If you want to take your Bibles and open them to 1 Peter 5, I'm going to start reading here in a couple minutes from verse 5. We're going to read down to 11. I've entitled this message, Being a Church Member. Troy was asking me before we were talking about what the sermon was about today. Essentially, us being humble, serving one another, and not being so consumer-driven in our view of church and what God has for us here in the local church. That being said, I will expound on that for the next 30 minutes or so, but that's what we're talking about here today. last time when we were in 1 Peter. We looked at what the Bible said about being a biblical pastor. So, the context of what we're looking at is church. This is where this chapter even started, talking about the elders in the church. It's a letter written to the people of the church, and again, the context here, even just with the pastors, is the local church. So, on the heels of that, what we're going to look at today is, what does it mean to be a good church member. What does it mean to be a good church member? Now remember, we looked at this before, the pastor is among the sheep. So for sure, this text applies to me, and to you, and to every person who's here. And I've said this before, I believe the most attacked doctrine within good circles, I'm not talking about the heretics, the most attacked doctrine within good circles of evangelicalism is that of the church. In fact, most Christians would have a hard time explaining, and I'm talking about Christians who know their Bible, would have a hard time explaining what is God's view of the local church. What's your responsibility? And defend your answer, as you had to do in school sometimes, defend it biblically. Worse than this, many of today's good Christian leaders have flat out ignored what the Bible says about ecclesiology. That means the doctrine of the church. In this context is where that I'm speaking for us here today and in the local church, us here at Cornerstone. We have several interesting commands in our text today about what it means to be a believer, and specifically a believer in the local church, because, again, that's the context starting from dealing with the elders in 1 Peter 5. One of the things I want you to notice is it involves being involved. It's not being a consumer. Maybe you've heard that term. Don't know what that means. What do people mean When they say that, they mean you go to consume, you go just to be poured into, rather than the opposite way, or both of those things happening. And sadly, many people pick churches like they pick restaurants of where they're going to go to take their wife on Valentine's Day. And often Christians are not thinking, let me go to this church so that I can be involved, so that I can be the waiter, the servant at that church and used of God. No, most believers pick churches because they want others to serve them and they come simply to consume. This means Christians in today's times are often picking churches to be served and fed. By the way, that should happen. I'm not saying that shouldn't happen, but they're not picking churches also with the intention of how can I be used of God here and how can I serve? How can God use me to serve these people? Where do I fit in the gears? What gear am I? What cog am I? Where do I fit into the use it in a good way into the overall machine. Usually I would use that in a negative way, referring to the government, but in this case I mean it in a good way. But let me go on Sunday, get whatever I think church provides for me, and get on with my life. Unfortunately, that's the thinking that many people have. as they approach church. With that in mind, read with me 1 Peter 5. We're picking up in verse 5. We just heard all about the pastors and how they're to react and how they're to be and how they're to interact with their people. And now, on the heels of that, we see in verse 5, you younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud. But he gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him. because he cares for you. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him. Firm in your faith. knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world, 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. To him be dominion. What makes a good church member? First, let's look at this section that starts in verse 5. Again, listen to it. You younger men, as opposed to the pastor and elders, you younger men likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God's opposed to the proud, gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves. casting it all on Him. Why? Because He cares for you. What is this saying? We, us here, are to live as servants. The idea of servanthood is the concept that sums up what is being spoken about in verses 5 to 7. When you think about a servant, you realize a servant ensures he's serving his superiors. The concept is not new for us. We preached Ephesians 5 a number of years ago in this church. Verse 21 says, and be subject to one another. Why? In the fear of Christ. Or how? In the fear of Christ. The Bible tells us to esteem one another more than ourselves and to submit to one another, which certainly needs to take place in the body of believers, but also for all Christians and specifically here, young men to their elders in the beginning, and then it opens up to everybody. The Bible uses the word subjection here. What does that mean? It means to line up. to file under somebody. And it's a military term, if you're familiar with the language. If you've ever been in the military, I know some of you have. This won't come as a shock to you. The people at the top are not always the smartest. In fact, they're not usually. That doesn't work that way. And they're not always the most skillful. It doesn't work that way. They don't just take the smartest and put them there. No. Often, the bottom of the totem pole is where you find those who really are the ones who are turning the cogs and making it work and are pretty smart. In many ways, this is the mark of good and biblical leadership. A good leader is the dummy who allows those who serve under him to make him shine because they're smart, wise, and useful. But when those at the middle and even at the bottom, the side, I'm not going to submit. I'm smarter than this guy. I know more." Or they're not willing to stay in line or do what is right. What happens? Things fall apart. They don't work. So as you look at the body, for us as a church, you realize that each part is to work together with an attitude of mutual submission. Look, I was a younger believer than I am now, and I remember hearing many sermons from my pastor and other pastors where I thought, you know, this guy didn't study enough, or he totally missed the context, or they messed up the delivery, and I was often harsh, unforgiving in those areas to those that God had sent to help me. Don't get me wrong. The text is all important. I'm not saying anything different, but there's a balance here. Look, my door's always open, and I'm the first to tell you, well, I believe God has qualified me and made me a pastor. I'm for sure the least useful guy who exists simply to be chained to the bottom of the warship. Why? To row. Whether the ship goes down or survives, I will row. That's what I do. Still, I believe it is the responsibility of every Christian who hears and listens to sermons from the Bible to let God speak to us through His Word, to find something in the Scripture that applies to our life. And when something is true, we let that truth touch us. We let the Holy Spirit work in us. This is true even when it comes from a source that could have studied more. that could have prepared more or should have been better in his delivery and so on. in our text in verses five to seven. It's not just to subject and be submissive to the direction of the elders, but it's an overall attitude for each one of us regarding humility. Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God, and this is a strong statement, one that most people know. This is a popular verse from the Bible. For God is opposed to the proud, and he gives grace to the humble. You ever think about that? That's a really strong statement. This command is clearly for all of us to clothe as what? It's the idea of me putting something on, dressing myself with humility. Maybe Peter's remembering, watching Jesus. God himself, our Savior, gird himself with a towel and get on his hands and his feet and on the floor and wash the feet of the disciples. We are to live as servants, subject to the authorities that God places in our life, subject to one another. We are to do this clothed. in humility, allowing God to work through us and to work in our hearts as well. Submission, which, by the way, is part of humility, is a core Christ-like and biblical attitude for the believer that is all but forgotten in today's churches. Life's about God. That's Peter's point. Listen to the end of our text here in verses 10 and 11. 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 to him be dominion forever and ever. No one is exempt from today's exhortation. Man, woman, child, or in my case, pastor. Because following the young men, the text opens it up to all of us to clothe ourselves in humility. Now, practically, how do we do this in the church? Well, that would be a long conversation, but let me give a short answer. We don't make church about us. This is all the one another's and commands in the New Testament summed up regarding church. Church is not about any of you, any of us, me or you being preeminent. It's about being faithful to the role and being faithful to the position that God has placed us. Humility understands that we serve Christ. We're His sheep. Humility understands that Christ is the shepherd and God is in control. Let's look at some verses to see how this plays out in the life of the believer. 1 Thessalonians 5.12 says, But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction and that you esteem them very highly and love because of their work live in peace with one another now how often do we truly esteem one another highly because we had an imperative we just read that said we should do this as believers in fact too often We sit in the background, and we talk bad about those who labor and work hard for us, like, well, we would have done it better. Yeah, we don't do it, and we never volunteer for that, and we never step in and fix the problem, but we would have served, or we would have done it better. We mentioned this one the other week regarding church elders, but it's more generic than church elders, the Hebrew 13 verse. It says, Obey your leaders, submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account, let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. This not only has the thinking of, oh, well, this verse just applies to my pastor, but it's really those in church who've been put in charge of something. It's not just a verse regarding pastors. We should be humble to one another. It has more of a one another in general aspect than just pastors. For what it's worth, this verse isn't for you. If you're a leader, if you're in charge of something, this verse isn't for you to use as a hammer, okay? This verse is not for leaders to apply. It's for church members. It's an encouragement for them to apply. There's a difference in how you look at that verse. Pride and a lack of humility towards one another is the number one thing that breaks down Christ's likeness in a church. be humble and respond to Christ, who even though he was in the majestic glory of heaven, made himself of no reputation and took upon the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men." That's actually the point of that verse. I know people talk all about the Godhead. The point of that verse is the humility of Christ. You'd think if one of us had all power and came to earth You choose to live a little better than Christ did, right? I mean, you'd set yourself up in a palace, or at least a decent, long life, something like that, but no, Christ chose the life of death for us, and He suffered and bled. Why? Because it was the will of the Father, and He did that in humility. Verses 6 to 7 teach us that as church members, as believers, we are also to be subject to our Savior. And I want you to see how the language comes together here. It says, therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him. Why? He cares for you. That's a great verse. Ultimately, yes, we humble ourselves to each other, but that is fueled by humbling ourselves to the very hand of our sovereign God. God knows when those above us are dumb and could be doing better. Still, he's in control. He put them there. In verse 5, Peter quotes loosely from Proverbs 3, where he says, where Proverbs 3, 34, it says, though he scoffs at scoffers, yet he gives grace to the afflicted. God is opposed to the proud. He gives grace to the humble. The proud are the scoffers. Often, we are those scoffers. God gives grace to the humble. Remember your attitude in church and towards one another is really a reflection, because you may think your problem is with me, and you may think the other side's the problem, but really that's not true. Our problem regarding one another is simply a reflection of our attitude towards God. And when I, as a pastor, or simply your fellow brother in Christ, treat you improperly or have a negative attitude towards you, I'm really treating God, my Savior, improperly. That's what that really means. Look at verse 7. Casting all your anxiety on Him. Why? Because He cares for you. Ultimately, when nothing is going your way, humility is hard. What do we do? Even in our humility, we're humble and proud of it. We leave it all in the hands of God. We trust in the Lord by casting it all on Him. It's the idea of covering. It's the idea of mudding over the cracks or the holes in the drywall. We cast it on Him. We let our knowledge of God, we let our knowledge of His loving, care for us, cover our concerns. God knows how to deal with everything way better than any of us do. We say that, I don't think we believe that. God loves his children and he will help us to grow. Do you, in a humble way, truly trust us? When things are going bad and somebody upsets you or isn't doing the right thing, the amazing thing is we all fall short at everything we're looking at here today, and God cares for us anyways. He saved us anyways. If you're a believer here, you have Christ. If you're not a believer, you can turn to Christ right now and be saved. So believer here, you know God saved you. You know God died for you. You know He suffered for you. And He, Jesus, is our righteousness. So Peter is challenging us then, then why not approach one another in humility? And in the areas we struggle, in the areas where that's really hard, leave it in the hands of God. Drop the arrogance and thinking that your way is always best. If you are really willing to trust God and be submissive to Him, it's not through posts of memes on Facebook or reading blogs. I'm not telling you not to do that. I'm simply saying that's not it. It's truly, it's being truly willing to cast it all on Him at all times because He loves you. We do this by prayer. We do this through supplications. Philippians 4, be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgivings, let your requests be made known to God in the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension. Well, what? Guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The key to serving the Lord in life and being a good church member has called all believers to be, which God has called all believers to be, is casting it all on Him. Psalm 55 says this, cast your burden upon the Lord and He will. sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. Now, Psalm 55 is written by David, who for sure knew what it was like to have enemies rise up against him, who for sure knew what it was like to have people say things about him. David knew what it was like to struggle with his own sin. Ultimately, David had to cast it all on the Lord and let God bear it. You can trust God. If you're a believer, you've seen his love. You have witnessed his faithfulness. You have experienced God's power. So cast your anxiety, concerns, and all of it on him and be humble. And in summary of what Jesus said, doing the opposite doesn't help you anyway. I mean, you can't add a measure to your life, right? I mean, what good is the focus and the anxiety? What does it accomplish? It doesn't help anything. Maybe you're struggling in a way that is tugging at the very core of who you are, what God has made you to be. Cast it on Christ. Whether the issue is fiscal, whether the issue is church, whether the issue is family or whatever, cast it on God and let Him sustain you. He knows all. He's all-powerful. He's in control of everything. Again, doctrines we know, not necessarily things that we believe when everything hits the fan. Verses 8 through 9 show us another response as church members that we should have. And I'm going to summarize it by saying we should live as soldiers. We should live as soldiers. If you're a believer, you've been enlisted. This is not new concept in the New Testament. Listen to the terms in these two verses and see if you don't hear the military sound of these terms. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him. Firm. in your faith. And this is the work of a soldier. The Bible is teaching that our adversary is pursuing us. It's not telling us to be all aggressive and out there fighting Satan and demons. That's not what this is. I know some people have some odd thoughts here. But what the Bible is telling us here is to be on alert. The text is saying, don't be a deer in the headlights. Live as a soldier. Recognize the enemy. How do we do that? Be of sober spirit. Don't be carried away by our surroundings and what's happening in life. Be constrained, be controlled by the knowledge of the Holy One. This is what sober thinking is. This is what pastors mean when they say, let your thoughts and actions be controlled by the scripture and not by your feelings or not by your emotions. I'm not saying we're without emotions, and emotions are a good thing. God has them. We have them. They're a blessing. So I'm not saying anything like that. But we remain calm, channeling everything that comes through, comes to us through the Word of God. The idea that the Word of God is a seed or a colander, like cheesecloth, or I don't know, whatever you think of there. Sunglasses that filter out what's not supposed to be there. The idea of being sober here is controlled. Controlled in spirit is remaining submitted to the Lord, again, when things don't go our way. We always have that temptation to become intoxicated, the opposite of sober, to become intoxicated with our situation and the things happening around us or in this world. But the Bible says to remain sober, to remain in control when these things happen. to be on alert. Self-control comes as a result of leaning on God. Galatians 5, biblical self-control, that fruit of the Spirit, isn't a maturity issue. I know a lot of people who are older, who are of more age, who severely lack self-control. It's not just a maturity thing. It's not just what you've gone through. It's not even just a learned thing. It's a fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5 self-control, which defines the concept of being sober in spirit as a result of submitting oneself to the supernatural work of God through the Holy Spirit again when things don't work out, when life doesn't go your way. We're always thankful when we get that large tax return check or the bonus from work. But what about when it doesn't come in or the opposite happens? That's what we're talking about. This only happens when we're willing to be humble and let go and truly hand it over to God. As a result, we remain on alert. Why? Because your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion. And you have to think that maybe Peter's remembering what the Lord said to him, right? Luke 22, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat. Could you imagine God telling you that, just a thought? But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Peter understood the predatory nature of Satan, and he has fallen in this area. The word adversary means enemy. It's one who desires to do you in. Of course, how do we deal with Satan? Again, I know there's all kinds of wacky ideas out there of binding the devil and casting him out, but the text doesn't say that. The text says, resist him. firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world 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 to him be the glory or be dominion forever and ever. Amen. The glory ones in Jude. The answer is to remain firm in your faith, standing on God's truth, resting in your salvation. It's defensive. Peter's comments in this verse show us this is how God works with all of us, knowing the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. The text is saying to keep going. because of the eternal glory in Christ that we have awaiting us. In spite of the circumstances, the setbacks, the personal loss, we can resist the enemy because we know God loves us and will fully save us. 2 Corinthians 4, it says, Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day for momentary light affliction. It never feels that way, but the scripture says for momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Timothy 2.10, the encouragement is, for this reason, I endure how many things? For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen." For who? For my brethren, for the elect, for those, for God's people. So that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. That eternal verse, that temporal perspective that I talk about oh so often. So we resist the enemy by standing on God's word, not allowing ourselves to be carried about by every wind of doctrine, by every emotion that creeps up in our situation. We stand anchored. In the truth of scripture, this is the cleats or the sandals, if you would, of Ephesians 5, the armor, the armor of Ephesians 6, I'm sorry, the armor of God with those cleats that are anchored in, the sandals with those long spikes, anchored into what? Anchored into the gospel. We stand anchored in the truth of scripture, even to the point of death. This is the life of a believer. This is the life of a church member. And this is the life that God has for every one of his children. I'm just going to read the text one more time, and then we will sing. I'll pray, and then we'll sing and be dismissed. 1 Peter 5. I'm going to start in verse 5 and read right down to 11. You younger men likewise, be subject to your elders. In all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Be of sober spirit. Be on alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist him. Firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world 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 to Him be dominion forever and ever. And all God's people said, Amen. Let us pray, and then we will sing. Father, we thank You for Your grace. You're a good God. And Lord, all of us who know You here today, we confess before You, we We need your mercy regarding just our lack of humility, our arrogance, our pride, Lord. And we pray that you would grant grace, that you would help us to be humble. We can't do it in and of ourselves. It's only through you and all good things and all of the good works and anything we can do. We know from your word these things were prepared by you beforehand. And every good thing is from your hand. We pray that You would help us to see that. We pray when life really comes at us in a negative way, or we really struggle, that, Father, You would help us to remember Your Word, that You would help us to lean on Your Word, to really be anchored in Your Word, and to truly trust You with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with everything, that we would filter everything through Your Word. May we really cling to the salvation that you, Jesus, won for us. Father, you're a loving God, one who saved us, one who has planned everything, one who is all-powerful and knows everything. And we pray you'd help us to think this way, to be controlled by these things, and to rest in the gospel, and to rest in your hands. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.