Humility

Introduction

In the Roman Empire, when a victorious triumph occurred. The battle-scarred, triumphant soldiers would be celebrated by the people when they returned. Think a super bowl parade. The soldier would be heralded as GREAT AND MIGHTY. POWERFUL. HERO. But, behind this soldier it was a requirement for there to be a slave, the slave’s job was to utter these words as a mantra for the soldier so he would not become prideful: “You are a man. You are no god. You serve Rome.”

Though it was true that this soldier was a victor. He needed his identity cemented as a man. He was not a god. He was a servant of Rome.

You and I have both the highest identity and yet, Christ tells us strive for the lowest. The least of the kingdom of heaven is the greatest.

You are a beloved child of God as scott said last week. You have a completely unique identity. If the world was only you—Christ still would have descended to be an infant, lived a perfect life, suffered, and died and rose for Your sake. If it was only you—Christ would have still came.

But, we are not to point to ourselves. If we point to ourselves when we triumph in life, we will fail ourselves. We are not that grand or spectacular. If I get done with this sermon and stake my identity on it, I will be left depressed and miserable and i will go insane by thinking of all the mistakes i made. If i count my worth based on what I have done—I will bend myself inward and go mad. The quickest way to go insane is to think about yourself 24/7. In fact, this is what scares me with our over-therapized culture—but I will save that for later.

When we have worldy success or even Christian success! Our response should be this:

I am a man. I am not God. I serve Christ.

Christ is the one who gives us success, who gives us influence. He gifts us this to point not to ourself—but to Him.

Some of yall rule at school. Amazing. Submit it to Christ. You can’t handle it.

I love school. I’m good at it. My greatest moments of sin are those when I think I did this. I read the books. I wrote the great paper or sermon. I give myself the glory—the weight of success—instead of the Lord who “gives and takes away.” In a moment, God in His perfectness could take away my ability to think or write and then what am I left with? The only thing each of us will be left with at the end of time is one thing, the One Thing necessary—Christ.

Some of yall are incredible at sports. Amazing. Do it. Play. But do not play for yourself. And don’t just point up to the sky after an achievement—thats lame.

Show it with your conduct. Be kind to others. Exhibit the fruits of the spirit.

My friends called me Chad in high school because I turned into this competitive monster who was a jerk when I played soccer.

SOCCER ROCK PAPER SCISSORS STORY. I WAS THE WORST. I WAS GOOD AND YET I RUINED MY REPUTATION AND WITNESS BECAUSE I WANTED TO BE COOL.

Whatever is your talent, submit it to our Lord. God gives us gifts to steward. David was trusted with his father’s sheep and proved himself to be a humble sheperd. Then, he was trusted with God’s sheep—the people of Israel

TALKING ABOTU HUMILITY TODAY

So, before we get into the nitty gritty of humility. I want to give you all a banger quote i think about often.

It comes from this man named St. Moses the Ethiopian of the 4th century—an ethiopian monk who was formerly a renowned murderer and was a part of a gang of robbers.

Quick summary of story. Saved. Ganged up on. Tied em up. They come to know Christ.

Anyways, here is the quote PLEASE WRITE THIS DOWN:

“You fast, but Satan does not eat. You labor fervently, but Satan never sleeps. The only dimension with which you can outperform satan is by acquiring humility. For satan has no humility.”

Satan preferred to reign in hell than be a servant in heaven. This is the temptation we have today. Humility is satan’s achilles heel. This is why when we are enduring spiritual warfare and darkness, James tells us to submit to Christ and resist the devil. Satan cannot stand a submitted, humble servant. Humility is satan spray.

Defining Humility

Just as the heart gives life to the body, just as everything moves and has it’s being from the heart. So humility is for the Christian life. Humility gives life to our soul.

Paul defines humility in the life of Jesus as this:

Philippians 2:5–11 CSB

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.

The word humility stems from the latin word “humus” which means earth. The word humility is literally connected to being low to the earth.

So based off this our definition of humility is this: A self-emptying love + service for God and others.

Our definition of pride is this: putting yourself, your thoughts, your feelings as the center of reality.

If humility is centered around God, pride is centered around us.

Why Should I Want Humility?

Each generation in America has had a core desire for a specific type of health they have tried to solve.

For example, our parents’ generation was addicted to financial health and stability . BUY THE STONKS. GET RICH. SAVE SO MUCH MONEY FOR YOUR KIDS.

Millenials and Gen Z have a similar core desire for health, this one is mental health.

Our culture is constantly telling us LOOK INWARD. BETTER YOURSELF. GO TO THERAPY AND THINK ABOUT YOURSELF 24/7 . FIND WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU.

Now, is financial wealth and mental health bad? absolutely not. But, our culture has a disordered view of the self. We live in the most therapized culture to have ever existed—and we still are the most depressed generation to have ever walked the planet.

The history of the Church has taught that there is an order to things and desires and when they are disordered it leaves us all in a funk.

So our culture has put the self on platform number 1 and it has left us emptier and more depressed than before.

Pride bends us inward. Thinking about yourself—be it negative or positive— 24/7 bends you inward.

Humility however, bends us toward God and the world. The true center of reality.

CAMP STORY. I WAS HUMILIATED BY HAVING TO SERVE OTHERS. AND HUMILITY SAVED ME. HUMILITY MADE ME SMILE

God—sometimes—will humiliate us in order to exalt us. In the story of Jacob and God wrestling in the book of Genesis, Jacob is left with a limp from God. Now, Jacob must rely on God. Jacob is always reminded when he limps of his encounter with Almighty God.

Paul has a thorn in his side he kept asking God to be rid of. But the Lord said no. When we are brought low, humiliated, it gives us a pathway to turn to Christ and rely on Him.

Christ had a cross. God himself had to be ripped to shreds to display his humility and obedience to God. To display his absolute surrender to God. Jesus was humiliated so you and I might be exalted and sent into the holy presence of God.

What is your humiliation? Mine was an awful breakup last year. It was the worst year of my life. But, now I look back at it and thank our Lord for it. I never had to rely more on Him than in that season. I may have a limp, I may have a thorn, I may have a cross—BUT I HAVE CHRIST AND THAT IS ENOUGH.

Jesus was the perfect moral man. He left His throne to walk here with you and me, to be murdered, to reconcile us to Him. HOLY HOLY HOLY TO A BARN WITH DONKEYS AND COWS. Without humility—without humiliation—there is no gospel. WITHOUT HUMILITY THE WORLD IS NOT CHANGED.

Mary + Humility

Speaking of Jesus becoming a baby and humbling himself.

I thought I would use the story of Mary to illustrate humility.

Mary who is 15-16, SAME AGE AS SOME OF YALL, THATS YOu. SOPHMORE. has an angel come to her and is like “yooooo you are pregante with God.”

The angel proclaims that a mighty work—the crowning work of eternity—will be done within her and she responds.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

See, I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it happen to me as you have said.

Notice what Mary didn’t do.

She did not say “Oh Lord i am not worthy for you to use me, you can’t use someone like me for such a great task. I am just a worm,.”

Humility is not hating yourself. Humility is seeing yourself rightly—like Scott talked about last week—and submitting that to God.

Humility says “Thy Will Be Done.” Pride says “My Will Be Done.

FINDING NEMO SEAGULLS. They all cry out “mine mine mine.”

That is the cry of hell.

The difference between heaven and hell is this:

Heaven is full of men and women who said “Thy Will Be Done.”

Hell is full of men and women who say “My Will Be Done.

The next scene, Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist. She approaches and then this happens:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

Then she (Elizabeth) exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed! 43 How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her!”

Elizabeth tries to give mary the glory for birthing Jesus. But, Mary instead shifts the glory onto God. My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant.

WHEN GOD GIVES US A TASK IT IS TO POINT THOSE AROUND US TO HIM.

Mary does one more thing. Mary tells us what the one thing necessary is. She defines Christianity itself.

Before Jesus turns water to wine, Mary gives instructions to the servants at the wedding, and it actually is instruction for all of us. It is the simplest truth and most of the time the truth is incredibly simple. She says to the wedding servants

“Do whatever he tells you.” PAUSE

That’s it. This is my final sermon here. I am moving to OKC. Don’t remember the frosted tips, not any of my jokes or stories, not even the memories of man night or dudes and donuts.

Remember this friends: do whatever he tells you.

You and I are servants at a wedding. The wedding of Christ and His Church. And we are to do what the groom tells us.

Christainity is based off the true good and beautiful. God is all the three. It is his nature.

So, if He is true good and beautiful and he tells us what to do. We can trust that we he tells us is going to be true, good or beautiful. Romans 8:28 “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

WHAT HE HAS OCCUR IN OUR LIFE IS GONNA END UP TRUE GOOD AND BEAUTIUFL

Humility is abandonment to this God. This God of love who created you and i for human flourishing and has given us the scriptures in order to know what is good, true, and beautiful.

Humility does whatever the Good, Merciful, Beautiful, True, and Gracious Jesus tells us to do.

And that is quite simple. Simple enough for a child to understand and profound enough for a 70 year old to still be practicing.

Ways You May Be Prideful

We speak more of the sins and mistakes of another than our own.

We thrive in public holiness, but when we go home we have no holiness or discipline in secret.

3. You lack confidence to approach God. You feel you are too inadequate or sinful. This is an act of pride seeing your sin as something greater than God’s love and grace.

4. You desire attention at all costs. You can’t say no to anything because you desperately want people to see you a certain way.

5. You judge between others and count one more significant than another. “This person dresses cool I want to give them attention.” ‘This person dresses poorly, I wont give them attenion.

6. Here is one i struggle with: needs to have control of everything. I literally wont let my friends drive because I onlyt rust myself. this is pride!

7. you hate authority. Be it church, your parents, or government. We can disagree, but we are to honor those in authroity over us.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters with all purity. (being holy is better than being right)

8. prayerlessness.

Conclusion: Jesus Prayer

If you want to know what my algorithim on reels is like, here is an example.

Anyway, I found this interview through reels of these monks in Greece. And they talk about the Jesus Prayer.

This is the ultimate prayer of humility that we get from the scriptures. “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me a sinner.”

The key to humility is this: union with Christ.

It is walking by the Spirit. The only way you can follow Mary’s advice to do whatever he tells you is to walk in the Spirit. Without the Spirit, how will you know what to do? Without the scriptures, how will you know what the Spirit sounds like? This is why you need to read your bible because the Holy Spirit sounds like this.

If you want to defeat a sin pattern, if you want to be rid of pride, if you want to glorify Jesus with your body, soul, and mind. Recover union with Him

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

14 God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? 19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

God has invited us into the divine nature according to peter. Our Lord does not invite us into moral improvement, into trying harder, into being a “good person.”

God has invited us into Himself.

But, we turn prideful when we forget Him. When we forget that we are ONE BODY WITH THE LORD. OUR SOULS ARE UNIFIED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.

If you want humility: remember Christ. We have heard it said that we are the average of your 5 best friends. Make Jesus your best friend.

Humble yourselves under the gracious hand of God. The One who has given you life. The One who has saved you from your sins. The One who has saved us from damnation. The One who has invited us into the flourishing, abundant life of God.

The most simple charge I can give to you is this, it is not a 7 step journey to humility. It is this:

Remember Jesus. Lord, forgive us when we normalize the beauty of your name. May we never grow cold of that wonderful name.

Remember you are a temple of the Spirit.

Continually remind yourself of Christ. Paul tells us to “pray without ceasing.”

But, it isn’t as impossible as we think.

A video showed up on my algorithm of these monks continually reciting an ancient Christian prayer while they work, cook, etc.

“Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.”

So much is in these words. You can throw this up in a fleeting moment or sit with it for hours.

Lord: He is the master. He is the King. I am not god. DO WHAT HE TELLS YOu.

Jesus Christ: The Historical Figure. The Crucified Son of God. The One Who became man to make us one.

Have Mercy: He keeps his promises to us. Jesus never rejects a sincere sinner, despite how filthy we may feel, how shameful we may feel. Jesus will have mercy on any who ask for it. Right now, He sits on a mercy seat, but in the future, He will sit on a throne of judgement. THAT IS WHY WE MUST REPENT NOW.

A sinner: By the cross of Christ we are stamped with His righteouness. But we are still morally incorrect. We still have ways within us that are crooked. We recognize that we are sons and daughters of God, but we still struggle, we still submit to the enemies of the world, flesh and devil. Saying we are a sinner declares truth. The truth will set you free.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

When we sin. When we have pride. When we are self absorbed and unintentional with others. When we forget our union with Christ. We can simply say this prayer. “Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner.” Our moments of pride, lust, sin, idolatry—when we repent—are the tiniest drop of water thrown into the flaming furnace of God’s love. This prayer from scripture does that for me.

James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Would everyone stand up? Christ was humiliated for your sake. No matter the humiliation we endure in this life, it is nothing in comparison to Christ’s endurance on the cross.

Which means—He is with us. He can stoop down to our level and be with us in our worst moments. Our worst trials. Our worst sorrows.

We killed God and He responded in merciful love.

Everyone hold your hands out and I want you to close your eyes and hear what Christ did for you in his humilation.

He was stripped naked on the cross, so you might have his robes of righteousness.

His body was cut open, so the wound of sin in you might be healed.

His hands are eternally pierced—he still has the wounds—so you may know your suffering is never for nothing.

He cried out “My God My God why have you forsaken me.” So you may forever have union with God.

He was humbled on the cross, and is now exalted. Seated at the right hand of the Father.

Now, we respond in humble worship. God IS HIGH AND LIFTED UP. HE IS PERFECTNESS. LET US HUMBLE OURSELVES UNDER HIS MIGHTY HAND.

Some of you have never been on your knees in worship. No condemnation. But, maybe tonight is the night you do it. Maybe you have never lfited your hands. Maybe you haven’t confessed that sin. Maybe you have realized you are prideful. Receive prayer.

Do what he tells you. Let it start tonight.