Sermon Transcript:I want to add my welcome to you this morning. I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. A couple of days before Thanksgiving, one of my children asked me, they said, What does Thanksgiving have to do with God? And I don't know if you ever run into this if you have children or young people around you, but sometimes they ask questions about things that you've assumed all your life, and then you have to really start thinking about it. And I said, Well, you know, we say a prayer before the meal, we're acknowledging God to this. Yeah, I know about the prayer. But he said, What does Thanksgiving have to do with God? And I said, Well, it's acknowledging the beginning of our country, and that we're a great nation. He said, Yes, I know that story. But I know about the prayer. But he asked again, what does it have to do with God, and I thought about it a little more. And I thought about the idea of thanks, thanks itself, the idea of Thanksgiving or thankful or thanks itself, is essentially saying and acknowledging that whatever you and I have, whatever it is, right, whatever it is, we're thankful for, whether it's a spouse, or a job, or a kid, or the meal itself, or country, whatever it is that we're thankful for. We're saying it didn't come from our hand. And that's interesting, because you have to really think about what are we saying, or saying that we're thankful, even people who maybe don't acknowledge the God of the universe, the Christian god, they're acknowledging there is some sort of higher power and anytime anyone is thankful. And so that's interesting that when we think about thinks, and why we give things is that we are saying quite explicitly that there is a God, and no matter how you slice it, no pun intended. Alright, so Peter, First Peter, we are in the tail end of our series here, if you have a Bible, you can turn to First Peter, chapter five. One of the reasons why we teach or preach through books is so that we can see how they all linked together, we can see that whole books have messages. And that whole book fits into a greater set of books, the 66 books that we call the Bible, and we can see how certain paragraphs and certain chapters fit into a book, which again, fits into the whole of Scripture. And so we always try to provide the scriptures up on the screen. But I think it's also good for all of us to see how what we're saying what we're talking about here, is plainly in front of us in the texts. So we're talking about Peter, the Peter, he's the one who has been talking to us this whole series here in First Peter, it's many years later, after his walking and time with Jesus, and he has been thankful and is thankful for those people who are scattered abroad. Remember, he always is talking to the dispersion to us, originally to the to the various churches in Asia Minor present day, Turkey, but now is talking to us, all around the world. And he begins by giving us great lessons in leadership leadership in the church, which I think also has implications for leadership. And whatever we're doing. He says, Now, a word to you who are elders in the church is now elders, as I take it, when you read the New Testament, sometimes are called pastors sometimes are called overseer, sometimes they're called shepherds. Same Same idea, same word. I too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, he was there, and I too, will share in His glory when He is revealed to the whole world. He knows this because Jesus told him that, as a fellow elder, I appeal to you care for the flock that God has entrusted to you watch over it willingly, not grudgingly, not for what you will get out of it, because you are eager to serve God, don't lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. And when the Good Shepherd appears that Jesus Christ Himself, you will receive a crown of never ending glory, and honor again, Jesus came, given a crown of thorns, we know in the life in the world to come, and for us, and for Him a crown of never ending glory and honor in the same way, you who are younger should accept the authority of the elders. Now, this whole idea of caring for those under your Watts and everybody here cares for someone or something or group of individuals. Another way to say it, if you've been in any sort of leadership class or any sort of leadership development is that we're all leaders, because why? Because leadership is influence. And the idea that if you're a believer in if you have people around you that you are entrusted with that you care for, even if you feel like well, I'm I'm nobody's boss. Well, no, that's not the point. The point is, do you have people in your care you have people that you rub up, shoulders against? And so he's saying care for those who are under your watch explicitly, those who are called to shepherd the church. I get that out. But the implications is for all of us, God has given them to you whoever it is, that is in your care whether it's just your immediate family, whether it's people in your classroom, whether it's people in your job force, or you're a young individual, and you're captain of the football team, or the soccer team or whatever, do it willingly, not transactional, but out of an overflow of your relationship with God, we can all get there, right? We can all grit our teeth and kind of white knuckle it through certain relationships through certain jobs through certain seasons in our life. But we know if we do that long enough, that that eventually harms those under our care why? Because you're doing it grudgingly, right? You're going to this job because you have to, or it's transactional, I do this for you, you do this for me. That's how this relationships works. We all get it. And that works for a little while. But ultimately, that harms people under your care. Specifically, he's talking about here those who are entrusted with leadership in the church. So he's saying, Don't do this. Don't lord it over people also don't be that kind of person. That's the first point I want you to see this morning is don't Lord your authority over others. Well, what's he talking about here? Well, Peter would have understood this lesson well, because, as you may or may not be aware, there are four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And so the Matthew, Mark, and Luke, those are called the Synoptic Gospels, because they have similarities, John, he has a little bit different way of presenting Christ to us. And so all in Matthew, Luke and Mark, so the Synoptic Gospels, this idea is brought up this whole idea of don't Lord your authority over others, there's a way that Christ followers are called to interact and to lead, interact with others. Always eventually, you'll have somebody that you're caring for whether you're leading horizontally or a leading from the top. And he says this right here. Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 20, verses 25, to 28, Jesus called them together, he says, you know that the rulers of this world, lord it over their people and officials flaunt their authority over those under them, but among you, it will be different, who wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave, For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. That's Matthew 20, is almost repeated word for word in Mark chapter 10, verses 40 through 45. Luke has a similar concept, a similar idea of what it looks like to lead and to not lord it over others, but he also gives a different twist at the end. Luke 22, verses 25 to 27. Jesus told them in this world that kings and the great men lord it over their people, yet they are called Friends of the people, but among you, it must be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, the leader should be like a servant who is more important, the one who sits at the table, and the one who serves the one who sits at the table, of course, but not here, for either among you as the one who serves. So I wanted to see this first point here that Jesus wants us all to get, whether you're in the church working, or whether you're outside the church, working wherever you find yourself, don't Lord, your authority over others, it's easy to do. And it's acceptable in many circumstances, and it just works, right. I don't know if you've ever been around that sort of boss that crack the whip or had that fear base parenting or fear based leadership, you get in line for a little while, don't you whether it's at home, or work or whatever, but the fruit will eventually what eventually be rotten, because it won't bear fruit over time. It won't produce the results that we want for ourselves and others, and it will eventually show that it is foolish to continue to lead that way.Even if in the short term, you get what you think you want. Now, what is this all about? Of course, I brought up this concept before it's not original with me, people talk about it inside the church and even outside the church. And it's that idea of servant leadership. What is servant leadership, I'm gonna give you kind of what I've thought about this, at its core servant leadership is to believe in the dignity worth and value of all people it means that whoever you find yourself rubbing up against, and if you knew this world long enough, you know that you'll be given charge over others, somehow that will probably occur. But when that occurs, don't think you're better than anyone. It doesn't mean that there aren't positions or roles. I mean, I get that I'm talking to people. I tell you this all the time, but about a third of our church has some sort of role with the government, whether it's through schools or through a border patrol or whether it's through police or a military. It doesn't mean that there aren't positions or roles and those things aren't existing. Those things should be respected. Those things shouldn't be sought after, or done. It's just understanding that wherever you find yourself in the chain, that you recognize that anyone above you or anyone below you or anyone besides you, they are creating the image of God. And that's what gives them dignity worth and value and that they're not better than you and you're not better than them. We think about that, and then you lead from that position, it makes all the difference in the world. And guys, I often think about this when you think about Christian truths like this, and we'll talk about how we're supposed to implement this in our lives, whether it's in the workforce or in the home, or certainly in the, in the church. We do this because God calls us to, and he's asking us to, but also church, this is the way that we ourselves will be blessed. I mean, you've heard this already in the story of Diana, you heard it already, through the prayer of Shelby, you've experienced that already in worship, that your hearts are rise to affection for the God of the universe, and you want to follow him at some level, you're sitting here, you've stayed this far in the service, or you've listened this much into the podcast or into the live stream, you're thinking, God has something for me. And I want to step into that, in what we see over and over again, both in scriptures and in life, that when we step into obedience, and have the faith to do what God calls us to do, that there are good things waiting for us on the other side, in this life, and in the life to come. So he says, first off, don't Lord your authority over others. That's the negative way that we can interact with others. Always in the Bible, there's a what we call a put off, take this off, release this sort of burden, and then put on this, this whole idea of this is something negative that you have to get out of your life, we all have these things. And then there's things that we need to put on positively. And we see this in the Scriptures. And it's I want you to see, this is why you might want to open your Bibles will have their scriptures up on the screen. But I want you to see this in the text. And so he follows along he says this right here. Second part of the text, this is this, and all of you dress yourself and all of you dressed yourself in humility as you relate to one another. For God opposes the proud just for one side of you, opportunity. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Okay, so you must so in all the dress yourselves, you may as you relate to one another forgot opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So that's true. So Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and at the right time, he will lift you up, in honor. Second point I wants to see this morning is clothed yourself in humility. Again, I'm in first Peter chapter five, verses five and six second boy wants to see this morning is closed yourself and humility. And I think it's a great word there says in this New Living Translation, dress yourself and humility, kind of older translations may say, close yourself. And what that means is that you and I, we have to be intentional. We will not happen to fall back into humility. I've never seen that happen for myself. And there's happened to others we don't fall back into it. That we have to be intentional because what is you and I's knee jerk reaction when somebody comes up against us in pride and you will experience pride and maybe in the car ride home, you'll experience it in your home for sure you will experience in the workplace, school wherever you find yourself. You are prideful individual, you'll find yourself around other prideful individuals. So you will not accidentally fall into humility you and I have to clothe ourselves in humility. We have to make a decision as we're literally putting on our boots and buttoning our shirts and whatever it is we're doing that man, Lord, help me, help me I know that I'm walking into places that are going to be hostile to the faith you have given me help me because about midday what's going to happen that tense moments going to come here she's going to come down that hallway here. She's going to meet you in the kitchen or in the laundry room or wherever it's going to be, you're going to have that tense moment. You're asking the Lord, Lord help me clothed me with humility, because here's what this tech says. It says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble a lot of times we think God's kind of sitting there, he's outside there. He's somewhere up there. And I can sort of be in neutral I can be a neutral I know we don't have cars that are stick shifting my drove one of my relatives house over Thanksgiving break, but you understand how a lot of times we would go into neutral. Right and if you remember how a stick shift works when you're in neutral and I know we have those in automatic cars as well, but we only use them or getting towed. But but the idea that we go into neutral, and that would happen either accidentally or intentionally and you and I know what would happen if you didn't With parking brake on, we would roll forward or we'd roll backwards. I mean, you say, no, no, we got some level flat area here in the desert, I get that. But the idea is that, that that's not true. That you and I, when we're waiting to do what God has for us, we're not in some sort of neutral state. What does it say here? When we are still acting prideful? In our lives? What does it say here? Is that God's neutral towards that? He's okay with that. He's waiting for you to kind of do the right thing. What does it say? It says, God opposes us in that moment. That may be it that may be the light bulb going on, for many of us in the room to realize that, oh, my gosh, what I'm trying to do in my own strength, and in my own pride, it's never gonna work. Because I am literally being opposed by the God of the universe. We're not in neutral, and God is not neutral. He's opposing the proud. But that also gives you great encouragement for those of us who come up against people who we think are going to ultimately undo us or knock us down door, we can't get back up. Now God's on your side, he's opposing pride, but he's giving grace and strength if you're trying to do the right thing. In the Midst of Opposition. That's what he's trying to say he gives grace to the humble, he's gonna give us strength to do that. That's why when you're asking God, God, help me clothed me with the humility, I'm going to need to go into this situation. God loves to grant that. Why? Because we're literally, you know, bending the knee, maybe quite literally, when we pray, or bowing the heart to say, God, what would you have for me, I want to do the right thing. So if you humble yourself, eventually that will be shown the path of wisdom, no, maybe not in the short term, right? Because all of us like to crack the whip at times, or, or all of us have been in situations where we've been led by people who cracked the whip, and we think, okay, that's how to get things done. But he's saying here that servant leadership will eventually be shown that that's the path of wisdom in this life. And not only in this life, but what what do we learn from the scriptures all the time in the life to come? That's how Jesus modeled for us. So it is doable. And Peter saying you can do this, this was hard for me remember, this is the same Peter, who over and over again, had to be reminded of these principles. He's lived through it quite literally, in years later, he's saying, This is how you should be. And he understands that it's so so so much easier, just kind of go back to what you know, remember, that's how Jesus found Peter at the end of the Gospel of John, just going back to what he knew. And he's saying over and over again, Jesus is calling Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? He loved me. He said, You know I do. He says, Well, eventually, you are going to fully understand the meaning of what it means to be a follower of me. Matthew 18, verses one through four. Same idea here as we clothe ourselves with humility. And back in the gospels, one of the disciples came to Jesus says, Who is the greatest of the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 18, verses one through four, Jesus called a little child to him, he put the child among them, and he said, I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like children, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So what does that mean? Here? We've heard this before come to come to Christ, like a little child, is just that idea of one who is a learner one who is a seeker, one who understands that they understand that they're not in charge that ultimately, God's in charge. So we clothe ourselves with humility. Why? Why do we do that? Because we know where the strength comes from. How do we do that? Well, he's going to continue to tell us, which is why again, I hope you have your Bibles up into First Peter, chapter five, now into verse seven.Give all your worries and cares to God for he cares about you. Now, this is one of those verses if you have a mirror that you look at every day, or you have a dashboard that's on your car or on your computer screen, this is one of those verses that for many of us in the room, we may need to write down or you know, put it as the screenshot of our phones so that when we open our phones, we see the some version of this verse, because we find ourselves crippled with anxiety and worry and fear. And we need to be reminded that there is a God of the universe give all your worries and cares to God. Why? Because He cares for you. has good news is we're in church. That's where we are been heading in our worship and in our prayers in our testimony, and in our word, this morning that we're looking for first peer to provide beginning in verse seven, do this. Stay alert. Stay alert, watch out for the great enemy, the devil, he prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world, the sky After the dispersed, he's going through the same kind of suffering you are. In his kindness, God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support and strengthen you. And he will place you on a firm foundation all power to him forever and ever. Amen. So third and final point on wants to see this morning is lead yourself from a position of strength that God provides, lead yourself from a position of strength that God provides, we know there's a lot of anxiety going around, whether it's in you, or in all those around you, because just pay attention to the advertising that is coming to us post COVID, it is full on talking about mental health, and it is full on talking about depression pills to the masses. And we understand that those maybe have their place from time to time, and we need to understand and enter all those, I get all that. But if you enter into all that, whether it's pills or therapy or whatever, without understanding that, you know, his greatest need is to be reconciled with the God of the universe, it will ultimately fail us we understand that the why, because we have to lead ourselves, which is the number one person you and I have to lead oftentimes will come to the Bible and we're thinking about, you know, our friends or relatives or that person we live with, or I wish somebody at work could hear this. And what we're saying over and over again is Peter understands that God understands that I understand that we're seeing in the Scriptures saying lead yourself from a position of strength that God provides. When I get that, did you see it from the texts? He's saying that we can, what first thing we can do is we can say, This isn't my burden to carry your stuff isn't my burden to carry, my stuff isn't even my burden to carry. God can take care of that his shoulders can handle that. Then it says that we can lead from a position of strength because we know that someone's coming at us from left to right to want get us to snap back, get us to back talk get us to say something sharp or inappropriate in an NG God is it? It's the devil, right? It's that understanding of this is easier, bow up against them. This is easier, be prideful, in the position of someone else being prideful. And what God is saying over there was no, no. You can be humble, because you are his. God says you are mining you can know that we are his and when we get sloppy with our tongue in our lives, we think we're only hurting ourselves. What we fail to realize is that there's a path of destruction behind us. And this is true, whether it's in our homes or school or work, where are you and I find ourselves. I know, we don't have boats here in El Paso. But we understand that boats produce a wake, when a boat goes down a lake or an ocean, that awake comes behind them. And that's our lives as well, wherever we're going, we're producing a week of good, or ill. That's how life works. Now isn't that we're gritting our teeth and just kind of doing the right thing all counters do it. He or she doesn't deserve it, but I'll just do it. It's we're looking to the reward. We have to think about this. Remember, it's all about leaning ourselves. And we have to understand that we are doing this from a position of because of what God has done. I talked about this over and over again, the Gospel, the clarity of the gospel, the good news that all is available to everyone is that high idea that because of what Jesus has done on the cross, we can now be forgiven of our sins, and walk in the truth that He has for us. But one of the weaknesses behind our tradition, evangelicals, those who believe in the good news is that we think that that walking in obedience is optional, because they're like, I'm good. Because I've given my heart to Jesus and I've been baptized. And I'm good. I just don't, I don't follow through with it. Because again, you and I believe the lie that is optional, but we're learning in the scriptures that we're not sitting neutral on some sort of flat level ground, that we're either moving towards righteousness, or moving away from what God has for us. That's one of the weaknesses behind our tradition of evangelicalism is for sure we rightly believe that faith comes first. And then works follow. But we also falsely believe that the works are optional. But if you and I believe and if we have faith, it's not optional to live out. This humility that God's calling us to before God and others and we know that there's little lies being whispered in your ear and in my ear that we don't have to It's okay. So I would just say third and final point, lead yourself from a position of strength that God provides. That's why you and I have to spend time with God whether it's morning or midday or in the evening and just just sit with him. Just sit with him, read the Bible, pray, but ask God give me a little word whether it's through. You know, I know we're busy people and some of y'all are in the car lot. It can be done through podcasts or scriptures on audio. I understand all that, but it's is taking time to say God, what do you have for me because again, we talk about this all the time, you and I aren't going to catch Christian truth, through osmosis running and catch up just, you know, through our skin through the air we breathe, we're going to have to catch it and believe it by leaning on each other and leaning on the God of the universe. I'm gonna read the final parts to these to this chapter here and then we'll close at you don't have it in front of you. But it's there in the Bible. If you have a Bible up in verses 12. And through 14 says, I have written this short letter to you. This is Peter talking. I've written this short letter to you with the help of Silas, whom I commend to you as a faithful brother. I love that idea of commending someone to someone. My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God's grace to you stand firm stand firm in this grace that God has given you in Me, your sister church here in Babylon send you greetings. Now that's interesting, right Babylon, a church in Babylon outside of what would be the known place of the people of God send you grading as soon as my son Mark, greet each other with heavenly kiss, and peace to all of you who are in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank you how you don't leave us wandering or wandering. But you have given us such clarity. Although I pray for those around the room that are struggling to lead themselves. Whether it because they feel like they can't get out of bed in the morning, or they feel like their opposition is too strong. You are the one who gives much grace, you are the one who is calling all of us around the room individually and corporately to cast our cares or worries or fears or anxieties on you. Because the truth is that you care for us, that you love us that our feet are on a firm foundation, whether we sense it or feel it in this moment or not because of who you are and what you've done. And maybe for those around the room to that. Don't believe that right now are struggling to believe that right now, Father, give them much grace to lean in, and to give their cares and worries to you as well. And to come to you to come running to you. Whether it's for the first time or the first time in a long time. We ask this in Christ's name, Amen.

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