The Humility of Christ

[0:00] Good morning. It's a blessing to be here. Good morning.

[0:34] It's been on my heart, and it's something that I want to do by the grace of God. And as I was studying this, I had this thought of doing this object lesson or this physical visual that we can do.

[0:50] I don't know if it makes exactly sense, but I'm going to try to show it. And I hope that it brings out a point that I want to make.

[1:01] And that has been... It was interesting that John, the first part that he shared at their meetings was on being humble and on humility.

[1:15] And the Lord said, I was thinking, the humility that it took for Christ as his lifeblood was flowing out and he was physically dying, he was forgiving them.

[2:01] And I fall short on that in many places. And so my heart is to try to get a little glimpse in the best that I can to actually see what humility is.

[2:18] What is it? How do I know that I have the humility of Christ? How do I know that it's not just a physical thing that I do at church and I just say, yeah, I need prayers.

[2:30] And, oh, my life needs to change and I am a sinner. How do I know that the humility of Christ is actually a moving, integral part of my life that is being played out where nobody sees me when I am alone?

[2:47] And as I started digging into it, I figured out that the word of God, the whole word is humility.

[3:00] It's embedded in the patriarchs, in the Old Testament. It's embedded in the whole life of Christ. The face of Christ is humility. So I'm not sure that I can give you an exact description of what humility is.

[3:14] Maybe we can scratch the surface a little bit. But I'd like to start with the life of Christ. So I'm going to start in Matthew chapter 3.

[3:27] First of all, as I was thinking about it's a baptism of Christ, as I was pondering on the baptism of Christ, he came and was baptized by his own creation. He humbled himself to be baptized by his own creation.

[3:43] John had the humility to baptize him. I say he had the humility to baptize him. He humbled himself low enough to know that the exalted one that he was baptizing was greater than him.

[3:54] So he had the humility and lowered himself to the degree that he actually could baptize Jesus. And yet Jesus came and John knew. He said, I'm not worthy of untying his shoelaces.

[4:06] Earlier in the chapter. John knew that he was only preparing the way. He was the voice crying out in the wilderness to make the way. That he who comes is greater than me. He said, I baptize you unto repentance.

[4:18] He who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. But yet as John baptized Jesus, and I'm thinking in our culture, I don't know what the culture was back that day, but John was like a wild man.

[4:31] He's out in the wilderness. He's eating his mules was of grasshoppers and wild honey. And he's crying and saying, make way for this redeemer that's coming. I'm thinking about a guy in the wilderness today wearing animal skins, crying out that there's a redeemer coming.

[4:45] Would I go to the scribes and the Pharisees that have everything in order and that are saying that Christ is coming through them? Or would I actually pay heed to this guy and say, this guy, there's something about this man that I need to see.

[4:59] I need to hark. I need to listen. Yet there were people that drew crowds. And John was baptizing. And I guess baptizing was not a new thing in the Old Testament, but it wasn't in the form that John was baptizing.

[5:10] It was in the form of cleansing them from things that were unpure and so forth. So in verse 13, in Matthew 3, verse 13, it says, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him.

[5:28] But John forbade him, saying, I need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answered, saying unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.

[5:41] And then it says, Then he suffered him. Then John baptized him. So I think John, it shows the humility of John that he actually baptized the exalted son of God because Christ commanded it.

[5:53] It was the obedience of John. And so I was thinking, as Jesus came into the earth, he came as a lowly servant. He was born in a manger. It might have not been out in a barn. I'm not sure that we can know that.

[6:05] But sometimes they had the ends on the upper part of the house, and then they had the animals housed underneath. Could have been a basement. Could have been a cellar. But it says he was laid in a manger. So he came in very humbly.

[6:16] He came in as a king, very humbly. The very heart of God was brought in utmost humility, in the humblest way possible. And his baptism, he was baptized by his own creation.

[6:27] There was no great pomp. It was not done. And the very greatness that mankind sees is completely turned around by Christ.

[6:38] The greatness that we see in mankind is being held up and esteemed. But Christ came to serve. He came as a servant. And if we follow his teachings throughout his life, he was always pointing to that.

[6:49] He was pointing to the children. He was pointing to become a servant. And we want to touch on some of those points as we go through. But as we go on, I wanted to read some quotes that I wrote down from Andrew Murray.

[7:02] Andrew Murray wrote a small book on humility. And there's some very, very deep thoughts on humility that I find very challenging, very deep. And also, this illustration, as we go forward, is what I'm trying to represent is this glass jar, before these rocks are put in here, is a person that comes to Christ completely empty.

[7:25] He's transparent. You can see he's empty. And he's choosing to choose God, has surrendered his life to God, wants the will of God, has been convicted of his self-life, has been convicted of his sins.

[7:38] And now, God is building the foundation within this person. And these stones are the foundation that God is building inside of this person and strengthening him as he walks a surrendered life to God.

[7:54] And we'll go on with that as we go on with the lesson. So, I was touched with that and with the baptism. And then, as we go on into Matthew 11, verse 28 to 30, we read, it is another beautiful promise.

[8:11] It's not new scripture. You all know what I'm about to read, probably. But in 28 to 30, he says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[8:27] All our trials, the things that we hold on to, as John said, the things that are too deep, that are too heavy, there's no way around them. Lord, we have no, just, there's, why do I suffer these things?

[8:39] Why? He'll give us rest. Let's take them to him. And it just, to me, this cry is humility. Jesus is saying, come to me. I want to give you this. This is who I am.

[8:49] I am humility. I am the heart of God. I am the heart of God brought into humanity, made flesh, that you may find this rest. I am, I literally came that you can see me to give you this rest.

[9:03] And then he says in verse 29, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. There we see meek and lowly. We see humility. And ye shall find rest unto your souls.

[9:16] And as we think about this yoke, in the old ancient culture, yokes were things that they put on oxen. And if one oxen, we can think about it in our Amish culture as a team of horses.

[9:28] We'd use collars. We didn't use yokes. But if one horse didn't pull with the other horse, things didn't happen. It didn't move. So Jesus wants us to be yoked with him.

[9:39] And then when we are yoked with him, he wants us to learn from him. He says, I am meek and lowly. I am the true humility that you will find. You will find it in me. You ain't going to find it in nowhere else.

[9:50] Everywhere else it's going to be manufactured and processed from the human life at best. And with the next verse, he goes, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

[10:04] And I picture this as a yoke of oxen. When they pull together, the load comes easy. But when they're fighting it, they end up, the load doesn't move. It stays there.

[10:16] And they're getting, hurting each other, per se, however you want to put it. There's no unity. There's no, they cannot move forward.

[10:26] It creates a mire. It creates confusion. It just doesn't go anywhere. And Andrew Murray wrote in a quote, he said, If you could see the sweet divine transforming power of humility, how it drives out the poison of your nature and opens your soul for God's spirit to live in, you would rather choose to be the footstool of all the world than to be without the smallest measure of it.

[10:53] And I had to think, he said, you would rather be the footstool. Let the world trample across you. Because we see our great need that it's all in Christ.

[11:03] And therefore, we have no reason, we have no reason or no room to be offended. It doesn't matter what people say. Our identity is not found in ourself.

[11:14] It's found in Christ. It's found in the one who brought true humility. It's found in the one who brought salvation. It's not found in anything that I am. I don't have to worry about what people think about me. I don't have to worry about the trials and the things that scare me and I face in life.

[11:31] And another quote he wrote, he says, Humility is not something we bring to God or something he simply gives us. It is the deep awareness of our total nothingness that comes when we truly see that God is everything and how totally depraved I am.

[11:46] I added that, but I still feel when I see my great need and how my all is in Christ. Only then can I actually experience that humility. Other than that, I believe if I manufacture it, it's not going to last long.

[11:58] I can stand in church. I can stand in front of my brothers. And I can tell them that I need this. I have this great need in my life. But unless it is a true conviction and it is me seeing the need that I have and the all of it that is in Christ, I don't think it will be brought to fruition.

[12:17] I think that will crumble. We'll start to crack and crumble. We'll start to say things. People start to see things in our lives as that happens. And so I just find that a great comfort.

[12:31] Jesus' heart, come unto me. All ye who are weary and heavy laden. He knows we are heavy laden. He knows that we're born into this fallen world and we have all these fears and these trials.

[12:43] He knows that. He's making a cry. Come unto me. I will give you rest. My yoke is easy. He's not saying that he doesn't have a yoke. He's not saying that we don't carry our cross. But it's easy and it's light when we trust him, when we allow him to do the work in our life.

[12:59] And then the next scripture that I would like to turn to is Matthew 18, verses 1 to 3. It says, At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

[13:23] And Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them. And he said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

[13:38] Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So I never noticed that until I was studying this, that it says, Except ye be converted, except we be turned around, except we be born of the spirit, that's first, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

[14:03] And I found it interesting. I made a little note. It says, In the cultural context of the time, children were considered low in social status and without power or influence.

[14:14] By choosing a child, Jesus challenges the disciples' understanding of greatness. And status, the child represents innocence, dependence, and humility, qualities for those who wish to enter the kingdom of heaven.

[14:30] So Jesus was using this child to portray that unless we are like them, a child represents innocence, dependency, and humility. Unless we are willing to take on that image, we're not going to enter the kingdom of heaven.

[14:45] He said it in very simple terms. Unless we are willing to die to self, unless we are willing to know that there is no other way, unless we are willing to completely empty ourself, I don't care if it's financially, I don't care if it's family, I don't care if it's church, it doesn't matter what it is.

[15:01] I'm not talking about being, I think everybody knows the context I'm talking. I'm talking about, I'm not talking about being proud in our own self that if I can't have my own way, I'm just going to do my own thing.

[15:14] And I'm talking about in the humility of Christ, unless we're willing to do that, I don't think God can, I don't think God's going to be able to grow in our life. Another quote, the Andrew says, Think of how much unloving behavior, how much disregard for the needs, feelings, and weaknesses of others, how many harsh or hasty words so often excused as being merely honest or direct, how many displays of irritation, sensitivity, temper, bitterness, or distance in relationships, all of it, all of it comes from pride, which always seeks self.

[15:51] Let your eyes be open to see how this dark, yes, even devilish pride, creeps in everywhere, even among gatherings of God's people. I was touched by that. How many, if we would stop and think, how many church splits, how many arguments, how many relationships could be heeded if humility was enthroned in our lives?

[16:13] If we were the footstool of the world. If I was willing to be the footstool of the world, and humility, I truly grasp the face of Jesus, the heart of humility, how would our conversations go when these things come at us, when false accusations come at us, when people say things that are not true about us?

[16:35] First thing I want to do is tell that person that you are misled. I'm not. That's not me. You're saying things about me that's not true. You should not be doing that. But if I'm willing to be that footstool because I have tasted the humility of Christ, how would those conversations go?

[16:52] And to what degree could the life, the blood of Christ, flow through our congregations? Not just ours. It can be across the universal body of Christ. That's my...

[17:05] I need that in so many areas of my life. And then I'm going to just go over a couple. I'm not going... You don't have to turn there. But I'm going to go over a couple points that Jesus in John...

[17:19] There's... I don't know. I wrote down as I was studying through Andrew Murray's book in Scripture. There's many times that Jesus is very clear that he's pointing not to him but pointing to the Father.

[17:33] It's not I. It's not me. It's not I. How many times do I point to Christ? How many times in my life do I truly point to Christ when there is something that somebody sees that I give God the glory?

[17:44] Or how many times does self want to rise up and kind of, yeah, I think I've got things under control. I've pretty much got it figured out and I don't really need a whole lot of guidance.

[17:56] In John 5 verse 19, he says, The Son can do nothing of Himself. Verse 30, I can of my own self do nothing. My judgment is just because I seek not my own.

[18:07] John 5 verse 41, I receive not glory from men. Chapter 6 verse 38, I am come not to do my own. John 7 verse 16, My teaching is not mine.

[18:19] Verse 28, I am not come of myself. John 8 verse 28, I do nothing of myself. Verse 42, I have not come of myself but He sent me.

[18:30] John 14 verse 10, It says, The words that I say I speak not from myself. And verse 24, The word which you hear is not mine. So all of those points, all of those references are just in John.

[18:43] That Jesus is pointing to the Father. It's not of me. He came from the heart of the Father to show us humility, I believe. To show us the heart of God. And He points back to the Father.

[18:54] It's not I. It's not I. It's not I. And so I just, I was challenged. How many times do I say it's not I? It's God. It's the Father. It's not me. It's not in me. It's not of me. Andrew Murray puts it pretty simply in one quote.

[19:13] He says, Humility is simply the willing surrender of the creature to let God be all, to yield completely to His working. And I think, I find that quite a challenge, to yield God all.

[19:24] It's all. I mean, if you think, think of a full glass of water and an empty glass of water. It's all. It's empty. It's not got a little in it. It's all. If God is my all, to actually, how much more could He move in my life?

[19:41] I, it was just, it was a great challenge, challenge to me as I, as I studied, as I studied that. And then, the next scripture that I, I was, I was deeply touched with, is, well, there's several.

[20:06] We'll go to Matthew 26, verse 36 to 42. And this was Jesus' prayer, in Gethsemane, the garden before He was crucified.

[20:24] And, as I was reading this, I, I was touched at the humanity of Christ, yet the humbleness, the humility that He portrayed, even, even unto death.

[20:39] It says, then, then cometh Jesus with them, unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And He took with Him Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful, and very heavy.

[20:55] So here we see the humility, the humanity of Christ. He was still human. He was fully human, yet fully God. He came from the heart of God, as we sang in this song, earlier this morning. And, it says, He began to be sorrowful, and very heavy.

[21:09] Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here, and watch with me. He still asked the ones, I think these were some of the same disciples, that were with Him at the transfiguration.

[21:25] Maybe more of His inner circle of disciples. And He's just, He was just expressing Himself. Be here with me, I am exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry with me, and watch with me.

[21:36] And He went a little further, and fell on His face, and prayed. Jesus, the living Son of God, the heart of God, that came to redeem us, is on His face, about to bear the sins of mankind, and yet has the humility, to cry out to God, and walk forward with this.

[21:53] He says, Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless. Here we see the humility. not as I will, but as thou will, nevertheless. He's saying, if it would be possible, let it pass from me, but not my will, it's thy will.

[22:08] It doesn't matter what comes, you are the one that I came from, and am here for, and am representing. And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What could ye not watch with me one hour?

[22:24] I'm assuming Peter and them were probably physically tired. They had been through a lot. They had the Last Supper, and they had the argument, if you will, which we'll read later in Luke, about who is the greatest after the Last Supper, after Jesus told them that Judah's going to betray Him.

[22:40] And now they're out in the garden with Jesus, not really knowing what's going to happen, probably physically tired and exhausted. And Jesus is wrangling with death. He's wrangling with the sin of mankind.

[22:51] He's about to take it upon Himself. And then He says, Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

[23:11] And He talks about this crucifixion, this death as a cup. I know there's probably lots of thought about what is this cup that He was talking about. But I believe that it was a bitter cup.

[23:23] I don't believe it was a cup that was easy to drink. And yet He was willing. He had the humility to drink it for us because of His love for humanity and the redemption that He wanted to bring humanity into.

[23:34] And then in verse... I did read in verse 42.

[23:47] It says, And then He came, verse 43, and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

[23:59] So He went and prayed the third time that night, the Son of God, asking His Father if it would be possible to leave Him, but yet not my will, but Yours.

[24:12] I was challenged with that, that Jesus was willing to die for me, the perfect Lamb of God, without sin, without blemish.

[24:25] He was willing to bear that. And here we see Him wrangling with it. And sometimes I'm not sure how thankful I am of it. I hear it. Yeah, God died for me. Jesus died for me. Hallelujah, He died for me. He paid for my sins.

[24:36] I have eternal life. But if we actually think about what He did, the humility that He had, the love that He had for me, it's heartbreaking.

[24:46] Let's turn to Luke chapter 18, verses 9 to 14.

[25:00] I was touched with the prayer of the publican as I was reading this.

[25:24] It's a parable. If it actually happened or not, I think it was a real life example. In verse 9 he says, And He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in them that they were righteous and despised the others.

[25:39] So those which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.

[25:50] The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

[26:02] So first of all, he started with thanking God which was normal for the Pharisees in their prayers was to thank God. But it just, it reeks with pride and arrogance.

[26:12] He just goes, God, I just praise. I mean, I can understand when he says, God, I thank you for redeeming me from these things. But he points and says, I'm thankful I'm not like other men. And then also like this publican back here, he probably collected taxes yesterday and cheated somebody and took more than his and I'm just very thankful that I'm not like him.

[26:32] And then he goes on and he says, I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes.

[26:45] Lifting up their eyes in the cultural context of them was considered as reverence. To lift up their eyes to the most high. He could not even lift up his eyes. He says, but smote upon his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

[27:00] I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

[27:13] And Andrew Murray wrote a very, I think a very appropriate verse or whatever saying that goes with that with this scripture.

[27:24] He said, there is no pride more dangerous, none more subtle than the pride of holiness. And I had to think, I think that's very true. There's no, there's no pride more dangerous, more subtle, or more devastating than the pride of holiness.

[27:40] That I am righteous. I am, I believe that we can be righteous. In the humility of Christ, we are righteous. But I'm talking about the holiness that I can now look down upon other people because I am righteous.

[27:53] And I was just touched with this scripture. He could not even lift up his eyes. He was just like, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And we know that the other, in Luke, I don't remember the chapter where Jesus, Zacchaeus, went up a tree because he wanted to see Jesus.

[28:10] And Jesus said, come down, I want to meet you at your house today. And they were upset because Jesus sat in with the sinners and the publicans and the tax collectors. And the tax collectors were not well liked because they collected taxes for the Roman Empire.

[28:22] And sometimes they collected more than they were allowed to. And so, but then, Zacchaeus actually said that he wants to give back, was it four times of what he owed?

[28:34] He said, I want to give back, if I owe anybody anything, I want to give it back four times. At that point, he didn't care. He was done with it. He wanted to give back it was the heart, the heart of humility, the heart of wanting to be emptied to Christ was a blessing.

[28:55] And then, the other chapter, I had talked about this a little bit earlier, Luke chapter 22, verse 20, chapter 22, verses 24 to 27. So, after, this is at the Lord's Supper, again, before Jesus' death.

[29:16] And he was telling that someone would betray him. And verse 23, it says, and they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do such a thing. And there was also a strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest.

[29:32] So, in the midst of this, they were trying to figure out who would be accounted as the greatest, which would appear that they still hadn't truly understood the humility, the servitude that Christ was trying to show them. I believe that they got them because we can read it through the epistles of Paul and James and them very clearly that they understood the humility of Christ.

[29:49] But at this time, they were still thinking the greatness of being elevated with Christ and his kingdom is the way I understand it. And he said unto them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.

[30:02] But ye shall not be so. But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger. And he that is chief as he that doth serve.

[30:13] For whether is greater, he that setteth at meat or he that serveth, is not he that setteth at meat. And then he says, but I am among you as he that serveth. He gave us that example that he came as a servant.

[30:25] He came to be put under. And the servants were the ones that would, the guys setting at meat at table were always the ones that would be served. The servants were usually the slaves of the household or the people that were there helping, working for them were the ones that brought.

[30:39] And Jesus said, no, I came as a servant. I came to want to serve. I came to show you the heart of Christ, the heart of God. And I was just, it was interesting, like he's like, no, you've got this all wrong.

[30:50] It's not about being the greatest one sitting beside me. It's about the greatness is the, I can't say it, say how I want to, the greatness of Christ is being a servant, being humble and being servant.

[31:08] That is when the greatness of Christ can be, when God can exalt us and lift us up. Andrew Murray wrote that I fear that many people by using strong words of self-blame and harsh judgment of themselves have tried to become humble.

[31:27] Yet must sadly admit that a truly humble heart marked by kindness, compassion, gentleness, and patience still feels far away. So I think that if we try to become humble from our own selves, the true compassion, gentleness, and patience, kindness, the fruit of the spirit is still going to feel far away deep down.

[31:48] And he put it this way as well as, let's talk about a storefront, a glass window where we can see the fruit of the spirit. We can see the heart of Christ clearly through the glass. We can talk about the greatness of it.

[31:59] We can talk about the beauty of it. We can talk about how we can see it, but yet we can't grasp it. It's behind the glass. Unless we are willing to actually go in and pay the price, we will never attain it.

[32:11] And so I was challenged with that, that people with strong words of self-blame and harsh judgment, we want to try to become humble. Yet I must sadly admit that a truly humble heart marked by kindness, compassion, gentleness, and patience still feels far away.

[32:27] I need that more in my life. And then, before I close, I'd like to just go over a couple verses. In Ephesians 3, verse 8, just talk a little bit about Paul and the humility that I believe that he portrayed greatly in many, many places.

[32:49] But this one here, these were a couple that I wrote down just to get a picture a little bit that they, the apostles, truly understood the humility of Christ.

[33:00] In chapter 3, verse 8, he says, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given. This grace, God has given him this grace that I should preach among the Gentiles.

[33:14] What is he supposed to preach among the Gentiles? It says, The unsearchable riches of Christ. Paul talks about not down by Christ, literally having a conversation with Christ on the Damascus road, and yet he says that I must preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

[33:33] He says they're unsearchable, like they're unfathomable. Could I say that the only way that they are reviewed is through the wisdom of Christ, through God's imparting it, through the humility of Christ, through our surrender to him?

[33:50] It's not a matter of me being a master of the text. It's a matter of me being willing to take that seat that Jesus took as a servant to become the footstool of the world, that God may impart those riches unto me, and that they may be revealed and become a reality in my life, that I may grow more in the knowledge and the wisdom of Christ.

[34:12] And another verse that, a couple verses here before I close is in Philippians 2, verses 3 to 8.

[34:25] I think everybody's probably well aware of these verses, but I think that they're very, they portray humility in Christ.

[34:37] And verse 3, he says, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.

[34:48] So I believe, first of all, before we can have strife and vain glory, there has to rise up within us a certain elevation of self or pride. before we start esteeming ourselves higher, we start esteeming our opinions higher than our brothers, and at that point is where strife or vain glory is going to show.

[35:08] If the humility of Christ, if the face of Christ is completely enthroned on our hearts, I don't think that strife and vain glory will be a part of our life. In verse 4, he says, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

[35:23] Again, portraying servanthood. It's portraying the mind of Christ. It's portraying humility. In verse 5, he says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of servant and was made in the likeness of men.

[35:48] And being found in a fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Three times he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane and yet said, not my will, Lord, but yours.

[36:01] And John, he pointed multiple times, not I, it's not me, it's the Father. Look at the Father. I come from the heart of the Father. I am here to represent the Father. It's not me, it's not I.

[36:12] And yet, he became obedient. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And I had to think about that. I believe that God's heart was to actually bring Jesus to portray the humility of God.

[36:27] And he brought it into completion through Christ. And also, it says, he was being, Jesus was the form of God. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation.

[36:40] And today, that's my heart, that I can go forward and make myself of no reputation. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what people say. It doesn't matter what other people think.

[36:51] I want to be, represent Christ. I want Christ to be my all in all. And I want to make myself of no reputation. Therefore, if I make myself of no reputation, the good part about it is I don't have to worry about what I'm going to defend.

[37:05] If I have no reputation to defend, if it's Christ, I don't have to worry about what people say. I can be dead to that. And then in verse 3, chapter 3, same book, Philippians chapter 3, verses 4 to 8, Paul says again, verse 4, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath, whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more.

[37:31] He says, if you want to talk about trusting in the flesh and building up the flesh and making it look good, I've got it. He said, circumcised on the eighth day, the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless, but what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

[37:58] I believe Paul was completely willing to become the footstool of the world. I count this as loss. Look at what Paul had. He was literally on the way, he had a bright future to become one of the elite of his time.

[38:12] He was blameless. And he had the zeal. It's obvious that he had the zeal. He was persecuting them. He was after them. These people needed to be brought into submission. They needed to be stopped. And in verse 8, he says, yeah, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ.

[38:37] He didn't just lose them. He counted them as dung. He counted them as putrid. He wanted no part of them. He literally died to the wanting of those things.

[38:48] He was willing to count them as dung. He had found an excellency. He had found something far greater that could not be bought, could not be changed. could not be done away with outside of Christ taking him home.

[39:02] And I just, with that, I was greatly challenged. As I studied for this, it really, I need a deeper, I need a deeper anointing of Christ's humility and understanding.

[39:21] And not just come to church and say that, yeah, I need humility humility, but that it applies in the hard times of life when no one is watching, when no one sees me, that the humility of Christ comes forth, when it's uncomfortable, when it's not maybe the fashionable thing to do or the most, it might be looked at as, that seems kind of weird, that I'm willing to, that I have brought, that I have subjected myself to the point of no reputation that that could be a reality.

[39:55] Andrew says, God tests our vertical humility with him by our horizontal posture, the way that we, the way that we interact with people. Our humility with God is portrayed by how we live our life here on earth.

[40:09] And I believe, I don't believe that we can mimic it. I believe it's like salvation. I don't believe that it's something that we can act out and that we can cover and that we can shell over, maybe for a time being.

[40:20] I think John preached a while back how much self can be brushed up and brought up and dusted off and made look pretty for a while. But in the end, it crumbles. It can't sustain.

[40:31] It's not sustainable. He said, true humility is not born from effort, but from a right vision of God. And that right vision of God portrays to me how destitute I am and how much I need him.

[40:45] It's not brought by my human effort. And without total spiritual dependence, every attempt at humility becomes performance. I had to think about that.

[40:56] Without total spiritual dependence, unless I see my total need and God's all, every attempt at humility just becomes a performance, becomes something that I try to make my flesh do.

[41:07] I cannot redeem myself from myself. I cannot, we cannot take self out of ourself. That's only done by Christ. And when that becomes a performance, then it's dead. It's just, it becomes religion.

[41:20] It becomes, it's not, it's not the authentic humility of Christ. So I'm not sure that I really scratched the surface on the humility of Christ.

[41:32] I'm not sure that I understand it greatly, but I know that I have been challenged. I know that I desire it. And by God's grace, I believe that God will continue showing his grace, his humility.

[41:52] Another quote that Andrew wrote, he says, humility is one of the highest and most essential graces. And so, in closing, I wrote down from his book and also just some thought, a thought from my own.

[42:09] My question is, I asked this, he asked it in the book. He said, brothers, are we clothed with humility? Let's ask ourselves, are we? As a body of Christ, are we clothed with humility?

[42:23] I can say, I believe I see it in my brothers. And I'm very thankful for that. And I think without that, a brotherhood will not continue to grow. Sisters alike, I don't think it's just brothers.

[42:34] So, let's, let's ask our daily life. Is humility enthroned on our life? Is the face of Jesus portraying our actions? Let's ask Jesus. Let's ask those around us.

[42:47] And I wrote down, let's ask our children. Do they see humility from my life? Do my children see me as, as a humble servant of Christ that is authentic because they see the action, they see the momentum flow from it?

[43:01] Or is it just something that I say that, yeah, I'm humble and, but yeah, they're like, oh, what was that? I'm not sure where humility plays into that, but okay, but dad said it. And then, what I wanted to portray with this, as we saw that God was working within us, as we see God working in a person's life, building step by step, yet, I think if we're not aware, pride slowly creeps in.

[43:27] And as pride is creeping in, slowly the work of God is being choked out. And ultimately, we look at this person, this redeemed person that has accepted Christ and we're wondering what's happening.

[43:40] I'll apply it to my life. Wondering what's happening, we clearly saw that Christ done a work in it, but yet there's something that's blinding it. There's some unclearness. There's things that are fogging it up.

[43:51] And I believe that's the sin of pride. It can creep in in so many forms. I believe pride is one of the worst, subtle, hardest things to continue to die to in my life.

[44:04] And so, if the sin of pride is going to slowly creep in and we're not aware of it and we don't allow it to be put out, it will eventually choke the effectual working of God. So, I guess my heart would be, let that be our heart today that we ask ourselves, are we clothed with the humility of Christ?

[44:26] Not the humbleness that comes from our own effort, but of Christ. Is Christ enthroned upon our hearts? It doesn't matter where we're at. And are we aware that pride is ever pressing in, trying to take control, trying to come in, and that we're willing to push it out, push it out with the word of God and press in to the heart of Christ?

[44:47] I hope that made sense. I was deeply challenged, blessed to be here, thankful for my brothers and sisters, and I actually, I wish to be challenged deeper.

[45:02] I'm sure I have things in my life that need to be changed, and I pray that the humility of Christ would portray, and it would rest on my heart and take root and bloom into something greater.

[45:14] Thanks for listening.