Category: Humility

Unity Requires Humility

7/1/2021

7Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren. 1 Corinthians 6:7-8 NASB

Questions to Consider:

1. How do you react to being wronged or defrauded?

2. How do you practice walking in humility? How do you or can you practice self-denial on a daily basis?

Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 1 Corinthians 6:7

What would it look like if we preferred to be wronged and defrauded in order to maintain unity in the church and be a good witness to the world? No, seriously, what would that look like? What would it look like if we took these two questions that Paul poses to heart? Would you rather be wronged and defrauded if it meant keeping the gospel of Christ exalted and the church unified?
What if someone at the church borrowed your ladder and then instead of returning it, they went and pawned it? What if you let someone use your car and they wrecked it and then never paid or even cared to pay for the damages? Those are two real life situations that have probably happened numerous times in the church over the years. What do we as Christians do in those situations?
If we took advice from the Corinthian church, we would go outside the church, hire a lawyer or find a judge that would help us "win" and require payment for the damages. But, Paul rebukes the Corinthian church for their actions in verses 7-8 where Paul asks two very probing questions: Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? These two questions that Paul asks the Corinthian church reveal the heart and 'way' of walking in true unity: humility. It is impossible to have unity where pride runs rampant and where humility is rejected or even undervalued. Humility is not something that just happens, it is a way of life that is adopted and pursued after. Paul is essentially asking the church in Corinth and our church today, "do you think so much of yourself, your possessions, and your feelings that you would defraud and wrong your brothers in Christ so that you can be 'right'? Would you really devalue the name of Christ in front of the world in order to 'right' whatever wrong has happened to you?" How we answer these two questions that Paul asked will reveal what value we place on unity, the gospel and on ourselves.
Church, "Is it better that we be wronged and defrauded in order to keep unity in the church and to keep the name of Christ holy?"
My grandmother would often open her home to people who needed a place to stay. She would give away money to those who were in need. She was known as the person to go to if you needed something. She didn't have a lot, but what she had belonged to God. My grandma was highly criticized by her family and others because of how she was 'flippant' with her possessions and money. She was taken advantage of many times. I watched her do these things as a child and teen and they impacted me. I remember when I became an adult asking her how she felt about being taken advantage of. She replied "Travis, what difference will it make in heaven?" That has always stuck with me. Her heavenly perspective and her humility was so contagious and admirable that I have adopted that same saying as a 'life-phrase' for myself. My grandma passed away in 2012 and I can guarantee you, she is not asking God right now for retribution on those who took advantage of her. She's not asking to be paid back. She was wronged and defrauded on many occasions, but she is now in the presence of her God and King enjoying pleasures forevermore.
In this life we will have trouble; sometimes that trouble comes through people--even Christian people. If we truly have the mind of Christ and if we have truly set our mind on things above, we will overcome those trials-- with joy.

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The Value of Unity

6/28/2021

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Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? 2Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? 4So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? 5I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, 6but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? 7Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren. 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 NASB

Questions to Consider:

1. How does pride creep into your life? What are the means that the devil uses in your life to insert pride?

2. What value do you place on unity in your life and in the church?

3. Slowly read Jesus' prayer in John 17 and share what the Lord reveals to you personally through that chapter.

Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.

Paul writing to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians would point out consistently the flaws that they had as a church. One of the main flaws was that of disunity. Where there is disunity present in a group of believers, pride is usually the culprit. There was division on who they followed and who they "were a part of", in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. There was disunity on the spiritual gifts where they would place people into 'sects' of "important" and "not as important" in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. There are many other examples of division that had crept in. Understand this, this was a spiritual bunch of people that Paul was writing to. The devil is crafty and sneaky in his dealings with humanity but especially with the church.
"The devil does not always try to keep us in a low state; he will help us up the ladder so that when we get to the top, he can push us off." This is what we see with the Corinthian church. A group of people who had outward manifestations but lacked the greatest gift of love.
In chapter 6 we see that the Corinthian church had actual issues that were taking place, legal issues for that matter. There were wrongs committed and defrauding of one another was happening to an extent that they were seeking outside legal counsel from lawyers and judges of this world. This confused and concerned Paul and led him to rebuke the church as a whole. Paul couldn't understand how believers in Christ, seemingly mature believers in Christ, could not solve simple or even complex issues amongst each other and instead went out and brought the worlds system into the church. How could this happen? Because unity was sacrificed on the altar of self-exaltation and self-preservation. If we pick out one glaring fault with the church in America today it would be the lack of unity because of the love of self.
Personally, I struggle with the subject of unity, not because I don't desire it, but because I don't find it as important. But when I read the famous High Priestly Prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17, I realize that Jesus found it extremely important and even supreme at points in His prayer. In the 26 verses, Jesus mentioned the cry for unity amongst His disciples 4 times.
..that they may be one even as We are.. John 17:11
..that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.. John 17:21
..that they may be one, just as We are one.. John 17:22
..that they may be perfected in unity.. John 17:23
Unity is the theme and the cry from this prayer that Jesus prayed right before His betrayal and eventual crucifixion. He didn't pray that we would have success in ministry, He didn't pray for an absence of suffering, He didn't pray for us to have a happy life, He didn't pray for great manifestations of the Spirit; Jesus prayed for us to be unified with one another the same way that He is unified with His Father. That was His desire because He knew that if His disciples stay unified they will not give an opportunity to the devil and they will stay focused on the mission.
What is keeping us from being completely unified with one another today?

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Humility on Display

4/27/2021

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Philippians 2:1-8. Therefore if there is any encourage-ment in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.

Big Idea:  Jesus was gaining popularity quickly. The news was spreading about a miracle-working Rabbi who might be the Messiah. For most people, becoming famous or popular presents a crisis of pride. Pride is a part of the hubris that is exposed as people start believing their own press. In spite of His fame, Jesus continued to demonstrate humility.
We certainly do not live in a culture that places much, if any value on humility. Culturally, we celebrate the famous, the rich, the powerful, and all the want-to-be's of our social media world. It is so unlike the Christian value of walking in humility.
Therefore, our call to walk in the humility of Christ is a call that is at odds with the values of our culture. We are called to esteem others as better than ourselves. We are called to put the needs of others before we consider our own. This is all a part of following the call of Christ as opposed to following the dictates of the world.

Questions to Consider:

How is it possible to consider others as better than yourself without putting yourself down or making yourself the focus of your efforts?
How can we practically practice putting the needs of others before our own?
How would the world benefit by people who walk in humility?

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Crowds of People

4/26/2021

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Text: Mark 3:7-12 7 Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. 9 And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; 10 for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. 11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are the Son of God!" 12 And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.

So, Jesus was gaining in popularity. For most of us, that would be very challenging. Part of the sin nature is the hubris of pride that is trapped in our hearts. We long for significance and recognition. To complicate matters, we live in a culture that seems to thrive on celebrity and narcissism. Jesus met the challenge of pride with a demonstration of true humility.
Jesus is our example in all things, including how to walk in humility. There is no doubt that people accomplish and do some pretty spectacular things. In fact, we have works to accomplish that God has prepared for us. These "works" are significant and may even bring attention to the person who accomplished them. However, as Believers, we need to strive for humility even as our popularity grows. It is possible to be famous and humble at the same time. Jesus showed us the way.

Questions to Consider:

Many of the children stars that were on the cast of a Disney Show, seem to struggle with fame. Why do you think fame is problematic?
Jesus was becoming popular in Israel, what kind of problem did this create for Him?
How popular would a person be today who could heal the sick and raise the dead?

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Humility Leads to Cleansing

3/9/2021

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Text: Mark 1:40-45 40 And a man with leprosy came to Jesus, imploring Him and kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, 44 and He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.

Cross Reference Additional Readings on Humility:

Matthew 23:1-12

1 Peter 5:1-11

James 4:1-10

Micah 6:6-8

Questions to Consider:

1. What steps do you take to guard your heart from pride?

2. How can you walk in humility and meekness today?

3. Think of someone in your life today who needs a cleansing touch from God. Will you pray for them right now that God would touch them?

40 And a man with leprosy came to Jesus, imploring Him and kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Mark 1:40

This man was a dirty man. This man knew that he was a dirty man. These two truths about this man are necessary and vital for the cleansing he is about to receive from Jesus. If he was not dirty then he did not need to be cleansed; if he did not know that he was dirty he would never have asked to be cleansed. This is what I like to call realization and revelation. Everyone on earth has to come to the point of realizing that they are sinful and dirty in the sight of God. But, if that is the only place that they dwell and live, that will lead to a life of despair and condemnation. There are many people who are stuck in this state of realizing that they are sinners, but never receiving a revelation of what to do about it. Revelation must come to show them that the dirtiness of their life is dealt with by the person of Jesus Christ. That He is not afraid of their dirtiness but actually calls out to the dirty and the unworthy in this world. "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17
Let me be blunt, if you are reading this, you are dirty or have been dirty in your life. If this man would have used the 'power of positive thinking' in regards to his condition; or the 'love yourself' teaching that is going around today, he would have remained in his condition. He needed something that worldly advice and ideas could not fix. He needed a touch. So, he accepts the reality of his state and comes to Christ in humility.
One of the confirmations to Jesus being the Messiah is that He cleansed lepers. In Matthew 11:1-6 it is recorded that while John the Baptist was in prison, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was indeed the "Expected One". Jesus responds by quoting two Old Testament passages that pertain to the Messiah. Isaiah 35:5 and Isaiah 61:1
I want us to look at the passage in Isaiah 61:1 which deals directly with this man with leprosy.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;
It says that the Messiah had been anointed to bring good news to the afflicted. The word for afflicted their in Hebrew literally means: humble, meek, poor. I have looked all over for instances in scripture that says that God will humble us. I cannot find that phrase anywhere. But I have found numerous passages that tells us to humble ourselves. 1 Peter 5:6, 2 Chronicles 7:14, James 4:10, Matthew 23:12 and many more. That doesn't mean that God will not orchestrate circumstances in our lives with the aim of humbling us; but the choice is ours whether or not we actually do humble ourselves.
How many of us have met someone who was in a state of dire need yet they would not humble themselves to receive help? How many times have we been like that in our own lives? According to Jesus in Matthew 5:3, humility and brokenness are the keys to the kingdom of heaven. The spiritually arrogant and prideful have no place in the kingdom of God because they lack the ingredients necessary to receive the gift of salvation from Christ. If there is one desire I have for the church of Jesus Christ today it would be this: that a flood of humility would sweep across the church. Not self-hatred but self-realization that leads to the revelation of "more of Christ and less of me." I am certain that when this happens in the lives of disciples of Christ, we will see things happen in our gatherings, our lives and this world that cannot be explained by human means.

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Adjusting Our Expectations

2/18/2021

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2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (NASB)
11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's palace, and successfully completed all that he had planned on doing in the house of the LORD and in his palace. 12 Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. 16 "For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 17 "As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, 18 then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, 'You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.' 19 "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 "As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?' 22 "And they will say, 'Because they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.'"

There is a weird expectation that the church in the United States clings to. It is the expectation that morality can be legislated. At the core of this belief is the erroneous idea that we can change the behavior of unbelieving people through the passage of moral laws. Although we need to have moral laws in place, we should not expect non-believers to act righteously without a heart change.

How can we "save" our nation? Firstly, we must stop looking to solve the spiritual problems in our nation with carnal tools, such as politics. The moral change that "we" desire must start with the Church. It is incumbent for Believers in Christ to take the lead in changing the direction of our country. This will not occur through political activism without the fervor of spiritual revival.

God's strategy for changing the heart of a nation always starts with God's people. God spoke the following words of wisdom to Solomon. (Please note, this is not Solomon's wisdom, these are the words of God) "If my people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

God lists four specific actions that "His" people should take in order to see the spiritual healing of their land.

Humble Ourselves
Pray
Seek God's Face
Repent from Our Sin

These are four pro-active strategies for the Church. These are four spiritual weapons in our arsenal. Our nation would be will served if we stopped complaining about the state of our nation, and instead, made the spiritual investment of humility, prayer, walking in God's purposes, and finally, stopped being a part of the moral failure of the nation by repenting and turning away from the common sins of the nation. It is never too late to get started!

Questions to Consider:

Do you spend much time watching the news? (What spiritual impact has the news made on your life?)
Do you consider yourself a part of the national problem, or a part of the solution? (How can you be more effective at being the light and the salt of the earth?)
Although we can pass moral laws in our country, why can't we legislate morality itself?

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Predestined for Work?

1/7/2021

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Ephesians 2:8-10 (NASB) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

John 3:26-30 (NASB) 26 And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him." 27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. 28 "You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent ahead of Him.' 29 "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. 30 "He must increase, but I must decrease.

Predestination. Sometimes I do not even say the word so that I can avoid the pitfall of arguments and differing opinions. That said, the idea that God has prepared good works for "us" to accomplish "beforehand," carries the idea of predestination with it. To be fair and in keeping with the context, we are saved, not by works, but maybe for works?

So, what does this mean? It means that God has a purpose for your life. It means that God indeed has a plan for your life. It means that you have been saved so that you might fulfill God's destiny for your life.

John the Baptist understood, clearly understood God's purpose for his life. John was not the bridegroom. John was not the Christ. John was not the Savior of the world. John was the friend of the bridegroom who rejoiced as he watched Jesus' ministry eclipse his own. In John's own words, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (What an amazing expression of humility)

Questions to Consider:

Have you discovered "your" calling in Christ Jesus?
How can selfish ambition get in the way of God's calling and purposes?
Do you rejoice at the success of others, even when they seem eclipse your own success?

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Discipleship plan

Unity Requires Humility

The Value of Unity

Humility on Display

Crowds of People

Humility Leads to Cleansing

Adjusting Our Expectations

Predestined for Work?

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