Humility for Ministry
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2011 · 4 September 2011
Have you noticed how easy it is to be proud when you're right? And sometimes, because we're right, and because we know the truth, and because we love the truth, because we understand the truth, we can become intolerant and heavy-handed. And we all need to learn humility.
We have to speak the truth in love. We have to be patient and gentle and humble. And do you know that we live in a world that exalts self-love, self-satisfaction and self- promotion. And so here we are, as Christians living in a counterculture way opposed to the world. To be full of selfless humility in a world that sees that as a weakness.
But the Bible sees pride as a very ugly sin. It is the Devil's sin. It's what got him and all the other angels who joined his rebellion thrown out of heaven. It's basically what got Adam and Eve thrown out of the Garden. It is pride that seeks to dethrone God, and seeks to attack his perfect sovereignty and his majesty, and seeks to replace him with self.
And pride grips every human heart. That's why it's so hard to come to Christ. That's why the gate is narrow, and that's why the way is hard, and that's why you press into the Kingdom, because it's hard to deny yourself.
Nobody will ever overcome pride until we're out of this body. Pride remains in our fallen flesh. It will stay there until glorification. Pride has to be broken for people to be saved, and it has to be continually and repeatedly broken for people to be sanctified.
We have to have a broken and contrite heart. But humility comes hard, especially if you think you're right. And the more you know, and the more mature you become, the more impact you have on others, the more blessings you have in your life, the more this feeds your pride.
It is essential that we understand how important humility is. Paul said 2 Corinthians 12:7- 9, "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” It's when you come to the end of your self that you're powerful.
This was the problem with Jesus’ disciples. Open your Bibles to Luke 9. For almost three years the disciples have been with Jesus. This is a 24/7 deal, they're in the presence of Jesus, and everywhere is a classroom and everything is a lesson.
And everything Jesus ever taught them was absolutely right. Everything was a true interpretation of a divine mind. They were taught perfectly. In addition to being right about everything, they were given authority to represent Jesus Christ, and to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom from town to town and village to village.
And they were given so much authority that if they went into a place and somebody did not receive their message, they were to pronounce a judgment on those people, shake the dust off their feet, and go on.
They were given the power to cast out demons. They were given the power to heal diseases. They were common, ordinary guys who were given this immense amount of truth, authority, divine power, to wield in the name of Jesus Christ.
And for the most part, their flesh was having a very difficult time not being proud. And so, it was necessary for our Lord to teach them on many occasions what it was to be humble. One of those is in Luke 9.
And we're going to learn from Jesus in the school, not of theology, but of humility. Now you have to know one thing before we read verse 46. They have just received their power at the beginning of chapter nine, power and authority over demons, healing diseases, proclaiming the kingdom, pronouncing judgment on cities, shaking the dust off their feet.
There they went, in verse 6, "preaching the gospel, healing everywhere." To add to that, three of them, Peter, John and James, according to verse 28, had an incredible experience. They were taken up to a mountain with Jesus, and there he pulled aside his flesh, and he was transfigured, and they saw the shining glory of God.
And they also met Moses and Elijah on the mount. Now, you talk about an amazing, unique, unequaled experience. Here they are, with all this power, all this authority, the representatives of Messiah, having seen the greatest Old Testament figure, the law giver, Moses, and the greatest Old Testament prophet, Elijah, personally, on the mountain, and the transfigured Christ.
It’s really hard to be humble. So they come down from the mountain, and they're having this argument. Verse 46, "An argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest." You can understand it. One of them maybe says, well, you never know who is the greatest. It could be me.
And James says, well if it was going to be you, you'd been on the mountain with us. We were taken up on the mountain, you weren't. Or it might have gone like this. In the last village we were in, how many did you heal? Well, I had some minor healings. Huh, I had five major healings. You can almost hear the argument.
Now remember this, there are 12 apostles. There are four lists in the Bible of them, and in every list, there are three groups of four, and they're always in the same group. And the groups have descending intimacy with Christ. But they were forever going along arguing over who is the greatest and comparing all of their spiritual experiences, all their opportunities to display power and their intimate times with Jesus.
So here we are, faced with the issue of pride. Their message is right. They're authorities from God. They are his chosen representatives, and yet they are unable to deal with this lofty calling. It's hard to be humble when you're right. But it's necessary.
And in this text, we're going to see Jesus teach humility. They had just returned from traveling. They're back together again, and on the road, there was this debate. It got so heated, that James and John asked their mother to go to Jesus and plead their case to sit on his right and his left hand. Why? Because their mother was related to Jesus' mother and so they thought they had the inside family track (Matthew 20:20-26).
So let's look at what pride does to you. First, pride ruins unity. Luke 9:46, "An argument arose among them." That is not good. Arguing back and forth fractures their unity. They were a team. They were one. They weren't supposed to be competing with each other. Only humility encourages unity.
That's why in Philippians 1:27, Paul says, " Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”
Secondly, pride desires superiority over others. Pride seeks to elevate itself. Pride compares itself with everybody else, like Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:12 about the false teachers, "they compare themselves to themselves." Jesus says in Matthew 20:26-27, “whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.”
Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”
Thirdly, pride reveals sin or depravity. Luke 9:47 says, "But Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart." How would you like to spend three years, 24/7 with Jesus who knows all your thoughts?
This may be the greatest evidence of God's grace in using us. He does know your thoughts and my thoughts. He knew what they were thinking. He knew the sin that was in their hearts. Pride is sinful and you're totally exposed. But God still wants to use you.
And so, knowing what they were thinking in their heart caused Him to give them the lesson on humility. In Luke 9:47 Jesus continues “took a little child and set him by Him.” "A small child," according to Mark 9:36, "and yet grown enough to be held by Jesus.
Jesus says that you cannot enter heaven unless you come as a child. What does Jesus want us to learn? A child has no achievement, no accomplishment. You come really void of anything on your own that can earn you a place with God.
The sin of pride is failing to recognize you are dependent on Him, and you lack achievement and accomplishment. What is Paul’s testimony in 1 Corinthians 15:10, "by the grace of God I am what I am,” It is all God’s doing! Being humble is recognizing that without God we are nothing.
Number four. Pride rejects deity. Look at Luke 9:48. Jesus said to them, with that little child right there as a living object lesson, "Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me. Whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me."
Matthew 18:5 says, "Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.” We have to receive one another as children, because the way you receive one another is the way you receive Me. And every believer Christ is in, the father is in. Pride rejects the presence of God in other believers.
There's only one way to view any believer from anywhere, and that is as Christ views me. We cannot say: well, I don't have time for those kind of people. Get me out of here. Jesus says humble yourself so you too can love every sinner!
Fifth principle, pride reverses reality. Look to the last part of Luke 9:48, "He who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great." The world says the opposite, “Whoever is the most popular, the most widely known, the most influential, the most powerful is the greatest.”
The reality is that the lowliest, the most humble person in the Lord’s eyes is the greatest. Remember 1 Corinthians 1:26, where the apostle Paul says that when the Lord established his church, there were not many noble, not many mighty people?
But He took the lowly, the base, the weak, and he made His church of those people in order that there would be no other explanation for the church other than the purposes of God. We are the lowly and the least. James 4:6 says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Number six, pride reacts with exclusivity. Proud people think that only they are special, only they are the chosen people. Luke 9:49, "John answered and said, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to hinder him because he does not follow along with us.'"
We said to him, hey man, you're not in our group. You're not in our denomination. Well, he was casting out demons in Jesus’ name. It doesn't say he tried. It said he was. So he had power. Maybe he was one of the 70 who was out on his own. And he was doing it consistent with Jesus’ name, and His will.
Pride wants to say, I know more than you. I don't know if I can work with you. You need correction. You need help. You're not quite there. You get there, and I'll work with you. That's what pride says.
Humility says if you're in the name of Christ doing the best to serve Christ, I'll come alongside. There's a bigness of heart among the humble. Jesus said to him, "Stop that. Stop hindering him. Stop, for he who is not against you is on our side."
The true and faithful church is very diverse, isn't it? I've been in very different environments of Christian people who truly love the Lord Jesus Christ, with very different kind of expression of worship in ministry.
Again, humble yourself and realize that we're all still in a growth process. For some, their process is a little bit behind you. So do your best to teach them what they need to know to come more in line with Scripture. Humility is equal to greatness.
Humility is in the hearts of those who pursue unity by seeking to exalt others. Humility is in the heart of those who refuse relative comparisons with others. Humility belongs to those who exalt God alone, and when they come to another believer, they will honor and love that believer, because that believer is like Christ to them.
What about unbelievers? Do we need to fight with them? Listen to Luke 9:55, "Jesus turned and rebuked them, you do not know what kind of spirit you're of." You can't even control yourself. Verse 56, "For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”
Those who hate Christ are not our enemies. We attack everyone who disagrees with us. Like homosexuals, feminists, the liberal left, calling them names and trying to vote them out of power. They're lost. How do you expect them to act?
You would act the same way if you were in the same condition. They're not the enemy. They're our mission field. We're out there on a mission of mercy. We cannot alienate the very people we are called to reach. And only through humility can we learn that. .
Seven, pride restrains mercy. What do you do when you face that? At the end of verse 56, "They went on to another village." Just keep moving to the next place. We do know the truth. We have the truth. But we must preach the truth with love and humility. Jesus said this, "Be merciful as your father in heaven is merciful. And be humble, as Christ who humbled himself." Let's pray.