I want to begin this message on humility with some quotations on humility
James M. Barrie said; "Life is a long lesson in humility."
Gene Brown said: "The really tough thing about humility is you can't brag about it."
Mignon McLauglin once said: "The proud man can learn humility, but he will be proud of it"
Ralph Sockman said: "True humility is intelligent self respect which keeps us
from thinking too highly...of ourselves."
Fulton Sheen once said: "The proud man counts his newspaper clippings,
the humble man his blessings."
Humility in the actual world was not very popular.
For them humility meant being subservience and slavery.
It is true today that humility is not a desired character trait.
Most of us are not complimentary of people who are humble.
We equate humility with being timid, reticent, retiring, and soft.
We regard being a humble person is someone being easy to persuade and to push around.
This is not the biblical view at all.
Humility is a grace.
It cannot be achieved in our own determination and strength.
Humility is given to us by God.
It is an outgrowth of our relationship with Him.
The writer of Proverbs tells us about humility in the everyday affairs of life.
Proverbs 25:5-7, 27-28: "Keep evil advisers away from the king and his government
will be known for its justice.
When you stand before the king, don't try to impress him and pretend to be important.
It is better to be asked to take a higher position than to be told to give your place
to someone more important.
Too much honey is bad for you, and so is trying to win too much praise.
If you cannot control your anger, you are as helpless as a city without walls, open to attack."
This passage is similar to that of Luke 14, were Jesus tells us about a man
who went to a wedding feast.
The first thing that he did was to sit down beside the guest of honor.
By his actions, he said, "I am more important than others. This is where I belong."
The host had to go over to him and say, "Friend, would you mind moving to the foot of the table?"
Jesus said that it is better if we sit at the foot of the table,
and then are invited to come to the place of honor.
And He gives the reason why in Luke 14:11: "For everyone who tries to honor himself
shall be humbled; and he who humbles himself shall be honored."
There is a humility that is desirable and wise, and not pretentious.
It's opposite is the wrong kind of pride.
Not all pride is evil.
We should take pride in the way we appear to others, and in the way we conduct ourselves.
However, we should not have a sense of pride that is overbearing and overwhelming
to those around us.
This is the opposite of the humility that God gives.
Many have a misapplied pride.
It is not wrong for us to want to be noticed or to achieve, or to have a deep desire to belong.
What is desperately wrong is that many of us use underhanded means
of achieving those desires, and then we cheapen the desire itself.
We distort it, and it becomes an end, in and of itself.
Everyone seems to be trying to get ahead of the next person.
It seems that everyone wants to achieve more than others.
Wallace Hamilton once said that if all the automobile drivers in the United States
were lined up bumper-to-bumper along the highway, 95% of them would pull out to pass.
We can find ourselves on a merry go round of success.
We try to achieve something desirable in undesirable ways.
We seem to forget that the only way we can truly achieve success is for God to be Himself in us.
We must be willing to let God make us what we cannot be in ourselves.
As we read Proverbs, we cannot escape the fact that it has a lot to say about pride
which is the very opposite of true humility.
The advice given there is not for us to use to check up on others, but to check ourselves.
One way pride shows itself is an arrogance.
The man in Proverbs 25:5-7 barges into the presence of the king as though he belonged
on the right hand of the king, and assuming that his importance is significant prestigious.
That is arrogance!
We also find arrogance in the pushiness of pride in a mocker.
"Mockers are proud, haughty and arrogant." (Proverbs 21:24)
A mocker despises anyone else.
To him the whole world is wrong and he is right.
Everyone is out of step but him.
He does not have humility.
Another expression of pride is contention or strife.
Proverbs 13:10 says, "Pride leads to arguments; be humble,
take advice and become wise."
Jesus Christ came to save us from our foolish pride.
Pride is the most devastating force used by Satan to work against the church.
All across our nation today, he causes contention, strife, and confusion in the fellowship
of the people of God.
Whenever people believe they have had a deeper experience than anyone else,
or a more Biblical one, their pride causes contentions that can sweep
across a community and disrupt the fellowship of the church of God.
Another fruit of pride is shame and embarrassment.
Proverbs 11:2 says, "Proud men end in shame, but the meek become wise."
Ultimately, a proud person is going to be ashamed.
He will realize his error and wish to God that he could unravel the web of his life.
When he realizes what he has done with the life God left in his care, he will weep.
Summarizing all of these expressions of pride, the Bible tells us that it is sinful.
Proverbs 21:14 says, "Pride, lust, and evil actions are all sin."
The list of seven things that God hates as noted in Proverbs 6:17 includes pride.
In fact, we are told that "Pride disgusts the Lord"
and that "proud men shall be punished." (Proverbs 16:5)
Pride ends in destruction.
"Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)
"Pride ends in destruction; humility ends in honor." (Proverbs 18:12)
The person who is proud and arrogant, who believes himself
to be something that he is not, will fall.
1 Corinthians 10:12 says, "So be careful. If you are thinking,
'Oh, I would never behave like that" -- let this be a warning to you,
for you too may fall into sin."
Below are evidences of humility.
In his book, Christ and His Church, William Temple says,
"Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people,
nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts.
It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all."
Humility does not require us to put ourselves down,
or to avoid being concerned about our own interest or rights.
Humility that is mostly occupied with ourselves, and which does not understand
how very little we truly are is not Christian humility.
It is simply another form of self-preoccupation, and a very poor one.
Many people go around saying,
"I am nobody. I am so insignificant. I am so unimportant."
That is an inverted form of pride.
It is not Christian humility.
Because God loves us, has redeemed us, and lives within us, we are of great worth.
This is an acknowledgement of fact, and is not pride at all.
Humility as revealed in Proverbs manifests itself in a full and happy life.
The humble person is happy, and is not threatened by other people.
Proverbs 22:4 says, "True humility and respect for the Lord lead a man to riches,
honor and long life."
Fullness of life comes through humility.
In Matthew 16:25 Jesus declared, "For anyone who keeps his life for himself shall lose it;
and anyone who loses his life for me shall find it again."
We will lose the very thing we try to achieve by grasping at it through pride.
But if we will lose ourselves to God and humble ourselves before Him,
we will find our lives in Christ.
Fullness of life comes when we give up our rights and turn them over to God.
Another evidence of humility is a disciplined life.
Proverbs 25:27, 28 says, "Just as it is harmful to eat too much honey,
so also it is bad for men to think about all the honors they deserve!
A man without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls."
A person who has no control over his own spirit is not a humble person.
If a person's spirit is undisciplined, that person is like a city that is destroyed.
There is no peace and there is no happiness for that person.
If we have real humility, our lives are under control, and we will experience
discipline and wholeness.
Another evidence of humility is obedience.
A humble person is subservient to God.
Proverbs 10:8 says "The wise man is glad to be instructed,
but a self-sufficient fool falls flat on his face."
Proverbs 3:1 tells us to remember the instructions that we have been given.
In doing so, we will find favor and a good reputation in the sight of God and of man.
If, as we come to and awareness of God's purpose and will, we bow our knees obediently to God,
that is evidence of humility.
A further evidence of humility is wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2 says, "Proud men end in shame, but the meek become wise."
Proverbs 12:15 says, "A fool thinks he needs no advice, but a wise man listens to others."
A humble person shows his wisdom by listening to wise counsel.
Genuine humility rests on the word of God, not on our personal opinions or pet theories.
It is not possible to gain humility by our own efforts.
It comes only by faith.
We do not get it by flexing our muscles or by showing our strength.
We get it by bowing our knees in helplessness before God.
Humility cannot be gained by arrogant pride that rests in its own ability and talent.
It is gained by simple submission to the purposes of God.
Christ demonstrated that kind of humility.
Philippians 2:5-8 says, "Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ,
who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God,
but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise as a slave and becoming like men.
And he humbled himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal's death
on a cross."
There was a godly pride in His life, yet He was truly humble.
He did not demand His rights.
He did not come to earth with a fanfare and say, "Hey everyone, listen to me,
I am Jesus Christ, superstar."
When He came to earth, He took upon Himself the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of man.
He humbled Himself, and became obedient, even to the point of death on the cross.
Philippians 2:9-11 says, "Yet it was because of this that God raised him up to the heights
of heaven and gave him a name which is above every other name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
By being submissive and suffering misunderstanding, scorn and death,
Jesus Christ triumphed over the false pride of His enemies.
That is how He came to be exalted.
He humbled Himself, and God exalted Him.
If we want real meaning and purpose in our lives, we must humble ourselves,
and ask God to use His power to exalt us according to His will.
That is how we gain true humility.
The grace of humility comes to us as we trust God.
When we are truly humble, we are most like Jesus.
Our daily prayer should be to be more like Jesus.
More Like The Master
"More like the Master I would ever be,
More of His meekness, more humility;
More zeal to labor, more courage to be true,
More consecration for work He bids me do.
More like the Master is my daily prayer;
More strength to carry crosses I must bear;
More earnest effort to bring His kingdom in;
More of His Spirit, the wanderer to win.
More like the Master I would live and grow;
More of His love to others I would show;
More self denial, like His in Galilee,
More like the Master I long to ever be."
This sermon was adapted from several sources by Dr. Harold L. White
