Feeding the Sheep - Blessed Life 4

"Finally, all of you should agree and have concern and love for each other. You should also be kind and humble. Don’t be hateful and insult people just because they are hateful and insult you. Instead, treat everyone with kindness. You are God’s chosen ones, and he will bless you. The Scriptures say,"

1 Peter 3:8-9

[This is the 34th message of this series]

This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet.

1 Peter

[This will be the 4th of a series within a series]

Living the Blessed Life

Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to be humble.

Humility

Peter knows this lesson well although it did take him a long time to get it. And Jesus had to teach him the hard way. But Peter got it eventually. So in his letter to the first church, he is telling them to do the same -- be humble!

I know that the less outspoken among us may appear like they are able to be more humble than the more extroverted ones (as Peter was). But this may not even be the case.

There is also a thing we call as false humility. And this is partly appearing to be humble on the outside but being not so much in the inside.

What's in the Heart

This fakery is always easily determined by each person's motives. With God what is important is what's in the heart rather than what is normally seen on the outside, or what we allow others to see.

The more outspoken among us (like Peter) may allow our mouths to show to others (through a slip of the tongue) to have a peek at what is inside our hearts. But this is not to say that the more reserved among us isn't thinking the same things and merely not saying so.

Clean On The Outside

Jesus told His disciples numerous times to not be like the religious leaders who are like white washed tombs -- looking and sounding beautiful in the outside but in the inside, it is all just rotting dead people.

Real Fakers

These people pray to and study and talk about the Messiah all day but they really do not know Him. And without the Savior, they were all just dead in their works of mercy and acts of self-righteousness. It is pretty hard NOT to be humble when you really know Christ. It is fairly easy NOT to be humble, when you really don't and just think you do.

Nothing To Be Proud Of

Being humble simply means this -- knowing that apart from God we can do nothing, even if in the eyes of men we have done so much good. And yes again, it will be pretty hard to be humble if what we are concerned about all of the time is how to appear righteous.

We are able to do good deeds only because of what God has done for us. And when we do good things, we are merely paying the good done to us back (to God) and paying it forward (towards others). Any other way of doing a good deed is mainly for personal gain and ego (or self importance).

Christ

This is why Jesus said, the greatest commandment is to love God and to love others. And may I add, in so doing only on the premise that God loved us first.

Living a life of true humility is how the blessed life is meant to be lived. Knowing we owe everything to Christ is what Peter had to learn the hard way. But he did. And so will we.

Mastering this lesson is the center and the key to the other lessons in this series and to what living the blessed life is all about.