Listen More, Speak Less: Humility

Ephesians 4:1-6, NRSVue

I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: 4 there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

INTRO

This week we continue our Do Unto Others sermon series. Over the next several weeks, we will continue to explore what it means to live in the purple space where we see the value in one another and learn to live together as we “cultivate kindness, compassion, humility, respect, and love for one another and for the good of all the world, no matter what.” We began with exploring the Golden Rule as we named our need to choose kindness for ourselves and for others. Next, we explore compassion as we discussed our need to have compassion. We named that when we allow God to work in us we begin to dwell in true love for God, for ourselves, and for one another. For kindness and compassion lead us to deep places of love. In these places we dwell in commonality and with care for people in new and different ways. This week, we continue the journey as we explore humility.

We are surrounded by news, we get alerts on our phones, cable tv has networks that broadcast the news 24 hours a day, even Facebook, twitter (now X), and TikTok have become platforms not just for “news” but political campaigning and in someways all these avenues have become an echo chamber. According to the Oxford Dictionary an echo chamber is defined as “an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered.” So often, we follow those on social media who think and believe like we do. Thus, our feeds run the risk of becoming echo chambers where our side is reinforced and the other side is not even considered. Yet, in the church, especially the universal church, we find that we are greeted with many differing views.

Rev. Dr. Craig Barnes wrote a sermon about Genesis 11: where he talks about the tower of Babel. He notes that in seminary, (in the church), you will encounter many different languages, many different ways of speaking about God, many different views…yet, this differing language is a means of grace. He says this “the calling of all people is to live in a world where not everyone speaks your tongue. This means you have to make room for others who will speak differently about even God.”

Paul begins his discourse with us about unity. He begins with the word “therefore.” Throughout scripture therefore often signals a link between the church’s talk about God and our calling to respond to God. For example in Exodus 20 we hear “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of Slavery, “therefore” - You shall have no other God’s before me.” Leviticus announces that God is holy, therefore, we too are called to be Holy. This shows up in our beliefs too. Jesus died; therefore, we need to die to sin. Jesus was raised from the dead; therefore, we are to walk raise into the new life found in our baptismal vows. God sent the Spirit; therefore, we are called to walk by the Spirit. God acts and we respond. We respond by living into the hope to which God has called us…a hope we proclaim often at the Eucharistic Meal “By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.”

It can be easy to think unity necessitates uniformity. If we are to die to sin or live a new life, it can be easy for us to think that this has to be done in a certain way. But the truth is, unity does not necessitate uniformity. As Craig Barnes illuminates in his sermon, the body of Christ is quite diverse. We have different ways of deploying clergy. We have different beliefs on when and how someone would be baptized. We have different understandings of Holy Communion. And that is just to name a view. That’s before we even begin to think about different styles of worship and our own personal beliefs and backgrounds. This begs the question, how do we with our different views, our different theologies, our different political and social backgrounds come to this place of oneness, of unity?

It all begins with God. Paul continues this passage by writing, I “beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” I beg you to live your life in a way that is worthy of God’s call on your life. If we are honest, we aren’t worthy of God’s call on our lives. We are sinful people living sinful lives. Yet we are called by God. In fact the translation as worthy is more that we are called to live our lives out as we have been worthily called by God. In other words we aren’t called because we are worthy, but we respond to God’s call by living our lives in such a way that we are living into God’s ways. But this is not possible without God.

God works in our lives and calls us and empowers us to live in God’s ways. We demonstrate this worthy living by living into the unity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul tells us how we live into this unity: by doing it “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). This is how we live in unity with those who are different from us. It is to build up communities of peaceable difference.

Humility is the way in which we live into Christian community. In the ancient world, living with humility stood out from the ways of the world. The ancient Greeks did not value humility, in fact, in Greek, there is no words for humility. It was believed that humility was displeasing to the gods, the words used for what we now consider “humility” had negative connotations such as“disreputable company,” “slavish,” “not worthy of an opinion”, and “cringing.” Before Christianity, humility was not considered a virtue but as cowardly. Living a lifestyle of humility would have set Christians apart from the rest of the world.

The world tells us to evaluate ourselves against the standard of others. Who has a better car or house? Who has a better paying job? Who was the “right opinion.” This is the opposite of humility. Humility is the means by which we realize that God wants us to bring our best before the Lord, but we cannot compare ourselves to others. Christian humility takes it a step further. Christian humility is a self-evaluation to check ourselves and ours ways of living. It is about making sure we do not see ourselves as better than another. Throughout the Old and New Testaments we see examples of devout people checking their ways of being. And when we do this, we do so that we can bear with one another in love. So we must ask ourselves, how are we evaluating or checking ourselves such that we can live together in love?

Aristotle, the great Greek thinker and teacher, defines every virtue as the mid-point between two extremes. One commentary notes “On one side there was excess of some quality, on the other defect; and in between there was exactly its right proportion. Aristotle defines meekness for example as the mid-point between being too angry and never being angry at all. The person who is meek is the one who is always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time. To put that in another way, the person who is meek is the one who is stirred by indignation at the wrongs and the sufferings of others, but is never moved to anger by any personal wrongs and insults.”

Just as we are called to be angry at injustice, we must also not be so angry that our own judgement is clouded…so it is with humility. Humility isn’t this false sense of lowliness whereby we are never good enough, or smart enough, where we let others walk all over us…no humility according to Aristotle would be offering one’s best while also recognizing that our way of doing, understanding and being in the world is not the only way to walk the Christian faith.

So often, when we enter into society, there are expectations that we take on in order to live together. Perhaps there are regulations about how long you can leave your trashcan on the street. There are certain times of the year when you can and can’t leave yard debris un-bagged. There are noise ordinances so that we don’t make too much noise in the morning or late at night. What Paul is doing for us is laying out the expectations of Christian society. To put it another way, Paul shows us what we must do if we wish to live in Christian unity.

To live in society with true Christian humility is about bringing the best of ourselves to our Savior knowing that it is not enough. It is about choosing to live together and bear one another in love. It means that we come together knowing that we might disagree, knowing that we don’t see everything alike, but acknowledging the value that each person brings. It is about looking into the eyes of someone who believes differently than we do, but recognize that they too are following after Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives.

Unity, is a mark of Christian maturity. The unity of the Spirit is maintained but the bonds of peace….by the God who unites us together in love, with a common goal. If we regard one another with the love and peace of Christ then we begin to realize that love is not just an emotional thing. Love is it both an emotion but also the will to always desire the good of the other and this is only possible with a heart of humility where we truly see others as our sibling in Christ, where we regard the feelings of others as valid while also seeking the common good for all of God’s people.

Dr. McFee notes “The root of the word “human” is the same as the word “humility.” It all means literally “on the ground.” From dust we came, and to dust we shall return. When we hear each other’s fears, anxieties, and pain, we can return to the ground of hope… that we are all experiencing the pains of being human.”

This means we have to re-center ourselves, we need to realize that life is not all about me, myself, and I. Where we evaluate ourselves and begin to realize that all of us are going through things in life. If we are going to live worthily into the calling of our Savior, then we need to share our humanity with the other. We need to share our passions and our concerns with one another, we need to acknowledge the belovedness of the other…that in our sharing God might truly make us “one with each other and one in ministry to all the world until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.” We are all working towards the same goal a world redeemed in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Humility reminds us that we are bound together in our complete and utter surrender to Jesus Christ, and our love for Christ compels us to hear each other’s stories and to love one another more fully as we refined by the Holy Spirit…for each of use have stories of love, pain, hurt, and yet Christ called us into one body, and sent us out to redeem the world.

I’m reminded of the story of the woman at the well. Jesus knows her sin. Jesus, eventually in the conversation names her sin. But first, he listens to her story. He hears whats going on in her life. Her response is “you truly knew me.” She goes out and proclaims “come and see this man who truly knew me.” That is Christian humility. That is unity in the midst of differences. Sitting together, recognizing our common humanity, hearing each other’s stories, and bearing with one another. God loves us. And God loves each and every person, each and every part of creation. So we live together in Christian humility, bearing with one another in love.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.