Under a Mighty, Caring Hand [Family Worship lesson in 1Peter 5:6–11]

What is the key to pairing proper humility with proper confidence? 2Timothy 1:13–14 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that proper humility comes from an awareness of the mightiness of God’s hands, under which we humble ourselves, and proper confidence comes from awareness of the infinite care of Him upon Whom we cast our cares. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.04.13 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Peter 5:6–11

Read 1 Peter 5:6–11

Questions from the Scripture text: What are all Christ’s sheep to do (1 Peter 5:6)? Under Whose hand are they to humble themselves? What sort of hand is it? And what will God do for them? When? What is an essential part of humbling ourselves (1 Peter 5:7)? How much of our care are we to cast upon Him? How much of it is to be cast upon something else? What, in addition to the mightiness of His hand, prods us to cast upon Him every one of our cares? With what two commands does 1 Peter 5:8 begin? Watching against whom? Who is he to us? Where does he go? Like what does he go around? What is he seeking as he goes around? What does this imply about the identity of the ones who will be devoured? What else are the sheep to do to him (1 Peter 5:9)? How can they do this—steadfast in what? What do they know; about whom; where? Who is the answer to all of this—both to what we need to do and what the devil is trying to do (1 Peter 5:10)? What is God called here? How did each sheep end up in this situation? To what did God call them? Whose glory? What sort of glory? By Whom did God call them to His own, eternal glory? Through what will we go, for how long, before we come to that glory? What four things is God doing for us in and through this suffering? What is the outcome of this being the way that we were called, that we walk, and that we will arrive (1 Peter 5:11)?

What is the key to pairing proper humility with proper confidence? 1 Peter 5:6–11 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that proper humility comes from an awareness of the mightiness of God’s hands, under which we humble ourselves, and proper confidence comes from awareness of the infinite care of Him upon Whom we cast our cares. 

The “mighty hand of God” in 1 Peter 5:6 is the key to humility in the church. Lest elders be tempted to think too highly of themselves, let them remember that their lowliness is not first with respect to other sheep, but with respect to the Chief Shepherd. Thus, an elder may remember that he too is a sheep; for, it is none other than the mighty hand of God under which he is humbling himself! 

And let the rest of the flock, if they are in a true church, not be hindered from humility by the unworthiness of their elders. A true church preaches Christ as God the Son crucified and risen for sinners, and administers the sacraments as instructed under Christ, and employs discipline to guard against the denial of the gospel whether by false teaching or “Christians” who live unrepentantly and scandalously. 

So, though the undershepherds in true churches will be sinners, they are still appointed by the Chief Shepherd, and it is under His mighty hand that the flock humbles itself as it submits to the elders. Since it is God’s hand under which they humble themselves, and not the elders’ hands, the elders must require only what God requires and forbid only what God forbids. For, the submission that the flock gives to his oversight is not a humbling under the elder’s hand but God’s. And let the elder show this not only by the limited scope of his authority but also by the gentle manner in which he oversees a flock that belongs to God, not to himself. 

The Spirit then reminds us of the love that moves this mighty hand of God: “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” This reminder is especially needful for those who have a fearful and mistrusting tendency in their own hearts, and who may even have been wounded by elders in the past. The remedy for such reluctance and timidity is a clear view of the immeasurable love of God in which He cares for us. The apostle had seen the extent of this care as he personally witnessed “the sufferings of Christ” (1 Peter 5:1). He could never doubt that this One Who died in that way, under that wrath, cared for him. 

And you and I cannot doubt it either, dear reader. Did He love us so much then, only to have that love wane in our troubles? Did He go to the cross with all His heart, then heartlessly assign you the particular elders that you have in a true congregation of His church? How great is the care of the Lord Jesus Christ! 

And let the reminder of His love protect us from yet another danger: casting our cares upon the undershepherds themselves. We will be able to see love of the Savior in faithful elders, but we must be sure to have our comfort in His love, rather than theirs. The better they love us, the more we will be tempted to cast our cares in some measure upon them. But 1 Peter 5:7 will not permit this. They are not the Chief Shepherd. They did not die for our sins. There is an infinitely greater Care moving the mighty hand of God. Humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God includes “casting ALL your care upon Him.” For thousands of years, He has been carrying brothers through the sufferings of this world, from both within and without the church (1 Peter 5:9). 

As we considered on Monday, this structure for the protection of the flock was His plan. And that which He has planned in His wisdom, He makes effectual by His power. He is “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10). The suffering is only for a little while (verse 10). His perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and settling of believers is forever and ever, and will bring Him glory for unending ages (1 Peter 5:11).  In His great kindness, He devised this plan for glorifying His mighty hand. You can trust Him. Humble yourself under that hand; cast all your cares upon Him.

By what regular actions and mental habits do you keep yourself mindful of God’s mighty hand? Do you seem to have more difficulty humbling yourself under that hand’s power or casting your cares upon that hand’s love? Upon whom are you tempted to cast your cares instead of the Lord?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for loving us and revealing that love in Christ, so that we may know not only the power of Your mighty hand but the care of Your mighty hand. Forgive us for when we shrink from submitting to those whom You set over us, because we forget that it’s under Your mighty hand that we are humbling ourselves. Forgive us for when we cast our cares upon anything or anyone other than You. Even these requests, these cares, we cast upon Your Spirit in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN!

ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH517 “I Know Whom I Have Believed”

Humbled by Grace for More Grace [Family Worship lesson in 1Peter 5:5]

Why, and how, is humility so important in the life of the church? 1Peter 5:5 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that humility gives us a proper view of ourselves, proper incentive to follow God’s authority structure for the church, and a proper view of how we are interacting with God. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.04.12 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Peter 5:5

Read 1 Peter 5:5

Questions from the Scripture text: Who are the counterparts to these elders (1 Peter 5:5)? How are they to relate to the elders? Whom else are they to treat as more important than one another? What clothing “outfits” them for this way of thinking and interacting? How does God treat those who do not have this clothing? What does He give those who do have it? 

Why, and how, is humility so important in the life of the church? 1 Peter 5:5 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that humility gives us a proper view of ourselves, proper incentive to follow God’s authority structure for the church, and a proper view of how we are interacting with God. 

This verse tells us to be clothed with humility before encouraging us that God gives grace to those who do so. In the following verse, this will become a direct command, “humble yourselves.” Humility, humility, humility. What a significant part of biblical church life this is! And we see why even in the wording of the instruction to submit to the elder.

The instruction to submit to our elders is so obvious that it ought not be necessary. After all, this is the way by which the Lord Jesus has opted to guide us: through elders who oversee us in the church. Case closed. And yet, the Lord urges submission to our elders in many places in the New Testament. That which should be obvious, we apparently need to hear over and over again. Doesn’t this call us to watchfulness against an independent, or even rebellious, spirit in the church? Once we see that we are so prone to resist God’s ordained authority structure, we begin to understand how urgently we need humility.

“Youngers” in 1 Peter 5:5 is actually “new ones.” “Newbies,” to use the vernacular. Part of the humility that the Spirit teaches us here is to consider ourselves as newbies before God, who are in need of shepherding and oversight. This was part of the wisdom of Solomon in 1 Kings 3:7 and the fitness of Jeremiah for ministry in Jeremiah 1:6–8. Either man might have had a high view of himself, but viewed himself instead as barely having made a beginning in the faith, hardly fit for their duties, like toddlers who do not know how to go out or come in or speak. A believer needs to be able to confess genuinely before God, “I am a toddler before You, not knowing how to go out or come in or speak.” Such a spirit will go a long way toward facilitating a healthy body-life in the church.

When 1 Peter 5:5 continues the chapter by saying “all be submissive to one another,” it is not erasing the authority structure that the Lord has put in place, but rather forbidding all self-superiority or self-serving. In order to reconcile this verse with what precedes it, we must maintain a recognition that the Lord gifts and graces particular men who are to be examples. 

When the Spirit says, “all of you be submissive to one another,” it is not a flattening of His work or denial that there is such a thing as a more mature believer. Rather, this verse makes plain that with maturity comes even more humility. Notice a couple things about the first instruction about humility. First, it’s a passive command: “be clothed.” It’s a command that we can’t even accomplish for ourselves. It has to be done to us. Second, it’s clothing that comes from another and is put upon us. It’s not something that we have the ability to produce from ourselves. How needy we are of grace, that even humility comes as clothing from Christ! 

Thankfully, in God’s wisdom, as He clothes us with more humility, He makes us more and more an object of His grace. “God gives grace to the humble.” We don’t become any less needy of grace as we grow, so He widens the channel of that grace as He “grows us down” in humility. 

This should be alarming to anyone who feels superior in himself. The one who is conceited in himself or looks down upon others should worry that he is not actually being clothed by Christ. Even worse (?!), he provokes God to enmity. For, “God resists the proud.” A proud shepherd in the church is a living contradiction! All proud sheep are ripe for destruction. Dear reader, may the Chief Shepherd give you His own mind to consider others as better than yourself and to look out for their interests as much as for your own.

How does your being a “newbie” before God come out in your prayers? How does it come out in your habits? How does it shape your thoughts toward others and your interactions with them? Where can you get humility? How do your habits show that you are trying to get it?

Sample prayer: Lord, we praise You for humbling Yourself to take the form of a bondslave, be found in appearance as a man, and offer Yourself up to death upon the cross for us. And, we thank You that by Your Spirit, You take Your own humility and clothe us with it. O, give us grace that we might grow in humility and be, more and more, objects of Your grace! Glorify Yourself in Your church, which we ask in Your own Name, Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP131 “My Heart Is Not Exalted, LORD” or TPH488 “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior”

Who Can Perfectly Keep God's Commandments [Shorter Catechism Q82 Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 82—especially explaining and applying how Adam could have kept God’s commandments but didn’t, the last Adam did perfectly keep them in His people’s stead, and the last Adam’s people genuinely but imperfectly keep them now, and will perfectly keep them forever.

Q82. Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word and deed.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Knowing and Showing the Worthy Glory of the Chief Shepherd [Family Worship lesson in 1Peter 5:1–4]

How does Christ bring Christians to glory? 1Peter 5:1–4 follows up upon the morning sermon from this past Lord’s Day and helps prepare for the next one. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christ, the Chief Shepherd who suffered and was glorified, is bringing His sheep through suffering into glory, in part by oversight from other sheep who count both the suffering and the glory worthwhile in Christ.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.04.11 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Peter 5:1–4

Read 1 Peter 5:1–4

Questions from the Scripture text: Whom is the apostle addressing (1 Peter 5:1)? What type of address is it? What does he call himself? To what two things is he a witness? Whose sufferings, and Whose glory are they? What is the primary (one-word) command of 1 Peter 5:2? What does he call the congregation? Whose flock are they? Where is this flock? What are the elders to do as overseers? What sort of service are elders to provide? What three characteristics must NOT mark this overseeing (1 Peter 5:2-3)? What three characteristics MUST mark it instead? If the shepherds are examples to the sheep, what does this remind us that the shepherds themselves are? So, what is Christ called in 1 Peter 5:4? What will the undershepherds receive when he appears? What will not happen to this glory?

What pitfalls must elders avoid as they shepherd God’s flock?  1 Peter 5:1–4 follows up upon the morning sermon from this past Lord’s Day and helps prepare for the next one. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that since believers are always in danger of doing correct things for wrong reasons, elders must be motivated to persevere in the ministry by that which proceeds from the Lord’s own love for His people. 

Yesterday, we saw that in the Chief Shepherd’s plan to bring His flock to glory, He gives some of the flock the assignment of being elders who shepherd and exercise oversight. But overseers must take heed to their motivations, because overseeing is often unpleasant. 

It’s precisely because we need the guidance and oversight that God has given these undershepherds. And “sheep” who need such help are sinners. They sometimes bite or bully the other sheep whom the Chief Shepherd is appointed to help them—especially when the undershepherd is trying to retrieve them from going their own way and becoming easy prey for the lion. But it’s not the unruly flock that is the most danger to the elders. We can see their dangers in the three contrasting pairs of instruction in 1 Peter 5:2-3. 

Not by compulsion but willingly. An elder may shepherd as someone who is compelled by duty to do that which he resents. Such an elder views God’s people as a burden. But they are not a burden. They are precious. Protecting them and guiding them is a labor of love. And it’s a privilege to be called to that place. Husbands and parents must resist viewing their wife or children as a burden in the home, so also must elders in the church. Overseeing not by compulsion but willingly.

Not for dishonest gain but eagerly. An elder may shepherd not out of a desire for the glory of Christ in bringing the flock into His own glory… but twistedly, shamefully, aiming at his own glory. He must have the mind of the friend of the Bridegroom who said, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” Many wolf-elders have practiced oversight to increase themselves. Financially. Their reputation. Their control. Their self-satisfaction. Their influence. 

Believers’ hearts are always in danger of aiming to advance themselves rather than glorifying Christ in doing good to others. And nowhere is this more twisted and shameful than with an elder. Rather than being incentivized by something else to seek the good of the sheep, the good of the sheep should itself be what his heart seeks.

Nor as being lords… but examples. Elders must exercise authority, but it’s a bottom-up authority. It mustn’t be the domineering authority that the lords of the nations exercise, but that willingness to be made the lowest that the Lord of lords displayed (cf. Matthew 20:25–28; Philippians 2:1–11). One of the ways that believers are helped to have “the mind in them that was in Christ Jesus” is when the undershepherds among them are examples of that very same mind. 

Elders should be willing to suffer much for the good of others. It should be evident that they prefer others to themselves, that they set others’ interests above their own. When the one who oversees you is obviously sacrificing himself to do so, he is to the flock an example of what it looks like when Jesus has redeemed a sinner and is now conforming him to His likeness. This is true leadership in the church.

What Christian duties are you most tempted to approach as a burden rather than a privilege? What “gain” do you most often find yourself pursuing in a self-seeking way? How are you fostering eagerness for God’s sake rather than selfishness? How is it evident to others that you consider them more valuable than yourself, and their needs just as important as your own?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving Yourself as the greatest example of true service. Please help our elders to be good examples of what it looks like when You start making a sinner to be like Yourself. And, by Your Spirit, use those elders and all of Your appointed means to give us the mind of Christ as well, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP131 “My Heart Is Not Exalted, LORD” or TPH488 “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior”

Warned by a Glorious Work of God's Word by Which He Humbled His People [2023.04.09 Evening Sermon in Exodus 33:1–6]

By His Word, God did a great work to humble Israel to mourn for Him; but, the work stands for us as a warning because of how they ended up.

(click here to DOWNLOAD video/mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

Crucial Christian Consistency [2023.04.09 Morning Sermon in Acts 20:17–19]

Christ is consistent; therefore, their elders should be examples of consistency, as they shepherd the flock unto consistency in Christ.

(click here to DOWNLOAD video/mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

Christ's Own Ministry to Comfort Those Made Poor and Miserable by Sin [2023.04.09 Sabbath School Lesson, Biblical Theology of the Diaconate #29]

Having considered Christ's servant character, we considered a few instances in the gospels to see the compassion/service in His earthly ministry, which would be a template for the character and conduct of the church.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)