Humility
Luke 14:7–11
“Are you proud of your humility?”— Pastor Ron Lowery
As we enter into this year’s celebration of Christmas, I’m reminded of the humility Christ displayed in putting on our flesh, being born in a stable, and placed in a feeding trough. I must confess that this example is far beyond my understanding, but Scripture is clear that the same humility should be seen in us who have placed our faith in Christ. Therefore, I ask the question: are we truly living humbly?
I was once visiting with a friend who, in the midst of our conversation, felt the need to inform me that he was a humble man. Listen, friends—if you feel the need to convince others of your humility, then humble you are not. I say this from personal experience, as there are many times in my life when I’ve needed to be reminded that I am a VERY prideful man.
Luke 14:7 — And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,
8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,
9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.
10 But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.
11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
We know that humility is to be a reality for the Christian, but have you ever taken time to ponder what this means? What is humility? Why is it important for believers to be humble, and how is it possible to live this out?
What is humility?
To live humbly requires a recognition of the weakness and total insufficiency of our flesh, but it has nothing to do with living weak!
A.W. Tozer once wrote, “A humble man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. He has accepted God’s estimate of his own life. He knows he is weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time he is in the sight of God of more importance than the angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything.” This statement agrees with verse 11: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
True humility is not a practice that can be ascribed to the flesh, for any attempt to produce humility from self-determination can only, at best, result in a pseudo-humility—in other words, a pretend humility. “A man can counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, he can counterfeit hope and all the other graces, but it is very difficult to counterfeit humility.” — D.L. Moody.
Scripture is clear that if Christ is not the source of our activity, then our best effort is really nothing but a waste of time (John 15:5): “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
(Romans 7:18): “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.”
(Galatians 3:3): “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
So humility is not something man-made, but as we shall see, it is literally by faith an attribute of Christ living His life in and through the believer.
Why should the believer be humble?
Humility should be a reality in the life of a Christian because Jesus is humble, and if He by faith lives in you, then what is true of Him must, by reason, be true of and seen in you. (Philippians 2:3–5): “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.”
It would appear from this passage that the humility of Christ lived out in the believer is not shown by thinking poorly of yourself, but by thinking highly of others. Someone once said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”
For a believer to be content living from the bankruptcy of his own pride is the mark of not realizing the true value of being indwelt by the life of Christ. As we go on in Luke 14, we find that the humble life is costly.
(v. 27): “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
(v. 33): “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”
“A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing is worth nothing.” — Martin Luther
So how is it possible to be humble?
Jesus says in Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”
I point out to my students that this verse isn’t teaching that they should call their mother and tell her, “I’ve learned a wonderful truth—I hate you!” How could this be what Jesus is teaching when we know that He clearly teaches in John 15:12–13 that we are to sacrificially love one another? So what is Jesus saying in verse 26? I believe He is wanting them to understand that their love for others should not compare with nor compete with their love for Christ.
How can we live this way? I suggest the answer is found in the opening phrase of verse 26: “If anyone comes to Me.” For the believer, the reality of humility is realized as we participate in fellowship with Jesus, and the only way we can be in true fellowship with Him, according to this verse, is by coming to Him empty-handed. We don’t come with a backup plan. What I mean by that is that we don’t leave room for others to be our security. We don’t draw identity from anyone or anything else in our life. We come to Him alone.
When you think about it, isn’t this really what pride is all about? It’s the attempt of making myself be seen by others in such a way that how they think of me provides what I believe will give me satisfaction and identity. But humility is the opposite, because it knows that my satisfaction and identity come from Christ alone—and Him being seen, not me. Andrew Murray, in his book Humility, says, “Man’s chief care, his highest virtue, and his only happiness, now and throughout eternity, is to present himself as an empty vessel in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.”
So, do you by faith live content with Jesus? Do you live in the truth that there is nothing else and no one else in your life that can truly bring you lasting peace? Are you living humbly before your God? Have you gone to Jesus, and are you abiding in Him today? For it is only in Jesus where true humility, as displayed that first Christmas, is found.
Merry Christmas from A’del.
All Scripture is taken from the NASB.
