"Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
"So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:7-11 NKJV)
What is humility? What does it mean to be humble?
"For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation" (Psalm 149:4 NKJV).
When is the last time you heard a sermon on this topic? A long time ago? Never? To be honest (and I’m getting up there in years), I’ve never heard a pastor teach on humility, never attended a Bible study that focused on this quality, never read a book that taught me how to be humble. When I did an Internet search, I found two books available, one by Andrew Murray (written over 100 years ago) and one by C. J. Mahaney.
And nothing else.
Now of course, that doesn’t really mean anything. There could be more books out there, but it seems to me that this is a topic that isn’t discussed, isn’t taught, isn’t even considered very much. And yet, when doing a search through scripture, it became clear that humility is the hallway to God. Salvation is the door, but humility is the hallway. We open the door and there’s this hallway we must travel to get to God. And it’s not about earning about salvation; it’s about becoming more like Christ.
One of my favorite verses is 2 Chronicles 7:14:
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV).
It’s interesting that God combines "humble themselves" with "and pray" as if prayer is impossible without humility. At least in this instance, of wanting our land to be healed, prayer and humility are part of what the Father desires.
• Humble ourselves
• Pray
• Seek His face
• Turn from our wicked way
First we need to humble ourselves.
Do you know what that really means? I certainly didn’t and even after all this study, I’m still not sure all of what it means. I know that part of humbling myself before God means trusting Him fully, allowing Him to work through a situation rather than throwing myself into its midst (as if I had enough wisdom to solve it). It means being patient (suffering without complaining). It means reaching out to others in love, regardless of how they treat me. It means living out the fruit of the Spirit every day, everywhere, with everyone.
What does the Bible say about humility?
Steps toward Humility
(1) Live like Christ and choose to trust God.
As Christians, we are to choose to live humbly.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV).
"Let this mind be in you." Choose to think this way. Choose to direct your life as Christ did. And what did Christ do? He humbled Himself.
As God of all the universe, the Lord Jesus obviously has rights! After all, He’s the creator, the master, the Lord. He’s the boss of it all! He can do what He wants and He has the right to administer mercy or justice whenever and upon whomever He chooses.
He chose to die.
Not only that, but He chose to allow Himself to be executed. Not just murdered (though it was murder), but executed for crimes He hadn’t committed. He was innocent and He never defended Himself.
"He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth" (Isaiah 53:7 NKJV).
"And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. Then Pilate said to Him, ‘Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?’ But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly" (Matthew 27:12-14 NKJV).
"He humbled Himself and became obedient to death."
He didn’t defend Himself . . . which He could have. He didn’t rescue Himself . . . which He had every right to do. He didn’t escape . . . which He could have easily done. He allowed Himself to be humiliated, to be punished, to be executed because this was what the Father wanted! He was obedient regardless of the situation, regardless of the outcome . . . because He trusted the Father!
He chose to trust God. So, in choosing to live humbly as Christ did, we first have to choose to trust God, to trust that He is powerful, that He loves us, that He is working it out . . . and that He doesn’t need our help to intervene. He needs us to trust, to be obedient, to pray! But He doesn’t need us to manipulate or coerce. He needs us to live the fruit of the Spirit—to be Christlike—and allow Him to be God.
Steps toward Humility
(1) Live like Christ and choose to trust God.
(2) Live to serve others.
What might be a second step?
"But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Matthew 23:11-12 NKJV)
"Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:507 NKJV).
We need to live as servants. Not as servant leaders, but as servants. Real servants.
"Servant Leadership is exercising real, godly leadership, as Christ did when He used a towel, and influencing, equipping, and empowering people to accomplish God's purpose and plan. It is serving others unselfishly while influencing and empowering them to grow in a Christ-directed, purposeful direction. This was an uncommon trait in Jesus' time, just as it is in ours; do not let it be uncommon for you! Being a leader in the church, or in the home for a husband, is never a force of personality; it is earning that respect because you love and care" (from http://www.churchleadership.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=41928&columnid=4540).
This sounds good . . . except for the fact that the Bible never teaches about servant leadership, only about being a servant. Servant leadership is, unfortunately, a secular concept developed by a nonbeliever named Robert Greenleaf. This concept was embraced by the Church. And it sounds good! (In fact, in most articles you read on Servant Leadership in the Church, you would ask, "Why wouldn’t we want this?")
The problem is that the Lord didn’t teach Servant Leadership. He taught servanthood, being the least, being humbled. Our only leader is the Holy Spirit. Everyone else is commanded to service, to mutual submission.
"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but fin lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself" (Philippians 2:3 NKJV).
The word translated here "better" is huperecho and it means to be superior in rank, authority, and power (Strong’s G5242). Think about that for a minute. If you are at work and you and your boss disagree, who gets to make the final decision? Your boss! Obviously. Well, as Christians, we are to treat others as being superior to us in rank, authority, and power. In other words, they get their way. (Now, of course, if they are insisting we sin, we refuse. But in everything else . . . ) We defer to others.
The problem is . . . rights.
Americans are big on rights. Citizenship rights. Basic human rights. Our rights. And as American Christians, we often confuse "rights" with "righteousness." The other problem is that we often decide ourselves what is righteous without spending a lot of time in prayer. And then we justify our actions and our beliefs with scripture without ever asking the Lord what it is He wants. Let me present two scenarios.
In several states in America, various wedding vendors who are practicing Christians have refused to provide services to gay people who want to get married. They have done so stating that their beliefs prevent them from participating in a gay marriage. What does scripture say?
"I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner— snot even to eat with such a person" (1 Corinthians 5:9-11 NKJV).
This is an interesting scripture because Paul is basically saying that he expects Christians to associate with (to keep company with, to intermingle with) sexually immoral unsaved people. And in doing so, we know that we are to live out the fruit of the Spirit in our lives all the time. So how is refusing to bake a cake or take pictures being loving, or kind, or gentle?
What these well-meaning Christians are doing is actually trying to force unsaved people to act like they are saved, to act morally . . . which we know from scripture is impossible for the unsaved. So they are actually demanding that these unsaved folks do what is impossible. How is that being loving or gentle or kind? How is that righteous?
Here is another scenario:
Dozens, if not hundreds of Christians, protest abortion clinics everyday. (Now, please don’t get me wrong. I’m totally against abortion.) Yet, where are these Christians on Friday and Saturday nights when these young women are alone and wanting companionship? When they are settling for sex because they feel unloved? Where are the Christians during the day while their children are taught in public schools that sex is natural?
What I’m saying is that we are attacking the symptoms of several underlying foundational problems. And when we attack symptoms, we ignore faces, real human beings who are lonely and hurting, real human beings who have been emotionally abandoned by a Church that is more into hype than substance.
Abortion is horrible—murder, genocide—but as Christians, if we are truly servants to those around us, we need to look at what causes someone to seek out an abortion, to look at these women as real people with real lives and real hurts and deal with those issues. How much church money goes into the community in an effort to meet real needs? Less than 10%! The remainder of the funds go to the things that serve us! We need to rethink what it means to be servants.
Steps toward Humility
(1) Live like Christ and choose to trust God.
(2) Live to serve others.
(3) Live with the realization of our own sinfulness.
"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up" (James 4:7-10 NKJV).
The most difficult thing about sin is that we can be trained by instruction or experience to believe that our actions are not sinful.
"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts." (Proverbs 21:2 NKJV)
"Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil." (Proverbs 3:7 NKJV)
Since the 1960's, psychological and sociological ideas have become to permeate Church thinking. So many ideas followed, many taught from the pulpit, but others taught from Christian conferences, books, television shows, and the Internet. Then other things happened and Christians just fell into the wave: Lives became busier and people stopped going to Sunday evening services, Sunday School, and Wednesday prayer meetings. (So the church cancelled them). Then technology came around and people stopped bringing their Bibles to service because the scriptures (or at least some of them) were projected on the big screens. Then the Internet came and people began believing whatever they read or watched without checking it against scripture and prayer.
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (Matthew 7:15-20 NKJV).
"You will know them by their karpos." The same word used in Galatians 5:22 to describe the fruit of the Spirit. "You will know the false prophets by whether or not you see the fruit of the Spirit in their lives." Well, how can you do that if you are simply reading a book or watching a TV show or reading an Internet article? You can’t unless you have researched that person’s life thoroughly! You can only know what they want to show you. So what happens? People begin to judge the "work" of the person, rather than the person’s life. Only, the Lord Jesus warned us that false prophets come in sheep’s clothing. They will LOOK AND SOUND AND ACT like Christians! So what they say or present or write will seem to make sense. And if you don’t know scripture well enough (who does?) and you don’t know what these folks’ lives are like, you can’t know whether or not they are false prophets. And false prophets prophesy falsely. It’s what they do. The Lord Jesus told us to "beware," but instead we just eat up what we hear. Why? Because it seems to make sense to us.
"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes . . . " (Proverbs 21:2 NKJV). "Do not be wise in your own eyes . . . " (Proverbs 3:7 NKJV).
We need to humble ourselves before the Lord in prayer and in serious study of the Word. We are sinners and we have sinned. We may even been sinning now! David talked about "secret faults" (Psalm 19:12), sins that he didn’t even know he was doing:
"Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults."
"Who can understand his errors?" Which of us can truly see ourselves as sinners and know that we are sinning without the Lord to reveal our sins to us? We are wise and right in our own eyes! Each of us. In order to live humbly, we need to admit that we are sinners—that we sin everyday—and that we desperately need the Lord to reveal our sins to us so that we might be forgiven.
Steps toward Humility
(1) Live like Christ and choose to trust God.
(2) Live to serve others.
(3) Live with the realization of our own sinfulness.
(4) Understand how helpless we really are
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me" (Matthew 18:1-5 NKJV).
I recently visited my two very young granddaughters (a baby and a toddler). One only has to be around the very young (a little child) to understand how helpless children really are. They need to be fed or reminded to eat. They need to clothed or helped to choose appropriate attire. They are strapped into car seats, strapped into shopping carts, strapped into high chairs. They are carried or held by the hand. They are supervised and cared for.
Little children are helpless and need adults.
We are helpless and need the Lord. Humility requires that we acknowledge that we aren’t as smart, aren’t as able, aren’t as talented as we would like to present ourselves. Humility requires that we stop trying to run our lives (and everyone’s around us) and begin to pray, pray, and pray some more to find out what it is that our loving Father wants for us. My oldest granddaughter (not quite 3) would spend all or most of her meals using the food as wonderful art supplies to make designs on the dining room table. But after a few days of that, her health would begin to suffer. She needs her parents to make sure that she’s fed and fed properly. We need the Father to take care of us. We aren’t capable of taking care of ourselves. We aren’t any more capable than little children. We need to submit to the Father for His care.
Steps toward Humility
(1) Live like Christ and choose to trust God.
(2) Live to serve others.
(3) Live with the realization of our own sinfulness.
(4) Understand how helpless we really are
(5) Understand that when we learn, we must learn in humility
As a teacher, I know that there is learning . . . and then there is learning. I think back to most of the weekly spelling tests that I’ve given in my career. I bet, even if you’re not a teacher, you remember taking those tests. You would cram like crazy on Thursday night to memorize the words, do as well as you could on Friday on the test, and then promptly forget most of the words by Monday.
There is learning . . . and then there is learning.
Sure, students "learned" those words enough to probably pass a test the next day, but the learning didn’t stick; it certainly didn’t change their behavior because they were still misspelling those words in their writing assignments a year or two or three later.
There is learning . . . and then there is learning.
One of the first steps of learning is coming to the realization that you need to learn (whatever it is). Without understanding that there is a need for you to know what it is we’re learning, we tend to forget it as soon as the immediate need has passed. In order to learn the lessons that God wants us to learn, we have to admit that we don’t know it all, that we don’t have it all together. We have to realize that we need teaching, that how we’ve done it—even all these years—just isn’t working the way that our Father wants it to work. We need to become like little children and understand that there is Someone Who knows far more than we do and Who is desperate to teach us if we will humbly submit to His teaching.
Sometimes we are so stiff-necked, arrogant, and stubborn that God will lead us into a desert experience just to get our attention! He did that with the Israelites when they first were liberated from Egypt.
"And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you" (Deuteronomy 8:2-5 NKJV).
God chastens us so that we might learn. (Did you know that chastening was a form of teaching?) I have a very wise pastor who often says: "God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you just the way you are." Our Father isn’t content with just saving us; He wants to teach us how to become more like our Savior, how to grow in the knowledge of His Word and of the Holy Spirit. He wants to teach us so that we will be prepared to truly be the Bride of Christ.
"Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way" (Psalm 25:8-9 NKJV).
"He teaches His way." We need to learn God’s way, His way to live, His way to serve, His way to love. It isn’t enough for us to just live for Him, we need to live His way! It isn’t just enough to serve Him, we need to serve His way! It isn’t just enough for us to love, we need to love His way! He so wants to teach us His way, but He can only do that if we approach the learning humbly. We can’t demand certain learning experiences or bring to it our own ideas or knowledge. We must kneel at His feet, admitting that we are powerless to truly understand anything aside from His teaching, and then submit ourselves to the instruction of the Holy Spirit.
Steps toward Humility
(1) Live like Christ and choose to trust God.
(2) Live to serve others.
(3) Live with the realization of our own sinfulness.
(4) Understand how helpless we really are
(5) Understand that when we learn, we must learn in humility
(6) Humility must become a lifestyle
"For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones" (Isaiah 57:15 NKJV).
"I dwell . . . with him who has a humble spirit." Do you want God to live with you? Do you want to live with Him? God promises to dwell with us if we have a humble spirit. What does that mean? This Hebrew word, shakan, is the same word used for tabernacle (the worship tent in which the Ark of the Covenant was placed). It means that God will reside with us, taking up His residence in our hearts and lives. When we live humbly, God lives with us and we become able to hear His voice, to move at His direction, to trust Him above all else.
Walking humbly is what God expects of us. Why? Because this is how we access the Throne of Grace. We can’t walk into His presence thinking we know what’s right. We need to come to Him humbly, willing always to admit we were wrong and to seek His wisdom and His will.
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8 NKJV).
How do we walk humbly? Paul outlines this in Romans 12.
"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. Therefore ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:14-21 NKJV).
Humility is the robe which clothes the believer. In humility, we freely admit our sins, embrace the fact that we frequently make mistakes, and thankfully live under the mercy of God the Father Who loves us. In humility, we learn to love and pray for those who seem to be our enemies, submit to those around us, and esteem others as better than ourselves. In humility, we learn to live like Christ.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com
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