| Introduction You might be thinking, "Another sermon on humility? Haven't we heard enough yet?" I don't think so. I know I haven't heard enough about it for myself. Our chief struggle is with pride. So, we need to hear about humility because that is the mind of Christ (the attitude of Christ) that we are supposed to have. Today I want us to consider the practical side of growing in humility. I. Humility Is Important to the Lord. Is. 57:15– For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name isHoly: "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him whohas a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Is. 66:2b– … on this onewill I look: on him who ispoor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word. 1 Pt. 5:5b-7– Yes, all of yoube submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. {TRANSITION: We see that humility is incredibly important to God. So, how can we grow in humility?} II. Value Humility in Your Own Life – Practice not just Thought. A. It is possible to admire humility while remaining proud. B. It is also possible to deceive ourselves into thinking that we are making progress against pride while not taking any steps toward humility. C. Valuing humility involves purposeful application of truth. A. Reflect on the wonder of the cross. Gal. 6:14– God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. "Fill your affections with the cross of Christ that there may be no room for sin." John Owen "There is only one thing I know of that crushes me to the ground and humiliates me to the dust, and that is to look at the Son of God, and especially contemplate the cross." Martyn Lloyd-Jones "When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride." Isaac Watts B. Begin your day acknowledging your dependence and need for God. 1. Sin (including pride) is active, doesn't get tired, it doesn't sleep. a. When we wake up in the morning, sin is right there, fully awake, ready to attack. b. So rather than be attacked by sin, we must choose to go on the offensive. 2. Let's declare war on pride by speaking the truth of our need for God. C. Begin your day expressing gratitude to God. "Thankfulness is a soil in which pride does easily grow." Michael Ramsey 1. Thankfulness points us to things outside of ourselves. 2. It helps us not be so focused on ourselves. 3. So, we recognize that whatever grace we receive from God is so much more than we are worthy of. D.Practice spiritual disciplines 1. Read the Bible, large portions of the Bible. a. For some reason, it has become trending to put down reading the Bible through in a year. b. But we need the Bible and lots of it – it takes about 15-20 minutes a day to read four chapters. 2. Think about what you read. Phil 4:8– Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things arenoble, whatever things arejust, whatever things arepure, whatever thingsarelovely, whatever things areof good report, if there isany virtue and if there isanything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. a. For yourself, others, anything. b. Prayer takes the focus off of us and acknowledges our dependence on God. 4. Talk about God and Christ to others. 5. Worship God through Jesus Christ. a. Worship reminds us that God is God and we are not. b. That is something we often forget in practice. E. Seize your commute (or any mindless time you have). 1. This might not be applicable to all you because you may not have much a commute, but you may have other times like folding laundry, ironing, mowing lawn, etc. 2. These times could be used for prayer, Scripture memorization, listening to podcasts. a. William Wilberforce, the 19thcentury Christian statesmen, used the one mile each way to parliament to memorize and meditate on Ps. 119. b. He could recite the whole psalm during his mile walk. 3. For many of us, our commute is wasted every day by our allowing ourselves to get into mental ruts that are not helpful. F. Begin your day (and do it throughout the day) by casting your cares upon the Lord. 1 Pt. 5:6-7– Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1. When we humble ourselves each morning by casting all our cares on the Lord, we will start the day free of care. 2. The humble are genuinely care free. a. Where there's worry, where there is anxiety, pride is at the root of it. b. When we experience anxiety, the root issue is that we are trying to be self-sufficient. c. I am acting independent of God. A. We are familiar with the importance of practicing spiritual disciplines in the morning, but most of us are not aware of any specific biblical instruction about how to conclude each day. Ps. 92:1-2– Itis good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night…. B. Review your day and carefully assign all glory for the grace you have experienced on that day. 1. Throughout each day we experience saving grace, sanctifying grace, sustaining grace, serving grace – grace that should amaze us. 2. We must ascribe the glory of all that to God. "When we have done anything praiseworthy, we must hide ourselves under the veil of humility, and transfer the glory of all we have done to God." Thomas Watson 3. We don't have to wait till the end of the day to do this, but we shouldn't let the day go without doing this. C. Accept the gift of sleep from God and acknowledge his purpose for sleep. 1. God made everyone of us to need to sleep. 2. A Christian, informed and inspired by Scripture, views the cessation of work each day, the limitation God places upon each day, and the laying down to sleep each night, as altogether a gift from God. a. A gift so graciously provided in his lavish generosity. b. And those who neglect this gift will inevitably suffer consequences. 1) We often neglect the gift of sleep by trying to accomplish more things than what God designed for us to accomplish. 2) We often neglect the gift of sleep by mindlessly entertaining ourselves – both of these reasons are prideful. 3) We often neglect the gift of sleep by worrying/being anxious. a) Anxiety is the fear that God is going to get tomorrow wrong and that by staying up we will get it right. b) This is also a prideful attitude. 3. So, we accept this gracious gift from God. 4. Often when we don't, one of the most devastating consequences is that we won't hear from the Lord on the Lord's Day because we can't stay awake during the service. V. Other Helps to Cultivating Humility. A. Study the attributes of God, especially the uncommunicable attributes. "The greatest and best man in the world must say, By the grace of God I am what I am, but God says absolutely… I am that I am." Matthew Henry "The grand difference between a human being and a supreme being is precisely this: Apart from God, I cannot exist. Apart from me, God does exist. God does not need me in order for Him to be; I do need God in order for me to be. This is the difference between what we call self-existent being and dependent being. We are dependent. We are fragile. We cannot live without air, without water, without food. No human being has the power of being within himself. Life is lived between two hospitals. We need a support system from birth to death to sustain life. We are like flowers that bloom and then wither and then fade. This is how we differ from God. God does not wither, God does not fade, God is not fragile." R.C. Sproul 1. The more we are aware of this distance between us and God, the more we will experience and express humility. Ps. 139:6– Suchknowledge istoo wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attainit. 2. So, grab a book like Knowing Godby J.I. Packer or John Calvin's Institute of the Christian Religionand work your way through it, marveling at the greatness of God. B. Study the doctrines of grace. "God intentionally designed salvation so that no man can boast of it. He didn't merely arrange it so that boasting would be discouraged, or kept to a minimum – He planned it so that boasting would be absolutely excluded! Election does precisely that." Mark Webb 1 Cor. 1:26-31– For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord." C. Study the doctrine of sin "There are two things that are suited to humble the souls of men…. A due consideration of God, and then of ourselves. Of God, in his greatness, glory, holiness, power, majesty and authority; of ourselves, in our mean, abject and sinful condition." John Owen D.Identify evidences of grace. 1. This means finding the positive work of God in other people's lives. 2. The Corinthian church was marked by very serious and real problems. 3. Yet, Paul was able to identify real things that God was doing in them. 1 Cor. 1:4-8– I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may beblameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. a. Personally, I wouldn't want to be involved with this church because of all its problems. b. And that is because I am proud. c. Only those who are humble can consistently identify evidences of grace in others who need adjustment. d. It is something that the proud and the self-righteous are incapable of. 4. How do we grow in our ability to identify evidences of grace in other people's lives? a. Be intimately familiar with the list of the fruit of the Spirit – joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – and make a practice of observing how the Spirit manifests these traits in the lives you see around you. b. Also, familiarize yourself with the lists of the gifts of the Spirit and observe the Spirit equipping believers to teach, to lead, and to serve. 1) Good lists to keep in mind – Rom. 12, 1 Cor. 12, Eph. 4:11, 1 Pt. 4:11. 2) Remember that they are not exhaustive lists, just a sampling of the gifting the Spirit provides. 5. When we become familiar with the fruit and gifts of the Spirit and learn to recognize their manifestation, suddenly we will be aware that God is at work EVERYWHERE! a. The call of God in the lives of believers (we saw the call in chpt. 1) means that God has been at work in them and the evidences of grace reveal that he IS at work in the present. b. We motivate others by grace when we perceive where and how God is at work in their lives and humbly let them know. 6. Finding evidences of grace in our families. a. In interacting with your spouse, are you making him or her aware of the evidence of the grace of God that you see in his/her life? If your spouse is a believer, it will be there. b. In interacting with your children, are you sincerely informed by the evidence of grace you have seen in their lives? 1) If we are not faithful to encourage, we can be sure we will eventually exasperate our children. 2) If we are faithful to encourage, when times of necessary correction come, it will be far more effective because the environment we have created is grace centered. 7. Finding evidences of grace in our church. "Paul looks at the Corinthian church as it is in Christ Jesus before he looks at anything else that is true of the church. That disciplined statement of faith is rarely made in local churches; the warts are examined and lamented, but often there's no vision of what God has already done in Christ." David Prior a. Are we actively calling attention to the evidences of God's gracious work in the lives of our brothers and sisters in the church? b. What comes first to our minds – the warts or the grace of God? E. A variation of finding evidences of grace is using our words to encourage others. 1. On average, we speak 25,000 words a day – that is about a 100-page book! a. A lot of language flows out of our mouths every day and that language is having an impact on those around us. b. How many of those words reflect pride, rather than gospel-motivated humility displayed in encouragement? 2. Words are amazingly powerful, and God designed them primarily to build others up, 4:29 (more on this in a few weeks). Pro. 18:21– Death and life arein the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. 3. It takes humility for us to be purposefully encouraging with our words because we have to think of others in order to do that. 4. When we examine our words, we discover our heart. "[Our use of the tongue] is the hinge on which the door into our souls swings open in order to reveal our spirit. In effect, our words are like so many media people rushing to fil their reports on the condition of our soul." Sinclair Ferguson a. Where is there is an absence of edifying words there is also normally the presence of pride and self-righteousness because the proud is too preoccupied with themselves and think too highly of themselves to care about building others up. b. A humble heart will use an increasing percentage of those 25,000 words each day for soul-edifying, life-transforming, God-glorifying words of encouragement. F. The last one and the scariest one – invite and pursue correction. 1. The pursuit of humility cannot be solitary because pride not only destroys, but also deceives. 2. Others may clearly see the pride in our hearts that we are not able or willing to recognize. "My self-perception is as accurate as a carnival mirror…. If I am going to see myself clearly, I need you to hold the mirror of God's Word in front of me." Paul Tripp Heb. 3:12-13– Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today,"lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 3. The war on pride doesn't end till we see our Savior face to face – therefore we will always need help. "There is no duty we perform for God that sin does not oppose. And the more spirituality or holiness there is in in what we do, the greater is its enmity to it. Thus, those who seek the most for God experience the strongest opposition." John Owen a. Others see what we do not. b. By God's grace they can impart clarity to help protect us from the hardening effects of sin. c. The people around us are a gift from God in our battle against pride. God calls us to humility. That's where we thrive as his children.
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