[Notes of a sermon preached at Holy Trinity Norwich in August 2017.]

Christian faith under pressure.

Over 200 million Christians are experiencing serious persecution in more than 50 different countries.  ‘In Nigeria, Christian girls are being abducted and impregnated by Boko Haram. In Egypt, extremists are paying men to abduct women, force them into marriage and convert them to Islam. And in Pakistan, women are being kidnapped, raped and forced to change their religion.’ (Evangelicals Now).

A recent survey of Christians in the UK, found that 9 out of 10 feel that their faith is marginalised by society.  Nearly half said that they had personally experienced prejudice.  Over a quarter said that they feel unable to be open about their faith in the workplace.

Many of us feel the pressure of living as a Christian in an increasingly secular society, in a job with an unsympathetic boss, in a relationship where the other person isn’t a believer.

This is nothing new.  Peter wrote this first Epistle to a church that was under pressure (4:12f, 19).  5:1 begins with an untranslated ‘therefore’.  This is what you need to do to keep going under pressure.

1. Keep going – with integrity, 1-4

Elders, overseers, shepherds.

Jn 21:16 – “Feed my lambs…take care of my sheep…feed my sheep.”

Vv 2f – integrity of:-

motive – ‘not because you must, but because you are willing’.

goal – ‘not greedy for money but eager to serve’.

method – ‘not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock’.

Reward: ‘When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away’, v4.

Jo Pavey’s bronze medal.

Take the long view.  And keep going – with integrity.

2. Keep going – with humility, 5-7

 ‘Clothed with humility.’  Jn 13:4 – Jesus ‘took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist.’

Proud Peter objected: “You will never wash my feet.”  “Yes I will, and you must wash one another’s feet.”

Peter turn s from humility towards one another to humility ‘under God’s mighty hand’, v6.  How? By ‘casting all our anxieties on God’, v7.

Rucksack illustration.

Again, be patient: in due time he will lift you up, v6.

So keep going – with humility.

3. Keep going – even when you stumble, 8-11

Peter had stumbled even as he left the starting blocks.  When Jesus began to teach that he must suffer rejection and death, Peter stubbornly rebuked him.  “Get behind me, Satan!” Mk 9:32.

Peter was learning the hard way about ‘our enemy the devil’, v8.  Lk 22:31f “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back [to me], strengthen your brothers.”

The devil prowls, but Jesus prays.

So when in v10 Peter assures his readers that the Lord will restore, confirm, strengthen, establish others, he knows what he’s talking about.

God is the God of all grace, v10.  Grace to cover all of yesterday’s failures, support you in all of today’s pressures, to lead you safely home to ‘his eternal glory in Christ’.