Elements City Church
Around 700 hundred years before Jesus, we were given a proclamation from a prophet who was trying to get God’s people to follow Him again. They were God’s royal priesthood, a holy nation, blessed to be a blessing, but they were living below their calling. It is into this setting that the prophet Micah was called to bring a word of realignment. He challenged the people of God to return to a simple life focus... captured in one verse, but it was large enough to take a lifetime to live out. He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. -- Micah 6:8 ...following after God may not always be easy, but it was never meant to be complicated. We need to be people who walk in this way - way more. This is the way of Jesus.
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. -Micah 6:8
Grasping humility will make justice and mercy easier. But humility is one of the most difficult things to achieve. Once you get it, it seems you could lose it. So how do we walk in it? And what does it mean to walk humbly?
Arrogance seems to be the tipping point for every epic story of failure.
Babylonian history tells us of King Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled from 620 BC to 539 BC.
“But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned to me. Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified him who lives forever: For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and he does what he wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can block his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” At that time my sanity returned to me, and my majesty and splendor returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and my nobles sought me out, I was reestablished over my kingdom….Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of the heavens, because all his works are true and his ways are just. He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”
Daniel 4:34-37 CSB
The word tsana (in Hebrew), or “humbly.”
Oddly enough, the word humble isn’t used very much in the Old Testament at all. Unlike the previous two verbs in the phrase that are used abundantly throughout the Old Testament, this one is used only here, which means that something new is going on. The only other time it is used is in the famous Proverb “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom”(Proverbs 11:2)
-Walking humbly is the opposite of walking pridefully or arrogantly.
-Walking humbly removes you from center stage living.
Timothy Keller suggests that the way we can follow Jesus in this act of humility, yet also remain confident, is to simply stop connecting every experience, every conversation, with ourselves.
====It’s the freedom of self-forgetfulness.
True gospel-humility means an ego that is not puffed up, but filled up.
(see 1 Corinthians 4:6)
John the Baptist gives us the proper perspective in a simple phrase we see him whisper about Jesus:
He must become greater; I must become less. -John 3:30
Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said:
“Spiritual pride is the illusion that we are competent to run our own lives, achieve our own sense of self-worth and find a purpose big enough to give us meaning in life without God.”
Ultimately Jesus models this kind of humility… we could look at Philippians chapter 2 that depicts Jesus -- or -- we can look at another moment where he displayed this poignantly. The Last Supper.
remember & ponder this reality:
Judas will get up and leave so he can go betray Jesus for a bag of money. Peter will argue with Jesus about his own level of dedication and loyalty. Several of the others will argue about which of them is the greatest.
But, Jesus will quietly get up, grab a towel and a basin of water, and begin washing their feet. All of them.
Then he will say:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13:34-35
*truth: How you love people shows how you love God.
Too many folks in our world are out here in a posture of heart to wage war.
Not enough folks are out here with a posture of heart to wash feet.
We’re to Walk humbly with our God
We’re to Walk in the footsteps and example of Jesus first and foremost!
“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...”
Philippians 2:3-5 CSB
Quote:
He that is humble ever shall have God to be his guide.
-John Bunyan
We hope you have been blessed by your time worshipping with us -- through song and through the Word!
We'll see you back at Elements next weekend -- on-site or online -- as we finish our series on one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible and how it challenges us to live... Micah 6:8
REMINDER: TRUNK-or-TREAT / Fall Festival is NEXT SATURDAY OCTOBER 30TH 10am - 1pm. see app for details. help us serve with Emmanuel in setup / tear down and welcome hundreds of kids to our campus!