How Low Can You Go?
Humility: The First Step to Promotion
“Attitude” Series
I. Introduction
(The following is a parable that I made up as an introduction. It is fictional. For a story of similar proportion, see the movie RADIO.)
He was never an all-star athlete, although he wanted to be. He didn’t have what it takes. Bobby’s body was disproportionate; one leg was longer than the other was, so he walked funny. And to see him run was definitely a sight for sore eyes. He always liked sports, in fact, every Friday night, he would be at his high school cheering on whatever team was playing that night--basketball, football, baseball, soccer, tennis. If there was a game, he was there, sporting pom-poms and a foam finger that said his team was number one.
One Friday night, the football coach noticed his dedication to the team, so he asked him if he’d like to be the water boy. Bobby was amazed. Besides all the stares and giggles because of his limp, he had never thought anyone ever noticed him, especially Coach Gordon. Bobby had tried out for the football team two years earlier, and the coach sent him packing. “You’re too…uncoordinated,” he said. But now, the chance to be the water boy. Bobby jumped on the opportunity and the next week, he was at practice everyday, filling cups with water and making sure every player had something to drink when he needed it.
Every now and then, a couple of the players would make fun of him. However, Bobby loved his position as the teams water boy and wasn’t going to quit. His parents told him that being the water boy on a team was the lowest of the low, and that they would never stoop so low as to being the water boy. In spite of his parents’ comments, Bobby was diligent to serve as the teams water boy for the entire season. The next year, Bobby’s senior year, Coach appointed Bobby as his personal assistant. Coach Gordon was so pleased with Bobby’s heart, that he took him in and taught him everything he knew about football. Bobby went on to college the next year, and in addition to his studies, Coach Gordon had asked him to be the assistant coach. Bobby helped coach the team all throughout college where he graduated with a degree in Sports Management. Bobby continued to move up the ladder and at the end of his career, he had won two Super Bowls and owned his own football team.
What was the first step to Bobby’s success? Do you think if Bobby was “too good” to be the water boy that he would have had such success in football?
Tonight we’re going to talk about humility: the first step to promotion.
II. First Things First
What is humility?
Humility is the exact opposite of pride. Pride means to puff oneself up. A prideful person is always talking about himself. Every sentence begins with I and ends with me. A humble person, therefore, is one who puts everyone else before himself. A humble person puts himself on the bottom of the list. A humble person always looks out for others and makes it a point to serve them.
Philippians 2:3 “3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
Humility is considering others better than yourself.
III. Humble Yourself Before Somebody Humbles You
Luke 14:7-11 (MSG) “Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, “When someone invites you to dinner, don’t take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he’ll come and call out in front of everybody, ‘You’re in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.’ Red-faced, you’ll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.
“When you’re invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, ‘Friend, come up to the front.’ That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I’m saying is, if you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face. But if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
Luke 14:11 (NIV) “11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Ok, let me break this down for you in modern terms. When somebody’s throwing a party and they invite you, don’t show up thinking you’re all that and a bag of chips, plop down in homeboy’s big recliner and make yourself comfortable. Because homeboy’s going to come over and say, “Yo, everybody, listen up. Small-time over here thinks he can sit in Big Poppa’s recliner.” Everybody will laugh at you and homeboy will say, “Get up Tiny, because this seat is reserved for Big Poppa.” Then you’ll have to get up and sit on the floor in the back of the room where you can’t see the TV. No, when you’re invited to a party, go and sit on the floor in the back of the room where you can’t see the TV. Then when homeboy comes around giving props to his peeps, he’ll see you on the floor, and say, “What up, Big-Time?! You don’t have to chill on the floor. Come on over here and catch a seat in my recliner, right in front of the TV.” Then, as you make your way to the big seat, everybody’s gonna be giving you high fives and shout outs. Here’s the deal: If you walk around like you own the place, you’re gonna get shot down, but if you come in and just chill, you’ll get pumped up.
Which consequence do you like better? Falling flat on your face or becoming more than yourself? Getting humbled or being exalted? Getting shot down, or being pumped up?
IV. Be Humble, Be Exalted
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, that’s Newton’s third law, and it holds true for this subject of humility. In the case of the proud dinner guest, his action was to sit in the place of honor. The equal and opposite reaction was for him to removed to the lowest seat at the table. If you are proud, you will be humbled. If you are humble, you will be exalted.
Let’s say you work at McDonald’s. There’s nothing wrong with that. I love a double cheeseburger every now and then. So you’re back there flipping my burgers, adding all the fixings, and your manager comes out from the back and tells you that he’s gonna take over for you. “Great- break time!” you say. And the manager looks at you and says, “No, not hardly. We had a kid puke all over the bathroom and I want you to clean it up.” What’s your reaction? How do you handle it?
So, you’re torn: you either clean up the barf or lose your job. Your attitude in this situation determines whether or not you’re going to work tomorrow.
You think, “I deserve a better job than this. I am NOT cleaning up the puke.”
In high school, I worked for Publix as a bag boy for about 5 months. One of the things we had to do on a nightly basis was clean the bathrooms. There were two closing bag boys, so one would clean the bathrooms, the other would do trash and some other cleaning stuff. I absolutely despised cleaning the bathrooms. Every time my manager told me it was time to do the bathrooms, I immediately said, “Oh, I’m doing trash tonight.” And I would automatically volunteer my co-worker to clean the bathrooms. Let’s face it, nobody likes cleaning bathrooms, but it has to be done. One of my buddies worked there, too. In fact, he was the reason I got the job. He didn’t like cleaning the bathrooms, but his attitude was a lot better than mine when the manager asked him to do it. Well, after I had worked there for 3 months, I thought I’d get a promotion to stocker or produce or even cashier. But, did I get a promotion? Nope. Did my friend get a promotion? Yes, he did. What was the difference? I didn’t see it then, but now I know that it was humility that led to his promotion. He was humble, therefore he was exalted.
1 Peter 5: 5-7 “5Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Proverbs 18:12 “Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.”
Proverbs 29:23 “Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.”
CASEY AT THE BAT
by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game. -
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought if only Casey could but get a whack at that-
We’d put up even money now with Casey at the bat. -
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey’s getting to the bat. -
But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was Johnnie safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third. -
Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat. -
There was ease in Casey’s manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey’s bearing and a smile on Casey’s face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt ’twas Casey at the bat. -
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey’s eye, a sneer curled Casey’s lip. -
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-
"That ain’t my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said. -
From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted some one on the stand;
And it’s likely they’d have killed him had not Casey raised his
hand. -
With a smile of Christian charity great Casey’s visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two." -
"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and the echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn’t let the ball go by again. -
The sneer is gone from Casey’s lips, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey’s blow. -
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville- mighty Casey has struck out.
Mighty Casey struck out. He walked up to the plate with pride on his face, no humility to be found. Pride came before his fall. Exalt yourself and be humbled. Humble yourself, and be exalted.
2 Chronicles 26:3-5 “Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.”
Then it goes on to tell about Uzziah’s mighty feats of war, how he built fortified towers in Jerusalem and had a mighty army of over 300,000 men, and how he had invented the catapult. All the while, God was helping him. Let’s look at the end of verse 15.
2 Chronicles 26:15-16 “His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful. But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.”
Uzziah got all high and mighty on everybody. What had happened was, he went into the temple to burn incense on the altar, and the priest told him, “Yo, King, you’re not supposed to be in here. The priests are the only ones who have been set apart to burn incense. Get out of here, God’s not going to honor your offering.”
Well, Uzziah had a censer, a long rod, in his hand to burn the incense, and he was enraged. He probably started swinging his censer around and saying, “I’m the King. You can’t tell me I’m not supposed to be in here. I own the whole kingdom. God will honor my offering!” While he was making a fool of himself, leprosy broke out on his forehead. At this point, the priests hurried him out and Uzziah was ready to get out of there because God definitely didn’t honor his offering.”
King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died, and he lived in a separate house away from the kingdom. From the day Uzziah got leprosy, his son became the king.
Exalt yourself and be humbled. Humble yourself and be exalted.
V. An Example in Humility
We’ve just seen a couple of folks who’s pride led them to their downfall. Now let’s look at the object of our faith being the example for our faith.
John 13: 1-17 “1Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. 2It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.
3Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. 4So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. 6When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, "Master, you wash my feet?"
7Jesus answered, "You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later."
8Peter persisted, "You’re not going to wash my feet--ever!"
Jesus said, "If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing."
9"Master!" said Peter. "Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!"
10Jesus said, "If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you." 11(He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, "Not every one of you.") 12After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.
Then he said, "Do you understand what I have done to you? 13You address me as "Teacher’ and "Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. 14So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. 15I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. 16I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. 17If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it--and live a blessed life.”
Jesus humbled himself and did what only a servant did in those days. He got on his knees before his disciples’ and washed their feet. What a man!
How many of you would get down on your knees and wash somebody’s stinky feet? You definitely wouldn’t if you thought you were better than them. You would demand that they wash your feet, wouldn’t you? That’s pride, prepare to fall. But humble yourself, make yourself the lowest of the low, and prepare to be promoted.
When you put yourself at the bottom of a ladder, there’s no where to go but up. When you place yourself at the top, there’s nowhere to go but down. Let’s pray.
