It’s Hard to be Humble
In 1980, a country music singer and songwriter from Lubbock, TX by the name of Mac Davis released a hit song entitled, “It’s Hard to Be Humble.”
It starts out like this…
Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble
When you’re perfect in every way
I can’t wait to look in the mirror
‘Cause I get better looking each day
To know me is to love me
I must be *some kind of a man
Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble
But I’m doing the best that I can
I know, for some of you it’s hard to be humble, but you’re doing the best that you can! And we appreciate your humility!
Truthfully, we live in a world where it seems like it’s hard for people to be humble. I’m not sure we really even know what humility means or what humility looks like.
The problem is, if we don’t tend to our inner lives, if we’re left to our own devices, we can all become selfish, mean, proud, and convinced we’re “perfect in every way.” And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in a world like that. I don’t want my kids to grow up in a world like that. But the truth is, we already do. This mindset of selfishness and pride within a community leads to constant conflict, fighting and division.
Living Different
As followers of the way of Jesus we are called to Live Different.
This lack of humility, this unwillingness to say, “YES, LORD!” to the way of humility that infects the world, our community, and the church today was present some 2000 years ago.
It’s always been present.
And within the church this lack of humility is deadly. Literally, it will kill a church if we can’t live humbly.
We see this in the letter from James to the church.
James is a short letter that is written to Christian churches everywhere. James isn’t writing to a specific church in a specific place, this is a general letter so he’s addressing problems that are present in multiple churches.
And James has a good sense about what is happening in these churches. He’s a leader in the church in Jerusalem. He’s the one who had the humility to lead the church into one of the most important changes in the history of the church.
James Learned Humility through Prayer
If you back up to Acts 15, you can read his inspiring speech to the Jerusalem council, a gathering of church leaders in Jerusalem, about what they should do about gentiles, non-Jews, who were becoming Christians. It was James who noticed that the Holy Spirit was already moving and working in the lives of these people who were previously far from God. And because God was already moving and working in that direction he declared, “We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” Acts 15.19.
It was James who, according to tradition, had the nickname, “Old Camel Knees,” because he spent so much time in prayer to God on his knees that he developed callouses on his knees. He learned humility through hours of quiet prayer on His knees before God.
And what’s truly remarkable about that, at least in my mind, is that James grew up with Jesus. James and Jesus had the same mother. They were brothers. And at some point James came to believe that his brother really was God’s Messiah. Just think about that! If you’re not sure what to think about Jesus, just consider James for a moment. If James could come to believe that his brother was the Son of God, maybe you can too.
The Church Lacking Humility
So James speaks to the church about what happens when a faith family lacks humility…
1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.
Maybe you thought that disagreements in church was a new thing. Unfortunately, no. For some 2000 years there have been disagreements within the church. And that’s ok, because we were never called to uniformity. We were never called to agree on everything. We are called to unity, to be bound together in love, and to always put the needs of each other ahead of our own.
But when that doesn’t happen, you get this. You get a church that is constantly quarreling, fighting, and waging war against one another.
A failure of humility within the church results in a failure of unity within the church.
The Problem with Pride
Now this is problematic for a thousand reasons, but for James at the root of all this is pride. And pride makes you an enemy of God.
To be full of pride, to have a self centered heart, to be consumed with self for James is to be a friend of the world. So he writes…
4 Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?
And for James, the man who has spent thousands of hours in prayer on his knees, nothing is more important than friendship with God. And friendship with God always leads to deep humility.
James reminds these early Christians…
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you.
Humility: A Quiet YES
I’ve always loved this scripture. It’s been an anchor for my life. It’s a promise. Come close to God, and God will come close to you.
Another translation says,
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
It’s the story of the prodigal son in one sentence. And it’s the experience so many of us have had with God. As soon as we turn towards him, he runs toward us.
But I really love the way Eugene Peterson translated these ancient words in the Message. He writes it this way…
So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time.
It’s the Devil himself who is stirring up division within the church, who tempts us to speak evil of each other, to criticize each other, and judge each other harshly.
James says, Resist the Devil! Shout a loud NO to the Devil! Don’t give into the temptation to fight each other, to let differences divide you, to let hate win the day. NO!
Instead…
Say a quiet YES to God.
Let the love of God win the day. Choose the way of absolute humility.
Humility Leads to Honor
James is writing to the church about how we are supposed to behave as a church. And for James, it begins with each of us saying a quiet YES to God. It begins with us individually drawing near to God. That quiet YES to God leads to true humility.
Any community that lacks true humility will always be at war with itself. But when we spend time over time saying a quiet YES LORD, praying those words over and over again, tending to our heart and soul, allowing God to transform our hurt, our anguish, our bitterness, our selfishness into grace, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, joy, and love something happens. Our pride is transformed into humility.
To the church that was at war within itself, where people were speaking evil of each other, criticizing each other, and judging each other (v11), James says…
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
The Way of Humility
What do YOU think about when you think about humility?
A few weeks ago my wife, Alisha, and I celebrated our 22 year wedding anniversary. I have this thing with my parents where we always look for a funny card to send to each other whenever it’s a card giving occasion.
ON the front of the card my mom sent us for our wedding anniversary it said, “If you stay together long enough you start to look alike!”
If that’s true, then that’s good news for me but not so good news for Alisha!
We look like those we spend the most time with.
When I think about humility I can’t help but think about Jesus.
Remember the time the little children wanted to come to Jesus? his disciples thought, “No way… Jesus is way too important and way too busy for children.” But what did Jesus say? “Let the little children come to me.”
And do you remember the time he was walking along and a blind man called out for him to heal him? It was as if no one else in the crowd heard the man, the blind beggar. But Jesus heard him, saw him, had compassion on him, and healed him. He did that kind of thing all the time. Touching the untouchable. Loving the unlovable.
Why?
Because, God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.
Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount? In the very beginning of that famous speech he said these words,
“God blesses those who are humble,
for they will inherit the whole earth.”
What does humility look like? I think humility looks like Jesus. And how do you become humble? By spending time with Jesus. Just like James spent thousands of hours on his knees in prayer, when we humble ourselves before God we will begin to look like Jesus.
Time for a Change
A little over 20 years ago, another singer songwriter released a song about humility. His name wasn’t Mac Davis and his song wasn’t about how hard it was for him to be humble. This singer songwriter named Dennis Jernigan wrote a song called, “Time for a change.” Listen to these lyrics:
You look good in humility
it brings out who you’re called to be
for pride just hides your heart
and masks your pain and your real beauty
You look good in humility
clothed in righteousness and peace
it brings out all the features of the heart you’re called to be
you look good in humility
I think James, the brother of Jesus, would have loved that song. And I think he would agree.
You look good in humility.
Whenever you take off the grave clothes of sin and death, whenever you step into the resurrection clothes of mercy, grace, and humility, you become who you were always meant to be. And for James, this is what the church is supposed to look like.
The vision of the church that James has in mind is the church full of people who have taken off the grave clothes of disagreement and strife, of bitterness and hate, of discord and fighting, and put on the new clothes of peace, humility, and love.
So today, will you consider laying down whatever it is within you that is causing you to be separated from others and will you consider putting on humility?
Because you look good in humility. In fact, you look like Jesus.
A Prayer for Humility
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High God, we come before you in faith and humility today. And we pray, Jesus, teach us to be humble. Transform our fear into love. Transform our disagreement into compassion. Transform our differences into respect. Teach us to be humble. May what unites us be stronger than anything that could separate us. May our love for you and our love for each other always prevail. May our quiet YES LORD in the privacy of our own prayers result in our collective praise of the One who is Lord of Heaven and Earth. And may Your church through humility be Your light to the world pointing towards Jesus, our hope.
In the name of Jesus we pray, Yes Lord, AMEN.
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