I begin this morning with a couple of questions that I am asking you to reflect on: (Slide 1) Who is the most humble person you know and what makes them that way? Is humility a weakness or a strength?
What is humility anyway?
A man prayed this for his son, ‘Build me a son, O Lord,
who will be strong enough to know when he is weak,
and brave enough to face him self when he is afraid;
one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat,
and humble and gentle in victory.’
Toward then end of the prayer he says,
Give him humility, so that he may always remember
the simplicity of true greatness,
the open mind of true wisdom,
the meekness of true strength.
It is interesting to note that the man who is credited with this prayer was General Douglas MacArthur considered by many of his day as anything but humble! In fact he closes his prayer with
‘Then I, his father, will dare to whisper,
"I have not lived in vain."
But it is a moving prayer and it is a good prayer because humility is a very essential characteristic of a God honoring life.
(Slide 2) One of the sources that I consulted for today said that humility is ‘a prominent Christian grace. It is a state of mind well pleasing to God; it preserves the soul in tranquility, and makes us patient under trials.’
(I thought that patience makes us patient!)
For the next seven weeks, we are going to examine seven important qualities that I am calling ‘Stepping Stones’ to faith. Here they are… (Slide 3)
Humility
Love
Self-control
Kindness
Purity
Diligence (which will be on Mother’s Day)
Forgiveness
These are important qualities that the Holy Spirit wants to develop in our lives and I also believe that these were the qualities on Jesus’ mind when He addressed the disciples in John 15 through 17 in the Upper Room. They are very much rooted in love and obedience, are they not? (As well as being characteristics of a humble person.)
Our friend there in the upper left corner of the slide illustrates the challenges we have of walking on stepping stones amidst some very big stumbling blocks in our way. And the Bible alludes to these stepping stones and stumbling blocks directly and indirectly.
In Matthew 18 Jesus said, ‘But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose faith, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck.’ The children mattered to Jesus (and they still do) and we matter to God as well. His warning about being a stumbling block is one that we need to take seriously.
But these stepping stones (and the stumbling blocks as well) are metaphors for our character and the choices we make that makes or breaks our character and which also makes or breaks our faith. The Bible clearly teaches that our character and our faith must be built on Christ and what He has done for us.
One of the most important passages about the foundations of our life is found in Luke 6:46 through 49 (Slide 4) “So why do you call me ‘Lord,’ when you won’t obey me? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then obeys me.
(Slide 5) It is like a person who builds a house on a strong foundation laid upon the underlying rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against the house, it stands firm because it is well built.
(Slide 6) But anyone who listens and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will crumble into a heap of ruins.”
Many times on television we have seen the destruction of someone’s home when the foundation collapses because of heavy rains and saturated ground. Notice how Jesus ties in the issue of obedience to Him to the kind of foundation that is selected. Stepping stones create a foundation that is based on obedience. Stumbling blocks, which are constant challenges to us and at times, seem overwhelming, create a flawed life foundation.
One of the stepping stones God wants us to stand on and to build our life upon is ‘humility.’ (Slide 7)
Our main text for this morning is Proverbs 11:2 which says (Slide 8) Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
The contrast created by the results of the two different characters is very sharp. We have seen, and experienced in one form or another, disgrace because of our pride. We have also experience the life enriching power and warmth of wisdom as we humble ourselves before God.
Throughout the Bible we read of the importance of ‘humbling ourselves.’ One such place is 1 Peter 5:6 which says, ‘So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and in his good time he will honor you.’
What does this mean? How do we humble ourselves before God?
A pastor-preacher of another generation, James Stalker, says that wisdom is ‘partially an intellectual virtue, but it consists much less in knowing than in doing’ as it, ‘slowly accumulates by experience’ and is also ‘learned through imitation.’ He also points out that it is also learned by precept which includes meditating on God’s word.
(Slide 9) How then does wisdom become one of our stepping stones? Here are a couple of suggestions to make it one of our stepping stones (and foundational building blocks as well).
In keeping with Stalker’s words we must have a Biblical and balanced view of oneself. The Bible reminds us that we are flawed through the disobedient actions and attitudes of sin. But the Bible also notes that we are also capable of doing great and wonderful things as well and that Jesus Christ died for our sins because He loved us (and still does). Meditating upon the important truths of scripture helps us develop this character quality.
(Slide 9a) Humility is also an attitude that is cultivated through an intentional and on-going surrender of our will to God. Proverbs 15:33 says, ‘Fear of the Lord teaches a person to be wise;’ The fear of God is better understood as respecting and obeying the Lord instead of quaking in your boots (although that is sometimes a good thing to do as well.) As we fear God humility develops within us so that we are neither proud nor boastful but not groveling and hopeless either.
I also remind us this morning that it is our will that must be surrendered to God. And our will is that part of us that decides what we are going to do and who we are going to follow. It is an on-going decision, a daily decision; even sometimes a moment by moment decision.
Now if the stepping stone we need to stand on; the foundational block we need to build (and allow the Lord to build into) the foundation of our life, then the sand; the stumbling block is pride. Our main text says, ‘Pride leads to disgrace.’ Why and how does this happen?
(Slide 10) In fact, what is pride? Stalker says ‘it may not seem obvious that pride is the primary sin’ and that the ‘essence of sin in selfishness; and pride is the inordinate assertion of self.’ A little further he reminds his readers that ‘spiritual pride renders spiritual progress impossible’ because it ‘frustrates the grace of God’ as ‘God cannot save a person who is not aware of the need for salvation.’
I believe that it is safe to say that pride was embedded in the serpent’s question and assertions to Eve, “Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?” You won’t die! You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.”
How do we know then when pride is at work? It is a subtle thing and hard to detect.
Leighton Ford, in his book Good News Is For Sharing, provides us a check list of questions that can assist us in determining whether or not pride is operating within us:
He says, ‘When I am conscious of the fear of failure holding me back, I go through a kind of personal checklist: (Slide 11)
1. Does this fear come basically from pride, a fear that I will not live up to my own expectations or to those of others?
2. Do I remember that God has called me first to faithfulness, then to efficiency?
(Slide 12)
3. Do I trust that the Holy Spirit is working before me, with me, and through me?
4. Do I remember that I am called to be neither more nor less successful than Jesus Christ was?
(Slide 13)
5. Do I remember that God does his greatest work when I seem to be weakest? Isn’t that, after all, the mystery of the cross?
How would pride answer these questions? Perhaps pride wouldn’t answer these questions because they would expose her weaknesses and one of the things that pride does is to cover our weaknesses and the fear… and shame… those weaknesses produce.
Pride says, ‘you have to do it all. You have to look good. You cannot lose it. You cannot look bad. You cannot be seen as weak!’
Pride creates a false front that may seem strong but is very weak. It is like a windowless house that allows no light to shine in. Pride lives for and in the darkness of fear and even anger and rage.
One of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, in my opinion, and the opinion of others, was Roger Staubach. He was the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He led them to several Super Bowls and a 1971 Super Bowl win.
Staubach is also an outstanding follower of Jesus who admitted to dealing with frustration born out of professional pride as it related to who called the plays, the late Tom Laundry or Staubach. In this regard, someone has written ‘Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!).
Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team.
Roger later said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory."
Who runs your life? How you answer that indicates the foundation upon which you are building your life.
It is a matter of obedience as regarding humility and pride. Humility says, ‘God directs my life.’ Pride says, ‘I run my life.’
As we move through this series I would have each of us keep in mind this question:
(Slide 14)
How do we avoid the stumbling blocks and walk on the stepping stones? Here are a couple of suggestions: (Slide 14a) Make the choice to switch paths and build your life on the right foundation which is Jesus Christ. Confess the sin that keeps you tumbling over the stumbling blocks. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
As we move toward communion, I would remind us that as tempted as Jesus was, (and I believe that He was powerfully and profoundly tempted, to make the choice to avoid arrest and crucifixion), His uttering ‘Your will not my will be done’ indicated the foundation upon which He had built His life and ministry on earth. It was, as Paul would write in Philippians 2, ‘in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.’ His humble action and attitude has given us forgiveness and a second chance! Amen? Amen!
Sources:
Entry on ‘humility.’
Quickverse Life Application Bible Software.
MacArthur prayer and Staubach story is from www.Sermoncentral.com ©
Stalker quotes are from his book ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ and ‘The Seven Cardinal Virtues.’ Navpress Edition 1998
