Standing Firm in a Beautiful but Hostile World
1 Peter 4:7 - 5:14
Louise and I once took a combi van holiday up the Queensland coast. The van was a 1974 model we'd just had done up, and nobody thought we'd make it all the way to Cooktown. We did—all the way to where the bitumen ends on the east coast of Australia.
We stayed in Mackay for two weeks just to see platypuses. We stayed in the Daintree Rainforest until we saw a cassowary. And when we finally saw that cassowary—a male guarding four chicks—it walked onto the path about five metres away from us. We all hid behind Elijah's pram.
Here's what I learned: every animal we saw in the bush was trying to kill us. Cassowaries. Crocodiles. Ridgeback pigs. Stingers in the water. The bush is this beautiful environment full of animals you want to see—until you realise they're all dangerous.
A Beautiful World That's Hostile to Us
We live in a beautiful world that is hostile to us. There are so many things trying to make our life miserable. We live in a fallen world.
At the end of 1 Peter, Peter's encouragement is simple:
Stand firm
In the midst of a world that can be terrifying or uncomfortable, we are to stand firm with clear minds and loving hearts, humble leadership and humble lives, vigilant faith and confident hope.
The reason we can do all this? Because the end is near. Jesus could come back anytime. So we stand firm in the true grace of God, prepared for when Jesus returns.
Stand Firm with Clear Minds and Loving Hearts
Peter writes that because the end is near, we should be alert and of sober mind so that we may pray. Love each other deeply. Offer hospitality without grumbling. Use whatever gifts we have to serve others so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.
An eternal perspective changes how we live.
Some people live as though this life is all there is. But if this life is just the first chapter of my story, if the book of my life continues forever in heaven, then I'm not going to miss out on anything if I put my needs aside to help someone else.
When life feels chaotic, our instinct is to panic, retreat, spine up like an enchidna under attack. But the Christian response to crisis is clarity and love. Christians can be so secure in their relationship with Jesus that they think, I can't have anything in this world that can truly harm me. So while we protect ourselves, we don't have to fight for our life because Jesus fights for our life.
We can live with urgency, not anxiety.
Are You Talking to the Lord?
Louise showed me a country song recently where a father asks his daughter, "So, are you talking with the Lord?" She says, "Yeah, Dad, I am."
You can learn a lot about someone if they're talking to the Lord. Because if you're talking to the Lord, you have clarity. And all those other things follow.
The worst thing we can do when we feel threatened is defend ourselves only, instead of asking God for protection.
When you breathe the air of heaven through prayer, you can help other people. You can serve with the gifts God has given you. When you have equipment to see things clearly, you see what needs to be done. When you see what needs to be done, you just do it.
What we do when we're Christian is we serve.
Stand Firm with Humble Leadership and Humble Lives
A loving, prayerful, hospitable community where people help each other—that's the soil where healthy leadership thrives. Do you long for good leadership in the church? Then be loving. Be prayerful. Be hospitable. Leadership will thrive in that environment.
We've professionalized the church to such an extent that sometimes we think we come to consume church. But actually, we come to be the church. If we are the church, we'll have good leaders. We all have a role to play.
Peter says to clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. If we clothe ourselves with pride, we won't be able to help other people. We're not influencers trying to get people to like us. We're trying to point people to Jesus.
Ask yourself: what are the things in your life you're really proud of that you don't think you could exist without, that are really pointing people to how good you are?
I remember thinking there's no way I could ever drive a Corolla—I liked combi vans. Then one day I was driving Mum and Dad's Corolla and I was embarrassed. You might laugh, but you have versions of that too.
Stand Firm with Vigilant Faith and Firm Hope
If pride is getting in the way of our humility, which gets in the way of our love, which gets in the way of us serving others, we need to be alert. We need to be sober-minded.
Peter says your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion. Resist him, standing firm in faith. We do have an opponent in the spiritual world who's trying to take us out. But when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, I think he knocked the devil's teeth out. So while he's a roaring lion trying to scare you, he can't hurt you if you're a Christian.
Let's not look for the devil under every bush. But let's not live as though he's not going to try and oppose us at all. The way to defend yourself is by having a vigilant faith and a firm hope.
Active, Not Sedentary
We need to be active Christians, not sedentary Christians. Don't drift away from God. Don't fall asleep in your faith. Don't surrender to the world or the devil or your own sinful nature. Stand firm.
Some of us check our bank accounts, the fuel in our car, our marks at school. We value all those things. But how often do we value where we are spiritually? We can mask spiritual sedentariness with busyness. "Oh, I'm very busy. I'm very important."
Okay, cool. Have you talked to the Lord lately?
What does talking to the Lord mean? It means staying alert, being sober-minded, avoiding spiritual drowsiness, knowing the enemy, suffering but not giving up, facing temptation but not giving in, actively resisting the devil, not allowing yourself to fall asleep.
The True Grace of God
The end is near, so live with clarity. Be clear and sober-minded because Christ is the chief shepherd. Live humbly because the devil prowls around. Live with vigilance because God is the God of all grace. Live with hope.
At the end of the day, it's the grace of God that helps us all stand. If you're like me, you'll have failed at everything I've talked about tonight—last week, probably. We need the Lord Jesus to help us with this.
When you talk to the Lord, often the conversations are:
"You are so beautiful, Lord. Can you help me be a little bit beautiful too? Can you help me be a little bit more beautiful today than I was yesterday?"
That's a good prayer.
Because Jesus understands how hard life is. He lived it. He knows what it is to have a headache, get sunburned, have a bad back after a day's work. He had people rejecting and abandoning him. He went through everything we've gone through. He lost loved ones.
So what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is a God of grace who can help us to stand firm.
Soul Revival Church gathers across the Sutherland Shire and Ryde.