A Kingdom of Holiness and Humility
Notes
Transcript
If we were to sit with a political strategist and ask them what things a country would need to establish itself as a world power I wonder what things the strategist would insist on. Would they say money? Weapons? Technology? Natural resources? An army? If we set out to build a Kingdom for the world, we would certainly need the world’s things, right?
The next 3 weeks we are going to look at some of the things that the Kingdom of God is built on. The foundations and fundamental principals that Jesus instilled so that his Kingdom would move in our hearts and lives.
Today we will think about it this way- The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of Holiness and Humility. In order to do this we are going to spend a few minutes talking about Holiness; then a few minutes talking about humility; and then a few minutes marrying these things together.
Holiness
What is holiness?
Well, if we ask the Baker Evangelical Bible Encyclopedia we get this definition- “Chief attribute of God and a quality to be developed in his people. “Holiness” and the adjective “holy” occur more than 900 times in the Bible. The primary OT word for holiness means “to cut” or “to separate.” Fundamentally, holiness is a cutting off or separation from what is unclean, and consecration to what is pure.”
If we asked John Owens he would tell us “What then is holiness? Holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing and living out of the gospel in our souls”
And if we asked Paul Washer he would say “What is holiness? The end product of what holiness is it's to love God in the same way He loves Himself; it's to esteem God as much as He esteems Himself, and to separate yourself unto that love, and to keep yourself in that love”
But if you ask me for I like to call a pocket definition- you know, a definition small and compact enough to carry around every day- I would say holiness is to be set apart for God.
To be holy is to have our lives marked by a different pattern of belief, different practiced, and different behaviors than the world. If something or someone is holy they are not like the rest.
Holiness is both a position and a heart condition.
Holiness is the work of God in our lives. 1 Peter 2:9 -10 reminds us “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
The Kingdom of God begins with this truth- we are a people, and a chosen people at that. We are joined together by the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We are gathered together in the name of Jesus not by nationality, or geography, not by heritage or economy, but simply by Christ. This Kingdom begins because God chose us and made us his people.
This is a hard concept for us to really understand in a democratic nation thought. We operate differently. We choose our leader; we have debates, speeches, primaries, and then an election and whoever gets the most votes is our president. But that is not how the KOG operates. No, God rules and there is no democracy about it, and he calls us into his Kingdom by his will and desire.
Holiness is a position- a choice that God has made on our behalf to place us in a new standing.
So holiness beings at the initiation of God, but make no mistake holiness is also dependent on us. We have huge part to play in our holiness journey. Again, here the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
So, in response to the promises of God Paul’s words to us are let us clean ourselves!
It really is like a kid, isn’t it? When babies are little they cannot do much. The need us to bathe them, to clean them up, to pick up their toys, they make a mess and parent’s clean it up. And for most kids sooner or later parents wean off their doing and teach their kids how to bathe themselves, clean up their own messes, and hopefully to take responsibility for their chores. But can you imagine if that baby never learned to take some ownership in their cleanliness? A 10 year old that has no idea how to pick up after themselves? A 15 year old that cannot bathe themselves? A 20 year old that depends on someone else to do their laundry and clean their home?
At some point our holiness becomes partially our responsibility. We are to act in accordance with what Christ has done for us. At some point holiness is not just something God does, it is something we choose and join in with God in doing in our lives.
This is part of the challenge for Christians and churches today- we grapple with holiness. Are we adopting the practices and culture of the world, or are we truly different? Are we, in fact, holy?
The other thing we see in this chapter is humility.
What is humility?
If we asked CS Lewis he would say “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.”
Spurgeon would say “Humility is the proper estimate of oneself.”
If we asked Joyce Meyer she would say “Humility is the foundation for every good attitude.”
The gift of humility is one of the most pure things a person can have. Many folks think that humility is based in self deprecation- making sure people embrace and even articulate their faults; but to have a proper view of our strengths.
Listen to Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
The Scriptures do not say that we should dwell on how low we are, but that we should never allow ourselves to be “puffed up” with our own greatness.
As a father of 7 kids there are some things that we have plenty of things that we get a lot of in our home. One of the things we end up with a lot is balloons. You can imagine somewhere between 5-7 balloons traveling with us when we are at a place where they are handed out. And you can imagine that with having so many kids with so many balloons, no matter how many times we say “hold onto that balloon tight!” “Don’t let go” “Let me tie that to your wrist” EVERY TIME we have a balloon someone loses theirs and there are tears and trauma and all the things. Why? Because there was no anchor, no tethering, nothing keeping it from floating away.
This is a really good illustration of Christian humility- not that we should crush ourselves, but that we need to tether ourselves to the Gospel in order to keep ourselves from getting too full of ourselves and floating away.
Or as some have said "True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit; it is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us."
Think of it, while Jesus was the King on the universe, he did not wield that power with force or might. He did not condemn or maliciously attack, he did not demand special treatment or attention. Most of the time he did not want to make a scene, and offered understanding and grace to those who approached him with a pure heart.
And then Jesus marries these 2 things together as he takes the basin and towel.
First, Jesus proclaims the holiness of the Kingdom. V8 “Unless I wash you you will have no part with me”
Then, Jesus proclaims the humility of the Kingdom as girded with towel he says in v18 “If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them”
Neither of these qualities are optional in the KOG- neither was optional for Jesus.
The KOG advances with holiness. A Kingdom that offers something different than the word. Part of the issue with church culture right now is that many churches have worked way to hard to be as much like the world as possible without entering sin; and that line is so razor thin that many fall into error.
The point of holiness is not to see how close we can get to sinful behavior but still stay with Christ- the point of holiness is to embrace a life different than the darkness of the world. Jesus’ teachings on holiness are not meant to set a line for us to tow as quickly as possible, but a line to lead us to the heart of God.
But the KOG also advances with humility, because that holiness can quickly drive us to adopt an attitude of self-righteousness, of arrogance, or judgement.
In his marvelous book, The Kingdom of God is a Party, Tony Campolo tells a story that illustrates how I believe the church must begin to live out our witness in the new millennium. Campolo was attending a Christian conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since there was a six-hour time differential between Honolulu and his hometown in Pennsylvania, on his first night there Campolo experienced some confusion in his sleep pattern. He woke up about 3 o’clock in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. So he got up, got dressed, and left the hotel where he was staying, searching for a place to get something to eat. Eventually he found a tiny coffee shop that was open. Here is his description of what happened there: "The fat guy behind the counter came over and asked me what I wanted. I told him I wanted a cup of coffee and a donut. As I sat there munching my donut and sipping my coffee at 3:30 in the morning, the door suddenly opened, swung wide, and to my discomfort in marched 8 or 9 provocatively dressed and rather boisterous prostitutes. It was a small place and they sat on either side of me. Their talk was garrulous, loud, and crude. I felt completely out of place. I was just about to make my getaway when I heard the woman next to me say, ‘You know, tomorrow is my birthday. I’m going to be 39.’ Her friend responded in a rather nasty tone, ‘So what do you want from me? A birthday party? What do you want? You want me to get a cake, and sing happy birthday to you?’ ‘Come on,’ the woman sitting next to me said, ‘why do you have to be so mean? I’m just telling you that it’s my birthday. Why do you have to put me down? I don’t want anything from you. I mean, why should I have a birthday party? I’ve never had a birthday party in my whole life. Why should I have one now?’ Campolo says, "When I heard that, I made a decision. I sat and waited until the women left, and then I called over to the fat guy behind the counter and asked him, ‘Do they come in here every night?’ He answered, ‘Yeah.’ ‘The one who was sitting right next to me, does she come in every night?’ ‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘that’s Agnes. Yeah, she comes in every night. Why do you want to know?’ ‘Because,’ I replied, ‘I heard her say that tomorrow is her birthday. What do you say we do something special for her? What do you think about throwing a birthday party for her right here in the coffee shop?’ A cute kind of smile crept over that fat man’s chubby cheeks. ‘That’s a great idea,’ he said. ‘I like it. That’s great. Agnes is one of those people who is really nice and kind. I don’t think anybody has ever done anything nice and kind for her.’ ‘Well, look,’ I told him, ‘if it’s okay with you, I’ll be back here tomorrow morning at 2:30. I’ll decorate the place. I’ll even get a birthday cake for her,’ ‘No way!’ he replied. ‘The birthday cake, that’s my thing. I’ll bake the birthday cake myself.’ "At two thirty the next morning," Campolo says, "I was back at that coffee shop. I picked up some crepe paper and other decorations at the store, and made a sign of big pieces of cardboard that said ‘Happy Birthday, Agnes!’ I decorated that diner from one end to the other. I had it really looking great. The word must have gotten out on the street, because by 3:15 that morning every prostitute in Honolulu was in that place. There was wall-to-wall prostitutes – and me. At 3:30 on the dot, the door of the diner swung open and in came Agnes and her friend. I had everybody ready… When they came in we all jumped up and screamed, ‘Happy Birthday, Agnes!" Then we sang to her. And you know, I’ve never seen a person so flabbergasted, so stunned, so shaken. Her mouth fell open, her knees started to buckle, her friend had to offer her arm to steady her, and I noticed she had started to cry. When the birthday cake with all the candles was carried out, that’s when she lost it. She started sobbing. Harry, the fat guy behind the counter, gruffly mumbled, ‘Blow out the candles, Agnes, blow out the candles.’ Then he handed her a knife and said, ‘Cut the cake, Agnes, cut the cake.’ Agnes looked down at that cake, and without taking her eyes off it, she slowly and softly said, ‘Look, Harry, is it okay with you if I, I mean, if I don’t, what I want to ask, is it okay if I keep the cake for a little while? Is it okay if we don’t eat it right away?’ Harry shrugged and answered, ‘Well, sure, Agnes, that’s fine. You want to keep the cake, keep the cake. Take it home if you want to.’ ‘Oh, could I?’ she asked. Looking at me, she said, ‘I just live down the street a couple of doors. I want to take the cake home, okay? I’ll be right back, honest.’ She got off her stool, she picked up that cake, and she carried it out of the diner like it was the Holy Grail. She walked slowly toward the door, and we all just stood there, speechless. When the door closed behind her, there was stunned silence in the place. Not knowing what else to do, I broke the silence by saying, ‘What do you say we pray together?’ Looking back on it now, it seems more than a little strange that a sociologist from eastern PA would be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning. But I prayed. I prayed for Agnes. I prayed for her salvation. I prayed that her life would be changed, and that God would be good to her. And when I finished, Harry leaned over, and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said, ‘Hey, you never told me you were a preacher! What kind of preacher are you anyway? What church do you belong to?’ In one of those moments when just the right words come, I answered him quietly, ‘I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.’ Harry thought for a minute, and then almost sneered as he answered, ‘No you don’t! There is no church like that. In fact,’ he concluded, ‘if there was, I’d join it.’
If there was a church like that- I would join it. Such power in those words. If there was a place that was different from the world, a place treated people- even what many call the dirtiest in our society- different. A place that showed them love and care, grace and compassion, a place that saw through their sin and shortcomings and saw someone who needed to loved. If there was a place that saw all those things and in response to them responded with humility, love, and service- then I bet people would run to join it.
Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Holiness,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 984.
(2) Humility Is Strong, Not Bold; Quiet, Not ... - Shared by Sermon Central - Sermon Illustrations - SermonCentral.com
In his book, The Jesus Style, Gayle D. Erwin described servanthood this way:
"A servant’s job is to do all he can to make life better for others - to free them to be everything they can be. A servant’s first interest is not in himself but others … Servanthood is a loving choice we make to minister to others."