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Stay Low, Stay Awake, Stay Together
1 Peter 5:1–14 · Matt Miller · Balkan Baptist Church, Novi Sad
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The sack on your back
Picture yourself walking into church with a sack on your back.
No one else can see it. But you feel it on the stairs, in your shoulders, in the way you sleep. Maybe it is money. Maybe it is a person. A fear for your children. A conversation you keep putting off. Something you have never told anyone.
You sit down, and the sack sits down with you. You sing, and part of you is still holding the rope.
Now look around the room. Everyone here is carrying one.
Peter knew about sacks. He also knew about lions. And near the end of his first letter, he puts the two side by side:
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
— 1 Peter 5:7–8
Put the sack down, he says. And in the very next breath: there is a lion. Why would Peter tell you to let go of your burden right before the danger shows up?
Hold on to that question. By the end of this chapter you will have Peter’s answer, and a picture of a church that can stand when the lion comes.
Where does 1 Peter 5 fit?
Peter writes to “strangers scattered” (1:1) who are suffering for their faith. Chapter 1 gives them a “lively hope.” Chapter 2 makes them “lively stones.” Chapter 3 takes them into the home and into a hostile world. Chapter 4 tells them the end is at hand and the fiery trial should not surprise them.
Chapter 5 closes the letter with the shepherds of the flock, the roaring lion, and the God of all grace. Peter sums up the whole letter in verse 12: “this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.”
Stay low
The man who goes first
The first people Peter speaks to are the leaders, and the first thing he says is surprising: he is one of them. “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder” (5:1). The apostle who walked on water steps into line with ordinary pastors.
Then he tells them how to carry their people:
“Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”
— 1 Peter 5:2–3
Think of a shepherd on a mountain path. He does not stand at the bottom shouting orders. He walks ahead, finds the safe footing, and the sheep follow the one they can see. That is what ensamples means. Lords push from behind. Shepherds go first.
And notice whose sheep they are: “the flock of God.” Not the pastor’s. Which means the pastor is not meant to carry the whole flock on his own back either. “When the chief Shepherd shall appear” (5:4), every pastor will answer to Him, and the reward comes from His hand.
Everybody gets low
Then Peter turns to everyone else, and he leaves no one out: “Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility” (5:5). The younger and the older. The members and the pastor. Everyone puts on the same plain clothes.
And he gives the reason in one sobering line:
“For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”
— 1 Peter 5:5
Pride does not only make us hard to live with. It puts us on the wrong side of God. Humility puts us where the grace is.
Does “submit yourselves unto the elder” mean I must obey a pastor no matter what?
No. The same verse says “all of you be subject one to another,” and verse 3 forbids leaders to be “lords over God’s heritage.” Hebrews 13:17 tells believers to obey those who lead them, “for they watch for your souls.” But when anyone asks for what God forbids, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
Where the sack goes
Now Peter comes back to your sack: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (5:6–7).
Look at how those two are joined. You humble yourself by casting your care on Him. Carrying everything alone can feel like being responsible. But often it is pride in work clothes: I have to hold this. Nobody else can. Humility opens its hands and lets the One with the mighty hand take the weight.
And He takes it gladly. He careth for you.
PAUSE AND REFLECT What am I carrying that I have never given to God by name? |
Stay awake
The watchman with full arms
Picture a shepherd keeping watch at night by the sheepfold. One lamp is burning. Somewhere out in the dark, something is moving.
Now picture that same watchman trying to stay alert with a heavy sack in his arms. He is tired. His eyes keep dropping to the burden instead of the darkness. That is the answer to Peter’s question.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
— 1 Peter 5:8
You cannot watch and resist with your hands full of worry. Peter wants your hands empty so your eyes can stay open. Sober means clear-headed. Vigilant means awake. Not panicked. Awake.
The man who fell asleep
Peter did not learn this from a book. On the night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus asked him to watch and pray, and Peter fell asleep. “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). Years later, the man who slept writes to you: be vigilant.
And he tells you how to stand: “Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (5:9). No formula. Faith in God and His Word. And you are not the only one. Believers all over the world are standing on the same ground.
Your brother is not the enemy. The lion is.
When pressure comes, churches are tempted to turn on each other: leaders against people, family against family. That is exactly what the lion wants. Keep your eyes on the real enemy.
Can the devil devour a true Christian? Can I lose my salvation?
No. Believers are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” (1 Peter 1:5), and God “hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus” (5:10). The devil can do real damage to a believer’s walk, testimony and peace. He cannot undo God’s calling.
PAUSE AND REFLECT Where have I grown drowsy: in prayer, in the Word, in watching over my own heart? |
Stay together
Who holds you up
So who keeps the watchman standing through the night? Not the watchman.
“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
— 1 Peter 5:10
After the lion, Peter gives you a “But.” The God of all grace called you, and the suffering lasts “a while.” Then He will make you perfect, stablish you, strengthen you, and settle you: set you on a foundation that will not move. Peter does not promise you will never suffer (1:6). He promises God will hold you while you do.
Back with the family
Peter ends his letter with names. “Silvanus, a faithful brother,” carried it. A church far away, “elected together with you,” sends greetings. And then: “Marcus my son” (5:12–13).
This is possibly John Mark, the young man who once left the work and went home (Acts 15:37–38). If so, he now stands at Peter’s side, and Peter calls him his son. Paul later wrote of Mark, “he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11). The one who walked away came back to the family.
Then comes the last instruction: “Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus” (5:14). After a chapter about elders and younger, submission and humility, everyone greets everyone the same way: with love.
God holds His people together, not one by one.
Take the sack off
Go back to the man with the sack, and now see the whole picture. People standing together on a rock. A shepherd going first, with the crown still waiting. A great hand over them all, and their burdens going up into it. And a lion roaring, with nobody running.
Stay low. Stay awake. Stay together. God’s grace will hold you.
One task for this week
Here is one thing to do before next Sunday:
Name your sack. What is the one care you have been carrying?
Give it to God by name. Tell Him in prayer, specifically (5:7).
Tell one person. Share it with one brother or sister in your church, so you are not standing alone (5:5, 5:9; Galatians 6:2).
TAKE THIS WITH YOU Stay low under God’s mighty hand. Stay awake, because the lion is real. Stay together, because God holds His people together. Take the sack off before you leave. |
The sack you cannot cast
There is one weight no one can throw off by trying harder: our sin. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
But earlier in this same letter, Peter wrote about the Shepherd who carried it for us:
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.”
— 1 Peter 2:24–25
The chief Shepherd suffered for His sheep. He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. You are not saved by church membership, by baptism, or by doing your best (Ephesians 2:8–9; Titus 3:5). Turn from your sin and trust Jesus Christ alone.
He carried what you cannot. Come to the Shepherd today.
A prayer you can pray
Words don’t save anyone; Christ does. But if you are ready to turn from your sin and trust Him, you can tell Him so right where you are, something like this:
“Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and I cannot carry my sin away. I believe You bore my sins on the cross, were buried, and rose again. I turn from my sin, and I trust You alone to save me. Thank You for being the Shepherd and Bishop of my soul. Amen.”
If you prayed that and meant it, we would love to hear from you. You can reach us with the buttons below.
Questions you might have
Is the crown how we earn heaven?
No. Salvation is the gift of God, “not of works” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Crowns are rewards for faithful service, given “when the chief Shepherd shall appear” (5:4).
Should we bind or rebuke the devil?
Peter says “resist stedfast in the faith” (5:9). We stand firm in faith in God and His Word, not in formulas (James 4:7).
Does God promise that I will not suffer?
No. Peter says “if need be” (1:6) and “think it not strange” (4:12). What he promises is that after “a while” the God of all grace will stablish, strengthen and settle you (5:10).
Was Peter the first pope?
In this very chapter Peter calls himself “also an elder” (5:1) and gives the title “chief Shepherd” to Christ alone (5:4).
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ABOUT THIS MESSAGE This message is part of our series through 1 Peter, preached on Sunday mornings at 11:30 at Balkan Baptist Church, Ćirila i Metodija 42a, Novi Sad. You are welcome to join us. |
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