This is Truth With Grace, the medium ministry of Grace Baptist Church. We're so pleased you've joined us today as we continue our exploration of the truth found in God's Word and the grace of salvation. Pastor Pierre Arosa is preaching from the book of 1 Peter and today we're in chapter 5. We've been learning about the way God designed the church. are leaders and they have both a job description and a responsibility to lead the flock of God as shepherds. And now we know the congregation has a job description too. You have specific roles as a member of the flock of God and they are important, just as important as those of the leaders. The first is to submit to the shepherds, the elders God has called to lead his local church. And perhaps the even harder responsibility we are given is to submit to our fellow saints in the church. But humility is the foundation of a healthy church. And that's where we'll pick up as we listen to the second half of today's message from Pastor Pierre. So the recipe for a healthy church environment, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, put on the attitude of Christ. No one is here to be served, but to serve everybody else. And God will take care of every one of your needs. Paul says in Philippians 2 verses 5 through 7, So again, church, if we are to imitate Christ, We have to empty ourselves of our desires to be served. We have to empty ourselves of our thoughts that we are entitled to certain things here. Because when you really think about it, church, consider this. No one owes you anything. Do you realize this? God owes you nothing. You're not even supposed to be walking on this earth. According to Romans 3 verse 23 and Romans 6 verse 23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Therefore, we deserve to be dead. We don't even deserve to be alive. And the fact that we're breathing God's air is already a demonstration of His grace. So when we look at our lives from this perspective, we say, Lord, thank you that I'm even alive. Instead of saying, Lord, I don't have this, I don't have that. My family doesn't do that for me. My church doesn't do that for me. My government is failing me, my city, whatever. No, when you adopt this attitude, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you put on the uniform of a servant, your life from a standpoint of spiritual health, your life will grow in leaps in maturity. So the lesson emerges clearly here. As the sheep of God's pasture, we must put on the metaphorical uniform that identifies us with Christlikeness. Lowly-minded saints acknowledge that this is a hard thing to do because the immediate reaction of our hearts, our immediate default position is to say, I need to be served. I have needs and they need to be met. Now, lowly-minded saints acknowledge that that is a struggle. All of us struggle with this. Yours truly, you, all of us struggle with this. And the difference is that lowly-minded saints recognize this and we get on our knees and say, Lord, please equip me to be aligned with what you expect as a member of your body, the body of Christ. And we know that the Lord will always, 100% of the time, answer the following question, please, Lord, Equip me to be a lowly servant. Equip me to put on the apron of a slave." We know 100% of the time God will answer that prayer because that's a prayer that is according to His will. We know that. As a result, humble-minded believers bear great fruit, they are a joy to be around, and they usually are pillars of unity in a healthy church. Job description number two slash assignment for all of us. Let's put on, let's clothe ourselves with humility toward one another and say, how can I serve you and my needs? I will present them to the Lord and he'll take care of my needs. So not only do we need to demonstrate humility to the shepherds and to saints, but also to the Savior. Verses six through seven, and we'll finish up with that one. Now, adopting a humble position with other believers causes anxiety in our hearts very naturally because of the potential for abuse. The rationale in our minds goes like this, and I've heard this said many times before, and usually in the context of marriage counseling, the potential of being abused. What if I submit to him or I submit to her, in our case, or we submit to one another and somebody takes advantage of my humility? That is a valid concern. We shouldn't ignore it. It's self-preservation. It's part of who we are, part of how God wired us. It's a very valid point. For that reason, knowing that that is a very valid point, to counter the resistance to this instruction, Peter emphasizes the reward of the action. In verse 6, well, you humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He might exalt you at the proper time. Okay? Because the tendency for us is self-exaltation. Peter says, it is not your job to exalt self. God will do that at the proper time. And often the problem for us is that our schedules don't always align with God's schedule. Isn't that the truth? We have a different calendar than what God has. First of all, because He exists outside of time. He created time for our benefit. And we always want to be exalted and say, Lord, I've been humiliated here. I want to be exalted today. And Peter says there is a proper time for you to be exalted. And it's God's job to exalt you. So walk away from the attempt to exalt self because you're going to create an unhealthy environment either in your home or in this particular case here in the church, because it's God's job to do that. And circle the word mighty hand of God and write next to your Bible there, next to your text, something to the effect of this is a figure of speech. In fact, the technical name for this figure of speech is anthropomorphism. And the reason we know this is a figure of speech is that God does not have physical hands, does He? God does not have physical hands, just like He doesn't have physical eyes, yet the Bible says God watches over us. He sees us. He doesn't have physical ears, yes, and yet the ears of the Lord are open to hear the prayers of the righteous. So the same thing with the mighty hand of God. This is a figure of speech to help us visualize divine actions. For example, the Lord doesn't have physical hands, but He protects His people, according to chapter 1, verse 5. According to Paul, the Lord abundantly supplies all our needs, Philippians 4, verse 19. So God not only protects, He provides for us. He cleanses our desires and thoughts through fiery ordeals 1st Peter 4 verse 12 So he also purifies us the mighty hands of God then protect provide and purify us and Purges us and according to Philippians 1 verse 6 God has begun a good work in all of us, which means that the mighty hands of God also perfects us therefore Since the figurative but powerful mighty hand of God preserves, protects, provides, purifies, purges and perfects, we must submit to His sovereignty. Resisting God's care for us is foolishness. Resisting God's discipline of our lives is foolishness. Because the mighty hand of God, the purpose of that is to exalt us at the proper time. Now, suffering saints naturally may get the impression that God is distant. That's a natural thing to feel. When we're going through hardship, adversity, suffering, we may get the impression that God is distant. This was certainly the case of some of the suffering believers here in Asia Minor. For this reason, Peter concludes this portion of the text by reassuring them, again, using a pastoral tone, that the Lord takes good care of His people, even though We go through severe trials sometimes, so no matter what type of trial you're facing, the promise from the Word of God is that God takes good care of you. Even though you may get the impression that there's nothing good to associate with your life at this time, or at this season of your life, the promise from God's Word, and we take it by faith, is that God is taking good care of you, even though we may not see it that way. But what do we do, church? We humble ourselves to that process. We say, Lord, I am no longer going to question your wisdom. You do not have to explain anything to me. You do not have to tell me what you're doing in my life. My job is to humble myself under your mighty hand and take what you're doing by faith. I don't like it, but I know that there's a purpose behind this. Reborn people must then express submission to God in a specific way according to verse 7. Okay? Peter says, you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. In verse 7 he says, and this is how you do it, casting all your anxiety on Him. Here's another picture in our minds, the picture of an action, of casting something to God. Okay? So, again, very picture-rich paragraph here, the picture of a flock. the image here of the mighty hand of God, and now the image of you casting something to God. Peter probably had Psalm 55 verse 22 in mind here, which reads, Again, Peter wants us to visualize the act of throwing our cares to the Lord. The question for us is this, Thoughts and anxiety and worry, these are all abstractions. You can't touch them. They're not concrete. How do you cast something you can't touch? How do you do that? How do you grab a hold of your thought, of your worry, and your anxiety, so that you can cast it on the Lord? Because that's the idea. Well, let me give you an example, okay? And I will give you, with your permission, an example from my life, because the Bible says I am to be an example to you. Remember that verse? Now, you don't have to follow this example, but you can create your own. But here's what I've done a few months ago. This was last year, recently. I was studying this passage, which I've read many, many times, but I've always struggled with it. How do I grab hold of something that's abstract so that I can cast it on the Lord? Does it mean just pray about it? Because I would pray about it and the thought would still be in my mind. So I purchased two small ballot boxes in Office Depot, and I have one in my house, one in the office. I labeled one with this verse, 1 Peter 5, verse 6 and 7, those two verses, and the other one with Psalm 55, verse 22. I recruited my daughter to do the art for me, so those boxes are all decorated. Julia helped me with flowers and hearts and all of that. So if you have a creative daughter, she can help you with that. But every time I have an anxious thought, I write it down so that it becomes something that I can touch, okay? I write it down in a piece of paper, and it may read something like this. This is actually one of them. This is officially one of my anxious thoughts that I cast on that ballot box. Quote, God, I am worried about my daughter driving at night away from my protection. That's an anxious thought. I wrote that in a piece of paper, folded, and I literally cast it into that box. Almost always, and I've done this many times with all of my anxious thoughts, almost always, immediately, immediately, the negative thought is replaced in my mind by either a Bible verse that I've memorized, or a paraphrase of a Bible verse. Now, this happened to me because I have the habit of reading the Bible every day and memorizing scripture. So, I recommend that if you're going to follow this, that you do that every day, read scripture every day so that when you need it, God will just bring that thought to your mind, that Bible verse that you have memorized. And then almost always that thought is replaced. And then I record the biblical thought that comes to my mind. Not in those cards, but in my journal. Some of you have a journal. I have a diary in my journal. None of you can read it because it's in Portuguese. And I wrote something like this, particularly after this anxious thought. You are an infinitely better father who has unlimited power and unlimited resources, and you love Julia, my daughter, with a perfect love. She is well looked after. and that I never had any second thoughts about this. Now, look, if you have a similar personality to mine, you will be tempted to reach into that box and grab that anxious thought again, but don't do it. Just let it stay there. And you can have, you can do this. Someone told me in between services, right after the first service, someone told me that she does a similar thing, but she burns the thought. She writes it down and she burns it. That's why I'm casting into the Lord. It's in His hand. It goes back into the invisible world. That's great. Do that if you want. As long as there's a way for you to visualize the act of casting that thought on the Lord, because that's the command here. God wants you to cast all your anxiety on Him. Now, when you don't honor this command, this is the cost, okay? The command is in verse 6 and 7. You humble yourself and you do this by casting all your anxiety on Him. When you fail to do this, and all of us have in the past, Resentment and anxiety will build up in our hearts and we will hurt the rest of the flock, including the people that are closest to us in our homes. Denise, my wife, will tell you that I'm not a very pleasant person to be around when I am anxious. I'm not a very spirit-filled warrior. Now, here's how that might happen, okay? When we fail to honor this methodology that God has given us. You cast your anxiety on Him. When we fail to honor this, here's what might happen. Let me give you examples of what I have observed in my years of being a pastor, okay? Common alternatives to dealing with anxiety that don't honor what the Bible tells us how to do that, okay? Common even among Christians. excessive drinking or consuming substances, self-medicating, binge eating, wolfing down sugar to feel better, binge watching streaming services to escape reality rather than for entertainment or to relax, seeking instant gratification, appeasing lust, which for men usually is translated into online pornography, and for women into online illicit romance. Going on dating sites and just flirting with other men. And these are just a few. Now, when you don't cast your anxiety on the Lord, like the Bible commands us to do, and you alternatively seek those unhealthy ways to deal with your anxiety, what happens is you turn your focus inward. And you tend to make your problems bigger than they really are, just like your rear-view mirror says in your car. Objects may appear bigger than they really are. That's what we do with our problems when we do this, when we fail to honor God's mandate here. And as a result, you may express envy and jealousy toward other people who seemingly don't have the same problems. Naturally, because of that, people start avoiding you. Your anxiety turns into loneliness. Your loneliness turns into bitterness. Your bitterness turns into anxiety again. And then you turn to these unbiblical ways of coping with that anxiety. And before you know it, you are part of a very bad cycle that is very hard to get out of. But there's hope because one of my greatest joys as a shepherd and our elders here of this church is to shepherd people out of that cycle. There's hope. It's not hard to do. You just need some shepherding. Okay? And we, the sheep, must encourage one another to reject every other methodology of dealing with anxiety other than this, that the Bible tells us to do. So, assignment number three for you, or job description slash assignment number three for you, Recognize whether or not you are in this cycle. You may be in this bad, malevolent cycle. If you are in the middle of this whirlwind of this bad cycle, please talk to someone that you trust. Talk to one of the elders of this church. We love to do this. We are made to do that, to shepherd you out of that bad cycle and into the healthy cycle. So if you are in the middle of this, tell us, okay? Now, people have come to me many times before, and I don't need to tell them you're living in sin. They already know this. And when I say brother or sister, if you are living in a sinful lifestyle, let's get you out of that lifestyle. Let's do everything we can to get you out of that and this bad cycle here so that you can have a healthy spiritual life. And therefore, the church will benefit from you having a healthy spiritual life, specifically in the area of anxiety. Here, how to cast your anxiety upon the Lord. So yeah, we're not gonna judge you in a sense because you've already judging yourself saying, I am living in a life of sin because I'm not following this model here. And so you may hear from us, yes, this is a life of sin, but from a compassionate standpoint, not a judgmental standpoint. And I don't have to be the only one you reach out to. My schedule is limited. There are other elders in this church that can help you do this. And there are other people in this church too. Go to someone you trust. Okay? If the relationship is not there, if the trust is not there with us, go with someone you trust and say, I need help. Because that's part of humble yourself. It takes humility to say, I need help. I've done this before. You know the story. When my son passed away, I came to a pastor friend of mine and said, I don't know how to be a husband through this. I don't know how to be a father through this devastating loss. I don't have a model at home. Please help me. And he helped me, and we bore fruit of this. So we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, knowing that the exaltation will take place later on, when we will receive our inheritance that's been prepared for us, the Bible says. But remember, self-exaltation is not something you're called to do. Self-exaltation is something that only God can do. It's okay for God to self-exalt. It's not okay for you and me to self-exalt. He will exalt us at the right time. In the meantime, our job is to go lower. Go lower. You say, Pastor, you don't understand. My spouse has humiliated me. Go lower. Go lower and tell your spouse, how can I serve you? And God will exalt you at the right time. In the meantime, we the sheep must practice the virtue of humility in these three specific fronts, to our shepherds, to the saints and to the Savior. No church will ever operate with the blessing of God unless the biblical job descriptions of pastors and congregation are honored. Now, this will always be the pattern here at Grace Baptist Church, I report to you. And I promise to you that this will not earn us the Church of the Year award from Time Magazine, okay? Do we care about that church? Absolutely not. We are after the approval of only one. the chief shepherd, the Bible says. So, we're going to continue to follow this pattern here for our lives, not only for everything we do church-wise, but personally. This is how we deal with anxiety, and this is how we're going to encourage every one of us to deal with anxiety, whatever the reason for that anxiety. We encourage everyone to cast them upon the Lord, and He will take care of us. He will reward us at the right time, because His reward is infinitely better than the applause from the world. Now, before I conclude, I need to say this to you. None of this will even make any sense unless you come to faith in Jesus Christ right now. If you're listening to us and you're not a born-again believer in Christ, none of this is available to you. But the day you become a follower of Jesus Christ and you recognize, that's how you humble yourself and you recognize, I cannot earn my place in heaven unless Jesus Christ saves me. The good news is that he's already done that. He died on the cross for you. At the moment you recognize you are a sinner and you need a savior and you say, Jesus, please grab hold of my heart. He will change your life from the inside out. Your life will not be better, perhaps. The culture now will declare war on your faith. but your place in heaven is guaranteed, and your exaltation is scheduled for the day you get to glory. But otherwise, the alternative is to have Jesus Christ as your judge. You see, everybody has a relationship with Christ. You want to have the right relationship with Him. He is either your judge. When you fail to receive Him as your Savior, He is your judge. You will have to face Him one day and be sent to the lake of fire. Or, if He's your Savior, then you are now a member of God's flock. You are part of the sheep of His fold. Okay? And He has those of us who are sheepdogs to care for the flock, but He is the Great Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. Father, thank You for the clarity of Your Word. Thank You for the instructions. You're very clear. Lord, they're not hard to understand. They may be hard to implement in our lives, Lord. We know that. We recognize that fact. And that is the reason why we need Your enablement. Lord, and we need the encouragement from one another for us to follow this pattern here, to humble ourselves, not only to our spiritual leaders, but to one another, and most importantly, to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, Lord. We know this is not our natural tendency, not our natural inclination. Our natural inclination is to demand to be even worshipped, thinking that we're the fourth person of the Trinity. But Lord, please help us, equip us to suppress that and throw that away, Lord, so that we can be humbled even more, looking forward to the day that You will exalt us by Your reward, by Your eternal presence, Lord, and by giving us different types of things to do in eternity, in the millennial kingdom, different responsibilities, Lord. But Father, what a joy to think that even now we can have a spiritually healthy, spiritually strong church following the very truths we just learned today. We thank You, Lord, and I pray specifically for everyone here. either in this room or listening to us who are in this cycle that I mentioned, Lord, who are troubled because of anxiety, because they have never been trained or never practiced the art of casting their anxieties upon You, Lord. I pray that we will all do that. We will help each other do that, because Your Word says we are to carry one another's burdens. Not that we're going to import problems. No, that's not what that is. but we help people in the art of casting their cares upon you because we know the promises. You care for us, Lord, and you do such an infinitely better job than any human pastor can do, human parent can do. We trust you and we love you, Lord, because you first loved us. In Jesus' name, amen. If you have questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you. Our email address is radio at gbcsalem.org, or you can visit our website, truthwithgrace.org, for more information about our church and this media ministry. Plus, we're always looking for people just like you to help us spread the gospel around the world. This broadcast is provided to you at no cost to the generosity of financial and prayer supporters of Truth With Grace. Please feel free to share it, but please don't charge money for it or edit it in any way without the written consent of Grace Baptist Church. Until next time, this is Truth With Grace.