Pilgrims Path 1 Humility Series

Very often pride clouds our judgment. When faced with the mountains in this life, rather than humbly asking others for help we rush off to disaster, heartache, or simply much unnecessary and fruitless work. Whereas pride is an obstacle to fruitfulness, growth, and success, humility is the smooth road to the top. At the end of the pathway of pride, no matter how successful we may be, we find a sheer cliff, impeding our ultimate progress, but the pathway of humility is laden with the greatest treasure of all; knowing God.

Transition

This morning we will embark on an 8 week journey discovering what I have called “The Pilgrim’s Path,” that is the way of the Kingdom, the path of the righteous. In the gospel of Mathew 5:3-12 is recounted Jesus sermon on the mount.

The principals of the Sermon on the Mount are often referred to as the beatitudes; a phrase derived from the Latin word beatus, which means a state of blessedness or happiness which not contingent upon outward circumstances.

The Pilgrim’s path is not the path to be saved; it is the path of the saved; it is not the path which earns Heaven but it is the path of the citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. The path that Jesus lays out in 8 primary principals in the Sermon on the Mount is the pathway of the pilgrim who is already on his or her way to Heaven.

Simply stated; the beatitudes are not to be seen as a way of earning Heaven but a way of living for those who have been made citizens of the kingdom according to God’s grace. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus inaugural address, as He explains what He expects from followers of the way; from citizens of His Kingdom.

Exposition

In Mathew 5:3 Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (NIV) Here, Jesus words echo those of Proverbs 16:19 where it says, “Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” Pride is an affront to God but lowliness of spirit is a means of great blessing. Humility is the pathway of the righteous.

In the Kingdom of Heaven it is not the strong but the humble that are to be exalted. This is entirely because in our strength the means to be exalted does not exist. Man has the distinct inability to save himself. Humanity in general and each one of us find ourselves in the precarious position of having neither the means nor the ability to save ourselves and yet the personality of humanity is marred with pride.

From the very beginning man has attempted to save himself, to exalt himself, to glory in his own strength. This is the message of the account of the Tower of Babel in the Old Testament. Genesis 11:4 says, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

(NIV) Men have from the start been on a mission to make a name for themselves.

Men are ever busy building towers to this very day and if we are honest we would have to say that we have a few towers in our lives as well, don’t we?