How To Live A Life Of Humbleness
1John 2:6
Prayer
Introduction
A. Many people today have the wrong attitude about the word humble.
B. They think that being humble equates with being weak. But to be humble often takes more mores strength and physical strength than reaction.
C. They wrongly seek power, prestige, and honor. Many families are torn apart because of the lack of humbleness.
D. Many churches fail today because of the lack of a humble spirit. They become self centered, self honoring only worrying about what it will do for them and never once thinking about God.
Napoleon—when he conquered Europe took his family and he sat them every one in great places over the many kingdoms and states and nations of Europe that he’d conquered. Whenever he’d conquered a country, he’d put his relative over it to be ruler. He took his entire family and spread them around over all of those conquered nations of Europe. Well, in the days of his glory, Napoleon heard of an uncle that he had never known. He was a humble preacher of little church miles from Florence and the town in which he ministered had less than a hundred people in it.
And when Napoleon heard of that humble preacher, his uncle, in that little place, he called his general in and sent him, with twenty men, to that little town and said, “When you see him, you tell him that no kinsmen of Napoleon Bonaparte ever is to be in a humble ministry, but he’s to be the leader, to walk in aristocracy and in pride and in glory. And when you see my uncle, you bring him to Paris and you tell him we will make of him a bishop. In time we will make of him a cardinal in the church.”
So the general went, with his twenty men, and came up to this humble place, this humble cottage where that preacher lived in a little town of a hundred people, and said to him, “The great Napoleon has asked me to come to you and to bring you to Paris. You can be a bishop of any diocese that you choose. In time we shall make you a cardinal and give you a cardinal’s hat.”
And the humble preacher replied, “No. These are my people and I am their shepherd and I’ll not leave them.”
The general pressed it upon him and the humble preacher said, “No. These are my people, my sheep, and I’m their shepherd.”
And the great general said, “Then I shall take you by force. We’ll take you to Paris and make you a bishop or a cardinal against your will.”
And the humble man replied, “Sir, if you do that, what would these dear people think and what would the Lord think? That against my will you forced me into this exalted place when the Lord wants me to be a shepherd with these people?”
Crestfallen, the general returned to Paris and made his report to Napoleon. Napoleon thought him a fool but that humble uncle stayed at that church until he died.
II. Jesus Christ God’s Son, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Himself sets the example of humbleness in life.
i. He could have with a single word wiped the human race from the face of the world. But instead He humbled Himself to the point of:
1. being rejected by the people He loved
2. being falsely accused
3. being betrayed
4. being beaten while He was innocent
5. being hung on the cross, to pay for sins He had not committed, of dieing on the cross so that we would not have too.
ii. HE did all that when He did not have too.
1. here was the Master who stripped down to His loin cloth and humbled Himself to be a servant and wash the feet of his disciples.
a. They did nothing to deserve that
b. Jesus did not do it because HE had to, or because they had done something to deserve it, He did it because he wanted too.
c. His love for us was so great that HE wanted to do that for us.
2. He suffered pain and humiliation when He did not have to not because we were so great. He did it in spite of our flaws. He did it because of love.
A Christian father lives by the instruction of Colossians 3:12, “…as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
“Humility” (tapeinophrosume) as it is used here means to have the correct estimate of ourselves. This involves the confession of sin and deep realization of our unworthiness to receive God’s grace.
Glad Tidings ran the story of Doctor James Simpson, the man who discovered that chloroform could be used to render people insensible to the pain of surgery. This discovery made it possible for people in the late 1800’s and many years beyond to go through the most dangerous operations without pain and suffering during the procedure.
Once during a lecture at the University of Endinburgh, Dr. Simpson was asked by one of his students, “What do you consider to be the most valuable discovery of your lifetime?” To the surprise of his students, who had expected him to refer to chloroform, Dr. Simpson replied, “My most valuable discovery was when I discovered myself a sinner and that Jesus Christ was my Savior.”
A Christian father knows ultimately what matters is what God thinks about him. The Holy Spirit has illuminated the truth of Proverbs 15:33 deep within his heart, “The fear of the Lord teaches man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.”
He knows that if he serves the Lord with his God given talents, abilities and Holy Spirit given gifts, the Lord will lift him to the place in life where God’s wants him to be. He knows the truth of 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourself, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.” A Christian father recognizes the Lord’s presence in all his ways.
In order for a tree to grow upward and withstand the storms that are thrown at it, it must strike down roots deep; so it is with the Christian father, to be exalted he must have his mind and heart rooted down in a spirit of humility totally depending on the Providence of God in every part of his life.
II. To be truly humble you must have the love of Christ.
a. The love that Jesus has for us will, if we allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us, allow us to completely obey God and then we can perform true service for God.
i. To be able to exhibit the love of Jesus several realization must come forth in our life
1. We must come to the realization that we can do nothing ourselves. John 5:19 “ the son can do nothing of himself”
a. Jesus, God’s son, still acknowledges that without God He could do nothing.
b. Our pride prevents us from living our lives submissively to God.
i. We want to hold on to control and claim look at what I did.
ii. Truth is this no even Jesus our King, Our Lord, our Savior says that He could not have accomplished anything without God.
iii. And we arrogantly think that we can accomplish everything without God
iv. Read Poem here.
2. The second thing that we must do is set aside our will and seek God’s will for our lives. John 5:30b “I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which has sent me”
a. Jesus recognized that it is not about what HE wanted but about what God wanted.
b. We should make every decision in our live based on what God wants. But we too often make decision based on our anger, emotions, pride or what we want. We fail to humble ourselves and ask what would God want.
3. We must come to the realization that we are not to seek the honor in what we do but we are to humble ourselves and give the honor to God. John 5:41 “I receive not honor from Men”
a. When we seek at work, at home, in service to God, or just in life seek honor for ourselves we are not honoring God. We must give God the honor due Him for what he is accomplishing in our lives.
b. To do this daily we must humble ourselves daily. We must put aside our pride and submit to God.
4. We must come to the realization that if we are to truly be Christians than we must do the things that our Father does. John 5:19 “Verily, verily, I say unto you the Son of Man can do nothing of Himself, but what he seeth the father do: for what things soever he doeth, those also the son likewise.”
a. Jesus said that he could not do anything unless God did it also.
b. We as God’s son’s and daughters must also be like our Lord and Savior and do only those things our Father does.
III. We are to be overflowing with love.
a. How are we to react with the problems of life?
i. When someone attacks you Love
ii. When someone falsely accuses you Love
iii. When someone irritates you Love
iv. When someone causes problems for you LOVE
v. When someone hurts you Love
b. see by loving them you can forgive them. Then you can be humble in spirit and when all members of the body of the church is humble in spirit than the Church is humble and does God’s will.
c. And when the Church is doing God’s will it is leading people to salvation.
d. That is the whole purpose of humbleness leading People to Christ.
This week, I read a beautiful legend about a king who decided to set aside a special day to honor his greatest subject. When the big day arrived, there was a large gathering in the palace courtyard. Four finalists were brought forward, and from these four, the king would select the winner.
The first person presented was a wealthy philanthropist. The king was told that this man was highly deserving of the honor because of his humanitarian efforts. He had given much of his wealth to the poor.
The second person was a celebrated physician. The king was told that this doctor was highly deserving of the honor because he had rendered faithful and dedicated service to the sick for many years.
The third person was a distinguished judge. The king was told that the judge was worthy because he was noted for his wisdom, his fairness, and his brilliant decisions.
The fourth person presented was an elderly woman. Everyone was quite surprised to see her there, because her manner was quite humble, as was her dress. She hardly looked the part of someone who would be honored as the greatest subject in the kingdom. What chance could she possibly have, when compared to the other three, who had accomplished so much?
Even so, there was something about her; the look of love in her face, the understanding in her eyes, her quiet confidence.
The king was intrigued, to say the least, and somewhat puzzled by her presence. He asked who she was. The answer came: �you see the philanthropist, the doctor, and the judge? Well she was their teacher!�
The woman had no wealth, no fortune, and no title, but she had unselfishly given her life to produce great people. There is nothing more powerful or more Christ-like than sacrificial love.
The king could not see the value in the humble lady. He missed the significance of the teacher.
Often we miss the value of those around us. I think it would surprise us to know how often we miss the presence of Christ, just as Cleopas and his brother missed the significance of the stranger on the road to Emmaus.
IV. Conclusion.
