The humble follower of God
Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 1:15-17
Title: 1 Peter 5:5-9 – The humble follower of God
Introduction: After much searching in the old cemetery of Plain Palais, at Geneva, C. E. Macartney found the grave of John Calvin. Not far from the wall, it was covered with grass, and the shadows of the cypress from above it were playing to and fro over the grave as if to remind one of the shadowy brevity of human life. On the stone, hardly a foot high, are the letters “J.C.”
Across the lake rises the costly and magnificent mausoleum of one of the dukes of Brunswick. But who today is the Duke of Brunswick? Who was he then? But the man whose initials are graven on that humble grave, in keeping with his theology which exalted God and humbled man, lives forever.
So what does it mean to be humble?
Central Idea: The roaring lion hunts for the proud members of the body of Christ.
Main Transition: As Peter narrows his letter down to two words “stand firm.” He is also narrowing the scope of a faithful follower of Christ. Everything that we have studied in this book, from salvation, onto sanctification, practicing submission, to obedient service, through sufferings, is causing us to be humble before God and in and toward the body of Christ. The prideful among us are the weakest among us. So we begin in verse five with the challenge of putting on humility, it is past time to humble ourselves as we have a powerful reason for humility.
I. Putting on Humility V. 5
A. Submission to church leaders
1. Having left off last week with Peter’s instructions to the church leaders of this scattered church, we return to Peter’s exhortation which has progressed from the leaders to the young men.
2. Since elders usually are older physically, but also older in the faith others especially younger men should respect and submit to the authority of the shepherds
3. Peter is beginning to boil down to one constant ingredient required in the church body. We have been instructed on how to live as a family already, but Peter continues this theme that we might understand how desperately we need the body of Christ and how desperately we need its structure.
B. The clothing of humility
1. Peter turns from the younger men and looks at every member in the body of Christ and instructs humility.
2. Notice who we are to be humble towards
a. “one another” this means that you are to humble yourself and be humble towards me, and I to you. You are to respond humbly to your neighbor across the isle, and they to you.
b. Peter has revealed much about how our action should be for the glory of God and for our own good. Understanding that this is again his intent here we need to understand humility.
3. Peter first says we are to be clothed in humility
a. This means that we are to put on and tie around us a proper view of ourselves in light of others in the body of Christ.
Illustration: In one of the most remembered presidential speeches in our history we hear these words, “ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.” This is the attitude that we must adopt in our church. Ask not what your church body can do for you, but what you can do for the church body.
b. The word for clothe was a term used to describe a slaves apron, the idea is that we wear humility tied about us as a slaves apron.
Application: You are probably processing this and thinking, “what a minute I am to be as a slave to my fellow believer?” In light of what Peter is about to say I think you will see why.
C. God’s view of humility
1. God opposed to the proud
a. In all the places that you could be as a believer this is not one of them you want to be in.
b. God resists those that our culture celebrates, God resists the self-righteous, arrogance that we reward even in our churches today.
2. God gives grace to the humble
a. You say I cannot use my gifts for the church body because I am too busy and I open myself up way to much for attack and someone being dependent upon me.
b. God gives grace to the humble
Illustration: Andrew Murray define humility as, “Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.”
Transition: So has Peter’s message stung a little? It did and continues to do so to me. But we are only just starting. We have now been introduced to this most important attitude as we are to stand firm. Now Peter is going to make it even more personal.
II. Time to humble ourselves V. 6-7
A. Humble yourself!!
1. The word for humble means to make low, but it also is written in the mood that requires that we humble ourselves, and not only that but it’s tense suggests that we do it now, the time is urgent.
a. We are to lower our estimation of ourselves, we are to serve others in the body of Christ with our gifts now.
b. We are to be humble under the mighty hand of God.
2. You will be humble one way or the other before the mighty hand of God
3. You can be humble now, as you humble yourself, or you will be forced to be humble by the mighty hand of God. The choice is yours, but the timing is not.
B. “The last shall be first”
1. This line is used in Jesus’ instruction to the disciples as they fought over their roles in the eternal kingdom.
2. It no doubt stuck in Peter’s mind as he writes this passage,
a. The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
b. The humble Christian servant will be lifted up and made high when the proper time comes.
c. Self assessed humility now is rewarded at the proper time by God.
C. Humility in our worries
1. Peter now hammers an area in our lives that we are proud in.
a. Our burdens – we carry our anxieties and worry like a badge of honor.
b. We are proud to see others think of us as pious and humble, by the burdens we bear – But this is not found here in this passage is it?
2. We are to cast our burden on the Lord,
a. cast means to throw at, or throw upon
b. All of our burdens, our stresses, and our cares are to be cast onto the Lord.
c. This shows that the true Christian attitude is not self-abandonment or resignation, but requires the expression of your self-humbling the trusting of yourself and your troubles to God.
d. Carrying around your burdens is not a badge of honor, they are a sign of pride
Transition: If you didn’t sting after the first verse you probably do now. We like to complain about our problems to get the attention and sympathy of others, but this is pride, and we are to cast our burdens upon the one who can carry them and humble ourselves before his mighty hand, today!! And the reason is about to become painfully obvious.
III. A reason for humility V. 8-9
A. Be alert
1. Just because we have confidence in the Lord does not mean that we can lead lives of the spiritual slacker.
Illustration: When I was working construction the slackers were the shovel leaners and the wall braces, those that watched as others did the work. They are half asleep and would fall over except for their shovels and walls. You pass a job site and you see one guy working hard and four guys leaning on the shovel or holding the wall up willing to give advice as long as they don’t have to move!! Don’t we do that in the church? Four people do the work that a hundred should be doing?
2. We must be alert in our spirit and watchful in our attitudes. There is a spiritual war being waged and Satan is watching for the weak ones to pick off.
B. Be prepared
1. We must be humble and we must be prepared because the devil prowls around like a roaring lion.
Illustration: No doubt this image brought fear to the hearts of the scattered church. They had likely lost family and friends to Nero’s lions in the coliseum and the Circus Maximus. The images of the lion prowling around the courtyard as thousands of blood thirsty fans screamed in twisted pleasure. And the image of the believers huddled together until one by one they were singled out and ripped apart.
2. We take lightly this passage, but we have never faced a lion, we have never lost loved ones to the vicious claws and teeth of these massive animals.
3. Spiritually we must be prepared as Satan is the lion, he is watching for the prideful arrogantly weak ones to separate from the pack.
C. Be strong
1. Peter moves in to verse 9 with an action to follow. Resist him, firm in your faith
2. It is your responsibility to stay with the pack, you resist by humbling submitting to each other, fellow believers, this too promotes your firm faith.
3. Peter then reminds them that they are not alone, the church has endured 2000 years of Satan’s attacks, others know what you are going through.
Conclusion: As Peter prepares to finish his letter to the scattered church he gently reminds them of who they are, and in turn who we are. You belong as a believer in the family of God. Satan is just waiting to pick you off. When you are prideful you are weak, when you are not involved in the work you are not alert. The roaring lion is waiting in the bushes for you.
Peter has called us to resist Satan, we do so in recognizing that we are responsible to each other as a family. Committed to each other and willing to humble ourselves. Peter is just a few short verses away from exhorting to us to “Stand Firm,” you will not stand firm alone, so humble yourself, before the mighty hand of God does the humbling for you. Humble yourself now, before the time is up and the roaring lion creeps up for the kill.