True Christian Humility
I Peter 5:5-7
You Tube Video of Mac Davis singing “Oh Lord Its Hard to Be Humble…”
You have probably heard about the guy who won an award for humility, but had it taken away because he displayed the award in his office? I heard about a preacher who was vacationing out west with his wife. They came to one of those “ECHO CANYONs”. The sign said that any loud yell would bounce off the distant ridge and come back in an echo. The preacher was skeptical, so he shouted, “Baloney.” Sure enough, the echo bounced back with a very distinct “Baloney.” He tried it again and yelled “baloney”, and the echo once again said “baloney.” Then the preacher’s pride got the best of him and he yelled out, “I am the greatest preacher in the whole world!” He turned his ear for a response and after a long pause the echo came bouncing back, “Baloney!”
The issue of humility is wrapped up in the verse that Paul told the Corinthians, “He that stands, take heed lest he fall.” You may not be experiencing fiery trials and troubles right now, but take heed, lest the comfort of your situation gets the best of you and you get arrogant and say, “Things are going pretty good right now…” and you start to live without God actively leading your life. It is usually in those situations that we end up falling because of our pride.
After the death of Adolf Hitler, The Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler was the most hunted man in Germany. Himmler and his two adjutants did their best to secretly fade into obscurity. They disguised themselves as members of the secret police. Himmler shave d his mustache and wore an eye patch. But it was his pride that did him in. He could not bear to see himself wearing the uniform of a private, so he chose the rank of sergeant. The instructions given to the Allied forces were to arrest all members of the Secret Field Police beginning with the rank of sergeant. If it wasn’t for his pride, Himmler might have escaped…but he couldn’t bear the thought of being only a private. So what difference does it make if you are a private or a sergeant? Plenty. It takes a special person to quietly humble himself. John the Baptist said, There has to be more of Christ and less of me. That’s humility.
I want you to notice what Peter has to say about humility in this passage. First of all…in vs. 5, Peter reminds the younger men to be subject to the older men…but goes on to say that there needs to be a cross-generational humility, too. He says, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility.”
Churches with a future are those that are clothed with humility.
Churches with openness and communication are those that are clothed with humility.
Churches that are servant oriented are those that are clothed with humility.
Don’t worry about being overlooked or forgotten or at the end of the line.
Vs. 6 adds that God exalts us at the proper time if we are clothed with a teachable spirit, vulnerability, approachability and gentleness—that’s what humility means.
So, let’s look at the three points Peter makes about humility:
I. Be CLOTHED in Humility vs. 5
The word used here is only used here in the Bible. It is an interesting word that means “to tie on with a knot—to bind yourself with the clothing of a slave—a work apron.”
A. I’m sure Peter had in mind when at the last supper, Christ took a towel and wrapped it around him and washed everyone’s feet—the menial job of a slave. There was no servant in the house, so THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS washed mud and manure off everyone’s feet. As He did it, he explained that it is done to give us an example of how we are to humble ourselves and serve others.
So when it says “Clothe yourself with humility” it is saying we are to take on the role of a servant…purposely trying to find ways to serve and give and work.
See Philippians 2:1-5
To be clothed in humility means to put on the work clothes of a servant.
B. To be clothed in humility – in this verse – means submit yourself to church leadership! Submit yourself to the leadership of those who are older than you. Place yourself under their wisdom and experience and their vision.
C. Stop for a second and think about why you wear an apron—to keep yourself clean while you are working. The Christian is to clothe himself with the apron of humility so he doesn’t get dirty from the sin of pride or arrogance or self-promotion.
D. It also means – let humility be the mark of your spirituality. Cf. I Peter 3:4,5
The Pharisees used to stand in the temple and wail away in prayer wondering if anyone else was watching them and listening to their prayers. “Oh, Lord, bless this righteous soul of mine.” And then they’d look around and shout louder, “I’m thankful you have given me such insight into your Holy Word.” Then they’d look around and maybe wait for a moment to be sure people were listening, and pray, “And now, O Mighty God, listen to me as I confess the sins of all these wretched sinners around me.” Well, they’d better hope people were listening, because God sure wasn’t.
Proverbs3:34 says, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.”
Proverbs 26:12 “You see that man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”
The word used here is a word that means “lowliness of mind” = self-abasement. This is not the tendency of some people to put themselves down, to degrade their abilities or degrade their worth. Rather, it is to think rightly about themselves and that they are who they are because God made them, not self-made. Galatians 6:3 “When a man thinks he is something when he really is nothing, he is only deceiving himself.”
So, what does it mean to be humble before God? I think vs. 6 describes it very well:
II. Be CONTENT with Humility vs. 6
Peter makes two statements about contentment in humility:
A. “Under the mighty hand of God.” This is a common Old Testament phrase usually used in conjunction with a reminder that God brought Israel out of their slavery in Egypt. His hand was mighty – through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, into the promised land…providing food and water for them along the way. “The mighty hand of God” is a reminder that He is God and I am not. REMEMBER 4:19? Can you trust God to do what is right?
True humility is to submit yourself to God and Let God Be God. In the same way that you might submit yourself to the hands of a surgeon who gives you the hope of enjoying better health after the surgery…in the same way, Christians need to submit themselves to God’s surgical procedures in confidence that He’s making improvements in your spiritual life.
George Muller used to tell the story of a boy who was walking along the road carrying a heavy load. A man came along in a horse-drawn cart and offered him a ride. The boy climbed in the cart, but he kept the heavy load on his shoulders. When the man asked him why he didn’t put the load down on the cart, the boy replied that he didn’t want to burden the horse! We’ve climbed into the cart of salvation through Christ. He is in fact bearing our load. Why don’t we let go and put it all on Him?
B. “In Due Time.” = when God sees we are ready for it.
Let’s suppose we were building a new church building. And let’s suppose we wanted our new building to have a steeple—someone was generous and donated a beautiful new $25,000 steeple and had it delivered the day after we broke ground. As the bulldozers moved the dirt around and as the lumber was delivered, that steeple sat in the front yard of the church in the way, getting dirty, getting bumped into by trucks backing up, getting knocked over…getting your steeple delivered first thing is not the best timing for that steeple. LATER, when God knows it is time to exalt you, He will do it…but in His time, when He knows your pride can handle it.
One of the evidences of pride is an unwillingness to wait for God – impatience. Pride says, “I know what I want…I know what I think I should have…and I want it now.” James 1 points out that one of the reasons for suffering is that we might learn patience.
Philippians 4:11 “I have learned contentment”…to accept what God gives, when God gives it.
If you can’t handle contentment, you can’t handle exaltation.
If you can’t handle humility, God isn’t going to pour out his honors.
Andrew Murray, a famous pastor in South Africa in the 1800’s said, “Humility is perfect quietness of heart…it is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret, and be at peace as in a deep sea of calmness when all around and above is trouble.” -- perfect quietness of heart…a submissive heart that just lets go of climbing the ladder of success…that lets go of making sure my voice is heard…that lets go of ambition and volume.
III. Be CARE-LESS in Humility vs. 7
Don’t misunderstand me—I don’t mean careless, I mean Care-less…just what vs. 7 says.
It is what Philippians 4:6 says .. be care-less in nothing…
This verse is not a separate commandment that is to be taken out of context and used independently. GRAMMATICALLY, it is a participial phrase—a dependent phrase that is part of the verb of vs. 6.
Vs 6 tells us to humble ourselves…vs. 7 tells us how to humble ourselves.
According to vs. 7, true humility is trusting God…let God have your troubles…let God have your worries…instead of wrestling and hustling and worrying, “be still and know that He is God.”
The word “CARE” in vs. 7 means “anxiety” or “being pulled apart”. Like the horror movies where someone was put on the rack and pulled apart in the torture chamber, sometimes it feels like we are being torn apart inside, like we are being tortured mentally or emotionally, if not physically.
The natural human reaction in these times is to fight.
The natural human reaction is to figure things out.
The natural human reaction is to struggle and worry and fret…to rely on man’s ability, man’s intellect, man’s endurance…Suck it up…Stand tall…Let them know what you are made of…
We all have a sinful tendency to lift ourselves up and to set the Lord aside. Even we who have trusted in Christ as Savior, who talk about trusting Him for everything, when it comes right down to it, really trust in ourselves and in our ability to work our way through life’s difficulties. We’ll call on God for a
little boost now and then, to get us through something. But we don’t know what it means to cast ourselves totally upon the Lord until He yanks the rug out from under us through some trial that is
bigger than us. Even then we tend to scramble to regain control without submitting to God’s mighty hand over us. At the root of this self-reliance is pride.
God says, Humble yourself…bow the knee…break down your pride…and let me be God.
Isaiah reminds us that they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Letting God be God and giving Him our troubles one by one, we’ll find our strength renewed because we have less “stuff” to drain away our strength.
F.B. Meyer (Tried by Fire [Christian Literature Crusade], p. 173) helpfully advises, “Treat cares as you treat sins. Hand them over to Jesus one by one as they occur.”
One of the benefits of a humble, submissive, patient relationship with God is the privilege of letting Him take care of our troubles.
One of the benefits of a humble submission to God’s plans and God’s timing is that I don’t have to depend on the outcome that I want to call it a success. Success is when I submit to God and let Him work all things together for His good.
Jamie Buckingham tells about a pilot in Ecuador who was involved in a plane crash because of a passenger's fear. The wheels of the heavily loaded Cessna 206 had barely left the wet jungle airstrip when the passenger, sitting in the co-pilot's seat, panicked. The pilot had the throttle pushed all the way forward to the firewall. He had done this many times before and was confident they would clear the huge trees towering at the end of the little airstrip.
The passenger, an American who had been visiting the Indians, had never taken off from a jungle airstrip. Looking up, all he could see were the on-rushing trees filling the windshield. Why doesn't the pilot pull back on the controls? he thought in terror. Fearful they were going to crash, he tried to help.
He grabbed the wheel and pulled back. That was the worst thing he could have done. A plane needs to build up airspeed before you point the nose skyward. Otherwise, the plane will stall. The plane did stall. It pitched up, lost critical airspeed and began to settle toward the jungle below. The pilot wrestled the controls back and tried desperately to get the nose down. But it was too late.
As the airplane reached stalling speed, the heavy engine pulled the nose over sharply, and the airplane spun to earth. By God's grace, no one was killed, but all were injured because of a passenger's lack of trust in his pilot.
How like that frightened passenger some of us are. We are continually grabbing the controls from God.
We damage our health with worry. We deny our dreams because we fear risk. We dampen enthusiasm and joy with our anxiety. How we need to humble ourselves, turn our lives over to God and trust His promises!
