Humility for all Ages

1 Peter 5:1–11 ESV

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 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.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 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. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I Peter 5:1-

We have been focusing on over the last few weeks, this week verse 5 will be our primary focus for our study, however, we need to hear verse 5 and the way it connects to verse 6 to understand the full force of the truth Peter is laying out in this text. And to see the emphasis we must see at least verse six, which is connected to verse 7 so I figured we might as well read through verse 11.

But here verse 5 and 6 now on their own.

1 Peter 5:5–6 ESV

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.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

1 Peter 5:5-6

Now what is the focus in these two verses, what is the primary thrust, or proposition of these two verses?

The humility of the believer! Peter proclaims this truth to two groups, the younger, and then all of you.

He begins verse 5 calling the younger Christians to,

I. Be Submissive to the Elders

5 Likewise,

I exhort…Peter here moves from the elders of the church to....He continues his instruction for the body, how they are to relate to one another. He has just given the elders instruction on how they are to relate to the flock, now he is about to give the flock instruction on how they are to relate to the elders.

you who are younger,

Peter here is exhorting those in the church who are not as old, not as wise, who don’t have the experience of those who are older.

The word younger pertains to being in the early stages of life, Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 669). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Peter turns from the elders of the church to the younger members of the church. He has just laid out how the elders should lead the church of God and now calls the younger members to follow the lead of the under-shepherds.

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 669). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

He calls them to,

be subject to the elders.

Peter calls these younger members to be submissive to, subject, subordinate to and to place themselves under the leadership of the elders.

Why is it the Peter feels the need to write to younger, to call them to submit to the elders?

Is our tendency as younger men and women to naturally buck against the leadership of authority?

What is it about the young that causes them to know so much that they begin to rebel against leadership?

It is not just in Shepherd/Sheep relationships.

Children begin to fight the leadership of their parents.

Young employees often have a hard time submitting to authority at work.

College students often have trouble submitting to leadership in the classroom.

Consider, Paul’s charge to Titus...

Titus 2:6 ESV

Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

Younger men and women often struggle with submitting to authority, because they often struggle with self-control. If a person lacks self control more than likely they are not going to be one who willing listens to and submits to leadership of the church.

I am going to give you a little bit of my philosophical understanding of why the younger need this exhortation. Young boys and girls are often taught and exhorted to act in a way that prepares them for manhood and womanhood. We are taught to act like grown ups and rightly so, we want our children to reach maturity as soon as possible. Part of the problem is if we don’t teach and model submission, and subjection as part of growing into mature manhood and womanhood, when we come of age, we believe we have got it all together, we believe we know all we need to know pertaining to life and godliness.

This in turn leads to prideful, arrogant, over confident young adults. I believe this is a charge to us who are older as well. We don’t only need to teach our children about godly subjection we need to model it ourselves...

Do you think that since Peter only calls out the younger in this text the rest of us are free from submitting to the spiritual leadership of the elders?

The author of Hebrews writes,

Hebrews 13:17 ESV

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Therefore, when we teach our children, our teenagers, and our young adults the Scriptures we need to make sure our words and actions throughout the day don’t discredit our devotional time when we are walking through the Scriptures.

How do we keep from unintentionally teaching that submission to elders is unimportant?

Watch our words…We shouldn’t show disrespect or dishonor to our leaders. If there is something going on where you have an issue with an elder/pastor - go to them - don’t bare your soul and thoughts in front of the younger.

Watch our walk…We need to ensure we don’t live contrary to the preached Word, especially in front of our children. This discredits and cuts the authority not only from the elder but from the Word of God he is proclaiming.

We must remember what Peter said in,

1 Peter 2:1 ESV

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

If we fail to follow the leadership of those with the responsibility of caring for our souls, and live lives of hypocrisy and slander, the younger who are watching us will more than like model the same lack of disrespect and submission.

1 Peter 3:8 ESV

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

Do we model and teach our children to maintain unity, to be sympathetic, to love one another with a tender heart and a humble mind?

Shepherds must have this same heart and mind as they care for the flock. Dan Doriani explains,

1 Peter The Need for Humility before Leaders

Good leaders are loyal to the whole church, even the people and policies they dislike. Wise followers yield to the church and its leaders as a whole, even if certain decisions seem flawed. Jesus loves both sides of us, the beautiful and the ruined. We can do the same for each other and the church.

This brings us to or second point, Peter turns to the whole body and calls us to,

II. Be Clothed in Humility.

Clothe yourselves, all of you,

Peter here turn to another metaphor to provide the Christian with how they are to related to one another. He paints a picture of putting on clothes, covering yourselves, but here he is not speaking of covering ourselves with cotton, but covering ourselves with a specific behavior or attitude.

The Louw-Nida lexicon explains it means, “to make one’s essential characteristic”—whether in relation to brotherly intercourse among Christians or in relation to the attitude to God. In both cases emphasizes that it determines decisively the religious attitude and conduct of Christians.

This idea of clothing yourself was used to explain the tying on of a servant/slaves uniform or apron. Get the picture of a servant getting ready to start his work and putting on this white apron type garment with the tie strings in the back, and reaching behind himself to strap on his servants garment.

This garment would have marked who he was and what he was to do. He would have been recognized as a servant of his master because he had put on this servants garment. This is the way we are to wear humility. We must make a conscience effort to clothe ourselves in humility, people ought to recognize that we are servants of the king, servants of our master the Lord Jesus Christ by our humility.

Notice Peter writes, clothe yourselves, we must by the power of the Spirit and the wisdom of the word learn how to dress ourselves in humility.

I love what Albert Martin said here he said,

“You can look like a whipped cur dog on the outside but on the inside have your feathers fanned out like a strutting peacock.”

In other words, we can also try to wear a superficial humility without being humble in heart which is useless.

This exhortation ought to grab out attention because he shifts from the younger to who? all of you,. Peter here is speaking to the entire church, the younger, the older, the elders, the members, the men and the ladies, the servants and the masters there is no exemption from this call.

all of you,

Peter say’s younger submit to the older, now all of you clothe yourselves, relate to each other how?

with humility toward one another,

Consider what Peter is calling everyone of us to do. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another.

What is the first thing you notice about someone when you see them walking towards you? Their clothes, what they have on, what they are wearing. Now at a distance it is not as obvious.

When I see one of the ladies walking down the hall,

I see she has on a dress, as she gets closer it is a blue dress, then the closer she get I see it has flowers on it.

When we see another man coming down the hall, we may say he has on a suit, a black suit, with pin stripes. Our clothing covers us to the point it is what people see most of us.

Therefore, if we are to clothe ourselves in humility toward one another. This should be one of the first things that we think of one another, the first way we respond to one another, and the attitude by which we recognize one another.

Now I want to take a minute or two and have you give me some signs or attributes of humility. How do you recognize a humble person?

They listen well

They are slow to speak

They put others interest before their own.

They don’t argue about everything.

They are sacrificial

They are not attention hounds...

Listen to,

Ephesians 4:1–3 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Humility is marked by, gentleness contrary to harshness.

Humility is paired with patience not annoyance.

Humility is exhibited when we bear with one another in love.

A humble person is eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace!

The Scriptures are full of a call to humility, I don’t know if there is a New Testament book that doesn’t call us to humility in one way or another.

Why then is humility so hard? Why do we struggle so much to show humility to our leaders and to one another?

Because of the root sin of PRIDE. Everyone of us struggle in some sense or another from the sin of pride. Pride is the exact opposite of humility. Instead recognizing our own sins and failures we think that we are holier than someone else. Instead of recognizing our own lack of knowledge we believe we are smarter than everyone else.

As we did with humility, what are some ways we recognize the fruit of a prideful spirit or person.

They don’t listen.

They criticize

They condemn others

They exalt themselves

They put their interest before others, my preferences are right, yours are not.

They are puffed up.

Now let’s be honest for a minute, do we at time see these fruits of pride in our own life? Do we often see pride rearing it’s ugly head in our own lives? Absolutely!

Steve Lawson said in a sermon on this text,

“Some things are not hard to understand, they are just hard to swallow!”

Why is it then important for us to kill the sin of pride in our life and heed Peter’s exhortation to humility?

Good news, Peter give us the answer.

for God opposes the proud

Peter, tells us here that God opposes or resists the proud. He stands against the proud instead of receiving them.

Can you think of any examples from the Scriptures where God opposes the proud?

Daniel 4:28–32 ESV

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”

We see King Nebuchadnezzar who had it all, but who refused to recognize who was Sovereign over all. He said look at what I have built, what I have done, how mighty I am, and the one that really shows his pride, is his final statement. I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?

Any sentence we start with I have unless it is followed by sinned, or believed, or repented of my sin we better slow down and think, consider what we are about to say. Are we giving glory and honor to God with what we are speaking or are we seeking to heap glory upon ourselves.

Think about the foolishness of our pride and lack of humility.

The God who spoke creation into existence stands against the proud.

The God who flooded the earth and then dried it up stands against the proud.

The God who reigned down fire on Sodom and Gomorrha stands against the proud.

The God who has defeated the Egyptians and other rebellious proud nations stands against the proud.

How are me and you going to fair with a proud heart and lack of humility when this God stands against us?

Now Peter didn’t just pull this idea of God opposing the proud out of his hat. He is repeating an Old Testament warning.

Proverbs 3:34 ESV

Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.

This warning is so needed James also repeats it,

James 4:6 ESV

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

James

Now why does James give this warning?

James 4:1–5 ESV

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

James 4:1-

When fail to cut out the root sin of pride,

There will be quarrels and fights among us,

Our passions will be at war within us,

There will be desires that lead to death,

There will be coveting,

There will be selfish seeking, causing God to oppose us and not answer us.

Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles Chapter 5

Nothing is more adverse to the disposition of man than subjection. For it was formerly very truly said, that every one has within him the soul of a king. Until, then, the high spirits, with which the nature of men swells, are subdued, no man will give way to another; but, on the contrary, each one, despising others, will claim all things for himself.

God’s warnings through His Word against pride ought to strike that holy fear in us when we recognize our own struggle with pride. How is it then that we are to cut this root of pride out of our life and hearts?

Through repentance and faith. When God shows us our sin the first thing we must do is plead for his forgiveness, recognizing that we have sinned against Him. If we continue to walk and live with the sin of pride in our life refusing to repent we are in opposition to God and he will oppose or resist us.

Through reading His Word, the more of God’s word we read the more we get to know who God is and who we are. Then along with the Holy Spirit’s illumination and conviction we recognize our sinfulness and God’s absolute holiness. This should drive us to Christ the One God-man who had no sin, not even an ounce of pride in his life. He was the perfect model of humility.

Through worshipping with the Body of Christ. The more time we spend in fellowship with the body exalting our Lord and Savior the more we will see Him for who He is and fall on our faces before Him!

Preaching should humble us

Singing should humble us

Praying should humble us

The ordinances should humble us

And what is the last statement in this verse, God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.

Think about our coming to faith in Christ. We know it is a gift of God not a work of our own that we may boast.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

It is at that moment of conversion that God opens our blinded eyes and puts us on our knees that we see our wickedness.

We see our rebellion against a Holy and Righteous God.

We see Jesus Christ as the sin atoning, wrath satisfying, substitution sacrifice, that was crushed for our sin.

We cry out to God for mercy asking him to forgive us knowing that Christ is the only way we may be reconciled with God.

We recognize that it is through his blood that we have redemption.

We recognize that is is by God’s grace that we receive adoptions as sons and daughters of the King!

We recognize because of the faith He has given us in the sinless Son of God we have been justified, declared righteous and no longer face the penalty for our sin, God righteous wrath for eternity!

At this glorious moment of regeneration and conversion is there anything more humbling than turning to Christ and calling out to the Father?

This is the greatest example of God giving grace to the humble, His grace humbles us, and the more we see the more humble we become!

Notice the words of Spurgeon,

I am, as a member of a church, not to seek honor to myself, but I am to walk humbly. I am not to make it in any respect the object of my Christian life to be esteemed among my fellow Christians so as to have influence over them and to take the lead among them. I am to have far humbler motives than that. I am to think very little of myself and to think so much of others that I admire all that I see of God’s grace in them, and am glad to learn from them as well as to help them in their progress to heaven. Each one of us should think little of himself and highly of his brothers.

Spurgeon, C. (2014). Spurgeon Commentary: 1 Peter. (E. Ritzema & J. Strong, Eds.) (). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Spurgeon, C. (2014). Spurgeon Commentary: 1 Peter. (E. Ritzema & J. Strong, Eds.) (). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.