1 Peter 5:5-7 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

I remember very vividly the day I got off the bus at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. The drill instructor got onto the bus, and looked us over. As he did, he said “I see you all are in different clothing, and with different lengths of hair. We want to make your stay here as peaceful as possible. I’m your drill instructor, but I want you to regard me as your friend and momma. For the next 8 weeks I’m going to do my best not to hurt your feelings. If you’ll get off the bus, I’ll show you where the accomodations are. And if at any time you feel uncomfortable, let me know – and we’ll do everything we can to accommodate you.”

Did you believe anything I just said? If you did, you are warped!

When the drill instructor got on the bus, he started yelling. He didn’t care if he hurt our feelings. We were told to get off the bus. We were told we were so stupid, that over the next 8 weeks he’d teach us how to stand, how to walk, how and when to talk, how to run, and how and when to sleep. We were told when we could eat, and how long we were allowed to eat. We learned how to fold our clothes – not how we wanted to do so, but how we would do so. And never, never, never did the instructor care about our feelings. You see, he had a mission to accomplish.

He was trying to save our lives.

If you could not learn to work with other people in one accord, as directed by the leader, then you and others would die on the battlefield. Your life depended on your ability to submit to lawful authority, and to work as a cohesive part of a larger group.

Or you and others would die.

The Basis Of Life Is Submission

In America today, on college campuses students are told to shout down speakers that may not conform to their ideaology. They are taught that their feelings are more important than any truth whatsoever. These kids on college campuses are not taught submission, but that they are the center of the universe. As a result, these kids graduate college, apply for jobs, and are rejected by employers because they have not learned to work within a group. Crying over their large college loans that they themselves chose to create, they demand that the government pay off their student loans. Why? So the blue collar worker who paid taxes and did not go to college can pay for their mistake.

These same kids grew up in families where they were told they were the center of the universe, and that the world revolved around them. They were given to “chores” and no discipline for failing to submit to authority in the family. They grew up believing what they feel is more important that anyone or anything else.

Submission. It is not a dirty word, but the basis of
an orderly and a good life.

1 Peter 5:5 … LIKEWISE …

Word Study LIKEWISE: Last week we saw that the ELDER (presbyteros) was to SUBMIT himself to the Word of God. Now we see the word LIKEWISE, the Greek homoiōs, which means “in the same way”. As the Elder or the Pastor of the Church submits not to feelings or opinions but to the Word of God,

1 Peter 5:2-3 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

“In the same way the younger is to submit to the Elder’s leadership”. As the Elder follows the Word of God, so the younger follows the Elder. The flock is fed the Word of God as the Will of God. Why can’t we all just do what we want to do?

We all can’t have our own way, because this is anarchy!

The devil is always looking around, seeking to destroy the creation of God. We are told that in today’s text:

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Everytime God does something good, the devil comes along to try and disrupt it. When God created the angels and mankind, He created us all with free will. We were given the ability to choose. The Bible says that when God made the devil, he was initially called “Lucifer”, which means “the bright and shining one”. Lucifer was an ArchAngel, along with Michael and Gabriel one of the three Chief Angels the Bible speaks of. The Prophet Isaiah saw that Lucifer misused his free will, and decided to try and take over the Throne of God. The Scripture says …

Angelic Background

Isaiah 14:12-14 (NKJV) “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘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; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

Rather than submit and follow his Creator, Lucifer led “a third of the Stars of Heaven {the Angels} and threw them to the earth” (Revelation 12:4). When God put Adam in the Garden of Eden, Lucifer listened. When God directed Adam, we read:

Adam’s Directive

Genesis 2:15-17 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Lucifer revolted against God and was cast out of Heaven. Watching God create Adam and put Adam in a perfect earthly Paradise, he heard what God told Adam. Adam was to SUBMIT to God, and tend to the Garden. He could eat of ANY tree’s fruit, BUT “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat”. Let me point out that ,,,

Eve was not yet created when the command was given to Adam. Adam was created FIRST, and was to lead in the family. When God said “YOU shall not eat of it”, the direct meaning was “YOU ADAM shall not eat of it”. No such command was ever given to the woman, but to the man. Why?

Because God made MEN and WOMEN different. Eve could have made a fruit salad of that forbidden tree, and it wouldn’t have mattered. The command was given to Adam.

What happened? Lucifer came to the WOMAN (not to man) and tempted her to eat of the forbidden. The WOMAN WAS CREATED OUT OF MAN, and was supposed to follow his leadership. But he must lead. Lucifer told Eve “If you eat of that forbidden fruit …

You Will Be Like God

Genesis 3:4-5 (ESV) … “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Lucifer was thrown out of Heaven for trying to take God’s Throne. Now Lucifer encourages the WOMAN to eat of that which is forbidden so that “you will be like God”. The Bible says that …

Eve Gave To Adam

Genesis 3:6-7 (NKJV) … she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened …

Nothing happened when Eve ate of the forbidden. It was only when Adam ate that “the eyes of both of them were opened”. Why? Because the command to submit was given to Adam. Adam was to submit to God, and trust God, not eating of that which was forbidden. The Scripture says:

Repercussions Of Adam’s Sin

Romans 5:15 (NKJV) … by ONE MAN’S OFFENSE many died …

Romans 5:17 (NKJV) … by ONE MAN’S OFFENSE death reigned …

Romans 5:19 (NKJV) … by ONE MAN’S DISOBEDIENCE many were made sinners…

Adam was to submit to God, not Eve. Eve was to submit to her husband, not Lucifer. The Bible says that “the serpent {Satan} DECEIVED EVE by his craftiness” (2 Corinthians 11:3). The Apostle Paul would later write:

1 Timothy 2:13-14 (NKJV) … Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

Adam was not deceived. He knew full well that his actions were clearly against the directive of God. Jesus looked him in the eyes and told him “do not eat the forbidden fruit”. But Adam made a choice, a conscious choice, to refuse to submit himself to God – while submitting himself to Eve and Lucifer.

His free will actions cost us all Paradise!

Submission Makes An Orderly & Healthy Families

1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

The basis of a healthy family is submission. The Christian family is a picture of submission:

Ephesians 5:21-23 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. (22) Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. (23) For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Savior of the body.

The husband is to lead the wife, and the wife to submit to the godly leadership of the husband. But the husband ALSO submits:

Ephesians 5:25-28 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, … 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

The husband, like Christ for His Church, is to be willing to DIE for his wife. We are to “love their wives as their own bodies”. Had Adam loved Eve, he would not have eraten that which was forbidden. Had Adam loved Eve, he would not have put Eve above what Christ had said. We are first and foremost to submit all that we have and hope to be to our Lord. The “Great Commandment” is:

Matthew 22:37-40 (NKJV) … “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

What does “with all” mean? It means that we are to love God so much, and submit to Him so much, that our love for others might even be misinterpreted as hatred. Jesus said:

Luke 14:26 (NKJV) … If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

In submission, we give our all to Jesus first. And in submitting to Christ, we love others all the better!

Beloved, you cannot even be saved from damnation without humility and submission.

1 Peter 5:5-6 …. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God

Word Study: Humility is to be the clothing of the saint. Why? Because we are told “God resisteth the proud”. This is the Greek antitassō, which means “to oppose or stand in battle against”. God stands up AGAINST those who are proud, who will not bend the knee to Him. Though the Bible tells us that salvation is a free gift from God:

Romans 5:18 … as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

Adam through his pride and arrogance brought sin on the whole world. But Jesus Christ, humbling Himself on Calvary, offers the FREE GIFT of salvation to whosoever receives Him. But this FREE GIFT MUST BE RECEIVED.

You must REPENT!
You must BEND THE KNEE to Christ!

Jesus preached,

Matthew 4:17 … REPENT, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand …

Mark 1:15 … REPENT, and believe the Gospel …

Luke 13:3 … unless you REPENT, you will all likewise perish!

The early Church preached:

Acts 2:38 … Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

And Jesus even told the early Church:

Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from where you are fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto YOU quickly, and will remove YOUR candlestick out of it’s place, except thou repent.

You cannot enter the Family of God without repentance. You cannot remain an operational Church of Christ without repentance. God ACTIVELY STANDS AGAINST those who are proud, but God GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. There is no grace without humility. There is no blessing without humility.

Jesus told us:

Matthew 20:25-28 (ESV) “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Within the Trinity of God, each Member of the Trinity – though God – practices submission. The Father sent the Son to save us:

1 John 4:14 (ESV) And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

When we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Son sends the Spirit to sanctify us:

John 14:25-26 (TNIV) … the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things

Luke 24:49 (NRSV) … I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high

and yet, the Father humbles Himself in that He has placed all judgment into Christ’s hands:

John 5:22 (NLT) … the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge,

If the Godhead practices humility and submission, then you are most like God when you are humble and submissive to the plan of God. Let us follow the Lord in humility, loving one another, lifting one another up.

In closing, I heard this story.

Many years ago Spain would put convicts on Spanish Galleys, in chains, and under the whip they were made to toil until they died or their sentence was commuted. Such a punishment was hard, very harsh, a veritable hell on earth. Those who died at the oar were tossed overboard to feed the fish. The King of Spain was onboard one of these Galleys when he decided to visit below deck and see these convicts. As he walked past these convicts, he asked one after the other how they came to be in such a horrible place.

One man said “a false witness lied, and said I stole that money”. Another said, “the judge was wrong – I never did any evil that deserves this”. On and on as the King walked the aisle, each man plead innocent. As he neared the end of the line of human misery, he saw one man hunched over the oars. “Why are you here?” The man replied, “I am ashamed, your Majesty, to even be seen by you. I deserve this. I robbed and hurt someone. As I have sat here this past year, I realize I deserve what is happening. In fact, it is a gift that I was not executed outright! If it were not for the magistrate’s mercy, I would have been hung long ago!” The King stopped as he listened to this man, then called for the Master of the ship. “Release this man! I will not have such an awful creature sitting in the midst of these other fine, upstanding citizens! Let him go!”

Such is Grace. God resists those who are lifted up and arrogant, but God blesses those who, in repentance, cast themselves upon His mercy. Have you cast yourself upon Him?

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you.

If not, today is the day of salvation. May God lead you to surrender to Him Who gave His all for you on Calvary. Follow Him. Follow Jesus. Here is the way of glory! Amen and Amen.