May grace, mercy and peace be to each of you from God our Father and from our resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
The good news of the gospel is simply that we are no longer slaves to sin and death. Let’s pray as we open ourselves up once again to God’s Word …
PRAYER: “Lord, may the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts together in this place, be pleasing in your sight, O God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen”
As we mentioned earlier, our theme for today is the attribute of “Humility”. Think about this … when we CHOOSE to exercise humility, we look MOST like Christ to the world around us.
There is a story about a horse-back rider who came across a few soldiers who were trying to move a heavy log without success. The corporal was just standing by watching as the men struggled. The rider could not believe it. He finally asked the corporal why he was not helping. The corporal replied, “I am the corporal. I give orders.”
The rider said nothing in response. Instead, he dismounted his horse, and helped the men finally move the log.
Who was this helpful rider? The rider was George Washington, the Commander-in-chief of the entire army.
This is a real-life example of humility; and it invites our admiration of George Washington, and conversely our disdain for the arrogant corporal.
A story like this doesn’t need any explanation because we all understand what’s going on. We know because there are times in our lives, when we have acted more like the corporal than we care to admit.
I believe most of the time, we want to be humble, to be helpful, to think of others … more so than we think of ourselves.
And today, we are going to learn from another real-life example … the example of Jesus Christ. Yes, we are going to learn from the King of kings and Lord of lords, who humbled himself and conquered death so that we might experience eternal life.
Jesus literally Set the Example … for His disciples then and for us today.
As great of an example George Washington set in our earlier story, the reality is that we have an even greater example in Christ Jesus … especially for what it looks like to humble ourselves and serve others.
Listen to Paul’s words from Philippians 2…
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:3-5
Paul’s encouragement is for believers to be like Christ … for our attitudes to be like His, and for our actions to mirror His.
On the one hand you could say, “Yeah, that’s easier said than done, you’re talking about the very son of God!”
But on the other hand, Paul goes on to list out for us the very attitudes and actions we should model when he says…
“…He (Jesus) made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness … He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8
Here are some specifics Paul identifies as the ways we can act to follow the example Jesus set for us…
Don’t take advantage of your position
Or, said another way, don’t LORD yourself over others. Most all of us are leaders in some area of our lives or at some point in our lives. We all have opportunities to take advantage of others.
But Paul is reminding us here that Jesus had all the power and opportunity in the universe to use His position to His advantage and instead, He chose to lay it all aside. So, don’t take advantage of your position. Secondly…
• Serve others
When Christ laid aside His divine position, He chose instead to become a servant. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus gave Himself to the needs of others. I will address this point more later. So, we are not to take advantage of your position, we are to serve others, and lastly, we are to…
• Give our life away
Jesus’ humility led Him ultimately to the cross. We are all familiar with this story, but what about your story. Where are you holding on too tightly to all the things you want; your things, your dreams and aspirations? What do you need to let go of? Where, or who can you give your life to this coming week?
Humility isn’t as much a destination to be reached, as it is a journey … an attitude to be embraced … an attitude that is important as a way of living for God.
So, we can conclude that Jesus set the PERFECT example of humility for us. That fact alone makes humility…
Kind of a Big Deal
That is an odd way to describe about humility.
Can you even imagine humility boasting about itself, or pointing to its own jersey number like we see athletes do whenever they make a big play.
But the truth is humility IS a big deal. As evidenced in the life of Christ, and in the number of different times and places the Bible encourages humility, while giving warnings about the destructive nature of pride.
While I don’t have time today to go through an exhaustive list, I do have time to hit some highlights as a way to encourage you for further reflection.
We heard earlier what the Apostle Paul said about humility in his letter to the Philippians, so here’s what the Apostle Peter says about humility in 1 Peter 5…
“‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” 1 Peter 5:5-6
James, the leader of the Jerusalem church after Jesus’ resurrection, quotes the same old testament passage that Peter does when he says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Both of these New Testament church leaders are encouraging humility and both men quote the same passage from Proverbs 3:34, when they describe “God opposing the proud and giving grace to the humble.”
Now obviously no one here wants God opposing them, which is a strong enough argument in itself to promote humility and selflessness. But let me take it a step further in Psalm 138…
“Though the Lord is on high He looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.” Psalm 138:6
That’s the NIV translation, but the New Living Translation uses more modern language, which is perhaps easier to understand…
“Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but He keeps His distance from the proud.”
God’s opposition is one thing, and it is obviously horrible. But the idea in Psalm 138 that God distances himself from the prideful should be terrifying.
Pride and arrogance are totally incompatible with humility, which means these are attitudes you will only find far away from Jesus.
Pride and arrogance are heart positions and postures that will keep you at a distance from righteousness. Pride can literally destroy you.
And it’s a big enough deal that the bible addresses it again and again and again.
Not the least of which is the example, and the exhortation of Jesus himself, which is where we’ll finish our message for today. Our Gospel lesson today was the account of Jesus washing …
His Disciple’s Feet
In verse 13:1 John records Jesus showing them the full extent of His love for them. Later in the chapter, Jesus says this…
“Now that I … have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you … now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” John 13:14-17
So, Jesus, the very Son of God, filled a basin of water, got down on his knees, and washed the feet of his disciples.
The washing of feet was an incredibly lowly act of service, as the feet were considered to be the dirtiest, most unclean part of the body at the time.
There is so much to be taken from the example Jesus set here, but here’s where I think it is incredibly poignant.
Jesus wanted the disciples to know how much He loved them. So, he took the position of a SIMPLE house servant, and washed their dirty feet.
He did this to show them that no one is too important to get down and serve another. He did this to show His love and care for them.
His example in John 13 is recorded for us … the church today. So, we can also see and know the heart and character of our Savior.
So, it begs this question…
Who do you need to serve this week?
Where might you need to confess your pride?
Remember that Proverbs 29:1 says, “Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed – without remedy.”
Some people’s pride destroys their lives, and we need to pray that they will recognize the error of their way.
So, how will the example of Christ impact your daily routines starting tomorrow morning?
As we think about humility, we must ask ourselves…
Do you want to be opposed to God?
Do you want to be far from God?
Do you want to be incompatible with the righteousness of Jesus? Of course NOT!
I suggest that we all do as Jesus did … set an example of humility for those around us by truly understanding that “humility” must be a BIG deal in our lives. And all God’s people say … AMEN.