Word for the week
You can regularly receive our Word for the Week by
contacting the IBC Hamburg office
“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:5-7)
Dear Friends and Members of IBC,
As part of our sermon series going through the book of James, on Sunday we considered James 4:6, where James, quoting from Proverbs 3:34, writes: “That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’” But James isn’t the only New Testament writer to quote this Proverb. The apostle Peter also quotes it in his first letter. So, in this week’s Word for the Week, we will consider these same words from Peter’s perspective - and see what he has to teach us about humility and our relationship with God.
All of us should clothe ourselves with humility towards one another. Our clothes certainly say something about us. The fact that I am reluctant to wear a suit and tie, gives you some indication of how formal I am. If I see someone wearing a HSV T-Shirt and scarf, I will guess he’s a HSV football fan.
So, what are the ‘clothes’ of humility? What are the distinguishing marks? Philippians 2:3 gives us one item of clothing, maybe the T-Shirt: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves”. Humility means valuing others as more important.
Another item of clothing, maybe the jacket, is that we don’t secretly think we deserve better treatment than what Jesus got. And so, we aren’t constantly complaining about our circumstances, but instead we grieve over the state of our heart and are quick to repent for lack of prayer and wrongdoings.
And maybe the cap or the hat that we wear, that clothes us in humility, has a big label on the front that says: ‘Lifelong Learner’. A humble person is always willing to learn, to be corrected, to acknowledge their weaknesses and where they need to grow.
Practically then, how do we humble ourselves? How do we grow in humility?
Well, Peter tells us that we “cast our anxieties on God”. In some ways, worry is a form of pride, because the person I run to first with all of my concerns is myself, instead of taking them straight to God. Just think about how many times you do that. How many hours you spend turning a problem over and over in your head, before finally deciding, “Ok, well, I might as well say a prayer to God about this, seeing as I don’t know what to do”.
The author Jared Wilson says: “Prayer is essentially acknowledged helplessness…when we are not praying much, it is typically because we think, even in our difficulty, that we can handle it”. We humble ourselves by acknowledging that even in the smallest of things, we rely on our all-knowing Creator who delights in hearing even our weakest attempts at praying.
So, humbling ourselves means taking all of our anxieties to God in prayer, and it also means being active by being sober-minded and resisting the Devil’s schemes.
But you aren’t able to resist the devil if you think there is any power or authority in your name. Remember when Jesus sent out 72 of his followers, giving them power and authority over demons. When they came back, at whose name were the demons subject to? “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” Luke 10:17.
All authority has been given to Jesus in heaven and on earth. All authority. That means the devil has none. He only works by subtly making you believe that He actually does have some authority in your life. Every Christian who makes any progress in the Christian life will find they have a target on their back. They will find they have the devil’s attention.
So, if you find yourself under spiritual attack, be sober-minded and don’t believe any of his accusing lies. Instead, resist the devil by standing firm and humbly exercising the authority that has been given to you in Jesus’ name. Believe and speak out God’s truth, like Jesus did when he was tempted. Speak out Biblical truths like: ‘I am a child of God’, ‘I have been bought with a price and I belong to God’, ‘I am complete in Christ’.
Let us clothe ourselves with humility, cast our anxieties upon God, and stand firm in the authority and truth of Jesus.
God bless you
James
