Saturday, April 21, 2012

An Inquiry Into the Nature of Humility - Part II

Do we have any help towards becoming truly humble? Do we have any example? What will aid us in this thing that Scripture puts forth as a most necessary attribute? What is the nature of true humility? I want to take a look at what it means to grow in holiness, while looking at humility as a specific part of that.

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14) Though we believe we are saved by grace and not works, it is very obvious here that we are told to strive for holiness. There is a type of true holiness that marks out believers. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. (1 John 5:18) Being saved and born again will inevitably result in sin-killing fruit. One of the marks of the child of God is that he is at war and knows it.

We have some gloriously Good News in the pursuit of this holiness and in the pursuit of true humility before God. We have a uniquely triune God who, for his name's sake, has chosen to be for us in these things. Praise be to the God who is three-in-one! And let's look at some reasons why, taking the Trinity one person at a time.

First, God the Father. Though all the persons of the Trinity are fully God and bear all of the same attributes, we do see a willing submission and headship within the Trinity. Jesus prays to the Father and teaches us to do so as well. He submits to the Father's will. We see this in the Garden of Gethsemane: Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. (Mark 14:36) Also, concerning the hour of Christ's return... no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. (Matthew 24:36)

The Father is sovereign. He reigns. He rules. The Holy Spirit proceeds from him. He is the Author of all life and all history. He is supremely good, supremely powerful, supremely loving. He planned our salvation from eternity past, and he delights himself in his Son. Another way that we can look at our salvation is this: From eternity past, the Father loved his Son and designed to give him a Bride. Let us look at how the design of God the Father in our salvation is calculated to make us holy and humble.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:3-14)

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8: 29-32)

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:3)

Observations: 1) The Father planned history to be summed up in Christ, of which our salvation is a part. 2) We were predestined, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. 3) We were not chosen for our works. We were not chosen because we were inherently good. God chose us first. 4) Therefore, being saved by God's unexplainable loving grace towards me, a dead rebel, I have absolutely nothing to boast about. This indeed is deepest ground of humility. 5) God's grace is central to the point of history because we will spend eternity praising him for the glory of that grace. Thankfulness and praise for God's grace, the apex of which is the substitutionary death of the Lamb on the Cross, will drive out pride and provide humility. Therefore, we ought to keep ourselves before the Cross, bringing ourselves low in order to get the best view of God's glory.

We are also not just saved from something, but we are saved to something. Salvation in Christ is far from mere fire insurance. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places! And what seems pervasive to me about these passages is that we are very clearly saved to a holiness, which is completely consistent with God the Father's loving and good design. We are saved to be holy and blameless, saved for good works that we should walk in, and we are predestined to be made like Christ. We are saved unto abiding humility.

For me, the Gospel is so beautifully present in these passages, and I derive great comfort from God's sovereignty and grace. Romans 8 shows such a powerful chain from foreknowledge to glorification, and the Gospel is that I am not the one who guarantees that chain, but rather it is guaranteed by the One who bought that chain with his blood! And while I must strive for sanctification, it is not ultimately in my hands - it is in the hands of the Potter... For we are his workmanship. From eternity past God planned our holiness and humility. May the beauty and greatness of this salvation floor us! May the majesty and dominion and sovereignty of our God floor us. May God floor us! Here lies true humility.

Second, God the Son. The most obvious way in which Jesus makes us holy is that without new birth no real holiness is possible. Without Jesus' substitutionary death and resurrection, we would not be able to be born again. We would not be able to exercise true faith. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17) But Christ is raised, and our faith is not futile, and payment has been made for our sins. We were born into Adam, and by faith we are found now in Christ, his life becoming ours, his death becoming ours, his resurrection becoming ours.
For all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. (Romans 3:23-25)

If because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

The grace that we have received in Jesus Christ is unsurpassed. Christ Jesus, God the Son, worthy of all worship and praise, becoming a curse on our behalf in order to absorb the full wrath of God against all our sins, past, present, and future. Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29) I rejoice with John Bunyan who received unspeakable comfort when he realized that the Gospel meant that Jesus was his righteousness, in heaven at the right hand of the Father, and nothing we ever do can mess up that righteousness (Jesus) or improve upon that righteousness (Jesus). And is this demotivating to holiness since our holiness is not what saves us? No! What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! (Romans 6:15) So what do we do in light of all of this grace and mercy? I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. (Romans 12:1) God's mercy is the ground for our exhortation to holiness.

Here we find in Christ our greatest teacher. Jesus is the incarnate Word who is eternal and is the very embodiment of the wisdom of God. Christ teaches us to pray to God the Father. He teaches about who he is. He teaches us about how great God is. He warns. He exhorts. He encourages. He gives a wisdom and guidance for living well in his Kingdom. See the Sermon on the Mount. Dallas Willard has written about how we rarely view Jesus as brilliant, as a giver of insider knowledge on the way the world works. But who better to know than the one through whom it was all created and in whom it all will be summed up?! The Great Commission keeps the teachings and commandments (and obedience to the teachings) of Jesus central. We make obedient disciples, not just converts.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

And we also find in Jesus the only person who has ever lived and truly backed up what he taught. He was and is the only man who was not a hypocrite. There is no disjunction between the Word and his words. Jesus, God-become-man, is the only person who has ever lived in complete humility. He is our standard for humility. He is our teacher of humility. He defines it! While I have gone a long way around to get back to the original question, I think this is perhaps the most essential place to look in order to actually answer it. Philippians 2:1-11 sets the stage for a correct interpretation of Christ's humility:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This passage defines humility and seats it in the actions flowing from the heart and mind of Jesus. And then we are told to have that mind in us. We will return to this passage at the end of the blog entry, but for now, let us soak ourselves in the wonder of what Jesus has done! Jesus, who could claim any right, who is sovereign, who is LORD, who has all freedom, whom angels worship... this God for a time chose not to avail himself of all his rights for the sake of others. He willingly lowered himself to be among those who were on that level. He took on our aches and pains and temptations and sorrows and griefs. He did not grasp at worldly dignity in his birth as he became a real human baby, born in a manger, first worshipped by shepherds. He chose to became a servant and even stooped to wash the feet of his betrayer. In his life and death, Jesus experienced abandonment, betrayal, mockery, and crucifixion. To save others, he gave himself. By his blood, he proved his love. This is humility. True exaltation and honor for us must be sought in this mold. As Jesus lowered himself and allowed the Father to give him the name above every name, so we must lower ourselves and not worry about when and how God might lift us up.

Jesus frees from our guilt to pursue holiness and humility. He commands and teaches to be humble. Finally, he shows us how to do it. Thank you, Jesus.

Finally, God the Holy Spirit. I need more than just an example because I know from experience that I can never emulate Jesus in my own strength, and frankly, that would be exhausting. I need more than just a role model to look up to from afar. We all do. We need help! I think every honest Christian feels this. We will not make it a single step in the Christian life without divine help. Let's look at some things the Holy Spirit does according to Jesus:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17)

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26)

But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. (John 15:26)

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do no go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. (John 16:7-8)

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:14)

All of these passages come from the same section where Jesus is teaching his disciples in the last week before the crucifixion. At this point in time, he knows it will not be long before he must go, and he has the concern of a Shepherd for his sheep, and he does not mean to leave them alone. How amazing is his gift to the Church! He gives his very Spirit. God himself lives in the believer, and as counterintuitive as it may seem, it is better this way than if Christ was bodily here with us. The Spirit of Christ is in far more places than his Jesus' physical body could be. We learn that the Spirit helps, loves truth and brings it to mind, and gives us the presence of God.

The Holy Spirit is our great ally in the search for humility. Humility is learned as we lean on him. His very identity is as Helper. Therefore, we only relate to him as we ought to as we are accepting help. This is completely a one way relationship. God never needs our help. The Holy Spirit is never improved by the shabby living quarters of my heart. His help is completely a grace, and it is in the Spirit that I will grow, as I train myself into a posture of dependency.

The Holy Spirit also teaches me humility before the Word. My natural reaction is to trust in myself. It is not my natural reaction to trust Scripture. My own sin blinds me to Scripture and would keep me from it. But it is the Holy Spirit, the one who breathed Scripture, that brings me in humility before Scripture.

The Holy Spirit is God. Our sin can grieve the Holy Spirit. Our bodies really do become the temple of God, and by our sin, we defile the temple of God. The Holy Spirit works humility in us through conviction of sin. We need godly sorrow over sin. We do not naturally gravitate towards repentance, and our consciences are easily seared and misshapen. But God remains God, and no matter how far gone our conscience is, if we belong to God, he will not let us go. He will bring us back to conviction and repentance through the Holy Spirit, praying from the heart prayers like Psalm 51.

The Holy Spirit as God also has perfect humility. The way that we see him relate to Jesus and the Father attests to this. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father to do his will in the world and bring about his purposes, and the Holy Spirit loves to make much of Jesus. He delights to glorify Jesus in our hearts. The Holy Spirit loves to use the Gospel to open our eyes to the glory of God. The Holy Spirit is exceedingly happy when we are happy in Jesus, when we exercise faith, when we lean on the Father in prayer. He helps us in all these things. Let us declare our need before him and thereby grow in true humility.

Thank you, Holy Spirit! How amazing to see that God, all three persons working in perfect harmony, is so incredibly for us and for our sanctification because his pursuit of our conformity to Christ is simultaneously a pursuit of his glory. If we question whether he is for us, we need only to look at the cross. And if we question whether he can pull us through to holiness and humility, we need only to look at the power of the resurrection and realize that the Spirit who made that happen now lives in us.

What can I say, but soli Deo gloria?!

An Inquiry into the Nature of Humility - Part I

While my blog entries are often the result of whatever happens to be on my mind, it is a happy day when one of my brothers or sisters has a legitimate question that I can help to answer.  Today happens to be such a day.  Immediately upon thinking about the question, multiple thoughts and shades of meaning presented themselves to me, and I realized that a proper answering of the question would require something like this blog entry.  Then I thought, why write merely in private when others might be edified through a public writing?  So here it is... (in parts because my writing started getting too long.)


What is the question?  I will quote the email I received earlier...


"Humbleness is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less."
I've been seeing it on facebook a lot lately. I think it makes sense from a worldly perspective, but looking through the lens of Jesus Christ it doesn't. Thoughts? ... I am curious to hear what your response would be. 



First, I want to commend my brother on desiring a Biblical perspective.  In googling the quote, it looks like Rick Warren has said it, and maybe Tim Keller, too.  Both are pretty legit guys.  I'm not sure if they're quoting some more original source.  Either way, we ought to care far more about what Scripture says than in a pithy quote or in a saying from one of our favorite preachers.  Indeed what does the Bible say about humility?  (And the flip side of that - what does it say about pride?)  Getting an informed perspective from Scripture is a good prerequisite for directly addressing the question of the above quote, even if that takes a little time and seems roundabout to some.  Indeed, there is no great prohibition on skipping to the end of this entry, though the good stuff is certainly in the bolded words of God in the middle.


My selections of verses on humility and pride are simply a few of the many.   The overwhelming consensus of the Bible is that God is against pride and in favor of humility.  Pride is manifestly a sin, putting ourselves in the place of God, and humility would be its opposite virtue.    Let's examine some verses and let the Word of God speak. 


He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?   (Micah 6:8)


Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.  (Proverbs 16:8)

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.  (James 4:10)


For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.  (Luke 14:11)


All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.     (Isaiah 66:2)


And said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."    (Matthew 18:3-4)


In these verses we see that we must walk humbly with God.  We see that pride's destination is a fall and that humility's destination is exaltation by God.  We see that when God looks for a servant, he finds and uses those who are humbled before his Word.  Indeed, child-like humility is necessary to enter the Kingdom.  Moreover, the following verses from Isaiah 2 about the day of the Lord show powerfully God's preference for humility and commitment to flatten the prideful.


6 For you have rejected your people,
      the house of Jacob,
      because they are full of things from the east
      and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,
      and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.
7 Their land is filled with silver and gold,
      and there is no end to their treasures;
      their land is filled with horses,
      and there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is filled with idols;
      they bow down to the work of their hands,
      to what their own fingers have made.
9 So man is humbled,

      and each one is brought low—
      do not forgive them!
10 Enter into the rock
      and hide in the dust
      from before the terror of the Lord,
      and from the splendor of his majesty.
11 The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
      and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,

      and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
12 For the Lord of hosts has a day
      against all that is proud and lofty,
      against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
13 against all the cedars of Lebanon,
      lofty and lifted up;
      and against all the oaks of Bashan;
14 against all the lofty mountains,
      and against all the uplifted hills;
15 against every high tower,
      and against every fortified wall;
16 against all the ships of Tarshish,
      and against all the beautiful craft.
17 And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
      and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
      and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
18 And the idols shall utterly pass away.
19 And people shall enter the caves of the rocks
      and the holes of the ground,
        from before the terror of the Lord,
      and from the splendor of his majesty,
      when he rises to terrify the earth.
20 In that day mankind will cast away
      their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
      which they made for themselves to worship,
      to the moles and to the bats,
21 to enter the caverns of the rocks
      and the clefts of the cliffs,
      from before the terror of the Lord,
      and from the splendor of his majesty,
      when he rises to terrify the earth.
22 Stop regarding man
      in whose nostrils is breath,
      for of what account is he?


We see here a huge, majestic, and - quite frankly - terrifying picture of a God who promises and vows to destroy idolatry, of a LORD who hates pride and will one day destroy and flatten anything or anyone that would rise as a competitor for his glory.  Mankind will shake and hide in the presence of such blisteringly bright holiness.  What would our lives look like if we could only get a glimpse of that day?  (And what is this Scripture, but God graciously giving us that glimpse so that we might repent!) 


A central verse that ties this passage together is verse 17.  In this verse we see the very point of humility - the exaltation of the LORD.  The point of humility is the glory of God, that God would be seen and treasured and worshipped among his creation for all the he is.  In Romans 3:23 Paul declares the universality of sin among the human race and also reinforces this truth - that at its root sin is a belittling and a falling short of the glory of God:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

The universe is all about the glory of God.  Following a long, deep explanation of God's breathtaking design in our salvation through Jesus, Paul bursts forth into instructive praise in Romans 11: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  ...For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever.  Amen.  That is why we exist, why we were created, why we continue exist.  All the stars in the heavens, all the fish in the sea, every created thing exists to bring glory to its Maker.  I could run to dozens of verses there as well, but that would take my blog into book-length proportions, and I will spare you.  Trust me - it's all about God.  It's all about his glory and not our own. 


But I can't resist just one...  It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.  And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them.  And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declared the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.  (Ezekiel 36:22-23)


I argue that no one can be truly humble at the point of sinning, and that by its very nature, sin is a grab for self-exalting preference and power.  You cannot be simultaneously treasuring God in your heart and bowing before him while also sinning.  Pride, therefore, is at the heart of sin.  Sin in its very essence is a belittling of God's glory.  Therefore, humility is an essential ingredient to the very point of our existence - glorifying God - while pride is rebellion against that.  Humility is something like the soil in which all of our other virtues grow, just as pride is the soil in which all of our vices grow.  We glorify God by being transformed into the likeness of Christ, and all of our progress towards that end will be seen to not really be much progress at all if we are growing in pride all along the way.


The conclusion: we should be humble.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Greatness through Humility

My heart has thrilled to think over the last few days - and so I pray that I might prick yours to so thrill - over the glory and condescension of the incarnation of Jesus...

Before the world, in the beginning, Jesus was. "Before Abraham was, I AM." "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

God is triune. He is glorious, majestic, holy, loving, gracious, self-sufficient, sovereign, absolute, true! He is like no other; none is like him! He is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. He is ever worthy. From him, and to him, and through him are all things. Legions of angels, day by day are lifting up praises that are due to him. God is big! There is nothing he cannot do, cannot have! In his sovereignty, he commands total and absolute allegiance of everything.

And in the middle of all this, God willingly stoops down to save wretches like us. And leaving off the sin bit, he actually becomes one of us. He takes on human flesh! Jesus took on what it meant to be human. He was not immune to being tired, to being sick, to the full array of human emotions, to the full array of human temptations, to the sting of the death of loved ones.

And to start off with, he was born as a baby. God was born as a baby. How ridiculous! He was a baby born in a manger. There was no room for him in the inn. The nearby shepherds came to see this baby. But I am pretty sure he wasn't just glowing and giving off crazy vibes and such, spouting wisdom right out of the womb. He cried like any other baby. Mary and Joseph had to change his diapers, feed him, burp him, raise him up as their child. Just because Jesus never sinned doesn't make him a robot. It doesn't make him an alien. In fact, if we believe that sin corrupts our humanity, that would make Jesus the most fully human person ever. Most people accidentally fall into emphasizing either his divinity or humanity more, and I think in the circles I run around, the tendency would be to emphasize his divinity. But for now I want to emphasize his full humanity.

Jesus humbled himself so thoroughly. One of the most mindblowing pictures in the gospels for me is Jesus washing his disciples feet. Because that means he stooped down, taking the lowest position, to wash the feet of the man who would very soon betray him to the cross. And to the cross he goes. His flesh is thrashed. Nails pierce his hands and feet. Thorns pierce his head. His blood flows. He is betrayed. He is abandoned. He is mocked. He is spit on. He is despised and rejected. He is murdered.

Jesus was sovereign over it all. He chose to go in accordance with the will of his Father. It pleased him to accomplish this great salvation by taking the road of humility, by condescending to become human, and going further still, to becoming a curse on our behalf so that our curse might be removed. None of us is aware of just how low Christ stooped in order to do this. We may never know this fully.

But the crucified Christ was surely resurrected. The tomb could not hold him. He laid death in his grave! And ascending into heaven, he was given the place of honor. He was given the name that is above every name. The lowly and meek reclaimed his rightful place as high and exalted.

While we are here, while we live, we are to imitate Christ in his humility. We are not to seek our own self-interest. We are to selflessly love others, in his power and following his example.

Jesus, thank you for loving me. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for what you have done for me and for us. If you had chosen to avail yourself of all that was rightfully yours, if you had chosen to remain comfortable in heaven instead of walking the road to the cross, I would have never known you, except in wrath. Thank you for your great grace.