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Before Honor is Humility
By Warren Zehrung – July 30, 2011 |
Brethren, I would like to ask you a really important question. How important is true humility? How do we go about having humility? Are some people born with humility? Do we develop humility? Or does it just come along after we are converted, and we receive God’s Holy Spirit, and we then just naturally become humble? Is humility something that we just have to have? Do we look around and say that some people are naturally humble or naturally bold, that is the way that God made them?
Have you ever made a conscious decision to work on being humble? You realize the importance of humility, and you ask God to please help you to be humble. I am going to go through three steps to help us be more humble. I realize that I have not been humble.
How does one go about becoming humble? Our human nature wants to be recognized, it wants to be promoted, and it wants to be honored. It starts when we are young. We want to win the race, the 100 meter dash, and win a trophy, or a medal.
We find out how God looks at subjects such as humility, and being humble, by looking into the word of God.
The fear [reverence, respect] of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom…
We have talked about how important wisdom is. But there is something at the end of this verse that tells us an order of things.
Proverbs 15:33b …and before honor is humility.
This is where we get the title for today’s sermon, ‘Before Honor is Humility’
Naturally, we like to be honored, we like to be recognized, and we like to be successful. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that. We are to honor the King and the President, and all those who have authority over us so that we can live peaceable lives.
Proverbs 22:4 By humility and the fear [reverence, respect] of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.
That is interesting, as it links humility with the respect or the fear of the Lord. If we respect God, we understand His Law and His Commandments, and we keep them. You add humility, and God says from that will come wealth, riches, honor and life. Of course life is important, and this is when we grow to learn to know about God and the Kingdom of God, and that we will become the children of God.
God says that an attribute of genuine humility is a basic requirement that He expects of us. If we were to meet another Christian and they were to ask us what some of the basic things are that we do as a Christian, we would reply that we keep the Sabbath and we keep the Commandments. Is there a Commandment that says, “Thou shalt be humble” or “Thou shalt understand and live a life of humility”? Where do we find out that we are supposed to be humble? Where do we find out the absolute seriousness, and the requirement for humility?
Micah 6:8 He [God] hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God
We need to read this verse slowly, and understand what it says. God requires us …to do justly… and we understand that this has to do with justice and righteousness. Again, another thing that is not an option is …to love mercy… God is merciful, and we are to be like God. God’s mercy is farther than the east is from the west (Psalm 103:17). But notice this concluding phrase in Micah 6:8 …and to walk humbly with thy God. Another question brethren, how do you and I walk humbly with God? What do we do? What does this mean? Does it mean bowing low and keeping your head down? What does it mean to walk humbly with your God?
Brethren, you and I are carnal, we are sold under sin. We come far short of being like Jesus Christ. We are a people that have learned to live a lie, not understanding who we are, and what we are supposed to be. It is only with God’s Holy Spirit that we can begin to walk humbly with God.
Humility is being free of pretense. If we are free of pretense we do not go through life pretending to be something that we are not. That is like living a lie.
How do we examine ourselves?
Brethren, let us not think too highly of ourselves. I get the feeling that "old timers" in the church sometimes have a tendency to do that. Well, I have been in the church for nearly forty years. I remember the first time that I went to the Feast of Tabernacles, and my wife and I had not yet been baptized. We had only been attending church for about three or four months. We had been reading the literature for a long time, but God didn’t show us the Sabbath, or that He had a church, for a good while. At the Feast in Big Sandy, Texas, there were thousands of people. A minister came out, and during the course of his sermon he asked the question, “How many have been in the Church of God for over forty years?” I was amazed at how many hands went up! After he got down to twenty-five, and then to ten, I felt like I was the only person that did not have my hand up. After he got down to ten, you could see only one or two hands not up. He asked how many were having their first Feast. My wife and I put our hands up, and I looked to see if there were others. I did not see anyone, but I am that sure we were not the only ones at their first Feast. Those “old timers” when you talk to them use that ‘years in the church’ as a position of power or authority, or ‘I know something that you do not know - sort of a thing’. I think it is misused, they can say, “Let me tell you something, I have been in the church all these years…” But we should not think too highly of ourselves. I believe that if we have been in the church for many years God knows that we are slow learners, and we have a lot to change. God knows that we have a lot to overcome. And then we might ask ourselves the question, “Am I any closer to being humble today than I was when I first came through the doors of the church?”
Luke 18:7-8 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?
When I first heard that scripture read, I thought that there were thousands of people that have faith. They keep the Sabbath every week, and they go to the Feast. But since then, the church has gone through a terrible apostasy, and a great majority of the people and ministers have left the Truth. So this verse rings truer today. It seems like every week, and every month, we bury more and more of the faithful brethren. Will Jesus Christ find faith? Will there be any faithful left on the earth when Jesus Christ comes?
Luke 18:9 And he spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
This is not a point of humility to trust in yourself, rather that would be pride or arrogance.
This parable was not for everybody, but it was targeted at those who …trusted in themselves that they were righteous. But notice the end of this verse, …and despised others. That is an oxymoron, because you cannot be righteous and despise others. What is wrong with that statement?
Luke 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican.
You are supposed to go “Yeah” when you hear Pharisee, and when you hear Publican you are supposed to go “Boo, hiss.” That is the way that these people would have listened to Jesus Christ saying this. This was a – “good guy, bad guy” scenario here.
Luke 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican.
Here is a man [the Pharisee] who felt like he was in pretty good standing with God, but he was standing on his own righteousness. You can almost see his chest out, his chin out, while praying. You can almost see this man reeking with an arrogant attitude.
Luke 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
He is sitting there bragging about it, and he is so proud that he is doing these things. How do you command an attitude? Can you go up to someone, can you counsel with someone, can iron sharpen iron, twist his arm behind his back, and tell him to change his attitude and be humble? It is not something that you can force on somebody and it is not something that you can talk someone into. You know what they say, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.”
Notice the difference in attitudes here. God is telling us that we are to have the latter of these two attitudes. We are to be like the Publican, even though in everyone’s mind the Publican is a tax collector, nobody likes to see him coming and he has a bad reputation of extorting the public. But in this particular case the Publican is the good guy.
Luke 18:13-14 And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven [can you see the humble attitude?], but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [righteous in God’s sight] rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased [brought down]; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
This is what we are talking about today. We are talking about exalting ourselves, being exalted and lifted up in our eyes, as opposed to the Godly attitude of being lowly in our eyes, or humble in our own eyes.
We can get humble? I will talk about how America is yet to be humbled in a tremendous and terrible way. We are to be working on ourselves, and becoming humble men and women.
This is a good example of this Publican. He would not lift his eyes up, because he knew that he was a sinner, and that he came short of the glory of God. He knew that he did not deserve to be in the Kingdom of God. Maybe not even to be in the presence or to be seen or to be spoken of by Jesus Christ. He that humbles himself shall be exalted.
We do not hold, within God's Church, the doctrine that some people are to be more highly esteemed than others.
Godly humility recognizes that every single one of God's people is necessary, and is important, to the whole Body of Christ. We are not going to go into that concept today, but you can read more about it in I Corinthians 12. It says that every gift of God is important, we are all important, and every talent is for the purpose of profiting everyone (! Corinthians 12:7). We are not to go around saying that this person is to be highly esteemed, to where you open doors to him, bow to him, and everything that he says and does is to be highly edified at the expense of someone else, or even if he is doing something wrong. We are to honor people as they honor God, and we are to respect them as we respect God.
This present evil world that we live in does not esteem humility as an admirable trait.
You never see a newspaper with an advertisement that says, ‘Sign up today for humility lessons – you will go far when you become humble with our plan.” Humility is not put forward as a good attribute in the job market. We have seminars that teach people how to be more aggressive or more assertive, but not how to be more humble. The world wants people who are forward, assertive, pushy and aggressive.
Galatians 6:1a Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one…
This is something that we have spoken of many, many times. We are our brother’s keeper, and we are here to help one another. This is an important part of this message, brethren, we are here to help one another. We are talking about humility. If a man is overtaken in a fault - that applies to me, and that applies to every one of you. We are all overtaken in faults, and we are all sinners and come short of the glory of God. So, what is the answer? It says, ye which are spiritual (this is to the converted) restore such a one.
Galatians 6:1b …in the spirit of meekness…
Here is a job, and here is a commandment. We are told to restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. This is a spirit of humility, and this is not lifting ourselves up in a powerful way. We go to a person who has a problem, and we say in the kindest and most endearing words, words that can be easily entreated, and we can tell them that we notice that they have a problem in such and such area. ‘I would really like to help you out, I have had that problem myself, and you understand that God wants us to reach a higher standard and He does not want us to do this in our life’. Then you will enable the person to come to the point of being restored in the good graces of God. But notice how we are to go about it. We do not twist their arm, we do not force them or we do not shout them down, do not demean them or tear them apart. Notice how this verse ends:
Galatians 6:1c …considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
We can go off the deep end too. It is very, very easy to go off track. I noticed this trait in humanity before I was even in God’s church. I saw that when people sometimes perceive that they had the upper hand over somebody else, they would use that power to coerce or aggressively cause the other person to do something that the other person was not willing to do. They had some knowledge that the other person did not have. Knowledge is power, and if you just know one thing that another person does not know you can manipulate that person and coerce them, and twist their arm to do something. So God says, ‘considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.’ It is an improper concept, according to God, to have the power, the authority, and the position of being coercive over another person, to make them do something. The ministers in God’s church are supposed to be helpers of our joy, and they are not allowed to use heavy-handed tactics. We are to work with each other in the spirit of meekness and humility. When we find our fellow citizens in the family of God, the children of God, we are to help and bring them along and show them it is good to do things in a godly way.
Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Do not load it on their shoulders and make the burden so heavy that they cannot carry it. Do not take this position of superiority and use it to grind them in the dirt. Pick up their load. Why are they under such a bind, why are they having such a difficult time, and why are they not able to perform in a Godly way? It tells us that we are to bear one another’s burdens. This is a command, and this is the way that we are to deal with one another. It is not one of the Ten Commandments, but it is the Law of Christ. If we are dumping on somebody else, and if we are off-loading on somebody else and telling them that it is their problem, then we are not following the scriptures, and we do not have a humble attitude. I will just jump ahead of the story, brethren, and tell you right now that having a humble attitude is a requirement for salvation.
Galatians 6:3 For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Can you see the pride and arrogance in that? Can you see the lack of humility? What does Paul mean by the fact that ‘when he is nothing?’ Where do you come from? You are made of dust. Where are you going to return to? You will return to dust. ‘What is man that God should be mindful of him?’ (Psalm 8:4) We are miniscule and we are nothing compared to this universe and compared to the Eternal God. We will be something with God’s Spirit in us, because God is going to make something out of us. But if we think that we are something, and we are going to deal with somebody else from a position of heavy-handedness, we deceive ourselves.
Galatians 6:4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
Have we come to the point where we can say before God, ‘Here is the way that I handled the situation today? I was confronted, or I had to confront a brother who was in the throes of sin, and this is the way that I handled it. I believe that I handled it right. I had the opportunity to really put him in his place, pull the rug out from under him, but I did not do it that way. I said it kindly, and I asked you, Father, for the right words and the right time, and so forth’. Brethren, how do we go about having an honest, realistic, objective of ourselves? How can we see ourselves as we really are?
Galatians 6:5
For every man shall bear his own burden.
Just a while ago we saw that we are supposed to bear one another’s burdens, and help get our brother back on track, to get him back up to speed.
Galatians 6:6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teaches
in all good things.
Brethren, this is necessary for the ministry. Who is taught in the Word? The brethren are
to communicate back to the one who taught them. There has to be feedback, and there has to
be information that comes back to the minister so that he can help the brethren in these situations.
There is an old Indian proverb called “Two Wolves.” I have heard this most of my life, but I just
received it lately in an email. I think that sometimes we can find some good proverbs out in the
world that are not from the scriptures. I will show you that the scriptures support this proverb of
the two wolves.
I do not know how many of you know that before Columbus “discovered America,” there was contact
between the remnant of Israel and Native Americans. For example - the Mandan Indians and
the Cherokee Indians. Thomas Jefferson knew about this Israelitish contact with Native
Americans, and he even looked for this contact as late as when he was in office back at the turn of
the century (1803). He sent out the Lewis and Clark expedition, and one of the things that he
asked them to do was to look for Israelitish traits among these Indians, because they went through
some of this territory.
The proverb goes like this:
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One evening an old Indian Chief told his grandson about a battle that goes on
inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between two "Wolves" inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity,
guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness,
benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The little Indian grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,
"Which wolf wins?"
The old Indian Chief simply replied, "The one that wins is the one you feed."
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Do we feed envy, pride and resentment, or do we feed
these other attributes like faith, humility, compassion, joy and peace? Day in and day out we feed
ourselves. Do we feed on the Word of God, or do we feed on negative and bitter feelings?
Do we move in that direction? We need to take an objective look at ourselves, and ask ourselves
if we are becoming a person who is humble in the eyes of God and man. Which do I feed day in
and day out? Am I restoring my brother when he is at fault?
Here in Galatians we find the same concept in the word of God that we just saw in this old Indian
proverb.
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap.
We can go back to the same attributes. Are we talking about being negative, envious, placing
the blame and pulling down? If that is what we sow, that is the crop that is going to come in.
On the other hand, if we are humble, endearing, forgiving, and restoring, that is what we shall reap.
What do we wish to reap in our lives, the fruits of envy or the fruits of humility?
Galatians 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that
soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
You do not get around it, you cannot go through life being negative and tearing down, looking for the evil
and the hurt, and using harsh language and tearing down.
As we began in these verses, brethren, we talked about the very first verse, “Restore such a one in
the spirit of meekness and humility.”
God commands us to have humility. God tells us to become humble, and to make ourselves
humble. Here we see the most tremendous example of humility that exists.
Philippians 2:1-2 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love,
if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having
the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
We see this concept of unity here, and there can be no unity without humility.
Philippians 2:3a Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory;
That is a prideful attitude. Read these verses closely. Do not force somebody or
try to change them by browbeating them. That is not the way to do it. How do you
do things then?
Philippians 2:3b …but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves.
Brethren, can we do that? Not just once in a while, but all of the time. Can we do this
when we see a person with an emotional need, a physical need, a psychological need, a monetary
need? They might need comfort, or they might need encouragement. Do we look at
that person and say, “God desires this person, God wants this person to succeed”, or do we somehow
go through life with a competitive edge, competitive bent or competitive nature where we are always
fighting and tearing down, and trying to have the one-upmanship on somebody.
When two Christians come together, face to face, and they begin a dialogue of conversation, is the
attitude and motivation on the part of both of them to esteem the other person better than themselves?
Are you thinking, when looking at the other person, that this is a child of God, and that they are
going to be in the family of God? Then do you esteem them as you would esteem Jesus Christ?
Do we esteem others better that ourselves? It is like the Publican - in his own mind he
did not measure up to others. He could see the qualities and incredible potential in others.
So we have some direction here from Paul to the Philippians in verse 4:
Philippians 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things
of others.
We are to look out for other people. I am not just talking about opening the door for them,
making them a cup of coffee, no I mean helping them through life. Do they need a new outlook
on life, do they need a better job, and do they need some help in overcoming? We are still
talking about restoring them in the spirit of meekness and humility.
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
What was the attitude that Jesus Christ had? Did Jesus Christ come down here as God
Almighty in all of His power, and make everybody serve Him His food, and wash His feet?
Did He crack the whip, snap His fingers, and have the servants fall down before Him? What
kind of mind was in Jesus Christ? There was an attitude of perfect humility.
Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God [the highest position ever],
thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Jesus Christ is God, He was with God, and He was God as we read in the beginning of John.
But look what Jesus Christ did. He did not come down with shoulder epaulets, or all kinds of
medals on His chest, or credentials and diplomas:
Philippians 2:7 But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
[lowly] servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
He did not have any more reputation than the garbage man or the gardener. He took upon
Himself the form of a lowly servant. If He knocked on any door today and somebody would
see the way that He was dressed, they would say, “What do you want?”
Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
How could He be any more humble than He had already become just to come down to the earth and be
in the flesh? And, yet the scriptures say that He humbled Himself even more. He became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. We know the story, brethren, we are not new to
Christianity. We know what Jesus Christ did.
Herein lies our example. We are to be asking ourselves, and especially today as we look into
this, this is our lesson for today. We are looking into the Word of God and asking God to, ‘please
show me what you expect of me’. We want to be like God, and we want to be like Christ.
Jesus Christ faced the shame of the cross, and this is the truest form of humility. He died for me,
and He died for you.
The title of today’s sermon is: “Before Honor is Humility.” Notice that Jesus Christ did it
that way. He unloaded, set aside, His reputation, and He had no credentials.
Philippians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a
name which is above every name:
You see, this honor and this exaltation came after the humility. Before honor is humility
(Proverbs 15:33). So Jesus went from having no reputation to having the highest reputation with
honor. Jesus Christ the highest, above every name. Put your name here. If we
humble ourselves we will be honored, and we will be exalted by God. We always jump the gun,
and human nature says, “Receive the praise and glory now.”
Look at how high the name of Jesus Christ is:
Philippians 2:10-11 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Brethren, do you and I attempt with all of our might, with the inspiration, direction and intervention of
God, to be humble?
Can we walk in Jesus’ steps and be humble as He was?
Becoming humble is a point of salvation, and it is necessary. The prideful shall not inherit eternal
life. Are we proud? Do our actions and our dealings with other people indicate that we
are prideful people? If they do, we must turn around quickly. Do we take advantage of
another person’s weakness and move in, and put them in their place and grind them down. If
we recognize that we do, are we yet humble? Some people might say, ‘Well, I am dirt poor and
I have nothing to be proud about’. Being humble is not about possessions, but it is about attitude.
Poor people can just as easily be “know-it-all’s.”
Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
It is up to us to work out our own humility in fear and trembling. If we find ourselves taking advantage,
wanting to win the argument, wanting to be right and to put the other person down, are we working out our
own salvation with fear and trembling? How do we know if we have been humble? It is when
the brethren that we are working with, whether our friends, our children, our mates, our workers in the office,
when they have been restored in the spirit of meekness then we can tell whether we have been humble or
not. It does not say fight to gain salvation, it says work it out. How do we work out humility?
How do we become truly humble people?
Job 6:24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I
have erred.
Pride does not wish to listen to instruction in righteousness.
It is humility which makes our Christian growth, our relationships, and even our salvation, possible.
Humility says, “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.” (Psalms 25:4)
‘Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of
uprightness.’ (Psalms 143:10)
Humility allows us to see other’s points of view, but without being caught up in our own selfishness.
Humility gives us an attitude of confidence that others can respond to in a positive way. If we are
humble we become enablers to restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Pride is thinking
that you have all the answers, but humility is knowing that we have much more to learn.
Paul warns us that none of us should "think of himself more highly than he ought"
(Romans 12:3).
Humility has to do with recognizing ourselves in the same way that God sees us.
God knows if we are haughty, or if we are prideful, and He knows if we are humble and if we have a spirit
of humility.
You and I may make mistakes, and we may say that somebody is prideful, and we might err in that.
They might appear to be prideful, but it could be that they are over-compensating for a weakness that they
perceive that they have. We have to be very careful. There are tell-tale signs that will tell us
whether we are humble or whether we are prideful.
What if we have become great in our own eyes? I think that we have known people like that,
and they feel that they are number one, the greatest, the best, and the answer to all problems.
Everything that we are is a gift of God. Everything that we have is a gift of God, including our
very lives. We did not create ourselves, or make ourselves what we are. You have all
heard the phrase, “I am a self-made man.” That is not a spirit of humility, because nobody makes
it on his own.
Those who realize that every gift including what they are comes from God, will not be limited in their
abilities. (James 1:17) If we know that every good thing comes down from God then the sky is
the limit in what can be achieved. This is what Paul meant when he said:
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
God is getting the glory, not Paul. On our own things can crumble quickly. Do we realize that God
is to receive all the credit for all that we accomplish? We need to say, “Thanks be to God in
everything.”
You might say, “Don’t I get any credit at all? After all, I am the one that had to get up at 5:30 and
work my fingers to the bone. Do I not get any credit?”
1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which
was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I,
but the grace of God which was with me.
Paul did not say that he had studied the Torah, and had studied under Gamaliel, and that he studied
hard. He did not say that he waded through that stuff, and did it himself. No, he said that
by the grace of God he is what he is.
Here is where our part comes in. We add to what God give us. “…but I laboured more
abundantly than they all.” It is kind of like he is bragging a little bit. Is there pride in that?
He said that he worked harder than anybody, yet not him, but the grace of God that was with
him. Both times he says, “I owe it all to God.” That is the spirit of humility coming forward.
Paul is not just milking or twisting the scriptures to make himself look humble. This is the
Word of God inspired for us, and this is the way that we look at it. Did we accomplish something,
did we help someone, and did we restore somebody in the spirit of humility and meekness?
By the grace of God we did it.
Humility is often a misunderstood concept. Many people think that humility has to do with a lack
of confidence or self-esteem. In this world, too many people equate humility with weakness.
Nobody wants to be humble, they want to stand their ground and hold their place. Nothing could
be farther from the truth. A humble person is generally thought to be unpretentious and modest;
someone who does not think that he or she is better, or more important than others. Humility is
not to be confused with humiliation. We are not to bring humiliation to anyone, and if you do this
you are not a humble person. That comes from pride, vanity, power, and so forth. Do not
ever humiliate anyone. We are dealing with potential Sons of God. Do not ever make anyone
else feel ashamed.
Humility is the quality of being humble, or having a proper evaluation and opinion of oneself, and it is the
opposite of pride or haughtiness. It is the opposite of having our power and putting somebody in
their place. Sometimes you will see people working with each other and they will see somebody
make a little mistake and they will jump on them. All of a sudden you just see this demon rise up
in somebody and they become haughty and arrogant. That is the spirit of Satan, and that is
haughtiness and pride. That is the opposite of humility. True humility is complete surrender
to the Father first of all, so that we can be used in any capacity, in any way, anywhere, anytime.
One time a man said something and I disagreed with it. He said it is necessary to learn humility
now and to be humble now. Because what if when you get to the Kingdom of God you do not get
the big job, the high position in the Kingdom of God that you really felt that you deserved and wanted,
and if you are not a humble person now, you will be disappointed in the Kingdom of God. Brethren,
it does not work like that. No one in the Kingdom of God is going to be disappointed. No
one in the Kingdom of God is going to say, “I should have had that other job.” That spirit of
competition ends now, it ends in this lifetime. Humility is understanding that God knows what
we are, knows what is best for us, and gives us what is to be ours. We are not working our way
up the ladder to this high position in the Kingdom of God. Sure, we live our lives now so that we
might be used by God. We overcome now, we restore such a one in a spirit of humility and
meekness, so that they can be in the Kingdom of God, and so that everyone can be in the Kingdom
of God.
Everyone in the church of God is important to God. If we think that when we get to the Kingdom
of God we are going to be jealous, and we think that we should have had some other position, then we
are not going to be there. God is building His Church. “In my Father’s house are many
mansions.” God has many positions and we should learn now, brethren, that God is preparing
us for our position. When we get there that will be our position. Somebody humble will
say that they would be glad to be the doorkeeper as though that were some menial kind of job. There
are NO menial positions in the Kingdom of God. We are to be the servants, and we are to be
the slaves now, and we are to be humble. We are to esteem others better than ourselves,
because that is a Godly attribute.
Nobody is going to be disappointed in the place that Jesus Christ is preparing for them right now.
True humility is complete surrender to the Father for use in any capacity that God deems profitable.
God can use us in any way, any time, anywhere, and we should be glad about that.
Brethren, we are not going to be disappointed in the Kingdom of God because of our humility today.
Be as humble as God will grant us. Serve all men. Jesus Christ became the
lowest of the low. Not only did He lay aside His divinity, His glory and His brilliance and become
a man, but as a man He came as the servant of all. This is our example, to serve everyone.
This is how we get ahead in God’s eyes. God keeps score different from this world.
Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.
Are we weighted down with finance, job problems, and family problems? Jesus tells us to come
unto Him and He will give us rest.
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Jesus Christ says that He is humble, meek and lowly in heart, and that is the spirit of humility.
Jesus Christ will deal with us in a spirit of humility. He will restore us.
Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Humility is one of the foundational virtues for growing and being fruitful as a Christian.
In God's eyes, humility is not weakness in any shape or form. It is pride that is going to keep us
out of the Kingdom of God. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.
I Peter 5:5-6 "All of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility:
for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time."
The wise of this world cannot be used by God because they have this high and mighty understanding
of themselves. They do not have the humility that God is looking for.
Colossians 3:12-13 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels
of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and
forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also
do ye.
Brethren, it is only as we are honest with ourselves and humble ourselves, that we give ourselves
completely to God;
Human nature wants to be boss, and wants to look good.
Humility is being down to earth and free of pretense.
Right now is the time that we must exercise God's Holy Spirit within us.
We must look past the troublesome times that we are living in, and draw closer to God in humility
and faith.
Humility is recognizing the potential divinity of every other person, and acting toward them
accordingly.
WZ/pp/sl
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| Sermon: |
"Before Honor is Humility" |
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