I probably spend more time than I should on
the websites of booksellers. My excuse is that a big part of my calling here is
as a teacher and preacher and so I have to read a lot to do my job well, right?
Anyway, I was on the website of a Christian book distributor this week and I
decided to see how many books there were with the word “humble” in the title. I
got 20 hits, but only one book actually on humility. (A lot of the hits were
for various versions of a song called “
I did a bit better with “humility;” 24 hits, 7 actual books.
Then, just for fun, I did a search for books with the word “success” in the title. 412 hits, and there didn’t seem to be many duplicates! 50 times as many books on success as on humility! Assuming that the booksellers are simply catering to the market, it would appear that a lot more Christians are interested in being successful than in being humble.
Which is a little ironic. One of the most influential books among business leaders in recent years has been one called “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. Collins and his team of researchers spent five years analysing companies that had made the leap from being merely good at what they do to being great at what they do. When he looked at the leadership of these good-to-great companies he identified two character qualities shared by their CEOs.
The first was no surprise. These men and women all had incredible professional will – they were driven, willing to endure anything to make their company a success.
But the second thing these leaders had in common wasn’t something the researchers had expected to find. These leaders were modest. They didn’t draw attention to themselves, but instead they celebrated the work of others on the team. Collins writes: “The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes.”
It would appear that the way to success runs along the path of humility…
This is the second message in the current series called “Living from the Inside Out.” Last week we talked about holiness under the title “Living with God.” Today we’re going to be talking about humility, “Living with Yourself.”
I said that the way to success runs along the path of humility. In Philippians 2 Paul paints a picture for us of Jesus walking down that path on his way to the cross. And he says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…” So we’re going to take some time this morning to find out what humility looks like in the life of Jesus, and see how we can seek to cultivate it in our own lives. But first we’ll talk about what it isn’t.
Whenever you start talking about humility some people will get upset. I remember when I was doing my undergrad degree at Mac I described someone as “a humble person” and the person that I was speaking with got really upset. They thought that I was insulting the other person, when I actually meant it as a compliment. That’s because humility is a peculiarly Christian virtue. Greek philosophers who were teaching around the same time as Paul wrote Philippians despised humility because to them it implied inadequacy, a lack of dignity, and worthlessness. The same could be said for many people today. The whole self-help movement is about self-realization, focusing on yourself, the exact opposite of humility.
Part of the problem is that folks tend to confuse humility with humiliation. The dictionary defines humiliation as: “reducing someone to a lower position in one’s own eyes or others’ eyes” and says that it is “extremely destructive to one’s self-respect or dignity.” But humility, from a biblical standpoint, is defined as “a freedom from arrogance that grows out of the recognition that all we have and are comes from God.”
Humiliation is usually something that is done to you by someone else. Perhaps they deliberately say or do something hurtful with your friends around so people will think less of you. Perhaps they just consistently put you down in private until you believe their opinion of you. Unfortunately, parents can be particularly good at that kind of humiliation.
But true humility is actually a
defence against humiliation. Jesus died on a cross. Crucifixion was designed to
be the most demeaning, most humiliating way to die. It wasn’t primarily about
pain. It was about shame. The idea was to so humiliate the victim that they
became nothing in the eyes of the crowd. But Phil 2.8 says that Jesus, “humbled himself and became obedient to death— even
death on a cross!”
If there’s one thing that the gospels agree on, it’s that the crucifixion wasn’t something that people did to Jesus against his will. It was something that Jesus chose to face, humbly carrying out his father’s will, so that, as Hebrews says, he could endure the cross, scorning its shame. (Heb 12.2)
Neither is humility another name for self-hatred. Nowhere in the Bible are we allowed to hate anybody, and that includes ourselves. We’re called upon to hate things like injustice, robbery, iniquity, lies, all those kinds of things, but not the people who do them.
People often come to hate themselves because of their childhood experiences. Whether it was family members or peers, all they ever saw in the eyes of important people around them was hatred, and so they came to believe that they were bad people and the right thing to do was to hate themselves. But self-hatred is not humility. In fact it’s a barrier to humility because people who hate themselves are often obsessed with the fact and so they end up focussing on themselves; once again, the very opposite of humility.
Despite the fact that he went willingly to the cross, Jesus did not hate himself. One of the effects of self-hatred is that you find it difficult to establish and maintain relationships. Because you believe that you’re a bad person you find it impossible to believe that other people would want to be your friend and so you tend to unconsciously sabotage relationships. Jesus wasn’t like that. People were drawn to him and he built deep and strong relationships with those around him. He was humble, but he didn’t hate himself.
Part of the reason that people were drawn to Jesus was that he knew who he was. Rom 12:3 has a very concise definition of humility. “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (Rom 12:3)
Now, in Jesus’ case this led to him saying
some pretty amazing things. In John’s gospel he makes claims that sound absolutely
outrageous. John 6.48 “I am the
bread of life.” 8.12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will
never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 10.11 “I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” 11.25 “I am the
resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he
dies;” 14.6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me.” 15.5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man
remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do
nothing.”
How can someone say these kinds of things and still be described as “humble?” Only if they’re true! Jesus is not thinking more highly of himself than is appropriate. He knows who he is. What he’s saying is true, and rooted not so much in himself as in his trust in his Father.
We started off with a definition of humility that described it as, “a freedom from arrogance that grows out of the recognition that all we have and are comes from God.” How can Jesus say those things, even if they are true, and not be thought of as arrogant? Because, right alongside them, in the same gospel of John, he says these things…
John 5.19 “I tell you
the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his
Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” 5.30 “By
myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I
seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” 6.38 “For I have come down from
heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” 7.16 “My
teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.” 7.28 “I am not here on
my own, but he who sent me is true.” 8.28 “I do nothing on my own but speak
just what the Father has taught me.” 8.42 “I came from God and now am here. I
have not come on my own; but he sent me.” 8.50 “I am not seeking glory for
myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.” 14.10 “The words I
say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is
doing his work.” 14.24 “These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the
Father who sent me.”
Jesus knew that he was dependant upon his Father to accomplish anything. Although John makes it clear, right at the beginning of his gospel, that Jesus is God, it’s also clear that he would agree with what Paul says in Philippians. That Jesus, even though he was, “in very nature God, [he] did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,” [literally “he emptied himself”] Jesus emptied himself of all the special powers and abilities that come with being God. He became a real human being, and part of being a real human being is being dependant upon God. Humility is rooted in recognising that we are dependant upon God.
Because he knew who he was, and because he
knew he was dependant upon God the Father to sustain him, Jesus was free to
take the place of a servant. He, did not consider
equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the
very nature of a servant…
Jesus never thought of seeking his own
honour or reputation. One of the things that has always really impressed me
about Jesus in the gospels is that he never defends himself, even when he’s
standing before the court in
So, how do we do that? How do we cultivate humility in our own lives so we can be like Jesus and be free to serve?
For some of us, the first step towards humility is to overcome past hurts. If you’re humble, you’re vulnerable. If you’ve been hurt in the past vulnerability doesn’t look very attractive and it’s going to be hard to learn humility. So, if that describes you, the first step towards humility is to come to come to an awareness of God’s great love for you and his grace towards you.
Some people who have grown up in loving Christian homes have never doubted God’s love for them. For others it’s a bit of a learning curve to get to the point where they believe that God really does love them.
Jesus set off on the path of humility knowing that he was God’s beloved Son. We need to set off on the path of humility knowing that we are his beloved children.
We said that humility means having an honest assessment of yourself and we looked at Jesus’ “I am” statements in John’s gospel. He could make those claims because he knew who he was. What kind of “I am” statements can you make?
At our annual meetings here at Wentworth we repeat the church covenant. There are some pretty good “I am” statements in there. “I am a child of the living God.John 1:12 I am an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ.Rom 8:17 I am a new creation in Jesus, old things are passed away, and all things have become new.2 Cor 5:17 I am part of a chosen people, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation.1 Pet 2:9 I am an overcomer and can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.Phil 4:13”
All of those statements are rooted in scripture. They are what God says about us. But humility is also about having an honest assessment of your gifts and abilities. That works both ways. Sometimes we have to face the fact that we aren’t as gifted in something as we’d like to be, or as others would like us to be. [pastoral job description] But we also have to embrace what we are gifted at, know our strengths and work in them. That too is humility.
The biggest challenge for hurting people on the path to humility is false humility. That’s when, for instance, you say that you’re not very good at something, when you know that you are, just so that people will go, “No. no you really are good.” It’s really a way of gaining more praise, a way of gaining affirmation to overcome the hurts of the past, but it’s still false.
True humility, on the other hand, recognises that anything good in us is a gift of God’s grace in our lives, and gives God the glory. It sets us free from having to worry about what people think of us.
[Floyd’s gift to the Lord – humility is being willing to be known for who you are]
We said that one of the true marks of humility is that you don’t have to look out for yourself. You leave that to God. You don’t have to push to get your own way or your own glory. You can be free of that.
Humility sets you free from pursuing your own agenda, your own career, your own vision, and it frees you up to devote yourself to the vision of the company (if you’re in business), the team (if you’re in sports), or the church (if you’re a Christian.)
We talked last week about our hearts, the very core of your being that only you and God know about. This week we’ve moved outwards a little, but only a little. Although humility does make it easier to live with other people, it is primarily about having a true opinion of yourself, one that sets you free from needing others’ approval or doing things to gain a positive opinion of yourself.
Jesus is our model. If the Lord of creation can humble himself to take on human form and die on a cross for us, then we too can learn to be humble and serve others.