Humble with One Another

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:59

Today we're talking about being humble toward one another. We'll look at three main points and then pray together at the end of my talk. So number one, we're called to walk in humility. 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 5 and 6 says, Cloth yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. We're encouraged in this verse to clothe ourselves with humility. This indicates a choice, something that we need to put on or apply to our lives. We're called to humble ourselves before God and then in turn be humble in our interactions with one another. Humility is having a correct view of yourself. It's understanding that we cannot justify ourselves before God, that we save by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Humility is also recognizing that we're not better or more important than others. Humility is knowing that you need God's grace and that you can learn from others. Years ago in a home group, I heard two brothers in Christ arguing with each other about which one of them was more humble. They were proud that they were humble. Now the opposite obviously of humility is pride. And we need to have a humble heart. Clothe yourselves with humility. We live in a world where pride is celebrated and people are stepping out and being proud about all sorts of aspects of their life and life choices. But God says that we should clothe ourselves as followers of Jesus Christ with humility. Remember, humility is having a correct view of yourself, seeing yourself as God has made you to be. And it's understanding that we have a responsibility for one another. It's not all about us. There are others involved in our lives. We should have the attitude, there go I, but for the grace of God. Have you ever found yourself in a place where you've observed somebody else and you thought, well, I'm better than they are, or I've made the right choices, or what poor choices they have made in their lives? But we need to understand, apart from God's grace, we would probably find ourselves in exactly the same circumstance. C.S. Lewis said, humility is not thinking less of yourself, but it's thinking of yourself less. When you're involved in a conversation, do you just talk about yourself? Is your aim to get across your opinion or point of view? Or do we listen with a humble heart to truly understand and be able to interact and learn from others? Number two, God gives grace to the humble. Now God's grace is his favor and his ability. And the Bible teaches us that God gives grace to the humble. But we'll also see in the verses we're about to look at that God opposes the proud. Would you like God to oppose you? I certainly wouldn't like that in my life. We see in the Bible the benefits of humility and the consequences of pride. Pride is about me. Humility is about we. I've heard someone say that the middle letter in pride is I. If it's all about me, myself, and I, then the Bible says God will oppose us. Listen to 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 5 and 6 again. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. Let's now look at James chapter 4, verse 6 and verse 10. First of all, James 4, verse 6 says, But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And then it continues in verse 10 humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. I want to encourage us to have that attitude, that we humble ourselves before God, that we position ourselves with grace, with love, with forgiveness, with humility in our interactions with others, and trust that God in his time and his way will open doors of opportunity for us. This brings me to point number three, where Jesus told a parable to illustrate the difference between pride and humility. And point number three is looking at the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Let's read it. In Luke chapter 18, verse 9 to verse 14, he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Isn't it interesting that when we trust in our own righteousness, we will treat others with contempt? He then tells the parable. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus. He was looking at his own righteous acts, and the Bible does say that our righteous works are like filthy rags, that we cannot justify ourselves, and he was comparing himself to others. We need to remember that we shouldn't compare ourselves to others, but we should compare ourselves to Jesus Christ. We should love as he loves, we should forgive as he forgives, we should give as he has given to us. Let's look at verse 13. But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. He would not take a position of pride, but he humbled himself before God, and he recognized without God's grace and mercy, he was a sinner. Then Jesus tells us, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Let's not trust in our own righteousness and treat others with contempt. Let's not compare ourselves to others, but compare ourselves to Jesus Christ, our true role model. And let's remember that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. In summary, today we've seen that we're called to walk in humility before God and one another. And we've seen that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Let's pray. And as we do, ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you and show you what He wants you to do or what adjustments he wants you to make in your life as a result of what you've heard in today's sermon. Let's pray. Father God, thank you for your teaching that is so different to what is promoted in our world today. We live in a world where pride is celebrated, but you've called us to clothe ourselves with humility, to humble ourselves before you, and to walk in humility towards one another. Lord, we don't want you to oppose us because of prideful attitudes in our hearts. Show us if there's anything that we need to change or adjust. Help us, Lord, to be humble and to trust that you will open the right door for us in the right time. Help us, Lord Jesus, to follow your example of humility, that you humbled yourself, you became a man, you were obedient even to death on a cross. And for that reason you have been exalted to the highest place. Help us to look to you as our role model and not to justify ourselves in comparison to others. We ask you, Holy Spirit, to speak to us now. Show us what you want us to do, what adjustments you want us to make as we follow Jesus. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.