8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:8-11 –NIV)
Up to this point in his letter, Peter has been telling us how to live as Christians—to “rid ourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind”, to bear up under unjust suffering without wanting to retaliate, to be willing to suffer on behalf of others just as Jesus did—to be humble and entrust everything to God, just as Jesus did when he went to the cross. Now Peter is giving us the final instructions that we need to know in order to do these things: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.”
In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul also explained how to live as a follower of Christ—to be completely humble and gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love…to not let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen…to get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice…to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave us…to be imitators of God, and, as dearly loved children and live lives of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. The apostle Paul also told us that among us there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. These things are all from Ephesians chapters 4 and 5. Paul finished his letter by explaining in Ephesians chapter 6 that, in living our lives as followers of Jesus, we are fighting a battle that’s not with flesh and blood, but with world rulers of darkness and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. Let me read the passage—Ephesians 6:10-18:
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:10-18 –NIV)
God gives us the equipment we need to fight the battle, and to win—truth, righteousness, peace with God (we used to be at war with God), faith, assurance of salvation, the word of God and prayer. Paul says, “Be alert and keep on praying for all the saints.” We are fighting a battle with real spiritual enemies and against the devil’s schemes. (By the way, Paul also said to the Ephesians, “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.”
Peter, to get back to today’s passage, compares our enemy with a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. If you are devoured, you’re gone—history. To avoid being devoured, he says you have to be self-controlled—literally, sober—not drunk—and you have to be alert—wide awake. The picture is that of unexpected attack. If you are not prepared—if you are daydreaming or spiritually drunk (or literally drunk), you’ll be swallowed up.
As I’ve pointed out in the past, we have to understand that we are up against a real, if unseen, enemy. Peter talks about the devil, which literally means “the slanderer,” and is frequently used in reference to Satan, whose name means “adversary.” It sounds as though there were just one adversary. But he is using this way of speaking in the same way we do when we speak of the general fighting a certain battle in a certain way, but certainly know that the army actually did the fighting while the general provided the direction—or when we speak of a coach winning a game when the whole team actually played the game. The coach provided the training and winning strategy. Our enemy consists of numerous “unclean” spirits—demons. Peter is referring to their leader.
Now I want to point out something. C. S. Lewis, in “The Screwtape Letters,” said (through his character, Screwtape) that people are likely to make two mistakes in the way they think about demons. One is to think that they don’t exist. The other is to pay too much attention to them.
In a war, to think that your enemy doesn’t exist would certainly be a fatal mistake. No one would argue with that. But I’ve read many places where C. S. Lewis has been quoted and the author has concluded that we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the devil, but rather, pay close attention to Jesus. We certainly should fix our eyes on Jesus and pay close attention to him. But, if you are fighting a war, you need to know all you can about your enemy—how he thinks, what sort of strategies he may use, what his weapons are. Wars are won on the basis of intelligence as much as on the basis of fighting ability. We need to know as much as we can about our enemy. Even in the case of Peter’s “lion” analogy, it would be good to know where a lion might be waiting to pounce, and to avoid such places. (Where do you think there might be a “lion” waiting? Think about it.) In any case, as I remember, when C. S. Lewis was talking about having excessive interest in demons, he was talking about getting interested and involved in the occult, not about learning as much as we can about the methods and strategies of the devil.
At this point, I won’t go into all the methods and strategies that I know of that are used by demons, but here are a few things to keep in mind. The devil is a liar (John 8:44) and he is crafty. (Gen. 3:1) Satan (and the evil spirits which follow him) like to appear as something they are not. Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:14) The devil may appear to be very beautiful and his teachings very wonderful and desirable—even lovely and peaceful. They may carry a considerable amount of truth. But remember that even a microscopic amount of botulism in good food will kill you. Test everything by the word of God. (That means you have to study the word of God, by the way.)
Although demons are able to interact with the physical world and to speak to people (the devil carried Jesus to the highest point of the temple and spoke to him to tempt him)—although they can interact with the physical world and speak directly to people, they are generally more subtle. For example, false teachings that are contrary to the word of God can be and are taught by demons through men. (Read 1 Timothy 4:1, 2, Cor. 11:13-15 and 1 John 4:1). False teachers may or may not know that their teachings come from demons.
The analogies of both Peter and Paul indicate the battle is ongoing and that attacks can come at any time. And since the references to attacks by the devil are at the ends of both Peter’s and Paul’s letters, I think it’s safe to relate them to the rest of the content of those letters. In the case of 1 Peter, at least some of the attacks we may experience will be through persecution by men. We are guaranteed to have persecutions. But many, or perhaps most, attacks will be more direct, but also more subtle. We are encouraged by demons to do the opposite of what the word of God says. The demons know the weaknesses of our flesh and try to exploit them to the fullest extent that they can get away with.
If the word of God says, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men (1 Peter 2:13),” the demons will say, “Rebel against every authority instituted among men.” Only, they won’t say it aloud, but rather put the idea into your head. It seems apparent that they are also able to give us feelings of rebellion and encourage us to act according to our feelings.
If the word of God says, “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9),” the demons will encourage you to simply not offer hospitality. And if you overcome and offer any hospitality at all, they will tell you to, at least, grumble about it. And, if you don’t grumble about it, they will tell you to boast about it (but subtly) and hopefully, nobody will realize that you are boasting (and though you know you won’t be storing up any treasure in heaven, that’s OK because you will be honored by men).
If the word of God tells you to be completely humble, gentle and patient, bearing one another in love (Eph. 4:2), the demons will tell that you have every right to be impatient, overbearing and to simply blast anyone who rubs you the wrong way.
If the word of God tells you that love always trusts (1 Cor. 13:7), the demons tell you to always believe the worst about the meaning and motives of anyone speaking to you.
If the word of God tells you, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (the end of last weeks passage),” the demons will tell you that if you don’t take care of the problem yourself, no one else will.
If the word of God says you are “filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8,9), the demons will say, “Grumble and complain always, because nothing is going to turn out right and you’re probably lost anyway.”
The demons will also say that you are the only one who is having so much trouble. But God says through Peter in today’s passage that your brothers all over the world are undergoing the same kinds of sufferings. (verse 9) Who are you going to believe, God, who sent his Son, Jesus, to die in your place, or the devil who wants to destroy you?
Peter says to resist the devil, standing firm in the faith. (And by the way, as I’ve pointed out before, this spiritual battle is not fought alone. Peter is writing to the church, not individuals. (The verb resist—resist the devil is plural.) So let’s keep on praying for all the saints. That’s what the word of God says…and not just for their health or physical circumstances, but for victory in the spiritual battle. We need to confess our sins to each other and pray for each other. This is not a battle we can fight alone. Satan appeals to your pride and says that you must fight the battle alone: “Don’t tell anyone what you are struggling with.” But we must be humble and ask others to fight on our behalf.)
Peter says to resist the devil, standing firm in the faith. Paul gives us the “full armor of God.” Faith is just one of the components. We also have the truth, the truth of the word of God—and righteousness—the righteousness of Christ. We have peace with God and the assurance of salvation. With God’s salvation, ultimately, nothing can harm us. Finally, we have the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. Jesus used the “sword of the Spirit” when he was tempted by the devil. When the devil told him to turn the stones into bread, he said, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone.’“ If the demons wants to make you believe that you have a right to not be completely humble and gentle and patient, you can say, “It is written, ‘Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing one another in love.’” Only, you have to know this, the devil is very tricky! If you think you have a right to be angry (as suggested by the devil), you won’t want to take up the sword of the Spirit and you will be defeated. You have to be self-controlled (sober) and alert to catch him at his trickery. Pray for God to make us self-controlled and alert.
The demons will also try to make you believe that it is hopeless to try to resist because you will finally be defeated anyway, so why try. But, in today’s passage, God says this: “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the creator of all of the universe, has promised us victory, and ultimately, a life of glory, joy and peace with him forever. The devil wants it to sound like it’s a nip and tuck battle that we could easily lose. But from God viewpoint, the purpose for this battle is our sanctification. Through it he is making us holy. And he is committed to us, for us to win! When Jesus was tempted in the desert at the beginning of his ministry, he defeated the devil with the word of God—apparently fairly easily. The devil left him for an opportune time. Later, at the end of his ministry, he defeated the devil again, but this time with sweat that was like drops of blood. He defeated the devil through prayer: “Father, not my will, but yours be done.” He went to the cross and had complete victory over Satan and over sin and over death. Because he is alive, we are also alive and will live with him forever.
“To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:11)
Let’s pray for each other as well as for the whole church. Come and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Love them. (And, you know, neither Peter nor Paul said so explicitly, but love is the most powerful weapon. God is love.)
[Prayer]