Christian Virtues - Humility

Intro:

Good evening.

Tonight we are going to continue our series on Christian virtues.

I would like for us to discuss the virtue of humility tonight.

Before we begin tonight, I have a humble request:

And that is that we all give God our sincerest attention as we worship Him tonight.

That we aren’t clock watchers tonight.

I know that the country gets all excited on this particular Sunday in February.

Super Bowl Sunday! I assume the biggest sports night of the year. (And I’m a big sports fan).

I’m a bigger fan of God, though, if you’ll alow me to say it that way to make a point.

And that point is — I really appreciate this congregation.

I appreciate the elders.

I know in their autonomy, a lot of congregations move their service times on this particular Sunday night.

That’s not the wisest decision in my opinion — It just sends the wrong message, if you ask me.

“We REALLY want to watch this football game, so we are going to rearrange our schedule around that” and the regularly scheduled worship service takes a back seat.

And I realize that people can make the argument, “Well, we had our main Sunday morning service already ...”

I get that.

But I would humbly say — We have to think about the wisdom of it all, and what does it look like when we rearrange our WORSHIP schedule for something as unimportant (in the grand scheme of things) as a football game?

But anyways, that’s just a side note before we begin this evening.

Back to the virtue of humility.

Before we get to our discussion of humility tonight, I think it’s important to talk about the opposite of humility …

PRIDE:

Pride has got to be one of the ugliest character traits that is discussed in the Bible.

And here’s why:

Because it has a tendency to ELEVATE SELF, almost to the level of one’s own personal god … of self.

That’s pride.

The middle letter in pride is “I,” and so is the middle letter in the word sin!

The apostle Paul wrote in Rom. 12:3

Romans 12:3 NKJV

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

We must never elevate ourselves to the lofty position of a god in one’s own sight.

Now, I doubt very seriously than anyone would ever SAY that about themselves:

Well, no that’s wrong.

There were certain Roman emperors who basically called themselves gods.

Nebuchadnezzer essentially acted like he was a god in commanding people to worship his golden image.

And Dan. 5:20 says

Daniel 5:20 NKJV

But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.

So, some in fact DO refer to themselves directly as gods.

Surely, most would not though.

But how many elevate themselves idolatrously with pride?

(I would say, many many more).

The Bible has a LOT to say about the sin of pride.

(Especially in Proverbs).

Perhaps the most famous Proverb on Pride being Proverbs 16:18 - “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.”

(Even many non-Christians are familiar with that one!)

Another one that is quite famous — Of the 7 things that God hates, pride is included:

Prov. 6:16-19 - The first one on the list? “A proud look!”

And then one more verse - Proverbs 8:13 - “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.”

So needless to say, pride is a problem!

I want to talk about …

How one might instill pride in himself, or his children, etc.:

(And then we can talk about our virtue for tonight — Humility, and how to instill it).

And this is just a brief point, but an important one.

How might I instill sinful pride in myself, or my children, etc.?

Well, one way we might do it is through bragging:

Perhaps the best Biblical way to show what bragging looks like would be in Matt. 6:1ff.

Matthew 6:1–4 - “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”

There’s nothing wrong with striving for excellence — (the virtue of diligence we talked about last Sunday night would have something to say about that) — But if and when we do achieve excellence in any endeavor, we shouldn’t brag about it!

Thus, when our kid wins first place in the baseball tournament, congratulate of course!

“You did a great job!”

But don’t gloat.

Don’t “rub it in.”

Congratulate the other team on a job well done, too.

Encourage the other team if they just lost.

Shake hands, practice good sportsmanship.

All of these things are important in order to not instill pride in our children.

We could talk about other things we might be tempted to be prideful about, such as grades, fancy cars or clothes or country club memberships — the list could go on and on.

“My kid is the BEST at (this) and the BEST at that, and he’s the BEST at this over here too, oh, and the BEST at that also!”

(Or, here, let me “one up” you at this and “one up” you at that.)

First of all, if we talk our kids up all the time and say they are the best at EVERYTHING, then how can we ever expect to bring them back down to earth and instill in them humility?

And second of all, somewhere out there more than likely there’s SOMEBODY out there that can beat them at X, Y, or Z. (And that’s okay!)

We need to teach our children to give it there all, and do their very best! (And if they win, that’s oustanding).

But kids also need to learn another valuable lesson, and that’s house to LOSE with grace and dignity as well. (And the resilience that comes along with that).

Or what about someone who we call a “know-it-all?”

That, too, would be an example of … Pride.

Jer. 9:23 says

Jeremiah 9:23 NKJV

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;

Proverbs 27:2 - “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips.”

But let’s transition to …

How to Instill Humility in Ourselves, and Our Children:

And let me begin by counteracting a common misconception …

And that is that humility is NOT self-deprecation.

Self-deprecation:

Wikipedia defines self-deprecation as “the act of reprimanding oneself by belittling, undervaluing, disparaging oneself, or being excessively modest.”

An example of self-deprecation might be:

When someone offers a complement, the self-deprecating individual DENIES the complement or belittles himself instead of simply just saying “thank you,” or whatnot.

People who tend to be self-deprecating are, in actuality, sometimes fishing for further complements that the other person will then tend to bring up to try to convince the self-depracator.

You could even argue that self-deprecation can be a form of FALSE humility in certain instances.

That’s just something interesting to think about and ponder.

But what then is TRUE humility?

Humility is defined as:

“Freedom from pride or arrogance. The state of being humble.” (merriam-webster.com)

Notice, the “FREEDOM FROM pride or arrogance.”

Thus, inherent in that definition is that pride is the natural human tendency, and we have to fight — to work at — getting RID OF (being FREE FROM) pride in order to be humble!

I find that interesting!

Humility is about realizing it’s not all about me, myself, and I!

Humility is about, really, looking unto (and having regard for) the things of others more than oneself (Php. 2:4).

And I find it interesting that our word for humility comes from a Latin word that means “LOW” or “EARTH” (as in, “DOWN TO EARTH.”)

Humility could be described as following the golden rule … because we care about others more than ourselves!

And humility ultimately is realizing our place in this world and just how small we are … compared to an almighty, all-knowing, all-good God up in heaven!

Thus, we read with wonder from the Psalms -

Psalm 8:4–8 KJV 1900

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, And hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, Yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

(Psalm 8:4-8)

Thus, in the grand scheme of things, humility is really about:

Realizing that we are broken and sinful creatures who needed saving!

And Jesus came to help us with that!

Jesus came to live a perfect life because we couldn’t, and He offered the perfect sacrifice on a cross, dying in our stead!

Thus, when you look at it that way, you can’t help but be … HUMBLED, and THANKFUL!

Conclusion:

That brings us to our invitation tonight.

And then invitation is simply this — You have to be willing to HUMBLE yourself to respond to the Lord’s invitation.

And a WONDERFUL invitation it is!

Matthew 11:28–30 - “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

But it takes humility to respond to that!

James 4:6–10, Another invitation in the Scriptures, says: “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 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.”

I think we need to include humility in the plan of salvation!

Hear, Believe, Humble Yourself and Repent, Confess, and Be Baptized! (And remain faithful!)

If a man won’t humble himself, he certainly won’t be willing to respond to the Lord’s invitation — It’s plain and simple!

So as we conclude this evening, think about the VIRTUE of humility, and respond if you need to as we stand and sing!