SE111702
CHARACTER UNDER CONSTRUCTION
3. Humility
INTRO: I’M NOT GOD
Vince Lombardi - one of the greatest coaches in NFL history - apparently had an large ego. One day he came home to bed after a great win but wife was already asleep. When his feet touched her legs she said,
God, your feet are cold!
Lombardi answered,
Honey, when we’re in bed, just call me Vince
Ernest Kurtz wrote a book about the history of Alcoholics Anonymous entitled “Not-God” because he says:
the fundamental problem alcoholics have is that way down deep, they refuse to acknowledge limitation, weakness, being finite, being fallen. They tend to live under the delusion that they are in control of everything, when the truth is, they can’t even control ourselves.
Thus to say, “I am not God”, is to say, I have weakness and limitations, I am not in control of everything in my universe, I need help from a power far greater than myself. As obvious as that sounds, friends, this, “I am not God” illusion is not limited to alcoholics. It is a spiritual problem that we all share.
If first showed up in the Bible in the Garden of Eden when spiritual forces of evil embodied in that snake told Eve,
“When you eat this fruit, your eyes will be opened, and you’ll be like God.” That was the first temptation. “You’ll be master of your own universe. You don’t have to submit to somebody else’s ideas, you can make up your own rules, that makes you like God.”
See, this “You’ll be like God.” temptation has been around a long time and it’s at the heart of all sin and spiritual confusion. It defines what we mean by humility and it’s opposite character trait, pride:
PRIDE is not so much bragging as it is this illusion that I am at the center and can manage everything on my own without help. Bragging may be a symptom of pride, but pride itself is much deeper. Even very insecure people who would never be caught dead bragging can demonstrate an amazing amount of pride.
HUMILITY therefore is the opposite of this attitude. It’s not a self deprecating sort of thing, humility is just living in the truth about ourselves… and the truth is I am not God, I’m not the center, I have needs, I have things I can’t control, I am dependant on God. That’s humility.
Now, at recovery meetings the first thing people say when they talk is,
“My name is Rick. I’m an alcoholic.”
Which is to say, “Let’s get real clear on something up front: I’m not God.” It’s a reality check. A way of getting centered in the truth to keep your spiritual sanity.
So let’s all do that right now. Here’s what I want you to do, a little audience participation today – if you have someone next to you that you know their name. Turn to that person, real quick, and say:
“Your name is,” ___________, “and you’re not God.”
Go ahead. Someone once said:
“The biggest difference between you and God is God doesn’t think he’s you.”
You see, pretending we’re God is the core of PRIDE and pride can destroy your life, and your relationship with God. So today we’re going to study a man who’s about to learn this very painful lesson. He’s not God. Then we’re going to talk about a guy who showed humility. And alot of my thoughts today I’ve received from a talk John Ortberg gave about Pride.
PHARAOH
The first guy is Pharaoh. He’s the king of Egypt about 3500 years ago and Egypt is a world power. So Pharaoh is the absolute dictator of an empire that reigns with unchallenged authority over the known world. He has strength, wealth, fame and power unparalleled in his world.
He’s the most secure person on the face of the earth. He is a god! That’s how people think of him. But he’s a god with a problem. His empire has enslaved the race of Hebrews for their massive building projects for hundreds of years. They’ve come in very handy building monuments to kings’ vanities, but the problem is:
- they’re reproducing so fast they’re becoming a threat.
- What if Egypt goes to war?
- These Hebrews might join the enemy and revolt and there’s so many, even armed with only sticks and clubs, they could be a real nuisance.
So the very first time we meet Pharaoh, we find him giving the order to kill babies. The midwives were to kill all the male children born to the Jewish slaves. There’s an interesting juxtaposition in the Bible at this point. The very next verse says,
But the Hebrew midwives refused to obey the King because they feared God.
You see, Pharaoh thinks that the powers of life and death, belong to him. He’s firmly under the spell of the “I am God” delusion. The Hebrews, on the other hand, who worship the one true God are not under the same delusion.
This horrible edict to kill babies reveals something profound about Pharaoh and we see it today in a lot of regular people. He’s just one problem away from doing something crazy because he’ll go to any lengths to prop up the notion that
- that he is in control,
- that no one resists his will,
- that the world revolves around him,
- that he is God!
Lyndon Johnson, had a cabinet meeting when he was president and asked Bill Moyer to pray. Moyer was his press secretary, and an ordained minister. So he did, but he was praying quietly at the other end of the table. Johnson interrupts him in the middle of prayer and says, “Speak up, Moyer, I can’t hear you.”
And Bill Moyer said, “I wasn’t talking to you, sir.”
See, Pharaoh has this ‘world revolves around me’ thing going on. Notice what Pharaoh does in response to this little problem. Before he just wanted the midwives to quietly kill the male babies after birth. That would be discreet and wouldn’t create a stir since infant mortality, especially for boys, was probably 30 to 40% anyhow.
But he doesn’t get his way, the midwives don’t obey, so Pharaoh becomes enraged. He declares a new edict:
throw all the newborn boys into the Nile river.
So much for discreet. This shows us another aspect of the king’s character and the “I’m God” syndrome. People who study human development speak of “frustration tolerance.” They say that people who are mature in character exhibit high-frustration tolerance which means, they’re able to exercise patience and delayed gratification and so on.
Immaturity, on the other hand, is marked by low-frustration tolerance. “I can’t stand it if I don’t get my own way immediately.” So what do you think Pharaoh’s little infanticide and genocidal edicts indicate, a high-frustration tolerance, or a low-frustration tolerance?
Another aspect of Pharaoh’s character is paranoia. They’re out to get me. Conspiracy theories abound around people who are wrestling through the “I’m God delusion” because everything is about them. Did you hear about the paranoid megalomaniac who refused to go to Seahawk games? He thought they were talking about him in the huddles.
Now, I could go on and we could get all our examples of the “I-think-I’m-God delusion” from the world of politics and power. Pharaoh, Saddam Hussein, Hitler, all stunning examples of anger, low frustration tolerance, and paranoia. But then, these become caricatures we can easily dismiss.
What if Pharaoh was born in Marysville, WA circa 1967, he might look like an average guy you know. He would have no power to perform genocide, but that doesn’t mean he’d wouldn’t still be thinking,
- people exist to make me happy.
- The world revolves around me.
- The world is here to fulfill my joy and pleasure
- We’d call him a “user.”
Maybe our pride doesn’t take on monstrous proportions, but ask yourself if the same root doesn’t live in all of us. Ask yourself if pride isn’t expressing itself in your life these days.
- Any rage in your heart when things don’t go your way?
- Low frustration tolerance?
- Any paranoia or self consciousness driven by self centeredness?
Allen Creek, if we want to have godly character form in us, when situations come long that enrage us, frustrate us, or make us afraid of our shadow, that’s another gentle reminder from God that you’re not at the center of the world. You’re not God.
So tomorrow, when you’re frustrated—and tomorrow, you WILL be frustrated—when you’re stuck in traffic or the kids spill something or a task takes longer than you’d planned. Instead of getting all bent out of shape,
- instead of giving into road-rage or spill-rage or task-rage just say, reality check:
- “I’m not God. The world does not revolve around me, and it does not exist for the purpose of sparing me frustration. Here’s my chance to learn a little humility and patience.”
- Prov 11:2 – “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
Now, you might think proud people are untroubled in their illusion of control. Only for short spurts I’ve noticed. Pride does not lead to calm, untroubled, smugness in the long haul. Here are the symptoms of pride that may be in evident in your life even if well hidden:
- Anxiety— You’re troubled about things that might upset your apple cart.
- Inadequacy—you’re not able to keep all your plates spinning, and
- Fear—something bad is going to happen and you won’t be able to handle it.
Friend, maybe that’s you… Anxiety, Inadequacy, Fear. Yet, maybe on the outside there’s a lot of posing. A lot of bravado and machismo and got-it-all-together. This is Pharaoh as well.
Later in his life, God raises up the man Moses to confront him to let the Hebrews go free. According to the Bible, Moses was to be like God to Pharaoh, and confront his “I’m God illusion”. So sets up an interesting altercation.
- A man who thinks he’s God,
- talking to a man who’s not God,
- but whom God wants to act like God
- to teach the man who thinks he’s God a lesson
- that he’s not God. Get it?
Yet, Pharaoh is outwardly cool. Moses performs miracles in God’s name in front of Pharaoh, and at first, his outward confidence isn’t shaken a bit. Pharaoh’s sorcerers can conjure up the same tricks, so why should he, a god listen to this imposter?
Yet, the miracle plagues get more and more severe as God turns up the heat on Pharaoh’s illusion of godhood. What’s interesting about the miracle plagues is that each one relates to a god in the Egyptian pantheon of gods – the Nile River god, the frog god, the insect god, the cow God, and even Ra, the great sun God.
Pharaoh was the supposed ruler of all these gods as the son of Ra himself. But each of these gods bows to the LORD’S command, as the Nile turns to blood and frogs and gnats infest and cows are stricken with disease and yes even Ra, meekly bows his knee to God as the sky goes black.
The lesson to Pharaoh is unmistakable:
“these gods that you think you control are actually controlled by a greater power, the one True Creator God, maker of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Why did it take 10 plagues? Because the “I’m not God complex” is hard to shake. Each time Pharaoh’s outward veneer of confidence begins to wobble and he thinks, “maybe I’m not God”, the prospect of losing control is so terrifying he cannot let go. So he put his entire country through untold grief rather than acknowledge,
“God is God and I am not.” (you?)
God showed Pharaoh that he did not have the divine prerogative to say who lives and dies – when his angel struck down every first born Egyptian male. Friends, if you think that’s a too steep a cost for pride, that’s just an small reflection of God’s ultimate power over spiritual life and death! Jesus said,
don’t be afraid of the man who can kill the body, but be afraid of the one who can destroy body and soul in hell.
DANIEL
Now let’s look at another character, named Daniel. Daniel, like Moses also confronted a king who thought he was God. It was King Nebachadnezzar. Like Pharaoh, Nebachadnezzar’s confidence is shaken - not by a political threat – but by a troublesome dream.
SO he asks his advisors to interpret the dream for him. Now, they might be able to make up an interpretation of the dream if he told it to them, so the king demands that they tell him the dream first. He figures the person who tells him the dream will know the correct interpretation.
Well, the advisors and sorcerers can’t do it. The king flies into a rage ordering the execution of all advisors included Daniel and his friends who were Jewish foreign nationals living in Babylon. A little low frustration tolerance there! A man who thinks he’s God, is one bad nights sleep away from doing something that tanks his life.
But Daniel and his friends pray to God and God gives him the dream and the meaning of the dream. He’s brought before the man who thinks he’s God and I want you to contrast his character with Daniel’s humility.
The king asks him, “can YOU interpret this dream?” Daniel says,
No mere human can solve the king’s mystery, I don’t care who it is – no wise man, enchanter, magician, diviner. But there is a God in heaven who solves mysteries and he has solved this one.”
Daniel could take credit for this but he doesn’t. He’s says, “I’m not that smart – God did it!” Then after Daniel goes on to describe the dream, he says, “WE will interpret it to the king.” Why does he say “we?” Because Daniel is including his three friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who prayed with him to ask God for the meaning to the dream.
The mystery was revealed to Daniel, but he wants his friends in on the credit. Then, at the very end of the story, after the king has honored Daniel enormously, it says,
“At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to administrative posts over the province of Babylon.”
He wants to give God the credit.
He wants his friends in on the tribute.
He wants his friends in on the opportunity.
I’ll tell you, I love that aspect of Daniel’s heart, and I would love a heart like that. Because if I’m not God, I don’t have to get all bent out of shape about who gets credit for what — I can be free of all that junk. If I’m real clear that I’m not God, I don’t have to get obsessed over image management or self-promotion.
Daniel doesn’t have to promote himself. God sees. God knows. And God gives him so much. People like this lack pretension. People who don’t take themselves too seriously…
Winston Churchill was once asked, "Doesn’t it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed?" "It’s quite flattering," replied Churchill. "But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big."
The Bible says, Rom 12:3: “let’s not think we bring goodness to ourselves. No… God brings it all, it’s the only accurate way to think about ourselves.” That’s humility. Think about it in Daniel’s life:
- “No wise man could do this – I live by GRACE.
- but there is a God in heaven – everything from God.
- Now, we’ll interpret the dream – deflect PRAISE
- King, please remember my friends. – see other’s FIRST.
CONCLUSION
Now, I want to draw all these thoughts together by focusing on this dream Nebachadnezzar had. Are you curious about it? It was a dream of a giant stature made of four different metals. The top was gold, next silver, next bronze, then iron and then the feet were iron mixed with clay. In the dream a rock, cut by supernatural means, is hurled at the feet of the stature and it’s destroyed.
Here’s what Daniel said the dream means: The statue represents empires and the head is Nebachadnezzar’s empire. He would be followed by other empires. In the time of those kingdoms, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and no one will ever conquer it. It will shatter all earthly empires into chaff, but it will stand forever.
Now this may be deep waters for some of you, but I think some here are ready to unpack some of the deeper wonders of the Bible. Daniel is here prophesying the hinge of human history. For after the Babylonian empire there followed three more, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans.
And one day, about 500 years after Daniel was dead and gone, an obscure carpenter from an obscure town in an obscure corner of that Roman empire began an itinerant ministry by with these words:
“Repent, for the kingdom of God is now at hand.”
This is why people trembled when they heard those words! Jesus was saying I am the rock, cut by supernatural means. The living stone. I am God, breaking into human history to establish a kingdom that will never end, that will transcend all earthly kingdoms, as I gather people of every nation and race to my side.
Now how is this relevant to our discussion on humility? Because this formed Daniel’s view of the world:
Here is this earth, and here is my place on it. And I am just one of lots of other people. And in heaven is a great big God; and watching over this planet is no sweat for him. He never sleeps, he’s not afraid of the future, or losing control. And not only that, but this is a God, who determines the course of world events, he removes kings and sets others in their place, he reveals mysteries! And this God whose kingdom will one day come to earth, has a direct relationship with me. I’m not God. I’m just one of many, but I trust in him, I don’t have to promote myself. I don’t have to make sure I get credit for lots of stuff. I don’t have to have my way. Because God knows. God sees. I’m not God, but I’m God’s friend.
That is why Daniel’s life is filled
- with humility instead of self-preoccupation and pride, and
- with confidence instead of anxiety, and
- with a sense of his God’s sufficiency instead of personal inadequacy, and
- with a spirit of courage, instead of fear.
Because Jesus broke into history, friends, to begin a spiritual kingdom that expands one heart at time, you too can say,
“There is a God and I’m not him. So I can just let go. Sometimes being out of control or serving in obscurity is my chance to grow in my acceptance of reality… I’m not God, I’m just his real good friend!”
