You may be familiar with the old sayings, it's the clothes that make the man. Or another one, dress for the job you want, not the job you have. I think many of us have been taking these expressions to heart because a quick Google search told me that we, globally, spent over 750 billion dollars on clothing, shoes, and accessories in the year 2021. That number is predicted to skyrocket to 3.3 trillion dollars by the year 2030. Perhaps Congress should get on this and develop a clothing line that might help with our national debt They could have a fashion show where our congressmen and women... No, I don't want to see that either. It is estimated that approximately 92 million tons of clothing are produced worldwide every year. Fashion shows across the globe, places like Milan, Paris, New York, London, even Tokyo, are a massive deal, drawing celebrities and media by the thousands. with money exchanging hands in sales and ad revenue by the millions. Unbelievable amounts of money we spend on clothing, fashion, accessories, shoes, and all that. And what's amazing to me is that companies like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, Armani, even Nike or Reebok all got their start from a fig leaf in the garden. Can you believe that? Well, the Bible often uses metaphors of clothing in describing our salvation. We read in Isaiah chapter 64 that our righteousness before the Lord is like filthy rags. Later, in a vision of the prophet Zechariah, we see those filthy rags exchanged for rich robes and a clean turban. Zechariah chapter 3. Jesus himself likes this word picture, the use of clothing, as he told a parable in Matthew chapter 22 of the kingdom of heaven being like a wedding banquet. And there was a man there who was thrown out of the reception because he did not have the appropriate dress. Sorry, sir, you're not wearing the wedding garments. You're going to have to leave. This metaphor of clothing gets extended in the epistles with a myriad of references to the putting off of the old self and the putting on of Christ. Our passage today in 1 Peter chapter 5 is Peter's contribution to the Christian fashion industry. And by that I'm not talking about those quirky t-shirts that you see that have a Christian's logo. It looks like a logo of a popular company when really it's just a Bible verse in disguise. Nothing like that. What Peter wants to see when he opens up the Christian's wardrobe is that we are clothed with humility, he says. This is just one outfit tailored to fit the followers of Christ seamlessly like a glove. So, as we seek to be clothed with humility, I want to keep these three questions in mind. First, what is humility? How does Peter define it in this passage? Secondly, why humility? Why does Peter recommend humility for our garments. And then thirdly, we're going to finish up by asking, how are the humble blessed? How are the humble blessed? So if you have a Bible with you and care to follow along, I'm going to read 1 Peter chapter 5. I'm going to start in verse 1 and read through verse 7, though we were primarily going to focus on those last three verses, 5, 6, and 7. But 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 through 7, give your attention to the reading of God's holy and inspired word. The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you, be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, may we take these words to heart. May we humble ourselves before you under your mighty hand. May we cast our cares upon you, knowing that you care for us. May we indeed be clothed with humility one to another. Teach us, O Lord, by your Holy Spirit. May your people hear Listen to not so much the words of Mark Popovich, but rather the eternal words of our Good Shepherd, our Chief Shepherd. Would He appear and speak to us, calling us by name, and would we indeed hear His voice and follow Him in the good paths, the paths of righteousness. For His name's sake we pray, Amen. So the first thing we want to do this morning is to see how Peter defines humility in this passage. It is a theme that Peter has brought up many times throughout his letter, namely when he has exhorted us as the church to show submission to whatever authority is set over us. Whether it's the governing authorities, whether it's the leaders in the church, whether it's a parent or a spouse. Peter has admonished us to be humble, to be submissive to these authorities. But here he mentions a little different submission, or at least it's one that might catch our ear a little fuzzy. He says, all of you be submissive to one another. What does this look like? What is this kind of humility that Peter mentions here? Well, one thing that this humility is not, is weakness. In Peter's day, as well as in our own, humility can often be seen not as a virtue, but rather as a frailty, perhaps cowardice. It might be a sign that a person is lacking assertiveness or conviction, that drive that we desire in good leaders. Humility can often be associated with the type of person that is easily pushed around, stepped on, walked all over as other people get further ahead in life. But that is a weak characterization of what humility is. True humility is actually a very profound strength in leaders as well as in the population at large. Matthew Henry calls humility the, quote, great preserver of peace and order, both in the Church and in society. And this is because humility starts, if I may paraphrase John Calvin, humility starts with a right knowledge of oneself, our standing and our relationship before Almighty God. And therefore, we have a right knowledge of who we are in relation to other people as well. And when a person understands the difference between the eternal transcendent, being-within-himself creator, and a finite creature made from the dust, rebellious and traitorous at that even, when we realize the difference, Humility quickly becomes our garments. But humility isn't a groveling in the dirt. It isn't a cowering, trembling state of being so much. Because the strength of humility recognizes that we are not only before an infinite God that is true, but we are before an infinite God who is good. And this keeps humility from becoming a degradation. Because as Peter says here in quoting the Proverbs, God gives grace to the humble. He exalts those who recognize who He is and humbles themselves before Him under His mighty, salvific hand. The commentator Karen Jobes puts it this way, she says, true humility as opposed to a contrived, self-degrading humiliation, true humility flows from recognizing one's complete dependence on God, and is expressed by the acceptance of one's role and position in God's economy. In other words, When we recognize who God is, who we are, and what God has done for us in Christ, the Church can gladly put on the vestments of humility and seek, as Peter calls it, being submissive to one another. But this isn't the idea of everyone is king for a day, as if everybody here gets to call the shots while the rest obey and cater to our every whim and desire. In fact, it is just the opposite. It is, as the Apostle Paul so beautifully pens in the second chapter of Philippians, the mind of Christ. Christ, the One, who being in the very form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but came in the form of a servant with no reputation, in all the humiliation of taking on flesh, being obedient, serving his enemies even to the point of death on a cross. And therefore, we as the church being built up as that spiritual house, that body of Christ, we are then of one accord with each other, in love, in fellowship, with all affection and mercy. We look not out for our own interests, but we serve others in lowliness of mind, We act not out of selfish ambition or conceit, or as Peter puts it, not out of malice or envy or strife, but in holiness, love, and service to one another. Humility, Karen Jobes continues, expresses itself in the willingness to serve others even beyond one's self-interest. Matthew Henry agrees, he calls this the readiness to perform all the offices of friendship and charity one to another. I love that phrase. The readiness to perform all the offices of friendship and charity one to another. Essentially, this is the great commandment. That we love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. and we love our neighbor as ourself. We love because he first loved us, and that includes loving those whom he loves as well. This is the type of humility that Peter commends as our clothing. But why humility, though? Why not power? Why not restore the kingdom to Israel, as the disciples asked Jesus as He was ascending into heaven in Acts 1? Why not establish Christian nations with believers on the seat of power? Perhaps a Roman Christian empire with a saint on the throne as emperor? Well, I always hesitate to answer questions of why God does something a certain way and not another way. But I think in this case, if we've been paying attention to our Bible reading from Genesis through Revelation, the whole of the Scriptures, I think we will see, if we've been paying attention, we will have seen along the way that God acts in love and in grace. at every turn. Within the Godhead, the Trinity itself, we see a love, one for another. The Father loves the Son such that He prepares a bride for the Son, and the Son loves the Father such that He goes and redeems a people, a holy nation, for the Father's special possession. And the Spirit loves the Father and the Son in such a way that He is sent to work this salvation to their glory, and those whom the Father has set His affection on, and for whom the Son has laid down His life. This is the love within the Godhead that bursts forth through creation itself. Theologians will call it God's condescending grace, meaning He did not need to create. He had no need to create the world and everything in it. But His love is such that it bursts forth. Of course God would create because God is such love. as to create and to spill and to lavish the things in this life that pertain to holiness and to happiness. God did not need or have to stamp his image and his likeness upon male and female, but he did because God is such that that would happen, of course. God is love. God is grace. So of course God would act in this way. It is not surprising when we understand the whole of Scripture. And therefore, when we are called to follow, clothed in humility, we ought not be surprised. This is our way of imaging God. of partaking in His works, that we who have been loved, redeemed, and are being conformed more and more into His image, would look to the needs and the interests of others by condescending, or in our term, humbly laying down our rights, in order that the name of Jesus would be proclaimed among those whom we serve. Another reason why humility is because our text, at the end of verse 5, says that God resists the proud. This might sound harsh, because we hear oftentimes that we should take pride in our work. You should be proud of who you are and where you come from, your lineage, your heritage, your ethnicity. Be proud of a job well done, the school you went to, the accomplishments that you have. But that's not the type of pride or proudness that God resists, that Peter is talking about here. God isn't being overly sensitive here, but really what it means here, God resists the proud, really goes back to what we said earlier in understanding the difference between the infinite God as creator and the creature dependent upon Him for His or her very existence. It is to our shame when our pride swells within us. to where we demand more of God than what He, in His sovereign will and grace and goodness and wisdom, has assigned and granted to us. Whether in health or in wealth, when we say, God, you owe me this. God, why haven't you done this for me? Why haven't you loved me in this way? Why don't you do this for me? We become as a lump of clay complaining to a potter, making demands of the potter, offering our own counsel to him on how best to go about his sovereign will, how foolish it is of the creature to do that to the Creator. Yet it's been this way from the very beginning. When the Son of the Morning, Lucifer by name in the book of Isaiah, taunted the Most High God with his complaints, his pride, his demands. Listen to just these two verses from Isaiah chapter 14. You have said in your heart, O Lucifer, son of the morning, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Isaiah records for us how God opposed that pride. You are fallen from heaven. You are cut down to the ground. You are brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit. Such pride turns us into devils, enemies of God. But humility makes us a friend to him. This is a very strong word for our culture, as I'm sure it was for Peter's day, because we have a strong allergy toward humility, toward grace, toward the idea of needing salvation. I remember seeing a tattoo across a person's back that read, I don't need saving, I am the hero of my own story. My friends, though we have eyes to see all that is around us in our own hearts, our families, our communities, the world at large, we couldn't be more blind to our sinfulness. There is no cataract surgery that can improve our sight, so to speak. Because instead of seeking out the good, the true, and the beautiful that is found only in the love of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, we revel in the very things that put us in opposition to Him. Our very weaknesses, our faults, our shame, our sin becomes our pride and our identity. And that, the Bible says, leaves us in grave danger of falling into the hands of the living God who resists the proud, who opposes our sinful pride. We are in danger of being brought low to the very gates of hell if we refuse to humble ourselves in repentance. So why humility? because the power and the rule have been given to King Jesus, and He is now showing His strength by His patience, sending forth His word of forgiveness through repentance by this humble planting and watering of seeds, this foolish preaching that I am doing even right now, the deeds of love and mercy and sacrifice that His humble and feeble servants carry out. Why? Humility. because it's in humility that we receive grace and that grace grants us peace in God's presence. Which brings us to our third point. How are the humble blessed? Verses 6 and 7, This is yet another reference to that unimaginably glorious inheritance that awaits us in due time, that will never fade, never spoil, never be defiled. Peter is telling the church that is facing pressure, hostility, persecution, even within and without, to lean into this grace of God humbly during difficult times. Because the time is coming when all those tears, all that pain, all those scars, all those difficulties will be wiped away and recompensed for good. And then Peter says something in verse seven, paraphrasing perhaps Psalm 55, words that ought to warm our hearts to the utmost. Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. We're going through some trial, some difficult time no matter what it is, medically, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, doubts within our hearts, pressure from the outside, whatever it might be, some difficult burden that we are carrying. We can sometimes feel like we are all alone in our weighed down state, that nobody cares for us, nobody sees us, nobody knows, nobody is concerned about us. I'm here to tell you if that is true of you now, in the past, or in times to come. And whether you feel that way first thing in the morning, and you say, ah, it's too early to call somebody, I don't want to wake them up. Or it's the middle of the day, and you say, ah, I can't, they're busy with work, or their routine, or the kids, or school, I can't call on them now. Or maybe it's the middle of the night, and you're awake, everybody's asleep, and you're in the dark and the quiet, and you're feeling all alone, I've got no one to turn to. Read this verse. Commit it to memory now. Call upon it when you feel like you're about to go under for what may be the last time. I don't have the strength to hold on. Draw on its strength because it is true. God sees you, just as He saw Hagar and Ishmael driven out into the wilderness, driven out by Abram and Sarai, the covenant community themselves. You may have burdens from the church, scars and pain, and a cross to bear, but God sees you in the wilderness. He knows your affliction just like He knew the affliction of His people Israel, enslaved and in bondage to Egypt. And He cares for you just as He cares for His beloved Son, whom He did not leave in the grave that His enemies had planned for Him, but raised His Son up gloriously with power and honor to the very right hand of God Himself. Look to Jesus, because how God loves and cares for Jesus is an example of how He loves and cares for all those who are united to Christ by faith, who come to Him humbly for salvation. Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of the glory that await us in due time. I'm not one for fashion. I can't even tell you the brand names that I am wearing right now. I have no clue. I don't seek out designer brands when stocking my closet and dresser. I don't like clothes shopping. I would prefer hand-me-downs. I loved hand-me-downs. I go for more comfort and functionality when it comes to clothing. However, to clothe oneself in humility may not always be the most comfortable dress. It may not be the most fashionable thing to wear or the easiest clothing to put on. But it is certainly the Church's best dress. Humility really does look good on the people of God. That garment, humility, really does make the man or woman of God. Let us pray.