Preparation – Pride vs Humility – Welcome to all!
I have a big confession to make, often when I read the Bible, whenever I get to a passage that discourages some behaviors, names tend to come to mind, and I think about all these people who do the wrong thing, and then on the other hand, when they are positive passages, then I think of myself! And I know that is all wrong, so I need to be intentional to avoid such thinking! While preparing for the message God revealed so many things that I need to change or work on in my life, but I'm hoping if you are not a Christian, that you could see that as an invitation if you are not perfect, to feel welcomed with us, as flawed as we may be!Let's go through the Beatitudes together:
10 “Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed
are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds
of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice
and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The Kingdom – Already but not yet
Matthew never claims to give us an orderly account of the events in Jesus' life (not like Luke) so we can't be sure when this sermon was pronounced. But it seems to clarify to people what he was all about. Jesus is saying to the people, if you want to follow me this is what I'm looking for this is what I value. And Blessed/ or fortunate are those I approve of!Each time he mentions an attitude, he gives a reason why they are blessed. But there is still a problem, we still mourn, we are still persecuted, we are blessed today, but there is still more to come in heaven. For today's verse, has anyone received any Land for being meek?
Jesus Christ has come, today we have his spirit, and the Church is God's body, and so there we see some manifestations of the Kingdom – as God rules the Church and in our hearts. But there is also a not yet – As we are waiting for Christ to come back, and we will rule with Him on the earth, and there will be a literal Kingdom on this earth – where all the blessings will be seen in their complete fulfillment – Rev 21:4.
The Message – Theme of humility – Misconception / Truth
The main theme today will be humility, but I'd also like to talk about misconceptions we have about what it takes to approved by God, and how if we take the the Bible as a whole, it's like of course this sermon on the mount makes perfect sense, so that instead of frowning when he hear “Blessed are the Meek”; we cry out Of Course! And Praise God!The Misconception of how to get right with God
Evangelism Story – People's misconception
Setting – about the survey – and the final question
A
few years ago, in France, I had probably just been a Christian for
about a year, with a few people from the church we hit the streets,
to do some surveys which is always interresting, to meet new people,
see where they are at in the journey we call life! To guide the
conversation we asked about their religious background, what religion
meant to them, was it relevant to them in 2013? what they thought
about Jesus? The last question, and most important was: If you died
today, and appeared before God, and He asked you why should I let you
into heaven, What would you reply!? Have you ever thought of this
question? What would you say? Would that not be a good final exam to
study for?!
Misconceptions
I'm a good person so I will go to heaven
I
will not guarantee the answer you will get, but I will just speak
from my own experience, they will always say,
I should go to
heaven
because I am a
good person.
But
what I hear by that reply is:
- God owes this to me, he owes me heaven! I deserve it!
And
some of us have really been through horrible, terrible terrible
things. We feel that because we've already been through hell, we
deserve Heaven when we die, we deserve to be compensated! God owes it
to us because of what we've lived.
We compare ourselves to others
Then
you might hear, well yeah, you know I've done some bad things, but
compared to THAT GUY, I'm not that bad. We will pick some character
in world history, who's done terrible things, and be like well at
least I did not kill as
many people. And then we feel good about ourselves by setting
ourselves apart by our deeds. BUT, is that what God is going to do?
Is he going to compare us to mass murderers?
Misconception of the scales – Good works outweigh our Bad works
One
other things we do is - We seem to think God will take a scale and
see if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds. And we seem to have a
point system, where if you kill someone well that is probably worth
20 years worth of good deeds, lying's ... well everyone does it, so
it's not really a sin.
Right?!
And maybe that's where you're at now! I've just spoken your thoughts!
And before reading the Bible that's what I thought too!
Misconception about how to find truth
But
since when are we able to come up with our own truth? What happens
when two people come up with two alternative truth? They can't both
be right! Sometimes you can when it is a matter of perspective. But
somethings, like 1+1=2 don't change whether you agree with it or not!
If
the Bible is God's word to mankind, let's wrestle with the text to
see, what God has for us.
Transition – Misconceptions & the Bible – Mat 5, Luke 18
I
think the Bible deals with the statement – God will let me into
heaven because I am a good person. And I think we have a hint of how
to deal with this answer in the Beatitudes:
Matthew
5:
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 God blesses those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 God blesses those who are humble,
for they will inherit the whole earth.
So
far there is nothing about doing Good Works. And okay, I think Good
Works are good by definition! And are very important in the Kingdom,
but we must remember that they are not what gets us in!
If
I have to summarize the Gospel to someone who's not familiar with it,
Luke 18 is where I go:
Bible and our misconception – Luke 18
Luke 18, // Beatitudes
9 Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else:
If
you would tell God, heaven is for you because of your good works,
this is for you -
10 “Two men went
to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a
despised tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and
prayed this prayer[b]:
‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I
don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m
certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week,
and I give you a tenth of my income.’13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
This text is just perfect for the first beatitudes – v. 3 The Poor in Spirit (Not the proud in Spirit) in the temple, this was a holy place at the time, the tax collector stands at a distance he does not dare come any closer than he is. He can't even lift his eyes. He feels so far from God, poor in Spirit. Instead he beats his chest he realizes that it is not his works that will get him right by God, it causes him to mourn, and instead of being proud about it, he humbles himself, and seek help, relies on God's mercy.
Transition – Misconception in our day and Jesus' day
There
is a misconception among us! And even though we've heard message like
these over and over, we still live like we are saving our saves with
our Good works – But I want to go to the text, and suggest that the
audience in Jesus' day – properly had the same misconceptions we
had today.
Misconception in Jesus' day – Sermon on the Mount “Shocking”
Introduction of Matthew – Presents a KING/MESSIAH/SON OF GOD
When
we read the Sermon on the Mount, we must realize that to the hearers
just as much as it is today, it was a shocking message! Maybe I've
read Matthew 5 so often that it loses its effect, but try going out
in the streets saying: “Blessed are the poor, those who mourn,
Fortunate is another word, oh fortunate are the small, the meek, the
humble!”. This is not at all what the people wanted to hear at all.
The First four chapters of Matthew introduce us the one who is a
King, and then the son of God. So anyway we can expect something BIG!
Which was perfect given the time period:
Shock among the Zealites – Political Activists
Politically
- the land was occupied by the Romans. The Jews wanted to be freed.
No longer having to pay taxes to Rome. The Zealites one of the Jewish
groups were waiting for a warrior Messiah who would really kick some
Roman Butt!! How do you think they felt when they heard Jesus
talking about poverty, mourning and smallness?
Shock among the Religious - Pharisees
Religiously
– If you are religious you go to Church every Sunday, you like to
dress up with your best suite (and that's cool if you wanna rock up
in a suit that's not a problem – as long a church does turn into a
fancy dress party and being about clothes). And you also always pray
before bedtime, you give a big part of your money to the A50... These
kind of religious people existed too back then, they were called the
Pharisees. They added on lots of rules to the Laws of Moses and
imposed them on everyone. What they expected from the Messiah was
something like this – Blessed are the religious who perform all
their duties, and who know how to pray in public, and know when the
right time is to live their hands up in the songs! They wanted to be
congratulated, praised, invited right into the Kingdom! But to their
great surprise, Jesus is not describing that at all! And if you like
dressing fancy please keep doing it, if you give to the church keep
doing it, if you like lifting your hands during the worship please
keep doing it! Personally I love all those things. But not one of
those things makes you right by God.
Contrast in the Bible Between Pride and Humility
Psalm 37
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
What
is Meekness and why do the meek inherit the earth?
Probably
what Jesus was quoting
Psalm 37
Let's
go to Psalm 37:
we will not read it, but quickly look at this with me:
37 Fret
not yourself because of evildoers;be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9 For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
11 But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.
Contrast between pride and humility
David
contrasts two kinds of people:
- the wicked who will fade away
- Those who trust in the Lord and do good, who are faithful, who delight in Him, who commit their way unto the Lord, those who wait for him – how it will show is that they are slow to anger.
Verse
10: The wicked will disappear, and the lowly will possess the land.
Definition of humility
I
want to suggest here the a sign of lowliness is acknowledging that
between relying on yourself, so the good works that you've done and
God, you've acknowledged your need for God, his mercy, and grace.
So
I stole this definition from Neil T. Anderson – I'm paraphrasing -
“Humility is not self-abasement, this is condemned in Colossians
2:18, but rather, humility is confidence properly placed”. Compared
to God, you are small, you need to rub it in! No matter how
successful, how rich compared to God, we are very small. Humility –
is seeing the truth correctly acknowledging God is Huge, and compared
to Him we are small.
False humility
Denying complements, instead of praising God
Humility
does not mean when people compliment you, you contradicting them
every time.
Imagine
Lesley's dad, buys her a Ferrari, one of her friends says – wow
your car is awesome! And she's like “no it's not”, how would her
father feel?
The
Same way, God has given her musical talents, dunno how many
instruments she plays, but imagine I tell her how wonderful her
playing is, and then she's like no it's not!
Imagine
God's given you a real talent to be musician if I compliment her for
being awesome, and and you say no I'm not. What if God made you
awesome, and you had just denied him that joy or that glory that he
feels when we are satisfied in the gifts that he has given us. Again
let's place our confidence in God! I want to encourage all of us,
when you are complemented to praise God for it. From the passage just
read, humility seems to be about trusting in the Lord, delighting in
Him.
False Humility and most modernism
No absolute truths – Intollerance if you have the truth
We
live in an age – where there are no absolute truths. Claiming you
have the truth is seen as arrogant. People are okay when you say that
you are a Christian. It's your right! But once you say Jesus is the
way the truth and the life, No body comes to the father except
through Jesus. Then you are being intolerant! Brothers and Sister,
this is when we can remind them the true definition of tolerance,
which implies disagreement. I disagree with you, but I love you
anyway. I think I hold the truth, and I think you are wrong, but I
respect you, and I really want to know what you believe. We must keep
that humility is confidence properly placed in God. If we are scared
to offend somebody, and say well Christianity works for me and it's
my truth, and you can have your own truth. We are no longer placing
our confidence in God, we may think it is the humble, but we are not
we pride ourselves in our humility and acceptance, but we've just
denied God, and His Word! I don't want to offend people, I don't but
sometimes the truth hurts. And I believe I am a sinner, we are
sinners, and I rejoice because the creator of the Universe has done
something about it! (This is when you say hallelujah!)
And
YES Jesus' statement about himself being the only way is very
arrogant indeed. Except if it is true! And if it is true, the most
loving, humble thing we can do is let people know about it! And pray
that the world stops depending on itself, but humbly relies on the
God Saves!
Transition
This conflict between pride and
Humility is found throughout the Bible -
So
quickly looking at some passages in the Bible I would know like to
show how we can go from hearing the sermon on the mount thinking, it
is shocking to, of course given the context of the Bible, obviously,
who else but the meek to inherit the land!
Across the Bible
Pride - the Fall of Man (Genesis)
Let
me summarize the Bible for you in a few sentences: God created Man
good, Man sinned! Separating himself from the perfect God. And the
whole message of the Bible is God's rescue mission, how can God
reconcile Man to himself.
In
the Garden, Adam and Eve were both innocent. What sin was committed
in the Garden?
In
Gen 2:15-17 Adam is given a direct command: “You may freely eat the
fruit of every fruit in the Garden, except the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil”.
In
Gen 3, after the snake convinced Eve that it would be a good idea to
take the fruit – she wanted the wisdom the fruit would give her.
Then Adam has some too.
Remember
how Psalm 37 defines Humility?
- Those who trust in the Lord and do good, who are faithful, who delight in Him, who commit their way unto the Lord, those who wait for him
They
didn't do any of these things here. What they really did was tell
God, that maybe he could keep his commandments for himself because
they were ready to do their own thing! I don't need you God, I know
best what is best for me. And now I will be about to know as much as
you do!
This
is one of the most important moments in History!
Rom
5:12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought
death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned!
Isaiah
59:2 Says it is our sins that cut us off from God.
The
consequence of this Pride – God had created everything Good,
because of man's sin, everything has become terrible. Right from
birth our hearts are bent towards evil right from childhood.
We
always want to do what we want, when we want, and how we want! And
today we've defined that as Freedom! What it really is, is
Destruction! God is Love, the Bible is about his love for Mankind,
but he cannot force you do not anything, that's what love does, it
give you the choice. It breaks God's heart, but destruction is one of
your choices.
So
that's how the problem started in the Bible, with Pride, and I
believe this problem, of pride, is in all of us!
Humility – the Redemption of Man
God doesn't judge like we do, he looks right to the heart – 1 Sam 16:7He has been so consistent – at picking one kind of people, those who would trust him. Properly place their confidence in Him:
Abraham
We've just finished studying all about his faith – He trusted the Lord so much that he was willing to give up his only Son, even though he had to wait until he was 100 years old to get him. God doesn't get any glory, from our power or might, but in our meekness, when we rely I him, we can glorify Him.Moses –
Does anyone know what is said about Moses and meek?David
– 1 Sam 16:7 – God was not happy with the currant King, and wants to replace him, he sends Samuel, into a family – straight Samuel sees one of the sons, and he's like Oh this is the guy, the Lord said – Don't judge by the appearance or height, the Lord does not see things like people see them, they judge by outward appearance but the lord looks at the heart.” The Lord could have picked any of the Sons of Jesse, but he chose the youngest, and even though he was an adulterer and a murderer, he depended on the Lord, and was a man after God's heart.I'm going to skip right to Jesus now!
Fulfillment in Jesus
Jesus the Servant
Christianity is the ONLY RELIGION that has its central event being the HUMILIATION OF GOD!Mark 10:45
Tells us that Jesus did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.John 13
Shows God made flesh, washing feet!And then I have to finish with
Philippians 2
6 Though
he was God,[a]
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore,
God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Our Response
How do we respond to this?To be included in God's redemptive history we must humble ourselves
Are we ready to be part of this kingdom, that looks like Jesus? Are we ready to bow down before his name and confess that he is the Lord of your life!And Maybe we've already believed, we have humbled ourselves, and have accepted God's gift in Christ for our sins.
All
religions will tell you that you need to do this this and that, they
are all based on performance everyone of them – And you will never
know if that is enough or not. You can work and work and work, and
there is more work to be done.
The
Bible teaches, that it is impossible for a man to do enough good
things.
Rom
3:23 says that we have all sinned – every one of us.
Rom
6:23 says that the punishment for sin is death – that is what we
all deserve – not my words, the Bible's.
2
Cor 5:21 God made Jesus, him who knew no sin, to become sin so that
we could be the righteousness of God. (Christ died so that we would
not be punished for our sins).
And
that is how God saved the world!
And
Maybe we've already believed, we have humbled ourselves, and have
accepted God's gift in Christ for our sins.
And we must humble ourselves everyday
But
following Jesus is a decision we make everyday when we wake up. Let
us have the same mind that Jesus
look at other people's needs
– Let us look to other people's needs, we are to count them as important, and even more important than our own. Humility is one of those things that can never be reached when you look for it. It happens through service!Serve, slow to anger, quick to listen
The
more you serve others, the more you invest in other people's lives,
the lease you think about yourself, and the more you realize that
it's not about you but about God. When we stop thinking we are at the
center of the universe, in changes our while perspective on things,
Psalm 37 spoke about being slow to anger! When we live for God, we no
longer get angry at the little things that don't go our way, because
it's not about us! We are all about God. And God is Sovereign over
everything. When we care for others, we are more interested in
listening to them, than monopolizing the conversation, because we
genuinely care, and value the other person's opinion! (James 1 – be
quick to listen and slow to speak). Let us do this together. How else
are we to know how we can help our brothers and sisters, if don't
listen to them, and gain their trust, for them to trully share what
they need.
Imitate Christ
We
serve like Jesus, we love sacrificially like Jesus, we live to share
the good news, that more people could come to the knowledge of God's
saving grace, may properly place their confidence in God, and no
longer in themselves, and partake in the inexplicable joy, of knowing
that the good news about Jesus Christ is not that if you do good
things you go to heaven after you die, but because he has died for
you today you can have eternal life!
Conclusion
Beatitudes
Blessed
are the poor in Spirit – like the Tax Collector – they are aware
of their uncleanness when they realize how Holy God is.
It
causes them to mourn. This Godly sorrow leads them to Repentance.
Humbling
– asking forgiveness for that self-centeredness, which is what
separated Adam and Eve from God, and Separates all those who have yet
to be reconciled to God!
Blessed
are the Meek for they shall inherit the earth, they are part of the
body of Christ, the church today,, and will be part of the Kingdom
when Christ Returns.
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