(Message by Pastor Philip Joseph. Happy
reading!)
We have been hearing about change in recent
weeks. The word of God reveals to us the glory of God-we must behold His glory,
and when we do that we ourselves are being changed from glory to glory (2 Cor.
3:18). And the transformation of our soul is also dependent on how we renew our
mind according to the verse found in Romans 12:2.
Humility-from the life of Jesus
And today, I want us to focus on just one
area of change in our being-that of humility. Jesus said “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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt. 11: 29, 30)
Whenever we behold Jesus, and think about
His earthly life, we can behold His glory, paving the way for our own change in
accordance with God’s will. Notice that Jesus is talking about rest for our
SOULS; for when we experienced salvation and forgiveness of sin, we found rest
for our SPIRIT. But, rest for our soul is quite another matter!
When we see the earthly life of Jesus, as
much as we see the complete work of Jesus, we also find Him at complete rest,
all through His life-whether in the water or in the fiery storm. Even in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus shed sweat while
praying, but got up fully composed to face the cross and death! “Not My will,
but Yours be done”- He prayed. We find the epitome of meekness and humility in
His submission to death-even death on the cross.
Humility-from the life of Paul
A renewed mind will see things in a
different perspective-different from those of the world around you, where
humility is not a valued or even desirable trait. But we need to have the
values of the kingdom
of God-and we must choose
to see things with a renewed mind.
Paul knew this: he says in Gal. 6:3 “For if
anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is {actually} nothing, he
deceives himself.” Notice that Paul includes himself-when he says “if anyone…”
Paul’s conclusion: We are actually nothing, God is everything. For again he
says in 1 Cor. 3: 6-7: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives
the increase.” Didn’t Jesus forewarn us: Without Me, you can do nothing? (John
15:5).
That is why, when God increases our
fruitfulness, blesses our ministry, we can continue to have this mind: God is
everything, we are nothing. All glory, one hundred percent, belongs to Jesus.
Humility-as a way of life
A humble heart, a humble mind and a humble
spirit is what Jesus is teaching us. Are we tuning in to learn from Him? Jesus
says: “…Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will
be exalted.” (Matt. 23: 12). Humility is our responsibility-therefore we cannot
pray to God, “Please make me humble, so that I may be exalted”-this is
hypocritical! The word of God exhorts us to humble ourselves-it is our
responsibility, it is the will of God, it is the command of God.
God’s will at any cost
Our meditation of the word starts with
pre-meditated conclusion, which is: The word is right on every matter. And if
at all, in any matter, God’s word and will crosses our own, we will give way
and cross-out, snuff-out, crush-out our own will! We learn from Jesus and say:
Not my will, but Yours be done. Sometimes, it may be a cup of suffering that we
have to drink…maybe it is painful or bitter, or both… But we will learn to say
“Yes” to God’s will at ANY cost… even at the cost of our own life! You know
beloved, the great thing in this life is not to escape from death, but to do
God’s will, even if it means death. It says about Jesus in Phil. 2:8 thus: And
being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to
the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Relationship with one another
1 Peter 5:5 says: Likewise you younger
people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one
another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives
grace to the humble.”
Do not allow any form of pride into your
hearts-in husband-wife relationship, in relationship between brothers and
sisters…. Sometimes there are ego clashes, and sometimes there are past hurts
that crop-up again and again… but it is necessary to clothe yourself in
humility. In the husband-wife relation, at least one of them must learn this
secret of rest for the soul-and walk in humility.
He Must Increase
God’s desire for us is to change us for the
better… to give us a future and a hope, to exalt us in due time. The world may
think otherwise; in the world humility is not valued, it is even considered as
a negative trait. In the world, self-praise and self-exaltation are looked up
to… The kingdom frame of mind compels us to esteem God’s word right, and
consider it a privilege to walk the servant way. We serve only one Master-who
made Himself a Servant, and washed the feet of His disciples. And at the end of
our work, when we have done all those things which were commanded, we too will
say: “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.”
(Luke 17:10). Remember the words of John the Baptist: He must increase, I must
decrease. (John 3:30)
You can conform to the world, or choose to
be transformed by renewing our mind. Shall we start placing a value on
humility? Shall we take to humility as a way of life, and learn from Jesus? May
God Bless You. Amen.
