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Well, friends, please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word as we continue
our consideration of 1 Peter. We’re coming towards the end of 1 Peter. We’re wrapping
things up in the next several Lord’s Days. Tonight, we’ll focus once again on 1 Peter
chapter 5, verses 5 through 7. I’m going to read chapter 5, verses 1 through 7 to give
the fuller context, but the title of my sermon this evening is Clothed with Humility, part
2. So, friends, let us hear God’s Holy Word, 1 Peter chapter 5 beginning at verse 1. Again,
you’ll find that on page 1206 in your Pew Bibles.
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, nor 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.
Oath 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
Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of his word. Once again, Heavenly Father,
we would pray that your spirit would powerfully bless your word as it goes forth this evening.
We ask, Lord, that you would give me the grace to speak forth your word with power and clarity,
with the assistance of your spirit, and with faithfulness to the text of Holy Scripture.
And we would ask, Lord, that you would give us open and receptive minds and hearts to
your word this evening, that we might by your grace and out of gratitude for your gift of
salvation be clothed with humility, one toward another, and in your holy presence. We pray
these things, Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated.
There’s five words that the young people can be listening for in my sermon
this evening, the words humility, submission, trust, pride, and anxiety.
Well, dear ones, as we’ve been learning, as we’ve considered 1 Peter, this marvelous portion of God’s
word, we’ve learned that Peter wrote this epistle in order to comfort, to encourage, and to fortify
first century Christians who were facing a fiery trial of persecution for their Christian faith.
In chapter five, as Peter begins to wrap up his letter, his epistle, he addresses a specific
portion of the churches that he’s writing to. He addresses the elders or presbyters in particular.
These elders or presbyters were church officers who were responsible to spiritually shepherd
God’s people, God’s people being described here as the flock of God, or God is the shepherd and
his people are his flock. And these elders, these presbyters, are to shepherd the flock of God
under the authority of and on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ being revealed in this passage
as the chief shepherd of God’s people, God’s sheep. Now, as I’ve sought to point out in past
weeks, while all of us as God’s people need to be spiritually shepherded, we are not meant to be
lone ranger Christians. We are to be in community, in covenant community with one another, and we are
to be shepherded by elders in the church. While all of God’s people need that, those Christians
who face suffering and persecution for their faith in Christ need special attention, special care,
special encouragement by the Lord’s under-shepherds. And that’s probably why Peter addresses the
elders of the church specifically in the opening verses of chapter five and verses one through four.
But then you’ll notice in verse five, Peter shifts his attention to a different group,
and he addresses those who are described here as you who are younger, although it could be
translated as it is, for example, in the New American Standard Version as younger men in
particular. And Peter offers these younger ones, these younger men, he offers them an exhortation
to humility. Now perhaps that’s because younger people, and younger men in particular, tend to
not have a very humble attitude towards their elders in general. That tends to be a characteristic
of young men in particular. But, you know, this is the group that is being addressed here,
whatever the reason for it. And of course there is debate about whether these younger ones are
to be understood as younger church officers, that is to say, younger presbyters or elders,
on the one hand, who are exhorted therefore to be subject to the older, more experienced presbyters
in the church, or whether Peter is addressing younger men or younger people in general and
urging them to show a posture of deference and submission to elderly people in general
in the church. And so the scholars and commentators debate on that. But whichever view is the correct
one, and I tend to lean towards the view that Peter is addressing younger presbyters here in
particular, but whether or not that is correct, we saw on the last Lord’s Day that the scriptures
certainly urge those who are younger to show appropriate deference, respect, and honor toward
those who are older. It says, rise before the gray-headed. You know, that was a way of showing
respect in Old Testament times, for example. Then we also saw in verse five that Peter goes on to
urge his readers to clothe themselves with humility. He uses this imagery of clothing ourselves with
humility, and he goes on to warn them as well that God resists the proud. Again, as we read in verse
five, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. Why? Well, he quotes from a
proverb here, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And so that brings us to
verse six, and I want us first of all to consider from verse six, humility under God’s mighty hand.
We are called, brothers and sisters, to humility under God’s mighty hand. It says in verse six,
humble yourselves therefore, therefore meaning in view of what has been said, in view of the fact
that 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. Now what is this language
of the mighty hand of God? Notice in verse five, we were instructed to be submissive and humble
toward one another, but here in verse six, we are told to be humble toward God. Again, we are to be
humble under the mighty hand of God. But what does that mean exactly? Why does Peter use this imagery
of being humble under the mighty hand of God? And what is this mighty hand of God? Well, friends,
here Peter, writing under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, is using Old Testament language
and imagery. In the Old Testament, God’s mighty hand, or the expression under God’s mighty hand,
generally speaks of God’s power to intervene in history for the sake of his people. God’s hand is
his protecting power, displayed when his people are oppressed and crying out for deliverance,
as Dr. Marshall points out in his commentary. And so, for example, we are told that God rescued his
people Israel from their slavery in Egypt, and when the biblical writers like Moses and the
prophets remember that mighty act of salvation where the Lord rescues the Israelites from their
slavery in Egypt, the language is often used that the Lord has rescued his people with a mighty hand
and an outstretched arm. And so, for example, consider Deuteronomy 5, verse 15, where Moses is
recounting the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel as they’re preparing to go in and conquer
the promised land after their 40 years of wilderness wandering. As he reminds them of the Ten
Commandments, he says this in Deuteronomy 5, verse 15. It says this as he recounts the Sabbath day,
the Sabbath command. He says, You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt,
and the Lord your God brought you out from there, how? With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day and so forth. And so, friends,
we see how appropriate it is for Peter to use this phrase when he is addressing believers who
faced persecution and who needed reassurance that God was mighty and able to deliver them.
Oftentimes, when God’s people are suffering under the hands of the wicked, it often seems like the
people of God are weak and that the wicked are mighty. But we need to remember in periods of
persecution, in periods of distress, we need to remember that even in the church’s darkest days,
God’s hand is mighty to deliver and vindicate his people. That doesn’t necessarily mean that
God is going to deliver his people out of persecution or prevent them from being martyred
or what have you. Sometimes God delivers his people through their martyrdom into his holy
eternal presence. But nevertheless, whatever circumstances the church may face in God’s
providence, we can be confident that he is mighty to deliver, he is mighty to vindicate. We are to
humble ourselves under his mighty hand. And even when the wicked seem to be powerful and mighty,
we are to remember that our God, oh, he is the mighty one, the almighty one. And he has saved
us in Christ by his mighty hand, his outstretched arm, and Christ has stretched out his arms to
rescue and deliver us by his merit. And so, again, how appropriate that the Holy Spirit through Peter
uses this imagery, reminding these persecuted believers to humble themselves under God’s mighty
hand, reminding them that God’s hand is still mighty toward you in spite of your circumstances.
But God’s mighty hand here could also refer to the way in which God exercises discipline and
imposes suffering on his people. And so the thought here, according to Dr. Marshall, the thought here
may rather be that Christians are to submit themselves to persecution, knowing that God’s
will is being carried out through it. Well, dear ones, I would suggest to you that both thoughts
may be present in this phrase, under God’s mighty hand. We are to submit ourselves under God’s mighty
hand in the sense that we are to accept any persecution or suffering that God in his good
and overruling providence may choose to send our way, realizing that God has an ultimately good
purpose in everything that he allows to happen in our lives and in the life of his church.
However, as we do so, we are also to submit ourselves under God’s mighty hand in the sense
that we are to recognize that he is the mighty one. He is our deliverer. He is our savior. He is the
one who will ultimately vindicate us, even as he by grace in Christ has saved us and redeemed us.
So what are some of the takeaways, some of the lessons, applications that we can glean from this
language here? Well, first of all, friends, I would point out that in this language and imagery,
we have just one of many biblical examples of how God uses what the scholars call anthropomorphic
language, language that speaks about God as if he were like us, as if he had eyes and ears and
hands and feet and arms like we do. That’s anthropomorphic language. God often uses such
anthropomorphic language and imagery to teach us spiritual truth. Even though God is a transcendent
spirit who is without body, parts, or passions, yet he condescends to us. He comes down to our level
to speak about himself in ways that we can relate to as creatures of sight and sense. He knows our
frailty. He knows our weakness. He knows our limitations. And so he comes to us and he reveals
himself in language that we can understand. And it sometimes has been compared to the way that
adults try to communicate with infant children. You ever seen adults around little babies?
Adults can act pretty silly around little babies as you try to talk baby talk. Oh, look at the poor,
cute little thing. It’s so cute. And we would never talk that way to each other. That would be
rather strange, wouldn’t it? If you had two adults talking baby talk to each other, that would be a
really weird thing. But it’s not weird when you’re trying to communicate something to young children
or infants who don’t know language yet, who don’t have the life experience to understand
language. And it’s okay. We can, to some extent, communicate even with little ones through so-called
baby talk. Well, God, he is exalted. He’s infinite. We cannot comprehend him. It is impossible for the
finite to comprehend the infinite. And yet God does communicate something of his being and
perfections to us. But he does so by accommodating himself to us, by coming down to our level
and speaking to us in ways that we can understand and relate to. Praise God that he does that,
that he loves us enough to condescend to us. And I don’t mean condescend in the negative sense,
but condescend in the sense of come down to our level. And so we read here of God’s mighty hand,
not that God in his divine being or nature literally has a human hand, but the hand of
God here is a symbol for God’s strength, his power to act. It strikes me that the scriptures
sometimes speak of the stars. And we know from modern astronomy that stars are huge entities.
And our star, the sun, is a rather mid-sized star as compared to other stars out there in the galaxy
and in the universe. There are huge, unimaginably huge stars out there. And yet it is described
that God made the stars by his fingers. It only took the work of his fingers to make those great
creations. And so the hand of God, the fingers of God, and especially his outstretched arm,
what do these images convey? They convey the mighty power of God. How appropriate that God
would use that language. Now some might be quick to say, and just as a brief caveat,
some might say, wait a minute, pastor, of course God has hands. Jesus Christ has hands, right? So
we can speak of God having hands. Well certainly with respect to his human nature, our Lord Jesus
Christ does indeed. He has a body like we do. But in the incarnation, the eternal divine Logos,
the eternal divine son of God, he did not cease to be God. He added to himself a true human nature,
both body and soul. And so with respect to his human nature, Christ indeed has hands,
but in his eternal divine nature, he has no hands as the eternal son of God. However,
because of the unity of his person, because he is the God-man, we can rightly speak about the hands
of the divine son of God. But in any case, that caveat aside, we are to humble ourselves
under the mighty hand of God, submitting to his providence even when his providences are difficult,
but also remembering that he is our mighty deliverer and he will vindicate us and he will
pull us through whatever difficulties or sufferings or struggles or persecutions
he might choose to decree and allow for us to experience. Another thing that is important for
us to remember as we consider this imagery, remember that our Lord Jesus Christ himself
submitted under the mighty hand of God. He submitted under his Father’s mighty hand to the
agony of the cross in order to redeem us from our sins. We sang about that earlier in the service
as we sang from Psalm 22, the agonies that Christ endured on our behalf, beloved. And he did so
under his Father’s mighty hand and it is because Jesus Christ our Lord submitted to his Father
even unto death upon the cross that we who believe can be saved from our sins. Praise God that Christ
our Savior submitted himself under the Father’s mighty hand that we might experience forgiveness,
grace, and mercy. Dear listener, do you believe in Christ as your Savior and have you submitted
yourself by faith to his rule, his Lordship? Trust in him and him alone for your salvation.
And so beloved in Christ, let us humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand. He knows what is best
for us and most conducive to his own glory. He is trustworthy so let us therefore trust him.
He is mighty. Let us therefore submit ourselves to his royal divine majesty. Let us in humility
realize our utter dependency upon him. Let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.
But then Peter goes on again writing as he writes all of his two epistles. Everything here is under
inspired, breathed out by God. Here we are called in verse seven to cast all our anxieties upon
God. This is my final point as we consider verse seven. Beloved, cast all your anxieties
upon God. Let me start up again in verse six. 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.
What an image. Casting your anxieties upon him. Not holding them to yourself but casting them,
letting them go. Casting them upon the Lord who cares for you. Casting all your anxieties upon
him because he cares for you. My friends, I would submit to you that biblical Christianity is the
only religion in the world that reveals a God who is so deeply concerned about the well-being of
his children. The words of verse seven, because he cares for you, could literally be rendered
because to him it matters concerning you. That would be sort of a woodenly literal translation.
Because to him it matters concerning you. For those of us who have the immense privilege
of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as our very own Lord and Savior, God’s care for us ought
to be a source of deep comfort and security. Whatever trials, whatever temptations, whatever
persecutions we may be called upon to face, we can know that as we face those obstacles,
as we face those trials, those persecutions, we can be assured that it is not because God doesn’t
care about us or that God is ignoring us. We can be assured as we submit to him, as we humble
ourselves before him under his mighty hand, we can be assured that he still cares for us and so we
can cast all of our anxieties upon him. But how often we are anxious and at this point I want to
make it clear. I mean I always try to preach my sermons to myself as well but this is a point
that I need to hear. I don’t know about you brothers and sisters but I struggle with anxiety
sometimes. I don’t always show it. Sometimes people react to anxiety by venting and other
folks react to anxieties and stresses by just kind of bottling it up and pushing it down.
I’m the latter. I bottle it up inside and I struggle with it. But friends,
how often all of us struggle to one degree or another with anxiety. How often we who
profess to be believers show our unbelief, our lack of trust in God by exhibiting anxiety
in our attitudes and actions. When we consider the connection between verse seven and the previous
verse, we need to realize that anxiety is the opposite of humility. If you’re taking notes,
if you’re taking notes, write that down. Anxiety is the opposite of humility.
If anxiety is a settled state of mind for you, what does that say about your heart and your
relationship to God? You see anxiety can actually be a sign of pride because when you’re anxious,
you’re like well I’ve got to deal with this. I’ve got to take care of this
instead of trusting in the Lord.
You see a humble person who realizes his utter dependence upon God will not be characterized
by anxiety. He may as we all do to one degree or another struggle with anxiety, but his life will
not be characterized by anxiety. Why? Because the one who by God’s grace is humble knows that God
is dependable and if God is dependable, if your God and gracious heavenly father who sent his son
to die for your sin and to rise from the dead for your justification, the God who has loved you with
an everlasting love, the God who cares for you, if he indeed cares for you, then what do you have
to be anxious about? He holds your life, he holds your eternity in the palm of his hands and nothing
can separate you from his love and so if we really truly believe that and embrace it,
what room is there for sinful anxiety? You see the humble man again trusts in the trustworthy one and
therefore his soul is in a state of rest, but the proud person who is self-reliant does not have
any firm footing but instead is tossed about by anxieties. In fact, the Greek word which is
translated as anxieties or care according to Dr. Hillier is a word that implies being pulled in
several different directions at once. I’m sure you’ve never felt like that, right?
Ever feel like you’re being pulled in in many different directions at once? Life gets stressful
sometimes and sometimes we feel that way. That is precisely how anxiety can make us feel and such
anxiety, my friends, is quite frankly sinful for it does not look to the trustworthiness and
dependability of God but instead it looks to the untrustworthy and unpredictable circumstances,
the ever-changing circumstances of our lives. Here the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter
is calling us to cast our cares upon the Lord and so friends that being the case let us by
the grace of God let us decisively once and for all throw our anxieties upon the Lord
and resolve to leave them there. Well again we all struggle with anxiety. The good news of the
gospel is that Jesus Christ died for our sin of anxiety as well. We all struggle, we all struggle
with worry with anxiety and the Lord is merciful. He knows that our faith is weak. He knows that
that our sanctification well it’s an ongoing process and we’re not we’re still on the way.
We’re still works in progress but praise be to God he cares for us. He’s trustworthy. We can rest
in him. We can humble ourselves under his mighty hand looking to him as our vindicator, our deliverer,
our savior, our king. Dear ones let us submit ourselves to God and to one another as brothers
and sisters in the family of God. Let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and cast
all of our cares upon him knowing that he cares for us. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father
we thank you that you have demonstrated your amazing grace and care for us in the sending
of your son Jesus Christ to be our savior and Lord Jesus we thank you that you have redeemed
us by your precious blood. We thank you that by your spirit you have sealed us unto the day of
redemption and we thank you Lord that you are guiding our lives each and every step of the way.
Therefore give us grace Lord we who struggle with anxieties and doubts and worry give us the grace
Lord to be steady and firm in trusting you the trustworthy one. We pray all these things Heavenly
Father in Jesus name and all of God’s people said amen. Well let’s close our time of worship this
evening by rising and we’ll sing together hymn 178 we have not known thee as we ought 178 we’ll
rise and sing together 178.