Humility Found at the Cross of Christ

"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble" (James 1:6b NIV)

Review of what has gone before

For about the last two weeks, this blog has been devoted to an exploration of the verse quoted above. The last few posts have focused on the first part of this phrase– “God opposes the proud”– and now I would like to transition to the second part– that God “gives grace to the humble”. Before we make this transition, however, I would like to stress a conclusion that was made in the previous posts, namely, that we are all naturally given to selfish pride and thus subject to the opposition of God. For it is only once you have been convinced of your own pride that you are prepared to hear the message of grace.

The definition of grace

Grace is the unearned favor of God. I hope that it is obvious to those who have read the previous posts why grace is necessary– why God’s favor must be unearned. ---For all of our works are tainted with pride. –--The exaltation of self plays some role in any ‘good’ thing that we do. And so, there is nothing that we can do on our own to earn God’s favor. For if we rely on our own strength, we only earn the opposition of God. And so, if we are to be found acceptable in God’s sight, it has to be by His grace– by His unmerited favor.

Martin Luther taught that grace “denotes God's kindness or favor which He has toward us and by which he is disposed to pour Christ and the Spirit with his gifts into us… grace takes us up completely into God's favor for the sake of Christ.”

An acrostic that is helpful in understanding God’s grace teaches us that grace is “G-R-A-C-E”: “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense”. For whereas we cannot do any good work untainted by selfish pride, Jesus Christ truly humbled Himself and was completely submissive to the will of God our Father. Jesus practiced perfect humility, as he stated in Mark 10:45, in that He came “not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many”. Jesus came as a ransom on our behalf, for whereas we had earned the opposition of God due to our pride, Jesus took God’s opposition upon Himself, suffering death and Hell on the Cross for our sake, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Humility found at the Cross of Christ

Our focus verse for this lesson proclaims that God gives grace to the humble, and it is only by the Holy Spirit working a realization of the truth of the Cross into our lives that we can have true humility. As Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones wrote:

Nothing else can do it. When I see that I am a sinner… that nothing but the Son of God on the cross can save me, I’m humbled to the dust… Nothing but the cross can give us this spirit of humility.

And the Reverend Doctor John Stott explains:

Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to be saying to us, “I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.”

God's Opposition Toward Pride

"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble" (James 1:6b NIV)

In the last post, we briefly looked at the biblical definition of “pride” and examined some ways in which pride regularly manifests itself in our lives. As I hope to have convinced anyone who read that post, we are all guilty of pride in some very definite ways. And so, as the Scripture verse quoted above warns us, we are in danger of the opposition of God.

In a previous post, I briefly examined this “opposition of God”, using resources from Bible commentator Matthew Henry and points made by my pastor, Paul Stith.

But there is further way that God opposes the proud, which is more terrifying than all the others that were previously mentioned– more terrifying than His silence or His ridicule– more terrifying than having Him ruin your success or remove your status. This, the most terrifying way in which God may come in opposition against you if you persist in pride against Him is for Him to harden your heart against His Word. We see this opposition by God in the life of Pharaoh in the Old Testament book of Exodus. When God’s people were kept in slavery down in Egypt, God sent His servant Moses to deliver the message from Him– “let My people go!” Pridefully, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, refused to listen to the Word of God, though Moses spoke to him several times and the LORD brought numerous plagues against Egypt. The Bible repeatedly says that “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened”, making it clear that God was hardening Pharaoh’s heart in order to bring judgment against Egypt. And this hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, due to his pride, was so severe that Pharaoh would not release God’s people, until his firstborn son was killed in a plague from God. And even then, Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and having released God’s people from bondage, he led his army to pursue them in order to recapture them, at which time God destroyed Pharaoh and the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea.

And so if you allow pride to go unchecked in your life, you should take care. For the opposition of God may mean that your heart becomes hardened to His Word, and you will not hear God’s message of grace until it is too late, and you are destroyed. This is serious, for if you die in opposition to God, then you will remain in opposition to Him for eternity, which fate the Bible calls Hell– an existence that is completely devoid of the goodness, love, kindness, and blessing of God, which you have benefited from in this life, and yet despised due to your pride.

Once you begin to recognize pride in your life and to realize the weight of the opposition of God against pride, it is vital that you do not move ahead too quickly. It is of the utmost importance that you truly see pride for what it is in God’s sight and that that you understand just how deeply it runs in your life. You must be ready to confess your pride before God and to truly repent. You must acknowledge that pride is an offense against God, rightly earning His opposition, and you must humble yourself before God.

[More to come…]

The Definition of Pride

In my last post I introduced the "Law of humility"- a principle taught by the Lord Jesus in Bible passages such as Luke 18:9-14. As we meditate more on this “Law of humility”, I invite you ­to join with me in examining the teaching of the half-brother of Jesus in James 4:4-10:

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Now, as I mentioned before quoting the passage above, the author of these verses– that is, James– was the half-brother of Jesus; he was the son of Mary and Joseph. And if you become familiar with the book of James, it becomes obvious that James immersed himself in his brother’s teaching. In the last sentence quoted above James wrote, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up,” which seems to be an echo of the words of Jesus that we read before in Luke 18:14, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

James 4:4-10 also contains another statement which is crucial in gaining God's perspective concerning humility, specifically, the phrase,

"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."

It is this statement of truth that I wish to focus our attention upon for the remainder of this post, as well as in subsequent posts. In the first half of this statement, we are exposed to God’s opposition of the proud. So, the first question here is, what does the word “proud” mean? What is “pride”?
From the very construction of the sentence, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble", it is obvious that the word “proud” is to be understood as the opposite of the word “humble”. And so “pride” is the opposite of “humility”.

According to Strong’s New Testament Greek Lexicon, the word we have translated “proud” is used of one who seeks to be “conspicuous above others” and “pre-eminent” the proud person is one with “an overweening estimate of [his or her own] means or merits,” one who “despis[es] others or even treat[s] them with contempt”.

In the booklet From Pride to Humility pastor and teacher Stuart Scott observes that pride is “the desire to lift up self and serve self.” For “[w]hen someone is proud they are focused on self. This is a form of self-worship.” It is also the inclination of pride to forget about God or [to] want to be above God” as the Puritan Tom Watson said, “Pride seeks to ungod God”. And as C.J. Mahaney notes, “The proud person seeks to glorify himself and not God, thereby attempting in effect to deprive God of something only He is worthy to receive.”

Hearing these definitions of pride, we naturally shrink away from identifying ourselves as proud or prideful. None of us would like to admit that we wish to be “conspicuous above others”, that we treat others with contempt, or that we worship ourselves more than we worship God. But pride is a universal epidemic. This is true to the extent that the Apostle John taught that the entire world system is composed of “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (cf. 1 John 2:15-16). For some of you, your pride may not be as obvious as in the lives of others, but it is still there all the same. I implore you to examine yourself in the light of God’s Word and see if pride has manifested itself in your life in any of the following ways:

• First, have you ever complained against or passed judgment on God? As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 9:20, “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to the molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” If you have complained against God, you are implicitly making the prideful assertion that you know better than He does and that you could run the universe better than God if you only had the power. Similarly, if you clearly understand a ‘hard doctrine’ from the Bible, such as the doctrine of reprobation, or that everyone who fails to believe in Jesus Christ is destined for Hell, and you say, ‘Well, my God would never do that!’ then you are passing judgment on God and are strongly implying that you are more good than God.
• Second, have you ever failed to express gratitude toward God for something He has given You? Have You ever failed to express heartfelt thanks to God? The Apostle Paul again teaches in Romans 1:21 that God’s wrath is against those who knew Him, but did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. And in II Chronicles 32:25 a direct connection is made between a lack of gratitude and pride.
• Third, do you lack a focus on the practice of biblical prayer in your life? Do you pray very little? When you pray are your prayers self-centered– like the prayer of the Pharisee mentioned earlier from Luke 18:9-14– or do you truly call out for God’s mercy– like in the prayer of the publican?

No matter how free from pride your life may seem, if your life is characterized by complaining against God or judging Him, if you fail to express gratitude toward God on a regular basis, or if your life lacks regular, biblical prayer, then you can be sure that pride has a foothold in your life and you are in danger– danger of the opposition of God.
[More to come...]

The Law of Humility

At the end of my last post I quoted the parable of Jesus about the Pharisee and the tax collector from Luke 18:9-14. In order for this post to make sense, I ask you to take a moment to read that parable.
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In this parable, Jesus brought together two individuals that we would consider to be complete opposites­- one that would be considered notable and one that would be considered notorious:

• First, we have a Pharisee. Now the Pharisees, as you may know, were the religious leaders of the land during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Many of the Pharisees sought to know God’s Word, to understand it, and to apply it to every aspect of their daily lives. And for the most part the Pharisees held to sound biblical doctrine. For this reason the Apostle Paul, when on trial in Jerusalem, was not ashamed to refer to himself as a Pharisee, as we read in Acts 23:6.
• In stark contrast to this Pharisee the other character that Jesus confronts us with is known as a tax collector– or, to use the old King James Version term– a publican. Now the publicans, as you may or may not remember, were Jewish people who were working for the Roman Empire, which was the tyrannical government that was keeping the Jewish nation in slavery. Publicans were tax collectors for the Roman government, and they were infamous for hiring mercenaries to aid them in their work and to extract much more than their fair share from the taxpayers around them. As Martin Luther noted when preaching on this text, those hearing this parable of Jesus would have known the publicans to be a group of people “living in open sin and vice… [serving] neither God nor man” and making it their business to rob, oppress, and harm, their neighbors.

Now this word “justified” mentioned by Jesus at the end of the parable means that the publican was made righteous in God’s sight. God considered this known sinner– this man who had lived in open rebellion against His Law until this time– to be completely free from sin, whereas the Pharisee, who had devoted his life to keeping God’s Law, went home without even having his prayers heard by God.

How can this be?! As Martin Luther asked of this passage, “Will God now speak and decide against his own law, which justly prefers those who live according to it, to those who live opposed to it in open sin? Or does God delight in those who do no good and are nothing but robbers, adulterers and unjust?” No, beloved, but there is a higher Law at work here– a Law that can only be apprehended by faith– a Law that Christ refers to at the end of this passage, when He teaches, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This Law– the Law of humility– is absolutely crucial to your life if you wish for your life to have eternal value and to be accepted by God.

[More to come...]

Humility: The Vital Trait

It is probably safe to say that humility is the one character trait that will enable us to be all that Christ wants us to be. Without humility, we cannot come to God. Without humility, we cannot truly love and serve God. Without humility, we cannot truly love and serve others. A lack of humility will render us unable to communicate properly and will prevent us from resolving conflicts that are sure to come in our lives. In short, we must understand, embrace, and live out true humility in order to truly live and to be who God means for us to be for the magnification of His glory.[1] That is why Scripture says:

God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6b NIV)

Now, let me make this clear at the outset– I am not writing this today as someone who is under the delusion that I have somehow ‘mastered humility’. I’m not claiming to be an expert on this subject, as if I perfectly understand and perfectly apply everything God has revealed about being humble. Rather, as C.J. Mahaney has said, “I’m a proud man pursuing humility by the grace of God… [I’m] a fellow pilgrim walking with you on the path set for us by our humble Savior.”[2] As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me” (cf. Phil. 3:12 NKJV).

->And so I would now like to share with you a story– a parable that Jesus told about humility.

->Hear the words of Jesus, our Lord:

Luke 18:9-14 (ESV):

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

[More to come in following days...]

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[1] From Pride to Humility booklet by Stuart Scott (Bemidji, MN; Focus Publishing, 2002), 1.

[2] Humility: True Greatness (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2005), 13.

James 4:6b-10: On the Shoulders of Giants

One extremely helpful step in doing an in-depth study into any passage of Scripture is to see what godly men of the past have taught concerning the verses in view. This step of Bible study would include the examination of sound Bible commentaries such as Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible and Calvin's Commentaries. In searching Matthew Henry's commentary for information concerning God's opposition to the proud, I found the following useful quote:

[T]he original word, antitassetai, signifies, God’s setting himself as in battle array against them; and can there be a greater disgrace than for God to proclaim a man a rebel, an enemy, a traitor to his crown and dignity, and to proceed against him as such? The proud resists God; in his understanding he resists the truths of God; in his will he resists the truths of God; in his will he resists the laws of God; in his passions he resists the providence of God; and therefore no wonder that God sets himself against the proud. Let proud spirits hear this and tremble— God resists them. Who can describe the wretched state of those who make God their enemy? He will certainly fill with same (sooner or later) the faces of such as have filled their hearts with pride. We should therefore resist pride in our hearts, if we would not have God to resist us.

In addition to studying commentaries and other books, it is also important to gain the insight of current church elders. At Grace Heritage Church I am blessed to be spiritually nourished by expert Bible teaching every week. For those weeks that I must be away from my congregation, we have audio archives of past sermons and Sunday School lessons. These archives are also beneficial to me, so that I may hear preaching concerning Scriptures that were discussed before I moved to Auburn. In listening through some of the archives, searching for additional information concerning God's opposition to the proud, I came across the following observations taught by my pastor, Paul Stith, on May 15, 2005:

4 ways in which God opposes the proud:
1. By refusing to speak to the proud. (Example: Luke 23:8-9, in which Jesus refuses to speak with Herod while Herod was exalting himself above Christ.)
2. By ridiculing their schemes (Example: Psalm 2:1-4, in which God laughs at those who exalt themselves against Him.)
3. By ruining their success (Example: II Chronicles 26, in which God curses King Uzziah’s pride when he taking a priestly job for himself.)
4. By removing their status (Example: Daniel 5, in which Nebuchadnezzar’s loses his sanity and his kingdom due to his pride.)

I am certain that the resources mentioned in this post will be crucial to my rightly handling the Scripture on this coming Lord's Day.

James 4:6b-II Tim. 3:16 Hermeneutic

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, (II Timothy 3:16 HCSB)

The above verse reveals a spiritual principle, the application of which is a great boon a right understanding of Scripture. Notice first that the Apostle in this verse is making a statement that encompasses the entirety of God's recorded revelation, making a statement that is applied to "All Scripture". By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul then reveals four facets by which we can view any particular passage of Scripture in order to obtain the godly profit of being made complete, becoming equipped for every good work (cf. II Tim 3:17). These four aspects of how Scripture are to be applied to our lives are given as: teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.
->The following is an example of my application of the principles found in II Timothy 3:16 to the verse I am studying to teach on this week, James 4:6b- "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble":

Teaching: This passage is doctrinal in nature, laying forth a spiritual principle that should shape our entire self-perception and response to God.

Rebuking: This passage rebukes the proud, exposing the fact that pride yields the opposition of God.

Correcting: This passage corrects any ideas that we can play a part in earning grace– it is only when we become utterly humiliated that we are in a position to become the benefactors of God’s grace.

Training in righteousness: This passage trains us in rejecting pride and cultivating an essential attitude of humility.

James 4:6b-The 5 Ws

Introduction
As a reading teacher for Loachapoka Jr. High, one of the primary things that I have taught my students is that when examining a text in order to understand what basic key features are being presented, we must always be mindful of the 5 Ws- who, what, when, where, and why (along with the H- how).
->As a student of Scripture who affirms along with the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics that the Bible should be interpreted to its literal, or normal, sense, when I make initial observations concerning a particular passage, I too must look to the 5 Ws.

The 5Ws of James 4:6b
My initial thoughts on the 5Ws of James 4:6b are as follows:
Who: 1. God, who stands in opposition to the proud, but gives grace to the humble; 2. The proud, against whom God is in opposition; 3. The humble, who are the beneficiaries of God’s grace.
What: Grace.
Where: This verse sets forth a universal principle, applicable at all places.
When: Pride has been a chief manifestation of sin from the beginning, when Lucifer said in his heart, "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God" (cf. Is. 14:13).
Why: Pride is a form of self-idolatry, and God stands in opposition to all idols.
How: Humility expresses utter forsaking of the core of rebellion, and acknowledges our essential dependence upon God, thus restoring (along with the righteousness of Christ) our primordial created position.

An Additional Question
As the people of God are to study His Word not only for information, but also for application- that we would, by the power of the Holy Spirit, apply His Word to our lives in order to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (cf. Rm. 12:2) into greater conformity to the image of Christ, we must not only ask the 5Ws mentioned above, but we must also ask the question, "so what?" In what particular way or ways should the passage we are studying impact our lives? My initial observations on this "so what" question concerning James 4:6b are as follows:
So what? If we stand under God’s opposition, then all we do will end in futility, frustration, and degradation. If we receive God’s grace, then all we do will be blessed, eternally significant, and we will be exalted to the glory of God.

HT: I am deeply indebted to Pastor Dave Stephenson of Grace Bible Church for teaching me some of the basic principles of how to meditate on Scripture.

James 4:6b- Christological focus

Whenever approaching a particular passage of Scripture it is the duty of every Christian to meditate on how the verse or verses in view reveal the glory of Christ in light of who He is and what He has done. This spiritual truth- that Jesus is truly the subject of all of Scripture- has been examined in a previous post.
->In commenting on my last post concerning James 4:6b, Baptist pastor Jeff Richard Young showed an understanding of this Christ-centered understanding of Scripture by immediately referring me to Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:3-5 as well as Mary's song concerning her being chosen as the vessel of the incarnation as recorded in Luke chapter one. Upon further study (at least at this time) I plan to focus the specifically Christological portion of my teaching concerning James 4:6b on the doctrine Jesus presents in Matthew 5:3 ("Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.),
on the parable of Jesus about the Pharisee and the tax collector recorded in Luke 18:9-14, and on the words of the Apostle concerning the humiliation of Christ on our behalf found in Philippians 2:5-11. Again, if anyone has any insight into the relationship of these passages to one another, your comments would be greatly appreciated.

James 4:6b

As I mentioned a few days ago, I will be teaching Sunday School, Lord willing, on March 26 at Grace Heritage Church, where my wife and I are members. I plan to teach on James 4:6b -"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble". This week, as I prepare the lesson for next Sunday, I plan to put all of my other blogging interests on hold and only post in relationship to that particular passage. If anyone reading this blog has any insight into James 4:6b or knows of any good resources concerning an understanding of this verse, I would greatly appreciate your comments.

SDG

Repentance: The Forgotten Word -by Adrian Rogers

[The following article recently appeared on the Crosswalk website. This teaching on repentance presented in this article is especially important in the light of the 'new theological position' that I have recently been examining, which denies that repentance is a necessary component of our response to the Gospel.]

Repentance: The Forgotten Word
Adrian Rogers
Love Worth Finding

The word repentance has been neglected in many of today's churches. But while it may have dropped out of some pulpits, it has not dropped out of the Word of God. In fact, the Bible has a lot to say about repentance.

The Mandate for Repentance

The first sermon Jesus preached was one of repentance: “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17). And in the last message He gave to the church in Revelation 3:19, Jesus also preached repentance. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

And in Luke 13:1-5 Jesus again preached a message of repentance. Twice in this passage Jesus stated emphatically: “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

People were talking about some who were put to death by Pilot and others who were killed when a tower fell on them. They were wondering what sins these had committed that were so terrible that they deserved death. But Jesus said, “No, they didn't die because they were more sinful than anybody else; and just because you are not experiencing trouble, doesn't mean you don't need to repent.” So we're all mandated to repent, but what is repentance?

The Meaning of Repentance

1. Repentance is more than conviction of sin. You can be convicted of sin and still not repent. Paul preached to Felix until he literally trembled under conviction (see Acts 24:25), but he didn't get saved. He was convicted, but he did not repent.

2. Repentance is more than confession of sin.

You can confess your sin and still not repent. There are a number of episodes in the Bible where men literally said, “I have sinned.” They confessed their sin, but none of them repented. Consider these examples:

A Horrified Confession - When God brought hail and fire on Egypt, Pharaoh said, “I have sinned...” But in Exodus 9:34, “… when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart...”

A Hypocritical Confession - Balaam wanted to serve God but also wanted to rake some profit off the side. His talking donkey saved him from the wrath of God, and in Numbers 22:34, “… Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned...” But he never changed.

A Half-hearted Confession - King Saul decided to keep some of the spoils of war against God's commands. When confronted by the prophet Samuel, he replied in 1 Samuel 15:24, “… I have sinned … because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.” Saul said, “I have sinned,” but he had an excuse - an alibi.

A Hemmed-Up Confession - There was also Achan in the battle of Jericho. He too brought home some of the spoils of war. When found in his sin, Achan answered, “indeed I have sinned” (Joshua 7:20). But his was a hemmed-up confession. He was not sorry for the sin but sorry he got caught.

A Hopeless Confession - And Judas confessed after betraying Jesus. In Matthew 27:4 Judas said, “…I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood…” But it was only a confession of remorse.

Repentance is more than conviction or confession of sin. Every one of these men used the words “I have sinned,” but not one of them repented.

3. Repentance is a heart change. To repent is to turn from sin to Jesus. There is a negative and a positive action involved. In Acts 20:21 Paul said we are to testify “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” You cannot repent to God unless you turn to Jesus. You must tell God you are sorry for your sin and turn to Jesus for forgiveness.

4. Repentance is a continuing change of heart. And it is not something you do once in order to get saved and then forget it. Repentance is a crisis followed by a process. We live repenting day-by-day.

The Motive for Repentance

Because we are all sinners, Acts 17:30 says, “… [God] commandeth all men every where to repent.” Repentance is the only way to remove the curse of guilt. Your heart will never find rest apart from repentance. Isaiah 57:20 says, “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest...” Repentance allows God's grace to work in your heart. God will save you, but you cannot cling to your sin and to Jesus at the same time. It's time to repent!

The Promise of Humility -by C.J. Mahaney

[The following article recently appeared on the Crosswalk website. Lord willing, I will be teaching on James 4:6 -"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble"- on Sunday, March 26 at Grace Heritage Church, where my wife and I are members. This article addresses many of the same topics that I hope to cover in my teaching, and so it has been a great resource for me- I hope it is a blessing to anyone else reading this blog as well.]

The Promise of Humility
C.J. Mahaney
Author, Pastor

In a culture that so often rewards the proud—a world quick to admire and applaud the prideful, a world eager to bestow the label “great” on these same individuals—humility occasionally attracts some surprising attention.

Take, for example, the bestselling book Good to Great. Since 2001, this leadership manual from Jim Collins has become one of the most popular and influential in the business world. I rarely meet a leader who hasn’t read it. The book is driven by this question: Can a good company become a great company, and if so, how? To find the answer, Collins and a team of researchers spent five years studying eleven corporations that had made the leap from being merely good companies to being great ones.

Later, I had the chance to hear Jim Collins speak on this topic to an audience of pastors and business leaders. In his presentation, Collins identified two specific character qualities shared by the CEOs of these good-to-great companies.

The first was no surprise: These men and women possessed incredible professional will—they were driven, willing to endure anything to make their company a success.

But the second trait these leaders had in common wasn’t something the researchers expected to find: These driven leaders were self-effacing and modest. They consistently pointed to the contribution of others and didn’t like drawing attention to themselves. “The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes,” Collins writes. “They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results.”

When Collins interviewed people who worked for these leaders, he says they “continually used words like quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, did not believe his own clippings; and so forth” to describe them.(1)

In God’s Gaze

Here, it appears, is an open acknowledgment of humility’s value—a recognition that humility works, that it goes far in building respect for those who have it and inspiring trust and confidence from people around them. Amazingly enough, humility sometimes attracts the world’s notice.

But here’s something even more astonishing: Humility gets God’s attention. In Isaiah 66:2 we read these words from the Lord:

This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

This profound passage points us to an altogether different motivation and purpose for humility than we will ever find in the pages of a secular business manual. Here we find motivation and purpose rooted in this amazing fact: Humility draws the gaze of our Sovereign God.

If we understand the background of this passage, the meaning grows even richer. Here God is addressing the Israelites, a people with a unique identity. Chosen by God from among all the nations on earth, they possessed both the temple and the Torah—the Law of God. But they didn’t tremble at His word. In a sense, they had everything going for them except what was most important. They lacked humility before God.

So in this passage, God in His mercy is drawing the Israelites’ attention away from their prideful assumption of privilege as His chosen people and away from their preoccupation with the trappings of religion. These things don’t attract His active and gracious gaze. But humility does.

God Helps Those…

The eyes of God are a theme running throughout Scripture. Take, for example, the familiar words of 2 Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” Obviously God doesn’t have physical eyes; God is spirit (John 4:24). He doesn’t need physical eyes, because He’s also omniscient. Nothing escapes His notice. He’s aware of all things.

But though He’s aware of everything, He’s also searching for something in particular, something that acts like a magnet to capture His attention and invite His active involvement. God is decisively drawn to humility. The person who is humble is the one who draws God’s attention, and in this sense, drawing His attention means also attracting His grace—His unmerited kindness.

Think about that: There’s something you can do to attract more of God’s gracious, underserved, supernatural strength and assistance!

What a promise! Listen to this familiar passage again for the very first time: “God…gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Contrary to popular and false belief, it’s not “those who help themselves” whom God helps; it’s those who humble themselves.

This is the promise of humility. God is personally and providentially supportive of the humble. And the grace He extends to the humble is indescribably rich. As Jonathan Edwards wrote, “The pleasures of humility are really the most refined, inward, and exquisite delights in the world.”(2) We want to position ourselves to receive and experience those exquisite pleasures.

What Is Humility?

For me, Jim Collins’s book was an encouraging reminder that even in a world that celebrates the proud, humility is still valued. But books like Good to Great have severe limitations; they can take us only so far in understanding humility because they’re not rooted in a biblical worldview. Our definition of humility must be biblical and not simply pragmatic, and in order to be biblical it must begin with God. As John Calvin wrote, “It is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.”(3)

That’s where the following definition can help us: Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

That’s the twin reality that all genuine humility is rooted in: God’s holiness and our sinfulness. Without an honest awareness of both these realities, all self-evaluation will be skewed and we’ll fail to either understand or practice true humility. We’ll miss out on experiencing the promise and the pleasures that humility offers.

But using scriptural truth, we can evaluate our lives honestly, and find out if we're growing in the humility that draws His gaze and attracts more of His grace.

Do You Have It?

So let’s ask ourselves: When it comes to the values we live by, what will others say about us one day? Will they testify that humility characterized our lives?

So many human ventures, so many grand designs of mankind, have been undermined because humility was lacking on the part of those involved. Yet humility holds out an amazing promise to those who will embrace it: God gives grace to the humble!

What are you building with your life? A marriage? A family? A business? A church? A career? In all your ventures, are you aware of your need for God’s grace to give your efforts lasting value? Do you long for God’s providential help and blessing? Then let’s allow the promise of humility to shape our lives and choices, so our children and others will one day look back and say of us, They had that. They had humility. They had what mattered.

Excerpt from Humility by C.J. Mahaney. Used with permission.

DaVinci Code Seminar

My church congregation, Grace Heritage Church, is hosting a seminar by Dr. James White, Th.D., D. Min. of Alpha and Omega Ministries titled, "The Da Vinci Code: Separating Fact from Fiction" on Friday, March 10, 6:30 P.M. at the Auburn University Conference Center (across from Ralph Brown Draughon Library- 241 S College St. Auburn, AL 36830). In this presentation, Dr. White will address some of the claims in Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code (and upcoming movie by the same title).
->I strongly encourage anyone in the area who happens to read this post to make the drive in order to attend this seminar- it is certain that Dr. White will clearly present the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ and will equip believers in how to utilize the popularity of The DaVinci Code in order to spread the Gospel message.
->For those reading this blog who are not able to attend, I strongly encourage you to become familiar with the materials concerning The DaVinci Code found at www.aomin.org.