After taking a short break last week for Mother’s Day, today we’re going to resume our sermon series on 1 Peter. In the last message of this series, Pastor Pepe spoke about the church as a safe place—a place of care and rest—where elders are called to shepherd God’s flock willingly, eagerly, and by example. With this in mind, we might ask: What should the relationship between elders and the rest of the church look like? How should we relate to one another within the body of Christ? These are important questions, especially because church culture can sometimes distort our understanding of how we’re meant to relate to each other.
There was a very large and well-known church in the United States that operated between 1996 and 2014. It was a church that, at its peak, had an average of 12,000 people attending its services every week. It was a Reformed church, and its pastor was a well-known figure in the Evangelical community and an author of books. However, this church went through serious problems that ultimately led to it closing its doors.
Christianity Today documented the fall of this church in a series of podcasts that highlight the serious problems within the pastoral culture and leadership of this congregation. A culture where the pastor exercised dominion over the church, and people were subordinated to a strongly hierarchical structure.
The story of this church is filled with people placed under church discipline, people who were hurt, church staff who were fired, as well as victims of spiritual abuse and abuse of authority. Many times, instead of helping people with compassion, the hierarchical culture of the church led to the oppression of the weak who needed restoration and help, from sermons where the pastor scolded the congregation angrily, to counseling sessions where the counselee was oppressed instead of being helped. One of these counselees who suffered from this spiritual abuse ended up committing suicide. Mike Cosper from Christianity Today says the following about this case:
“It’s an incredibly powerful thing to stand on a pulpit and act with the authority a pastor has in his church… You’re playing with fire. People in your church have entrusted you with the direction of their lives and the care for their souls. To take that lightly, to act with hubris, to feel any kind of swell of pride and thinking that you can handle something simply by virtue of your position in a church is dangerous. And it can and does have devastating consequences.”
Mike Cosper, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill: Aftermath, Dec 4, 2021
This church shows an extreme example of what can happen when pastoral ministry is not properly understood, and when we do not properly understand how we should relate to one another within the body of Christ.
Near the end of his letter, Peter addresses these topics. The Christians in Asia Minor were suffering adversity, and Peter tells them not to be surprised by the fiery trial, and encourages them to rejoice when they suffer for the Name of Christ. In the midst of suffering, what these believers need the least are elders who lord over them with arrogance or who try to take advantage of them. As we saw two weeks ago in 1 Peter 5:1-4, there are elders who must oversee and care for the church within a horizontal structure, with one head, who is Jesus the Prince of Shepherds, and all of us the flock under Him, on the same level with one another, submitting to one another.
And to better understand this horizontality in the church, let us read 1 Peter 5:5: “In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'”
Submitting to one another — that is the key phrase to understand this verse, and in fact, that is the title of this sermon: “Submitting to One Another.” In light of 1 Peter 5:5, I want us to understand the horizontality and mutual submission within the church by asking, first: How do we submit to one another? And second: Why do we submit to one another?
So let’s begin by answering the first question:
1. How do we submit to one another?
Let’s take a closer look at 1 Peter 5:5 to find the answer. The verse begins by saying: “In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders”
Who are these “younger” ones Peter is addressing? Peter is making a comparison between the elders of the church — that is, those mature Christians who care for the flock — and the younger or newer Christians, not necessarily referring to age, but to maturity or experience. In other words, he is referring to those Christians who are not elders of the church. And how do we submit to the pastoral care of the elders? Peter says: “In the same way…”
“In the same way” means: likewise, or similarly. The previous verses spoke about the pastoral care that elders must have for the church. This care must be voluntary and not forced, with eagerness and not for dishonest gain, and it must be done by setting an example, not by lording it over others. In the same way — likewise — we must submit ourselves to the pastoral care of the elders. That is:
- We must submit voluntarily: The elder of the church is not someone who walks around with a whip, and people don’t submit out of fear of being punished. No — likewise, we submit to that care willingly, not by compulsion or force.
- We must submit with eagerness: The elder does not care for others for dishonest gain, but with sincerity. Likewise, we submit to pastoral care not out of a desire for position in the church, not seeking favoritism from the pastor, but with a willing heart and no hidden motives.
- We must submit by being an example: The elder is not to shepherd the flock by domineering over others but by being an example. Likewise, we submit to pastoral care by being examples of submission and humility for other believers.
Now, what’s interesting is that Peter doesn’t stop his argument there — he continues by saying: “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another“ Interesting, isn’t it? He doesn’t say some, but all Christians, all are to be clothed with humility and submit to one another.
Although the elders voluntarily care for the flock and others voluntarily submit to this care, each and every Christian is called to submit to one another. That means we are all called to voluntarily place ourselves under others. In other words, a Christian should not be someone who seeks self-exaltation. I once read a saying that went: “The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.” It sounds inspiring, but the problem is: what happens if others are climbing the same ladder? Then, as we step on the rungs, we don’t mind stepping on others—because the goal is to reach the top. That’s the logic of the world, but the Christian is someone who clothed with humility willingly places themselves beneath others and does not seek to trample others for self-promotion.
The elders of the church should not be people looking to promote their own kingdom, build a personal image, or advance their own pastoral career. No—they must be those who are willing to place themselves beneath everyone else. And every Christian in the church should do the same. Sometimes we can view church ministry today like a political career: first you start with the title “brother,” then move up to “servant,” then to “leader,” then “deacon,” then “evangelist,” then “elder,” then “pastor,” then “prophet,” and finally “apostle.” That is completely misguided. If we see Christianity as a ladder of ever-higher positions, we have completely lost our way. Every Christian is called to consider others as more important than themselves—not seeking their own interests, but the interests of others—having the same mindset as Jesus, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:3–7). That’s why Pepe said last week: “I prefer to be called Pepe, not pastor.” And I feel the same—“I prefer to be called Mache,” because I’m not above anyone. Let us not seek position or titles, but let us submit to one another in humility.
To clothe yourself with humility means being willing to put on the servant’s apron—being ready to serve others in humility. Going back to the story I shared at the beginning about that church in the United States: there was an occasion when a team from that church traveled to Turkey to film a documentary about the ancient city of Ephesus. It’s said that on that trip, the pastor stayed in a five-star hotel, while the church’s film crew stayed in a run-down one-star hotel. The pastor was the star, and his team were the servants beneath him. What madness!
I’m grateful for examples of humility from pastors—like Kep James, for instance. Many times we’ve washed dishes together, cooked, or cleaned bathrooms side by side at church camps. Kep is always willing to serve others humbly. That is the example of a pastor who didn’t come to be served, but who is willing to put on the servant’s apron. It’s the attitude of Jesus—and it’s the attitude every Christian should have. We see this attitude, for example, in the women who were at church from 4 a.m. on Easter Sunday preparing api and buñuelos for the church breakfast that day; or the teens who arrived at 5:30 a.m. that Sunday to prepare the Bible readings and the music for the sunrise service. We see that servant heart in the youth group who today are preparing the snacks and welcoming everyone—just as the women, the teens, and the small groups have done in past weeks. All of these are beautiful examples of people who, willingly, with joy, and by being an example to others, have put the needs of others first and chosen to lower themselves, putting on the servant’s apron to humbly serve others.
So then, how do we submit to one another?
We do it willingly, we do it with a joyful heart, we do it by being examples, and we submit to others by putting their needs above our own and serving one another in humility.
And now that we’ve answered that question, let’s move on to the second:
2. Why do we submit to one another?
1 Peter 5:5 says: “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’”
To explain why we should practice mutual submission, Peter quotes Proverbs 3:34 — a proverb that is part of the sayings of Solomon found in the early chapters of this Old Testament book. As Pablo Sanjinés taught us last Sunday, this first section of Proverbs contains sayings meant to cultivate wisdom and the fear of the Lord.
In chapter 3 of Proverbs, we find a father’s counsel to his son: to seek wisdom, fear the Lord, and trust in Him. And this fear of the Lord, at the end of chapter 3, is expressed through love for one’s neighbor. A wise person who fears the Lord will not withhold good from their neighbor (Proverbs 3:27), will not plot harm against others (Proverbs 3:29), will not look for quarrels, and will not envy the violent (Proverbs 3:30). All these expressions of love for neighbor stem from the very character of God Himself, who, according to Proverbs 3:34, “He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.”
A proud person is someone who always wants to outshine everyone else— someone who seeks to exalt themselves above others. It’s someone who sees themselves as superior to others, who believes they are always right. This kind of person God resists—that is, God opposes the arrogant. Those who seek self-exaltation are in direct opposition to God.
In contrast to the proud, the humble person is one who is willing to place themselves beneath others, who is willing to serve, who puts others first. To the humble, God gives grace—He shows them favor and generosity.
So then, why do we submit to one another?
Because God has established, as a universal principle, that whoever seeks to exalt themselves will be humbled, and whoever humbles themselves will be exalted in due time.
That is why some have called the Kingdom of God: The Upside-Down Kingdom.
“… the kingdom of God announced by Jesus was a new order of things that looked upside-down in the midst of Palestinian culture in the first century. Moreover, the kingdom of God continues to have upside-down features as it breaks into diverse cultures around the world today.”
– Donald B. Kraybill, The Upside-Down Kingdom
“… we also live and grow and serve in this [upside-down] kingdom not by taking power but, following Jesus, by giving up power in order to forgive, sacrifice, and serve.”
– Timothy Keller, Hope in Times of Fear
In the kingdoms of this world, the proud—the one who seeks to exalt themselves above others by taking power—is the one who rises to the top. In the kingdoms of this world, the strong survive over the weak. But not so in the Kingdom of God. It is an Upside-Down Kingdom, because God resists the proud, who will be humbled, and the weak, the humble, the servant—the one who gives up power in order to serve—is favored by God and will be exalted in due time, when Jesus returns and the Kingdom is fully consummated.
This is the reason for mutual submission in the church. It is the pattern of the Kingdom of God—it is the pattern of Jesus, who willingly humbled Himself, became a servant, and died in weakness on a cross for our sins, and was raised and exalted by God in due time. It is the pattern we see in the churches of the New Testament, where Christians—like those Peter writes to—in weakness, persecuted and humiliated, suffer patiently as Jesus suffered, not seeking self-exaltation, but rejoicing to be partakers in the sufferings of Christ, submitting to one another, serving in humility. This is the pattern we are called to follow.
In 1997, a fourth-year medical student from the prestigious Harvard Medical School came to our church. He arrived as a volunteer to work with street children, and what began as a short six-month volunteer experience turned into a sacrificial ministry that lasted fifteen years. He endured the cold of the streets of La Paz, put his life at risk, and sometimes lived in precarious conditions. In an interview for the Harvard Medical Magazine, he said: “I reached extreme exhaustion about 3 to 4 times, and financial bankruptcy twice.” What would lead a Christian to sacrifice their time, money, strength, and entire life to serve a marginalized population? What would move a Christian to be willing to lower and humble themselves in order to serve others?
What drives Christians to sacrificial service and mutual submission is the pattern of the Upside-Down Kingdom, where God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. It is the very pattern through which Jesus accomplished our salvation—humbling Himself on a cross by dying for our sins, and then being raised and exalted by God.
Pastors, elders, and every Christian—let us cast off the desire to stand out and shine, and be willing to humble ourselves. Let us be willing to submit to one another, placing ourselves under one another—to love our neighbor, to serve others, to forgive those who hurt us, to live according to the values of the Upside-Down Kingdom of our King Jesus.
Peter begins to close this argument in verses 6 and 7, saying: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6–7) And later he says: “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (1 Peter 5:10)
In this life we will suffer for a little while—and we will do so with joy, serving others in humility, submitting to one another—and in due time, when our Lord returns and the Kingdom is consummated, the church will be exalted. And while we wait, it is God who strengthens and upholds us, giving us the strength we do not have in ourselves to live in mutual submission to one another.
Conclusion
So, based on everything we’ve seen this morning:
- How do we submit to one another? We do it willingly, we do it with a joyful heart, we do it by being an example, we submit to others by putting their needs before our own, and by serving one another in humility.
- Why do we submit to one another? Because it is the pattern of the Kingdom of God—the Upside-Down Kingdom—where God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. It is the pattern of Jesus, our King.
And now, as we wrap up this time, let’s consider a few ways to apply this in the coming week:
- Let’s pray for the current elders of the church and for the elder candidates who are being trained. May God give all of us a humble heart—a servant’s heart.
- Let’s all put on the servant’s apron (literally). Let’s look for opportunities to serve our neighbors this week. What opportunities do we have to tie on the apron and serve others? Is there someone who needs help with their shopping? Someone whose house needs cleaning? Or in your small group, is there a practical need where you could serve others? Let’s be attentive to those opportunities.
- Let’s remember that relationships in the church are horizontal. Let that horizontality and mutual submission be reflected in the way we speak, in the way we relate to one another, in the way we share life together, and in the way we serve and love one another.
