Humility – 5

Humility – 5

Subject – The Secret of Being Nothing

By Rick Welborne

Luke 22:25-27 (NLT2) ²⁵ Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’
²⁶  But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.
²⁷  Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.

--We have looked extensively at the humility of Jesus but today let’s look at His twelve apostles. We will see so much of what they lacked and what a difference Holy Spirit made in them.

--As you study the apostles in the NT you can see how they lacked humility. One time they were arguing about who should be the greatest. 

--Another time James, John, and their mother approached Jesus about being seated at Jesus’ right and left in glory. At the last supper, they had contention again about who would be the greatest.

--This is not to imply that they didn’t have moments of humility. In Luke 5 Peter told Jesus to go away from him because he was a sinful man.

--Another time the apostles fell down and worshiped Him after He calmed the sea. Because these moments of humility were few and far between, we should look at them more deeply.

1. You Can Be Enthusiastic About Serving Christ and Still Not Be Humble.

--The disciples were strongly connected to Jesus. They had forsaken all to follow Him. The Father had revealed to them He was Christ, the Son of God.

--They believed in Him, they loved Him, and they obeyed His commandments. When others turn away (teaching about His flesh and blood) they remained faithful. 

--They even said they were willing to die with Him and for Him. But there was a battle they were fighting on the inside of self and pride. What’s in it for me? At His Ascension: 

Acts 1:6-8 (NLT2) ⁶ So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”
⁷  He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.
⁸  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, 

--This pride and selfishness had to be dealt with before they could truly become His witnesses and see people saved. No judgment here because the same is true of us. 

--We see pastors, evangelist, teachers, missionaries who are extremely gifted and who are used by God to be a blessing to people all over the world. Yet humility is hard to find.

Martin Luther – God created the world out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us. 

--What this tells us and even warns us is that humility is one of the highest virtues to be attained but one of the most difficult because self is always getting in the way. 

--Therefore, humility should be our first and greatest desire and we should diligently pursue it. 

Andrew Murray – Humility is a virtue that only comes in power when the fullness of the Spirit makes us partakers of the indwelling Christ and He lives within us. 

2. External Learning and Personal Effort Are Powerless in Conquering Pride. 

--For three years the disciples had been taught by the greatest Teacher ever. His main lesson:

Matthew 11:29 (NLT2) ²⁹ Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart.

--Jesus had spoken to them and to the Pharisees, and to the multitudes about humility being the only path to the heart of God. He told them He didn’t come to be served but to serve. 

Luke 22:27 (NLT2) ²⁷ … For I am among you as one who serves. 

--Jesus had washed their feet and told them to follow His example but as has been mentioned, there was contention at the Last Supper about who was the greatest. This after 3 years.

--I am sure they had tried to learn His lessons and doubtless tried as hard as they could not to grieve Him again. But it was to no avail. They just couldn’t get it.

--No external or outward teaching not even from Jesus Himself could teach them this lesson of divine humility that we all need so much to be what God wants us to be.

--There is not enough personal effort that we can put out, not enough books we can read, not enough depth we can find in some magical way to obtain this wonderful humility.

--We fight, we judge, we draw lines in the sand at home, at work, at school, at church. We are so filled with pride that being right is more important than being righteous.

Isaiah 64:5-8 (NKJV)
⁵  You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned-- In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved.
⁶  But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.
⁷  And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities.
⁸  But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. 

--We must acknowledge that nothing works in us but receiving a new nature directly from Jesus Himself to take the place of the old nature.

2 Corinthians 5:17&21 (NKJV)
¹⁷  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
²¹  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

3. Our Only Hope of Humility is the Indwelling Christ by His Spirit.

--We have our pride from Adam; we must have our humility from Christ. Pride rules in us with incredible power. If you don’t believe it, see what happens when we don’t get our way.

--We must see that just as easy as it has been to be filled with pride and arrogance, there has to be a way for us to become humble before God and man.

Romans 5:20 (NKJV) ²⁰ …But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,

--Three years of Christ teaching for His disciples and all their vain efforts to understand were just preparation for what God was preparing for them.

--Maybe what you have been going through, all the struggles, all the failures that you have had, the times of falling on your face, have been preparation for God to show up.

--In Christ’s death He destroyed the works of the devil, He put away sin and provided redemption that He purchased with His own blood.

--In His resurrection, Holy Spirit raised Him and now He, through that same Holy Spirit, can transform each one of us into what God intended for us to be. 

Romans 8:11 (NKJV)
¹¹  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 

--In Jesus’ ascension, there was available to Him the Spirit of God to accomplish what He did not accomplish while He was on earth, to make Himself one with them. How?

--Jesus was getting ready to do in the disciples what His teachings did not do in three years, what His modeling for them the humility of God, and what His death, burial, and resurrection did not do.

--On the Day of Pentecost Jesus came by Holy Spirit and took possession of His church. All the preparation, conviction, failures, and the desire they had to want more, finally came.

--When Jesus sent Holy Spirit to the 120 the transformation in the disciples was immediate and powerful. You shall receive power when the Spirit of God comes upon you.

--Peter, John, James and the others were changed by the Baptism of Holy Spirit. What about you? Have you struggled and failed over and over? Have you considered Pentecost.

--May I earnestly challenge you, if you struggle with sin, self, and pride, that you consider what may be lacking in your life is the indwelling presence of God…Holy Spirit power.

--Study the life of Peter before the baptism of Holy Spirit and after. Before, he had moments of being strong but we see a man who was proud and arrogant…big mouth. He rebuked Jesus.

--I believe you can study humility, you can read your Bible every day, you can attempt at humility every day but what you really need is eternal power of Holy Spirit. 

Ephesians 5:15-18 (NLT2) ¹⁵  So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.
¹⁶  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
¹⁷  Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.
¹⁸  Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 

--My exhortation to you, the Bible says pray without ceasing, so as you are praying ask God over and over, fill me with Your Holy Spirit and change my life.

--Then, expect Him to fill you, baptize you, transform you. Once He does, pray every day, please, God fill me again with Your beautiful Holy Spirit.

--You will never find this amazing humility apart from the power of Holy Spirit. The disciples showed us that. But after they were baptized, they turned their world upside down.