Sermon - Things We Need... Humility - Littleby Baptist Church - November 1, 2020
Things We Need… Jesus the most of important of all, Excitement with a focus on being excited for God’s Word, Simplicity reminded us that we don’t have a bunch of rules to follow we simply need to repent and follow Jesus, and then we need to remember to Praise God always and in all things.
Today we will look at our next Things We Need… Humility.
Before we get into what the Things We Need… Humility is, I want to point out what it is not. The Things We Need… Humility is not having a low self-esteem, it is not thinking of oneself as inferior to others, it is not deserving to be treated poorly, and so forth. Humility is something we should pursue, but it does not mean we are less than others.
The Things We Need… Humility is something that was modeled to us by our Lord. As we walk with Jesus we need to be following in His footsteps and humble ourselves before our God and in service to others. Humility is not something to be avoided, it is not a bad thing, it is a virtue to embrace.
“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” – Zechariah 9:9
Roughly 500 years before the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus, Zechariah prophesied about our King coming down to earth. Jesus was going to be righteous, everyone hearing these words would expect that from the triumphant King. He was going to be victories, again as expected. This third word does not seem to fit, how would a righteous and victorious King be Humble? To the human mind it does not make sense for someone who is to set His people free, someone who is going to be triumphant, someone who is powerful to also be Humble. While it may not make sense to some, that is exactly who our Lord Jesus is
“4 The Lord is exalted above all the nations, his glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like the Lord our God— the one enthroned on high, 6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?” – Psalm 113:4-6
The Psalmist is reminding us that the Lord is above all the nations and above the heavens. There is absolutely no one remotely like Him. Yet, He shows the Things We Need… Humility by stooping down to our level. He comes down to the earth and works in our lives. The almighty and all-knowing Lord is always present. We are not even worthy of washing the feet of our Lord, but He still Humbles Himself to be with us. Knowing that the Creator of the universe and everything in it Loves us so much that He is actively involved in our lives. That is the beginning of the Things We Need… Humility taking shape in our own lives. When we recognize how utterly Awe Inspiring our God is and where we stand in comparison, then we begin to understand what being Humble means.
Being Humble does not mean we are worthless or sub-par. Our Lord Jesus was Humble and in doing so gave the greatest gift ever to all who believe. The Things We Need… Humility does not describe one’s value, it describes one’s actions.
“2 If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” – Philippians 2:1-2
These verses start out by pointing back at what was discussed in the last couple of verses of chapter one. Paul is telling the Philippians in chapter one verse twenty-seven that as they read the next part of this letter to remember that they are to ‘live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ’ and that they are to be ‘standing firm in one spirit’. Holding on to these two truths as they keep reading will help them to understand what Paul was trying to tell them. As we look at the first part of Philippians chapter two, we too need to remember these things. They will help us to understand Paul’s original intention and how it should impact our lives.
Paul is asking the readers if they are encouraged by Christ? If so, they should be sharing that same encouragement. If they are being blessed by the Love bestowed on them by Jesus, they need to be sharing that Love. If the Holy Spirit is living in them, if there is any affection, or mercy in them… they should be sharing that with others. As believers if God is working in us, encouraging us to pursue what He has before us, if we are aware of His love for us, if the Holy Spirit is working in us, if we are seeing His affection and mercy in our lives… we need share that same encouragement, love, affection, and mercy with others as the Holy Spirit works in us.
Paul then points out that the practical side of this, in which believers are to be unified in the way they think, in their Love for each other, and the purpose that they have been called together to pursue. As believers we are to be united as the Children of God regardless of our differences. We are to share the Love of Christ in every way with each other and anyone and everyone we can.
“3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.” – Philippians 2:3-4
Now we start seeing what is meant by the Things We Need… Humility!
As a follower of the One True King our focus is not to be on what will make us wealthy, famous, powerful, the center of attention, or anything else that points to us. If we are focused on our God and letting the Holy Spirit guide us in unity as a believer, we need to be putting the needs of others before our own wants and desires.
“Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another.” – Romans 12:10
If we are taking the time to honor one another we are taking the time to lift-up our brothers and sisters. Our focus is on loving them, helping them, empowering them, and serving them. As we do these things, we are not focused on fulfilling our own selfish desires and ambitions. As we focus on honoring others, we are practicing the Things We Need… Humility.
If we are conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel, if we are focused on unity in the body of Christ, if we are looking to the interests of our brothers and sisters, if we are honoring others we are embracing the Things We Need… Humility.
Our human nature will fight our attempts at being Humble. The world view is to be self-serving even at the cost of others. Power, wealth, and prestige are the things the world would have us chase, but that is not how our Lord Jesus lived. If we are following Him, imitating Him, we need to give the worldly things the same amount of value as He did… None!
Think about who Jesus is for a moment. He is the creator of all things and He is the embodiment of the Things We Need… Humility. He has all the power as His fingertips and could have done anything He wanted, yet He humbled Himself for you. He showed pure Humility when He left His place in Glory to come to earth as a simple little child. Jesus showed the Things We Need… Humility when He let His creation beat Him and crucify Him on the cross. Knowing that our Lord and Savior would submit Himself to such torture is very humbling when we realize He did it for us.
“5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.” – Philippians 2:5-6
If we are following our Lord Jesus, we need to follow this example right here. Jesus had access to all the power that He had used when He created the world, we live in. If you think about it, Jesus had the power to wipe everything away and create a new world by just saying the word. He could have avoided the rejection of His Disciples running away. He could have avoided the pain of being beaten by the soldiers. He could have avoided dying a humiliating death on that cross. He could have summoned an army of angels and forced everyone to bow to Him.
Yet, Jesus demonstrated the Things We Need… Humility for us as He watched His friends hide, took that beating, and died on that cross.
“7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,” – Philippians 2:7-9
Jesus humbly put the needs of others, our needs, above His own. Jesus knew that the only way our sins could be wiped away was if He sacrificed His life for us.
He demonstrated the Things We Need… Humility when He followed through with the will of the Father and climbed on that cross for us.
It is unlikely that we will need to show the Things We Need… Humility by willingly dying on a cross for our friends and family, but there are a lot of ways we can live Humbly.
For God:
§ Remember
that He is God and we are not.
§ Be
thankful for all that Jesus has done for us.
§ Confess
our sins.
§ Give our
time to prayer and the study of His Word.
For Others:
§ Listen
to others instead of talking about ourselves.
§ Focus
on the people around us.
§ Encourage
others.
§ Pray
for those in our lives.
For Ourselves:
§ Be
grateful with what we have.
§ Let go
of our expectations and let God guide.
§ Do not
compare ourselves to others.
§ Allow ourselves
to make mistakes.
These are only a few ways we can do to practice the Things We Need… Humility in our daily lives. Some of these we should be able to easily do with little thought and effort, some of them will require us to purposefully and willfully do them. If we are following Jesus and trying to imitate how He lived, we need to make living with Humility a priority.
“6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7
Scripture does not tell us that Humility will come easy. It will be a challenge to put God’s plan for our lives before our own. It will take effort to think of others before ourselves. We may have to swallow our pride to make sure our motives are what they should be. Thankfully, the Bible does not tell us we have to do it all on our own. As we learn to follow Jesus, as we practice the Things We Need… Humility we can turn to our God for strength, we can cast our cares, anxieties, worries, and shortcomings on Him.
As we live in Humility, we are allowing God to work in us, we are trusting in His Love for us. We are relying on Him.
“29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:29-30
Jesus modeled Humility for us and in His own words, He tells us that if we follow Him, He will give us rest. Learning to live in Humility will take work, but through the gift we have received from our Lord and the work of the Holy Spirit the weight is lifted. Another way of saying this would be that there is more Joy and Peace in walking with Jesus that trying to forge our own way.
The Things We Need… Humility will take effort, but it is a vital step in our journey and one that we do not have to accomplish on our own.
God Bless,
Robert
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