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Christians have it made. God’s children are God’s favorites. Once you become a Christian, it’s smooth sailing all the way to the heavenly harbor. No more money problems. No more family problems. No more health problems. Everything will come up roses for the Christian. Wouldn’t that be nice? That’s the way our reason thinks things ought to be; unfortunately, that’s just not the way things work. God’s Word and our own experience teach us just the opposite. Luke exposes that kind of success theology as the rubbish it is when he writes: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” The truth? It’s tough to be a Christian.
Nobody knew that better than the folks to whom Peter was writing his first letter; they were scattered, suffering, and standing on the edge of a storm. Persecution under Nero was just beginning to sweep across the Roman Empire like a wildfire. Peter knew that it would get a whole lot worse before it got better. So he wrote this letter to bolster their faith, to firm them up to weather the stormy days ahead.
Peter was the right man for the job. He knew what it was to falter, having experienced firsthand the sad consequences of an infirm faith. Remember what happened when he was walking on water to Jesus, and he took his eyes off Jesus for just a moment and focused on the approaching wave? He went under. Remember what happened when he shrugged off the warning of his Master in the upper room and went to Gethsemane, where once again he took his eyes off Jesus and focused them on the band of soldiers? He abandoned his Lord. Remember how, later that evening, in the high priest’s courtyard, he took his eyes off Jesus once again? This time, he denied his Lord, not once, not twice, but three times. Peter knew the cost of taking his eyes off Jesus. Peter didn’t want what happened to him to happen to anyone else – not for those early believers, and not for us. That’s why he wrote with urgency and tenderness, calling us to stand firm and to fix our eyes on the One who never fails. He says to us in his divinely inspired letter:
Saints, Stand Firm
1. In Humility
A few years back, a TV comedian made famous the line: “I’m Chevy Chase. And you’re not.” Part of Peter’s advice to us echoes a more profound truth: “He’s God. And you’re not.” Christian, don’t play God. Stop pretending that you know best. Peter assures us that God knows best and advises us to Let God be God: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s almighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.” The same God who weaved together the universe…the same God who holds that universe together…the same God who engineers the events of history…the same God who causes nations to rise and fall…the same God who is the Lord of history is also the Lord of our story. He’s in complete control of the times of our lives.
Our human natures don’t necessarily like to relinquish control of our lives. We want the illusion of control. We fancy ourselves the captains of our fate, the masters of our destiny. Our pride relishes those roles. However, Luke tells us: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.”
Very often, just when we begin to feel that we are in control, the Lord lovingly sends us into a tailspin. He loosens our grip, not to punish but to protect. Through various afflictions, He lets our lives spiral out of our control…and into His. God hasn’t made a mistake when He takes our hands off the wheel of our lives. He knows exactly what He is doing. Our lives aren’t catapulting out of control during the difficult times; they are just catapulting out of our control…right into His. He is the only One who can pilot our lives through their troubled waters. Sometimes, God allows or sends afflictions to restore a wandering faith. Sometimes, He sends them to fortify a strong faith even more. Either way, He's not absent. He’s active.
Fortunately, the same God who has the power to knock us down also has the power to lift us up. The passage from Luke goes on: “He who humbles himself will be exalted.” God, who is first and foremost a God of love, will either remove our burden or reinforce our backs to bear the burden. He will either calm the storm or steady our souls. More than that, if we humbly trust in Him for our salvation, clinging not to our merit but to His mercy, echoing the hymn: “Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling,” He will eventually exalt us all the way to heaven, where we will taste the bitter drops of suffering no more, but rather taste His glory forevermore. Peter says, 'Stand Firm — in humility.' He also says Stand Firm...
2. In Prayer
Peter reasons that since our lives are not in our control and since God is in complete control, why worry when we can pray? He writes, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” Just as hard as it is to part with our pride and admit that we are not in control of our lives, it is equally hard to part with our cares, concerns, and worries. Indeed, there would be good reason to worry if we were on our own, if we had to shoulder our burdens all by ourselves. But we don’t have to. Just as our earthly father does, our heavenly Father reaches down from heaven, gently wraps His arm around our shoulder, and whispers, “Let me carry that.” He lovingly offers to comfort and support us. The Psalmist affirms it: “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.” Paul echoes: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understandings, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
But here’s the tragedy: we often pass up that peace. We insist on clinging to our own cares and concerns and addressing our own anxieties. We try to work out things such as illness, financial difficulties, problems at school or work, and many other issues on our own. When we insist on carrying these burdens ourselves, we forget that the Lord has volunteered to carry them for us and to care for us in every need.
Peter’s message is clear: ‘Why worry when you can pray?’ Worry doesn’t do anybody any good. None at all. It wreaks havoc on our health, both physically and spiritually. It undermines our faith in God and His ability to handle any and every situation. Rather, take it to the Lord in prayer: “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” How much? How much does He care for us? Enough to send His Son to suffer and die for us; enough to bridge the chasm our sin created, which would have separated us from Him forever; enough to care about every spiritual and physical need we face. Yes, God cares. Saints, trust that care. Take your problems to the Lord in prayer. Let go of what you were never meant to carry. Peter says Stand Firm -- In Prayer. Finally, he says Stand Firm…
3. In Vigilance
OK, so God is in complete control of our lives. He’s at the helm, steering the ship of our life. He has assumed our burdens and calmed our cares and concerns. What is left? Are we just along for the ride? Are we just passengers on the ship of our own life – coasting toward glory? Are we home free? Not quite. Peter sounds the alarm and puts us on guard: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Peter hasn’t been trying to lull us into complacency. He is trying to clear out the clutter of cares and concerns so that Satan won’t catch us off guard and attack us at our vulnerable moments when we let down our guard to lick our wounds. You see, the favorite strategy of Satan is to catch us off guard and attack us when we are distracted and sidetracked by some trial or tribulation, when we are asleep at the watch. Like a stealthy lion furtively stalking his prey, the devil is lurking in the shadows, poised to pounce; he stalks the vulnerable, the weary, the wounded. Peter knew this firsthand. No doubt Peter recalled Jesus’ admonition to him in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Watch and pray, so that you will not fall into temptation.” No doubt the painful memory of his own fall in the high priest’s courtyard prompted his warning to be “self-controlled and alert.”
To remain self-controlled and alert, we need to be guided by the Holy Spirit, who works through the Word. He used that Word to bring us to faith in our Savior, and He uses that same Word to keep us steadfast and vigilant in that faith. Faith that clings firmly to Christ and His Word can withstand the fiercest attack and defeat Satan, as Martin Luther thundered in his Battle Hymn of the Reformation: “One little word can fell him.” We must draw upon the arsenal of God’s Word to win the victory over the prowling lion. When tested, we confess with Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That confession says that He is more powerful than anything this world can throw at us. That confession places us squarely in the hands of the One who conquered the grave.
We aren’t alone in our struggle either. Our brothers and sisters in the faith are undergoing the same sufferings and temptations that we are, as Peter writes: “Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” We fight together. We stand together. Together we follow the same General to victory. With Jesus as our General, the devil doesn’t stand a chance. It is all over but the shouting. Jesus has already defeated death and the devil at the showdown at Calvary. The battle is over. The victory is won. Calvary sealed it. Heaven awaits. Peter closes with a promise: “The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.” The God of all grace and power will guide us safely through this world’s relatively short journey to His eternal, never-ending glory. We conclude with Peter’s doxology, giving credit where credit is due, and glory where glory is due: “To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.”
Come to think of it, the Christian really does have it made after all, doesn’t he? Saints, Stand Firm In The Faith. Amen.
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