Clothe Yourselves with Humility

This morning, I want to start by asking you a question. Do you think you're humble? It's a little tricky, isn't it? You don't really want to say no, but you're pretty sure if you say yes, that's not really the right answer either. We all feel that tension. Our passage this morning commands us to be humble. The truth is that humility is something for us to strive for, and it's something that as we grow in it, we...

Well, I don't know this from experience, but I've heard this from older people. But as we grow in it, we become more and more aware of how deep our pride actually goes. This morning, I'm not preaching this passage because I think I'm humble or got it figured out. I need exactly what I'm preaching this morning. We'll be in 1 Peter chapter 5. We'll be looking at verses 5 through 7, but we're going to read verses 1 through 7 for more of the context of the chapter.

Please stand for the reading of God's word. This is the word of the Lord, and it is eternally true.

"Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.

"And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders, and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Before we dive into our main passage, we need a reminder of the context of 1 Peter, which I think most of us are going to be pretty familiar with the first chapter or so. And from our first couple of lessons, we actually read the whole book of 1 Peter in small group, right? So hopefully we're all pretty familiar.

1 Peter is writing to Christians, specifically Christians who are scattered abroad. So he's writing to all kinds of Christians who live in different places and have different cultural contexts. And throughout Peter's letter, he returns to this idea of suffering and how to suffer well. He reminds us that Christ suffered and is an example to us. And all throughout, he gives exhortations about how to suffer well and reminds us of God's hold on us.

Peter reminds us of the joy and the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ several times in his letter, and he also deals with Christian living in various circumstances. He gives direction to Christians on how to honor, respect, uh, and—and give—show honor and respect to governing authorities. He tells husbands and wives how they are to live together and act, and he tells slaves to obey their masters, even if their masters aren't kind or good.

And then we get to 1 Peter 5. Here, Peter starts talking to his fellow elders. He exhorts them how they are to interact with God's flock. They're to shepherd them as under-shepherds of Christ, seeing that he is the Chief Shepherd, and that he will evaluate the work that they've done. Peter reminds them they're not to engage in the work by compulsion, but voluntarily, willingly, joyfully. They're not to do the work to gain anything.

They're not to do the work to establish themselves or a name for themselves. Instead, they shepherd the flock with eagerness for the good of the sheep. The work of elders is not to dominate the flock or lord over them, but instead they're to be examples to God's people of how to live and act. The elder shepherds—the elders shepherd out of a desire to serve God's people and not for themselves.

And while Peter doesn't say it quite explicitly, it seems clear that the elders are, in these exhortations, are being called to a humble service, a humble work. Okay, so now we come to the focus of our passage this morning. Verse 5, God commands the young men, "You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders." Notice here that Peter uses the word likewise. So in a similar fashion to how the elders are exhorted to lead and shepherd, you younger men, be subject—subject yourselves to them.

And as we look at this, a question may arise. Why is it that Peter is specifically exhorting the young men? He's primarily exhorting the young men because they're the most prone to not subject themselves to the elders. I'm a young man. I am most prone not to subject myself to the leadership of others. That's the elephant in the room, isn't it? This command is for the majority of the men of our—in our church, because most of us are relatively young.

God here singles out the young men and calls them specifically to subject themselves to the elders. Why? Probably because the young men are the most likely to fight the leadership. They're most likely in the zeal and energy of youth to not listen to the elders because the elders are old or tired, or they're out of touch. The elders don't know—they don't have social media or know how to work it.

We, the young men, generally think we know better than everyone else, or we just don't care. We determine that what the elders say may have worked for them, but it doesn't work today or for us, and so we refuse to listen. And so us young men are the most likely to be proud. How? How are they more likely to be proud? Well, young men are strong, or at least they think they're strong.

They put hope and trust in their own strength. They rely on themselves. They compare themselves to others and often esteem themselves better or higher than them. Before I had children, I used to look at everyone else's children, especially at grocery stores. You know where I'm going with this. And you'd hear that kid screaming somewhere at another aisle. And what did I think? You all know what I thought, right?

What did I think? "Not my kids. Never with my kids." Pretty humble, isn't it? And then I had a child, and I realized the difficulties of parenting. Young men often compare themselves to each other, and they try to one-up each other. They try to be better than each other. They think things like, "I'm smarter than him," or "I'm faster than him," or "I'm better than him," or "I work harder than him," or "I'm better looking than him," or "I'm better at fill in the blank."

Young men typically ignore Paul's command in Romans 12 not to think more highly of themselves than they ought. Young men often think highly of themselves. They think they have things figured out, or they think they can figure out things for themselves. But here, Peter exhorts us—he commands us—younger men, be subject to the elders. Be subject to the men that God has put over you. Listen to them, obey them, do what they say.

Submit to them, not under compulsion, but willingly. So the elders aren't to lead under compulsion, and I'm saying to us we shouldn't obey just under compulsion or submit under compulsion, but we should willingly listen to them, acknowledging that since they're older or since they're given charge over our soul, that they may know better than we do. So listen to your elders. Obey them. Hebrews 13:17 says, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you."

Brothers and sisters, that command from Hebrews is to all of us. Listen to the men that God has put over you. Fellow young men, be subject to the correction, teaching, and instruction of the shepherds of your souls. Next, Peter says, "All of you." So now he's changing his attention. First he—he's exhorting the young men, and now he says, "All of you."

First the elders, then the young men, now everyone. All of you. Subjection and humility is not just commanded to young men. Peter calls us all to it here. He's calling husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, employers and employees, elders, pastors, deacons, ushers, and everyone else. Everyone. Peter now turns his attention to all of us, and he calls us all to be humble.

And so ask yourselves, we spent a bit of time talking about the pride of the young men, and do you see any of that pride in yourself? Maybe it's just packaged a little differently. Which one of us isn't tempted by pride? Which one of us isn't tempted to think that we know best for ourselves more than others do? We say or think phrases like, "You don't know me."

We all generally assume that others don't have our best interests at heart, and they don't know what's best for us, and so we rely on ourselves. In our pride, we refuse counsel, or maybe we just avoid it. We know someone might give us counsel, but we turn away, and we don't—we don't even want to talk to them about it. We run away from it, and we think more highly of ourselves than we ought.

And so Peter says, "And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility." It should be—it should be natural. It should be so much in us, so much a part of us, that it shows up as effortlessly as us getting dressed for the day. The word or phrase here for "clothe yourself" can also be translated as "to gird yourself." More intentionally, it captures the idea of girding on a servant's apron or gown before serving others.

It's preparatory. To clothe ourselves with humility means for us to prepare ourselves, our hearts, our bodies, our minds to service. We should have in our minds Christ when he girds himself with the towel and begins to wash his disciples' feet. Afterward, he calls them to do the exact same for each other. And so, brothers and sisters, let's clothe ourselves with humility. Putting clothes on is just part of daily life.

And so covering ourselves with humility should also be part of our daily lives. By our example, by the way that we live and carry ourselves, others ought to see our humility. We don't have to tell them. Humility is something that you wear, something that's a part of you. When we were kids and we played tag, the debate was always whether or not you got tagged or they got your shirt.

You guys know what I'm talking about? In the game of tag, the shirt is a part of you. Your clothes are a part of you. Humility should be a part of you. Peter's command here assumes that the temptations to pride, arrogance, and boasting may spring up in the church. And so just because we're Christians and go to church together does not mean that we're immune to those things.

We're not immune to pride or arrogance or selfish ambition, a desire to build our own kingdoms. Peter assumes that all of us will struggle with pride, that all of us will want our own way, that we will have our own ideas, our own plans, and our own interests. And so he assumes these things. Peter says here, our humility should be toward each other. We're not just commanded to humility of the heart, that's obviously included.

But if we're truly going to be humble, Peter wants us to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another. Peter's concerned with how we interact with each other, and so our humility should be toward one another. So in other words, we're not just subject to the elders, we're subject to each other. We ought to be humble regarding our equals, not just those who are leaders over us. Brothers and sisters, let your brothers and sisters speak into your life.

Be teachable. Let your brothers and sisters be helpful to you. I've said before that you are your brother's keeper. Your brother is also your keeper. So listen to each other, help each other. Humbly submit. Don't reject someone's correction just because they're not an elder or an elder's wife. Refusal to listen to a brother or sister based on their status or their title is just a sign of the pride that's within us.

We don't want to be corrected by our brothers and sisters, by people we deem to be our equals. But Proverbs says that "iron sharpens iron." It doesn't say that steel sharpens iron or that a superior metal sharpens iron. It says "iron sharpens iron." They're the same things. They're equals. We cannot let our pride get in the way of relating to one another and helping each other or being helped by one another.

We should not assume that we always know better than those around us. We should not assume that we know on our own and in our own judgment what's best. We need to let our brothers and sisters speak into our lives. So with equals, that's pretty difficult. Let's take it a step further. Not only should we clothe ourselves with humility towards our equals and our superiors, but also we should humbly relate to our inferiors.

Do you think you're a more mature Christian than your brother? You're obligated to deal with him in humility. Not to sit in judgment of him. Is your brother weak while you're strong? Then love him. Be humble for his sake. We can't help the weaker brother if we hold them in contempt. And that's exactly what we do if we're proud and don't pursue humility. Thomas Brooks, an English Puritan, says that humility will make a man have high thoughts of others and low thoughts of a man's self.

And that's pretty much exactly what Paul says in Philippians 2. "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves." So what does it look like? What is humility? We've talked a lot about it, but what does it look like? Well, more generally, humility might be simply understood as not thinking highly of ourselves or more highly of ourselves than we ought.

Humility is equated to lowliness. In Proverbs 16:19, God's Word says, "It's better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud." We also see here that humility is the opposite of pride. They're opposed to one another. Humility means not having pride, arrogance, or boasting. To be clothed with humility toward one another means that you don't compare yourself to others and esteem yourself better than them.

Again, consider Romans 12:3. "For through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith." We also see this in Luke 18, when Jesus tells us the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. "And he also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt.

"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, 'God, I thank you that I'm not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner.'

"I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." Humility means that you don't insist on a your-way-or-the-highway approach. True godly humility will insist on God's way. And where it's not clear from Scripture, we need to be careful not to bludgeon each other with our own opinions.

Humility means that you don't think you're wise in your own estimation. That you seek counsel, that you accept that you and I can be wrong, that we're willing for others to speak into our lives. Humility doesn't get angry and fight and argue when corrected. Humility receives correction with grace. Humility doesn't look like strength to the world. It looks like the poor in spirit and the meek that Jesus describes in Matthew 5.

Brothers and sisters, let's work hard to clothe ourselves in humility toward one another, especially at this time in our church's history. We're in the middle of a major transition. This year has been difficult for our church. It has been tumultuous. And by God's grace, we've gotten to this point where now we're calling a new senior pastor who starts next week. And brothers and sisters, the transition isn't over yet.

Things are going to change at Clearnote Church. And I don't know what all those changes will be, but things won't go back to how they were in March. We're not returning to the status quo. Pastor Steven has a vision for Clearnote, and it will require change. And again, I don't know what those are, but I trust that they'll be good. That the changes will lead to each of our benefit and growth.

But we all need humility to embrace those changes. We need to be careful and watch out for our pride. Let Pastor Steven come in and lead us. Let him make changes, and don't be proud. We need to avoid thoughts like, "Well, we've always done it this way," or "No, this room is for this. It can't—we can't change it. This room's for this thing." Or "I don't like it."

Brothers and sisters, we need to clothe ourselves with humility. People don't generally like change, and that's understandable, but we also don't always know what's best. Pastor Steven comes here to us with fresh eyes and years of experience. Give your hearts to him and let him lead us. As things change, and even just as we relate to each other, we should assume that others know more than we do.

Don't assume that you know what's best, but understand that your brain and heart are just as affected by the fall as everyone else's. And you may not see as clearly as you think you do. This is true in all kinds of areas of our lives. If we assume that we know what's best, then we reject Peter's command here to be clothed with humility. We need to be pliable, but not like Pliable in Pilgrim's Progress.

But we need to be pliable. Now you might say, "Well, Timothy, this just sounds really weak and lame." Or maybe you wouldn't say it quite like that. Maybe you'd say, "That doesn't really sound like winning." Or maybe you wouldn't say it that way either, way either. Maybe you'd say, "Well, Timothy, it just sounds like you're asking me not to share my thoughts or my opinions. You're asking me to be a doormat. You're telling me I can never fight or argue because if I do, I'm just being proud."

That's not what I'm saying. A couple of things. First, humility does look weak and lame to the rest of the world. It's not hum—it's not the humble that divide the spoil in Proverbs 16:19, which we read, it's the proud that divide the spoil. They're the ones who get rich. But those who are in God's kingdom are known as the poor in spirit and the meek, and Jesus himself was gentle and humble in heart.

Jesus didn't come and overthrow Rome and establish a worldly kingdom that turned into a global superpower. Jesus was humble. And by the world's standards, Jesus was not successful. Second, there is a way for us to disagree and to do so in humility. We can argue, we can disagree, we can fight, but we ought to do so with humility, understanding that we might die and go to heaven and learn that we were wrong.

Now, do—doctrinal issues are one thing, and that's not quite what's in view here. What's in view here are more tertiary matters. Though I will say, one of the ways that we exercise humility as a church is regarding our disagreement on baptism. We have infant baptists and believers baptists alike here. It takes some humility. It takes humility for us to be able to come together and worship together.

For us to not insist that the other is in sin for their different view of baptism. So if we can humbly argue and fight about that, which I believe we do, then surely we can humbly argue and fight about less important things like politics or the color of the carpet. And I'm not joking when I say this. I know a church that they turned on their pastor, and the catalyst for it was that he removed the pews and brought more comfortable chairs.

That was what started it. It's not a church that you guys would know about, it's a church my family attended down in Florida. But the church turned on their pastor because he brought in chairs and took out the pews. And so let's not fall into that. Let's be humble as changes come. To that you might answer, "Well, well, why do I have to be humble and elevate others as higher than myself?"

Why? Well, first, because the next verse says that God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Why be humble? Do you really want God's face to be set against you? Literally, he has his face set against the proud. The proud will one day be brought low. The sovereign Lord of the universe sets himself in opposition to those who are haughty and proud. God is opposed to them.

They will not escape his gaze, and he will tear them down. So why be humble? Because we don't want to be like that. And on the other hand, another reason to be humble is that God gives grace to the humble. So it's not just that God's not set against us, but actually that God is for you. He gives power and strength to overcome the world and sin.

That's what grace is, it's power. The Lord gives peace and endurance to those who are humble and humble themselves before God. God is for the humble. Brothers and sisters, if we are humble, if we exercise humility as Christians are supposed to, God is for us. He is for the poor in spirit. He is for the meek. He is for the one who esteems his brother higher or more important than himself.

Maybe that's not enough. Let's consider a couple of examples of humility. First, look at Peter and his ability to endure correction. Jesus told him, "Get behind me, Satan." Peter was rebuked when he cut off the servant's ear. Peter was rebuked for saying, "May it never be, Lord," when Jesus foretold his death. He was rebuked when he confidently claimed that though all fall away, he would not. Peter denied our Lord three times and then was humbly reinstated.

And then Paul comes on the scene in Galatians 2 and opposes Peter to his face and rebukes him in the presence of all. And how did Peter respond to all those corrections and failures? Did he pick up his ball and go home? Did he give up and did he quit? Did he get mad and fight and argue? He accepted rebuke and correction, and as far as we can tell, he did it humbly.

Peter is not calling us here to anything that he's not done himself. And then second, we have the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this from Philippians 2, verses 3 through 8. "Do nothing from selfish ambition, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

"Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Jesus did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. The second person of the Trinity, God the Son, left his throne, put on the creature's flesh, our flesh, our weak, frail flesh, and became a man. Not just becoming a man, he actually became a baby. Right? In a month and a half, we're going to celebrate the birth of our Lord, who at one time was a baby, a child, weak and needy.

Our Lord came and dwelt among us, and he called us friends, and he became a bondservant for our sakes. He came to serve, and he came and he lowered himself to wash his disciples' feet, and then he died in our place. He took the wrath of God that we deserved, and he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. The God of the universe shows us how to be humble, because we didn't deserve any of that.

God would have been just and right to leave us in our sins. But instead he shows us humility. He shows us what humility looks like. The God of the universe saves his creatures. So why be humble? Look at your Lord and Savior. He was humble for your sake. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. The sovereign Lord of the universe knows best for you.

He knows best for me. He knows best for Clearnote Church. Do you know that? Do you, do you believe it? Where's Levi at? There you are. Do you know that? And not just in theory. I'm teasing Levi because when we meet and I talk to him, I ask him, "Do you, do you know that?" And he says, "Well, theoretically." God knows best for you and for me, and he's in control.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, the sovereign, mighty, all-powerful God. He is almighty, and he's your Father. He's good to you. If we humble ourselves, he gives us grace. Therefore, humble yourselves under his mighty, omnipotent hand. Cast all your cares and anxieties on him. We don't know how things will change or what will happen. And that's not just about the future of Clearnote Church.

That's politics, that's work, that's life, that's everything. We are not in control. So cast all your cares and anxieties on God. Humble yourself before him. When we do the prayer of confession, we kneel as a posture of humility. That's what prayer is. Prayer is recognizing and showing and acknowledging before God, "I'm weak and I need your help." So cast all your anxieties on him. Humble—let's humble ourselves under his mighty hand and bring our burdens and our total dependence on him.

And brothers and sisters, he will answer. And he will exalt us at the proper time. The last thing that I want to, I want to conclude with this morning also comes from 1 Peter, and it's in chapter 3. He says this: "To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead, for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing."

Let's pray. Dear heavenly Father, help us. Help us to be humble and to submit to those in authority over us. Help us to be humble and to be subject to each other, to not think of ourselves more highly than we should. Help us, Father, to clothe ourselves in humility here at church, in our families, in our homes, in our lives, at work. Help us, Father, to be humble. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.