Humility is one of those virtues that we don’t
hear a whole lot about these days. Well, that’s not actually true.
We hear about it all the time. There are a lot of people who’ll pay all
kinds of lip service to humility. But actually seeing it, actually
experiencing humility is another matter entirely.
Humility is kind of a tricky thing to have, you know?
If we actually think of ourselves as humble, then we might not be. And if
we’re pleased about how humble we are, then the chances are we’re not humble at
all.
And it can be easy to misunderstand what humility is.
Humility is not having a low opinion of yourself. We can believe in
ourselves, we can believe in our ability, we can believe in our talents, and
still be humble. In fact, we should do it that way.
Let’s look at what Paul says about humility. He
starts with a definition of it. He begins with, “Do nothing out of
selfish ambition or vain conceit.”
What does that refer to? It refers to attitude,
right? By starting here, Paul is saying that humility is not so much
concerned about what we do. It’s concerned with why we’re doing what we
do. Are we doing something to help someone else? Or are we doing
something for what we can get out of it? What’s our motivation?
Maybe you think, well, what difference does our motivation
make? If we do something good, why does it matter whether we did it to
help someone else or to further our own interests? If the thing we did is
good, if it ended up helping people, what the difference why we did it?
Well, suppose I do something for Wanda. Say that I
cooked a fabulous meal for her. I mean, there’s no way that’s going to
happen, because I cannot cook worth a darn, but just suppose I could and I
did. Wanda would probably be very happy. Well, I mean, after she’d
gotten over the shock of it, she’d be happy. And if that was the only
reason I’d done it, just to try to make her happy, then I’d be happy, too.
But suppose, instead, that I
had done that with the expectation that Wanda would do something for me in
exchange. Suppose I wanted a payback. Well, one of two things would
happen, right? Either Wanda would feel obligated to do it, in which case
she would not be nearly as happy about what I’d done. Or, she would not
do it, in which case I’d be disappointed because I had not gotten anything out
of cooking a meal for her. Either way, what I’d done would not make
either of us happy. Because it would not have been done out of
humility. It would not have been done out of a desire to serve her or
anyone else. It would’ve been done, as Paul says, out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit. And it would not honor God.
The next thing Paul says goes
right along with that. He says we should “value others above yourselves,
not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the
others.”
Value others above
yourselves. If we do that, we won’t have to worry about our
motivation. If we truly value others above ourselves, we won’t be doing
anything out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Our own ambitions won’t
matter to us. We’ll automatically do things with the right motives,
because we’ll be putting others’ needs ahead of our own.
But how do we actually do
that? I mean, it’s easy to say it. Maybe we agree with it.
But it is not at all easy to put that into practice. How do we do
it? How do we actually value others above ourselves? How do we
actually look not to our own interests, but to the interests of others?
Here’s how Paul tells us to do
it. Paul tells us to do it by looking to the example of Jesus Christ.
Jesus was the divine Son of God. Jesus is God--God the
Son, part of the trinity. Jesus was, in fact, God Himself come to earth
to live among us mere human beings.
If there was ever anyone who
walked the earth who had the right to feel like he was better than everyone
else, it would be Jesus Christ, right? Because, in fact, Jesus was and is
better than any human being who’s ever lived.
And make no mistake about it,
Jesus knew that. Jesus knew exactly who he was. He knew he could do
things no human being could do. He knew he had power no human being
had. He knew he had a connection to God the Father that no human being
had. Jesus knew, in short, that he was, in fact, the divine Son of
God.
And yet, listen to what Paul
says about Jesus. He says that Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.
Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled
himself by being obedient to death--even death on a cross.”
Knowing exactly who he was,
knowing exactly what power he had, knowing that, as he said in Matthew 26, he
could call upon God the Father and God would put more than twelve legions of
angels at his disposal, Jesus remained humble.
You see, that’s the thing about
valuing others above ourselves. It does not mean that we have to think
we’re worthless. Jesus did not think he was worthless. It does not
mean that we have to think we’re not important. Jesus did not think he
was unimportant. It does not mean that we have to think we’re
insignificant. Jesus knew how significant he was.
Valuing others above ourselves
means making a deliberate choice. It means that, knowing exactly who we
are and what we can do, knowing exactly what talents and abilities we have, we
choose to put other people’s interests ahead of our own. That’s what
Jesus did. Knowing exactly who he was and what he could do, Jesus
deliberately chose to put the interests of sinful human beings--you and
me--ahead of his own interests. Jesus did that even to the extent of
dying--being killed, in a very painful way--so that our sins could be forgiven.
That’s the ultimate example of
humility. And that’s the ultimate example that you and I are supposed to
follow.
It’s easy for us to make
excuses not to follow that example. We say, well, sure, but he was
Jesus. Of course Jesus could do that--that’s what made him Jesus.
Jesus could do all kinds of things you and I cannot do.
But that’s exactly why we
should follow this example. When you think about it, in some ways it
should be easier for us than it was for Jesus. You and I do not have the
power Jesus had. You and I cannot call down twelve legions of angels.
You and I are not at that high level that Jesus was and is. We’re not
even close. Logically, then, it should be easier for us to put other
people’s interests ahead of our own. If we take our Christian faith
seriously, if we truly want to call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, then
Jesus’ example is the one we should always follow.
You know, when you think about
it, there are a lot of things Jesus did that you and I cannot do. We
cannot work miracles. We cannot feed thousands of people with five loaves
of bread and two fish. We cannot make the blind see or the lame walk or
any of those other things that Jesus did. But this is one we can
do. You and I can be humble the way Jesus was. You and I can put
others’ interests ahead of our own. It does not take any miraculous
power. It does not take anything but desire, the desire to follow
Jesus. The only thing that’s stopping us is us.
Paul finishes this passage by
saying that, because of Jesus’ humility, God the Father exalted him to the
highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow...and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of the Father. So, will something like that happen
to us, if we follow Jesus’ example?
I don’t know. I mean, I’m
pretty sure it’s not going to happen exactly that way. No matter how
humble I might be, I am not going to be given the name that is above every
name. Every knee is not going to bow to me, and of course that should not
happen. I am not and never will be on any level anywhere close to Jesus
Christ. That’s not what I mean.
But will there be some reward,
some blessing of God, that is given to us if we follow Jesus’ example of
humility? Maybe. I do believe that when we do our best to be
faithful to God and serve God and show love to God, God blesses our efforts in
some way. That’s part of the justice of God. But of course, that
way may not be anything we’d have thought of. And that way might not be a
way that directly benefits us.
But the thing is, asking about
a reward misses the point. That gets us back to acting out of selfish
ambition, which is exactly what Paul tells us not to do. Our reward is
that we are following Jesus Christ. Our reward is that we are honoring
God and being the people God wants us to be. For us, as Christians,
faithfulness to God is its own reward. God does not owe it to us to do
anything for us in return. Thinking God owes anything to us is, again,
acting out of selfish ambition, not out of humility or love of God.
Jesus gave his life for
us. If we truly believe that, and if we truly love him for it, we need to
follow his example. We especially need to follow his example of
humility. We can do it. With God’s help, we can do it. The
only thing stopping us is us.
No comments:
Post a Comment