Category Archives: Christian Lifestlye

REVELATION OF HUMILITY

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A LIFESTYLE OF HUMILITY

Our culture does not value humility. People generally view it as weakness, self-debasement, or a lack of competitive drive. Self-promotion is seen by most people as a virtue. Sometimes arrogance is interpreted as self-confidence, or vice versa. Jesus challenges His follows to journey on a road less traveled –called humility. However, He wants us to have self-confidence when we go out to witness. So like a lot of things, there can be a fine line between self-confidence and humility. Let’s see if we can get guidelines we can use and understand.

Read Philippians 2:1-4    Humility Defined

When the Philippians Christians learned Paul was in prison, they sent a church member with a gift for Paul. Epaphroditus was to stay with Paul to assist him and tell Paul about the conditions in the Philippians church. Epaphroditus became critically ill but recovered after some time. So Paul sent him home early with this letter to the church. One major reason Paul had for his letter was to prevent a division in the church because of disagreement between two female members (Phil. 4:2-3)- Euodia and Syntyche (we are not told the reason for their quarrel). Paul also told the church that he thought he would win his trial and be freed. Then he challenged believers to live in a way that honored the gospel and to remain faithful. So these verses (1-4) are a continuation to emphasize how to treat one another. Paul’s stressing spiritual unity, asking the Philippians to love one another and to be one in spirit and purpose. God’s purpose in Christ is to create a community, bound together in a common life, characterized by mutual love and encouragement.

Paul enumerates factors and attitudes that promote unity among believers. What are some of them? (Encouragement in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship with the Spirit, and affection & mercy!) This leads us to humility, which is a strength not a weakness. Humility is healthy and it leads us to be comfortable with ourselves and strong enough to make a deliberate commitment to others’ welfare. It is self-knowledge and self-acceptance that refrains from judging others but looks for good in them. The attitude or virtue of humility enables us to consider others as more important than ourselves, looking out for their needs and interests as much as we do our own. Selfishness can ruin a church, but genuine humility can build it.

Read Luke 14:7-11  Humility Taught

These verses are a parable, not instructions about social etiquette. Greater than any social embarrassment (v.9) will be the shame of being excluded from the feast in the coming kingdom of God. The Pharisee’s pride caused them to expect the chief seats at that feast (13:23), but their pride will exclude them, and their paces will be taken by those who make no claims for themselves (13:28-30). Thus those who exalt themselves will be humbles, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. The point of the parable is that self-seeking pride is contrary to God’s order o things. So Jesus was using a wedding banquet to teach a lesson in humility.

To set this up properly, Verses 1-6 tells us that on a Sabbath day (important point) a leading Pharisee invited Jesus to a meal at his house. This was just a meal invitation not the wedding banquet used in the parable. The Pharisees were Jewish laymen dedicated to keeping all the laws and they composed the largest party among the Jews, who exerted great influence among the people. During the meal, the Pharisees watched Jesus closely to seize an opportunity to accuse or criticize Him. Jesus healed a disease man who was at the meal, who was likely there as a normal uninvited guest- arranged by the Pharisees. Prior to the healing, Jesus (as usual) turned the situation around and asked the Pharisees to decide if Jesus was to heal the man on the Sabbath or if they were going to be callous and cold and let the man die. The Pharisees never gave Jesus an answer! The connection is that Jesus used the situation to address the gathering to present the parable in verses 7-11 to convey a profound spiritual truth. He expressed an eternal truth that the person who seeks to gain honor, prestige, or position at the expense of others is not in God’s favor. The person who humbles himself will receive God’s exaltation.

We miss the point, however, if we see these verses (7-11) as just another strategy for ultimately gaining the “chief seats”. Genuine humility is not a strategy to get what we want. Humility is an approach to life that sees self in a proper relationship to God and others. So a proper attitude goes hand-in-hand with humility. Truly humble people compare themselves only with Christ, realize their sinfulness, and understand their limitations. Humility is not self-degradation nor to be used for personal gain; it is realistic, self-assessment and commitment to serve.

Read John 13:3-5, 14-15  Humility Exemplified

While Jesus, crucifixion is the greatest sacrifice, His act of washing the feet of the disciples may have been His greatest act of humility. Jesus was the model servant and He showed His servant attitude to His disciples. Think about this- God in the flesh is willing to serve. We as His followers must be servants, willing to serve in any way that glorifies God. There is a special blessing for those who not only agree with the purpose of humble service to Christ’s way, but who also follow through and do it (vv. 13-17). Jesus’ actions serve as a symbol of Spiritual cleansing (vv. 6-9) and a model of Christian humility (vv 12-17). Through this action Jesus taught the lesson of selfless service that was exemplified supremely by His death on the Cross.

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LIFESTYLE OF SERVICE

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A LIFESTYLE OF SERVICE

Jesus lifted up the value and importance of servant-hood, and called us to use whatever He has given us in service, especially service to the “least of these” (Matthew 25:40). Many think of Albert Schweitzer (medical care in Africa) and Mother Teresa (lepers in India) when the subject of servant-hood arises but there are a vast number of Christ’s servants who consistently minister to others’ needs under the radar- with no fanfare. Every definition of greatness our culture teaches centers in wealth, power, ability or name recognition. Vast majority of these people who seek this type of greatness discover its empty feeling and many times lack direction and even despair. God defines greatness in terms of service.

Read Mark 10:42-45 Redefine Greatness

There are a lot of standards for judging greatness, but there are two standards that are in stark contrast to each other. It should be no surprise that they are worldly standards (vv 35-40) and Heavenly standards (vv 41-45). Leading up to our focal verses James and John had worldly dreams of occupying the highest positions in Jesus’ kingdom. James & John, along with their mother (Matt. 20:20-21), showed they completely misunderstood the nature of the kingdom of God when they requested to be at the “right hand” and “left hand” of Jesus. Jesus graciously told the disciples that it was not His to give, but if their request had been taken literally, John & James would have occupied the other two crosses on Golgotha. Jesus was showing them what they should expect by asking questions of them (vv 35-40). (Jesus knew that James would experience an early martyr’s death and that John would have a long, service-filled life.)

When the other disciples learned what James and John had requested, they became very upset. So this brings us to the main verses. Jesus called all the disciples together to teach them about life among His followers – kingdom life. He drew a sharp contrast between pagan Gentile practices and what He expected from His people. For those who want to be great, Jesus said that you first must be a servant (v 43) and then to be the greatest of all, you need to be a slave of all people (v 44). Then for the first time in the book of Mark, Jesus interpreted the purpose of His life. He came to die in our place (v 45). So Jesus not only told the price of discipleship, He lived out discipleship for others to see as He followed the will of God. The disciples thought Jesus’ life and power would save them from Rome. (Jesus was saving them from sin, an even greater slavery than Rome.)

Read Matthew 25:19-21, 29 Seize Your Opportunities

Jesus told another parable to emphasize the importance of responsibly using one’s God-given gifts in the time before Christ’s return. This parable was telling His disciples what their responsibilities would be while awaiting His return. How specifically is the parable telling us that? (The wealthy man, in his absence, distributed his wealth to the slaves to ensure his business was conducted as usual.)The result was that slave who doubled the money clearly was doing things that made his master pleased. The one who just returned the one talent was not dishonest – just disobedient by thinking of himself. He failed to try!  Jesus is teaching that each individual is responsible for the use of only those gifts and abilities that God has given them. Some people have more gifts and abilities than others. So here is a very important concept- there should be no comparing of capabilities for service to God, only the best use of one’s own gifts, whether many or few. The parable describes the consequences of two attitudes toward Christ’s return. The person who diligently prepares for it by investing his or her time and talents to serve God will be rewarded. The person who has no heart for the work of the kingdom will be punished (they are not likely “saved”.)   God rewards faithfulness. Those who bear no fruit for God’s kingdom cannot expect to be treated the same as those who are faithful. God expects only what He has equipped us to do. So we must seize our opportunities to serve.

Read Matthew 25:34-40 Serve the Least of These

Here Jesus presented a picture of final accounting that will occur at His second coming in glory (31). From the “throne of His glory”, He will judge all nations (v 32). It is a vivid, poetic word picture foretelling the way Jesus will judge the world. God will separate His obedient followers from pretenders and unbelievers. We are told that the real evidence of our belief is in the way we act. The parable is verses 34-40 describe acts of mercy we all can do every day. They are simple acts freely given and freely received. Jesus describes Himself as the King, the judge and shepherd. So He will receive and commend His faithful people- those “blessed by my father”. Jesus will invite these to “inherit the kingdom” and enter fully into God’s reign in eternity. Jesus listed six ministry actions. What are they? (Feed the hungry, give the thirsty something to drink, take in a stranger, clothe some, tend to the sick, and visit those in prison.) It is clear that Jesus is telling all that to perform these acts of kindness for those in need is, in fact, performing them for Him.

The focus of this parable is that we should love every person and serve anyone we can.  Such love for others glorifies God by reflecting our love for Him. Our motivation for ministry is to serve Christ by serving others. Consistently ministering to others is evidence we view every life as important to God; thus every person is important to us. Look closely at the actions of Jesus’ genuine followers. First, their ministry actions were spontaneous. They kept no record of their good deeds. They served because they followed a servant Lord (Mark 10:45). Second, the actions were selfless. Christ’s people extended themselves and that they had with no thought of personal gain or reward. They helped people who could offer nothing in return. In addition, they expected no commendation from Christ for what they did. Finally, let’s define what Jesus said were “the least of these”. Among them are the unborn child, the homeless person, the pregnant teenager, the underprivileged mother, and the forgotten senior adult.   We have talked about how we could do some service to others. Well, just above is the list of specific people to whom we could consider providing help.

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