Humility: An action of love
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Humility in action!
Humility in action!
So humility, what is in biblically speaking, what does it mean to humble yourself before the Lord? Can we look at some biblical examples of humility? Yes we can, and that is what we are going to do this evening.
When it comes to humility you may think of this passage (Mt5:5-9)
5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Is humility a state of mind?
It is someone who is courteously respectful of others?
How about it is more about you than men?
Humility is a virtue, it is a major theme throughout the Bible, it entails qualities such as courtesy, patience and deference. You can add to make peace, to live in harmony. Humility dissipates anger and heals wounds. Humility allows you to see the dignity and worth of all God’s people.
Acting in humility does not mean you think any less of yourself, it does mean you think of yourself less. It has nothing to do with self worth, but everything to do with the character and nature of God and our position before Him.
When you think about humility in the Bible who comes to mind?
Women, I think most would agree that when it comes to the Bible and life, that women display more humility then men. Some examples
Deborah (Judges 4)
Sinful woman washes Jesus feet (Lk7:36-50)
Adulterous Woman (Jn8:1-11)
Woman with blood issue (Mk5:25-34)
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Scriptures display some humble women in Judges chapter 4 (Deborah), in Lk7:36-50 there is the sinful woman who washes Jesus feet. How about the adulterous woman in (Jn8:1-11) and then there is the woman with the blood issue found in (Mk5:25-34) - all great examples of humility.
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Humility is love in action when we put others first and think and take care of others needs. Our story tonight, passage tonight is found in 1Sam25.
The Set Up
The Set Up
As we look at the flow of this chapter tonight, there is much we can glean, so we will have more questions and discussions tonight than we may normally.
2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while he was shearing his sheep in Carmel 3 (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was a Calebite),
4 that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, visit Nabal and greet him in my name;
6 and thus you shall say, ‘Have a long life, peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7 ‘Now I have heard that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, nor have they missed anything all the days they were in Carmel.
8 ‘Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ” 9 When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name; then they waited.
10 But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. 11 “Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?”
What did you see, what did you notice, what stuck out to you?
What can we learn about the characters (vv.2-3)?
What did David and his men do (vv.4-9)?
What did Nabal do (vv.10-11)?
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The Response
The Response
Humility is how we may deal with a potentially hostile situation or when we have been done wrong. Remember, humility is an action of love.
12 So David’s young men retraced their way and went back; and they came and told him according to all these words. 13 David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed with the baggage.
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he scorned them. 15 “Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not insulted, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields.
16 “They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. 17 “Now therefore, know and consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him.”
What did you notice, what did you see, what sticks out to you?
Discussion point(s):
When you have been slighted, what is your normal reaction?
Now, what was David’s intended response (reaction) (v.13)?
How about Nabal’s men’s reaction (vv.14-17)?
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Humility an illustration/demonstration of love.
Humility an illustration/demonstration of love.
Humility a demonstration of love in action.
18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 She said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20 It came about as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; so she met them. 21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good.
22 “May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave as much as one male of any who belong to him.” 23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face before David and bowed herself to the ground.
24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant. 25 “Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.
26 “Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from shedding blood, and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. 27 “Now let this gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany my lord.
28 “Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil will not be found in you all your days. 29 “Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling.
30 “And when the Lord does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel, 31 this will not cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”
what did you see, what did you notice, what stuck out to you?
I know you outlines are different tonight, but this is the type of message, study it is tonight so you can ponder on the things we have looked at and discussed, so with that said let’s get some more questions going.
What did Abigail do in preparation to show care, compassion, humility and love in action (vv.18-19)?
What is David’s intentions still (vv.20-22)?
What do you see displayed by Abigail (vv.23-31)?
In what ways did Abigail display humility?
How can we display humility today?
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Nabal was a fool (v.25) and in fact that is what his name meant, fool. You don’t have to be a fool to be humble. Pride, arrogance, lack of compassion, lack of love, lack of patience, lack of concern for others can make you a fool.
Other displays of humility in action
Other displays of humility in action
We have a little more time to look at a few more examples tonight.
Queen Esther, humility could have had a great cost, her life (Est4:9-17)
Woman with blood issue (MK5:25-34)
How about what happened with adulterous woman (Jn8:1-11)
Think about the story of Queen Esther (ask if anyone can tell basics of story)
9 Hathach came back and related Mordecai’s words to Esther. 10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai:
11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.” 12 They related Esther’s words to Mordecai.
13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. 14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
17 So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.
Humility on Esther’s part saved the Jewish people
As for the woman with the blood issue, see what humility did for her.
25 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26 and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse—
27 after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. 28 For she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.”
29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?”
31 And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” 32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this.
33 But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”
What were the results for the woman (v.34)
And the story of the adulterous woman, who can briefly state that?
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” 6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.
7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
What were the results, where was the command given?
In the story we looked at tonight with Abigail, she was the victim of a fool, but through humility she had victory! Not just for her, but for all who were in her household.
What can humility do for us today?
Is humility more than a state of mind?
Is humility an action of love?
(Lead to encouragement)
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