Jim Thomas (Director of Training with The Bonhoeffer Project, Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Georgia, educator, and all-around good guy) wrote an excellent article in this series called The Death of Pride. All the accolades piled here are to test Jim’s character.
We all know that …
- Pride is at the root of all kinds of human evil. Humility is the wellspring of godliness.
- Pride promotes “the lie”. Humility promotes “the truth”.
- Pride exalts the sinner. Humility bows the sinners’ knees before a holy God.
- Pride builds us up brick-by-brick, until we are exalted and separated from others. Humility tears down those walls, making us accountable and accessible to others.
- Pride looks down on those below us. Humility looks to Christ above us.
- A proud man can not know God, for He resists the proud but gives His grace to the humble.
- Pride brings destruction. Humility lifts up the meek.
- Pride is one of our greatest enemies. Humility is the weapon that defeats it.
Andrew Murray wrote,
“Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you.”
C.S. Lewis, wrote in Mere Christianity,
“There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. … There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. … The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility.”
From these we might conclude that pride is elemental to fallen humanity and humility is foundational to godly virtues.
In the most simple definition, a disciple of Jesus is an apprentice. A disciple is one who, being with Jesus, is learning from Him how to live like Him. A disciple is one who is increasingly becoming like His master, taking on Christlike character, including humility.
In His sermons and times alone with His disciples, Jesus taught them the importance of humility. Jesus taught the greatest in the Kingdom is the one who would humble themselves as a little child.
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 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 18:1-4
In our fallen humanity and ruined souls, pride twists our minds and feelings, it damages our relationships and even weakens our very bodies. This definitive element of the fall lies deep within every human person, yet, like all other attributes of the self, it can be defeated and replaced with the Christlike character of humility. But this requires dying and rebirth.
The disciple of Jesus is one who, having taken up their cross (dying to self), is now following Christ on a journey of transformation in all the essential dimensions of their being. The radical changes the Holy Spirit produces in the life of the disciple do not come from temporary inspiration nor from accumulated information, they come as a result of abiding in Christ in an ongoing, interactive, daily, communicative relationship. In this walking with Jesus on the other side of the cross, we find our source of life in Him. In this journey with Him we begin to experience the reality of the Kingdom of God, as we internalize His words and, by His grace, put them into action.
If we wish to be His disciple we must follow Him in self-denial. We begin to experience the life from eternity when we die to self. Only then can we live for others, especially our Lord. Only then can we look to God for all we need and become the kinds of people who can love our neighbor as ourselves.
IN HIS OWN LIFE, JESUS EXEMPLIFIED HUMILITY.
How often did he say, “Not my will Father but yours be done”? How often did He demonstrate a sacrificial love that pursued the best for others and not His own glory?
The very fact that the God who created all things would humbly take on the form of His creation proclaims His humble nature. His entire earthly life, his humble virgin birth, his growing up in obscurity, his earthly ministry without a home, his lack of education, position and prestige, his familiarity with the under classed, outsiders, last, least, lost and broken all spoke to his divine attribute of humility.
When ridiculed he did not respond in pride. When lied about, falsely arrested, falsely accused, beaten, tortured, and crucified, still He remained humbly committed to the Father’s plan. He did not seek His own exaltation but the glory of His Father who sent Him.
This is why the great passage in Philippians 2 is so powerful:
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 selfish ambition 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 emptied himself, by 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.
Philippians 2:1-11{emphasis added}
We are instructed to take on this manner of thinking about ourselves. The mindset of humility allows unity in the church, imitates and exalts our Lord Christ and brings glory to God the Father. As Christ’s disciples we can learn humility.
AS A DISCIPLE, PETER LEARNED HUMILITY.
Who can forget his tragic failure that night before the crucifixion. It is a very different Peter whom Jesus restores again by the seashore. This Peter has come face-to-face with the limitations of his flesh and now must ask himself if he truly loves Jesus. It is a humble Peter who speaks to the crowds in Jerusalem. A humble Peter writes to the persecuted believers across Asia minor, as a “fellow elder” – not seeking apostolic superiority …
“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 5:1-11 {emphasis added}
AS A DISCIPLE, JOHN LEARNED HUMILITY.
Before Christ called him, along with his brother James, he was known as one of the “sons of thunder”. John was an ambitious man with an ego to match. You’ll recall the time when he and James quietly approached Jesus with a self-promoting request to sit on Jesus’ left and right hand in the kingdom (Mark 10:35-37). They had, as yet, not learned the lessons on humility Jesus had just taught them (see Mark 9:35). Jesus uses this occasion to again teach them about humility and reference His own coming humiliation.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:42-45
But after the cross, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, a very different John writes the Gospel that bears his name. Now he is so very different that he doesn’t even refer to himself by name, only calling himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. By His grace, God transformed John from a son of thunder to the humble disciple who wrote some of the greatest books in all the Scriptures. Only John’s gospel records Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. John’s writings include so many of the lessons he learned from Jesus, including these:
“For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
1 John 2:16-17
AS A DISCIPLE, PAUL LEARNED HUMILITY.
Before he was Paul, he was Saul, the rising religious star in Israel. Bursting with pride he pursued believers across the empire, seeking to stamp out followers of “the way”. Then he encounters Christ on the road to Damascus. And it is a broken and contrite Paul that God uses to bring the gospel to the Gentiles.
It is a humble Paul that God uses to write half of the New Testament. This new Paul wrote of himself,
“For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”
1 Corinthians 15:9 {emphasis added}
Paul understood that mastering pride requires dying to self.
It is the Apostle Paul wrote,
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 {emphasis added}
It is God’s stated goal that we should take on the Character of His Son, Jesus. In this the Spirit helps us in our weakness, and God works all things toward this goal for our good.
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son …”
Romans 8:29 {emphasis added}
If we die with Christ (to our old self), then we can be raised with Christ to a brand new kind of life. Paul writes to the Colossians …
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:1-17 {emphasis added}
Notice how the things we must put to death all stimulate our pride, but the character of Christ which is available to the disciple who dies to self all demonstrate humility. The only way to be truly humble is “to die to pride – die to oneself”.
AS CHRIST’S DISCIPLES, WE TOO CAN LEARN TO BE HUMBLE.
Pride is all about yourself. But one who has died to self, no longer lives for the things the self desires. The disciple of Christ can learn humility but only from the other side of the cross.
This post originally appeared at: Lessons from the Other Side of the Cross — The Bonhoeffer Project