1 Peter 5:1-11

We do have a new year, but we have the same God.

And so we come to God's word expecting many of the same things as we have in the past.

I wonder if you know what outsiders need.

They need solidarity.

Sometimes they need encouragement.

I wonder if you know what wanderers need.

Well, wanderers need guidance.

And what do the vulnerable need?

The vulnerable needs protection.

And it's all of these things that the audience of 1 Peter needs.

Peter is writing to Christians who are in exile of a sort.

They're out of the Holy Land.

They're away from the place they've gotten used to knowing about God's promises.

If you can imagine the earliest Christians still hanging on to quite a bit of the Jewish traditions.

That the Temple or the Holy Land would have had significance.

And being located elsewhere could be a problem.

And indeed they did.

They faced trials.

They faced problems of that sort.

They were in the diaspora.

Peter addresses the letter to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion.

And Pontus, Galatia, and so on.

He names all these different places that are outside of Israel.

These people are expats.

And they need to hear from their own country.

The difficulties that they were facing were really sufferings.

Hardships of various types.

But particularly the type of hardship that a Christian faces in a society that does not share its beliefs.

The government.

Different social relationships.

People's reputation.

All of this stuff was critical for how the Christians would live.

And how they were experiencing life as God's people.

And so Peter wants to reassure them.

You can live in this society and respond in godly ways.

Don't give up hope.

You can live and respond in godly ways.

And so we come to the end of the book here actually in chapter 5.

And this little passage is addressed to the elders.

As you would have heard, I exhort the elders among you.

But it's also addressed to the wider congregation.

Its message is quite straightforward.

Elders should lead the church like Christ the great shepherd.

Everyone should remain humble before God.

Because God will restore them in the end.

As you can see in verse 6.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God.

And in verse 10.

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ.

Will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

This is the great promise that is upheld in this letter.

What appears several times though is the theme of glory.

And I don't know if you caught it when we read the passage.

Glory is laced throughout the entire passage.

And it comes in two forms.

First is the glory of God.

And second is the glory of oneself.

As many of you will know, I really do like America.

It is my favorite country.

So we'll just get that out of the way for the record.

But what I'd like to talk about this morning is the senator from Nevada.

Someone who has recently passed away.

Maybe you saw this in the news.

Harry Reid was a senator from Nevada.

And he of course received all sorts of tributes.

All sorts of words of kindness from people who knew him.

Senator Reid was one of a kind.

He was honest.

He was tough as nails.

He ran a tight ship.

He was a caring friend.

What one politician said really caught my attention.

Above all, in everything that he did,

Senator Reid was a consummate American.

A consummate American.

That's the kind of tribute that someone would give to a senator in the U.S.

Americans love America.

Most of the time.

That is a nation that is among other things a source of pride, importance, and even glory.

Now it's not always a source of those sorts of things.

But it can be.

You may know the star-spangled banner.

Now it, that is the flag,

catches the gleam of the morning's first beam.

And full glory reflected now shines in the stream.

Tis the star-spangled banner.

O long may it wave

over the land of the free and the home of the brave.

In full glory reflected now, it shines.

I'm not going to rattle on about America, however great or not so great it might be.

But it should come as no surprise that the Bible is going to give a stern warning about our own self-importance.

It's going to give a stern warning about our own self-importance and the sources of that self-importance and glory.

The warning comes through very clearly in the first four verses of today's passage.

Now remember, these are instructions mainly for the elders of the church.

It will have a broader application than that, but that is the initial target.

So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ,

as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you.

Not for shameful gain, but eagerly.

Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Notice how glory occurs in verses 1 and 4.

As a witness of the sufferings of Christ, we also partake in the glory that is going to be revealed.

And then in verse 4, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

What these instructions show, and it's not particularly evident at first,

is that elders can be particularly prone to glorify themselves.

And there are really three ways that leadership might go wrong.

The glorification part will become clear later on.

Three ways that leadership might go wrong.

Leadership can go wrong when an elder feels obligated to serve, rather than delighted to serve.

Obligated to serve, rather than delighted to serve.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly,

as God would have you.

Leadership might go wrong when an elder pastors for gain, rather than for the people.

When an elder seeks to build a bank account, instead of building up the good of the people of God.

The passage goes on to say, not for shameful gain, but eagerly.

Not for shameful gain, but eagerly.

That is, eager for the people of God.

Thirdly, leadership might go wrong when an elder bullies the congregation, rather than serving as a worthy example.

Verse 3 says, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

Not domineering over those in your charge, but examples to the flock.

These might be framed as three thoughts of problematic pastoring.

Pastors might be in trouble if they're thinking, well, it's what I have to do.

You know, I signed a contract.

Or it pays the bills, and for what it is, you know, it's decent money.

Or, people just need to do what I say.

Things would go a lot smoother around here if you all just listened to me.

Three thoughts of problematic pastoring.

Sometimes, we might be able to say some of those things about other jobs.

But God's chosen leaders must tend after the sheep.

This is a holy calling, and a special calling.

And so, what about glory?

What about glory?

I said this passage has something, or a lot to do with glory.

And it's framed.

Those instructions we just read are framed by this reference to glory.

And I don't think the problem is simply that those mottos,

the thoughts I just gave you, are ways of glorifying ourselves.

It doesn't seem that straightforward.

They don't big up the pastor, necessarily.

I mean, they do, in a way.

But the problem is, really, that those methods of leadership

have lost sight of the glory of God.

They've lost sight of the glory of God,

and put the pastor first, and the people second.

It's a failure to recall that God has made us a participant in his very own glory,

and that he's promised an inheritance that will not fade.

It's a matter of losing sight, of taking our eye off the prize,

of not watching the point of focus.

And so, what I'd like to do this morning is focus.

Let's all focus, elders and congregation alike,

on that glory, the glory of God.

And we're going to see three things.

God reveals his glory,

God gives his glory,

and God draws us to his glory.

God reveals his glory,

he gives his glory over to us,

and he draws us, or invites us,

into his own glory.

As I said, Christians, and especially elders,

are partakers in the glory that is going to be revealed.

That is the first verse.

The language here clearly designates a type of glory.

This is a to-be-revealed glory.

It's the glory that is going to be revealed.

It might be soon, it's about to be revealed,

or it might be some unspecified point in the future.

But it's not the glory that you now see,

or that we've now experienced through scripture,

or through experience.

It's not the glory that's been fully realized.

It is yet to come.

Now, we know full well that God reveals himself

through creation.

He reveals his glory in creation.

Many of you could quote to me,

Psalm 19, 1.

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

So, Peter can't be thinking about that kind of glory,

the kind of creation glory,

the glory that you experience

when you go on a trip through the mountains in Scotland

or watch a National Geographic program.

Right?

This isn't blue planet glory.

But we have, I think,

had a taste of this to-be-revealed glory.

We have had a taste of it.

It's not the same as the glory we see

when we look out the window.

But we have had a little bit of a taste,

even if it's going to be revealed.

Who is the radiance of the glory of God

and the exact imprint of his nature?

Who became flesh and dwelt among us?

Whose glory we have seen.

Glory is of the only Son from the Father,

full of grace and truth.

This is Christ, obviously.

God reveals his glory in Christ.

And dare I say,

through the incarnation,

he has given us a meager revelation

of the glory that will be revealed

when Christ comes in full glory

in his second coming.

We're told that every knee will bow

and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord.

There was a huge mismatch

between the revelation that came in Christ

and the revelation to come in Christ.

But we have nonetheless

had the revelation in Christ

and gotten a taste of the glory of God.

But this is not just the

to be revealed type of glory.

Peter says we're partakers in that glory.

Partakers in that glory.

Now, how can we be partakers in that glory

when Paul says,

for all have sinned and fallen short

of the glory of God?

When I think of the glory of God,

I often think of that's something

that we fall short of.

The majesty of God.

The expectations of God.

The Christ-likeness of God.

The very image of God.

We have not attained these things

and yet we are partakers of it.

This is a classic case of God's work

being already started but not yet complete.

It's God's work being already started

and not yet complete.

a real, real feature

of the Christian life.

And this is why Paul can also say,

and we all with unveiled face

beholding the glory of the Lord

are being transformed

into the same image

from one degree of glory to another.

We have fallen short

but God is in the process

of restoring us.

And his own glory

and our beholding of that glory

has a big role to play.

So you are a participant

in the glory of God

that is and will be revealed.

And God first reveals his glory.

Second, God gives his glory.

Verse 4 says,

when Christ appears,

we will receive

the unfading crown of glory.

The unfading crown of glory.

Or the crown that doesn't fade.

That is the crown of glory.

Now, crowns in those days

were usually made of wreaths.

You'd be familiar with that.

A Roman or a Greek soldier

kind of celebrating a victory.

Or someone in a contest,

an Olympian or something like that

would have a wreath of leaves.

Right?

So take your advent wreath,

take the candles off

and put it on your head.

That's what they did.

Okay?

But you can also think

of a golden crown

because a leafy crown

will obviously fade.

It's fading.

It's a fading crown.

Right?

Those leaves will eventually droop

and the thing will kind of

fall apart and so on.

So let's imagine still

a golden crown,

a metal crown.

Something that's suitable

for royalty.

Even those crowns

will fade.

And a lot of jewelry fades,

doesn't it?

Right?

If I'm lifting something metallic,

I try to take my ring off.

Right?

So if I'm fixing a bicycle

or using gym equipment

or something like that,

I'll take my ring off

because it's going to

scratch up the gold.

I still remember buying

this wedding ring actually

and the sales person

left me with an invitation

to what?

Come back any time

and get that thing shined.

You can come back any time

and I'll put it in the machine

and we'll shine it up.

And sure enough,

a few months later,

I found myself walking

by the store

and I thought,

why not?

Let's shine it up.

And I stopped him.

Jewelry fades.

And so we polish the silver.

We get our ring shined.

We have diamonds cleaned up.

We rub our watches.

We rub our watches.

But the crown of glory

will not fade.

And that crown of glory

refers to our future inheritance.

Our future inheritance in Christ.

If we go back to the first chapter

of 1 Peter,

it's just one page to the left.

And look in verse 4.

Peter says,

we've been born again

to a living hope.

And verse 4 says,

to an inheritance

that is imperishable,

undefiled,

and unfading,

kept in heaven

for you.

In that passage,

and back here in chapter 5,

Peter's referring to our salvation.

That's the inheritance.

The inheritance

of our fully restored humanity.

Salvation is not just being,

in a kind of simple way,

taken out of sin

and into heaven,

or out of a destiny to hell

and into a destiny of heaven.

It is that.

But salvation refers

to the full-orbed blessings

of God in Christ.

And that includes

a fully restored people.

This is when we will worship God

and love one another

without stain or blemish.

The day when we will say,

holy is the Lamb

and worthy is the Lord

to be worshipped

forever and ever.

It is the day we say that

without reservation.

That is our inheritance.

Holy and fully committed

to God.

That is the unfading crown

that will be ours.

This glory will be revealed.

It will be a gift

that does not fade.

And this glory, lastly,

also belongs to God.

It is his eternal glory.

Have a look at verse 10.

After you have suffered

for a little while,

the God of all grace,

who has called you

to his eternal glory

in Christ,

will himself restore,

confirm,

strengthen,

and establish you.

This is God's eternal glory.

And he has called us

to it.

There are two points

I'd like us to see here.

The first is

the more obvious one

that I've already said,

sort of.

That glory belongs to God.

You may know the hymn,

To God be the glory,

great things he has done.

And that's the first thing

that this phrase

brought to mind for me.

I found that the lyrics

and tune for this hymn

were written by two Americans

in the 1870s,

but that the hymn

gained large popularity

in Britain, actually.

It was recommended

to Billy Graham

for his London crusade

in 1954

and was a great success.

There's a very good version

of this hymn, also,

recorded at the Royal Albert Hall.

It took me right back

to summer of 2019,

or 2020,

and being there

in the living room

with one of the IPC Psalms

picked on YouTube

and singing along

with the Royal Albert Hall

Orchestra.

And how do you think

that version begins?

What instrument do you think

starts that version,

To God be the glory,

in the Royal Albert Hall?

Clarinet?

Flute?

Percussion?

Trombone?

It's a trumpet.

It's a trumpet, of course.

Trumpets are the sound

of glory.

And that's not just

a choice of musical arrangement.

That's really

a biblical musical preference.

The Lord will descend

from heaven

with a cry of command

and with the sound

of the trumpet

of God.

1 Thessalonians.

The trumpet will sound,

and the dead will be raised,

imperishable.

That's 1 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians.

The trumpet signals

a glory that belongs

to God.

To God be the glory.

One consequence

of this glory

belonging to God

is that he doesn't

share it with anyone else,

at least parts of it.

Isaiah says,

I am the Lord,

that is my name.

My glory I give

to no other,

nor my praise

to carved idols.

God's warning his people.

Don't go making

little gods

and giving glory to them.

Don't package my majesty

in some wooden figure.

In John's gospel,

when Lazarus has died,

Jesus is standing

at the tomb

with Lazarus'

sister Mary.

Excuse me, Martha.

And Jesus and Martha

are standing there,

and you know what happens.

Martha says,

let's roll away,

no, Jesus says,

let's roll away the tomb.

Let's roll away the tomb.

And Martha says,

oh, Jesus,

I don't think I would do that.

I just think,

maybe give him a few days,

right?

Why?

Because it's going to smell.

And Jesus says,

no, no,

let's roll the stone away.

And he adds this

to Martha.

Did I not tell you

that if you believed,

you would see

the glory of God?

If you believed,

you will see

the glory of God.

Jesus is referring

to God's glory

that belongs to him,

that shows up again

and again

in his mighty works.

Who else's glory

is Martha going to see

when it comes to

raising her brother

from the dead?

She doesn't know

it's coming.

But indeed,

it comes.

And that's the corollary

of glory belonging to God.

It's not our glory.

We are participants

in the revealed glory

that God has promised

to grant us

in Christ.

But there is a level

of glory

that the people saw

in the life of Christ

and that we witness

in the scriptures

that belongs

wholly to God.

Jesus raising Lazarus

from the dead

belongs to that category.

And it's not something

that we will know

from Jesus' side of things.

Jesus miraculously

feeds people.

He raises men

from the dead.

He knows the thoughts

of his dinner guests.

He outwits the intelligentsia

of his day.

He's in a different category.

He's in a different category.

Jesus does things

that we don't do

to get the glory.

The kind of things

that we do

that get sort of

importance and honor

and praise and so on

are not like that.

Jesus is in a different category

because he has the glory

that belongs to God.

So this glory belongs to God.

And secondly,

glory has a special relationship

to suffering.

This comes through

in the beginning

of verse 10.

And after you have suffered

for a little while

the God of all grace

who has called you

to his eternal glory

in Christ

will himself restore,

confirm, strengthen,

and establish you

after you have suffered

for a little while.

Paul says in Romans,

for I consider

that the sufferings

of this present time

are not worth comparing

with the glory

that is to be revealed

in us.

This is what a lot

of the letter of Peter

has to do with.

This is what a lot of it

is what it's about.

As I said at the beginning,

people are undergoing trial,

hardship.

What do they look to?

They get encouragement

from God,

looking to the glory

that is going to be revealed

and that is promised

to them.

And there's all

these comparisons.

The suffering

that you suffer

for a little while

compared to

what type of glory?

Eternal glory

of God.

God's glory

is revealed.

He gives it to us

and then He invites us

to it.

We need to behold it.

We need to put it

before our eyes.

We need to read about

the glory of God.

We need to remind

one another of it.

We need to hang it

on the wall

and look at it

every time we walk

through the room.

It's a part

of God's very being

and something

we need to encounter

again and again.

And yet we must

also respond

to that glory,

that glory of the Lord

with humility.

If we go back

to verse 6,

this is really

the kind of crux

of the passage.

Humble yourselves

therefore

under the mighty

hand of God

so that at the

proper time

He may exalt you.

Cast all your anxieties

on Him

because He cares

for you.

Peter says

to give your

sufferings

and your worries

over to God.

Trust that He

will care for you.

Resist the devil

and know that God

will protect you.

Hardship,

anxiety,

and even Satan

himself can take

so much

from us.

Those things

can take so much

from us.

Happiness,

they take the people

we love,

they take our security,

they take our health,

just to name a few things.

But none

of those things,

no hardship,

no worry,

no activity

of Satan

can compromise

the inheritance

of glory

that God

will give to those

who know Jesus Christ.

They cannot touch it.

This is the inheritance

that God now

invites us to.

Let me conclude

with some promises

of Scripture.

The prophet Habakkuk

said,

for the earth

will be filled

with the knowledge

of the glory

of the Lord

as the waters

cover the sea.

And John

in the book of Revelation

picks up on this

and says,

when the congregation

is gathered around

the Lamb in heaven,

they will say,

worthy are you,

our Lord and God,

to receive honor

and power

and glory.

For you created

all things

and by your will

they existed

and were created.

the new heavens

and the new earth

will have a new city,

the new Jerusalem.

And that city,

we are told,

has no need

of sun

or moon.

For the glory

of God

will give it

its light

and its lamp

will be

the Lamb,

Jesus Christ.

And this is why

we say,

glory be to the Father

and to the Son

and to the Holy Ghost

as it was in the beginning

is now

and never shall be

world without end.

Amen.

Amen.