February 26, 2012

“The Seven Not So Deadly Alternatives:  Humility”

Psalm 25:1-9; 1 Peter 5:1-10

Introduction

    They were known as the Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth, Lust, Anger, Pride, Envy, Gluttony, and Greed. Church people were urged to work on ridding themselves of these wrongs. They knew that out of them came all the deadly evils in the world. These attitudes, emotions or dispositions condition our behavior in ways that are destructive to ourselves and to all those around us. The Seven Deadly Sins.
    As we begin the season of Lent 2012, Pastor James and I are going to offer the Seven Not-So-Deadly Alternatives, joyfully moving from one way of being or one lifestyle to another: Diligence, Generosity, Patience, Humility, Kindness, Contentment, and Holiness. These attitudes, emotions or dispositions can shape our behavior in ways that are Christ-like and grace-filled toward ourselves and all those around us. The Seven Not-So-Deadly Alternatives.
    This morning we start with humility, the opposite of pride.

I. Because You Are Willing

    “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.’ ”
    How does this pride-humility thing work itself out in every-day life? For me, I found that just having a baby is a humbling experience. Raising children also brings several humbling experiences. Mike and Karla are starting this amazing life journey. Before having kids, I would see the behavior of other children and say, “My kid will never get away with that!” Right!?#@%!
I can see the sinful, pride side of it in my driving habits. For instance, I don’t like red lights. I especially don’t like when a police officer pulls me over for punching one. I am so easily upset with the “maroon” in front of me going so slow, making his way through the intersection, leaving me behind on the red. I can go berserk. Just this week, someone told me how anger is really a combination of the need to control and entitlement to do so – no matter what. Yeah, I have to admit, that’s how this pride-humility dynamic works out on me all too often, especially on the road. The dilemma of this humility-pride problem has been around a long time.
    An elderly woman in 15th century Florence knelt before and worshiped day after day at a statue of the Virgin Mary. A Dominican priest named Girolamo Savonarola was impressed with her piety. Then he found out that years before she had been the young, beautiful model the artist used for the sculpture. Shortly after the statue was put in place, she began to visit it religiously ever since. Pride so easily enthralls us with our own image. Pride craves admiration, even adoration.
    The Bible tells us that humility honors others rather than ourselves: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves” (that’s in Philippians 2). And, humility involves being submissive to others rather than just doing whatever you want to do. Peter writes:  "Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another..." (1 Peter 5:5-6). James 3:13 tells us that humility leads to wisdom: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
    Humility is having a personal view of one’s self that has a modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance. Being humble is, however a tricky thing. Check out this cartoon.
 
One homiletics professor often tells his preaching students that “You can’t convince people that you’re wonderful and that Jesus is wonderful in the same sermon.” Think about it!
    One of the unique things about becoming a Christian is the willingness to accept God’s gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. God has provided for our deliverance from sin and death to his righteousness and life through the cross of Christ. This relationship with God is not something we can earn or deserve (pride insists that we must). Faith and life come as a gift from a gracious God. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). The Message Bible renders it this way: “Saving is all God’s idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving.”
    Humility begins with being willing: “not because you must, but because you are willing.”

II. Humble Yourself

    So, here in I Peter 5, God’s word says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” To become a Christian and live as a follower of Christ, the Lord calls us to humble ourselves. We acknowledge our inability to live humble, righteous lives; we repent of the sins of pride; and we depend only on his grace.
    Once we become aware of who we are in Christ, we can afford to be open and honest with God and with one another because we no longer need fear rejection. If you view yourself as so special to God that he would give his Son to die for you, you find that playing games to establish a sense of importance becomes unnecessary. In Christ, you and I do not need the praise of others to maintain our identity.
    Psalm 25 says it (we read it together), “In you, LORD my God, I put my trust… No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame… He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”
    Now don’t confuse humility with humiliation. Pride cannot be overcome through self-contempt. Sociologist Anthony Campolo observed and taught that humility “enhances our humanity and makes us more like Christ; whereas humiliation diminishes our humanity and forgets that we are made in the image of God.” He writes, “As Savior and Redeemer, the Lord doesn’t want any of us to endure such loss of dignity and self-respect… but gives us a new identity as his sons and daughters.” In Romans 8, it says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” Please remember – the truest thing that anyone can say about you is what God says about you.  God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.
    The difficulty with humility as one of the seven “not-so-deadly alternatives” is this: as soon as I think I am humble, I’m not! My eternal salvation is assured by faith in Jesus Christ. But I’m not there yet. Every day, you and I are called to invite the risen Lord to work an inner transformation of our personalities. The biblical word for this is sanctification. It’s a lifelong process. The apostle John described it this way in his first letter to the church: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Paul wrote it in Philippians 3: “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Conclusion

    I came across the story of a man at a county fair who saw a little girl carrying a huge mass of cotton candy. He asked her, “How can a little girl like you eat all of that cotton candy.” She answered, “Well you see, Mister, I’m really much bigger on the inside than I am on the outside.”
    As we make our way through the season of Lent – for the next 40 days, ask the Lord to grow in you (make you bigger on the inside) the kind of humility that reflectd an accurate view of yourself in light of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.
Let us pray for one another.