Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

In Due Time

Turn to 1 Peter and take a look at Chapter 5. We want to look at a subject that's not only common to every one of us, but it's the original power that destroyed man's relationship with Father, that crippled him and caused him to be subdued under the god of this world--the force of pride.

We want to talk a little bit about humility from a different perspective, I think, than we have before. As we are getting into this particular subject matter, when I am talking about pride, don't think about boasting. We think of proud people who are many times boasters, braggadocios. We think about people that are showoffs, that vaunt themselves, or that live in opulence. We're not really talking about that. Many times, that is an expression of pride, but pride is putting the wrong value on yourself.

As we begin to look at this spirit of pride, it is putting the wrong weight or value on our opinions, our abilities, our position, and our worth. In contrast to that, we begin to talk about humility. Humility is the ability, by the grace of God, to get revelation of who you really are--putting the proper value on yourself, your opinion, and your worth. The proper value is knowing that without Him we can do nothing and that without Him we are worthless. But we are chosen in the Beloved, we live in Him, we move in Him, and we have our very being in Him.

Our value is in relationship to our abiding, to our obedience. Our worth is only in what we are producing for the kingdom or what is eternal, and everything else is vanity. Everything else is a vapor. Everything else is going to pass away. There is no merit to anything that is temporal. Think about that for just a moment. There is no merit to anything that is temporal. Yet, how much labor and time is spent in nervous energy and physical energy in preparation for everything that is going to vanish? There will not be any record in heaven of what you drove, where you lived, or what was in your bank account. In the wisdom of God, the Lord spoke to us and said, "Make sure you lay up treasures in heaven where thieves can't break in and steal, where there is no corruption of moth or rust." I think many of us are being robbed on a daily basis because of our own naïveté of how affected we are by this world's system. The vexation of the world's system has altered not only our ability to perceive, but also our ability to place proper value on the eternal as it contrasts the temporal, the spiritual as it contrasts the natural. We want to take a little bit of time to go over some of these areas and find out how to protect ourselves.

In Chapter 5 of the First Epistle of Peter--this great chapter has to do with pastoral oversight and care. We have taught a lot on these first verses, the admonition of Peter sharing with those that are the spiritual overseers. "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly" (verse 2). There is a contrast right there between pride and humility. You can take oversight by constraint, or you can do it willingly as you are called and placed by the Holy Spirit. Those that God has placed in these positions are in awe of the responsibility. Like the wise man before said, "I don't know how to go out or come in" (1 Kings 3:7). How in the world can I, a vessel of clay, a man with all of the same problems you have, help you make it? How can I, with all the same tendencies as you, not only set a standard, but also live by it? It is a very humbling thing. It is a frightening thing.

I have been accused of a lot of things over the years, but the one thing people have not thrown our way is that we don't teach the Word of God. They don't like the way we apply it, they don't like the fact that we do apply it, but we don't say anything other than what the Word of God says. We hold ourselves to it and everybody around us. Then we try to encourage ourselves and everyone around us that there is only one way to effect this thing: by the grace and mercy of God.

The fact that we have revelation or that we might be doers of the Word is not anything that we can boast in. It is a gift. It is the grace of God. It is the mercy of God, because I can't do it. Can you? Humility is realizing our inability and God's great ability in us. Without Him, I can do nothing, but thank God, we have Him. I can do all things for Christ through Christ which strengthens me.

Peter is speaking here and he says in this second verse, "[Take] oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly [as you've been called and ordained]; not for [personal gain, but to fulfill the heart and the purpose of God] of a ready mind [a willingness to do what God tells you to do]." It's not going to be personal gain. It's not going to be personal fame. It's going to be a "ready mind" that is willing to deflect all of the glory and all of the honor where it belongs: on God. The natural tendency is for man to focus upon man, what is observable, and those that we can identify with. He said, "I want you to be able to fulfill that role and be ready and willing to endure the criticism, endure the hardships, and endure the cross, the personal cross you have to bear to fulfill this position of oversight."

We are speaking from a pastoral perspective, but I want you husbands to apply it to yourselves. I want you parents to apply this to yourselves--moms, dads--as you relate to your flock, your children. He said, "Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples [patterns] to the flock." Have you ever heard these words come out of your mouth to your children, "Follow me as I follow Christ. If you follow me, you're going to get to heaven"? Have you said that to your children? You should! You should be the pattern. You should say, "If you do what I do, you're going to be in heaven when the smoke clears." If you haven't said that to your children, you need to. I want to tell you something. The moment you do that in all sincerity, you will be humbled. You will understand the awesomeness of this responsibility of representing Jesus, the awesome responsibility of becoming a servant to the will of God.

When we go into James in a moment, you are going to see that he says walking in humility and in the spirit is a life of sharing with your children, "If you follow me as I follow Christ, you're going to make it to heaven." With that, we realize that we have to divest ourselves of all personal agenda, don't we? We can't say, "Tomorrow we're going to go do thus and so," or "Tomorrow I'm going to make 'x' number of dollars, and move here or there," or "If I feel like retiring, I'm going to move to this part of the country." We are no longer our own: we were bought with a price. Have our children been instructed that we are a different people? We live in a metropolitan area where people are so transient.

We live in an area where everything is about temporal personal gain and position. People want to use the profitability of this particular area so that later on they can move to Kentucky and live in a mansion for $1.50. But where has God put you? What is God's plan for your life? "I'm going to go to school and accomplish this." "I'm going to get married." God might want you to be single. Lest some of you freak out--some of you poor ladies will not hear another word I say, so let me clarify it. That is the exception, not the rule. Are you ready to hear the voice of God? Are you humble enough in your spirit to where you can realize that you have an agenda? "I have my face set like a flint. I have plans, places to go, and people to see." Can you bow your knee and say, "Lord, not my will, but Your will be done"? Some of you would probably like to remain single (especially after you have seen some of the marriages), but that may not be God's will for your life. Are you ready to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God? Most commentators usually place that into the context of trials, with God's hand hard upon us, breaking us. We are going to talk about that, because that is a big part of this thing, the ability to endure the chastening and purification process so that we can let God work His timing in us, which is perfection. We have shared so many times: timing is everything.

Peter is speaking here, encouraging the leaders, the shepherds. He is telling them how to prepare themselves to lead a flock, to be ready to divest themselves of their own agendas and their own worth, and telling them of all of the trials that are going to come with being in leadership--the recognition that comes, the prosperity that comes. All of these different things he speaks toward. He said, "The thing you have to be careful of is don't be lords, but be patterns." Lordship promotes lordship. If you become lord of your own life--if you haven't learned submission to the lordship of Jesus, you are still lord of your own life, you have plans (a ten-year plan or a twenty-year plan). I am not talking about natural wisdom of laying up and making preparation. I'm not talking about that. I am talking about an attitude that is inflexible, an idol, untouchable, you will not hear anything to the contrary, and circumstances and counsel mean nothing to this course that has been set. The moment you begin to live that way, you begin to set courses for your children too. You convince them that you're God; and it's your will for their lives, your methodology, your priorities, the way you cross your t's and dot your i's, the way you mow your lawn, and the way you comb your hair. This is God's heritage. This is God's church. Those are God's kids. Are we teaching them that we don't know best, but the Lord does? "We're doing our best to find His will, our best to obey, but we don't have all the answers. God does, and you need to find some for yourself. You need to begin to learn to trust God, to seek God, to serve God." That is what good leaders do, and that is what we try to do here. We do everything possible to set a standard, to set a course, to not compromise it; but to cause you to hear from God, to cause you to grow, and to cause you to be obedient. I want to get into the homes a little bit tonight. One area has jumped out to me as I was meditating that I think we need to be aware of here as a fellowship. "Patterns, examples," the Scripture says. The King James word is "ensamples," but that means "a pattern, an example."

"And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility" (verses 4-5). Very interesting, the emphasis here on counsel, on communication. How much of your course is known to others? How much do you keep to yourself because you are afraid of what others might counsel you in? Do you purposely hold back information from people in authority that are around you? Young people, are you afraid to tell your parents what your heart is, what you want to do? Dad has worked, he has his agenda, and he has got a hundred thousand bucks set up for you to go to college, and you say, "I want to be a plumber" or "I want to be a carpenter. I want to build things with my hands." Look what he is talking about here. This is vital for us. "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder." That is a principle. It is not talking about chronicle age; it is talking about spiritual maturity. Some of you parents needs to listen to your kids. We have some young people in here that are on course and doing a good job. Don't be afraid to watch their example. Don't be afraid to listen to their counsel, what they are hearing from God. There's an order, we all know, that can't be broken; I am not talking about that.

"Younger, be subject to the elder." What is that saying? Those of you that are less spiritually mature, be subject, listen to counsel, seek wisdom and counsel. There is safety in the multitude. "Know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 5:12). When I use that term "over you," what does that do to you? "Nobody is over me, bless God! Well, maybe Jesus, sometimes." I want to tell you something. In this household, the household of faith, in this kingdom, there are a lot of people over you. Are you ready to listen? Are you ready to obey? Do you understand that you don't know everything? Do you understand that God has gifts and offices that He has placed, that He supernaturally places wisdom in to speak into your life to keep you on course? We are not all equal. As much as this nation and all of the principalities and powers of socialism are trying to come and say we are all equal, we are not, especially in the kingdom of God and the body of Christ.

In our society, children are being made equal with the parents. They have a right to speak, a right to make choices, and there are "children's rights." Everybody has rights and there is equality. This stuff is not by chance. This is the spirit of antichrist that is in contrast to the kingdom of God, and we are buying into it more than we think. Therefore, beloved, we have the spirit of being subject to one another, but at the same time, we know the principle of the younger submitting to the counsel of the elders. We don't have to justify to our children. When we tell them to do something, we expect them to do it. That's it! Why? "Younger be subject to the elders." That is the wisdom of God. Do you find yourself explaining things to your children, trying to justify your decisions? Here's the point I'm getting at that most of us are blind to and haven't seen. If you do that, do you want to know what you are doing? You are creating in your child a spirit of pride, an opinion, and a sense of worth that isn't real. You are teaching them the exact opposite of humility, and God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

It comes in many different ways. Listen to me. Some of you kids are really not going to like this, so get ready. I am not going to be real popular with you for the next few minutes. We do it in so many ways. We try to set different--what's the term I want to use? We want to try to set different expectations for the lives of children here in the fellowship. When we first did this, people didn't understand why. We had a young lady who was really upset. I don't mean in a negative way, just emotionally upset because a certain age group went to perform some ministry. We said, "You're younger. You'll have your opportunities." I remember years ago when I bought Kimberly a car for graduation. For a lot of people, it blew their minds. All through high school, Kimberly and Star drove the family car. We have kids here that are still in school that have multiple vehicles. Please don't misunderstand the point. It has nothing to do with our wherewithal to provide this. It has nothing to do with being spoiled. It has nothing to do with broken order. What it does have to do with is a principle that many of us are missing. If we are given so much--authority, independence, benefits--without the normal course of having proven ourselves (being purged, living in submission, living in an order), then what does it do? It begins to promote a value that we place upon ourselves, a worth, and an expectation that is destructive. Our prosperity conflicts with humility. It's a conflict.

Keep your finger here for a second and go to Revelation. Let me show you that passage that you are all very familiar with to see the power of this thing. Revelation, Chapter 3, verses 16-18: "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest [what is it that feeds lukewarmness?], I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire." If you haven't been through the fire, if you are not proven, if everything is handed to you, then you have no character, and you have no true understanding of who you are or what your worth is. You really think you are something. Then many times, when God begins to deal with us contrary to the way society, Mom, Dad, or the community has dealt with us, we begin to be prey to false doctrine: "Bless me" doctrines, the "blab it, grab it" doctrine, the doctrines that we were talking about like one from a big church in Houston. All it is is humanism. All it is is happy living, a happy life, a prosperous life, finding your place, recognizing your gifts and using them to the fullest of their ability. "Don't waste your life. Life is so precious. Don't waste it." Well, define "wasting a life." There is no wasted life that is being used for the glory of God. If you are saying I'm wasting my life because I have all these great natural talents and abilities and I'm choosing to die to these things and these ambitions and live for God, then your definition of "wasting" and mine are different. "Well, God gave you those gifts and talents." No, genetics did. My family before me chose to use them for their own glory and not God's, and I chose to do something else.

Think with me for a moment. "Buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment.... As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." Jesus learned obedience by the things He endured. He humbled Himself and took upon humanity. I think we have created an environment because of our abundance--when I talk about abundance, don't just think about dollars and cents. We have an easy life. If you don't believe it, move to Taragwiti [Kenya].

One of the things Chacha said was, "I just thank God for the privilege of being persecuted for the gospel of Jesus Christ. If they kill me, what a privilege it will be to die for the name of Jesus!" Then he stood before that little flock and said, "Don't worry. If they kill me, the apostle will send somebody else to care for you, because we're a family." He has already learned the spirit. That is a blessing. Does the simple life, cooking with wood or on coal, have merit in and of itself? No, because there are people who don't even have coal. It's not how little you have; it's how little you think of yourself. "I deserve more than this. I'm better than this." "I'm better than that guy is. Look, I have two pieces of coal, and he only has one." The spirit of comparing ourselves with others, this desire to boast and be better, to be above, to have more; we have talked about that before. How much is enough? "Just a little more." It's not even the "more," it's "more than." "This would be enough if it was the most. I wouldn't need any more if what I had was the most." It's not just more, it's more than.

I want you to think about our kids. This is something I am concerned with. Stop and think about the society that we are living in. What is the message that we are sending? Are we teaching our children humility? When at Christmastime, it takes you about an hour and a half to find your kids because they are buried under all the gifts and the toys, what is that telling them? Can we give them all this stuff and them survive? Yes, with a lot of counsel, with a lot of hands-on direction as to how to use these things and not abuse them. I believe that some of us would begin to teach our children this spirit of humility by saying "no" more. "No, you don't need that." Whether it is you young people, or wives, your husbands saying no. Some of you are saying, "He'd better not ever say no to me!" I would like you to take a moment and think. What does that do inside when you hear "no"? "No? I want to do this!" "No." As we've all heard, "What part of 'no' don't you understand?" You are under. Your will is not supreme. Your whims do not have to be gratified. We are living in an age of self-worship that has so seduced our thought processes that many of us are not even aware of it.

Peter speaks here and he says, "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. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:" (1 Peter 5:5-6). That is what I want to talk about here for a little bit and relate it to that chastisement that we read of in Revelation 3. "The Lord chastens those that He loves," the Scripture tells us. "Buy gold that has been refined in the fire." Now, this is going to happen. You can put yourself willingly into the fire like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They willfully did that. They said, "We will not bow." Or God will put you in the fire.

We say that the junior high students don't come to the formal. "I don't know how come we can't go." In society, they do not want to have restraints. Kids are doing things younger and younger. Little kids twelve years old are wearing all kinds of make-up. The parents are dressing them like they are twenty years old. What is wrong with being a kid? What is wrong with coming through the natural course of innocence, discipline, instruction, maturation, experience, responsibility, and authority? We live in a society of "I am, therefore I deserve." This pride, this selfness, has no place in the body of Christ. "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He will exalt you." Here is the great measuring stick: in whatever situation you find yourself as God is proving us and trying us, humility waits for God's time. How many of you set a discipline on your child, "You're not going to do this and you're not going to do that," and then change it? "You're not going to watch your favorite program tonight. Okay, we will let you watch your favorite one, but we will not let you watch your second favorite one. Well, okay, your second favorite one, but next week...." Most of us get ourselves into trouble because we say, "You're not going to watch your favorite program tonight." Leave it open-ended! "Your life is out of order, I don't owe you any explanations, and I'm not going to set guidelines. Until I see a change, until there is some improvement, until God's time, you may or may not have any privileges. You can't go up to your room and be alone; you are going to be here on a short leash. You're not going to watch that television program; you're going to mow the lawn." If you have to, do what they do in the military. Just have them go out there, dig a hole, and then fill it up. If lives are out of order--I am not talking about rebellion, throwing a fit, or whatever. If you are aware that there is a lack of discipline, of sobriety, then what are you doing, parents, to require that of your children? Are you teaching them this spirit of humility, of gold tried in the fire?

Let's get to the real crux of the matter. The real reason that most of us are not doing this is that we are not being ensamples. We are not being patterns. We are not willing to pay the price ourselves. We haven't learned it, so we can't teach it. "I don't want to do that and have my children mad at me." Pride, the wrong value on self. As the representative of God called "parent," you are not to be popular, you are to be just. I'm saying all that not because our kids are having a big problem. Don't think that there is a big problem. I am not aware of any right now. There is a spirit. Are you aware of it? Are you sensing it? Can you feel it? You can feel it when you go out.

You are the ones bringing it back into the houses. You, parents, are the ones that are vexed, and you are coming back and bringing this thing to your kids. How do we use this world and not abuse it? How do we live in the world and not become a part of it? Very simply, he says here, by submitting ourselves one to another, by being ready to hear counsel and set proper goals. We are trying to do things right by setting up the required missions trips and stuff. When we share that with many different people, and they hear what is required here as part of our instruction, part of the education of our kids, people are blown away. "Whoa! Are you kidding me? Man, that is fabulous!" "Well, do you want to pop for the expense to send your kid to Africa to maybe get malaria or eaten by a lion?" "No, but it's cool that you're doing it." Why are we doing this? Why do we still have P.E.? Why do we do the different things that we do with our young people--carrying telephone poles around out there and learning teamwork? Because this is what we are talking about.

The question I have for you parents is why should it always be the church that's doing this? What are you doing to set these disciplines in the home on a daily basis, in the areas that really matter in interpersonal relationships? Do you let your kids go up to their rooms and plug earplugs in, or those headphones, or whatever? Do your kids ride down the street, or do you talk to your kids? Do you have a sharing of hearts and vision? Can your kids talk to you, or do they know that your mind is already made up, your course is set, and you are unmovable? "I am right!" The way I read this, it says that we are all to be humble. That goes for you, too, Dad. Listen to your son, listen to your daughter, listen to your wife, and arrive at the truth. And even if we don't get the right answer, we will be moving in the right spirit of humility.

The fact is we don't know how to go out, and we don't know how to come in. Until we lower the opinion of our knowledge of how to be a husband, how to be a mother-- Some of you think you really know how to love your kids. "I just love them." You don't have a clue what it means to love. Moms, until you understand, you have no clue what it means to love. You have no clue what it means to be a mother. You are never going to be able to represent the kingdom of God, because humility always recognizes our need of God's grace. "I can't do this. I need the wisdom of God. I need a word from the Lord. I need the knowledge of God in this situation. Lord, speak to me. What would You have me to do? What is the best thing at this moment? Give me a word here for this season." How many of you already have your minds made up? You think you already know it. How many of you are wrong and too proud to admit it? How many of you have made bad decisions and can't step back and reverse them?

"Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time." Let's take a second. "In due time." We used a little catch phrase years ago. Remember, we said, "Due time is not you time." How many of you are more comfortable in "you time"? "Lord, I've learned my lesson. Let me out! It's enough. I've learned it. Look, I'm humbled. I'm changed. I'm a new man. I'll never do it again"--until next time. Those of you who are being purified, tried, and chastened right now, do you understand that what you think is the problem is not the problem? You are sitting there going, "I know why the Lord is doing this." You don't have a clue yet of how bad you are, how ugly it is, or how deep it goes. Why not humble yourselves and let God finish this thing instead of wiggling your way out? Why not let God finish it in your child? How many of you find yourselves wanting to champion the cause for your kids? "It's not fair. It's too hard. They should get a break." Due time.

The reason so many are in the mess they are is that you have put too much false pride into them. They think their opinion, their perspective-- We had a young person just the other day say, "Well, that's just your opinion" to one of our adults. "No, that's not just my opinion. That's truth, and you have no opinion." As long as they think they have a right to, they don't. But when they see the ability to have input as a privilege, a grace, then there is a maturity and experience that gives a right or an authority (I use it in the sense of not a supreme authority, but a right and a force to speak truth, to speak a perspective). Now listen to me. Anybody that wants to speak a perspective that hasn't been refined and humbled is only speaking self-will and not wisdom. I want to hear from the person who has been humbled. Talk to me. I don't want to hear from the know-it-all.

I am going to finish for tonight, but I don't feel like I have communicated, exactly, the spirit. We have so much and we have gotten it so early. We have a society that says we all are equal and have rights, and it creates in us the very spirit of Lucifer who said, "I will ascend above the throne. I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:14). It's the spirit of Pharaoh who said, "I don't know God. Who is God? Who is your God?" (Exodus 5:2) He found out.

Let me try to condense it into this last statement. Have we, by our misguided desire to love and bless our kids and ourselves, placed improper value on ourselves, which produces pride; and when we're confronted with the Word of God, brothers or sisters who are bring us counsel questioning direction, application, or even motive, do we submit ourselves one to another? Do we humble ourselves and say, "Let me hear from you. You've been there. You've been through the fire. I want to be a follower of those who through faith and patience have inherited the promises. As the younger, I want to submit to the older. If you see something, tell me. I don't want to make the same mistake you made"? When we are bringing counsel, we're saying, "Look, we've been there. We've made the mistake. We've been through the fire. Don't go that direction." Are you ready to hear it, or are you persuaded that you know best?

We've had people over the years--not necessarily current events, but in dealing again with young people. I'm speaking from the parental perspective. Parents would come and say, "Things are so tough. We are such a busy fellowship. We have church and all these activities. The kids have so much homework." That's their job! They're not doing anything. "Well, yes, they have to go to the mall, and they have to spend forty hours watching TV and playing on their computers. We can't expect them to pray and do their homework. It's asking too much. They have to have twelve hours of sleep a day. They have to eat twelve meals. We have to shop." I'm slightly exaggerating to make the point. "It's so hard on them. They're just not good students. They're just not disciplined." Well then, get them disciplined! All we have said over the years--we don't believe in socialism. We haven't said every child should be an "A" student, but we have said that every child should do the best he is capable of doing. Most of us (and I'll end with this), very frankly, don't want ourselves or our children to be humbled, broken, and revealed for what we really are. So we create all kinds of smokescreens and justifications to keep ourselves from the mighty hand of God that is trying to humble us so that in due time He can exalt us. God has a good plan. Are we messing it up? We will talk about that on Sunday.

Father, we thank You for Your Word. We are in a society that boasts of its ability before the throne of God and has no need of You. We have created this weak--don't misunderstand what I am about to say. Think back when we were kids. If we went somewhere and we had a flat tire, we didn't have a cell phone. We didn't have a credit card. We didn't have AAA. Guess what. We made it! "My kid can't leave the house without a cell phone. I have to be in contact. Some boogey man...." You learn through your stupid mistakes. If you ran out of gas, then you walked five miles. Most of our kids, if they're out somewhere and they run out of gas, would call a taxi down to Sweetwater and eat while the truck came and filled up their tank--no consequences! Are we better for it or worse? Can you say that your example has been one of humility, of reality, as it pertains to who we are and what we deserve? Are the priorities of temporal versus eternal in proper order in the way we live and conduct ourselves? Are we the Laodicean church, or are we ready to buy gold prepared in the fire? Help us, we ask, Father, in Jesus' name, amen. Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "In due time." Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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