Casting all your care upon him
1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
The first step of learning a new verse is knowing the context. You need to know why? Why does this verse matter to me? How does the truth in this verse affect my daily life?
Why is it important to learn this one?
Remember our approach. We don’t learn verses to put on a show. Or to get credit or for some contest. We don’t learn them for an event and then let them fade away.
We learn them because they are important to our daily lives. And I am sure you have noticed we don’t memorize the chapter and verse numbers. You can easily look that up if you need.
What we focus on is the truth of the verse. Our new verse is important for many reasons. 1st let’s look at the context.
1Pe 5:1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
1Pe 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
1Pe 5:3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
1Pe 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
1st Peter addresses the preachers, the leaders of the churches. And he is basically telling them to be humble. Do not lord over the flock. Don’t mistreat God’s precious children. Instead lead by example.
Don’t be the guy that gets puffed up and says do as I say and not as I do.
Don’t consider yourself exempt or above living like you preach, for others to live. You be out in front, blazing the trail yourself. Doing the work yourself. Being the example.
This goes hard against many of the attitudes of those in the preacher only clubs. I did not say all. There are some good ones out there.
And Peter mentions don’t do this for filthy lucre. Leading a church is not to be a career move. The goal is not to see how much you can get in clever ways, 1st a salary, then free insurance, then a free home thru what they call a housing allowance.
It is not supposed to be like that.
It is also not to be about seeing how much you can squeeze out of the flock. 1st tide and then missions above that and then building fund above that and then the benevolence fund above that.
And then fleece the flock for special projects. And if you do all that well, then comes the bragging rights at the preacher’s gatherings. I am not making that up. I have seen that up close at many of the preacher meetings that I have attended thru the decades.
Everything that is done is not to be done for filthy lucre. From the personal compensation package to also the church budget and its projects.
Some might say what is the big deal. The motivation and the why are very important to God.
1Pe 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
1Pe 5:3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
1Pe 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
I am not going to be surprised if there are a lot of leaders at the judgment seat of Christ who expect this crown of glory. And many will be shocked that they do not get one because they did not meet the qualifications given here for it.
Be humble, do the work from the heart willingly and not for money. Don’t lord over the flock and lead by example.
So while these 4 verses are directed to preachers and leaders, the overall focus of them is to be humble. Don’t think of yourself as above others. Be real. Accept the job for what it is. Don’t do it for money. Be real. Be genuine and lead by example. Stay humble.
You are not to think of yourself as special above others.
Now Peter changes to addressing others in the churches.
1Pe 5:5 Likewise, So in like manner as what was just said also goes for you. Not exactly but likewise.
1Pe 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Be humble. So the theme continues. This time not directed to the preachers but everyone in the church. Which would also include the leaders. It says all of you be subject one to another.
All of you be clothed with humility. And then a great reason is given why. for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Do you want grace? Do you want help from God? Do you have need for unmerited favor from God to help deal with this wicked world?
The answers should be yes, yes, and yes. The required condition for that is given here. Be humble. God resists the proud. And remember this is being written to Christians. Once saved always saved. But a saved person can refuse to be humble and get proud.
1Pe 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Notice verse 5 starts with likewise. So while the 1st 4 verses were directed towards preachers and leaders, what was said to them also goes for everyone. Likewise be humble. Don’t think to highly of yourself as in you are better or more deserving or more privileged than others.
Don’t lord over others in the church.
1Pe 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Remember who He is and remember how much power He has. The mighty hand of God. And have patience. Understand that God does things in His own time. This is a truth that is very important to our verse we are going to learn.
Never, and I mean never think that a delay in an answer to prayer, means that somehow God does not care about you or the issue going on.
So far we see 2 truths that are critical for understanding our new verse.
1 be humble. Without that you will see resistance from God instead of grace. Because God resists the proud.
for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Is a truth that is attached in the context of Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
This is important. Not understanding this does case many to not get the grace and help they need, even though God cares for them and they cast their cares upon Him.
What would that look like? Well there is an example of this in the Bible. From the Words of Jesus in Matthew.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Mat 23:39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Jesus cared for them. He wanted to help them. His heart was to draw them close to Him and protect them and help them with their troubles and cares of this world.
But He could not give them that help. Instead of giving them the grace that He so much wanted to give them, Instead of that He had to resist them. And why?
Because they would not. They would not humble themselves before God. They would not stop doing wicked things. And so even though Jesus would have drawn them close and protected and cared for them like a hen gathering her chickens under her wing.
Instead of doing what His care wanted to do, He had to actually resist them.
Because God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
This same principal goes for us today. God loves us, He wants to gather us close and give us grace and help. But we need to be humble. Not being proud is a condition for receiving grace.
And remember these verses are not written to lost people. God resisting the proud was written to Christians.
2nd patience is needed on our part. Learn to wait on God and His wonderful timing.
We don’t see those two important truths in the verse itself. You only see that if you take the time to look at the context.
After those 2 truths, humility and patience are established, then comes our verse.
1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Now you can’t stop there. The context is not over yet. Next comes the why.
I can sum it up this way. Why cast all your care upon Him. Because you will have need to. You will have cares upon this world. There will be troubles.
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
We have an adversary. The devil. And he hates us. He is described as a roaring lion out seeking who he can attack.
verse 9 says that the same afflictions. Afflictions plural. This is a sin stained world and it has a god little g over it. The devil. Him and his hate you. And afflictions of all kinds will come to all of us.
Yes we can have periods of calm, but the next affliction could be just around the corner.
And here comes that humility truth again. It says the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Every Christian in the world will also have afflictions.
So don’t think that you are above it. That you somehow deserve a free pass on it. This is important. It changes your attitude and how you look at verse 7.
1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
We cannot use that verse this way. I hate this trouble that has come my way and I in no way deserve this trouble. Since you care for me Lord I expect you to take this trouble away and take it away by tomorrow at noon.
I have seen people who think that way. And then when the problem does not just go away, then they can get a real attitude problem. Some get angry. Others can go into depression. Or even accuse God of not caring.
No it should be more like this. I understand Lord that trouble in this life is normal. And Lord I know you want me to be honest and tell you how I feel. And this trouble hurts.
This is really hard this time. God already knows how you feel so go ahead and tell him. But stay humble. Admit you don’t deserve a free pass on affliction.
And Lord I know that I can bring this problem to you because I absolutely know that you care for me and you care about the issue.
And I know that you have all power. And I do ask that you, in your time, take care of the problem.
And Lord until then, I want to honor you, and I want to live for you. So I ask that you help me endure this as you would have me. Please give me the grace and strength every day.
I trust in your timing, I trust in your power, and I trust that you care for me.
1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
And at the same time that we are asking that, when we get up from our prayer, we go out and live humble, and try to live for Him. That is how we should look at it and humbly handle it asking God for help because we know He cares for us.
And the context is still not quite over.
1Pe 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1Pe 5:11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
This section finishes with the fact that our Lord is the God of all grace. All grace.
He has grace to help you with any problem, any trouble. There is no trouble that is stronger or greater than God’s grace.
Some will say you don’t understand my problem and I say no you don’t understand he is the God of all grace. He is the Almighty. He can get you thru. He can strengthen you and help you.
Verse 11 says to Him be glory. We need to realize when we are going thru a hard time that we should still give God glory because He is worthy of it.
Don’t totally focus on only the problem. Focus also on Jesus. Realize He cares, ask for help, ask for grace and strength to endure it, trust Him to deal with it in His time, and give Him the glory for it all.
That is the immediate context of 1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
But that is not all the context. You also need to keep in mind the context of the entire Bible.
You also need to look at the context of Jesus Himself.
We need to have the context that Jesus understands.
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
We can pray and cast our care upon Him because He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. There is no hurt that He does not completely understand.
And we need to have the context of how Jesus cares and acts upon it.
For times sake we will only briefly look at one.
Luk 7:11 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.
Luk 7:12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
Luk 7:13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
Luk 7:14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
Luk 7:15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
Jesus saw that widows need and pain and He had compassion on her.
He cared and then He acted.
And you see things like that over and over again. He saw people hungry and fed them, He saw the sick and infirm and healed them.
He cares and He acts.
And of course you have to look at the cross. For God so loved, He went to the cross and stayed there. He had all power and also legions of angels. Just a thought or just a word could have ended it.
It has been well said. It was not the nails that held Him there. It was love that nailed Jesus to the cross.
So you have to look at all the context both in 1st Peter but also the Gospels. And that gives you a better understanding of
1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
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