Clothed with Humility, Part 1

Sermon transcript

True liberty is found in being a bondservant of Christ. Well friends, please remain standing for the reading of God’s word as we prepare for the preaching of the word this evening. We continue our consideration of First Peter, and as we are wrapping up our time in First Peter, not this week, but we will be wrapping up our time soon. We’re in the last chapter, First Peter chapter five. This evening we’re gonna focus especially on verses five through seven. This will actually be a part one of considering these verses, but I’d like to read verses one through seven to offer the fuller context. You’ll find that on page 1206 in your Pew Bible. So let us hear, dear friends, God’s holy word, First Peter chapter five, verses one through seven. 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. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of his word tonight.

O omnipotent, sovereign, infinite God, we do bow before you and recognize your divine majesty. We recognize, Lord, that we are completely dependent upon you. Lord, not only are we completely dependent upon you for our natural life, but we are also completely dependent upon you for our spiritual life. And so, Lord, we would pray that you would give us renewed life this evening through your word and by your spirit. We pray, Lord God, that you would bless this word to us this evening as we consider this portion of your holy word. And we ask that it might find a lodging place in our souls and bear spiritual fruit in our lives. We pray, Lord God, again, that you would forgive us for our many sins and renew and fill us with your spirit and grant us the grace to be transformed by the renewing of our minds as we consider your word this evening.

And Lord, once again, we pray that you would set a guard over my lips, that I, your unworthy servant, might speak forth only that which is faithful to your word and edifying to your people. We pray all these things, heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. Title of my sermon this evening is Clothed with Humility. This is the first part. And the key words that the young people can be listening for tonight are the words submit or submission, humility, and trust. Well, my dear friends in Christ, in recent weeks, we’ve considered the first four verses of this chapter. And we’ve seen in this passage that our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed as the chief shepherd of his people. And we his people are therefore his beloved sheep.

We also learned that one of the ways that our Savior shepherds his people is through church officers that are described in this chapter as elders or presbyters. The Greek word is presbyterous. These elders or presbyters are Christ’s under shepherds, meaning that they serve as spiritual shepherds under the authority, by the example, and on behalf of Christ, the good shepherd. In fact, from a biblical standpoint, it’s actually an anomaly. It’s an abnormal state of affairs for a true believer not to be associated in membership with the visible church of Jesus Christ. There are, of course, providential circumstances and hindrances that keep some believers from being united to a local association or a local expression of the body of Christ. But nevertheless, under ordinary circumstances, God’s people are to be in God’s church. The Bible takes it for granted that those who are committed to Christ as his disciples will also be committed to the body of Christ as members of his visible church.

And in our Americanized Christian culture here in the United States, where many professing Christians regularly church hop as a practice and where few seem to appreciate the importance of being committed in responsible membership to a local expression of Christ’s church, we who claim to be disciples of Christ would do well to take this to heart. You see, we need to realize that Jesus Christ is the divine shepherd, the chief shepherd. We need to realize as well that he has appointed officers and a government in his church and that he expects his people, his sheep, to be under the shepherding care and oversight that he administers through his under shepherds. Now, once again, as we turn our attention to our passage for this evening, which speaks of these elders and which speaks of Christ as the good shepherd, once again, we need to remember the context of 1 Peter.

Remember that 1 Peter was written to Christians who were facing a fiery trial of persecution for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And while it is true that all Christians, whatever their life circumstances, all Christians need faithful pastoral and shepherding care by the church’s pastors and elders, believers who are facing severe persecution for their faith, such as Peter’s original readers, especially require attentive, caring, and loving pastoral care. Peter’s original readers needed the care, the protection, the encouragement, nurture, and guidance of Christ’s under shepherds, his presbyters, even more so than their fellow believers whose life circumstances spared them from such persecution. This is why Peter, under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, addresses the opening exhortation of this chapter to the church’s elders. But now there is a shift here in verse five. In verse five, beginning in verse five of our text for this evening, we see Peter shifting his exhortation to a different group among the believers to whom he’s writing.

In the first four verses of chapter five, it’s quite clear that Peter is exhorting the elders, the presbyters of the church in particular. And presbyters probably that Peter had in mind were the pastors or ministers of the word in particular, although the principles of this exhortation to these presbyters would apply equally to ruling elders as well. But in verse five, he shifts from addressing the elders to addressing the younger people, or as it could be translated, the young men. That’s how versions like the New American Standard Version translated as young men. And then he addresses all of you, which in context could either mean all of you younger and older men, or it could simply mean all of you readers in general. And then Peter begins a series of exhortations which appear to be addressed to all of the believers, calling all of us to humility in our relationships one with another.

Well, this evening, again, as I mentioned, I’m gonna confine myself to the lessons we can learn in verses five through seven, and in verse five in particular. And so as we turn our attention to verse five, I want us first to consider what we learn here about humility demonstrated in youthful submission to elders. And this is the first main point in your outline if you’re following along young people. Humility demonstrated in youthful submission to elders. Peter writes in verse five, 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. Now, this verse confronts us with at least two interpretive questions, namely, who are the younger ones that Peter is addressing, and who are the elders being referred to in this particular verse?

Now, let’s start with the elders. Now, who are the elders referred to in verse five? It’s clear that the elders who are referenced back in verse one are the church officers that are known as elders or presbyters. Are these the same elders who are being spoken of here in verse five? Or is Peter using the term elders here in verse five to refer more generically to older men in the church in general? Well, as you might have guessed, there’s dispute and debate among Bible commentators and scholars on how to answer that question. It’s the same Greek word in both verses, the word presbyteros, as being used in both verses one and verse five. And that word, depending on the context in which it is used, that word could be translated as older men, or it could be translated as elders in the sense of church officers that are known as elders or presbyters.

The fact that Peter uses the same word presbyteros to refer to the elders in both verse one and verse five has led some students of the Bible to believe that the younger men that Peter is addressing in verse five are actually younger church officers, younger under shepherds. And I’ll be honest with you that I’m inclined to lean towards that view, that interpretation. If this interpretation is the correct one, then Peter is instructing the younger elders to show deference and submission toward the older, more experienced, and more seasoned elders among them. But even if that interpretation is incorrect, it is certainly a wise and biblical thing for younger church officers to show deference and submission and a humble spirit, a teachable spirit, toward those who are older and more experienced in the office of church elder.

Well, beloved, whether Peter is addressing all of the younger believers in general, or only the younger men in particular, and whether he is continuing to refer to the church elders or simply at this point referring to elderly believers, elderly men in general, the word of God makes it clear throughout its pages that older people are to be treated with respect, honor, and appropriate deference. And that’s something that really needs to be made clear in our time when youthfulness is almost idolized. Let’s consider a couple of passages which speak of the honor and respect that the younger are to show towards the elders, towards those who are older. Consider what is said in Leviticus 19, verse 32. Leviticus chapter 19, verse 32. In this passage, we read these words. It says, you shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God, I am the Lord.

Notice that the Lord Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, he backs up this command with his own authority. And he says, you shall fear your God. One of the ways that we show fear, holy reverence towards God is by showing respect to the gray headed, to those who are elderly in our midst. And in those days, one of the ways in biblical times that you showed honor for the elderly is you stood up in their presence. There’s other ways that we might show, that different cultures might show honor towards those who are elders amongst them, the elderly among them. But here, this clearly is teaching that we are to honor those who are our elders. Or consider what the apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter five, verses one and two. 1 Timothy chapter five, verses one and two.

Paul writes this, do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father. Younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters in all purity, amen to that. Beloved, Christ our savior honored his elders. In his act of obedience, he perfectly obeyed all of God’s commandments, including the fifth commandment, which is honor your father and your mother. Jesus perfectly honored both his heavenly father, God the Father, and his earthly father, and his mother as well. We’re told in Luke chapter two, verse 31, that when he was a youth, he was submissive to his earthly father and mother. And of course, he is the perfect model for honoring the elderly. Beloved in Christ, one of the ways that we demonstrate a proper fear and holy reverence for the God who saved us by his amazing grace in Christ is to show honor to the elderly.

And again, this is something that we in the church today need to take to heart, especially since we live today in such a youth-oriented culture, a culture that idolizes youth and often views the elderly with either disdain or with a grudging tolerance. Well, it is true that there is such a thing as an old fool. There are old fools, that’s true. It’s also true that there is such a thing as young people who are wise beyond their years. That is true as well. But nevertheless, as a general rule, the life experience of older saints gives them a certain perspective and a certain wisdom that we can learn from. A certain perspective and a certain wisdom that is usually lacking among those who are younger. And so let us display humility, beloved, by submitting to the biblical shepherding of the church’s elders and also by showing deference and respect to the elderly, the older ones in our midst.

And I say that as someone who is starting to get more gray hair. So friends, we see here in this theme of humility an example of youthful submission to those who are older. But next we see this exhortation at the end of verse five, to be clothed in humility toward one another. And that’s the second point in your outline. Let us be clothed in humility toward one another. Peter writes in verse five, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. And what’s the reason for that? Well, he quotes from the Old Testament, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. You know, unbelievers often look upon humility and a submissive attitude as signs of pathetic weakness, don’t they? However, in God’s word, the virtues of godly submission and humility are exalted as virtues which demonstrate the inward strength and integrity which are produced by the Holy Spirit.

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, again is the perfect model of submission and humility. And this humility was especially evident in his incarnation and his death upon the cross for our sins. Think about it. In his incarnation, our Lord was willing to leave his throne in glory, his glorious heavenly throne. And in humility, he was willing to clothe himself with our humanity. Even though our Lord was and is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity who was and is and ever shall be co-equal, co-eternal, and consubstantial with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Yet he willingly submitted to his Father by becoming incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth. And by being willing to go to the cross, to stretch out his arms upon the hard wood of the cross and to suffer death upon the cross as our substitute, our sin bearer, our Savior, that he might redeem and save his people from their sins.

The Carmen Christi passage in Philippians chapter two is especially powerful in displaying and explaining the humility and humiliation of Christ. Let me just read Philippians two beginning at verse three and reading through verse 11. Philippians two, three through 11. In the midst of this exhortation where the Holy Spirit through Paul is calling the Philippian believers to humility toward one another, he says this, beginning at verse three, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. And then he goes on to say this, have this mind among yourselves. This should be your mindset and mine. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, thing to cling on to, if you will, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant.

Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And death by crucifixion was not only an agonizing way to die, but a deeply shameful way to die. Therefore, verse nine, therefore God, meaning God the Father, has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So we are to have this mind among ourselves, which is ours in union with Christ Jesus, our Lord, who humbled himself. He didn’t stop being God when he became incarnate, but he added to himself the form of a servant.

He added to himself our humanity. He humbled himself even to the point of death on the cross. And in union with him, we are to display a similar kind of humility. We also have an example of our Lord’s profound humility when towards the end of his earthly ministry, our Savior girded himself with a towel and took the position of a lowly slave in order to perform that humble, even loathsome task of washing the feet, the smelly, filthy, dirty feet of his disciples as recorded in John chapter 13. It’s a powerful passage of scripture. Beloved in Christ, Jesus, our master, Lord and teacher instructed us to do likewise. In other words, to demonstrate the same kind of humility and servanthood toward one another, as Peter again tells us in verse five, clothe yourselves all of you with humility toward one another, toward one another, not lording it over each other, not looking down on others, but counting others better than ourselves.

So this is a call to humility, to be clothed with humility. But what exactly is humility? Well, at its core, humility is an attitude of utter dependence upon God. You are a humble person, by the grace of God, you are a humble person if God in sovereign grace has brought you to the point where you realize that you are a guilty sinner who deserves God’s punishment for your sins, and that your only hope of salvation is found in Christ and Christ alone. You are a humble person if you realize that you are completely dependent upon God for everything that you enjoy in life. Every beat of your heart, every breath that you take, everything ultimately comes from God, and you and I are completely dependent upon it. Recognizing that is of the essence of humility.

Recognizing and living our lives in light of that is the essence of humility. But if you are trusting in yourself or your good works for salvation, or if you take pride in being self-sufficient, autonomous, and self-reliant, then you are proud. And you need to beware, for this verse teaches us that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And by the way, those who are humble are only humble by the grace of God. And so we are to be clothed with humility. This is interesting imagery that Peter uses here. Dr. Kistermacher points out that the word for cloth here means to tie a piece of clothing to oneself. The suggestion is that the Christian ought to tie humility to their conduct so that everyone is able to recognize them. Peter exhorts the readers, he says, to fasten humility to themselves once for all.

In other words, it stays with them for the rest of their lives. And so we have this call to be clothed with humility. And we have good reason to be clothed with humility for apart from grace, we are nothing but sinners worthy of his wrath. We also find in this passage, though, a warning to the proud. The reason given for this call to clothe ourselves with humility is that God does what? He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Here, Peter is quoting from Proverbs 3, verse 34. This proverb highlights God’s provision of grace to the humble and submissive, but it also highlights his constant, unwavering opposition to the proud. Norman Hillier points out that the Greek implies that God sends his armed forces against those who consider themselves far superior to others and treat the common herd with contempt.

The implication is that the proud are those who ridicule and despise Christian believers. And this would have been a great comfort to Peter’s original readers as they faced persecution from arrogant unbelievers who ridiculed them and viewed them as being foolish and stupid and what do you believe in this? Crucified Messiah, what kind of ridiculous belief is that? The proud would look down their noses at these poor persecuted Christians, but Peter assures them God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Dear ones, God is at war against the proud. He is at war against proud, unrepentant, unbelieving fallen man. Consider what Mary, the mother of our Lord, had to say about this in her wonderful Magnificat as recorded in Luke 1. If you look at Luke 1 verses 51 to 53, Luke 1, 51 to 53, we read these words.

He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered whom? He has scattered the proud in the thoughts or imaginations of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever. Dear ones, let us pray that God would grant us the grace of humility. May we, by the grace of God and out of gratitude for his gift of salvation given to us in Jesus, let us, as our Savior girded himself with the towel to wash his disciples’ feet, let us clothe ourselves, let us gird on humility in the way that we relate and relate to one another, and let us display humility to a world that is so filled with pride.

You know, the world often sees the church and they believe that we are self-righteous. They, you know, fairly or unfairly, they often view us as being proud. Oh, you proud Christians, you think you know it all. Sometimes that’s an unfair judgment, but sometimes we do come across as proud as know-it-alls. Let us, by the grace of God, clothe ourselves with humility. That can be a powerful testimony for our Savior to those who are outside. And let us pray that the proud in our lives, that they would be humbled, and let us pray that God would grant us a humble spirit. Amen, let us pray. Heavenly Father, you again, you are the exalted Lord. We have no reason to boast, we have no reason to be proud. For every good and perfect gift that we have received comes from your sovereign hand.

And we thank you, Lord, that you have humbled us to the degree that we recognize our sin and our need for Christ. We pray that you would grant us the grace to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another, and to display a humble spirit to those outside of the church, that our witness for Christ might be powerful and impactful. We pray these things, oh Father, in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s close our time this evening in worship by rising, and we’ll sing as our closing hymn, number 530. Teach me thy way, oh Lord, 530.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.