“Clothed with Humility”
(1 Peter 5:5-7)
Series: Strength Through Adversity
- Take your Bibles and join me in 1 Peter, chapter 5 (page 817; YouVersion).
Last time we were together we studied the first four verses of chapter 5 where Peter addresses elders or pastors of local churches, addressing the spiritual shepherds of the church and how they are to relate to others.
Peter now turns his attention from spiritual shepherds to spiritual sheep. The first word there in verse 5, “Likewise,” is a way of saying, “Continuing now with the topic of relating to one another.” In other words Peter says, “We’ve just talked about how elders relate to the church body, now– “likewise,” –allow me to talk about how church members relate to one another, about interpersonal relationships within the church.”
See verse 5 begins with the phrase, “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders,” and here the word “elder,” is used in contrast with those who are “younger.” This means, then, that unlike last week where the word “elder” in the opening verses of chapter 5 concerned the “office” of elder like a pastor, here the word “elder” refers to those who are “older in age.” It’s the same word in the original Greek, but context determines whether to understand the word as referring to the “office” of elder or to “age.” The Greek word can go either way. Context determines meaning.
Similarly, we have an English word that can go either way. We have the English word, “Senior” to describe both one who is in the last grade of school as well as one who is an older citizen as in, “Senior adult.” When I use the word “Senior” in a sentence, context will determine whether I mean a senior in school or a senior in age. Does that make sense?
Okay let’s look at this passage, then, where Peter turns his attention from addressing shepherds–pastors–to addressing sheep–all church members.
- Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word (page 817; YouVersion).
5 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.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
- Pray.
Introduction:
When Jesus wanted to add color to an otherwise black and white truth, He told a parable or a short story. He was really good at it. For example, listen to this illustration where Jesus is teaching about the need for humility–that’s the black and white truth, be humble–and he teaches humility by coloring with a story that paints a picture to help us understand what humility looks like. Listen to this from Luke 18:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ (five times he uses the personal pronoun, “I.”)
13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
When Peter was a disciple following Jesus around, Peter had heard Him tell that story. Maybe that story was even ringing in Peter’s ears as he wrote verses 5-7 here in 1 Peter chapter 5. In these three verses, verses 5-7, Peter teaches about the need for every member of the church to be–and here’s the phrase he uses from verse 5– “be clothed with humility.”
We’re going to talk about being “clothed with humility” this morning. Are you wearing humility? Did you dress up this morning with the right spiritual clothing?
Let’s study these verses together. Here’s a simple descriptive outline that emerges from the passage, verses 5-7, each verse under its own heading. Here’s number one, let’s consider:
- The Requirement of Humility (5)
Look again at verse 5:
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility…
Note the word there in verse 5, “Yes, all of you,” be submissive and clothed with humility. No one is exempt! Every single person in the church body is to “be submissive to one another” and to “be clothed with humility.” All of you. Every single one of us.
So if I ask, “How many of you are humble?” don’t raise your hand, okay?! Humility is not something you boast about, right? You raise your hand and say, “I am the most humble person I know! I’ve got humility down, baby!”
Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist pastor from a century ago, told of a time after he had preached when a woman in the congregation came up to share some words. She said to him, “I want you to know that I pray for you every day that you may be kept humble!” Spurgeon listened to her and noted that she was finely dressed and everything was in its place, you know. And Spurgeon replied, “Thank you very much for praying daily for my humility, but you remind me of a failure in my duty: I have never prayed for you that you might be kept humble.” She said, “Dear sir, there is no need for such prayers, for I am not tempted to be proud!” Spurgeon later thought, “How proud she she was to have obtained such a delusion.”
Humility is one of those traits that–if you are absolutely certain you have it–you may be absolutely certain you don’t.
Now I want you to see this from verse 5. Peter writes, “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.” Stop there.
There is an implication here about age that goes like this: “Generally speaking, older people are wiser and younger people can learn a thing or two from them.” Now I say that is a general principle, because it is not always true.
Sometimes elderly people lack wisdom. Sometimes elderly people behave like children. For example if an elderly person in the church speaks in ungodly ways he or she is setting a poor example for the “younger people.” So if you have have a few years on those around you, be sure you are being a good example to the younger folks. And you younger folks, look up to those who are setting a good example for you and aspire to be like them as they are like Christ.
These two phrases in verse 5, “Be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility” both convey the idea of getting over ourselves and putting others first. We must overcome our self-centeredness and self-focus.
Listen to yourself talk this week. Ask yourself, “Am I clothed with humility? or am I preoccupied with myself?” Someone said we can be preoccupied with our greatness or with our sense of smallness but either way we are preoccupied with ourselves which is the root of pride.
You can be preoccupied with a sense of greatness. That’s easy enough to recognize. But you must also avoid “false humility,” which is a preoccupation with our sense of smallness. Someone compliments you and you say, “Oh, it was nothing. I’m just a humble servant!” That’s to be as full of self and pride as to boast about one’s achievements.
Adrian Rogers said, “Humility is knowing what I am, acknowledging that God made me that way; and giving Him glory for it.”
So we must overcome our self-centeredness and self-focus.
A helpful parallel may be found in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. I’ve often said that Philippians 2:3-4 may well be hanged above the entrance of every church building to remind us of the importance of its teaching:
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
When every church member considers others better than himself or herself, the church family will be healthy. Gone is the ungodly murmuring of disquieted sheep who are forever looking out only for their own interests. When church members clothe themselves in humility there is a gentleness, a respect, and an overall loving spirit that permeates the entire church body.
Little wonder, then, Peter writes about this requirement for humility. Little wonder he says in verse 5, “Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility.”
Then Peter substantiates this requirement for humility by citing Scripture. He quotes from the Old Testament, from the Book of Proverbs. That phrase there at the end of verse 5 is from Proverbs. See it there? He says there at the end of verse 5, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” That’s from Proverbs. Where? Anyone know?
Proverbs 3:34, “[God] mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble (NIV).”
By the way, James also quotes Proverbs 3:34 in his letter. In James 4:6, James also says, ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”
Let that phrase search your hearts for just a moment. Peter writes, “God resists the proud.” It’s better translated, “God opposes the proud.” In other words, when you lack humility, you are out of fellowship with God. When you are focused only on your self and your views, your opinions, and your achievements, and even your righteousness, you are out of fellowship with God. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Pride puts you out of fellowship with God. Humility puts you in fellowship with God. That’s why Jonathan Edwards said, “Nothing sets a man out of the devil’s reach as much as humility.”
And the verbs are in the present tense there so the sense is, “God is continually opposing the proud and continually giving grace to the humble.” So as we live our Christian lives this week God continues to oppose the proud and continues to give grace to the humble.
Pride puts you out of fellowship with God. Humility puts you in fellowship with God.
So verse 5 teaches about the requirement of humility. Number two:
- The Reward for Humility (6)
Now, I want to be carful here using this word, “Reward.” It would be wrong for us to think of humility as something we can achieve so that we would boast about having achieved it. That would negate the whole notion of having attained humility. You know, “God has rewarded me because I’m so humble!” That’s not what we mean here by the phrase, “The Reward for Humility.” Rather, there is a promise operative here in verse 6 that teaches proper exaltation of one’s self. Look at verse 6:
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
So, rather than my seeking to be exalted, or seeking to exalt myself, I must seek to humble myself and God will take note and God will honor my doing what is right. I am not to exalt myself. God will exalt me “in due time.” He will exalt you and me when He sees fit to do so.
This phrase in verse 6, “The mighty hand of God,” recalls God’s deliverance of the Israelites from suffering in Egypt. Frequently the Scriptures refer to God’s people being delivered from Egyptian bondage under “the mighty hand of God (Exodus 3:19; Exodus 32:11; Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15; Daniel 9:15).”
So when God’s people were suffering, they were delivered from that suffering to the degree they humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God. So what does it mean to “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God?” One commentator (Wayne Grudem) observes:
Among other things this [humbling ourselves] will involve bowing to God’s wisdom, accepting the twists and turns of his providence, and entrusting all our concerns to him. Though this may well mean personal disadvantage in this life, it is always in the believer’s interest to humble himself or herself before God so that in due time he may exalt you.
This leads to the next consideration in our outline. Write this down: We have noted the requirement of humility, the reward for humility, now number three, consider:
- The Road to Humility (7)
What is the pathway to humility? Verse 7:
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
This verse is often cited out of context. Sometimes it is simply quoted to encourage us to take our worries to God. Now that’s true, of course. We are to cast all our care upon Him, because He cares for us. That’s true and this verse teaches that truth.
But we rob ourselves of the full force of its power when we separate verse 7 from verse 6. See there’s actually one thought of Peter’s that begins in verse 6. Peter says, “Humble yourselves…casting all your care upon Him.”
So this participle, “casting,” modifies the main verbal phrase “Humble yourselves.” The connection is missed in the NIV where verse 7 seems to begin a new thought, but it doesn’t. Humbling and casting work together: “Humble yourselves, casting all your care upon Him.” So Peter tells us how to humble ourselves. “Humble yourselves–how?–casting all your care upon Him.”
Listen to one commentator (again, Wayne Grudem)…
Peter recognizes that a great barrier to putting others first and thinking of them as more important is the legitimate human concern, “But who then will care for me?” The answer is that God himself will care for our needs. He is able to do so far better than we are…and He wants to do so, for He continually cares for his children. Therefore casting all your anxieties on him is the path to humility, freeing a person from constant concern for himself and enabling him or her truly to be concerned for the needs of others.
The path or road to humility, then, is to cast all our care upon the Lord.
To “cast” is to throw something wholly upon another. It’s the same word used in Luke 19 where we read about Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. By the way, today is Palm Sunday, did you know that? It’s the Sunday before Easter Sunday that marks the last week of Christ’s ministry before His crucifixion.
So before Jesus got on the donkey to ride into Jerusalem, the Bible says in Luke 19 that the people, the crowd, “Threw their own clothes on the (donkey), and set Jesus on him (Luke 19:35).” The word, “threw” there, “they threw their clothes on the donkey,” is the same word translated here in 1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon Him.” We are to cast, to throw, to place wholly upon the Lord all of our cares.”
The most humble thing we can do is to do is to trust God with everything–our worries, our anxieties, our iniquities, our souls, our lives, our all. Worry is a form of pride because when we worry we are assuming responsibility for whatever happens. That’s why someone said, “Pride is a fist in the face of God.”
Pride puts you out of fellowship with God. Humility puts you in fellowship with God.
So let go of assuming responsibility for your worries and cast all your cares upon the Lord. Remember how Peter concluded chapter 4, last verse of chapter 4, verse 19: “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator (1Peter 4:19).”
Cast all your anxieties upon your faithful Creator. Trust Him. There is true humility in that because in your casting upon Him you are showing that you trust Him.
So “clothe yourselves with humility.” Henderson’s First Baptist Church, clothe yourselves with humility.
When you get up in the morning, get dressed with humility. “Put on” humility the same way you put on a shirt or a pair of pants. It’s an intentional effort you make every morning before you leave the house.
Paul uses this same imagery of clothing ourselves with Christians virtues, Colossians 3:12, for example: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people…clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility…”
Each morning you think about what you’re going to wear before you wear it. Then you make an intentional choice to put it on. Similarly, go to God’s closet of Christian virtue, and intentionally put on humility–every day.
Have you ever gone about your day and someone lovingly points out a wardrobe malfunction? Maybe your collar is turned up halfway or you forgot to put on a tie or maybe your shoes don’t match. Loving people point out those things so you can go home and change.
Sometimes I think we would be a great help to our brothers and sisters by suggesting that they may have forgotten to clothe themselves with humility. Hey brother, hey sister, you need to go home and put on humility before going out again.
I was reading through this book recently, Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins. Bridges writes about sins that are sort of “accepted” by many Christians. In other words, we pride ourselves on not committing the so-called big sins of murder, stealing, and adultery. But we are guilty of so-called “acceptable” sins such as irritability, ungodliness, and pride. It’s a very convicting read. You can check it out from our church library.
From the chapter on pride, listen to an application of this passage from 1 Peter, where Bridges gives just one example of how Christians may be guilty of the “Pride of Achievement.” He writes:
Like most families, my wife and I receive a lot of Christmas letters with family news from friends and acquaintances we have made over the years. Occasionally, one of the letters might say something like this: “Our son, John, graduated summa cum laude from [some prestigious university such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or MIT].” Now, there is nothing wrong with communicating this good news to family and friends. But stated in the above fashion, the letter conveys the idea, “Isn’t our son smart!” with no acknowledgement that his intellectual ability came from God.
If we want to avoid the subtle sin of pride in the achievements of our children, we might say something like this: “Our son, John, graduated summa cum laude from [fill in prestigious university]. We deeply acknowledge that John’s intellectual abilities come from God, and we are profoundly grateful to Him. We know that God does not choose to endow every child with the abilities He has given John. We have tried to instill this grateful attitude in John and to teach him that his academic abilities are a stewardship entrusted to him by God to be used to serve others and to glorify God.”
I’ve no doubt that other parents receiving such a letter from friends would rejoice with John’s parents in the blessing of God on him. But apart from such acknowledgement, many parents, right or wrong, will feel perhaps a bit of envy because their children are just average or have not done well at all. Now, I’ve used academic excellence for the purpose of illustrating the principle, but the same would be true if John were the All-American quarterback at some big-time football school. Or if John is now in the business world and has been promoted to vice president of a successful company.
So whether it’s our own success or that of our children, and in whatever endeavor it may be, failure to acknowledge that the success has ultimately come from God tends to promote a pride of achievement that does not honor God. And this form of pride is sin–subtle sin to be sure, but still sin. –(Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2007, 95-96).
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Why does God consider humility so attractive? Have you ever thought about that?
Have you ever thought how the Gospel itself cultivates humility? We talked Wednesday evening in our theology group about the elements of the Gospel call. All are sinners. Those who are saved are saved not because they are lovable or useful, but all are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. God accomplishes man’s salvation and God gets the glory for it all.
Before we pray, think of this: someone said at the heart of our pride is, “I,” letter “I” and in the cross, think of what a cross looks like: on the cross the I has been crossed out. Who is Lord of your life? Your self or Jesus Christ?
- Stand for prayer.