Christ Church Moreton Hall

Humility

12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Col 3:12-14 (NIV)

Two weeks a go we looked at compassion.Last week we looked at Kindness. We are learning that Father God wants us to put on these virtues like clothes because we should dress as befits our status, as we are princes and princesses.Also because it is dangerous out there and we need the right clothes to protect us. 

It is a very challenging thing to give a sermon on humility.

The very fact you are telling someone how to be humble, should mean you must know how to be humble yourself.

And if you think you know how to be humble, then you probably not very humble at all.

Humility is like the morning mist, as soon as you think you have it, it is gone and you are left holding nothing.

 On the other hand - last week I gave you a talk on Kindness.At the end of the service I gave you two opportunities to be kind. Someone needed a new home and some one else needed furniture.I am very proud of this church, because I less than 12 hours,there were two offers of accommodation and a house full of furniture. So if I preach as well as I did last week,by the time I have finished this sermon,you should be the most humble people on Moreton Hall.  Then I can be very proud of my sermon and my preaching. There are two parts to being humble. One is to understand what it is and the second is to live it with out thinking about it. Both are very hard to do.  How to understand humility.The key to understanding humility is to have a true understanding of your real worth. That is very hard to do because what we earn is no real guide. What our friends and family tell us can never be a good guide,because more often than not, they want to protect our feelings. May be the fact they stay with us, is a guide that we are not as bad as we think.  

But worse, even if we do understand our truth worth, be it high or low.

It may not make us humble, because we may still hate those above us or below us.Humility is understanding our true worth, and liking what we see.It is not being too proud our falling in to the self-defeating, trap of low self-esteem. There are three other places we can look other than friends and family and work.  There is our opinion, Satan’s opinion and God’s opinion.Our opinion can never be trusted because we are so moody, even the calmest of us. Satan is always the one who flatters you into a fall and ridicules you when you are down. Never trust his opinion and if you can never listen to him. The other side of humility is to start believing what Jesus says you true worth is.  In Colossians we should learn that we are chosen we are holy and we are dearly loved.Jesus thought we were worth leaving heaven and dying for.If we take that on board suddenly we see Father God’s opinion of us is much higher than we ever hoped and higher than we really hink we deserve.But Father God’s attitude is the only one that really matters. Now we see that understanding God’s attitude about us and believing it is the real key to being humble. This helps us find out who we really are, and being truly contented, which it what we really wanted all along.   D.A. HAYES says James Hastings’s dictionary of the Bible Says:

“A better definition of the Christian grace of humility is found in the union of the highest self-respect with the uttermost abandon of sacrifice in service. A man who knows his own superior worth, and is yet willing to serve his inferiors in Christian love is a humble man……genuine humility leads the strong to serve the weak. It never underestimates its own worth, but in utter unselfishness it is ready to sacrifice its own claims at any moment for the general good. Genuine humility looses all its self-conceit with out loosing its self-respect.” Hasting Page 372

 So if that is what it is how do we do it?Now this is very hard because, we live in the age of complete self-expression. This is an age where you are not really free unless you can do what you want, when you want, and as often as you want. Anything that stops this self-expression is not only unfair, it is probably un-healthy as well as cruel and should not be allowed. It is hard because it would seem to be humble is to let yourself be un-noticed and un-rewarded. To work hard to be good and to be taken for granted and that is not fair either. So why be humble? First of all it is what God is like.1.     Making of universe he made himself smaller so there could be space for it to be2.     He keeps His eye on his creation and involved himself in it. Psalms says he is the highest of the high yet he stoops down to serve and help all humanity and creation.3.     Each member to the trinity counts the other more important than themselves. That is why Philippians reminds us that Jesus did not see equality with God as something to be grasped4.     They limit themselves to the limit of human prayers and actions.This is how we know how humble our God is. For He never does more than we ask unless we ask in such a way to show we would be pleased if he did. Second as Philippians it is the supreme quality of Jesus. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, Third it is the true characteristic of a Christ follower for in 1 Peter 5:6All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.And Micah 6:8 says we say in our communion confession that this is what Father God wants for us: 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  

However the bible teaches that if you are humble - then this is what God will think about you.

1.     You will be highly regarded2.     You will enjoy his presence.3.     You will be delivered by him4.     You will be lifted up and exalted by Jesus5.     You will be great in the kingdom of God6.     You will receive more grace to live the Christian life6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6 (NIV) 

So if you think you are failing in the Christian life and need more of God.

Humility is the way forward. If you want to be one of the great ones in the kingdom if you want to be honoured by Jesus - Humility is where you start.If you want to really enjoy being in God’s presence, and he seems far away.You need to become humble. If you are in dire need, if there is no place for you to go. Then if you humble yourself God will save you. 

How to live in humility: There are five steps not simple but very hard.

There are many more steps but these are the four I know best.

So how do we start? Humility begins when you know you have a need and that need is God. The first step down the road called Humble Street

 The first stage in becoming humble is calling out to God.Jesus explains this in that very familiar story:10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:10-14 (NIV) Stage two, or if you like the second step along the road, is to seek out and be with others who realise that they too need God in their lives. It is a wrong to say you can be a good Christian and not go to church.You cannot walk in humility as God tells you to unless you walk with other both to help them and to be helped by them. Any journey is always better and safer if you travel with others. If you stumble they can help and if they stumble you can help them.  The first thing Jesus did was gather people around him to help them and for them to help him. That may amaze you, but yes Jesus accepted others help and looked for it. Only at the beginning of his ministry did he face Satan alone.The second time in the garden of Gethsemane, he called his best friends to watch and pray with him – he needed and wanted their help.The fact they failed him, did not mean he valued and wanted them there. If you want to be humble hang around humble people.Jesus is the most humble person you will ever meet, so why not spend time with him and his friends. The real church is where the humble people go, so they can become more humble, and spend more time with Jesus The third stage or the third step is: Daily repentance and daily devotion.The walk of humility requires us to stop once each day. Then to review the day carefully in prayer.To give thanks to God for all the times things have gone well and we can see that he has helped us. But them to deal as quickly as we can with all the time we have let him or ourselves down. The need to read the bible and think about it, sing a praise song and pray for those on your heart This should become not just a habit but also a joy Which you look forward to every day. Now you may say to me Jonathan “I am doing that already and I don’t think I am getting any more humble. To which I reply “Well done the fact you don’t feel humble means you got it about right, but forget what I just said.” Step four or stage four is:Humility is about doing things just because they need to be done.To help for no other reason than they need help. Jesus came not because he wanted us to know there was a second member of the trinity. He came because we needed his help. So many people do things because they want to be noticedor they want to be needed or the just want to be with some people and not with others. Now I am not saying don’t do anything until you motives are right.But true self sacrifice is about seeing the need and nothing but the need. The Good Samaritan helped the wounded man just because he was in need.Others saw the need but urgency of other tasks – After all our visions and goals and life plan come before all else – or the danger or the fear becoming unclean by touching a dying body stopped the other helpers, from doing the obvious thing. Help the man. Fifth step is counting others more worthy than you.Seeing the good in others and counting them as worthy or more worthy than you.In John chapter 13 Jesus was hours away from fulfilling his ministry.He had passed every test. He was approved of and loved by his father. He could have demanded that everyone in the room, wash his feet.

It would in no way have been wrong or sinful for him to ask and them for them to do it.

Yet he washed their feet.

Why because they were dirty.

Why because they would not really enjoy the meal un-washed.

Why because they needed to be taught what

Christian service Christian Ministry and Christian leadership was all about. He did it so that we would learn the same lesson when we read and heard about it 2000 years on.

But more than that he thought them worthy of having their feet washed.

And remember he does the same for you almost every day.

 Humility is central to the Christian life in the same way as it is listed in the middle of these five graces compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. There are two reasons for this.It is not for nothing that humility comes between Kindness and Gentleness. For humility stops any act of kindness done by us becoming the source of pride. And humility comes before gentleness, because no act of kindness is done gently unless it is covered with humility first. The second reason why Jesus wants us to be humble is so we can understand how much he loves us. How much he has given us. How much power we have and how glorious we are in his eyes. Yet he wants us to serve as he did so that we will become more and more like him. And the more we become like him the happier and contented we will be because we will be getting closer and close to him. So let us remind ourselves of what Paul says and put on humility every day:  1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:1-11 Amen