27 Apr A life of humility

1 PETER 5:5-6:

[5] Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

No body born humble. 

Baby born are selfish little creatures. 

JAMES 4:10:

[10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

When we think of a humble person, we often think of a shy person who is not outspoken and does not express self-confidence. 

But a humble person is actually a person whose confidence. 

A humble person is bold and courageous. 

Here’s how the Bible defines a humble person. 

A humble person is not someone who is thinking less of himself. 

A humble person is someone who is thinking of himself less. 

Humility is not a lack of confidence. It’s not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less. It’s focusing on yourself less. 

Humility is not looking at yourself all the time because on the inside you are supremely confident of your worth to God and that God is taking care of the circumstances of your life.

I. WE CAN LEARN HUMILITY

All good things are comes from God and nothing from us

JAMES 1:16-17:

[16] Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 

[17] Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

A. THE ENEMY OF HUMILITY IS PRIDE

There are so much pride in ministries, we need to die thousands times dead in order to be able to glorify God in our lives and ministry. 

PROVERBS 16:18:

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

What is pride? Pride is looking at yourself and thinking about yourself all the time. 

B. EXAMPLE OF THE HUMILITY

Jesus is the most humble man.

Take God so seriously and don’t take yourself too seriously 

MATTHEW 11:29:

(29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 

What is humility? It’s forgetting about yourself. 

Humility is not a lack of confidence but incredible confidence in God. 

In other words, a humble person is someone who does not look at themselves but looks to God. 

That’s the kind of person who receives grace from God. 

To receive grace, we must be humble. A humble person knows the same God who gives grace is the same God who gives commands to obey.

II. CULTIVATION OF HUMILITY

A. OWN YOUR PRIDE

Pride is the enemy humility. 

Many time we feeling better when we know that others are more suffering or more worse than us 

1 CORINTHIANS 3:21-23:

[21] So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 

[22] whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 

[23] and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

B. START LEARNING HUMILITY

We need to seek and learn humility by surrendering everything to God.

MATTHEW 11:28-30:

[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

[29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 

[30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

C. START SERVING

LUKE 22:27:

[27] For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

The genuine ministry is can be as the act of humility. 

In ministries we should keep listening and learning from others. 

MATTHEW 20:26-28:

[26] It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, [27] and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, [28] even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

D. HANG OUT WITH ORDINARY PEOPLE.

ROMAN 12:6-8:

[6] Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 

[7] if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; [8] the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

E. STOP TAKING YOURSELF SO SERIOUSLY AND START LOOKING OTHERS LIVES AND HELP THEM

Micah 6:8:

[8] He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

F. SPEND TIME WITH THE CHILDREN

Children will make you humble 

MATTHEW18:2-5:

[2] And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 

[3] and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 

[4] Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

[5] “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,

JESUS WANTS US TO HAVE CHILD LIKE ATTITUDE BUT NOT CHILDISH!

G. DON’T LOSE YOUR PERSPECTIVE

We have the greatest God who humble Himself in order to be able to redeem us from all our sinful nature.

Remember this:

Jesus is the most humble human being that ever living on earth 

PHILLIPIANS 2:5-8:

[5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 

[6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 

[7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 

[8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus HUMBLED HIMSELF and wants to spend eternity with you 

JOHN 14:1-4:

[1] “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. [2] In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 

[3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 

[4] And you know the way to where I am going.”

It’s require a strength, self discipline, and sacrifice to be humble. 

Humility is not something that we produce on our own. 

Humility is a byproduct of seeing how sinful we are, and how gracious God is. The more we see the cross of Christ, the more we are humbled by how sinful we are that it takes the death of the Son of God to forgive us. But at the same time, the more we see the cross of Christ, the more we know how loved we are that God is willing to die on the cross for us. This is what produces humility. The more we focus on what Christ has done, the more we forget about ourselves. Amen