Humble Yourselves

Introduction

My typical signature is to have two points. However, the impossible has happened. I have one point for you all tonight, but with numerous ways to apply it. We are going to look at a passage from 1 Peter and see a lesson on humility that Peter gives us. Humility is a big deal especially when we read verses such as James 4:6 “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”” As Christians when we read that, we think “I don’t want to be opposed by God, so I need to be humble.” This is a good and simple way to think about a verse like that. From here, however, what tends to happen?

Well first, we understand that being prideful is thinking highly of ourselves, so we think that humility is the opposite of that. So, then we try to think low of ourselves. We think thoughts of being losers, or evil, or wicked. There is truth in these labels, but we still know that something is missing. Then, we learn a secret: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” That is such a great way for us to think about humility and it is quite simple to remember. If I just think of myself less often and care for other people’s needs more than my own, I’ll be humble.

My question is “If humility is that simple, why is it still so difficult for us to do it? If we have such a great truth of humility such as esteeming others above ourselves, why do we still fail to be humble even in our service? My hope is to show you how Peter answers that question for us. Turn with me to 1 Peter 5:6-7.

1 Peter 5:6–7 NKJV

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Before we really dive into verses 6 and 7, I want to draw your attention to the first word in verse 6: “Therefore”. This is an important word when reading your Bibles. A tag line that many of you might know is to ask the question “What is he ‘therefore’ there for?” Another way to look at it is understanding that the “therefore” is saying either, “Because the previous thing I said is true, then the next thing I’m about to say is true” or “Because the previous thing I said is true, you need to do X, Y, and Z.” Look with me at 1 Pet 5:5

1 Peter 5:5 NKJV

Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

To set up the context, Peter started chapter 5 by exhorting the elders to shepherd the flock that God had given them. Peter then gives them a number of ways on how to accomplish this. After doing this, he then turns to those who are younger and exhorts them to submit themselves to the elders who are over them. The “be submissive to one another,” however, is best understood not in the sense of how the younger were to submit themselves to the elders, but in the sense of clothing themselves in humility towards one another. So the “therefore” is directed towards the humility, but before we move to our main text, notice Peter’s reason for exhorting them all to clothe themselves with humility towards one another: he quotes an OT passage from Proverbs.

Proverbs 3:34 NKJV

Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.

Now, you might notice that the verse in Proverbs looks different than how Peter quoted it. He quoted this from the Septuagint (which basically the Greek translation of the Hebrew) rather than the Hebrew text. What I want to highlight is that Peter was using a timeless inspired proverb to convey this truth. Here is the context then: we as a church are to be clothed in humility towards one another ultimately because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

With the context set, let’s look again at our text for this evening:

1 Peter 5:6–7 NKJV

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Ultimately, we are to clothe ourselves with humility because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Because this is true, therefore, we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. So, remember, Peter, he just gave an explanation of elders shepherding their flock and the younger submitting to their shepherding and then he takes an interesting turn. I think that some of us, when looking at this text, see verse 6 and verse 7 as two separate items. We read it as humbling ourselves and casting our cares on God. Peter is doing something really cool here and before we dive any deeper into this text this needs to be understood if we are to know what Peter is telling us.

Look at the word “humble”. Do you see it? Now look at the word “casting”. Do you see that word? The word “casting” is functioning from the word “humble”. It’s the means by which we are to humble ourselves. A “means” answers the question “How?” For instance, I went to work and the means by which I went to work was by walking. Another way I could say it is, “I went to work, walking.” Or to emphasize the nuance, “I went to work by walking.”

This is what is happening in our text. Peter is saying that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God by the means of casting our cares upon him. Another way we could understand this passage is by saying (loosely) “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God by casting all your cares upon Him . . .”

Now if these two verbs are connected, then I think the two purposes, God caring and God exalting, are connected. This would mean that God exalts us (or lifts us up) because he cares for us, and I think this is what Peter is saying. So, to capture the whole idea that I think Peter is trying to tell us because God ultimately opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, we are to therefore humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God by casting all of our cares upon him because at the appoint time or in due time he will exalt us or lift us up because he cares for us.

What does this mean for us?

We can approach the Father. This is inspired Scripture. These are words that God wants us to see and he is inviting us to come and cast our cares and our concerns and our worries on him. He wants us to come to him. Proud people avoid God when life gets hard. Humble people come to God and cast their cares upon him. So come to God.

It also means that when we have cares and concerns we need to cast them upon God. This might seem similar to what I just said, and it is, but the emphasis is different. Previously, I focused on the very act of coming to God. Proud people avoid God, humble people come to God. Now I’m focusing on the act of casting our cares upon God. Proud people keep their cares and concerns to themselves and try to solve them themselves. Humble people cast their cares upon God and trust his sovereignty in their lives.

We can trust that God will lift us up. There is an appointed time that God will lift us up. That might mean that we have to keep enduring the trial that we are going through, or see the concern that we have not be “solved” for a while. This can sometimes be one of the most testing moments for a Christian. When we are dealing with something such as an illness or loneliness, or even the salvation of a friend or loved one, and we are praying for this illness to go away or for the friend to be saved, and it delays to happen, it can be disheartening. What if those prayers never get “answered”? Do we throw in the towel and say that we are done with this Christian business? Many do. Many do. But this should not be our response. The text doesn’t tell us that God will solve our problems in the way that we understand. God’s ways are above our own and his thoughts are not our thoughts. He does everything after the counsel of his own will, not our will. Here is what he has told us: if we humble ourselves by casting these cares, these concerns on him, he will lift us up.

We can trust that he cares for us. This is coupled with him exalting or lifting us up. This doesn’t mean that we will get wealth and health. The text doesn’t say that we cast our poverty on him because he will give us money. It doesn’t say that we cast our illness on him because he will make us healthy. It doesn’t say that we cast our loneliness on him because he will give us companionship. It also doesn’t say that we cast our wayward child, or our violent home on him because he will make the home not violent or bring the child to salvation. Church, all these things are possible with the Lord. He could bring all these things to pass. But that isn’t the focus here. God wants us to cast our care on him, why? Because he cares for us.

This is to answer the question, I think, of “What about me?” If I am to consider people above myself and think of myself less, do I just let myself go by the wayside? If I am loving others and no one is loving me, what do I do? You cast your cares upon God and keep loving others. God sees you and he cares for you.

Conclusion

As most of you, if not all of you all know I have a son. There are times when he cries. This is either from him being tired, or hungry, or he got in trouble, or he hurt himself, or something is hard to do. In these moments, sometimes he comes to crying, casting his care upon me. What do I do? If I am trying to honor the Lord, I embrace him and lift him up and pat him. I can hold my child and lift him up and comfort him and love him and let him know that daddy loves him. What happens to my son when this happens? Does the hurt go away? Is he no longer in trouble? Is whatever he was trying to do no longer difficult for him? Not necessarily, but what has happened to my son? The storm inside of him calms down. This isn’t to pat myself on the back, I’m just using this illustration to capture what I think this passage is communicating.

When we are suffering and we have concerns, the prideful response is to seclude ourselves and think that we can handle these situations on our own. The humble response, however, is to cast these cares upon God, our heavenly Father and in due time he will lift us up because he cares for us. I hope that you all walk out of here remembering this concept of humility. Whenever a concern comes into your life, or your might be thinking of some right now, spend some time this week, with your Bible open to this passage, in prayer and bring your concerns before God, because, my friends, he cares for us.