HUMILITY
DR. JIM DIXON
PHILIPPIANS 2:3
AUGUST 15, 1993
The eyes of the world have been focused on the city of Denver this past week because of World Youth Day and the papal visitation. President Clinton himself came into Denver just to greet the Pope on his arrival. We’re told that McDonald’s has recruited 7,000 volunteers to feed tons of food to people, including 1,500,000 hamburgers. One hundred and eighty-six thousand young people from all over the world have come into Denver for World Youth Day. Hundreds of thousands of additional people, we are told, will be at Cherry Creek State Park this morning and are there for the papal mass. We’re told that as many as 2 billion people will be watching on television. By any standard, this has been a monumental event for the city of Denver.
You can’t help but feel a little bit sorry for the Pope because, as he journeys around, whether he’s being airlifted from one place to another or just traveling in his Popemobile, you notice how everybody just wants to touch him. The crowds want to mob him. People want to see him or just get a glimpse of him. I mean, he is just inundated everywhere he goes. Some people, it appears, almost worship him and you wonder if it’s not typical for Pope John Paul II to maintain his humility. And yet, by all accounts, Pope John Paul II is a very humble man and I have no reason to question that. I believe, as far as I can tell, that he truly is a humble man and I like a great deal of what he has said this week.
I want to share with you this morning on the subject of humility. Humility is precious to God. When St. Augustine was asked what he believed to be the three greatest Christian virtues, St. Augustine said, “humility, humility, and humility.” He is not far off because humility is precious to God.
I’d like us this morning to really answer just one question. That question is this: What is it? What is humility? What does it mean to be a humble person? Biblically, what does it mean? Is self-degradation humility? A kind of low self-esteem? Is the ability to act embarrassed, when complimented, humility? The world has different definitions of humility. The Bible tells us that humility is linked with servanthood.
In our passage of scripture for today in Philippians, chapter 2, we’re told that our Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself, taking on the form of a servant. You see, in God’s sight, if I’m going to be humble, I must become a servant. In God’s sight, if you’re going to be humble, you must become servants too.
Remember how James and John came up to Christ one day with their mother and they sought exaltation. They asked that when Jesus came into His kingdom, they might be allowed to sit one at His right hand and the other at His left in positions of prominence. Do you recall what Christ said to them? He said, “The rulers of the Gentiles, the rulers of the nations, love to lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so amongst you, for he who would be the greatest among you must be the servant of all. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give His life, a ransom for many.” So, we have this example in our Lord Jesus Christ that humility is expressed in service. Now if we serve people, we seek to lift them up. If we serve people, we seek to exalt people.
Now, our son Drew is in all humility, a very good athlete. He just received an Iron Eagle Award at Heritage High School. The Iron Eagle is given for athletic performance. They give five Iron Eagles to the freshmen class, five to the sophomore, five to the junior, and five to the senior class. One of the things you get if you receive the Iron Eagle is this really great shirt. It says “Iron Eagle” on it. It has got this great pattern, kind of a logo and everything and it looks kind of cool. Drew got the Iron Eagle award last year too as a freshman. He got the same shirt, but he never wore it.
Heather was looking at the shirt and she said, “Drew, this is really a great looking shirt. Why don’t you wear this shirt?” Drew explained that, you know, it is a nice shirt but if you wear it, somehow it just does not seem right. It seems kind of like you are bragging. If you wear it around campus, it feels kind of awkward and self-promoting.
I think the world understands that. I think most everybody in the world understands that you cannot be too blatant regarding self-promotion. I think most people in the world realize that you do not want to exalt yourself blatantly. I think for most people, the essence of humility is simply that you’re not out trying to promote yourself. You are not out trying to exalt yourself. But biblically, humility is far more than that. Biblically, humility is an active word. The Greek word is “tapeinos” and this word “tapeinos” described those people who not only were not seeking to exalt themselves but were actually seeking to exalt others. You see, it’s not enough to deny yourself self-promotion. If you are really humble you seek to promote others. You seek to exalt others.
About a month ago, I was at a conference in Estes Park. I was appointed to a subcommittee for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ National Board which, as I explained a few weeks ago, I’m new in serving on that board. I know almost nobody on the board. I was put on a subcommittee for program. I did not know, but one person on that subcommittee is Bill McCartney up at CU. As I went to that first subcommittee meeting, they asked me to introduce myself and I kind of took a moment and thought, “How should I introduce myself?” Of course, one thing that always bothers me about ministers and pastors is that when they introduce themselves, they like to talk about how large their church is, particularly if it is a large church. They like to talk about how fast their church has grown, particularly if their church has grown rapidly. Oftentimes, it seems, to me at least, when the ministers introduce themselves it’s kind of an opportunity to brag. It’s not that I wouldn’t want to do that, but I knew I shouldn’t do that, so I thought, “How should I introduce myself?”
I just told them that I had accepted Christ when I was five, through the ministry of my mother. I explained about how I was grateful for growing up in a Christian home. I told them where I went to seminary and that I’m pastoring a church in southern Denver called Cherry Hills Community Church. When I was done, I felt like, you know, I’d probably done what I should. It was at that point that Bill McCartney said, “Wait a minute.” He said, “He’s not telling you half the story,” and then Bill McCartney went on to just say wonderful things about our church. He just went on to say wonderful things about our church and some really nice things about me. I felt kind of embarrassed, but I also felt really good. I think when someone compliments you that’s how you feel. I tell you, biblically, to be humble means to do what Bill McCartney did. It means wherever you find yourself, whatever you can sincerely compliment, do it. It means that you’re focused not on promoting yourself, but you’re focused on promoting those around you. It means that you want to exalt other people.
I’ve got to say also, biblically, that humility has to do with an external focus. It has to do with a servant’s heart which seeks to serve other people and exalt them, but it also has to do just with an external focus. If you understand what humility means in the Bible, it refers to people who are not focused internally so much as they are externally.
You have all heard of Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens was an Englishman. He was a great literary talent, perhaps the greatest literary talent of his time. He is, of course, renowned for many books and novels that he wrote including The Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol, amongst many others. For those who knew him best, Charles Dickens was considered an extremely humble man. He was, by all accounts, a very humble man. One of the statements made about Charles Dickens that is so beautiful was this: It was said of him that he never speaks of himself. When he’s with people, his focus is singularly on the people that he is with. He never speaks of himself, but whoever he’s with, he’s really focused on them and interested in them. It is a great compliment. I think it’s the way God wants all of us to be.
You see, you can’t have low self-esteem and be humble because if you have low self-esteem your tendency is going to be to always be focusing internally. If you have low self-esteem, your tendency is going to be to want to kind of talk about yourself, maybe even to exalt yourself, certainly think about yourself. Humility comes to a person who is really confident that God loves them and, in that sense, is self-assured. Humility comes to a person who knows who they are before God and they feel comfortable with that and they are able to focus on other people, able to pay complete attention to whoever they’re talking to, to whoever they’re with. Biblically that’s part of what it is to be humbled as well.
When you look at the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, whoever He was with, whether He was with Zacchaeus or the woman at the well, you see how focused He was on those around Him and that’s humility. So, it’s a servant’s heart wanting to exalt those around us. It is also an external focus rather than an internal one.
I would like to just conclude this little devotional with a story concerning Abraham Lincoln. Of course, Abraham Lincoln is renowned by historians. Many historians consider him to be one of the greater United States presidents. I think it is hard for many today to realize that Lincoln was highly criticized in his time. Many people did not like him. One person who did not like Abraham Lincoln was a man named Edwin Stanton.
Edwin Stanton was a brilliant man. He was the Attorney General of the United States. He said a lot of critical things about Abraham Lincoln. He was often quoted in the newspapers. Newspaper reporters would come up to him constantly and say, “What do you think of Abraham Lincoln?” He always gave them just a wealth of material. Of course, he called Lincoln a “gorilla.” He called Lincoln a “clown.” Those were a couple of the nicer things that he had to say about Lincoln.
One day newspaper reporters came up to Abraham Lincoln and they said, “What do you think of Stanton?” Lincoln said, “Well, I think Edwin Stanton has a brilliant legal mind and I think he is an excellent administrator.” The newspaper reporter said, “Wait a minute. Don’t you realize what this guy has been saying about you?” Lincoln said, “Well, you didn’t ask me what he was saying about me. You asked me what I thought concerning him.” Of course, Lincoln was not lying. He really did respect the talents of Edwin Stanton. When Lincoln became President, he actually appointed Edwin Stanton as his Secretary of War. You’d better believe that Stanton was surprised. Of course, when Lincoln died, when he was assassinated at Ford Theatre, Edwin Stanton was there that night. When he saw that Lincoln had died, Edwin Stanton cried and he said, “There lies the greatest leader of men the world has ever known.”
If in God’s sight, Abraham Lincoln was great, it was because he was humble. If in God’s sight anyone is great, it is because they are humble. The Bible says, “God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.” The Bible says, “Humble yourself, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God that in due time He might exalt you.” Jesus said, “He who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
This morning as we come to communion, I feel led to ask you this question. Do you want to be exalted in the sight of God, not in the sight of the world? Do you want to be great in God’s sight? Not great in the sight of the world but great in God’s sight. Do you really want to be great in God’s sight? Do you want the grace of God? Because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. On the authority of the Word of God, I can tell you if you want to be great in God’s sight and if you want the grace of God upon your life, seek to be humble. Seek a servant’s heart that you might exalt those around you. Seek it.