CW-A Ep Lesson(Partial)-Easter 7(PostAscension)- Kieth Bernard Kuschel-
1 Peter 5:6-11
( 5) Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. {7} Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. {8} Be selfcontrolled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. {9} Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. {10} And 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. {11} To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
NOW THAT JESUS ISN’T HERE.
IA1 Your best friend moved away. Maybe her parents got new jobs in another city. Maybe he went to college. Maybe the family had to get a bigger house. That person is not going to be close to you anymore. What do you need? A replacement. At first you don’t want a replacement because nobody could possibly replace that person. Then you realize that you need a replacement. You start looking around for one.
2 Other people sense what is going on in our lives. People recognize when we are sad, when we are happy, and when we need somebody. All kinds of people suddenly start popping up in your life as potential candidates for replacing your friend. Some of them you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Some of them are worth checking out, but don’t measure up. Some of them are potential candidates.
B1 Your best friend moved away. His name is Jesus. He was on this earth for 33 years. He lived and never sinned so He could cover you with His righteousness. He died on the cross so He could wash away all your sins and take away the threat of God’s punishment for your sins. He rose from the dead so that He could give you eternal life. He successfully completed His work as the Savior. Then He moved away. He ascended to reposition Himself as the Lord of Lord and King of Kings.
2 We need a replacement. Somebody who can give us comfort when needed. Somebody who can give us direction when needed. Some humans around us seem to be able to do some of those things. Some humans around us make themselves available to be the replacement we need. The devil offers himself as a candidate. In fact the devil tries to convince people that He should have been their friend in the first place.
C1 When St Peter wrote these words in the first century, he was writing to people who were being physically persecuted for being Christians. Look at the words he uses in the earlier verses of the Epistle lesson. Painful trial. Suffering. Insulted. These people were struggling with doubts. Was being a Christian worth it? The devil used the persecution. His solution for it was - stop being Christians. “Leave Jesus out of your life. Then you won’t be persecuted. I can replace Jesus in your life as your supernatural contact.”
2 Peter’s advice is: {8} “Be selfcontrolled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” How does the devil try to devour us today? He doesn’t use physical persecution on us. He uses apathy. His advice still is - “Leave Jesus out of your life.” But the reasons to do so are different from what he used on the Christians in the first century. “You have so many other things to do. You don’t have time to cultivate a relationship with Jesus. You have so many things to enjoy. You don’t want to be inhibited by Jesus. You are smart and capable. You don’t need to be dependent on Jesus.”
D1 Peter’s advice is: {9} “Resist him, standing firm in the faith,” We can resist Satan’s attempt to replace Jesus in our lives by standing firm in our connection with Jesus. It is true. Jesus is not physically here. But it is also true that He is here. Keep on trusting in Him for forgiveness. Keep on trusting in Him for direction. Keep on trusting in Him for protection. Then we won’t seek a replacement for Him even though He has ascended and physically left this earth.
2 How are we going to be able to resist the devil who is a supernatural power? How are we going to stand firm in our connection with Jesus when the devil is trying to disconnect us? We can’t on our own. But we can with the Holy Spirit’s help. He gives us that help as we use our Bibles at home, here in our worship activities, and in our Bible studies with our fellow Christians. Now that Jesus is gone, resist the devil. Use the Word.
IIA1 Your best friend moved away. You need a replacement. Why? There is nobody to talk to. Well - there are people to talk to. But you know. There is nobody to talk to. It takes a while to get a replacement with whom you have the right kind of rapport.
2 What do you do? You talk on the phone with that person. It seems as if he is right there. You write letters and you get letters. It seems as if she is right there talking to you. You read your email. Same thing.
B1 Your best friend moved away. His name is Jesus. You can’t talk to him face to face as his disciples did for the three years of His public ministry. He can’t physically put His arm around your shoulder as He listens to you.
2 What do you do? You can talk to Him. Just because He isn’t here on this earth physically doesn’t mean you can’t talk to Him or He can’t listen to you. Remember we are dealing here with Almighty God. The second person of the Holy Trinity who for thirty three years didn’t always make use of His power but who always had it. He has ascended. But He still is present everywhere, knows everything and is all powerful. He can hear you when you talk to Him. He can do something about the issues you talk about.
C1 Peter’s advice: Talk to him. {7} Cast all your anxiety on Jesus. What worries do we have to throw at the Lord. You name them. We have them. We worry that family members won’t recover from cancer. We worry that the conflict between family members will destroy our family. We worry that we won’t be successful in business, as students, or in whatever role in life we have.
2 The biggest worries are the ones which don’t seem to have a solution. How are we going to handle life now that we are permanently handicapped? No matter how hard we try there is apparently no way out of the financial hole which we have dug for ourselves. The relationship has been destroyed already. How can we interact with this person on a regular basis?
D1 Peter’s advice: Talk to the Lord. “Cast all your anxiety on the Lord because He cares for you.” How do we know that He cares for us? He has proven it in the past. He cared so much about us that He had Jesus live, die and rise to provide us with forgiveness, righteousness and eternal life. He cared about us so much that He had the Holy Spirit come into our lives through Word & Baptism to convince us that the Gospel is true so that all those blessings Jesus won and the Lord wants us to have could be ours. He has proven that He cares.
2 Peter’s advice: {6}“Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand.” Acknowledge you have something that is worrying you. Admit that neither you nor the other folks around you can solve this difficulty. Then turn to the Lord and say, “I can’t solve this. You have to. I don’t see what I can do. You have to show me. I don’t see anybody to help me. You have to lead me to them. I am letting You handle this whole thing because I know You are almighty and You care for me.
3 Did you notice the promise? {6}“That he may lift you up in due time.” God is going to give you a solution. But He is going to do it in due time. God’s sense of the proper time is not always our evaluation. Most of the time we think God takes too long to bring solutions. His timing is based on His understanding of the needs of our souls, not necessarily based on our emotions. He will do what needs to be done in the best interest of our souls at the proper time. Now that Jesus is gone, talk to the Lord. Cast your anxiety on Him.
IIIA1 Your best friend moved away. You got used to it. You even got a replacement. You have somebody to talk to. You don’t even miss the person so much anymore. You don’t think about that person much at all any more. Sometimes, it seems as if you have forgotten completely about the friend. But you haven’t really.
2 When your friend left, you promised to get together again. It hasn’t happened yet. You are confident that it will. Even though you are not an integral part of each other’s lives any more, it would be nice to renew acquaintances. That promise pops into your mind every once in a while.
B1 Your best friend moved away. His name is Jesus. You got used to it. You can talk to him even though He isn’t here to see. You do that. You can listen to Him even though He isn’t here. You do that by using the Bible. You seem to be coping with life without Jesus’ physical presence pretty well.
2 But you always remember His promise. “I will come back and take you to myself.” Peter reminds us of that promise when he writes: {10}“The God of grace has called you to eternal glory in Christ.” In Christ our sins have been washed away. In Christ we are covered with His holiness. In Christ God gives us glory. He says, “You are my holy people.” Peter reminds us that is eternal glory. That glory is going to last forever. After we die. When Jesus returns. Forever.
C1 Even though that is such an important promise of God to us, there are other ones we shouldn’t forget. “The {10}God of all grace will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” The difficulties of our lives weaken us. Am I going to have the strength to stay close to Jesus until He comes and takes me to Himself? The attacks on our faith and godliness make us question whether we should hang in there or not. Am I going to have the stamina to stay close to Jesus if He doesn’t come and take me to Himself for a while? We need strength and stamina. Peter says, “God will restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast.”
2 God is promising to get you through your life and usher you into eternity as a member of His family. God is promising to get you through today as a member of His family. Why can you get up in the morning knowing that you are going to be subjected to attacks on your faith and godliness? Because God will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. Why can you get up in the morning knowing that you are going to fail in your faith and your godliness? Because God will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
D1 Do I have any evidence that Jesus is able to do what He has promised. Peter says, {11}“To him be the power forever and ever.” Peter isn’t saying Jesus ought to have the power. He is acknowledging that Jesus has the power. How do I know that Jesus has the power?
2 That is what Jesus’ ascension is all about. No longer is He on this earth, limiting the exercise of His power to a few miracles here and there. No longer is He on this earth, limiting the exercise of His glory by taking on Himself flesh and blood in a localized place. He is the ascended Lord. He is ruling over all things for us. He can exercise His power to restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast for as long a time as needed. Trust God’s promises because Jesus ascended. We have good reason to trust God’s promises now that Jesus is gone.
LORD JESUS, help me resist the devil, cast my anxiety on You, and trust in Your promises.