Sermon Tone Analysis

During Sunday School last week the topic of pride came up in our discussion.

Peter told us that pride and low self esteem could be seen as two ditches on either side of a road and urged us to aim for the middle of the road.

We also talked about the opposite of pride – humility.

In my reading this week, I came upon Ecclesiastes 7:16 in it, Solomon warns about being too righteous or too wise.

Not that you could ever be too righteous or too wise, but you can see yourself as more righteous or having more wisdom than someone else.

In that case you would be deep in the pride ditch.

Pastor pointed out last week that there was a difference between low self esteem and humility.

When someone said that they were too unworthy to receive from God they were not being humble, they were acting in false humility and actually saying that they had made the decision that God could not act on their behalf.

This got me to thinking about humility.

What is it?

Why does God call us to be humble?

And how should we employ humility?

Webster says that humility is the “state of being humble”.

Big help there.

What does it mean to be humble?

Tell me if you agree with Webster?

To be humble is to be

1.      not proud or haughty -  OK, I agree with that, after all Proverbs 3:7 says,

“Be not wise in your own eyes”

2.      not arrogant or assertive – I understand the not arrogant part, Phil 2:3 says,

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit,

but not assertive?

Sometime we HAVE to stand up for what we believe in, If we do, are we acting in pride?

Certainly not.

3.      offering a spirit of submission – ok Phil 2:5–8 says,

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

8 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.

4.      insignificant – no, if I were insignificant, than there would be no reason for God to know the number of hairs on my head (Matt 10:30).

5.      unpretentious - definitely Micah 6:8 says,

And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly before your God.

Harper’s Bible Dictionary says humility is “a value that directs persons to stay within their inherited social status, by not presuming on others and avoiding even the appearance of lording over another.”

– can you agree with that?

What if we put it this way?

A humble person would not threaten or challenge another’s rights.

Nor would they take another person’s place or authority.

You might even say that a humble person would prefer another person over himself – let the other person have his way or choice first.

A humble person would never better himself at the expense of another.

He is not concerned with acquiring more than others, or striving for honors or recognition.

Those character traits in our western way of thinking are sometimes considered weakness.

This may be due to the King James translators’ substitution of “lowliness” for humility.

When we think of lowliness, we picture a slave, or a servant - someone groveling around.

But that’s not what the Bible means when it is talking about humility.

The Hebrew word for humility – /anavah/ – is also translated meekness.

While the Greek word for humility ~/tap·i·nof·ros·oo·nay~/ is translated as having a deep sense of one’s (moral) littleness.

What does this mean?

Jesus considered John the Baptist to be the greatest of all prophets [Matt 11:11].

Yet John shows us, that true humility comes from seeing yourself in relation to God.

Turn to Mark 1:7-8, John said,

“After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

And in John 3:30, John said,

“I [John] must decrease so that He [Jesus] can increase”,

No wonder Jesus praised the humble!

Turn to Matt. 5.

This morning we’re going to look at a very familiar passage.

We’re looking at the Beatitudes,

/3 Blessed //are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven./

Ø    Blessed literally means happiness, fortunate, and blissful.

Jesus is referring to a spiritual happiness, where one is content and at peace, an inner satisfaction and sufficiency that did not depend on outward circumstances.

/3 Blessed //are the poor in spirit/

Ø    Being “poor in spirit” means being humble - to have a correct estimate of oneself (Rom.

12:3).

It does not mean to be “poor spirited” and have no backbone.

/3 Blessed //are the poor in spirit/

Ø    “Poor in spirit” is the opposite of self-praise and self-sufficiency.

It is not a false humility that says, “I am not worth anything, I can’t do anything!”

It says I am nothing without God BUT with Him all things are possible.

/for theirs is the kingdom of heaven./

Ø    Notice what the reward for humility is – the Kingdom of God.

We define the Kingdom of God as his authority and way of doing things.

By walking in humility we gain insight into the Kingdom of God.

We learn how he does thing and wants things done.

We learn what God’s will is.

When we walk in humility, we have right now, the Kingdom of God.

[Matt 12:28]

/4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted./

Ø    We’re not talking about bereavement.

We’re talking about mourning over sin and our sinful state without Christ.

Ø    We live in a society that ranks sin by degree – where some sins are worse than others.

Some people even defend their sins.

E.g.

We see looters on television who justify their actions blaming poverty.

We see things like this and become outraged.

We talk about it and criticize their sinful behavior.

/4 Blessed are those who mourn,/

Ø    Humility on the other hand would mourn over this sin, would pray for those who sin this way, would ask God to forgive them, to open their eyes that they might come to repentance.

/for they shall be comforted./

Ø    “comfort” refers to the comfort of forgiveness and salvation.

/5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the //earth./

Ø    Meekness is not weakness, both Moses and Jesus were described as meek men (Num.

12:3; Matt.

11:29).

/5 Blessed are the meek, /

The word translated “meek” was used by the Greeks to describe a horse that had been broken.

It was still a powerful beast, yet it could be controlled by the rider.

The humility Jesus refers to here is giving up self will for Spirit controlled self control.

/for they shall inherit the //earth./

Ø    Inheriting the earth is having what you need.

When we give up our way of doing things and do things God’s way, we prosper.

/6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled./

Ø    This is the opposite of the self-righteousness of the Pharisees.

We cannot make ourselves righteous.