Sermon Tone Analysis

What does it take to say the words, I love you?

It’s just 3 simple words, right?

I love you.

They are easy to speak.

They require hardly any effort.

English as a second language speakers learn these 3 words in their beginning lessons.

Babies learn to speak ‘I love you’ early in their development.

These 3 words are simple to speak, but at times, they can feel nearly impossible to say.

In part because these words contain a secret ingredient that most people resist on the surface, but can actually unlock your life at the highest level.

This same secret ingredient is also found in the phrases:

I forgive you.

I need help.

I want to learn more.

In fact, this secret ingredient is so special that marriages are sustained by it, headhunters seek it, higher performance results from it, and life satisfaction increases because of it.

If someone told you that one single ingredient could influence your quality of life in a positive, healthy way, would you want it?

What if someone said to you: I guarantee up and to the right returns for the rest of your life, if you make this one change?

What would you do to get it?

Do you want to know what I’m referring to?

Some of you might bristle just hearing this word.

It is spelled: h-u-m-i-l-i-t-y.

Humility.

What nobody wants but everyone needs.

Even though we all might acknowledge that marital satisfaction, relational growth, workplace productivity, leadership development, learning capacity, and most importantly, our faith relationship with Jesus all positively increase as humility increases, for many, the personal pain over time to achieve these desired outcomes doesn’t outweigh the benefit.

Humility is hard, it’s painful.

It’s like summiting a tall mountain peak.

The views are like no other, but the hardship to get there turns most people away.

Yet, when you see true, authentic humility in someone else, it not only shines like a beautiful bright light that provides warmth and vision, but it also accompanies an authentic expression of the very confidence that all of us desire!

The ones that I know who model authentic, transparent humility embody a deeply rooted strength that far surpasses those who live according to their own pride and ego.

This kind of life and humility is what characterizes our house.

The foundation of this house was built upon “the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”

Philippians 2:5-8

Here, at Christ Journey, we embrace hard things and we step into the awkward, painful spaces of our lives because we believe in the transformational power that takes place in us when we choose to lower ourselves to grow higher!

Humility isn’t something that most people desire, but it changes everything.

Forbes magazine published an article in March 2022 titled, “Humility: The Key Leadership Attribute Behind a Healthy Workplace Culture.”

The author writes, “A survey of more than 100 small- to medium-sized companies in the computer industry published in the Journal of Management found that “when a more humble CEO leads a firm, its top management team (TMT) is more likely to collaborate, share information, jointly make decisions, and possess a shared vision.”

The result: greater success.

In the article, the author doesn’t define what ‘a more humble CEO’ means, but the author does list a few key characteristics of a humble leader:

Someone who listens

Communicates clearly and often

Shows frequent appreciation

Isn’t a know-it-all

Acknowledges mistakes

And champions others

The author concludes, “I make the case that while it might seem counter-intuitive, humble leadership is not a sign of weakness—it is a sign of confidence and strength.”

[[[Forbes, "Humility: The Key Leadership Attribute Behind a Healthy Workplace Culture” https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/03/25/humility-the-key-leadership-attribute-behind-a-healthy-workplace-culture/?sh=1770a59b6bbb]]]

Do you agree?

I agree with this article, especially that humility isn’t a sign of weakness but confidence and strength, so why don’t more of us seek it?

Why wouldn’t everyone want more of it?

Perhaps we avoid it because humility threatens our way of life.

As much as I agree with this article, I also believe that the depths of pride reach far deeper than simply becoming a better listener or acknowledging your mistakes.

Pride goes as deep as sin, and covering it with a few leadership traits doesn’t get to the heart of what really needs to change.

What really needs to change has been the flow of life since the original temptation of the evil one in Genesis 3:5 “And you will be like God”

Pride isn’t merely a synonym for arrogance or selfishness.

Pride is the reason for sin.

Pride is the act of turning away from God and to the self.

The bait of the enemy is for you to believe that you are a self-contained, autonomous human being capable of doing life entirely on your own, free from anyone or anything else.

To live as the God of your own life means that you determine for yourself what’s good, what’s evil, what’s right, and what’s wrong.

Whatever belongs to God can belong to you, the enemy whispers, so take it for yourself, use it for your benefit, whatever the cost.

“The woman was convinced.”

the author wrote in Genesis 3:6, She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her.

So she took some of the fruit and ate it.

Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.”

Both Adam and Eve wanted the tree’s beauty, its delicious fruit, and the wisdom it would give them.

What could be so wrong about their decision?

Everything about this tree seemed so right and so good, except that God instructed them not to eat it because if they did, then they would die.

It was their pride that believed that they could do what they wanted, despite what God desired for them.

The temptation of the evil one has always been and will always be that our sin pride will lead us to life, but in fact, our sin pride always results in division, dissatisfaction, and demise - whether that be in job loss due to our behaviors, divorce, addictions, or even just plain discontentment and dissatisfaction with life.

We have been made in the image of our maker, but our pride wants to place us as the maker of the image.

Until we face down our pride, no amount of pithy leadership traits… or religion… or church attendance will stop our pride from eventually getting what it wants.

It’s ironic to think that striving to increase our lives will inevitably lead to us losing them, but the evidence of that fact is everywhere, especially in our city, and it’s heartbreaking.

Our collective pride is interwoven into the fabric of our culture, lifestyles, and our constructs of morality, so it makes sense why humility feels like a threat to how we see ourselves and the world.

Division, dissatisfaction, and demise exist all around us because prides constantly clash into each other and break lives apart.

But what if your life could be altogether different?

What if you could access togetherness, contentment, and blessing by lowering your life to grow higher?

It’s a risk, but in our house together, we help each other admit our needs and invite Jesus to restore our hearts with the healing balm of His merciful forgiveness wrapped in the humility of love.

In the first century, the hot barrel of pride was Rome, and to the church in Rome, the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Transformation begins in the mind by changing how we think about ourselves, how we think about others, and ultimately, how we think about God.

The mind is the battlefield.

Changing our self-contained, autonomous thoughts changes the war in your mind, so how do we do this?

In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul wrote, “We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.

We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”

To capture, according to Paul, literally means to take prisoner.

If the war is in the mind, then the enemy is the evil, prideful thoughts that seek to wage war against you, so don’t just sit idle and let them wreak havoc on your life because ‘they’re just thoughts - they’re not harming anyone or doing anything wrong.’

No, your thoughts are hurting you, so actively defend your most important real estate and take those evil thoughts prisoner using the secret weapon that Christ Jesus modeled in his life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension:

HUMILITY!

This is the most effective, offensive mindset for every Jesus follower.

Make no mistake, my friends, the enemy is waging war against your mind with the same temptations to pride that won over Adam and Eve and every human being since.

The strategy has not changed.

The tactic of the enemy is for you to turn away from God by increasing your sense of self, so:

Follow what John the Baptist said about Jesus in John 3:30 “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”

More humility makes more room for the Spirit’s presence and power in your life.

Don’t think better about yourself, think honestly about yourself.

Be honest with yourself and how God sees you and others.

When prideful thoughts arise in your mind, don’t give them a single second to advance on you.

Honesty is one of your best offenses.

Be honest about:

Being the hero of your own story;

when you take from others;