1 Peter 5

[gentle music] Our evening mindset meditation for today comes from 1 Peter 5:5, "Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Ponder that truth as you lay your head down to rest this evening.

[gentle music] I have come to believe, based on this scripture and many others, that humility is one of the greatest virtues that the Holy Spirit of God forms in His people.

It's by humility that we're able to live in unity with one another.

Humble yourselves.

James 4.10, 1 Peter 5.5, Matthew 23.12. Humble yourselves.

Our humility is ultimately grounded in the incarnation itself.

In Christ, we see a king who became a servant, a rabbi who washed his disciples' feet, and a God who became lower than the angels for our sake.

In the same way, we are called to clothe ourselves with humility.

both under God's mighty hand and toward one another.

That's 1 Peter 5, 5-6.

And the humility Christ wore is not self-forgetful, but self-sacrificial.

And as we look at the scriptures today, we will see that this exact choice is what gives the apostle Peter that the Apostle Peter calls us to make every day.

If you have your Bibles, open with me to 1 Peter 5, and we'll be going through verse 6 to 11 today.

So to give you a quick backstory, Peter's writing to believers scattered across Asia Minor who were facing severe hostility, harassment, and social isolation from their Greek and Roman neighbors—their circumstances were painful, uncertain, and frightening—addresses the very thing that every single one of us wrestles with—worry, fear, temptation, and spiritual opposition.

As we begin with verse 6 and 7, it says, Notice where trust begins.

Many people don't know that.

I'll show you in 1 Peter 5:5 which is the third panacea.

It says, "Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.

Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility." Yes.

And the first thing that we need to know and remember is that God cares about us.

1 Peter 5, 7 says, cast your cares on him because he cares for you.

In that situation when I was absolutely devastated by what I had done with the banana bread, I had to cast my cares on the Lord.

I really needed to know that even though I really screwed up in that situation, that God cared about me in that situation.

Now, the third thing that Peter warns us about, and maybe for you this was the one that jumped out at you when we read the text for the first time together, like maybe for you it even intimidated you, that when life gets hard, Satan gets loud.

Look at 1 Peter 5 verse 8.

Be alert and of sober mind.

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

And so again, you need to use your authority and resist the enemy.

Look at 1 Peter 5, 8.

It says, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Verse 9, resist him.