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Intro
I want to begin this morning with a short story about D.L. Moody
He was born in Northfield, Massachusetts, to a Unitarian bricklayer's family.
His father died when Moody was 4, leaving nine children for his mother, Betsey, to raise.
His mother never encouraged Dwight to read the Bible, and he only acquired the equivalent of a fifth-grade education.
He struck out on his own at age 17 and sold shoes in his uncle's Boston store.
He also attended YMCA and Sunday school classes, where he became a Christian at age 18.
Shortly after that, he moved to Chicago, where he sold shoes and worked toward his goal of amassing a fortune of $100,000.
It slowly dawned on Moody that, in light of his new faith, his life should not be spent on amassing wealth as much as on helping the poor.
In 1858 he established a mission Sunday school at North Market Hall in a slum of Chicago.
It soon blossomed into a church.
By 1861 he had left his business to concentrate on social and evangelistic work.
He drew the children of the German and Scandinavian immigrant underclass to his mission with candy and pony rides, and he drew the adults through evening prayer meetings and English classes.
He was convinced, "If you can really make a man believe you love him, you have won him."
Moody gained fame and notoriety as he traveled and preached in the UK for a couple of years.
When he returned to America there were many calls for him to begin crusades and bring revival.
Of his fame, Moody admitted, "I know perfectly well that, wherever I go and preach, there are many better preachers ... than I am; all that I can say about it is that the Lord uses me."
People came from around the world to attend his Bible Conferences in Northfield, Massachusetts.
One year a large group of pastors from Europe were among the attendees.
They were given rooms in the dormitory of the Bible school.
As was the custom in Europe, the men put their shoes outside the door of their room, expecting them to be cleaned and polished by servants during the night.
Of course there were no servants in the American dorm, but as Moody was walking through the halls and praying for his guests, he saw the shoes and realized what had happened.
He mentioned the problem to a few of his students, but none of them offered to help.
Without another word, the great evangelist gathered up the shoes and took them back to his own room where he began to clean and polish each pair.
Moody told no one what he had done, but a friend who interrupted him in the middle of shining the shoes and helped him finish the task later told the story of what had happened.
Despite the praise and fame he received because of God’s blessing on his life and ministry, Moody remained a humble man.
Even in with the fame he had gained, Moody remained a humble man.
Most often, power and fame corrupts.
When we think of people today, how many that have wealth and power would you consider to be humble people.
Moody is an example of someone who put on humility.
He maintained a tireless schedule.
In the month before Moody died, he was preaching 6 sermons a day.
It is evident from his life that Moody grew in Christ by putting on humility.
The question arises for then, how do we grow in Christ by putting on humility.
Col. 3:5-12
Paul’s Instruction.
We have been looking at the list of virtues that Paul commanded the Colossian readers to put on.
The first thing that Paul instructs his readers to put on is compassionate hearts.
This is more than an awareness of others suffering but also a desire to help wherever possible.
In this there is also a desire to help those who don’t know the love of Jesus come to know Him.
The second thing Paul instructs readers to put on is kindness.
This is more than a mustering up a smile at the person checking out your groceries or waving at the person in the car headed the other way.
This is kindness that is shown in God’s sending His own son to take the punishment for our sins.
This is the same kindness that is in God’s very nature.
Another way to view this could be having a Christlike attitude towards others.
You know the slogan WWJD, but do you know Jesus well enough to have an idea of what he might do?
The third thing, which we are looking at today is humility.
Paul instructs his readers to put on humility.
When I say the word humility, what comes to your mind?
For me, my initial thoughts go to someone that is weak, pushed around, not in control.
That is because when when think of humility we think of a state of lowliness.
Humility has been and often still is viewed negatively.
Humility was understood in terms of servility and cowardice.
To put these things on though does not sound like a good thing.
None of these are admirable things.
We must take a deeper look at humility to understand what it is that we are actually supposed to be putting on.
Humility when defined means to have a freedom from pride or arrogance.
A modest or low view of one’s own importance.
When looking to the Greek text, and to our text specifically though we see an interesting thing in how it is used.
The word for humility is used in both a positive and negative light.
Jump back with me to chapter 2
The word asceticism here is actually the same word that Paul is now telling his readers to put on.
What is the difference?
The difference is the motive behind it.
In chapter two Paul was warning against what the false teachers were telling the Colossian believers to do because of why they were doing it.
The false teachers were putting on a show.
This is exactly the situation that Jesus was speaking about when He taught about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
This is an example of humility that was wrongly directed.
The false teachers Paul was warning of were teaching the same thing.
Teaching people to make themselves look good for God, rather than responding as the tax collector.
At the root of the issue is a battle with our love of ourselves.
A battle with pride.
That is the difference in how Paul is using the word here in Colossians.
In chapter two, he is referring to the pride-fullness of the false teachers and their desire to impose that on fellow believers.
It is not bad to take pride in the work we do.
It is however a problem when that pride causes us to place ourselves first.
When our pride causes us to worship the idle of ourselves, there is a major issue at hand.
The way Paul uses the word now in 3:12 though is for the purpose of modesty.
This is a virtue of modest self-perception.
The opposite of pride and arrogance.
It is important that we establish a proper relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves.
When was the last time you took a moment, to get on your knees and humble yourself before the Lord?
The act of bowing low to the ground expresses submissiveness and thus is associated with the virtue of humility.
This is the sort of real, practical humility that we are called to put on.
Not that we will be nicer or better people, but that we would reflect the image of Jesus.
We grow in Christ by putting on this sort of humility.
Jesus humbled himself.
The ultimate example of humility is Christ.
Jesus is ultimately the example that we must look in order know how to put on humility that replaces passion, evil desire, and covetousness.
Can we truly wrap our minds around that?
It is remarkable to begin with that God the Son would take on human form.
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.
Not a nice and easy death either.
A death of excruciating torment and pain.
Crucifixion was not simply a convenient way of executing prisoners.
It was the ultimate indignity, a public statement by Rome that the crucified one was beyond contempt.
The excruciating physical pain was magnified by the degradation and humiliation.
No other form of death, no matter how prolonged or physically agonizing, could match crucifixion as an absolute destruction of the person (see note on Matt.
27:35).
It was the ultimate counterpoint to the divine majesty of the preexistent Christ, and thus was the ultimate expression of Christ’s obedience to the Father.
Christ was obedient in the ultimate humble act.
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