<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Norman McNulty

Suffering for Christ-like Leadership; 1 Peter 5

And we are going to be continuing our study on the book of 1 Peter.

And we are on the last chapter of 1 Peter this week, so I expect that we are going to finish the book of 1 Peter this Sabbath and then we will, I will not be here next week and then I think we will do 2 Peter, it's only 3 chapters, pretty short.

So why don't we bow our heads for a word of prayer and let's get started with our lesson study today.

Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Father in heaven, we thank you for this Sabbath day.

Bless us now as we study from your word, in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, we are in 1 Peter chapter 5, and we have covered the first 4 chapters, and just by way of brief review, 1 Peter chapter 1 talks about how God has chosen us, or He's, we are elect according to salvation, or through sanctification to salvation, showing the importance of sanctification in the salvation process.

And we saw that the way we experience sanctification is through the trial of our faith.

And as we continue on, we see that at the end of the chapter it talks about being born again of incorruptible seed and how that when you are of the flesh, you are like grass.

Grass when the sun comes and beats down on the grass, It withers and fades away.

But when you were born again of incorruptible seed, when the trials of life come, you don't wither and fade away.

Chapter 2 then shows us the example of Christ in living through the trials of life, and how Christ gives us an example to follow His steps.

And the example given is the experience that Christ went through when He went through Gethsemane, and the judgment, and the cross, and how that when He suffered, He didn't fight back.

When He was reviled, He reviled not again.

And He committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.

And the point of 1 Peter 2 is, you know, it's 1 thing when you mess up and you suffer for it, it's another thing when you do the right thing and you suffer for it and to take that patiently.

And so that was the point of 1 Peter chapter 2.

How do you respond when you are treated unfairly?

And when we went through that, I talked about how a lot of times when we mess up and we're rebuked for it, we fight back anyway because we want to maintain our pride so to speak.

And yet scripture is saying, well, you're supposed to take it patiently when you mess up, but what's acceptable with God is when you do the right thing and you suffer for it and you take it patiently, that is what is acceptable with God.

And that is only by the grace of God that we can respond in such manner.

And then in chapter 3, we have some examples of how it is that we may, certain scenarios where we may suffer for doing the right thing.

And 1 of the illustrations that Peter gives is a woman who is a Christian who is married to a man who is not, and how she is mistreated constantly for doing the right thing.

And the way to win her husband to the truth is to be like Christ, to have a meek and quiet spirit and to win him over by not fighting back, but by demonstrating the example of Christ.

And then, towards the end of the chapter, it says, the other way that you can suffer for doing the right thing is when you are called to give an answer for your faith.

And verse 15 of chapter 3 says, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

Now some people like to give the reason for the hope that is within them in a very annoying manner, and that's not the way to win people to the truth.

But the question is, What would you do if your life was on the line and you knew by giving the answer for what you believe with meekness and fear would put your life on the line?

Would you give that answer Or would you try to slide out of it and be political?

The example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3 shows us how to answer in those circumstances.

Whether or not God delivers us is up to Him, but we're not going to crumble under pressure if we are following God through faith.

And by the end of chapter 3, we see the promise about Jesus who has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.

So you may say, well how is it possible that I can live a life here on this earth in which I will respond with a meekness of Christ when I am being mistreated?

Or how can I give an answer for my faith when my life is on the line?" And the answer is, Jesus has gone into heaven on the right hand of God?

Angels' authorities and powers are made subject unto Him.

So there's nothing here on this earth that can counter the power of Christ who's on the right hand of God.

And then in 1 Peter chapter 4, it comes back to the idea of being like Christ.

And 1 Peter 4, 1 says, For as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin." So what this verse is telling us is that, look, Christ suffered for us in the flesh when he was here on this earth, and we are to have the same mind.

And that reminds us of Philippians 2 5 which says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

And so in the flesh we may suffer but we arm ourselves with a mind of Christ.

We're going to battle, so we're arming ourselves with a mind of Christ.

And the way we fight back, so to speak, is not with swords or spears or with cutting sharp words, but with the meekness of Christ.

And that's, nobody can defeat that, because that's with the power of God, and God is all powerful.

If you demonstrate the spirit of Christ, and you arm yourselves with the mind of Christ, when the battles come and the fight gets hot, so to speak, if you demonstrate the meekness and humility of Christ, if you have the mind of Christ, God will give you the victory in that situation.

So that is how to face the trials of life.

And then continuing through chapter 4, it says, don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you rejoice in as much as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed you may be glad also with exceeding joy." So if you arm yourselves with a mind of Christ you will experience trials Because in chapter 1 tells us it's those trials of our faith that purify us into that which is more precious than gold that is tried with fire.

And so God has designs and plans for us to make us into something more precious than gold.

And He does so by allowing us to pass through the trials.

And by the time you get to the end of chapter 4 it says, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God.

And the point is when judgment begins at the house of God, the question is going to be how did the professed followers of Christ handle the trials of life?

Did they arm themselves with the mind of Christ?

Or were they like flesh or like grass who when the fiery trials came, they withered and faded away?

If you arm yourselves with the mind of Christ, you will not wither and fade away.

You will be more precious than gold tried in the fire.

And when the judgment comes, and it begins at the house of God, God will find you faithful, because you've armed yourself with the mind of Christ.

And of course, 1 Peter 4 says, if you do that and you suffer in the flesh, you have ceased from sin.

So that's what the judgment is going to be about.

And whether you have armed yourself with the mind of Christ or whether you have not.

So that brings us to chapter 5, which concludes the book of 1 Peter.

And here Peter gives a final message in this epistle, and then he of course has 2 Peter, which is his last message to the believers.

So here in chapter 5 he says, the elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed." Notice what Peter is saying here.

He's writing to the believers and he's saying, to those of you who are the elders, I exhort you or I encourage you because I'm also an elder." So Peter is addressing first the leaders of the church, and he says, look, I'm a leader in the church also, and I've witnessed the sufferings of Christ.

I saw him in Gethsemane, of course, he fell asleep during that time, but he did see Christ suffering in Gethsemane.

He saw Christ go through the judgment and through the crucifixion.

He was a witness of the sufferings of Christ, but he's also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.

And you may ask what Peter is talking about there.

There could be a number of things, but Peter was there when Moses and Elijah came down and Christ was transfigured and was seen in a glorified state.

And so Peter saw Christ when he suffered, He also saw Christ when he was glorified when Moses and Elijah came down to the Mount of Transfiguration, which was a small representation of what it will be like when Jesus will come back the second time.

And so this is his message to the leaders of the church, and this was written in 66 AD, just before the destruction of Jerusalem.

And this is what Peter tells the leaders of the church, verse 2, feed the flock of God which is among you.

And there is a need today for the leaders of our church to feed the flock of God.

And Especially at the time in which we live, now is not the time for baby food.

Now is the time for strong meat that will prepare God's people and the believers, the flock of God, to be ready for what is to come upon this world.

And if you keep feeding a baby baby food for the rest of its life, it will not grow into the type of person, physically speaking, that it could be.

And so many times we are spiritually malnourished.

We stay with baby food that we received when we became spiritual babes in Christ, and we never grow up into spiritual adulthood, so to speak.

And there is a place for baby food, spiritually speaking.

It's called when you are first in the faith.

You're not going to hit someone with the hardest, hardest points when they're first coming to Christ.

But if you leave them with baby food, they won't grow into the full stature of maturity that God would have them to grow into if you leave them with the baby food.

So the message to the leaders of the church, Peter says, feed the flock of God which is among you.

And then he says, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint but willingly, not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind." And this is sort of an obvious point, but he's saying, you know, to be a true leader, you're not trying to take over leadership through force so that you will be in a position of power, so that people will follow your perspective, or this or that.

You're doing it with a willing mind, so that you can feed the flock of God with the message of God, not so that you can get credit and have power and authority and run the show the way you want to do it, so to speak.

So not by constraint but willingly, not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind.

Verse 3, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock.

And you know, this can be a problem sometimes in churches where the leaders of the church, they may not say it, but they may act it where they say, well, don't you know who I am?

Suffering for Christ-like Leadership; 1 Peter 5

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Our Urgent Call: SHARE the Three Angels' Messages

Witnessing to Christians of Other Faiths

1h 26m

Apologetics

The Second Coming: Why the Delay

58m

Pentecost to Patmos

14 Peter: Calling, Consecration & Crucifixion

5m

Seven Trumpets and the Role of Islam

Seven Trumpets and the Role of Islam- Part 2

1h 12m

Norman McNulty: The Book of Peter

2 Peter 1 - Peter’s Ladder of Salvation

44m

Plenary

Why Unusual Business is Business Unusual

1h 54m

Unlock Revelation

18. The Scarlet Woman

1h 37m

Keeping Focus

Keeping Focus Part 2

43m

Prophecy Made Simple

13. God’s Final Message to Planet Earth

1h 23m

Thoughts on 2 Peter

A More Sure Word Of Prophecy : Thoughts on 2 Peter 1:16-21

40m

Thoughts on 2 Peter

The Importance of Time and a Picture of God’s End-Time People

56m

Our Time in the Time of the End

41m

Sound Doctrine