seeking to make your place in the world pride. humility finding you place in god’s world
TRANSCRIPT
Seeking to make your place in the world
Pride
Humility
Finding You Place in God’s World
Jeremiah 2:9-13
My people have committed two evils:
The fountain of living waters,
They have forsaken Me,
My people have committed two evils:
And hewn themselves cisternsbroken cisterns that can hold no water.
“Your own wickedness will correct you, And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil
and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and the fear of Me is not
in you,” says the Lord God of hosts. Jeremiah 2:19
Two Evils
• Going Our Own WayGoing Our Own Way
•Forsaking GodForsaking God
We think we know bestWe think we know best
We think we can go it aloneWe think we can go it alone
To look to anything apart from God to make life work is to
forsake God.
God made man God made man dependent.dependent.
Trusting in our own way defies the most basic fact of man’s
creation:
God made man dependent by
design
Man is not: an autonomous,
self-contained, self-sufficient
Any change that will ultimately help a
man . . .must move him away from
autonomy and must move him toward
dependence upon his Creator
Any change that gives him the
illusion that he is able to go it alone makes him a more
powerful rebel against God and
destroys his usefulness to his
Creator
Our creation testifies to our dependence
Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Psalm 100:3
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well..
Psalm 139:13-14
Just look at what man can create and how that thing is dependent for
existence
Humans can make
Humans can make
Humans can make
Humans can make
Creation inherently demandsdependency
People acknowledge this about anything that is man-made
They rebel against the thought that they are somehow
dependent upon their Creator
The implication of our creation:
If you need somebody to make you, you need somebody to maintain
you.
People must
• Face their dependency
• Repent of their proud attempts to be on their own
• Submit to the Creator
The Creator
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all
things, and in Him all things consist.Colossians 1:16-17
The CreatorGod, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things,
through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by
the word of His power,Hebrews 1:1-3
There is no way that anyone can escape their dependence upon God
One can only rebel against it, which leads to their own destruction.
An Example
King NebuchadnezzarDaniel 4:29-37
From Andrew Murray
Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of man. . . . Humility is simply man’s acknowledging the truth of his position as a man and yielding to God His place.
Humility Whitaker House Publishers 1982. P. 10, 12.
Humility seen in Jesus
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light”
Matthew 11:28-30.
From the words of Jesus
“And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be
your slave-- just as the Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for
many." Matthew 20:27-28
From the words of Jesus
“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Luke 14:11
From the words of Jesus
“You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another's feet.”
John 13:13-14
From the words of Peter
“Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:5
Being clothed with Humility
• Athletes, entertainers, politicians, business people, many church leaders are not known for their humility.
• They are known for their self-confident arrogance, their control over others, and their self-indulgent lifestyles.
As pride has many masks for rebellion – God has different ways to
expose man’s self-dependence.
Human limitations and sinful pride must be exposed. We must be
humbled in order for God to work in our lives.
God’s ways to show people their pride
1. Uses a problem we cannot handle to expose our helplessness
Example:
Naaman - 2 Kings 5
Our agenda vs. God’s way
Proverbs 3:5
God’s ways to show people their pride
2. Uses a command we will not obey to expose our self-centeredness in going out own way
Example:
Jonah 2 Kings 14:25 & Jonah
To love God by going – To love neighbor by telling
Proverbs 14:12
God’s ways to show people their pride
3. Uses an outcome we cannot control to expose our lack of faithfulness
Example:
David 2 Samuel 12
Pride when not being faithful
Proverbs 28:13
God Says
Thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Isaiah 57:15
God Says
God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.
James 4:6
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
James 4:10
What are we to do?
1. Recognize that you are a dependent creature
2. Repent of self-rule
3. Allow God to have His proper place in our lives
4. Come under His Kingship in all aspects of life
This is the beginning of biblical change and the chief requirement for
usefulness to God and His Kingdom
A person’s potential for service to God lies not in their ability, nor in
their opportunity, but in their humility before the Almighty, the
Creator, the Father, our God.
God is not impressed with our
• Abilities – they came from Him
• Opportunities – they are gifts from Him
God is impressed with our Humility
• It testifies of our sense of dependency
upon and our love for Him
• It transforms us into people who love
other as Jesus did with no thought for
ourselves.