The Wisdom Of Humility

What is the wisdom of humility according to the Bible?

This is going to be one of the best sermons you've ever heard. It's on the topic of the wisdom of humility. That joke works because humility is the shy quality. As soon as you talk about her, she disappears. As soon as you point her out, it's gone. Have you ever heard that saying humility is shy? Talk about it too much. It's gone. We're going to learn four things about humility and how it's part of God's wisdom. We're going to learn four things about the wisdom of humility. The first is this humility is a character trait of the wise. It's a character trait of the wise. Pastor Josh helpfully introduced this books book, took you through a few sermons on this genre of proverbs the wisdom of God. Listen to a couple proverbs. When pride comes, then comes disgrace. Race. But with the humble is wisdom. You know what's wise? Being humble. You know what? Blow up your life. Actually make people think less of you. Pride. Being humble is wise. Listen to this proverb. The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom and humility comes before honor. Fear the Lord. Instruction and wisdom. If you're in the awe of God and, uh, pastor Josh did an important sermon defining what the fear of the Lord is that all of God respect for God can be fear in certain situations. But actually, if you fear God, you will seek his wisdom. Humility comes before honor. Now this is part of the intro. You know what makes you if if you're wise and you have biblical wisdom, you know what? You'll be good at life. Biblical wisdom makes you good at life. You actually know how to navigate relationships. You know how to use speech, your words. You know how to actually get through conflict, which will come the wisest way possible. As you grow in wisdom, you'll know more and more. What's the best way to act in this particular situation? If it's relational, if it's with money, if it's with conflict, if it's with health. Wisdom makes you good at life. And the fear of the Lord is a character trait of the wise. Humility is a character trait of the wise. 

Does Humility Really Bring Blessing? (Yes, Here's How)

Okay, so it's something we're called to seek. Second thing about biblical humility. Second thing, we're going to learn about humility. Humility brings blessing. Humility will actually be really good for you. Humility will make your life better. Listen to God's wisdom. Proverbs 22 the reward for humility and fear of the Lord. There it is again. Fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked. Whoever guards his soul will keep far from them. So there's a reward for humility. Humility will help you. There's a reward for fear of the Lord. Riches, honor in life. And there's thorns and snares for the crooked. There's ways to blow up your life by not being humble and not doing otherwise. Things that God says to do. Now remember that these are probabilities, not promises. This is usually how a wise person's life works out. Humility usually brings blessings in relationships, in life, and honor. I want to talk for a second to high school kids and elementary kids and middle school kids. Okay. All the students. If you're a humble person at school and in your relationships, in your neighborhood and in sports, and you're actually nice to not just the popular kids who are good at stuff, or maybe good at sports or good at other things. But you're nice to everybody. You're humble enough to be nice to everybody. You will probably have the honor of being known as a nice kid. You'll probably have the honor in high school of like, hey, actually, she talks to like, the people in all the different groups. She's actually kind. She's real. Hey, he's he's actually a good guy. He's he's not a mean. He's not a mean guy. You'll actually have the honor of being known as a good person. Probably the wise person. The humble person usually gets the blessing of being recognized at their job. Hey, they're actually diligent. They're humble. You can give helpful criticism to this person at work and they're humble enough to receive it. They don't like, you know, run out of the building and then cancel the company online. They're actually humble. They're humble. You'll probably be honored.

3 Biblical Warnings About Humility and Honor

Now, there's warnings here. And I want to give you three warnings about this. Uh, three warnings about applying this. Remember, the first warning is this. Remember the humble still suffer. Jesus was humble, and he suffered. I thought about maybe doing a series, a preaching series on suffering. Because Americans, we tend to think that like we live the right way. And do, you know, take all the right supplements and do all the right exercises and time management. Our kids smiles, their teeth will be a little bit whiter and straighter, and we'll get to kind of skip across the lily pads and miss suffering, and our kids will always make wise decisions and will. I can go on. And actually the Bible says, hey, there's some suffering for everybody. It's inescapable. It's not a matter of if, but when. And the humble often suffer just like everybody else. Sometimes they suffer because they're humble. Maybe you didn't grasp and claw at work, and more prideful people got the promotion. Maybe you were humble and you didn't cheat to get ahead. And the person that actually cheated, they won. They didn't win in God's eyes and they never will. And God sees. So they didn't ultimately won. But on that, the little scorecard of what happens this year at your company or whatever. They're ahead and you need to have a biblical. so what in you? Because ultimately the humble person is honored by God. Ultimately, it works out. Ultimately, there is honor for the humble. Always. But humble people still suffer in this world and can get hit by a car or get hit by cancer. Or the diligent, wise, humble worker can get laid off. And that's just part of it. And we need to trust God with that and just remind each other, hey, it's ultimately honor from God that we want. So that's the first warning. Uh, the second warning. Seek the best blessings. I said, hey, humility brings blessing. Part of us, if you say, wow, humility brings riches. I've always really wanted to be humble. Yeah, definitely. Maybe you have a little bit of that in you, you know? Oh, humility brings riches. I've. That's something I've always wanted. I've always wanted to be humble. So humble. Uh, actually, there's some warning here. Seek the best blessings. Seek wisdom even more than riches. Proverbs say. Proverbs says in Proverbs eight. Wisdom is better than jewels. All that you desire, you can't compare with her. There's some people who are really, really wealthy who are, like, really foolish with their lives. Sometimes it's obvious the way that they blow up their lives very publicly. Sometimes it's not. But I just want to remind you, as a brother in Jesus and as a pastor among you, seek the best blessings. Seek the riches that last forever. So Proverbs does tend to say, hey, if you're wise with money, you'll tend to have some. But God actually has special favor for the poor, special favor for those who are suffering. And he tells the rich, look, don't just seek the riches of riches and money which is here, and in the words of one Timothy six. It's the uncertainty of riches, because there it is, and then it's not right. That's the stock market. It's now we have this money. Now we don't have this money now we have this money now we don't have this money. Right. And if you if you tie yourself to emotionally to that, that's going to yank your chain constantly. Don't put your hope. First Timothy six says on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, and be rich in good deeds. Be generous and willing to share. Command the rich, according to first Timothy six to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. Let allow me to just remind us all of this. The ways that we're generous will always matter. Generosity and time loving people always matters. The numbers in our bank and the stuff that we acquire, the physical things we will not always have and will not always matter. Sometimes we're reminded of that. Um, I, I had a my dad died in 2017 and he was a he grew up without very much. And he took meticulous care of his clothes because there had been several times where he had lost, like when he was little and the family moved and they kind of lost almost everything. And so he kind of he took meticulously meticulous care of his clothes. And, um, one of the sad things was not just grieving him and missing him, but it was a reminder of what we take with us was going into his closet and taking these things that have been meticulously cared for, and it was right for him to take care of his clothes. And because no one was his exact size, giving all those things away to for free to thrift stores and the there's different sermon illustrations for this. There's not a U-Haul behind a hearse. Right. It's not like they're they're going to be buried and they're just all the stuff that they're taking with them. The country preacher way to say this is a funeral suit ain't got no pockets, because they would make suits to bury people in. You know what? They don't bother to put on those suits. They don't sell pockets in them because you can't take it with you. But then what you will take with you forever, the way you've loved people and those are. That's being rich in good works. Being generous, ready to share, being generous and ready to share last forever. Um. Solomon. King Solomon, who was the wisest person on earth at the time, has a proverb. He just says, don't toil to acquire wealth and be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it and it is gone. For suddenly it sprouts wings. Flying like an eagle. Flying like an eagle towards heaven. You see it and then it's gone. And he was wealthy and he knew that. And so the logical next question is what doesn't go? What lasts forever? Jesus says, do you love being generous? Being rich in good works that lasts forever. So seek the best blessings. Amen. Third warning from this humility brings blessings. The opposite is true, and this ought to sober us and rightly scare us a little bit. Pride is a way to blow up your life. Pride is a way to bring problems into your life. Pride brings ruin. Destruction into your life. Pride goeth before a what a fall. 

Why pride destroys and humility builds

Proverbs 16 pride goeth before destruction a haughty spirit before a fall. Why is this? Why is that? Do you know? Okay, here's team humble. Here's team pride. God's chosen a team. It's team humble. God says throughout the Bible, I am for the humble, I oppose pride. Um, I'll give you one of those. It's, uh. It's in Proverbs six six. Things that the Lord hates. Seven that are an abomination to him. And let me just say for a second, because God is a God of love and he's perfectly good. It means he's against evil. And he he actually hates assault and molestation and hurt and victimization and evil and lying. And the first thing, it's like, hey, here's seven things that God hates. The first thing is haughty eyes. It's a prideful look. God's against it. Um, and he actually gives grace to the humble, which my prayer for my my own heart, all of us at the response to this man. I want to humble myself. And there's actually a proverb about God. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. It's in the New Testament twice. It's Proverbs 334. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And Peter quotes it, and also James. So the apostle Peter says, you who are younger be subject to the elders. It's like that membership vow. Hey, actually, listen to these spiritual fathers amongst you, you who are younger and the elders. Prayer is that we model this humility before the Lord as men who also need to repent daily, and we seek the humility of God. So by God's grace you'll say, I want to be humble like that guy is humble, but you who are younger be subject to the elders and then look at this. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another. So all of you, it's all of you. Elders and pastors, clothe yourselves with humility and submission to each other, and it's all of us. Why? Because of that proverb God opposes the proud but the humble. He gives grace to the humble. Are the people who raise their hand like man, I need forgiveness. I need the wisdom of others. One of the things we often pray in our elders meetings, sometimes before, sometimes during or after, is we're wiser together than any one of us is alone, and the community of the deacons and deaconesses is like that. May God give us that humility to bless each other. God has chosen a team. It's on team Humble. Here's clothes we need to wear every day. The clothing of humility. And here's James, the brother of Jesus. Okay, this is Jesus brother. And he's talking about confronting your sin and that chapter. And he's talking about a lot of things. And we're going to preach on it later this summer. And he also says, hey, but he gives more grace. Therefore it says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. May we humble ourselves and have the blessing of the grace of God. Amen.  Now humility does bring blessing. And you would think, well, if it's so awesome, it would be easy to do. But it's not. 

How to grow in humility

Humility is hard. That's the next thing we need to see about humility. Humility is actually hard to grow in. Listen to this proverb. So let's bring up the next slide. Humility is hard. That's the next point. And the scripture is. Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope than for a fool than for him. And the truth is, we're all wise in our own eyes. Here's something that we sense. We all think we're right. Most of the time when we talk about something, we do. Do you know, statistically, I love to bring up this. You'll hear me mention it about once a year. But statistically, when people are rated. Are you one of the good drivers out there? Are you like in the upper echelon of drivers? Are you one of the bad drivers out there? The great majority of people think that they're one of the good drivers. We all think we're one of the good drivers. It's the other people are acting a little crazy. We're wise in our own eyes. Uh, Christine and I were away on vacation, and it was like a 12 hour drive, and at one point in the afternoon, she's like, man, this is like the last 15 minutes you've been driving kind of crazy. And we're joking back and forth. My humble response in that moment was, what are you talking about? I'm Dale Earhart out here. I am killing it. What? You know, we're joking. We think we're better professors. It's not an education thing. Typically, there's a majority of professors rate themselves in the top 10% of their field. Which, in case you're not a math professor, that's not how math works. Okay? Everybody's not the best, which is the grown up version of what's happening right now in the three year old class. So right now, the three year old class downstairs down in covenant, because this is the reason why humility is hard. It's sinful blindness and it's self-centeredness and just deepen us in sin. We're not humble. Okay, so no one says to the three year old class, hey, I don't know if you've never thought about this, but you might decide that you want to be first. You might want to decide that you're the best. You might want to decide that it would be better for you to have the best toy, and everyone just gets to watch you. No one needs to say that to them. They come up with it on their own. No one needs to say, hey, actually, it might be cooler if you were first all the time. Maybe you'd like to think about that. And it's sin. And why do three year olds do that? Because they're like us. And so there's a deep there's a sinful tractor beam in me and yes, in you that pulls us away from humility and towards pride. And the worst kind of tractor beam is to not know that there's a tractor beam on the worst kind of tractor beam. My favorite illustration for this is the lazy river. The lazy river is the ride at the amusement park for dads who need a break because you just get to sit there, right? And you just go with the flow, you know? And the flow of the culture and the human heart is towards pride. And you actually need an engine to go against the flow to bring you towards humility. So humility is hard. The short answer it's because of sin. 

The cultural trap: How self-focus undermines joy

Let me give you the long answer. The more complicated answer. There's something very unique going on culturally. Okay, there's a narrative in our culture that focusing on yourself is actually the best way to live life. Putting yourself before others, elevating your story and your truth before other people's stories and other truths. That's actually in the culture that that's a good thing and it's making people really sad. It's making us as a society, more individualistic, more less empathetic and more anxious and sad and more judgmental. Besides that, it's really working out well. Here are some anti-proverbs. Okay, some Anti-proverbs you do you. Through you a proverb. You do you. Now, a few cases that could be the right thing. You're a junior high and all your friends are smoking pot. You actually need to do what you think is right. But there's a lot of situations where you doing you is. You're not thinking about what hurts other people. You're not thinking about the people who love you. They're speaking true things in your life. You're choosing your own truth above the voice of people who love you above objective truth. Here's another anti-proverb. No one can help you, but you. Focus on yourself. Look, I'm not picking on young people because it's actually a human problem. It's not a young people problem, but young people tend to be more affected by these cultural narratives because they're more engaged in social media than the rest of us.

What Is a “Quiet Ego” and How Does It Reflect Gospel Humility?

A couple weeks ago, there's an article in The Atlantic, The Bliss of a Quieter Ego. It's written by this guy, Arthur C Brooks, who's a researcher and a professor at Harvard Business School. It's kind of fascinating. He developed this class leadership and happiness, and that class got a lot of press because it, uh, because of the things he's saying, the character qualities that lead to you being a good leader are actually a lot of them are in the Bible. And the character qualities that lead to you being a good. Being happy is actually how God calls you to live. But here's the subtitle of his article a couple of weeks ago, The Bliss of a Quieter Ego. The subtitle was this we live in a world of noisy narcissism. But you can escape the cacophony and be happier. Let me give you a couple quotes. We live in an age of loud egos. Scholars have documented a large increase since the late 1970s in the percentage of people with a narcissistic personality. A trend that is especially clear among young adults. Social media has made it possible to amplify that trait far and wide, to the extent that we now have an entire cultural class of people we call influencers influencers dedicated to broadcasting themselves via new technology, and that new class constantly generates new aspirants to membership. According to one survey, more than half of young people today say they want to be an influencer. So this is in the human heart. If only more people were thinking about me. That's in the human heart. What social media gives opportunity for you now have tools to actually make that happen. This is making people more depressed and more anxious, especially young people. And there's correlations between how much you're on social media and how depressed you are. Would you like to be sad this afternoon? Would you like to just you know what I've always loved? Fear of missing Out. I just love to deep dive into that. Go on social media for an hour. Uh, and it's not just jokes, it's stats, but. What's he say? The answer is, well, quiet ego. Having quiet ego, it's a sense of self that's healthy. And again, I'll quote from the article quiet ego is not a term I invented to psychologists, introduced it in 2008 and later researched. They defined it as, quote, a self-identity that is neither excessively self-focused nor excessively others focused, and identity that incorporates others without losing the self. And there's tests for it. Hey, what's a quiet ego and quiet ego? People can say yes to statements like before criticizing somebody. I try to imagine how I would feel if I were in their place, and it turns out those people tend to be less depressed, less anxious. They're less self-focused. It's actually a healthy biblical self-image. It's healthy self-image. It's not like you don't hate yourself, but you're just not worried about yourself all the time. You know God loves you. You're able to focus on the needs of others, but not always have to meet the needs of others for you to feel okay, because that's also unhealthy. It's a healthy biblical. It's more of a biblical self-image, and those folks tend to be happier, more at peace. Uh, Pastor Tim Keller put it this way. It's not thinking less of yourself. It's like you're not going around saying, ah, I hate myself, I hate myself. It's just thinking of yourself less. It's godly. Self-forgetfulness. Imagine how freeing it would be if you were at so at peace with God in the world. And you tend to be at peace with others, and you want to love people the best you can, but you're just you're not always in your head all the time, and you just have godly self-forgetfulness and a healthy way. Imagine how freeing that would be. Here's what's crazy. Uh. Quiet ego. It's actually wisdom. It's actually humility. Psychologists didn't invent this magical trait in 2008. They're figuring out another name for something the Bible calls humility. Godly humility. And I want to tell you, it's not a young person problem. It's a human problem. I love this Groucho Marx joke. And he died in 1977, way before there was any social media. This is Groucho Marx joke. Enough of me talking about me. Why don't you talk about me?

The Gospel of Jesus Is the Foundation for True Humility

 And there's something about that. And all of us that we need to repent of and just receive the love of God for. And I just want to call you. Look, humility is hard, and only the gospel of Jesus can truly get us there. Only the gospel of Jesus humbles us in the ways that we need to be, because we have to admit we have sin. That's real. That's actually objective spiritual reality. But we also even more need a deep wake up to the grace of God, the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God, the love of God. We need both those things, and knowing the love of God helps us. So let's not be conformed to the pattern of this world that, like we're focusing on yourself, is actually the the best way forward. Actually focusing on the fear of the Lord and the awe of God and the love of God and God's love for you. And right humility and gospel self image. That's the way forward. That's what's going to free you actually from anxiety and depression that's going to help you. So this is the last thing. Humility is a gospel fruit. It's a gospel fruit. So it's fun to preach this sermon on this day, because in baptism and in the Lord's Supper, we're deeply reminded we don't save ourselves. You don't baptize yourself. Someone else in grace baptizes you, and you just receive it. You don't come. Take it. Someone serves it to you. And I was reminded this week by Elder Al Herman of the Old Westminster Kids Catechism. Okay, so this is a few hundred year old teaching tool for kids parents. If you'd like a new catechism and more modern English, go to New City Catechism. It's all online moms and dads. It's a great teaching tool. New city catechism. But here's the old school Westminster Catechism. Why do I need Jesus Christ as my prophet profit. Answer because I'm ignorant. Why do I need Jesus Christ as my priest? Because I'm guilty. Why do you need Christ as king? Because I'm weak and helpless. And besides being weak and helpless, apart from Christ, guilty apart from the work of Christ, and ignorant apart from the truth of Christ. We're doing fine, right? And actually, it's a helpful thing to read. We all need that. That's why Jesus is prophet, priest, and king. That's why he's Savior. And guess what? Jesus tells us true things because he loves us. Jesus died for our sins because of our guilt, because he loves us. Jesus rules our lives and nothing can happen to you. And actually, your life is not an accident. Your life is not an accident. You're in the hands of a good father. And that's really, really good news. And God wants us to know that. And humility is knowing it's not just your need. I'm not trying to get you to just punch yourself in the face. I'm actually trying to get you to receive. Not just see. Not just your need, but also the the love of the father and the embrace of the father. 

God's love will transform us and make us more humble.

 Do you know God's love for you? That will humble you? Have you ever been loved so deeply in God's name? Or it was just so kind that it just humbles you? You're just like. Ha! Just experience something in this experience of the love of God through another human being. And it's it's ennobling, it's comforting. It's encouraging. But it's also just like, wow, it's humbling. That's what God wants you to have, uh, may we be reminded how loved we are and pursue this gospel fruit? Um, in Ephesians four, after three chapters where the apostle Paul for a large church and a church in a region, he's just been riffing on all the blessings that are ours in Jesus Christ. Every spiritual blessing has been given to us. We've been chosen, loved, forgiven. We have a destiny with God. You are God's workmanship. You who are far away have been brought near. You have spiritual gifts. You have work to do in the world. And he ends by praying. I pray that you would know how wide and long and high and deep is the love of God for you in Christ. And I want to pray that for us this morning that you would know how huge God's love for you is in Christ. And then when he turns. Okay, now let's live this out. Let's think about walking this out. The first thing he says. About walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. He says to do it with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. First thing he's like, look in this. It was a very diverse church in Ephesus. We're a very diverse church in terms of a lot of different things politically background, faith stories, perspectives on things. There's a great diverse church in the world. First thing he says, live it out with humility, with gentleness. Let's remember how loved we are. Let's be reminded of that today as we come to the Lord's Table and receive from him. Can I pray these things for us? Let's pray together.