Confident Humility
1 Peter • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Will you please open your Bible and turn to ? This morning we are concluding our series on 1 Peter, so we will be looking at . Before becoming a pastor, I always wanted to know what was coming up next. If you feel that way, wait no longer because I’m happy to share that we are going to move from 1 Peter to Jesus’ sermon on the mount from . We’ll begin that series next week. I’m excited to begin and as I was thinking about it yesterday my hope was and is that through that series we will let Jesus preach to us, and how excited we should be.
I always wanted to know what was coming up next
But this week we are going to let Peter continue to preach to us and today from . What (or who) is your greatest adversary? Who’s opposition do you most fear? Have you ever faced off with someone in some form of competition and known beforehand that you were no match for them?
Today we are going to consider two opponents, one you may expect and one you may not. Both of these opponents raise a bit of fear in us. On one side, Christians face to opposition of Satan. The crafty deceiver whose aim is to steal, kill, and destroy the faith of God’s people is opposed to us. You may not think about his opposition regularly, which is his greatest victory. I believe it was C.S. Lewis who said that the Devil’s greatest victory is to convince you that he doesn’t exist. Yet he is our adversary.
But on the other side, we are going to see the warning of an opponent that is superior to Satan. There is no match this opponent and yet we, at times, can find ourselves walking in opposition to him. Of course, I’m talking about God. Our passage mentions God and Satan while warning us to pursue humility because God opposes the proud, while at the same time encouraging us to fight against our Adversary the Devil by holding confidently to our faith.
This is why I have entitled this sermon “Confident Humility”. Let’s read these verses together:
Read . Pray.
As we come to the end of this letter, we should take a moment and think back through the journey that this letter has taken us on. Again and again, we have seen the idea of suffering emerge from Peter’s letter. Peter was writing to people that were suffering, even from persecution. Over and over again Peter has returned to this theme because he wanted to help these churches that he loved cling to Christ in the midst of their fiery trials.
Of course, the close of his letter is no different. Again, Peter wants to encourage the church as we face suffering. His final encouragement, on the back of all of his teaching on suffering throughout this letter, comes by way of 3 charges. As Peter’s letter closes, we are charged with three ideas to help us endure our own sufferings.
What does Peter say? He says to (1) be humble, (2) be careful, and (3) be confident. We must be humble, careful, and confident people in these last days as we undergo the trials we inevitably face in our sin-stained world. In short, Peter’s charge to us is to humbly trust our loving Father while actively resisting the devil’s schemes. In these final days, as Satan rages against God’s people to destroy their faith, we must resist all of his attacks. But we don’t resist the devil by beating our chests and flexing our muscles; we resist him by humbly trusting our loving Father.
Church, I cannot think of a more fitting way to conclude this letter than by thinking on these three things. We should all want to shape our lives around these verses. As we grow as disciples of Jesus, these three traits ought to be growing within us. Church, hear Peter very clearly this morning: be humble, be careful, and be confident.
Why? Let’s see why, starting with the first exhortation, “be humble”
Be Humble
Be Humble
The first thing that we see from Peter is that as we endure trials and sufferings in this evil world, we must be humble people. Be humble, Peter says, and he says it in verses 5-7 of our passage. Let’s read them again:
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:5
If there is any characteristic that we should pray would mark our church, it would be this: humility. If there is any attitude that you should pray and disciple your children towards, it’s this: humility. If there is anything that we should aim our lives toward, it is humility. A trait that is not always spoken of with a lot of fanfare, humility ought to be the defining characteristic of Christians. Peter is telling us, in very clear terms, to be humble.
At the end of verse 5 he says, “Dress yourself, cover yourself, everyone one of you - whether elder, member, older, younger, man, or woman - put on humility toward each other.” But isn’t this an interesting call to people that are suffering? After all, people that are suffering are typically humble, right? Maybe. Unless you’re like me. Because you know what I’m tempted to think when I’m faced with suffering? I think thoughts like these:
Why is this happening to me!? I don’t deserve this!
Does God even care about me?
How can this be the wisest plan for my life?
Is God really faithful to his promises?
These are the thoughts that I think when I’m suffering and you know what they reveal? Pride. Evil, sinful pride. And though we should be sympathetic with each other when we suffer, we cannot overlook and tolerate pride. Pride comes with a huge warning label.
Some warning labels are so obvious you cannot miss them. This is one of those warning labels. Peter says we must clothe ourselves with humility because “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Here Peter is quoting which says:
34 Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.
Yes, you have an adversary called the Devil but as we will see, he can be resisted. There is an opponent you are not match for: God. Don’t miss this warning label: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Wow! This should be life-changing for you and me.
Can you imagine living your life in opposition to God? The God who made you, gives you breath and life, keeps your heart beating and the stars in the sky. Can you imagine being opposed by the all-powerful God of the universe? If there is a team I want to be on, it’s God’s. And yet, our passage tells us that there is a clear way to put ourselves in opposition to God, by being prideful.
This means that the greatest danger that you and I will face today is not the danger of a school board ruling, a supreme court judgment, persecution, or cancer. No, the greatest danger that you and I face today is pride. Because pride puts us in opposition to God. Your greatest enemy today is you.
What a warning label! But as you can see, there is also a promise attached to this verse. If pride is our greatest danger, then humility is our greatest friend. Because humility positions us to receive God’s grace. Again, Peter says:
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:
God gives grace to the humble. What we ought to fear most is God’s opposition and what we ought to desire most is God’s grace. Humility positions us to receive God’s grace. Not that humility earns God’s grace, but humility positions us to receive God’s grace. This is the way Isaiah put it:
1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? 2 All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
2 All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
God looks at the humble. His attention is on the humble. He is near to the humble. His gracious presence rests on the humble. So think of the context again. When you face trials and you are suffering, be humble. God opposes the proud but gives much-needed and timely grace to the humble.
This leads Peter to say in verse 6:
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
Since God opposes the proud and chooses to show his favor to the humble, therefore we must humble ourselves. In suffering this means that we humbly accept the sufferings that God has ordained for us rather than resisting them, growing bitter against them.
We must humble ourselves “under the mighty hand of God”. This is important. This phrase “mighty hand” is particularly associated with God’s deliverance of Israel out of Egypt by his “mighty hand”. Just as God delivered Israel, so he will deliver you from your suffering and vindicate you as his child! At the proper time, he will exalt you.
This does not mean that God will exalt you in this life necessarily, but that on the last day when Jesus returns, you will be exalted and vindicated.
We want to be a humble people. Even when we suffer we want to be humble. How can we be? Verse 7 tells us:
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
The way humility is expressed, particularly in trials, is by casting our anxieties and worries on God. Casting your anxieties on God is an expression of humility. Anxiety and fear, on the other hand, are expressions of pride. And they are expressions of pride because what fear and anxiety reveal is a lack of trust in our wise and loving God.
When I am anxious, I am saying that I do not trust God. I do not trust him with an outcome, or a situation. So Paul says:
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
We must resist being anxious and we resist it by being prayerful, casting our anxieties on God. Why do we cast our anxieties on God? Because he cares for you. Look at verse 7 again:
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
The key to being humble and resisting fear and anxiety is this: knowing the God cares for us. God, whose mighty hand can wipe out an army, cares for you. The one who set the stars in the sky cares for you. Anxious people need to cast themselves into the caring and loving arms of God. Remember God’s love for you. And when your circumstances make you doubt it, look to the place where his care for you was on full display: the cross.
God sent his only Son to die for you. God reconciled you to himself at the cost of his own Son. Jesus suffered in your place, under God’s wrath, to lift the penalty against you. God cares for you. So cast humble yourself and cast all of your anxieties on Him.
Church, be humble. Now secondly Peter says we not only should be humble but we must be careful:
Be Careful
Be Careful
Peter encourages us to live carefully in verses 8-10 where he says:
1 Peter 5:
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
Though pride is truly our greatest enemy in the world, there is another opponent that we face who is eager to devour us. The devil prowls around us, like a roaring lion, looking to destroy the faith of God’s people. Therefore, we must be vigilant. The devil will afflict you, with persecution and suffering, so that you will deny Christ. He prowls around like a lion. He is a fearsome beast. He’s not the great lion of Judah, but only an imitation lion. We should be careful nonetheless.
Unlike Peter who fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus commanded him to be watchful and pray, we must be careful. Be aware of his temptations. Understand your adversary’s schemes. The enemy is after you and is after your faith. He is devising plans to devour your trust in Jesus Christ.
Resist him. Stand firm in the faith. Continue to trust God even when suffering mounts against you. Those prideful thoughts of doubt are from your enemy. Resist them. Keep trusting God. Keep casting your anxieties on the one who cares for you.
You cannot be passive in your fight against the devil and be victorious. You must be active. Know that you have an enemy lurking around you and keep trusting God. Look to the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of you and plead for his strengthening, so that your faith will be firm until the end. This is His work in us. He is completing the work that was begun in us, keeping us firm in the faith until the end.
Be careful, do not let the devil devour you. And then finally, be confident.
Be Confident
Be Confident
Peter’s final exhortation to us in this letter is to be humble, be careful, and now, to be confident. This confidence I’m referring to however is not a self-confidence. It is not a personal confidence in your strength and ability to endure trials and the schemes of the devil. Be confident in God. Look at verses 10-11 again:
10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
This verse is an enormous promise from God, the God who has called you to himself will keep you until glory. Whatever happens in between his calling and eternal glory will not get in the way. He will perfect, strengthen, and establish you. Even if you have failed him a million times, trust in God because he will complete his work. He, after all, is the God of all grace.
We must resist the opposition of our adversary. We cannot resist the opposition of God. Thankfully, neither can the devil. Therefore, church, be humble, be careful, and be confident. Be humble before God so that we may receive his grace, be careful because a roaring lion is looking to devour you, and be confident because despite his attempts, God will strengthen you until the end.
Let’s pray.