The Way of Wisdom–Humility

This is week three of our series called The Way of Wisdom, where we are exploring the different themes of the Book of Proverbs.  If you haven’t been here the last few weeks, Proverbs was written by King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live.  God granted Solomon unusual wisdom because when God asked him what is one thing you would want from me, Solomon answered, wisdom to govern.  God was pleased with Solomon’s humble request, and He granted it.  Solomon passed on some of his wisdom in what we now know as the Book of Proverbs.

One of the most dominant, underlying themes of Proverbs is humility. 

HUMILITY

You might even say that humility is THE transcendent theme of the entire book of Proverbs.  Although the theme of humility doesn’t show up on every page, it’s on every page because the life of wisdom described in Proverbs takes root in the soil of humility. 

Humility is the soil in which this rich beautiful life of wisdom grows. 

Here are some things Solomon says about humility:

Prov 3:34 (CSB)—He mocks those who mock but gives grace to the humble.

Prov 15:33 (CSB)—The fear of the LORD is what wisdom teaches, and humility comes before honor.

Prov 11:2 (CSB)—When arrogance comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.

Without humility, there is no wisdom.

Pride is your greatest enemy, humility is your greatest friend.

—John Stott

Pride is the antithesis of humility.

According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison; it was through Pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind…… it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.

—C.S. Lewis

The Bible defines humility this way:

HUMILITY—The personal quality of being free from arrogance and pride and accurately estimating one’s worth.

Accurately estimating your worth; in other words, Humility comes from seeing yourself how God sees you.  That is why we talk so much about identity here. It’s one of our four values here at New Hope.  

How do you look at yourself?  Do you see yourself the way God sees you?  And are you living out your true identity?  The identity you received because of what Jesus did for you on the cross.

That is the crux of the Christian life. As followers of Jesus, we have been given a new identity and a new nature, but the work is learning to live out and step into that new identity.

Let’s say you discovered tomorrow that you were the only heir to some kingdom. It might take you time to wrap your head around that, and it would certainly take some time for you to learn how to be the kingdom’s monarch, especially if the kingdom’s culture differed from the one you were used to.

The fact that you are the heir to that kingdom doesn’t change, but you will change as you learn to live out your new identity as the leader of that kingdom.

Learning to live out our identity as the sons and daughters of God requires humility. It requires confronting our pride and self-centeredness and recognizing that those things have no place in our new identity.

We cannot do this in our own strength of will.  Humility requires a willing dependence on Him and the provision His power brings into our lives. God’s movement in our lives is not a move from dependence to independence; it is just the opposite.  

God is moving us from independence to a greater willing and joyful dependence on Him.

Humility is the personal quality of being free from arrogance and pride and accurately estimating one’s worth. When we accurately understand our worth from God’s perspective, it moves us toward Him.  When we understand that God’s power is for us, that He used that power to raise His Son Jesus from the dead so that we can know Him, so that we can be adopted as His sons and daughters, it drives us to God and toward a great dependence on Him.

In the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus begins to teach His disciples, the first thing He teaches them is, “Blessed are the poor in spirit (humble) for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

Solomon says something happens when we see our pride for what it is, look to Jesus, and depend on Him to change us.

Prov 22:4 (CSB)—Humility, the fear of the LORD, results in wealth, honor, and life.

Who doesn’t want wealth, honor, and life?  But finding that means stepping into our new identity in Christ.  Proverbs repeatedly tells us that what we need most is to be rescued from our pride. That is where grace, won for us by Jesus, comes into the picture.

_____________________________________

To overcome pride and walk humbly with our God, we must look to Jesus and the example He set for us. The Apostle Paul gives us a beautiful picture of Jesus’ humility in Philippians 2.

Phil 2:3-11 (CSB)—Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Humility does not come naturally to us.  We come out of the womb sinful with selfish ambition and conceit.  We don’t have to learn selfish ambition.  

What happens, parents, when a friend brings their kids over to play with your kids, and your friend’s kid grabs that one special toy belonging to your kid?  What happens?  Violence happens.  Violence and tears and the wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Our parents didn’t teach us that response, they didn’t teach us selfish ambition; they had to teach us how to share.  

We don’t have to learn how to ignore the needs of others or how to look out for ourselves first; that comes naturally. Paul says, that as we are leaning to live out our new identity in Chirst we must learn how to do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than ourselves.

Humility elevates other people.

The old nature inside of me, the nature that controlled me before Jesus came into my life, that nature wants to put me first.  It is self-gratifying and causes me to only think of myself.  My old nature doesn’t always allow me to see others; it is conceited, and it often only sees me.  

But my new nature, the new nature that I received when I became a new creation when I was adopted as a son of God, that nature is humble and considers others as more important than myself.  

That is not the message of our culture.  Our culture, in a million different ways, says that you always need to look out for yourself first and then the needs of others, but that is not the way of heaven.  The way of heaven elevates other people above ourselves.

The desire to lift up and exalt ourselves beyond our place as God’s creation lies at the heart of pride. It is the original sin. In Genesis 3, the serpent convinces Eve that she can be like God if she eats the fruit from the tree. Pride entices her and causes her and Adam to sin.

Pride causes us to elevate and exalt ourselves, usually at the expense of other people, but humility elevates other people above ourselves.

Paul then says this:

Everyone should look not to his own interests but rather to the interests of others. He says that we are not only to elevate people but also to elevate their interests and needs.

Humility elevates the needs of other people.

Our default is generally to be so focused on our needs that we don’t even see other people’s needs.  We are so focused on what is going on in our lives that we miss the needs of the other people God has put in our lives.

Jesus demonstrates this when He washes His disciples’ feet in John 13. Just before Jesus celebrates Passover with the disciples, no servant is present to wash their feet. So Jesus gets up, wraps a towel around his waist (what the house servant would have done), and begins to wash their feet.  

They are shocked that Jesus, their Lord and teacher, would wash their feet.  This was the job of a lowly servant. Not their Lord.

Jesus then explains his actions.

Jn 13:12-14 (CSB)—When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you.

Our culture tells us that important people don’t lower themselves to menial tasks. Our culture tells us that people meet our needs when we are important (which we all want to be). But that is not the economy of things in heaven. Jesus turns that logic upside down. Instead, in Matthew 20, Jesus tells his disciples that the last shall be first and the first shall be last.

Why?  Because humility elevates the needs of others above our own.

In Phil 2, Paul says it this way, we are to “Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.”

What is that attitude? Phil 2:6 says that even though Jesus was God, he set his Godhood aside. He emptied Himself and took on the form of a servant. God became one of us. He wrapped the towel around his waist and elevated our needs above His own.

But Jesus’ example of humility goes one step further.  Verse 8 says he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross, the worst death imaginable.

Elevating our needs cost Jesus something.  A painful death on a cross.

Here’s what Jesus shows us:

Humility serves other people even though it may cost me.

Now, here is the thing: Jesus was no victim. He knew from the beginning what lay in store for Him. He knew exactly what He was doing.  

Jn 10:17-18 (CSB)—This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.

Humility can be messy.  If you choose to humble yourself and elevate the needs of others above your own, it may cost you something.  

It may cost your time, your emotional or physical energy or it may cost you financially.  True humility will often exact a cost.  It may be one thing to give up your parking spot at Costco, it is another thing entirely to follow the example of Jesus and be willing to pay a real price in order to serve other people.

Why is our world so full of proud people? Because humility is hard. It goes against our natural man; it flies in the face of our old nature. However, following Jesus’ example requires us to examine our own hearts. It requires that we ask God to root out our pride and self-centeredness and replace it with the humility of heaven.

When we consider our pride and pursue a life of humility, there is a reward or a result.  Paul says this about the result of Jesus’ humility:

Phil 2:9-11 (CSB)—For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

What did Solomon say was the result of humility?

Prov 22:4 (CSB)—Humility, the fear of the LORD, results in wealth, honor, and life.

Here’s what I see as heaven’s reward for humility:

Humble people are content people.

When we accurately estimate our worth and see ourselves the way God sees us, we are drawn to greater dependence on Him. Even though we are small and finite, we have a Father who spreads His wings over us, provides for us, protects us, and gives us everything we need.

When we accurately estimate our worth, we know who we are.  We know that because of the blood of Jesus, we are enough.  We don’t have to try and be something we are not to prove ourselves or to earn God’s love and affection or the love and affection of others.

Humble people are secure people.

When humble people have conflict, they don’t demand their own way.  They can navigate conflict in a healthy way that doesn’t consider only their perspective or their needs but considers the perspective of the other person.  Humble people can navigate difficult relational problems without blowing up relationships.

Humble people are not threatened by the success of other people.  Whether that is at work, at school, or home.  We can celebrate other people’s wins and successes.  Humble people are not threatened by the fact that the neighbor drives a nicer car, lives in a nicer house, or seems to have perfect children.  Humble people are secure in who they are and see those things for what they are.  

Humble people are the most content and secure people I know.  What a reward it is to live a life of contentment and security.

____________________________________

Being humble doesn’t mean being a doormat.  It doesn’t mean that you never think of your own needs.  Sometimes, humility requires us to think of ourselves.  Sometimes it means asking for help even though our pride would say we can do it on our own.  Sometimes it means looking out for your own health and well-being.  

When we estimate our value and see ourselves the way God sees us, we know we are important to Him. If He is going to use us in other people’s lives, we need to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy people. If you are going to serve other people well, that means also taking care of yourself.

But all of this requires wisdom.  As we humble ourselves and fear the Lord, we find the wisdom to know what humility should look like in us.  You can see the circular process.  As we humble ourselves, we find the wisdom to reflect Jesus in our humility.