“…and All of you, Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another.”-{1 Peter 5:5}.
You wake up in the morning and one of the first things you do is get ready and put on your clothes before you leave the house and face the day! Peter says “clothe yourselves” and the word he uses was that which spoke of “a work apron” identifiable, as that which was worn by a slave over their clothes to keep from getting dirty, it came to refer to “humble service.”
When Peter says, “Clothe yourselves,” he is not speaking of EXTERNAL clothing but an INTERNAL Attitude. It’s an attitude to put on, identifiable in the way we live our lives towards one another. So, you wake up in the morning and get ready to face the day and you wonder what would the LORD have you do today, what “clothing” does the LORD want you to wear? Put on “Humility” which speaks of dependence upon Him and choosing to serve others who are created in His image… and you serve them respectfully, graciously, lovingly seeking their highest good, for His sake! -{Read 2 Cor 4:5}.
You serve them as if you were serving Him, because you are! “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”-{Matthew 25:40}. Our service towards others is not separated from our service to Him…When Paul was persecuting the Believers and the LORD asked him “Why do you persecute ME?”-{Read Acts 9:4}. He takes it personal, touch one of His and you touch Him! He takes it personal. The way we treat others is in exact proportion to how we treat Him!… “Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another.”-{1 Peter 5:5}. And note it is plural, not just for a few but for all followers of Christ, without exception;.” and ALL of you…yourselves, towards one another.”
Which teenager has not heard the words when leaving the house at one time or another, “You’re not wearing that are you?” And the inference being it’s not “suitable!” Sometimes the spiritual “clothing” we wear in our day is not suitable, attitudes of pride, bitterness, lovelsssness, un-forgiveness, desiring to be served rather than to serve, wanting to be praised and acknowledged rather than HIM being acknowledging and praised,...and we need to check our attire. We need to quickly have a quick change of clothing, mindset, and, “Humble ourselves” before the LORD, ask for forgiveness and submit ourselves, our attitudes and express in our actions the “suitable” clothing…in our relationships, one of “Humility!” Do you need to change your “clothes?”
Don’t go out into the day with or change your “clothing,” though-out the day with attitudes that are spiritually “inappropriate,” but put on the appropriate clothing, the one He has provided and suitable for His servants- Humility!
Like a train whose wheels are on a track, when you put on humility you are in your right mind, on track, in alignment with God’s way of thinking and choices you are making that He not only Encourages but also Empowers. So what gets us off track? In the passage he says “Pride” does, the rejection of God’s way and God is opposed to our pride! But He gives grace to the humble…His favor and empowering is for the humble minded!
Peter gives us Three Reasons reasons for “… All of you Clothe yourselves with Humility toward one another. ” … FOR {gives the reason, the explanation,}… God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”-{1 Peter 5:5}
- God Commands it- It is a verb- to be continuous, a habit, a pattern of thinking and living out “Clothe ourselves,”…”… is in the middle voice indicates we are to initiate the action…” -{preceptaustin}
- God is Opposed to the Proud,– the opposite of humility.
- God gives Grace To The Humble… All of you, us, without exception, are to clothe ourselves with humility towards one another in how we think and treat one another, knowing God is opposed, resists, stands in direct opposition to pride, but He gives grace to those who are humble!
What Does It Look Like Practically In Daily Living?
Paul put it this way, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,”-{Phil 2:3-5}
Humility is not demeaning yourself or others, it is to understand, I am God’s, He is my Creator and I am the creature who is in complete dependence upon Him and know He would have me, and empower me, to lovingly, careingly prefer and serve others… for His sake. He gives grace to those who are humble! Those who have a true estimate of themselves in light of Scripture and a High View of God and serve others for His sake It’s one of the marks that is Identifiable of humility! It’s a Godly Attitude adopted and an Action expressed, in dependence upon Him to empower! The image Peter uses for “Clothe” would be a specific image that they would be familiar with of a slave serving. Humility means serving the LORD His Way, His Will according to His Word, out of love for Him who first loved us and demonstrated it by the cross! He put on the “Apron of Humility.”-{Read Philippians 2:5-7}. God was using the suffering of that day for good in the believers life, producing humility in them as they humbled themselves to Him and one another by choosing to serve one another the evidence. Jesus gives two self descriptions in Matthew 11:29 that He was “HUMBLE of heart.” Humility reflects Him… and He learned obedience through the things He suffered and we see His humility… throughout the pages of the New testament!
“Moffatt translates it “Put on the apron of humility” an appropriate paraphrase picturing the scarf or apron as the badge of a servant. How easily the world’s competitive spirit filters into the hearts of Christians and Christian workers who become envious of one another’s success. How seldom we think of ourselves as servants for Christ’s sake.
Charles Ellicott says that this verse literally means, “tie yourself up in humility” gathering it around us like a cloak to shut out the blighting winds of pride. But there is a still more delicate shade of meaning to the word “humility.” Ellicott says that the word for humility originally referred to “a peculiar kind of cape worn by slaves” and thus was “a badge of servitude.” The upshot is that these word pictures indicate that humility is not simply a passive quality but that it includes performing selflessly any task God assigns, and bringing forth spiritual fruit.
Marvin Vincent explains the picture which Peter may have had in mind when he choose the Greek verb egkomboomai, writing that it was reminiscent…of that scene in which Peter figured so prominently—the washing of the disciples’ feet by the Lord, when he girded himself with a towel as a servant, and gave them the lesson of ministry both by word and act. Bengel paraphrases, “Put on and wrap yourselves about with humility, so that the covering of humility cannot possibly be stripped from you.” (Vincent, M. R. Word Studies in the New Testament)”-{preceptaustin}
Peter is speaking to believers and not asking them to do what is spiritually impossible, as he wrote in 2 Peter 1:3-4, “By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a Godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”-{nlt}. Paul likewise encourages that we have the capacity and ability to choose, encouraged by this promise,” For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.”-{Philippians 2:13 nlt}. So, we have the power, we have the command we now… we have the capacity to choose to lovingly and humbly obey, trusting Him to continually meet us and this we can do as we trust, obey Him and feed on His Word to instruct, remind, encourage, correct and strengthen us to BE for Him what He would have us be …before Him and to …one another.
Check and make sure you have the proper “clothing” on in the house and before you leave the House each day!
Put Your Clothes On – The Appropriate Clothes!
Put on the Apron of Humility
“…and All of you, Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another.”