Walking With God
Established - Week 5:
Scripture: Several, focusing on 1 Peter 5
Welcome, everybody. We took a few weeks off from our series for the community service and to have the Paulsen’ come and bless us, but now we are jumping back in for the last few messages from this series.
We are in the fifth week of our series, Established. We've been learning together about how to be rooted and established in the love of God.
Today, I want to talk to you about walking with God. This, in my opinion, is the most powerful practice of the Christian life.
You might say, "Okay, wait a minute. You've already talked about prayer, right?
We've talked about the Bible.
We've talked about serving.
But, now, you're saying this is the most powerful practice in the Christian life."
Yes, and here's why.
Because what we're going to talk about today in the realm of walking with God is what will
keep you praying,
what will keep you in God's word,
what will keep you serving.
What will actually keep you applying what God is teaching you.
What we're going to talk about today, one of the most powerful practices in the Christian life, is rarely talked about in church. I want to talk about walking with others who will help you walk with God.
Walking with others in life is powerful.
The bible says can two or more walk together, unless they be agreed? (Amos 3:3)
A cord of two or three strands is not easily broken.
At the same time, the opposite is also true-
In life, nothing will hurt you like other people.
We all have experienced that on some level, right?
Other people can bring us hurt, or they can bring us healing if God’s power is working in them.
The same is true with us- if we just walk around aimlessly in life, our words or actions can bring harm, but if we are surrendered to God, we can instruments of great healing and growth to those around us.
This is why if you and I are going to walk with God, we've got to walk with others and we've got to learn to do that in an authentic way. That helps us practice everything else in the Christian life.
So let's dive in.
This morning we are going to emphasize this because this is a big deal. Walking with God always includes walking in humility with others.
We see this in a question that Jesus was asked by some super religious people, Paraphrasing- "Jesus, Can you take everything in scripture and just give us the greatest command?"
Jesus says, "Sure, I can. Here it is. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength." Then Jesus says, "And love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Then he says, “Of all the law and all the prophets hang on these two commandments."
In other words, all of us need to love God with everything we've got and love others with everything we've got.
If we get those two things right, we get everything right.
Jesus didn’t just teach this and walk away. Jesus showed us this truth in how he lived his life.
His life is about relationships. In the end, all that matters is God and people.
Even the cross is about God and people.
Picture a cross in your mind. It's vertical. That's about our relationship with God.
We focus so much on that part of redemption, that we forget the cross also has a horizontal focus. It's about our relationship with others. This is the Christian life: learning to receive the love, the mercy, the truth, the grace of God, and then giving that away to others.
God works HIS Spirit into us, and the fruit of the Spirit comes out of us.
If you're going to walk with God, you and I have to learn to walk in humility with others. We actually cannot walk with God without walking in humility with other people.
Now to the central scripture this morning
Let’s look at 1st Peter Chapter 5, beginning in verse 5, second part of the verse. He writes, “Clothe yourselves, all of you with—Humility toward one another.”
Let’s pause for a second. Let’s stop and consider what was written here.
He says, "Clothe yourselves, all of you with humility," but he's not talking about humility towards God.
Here he says, toward what? Toward who?
Toward one another.
Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.
This whole passage is about the other. He continues. “For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Verse 6. “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.”
Then he's going to give us a warning. Verse 8. He says, "Be sober-minded. Be watchful."
The idea here is to be on guard. Why? “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” He says, “Resist him. Firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”
So we're to clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. Why? Because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humility is the chief virtue of the Christian life.
Why? Because all other virtues flow out of it.
We just read it, right? God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the who?
To the humble.
Which means God works it in. I work it out.
We are not living a life that is pleasing to God without living a life of faith-fueled humility.
Humility is the chief virtue of the Christian life because it's the first step to receiving the grace of God in our lives, and it's the grace of God that produces godly virtue in and through us.
See how this works?
Humility is right at the top. Listen.
No humility, no power from God.
No humility, no life change.
No humility means you're playing on the wrong team.
You're in opposition to God because God opposes the proud but gives but gives grace to the humble.
Now, this word humility. This is a big, big deal and it's misunderstood.
What is humility? Let's break it down into three main points.
Point number one: Humility is a choice.
Peter just wrote that it's actually something we choose to put on. He says, "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another." This means it is something you choose to put on. This is not an emotion. This is a choice to put this on and practice it.
So what is humility?
A lot of people think that humility is about being timid.
Or being shy.
Or not thinking much of yourself.
That's actually not the biblical definition of humility.
Humility and timidity are not the same thing.
You can be very courageous and humble at the same time. In fact, humility is going to require tremendous courage from you. Why? Because humility is about reality. He says, "Clothe yourselves with humility."
Listen to this- Humility is a trust word. It's choosing to trust God and others with the real me.
It's when we choose to trust God and others with the reality of who we are. Humility is how we actually receive love. The degree that I trust you is equal to the degree that I allow you to love me. Humility is how love is received. Humility is a big, big deal. The only way to experience the real love of God and the real love of others is to be courageous enough to be the real you.
This is why the more prideful you are, the lonelier you will be. Why is that?
Because people could be trying to love you, but they don't know the real you.
They're trying to love an image that you are presenting.
They're trying to love somebody who doesn't exist.
The only way to experience the real love of God and the real love of others is to be courageous enough to be the real you.
Pause
This is so different from what most people practice in church. For most people, church is where you go to pretend. Church is where you go to say, “I'm good.”
I'm good. I'm all good. How are you? I'm good. I'm good, brother. Hello brother, how are you? I'm fine. You're fine. We're all fine.
Right? When we do that, we're all in denial because I'm not fine.
Okay?
I'm not okay 100% of the time, and you're not okay 100% of the time.
It's okay not to be okay. But, it's not okay to stay that way.
But God says, trust Him and He'll make it okay.
This is why the church exists- We all need each other.
We all just need to get real in church.
Church was designed to be a place where we can get help in our time of need. Church is for sinners who need a savior. The more that we can be honest about who we are, what's going on in our lives, what we don't understand about the Bible or how sometimes we fail to live it’s truth, the more that we can share our struggles.
The more we are giving God an opportunity to heal us and change us and empower us for whatever it is we're experiencing in life. He will do that through the other people that you're being honest with. This is how the church works.
Can we get rid of this idea that church is where you go to pretend?
Would you just please get rid of that?
Church is where we're honest about what's going on in our lives so that we can get help in our time of need.
This is why we are focusing on humility this morning.
Humility is about reality. Pride is about pretending. Humility is about trusting God and others with what's really going on in your life.
Let me give you a quick tool to help you learn and practice humility.
This tool requires a close friendship with someone- it’s not something you do on your own. (Repeat)
In this close friendship, you are going to practice a discipline known as d S.O.A.P.
It’s an acronym S.O.A.P.
The S stands for scripture. Scripture is what God’s teaching you in the Bible. You just do that in the context of that friendship. What is God teaching in the scriptures? It could be you have questions about things. Could be you don't understand something. That is why we have this church community- to teach us the truth of scripture. That's S.
O is outreach. Is there anybody in your life that you're praying for them that they'll say yes to Jesus? Had God laid someone on your heart that needs to hear the saving truth about Jesus?
Because one of the things that God wants us to do is share our faith. Outreach. Who are you reaching out to? Praying for? Hoping that one day they'll say yes to Jesus. Who are you intentionally befriending so that they'll be given an opportunity to receive the love of God in their life and, then, through their faith in Christ.
A is for accountability. Again, one of the chief reasons the church exists- to hold you accountable. To make sure if you have walked this far with God, you continue on the right path and don’t turn around and slide back toward the world. Maybe you need to be friends with someone in the next row to help you with that?
P is for prayer, so just pray for each other.
Prayer requires some knowledge about the person, and a trust relationship. When we did Promise Keepers for our men’s groups int he 1990’s, we had character ideals we held each other to. We would be bold enough to ask- How are you doing with the 7 promises of a promise keeper. Most men deflect and say fine.
That’s when we would ask, “Are you lying to me now?”
If you are lying or hiding your struggles, you are leaving the door wide open to letting the enemy run rampant all over you. Prayer in the context of deep friendships is staying, “Let me pray for you in your struggles and help you overcome them by the grace and power of God”.
This is a great tool to use because.
The more honest you are, as you walk through S.O.A.P. each week, the healthier and more beneficial it'll be. If you're not honest, you're wasting your time. Scripture, outreach, accountability, and praying for each other.
Apply this, and watch God explode in your life.
One quick caveat- Trust only happens up close and over time. In the beginning, applying this SOAP method is going to be awkward. If you've never clothed yourself with humility like this real honest friendship, this will take some time. Just give it that time and let that trust build.
This is one of the most helpful, one of the most powerful practices of the Christian life.
Point number two: Humility invites God's love to work in my life. Peter says, "Humble yourselves under God's mighty hand that He may lift you up, cast all your anxiety because he cares for you.” Remember what we said before- Pride is about pretending.
Humility is about reality.
Jesus came to save us not just in the hereafter heaven and hell. Although that's a very big deal. But, he also came to save us in the here and now.
Remember, I'm not okay. You're not okay. All of us have stuff in our life that's not okay and you will not heal from it by ignoring it. The Bible calls this walking in the light. You've got to step out of denial. Stop ignoring it. Bring it into the light with God and others so that you can get help in your time of need. It invites God's love and power to begin to work in your life.
This is what we're talking about today. God knows everything that you're ashamed of. He loves you as you are, not as you should be, cause none of us are as we should be. He loves you no matter where you've been, no matter what you've done, no matter what's been done to you. He loves you.
You know what humility is?
It's, in essence, saying, "This is the real me. I'm not proud of everything I am or everything I do. I'm not excited about it but would you love me anyway?"
God says "Yes."
Let me tell you something about real people who were trying to follow Jesus. When we do that with each other, we get real love from other people as well. Obviously, it requires trust. It takes some time and all that.
When you take off the mask you insist that everyone looks at instead of the real you, you are inviting God's love to begin to work in your life and it will radically change you from the inside out. Humility is a choice. It invites God's love to work in my life.
Point number three:
This point is an interesting one-
Humility protects me from being eaten.
That's weird, but I'll explain it in a second. Here's what your Bible says: “Be sober-minded. Be watchful, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” The devil's like a lion roaming around, wanting to eat somebody. It’s the contrast that Peter is making between the Christian and enemy.
Do you know how lions hunt? If you are a male lion, you've got a really good deal in life because a male lion eats, sleeps, and helps make little lions. That's it. The male lions are super lazy, okay? The female lions do all the work.
Most women here are thinking…yup, nature reflects my reality.
Female lions-They do the hunting. Female lions will go out on the hunt and they'll try to get one gazelle out of the group of gazelles and they'll begin to chase it.
The good news for the gazelle is it’s faster than the female lions. The bad news is there's a bunch of female lions and there's one gazelle. So the gazelle will run around and, if it's smart it will get to really thick brush. This is it’s protective covering.
Because the gazelle is small and the female lions are large, they cannot get to the gazelle.
The gazelle is safe as long as it remains in the protective covering. That's where the male lion comes in.
The female lions will go back, get the male lion, the male lion will go up to the brush where the gazelle is safe and the male lion will roar. Have you ever heard the roar of a male lion? Not like on television, but in real life.
It's terrifying. If you ate too much of the greatness of Wisconsin cheese yesterday and are bound up a little, the roar of a male lion will solve that for you. The male lion will come up to that protective covering where the gazelle is safe and roar. The gazelle is so terrified by the roar it’ll hop out of the protective covering. Then the female lions destroy it.
Jesus called Satan the father of lies.
Lies are the source of how he roars.
Things like-
If you're honest, nobody'll love you.
If you're honest, nobody will talk to you anyway.
If you're honest.
You can't be honest with God. Can't be honest with the people in the church.
Lies.
Lies that keep you from getting help in your time of need.
That’s why when you don’t practice humility, you lose that protective covering, making you vulnerable to the roar of the lion.
If we will practice humility, it keeps us from being eaten.
All Rise
Let's take a chance. Let's begin to practice humility and, in that, experience the power of God in our lives. To walk with God, you've got to learn to walk in humility with others.
Let's pray.
