into first Peter chapter 5 you
turn there with me we'll get started and continuing there
we talked about leadership it's funny when we study things it's
like Trey was talking this morning cleaning out a pantry you clean
out a trash can it's an interesting take everything that we see honestly
reminds us of the Lord when we're mindful of his mercy when we're
mindful of his righteousness when we're mindful of of all
the things that He is and all that we are in Him. And I believe that's a good place
to live. I think it's a great place to live, especially without
guilt, without shame, without fear, without terror. And as I talked about leadership
last week, it's interesting how the Lord opens things up. You
ever come to church and feel like James has been in our house,
you know? He's talking about what we were
thinking about. I feel like that. Not just here, but also in the
world around us. And it's not just the algorithms
of social media, because I don't really look at social media,
but I think it works that way and that we notice what we're
looking for. And I think in conversation sometimes things spark in the
subconscious of those around us. And it's amazing how little
tiny moments of life bring people to my life and bring conversation
into my life and bring opportunity into my life. I'm like, how did
they know I was looking for that? Because people can see it. People
can see what you are and they can see what you're looking for
even if we don't know who we are or what we're looking for.
And when it comes to leadership, after I spoke last Sunday on
basically the essence of what it means to be a leader, what
it means to be an elder, as a witness of the sufferings of Christ and
a partaker of the glory. And I'm gonna revisit that this
next week as well before I get over into verse six. But today
I wanna continue in that mindset. Because as we see the word here,
it tells us, let's just start in chapter five, verse one. So
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 to be revealed. The command, shepherd the flock
among you of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not
under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, 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. Clothe yourselves, all of you,
with humility toward one another. 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. So we'll go there today, and
then I might go through the end of verse 11 next week, and then
go back and pick out, I've identified about 10 things that I wanna
really magnify, 10 things. But here, last week we talked
about leadership, and it's interesting, like I was saying in the beginning,
that there's a lot of people who have come to me and talked
about leadership, who have not even heard the sermon that I
preached last week, who don't even know where I am in this
text, who don't even know the discussions that we've had. Some
people don't even know what I do. They don't even know that I teach
the Bible, that I pastor a church. But it's always an opportunity
to intersect the world around us when we live by the Spirit.
when we live according to the word of God and are available
for what he's going to do. And so when we talk about leading
and we talk about that idea, it automatically brings where
Peter takes us. So who's supposed to follow?
If we understand what we looked at last week, Jesus Christ is
the ultimate leader, especially even and also perfectly in his
humanity. In the same way, Jesus and his
humanity is also the greatest example of submission. Submitting
to the will of the Father, submitting himself passively in obedience
to the magistrate, to the people, to his own people who did not
receive him. And so now we see that this is what Peter does. Likewise, look at verse five.
Likewise, you who are younger be subject to the elders. Now
that's an easy pretext. Especially as a dad of five children,
it's an easy pretext. I probably have used this erroneously
in my lifetime as a father. Be quiet, do what I say. That's
not what it means. That's never what it means. And
if we're confused by that, let's go back and let's listen to last
week's message. Leadership is not a compulsory thing. Leadership
is an oversight thing. And leadership is the headship
of being the first to show as the example, just as a little
overview, in the heart and the mind of Christ. And even as someone
who would have thought himself avant-garde and a little different,
I really wasn't that much different. Just dressed a little different,
smelled a little different, tasted a little different. But at the
end of the day, deep down seated in my heart, I felt like, I'm
the leader of this here outfit. Let's fall in line, please. You
notice the please. That's the compassion part. But
the attitude of the mindset was always, yeah, I'm gonna do it
my way. But we're not aware of that.
And that's why the scripture in many different places talks
about what it means to lead and submit, what it means to obey,
and what it means to show the way. Because in our culture,
we have been inundated with great levels of historical theology
that have shown us the wrong way and called it the right way,
and we know it's the wrong way because of the heaviness and
the weightiness that comes upon the conscience when we try to
live it out. Beloved, I want you to understand
this. We don't judge and walk by our heart or our emotions,
but we also don't ignore it. And when there is a heaviness,
we ask, why is there a heaviness? And then what does the cultural
leadership of evangelicalism and historical Christianity say?
Because you're wicked. That's why there's a heaviness.
Why don't I have joy? Because there's something in
your life you need to get out. The Bible doesn't teach that
anywhere in the New Testament application. And so I've learned
through all the trials that I've had, especially over the last
four years or so, is that when I find heaviness, I don't ignore
it. But I also do not, I want you
to pay close attention to this, I also do not let it drive me. What drives us? The knowledge
of the mind of Christ. That's what drives us. So if
we're going to understand how to live and understand how to
filter and how to view these things, we cannot look at history
as the pathway. We must look at the present word. We must look at it in such a
way that we are able to engage and able to grasp. the mind of
Christ, knowing that we are never going to fulfill and live in
such a way that we are going to be perfect. And the fact that
we are not also going to progress in any real way of righteousness. But what we are going to do is
grow in our understanding. We're going to grow in our application. We are going to grow in our insight. And so as I spoke about leadership
last week, I want to now speak about submission. Likewise, you
who are younger. What is this really saying? So
if we embody the heart and the mind of Christ, if we embody
the reality that we are to understand that those who suffer, we do
so by entrusting our souls to the faithfulness of God while
we do good. Doing good as a leader, as an
elder, as a husband, is not to make people do, but to show people. So I suggest this premise, that
we are all leading others somewhere. Every single one of us. Whether
you're six or whether you're 96. Whether you're saying anything
with your mouth or not, what we do with our lives and how
we engage in the world around us, we are leading people somewhere. By our intention, by our efforts,
by our mindset. So even when we are submitting
to those who are leading us, obviously we are leading others,
as an example. So here we see in this very first
thing of 1 Peter 5, verse 5, that submission in the context
of the church is rooted in trust. Rooted in trust. One of the things
that I talk about with a lot of the men that I coach is, The
reason that their wives are so urgently trying to scrape at
some sense of control is because they have provided a place of
fear, a place of abuse, a place of terror, rather than a place
of peace, a place of trust, and a place of safety. Leadership,
when it is godly, is always safe. Leadership, when it is godly,
is always something to trust. Leadership, when it is godly,
always brings peace. So there again, if there's a
discernment in you, if there's something in you that sparks,
Don't think I like the heaviness of what I'm being told to do
or how I'm being told to think. Question what you hear, because
there's one thing is absolutely certain above all things under
this roof today is that this man standing here is the most
fallible human being that's ever walked on two feet. And if you
take what I say to the bank, you're going to be extremely
bankrupt. So test it. Test it. But the submission here
is rooted in trust. Peter addresses the younger who
are in the church. Who is that? The younger in age
and the younger in the faith. It's always sort of been the
way, and Trey can attest to this over the last however many years
it's been now, is that there have been a lot of guys who've
come and, I'm called to be in the ministry. When can I preach? I don't know. Can you tie your
shoes? You know. See, I was thrown into
ministry because of charisma, not because of calling. I was
adopted because a lot of people in the organizations that I work
with are like, this guy's going to take me somewhere. And I did,
straight to the toilet. That's not the calling of God.
The calling of God is a slow, steady path that you can't escape.
And even when you think you have, He'll swallow you up and spit
you out where He wants you to be. And when you've been spit out where
He wants you to be, and content, then go there and be there. But
so many times, I cannot tell you the number of men who have
come through this ministry, and not just here, but in California
and Virginia and other places, And they're just called of God,
and they don't want to wait. They want it now. And what that
means to them is they want to get up and tell people what to
think, what to do, and what to believe. And anybody can read
from the program, but can you walk the path? I mean, I know a lot about neurology.
Why? Because I read it. I think it's fascinating. You
don't want me cutting in your brain, baby. You don't want me doing
anything with your neurological system, except maybe breath work.
I can get rid of your anxiety, I promise I can. But, aside that,
I can quote it, doesn't make me a neurologist. And I think
most so-called overseers aren't overseeing anything but their
pompous mouth. And I'm not gonna say that that
doesn't include me. Because it has, many times over.
Unawares. So you better test what I say.
And you better hold fast to what you know is true. And if you're
wrong or if I'm wrong, praise God, he will walk with us. So
Peter addressing the young in the church, but those who are
under the spiritual authority of those who are caring for their
souls, caring for their joy, caring for their growth, not
their obedience. Oversight as an elder is not
about seeing that people obey. It's about seeing that people
are not living in the context of joylessness and fear and shame
and guilt because the good report, by definition, is the news that
is good to the hearer that is in bondage. And that's why so
many people so easily can walk away from the Western church. Because the Western church is
by every, in every sense, culturally, a place of bondage. Except when it's not. And God
has purposed that. Because some of us will step
into a specific space, sovereign grace, Baptist, evangelical,
and we just do this little waltz, and we feel so content and so
special and so just seen. But we're not free. We have an echo chamber. We have an affinity. We have
a people. We have what most people would say, well, that's my tribe.
It's not. It's just a congruence. that's artificially applied but
not spiritually lived. So in this idea of submitting, it's not
blind obedience. Matter of fact, it's not obedience
at all. It's listening. It's learning. It's walking, which is what? Obedience to Christ. Don't ever
obey me. Obey Christ as I show you. And
even if you don't, what is my recourse? I'll be here when you
come back. I've been there. I've walked
away. And there are areas of our life where we're not in line.
Remember when I was teaching about the cornerstone? As you
come to him a living stone rejected by man, but in the sight of God
chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being
built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor
is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe. The
stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and
a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because
they disobey the word as they were destined to do. But you,
you are a royal, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for his own possession so that you may proclaim the
excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. You were not a people, but now
you are a people. That's chapter two, by the way,
of first Peter. It all goes together. I think
my last sermon in this letter, I think it needs to be a three
hour service. I can just do the whole thing over once through. But you are. In every way, walking
with Christ and you are never going to get it right, but you
are right. That's the beauty of it. And
as long as we're striving to get it right out of fear, out
of frustration, out of hopelessness, then we're not free in the gospel.
It doesn't mean that we're not saved, we're just not free. We're
shackled. We're shackled by the humanized
oversight of what we think goodness means, which is controlling. That's what I thought. Never,
if anybody had said that to me, I would have become very offended.
What? I don't control anybody. You
need to stop saying that. Is that not control? Not only
is it control, it's justifying. It's defending myself. It's all
about me at the end of the day. We who are under spiritual authority,
the word likewise signals the continuity Just as the elders
are called to humble leadership through service, those under
them are called to humble submission in service. One is not telling the other
what to do and the other does it. One is showing the way and
the other follows. So every person, elders included,
are doing the exact same thing in submission to the Lord Jesus
Christ. being the model for the other, being the model for the
other. And if we continue to go, if we go to Paul's writing
to Timothy, we see what? As the men of the church, they're
to teach other men, younger men, how? Not by sitting down and
having studies. Don't do masculinity studies. Don't do how to be a
man course. Just be one. Show them. Just be one. Women, don't do
whatever Femininity studies are, don't say, hey, here's how to
be a woman, 101, Sunday mornings, 9.30. Just be one. You will lead
other women who watch you. That's why it's so important,
beloved. It's so important to understand the sovereignty of
God and the gospel of grace and not parse the Bible out into
pretext that fit our predisposed ideologies of a culture that
does not lay in the folds of these pages. There has never been a greater
subservient caste system as the one that Israel had with the
whole world. And God has not called us to
be back there. God has called us to be free
from that, free for rejoicing and service. It is not blind obedience. It
is relational trust. That's the whole thing, and you've
been hearing me say this for almost 60 weeks now. This is what Peter
is telling these precious people to do. Trust. Trust who? Trust
what God has ordained. Trust Him. He is faithful. To Him belong glory and dominion
forever and ever, so it is. It is a call to posture ourselves
beneath Someone else's example, not someone else's authority.
You understand that? That word doesn't exist in the
New Testament given to a human being except Jesus Christ. And
then Jesus Christ has that authority, and what does he do with it?
He dies. He allows people to malign him.
He allows people to beat him. He allows people to crucify him.
That is the example. Ephesians 5. Husbands, love your
wife by shutting your mouth and dying in her place. What does
that look like? A husband never gets his own
way. And then submitting to someone
like that, the wife never gets her own way either. Holy cow,
who gets their own way? We get the joy of the Lord. Could
you imagine living in a society where everybody sought to out-serve
the other? You know, no matter how much theology you know, no
matter how right you can parse the text, you know, no matter
how powerful you are in the context of your life example through
missions and everything else, if we don't have love for one
another and we don't love people as deeply as we love ourselves,
and if we don't love ourselves, we are not lovers of God. Because we make him to be a liar
because he says we are his righteousness and we are his beloved. See what
kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called
the children of God. And so we are, not just in moniker, but
in reality. Why? Because he's purchased us
through the blood of Jesus Christ, his son. So we posture ourselves beneath
the leadership of others, not because of inferiority, but because
of mutual deference and spiritual growth and maturity and formation. Paul deals with this to the Jews
when he writes in Hebrews chapter 13, obey your leaders and submit
yourself to them for they are keeping watch over your souls. And sometimes it is the paramedics
saving your life. Sometimes it is a little bit
of discipline. What does that mean? Growth, correction, working
out to become stronger. But those will give an account
to God. Those who give oversight cannot domineer over those in
their charge. Jesus showed dominance over those
who thought they were leading and he showed grace to those
who knew they weren't. One of my mentors back in my
20s told me James, if you ever tell somebody you're the pastor,
you should quit forever. You are not the pastor. The moment
you say, I'm in charge, it's proof that you aren't. I didn't understand. Matter of
fact, I fought against it, because in my immaturity, my youthful
ignorance, I'm like, yeah, I got that. Anytime somebody says,
I got that, take it to the bank and cash out, because they don't.
They don't. Anyone who says, I know that,
yeah, I know that, I know, they don't. Someone who is not learning what
they already think they know is not worth leading anyone to
any place because they haven't arrived there yet. That same mentor told me in a
different occasion driving back from the airport, James, if you
look behind you one day and there's no one following you, you're
just a man taking a walk, you're not leading anyone. I thank God for men like that.
He didn't tell me what to do. He never, he still to this day
doesn't tell me what to do. We don't talk a whole lot, maybe
once a year, maybe less. He just reminds me of things
like that. To look in the mirror and to reflect and look back
and go, and I've got a lot of that. That's
what it means to lead. And you know how I learned what
it really meant? By watching him. Not listen to what he said,
but by watching him. So submission is rooted in trust. It's not blind obedience. It's
a relationship to trust in the Lord's provision and to watch
and follow, not do as you're told. There's no such thing as
doing what you're told in the gospel. But live as you have been declared
to be. Authentically a child of the
king. Submission is not silence. Sometimes
it sounds like that. It's a trust that God works through
the community of the church. Why were these things written
to the groups? Because that is God's means of grace. That is
God's means of grace for growth, for joy, for correction, for
provision in every aspect of life, emotional, spiritual, physical,
relational, financial, all of it. God works through community.
In leadership and in followership, we learn Christ. Follow me as
I follow Christ, Paul said. And then when he had a little
attitude about things, he'd say, listen, I'm about to get in my flesh
a minute. This is what I think, but don't do it because I think
it. He was very clear in the difference of his attitude and
mindset and what God had called him to tell others to do. He
was very clear to distinguish. Because we've all got opinions,
right? But there's a big difference in an opinion and a truth. And
it's okay to have them, but let's don't conflate the idea that
just because we stand in a place of authority that we can make
our opinions dogmatic over the lives of others. Jesus Christ submitted perfectly
in every way, but get this, he was above everything he submitted
to. When he did it, he was above
it. Are you not going to defend yourself,
Pilate says? Do you not know that I have the
power to give your life or take it from you? Jesus is like, And I don't know
that he was smiling, but I couldn't help but smile to say something
like this, because I'm a little arrogant. The only reason I'm standing
here is because the Father's put me here, and if I wanted to, I could take
my life up anytime I want. I'm here because I let you have
me. I had somebody do that to me in a tournament two weeks
ago. He lost to me in the winner's bracket. He goes, dude, I'll
let you win. Okay. And still to this day,
two weeks later, you know I'll let you win. I don't care, I
won. Either way, I don't care. But
he's trying to poke a bear, you know? But Jesus wasn't poking
a bear. Jesus wasn't trying to make Pilate
feel his power. Jesus was trying to just simply
state the truth that you'll see one day. I guess he was trying to poke
the bear. That was the purpose. But then he came out of the ground
and what happened? Told you. Now look at what he
says. Clothe yourselves. So it is. Likewise, you who are
younger, be subject to the elders. Willfully follow. Clothing yourselves,
all of you, with humility toward one another. Now he's speaking
to the elders. and the youngers, the leaders and the servants,
because we're all servants. There is no hierarchy in the
gospel. Even Jesus Christ, who is the
head, we become his body. And we are to grow into the full
measure and the full stature of Jesus, who is our head. Not
to be him, but to be like him. So what does it mean to clothe
yourself with humility? Very simply, Philippians, to
have the mind of Christ. It's, I don't know how many times,
it's almost gotten to be where I go into Philippians a little
bit more than I do John all these days. have this mind among you,
which is yours in Christ Jesus. Though he was God, he did not
take equality with God, something to be grasped, but he made himself
nothing, a slave, obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God, the Father, highly exalted him, that at the name
of Jesus, be the name above all names, that every tongue would
confess that Jesus is Lord, and every knee would bow. On the
earth, under the earth, and above the earth. What does that mean? Everywhere. Because that is the place of
exaltation, service. What does that have to do with
anything? It's the whole heart of God. It's the revelatory reality,
the centerpiece of God. God is love. It's a little trigger
warning here. And in everything he is and everything
he does, he loves. Even in his wrath. He is love. Because that's who he is. That's what he is. Clothe yourself
with humility. This language here is vivid.
Putting on the clothes. I can't even remember what the
Greek word is there. It's like ekonbumai or something like that.
I can't pronounce it. But putting on your clothes.
But what does it mean? Here's what it means. Putting
on your servant's apron. Put on the clothes of a slave.
So elders, pastors, overseers, church members, men, women, and
children, all ages, put on your servants' clothes. Clothe yourselves
with humility. What do you think Peter was thinking
of at this time? Come on, he was thinking of the
time when he tried to tell Jesus, there's no way under heaven you're
gonna wash my daggone feet. Because Jesus stripped himself
naked and he put a towel around his waist and he started doing
that which a Hebrew slave was forbidden by law to do, which
is wash feet. Only Gentile slaves could do
it. It was so beneath the human experience that even Jewish slaves
couldn't do it. Now think about that for a second.
Peter's going through his mind as he's writing this, clothe
yourself with all humility like Jesus. And Jesus says, listen,
if I don't wash you, you have no place with me. And so what
does Peter do in his hubris? God, I relate to Peter so much. And I wanna relate to John, I
relate to John too, he resonates with me, but man, when I really
found out the truth of me, I'm more of a Peter. Peter says, then wash me all,
Lord, my hands and my feet. Here you go, just wash, because
I'm gonna be with you. And what does he do some days
later? Who, Jesus what, what, who? I don't know, this guy,
get away from me. That idiot, that crazy guy, no,
that was some other Peter. Jesus tied on the servant's apron,
wrapping a towel around his nudity, and washed his disciples' feet.
And what does he say there? John 13. He even says it. Lord, not on my
feet, but my hands on my head. Jesus says the one who is bathed
does not need to wash except for his feet, but it's completely
clean. And he looks at Peter and he
says, you are clean. Peter's going, what? But then he looks and he
says, but not every one of you is clean. For he knew who was
going to betray him. And that's why he said, not all
of you are clean. But when he washed all their feet, he put
on his outer garments and resumed his place. And he said, do you
not understand what I've done? You call me teacher and Lord, you
hold me to a high level of authority. You submit to me as your leader,
as your ruler, theologically and ministerially. And you're
right. Cause I do hold that space. So if I then your master have
washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's. For I've given
you an example that you should do just as I have done to you.
Amen, amen. I say to you, a servant is never
greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the
one who sent him. If you know these things, if you know them,
not know of them, you don't have the information, but you have
the wisdom, blessed are you if you do them. I'm not speaking
of all of you, I know, whom I have chosen. But the scripture will
be fulfilled, he who ate my bread and lifted his heel against me,
I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it
does take place, you may believe that I am he. Again, truly, truly,
I say to you, whoever receives the one I send, receives me,
and whoever receives me, receives the one who sent me. That's what
Peter had in mind here when he's teaching about leadership and
submission. And sometimes we don't even want to hear it. We
don't even want to pay attention to what the scripture's teaching because
we know better. So we'd rather organize a narrative in our own
mind about what is really at work here so that we can teach
others, but we're not learning. And we know that we're not learning
because we're not doing. What you are not doing today, you
will never do tomorrow. And if you aren't doing it today,
you're not called by God to do it at all. Let me say that again. What you're not doing today,
you will not do tomorrow. And what you are not doing today,
you are not called by God to do at all. Because until you're called,
you won't. When you're called, you can't not. Another mentor pastored me and
my family for a few years. He said, a man ain't worth paying
what he won't do for free. And buddy, has that not been the
truth of my life? Sometimes the not free has nothing
to do with money. Sometimes it's power. Sometimes
it's a lack of humility, which is worth more than gold. To be
seen in the eyes of others as something, when deep down you
think you're nothing. When Jesus came to this earth,
he came as everything, and yet he postured himself as nothing.
And people saw him as nothing. Then people saw him as something,
and what they saw him as was not what he came to do, and so
then they saw him as nothing. And then he died and fought for
it. Clothe yourself. This is not
metaphorical humility. But let me tell you right now,
this theology, all of the theology of the gospel is not metaphorical.
It's literal, visible, embodied, sacrificial service. It is intentional. It is something that can be seen,
not heard. It is daily. It is a daily choice
to live as Christ. Do nothing from selfish ambition
or conceit, but in humility count others. more significant than
you count yourselves. Have this mind among yourselves,
which is yours in Christ Jesus. I didn't say that earlier, but
that's the precursor to that text, which is probably one of
the most important parts of it. Because humility is the outer
garment of gospel community. Here you go. It's the anti-armor. It's the anti-armor, not for
defense, but for openness. To put on humility is an anti-armor
that says, I'm safe enough in Christ to not need superiority. And I call that resonance. When we can spiritually align
with the heart and the mind of Christ in that way and be safe
in there, we're untouchable. We are absolutely untouchable. That kind of love is greater
than any love that anyone has ever met on this earth. And I think we can have it with
each other right now, spiritually. But you gotta take the mask off. You gotta take everything off
that hides the true righteousness of who you are. And then when
you do put it on, you just, You just, when you have to put something
on, you just put on this anti-armor of service. Not so that you will
be seen for anything. Let them see you as lost, hopeless,
stupid. Let them malign you. For in that
we live in the righteous place of the suffering of Christ. What a frame. I'm safe enough to not need anything. Why? Because God opposes the
proud but gives grace to the humble, a divine principle. Here,
this is Proverbs 3, 34. And Peter talks about this, and
why? Because he anchors what is scripture. He didn't know would be scripture.
He anchors what he writes in his letters to the word of God,
to what he knows as scripture. Proverbs 3, the wisdom literature,
the poetry, and the imagery of what it means to understand who
Christ is. See, pride, yeah, I'm gonna say
this. Pride is not weakness. It is resistance to God. Humility then is not passive.
It is the posture that invites divine grace that we may walk
in a manner worthy, that we may live in a place of intimacy,
that we may know without any hesitation who we are. Isaiah 57, 15, I dwell in the
place of the Most High and Holy. It might not be quite that way.
And with Him who is of contrite and lowly
spirit. See, it's not about personality,
guys. It's about spiritual standing. The proud assume they have something
to give to God. I'm going to do this because
this is what God needs me to do. The humble know they need nothing
for everything that they need is given in Christ so they only
have a place of need that's already been met and from that met they
receive everything. But when I talk about this to
most people without quoting scripture, people think I'm talking about
the Satya Buddha. We all see it. The question is,
have we gotten to the cliff to kick the can off the cliff of
glory, to see the reality of the ineffable and the eternal? Think about it. Humble yourselves. This interpersonal humility that
he's been talking about being subject, now he does it to the
vertical thing. He says, humble yourselves under
the mighty hand of God. Submission to sovereignty. And
this is the first time we've seen it, right? We've talked
about this over and over and over and over. Chapter 2, verse
13. We talked about submission to
suffering, submission to one another, submission to the land,
submission to the governments in which these Jews were now
a part of, submission to their masters. Now free people become
slaves. Why? Keep your conduct among the Gentiles
honorable, humble, so that when they speak against you as evildoers,
they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of
visitation. That very reality shows us that in our submission
to the Lord in community, God shows himself, shows Jesus Christ. How can you take that? I'm not
taking anything. I am in a place and in a presence. It doesn't
bother me. So what does that look like?
We're embodying the mind of Jesus. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God. I mean this mighty hand, mighty hand, mighty hand. It just sounds so ridiculous
because the only time we hear it is in a pejorative sense of
how God's mighty hand's gonna smack the toast out of a guy
who's trying to lose weight. Don't you eat that donut. The
echoes of mighty hand in Exodus. The Lord your God brought you
out from Egypt with his mighty hand and outstretched arm. This
is a personification, anthropomorphism. ascribing some human characteristic
or human movement or embodied idea or imagery to God who is
spirit. God's mighty hand has never been
in the Old Testament identified as a hand of oppression, but
only a hand of correction and rescue and most importantly of
covenant power. So humility means trusting that
God in his timing and his power is better than any striving,
any work, any answer, any running. God's mighty hand is better.
What does that look like? We let go of the reins. We let go of control. Well, then I'd be weak. Well,
if you're not weak, he's not strong. As long as you're driving, he
will let you keep hitting the ditch. But he will take you. Do you want to go his way or
do you want to go through the ditch? Sometimes you'd say, what's the
difference? There's a difference. Jonah could have just walked
an Innova. We got there just the same and
never had joy. But see, what I can see right
now is the exact same thing that I saw in my own life and the
exact same thing that I feel and the empathy that I always
carry in my body is that these types of things cause us to feel
something. We feel guilt. Oh, I'm just not
doing well enough. Stop. Just full stop. Where has that been prescribed
to us anywhere in this New Testament? Where has guilt been laid at
the feet of the Beloved? On the body of Jesus, that's
where. So anytime we feel guilt, it is not conviction of the Holy
Spirit. Conviction of the Holy Spirit says, Oh, wow, I missed
the mark. Praise the Lord God. I am full
of joy and free. Let me dance my happy hiney into
the throne room of God, interrupt the angel's celestial worship,
and he's gonna incline his ear to me and say, hey, beloved daughter,
beloved son, what you need? I'm your papa. That is conviction. We don't tear our clothes and
put ash on our heads. We don't bow our heads before
God. We stand bold and we look to the sky. I might not ever close my eyes
again to pray. So what do we do with all the
stress of life? Well, next verse, casting all our anxieties on
Him. This is humility through dependence.
It's not a new sentence. It's the exact same thing. Humble
yourself. Grammatically, it's humble yourself.
In what? Even in your anxieties. Cast
them on Him. Submit to Him. Literally, trusting
God with what you cannot control. Cast your burden on the Lord
and He will sustain you, Psalm 55, 22. See, anxiety is not emotional. Well, it is, but it's not only
emotional. It's existential resistance to
surrender. I like to say it this way, that
anxiety is nothing but the rumination of a fantasy that we have no
control over and most likely would never come true, but yet
we are horrified of the reality of what we cannot make happen
or know. So in a spiritual sense, theologically,
it's almost like I can't be God, but I'm gonna try. That's not
humility. That's hubris. And honestly, for me, it's hilarious.
It's frickin' hilarious. I just laugh at who I was in
those days, and I know I laugh also at the fact that God's gonna
show me some more of that junk tomorrow. I'm never gonna be
free of it. I'm free for it. 721 days with no anxiety has been
amazing. Decades with it was not. Peter's answer is not just feel
better, just get over it. All right, just hold your breath.
Stop breathing. Stop blinking. It's to entrust yourself to the
care of God. As we saw in chapter four, verse 19. And so what do we learn from
all this? Well, it's rooted in Christ. He submitted himself
fully to the father. He humbled himself to the point
of death. He trusted that the father would lift him up in glory.
So we're not just called to humility. We're called to Christ shaped
humility. Which is not passive at all.
But bold surrender. truthful self-giving, but let
me say what it is not. It is not self-deprecation. That's why I have a bad taste
in my mouth with so much historical theology, but I understand the
context of the world, and that's all they knew. And it doesn't
diminish the beautiful nuggets and the poetry and the experiences
of these people, but beloved, don't adopt it. You can have the joy without
being a worm. Nowhere has Jesus said you're
a worm. And you know how you can tell
if you don't believe the freedom of the gospel? You mock what
I just said in your spirit. And you do not take the word
of God as it's promised. And a majority of theologically
driven slaves mock that. Let them. They have no power
over you. It doesn't matter. Next week we will see where he
says be sober minded. Be watchful. For the enemy prowls around like a roaring
lion seeking someone to devour. Do you know how he comes? As an angel of light. How does
that work? Through people within the folds
of the faith. The devil doesn't come through
the world. The world does what it does by
nature. The devil comes through the church. Keep that in mind. Humility,
therefore, is not optional. It's the Christian way of being.
Submission is not about hierarchy, just a review. It's about trusting
God's order and process in these relationships. We embody Christ
most clearly when we serve rather than grasp for power. And true
leadership is impossible apart from humility before God and
dependence upon him. So let's remember what this truth
reveals. We are his beloved. We are the
righteousness of God. And we can stand in a place of
certainty because Christ humbled himself and died that we may
live. Let's pray. I thank you, Father,
for the truth. Lord, how we have a standard
through which to filter everything we do, everything we think, everything
we believe, but it's not the way the world has postured it.
And you have not given revelation to any one man to decide what it is that you
have chosen for the world to see. But you have given revelation
through one man, and that is Jesus Christ alone and through
your written word. But Father, if we are not spiritually led,
we will not understand it. And that understanding we know
comes as if we are like four-year-old children. We take it and accept
it and we walk in it because it is. And the more we think
and the more we posture and the more we philosophize, Father,
the further away from you we get. It's simple. It's not about the practice,
Lord. It's not even about the principles. It's about the person
of Christ. And I, I grieve at times over
the many who have been led astray, who lay around worrying, wringing
their spiritual hands, wondering if they're ever going to be where
they need to be before you. But Father, you have told us
we are before you perfectly right now. because of the death of
Jesus, promised and perfected through the power of the resurrection,
showing that he is indeed who he says he is, and the work is
finished. So we don't have to fear the
journey. And Father, let us be in the
world so that we may share the light, not through the history, But Father, through the presence
of the Spirit that resides in us and that walks before us and
around us and in us and through us in every moment, that we may
know who we are and live authentically every day. We thank you for this
truth and this power in Christ's name we pray. Amen.