Security, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In Christ, we have both a beautiful freedom and an unchanging security, but it's possible to live life unaware of these graces, like a freed prisoner still carrying around the ball and chain of his former life.

Today, Rich shares five habits that we can develop to help us enjoy our freedom and security in Christ. Let's listen to this message on 1 Peter 5, 6-9 titled Security. You have your copy of Scriptures open to 1 Peter, chapter 5.

We're getting close to the end of this book. Just so you know, when we're done with 1 Peter, we're going to go to 2 Peter. There's a lot in 2 Peter that is very apropos for where we are today. It's the Word of God, right? So it's timeless.

And so it's good for us for all time. But there's a lot in 2 Peter that is very, very important for us to understand how we, as a church, engage our culture and our current context. The theme for 1 Peter is live as people who are free, which is a direct quote from chapter 2, verse 16. Live as people who are free. Do we need to know our freedom in Christ, that we have been freed from the power and the penalty of our sin and the necessity of God's wrath? We've been freed from that. But we are not just free from something we are free to. And what are we free to? We are free to know God and to walk with Him. That's the very purpose of our design. He created us for that very reason. So reconciled to Christ and being in Christ with His righteousness, we are fully accepted by God, reconciled to Him, and free to know Him and walk with Him. That's our freedom.

So understand the two sides there. And in this series, in chapter 5, we're looking at the community of the free, the community of the free. We began by looking at servant leadership, definitions of the community of the free. The first one is servant leadership.

The second one is submission and humility. Because to be a follower of Christ, we have surrendered ourselves to Him. And Christ came to rescue us from our self-centeredness. So we're all recovering control addicts.

Right? And so the community of the free is that we display a disposition of submission and humility. And humility is not thinking less of myself. Humility is thinking of myself less. There are greater things to think about than me. So today we're looking at security. The community of the free, part three. I didn't rehearse that.

My apologies for that. Security. The security that is ours in Christ Jesus. And you can imagine, because Peter was writing to a people who were suffering, empire-wide, the Christian were suffering.

They had a bad name because of the rumors that had been spread about them, probably because of the great Roman fire in 64 AD. So I want to talk today about the five habits to enjoy your freedom and security in Christ. Five habits to enjoy your freedom and security and security in Christ.

And we're going to go back to verse six, where we ended last week. Verse six, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at a proper time He may exalt you. Humble yourselves.

Habit number one to enjoy your freedom and security. Focus your dependence on God by setting your mind on Him instead of yourself. Setting your mind on Him instead of yourself.

That's the idea of humble yourselves. It's not thinking less of myself. I must understand my myself in light of God's self-disclosure. I am who God says I am. But I set my mind on, not me, but on God and His character and His purpose. Think of yourself less and more of God's character and purpose.

Paul writes this beautifully in Colossians chapter 3, verses 2 and 3. Set your minds. Think about that word set.

Use a word picture. Set your mind, the foundation of all of your attitudes. Set your mind on things that are above, not things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Isn't that a beautiful verse of our security? Your life is hidden with Christ in God. You can't undo that. Nothing can undo that.

That's security. That's what we should be contemplating. And listen, let me say this. When it says set your mind on things that are things above, that is not to deny or ignore what's going on here on the earth.

No, there's a reality there, and we need to see that reality for what it is. We're going to be talking about that here in a little bit. But what's going on around me is not what controls my attitude. What controls my attitude and an attitude? Attitude is what? A habit of thought.

Say that with me. An attitude is a habit of thought. What are your habits of thought? The rut that I am in with my thoughts is, who is God and what is he about?

That's his self-disclosure, okay? That habit of thought is the things above, okay? And by that light, I see everything else. And so I recognize and I feel and I know my security because God is good, and he is sovereign. He is the benevolent sovereign, okay? So it's not to deny the reality and the brokenness here on earth. Let me give you an example of this, and this is, you know, because this is Peter. Peter writes this, hence the name First Peter, right?

So he writes this, and we know Peter for a lot of things. He had some really striking things said to him by Jesus. You remember when Jesus predicted his death? He says, the Son of Man is going to be given up and be handed over to the Gentiles, and he will be crucified, and the third day he will rise again. And Peter comes to Jesus, think about this now, Peter comes to Jesus, the infinite sovereign Son of God Messiah, and he says, Lord, that ain't gonna happen.

Rich Powell translation, right? What did Jesus say? Get behind me, Satan. Now that's all we remember, but here's why Jesus said that, because here's the rut, the attitude from which that statement came from Peter, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

In other words, the things of man were, I am going to be in control, I am going to manipulate, I will make sure that the outcome that I want is going to happen. And you know what happens when we do that? We miss entirely what God is up to. And that's why Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. Peter, you are so focused on you that you're missing what God is doing. See, there's no security in that.

That's all up to us to make things secure for ourselves. So focus your dependence on God by setting your mind on him instead of yourself. Why God? Because there's a beautiful verse tucked in Psalms chapter 18 verse 30. This God, his way is what?

Perfect. The word of the Lord proves true. He is a shield for those who take refuge in him. That's a good verse. It makes all the sense in the world that we will focus our minds, we will set our minds on this God whose way is perfect, and his word proves true, and he is my shield.

Why? Because I'm in Christ. My life is hidden with Christ in him.

So this, I'm asking you to discipline your minds this morning. You are capable of that as one who's created in the image of God. Discipline your mind to focus your dependence on God by setting your mind on him and not on yourself. The second habit to enjoy your freedom and security, number two, remember and rest in the truth that you are the object of God's loving concern. Remember and rest in the truth that you are the object of God's loving concern for how long? From eternity to eternity, I am the object of God's loving concern, 1 Peter 5 7. You know this verse, right? What does it say? Cast all your cares, anxieties on him.

Why? He cares for you. Peter is writing to believers. Believers can do this because he cares for you.

Cast all your anxieties on him. And why would he be saying this to the people? Because again, remember, Christians at that time were largely a displaced people and they were a disdained people in the secular Roman Empire. Oh, you're a Christian. What did you do to torch Rome? Christians oftentimes were considered by the Romans to be atheists because they didn't worship the Pantheon. They were cannibals because they ate the body and the blood of Christ.

They were incestuous because they called and communicated their love to each other as brother and sister. Remember and rest in the truth that you are the object of God's loving concern from eternity. And so it is possible that the people, the Christians of Peter's day in Asia Minor, could have been very preoccupied with worry.

What's coming next? A fearful preoccupation. And it could be that in the hand of the Lord, as he talks about, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. It is a hand of deliverance, but it is also a hand of discipline.

And maybe they felt, God, your hand is kind of heavy right now. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.