Revolutionary Joy in humility
February 17, 2019
Carroll FUMC
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble (sing with me)
When you're perfect in every way
I can't wait to look in the mirror
Cause I get better looking each day
When you're perfect in every way
I can't wait to look in the mirror
Cause I get better looking each day
To know me is to love me
I must be a heck of a man
Oh Lord It's hard to be humble,
But I'm doing the best that I can.[i]
I must be a heck of a man
Oh Lord It's hard to be humble,
But I'm doing the best that I can.[i]
I will say, for all my shortcomings, that is not one I struggle with. I have never been tempted to believe I am perfect in every way.” Far from it, my personal tendency is to dwell on my shortcomings and faults.
Pride comes in a lot of different and sometimes sneaky flavors.
The psychologist Tracy Robins distinguishes two types of pride. [ii] AUTHENTIC PRIDE represented in words like accomplished and confident. It is a positive characteristic in which we REALISTICALLY recognize our effort, hard work, and accomplishments as having value. It has to do with our self-esteem. There is nothing wrong with that. One of the keywords being REALISTIC. Humility stems from the Latin word “humus” meaning ground. Humility is being grounded or having our self-image firmly planted on the ground. Authentic pride is not the opposite of humility. In fact, the realistic assessment of ourselves is part of humility. The opposite of authentic pride is hubristic pride.
HUBRISTIC PRIDE is related to words like egotistical, bigheaded, conceited, vain, smug, and arrogant. Hubristic pride is an UNREALISTIC belief in the superiority of our talents, abilities and positive traits that make us SUPERIOR to other people. The key words being UNREALISTIC and SUPERIOR TO OTHERS. This hubristic pride is the opposite of humility.
Sadly, you may recognize hubristic pride in others, but it can be hard to see it in yourself. If you are not sure if you have hubristic pride, ask your spouse or best friend what they think. If you have trouble thinking of anyone besides yourself that is smart enough or good enough to answer your question…you may have hubristic pride.
There is another word we need to push off to the side. Related to humility is HUMILIATION. Humility is not humiliation. Humility is giving up our unrealistic pride of our own free will. It makes us better people. Humiliation, though, is having even our actual or realistic pride stripped from us involuntarily and unrealistically until we stand unfairly exposed for all the world to mock…
There are several flavors of hubristic pride.…
· Self-reliance. Being too proud to accept help or charity even if you really need it.
· Snobbishness. You know, people who have the attitude that says, “You are lucky I am not charging you money for the privilege of being in my presence, looser.”
· Stubbornness. Being too stubborn to admit you are wrong or back down on an argument even when you know you are wrong. It is unrealistically believing that you can never be wrong.
· Spite. When everyone knows you can’t do something, (and you know you can’t do something) but you stick to it just to try to prove them wrong.
· High Expectations. (UNREALISTIC) When you throw away a chocolate cake you made for the family because it tastes great but isn’t quite the perfect shape you expect.
· There is indignation, which says bad things can happen to other families, but they aren’t supposed to happen to me or my family.
· Intellectual pride… if you know Sheldon Cooper Big Bang theory… that’s all I have to say.
· Perfectionism you must deliver the perfect product that meets everyone’s expectations, so others don’t see how imperfect you think you really are.[iii] I saved that one for last because I didn’t like it much.
Can I confess something without making you uncomfortable? I’ll confess, when I started preparing this week I thought I was pretty much in the clear. I didn’t think pride was one of the many sins with which I thought I struggled. But when I read about this flavor of pride called perfectionism I saw myself all over it. I was convicted that the workaholism with which I have struggled even when I was in high school (what some have perceived as a perfectionism) might really be a kind of pride. Could it be that I am too prideful to let others see my imperfections? Is it possible that I am so pridefully insecure that I feel like I have to work twice as hard just so no one knows that I don’t feel like I am as good as the next guy? It is a little twisted, but that is how pride works.
Can you see yourself in any of these? Can you see some way that you might be prideful without having realized it?
Turning to the book of Philippians, it is clear that they are dealing with some kind of conflict in the church. See if this sounds to you like Paul is lecturing the Philippians on pride.
“If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” That kind of sounds like a lecture about pride to me.
There may be another clue in chapter 4 verse 2
“ 2 I urge Euodia (ye-od-ee-ah) and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
We can’t tell for sure what’s happening, between these two women but whatever competition or conflict they have sure sounds like pride.
· Maybe relational pride like “I’m better than you because Paul likes me better.”
· Maybe stubborn pride, Maybe Euodia (ye-od-ee-ah) says, “I’ll never admit that I am wrong because I am not playing second fiddle to that garbanzo bean, Scynthe”
· Maybe intellectual pride, “step aside and let a real Christian tell you what Jesus meant.
Whatever the cause or flavor, it sure seems that the church at Philippi was infected with the sin of pride because Paul lectures them about humility.
If there is any Jesus in you, any love, any spirit, any compassion, any sympathy…make my joy complete by “regarding others as better then yourselves.”
As an aside, That is not the way I would define humility. Rather than “regard others as better than yourselves.” I would say “Do not think of yourselves as better than others.” “Do not think of yourselves as better than others…” neither puffing yourself up nor tearing them down. Making them smaller doesn’t make you bigger. But being in Jesus, in love, in spirit, in compassion, and in sympathy makes our joy complete.
When Jesus is teaching that there is “no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend,” in other words to get outside our own pride and humbly offer ourselves to others he says, “I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” [iv]Being trapped in protecting our pride is joyless… but Jesus says his joy is in us and our joy is complete when we give up the petty ego or pride games.
No one likes to be around conflict, especially when it is born out of two competing egos. Being together in Christ without prideful competition makes Jesus’ joy, Paul’s joy, and our joy complete.
Paul knew about humility. He had to leave his pride behind at his conversion. Paul was the great persecutor of Christians, gladly killing the Jesus following scum at every opportunity because he as a Pharisee had a corner on the truth. Suddenly Paul was knocked off his horse, blinded and the Jesus whom he persecuted was calling him to work for the other side. He emptied himself of his pride and his hatred and became a humble evangelist for Jesus. And he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.”
Paul knew humility; stripped, beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked and all the other suffering I mentioned last week yet he counts it all Joy because it was for Jesus.
Paul knew humility, even while he was in prison, others carried on the gospel and for that he was joyful.
If you want to look beyond Paul to the perfect example of humility, look at what Paul wrote in Chapter 2 of Philippians.
5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form 8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
Wow, perfect humility.
Think about it. Jesus Christ was the pre-existent, all creating, ground of being, all knowing, all present, all powerful God, King of all that there is. Clearly God is without any doubt, better than all of us added together. God is perfect…Jesus is perfect… yet Jesus is also perfectly humble.
Notice there is no humiliation here. Jesus did it voluntarily. He emptied himself of that. He EMPTIED himself. Poured himself out. Left divinity behind to became incarnate… literally “with meat” … God with meat on. Talk of humility… becoming one of us… a baby who needs diapers changed… a child subject to the discipline of the parents. An adult who actually feels pain, struggles with right and wrong, and ultimately experiences death.
And listen to the soaring heights of joy about which Paul writes. God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Is there a more glorious or joyous passage in all of scripture? I don’t think so.
· In God’s kingdom economy pride begets trouble, but humility begets joy in heaven.
· In God’s kingdom economy there is great joy in heaven over a humble disciple pouring himself or herself out for another person.
· In God’s kingdom economy there is no place for humiliation but in humbly pouring oneself out for the sake of another is the most joyful thing we can do.
We sit here in various degrees of pride and every bone of our body wants to hang on to that. Every instinct we have says that if we give up our pride our fragile egos will just crumble. Every little voice inside of us is saying, “don’t do it. It is too risky”
Every voice inside of us says don’t do it, except one.
Every voice inside of us says don’t do it, except the voice of Christ which says empty yourself and humbly follow me.
Every voice inside of us says don’t do it, except the voice of Christ which says you must give up your life in old to gain life in the kingdom.
Every voice inside of us says don’t do it, except the voice of Christ which says If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Every voice inside of us says don’t do it, except the one who taught “Blessed are the pour in spirit… blessed are the meek.”
Every voice inside of us says don’t do it, except the one who said, “do not take the most honored place at the table but take the lowest seat.”
Every voice inside of us says don’t do it, except the one who said, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.”
Every voice inside of us says don’t do it, except the one who said, “Let the little children come to me.”
Every voice inside of us says don’t do it, except the one who spoke to the lepers, the foreigners, the slaves, and the prostitutes.
Every voice inside of us says don’t do it, except THE ONE THAT COUNTS… JESUS.
There is great joy in humility.
You know what… I could stand up here on my safe comfortable chancel area and tell you to be humble. Or I can step down of my pedestal, empty myself and show humility.
I need three people willing to demonstrate humility with me.
---------------Wash 3 people’s feet.----------------
After I have washed one person
After he washed their feet, Jesus said “Do you realize what I have done to you? If I have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
After I have washed the second person start the loop
How can you humbly pour yourself out for others? Watch for a few ideas on the screen to get you started.
Go find joy in being a humble servant of Jesus.
Admit that you might not be the best in everything.
Recognize your faults.
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