Genuine Humility - Zac Poonen

when the disciples came to Jesus and asked who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven that is a very common question that all people either ask or want to know wherever they are who is the greatest person here we find that in the world we find it in politics everybody was competing to be a minister or a chief minister or prime minister or whatever it is always wanting to go to the top who is the greatest in every sphere whether it's the military or politics or businessmen they want to be the richest businessmen in the world always there is a competition to be the greatest and unfortunately in almost every Christian Church it is the same there are people who desire it to be the greatest and despite all that we have preached in CFC I find that in many people in CFC to be known as important longing to become elders I've often said first qualification to be an elder is you have no desire to be an elder and when they are removed from eldership they're offended and they will many just leave it's all because of this innate desire to be the greatest and even who people who pretend that they are not offended when they are removed from eldership the inside the desire is still there to be the greatest now to be great to be known as the greatest as the greatest person who's not offended this designed to be the greatest in some way or the other is there in US and unless it is crucified it will hinder our spiritual growth if we are not seeking to be greatest in position then we want to be known as the to humble ourselves or the greatest in humility of the green it's always this desire to be the greatest whatever is valued in a church if it is speaking in tongues that's valued in a church then they want to be known as the greatest and speaking in tongues if it is preaching then the greatest in preaching if it is humility then they want to be known as the greatest in humility whatever it is but who is the greatest is a question that comes in the hearts of all children of adam' and these different examples I give you are the very subtle ways in which you can come to anybody sitting here if you are not watchful and pride is most dangerous pride is most dangerous when it wears the garments of humility remember that when it wears the garments of pride it's easily observable by everybody like in a politician or a businessman the arrogance but when pride is clothed in humility the garments of humility that is the danger that many in CFC face and that's where Jesus said you got to learn from a little child unless you're converted and become like children you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven and what do we see about he said in verse 4 whoever then humbles himself not just humble himself but humbles himself as this child means a little baby he is the greatest in God's kingdom so what is the main characteristic in a little child humility it is a complete lack of pretending it's not pretending to be humble I've seen many many brothers and sisters and CFC you pretend to be humble then that's arrogance and pride most people can't detect it but I can see through it straightaway and God can see through it much more the thing about a child is remember it's not just humble it's does not pretend to be humble because you can get get a reputation for pretending to be humble pretending not to be offended it's all pride arrogance so it's it's not easy to be like a child I will tell you that you really need the help of the Holy Spirit you're trying to do it yourself it's like trying to be holy yourself you struggle and determined to be holy it'll be a contra feat it'll be the holiness of non-christian religions which doesn't get rid of filth in the heart jesus said genuine humility can be found only in a child and for that we must meditate on what is passing through is what I've done for many many years what is it that's passing through the mind of a child I want my mind to be like that not just the external appearance because humility is inward it's a question of what you think of yourself the Bible speaks of loneliness of mind that means it is in the mind that humility must be present what I think of myself and what I think of others it's not just thinking I'm smaller than others forcing myself to think I'm not so good that's stupidity because Jesus said learn humility from me and you think Jesus is always thinking I'm not so good I'm not capable I can't preach that's nonsense that is pride to go around saying I'm not so good I can't preach that is pride people think it is humility there's a lot of counterfeit humility in Jesus there was a complete absence of that he he never thought I'm I can't breathe he preached better than anybody else in the world you know what he also said he said I am humble of heart would you dare to say that so no no if I say that I'll be proud the humblest man on earth said it he said learn from me for I am humble of heart genuine humility the most humble man that walked on the earth could say about himself I am humble because he was not trying to get a reputation for humility if you go around saying I am humble you'll say oh he'll lose my reputation because at the back of my mind is what is my reputation if I say that I'm humble you see how conceited we are even in our pursuit of humility only two people from whom we can learn humility from Jesus Christ he said learned from me and the other is from a little child so I asked myself what was going in through in the mind of Jesus was he always saying I'm no good I'm such a sinner I can't do anything no that was never he can do I kiss and I can do everything yet he was the humblest man who walks on the earth he wasn't timid in the way he spoke and shy in the head hanging down never he was bald he was humble when he whipped the money changers out of the temple I'm saying all this because I have seen in a lot of CFC people of false humility which is a counterfeit and the reason is they are not learning from Jesus they're not learning from little children they've got their own concepts of how to appear humble before others it's an acting if I try to pretend to be humbled before others it's like a man pretending to be a woman as soon as he speaks you'll know it's not a woman that's how it is it's as crazy as a man trying to be a woman putting on a woman's clothes but if you're speaking like a man and that's how it is when a man pretends to be humble keep this picture in your mind when you are pretending to humble you're like a man trying dressing up like a woman but as soon as you speak everybody knows or someone with discernment knows this guy's not humble he's just pretending a lot of people there's a lot of pretense of humility from the pulpit from song leaders from preachers well I'll try to act humble it's all humbug and nonsense and if you remain like that year after year after year or something's wrong we are not learning from children not learning from Jesus so it's a wonderful thing when we have children to say Lord I want to learn from this little baby what humility is because you said that I have to be humble like this child I don't see Jesus when he was on earth I could have watched him carefully now I can only imagine what he's like but I do see a little child so I have before me a living example of humility that I can learn from and I want to encourage you my dear brothers and sisters let's all of us pursue this to look at a little child and say that is genuine humility well it's not even aware that it is humble there's no child who thinks I'm quite humble people don't think I'm proud see the moment such thoughts go through my mind people don't think I'm proud you're not like a child no you're very aware of your humility you see that's how subtle it is and the proudest people are the ones who put on the garb of humility so beware of that let's learn from children this the main thing about the child is there's no artificial 'ti just natural it's like that way all the time see an artificial humility is something that we put on in front of people we want to impress in a church for example but we won't be like that in our place of work because there we don't have to pretend to be humble where there are no Christians there to admire us but in the church we want to act humble in dark humble that is hypocrisy and we'd be surprised you may think you're not a hypocrite he'd be surprised to see how much hypocrisy there is in you and if you ask God to show it to you he'll show it to you see God never shows anything to anyone unless he's desperate to know if you go to God desperately say Lord show me the pride in me show me that acting in me show me the hypocrisy show me the false humility he'll show it to you but pure casual you'll never find it you remain the same condition forever he's the Lord says if you seek me with all your heart you'll find me and I fear that many are not seeking God with all their heart to learn how Jesus was humble or our child is humble and that's why we remained completely ignorant of the pride in our artificial humility

Channel: A True Christian

Views: 14,944

Rating: 4.9480519 out of 5

Keywords: Genuine Humility vs Fake Humility, Jesus's Humbleness, Real meaning of Humility and Humbleness, Learn Humility from Children

Id: 3GrSNXGQorU

Length: 11min 52sec (712 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 23 2018