Many think of humility as weakness.  The humble are door mats that people walk all over. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.  It takes great strength to be humble. 

Consider Jesus.  It took great strength for Jesus to humbly submit to the Father’s plan for him to die on a cross.  It took great strength for Jesus to humbly put our interests above his own to die for our sins.  Proud self-indulgence would have run.  Arrogant self-centeredness would have never come to Jerusalem, or to earth for that matter. 

And so it is for us.  It will take great strength to humbly submit to God’s plan for our lives.  It will take great strength to humbly submit to God’s commands.  It will take great strength to humbly serve the needs of others.  Indeed we need the Spirit’s power at work in us, as he was at work in Jesus, to truly be humble.

The humble are strong.

In the last post we looked at humility with others:

• We are all sinners, so I will not act morally superior to others.
• We are all valuable as God’s image-bearers, so I will not act as if I am more valuable than others.
• We are not gods but creatures, so I will not act as if the world revolves around me.

Then comes Jesus:

• He is not a sinner.  He is holy.  He is morally superior to others, but he doesn’t act like it.  Instead he eats with and identifies with sinners.  He identifies with us.
• He is God.  As such, he is more valuable than others, but again he doesn’t act like it.  He welcomes children, men, women, crowds, and disciples.  He welcomes us.
• He is God, and so the world does revolve around him.  But again, he doesn’t act like it.  Instead he comes as a servant (Luke 22:24-30).  The Creator serves his creation.  He serves us.

If a holy greater God can humbly identify with, welcome, and serve sinful inferior creatures like us, how much more should we humbly identify with, welcome, and serve one another?

Humility with others begins with a right recognition of who God is, who I am , and who others are.  Here is a quick summary:

Who God Is                       Who I Am                                         Who Others Are
God/Creator                     Not God / A Creature                     Not God / A Creature
Greater                              Have value                                       Have value
Holy                                    Sinner                                               Sinner

From this right recognition should flow the right response:

I will not act as if I am morally superior to others (Luke 18:9-14).  The Pharisee thought he was pretty good.  As Christians we can think we are pretty good.  But no matter how good I am, I am still a sinner.  In God’s eyes, we are all sinners deserving judgment.  I cannot act as if I am morally superior to others.

I will not act as if I am more valuable than others (Luke 18:15-17).  The disciples didn’t think Jesus had time for children, but Jesus welcomed them.  We all have the same value as image-bearers of God.  I cannot think I am more valuable because of my age, gender, race, nationality, personal convictions, or anything else you want to come up with.  We all have value in God’s eyes.  I cannot act as if I am more valuable than others.

I will not act as if if the world (including others) revolves around me (Luke 20:45-47).  Again the Pharisees acted as if the world revolved around them: look at me, honor me, be impressed with me.  They acted like they were gods.  Not that they would ever say such a thing, but that is how they acted.  Too often so can we: selfish ambition, greedy for honor and praise, showing off, caught up with self, and the list goes on.  But I am not God; I am only a creature.  The world revolves around God, not me.  I cannot act as though the world revolved around me.

May God help us to recognize our place in the universe and act accordingly.

Humility before God is a right recognition of who God is and who I am that leads to a right response.  We must recognize that God is our Creator and we are his creatures.  We must recognize that God is holy and we are not.  From that right recognition flows a right response.  Here are four:

Humble Obedience (Luke 17:7-10)

A servant does what he is commanded to do.  If God is our Creator, if he made us, then he has the right to command us.  As we recognize this, we should humbly obey.  Pride, of course, rears its ugly head here and says, “I don’t want to obey.  I want to do my own thing.  Don’t tell me what to do.”  Pride exalts us to God-status.  But humility calls us to humbly obey the one true God.

Humble Service (Luke 17:7-10)

If God made us, then we belong to him.  As such we owe him our service.  It is simply our duty.  We don’t deserve any prize, recognition, praise, or anything for our service.  We simply are doing what we should do.  This is humble service.

John the Baptist is a prime example of humble service.  Here is a man with one of the greatest roles in all of history, but he doesn’t get a big head.  He says that Jesus is greater, mightier, worthier.  Indeed, he says that he is not worthy to untie Jesus’ sandal (Luke 3:18).  In other words, he is not worthy to do serve Jesus in the most menial task.  Nor are we.  But Jesus calls us to serve him.  What a privilege!  As we grasp this we begin to offer humble service.

But John goes further.  He says Jesus must increase but he must decrease (John 3:30).  In other words – don’t look at me, look at him.  It isn’t about me.  It is all about him.  Pride makes us forget this.  Pride makes it all about me.  Pride make my service about what I can get out of it.  But it is all about him.  When we grasp this, we can follow John in offering humble service that points others to Jesus.

Humble Gratitude (Luke 17:11-19)

One cleansed leper returns to humbly fall at Jesus’ feet and give him thanks.  As we saw in the last section, we deserve nothing.  But Jesus blesses us like he blessed the leper.  As we recognize who God is and who I am, we ought to be amazed at God’s blessings.  What is man that you are mindful of him? (Psalm 8:4).  The more we grasp this right recognition, the more we will be incredibly grateful and humbly give thanks.  Pride is not grateful.  Pride demands.  Pride expects.  Pride thinks it deserves; it is entitled.  As long as we think this way, we can never be grateful.  Gratitude only flows from humility.

Humble Confession (Luke 18:9-14)

The tax collector had a right recognition of who God is and who he is.  So he offers humble confession: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (v13).  The Pharisee is caught up in his own good works.  He is impressed with himself and thinks his good works impress God.  That is pride.  Pride thinks we are pretty good on our own.  Pride forgets we are sinners.  A right recognition that God is holy and I am not will lead to humble confession.

The Great Reversal (Luke 18:14)

One final amzing thing.  If we walk in pride, God will humble us.  But if we humble ourselves before our holy Creator, he will exalt us.  He will exalt us with his love (see Psalm 103).  And in his love, he humbled himself to become one of us.  In love, he humbled himself to die on a cross for our sins that we might be forgiven and declared holy in his sight.  And as we humbly believe in what Jesus did for us, we are exalted.  We are exalted to a relationship with God.  We are exalted as temples of God who now lives in us.  We are exalted as children of God.  We are exalted to a great inheritance.

Humility is a right recognition of who God is and who I am that leads to right responses.  And the amzing thing is, if we humble ourseves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt us.

Humility before God begins with a right recognition of who God is and who I am, and this right recognition is grounded in Creation and the Fall.

In creation, we are reminded that God is the Creator and we are his creation.  God exists by himself, but we exist only because God made us.  God is not dependent on anything, but we are entirely dependent upon God.  So a right recognition of who God is and who I am is a recognition that God is the Creator and I am his creation.  He is God and I am not.

In the Fall, we are reminded that there is a great moral divide between us.  God is holy, without blemish or spot.  He is absolutely perfect and without sin.  And I am not.  I am a sinner.  I fail to love God as I should.  I fail to love people as I should.  I think thoughts I ought not think.  I say words I ought not say.  I do things I ought not do.  Even my best deeds are tainted with sin.  With Paul we say that all our righteousness is rubbish.  We cannot begin to meet God’s holiness.  So a right recognition of who God is and who I am is a recognition that God is holy and I am not.

A right recognition then means that God is greater than I am in both the realms of reality and morality.  The starting point of humility before God is keeping this recognition in mind throughout each day.  God is greater than I am.  God is my Creator and I am his creation.  God is holy and I am not.  The more I recognize and believe these truths, the more I should respond rightly to them; that is, the more I should walk in humility.

Humility is found in a right recognition which leads to a right response.  We will explore that right response in the next post.