Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Humility? what's that?

On Palm Sunday, I was preaching on Philippians 2:1-11.  My subject was humility. 
On the Saturday before the sermon I was coming back from Richmond having just met with bishop Silas.  I realized I needed gas so I pullled over to the nearest gas station to get some.  I took my keys out of the ignition, closed the door, locked it and took out my interac to pay at the pump.  After filling up, I went to get back in the car but it was locked.  No problem.
  I reached into my pockets and then noticed the keys lying on the seat in the sealed vechicle.  Okay, I thought, I'll phone my parents they can help.  But as many of you know, gas stations and cell phones don't mix and I had left my cell phone in the car as well.  This is a problem, I thought.  What do I do?  So I a state of shock I stumbled over to the store section of the gas station.  "Could you help me I locked my um.. do you know where a phone is?" I asked  As he started to tell me where the nearest pay phone was I humbled myself and admitted my foolishness.  "I locked me keys inside my car."  Thankfully he took pity on me and let me borrow their phone.  I then had to humble myself again and ask for help from my parents who agreed to meet me with the keys in 30 minutes.  Then when they arrived, I humbled myself again by telling them the story and thanked them for their help. 
We rarely chose to humble ourselves and yet Jesus humbled himself willingly for our sake by taking up a shameful cross and dying in our place.  He asks us to take up our cross and follow him.
For he who humbles himself is exalted.
Humility is putting Jesus first and being thankful.  It is not self-depreciation but shifting our focus from ourself.
As J.I. Packer put it to have true JOY, you must put Jesus first, Others section and Yourself last. 
Jesus
Others
Yourself
This is also true humility.
Please enjoy this song about Christ's humilty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjYiEyu8Si8

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