Posts Tagged ‘humility’

What are the true tests of Christian greatness?

Posted: September 8, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, Luke, September
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A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.  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. —Luke 22:24

J.C. Ryle writes:

servant leaderUsefulness in the world and Church–a humble readiness to do anything, and put our hands to any good work–a cheerful willingness to fill any post, however lowly, and discharge any office, however unpleasant, if we can only promote happiness and holiness on earth–these are the true tests of Christian greatness. The hero in Christ’s army is not the man who has rank, and title, and dignity, and chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. It is the man who looks not on his own things, but the things of others. It is the man who is kind to all, tender to all, thoughtful for all, with a hand to help all, and a heart to feel for all. It is the man who spends and is spent to make the vice and misery of the world less, to bind up the broken-hearted, to befriend the friendless, to cheer the sorrowful, to enlighten the ignorant, and to raise the poor. This is the truly great man in the eyes of God. The world may ridicule his labors and deny the sincerity of his motives. But while the world is sneering, God is pleased. This is the man who is walking most closely in the steps of Christ.

Seek this blessed grace day by day

Posted: March 6, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, March, Matthew
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The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. —Matthew 23:11-12 ESV

J. C. Ryle comments:

The example of our blessed Lord, the direct command of the apostolic Epistles, both alike require us to be “clothed with humility.” (1 Peter 5:5.) Let us seek that blessed grace day by day.

  • No grace is so beautiful, however much despised by the world.
  • No grace is such an evidence of saving faith, and true conversion to God.
  • No grace is so often commended by our Lord.

Of all His sayings, hardly any is so often repeated as that which concludes the passage we have now read, “Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

Are we also blind?

Posted: November 10, 2011 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, John, November
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Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”  Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.—John 9:39-41

J.C.Ryle comments:

The rulers of the Jews were fully persuaded that they knew all religious truth. They were indignant at the very idea of being ignorant and devoid of spiritual eyesight. “Are we blind also?” they cried. And then came the mighty sentence, “If you were blind, you should have no sin–but now you say, ‘We see’; therefore your sin remains.”

Knowledge undoubtedly is a very great blessing. The man who cannot read, and is utterly ignorant of Scripture, is in a pitiable condition. He is at the mercy of any false teacher who comes across him, and may be taught to take up any absurd creed, or to follow any vicious practice. Almost any education is better than no education at all.

But when knowledge only sticks in a man’s head, and has no influence over his heart and life, it becomes a most perilous possession. And when, in addition to this, its possessor is self-conceited and self-satisfied, and imagines he knows everything, the result is one of the worst states of soul into which man can fall. There is far more hope about him who says, “I am a poor blind sinner and want God to teach me,” than about him who is ever saying, “I know it, I know it, I am not ignorant,” and yet cleaves to his sins. The sin of that man “remains.”

Let us use diligently whatever religious knowledge we possess, and ask continually that God would give us more. Let us never forget that the devil himself is a creature of vast head-knowledge, and yet none the better for it, because it is not rightly used. Let our constant prayer be that which David so often sent up in the hundred and nineteenth Psalm. “Lord, teach me your statutes give me understanding–unite my heart to fear Your name.”

Piper: “undue worry about your future is probably a form of pride.”

Posted: October 24, 2011 by Pam Larson in 1 Peter, Devotionals/Commentaries, October
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John Piper, in  a sermon, “Are You Humble Enough to Be Care-free?”

Did you notice (in the NASB) the grammatical connection between [1Peter] verses 6 and 7? “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” It’s not merely a new sentence. It’s a subordinate clause.

“Humble yourselves . . . casting your anxieties on him.”

I think this means that casting your anxieties on God is an expression of humility. It’s like saying,

  • “Eat politely . . . chewing with your mouth shut.”
  • “Drive carefully . . . keeping your eyes open.”
  • “Be generous . . . inviting someone over on Thanksgiving.”
  • “Humble yourselves . . . casting your anxieties on God.”

One way to be humble is to cast your anxieties on God. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry about your future is probably a form of pride.

Spurgeon: a sauce with which you may season every dish of life

Posted: August 21, 2011 by Pam Larson in August, Devotionals/Commentaries, Proverbs
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The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom,
and humility comes before honor. —Proverbs 15:33 

C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening:

sauceWhen a man is sincerely humble, and never ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow-men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden. This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of life, and you will find an improvement in every case. Whether it be prayer or praise, whether it be work or suffering, the genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

How a person reacts to the news of sin tells a lot about that person.

Posted: August 7, 2011 by Pam Larson in August, Devotionals/Commentaries, Ezra
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Pastor Steven J. Cole of Flagstaff Christian Fellowship comments on Ezra 9:

Because we are so desensitized toward sin, we fail to have the proper response toward it, whether it is our own sin, or sin in others. We minimize it, justify it, or ignore it and go on our way unaffected by it. If we see someone reacting in a godly way toward sin, we think that he is a bit carried away or extreme. He is judgmental or intolerant. How dare he cast stones at others! Does he think that he is without sin? And so, by casting our stones at him, we justify our sins and go back to business as usual, wondering why God doesn’t bless our lives more than He does.

RepentanceOur text relates Ezra’s reaction to the sin of the exiles who had returned to Israel after the Babylonian captivity. About four and a half months (7:9, cf. 10:9) after he led a remnant back to the land, it was reported to him that many people in Israel, including too many priests, Levites, princes, and rulers, had sinned by taking pagan wives.

Ezra did not take the news in stride, chuckling, “Well, people will be people.” Rather, he tore his clothes, pulled some hair from his head and beard, and sat down appalled and speechless until the time of the evening offering. By then a number of godly people had gathered around him. Ezra arose, then fell to his knees, lifted his hands to the Lord, and confessed the great sin of his people, identifying himself with them, although he had not sinned in this regard. His prayer, which ranks with Nehemiah 9 and Daniel 9 as one of the great prayers of confession in the Bible, shows us the godly reaction to sin:

The godly reaction to sin is to recognize it from Scripture,to mourn over it, and to confess it without excuseto the God of mercy.

How a person reacts to the news of sin tells a lot about that person. If we hear about adultery and get a subtle thrill reading the juicy details, it reveals that we do not hate that sin and are vulnerable to it ourselves. While I confess that I have never reacted asstrongly against sin as Ezra did (I can’t afford to pull out my hair!),and while part of his reaction may be culturally explained, we still can learn from him that we need to abhor sin so that we do not become desensitized to it.

 

The Pathway from Pride of Self to Praise of God

Posted: November 21, 2010 by Pam Larson in Daniel, Devotionals/Commentaries, November
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John Piper comments on Daniel 4:28-37

This is a story about a king, with a lesson for kings and presidents just as valid today as it was 25 centuries ago. But it’s also a story about every one of us. One way or the other we must learn this lesson or we will perish. And if we learn it, we are in for the greatest joys in the universe.

So what I would like to do is look at your story and mine in this text first, and then look and its relevance for Mr. Bush and Mr. Dukakis and the future of our nation.

The Pathway from Pride of Self to Praise of God

What Daniel describes in this story is the pathway of a man from the pride of self to the praise of God through the valley of humiliation. And that’s a pathway that every person in the world must walk if he wants to get to heaven and have eternal life.

Ever since Adam’s first sin we have all been born with his disposition. Do you remember what the essence of that first sin was? It was the abandonment of childlike dependence on God in favor of God-like dependence on self. And ever since then, all people everywhere have been born with this sinful nature of pride.

That is bad news, because God hates pride (Proverbs 8:13). InIsaiah 2:11 God said, “The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall be humbled; and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.” God hates pride.

But God also loves proud sinners. That’s why he sent his Son into the world to save us from the power and the penalty of our pride. So Jesus says in Matthew 18:4, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus came into the world to convert people from God-like dependence on self to child-like dependence on God. And then he died to pay the penalty for our pride and to show us the way of humility and to send all our boasting toward God and not toward ourselves.

So God has provided a path that leads from pride to the kingdom of heaven and to eternal life. That’s what the Bible is all about. That’s what this story in Daniel 4 is about, and I want us to walk it together this morning.

Three Stages of King Nebuchadnezzar’s Story

It has three stages: It starts with the pride of self and leads through the valley of humiliation to the praise of God. Let’s look at these three stages in the story of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

To read or listen to the rest of the sermon, click here:

 

Mightily mistaken?

Posted: November 4, 2010 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, Ezekiel, November
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woody vineEzekiel 15:1 And the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? 3 Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? 4 Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? 5 Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything! 6 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.7 And I will set my face against them. Though they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, and you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them. 8 And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.”

Charles H. Spurgeon, in a sermon preached in 1857, “The Fruitless Vine”:

The Jewish nation had arrogant ideas of themselves; when they sinned against God, they supposed that on account of the superior sanctity of their forefathers, or by reason of some special sanctity in themselves, they would be delivered, sin as they pleased. In consequence of the infinite mercy of Jehovah, which he had displayed toward them, in delivering them our of so many distresses, they gradually came to imagine that they were the favorite children of Providence, and that God could by no means ever cast them away. God, therefore, in order to humble their pride, tells them that they in themselves were nothing more than any other nation; and he asks them what there was about them to recommend them? “I have often called you a vine; I have planted you, and nurtured you in a very fruitful hill, but now you bring forth no fruit; what is there in you why I should continue you in my favor? If you imagine there is any thing about you more than about any other nation, you are mightily mistaken.” “What is the vine-tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?”

Let us remember that these things might be said without implying that God in the least degree alters his eternal purpose toward any chosen vessel of mercy; for the Israelitish nation was not chosen to eternal salvation, as a nation, but chosen to special privileges; a type and shadow of that eternal personal election which Christ has given to his church. From his own elect church God will never withdraw his love; but from the outward and visible church he sometimes may. From his own people he never will take away his affection, but from professors, from those who merely stand in his people’s external condition, and are not his children, he may, yea and he will, withdraw every token of his favor. God humbles Israel, by reminding them that they had nothing which other nations had not; that, in fact, they were a contemptible nation, not worthy to be set side by side with the cedar of Babylon, or with the oak of Samaria; they were of no use, they were worthless, unless they brought forth fruit to him. He checks their pride and humbles them, with the parable we have here before us.

Are You Humble Enough to Be Care-Free?

Posted: October 24, 2010 by Pam Larson in 1 Peter, Devotionals/Commentaries, October
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John Piper, in  a sermon, “Are You Humble Enough to Be Care-free?”

Did you notice (in the NASB) the grammatical connection between [1Peter] verses 6 and 7? “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” It’s not merely a new sentence. It’s a subordinate clause.

“Humble yourselves . . . casting your anxieties on him.”

I think this means that casting your anxieties on God is an expression of humility. It’s like saying,

  • “Eat politely . . . chewing with your mouth shut.”
  • “Drive carefully . . . keeping your eyes open.”
  • “Be generous . . . inviting someone over on Thanksgiving.”
  • “Humble yourselves . . . casting your anxieties on God.”

One way to be humble is to cast your anxieties on God. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry about your future is probably a form of pride.

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