Is There A H.E.R.O. in House Series
Humility: If You’re Not All That, What Are You?
February 1, 2009
First Baptist Church of Chester, Chester, IL * Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
A This month, we will hearing a sermon series entitle, “Is There a H.E.R.O. In The House?”
1 I’ve invited one hero from our area to speak each & every week.
a Each week we’ll hear a real American hero give a real story of heroism.
b We’ll hear from our chief of police, fire chief, an Emergency Medical Technician, and this Sunday I’m proud to have a home grown hero with us.
aa Todd Cowen, the son of Mike & Ginger Cowen, has spent time in Afghanistan fighting on the front line in the war on terror.
bb Make Todd feel welcome as he comes & shares his story of heroism.
2 Thank you, Todd.
B The bad guys/ villains in Todd’s story is very recognizable, they are terrorists.
1 Hero’s always are up against a villain, enemy, nemesis, bad guy.
a Lex Luther, Harvey Dent, Dr. Doom, Dr. Octavious, Red Skull, Butch Cavendish, . . . etc.
b Our more real enemies like Al Queda & disasters.
2 The enemy that a Christian is up against an enemy, the devil.
a Our enemy has already been defeated, vanquished, head crushed.
aa 12 "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 "But you said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ’I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 "Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit. Isaiah 14:12-15 (NASB)
bb Do you hear the pride? Arrogance?
cc The pit/Sheol is prophetic because it’s not until the 3rd to last page in my bible does it say Satan is bound and thrown into the lake of fire.
b The devil was kicked out of heaven, lost his position in the Kingdom.
3 Why did God sent the wicked one to this earth rather than the pit immediately?
a Consider: When a judge sends a man to prison, he is bound, punished, & put in prison as a place of torment
aa When God sent Satan to earth he wasn’t sending him to club med, vacation, not lenancy.
bb God didn’t say, “Go play, reek destruction/pail all you want on my people. When you’re done, I’ll come back like Superman, & rescue my people from you.”
C God sent Satan to this earth as a judge sends a man who has committed a crime to prison., to be tormented, goofed on.
1 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. Eph 3:10 (NASB)
a Through the church he brings authority, knowledge, and wisdom against the powers of darkness.
b It’s through you & me, the church, God has chosen to give misery to the enemy during his stay on earth.
2 Our enemy is the devil.
a He seeks to steal, kill, destroy, reek havoc, cause confusion.
b Has basically only two weapons: accusation & deception (a whole other sermon)
D Every hero has his/her own set of super powers or weapons
1 Superman (Faster than a speeding bullet)
a Wonder Woman (lasso of truth, super strength)
b Batman (World’s greatest detective)
c Flash (Fastest human on earth)
e Aqua Man (w/ the least useful mix of super powers)
2 I believe there are four weapons given to us by God to keep Satan from frustrating the grace of God in our lives.
a Humility, Endurance, Repentance, Obedience
b Let’s look at this first weapon.. Humility.
aa 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:6-8 (NASB)
bb Pray
I Humility is a powerful weapon against the enemy.
A In the vast majority of Greek pre-Christian writers, humility (tapeinos) was usually used in bad or inferior sense — denoting something evil or unworthy.
1 Humility was a characteristic of weakness, cowardice, to be tolerated only in slaves . . . everyone else hold your head high.
a The Greeks detested the eastern customs of bowing prostrate before rulers, they didn’t want to surrender their honor.
b But in God’s Kingdom, it’s like Bizzaro World, things are upside down.
aa First shall be last, last shall be first.
bb Least will be the greatest; weakest will be exalted; exalted will be humbled and the humble will be exalted.
2 Jesus was the supreme example of humility & commanded His followers to be humble too.
a At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:1-4 (NASB)
b 12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 "You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. John 13:12-15 (NASB)
3 Humility is not demeaning ourselves, thinking down/poorly of ourselves . . . it’s simply not thinking of ourselves at all.
B Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 1 Peter 5:6 (NASB) (I can’t help but think Peter thought about Jesus washing his own feet.)
1 Humble means to be lowly, bow ones head in lowliness (You know you’re not all that.)
a The moment a sinner first recognized his sinfulness, true condition, lostness of his lostness . . . humility.
b You see yourself as how God sees you.
aa How’s that pastor? Like a child!
bb Humility means you become like a child again before God (trust Him utterly, to expect everything from Him, & nothing from self.)
c I owe/receive everything I have (in the natural & spiritual) to/from God.
aa Every accomplishment/fulfillment in my life is His grace at work in me for His glory.
bb I’m only a man (Not Superman, Iron Man, Batman, Spiderman) who desperately needs God & Grace for everything in my life.
2 (IL.) A German Prince went to the prison at Toulon, and as he came to the gate, he told the prison guard, “I’m going to release a prisoner today.” Which one? I don’t know yet.
a He walked up & down the gallery talking to the prisoners, they came to the bar and he asked them, “Why are you here?”
aa One said, “I’ve been done wrong, the evidence was tampered w/.”
bb Another, “The fix was in, the judge had been bought/bribed. I shouldn’t be here.”
cc Another, “I had a bad lawyer”
b He goes to another prisoner and asks the same question and the prisoner replies, “I deserve to be here. I am guilty. I am far more guilty than any of them know. I’m here because I deserve to be here.”
aa The prince says, “Guards, open this door. Here is the man that is fit to be free.”
bb We can’t experience saving faith in God until we zero faith in ourselves, power, good work, worth, and put total faith & trust in the power of God.
3 I believe humility is a mind set for the believer!
4 The humility we posses before God must be manifested before others. (We’ll never humble ourselves to each other until we humble ourselves before God!)
C Humility @ Home
1 Serve your spouse & children.
a I don’t deserve to have a spouse as good as you. (I married out of my league)
b God brought you together.
c Your children didn’t ask to be born . . .
aa Your decision, choice is sitting next to you . . . take care of them, they are helpless, trust you, expect everything from you and can do nothing for themselves.
bb Men say, “This is my house!” That’s you’re dirty carpet, dishes, laundry, your babies dirty diapers.
cc Ladies, respect (words), honor (body), cherish (emotionally), obey (completely)
2 Washing each other’s feet. (Makes some squirm, uneasy)
a Every January I teach on tithing & do you know the only folks are who squirm when I teach on tithing? People who don’t tithe.
b Wanna see people squirm & scream, pull out the water & towels and say we’re going to have a foot washing: The only people who squirm in a message about foot washing are those who don’t wash feet.
c Lack of humility
D Humility @ Work
1 Christian, you’re the best worker your boss has got.
a Full day of work, do as your told, follow rules w/o grumbling or complaining.
b Work as your boss is Jesus Christ himself.
c Don’t brag (or exalt) yourself.
d God gave you the job, be thankful for it.
2 You don’t work for Mc’D’s, W-M, State, School district, Gilster’s, Hospital . . . working for the King. You’re on His payroll & doesn’t pay on the 15th & 30th but be certain pay day is coming.
Conclusion:
A We are fighting a real enemy and he has been sent here for us to torment him...It’s through the church that he is constantly reminded of the truth & power of God.
1 How good of a job are you doing tormenting the enemy?
2 Humility is a weapon in our arsenal against the enemy.
B God has given us the responsibility of humbling ourselves. (Not God’s job, responsibility)
1 Muhammad Ali, “I am the greatest.” Humility not one of his big traits.
a Got on a plane, “I’m Superman. Superman don’t need no seat belt.”
b The pilot said, “Superman don’t need no airplane either. Now buckle in!”
2 It’s always a little more brutal, painful when someone else humbles us. Do it yourself.
C As heads are bowed, “Pride. God opposes the proud.”
1 First, humble yourself before God.
2 humble myself to my spouse/kids (May mean literally going home & washing feet)
3 Work, Church
4 Pride is going to keep you in your pew.
D Salvation Appeal
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Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
