SERMON: TESTED AND APPROVED: HUMILITY

15 March 2015

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Luke 1:46-49

Luke 1:46-49 (NIV)

46 And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,

49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me-- holy is his name.

            -- in an article from Discipleship Journal, Gert Doornenbal relates a story his father told him when he was very young -- in their village in the Netherlands there once lived a very godly old man -- everyone who saw him recognized his holiness -- they recognized the power of God within him -- they saw within him something they lacked --and when his children asked him what the secret of his godly life was, he answered, "Humility, children. Humility."

            -- "And what else, Father?" asked the children. "What else?"

            -- "Humility, children. Humility."

            -- "But what else? -- Surely there's more."

            -- "Humility, children. Humility."¹

            -- this morning we are finishing our sermon series "Tested and Approved" on the cardinal virtues of a Christian life -- so far we have looked at the virtues of wisdom, courage, self-control, justice, and diligence -- this morning we are ending the series with what is arguably, the greatest of all the virtues we can seek in our lives -- the virtue of humility

            -- as Doornenbal's story demonstrates, the key to living a Christian life -- the key to become who God wants us to be -- rests with the virtue of humility -- "humility makes us people with a finely tuned ear for God's word, because we want to know his will --Humility makes us people who can find time for prayer, because we want to live through his power -- [and] the result [of acquiring humility] will be a growing joy in the Lord."¹

            -- "Without humility there can be no true abiding in God's presence or experience of His favor and the power of His spirit -- without [humility] there can be no abiding faith or love or joy or strength."²

            -- we find here in the opening chapter of the gospel of Luke a perfect example of humility in the person of Mary, the mother of Jesus -- in this chapter, both Mary and Zechariah, her cousin Elizabeth's husband, are greeted by the angel Gabriel who comes to tell them of their role in the story of the coming Messiah -- but their responses to the message from God could not be more different

            -- when Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and said his wife Elizabeth was going to bear a son, Zechariah immediately questioned God -- "How can this be?  We are old and my wife is barren and past child-bearing age" -- Zechariah did not believe because he turned his eyes from the promise and possibility of God to himself -- his focus was not on what God could do, but on what he could not possibly do -- and Zechariah lost his voice for nine months for his sin

            -- but contrast that to the story of Mary -- when Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she was to bear the Messiah through the power of the Holy Spirit, she believed with no hesitation -- she accepted the promise and looked to how God would fulfill this blessing through her

            -- as Mary's cousin Elizabeth said in verse 45 when Mary came to her home -- "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

            -- do you see the difference? -- Mary's focus was not on herself -- even in the midst of her pregnancy, she did not think of self, but focused on God and the possibilities that come through Him

            -- as we see through her example, humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but not thinking of ourselves at all -- we become humble when we turn our eyes upon Jesus and others and never turn them back on ourselves again

            -- look back at verse 46-48a

Luke 1:46-48a (NIV)

46 And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48a. for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

            -- Mary's humility exalted the Lord -- her soul -- her very being -- glorified the Lord because her focus was on Him -- her attention was on Him -- her hope was in Him -- she rejoiced in His presence, and God was mindful of Mary's worship

            -- humility -- humbling ourselves before God -- recognizing there is a God and we are not Him -- is the first step towards truly becoming holy

            -- our goal as Christians is to bring glory to God -- to worship Him with all our being -- to exalt Him in our lives -- and we do this first through humility -- by dying to self -- by becoming less and letting Christ become more

            -- John the Baptist understood this -- in John 3:30, he proclaimed to his disciples, "He [Christ] must become greater and greater -- I must become less and less"

            -- this is the heart of humility

            -- look back at the second part of verse 48b-49

Luke 1:48b-49 (NIV)

48b. From now on all generations will call me blessed,

49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me-- holy is his name.

            -- when we become truly humble in our character and in our actions, others will take notice -- they will see who we are and they will call us blessed -- they will recognize God's power in us -- they will see God through us

            -- notice that even here in Mary's song, the focus is not on her or her role in bearing the Messiah -- the focus is always on God and what He has done

            -- the humility that Mary demonstrated through her life is an example of what we should be striving for in our own

           

II.  The Path to Humility

            -- in fact, we are commanded in the Bible to seek this same humility that Mary so exemplified -- in 1 Peter 3:8 we see the command, "Be...humble" -- and in 1 Peter 5:6 we are told, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."

            -- in Philippians 2, Paul tells us our attitude -- our character -- should be like that of Christ -- that we should humble ourselves as He humbled Himself when He came to earth, taking on the very nature of a servant

            -- in Colossians 3:12, Paul says to clothe ourselves with humility -- and we read in James 4:10 to humbles ourselves before the Lord

            -- Jesus Himself taught humility through His message and His example -- several times in the gospels we read how He sought to ingrain an attitude of humility in His disciples

            -- in Matthew 11:29, He said, "Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart" and in Matthew 23:12, He taught, "Whoever humbles himself will be exalted"

            -- when we read these commands to be humble in the Bible, we need to understand what it is God is asking from us -- He is not asking for self-hate -- He is not asking us to put ourselves down -- to take on this persona of being a nothing -- a worm -- someone to be walked upon -- that is not what He means

            -- when I was in Tennessee, I knew someone who thought this was the path to humility -- every time you saw them -- every time they were in church -- all you would hear from them was "Woe unto me -- I am a worthless sinner -- I am no good -- I am nothing"

            -- saying this -- living like this -- discounts everything God has done in your life -- this is "irrational modesty"³ -- and it is not healthy -- to be humble does not mean you put yourself down -- to be humble means you take an honest evaluation of who you are and who God made you to be -- and, just as you don't exalt yourself above others in pride, you don't become lower than them in humility -- you recognize who you are and you live your life as God intended

            -- to constantly put yourself down -- to go through life in a state of self-hate -- is to say that God made a mistake -- that He can't work through you -- that He can't make you anything of value -- but, as the old saying goes, "God doesn't make junk" -- Christ didn't die on the cross so you would go through life in this state -- He died on the cross so you would be freed of your sins to rise to the place He created you to live -- to be the person He created you to be

            -- "Biblical humility is simply saying, "Lord, thank you for the way you made me. -- I don't have to try to be like somebody else or do what someone else does -- I just want to be and do what you want me to be and do."³

            -- to be humble is an act of surrender -- it means you submit your will to God's -- you step off the throne and put God on the throne -- and you do what He wants you to do and not what you want to do

            -- to be humble means that we are letting God be God in our lives -- "humility is an honest and objective reflection of our real relationship to God" -- by choosing to live as Christ and to humble ourselves before God, we are demonstrating the truth of the fact that we are dependent on God -- our life -- our being -- our very existence depends on Him

            -- as someone once said, "All that we have comes from God -- our lives, our salvation, our hope, our Christ. God has given all; nothing is our own. God gives; God will take away; God will give again."

            -- when we recognize that we are not and cannot be in control of our own lives and we live in that understanding, then we are finally submitting ourselves to God and paving the way for Him to work in our lives -- that is why humility is the first step in true holiness

            -- the problem, however, is that humility is not a virtue easily captured -- it is not something we can do on our own -- think about the example of the disciples -- Jesus kept teaching them to be humble -- He kept demonstrating to them the path of humility through His life and His interactions with others

            -- but still they continued to fail time and time again -- even right up to the end -- in the upper room itself -- we see them arguing among themselves over which of them was the greatest -- humility was a concept something they could not grasp

            -- it is only after Pentecost that we see the disciples finally obtaining that which was commanded to them -- it was only after the coming of the Holy Spirit were they able to finally lay hold of the greatest of the virtues that they needed to be holy as God is holy

            -- to become humble requires the total surrender of ourselves to God through the power of the Holy Spirit within

            -- let's turn over to Psalm 131 and we'll bring this to a close

            -- if you will notice at the start of this psalm from David, we read it is a psalm of ascents -- which is a perfect picture of how one truly becomes humble

            -- there are 15 of these psalms of ascent in the Bible -- pilgrims to Jerusalem who were coming to worship God at one of the three feasts of the Lord would sing these psalms as they approached the city -- climbing higher and higher on Mount Zion -- until they reached the pinnacle -- the temple of God

            -- some scholars suggest these were also sung by the priests as they ascended the steps of the temple to offer sacrifices and incense to the Lord

            -- these psalms offer a picture of someone leaving themselves behind as they approach the throne of grace -- of someone turning their eyes from self to Jesus -- from pride to surrender and humility

            -- look at the example of humility we see in David's psalm of ascent here, starting in verse 1

Psalm 131:1 (NIV)

1 My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.

            -- someone who is humble is neither proud or haughty -- they are not arrogant -- they do not elevate themselves or take credit for more than they should

            -- David says he does not concern himself with great matters or things too wonderful for him -- this means he knows his place in the Kingdom of God -- he knows who he is -- he knows who God made him to be -- and he is content in that place -- neither exalting himself above God or others nor lowering himself through self-hate or debasement

            -- verse 2

Psalm 131:2 (NIV)

2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

            -- David compares himself to a weaned child -- a child of four or five years old -- old enough to walk on their own, but completely submissive and dependent on their mother's care and guidance

            -- what a picture of humility -- someone coming into their own -- becoming their own person -- yet going through life in dependence on God

            -- Jesus said that unless we humble ourselves as children, we would not enter the Kingdom of God -- child-like humility is the picture David is giving us here -- the example we are to fix in our minds and strive to obtain through God's power

            -- verse 3

Psalm 131:3 (NIV)

3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.

            -- our hope is in the Lord and Him alone -- our focus is on the Lord and Him alone -- the heart of humility is surrender and the death of self -- the heart of humility is letting God increase while we decrease

            -- humility is not a one-time event -- it is a process -- a way of life -- something we will need to strive for on a daily basis -- but we must strive for it, because it is the key to holiness and perfection in Christ

III.  Closing

            -- A man was walking through an art gallery when he came upon a picture of the Lord Jesus dying upon the cross -- he stopped and looked at the beautiful portrait of Calvary's love

            -- as he stared into the face of Christ, so full of agony, he was surprised by a tap on his shoulder -- the docent in the gallery said, "Lower -- the artist painted this picture to be appreciated from a lower position."

            -- So the man bent down -- and from this lower position he observed new beauties in the picture not previously shown -- "Lower," repeated the docent. "Lower still."

            -- The man knelt down on one knee and looked up into the face of Christ -- the new vantage point yielded new beauties to behold and appreciate.

            -- But motioning with his cane toward the ground, the docent said, "Lower. You've still got to go lower."

            -- The man now dropped down to two knees and looked up -- only then as he looked up at the painting from such a low posture could he realize the artist's intended perspective. Only then could he see the full beauty of the cross.

            -- this is the key to humility -- only as we position ourselves lower and lower in humble submission can we behold more fully the glories of our wonderful Lord and step into the place to which He has called⁴

            -- as we finish this series on the cardinal virtues of the Christian life, I want to invite you to reflect again on who you are and who God called you to be -- I want to encourage you to strive for these virtues of wisdom and courage -- of humility and self-control -- of diligence and justice

            -- I want to encourage you to ask God to fill you with His Spirit -- to empower you to be the men and women of Christ He has called you to be -- I want to encourage you to live out a life of holiness in Him

            -- let us pray

           
1 Gert Doornenbal, "An Old Man's Secret," Nov/Dec 1982, Issue #12, Discipleship Journal

2 Andrew Murray, "Humility"

3 "Right Relationships," George Sanchez, Discipleship Journal, Issue 1, Jan/Feb 1981

4 Modified from David Moore's Sermon "In and Around Heaven" -- Illustration from Sermon Central [http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/sermon-illustration-sermon-central-stories-submission-worshipgeneral-humility-70197.asp]