Lesson
12 April 28, 2004
Review:
(1) The Immediate Goal—Endurance2
“Endurance”
is hupomeno (upomenw,) which
carries the idea of remaining under the testing in spite of the length and
degree of pressure.
“Produces” (NASB) is
katergazomai, from kata, “down” and ergazomai, “to
work, labor, therefore to produce, perform.”
When we
keep running away or reacting to the tools God uses, the circumstances and
situations we face in life, we hinder the process of the perfect work God wants
to do. But what is that?
(2) The Long-Range Goal —
Spiritual Maturity [1:4]
“Let
endurance have its perfect result,” i.e., its finished product. But how?
The
purpose is declared in the statement, “that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.”
“Perfect” is teleios (teleioj) It
means perfect in the sense of “complete.” It means “having reached its end,
complete, finished, mature.”
“And complete” further explains.
The word here is o`lo,klhroj , “complete in all its parts, whole.”
“Lacking in nothing” tops off this
emphasis on God’s purpose to bring us to spiritual maturity; it emphasizes that
in the process we will not fall short in anything; we will not lack anything.
God uses
the CHP's of life, the tests of life to develop our character, to mold us into
the Person He wants us to be. Conformed
to the image of Christ.
... casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you. 1 Pet 5:7
When we
handle suffering by our own methods, we act in arrogance and rebellion, and we
reject the mercy and wisdom of God that is so desperately needed to handle life
even when in prosperity.
There are two major mistakes that we often make in the midst of our
trials:
first, we talk too much to people
about our problems and too little to the only one who is able to provide, the
Lord;
second, we are prone to turn to our
own strategies to handle those problems.
Having
defeated Satan and his principalities (Col. 2:15; Heb.
The
Apostle Peter develops this theme of Jesus as our perfect example also: 1 Peter
2:21-23
Peter
first points to Christ as the perfect example of walking by faith in the midst
of the suffering and trials of life (vs. 21).
Then, in
verses 22 and 23a he shows us how Jesus refused to use the typical solutions
and strategies we all tend to use to handle our trials.
Finally,
verse 23b illustrates how the Lord handled the problem, He “kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”
He
thought not of Himself, but resting His whole life in the Father’s hands, He
was then free to think of others.
In verse
7 we have a command to cast all our anxiety on the Lord.
Checking
the context we find the principle stated in verse 5, “God is opposed to the
proud, but gives grace to the humble,” then Peter says in vs:6, “humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God.”
By the
choice of this word "mighty", Peter is reminding us that God alone has the power needed to handle the
problems of life.
We are
all too often afraid to cast ourselves totally on the sufficiency of God's
grace.
Verse
6 “That He may exalt you (lift
you up) at the proper time” clearly refers to God’s wisdom and ability
to handle our problems in His own time and in His own way—a better time and a
better way.
It shows
us how we are to humble ourselves. “Casting” is evpiri,ptw, “to
throw something on something or on someone else, to deposit with another for
safe keeping.”
“Casting”
(an adverbial participle) is the result of “humbling ourselves” and
precedes our experiencing His care, provision for the need.
“Care”
is me,rimna
meaning, “care, concern, thought, anxiety.”
The verb form, merimna,w means
“to take thought for, to be anxious about,” or “to care for, be concerned
about.”
[Note:
For examples of the usage of both the verb and the noun compare Matthew 6:25,
27, 28, 31, 34; 10:41; 13:22; Luke 8:14; 10:41; 1 Corinthians 7:32, 33, 34;
12:25; 2 Corinthians 11:28; Philippians 2:20; 4:6.]
This
states the reason and constitutes a promise to claim. Literally “all your care
(the whole of it), casting on Him, because it is a care to Him or it matters to
Him concerning you.”
First
Peter 5:7 is a quote from Psalm 55:22, another wonderful promise to claim.