Pastor Chris’ Corona Quarantine Epistles to the Flock of AIC Ngong Road, in Dispersion and Isolation. 147th. Edition.
Dear Pilgrims and Sojourners,
Today’s passage (1 Peter 5:5-6) shifts the focus from the elders to the young people and then also to everyone in general.
Submit to Elders (v. 5a). Elders are charged, as we have already seen, with shepherding the flock of God (v. 2). It also goes without saying that the majority of people gain wisdom with age. It also follows that for the sake of order, every human group ought to have leadership. Without leadership, every gathering of people will turn chaotic, more likely than not.It is especially important that young people submit to the elders. Young people have a lot of exciting ideas but the older people tend to be slow – too slow for the liking of the young, so they could jump the gun and move on, by themselves. Therein lies great danger. God has given wisdom to the elders and what glitters may not always be gold. Be patient. Respect those in leadership. It may save you blushes, or worse.
Submit to Everyone (v. 5b). Peter expands the scope so that now, everyone is covered. We ought to submit to one another. The basis of this submission is humility. Paul puts it rather well, “In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” (Philippians 2:3). We submit to others because they offer some qualities that we do not have, and this is true of everyone. No one person has all the gifts and abilities and no one has none. We ought to submit to others also, in order to attract God’s favor. If we are proud, he will resist us. If we are humble, his favor will be on us. I doubt any of us would want God to oppose him.
Submit to the Eternal (v. 6). We should not only submit to the elders and to each other, we should also submit to God. Yielding to God opens the door to one of his promises, “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). A lot of energy is expended in the pursuit of glory before men. Often, such pursuit is at the expense of God’s glory.
When we fail to give him the glory he deserves, he will humble us. That humiliation may be very painful. But if we humble ourselves before God and give him the glory, he lifts us up. The reason he does that is that we are not in competition with him.
When he exalts us, any glory coming to us will end up with him. Don’t try to compete with God. Only a fool would try that.
Your Loving Pastor Chris.