Dependence Day

Today is. Yeah, it's a big day. And I hope that I'm glad that you came here today. I know it might have been harder than other Sundays to get up and to come here to be with us, but we appreciate it. And you know, I get excited about Fourth of July.

It wasn't until Hamilton came out on Disney, that's when my patriotism really started getting going. I don't know if you're like me, but yeah, I was just the ideas and like the boldness and the genius of the founding fathers. Like, I find myself kind of getting lost in that and getting excited about it. But if we are honest with ourselves, one of the dangers of our culture and our founding values is that this idea of independence, it can become more than just a national value or patriotic principle. It can become a spiritual posture where we think to ourselves, like, I don't.

When it comes to my spirituality, I don't need help, I don't need authority in my life. I'm self sufficient. I love that idea as a citizen of a country that I can become something in the United States of America that's harder to do and maybe even impossible to do anywhere else on the planet. But when we apply that to our spiritual lives, man, it's a problem. It can become a real problem because that's not the design that God has for us as believers, for us to be spiritually self sufficient and independent.

And so today, on the day after the 250th Independence Day, I've titled today's sermon Dependence Day. And I was gonna read the speech from the president from the movie Independence Day. I read it and I was like, man, this does get me fired up. But I decided not to, to save some time. But today we're going to be talking about how we need to be spiritually dependent.

Verse 1 of 1st Peter 5. We're going to close out this letter that Peter wrote to these different churches, these different local communities of believers that were in modern day Turkey or Asia Minor. And he writes, he starts off this final section, he says to the elders among you. So specific audience subsect of the group he was writing to, to the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings, who will also share in the glory to be revealed. He is at the same time letting them know that, hey, elders, I'm like you.

I'm also an elder, I've been given this office, but I'm also different than you, that I'm a witness to Christ's sufferings. But I'm also like you in that I will share in the glory that is coming to be revealed when Jesus comes back. And that's a big theme in this letter that he writes. So when Peter writes to these churches in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, he is speaking to, in this particular section, to recognize spiritual leaders within those little congregations, within those local churches. They were men entrusted with shepherding God's people, guarding those churches, teaching the faith and modeling the life of Jesus.

Southbridge we look at Scripture and we try to apply as much of it as we can. We try to represent what the New Testament churches look like that we find in Scripture. And Southbridge has elders, and elders mean different things at different churches. And this is the first church that I've been a part of where we actually have the office of elder that's called elders. The churches I've been a part of before, pastors was the title that was used exclusively for this overseer role.

And so Southbridge, we're a little bit different because we have a team of elders. We have elders that don't serve on the team anymore. And we also have pastors that hold the same biblical office that's referred to here in this letter and also other letters as well. So I want to walk through just kind of a little bit of what that looks like here and how the elder team operates and compare and contrast that with the pastoral team and the non pastoral staff at Southbridge. When we talk about elders, we are also talking about recognized spiritual leaders of this church.

They are men entrusted with three things that we categorize and name. Shepherding the flock, exercising oversight, and being an example. And those three things come directly from Peter's words and Paul's words as they give instructions on how to appoint elders and how to equip them to do the work of an elder. And here at Southbridge, potential elders are identified through a process that's rooted in these scriptures. First Timothy 3, if you want to take note of that, Titus 1 and First Peter 5, where we are today.

But before someone officially becomes an elder, we'd have like a test drive process to make sure that we actually want to want to commit to this and whether or not it's the right thing for that individual to step forward and to actually serve fully in that role as an elder on the elder team. So we identify someone and we put them on what we call the leadership team. And that is a whole year where they are being trained, mentored, they're sitting in on elder meetings, they're Told to be quiet at certain times. I'm just kidding. I don't know.

I'm not in those meetings. They observe their observer, how they interact with the community here at Southbridge, and also how they help us reach our city. And this is a year long process where we are discerning whether or not this is a healthy next step for this individual to step fully into the role of serving as an elder on the elder team. After that year, the candidate is then presented to the church and you're asked to affirm or voice concern or questions about the candidate that's being presented. And then after that we look through those affirmations, those questions or concerns.

And then most of the time, as far as I've been around, they've been installed after that affirmation process. But like I said before earlier, Southbridge has pastors that are fulfilling that role of biblical elder of the local church. But we also have the elder team. It's the same office, but there are different functions of them. Pastors, there's a team of us, there's six of us, we oversee the church day to day.

And there's a staff that we help lead and help pastor as well. And we are paid to actually do the work. Now the elder team, they're a lay team, meaning that we don't pay them anything and they have secular jobs and they oversee the, they hold us accountable. And so the way that we talk about that is that we say that we are staff led but elder accountable. So the staff leads every day, day to day ministry and the pastoral team leads that staff, but we are held accountable by that lay elder team.

So Peter, he, in our passage today in 1st Peter 5, he goes on to talk about the responsibility of being an elder. And so when we talk about elders today, I want you to have that in mind. It's not just the elder team, it's just not the pastor, it's that whole group combined, the elder team and also the pastoral team. And so these instructions that he's giving and that we're going to read today, they're meant to encourage and instruct us and give us guidance as a team. And he says in verse two, he says to the elders, he says, be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care.

He gives them a charge. He says that this is God's flock, but it's under your care watching over them, not because you must, but because you were willing. There's an attitude, there's a posture, as God wants you to be, not pursuing dishonest gain but eager to serve. As Jesus was a servant, he is asking these elders, as they lead and shepherd and take care of this church to, to have that posture of servanthood. And here's what we know from what Peter and Paul as they write these different letters talking about elders and helping the church begin to create a structure in which the local church can be governed.

What we know for sure is that God wants to use appointed elders to care for the local church. It looks different in different churches. Some churches have elder boards, some don't. Some don't even use the term elder. Some may even use a more creative or flowery term like shepherd.

But what we do know is that God wants to use appointed elders that have taken on the responsibility of spiritual leaders and shepherds of a local church. He wants them to care for that local church. I know that for elders that are currently serving, I trade a message with them back and forth to make sure that I didn't make them mad by what I said today. Because like I said, we're elder accountable, right? So I traded messages back and forth.

And one of the things that I got from the elders that I already knew was that they love to pray for this church. They pray over this church all the time. They love to pray over individuals. If you notice, there's a lot of services at the end where you will see a circle of people that are praying over somebody that's come forward that needs prayer for healing or for God to show up in a certain way in their life. A restoration of a marriage or something like that.

And our elders love to do that. I moved from Arkansas. I don't know if you knew that, but I moved from Arkansas and I didn't want to move from Arkansas. I thought I applied for this job expecting the adventure to just be the application process and the rejection email that I would get soon after I applied. But when I came and interviewed here, there was so many new things about South Virginia, so many challenging things.

And so the interview weekend, I was still like, on Sunday I preached and I'm like, I don't think that I'm coming here. But it was the elder meeting after that service, after that Sunday morning, we had lunch together. They asked questions, we had good conversations. Jasper was just a little baby and a couple of the elders wives got to go to sleep, which was, you know, a miracle. And I remember them laying their hands on me and praying over Carrie and me as we processed through this decision that God was bringing before us.

And man, that changed everything. God used that Elder team to open up our hearts and our minds in a way where we were willing to let go of home and willing to step into an adventure that was completely brand new to us. So I'm telling you that to let you know that the elders of this church that serve on that team, that are no longer serving, that are taking a break, they love this church. They love you. They love the individuals that make up this church.

And they are charged with the care of this church. They are charged with the oversight of this church. But Peter, in this next verse, he outlines some important, important guidelines for elders that we need to take seriously. And he says in verse three, he says that you should not lord it over them, over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. There are some people I don't want you to say any names at your jobs, people you grew up with, different, people you went to school with, that you served on group projects with some sports teams.

There are some names that probably come to mind when I say that you saw them, the more responsibility they were given and the more authority they were given, the more domineering and the more micromanaging they became. Anybody come to mind? Don't say. Just say yes. Don't say the name.

And I look at what Peter's about to say and the other words that Paul has to say, that elders should not lord their office over the church, but be an example. And we have this process that reveals character and behavior so we can observe them. So whenever they are given the authority and given the responsibility and they accept it, that they have the character traits and they have already exuded behavior that we can look at and have confidence in that they are going to execute this office of elder in a way that we think is gonna reflect what Paul and Peter are saying in, in these letters. And so we have these. In First Peter 3, we see where Paul writes to Timothy, a young church leader who's probably looking at the elders of the church, and he's younger than all them.

And so Paul gives him some specific things to look for as he works to appoint the different elders. And then you see where Paul writes to Titus, giving him a similar list in Titus Chapter one. But what we see, I'm just going to go through this condensed list. He says, look for somebody who's above reproach. Look for somebody who's self controlled.

Look for someone who's gentle, who's hospitable, who's able to teach, who's not quarrelsome, doesn't like to start fights. They're not greedy, they're not domineering. So in other words, Paul is writing to Titus, he's writing to Timothy. He's like, look for these character traits and these behaviors in these men before you give them the position. Because there are some people that you give them some authority, you give them some responsibility, and they just go the other direction with it and start domineering, start using it to their advantage.

And Paul, he has this speech that he gives to the Ephesian elders the last time that he ever sees them at the church of Ephesus. And this is part of his goodbye speech to them in Acts chapter 20. He says this in verse 28, Keep watch or over yourselves. Important elders, important pastors, keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the Church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

That's important. This isn't some cultural thing that we participate in once a week. This is a group of people that Jesus paid for with his life. Verse 29. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock even from your own number.

Men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Paul saying here, he's saying to these elders at the church of Ephesus, it's going to get scary out there. What we know about this letter, if you've been a part of this series up to this point.

The churches in Asia Minor are experiencing extreme persecution and suffering because of their faith, that they have real life enemies that want them dead, that want to see them suffer. And Paul's saying here to these elders, he's saying it's going to get bad. And elders, you need to take care of your flock. You are shepherds that are meant to protect it. But guess what, it's also going to get scary in here.

Savage wolves are going to get in. And you got to make sure that you are paying attention to the people within your flock so that if enemies pop up from within, you can protect them from within as well. And so we have these three different things that we look at when we look at considering elders and giving them this job. Shepherd the flock, exercise oversight and also be an example.

In verse four, Peter says, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. One of the big themes in this letter is that Jesus is coming back that provides some real urgency to Peter's letters and Peter's words in this letter. And Peter says, when Jesus does come back, you elders, if you do your job, when you do these things, you will receive a reward. And there's two different Greek words for a crown. There's one that's meant to be like this crown that a king would wear.

And there's another word that's used here that was given to heroes of their community. So it could be athletes that were successful in different games that they would participate in. Remember, this is a Greek culture. There are crowns that would be given to people that were heroes. Like they ran into a burning building and rescued a family.

And within this. This would be like this signal to everybody, to the citizen, the rest of the citizens of these different cities and communities, hey, this person's important. They've been honored. They've done something great. And a lot of times, they would not have to pay taxes.

That's great, right? They would get free meals. They would be given a seat of honor at different community gatherings. And so Peter's using these words to say, when Jesus comes back, you're going to receive this crown. That's this honor.

But just like this crown, it's important to know that this crown that was given to these heroes of their communities, it was made of vegetation. It was made of some sort of plant that was wrapped into a wreath that would be placed on their head. And this plant, it would get dry and get cracked, and eventually you wouldn't be able to wear it anymore. So Peter's letting the elders know, hey, guys, you're going to be given this crown, this honor, this crown of glory. It will never fade.

It's eternal. It's recognition of this responsibility that you've been given and taken a hold of and done a decent job with being the overseer. And here's something that's really important and is given to you by what Peter says is the chief shepherd, meaning that being shepherds of a local church, we have a shepherd as well, that oversees not just the pastoral staff or the elder team, but oversees the whole church. And he's our chief shepherd, and he gives the shepherds, the overseers, the elders, the pastors that are faithful to their churches, that they're placed in charge of to oversee. They are given this crown of glory.

But, man, oh, and let me frame this the right way before I say this. As a pastor, I'm speaking for the other elders.

We are given a lot of encouragement. Y' all are great at Giving thank yous and praises and affirmation, and I thank you so much for that. But there's seasons and there are different times where you can receive all that and it still feels like a thankless job. Does that make sense? It can still feel like it's a heavy job, that nobody really understands what we are experiencing.

And so what Peter is letting these elders know. He's saying, you're not doing it because of the people you're leading in their affirmation, their encouragement, their thank yous. You're not doing it for that. You're doing it because you have this chief shepherd that cares for you, that when he comes back, he's going to give you something that nobody can take away. That's way better than a thank you.

That's way better than words of encouragement. The Son of God, the King of glory, he's going to give you something that will never fade away because of you taking this responsibility on yourself and you trying to be faithful to it. Elders, you're meant to be encouraged by that, that you will be recognized by the chief shepherd for the work that you put in the care that you have for this church. Hopefully you're encouraged by that today, Verse five, Peter turns to another group of people within the church and he says, in the same way you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. It's easier said than done, right?

Man, I think last time I got in trouble, last time I spoke because I talked about how I thought. I was told that the older you get, the smarter your parents are. I said, well, I don't. Maybe you just get dumber when you get older and they seem smarter. And so that makes it harder.

Yes, that makes it harder to submit. Because when you're a young person, there's something about your brain chemistry that tells you you got it all figured out. But what Peter's saying here, he's like you younger people, that's a trap. You need to submit yourself to the elders, people that are older than you. But also within this context, he's saying to the elders of the church, the leaders of your local Christian community, that you are a family, and a part of that takes commitment.

Pastor Scott talked last week about the commitment that Peter's pushing and how commitment's a hard thing, especially in our culture. We can pull our commitment. We can cancel our Netflix subscription today, right? It's tough to look at commitment in our world because it takes trust. It takes a belief that the person or the entity and individuals that you're committing to that you Trust them and you believe that they're gonna lead you well and actually have integrity and do what they say that they're gonna do.

And so within this context and what Peter's talking about, he's saying, submit yourselves. But it's tough because us as elders and the overseers, the pastors of this church, we have to be doing our job. We have to make good. We do have to have integrity and make good on the things that we say. And our actions line up with that.

It also takes humility.

We think of ourselves as less than what the world tempts us to think about ourselves. And he says in verse five, he says, all of you. So he talked to elders, he's talked to the younger people. Now he's saying, all of you. Nobody's excused from verse 5.

He says, all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God. He quotes a proverb, because God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble. He gives this unmerited favor that something you didn't deserve. If you're humble, he gives that to you. So Peter's.

Now he's putting us all in the same boat for this flock, for the shepherd, for everybody, for the elder team, the person that shows up once a month. All of us need to put on humility toward one another because that is how we can posture ourselves in a way that God looks at us and he wants to give us favor and actually lift us up and put us in a place that only humility can put us. Just to help define that word, humility, it means to take the lower position.

When Jesus is ministering in his last moments with his disciples, he takes Peter, the writer of this letter, and he washes Peter's feet. A job for a servant. The Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the whole world, is washing one of his followers, one of his students, feet. And Peter is incensed by this. He is offended by this.

He's like, how dare you, Jesus? I need to be doing this. And Jesus says, if you want to be a part of what I'm doing, you need to let me do this because I'm trying to teach you something, that we need to have this humility. We need to have this posture as followers of Jesus, everybody under the chief shepherd, that we clothe ourselves with this humility. We take the low position.

We consider others perspectives, their desires, their experiences. We don't discount anybody. We serve them, but also we can turn around and be served by them. That we don't reject somebody trying to care and Serve for us.

This is where we get to the hard part today. Point number one, hopefully you're still with me. Depend on God by receiving his care. You don't rely on spiritual self sufficiency. It's not God's design.

That's not the design that we have here at Southbridge. We don't equip you so that you can just be more spiritually self sufficient and not need anybody. This church is built out in a way where that we can try to take care of the 2 to 3,000 people that call Southbridge their home church. Now we can struggle with that at times. We do struggle with that at times.

It gets messy and when you do it right, it's going to get messy. When you try to live as family man, if you look at the families that are the families that represent the presence of God, they are messed up. They are really, really messed up. And when you look at the churches that these letters are written to, they are messed up. And so you may be looking at Southbridge and saying, Southbridge is messed up.

That's the way it is until Jesus comes back. It's going to get really messy. And Southbridge is built out in a way that we're going to lean into that messiness, that we're going to try to love each other and serve each other, that the elders and the pastors, leaders of the church are going to try to serve you and try to care for you. And here's a frustrating, but also a true part is that the way that God wants to care for you is a bunch of different ways. But one of the biggest ways is that he wants to care for you through the care of this church.

Not the church, but a local church. And if you're here this morning, it's probably this church that God is asking you to receive care from. But in our self sufficient, independent American mind, we have this idea of like, I don't need that church. I'm going to put myself in a position where I'm not dependent on the relationships from the church. I don't need the things that it offers.

I don't need the structure that's built out to help me navigate my spiritual life. That's not God's design. God wants you to place yourself in a position of humility, in a posture where you can be served. We struggle with that. And there are to continue to give you a little bit of credit if that's you and reserving and not posturing yourself to be served.

Like there are cracks in our ministry. There are gaps even in our ministry. But don't use that messiness. Don't use those gaps as excuses for denying the care that God is trying to provide for you.

And within my job, I talk to a lot of people that are looking for different churches to get involved in like we are. South Bridge. They a lot of times Southbridge is one church out of many that they visited within a month or so. If we're not careful, we can settle into a church or settle into an attitude, settle into even a rhythm of church shopping where we're trying to put ourselves in the best position, where we're not dependent upon the people that make up the church. And it can come from a place of church hurt.

And I'm sorry about church hurt. It breaks my heart to hear stories that people have made themselves vulnerable and the people of God have not done a great job with that vulnerability, that the leaders of those churches have not done a great job. But that's also the way it looks that we are meant to make ourselves vulnerable. We're meant to live as family. We're meant to look at the mess and say, you know what, this is messy and I may get hurt, but I'm going to step into it anyway.

God is trying to provide care for us and we can't use the messiness. We can't excuse where the church is messed up. So to continue to put distance between us and the individuals that make up the church. Let me get specific and talk about a trap. In our independent, self sufficient culture, a life event happens and you withdraw from participating in church community.

Let's say you experience job loss and you take a step back for different reasons. You're busy applying for jobs, you're taking this as an opportunity to travel because you didn't have that when you were working full time. And you pull back and you're going to come back, you're going to participate fully in a way that you used to. As soon as this life event changes, as soon as you get back to full employment, you're going to step back in and be fully involved. Or you have a baby and you take a step back from small group and you take a step back from serving until you get this whole baby thing figured out.

That is a trap. Not to say that those things aren't good and not that you can't navigate that in a healthy way, but I see it over and over and over again where people never get out of that mindset, that they use different life events that happen and their distance between them and the Local church gets further and further and further, and their dependence on the relationships that make up the local church gets less and less and less. And they put themselves in spiritual isolation. Then they become spiritually anonymous and nobody really knows what's going on in their spiritual life.

You're meant to lean in. And here I'm going to go out on a limb and say this. Especially in those seasons of those major life events, especially when you're particularly vulnerable, especially when you need the wisdom of older people, especially when you need the energy of younger people, especially when you need perspective on people that have been around the sun a few more times in you and the temptation is to withdraw, figure it out on your own and then step forward. Don't do that. Take these life events as opportunities for you to say, you know what, my life is messy right now, messier than I would like it to be.

But I'm going to give you a peek into it and actually give you a voice into it in a way that's going to help me. And I'm going to receive care that God is trying to provide for me through that vulnerability. That's life changing. It creates this dependence on your fellow believer that God wants us to have. That's a design for us.

And that takes commitment, man. It takes trust that the leaders of the church are doing their job, that the pastors and elders are actually focused on what they're trying to be doing here. And it takes humility.

Peter he talks more about humility in the next verse. He says, humble yourselves, make yourself lower, take the low position, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Peter he writes these words not asking the first readers of it, not asking us here today to humble ourselves without care, without protection, without providence, but under God's mighty hand, his care, his protection, his providence. And I believe that when you humble yourselves and you participate and you depend on relationships within the local church, that's a way that you are depending on God. That's a way that you are trusting Him. It's hard to replicate anywhere else. Depend on God.

Receive his care. Lean in in those difficult seasons. Lean in to those people that God is asking you to depend on and be family with.

The next verse comes from this posture of taking the low position. And before we read it, I want you to, you probably know this and you may have heard it outside of this context. I want you to think about everything that we've, that we've talked about up to this point and place it firmly in that Context, because it's only from humility that you can do. Verse 7. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Give all your burdens, give all your worries, Give the things that you your to do list that is weighing you down, that you are really dreading going in tomorrow and thinking, man, I gotta get this done. Even when you walk out of here, it may be hitting you real quick. What Peter's saying here is he wants you to cast all of those things on God. Not just because his hand is mighty, not just because he has this great power to provide you with everything that you need. Not just because of that.

He says because he cares for you. That's the reason that you give God your anxiety, your worries, your burdens.

Depend on God by giving him your cares. Not just. This isn't anxiety in the clinical term. This is like burdens. This is the things that you carry with you every day that you feel like is on you.

And you got to do something about what cares or concerns or worries are weighing you down.

Think about those. Here's a question that floored me this week. Why are you carrying them?

Why? Because you think it's about your ability to do something about it. We live in culture here in North Raleigh. We're high achievers. A lot of us are here because people brought us here to do a certain job, perform a different task because of how capable we are.

But no matter if you're like me, who graduated eighth in their graduating class from high school out of 40, but.

Or you're somebody who's not quite as accomplished as that, all of us get to a place where we're in over our heads. And what Peter wants us to understand is that that's much sooner than we think. That's immediate. We're always in over our heads. And to convince ourselves that we have these lists of things, we have these worries, we have these weights that we're carrying around with us and thinking that it's up to us to do something about is ignoring the fact that we have this almighty, powerful God that cares for.

For us. This word cast, or to throw, it's only used one other time in the New Testament. And Peter witnessed this. It's when Jesus on Palm Sunday entered into Jerusalem and the city was proclaiming Hosanna, saved. This is the son of David.

This is the king, the promised Messiah that's come and he's going to kick Rome out of here. And the glory of the kingdom of Israel is going to return. And what the people did is Jesus was Riding through the streets of Jerusalem, riding on that colt. They would throw their cloaks to him. And what this was assembled so they'd take out their outer garment and they would throw it to him.

And what this represented, saying, I'm giving this guy the thing that I think is on me. I'm giving this guy my cares. I'm giving this guy the responsibility. I am placing my ambitions on this guy right here because I believe in him. And what Peter's saying here, he's a little bit different context.

He's saying to give your burdens, your cares, the things that you think are yours to carry, that you have no business carrying, give them to God. He's powerful, he's creator, he's almighty. But he cares for you. He's inviting you to throw those things to him, to cast them on Him. Get rid of that feeling of control that we would rather determine a bad outcome that than give God and have a better alternative.

Man, I struggle with that. I would rather have a bad outcome that I feel like I participated in than give God my ambitions and my worries and my concerns and trust him with the outcome. Isn't that messed up?

We want things to be resolved our way. Our anxieties, our worries, our burdens. We want it done our way. It is scary to give them a God for him to resolve. But he cares for you, man.

He loves you. Trust him.

Peter, he outlines the stakes as he begins to close this letter.

And he echoes words from Paul. And he's instructing the elders again. He's saying, be alert and sober mind of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Peter's saying, like, this ain't some game.

This ain't some new cultural institution that you just show up on a Sunday because that's what you do. And that's where in the south, he's saying, this is about spiritual life and death. There's physical life and death that we can see with our eyes, but there's spiritual life and death. And that's what's at stake here. That we have this enemy that wants to see us isolated, that wants to take the believing Christian that trusts in Jesus and put them in a situation where they are not near their brothers and sisters, that they have spiritual anonymity, that nobody knows what's going on with their relationship with God and take them to a dark place and destroy them.

And we see that over and over and over again in our world where someone withdraws in the name of self. Sufficiency or busyness, trying to get it all figured out. If it's an arm's length between them and their brothers and sisters and they get taken to a dark place, man. It's a terrible thing to see. Terrible thing to see.

In verse nine, he says, resist him standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering. Sufferings. Christians at this point in time are suffering all over the Roman world. Real suffering. Not the kind where it's just bad.

Facebook comments it's real persecution. It is actually physical life and death, where because of their belief in Jesus and their willingness to proclaim their faith, they're being persecuted to the point of death. And Peter is urging Christians to remember that they're not alone their suffering, that there's a global family experiencing suffering, but also that there's this local family that he's asking you to participate in so that you can stand firm in what you've been called to stand firm. The thing that saved you is the thing that you need to be rooted in, that this gospel that has saved your life, that have changed your life, that has changed your eternity, is the thing that's going to get you through that suffering.

Verse 10 says, and the God of all grace, the God of all undeserved kindness, the God of all unmerited favor who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, that has changed your eternity. And one of these days you're going to spend eternity and. And a reality that we can't even begin to grasp. He says, after you've suffered for a little while, he himself will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast to Him. Be the power forever and ever.

Amen. Let these things be true.

What Peter is saying here, he's like, I know you're suffering.

And whether things change on a political level for us as Christians in the Roman world, or whether you die because of this persecution, the suffering is only for a little while.

And in that suffering being ended, you will be restored and you will be made strong and firm and steadfast. He's asking them to take root in this gospel that's changed their life. And in the face of tremendous suffering and persecution, and that you look at what you're depending on and you place your dependence on God and you place your dependence on your brothers and sisters, and you participate in the local church in a way that expresses your dependence on the good news of Jesus and your dependence on the God that cares for you, that gives you all this unmerited favor as the story of that gospel taken root in you deeply enough to make you dependent? Dependent enough to receive care from the local church? Has it taken root enough for you to become dependent enough to submit to godly shepherding within the local church?

Has the story of the gospel taken root enough for you to become dependent enough that you, even though you're an accomplished person, even though you are somebody who is capable, who is self sufficient in some forms of capacity, that you take the lower place, that you clothe yourself with humility? Dependent enough to stop carrying what God has told you to get to him?

Elders, pastors in the room, there's a long list of things that probably weighing us down.

And it's through the experience of studying this week. Man, what a challenge it is to think. Has the good news that Jesus, the son of God came for me, died for me, rose again from me? What more does God have to do to prove his love for me that I willingly, consistently, regularly give him? What's weighing me down?

I encourage you. Ask yourself, why are you carrying those things?

There's a lot going on, a lot of things to do. We're in a season of transition of this church where you're carrying things and you're being tempted to carry things that aren't yours to carry. We have a chief shepherd who's more than capable of carrying what's weighing us down.

What about you and your life? What's your list of things that are weighing you down?

Give them to God. Are you dependent enough to stand firm when suffering comes, no matter what that suffering looks like for us? Because what independence says is like, I've got this, I can do this, I can take care of this under my own power. And what the gospel says is, it says that Jesus, Messiah, he has it, he has me, he's holding me. That Jesus is the chief shepherd of my life.

He suffered for me, he rose again for me. He has come back from me, but until he does, he cares for me. If you believe that, receive his care this morning, maybe it's you just letting go. It's built up and you need to come back to God in a way that says, you know what, God, I've been carrying these things in a way that it's as if you don't care for me. I am receiving your care and I'm with humility.

I'm putting myself in a position where I'm dependent on you and I'm going to rebuild relationships that you have blessed me with within the local church. Give him your cares, give him the things that are weighing you down so you can stand firm in the truth, that the God of heaven and earth cares for you, that knows everything about you, knows what's weighing you down, knows what's causing you anxiety.

He wants you to stand firm in that truth.

I want us to take a few moments to pray this morning or this afternoon.

So if you would bow your head so you can focus in on what the Holy Spirit may be revealing to you, where you may be convicted about, you might be wrestling with, you might be even disagreeing with, and talk to him about these things. Here's the cool part about being a believer in Jesus is that you can approach God's throne as a son and daughter of God because of the blood of Jesus covering you, the debt that you owe, like it's paid, your former identity, it's gone. You are a son and daughter of God and he wants you to come to him like a child coming to a loving father and talk to him about what's going on. You don't have to have the right words, you can just come to him. And the same God that we read about in the Old Testament, that can be big and scary is the same God that loves you, cares for you, sent Jesus for you, you have a relationship with because of your faith in Jesus.

Give them your cares. Ask God to reveal to you the way that he wants you to be cared for and ask for the humility that you need to receive that care to become dependent.

I would like for us to pray for the elders of this church, the pastoral team, the elder team, the leadership team, the elders that are no longer serving on that team, and.

Pray for their families. God, I ask that you protect them from spiritual attacks, the heavyweight that is leading a local church, that we give it to you as your church, as we submit to you. May we clothe ourselves with humility, an attitude of servanthood, taking a low position.

I pray for this local church, this flock.

We don't depend on spiritual self sufficiency, that we depend on your care for us and that we see how you're wanting to care for us through the relationships, the structure, the opportunities, the different things that you bless this church with.

We give you our cares, the things that are weighing us down, the worries that are never too far from our minds. We surrender them to you, we give them to you, we cast them you, knowing that you are faithful, you are strong, you are mighty, we give them to you and help us to stand firm in this undeserved kindness. This grace, this unmerited favor that you've given to us, help us to stand in that. In the middle of the chaos, middle of temptation, in the middle of the maybe in persecution, questions, doubts. That we stand firm in the truth, that you love us, that you care for us and that we are.

You are a heavenly father and we are your son or your daughter.

We ask that you do all this in the name of Jesus, Amen.