Fresh Encounter
Humility of Mind
1 Peter 3:8-12
“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:8-9)
The late Steve Currington, who founded Reformers Unanimous addictions recovery program, use to say, "God doesn’t promise to bless bible readers. He promises to bless bible meditators" (Psalm 1).
I mention this to say that one way to meditate of scriptures is to prayerfully ask questions of the text. This practice has abundantly blessed me in my personal life, but also as I prepare sermons and seek to be a blessing to others.
I find that when I ask questions of the text, God begins to open my understanding and speak into my life. This is what happened as I meditated on 1 Peter 3:8-9, which has led me to bring this message to us.
Notice that Paul exhorts believers to have, among other things, a humble mind. When I read and began to mediate on this passage, I asked questions like, What does humility of mind look like? Where does it come from? What does it mean to have a humble mind? Why is it important?
Now, one vital conclusion that I came to as I studied the scriptures is this: Although humility of mind is not something that we need to have to earn God’s grace, it does put us in a position to receive the much more of God’s grace.
In other words, God wants to provide more grace, but a prideful person for example doesn’t see his need and will not avail himself of the channels of grace like prayer and the word that lays hold of the much more of God’s grace (Luke 11:13; Hebrews 9:14; Eph. 3:20; James 4:6).
In fact, humility of mind, far from being something that earns grace, is actually a work of grace itself.
"Grace
is not only God’s disposition to do good for us when we don’t deserve it. It is
an actual power from God that acts and makes good things happen in us and for
us." John Piper
Now, in addition to laying hold of the much more of God’s grace, humility of mind is vital in that it enables us to glorify God in the way we as believers are to lovingly relate to one another and the world.
Notice that in 1 Peter 3:8-9, Peter gives several exhortations concerning how believers in the body of Christ are to relate to each other. He writes that they are to have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, and a tender heart. In addition, they are not to repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, “but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”
Now I set aside "a humble of mind" as I reviewed Peter exhortations because it’s clear from scriptures that all the other exhortations are really the fruit of a humble mind.
A proud person for example will not have unity of mind with others. One reason is that a proud person insists on their own way. And a person who always insists on getting their way is difficult to get along with especially when it comes to the work of God’s kingdom.
Also a person that is prideful will have a hard time sympathizing with others. Like Job's friends, they are so quick to find fault and to want to correct others who are hurting, that they don’t realize that sometimes what a person needs is for someone to just listen—to be present—to weep with them—to encourage them in the Lord.
In fact, a proud person may even find pleasure in the demise of another in that it may make them feel better about themselves.
Also a person who is prideful will not genuinely demonstrate brotherly love, and a tender heart toward others. They are so self-absorbed that they may only do something for someone else when there is something in it for them.
A person who is prideful doesn’t find satisfaction in serving others. They are not moved with compassion to meet the needs of others. They say things like, “They brought that upon themselves. I can’t help people like that.” To serve others is beneath them. They want to be served.
And if someone does them wrong, forget about it. Their attitude would be, “It’s payback time.” Overcoming evil with good, as Peter suggest, is crazy talk. That's foolishness in their minds.
But someone with humility of mind, when they see a need, is moved to compassion. They sacrificially seek to meet the needs of others. They are able to do good unto others who may have wronged them. Humble people are blessed and happy to be a blessing.
Proud people won’t be happy unless they are the ones receiving blessings from others. They are envious of others who are blessed. They have a hard time rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep.
We see this in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16 (Check out my sermon on the passage online: http://midwestbiblechurch.org/sermons/series/the-last-will-be-first/).
They grumbled when others were blessed. When the 11th hour workers received a day’s pay for only working an hour they were not happy for them. All they could think about was how much more they should have received based on their sense of justice and fairness.
Their own sense of justice told them that although they agreed to earn a day’s pay for a full days work, they should have received more based on what others were receiving because of the generosity of the vineyard owner.
But remember that the 11th hour workers, who graciously received a whole days pay for one hour of work, didn’t have an agreement on pay. They trusted the vineyard owner, who said, he would give them what was right.
From this we learn an important kingdom principle for living a life of purpose with joy and gratitude:
Trusting in what the hand of a loving God gives you, rather than seeking what your own sense of justice tells you that you deserve, is the key to living a life of purpose with joy and gratitude.
How many of you know that it takes humility of mind to trust God in this way? And that humility of mind for a believer comes from realizing that no matter where you are in life, you are an 11th hour worker. You have freely received in Christ and continue to receive the much more of God’s grace that you have not earned and do not deserve. In fact, someone with humility of mind, which is a work of grace, recognizes that if they got what they deserved, they would be bound for Hell.
Whenever pride begins to raise its ugly head and one starts to feel in anger, envy or bitterness like God or even others owe them something, a person with humility of mind realizes that they got their eyes in the wrong place.
They stop comparing themselves with those around them that leads them to feel that life owes them something. And instead they look to the cross where they are reminded that they’ve already received heavens best. They look to the cross and are overwhelmed with gratefulness that Jesus paid the sin debt that they owed on their behalf.
Brothers and sister, whenever I have humble myself and trusted that what God gives is right, rather than what I think I deserved, God has richly blessed me to be a blessing in ways that I could not have imagined.
God is still blessing me today for decisions I made years ago to take the high and humble road, rather than trying to exalt myself by tearing someone else down.
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
Conclusion
When that prideful attitude creeps in that robs us of the joy of the Lord, and we begin to feel bitterly that life’s unfair—that God owes me, may we with humility of mind remember to get our eyes back on Jesus and praise Him for His abundant grace and mercy.
May we acknowledge and thank God in humility that we don’t need to receive what we think we deserve. If He spared not His own son, we can trust that whatever He gives is right. Praise God for all that He graciously has provided for us in Christ.
