Grace Means Service: Youth
Grace Means Service: Youth
1 Peter 5:5-11
Again, I have tasked myself with teaching on a passage and topic that I have neither mastered nor have begun to gain proficiency in: humility. Some of you may have just breathed a sigh of relief. You’re already pretty humble - so you think - and so you’re poised for a nice pat on the back! But once you think you have humility, you’ve lost it. So, I am here to help you. For others, you may have groaned, because you struggle with pride, and now find yourself blessed to sit through a sermon on humility.
Most are somewhere in between, wondering what in the world I am about to say, but here’s what I can say to you: we all have something to learn today. Not because of what I say but because of what God says. We all have the opportunity to sit before God’s Word and to hear Him speak to us about a virtue that is absolutely necessary for His people.
What is humility? It is an attitude of mind that realizes that we have no reason to be distinct, special, or important in God’s eyes. It is the recognition that without God, we are nothing. Even in comparison to others, in the grand scheme of things, we are all the same - creatures that are completely dependent upon God for life, breath, and every good thing.
Peter commands us to put on humility, “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’.” After exhorting the elders in verses 1-4, Peter encourages the entire church, “all of you,” to clothe themselves with humility. Why? Because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
We see the necessity of our subject this morning. God opposes those without it. The word oppose conveys the imagery of being set in battle array. God opposes the proud as if He is a battling army. Thus, we are commanded to clothe ourselves with humility, a rare verb that refers to a slave putting on an apron before serving, as Jesus did before washing the disciples’ feet.
So, what do you want this morning? Do you want God to oppose you? To set His face and His power against you? Or do you want God to be gracious towards you? What determines whether we receive God’s opposition or His grace in our lives? Humility.
Hopefully, you’re convinced you need humility. But you’re probably like me and you have realized that you can’t white-knuckle yourself into being humble. So, what are we to do? How can we humble ourselves? Fortunately, the rest of our passage gives us three answers. First, we humble ourselves by casting our anxieties on God. Second, we humble ourselves by resisting the attacks of the enemy. And we humble ourselves by trusting God to complete His work in us.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under that 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.” (1 Peter 5:6-7). Notice the word therefore. Since God gives grace to the humble, therefore we must humble ourselves under his mighty hand.
The phrase “under the mighty hand of God” is a reminder of the book of Exodus, where God brought His people out of Egypt “with His mighty hand” (Exodus 32:11). The idea is that we are to humble ourselves under His sovereign control. We are to recognize that He is Lord over every event that happens in our lives, and that whatever comes from His mighty hand, we stand ready to submit to.
The purpose of humbling ourselves is so that at the proper time He may exalt you. We naturally worry about our position and status, hoping to be recognized and honored for what we do. But God’s recognition is far greater than human praise, and He promises to reward and exalt, either in this life or the next.
Notice the manner we are to humble ourselves: by casting our anxieties on Him, because He cares for us. We humble ourselves by casting our anxieties on Him. Carrying our worries, stresses, and daily struggles by ourselves shows that we have not trusted God fully. God calls us to recognize our inability to carry our anxieties and to cast them all on Him. God wants us to consciously throw our daily worries about our faith, family, finances, health, work, marriage, children, etc. away from ourselves and onto Him.
Why does God want us to cast our anxieties on Him? Our text says “because He cares for you”. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God cares for you? God is your Father, a Father who is gracious and compassionate. He cares for you deeply, and wants you to cast all your burdens on Him.
God wants us cast our anxieties on Him so we can grow deeper in our walk with Him. Daily worries hinder our faith. They distract us and rob us from the joy of trusting God and seeing Him provide. Casting our anxieties on God frees us to serve Him and to love others.
What anxieties do you need to cast on God? Is it spiritual- a sin battle that you’re dealing with? An addiction you can’t overcome? Is it physical- something within the realm of health, finances, and work? Is it relational- a brother and sister in Christ you’re struggling to get along with? Familial? Marital? What is it? God invites you to take any and all anxieties and to cast them on Him. You can do that right where you are seated. Give it to him. That’s how we humble ourselves.
“Be soberminded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Peter transitions from casting our anxieties on God to resisting the One who seeks to devour us.
Peter is not alone. James does the same thing in James 4:6-7, “But he [God] gives more grace. Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James quotes the exact same verse from Proverbs 3:34 that Peter quotes in 5:5. He also moves directly from humility to spiritual warfare and says the same thing Peter does, “Resist the devil.” For James and Peter, and therefore for us, humility and the need to resist the devil are clearly linked. But how?
If we would be humble, we must be sober-minded. That means to be alert, to be awake. Because Satan is seeking to devour. He is not omnipresent, but his associates are many, and he stands ready to pounce when we let down our guard. So, we watch, and when we are attacked, we do not succumb to temptation, we do not believe lies, we stand firm in the truth.
Notice the relationship between spiritual warfare and suffering. Peter says, “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”
In the midst of our suffering and pain, the enemy will come along and whisper lies about God to us. This leads us to think we are special, that we have been good, and that God is unjust for allowing us to be afflicted. We ask: “Why me, God?”.
The prideful are always surprised by suffering. We naturally assume that what they are experiencing will never happen to us. We are special. I will never have a heart attack. I eat healthy, workout five times a week, take ice baths, etc. I am not like those people who have heart attacks.”
The humble recognize that they aren’t special. If the proud ask “why me?” the humble ask “why not me?” The humble person recognizes that they aren’t more important than anyone else, and that God is God and they are not. They say with Job, “should we receive good from God, and not receive trouble?” This is what Peter wanted his readers to understand: they weren’t the only ones suffering. Their brothers and sisters were enduring the same things they were throughout the world.
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5:10-11).
Notice what Peter says…only for a little while. Now he is not making light of our suffering, but he is giving us a time marker - a little while. This won’t last forever, he says. That’s encouraging. It gives us perspective. That’s what Peter is encouraging us with here, “after you have suffered a little while.”
“The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” Do you see it? We suffer. But God gives grace.
Consider where we began. “Humble yourselves, therefore….so that at the proper time He may exalt you.” So often we think we know when the proper time is. But only God does. He knows the proper time to exalt His children.
We humble ourselves by waiting for His return or when He will call us home. We wait for our exaltation. We wait for Him to restore our souls. We wait for Him to confirm us in the faith. We wait for Him to strengthen our weak and failing bodies.
We tend to act as if it depends on us. I remember being convinced of my need for it, I was resolved to be humble. But how? Just try harder. That’s how I tried to write my sermons: just try harder! But that only led to frustration and disappointment. So “try harder to be humble” is not the point of Peter’s letter. “Trust Christ” - who is the only One who is truly humble” is the point.
That’s good news. Because you and I are no different. We are not naturally humble before God. Our default is pride.
We are no different than Adam and Eve. We focus on ourselves. We take things personally. We are self-centered, self-preserving, proud creatures. Need proof? When someone takes a photo and you’re in it, who’s the first person you look at when you see that photo? Case dismissed.
But God is gracious and compassionate, so He sent His Son to rescue us. He lived a perfect life on our behalf, never giving in to pride, but always remaining humble. He cast all His anxieties on His Father. He watched for and resisted the attacks of the enemy. Remember the temptation of Jesus during his fast alone in the wilderness? Satan temps Him with pride, “IF you are the Son of God…then you shouldn’t be hungry! IF you are the Son of God… the angels should serve you! IF you are the Son of God…you deserve the ownership and worship of all the nations!” But what did Jesus do? He trusted God to complete His work in and through Him, that at the proper time He would be exalted.
The message is not to “be more humble.” It is to repent of your pride and trust Christ, who was humble on your behalf and have His humility credited to you. It is to trust the One who paid the penalty for our pride - the judgement of God against all sin, so that when you place your faith in Him you are reconciled to God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and enabled to live a life of humility, so at the proper time God may exalt you, just as He did His Son.