This message, entitled, Humility Toward One Another, from 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 5 and 6, was preached at Winchester Reformed Presbyterian Church in Winchester, Kansas. For more information, visit us at winchesterrb.com. Well, I would imagine this evening that most of you, if not all of you, would recognize in some way the name Augustine. Augustine in church history was perhaps, aside from the inspired apostles themselves, probably the most brilliant and influential Christian in the history of the church. The influence that that one man has had on the church is almost, in some ways, incalculable. He was brilliant. He was, as I've said, influential. But Augustine was also one who sought the entirety of his life after his conversion to be a man of godliness. And Augustine once posed this question. He said, you know, if you were to ask me what the most important road that a Christian can walk in this life is in the pathway of godliness, I would answer you that the most important path of godliness is that of humility." And he said, and if you were to ask me what the second most important path for a Christian to walk is, I would tell you that the second most important path is Humility. And he said, if you were to ask me the third, and I'm sure you know the pattern this evening, he said the third most important is that of humility. And he went on to write these words. If humility does not precede all we do, our efforts are absolutely meaningless. And I think Augustine is right. Brothers and sisters, if we don't have a humble love, then plain and simple, we don't have love. If we don't have a humble mercy, then we are not merciful. If we do not have a humble patience, then whatever else we think we have, we do not have patience. Humility must precede all that we do. And without it, all that we do is useless and meaningless, but it is humility that is, if you want to think about it in this sense this evening, the crowning grace of every spiritual fruit. And that is why we are spending a considerable amount of time on this spiritual grace. That's why we're spending a considerable amount of time on this fruit of the Spirit, this thing that we call humility. And I want you to see that as Peter writes to these people, these Jews who have been scattered in the dispersion, and as these words have been inspired for us by the Holy Spirit, that Peter approaches this topic of humility, doesn't he, really from two different angles. In verse 5 he says, "...clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud and He gives grace to the humble." And then in verse 6 he says, "...humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God." And we might be tempted to think, well, Peter sounds awfully repetitive there. Is that what Peter is doing? Is he being like the Apostle Paul who, when Paul told the Philippians, rejoice! and I tell you again, rejoice." Is that what Peter is doing? Saying, I want you to be humble and you know what? It's good for me if I tell you that again, be humble. Well, that's not exactly what Peter is doing and the repetition that Peter uses here and that is present here is not a repetition that is needless or useless. Rather, I want you to see as we look at these two verses that Peter is really telling us that humility is to be the defining characteristic in all of the relationships of our lives. In verse five, the relationship that Peter is concerned with is the relationship that we have with one another. The relationship that Peter is speaking of there when he says, clothe yourselves, all of you with humility, is a humility toward one another, a humility toward our fellow creatures. A humility toward men and women and our fellow humanity. And then in verse 6, Peter transitions, you might say, to our relationship with God. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. We are to have humility toward one another. We are to be humbled under God. And in that way, what Peter is doing, again, is not needless repetition, but he is saying, here, dear Christians, is the defining characteristic of all the relationships in your life. Because all of our relationships can be boiled down to one of those two. Our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with one another. And interestingly, he begins with the relationship that we are to have with one another. And that might seem a little odd. We might say, well, Peter's got this a little bit backwards. Isn't our relationship with God the relationship that is first and foremost? Ought Peter not to have begun with humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and clothe yourselves then with humility toward one another? because you know that your relationship with God is of first importance. Jesus teaches us that. What is the greatest commandment? To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And the second command is like it, but it is still the second command, and that is to love your neighbor as yourself. But Peter, for whatever reason, inverts that, and he first addresses our relationship with one another, and then he defines our relationship under God. And so in coming weeks, that's how we're going to approach this. Beginning tonight and for several weeks, we are going to look at what humility is and what humility looks like in our interpersonal relationships. And then we will transition to what humility looks like in our relationship toward God. And this evening, I simply want to begin with those words of verse five, clothe yourselves, all of you with humility toward one another. And I want to look at what Peter is saying there. And I plan on letting this be perhaps one of the simplest and plainest sermons I've ever preached, because you don't need to jump through hoops to understand what he's saying. But if the spirit is willing, I want these things to be impressed on our minds and our hearts. And so as we think about these exact words of Peter, there are three things that I want you to notice. The first is humility's worker. Peter says, humble yourselves, all of you. The second will be humility's direction. He says, humble yourselves, all of you, toward, toward one another. And the third point then this evening will be humility's extent. Humble yourselves toward one another. How far extensive is that language, one another? And so first this evening, I want to point out to you humility's worker. Who is it that is to work the humility that Peter is speaking of here? Well, if we were to go back and begin reading this letter from the very beginning... we would see that even as Peter in chapter 1 verse 1 tells us that he is writing to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the spirit for the obedience to Jesus Christ, that even as Peter is writing to that group of people, that throughout this letter he singles out certain groups. And so if we were to go through and read all of these chapters, we would find, for instance, that Peter talks about the responsibilities of citizens towards their emperor. And he says, here as citizens and as those who are Christians, here's how you are to relate to your emperor. But he doesn't give much by way of instruction for how the emperor ought to relate to the citizens. If we were to read this letter, we would find that Peter has a section on servants and masters. Servants, here's what it means to labor under your masters. And masters, here's how you are to deal with your servants. Singling out individual categories and groups amidst the big group that he's writing to. In chapter three, he takes time to address husbands. And he takes time to address wives. If you go back to the very beginning of chapter 5, you will see that he opens with an exhortation to the elders of the church. That though he himself is an apostle, he says, as a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight. And in that he's saying, all right, you elders in the church, I'm writing specifically to you. And in verse five, he goes from addressing the elders in verse five, he says, likewise, you who are younger be subject to the elders. And the commentators have a lot of discussion about what does that mean? What is the group of people that he is speaking to? And we're not gonna get into all of that because that's not our principal point, but what I want you to see then is as he comes to this command of humility, he says, clothe yourselves, comma, all of you. clothe yourselves, comma, and he's saying, let me be crystal clear. I'm not simply talking to elders. I'm not simply talking to the younger people in the church. I'm not simply writing to husbands. I'm not simply writing to wives. He is saying, I want you to get this, clothe yourselves, all of you, every single one of you. And in saying that, Peter is leaving no room for any exceptions. There is not an excused absence in those words. Well, all of you except for this person or that person or this group of people. Brothers and sisters, I want you to hear this as though Peter is writing specifically to you, specifically to me, saying, clothe yourselves, Kyle. with humility. You are humility's worker. You are the one that needs to do this. You, all of you, every one of you, without exception, here is a word for you, clothe yourselves with humility. And I want the force of that to fall on us tonight. I want the force of that to enter not only our brains, but if the spirit is willing to enter our hearts, that when Peter says all of you, he means all of you. He is saying you elders in the church, even though people need to be subject to you and you exercise oversight in your shepherds, You need to be humble. He's saying you members of the church who are not elders, even though you're to be subject to the elders, you also need to clothe yourselves with humility. Peter is saying, here's what the church needs. The church needs men who are clothed in humility. And Peter is saying, but you women don't get a pass either. The church is in desperate need of women who clothe themselves with humility. Peter is saying, here is something that's true of the young people and the children. You know, these letters that the apostles wrote were very likely read before congregations. They weren't just a letter written to one individual, and that one individual kept the letter to themselves, read it and tucked away in their pocket, or put it in some memory box. These were letters that circulated the churches, that were read in the congregation, that were read in worship. And we have no reason to think, even as we practice today, our children are part of the church. Our children sit in worship. Our children hear the same things that we hear. And though sometimes those things are very hard for our children to understand, for our young people to grasp, Peter is saying, here, you young people who are part of the church and you children in the church, the youngest of its members, here is something also for you. You are to be humble. You are to clothe yourselves with it. Even you as young people and children are not excluded from this thing that Peter is saying. And he's saying, you older people and the elderly among you, you are to clothe yourselves with humility. That age never gives you an exemption. You never outgrow the need to be humble. I remember when I was in high school, I worked in McDonald's, and there was an older man that came in every single day like clockwork, and he'd sit there for four or five hours, he would order a senior coffee for 29 cents or whatever it was, and he was an absolute jerk. And he would harass the employees, He would leave a mess. He was inappropriate with people. And I remember finally, one of my fellow employees worked up the nerve and said, you know what? Why are you such a jerk? And he said, because I've done my time. I'm old enough now. I get to be a jerk. I've outgrown the need to be respectful to people. And Peter's saying, you know what? That's not true in the church of Jesus Christ. You never outgrow this command you have never so to speak put in your time and now you can cast off the clothes of humility but he's saying elderly people and older people you too are included in this clothes yourselves all of you with Humility. He is saying, here's what the church needs. The church needs humble husbands. And the church needs humble wives. The church needs humble children. The church needs every one of their members to be defined by humility. There is not a person who is excluded from this. And the reason tonight that I want to emphasize that and I want to press that upon you is because, brothers and sisters, it is so, so, so easy to hear things like, clothe yourselves with humility and say, I know exactly who needs to hear this. That person over there. For the last several weeks in our home, it's been lighthearted. It hasn't been serious. But when Rachel and I might get into a little bit of a disagreement, I will, in a lighthearted way, tell her, you know, I really think you need to go back and listen to my series on humility. And when Rachel disagrees with me on something, she has been known in the last couple weeks to say, you know, I think you need to listen to your own series on humility. And we mean that in a lighthearted way. I trust we mean it in a lighthearted way. But the reality is that that is the attitude of some of our hearts. To say, you know who really needs to hear this? You know who really needs to be told to be humble? And our eyes go outward, and our fingers point away from us. And Peter is not giving us an excuse. He is saying, here is Humility's workers, all of you. Brothers and sisters, throw your name in the blank. Humility's workers. Secondly, this evening, I would have you see Humility's direction. the direction of humility. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility. And then Peter uses this word, toward. Toward who? Toward one another. Peter is saying here is something that is to define and characterize your relationship with other people. The direction of humility, if I can put it this way, I already have this evening, but let me just repeat it. The direction of humility is horizontal. There is a horizontal direction to this grace of humility. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. And again, I want to stress that this evening, because this is something that is so difficult. You know, as I think about this thing called humility, And as I think about what it means to be humble, if I can put it this way this evening, at least in my mind and logically and rationally, I understand why I need to be humble when it comes to my relationship with God. That doesn't take much for me to say, I get it. And I think you probably do this evening as well. You know, if you've ever stood underneath the nighttime sky, and you've watched the stars come out one by one, and you see the heavens become filled with thousands, even perhaps hundreds of thousands of those celestial orbs, and you begin to contemplate the vastness of that, and you say, well, that star there would probably take 10,000 lifetimes, if not more, to even get to, and here I am taking in the full expanse of the heavens, you know the feeling of insignificance. To say, wow! I'm really insignificant. I am a peon compared to the broad heavens, or you've had that feeling. I remember the first time I visited an ocean, the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Florida, and there I was. I'd grown up in a community with five lakes. They were just basically big puddles. And there I stand on the shore of the ocean, and as far as I can see in every direction forward, there is nothing but water. And I remember even as a nine-year-old saying, That's a big body of water. That is massive. There are how many gazillions of gallons of water before my very eyes. And it's very easy in those moments to feel insignificant. Or you've stood at the foot of a mountain and you've looked as it towers above you and you think how insignificant I truly am. Well, brothers and sisters, isn't that the sense that we get when we contemplate God? when our minds go to think about the greatness of the glory of God, that He is one in essence and three in person. And when I think of the one, I think of the three. And when I think of the three, I think of the one. And it breaks my mind because it's beyond all arithmetic. And you behold God in His tri-unity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but these three are one, equal in power and glory. And you begin to feel so insignificant. Isn't it easy when you come to contemplate the eternity of God, that He is, I am. He has never had a beginning. He will never have an end. He is the One who was and who is and who is to come. And He transcends time itself. And you begin to feel so insignificant. Isn't it easy to feel insignificant when you think of the immensity of God, as Solomon said in 1 Kings 8, that the highest of heavens cannot contain Him. That He is omnipresent. He is not confined to one locality, but He is everywhere present and you begin to feel so insignificant. Isn't it easy to feel insignificant when you think upon the holiness of God and that spotted radiance? that glorious shining because He is so morally pure that the very cherubim in glory veil their faces as they cry without ceasing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God. Isn't it easy to feel insignificant when you begin to grasp the power of God? as Job noticed it, that the whirlwind passes and the storm rages, and what does Job say? But this is but the outskirts of his ways, but the thunder of his power. Who can understand? Isn't it easy, brothers and sisters, when we think upon the universal dominion and authority of God, that He reigns sovereign over all things, that there is not a molecule in all of creation that does not do His bidding to feel insignificant. That's what I mean when I say I can rationalize in my mind why I need to be humble before God. Because the greatness of who He is and the glory of who He is, faith's natural response is to fall prostrate before Him and say, O Lord, what is man? But you know what Peter says? You need to have that toward one another. You need to have that feeling of insignificance. You need to have that humility toward one another, toward those who are just like me. To those who are shot through with sin, to those who can be so foolish and so stupid, to those who can be so obnoxious, to those who can take, take, take so much And Peter says, here's the direction of humility. There is a horizontal direction to it. Not only a humility under God, but a humility toward one another. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. Finally, I want you to see this evening Humility's extent. The extent of humility. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward, and look at the next two words, one another. Can I admit this evening that I don't really like that in one sense. The natural inclination of my heart is to want to immediately add a qualification. To say, oh, but. Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, except for toward this person. Or except for to that person. To be perfectly honest, that's what my heart wants to do. My heart wants to add a qualification to that. To say, yup, alright, clothe yourself with humility, Kyle, toward other people, but surely Peter can't mean toward all people. That's what my heart is saying, but I want you to see what the Spirit says is without qualification toward one another. There is no qualification. Peter does not say, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, but only if these conditions are met. My heart wants to put it there. I want to put it there so desperately, but that is not the mind of the Spirit, nor is that the mind of one who is pursuing the Holy Spirit. Peter says, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. And there's no exception. There is no qualification. The extent of this is universal. It knows no boundaries. It knows no stopping points. Peter is saying plain and simple toward one another, toward each other, toward everyone, be humble. And that again is something that is profoundly difficult because we want to say, be humble to one another, but only when the other person deserves it. We want to say, all right, be humble toward one another, but only if that other person is going to return it. And if they're going to be humble with me, then I'll be humble with them. It's so difficult because the attitude of our heart so often and a sin which needs to be repented of is to say, well, humble yourselves toward one another, but only if the other person cares. You know, they don't care about it. Then why should I care about it? I'm not going to be humble. But there's no exception. There's no qualification. And the reality of that, brothers and sisters, has to fall upon us this evening that Peter is saying, look, I don't care who the one another is. I don't care who the another is. You are to be humble. You are to be humble with those who don't return it. You are to be humble with those who don't receive it. You are to be humble with those who don't care about it. You are to be humble toward those for whom humility means nothing. You are to be humble toward those who slander you and mock you. You are to be humble toward those who sin against you. You are to be humble toward those who use you and abuse you. Does that mean that the Christian virtue is turning ourselves into a doormat to be walked all over? Absolutely not! But it does mean that in the way in which we deal with these people who may use us and abuse us, we are to be humble. Humility is to characterize it. We are to be humble toward those who are hard to love. We are to be humble toward those who demand that we be humble. We are to be humble toward all, toward one another, and there is no exception, there is no qualification. Peter doesn't say, oh just be humble to those people who are in your church, who are reformed Presbyterians. The extent of humility and the humility that we are to have toward our fellow creatures is a humility that is to extend to and toward all people without distinction. And when you conceive the difficulty of that, I hope you can see why this has to be a gospel grace. I hope you see why humility is something that can only be had through the Holy Spirit and through our union with Jesus Christ, a humility that has to be rooted in the gospel. Because what Peter is telling us here is not easy. and it will cost us. It will cost me, and it will cost you. And we'll get into it more, but isn't it interesting that Peter ends this verse by saying, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. As if to say, here, be humble to one another, and don't think about how the other responds. Think only about how God's going to respond. Cast yourselves upon Him. Don't do it for the sake of others. Do it for the sake of God. You see, it's so plain and it's so simple, however much our hearts want to argue against it. The force of what Peter is saying, the force of what Peter is saying, brothers and sisters, is you are humility's worker. You first and foremost are the one to whom Peter is addressing this. He's not addressing it to your wife. He's not addressing it to your husband. He's not addressing it to your children. He's not addressing it to your parents. He's not addressing it to this person or that person. First and foremost, he's saying all of you, all of us, you and me, we are to be humility's workers. And he is saying that this humility has a horizontal direction. That we need to be humble toward those who are just like us. And in many cases, perhaps, if I can put it this way this evening, to those who are worse than us. And he is saying, here is humility's extent. There is no extent to one another. It is universal. There is no boundary for which this is not true. In all you do, in all you do, clothe yourselves with humility. Brothers and sisters, I so desperately want to be this. Not to claim it for myself, but I want to be a humble man. And I hope you want to be a humble man and a humble woman and a humble young person. And I so desperately want this to be true of our church. that whatever else people might say about us, here is the crowning grace of Winchester Reformed Presbyterian Church. There are people who are humble. And I hope that's what you want too. Because in that, we most reflect Jesus. Let's pray.