Sermon for 10/15/06

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Sermon for 10/15/06
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So you want to be like Christ? – HUMILITY: Bowing low

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN

Main Theme: This series is designed to take us past the good news of God’s grace! Grace is amazing but it is completely God driven. AFTER salvation comes the task that includes our participation: Becoming more and more Christ-like; the purpose of a Christian’s life! How we grow deeper in love with Jesus requires an intentional lifestyle aimed at becoming godly, not religious! We will look at 8 essential disciplines that will help our relationship with Jesus grow! Today, in our 6^th week, we see that HUMILITY is not merely a virtue; it’s a discipline that… 1) is neither understood nor admired by most Western cultures, 2) we appreciate in others but rarely want for ourselves, 3) is not the result of having low self-esteem, and 4) as a discipline we can measure our success in humility. As a virtue we cannot. Three principles state that Humility 1) starts at the bottom, 2) grows out of gratitude, and 3) is an act of faith. So we learn to SIT, STAND, BOW. That is, we SIT on promoting ourselves, STAND up for others, and BOW low before our God. (Based on Chuck Swindoll’s book “So, you want to be like Christ?” and other research.)

1) DISCIPLINE! Discipline – it’s something no one likes but everyone admires. Every great musician, artist, or athlete exhibits discipline behind closed doors, away from admiring fans and cheering crowds. Discipline is hard work done in obscurity for the sake of excellence. We sometimes forget that it’s the discipline we didn’t see that made the gifted musicians, creative artists, and superb athletes the best at what they do, and made them worthy of admiration and respect. And one of the things you may have also noticed is that disciplined people are almost always humble.

2) MATURITY! With maturity comes the realization that it’s not enough to want to look like those we respect and admire. Sure a kid who idolizes a famous baseball player may want to stand like him at the plate, buy the same kind of glove, wear the same style of shoe, use the same bat – but trying to duplicate their hero’s “excellence” doesn’t come from trying to be “like him” only during the game. Maturity reveals they have to choose an overall life of preparation of body and mind, pouring all their energies (day and night) into that search for excellence. Kids often overlook the total dedication and endless hours of practice that went into that pursuit. Maturity tells us that the success leading to greatness is not automatic, comes at great cost, and requires tremendous discipline.

3) GODLINESS! And what is true of musicians, artists, and athletes, is also true among the godly. And if you have ever admired or respected someone because of their spirituality, you can be certain that the person has cultivated the disciplines of godliness. Believe me, he or she was not born that way! They paid dearly for their spiritual depth with endless hours of trying, failing, and trying again; suffering through hardships and learning to trust and lean on God! They yielded to the ‘spiritual disciplines’ because they found out that life works better that way. They understood what Paul meant when he said to his young protégé, Timothy, (1^st Timothy 4:7) “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”

4) AUDIENCE OF ONE! But notice; godliness has one very important difference when compared to musicians, art, or athletics. See, godliness has no public performance in mind! And that’s especially true for the discipline of humility, for humility forbids grandstanding! If someone else should notice what it is we do, well, that’s incidental. If you and I should choose to pursue the spiritual disciplines, we do it for an audience of one! Remember the paraphrase of our “purpose”?

Philippians 3:10 “For my determined purpose is that I may know Him – that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding (the wonders of His person) more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from his resurrection (which it exerts over believers); and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed (in spirit into His likeness even) to his death.” (ANT)

We don’t seek the “spiritual disciplines” to perform expecting rewards, respect, or the admiration of the public - we discipline ourselves as a response of love to an audience of One!

5) VIRTUE? Now a few of you might be thinking “Isn’t humility actually a virtue?” Well, true; humility is a quality of one’s character, but it’s more than just that. Much more. Notice, first of all, that 1) although humility is a Christ-like virtue, it is neither understood nor admired by most Western cultures. Most models of strong leadership consider it rather strange for a prominent leader to show humility. In fact, bending the knee to help others or to admit weakness is to make oneself vulnerable to those who might displace us. And despite political campaign claims, most leaders today desire to be served rather to serve others. They are eagerly expecting the best seats in the restaurant, rides in limos, and invitations to the best parties. It’s the reward for clawing your way to the top! Leaders often fear loosing the respect of their peers if they apologize or accept too much responsibility for poor decisions. But that is NOT the culture of Christ. Humility is not merely a virtue a person merely has, it’s something you do by putting others first!

6) WANT IT? Secondly, 2) we appreciate humility in others but rarely want it for ourselves. The price is too high! We sense that humility is not what gets you ahead – though we love to be surrounded by humble people because they don’t threaten our position. We tend to think of humble people as safe people with that ‘quaint little virtue’ that keeps them on the sidelines during the scramble to the ‘top of the hill.’ And so we tell ourselves; I’ll be humble AFTER I’m king! Even Jesus’ disciplines were not immune to that kind of thinking: (Mark 9:33-35) “They came to Capernaum. When He (Jesus) was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.” Now notice Jesus’ response, “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.’” As followers of Christ it is important to see humility as more than just a virtue, it is a discipline. It has more to do with what we seek and do, than what we become. Humility, (placing ourselves last and others before us) is an action.So let’s ask ourselves, “Do we want humility for ourselves?”

7) LOW OR HOLY SELF-ESTEEM? Thirdly, it’s important to realize, 3) humility is not the result of having low self-esteem. It maybe true that we are not worthy and apart from Christ are nothing, but those thoughts do not nurture humility. I mean think about it: Jesus walked this earth a humble man, and did He have a sense of inferiority? Hardly! How could He? He was God! No, humility isn’t the result of having a poor self-image. True humility comes from a place of strength and inner security. Genuinely humble people who have a desire to seek the well-being of others are generally very secure people! They realize that their gifts, are just that – gifts from a loving God, and they are eager to use them in a Christ-like way. It is not low self-esteem that describes humble people, but holy self-esteem! That spiritual security translates into actions that can be observed and measured.

8) MEASURE HUMILITY?Which brings us to point number four, 4) as a discipline we can measure our success in humility. As a virtue we cannot. Fact is, the minute we think we’re humble, we’re not! And history demonstrates that genuinely humble people have a natural “inattention” concerning their humility. In other words, humble people don’t think of themselves as humble. In fact, humble people rarely think of themselves at all. Humble people are too preoccupied with the well-being of others to guard their own interest or notice their own self-importance. So if we think of humility of as just a virtue, we will never be able to measure it, but if we see humility as an action that places others before ourselves – it can be measured.

9) STARTS AT THE BOTTOM! Fact is, humility is more than a quality of character, it’s something we must pursue as an action, a behavior. And if we exercise this discipline long enough, (of serving and placing others before ourselves), it inevitable begins to dominate our nature without our knowing what happened. We will become oblivious to the humbleness we sought out. So… what does the exercise of humility look like? Scripture shows three good examples, (each one illustrating a great principle): First, 1) Humility starts at the bottom. Too bad that hanging out with humble people doesn’t automatically make us humble! But the disciples proved that it doesn’t. In the book of Mark we read how two spiritually immature brothers, James and John, hit Jesus up for a favor. They ask to sit on his right and left in heaven. The other 10 disciples were outraged – probably because these two beat them to the punch and asked first. So we read, (Mark 10:42-45)

“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

As much as we relate to the brothers who have raw ambition and a desire to be great, Jesus calls us to be humble. And being humble starts at the bottom!

10) INVITED TO JOIN JESUS! In fact, Jesus invited James, John, you and me to join Him in His destiny, but it is a destiny of suffering and sacrificing for others. Let’s look at Philippians 3:10 again, this time the NIV version: “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His suffering, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” As often as we have read this during this sermon series, did anyone linger long on the section about “sharing in His suffering”? Did we count the cost? Apparently the Kingdom of God contrasts greatly to this earthly kingdom. Our modern world is run by a chain of command, whereby ‘leadership’ is defined by high rank and the exercise of authority, power, and dominion over other people… BUT, says Jesus, “Not so with you!” In the kingdom of God there is no status, there is no privileged rank, and the lowly don’t pamper the privileged. Jesus used the words “serve” and “give”. To be like Christ, we need to serve others, suffer for others - placing our neighbors before ourselves, and to give sacrificially and selflessly! We are invited to join Jesus in humbly giving and serving.

11) MISSING HUMILITY! A woman once came and offered herself to be the new chairperson of the Music and Worship Committee. Though her offer raised some red flags in my head, I proceeded to invite her to come to the next few meetings to meet the other members and then, in several months, when the existing chairperson stepped back, she might throw her name in the hat as a potential candidate for leadership. “Nope!” she protested, “I know my gift is leadership, and either I lead the group or I am not interested in joining them. Besides, I have already talked to the existing leader and she is willing to back out now so that I can take over.” I was speechless. Now, every pastor loves volunteers, but something was amiss in this offer. Being younger and inexperienced, I failed to see the missing ingredient was humility – a sign of spiritual maturity. A truly humble servant is always willing to start at the bottom. To make a long story short, her term as chairman was a power trip disaster, and she resigned shortly after from the position and the church. When we place our ambitious needs before the need of others, we are missing humility and indicate that we are not yet ready to suffer for and with Christ, sacrificially placing others before ourselves. What did Jesus say? “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) Humility is missing unless it starts at the bottom, serving like Jesus did.

12) GRATITUDE! The second principle is this, 2) Humility grows out of gratitude. When the apostle Paul discovered that the early church in Philippi lacked humility - that is, they lacked the selflessness that comes from putting others ahead of themselves, he called them to change so that they might enjoy unity. First he says, (Philippians 2:3-4) “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” But why should they be motivated to do so? Gratitude!

13) GRATITUDE – PART 2! Paul goes on to remind them of the miracle of God’s love as seen in Jesus Christ, (vs 5-11)

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

When you’re taken back to the cross, and bathed in the blessings of sacrificial and unconditional love, you discover your motivation to become humble; placing others ahead of yourselves is triggered by gratitude!

14) DOWNWARD TREND! Did you notice the downward trend in that passage? What begins in the glories of heaven, ends with the cruelest mode of execution ever devised: crucifixion. And Paul reminds us that Jesus CHOSE this voluntary down grading so that one day He might lift us up. So what is it that prompts humility within us? What causes us to want to think less of ourselves and more of others? A full appreciation for the sacrifice that Christ made for us! Everything we have, everything we are, every good thing we enjoy would not be possible were it not for Him! The more we focus on His awesome sacrifice, the less room we have for pride. The more we comprehend how Christ humbled himself and served us, the more we are motivated towards that downward trend that puts our needs below the needs of others. A heart filled with gratitude cannot be anything but humble.

15) ACT OF FAITH! Finally, 3) Humility is an act of faith. The apostle Peter learned humility the hard way. He discovered humility was an exercise in trust. He later wrote the persecuted church these words, (1^st Peter 5:5-7) “All of you , clothe yourselves with humility towards one another, because ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’, (proverbs 3:34) Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” We’re to clothe ourselves with humility because the arrogant find themselves at odds with God, while the humble enjoy His blessings. Many scholars believe the better translation of the Greek is not “humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand,” but rather “Let yourselves be humbled under the mighty hand of God”. I agree, for it is God’s hand of discipline and God’s hand of deliverance that transforms us; we can but submit to it. Humility is truly a matter of faith, because if we truly believe that ‘He cares for us’, then * we never need to worry about serving our own interests – we can trust God to do that! (*repeat) Humility is an act of faith!

16) SIT, STAND, BOW! Chuck Swindoll suggests that if we understand the scriptures concerning Christ-like humility, we can imagine three postures and use them to exercise the ‘discipline of humility.’ He says SIT, STAND, BOW. 1) We need to SIT on promoting ourselves. If we believe God has gifted us, then we trust that God will guide the people who want to use our talents to find us. If we are to be discovered and used in a significant way, God will bring it about. So SIT on your need to promote yourself, and trust God to promote you when the time is right. 2) We need to STAND up for others. We need to be sensitive to their needs, even the hard to love or the least deserving, and stand up for them! Don’t think about it – do it! And 3) We need to BOW low before God. We need to accept His disciplines, not resist them. We need to acknowledge His deliverances, dropping to our knees in gratitude, and giving Him praise through prayer. The discipline of humility requires that we SIT, Stand, and BOW!

17) LIVING IN US! What a blessing that Christ is here today to lead us through the “valley of selflessness.” What a blessing to know, that while the path to humility is not easy, quick or automatic; His Spirit is, (as we speak), entering every open heart to help us do what we cannot do for ourselves :to empower us to place others ahead of ourselves, to serve them, and to sacrifice and even suffer for those in need! He, and He alone enables us to SIT on promoting ourselves, STAND up for others, and BOW down before Him in grateful thanksgiving and praise. Christ living in us - replaces selfishness with the joy of serving and placing others before ourselves! Christ living in us - enables us to pour ourselves out for others, as He poured himself out for us!Christ living within us - makes us humble!

Praise God!

AMEN

Sermon/Confessional Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we confess that the spiritual disciplines are something we admire in others but do not always desire for ourselves, because it requires the death of ‘self.’ We forget that seeking the spiritual disciples brings us closer to godliness, to being more Christ-like. Forgive us for placing ourselves on the thrones of our hearts, and empower us to increasingly step aside that you might be King over our lives and transform us!

Lord, we are still tempted daily to seek the worldly desires for power, prestige, and the selfish rewards that come from reaching the top! To willing become a slave or servant to others goes against everything our culture tells us, and too often we allow ourselves to be swept along in its current. Forgive us, empower us, and teach us to experience the joy that comes from humbly pouring ourselves out for others, as you did so for us.

And now Lord, although you know us better than we know ourselves, listen as we share in a moment of silence, those other parts of our lives that need to be forgiven, washed clean, healed, and recommitted to you! (made anew.)

(Silence)

Lord, we need your Holy Spirit to live within us, that our selfish ways can be drown through continual washing in the waters of our baptism! Raise us up daily to reflect the selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional love of your Son – living within us! In Jesus Name We Pray. AMEN

Assurance of Forgiveness:

Friends, listen to the good news: The Lord, who offers you the life-giving discipline of humility, …that Lord has mercifully heard your confession and eagerly forgives you all your sins. Go now, and let Christ lead you in selfless love to others. May you serve and give, pouring yourself out for others as Jesus poured Himself out for you! Praise God! AMEN

Opening prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, the broken world we live in tried once again this week to break us and turn away from loving and serving our neighbor. Sometimes we caved into selfishness, and other times we experienced the joy of putting others before ourselves. But we have so much to learn and so much to be forgiven for. So it is with joy in our hearts that we are blessed to walk into your Holy Sanctuary this morning and receive the amazing grace that we do not deserve, but that gives us life! We come to offer our broken lives and burdens knowing you desire to accept us and mercifully wash us clean again in the waters of our baptism. We come to seek guidance and wisdom - that we might increasingly begin to reflect your love to a needy world. Lord, there is not a blessing you will give us this day that we deserve or earned or can ever pay back, so in humble gratitude, receive our praise and prayers and transform our bowed hearts that we might joyfully pick up our cross and follow you; wherever and whenever – according to your will! Teach our heart to beat in rhythm with yours – and draw us closer to you now! In Jesus Name We Pray! AMEN!

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