Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67 Psalm 45: 11-18 Romans 7:15-25a Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
“Please join me in my prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)
Introduction:
That was some Gospel reading, I mean, I know I have been away for a while but what exactly did all that mean; where do you start putting that together. This one did puzzle me at first, but with the help of the Holy Spirit the key to this message is in verse 29, where Jesus said, “for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”.
In most of my sermons I usually mention the Gospel somewhere, as it rarely taught, … and so is humility, and for me … it is one of the most exciting part of being a Christian; … as humility is not about being weak and submission to all and sundry, but humility in its proper use is power and strength and honour and glory; characteristics missing in many a Christians life; yet it was arguably the greatest characteristics of our Lord himself.
Verse 29 again, “for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”; is that not powerful, rest for our souls in this troubled world: Jesus is telling us that as we learn to follow his example of humility, we will find rest and peace; whereas pride and arrogance throw us into tension and turmoil? I know which I would rather have, as humility also allows us to rest from the competitiveness of this age, which is never satisfying.
Humility is such a powerful quality that we see it displayed all through the life of Jesus, and we all agree … Jesus was and is the most powerful man who ever lived; and who was always concerned about doing his Father’s will, and never his own. In fact right up to the end as he faced the cross, Jesus prayed: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will”.
Here is the very essence of the Christian faith; we must serve God at the expense of ourselves … and I am not condemning anyone here because we all fail, and we all serve ourselves now and again, but what I am talking about here is that when we do serve ourselves, it hurts somewhere; but if it does bother us, we can say with confidence that we are doing our best to follow Jesus, and seeking out his perfect will, the will of God, both of which are the same. You see there is no condemnation here, we either live to serve God, or we live to serve ourselves, there is no third option.
Now whether God lets us serve him or not, is an entirely different matter but if we are living for him, and we are, then it is our desire to serve him, and please him. Jesus said as much in John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me”. If you are still, unsure … why are you here today worshipping the Lord, you see, we have arrived at that place where we want to live for him, … and doing so benefit ourselves as we are no longer our own … we belong to him, and we desire to be like him, as he is our role model for this life.
Indeed, Philippians 2:5-8 goes much further, and Paul admonishes us, he rebukes us by saying that “our 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”!
I don’t like this kind of rebuke, because it is simply telling us what we should do, without telling us why we should do it … but that why is found in Matthew 12:50 which says, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister”. We should make ourselves humble because in doing God’s will … we bring ourselves us into a direct relationship with Jesus. Think about it, the most powerful man who ever lived, wants to call us his brother or sister … now that is some claim, and … difficult to grasp, but that is what the bible says.
You see the opposite, is equally true, because pride and rebellion make us determined to have our own way, bringing ruin on ourselves, and destruction in the lives of others. The proud and the arrogant, give little or no account of their selfish acts, or the consequences others. These people like to boast they are strong, but in reality, they are weak, they take life, and they draw the very life from others … whereas the Christian, through humility gives life, and as they grow in God, they give life more abundantly.
Selfishness ultimately destroys, where humility, by being submissive to God, gives his life and peace to others, and in turn, gives life and peace to ourselves. It is a complete win-win situation, simply by putting on this “yoke of obedience to Christ”.
Yes it can be difficult, (and we all know that), but it is nowhere near as difficult as not doing his will; which ultimately invites disaster. We therefore need to imitate the life of Christ, so that we can say with confidence Psalm 40 verse 8 which says, “I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart”.
And that takes us to Romans 12:2, which says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will” and … and the bible this time tells us why, because the end result of doing God’s will is eternal life.
1 John 2:17 confirms, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever”. Again that is so difficult to grasp, and believe, but that is what the bibles says, that we … will live forever. … How many people in history have you ever heard searching for eternal life, yet here we find it in here the bible and all we have to do … is follow him.
But there is a catch! Doing God’s will takes humility. It means that that we must admit that we do not know it all, and that we cannot do it on our own. It means we must die to our stubborn pride and surrender to the will of God. We are no longer independent from him; we are part of him, and his great purposes, just as we are dependent on his air to breathe. Yes, we are dependent on God in every area of our lives.
But if he is in every area of our lives, what a privilege that is, because everything in our lives is under his control … and who does not want that? This is powerful stuff … because humility is full of power and strength and honour and hope, and blessings, and all the rest of these good things. Only the non believers think humility is weakness, and I must admit … I purposely let them think that. In fact you can tell how weak a person is, by their lack of humility. Are you with me; then they are weak; and they need to learn to let go, and too let go, you need a saviour.
Ok, we will move further on … Jesus said in Luke 19:10 that “He came to serve, and not be served. He came to seek and save the lost”; and 1 Corinthians 10:24 goes further by saying, “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others”.
The proud and selfish are people who are self-focused, full of themselves, who cannot stop talking about themselves; as it is all about them … they are the most important persons in their universe, and that is because their universe is small, whereas the universe of Christ is massive, and full of richness in every aspect.
But watch out, the proud and selfish can be found anywhere, look at the last supper for instance, where Jesus had repeatedly told his disciples of his betrayal, and the suffering he was about to endure before his death. Luke 22:21 says, “But, behold, the hand of him that betrayed me is with me on the table. … ... And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.” Yes we are all familiar with these verses, but do you know the very next verse which follows. Luke 22 verse 24 goes on to say, (and this is surprising), “And there was also a strife among them, as to which of them should be accounted the greatest”. How incredible is that … all they could think about was themselves, rather than on each other … or even on Jesus as he needed them more than any other point in his lifetime. We have all seen this type of situation where the leadership is failing, and everyone is fighting to be top dog.
Me, I walk away, as this is a time for humility, not a time for a contest of egos; and as someone wise once said, “Humble people don’t think less of themselves … they just think about themselves less.”
There is a prominent social activist, called Shane Claiborne, who once spent a summer in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa, and then wrote about this experience; and I quote this excerpt, “During Claiborne’s time with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, he noticed, when she took off her shoes for daily prayer, that her feet were knobby and deformed. He eventually asked someone what was wrong with Mother Teresa’s feet. The person explained that Mother Teresa and her sisters relied heavily on donations for everything, including their shoes. When a load of donated shoes would come in, Mother Teresa consistently chose the worst pair of shoes for herself. As a consequence of wearing substandard shoes, her feet had deteriorated”.
Mother Theresa did not take the worst pair of shoes because she was weak, she took them because she was stronger than the others … and she knew she could overcome something the others could not. She probably repeated this action in many other areas of her life, displaying humility through strength … and developing that strength, so much so that when Mother Theresa spoke, (like her or not), world leaders listened.
Paul tells us in Philippians 2:3 that we should “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility to consider others better than ourselves. Each of us should look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others”. Humility means that our focus is always away from ourselves, not because of weakness but because of strength … and because we know we can over come.
And I must say here, this does not come automatically, we have to work at it and develop it, and many times we grit our teeth as we think we fail every now and again, but I will end with this analogy, it is the best I can up with, it is crude … but think of yourself when you give your offering, (and I am not condemning anyone). Then think of the process that “may” go through you mind, budgeting for will happen in the week to come, and so you come to a conclusion as to your donation.
Right, now forget that process, and think of strength through humility. Can you imaging the offering plate coming round, and then putting your hand in your pocket only to find a £100 pound note, then putting that into the collection, knowing … knowing full well that it will be returned to you 100 fold, within a few weeks. That would change your giving, that is strength through humility; it is giving knowing that you will be blessed because of your giving; not just in money, but in every area of your life.
I will finish by giving you some familiar Christian attributes; attributes the world laughs at, but hopefully you will see them in a new light. Remember, humility requires strength and faith from the giver, before they can give; from which more strength and power will grow. You have heard them all before, but now look at them:
If we want to be first, we need to be … the last.
If we want to become great … we need to become least.
If we want to be free … we need to give God control.
The way of success is through … service to others.
God’s power is made perfect, where … in our weaknesses.
The way to eternal life … is through death – death to ourselves
And finally, here is a warning, this strength through humility is not instant; like all good skills, it takes years of training, so we must start at the bottom and slowly develop our faith … and let it grow one small step at a time. Luke 6:38 says “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over … For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” You see, you cannot give properly, as Jesus would give, unless the measure you use … is his strength through your humility.
Amen, Let us pray.
Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for Jesus, we thank you that he died for us, all those years ago, applying your perfect will and in submission to you; and not listening to his own wants and desires.
Father we want to be like that too, but we are afraid of where that will take us … as this is not the thinking of this world. Father we ask that you reveal yourself to us, that we may see you, and that we may feel you love, and from that love we see your will for us here on this earth.
Father teach us the way of your humility, show us your power and strength and honour and glory that results from this humility, that we may in turn benefit and grow and be able to extend your love, and your life into the lives of others.
Father, please protect us from those who do not follow in your ways, those who would suck the very life out of us for their own gain, and use us for their purposes, and not your. Father, help us to discern these people, and father give us the strength to walk away from them, knowing that you are in control.
Father, we thank you that Jesus showed us the way; give us therefore the strength to follow him. We ask in his almighty name
I pray also for Rodney Buchanan, without whose help and inspiration, I would not have got this sermon off the ground.
Amen.
