This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 3, 1989.

We will be reading the first eleven verses of this chapter. 1 Peter 5, verses 1-11. hear the Word of God. The elders which are among you I exhort, whom am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.

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 is being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the older.

Yea, all of you, be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud. and give its grace to the humble. 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. Be sober, be diligent, vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeketh whom he may devour. who resists steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that we have suffered a lot, make you perfect, established, strengthened, and settled to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Then, turning back to Matthew 6, verse 25, “…therefore I say unto you, take no thoughts for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Our Father, we are hungry and we would be fed with your word. May our hearts be ready to receive. May this be for the well-being of our souls, the establishment of our life. Father, it is true that you are our God, that you are faithful. Father, we ask that our faith may itself be strengthened in this our exercise of praise and worship to you. Give us a tent of minds and spirits now, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. This is our second message on the kingdom and anxiety. Last week we were endeavoring to lay something of foundation for you and this week we are commencing to build upon that foundation.

It seems to have gained a notoriety all its own in our time, in this particular century. Now obviously it was about in the first century, else Jesus wouldn’t have spoken of it, nor would have teached it. But there is a sense in which anxiety has developed something of a life of its own. It has become a bit more famous in our time.

And that’s probably because we have certain mechanisms, certain dimensions of life presently, that capitalize on anxiety. This is the stuff out of which you can make an entire industry. This is the stuff out of which you can make money. Indeed, an entire industry has been created. The mental health industry, for instance, banks on two seemingly irrepressible traumas. Guilt and worry. Guilt and worry. Beat those two and you can stay out of the clinic. that we have become also specialized.

I don’t know if you experienced shock, but I did when I heard a recent newscast reporting the fact that preschoolers were now undergoing therapy. We have preschool therapy, we have elementary age therapy. We have teen therapy. We have marriage therapy. We have therapy for those who reach age 40. We have therapy for those who are graying, and sometimes they are graying the same time you’re reaching 40.

A specialized industry. that anxiety is not only notorious in our time, because it’s the stuff out of which industries are created. It has also gained notoriety because it is now seen to be a fundamental ingredient for a pervasive philosophy characterizing our century.

The philosophy is known as existentialism. No, existentialism is much, much maligned and much misunderstood. Most people think that existentialism is a pessimistic philosophy. That’s not true. Existentialism is inherently optimistic. It is an answer to the utter despair. Though all and everything tell you to despair, you by heroic stand must assert your individuality and importance.

It is that positive note that makes existentialism so compelling to the college student, to the university student and crowd. that existentialism does have certain negative assumptions. And one of its basic negative assumptions has to do with the concept of, and the experience of, anxiety.

Anxiety in this philosophy has been assigned a cosmical proportion, and it’s been given a great name. Oh, how the Germans are good at this sort of thing. they call it all. All. Now it’s not simply personal worry and anxiety that is in you there is a cosmical dilemma the whole world is subjected to arms and you are just part of it. Now I have a beautiful illustration of a give you in order to communicate that idea or in order to connect with you in your anxiety.

It is the image of a great snake. You think of a great snake? huge boa being wrestled out of the canal. Recently, I’ve seen some pictures from Florida, the territory that the Delianides are moving to. So that’s the image, you see. No ordinary snake. This is an immense snake, a boa. But this boa has wrapped its coils around the whole of the cosmos, and it’s squeezed.

Am I connecting? Am I connecting? Do you know something of anxiety? I should ask, is there anyone here that doesn’t know about anxiety? Does that register? The snake? around the world, squeezing. Isn’t that exactly the feeling you have when you’re overcome by worry and anxiety, that incredible constriction in your midsection?

Actually, the existentialist couldn’t have chosen a more opportune image for the Christian. The serpent. The snake. State of the state of the world in and of itself that naturally something that is part and parcel of the state of affairs, irremediably, the serpent. And as soon as that image is mentioned, is brought before us, our minds race back to the beginning, back to the garden back to the temptation of our first parents that first transgression. The snake of Genesis three.

And. It is the apostle Peter. who makes the connection between. It may not mean. That that connection is clear. Immediately. But it is there nonetheless in first Peter five verses six through Humble yourselves, therefore, into the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting all of your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. The sober spirit, beyond the alert, your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Now, these verses here deal particularly with the loss of the children of God, but there are circumstances in this world, and Peter is not pulling any punches.

He’s being very straightforward. He tells you, as the people of God, your lot will be suffering for the world will oppose you. He says at the end of the fourth chapter, for instance, verse nineteen. Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God and trust their souls to a faithful creator and doing what is right. Even though you are suffering, you are encouraged here to do the right thing. Notice how he progresses in that fifth chapter. Note, for instance, verses nine and ten, but resist him that is safe and firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world, and after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

The problem, of course, now, as Peter is addressing it, is this. The sufferings to which the people of God are subjected bring on worry and anxiety, it seems. Even the prospect of sufferings for Christ’s sake brings on distress. But Peter in this section wants us to know that these distresses are not outside of God’s care and dealing with his world.

They are not outside of his providence. He is in control, even in the midst of such circumstances as these. As he said in verse six, these things come as a result of the dealings of the mighty hand of God. Don’t worry, therefore, is the admonition. Submit instead in the knowledge that in due time, God will exalt you And the way in which you then submit to him is by casting all of your worry and care upon him, knowing that he cares supremely for you. But then he carries on in verse eight. There is his warning to watchfulness. The sober spirit beyond the alert, he said. And here, then, he introduces us to Satan, not as the subtle serpent, but as a ravenous lion that prowls about seeking human flesh.

The image is transformed and becomes all the more horrifying. It’s not just the serpent with its coils wrapped around the world, or a boa wrapped around your midsection, not at all. That which you are facing is Satan himself, and the knowing that you feel inside is the knowing of Satan upon you, for Satan is endeavoring to devour you. Anxiety is not just the stuff out of which industries are created. It’s the stuff that is most useful for the councils of hell. The image is even more graphic than those that the existentialist uses. Utterly more serious.

But you see, while Peter is very straightforward about the activities of Satan, his intention is to be supremely comforting to you. There is the gnarling effect of Satan and the evil that he perpetrates. His objective is your destruction. And he will use that worry and that anxiety to accomplish his end. Be alert.

God is faithful. The pattern laid out here for us, that spells out our triumph, that establishes for us our comfort is nothing less than what we observe in Christ. The humility to which we are called, the humility in imitation of him, The exaltation that we are promised is an exaltation in conformity to Christ. We shall move surely from humble circumstances to glory. Yes, it is as certain as Christ’s resurrection following his death.

So now. You belong to him. you who claim him as your own. Don’t worry. The environment into which you have been introduced by virtue of your Savior is one that is worry-free in him, through him. The matters of eternity have been settled. All the glories of heaven are at your disposal.

If you are denied the things of this world, what does it matter? You have eternity and all the blessings and treasures of heaven. If you suffer loss here, what does it matter? Do you not have eternity within your grasp? And has not God in Christ given himself to you?

He has. Now you may be saying. You’re carrying on the discussion. After the very high and specialized level. The passage in Peter has to do with Christian suffering for the sake of the gospel or because of one’s identity with God. But what about me in my day-to-day life? What about me and my common experience? Don’t you understand? Don’t you see what Peter’s doing?

He’s taking the most extreme example that you might know that all superior examples are consumed, are taken care of in light of it. Do you not know that the one who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for you, will not also freely give you all things?

If the most important issue has been settled, all subsidiary issues are automatically settled. But you dare not make the considering issues the most important issues. That’s like making food and drink and clothing the most important things in your life. Rather, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And everything else will be taken care of. You can bank on that. That’s correct.

Oh Lord, the great and weighty issue of an eternity with you. The great matter of our identity with our God and our identification with your son. These things dealt with so well by your word in order to encourage us that all subsidiary issues are resolved. For us who love you. All things work together for good. To them that are called. According to your purpose. Hear us Lord. May our faith then be refreshed and strengthened. In recalling these things. And living by.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.