is that can come up in our lives, whether it's a time that we're puffed up or sometimes when we sort of wallow in our own inadequacies, Peter says to beware of such a thing, because those are the kinds of patterns that will make you more and more, and over time, an easy mark for this adversary.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you relate to God this way, you are relating to him not as a savior and a father who loves you, but in an entirely different way, which creates that distance that the devil can use to come after us.
SPEAKER_01: But then Peter turns to a second sin, not just pride, but this anxiety and worry.
SPEAKER_01: He says that we are to cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here it's worth noting that we don't always talk about worry as a sin.
SPEAKER_01: You know, worry can be treated kind of like a diagnosis or perhaps a description of just the weather of daily life in a hard world or in hard circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: You know how you and I usually will use the verb worry, sometimes interchangeably with to think about.
SPEAKER_01: You'll say, I'm going to worry about that later, or I'm not worried about that.
SPEAKER_01: What you're saying is, I'm going to think about it later, or I'll consider it later.
SPEAKER_01: But of course, even that choice of words can be a bit telling to realize that there is a thread of anxiety and worry that is woven through all of our thinking and doing.
SPEAKER_01: And so when the scriptures talk about this and call it out for what it is, it's not just saying, oh, stop having a hard time with setbacks in your life.
SPEAKER_01: It's saying that worry is really a kind of doubt and even the steps towards rejection of God's goodness.
SPEAKER_01: It's the like it's like a way of saying, I don't think God is able to handle this the way it needs to be handled.
SPEAKER_01: And so I need to bring into the picture my own fear and anxiety to somehow bring this situation to a good conclusion.
SPEAKER_01: And so, in its at its root, it can be an accusation against the love and power of God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: And then Peter then corrects this by pointing us precisely to how wrong it is to worry because it is so true of what God can do for us.
SPEAKER_01: He says, cast those anxieties on God because he cares for you.
SPEAKER_01: It's a repudiation of the very logic of our worry to know that God our Lord, our great Father in heaven, does care for you and for me in every way.
SPEAKER_01: And so whether it's a frightened soul or it's a proud soul, whether it's a terrified soul or a soul that's confident in its own standing, Peter is saying that this posture of our soul is going to make us more and more that easy prey for the enemy, the devil, and that if we will not resist him by standing firm in what can take away our fear and what can solve our doubts, then we will be increasingly left alone and exposed to that enemy.
SPEAKER_01: But we will need a rescue from it.
SPEAKER_01: But this is precisely where the good news of what Peter is sharing with us comes to bear.
SPEAKER_01: The answer is not try harder not to worry, because you can probably share the experience with one another that you have tried and it doesn't always work.
SPEAKER_01: In the same way, it's not saying, why don't you make yourself undevourable by gritting your teeth and stealing your resolve, and then perhaps you will somehow outfight this enemy, the devil?
SPEAKER_01: No, the answer isn't that the rescue you and I need, and that the protection you and I need is going to come from a better version of you or a better version of me.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to come from a different someone.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to come from a lamb who was unable to be devoured, one who could actually break the very power that this enemy, the devil, has and uses against us.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Peter earlier in this letter had opened with mention of a lamb, a lamb without blemish, without spot.
SPEAKER_01: He talked about a gift of the righteous given for the unrighteous.
SPEAKER_01: And this really is where the heart of the matter comes: that what the Lion is really after is to drag God's beloved people away from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And the power he uses for this is the same power he has used generation after generation, which is the wages of sin, which are death.
SPEAKER_01: That death has been his power.
SPEAKER_01: Indeed, death is at the root of our fears and our doubts, because we see again and again that death, like a tolling bell, seems to have the final say again and again and again.
SPEAKER_01: And so we wonder: can it really be true when someone says that in the Lord everything will end well, that it really can be well for your soul?
SPEAKER_01: And this lamb, the one we need, is the one whom the devil chased and hounded and brought all the way to the point of death on a cross.
SPEAKER_01: And it was precisely at that point when, to all appearances, it would look as if that great enemy from the very beginning, the enemy from the garden and on, had somehow actually triumphed, that maybe it was the case, that our fears and anxieties really were true.
SPEAKER_01: But in that case, Jesus died, not because the lion, that enemy, had finally gotten his way and caught his prey, but because that lamb had willingly laid down his life into death to himself be the someone who entered into that terrible power and defeated it.
SPEAKER_01: You see, that lamb did not stay dead, he rose again on the third day, which means that the very power that our adversary uses against us in every way has been decisively broken and defeated by that ultimate someone.
SPEAKER_01: That death could not hold Jesus, and so that enemy saw that his power had been broken.
SPEAKER_01: And this act of sacrifice on the cross, this defeat of our enemy, is what can answer both of those sins in our lives, whether it's pride or whether it's worry and anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: For pride, the cross tells us that if the Son of God Himself was not above this, not above suffering, not above giving of himself, then surely you and I are not above the same.
SPEAKER_01: If it took God to save us, then surely that means even our greatest achievements were not enough.
SPEAKER_01: And if God himself would save us, then surely that means there is no way we are going to wallow in our own inadequacy, for God Himself has so honored and loved you that he gave his only son for you.
SPEAKER_01: And if he's given his son, he's not going to let you go.
SPEAKER_01: At the same time, this deals with our worries and fears and anxieties, that come what may, there is no way for us to be truthful and to say that this is not going to end well.
SPEAKER_01: For in Christ it is always true when someone says, In the end, it is going to be okay.
SPEAKER_01: Things will be well for you and for your soul in the end, now and forever.
SPEAKER_01: For this Lord our God has defeated the enemy that is at the root of all of our fears and anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: And through it all, we can stand firm, being sober-minded, as Peter encourages, because here we are, together surrounded by one another, standing firm in this faith, in this word, in this life.
SPEAKER_01: And our strength is not coming from us building ourselves up, but instead leaning into the strength of the promises of God, which hold us sure and secure.
SPEAKER_01: These verbs, these strong words that Paul or Peter used, he says the God of all grace will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
SPEAKER_01: Four of these words, four actions of God for you, every one of them his and for your good.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter today has warned you of this enemy.
SPEAKER_01: He's warned you of this adversary, he's cautioned you against the kinds of sins that would make you to drift or fall apart or away and make you that easy prey.
SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, he has shown you that that great enemy, his power, is broken, and you can react to him appropriately, knowing that Christ has triumphed in him, and that if you are a soul who rests in Christ and rests in his power, then you are no easy prey.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.