Sermon - Lent Midweek 5, 2023 - 1 Peter 5

Prostration before the cross, Redeemer Lutheran Church - LCMS, Ft. Wayne, IN

Humility

1. Pastors are to be humble in their shepherding

2. Everyone is to be humble to each other

3. Everyone is to be humble beneath God

4. We humble ourselves beneath God because He cares for us.

The proverb says: “Toward the scorners He is scornful, but to the humble He gives favor.” Humility is an important Christian virtue. It’s important not just because no one likes a loudmouth know-it-all arrogant jerk, like the devil who struts about like a roaring lion, but because “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Indeed, as St. Peter tells us: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Thus, our lesson today is about humility.

Our reading began with an exhortation to humility to pastors: “I exhort the elders among you… shepherd the flock 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.” The word translated “elder” in the Bible is the word presbyter, which is a word for a pastor, not referring at all to what we call elders in the LCMS today. Additionally, we have the word episcopacy here, “exercising oversight,” this is where we get the word “bishop.” Thirdly, we have the command to “shepherd” here, which is little more than what the word “pastor” means. All three of these terms: pastor, presbyter, and bishop are useful in understanding who a pastor is and what God has called him to do.

God has called pastors to shepherd, exercise oversight, and be elders. These are all words of authority, nevertheless, they are also words of tenderness. God has not called pastors to lord themselves against those in their charge, but to lead with humility. An elder is a familial and relational term, like how priests are called father. It’s a good way to understand the relationship between a pastor and the people. A shepherd is one who leads, feeds, and defends the flock, just as Christ does as our Chief Shepherd. Pastors therefore are to defend the congregation from wolves in sheep’s clothing and sheep stealers, to warn the flock against the devil’s lies, he is to lead the congregation on paths of righteousness, and he is to feed the congregation with God’s Word and sacraments. All of this he is to do humbly, being an example to the flock, because he is truly part of God’s flock. This means that a pastor must try to live according to how he preaches, because he is part of God’s flock, and all of the flock is to live according to the Word of God. Thus he doesn’t lord himself over the flock, but humbly sets himself among the flock, as the Chief Shepherd did, in order to feed the flock with God’s Word.

After St. Peter addresses pastors, he continues with how all Christians should regard themselves towards others: “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.” None of us should set ourselves above another. This language of “clothing” is a lovely way of thinking about humility. Your clothes aren’t actually who you are, they’re just what you put on in order to communicate something about yourself and your level of respect for the people around you. For example, you can’t go to the Iowa capital unless you’re dressed up, to dress down would be disrespectful. Likewise, we wear our “Sunday best” to church because it’s respectful. The clothes aren’t your respect or disrespect, that’s in your heart, but your clothes communicate it.

Thus, we are to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another. There are all sorts of stations in life, some are rich and some poor, some are bosses and others employees, some are in authority and others under authority, but regardless of our stations in life we all clothe ourselves in humility and treat one another as though they were our greater, regardless of our actual station in life.

This humility towards others finds its fulfillment in humility toward God. “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.” Jesus humbled Himself in taking on our flesh and blood and being shamefully crucified in our stead. The mighty hand of God is Jesus limply hanging on the cross, and we are to humble ourselves beneath the crucified Jesus.

This might seem easy to do, but it’s not. Humbling ourselves beneath God means acknowledging His wisdom above our own, it means forsaking our desires and pleasures to do His bidding, it means confessing that we are guilty of the sins which crucified Jesus, and it means admitting that we are easy prey for our adversary the devil. Thus, humility towards God looks like resisting the devil and remaining firm in the faith.

Humility beneath God is worth it because He cares for us. “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.” We are certainly less than Him, which means that we receive every good thing from Him by grace! Just as the humble pastor is promised the unfading crown of glory, so too is every humble Christian promised this crown of eternal life through faith in Him. Pride makes oneself even easier prey for the devil, but humility guards against satan’s temptations and gladly receives God’s everlasting blessings. 

What St. Peter wrote about, and what I preached about, this evening and the past four weeks, isn’t really the most intellectually deep stuff out there. It’s stuff you already know. It’s the basics of Christian life. But St. Peter wrote it and I preached it as an exhortation to stand firm in the true grace of God and encouragement to remain faithful even when it looks hopeless. God is gracious and He will see us through. “Peace to all of you who are in Christ.”