I've been thinking about humility lately. I think it's been hitting me from my quiet time in Ezra. I'll get to that in a minute. Also, I preached from Romans 12 on our PURE (middle school) Winter Weekend, and that was one of my points from one of my messages. But more about that in a minute as well. Today, as I was reading in the book of James (one of my favorites), I came across the passage in James 4 that deals with humility and worldliness. I took a moment to read it (even though I wasn't planning to look at that passage). It says, "Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you." (James 4:7-10, HCSB)
This caught my eye, as I said, because I had been thinking about humility lately. In Ezra, there have been a number of mentions of Ezra humbling himself before Almighty God. In this James passage, he talks of submission to God, cleansing hands, purifying hearts, mourning, and ultimately humbling ourselves before God. As I thought about those things, I realized that each of them are the beginning of an act of humility. Agreeing with God about our sinful condition takes humility. Many times in church world, we say that pride will be the sin that sends more people to hell than anything else. What we mean is that if someone is unwilling to humble themselves before God, they will never ask Jesus to forgive and save!
In Ezra 7:10 it says, "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. " (NKJV) When Ezra prepared his heart, it took humility. When he decided to obey God's Word, it took humility. And when he decided he would teach the Word of God, it took humility. So we see that humility is important when someone is beginning to walk with and follow God. Then, in Ezra 9, we see his reaction to sin. He is humbled and even humiliated because of the nation's sin. He recognized where he stood in comparison to God. Just as Isaiah did when he saw the Lord high and lifted up and in all of His glory. He cried out, "Woe is me..." True humility is the mark of a mature believer, because we realize who we are in comparison to who God is.
1. Humility is important to begin walking with and following God
2. Humility is a mark of a mature Jesus follower.
Both of those are directed from man towards God.
The next thing is showing how we can achieve unity through humility. Check out Philippians 2:1-8, "If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead, He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man, in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death -- even to death on a cross." (HCSB) When we use Jesus as our example of true humility, we can all see how much work we have to do. True humility leads to serving others. Jesus was humble enough to obey to come and serve and save mankind.
Romans 12:9-16 says, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who bless you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion." There are too many things in these verses to hit them all, but let me sum up. In order to love without hypocrisy, and be kindly affectionate towards each other and honor and give preference to each other and to distribute to the needs of the needy and to bless those who persecute and to rejoice with the happy and weep with the sad and to have the same mind with others and to associate with the humble and to not be wise in your own opinion...it all takes humility. My favorite part of that entire passage is the last line "Do not be wise in your own opinion." In other words, be teachable. My prayer for me is that I never get to the point where I think I know it all. There's always something to learn. It could be from another pastor. Or it could be from a student. It could even be from one of my kids.
I want to jump back to the passage in James for one minute. "Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will exalt you." Ultimately, we do not need to worry about exalting ourselves. It would be better to serve in relative obscurity and allow God to lift you up then to work for the purpose of others seeing you. Humble yourself before God. Submit to God. Humble yourself before others. Give them preference.
