Worthy of Worship

Worthy of Worship

Andrew Lovette

The Long-Expected Son

The Long-Expected Son

Ian Thomas

The Long-Expected Son

John 1:14

“The great majority of people will go on observing forms that cannot be explained; they will keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions; they will continue to do it; and someday suddenly wake up and discover why.” ~ G.K. Chesterton

Main Idea: Christmas is the good news that God has come to us full of grace and truth.

I. God Has Come

Christianity says that the ‘Word’ (‘logos’; cf. Jn. 1:1) has come as a person. Christmas tells us that God is not content being studied as a concept or being theorized about from a distance; God has gone to great lengths so that we might know him personally. 

“The birth of Christ was the incarnation of God: it was God taking upon himself humanity—a mystery, a wondrous mystery, to be believed in rather than to be defined… Infinite, and an infant — eternal, and yet born of a woman — Almighty... supporting the universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms — King of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph — Heir of all things and yet the carpenter’s despised son.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

“Dwelt among us” lit. means “tabernacled” among us. The OT tabernacle dealt with two realities:

1. God’s Presence

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14, The Message)

2. God’s Glory

An encounter with God’s glory is dangerous in the Bible (cf. Ex. 33), but yet in Jesus Christ we have “seen his glory.” 

II. Full of Grace & Truth

Jesus comes full of both grace and truth; he does not “balance” these two attributes out, but embodies both of them fully, at all times. 

God’s glory, grace, and truth come together in a cosmic way at the crucifixion of Christ. Jesus is ultimately “glorified” on the cross (cf. John 13:31-32), which means we must always connect the cradle to the cross  to appreciate the full message of Christmas.

“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” ~ Tim Keller

Luke 2:10-11: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

The Long-Expected True Israel

The Long-Expected True Israel

Ian Thomas

The Long-Expected True Israel

Matthew 2:13-23

“We ought to be reminded that Jesus is not born into a gauzy, snowy winter wonderland of sweetly singing angels and cute reindeer nuzzling one another at the side of his manger. He is born into a war zone.” ~ Russell Moore

Main Idea: The hostility of Jesus’ childhood proves he is the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan and our only hope.    

I. The Hostility of Christmas

There is hostility in this scene at 3 levels: 

1. Jesus’ coming evokes hostility from the world

“If you read the Bible, you’ll see that nobody who ever met Jesus Christ ever had a moderate reaction to him. There are only three reactions to Jesus: they either hated him and wanted to kill him, they were afraid of him and wanted to run away, or they were absolutely smitten with him and they tried to give their whole lives to him.” ~ John Stott

Psalm 2:1-2: Why do the nations rage

    and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

    and the rulers take counsel together,

    against the Lord and against his Anointed

2. Jesus’ coming evokes hostility from the Evil One (Cf. Revelation 12:4-5, 17)

“What’s noteworthy about [Herod] is that [he] takes the rage he had against Jesus in particular and directs it toward babies in general. When it’s Jesus versus the self, babies are caught in the crossfire. And it’s always that way… the demonic powers hate babies because they hate Jesus. When they destroy the “least of these” they’re destroying a picture of Jesus himself, of the child delivered by the woman who crushes their head.” ~ Russell Moore

• John 8:44: (the Devil) was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. 

• John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy...

3. Jesus’ coming evokes hostility within us

Luke 2:34–35: And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

II. The Hope of Christmas

Matthew is drawing attention to the divine orchestration of God in dealing with Israel that finds its ‘crescendo’ & ‘fulfillment’ in Jesus Christ. 

Before the Prince of Peace had learned to walk and talk, he was a homeless refugee with a price on his head. At the same time, in this passage and several others, Matthew insists that we see in Jesus, even when things are at their darkest, the fulfilment of Scripture.” ~ N.T. Wright

1. Jesus is the Greater Exodus (2:15; Hos. 11:1), who comes to rescue his people from their bondage to sin & Satan.

2. Jesus is the Greater Return from Exile (2:17-18; Jer. 31:15), who will bring hope & a new covenant (cf. Jer. 31:31-34) out of pain & mourning. 

3. Jesus is the Greater & True Israel (2:23), who leads not only a return from Egypt and from Exile, but a return out of the grave & a promised return from Heaven. 

John 1:46: “Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

The Long-Expected Desire of Nations

The Long-Expected Desire of Nations

Ian Thomas

Main Idea: The coming of Jesus reveals the desires of our heart and invites us to worship the true King.

This passage reveals 4 responses to the birth of the true “King of the Jews”:

I. Threatened By the King (2:1-3a)

• The ‘wise men’ (Magi) were Gentile, pagan astronomers who followed a star to the place where they assumed the new “King of the Jews” would be born: Jerusalem

• Herod (“The Great”) was a violent, paranoid, and oppressive ruler over Judea. He is “troubled” (lit. ‘disturbed’) by the news of a new King, since the birth of Jesus was a political threat to his power.

“If you want to be king, and someone else comes along saying he is the king, then one of you has to give in. Only one person can sit on an absolute throne… Jesus is calling for an allegiance to him so supreme that it makes all other commitments look weak by comparison. It is a claim of absolutely authority, a summons to unconditional loyalty, and it inevitably triggers deep resistance within the human heart.” ~ Tim Keller

“Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you… Humility is the displacement of self by the enthronement of God.” ~ Andrew Murray

II. Anxious About the King (2:3b)

“All Jerusalem with [Herod]” were also “troubled” by the news of the newborn King. They are likely troubled for 2 reasons:

1. If Herod is troubled, all of Jerusalem will be troubled with him

2. The announcement of the true King of the Jews will result in a “shaking” of the status quo

Haggai 2:7: And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures (‘desires’ in KJV) of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.

III. Apathetic Toward the King (2:4-6)

Though the Scribes & Chief Priests (who were polarized politically & theologically) pinpoint the exact prophecy from Micah 5:2 about the Christ being born in Bethlehem, they are spiritually indifferent to this news. They do not go and investigate this claim & their hearts remain unaffected. 

Matthew 15:7–9: You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

‘This people honors me with their lips,

  But their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

  Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” ~ C.S. Lewis

IV. Worshipping the King (2:7-12)

The only group to respond appropriately to the news of the birth of Jesus are the Gentile, pagan Magi. This is foreshadowing and fulfilling the work of the Messiah who will reign not only over Israel but  over every tribe, tongue, nation, and people (cf. Micah 5:2-5).

Isaiah 60:1-3: Arise, shine, for your light has come,

   And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

           For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,

   And thick darkness the peoples;

               But the LORD will arise upon you,

   And his glory will be seen upon you.

           And nations shall come to your light,

   And kings to the brightness of your rising.

The worship of the wise men invites us to worship in 3 ways:

1. We worship joyfully (2:10)

2. We worship humbly (2:11a)

“Christ is always born in Bethlehem among the little ones. Big hearts never get Christ inside of them; Christ lives not in great hearts, but in little ones. Mighty and proud spirits never have Jesus Christ, for he comes in at low doors, but he will not come in at high ones. He who has a broken heart, and a low spirit, shall have the Savior, but none else.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

3. We worship generously (2:11b; cf. Isa. 60:6)

The Long-Expected Savior

The Long-Expected Savior

Ian Thomas

The Long-Expected Savior

Matthew 1:18-25

“In a very real sense, the Christian community lives in Advent all the time. It can well be called the ‘Time Between,’ because the people of God live in the time between the first coming of Christ, incognito in the stable in Bethlehem, and his second coming, in glory, to judge the living and the dead… Advent contains within itself the crucial balance of the now and the not-yet that our faith requires… The disappointment, brokenness, and pain that characterizes life in this present world is held in dynamic tension with the promise of future glory that is yet to come. In that Advent tension, the church lives its life.” ~ Fleming Rutledge

Main Idea: The incarnation of Jesus is a disruptive reality to save us from sin and free us from fear.

I. Christmas is the Fulfillment of God’s Plan (1:18, 22-23)

Christmas is more about a coming than just a birth. The birth of Jesus was the incarnation of God himself, fulfilling God’s plan and promise. Matthew identifies Isaiah’s interaction with King Ahaz and the promise of Immanuel (Isa. 7:14) as being fulfilled in the greatest sense in the birth of Jesus. 

“[Matthew] saw in Isaiah’s prophecy of the Immanuel sign-child a picture of our ultimate salvation. We face a coalition of hostile powers far worse than Syria and Ephraim of old. We face the alliance of sin and death, they never go away, and we are no match for them. But at this ultimate level the baby Jesus fulfills the truest meaning of Immanuel, “God with us.” Political crises come and go, but God goes with us into battle against the enemies that can oppress us forever. ~ Ray Ortlund

“The incarnation is the universe-sundering, history-altering, life-transforming, paradigm-shattering event of history.” ~ Tim Keller

II. Christmas is the Assurance of God’s Presence (1:19-20, 24-25)

The story of Christmas is not a sentimental, clean, or tidy account of a birth of the Savior. Christmas was disruptive in every sense for Joseph & Mary, and it is still meant to be disruptive in our lives today. This disruption is God’s grace to awaken us to the gospel. 

Three implications of “Immanuel” for our lives:

1. We do not have to fear (1:20)

2. We can embrace the cost of following Jesus (cf. 1 Cor. 1:23; John 8:41). 

3. We can relinquish control (cf. Matt. 28:16-20)

III. Christmas is the Promise of God’s Pardon (1:21)

The name ‘Jesus’ is the Hellenized version of the Hebrew “Joshua” which means ‘the Lord saves.’ Jesus came for a greater mission than no one else could take on: he came to save a lost humanity from our greatest enemy & tireless foe: our own sin. 

“The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary… the Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity – hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory – because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.” ~ J.I. Packer.

The Long-Expected Messiah

The Long-Expected Messiah

Rob Lourcey

The Long-Expected Messiah

Matthew 1:1-17

Main Idea:

The story of Advent begins with a genealogy to show that this is good news and not good advice.

1. Understanding the Setting

2. Understanding the Characters

3. The Continuing Story

I. Understanding the Setting

Meta-Narrative of Scripture:

God the Father is redeeming a people through God the Son, uniting them together by God the Holy Spirit, for His glory and our good.

II. Understanding the Characters

As Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, he uses two characters from Israel’s history that are well known: Abraham and David

Matthew 1:1

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Three groups of people:

1. The Known

2. The Familiar

3. The Obscure

The Known (vv. 2-6a): 

The Obscure (vv. 12-16)

2 Chronicles 36:22-23

22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

23 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him. Let him go up.'"

“So the return from exile under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah didn’t solve the people’s problems. The decree from Cyrus is incomplete because the authors of the [Old Testament] were still waiting for a real return from exile and the coming of the Messianic kingdom of God. God’s people need a deliverer from a deeper kind of exile than simply being ruled by Babylon. In Chronicles, the literal exile has become an image of Israel’s ongoing “spiritual” exile, their slavery to evil and sin and their inability to obey the [Law]. This is all representative of the human condition: home and yet not home until the kingdom of God comes. The Chronicler, and the people, are anxiously awaiting this day.” -The Bible Project

III. The Continuing Story

If there’s room for people like this in Jesus’ family, there’s room for you and me.

Persevering Together

Persevering Together

Ian Thomas

Persevering Together

James 5:13-20

Main Idea: The church showcases the gospel through a deep interconnectedness, faith-filled prayers, and loving pursuit of those wandering.

I. A Connected Church

James assumes that his audience is connected in a meaningful way to a community of faith in the church. The church among you ought to know:

• If anyone is suffering, cheerful, or sick (5:13)

• The elders of the church who are spiritual shepherds for the flock (5:14)

• If someone is wandering away from the truth (5:19-20)

“The church is one of the God-ordained means God uses to keep us faithful. God is sovereign, and He does the preserving, but He does it through the church looking out for, caring for, and loving one another to keep one another from sin. This is yet another reason we ought to be involved in the lives of others in the church. God has ordained brothers and sisters who will share life with you to keep you close to Him, to keep you obedient to His commands, and to persevere you until the Lord comes back.” ~ David Platt

II. A Praying Church (5:13-18)

A few categories that James gives us regarding prayer & the church:

1. Pray in Every Circumstance (5:13)

1 Thessalonians 5:16–19: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.

2. Pray for the Sick (5:14-15a)

The anointing of oil is likely symbolic (not medicinal or sacramental), reminiscent of “consecration” ceremonies in the Old Testament (cf. 1 Sam. 10:1); this was done to set apart the sick person for special attention from the Lord, asking that they might be healed. 

The assurance that the “Lord will raise him up” likely has a double meaning; it could refer to physical healing in this life from sickness or a reference to the “raising up” of the saints at the day of resurrection. 

3. Pray for Sin (5:15b-16a)

What is the connection between sickness & sin? On the one hand, not every sickness is a direct result of sin (cf. John 9). On the other hand - sin can indeed lead to sickness, and in an ultimate sense sin is the reason why sickness is in this world. Sickness has a way of helping us see our spiritual state clearly. 

“Sickness is very humbling. Sickness knocks you down. So often you will be able to see sins, you’ll be able to admit flaws you couldn’t any other time. Sometimes the spiritual healing and confessing and getting right with God actually causes physical healing, but other times the physical sickness actually causes the spiritual healing. The Bible is saying here you must always do them together. You must always use physical sickness as a time for spiritual renewal. You must always make sure you’re working on spiritual healing as well as physical healing at the very same time.” ~ Tim Keller

4. The Power of Prayer (5:16b-18)

“Many of us do not pray as we should, and one of the reasons for this is that we do not believe our prayers will make much of a difference. Deep down, we don’t think they will change anything. And so prayer can become just a token thing, a gesture to others, a way of checking in with God without really expecting anything major to happen.” ~ Sam Allberry

III. A Pursuing Church (5:19-20)

To “wander from the truth” is a lifestyle pattern of a proclaiming Christian that leads them away from God, away from faith & obedience, and away from the community of believers. 

Where the sick person is to call the elders, it is every Christian’s responsibility to proactively look out for those who wander from our own community. We must pursue those who are wandering from the truth with love and gentleness. 

Galatians 6:1: Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

 A church that embodies this ethic of persevering together will be a community that is marked by the power and presence of Jesus himself, the one who “came to seek and save the lost” (Lk. 19:10).

The Faithful and Wise Steward

The Faithful and Wise Steward

Pat Kappenman

The Faithful and Wise Steward

James 5:7-12

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” -Matthew 24:45-51

James’ main point in this passage:
As stewards in Jesus’ kingdom, ​patience ​is our primary virtue and ​people ​are our primary responsibility.

As such, James is reminding his readers that Jesus and the gospel

1. Reshape our ideas of who we are in this world

2. Redefine what our priorities are in this world

3. Restructure how we interact with one another in this world

If you have been born again, if you are in Christ, then you are called to re-orient your entire understanding of who you are to Jesus and the gospel.

You are no longer who you were. Whatever your past circumstances, failures, or successes might have been, that person is over. “If anyone is in Christ, s/he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.”

Nor do you get the privilege of re-inventing yourself. Under Jesus and the gospel, it simply does not matter how you identify. The good news of the gospel is about more than tapping into some fantasy version of yourself, thinking that if you can just put on the costume of the superhero you imagine yourself to be that somehow you will become that superhero.

The good news is this: We are who Jesus and the gospel says we are. God’s children! Heirs of His vast kingdom! Future kings and queens of all that exists! But right now, we are most like tenant farmers.

The word for “patience” James uses here means “long-suffering” and it generally applies to the object and texture of our patience.

Situations generally try our steadfastness. People typically test our patience. We bear up under circumstances when we are steadfast, but we bear with people when we are patient.

This kind of patience is also kind and gentle. It is not the eye-rolling, “Fine!!”-declaring, “have-it-your-way” kind of patience that makes us out to be martyr-heroes while making the other person out to be selfish and childish.

In the same way that the words patient and brother appear three times in this passage, three times in this passage James refers to Jesus’ return. In those references James indicates:

-  How long we are to be patient - ​until the coming of the Lord

-  What we must focus on as tenant farmers and stewards - ​establish your heart, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

-  Why we establish our hearts to be lovingly patient - “​behold, the Judge is standing at the door​.”

Jesus is dead serious about the charge He left us with, so serious that He intends to hold us accountable for how wise and how faithful we are in doing what we were told.

Bad habit #1: Grumbling about others - “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.” (5:9)

What James is addressing here is how we think about others in our hearts.

Bad habit #2: Powering up on others - “But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.” (5:12)

What James is addressing here is how we want others to think about us in their hearts.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” - Philippians 2:3-8

Our Future & Our Finances

Our Future & Our Finances

Ian Thomas

Our Future & Our Finances

James 4:13-5:6

Main Idea: The gospel calls us to a humble estimation of ourselves rather than boasting presumptuously about the future or finances.

I. Arrogance & Future Planning (4:13-17)

James is not against wise, strategic planning (cf. Lk. 14:28-30) or an entrepreneurial spirit in general (cf. Prov. 12:11); instead, he is warning of a prideful, self-centered arrogance in our planning & pursuits. 

Planning that honors God will take into account four things:

• The uncertainty of the future (4:14a)

“Much of what we fear is not so much because we do not think we can endure what scares us. Most of us have seen people who have done just that. Much of our fear is rooted in mystery, that we do not know what is around the corner from us. We cannot see how everything is going to turn out for us.” ~ Russell Moore

• The shortness of life (4:14b)

• The sovereignty of God (4:15-16)

• The call of obedience (4:17)

Our time and our planning is ultimately not our own. “Lord willing” is not a contrite, pithy saying, but the greatest reminder and comfort that we could have for our futures and our plans. Jesus showed us this in an ultimate sense (cf. Mt. 26:36-42) so we might relinquish the illusion of control of our lives while trusting God. 

II. Arrogance & Financial Power (5:1-6)

Even if this section is addressed to the unbelieving rich, we are not immune to the warnings & temptations described in these verses. The dangers that James describes is a result of not simply having money, but loving money (cf. 1 Tim. 6:10)

The rich here are condemned not for being wealthy, but for misusing their wealth in at least 4 ways:

1. Hoarding (5:2-3)

Matthew 6:19–21: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

“God has not appointed gold for rust, nor garments for moths; but, on the contrary, he has designed them as aids and helps to human life.” ~ John Calvin

2. Defrauding (5:4)

3. Self-Indulging (5:5)

Ecclesiastes 5:10: He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.

4. Oppressing (5:6) 

“There is no neutrality when it comes to your relationship to and daily use of money. As you hold & use your money, you must constantly remind yourself that the holding and using of money are acts of worship. That’s just how significant the issue is. You are using your funds in the worship of yourself, even if you don’t know it, or you are using your money in the self-conscious worship of God. Your money is being invested in the building of your self-focused little kingdom of one or being offered in the interests of the grand & glorious eternal kingdom of God.” ~ Paul Tripp

2 Corinthians 8:9: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

We can “be rich toward God” when we realize that he has been immeasurably rich toward us in Jesus Christ. When Christ is the true treasure of our hearts, we can seek first the Kingdom of God with our planning, priorities, and our bank accounts, realizing what is ultimate & eternal. 

Conflict and the Gospel

Conflict and the Gospel

Andrew Lovette

Conflict and the Gospel

James 4:1-12

I. The Problem of Desire (1-5, 11-12)

a. Craving and Conflict (1-2b, 11-12)

Hēdonē - pleasure, often sinful, sinful indulgent pleasure.  

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9

b. Selfishness in Prayer (2c-3)

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:9-13

His Name, His Kingdom, His Will. Before, Provision. Pardon. Protection.

“We turn God into a divine waiter. He is there to deliver our day dream to us. We touch base with him on a Sunday; we put our order in via prayer; we might even leave a decent tip in the collection plate. But God is essentially there to give us what we feel we need … and we get furious with him if he doesn’t deliver.” - Rico Tice 

c. Spiritual Adultery (4-5)

“5 For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.” Isaiah 54:5

“20 Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 3:20

II. The Solution For the Heart (4:6-10)

a. The Humble Receive More Grace

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32

“For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.” Psalm 138:6

“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5

b. The Humble Repent      

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Sticking your head in the sand in the presence of a Lion may dull the sound of his roaring, but does little to lessen your chances of being devoured.  - Sam Allberry

“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. - C.S. Lewis