Sermon: "Coronavirus: What's Humility Got to Do With It?" by Rick Shabi, March 28, 2020

well you can't ignore can't ignore what we've all been going through not only in Orlando but around the nation and around the world you know the world has been brought to a virtual halt here by this coronavirus that has that has been on the march you know starting in China back a few months ago and we've watched it as it crept into Europe and it's kind of like that horsemen that riot rode through Europe and it's creating havoc over there and now it's hit the United States and here we are with a nation that is pretty much ground to a halt you know as you watch the news you see the number of cases rising dramatically every day so now there's more cases documented of US coronavirus in America than there were in China and so we have something that is unique to all of us that you know that have been alive none of us have seen anything like this before it's Owen charted waters but it's a time as I've mentioned in my letters by Congregational letters that you know we should be learning a lot from it and we do learn a lot from it you know from these things that God puts us through because he certainly does send these things on us so that we learn and as a warning to us as well and to the ends of the world around us and this coronavirus case is no different than that you know back at the time when God brought Israel out of Egypt he told them and he commanded them to keep his Commandments and he set a few chapters that we have in the Bible where he talked about the blessings and cursings for keeping his Commandments and what would happen if people didn't keep his Commandments and they applied certainly to ancient Israel back then and we see their history that they indeed did lose the promised land that God had given them the things that God prophesied what happened to them did happen but those prophecies that are there in Leviticus 26 and 28 do tirana me 28 apply to us today as well let's go back to Leviticus 26 it just recounts a little bit of what God says here in some of his warnings no other gonna read all of Leviticus 26 but as you read through it the first few verses there in chapter 26 talk about obeying God and if you obey me he says this and this and this all good things will happen but if we begin down to verse 14 of chapter 26 but if you don't obey me and if you don't observe all these Commandments and if you despise my statues the spice doesn't mean like I hate them the spice can just be I'm not paying that much attention to them more their things in life are more important to me than obeying what you say if you despise my statutes or if your soul abhors my judgments so that you do not perform all my Commandments but break my covenant I will do this to you and then there are several verses that describe the things that God will bring upon a nation and as people that don't obey Him and that kind of dismiss or take for granted or just ignore what he has said verse 16 he says I'll appoint terror over you in verse 17 he says I'll set my face against you you'll be defeated by your enemies in verse 19 he says I'll break the pride of your power we come down to verse 23 and he says if by these things you're not reformed by me but walk contrary to me then I will also walk contrary to you and I will punish you yet seven times more for your sins and so we see as we go through this chapter wave upon wave of destruction as God tries to get the attention of his people for a purpose he brings it on not just because he wants to see them suffer when we go through trials when we go through these waves and waves of trials you know as we have in the United States back in you know 9/11 2001 there was something that we experienced this nation that never happened before back in 2008 we reached we went through a financial crisis that almost brought the country to ruin now we're going through a coronavirus slice is something the world has not seen a virtual war against an unseen enemy and you know we can look at our lives - if God and if we're going through a wave after wave after wave of trial if we have things that are continually working on us and continually going against us we might want to stop and think about what God said to Israel because these words apply to us individually as well maybe not necessarily terror and all the things that are in there but God is looking to get our attention if we read continue to read down and verse 25 he says I'll bring the sword against you that will execute the Vengeance of the covenants when you are gathered together within your cities I'll send pestilence upon you and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy when I cut off your supply of bread ten women shall bake your bread in one oven and they shall bring back your bread by wait and you shall eat and not be satisfied if you don't listen as these things come upon you I'm going to send war I'm going to send famine I'm going to send the pestilence I want to get your attention I want you to know what I'm doing what does God want when he does this and he goes through all these verses here in chapter 26 well if we come down to the end of the chapter we see what God wants his people to do his people then and his people now verse 40 if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to me and that they also have walked contrary to me and that I've walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies if there's that big word if if they're uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they accept their guilt then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham I will remember I will remember the land what does God want why is he trying to get our attention he wants us to turn back to him he wants us to acknowledge the things that we've done he wants us to acknowledge that we've departed from him all for the purpose of turning back to him so that he can bless us but we have to listen to what God says about to listen to these waves and waves that are upon us and be thinking what is God trying to tell us you know we can talk about that from a national aspect you know if the United States would just listen if they would just pay attention to what's going on now we can bring that down to us - are we listening are we paying attention because God is true to get your in my attention too we may think that we're solidly in the church but you know we all have a wake-up call that we've been through as we've been through the last three weeks there's things that we've learned about ourselves and things that we have to build into our lives because we no longer have the schedule made for us that we rise up on sabbath morning and we go to a place now we have some things that we have to do it's not tailor-made for us anymore we have to be the ones keeping the Sabbath holy and building it all the time we have to be the ones that build into our lives prayer time study time even though we may be working at home and I know how difficult to compete have set new schedules set new schedules about what you're doing years ago when I left employment started my own business it took a while for me to to get my schedule together and realize man I have to I have to I have to pray before I get going I have to check and read before I get going in the morning I can't just let people and companies and clients dictate my time I have to dictate my time and God needs to be first God needs to be first well as I look at what we're going through here in this country and in the world you know the lessons are so many there's one I want to talk about today because I think it's fitting that we're all going through this and the nation is going through it before Passover before the days of unleavened bread because there is a big lesson in the days of unleavened bread and in Passover that we as a people need to know and God wants all of us and those who he calls to know you know for those who are baptized and we keep the Passover think about what is the very first thing we do we read some scriptures and then we do the foot washing we do the bread we do the wine the very first thing that we do the very first thing we do is we keep the ordinances of Jesus Christ that he said in the Passover as we wash each other's feet and why do we do that well it symbolizes our being willing to serve anyone not just certain but anyone it symbolizes our humility that we have before God that we recognize we owe everything to him and as we come before him we commit hit or we're committing to him we recognize of him as our Savior and the very first thing he set for us to do is to do a menial service just like Jesus Christ did with his servants and with his disciples there on that last Passover he observed humility first humility first so humility is something we can talk about and I think we probably a lot of us take it for granted I've heard people say and I always my antenna goes up when someone says oh I'm humble but many people we probably all think we're humble but you know what humility is not a natural state of mankind none of us none of us are naturally humble so maybe less naturally arrogant or presumptive than others but none of us are naturally humble the way God wants us to be humble and humility has to be there if we're ever going to be in God's kingdom it's one of those requirements let's go to forward to proverbs 18 look at a few verses here proverbs 18 and verse 12 proverbs 18 verse 12 says before destruction the heart of a man is haughty before destruction the heart of a man is haughty he thinks pretty highly of himself thinks he's hot stuff got the world by the tail and before honor before honor is humility before we will be in the kingdom of God we must become humble people humble the way God defines humility and as we're here in the last 1012 days before Passover you know we are examining ourselves we're looking at ourselves maybe we want to look at the humility now what our state of mind is let's look at James James for a New Testament verse that speaks to this as well among many I could turn to in the New Testament James 4 and verse 6 he James is quoting four proverbs 3 verse 34 and he says in verse 6 but he God but God gives more grace therefore he said God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble you know he's spoken about grace we all want to be living in God's grace we all want all the benefits of His grace if we are truly following him then we understand what we need to do to continue in that grace God says he gives grace to the humble there's a reason for us to be humble there's a reason for us to be paying attention to what the state of our mind is what our attitudes are and as humility one of the things that we are there that we are cognizant of and that we are examining in the light of the Bible and in the light of God's Spirit so it's fitting that today we might examine humility nationally and individually what is it what does it look like what does it sound like are there examples in the Bible that we can look to see what does the humble person look like and sometimes what we can do is look in the Bible and see what doesn't the humble person sound like what doesn't the humble nation sound like and we can learn a lot from that let's go to back to Isaiah Isaiah 9 back at the time of the 911 crisis back in 2001 these verses were read in a number of places and there was a book called the Harbinger that made its round I don't know if it's a best-seller at that time but many people read it and in Isaiah 9 we see what the words of a people who aren't humble do in a time of trial and at a time of crisis Isaiah verse Isaiah chapter 9 verse 8 the Lord sent a word against Jacob and has fallen on Israel all the people will know Ephraim and the inhabitants of Scenario Sumeria who say in pride and arrogance of heart this is what the pride and the proud and arrogance would do in a case where we have a 911 situation where we have a coronavirus situation where we have a financial situation like 2008 this is what the proud and arrogant say the bricks have fallen down but we will rebuild with hewn stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will replace them with cedars you know what these things have combat you know what we can do it we can overcome it we will be will rise again we will be better than we were before basically who needs God we can do it and you know sadly as I listen to news this week I heard words just like that that were coming out of our national leaders this is a crisis this is a war this is a time unlike we've seen before thought proud and arrogant response was will rise above this will come back stronger than we were before we'll win this battle God says that's not the appropriate response of a humble person we can take that down to our personal lives when we have a trial that comes away around financial problem M perhaps many will be experiencing some financial problems with the layoffs that have already occurred and may occur here down once down the road cos who knows what the financial effects of this crisis are going to bring what do we respond to do we say we can we can rise around this health crisis I've got a way to do this I can look here and I can look there and I look everywhere I've got this financial crisis I'll do this I'll do that I'll go get a loan here I'll ask people to help me here I'll do all the things that I need to do do we think we can rise above it if we think that are we listening to God do we realize what he's trying to get us to do turn to him rely on him have that humbleness of heart that realizes we can do nothing without him we can do nothing without him verse 11 God says what he will do to nations that have this response and people who would have that personal response you look everywhere else and maybe maybe give God a token that the token word here and there but don't really look to him therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of residen against him and spur his enemies on the Syrians before and the Philistines behind and they shall devour Israel with an open mouth if you don't listen to me God says I'll send something else on you I want you to get my message I want you to listen to what I have to say follow me turn to me develop humility for all this in verse 12 his his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still he's angry but his hand is always there I'll receive you if you come back get the message get the message turn to me develop the humble attitude and my hand is still there I don't want your demise I want you to follow me I want to give you life I don't want to give you death that's not God's purpose at all verse 13 for the people who do not turn to him who strikes them nor do they seek the Lord of hosts therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel palm branch and bulrush in one day he will try and try and try and so the message is there for us that isn't that response in verses 9 through 9 through 11 there we're blind in 10 it's not the response of a humble person not the response of a humble nation not what God is looking for yes we do what we can do but we have to come to the point where we're humble people looking to God and relying on him well you know you can read through the books of the Bible I don't have to recount to everything think of the men who God says high words about people like David people like Moses people like Peter people like Paul people like Jobe they came to the point where they were humble people they were humble people they weren't automatically that way they weren't born that way you know their stories as well as I do but they follow God and God made them humble men and it's fitting as he was leading his people out of Israel in the Old Testament we turn over to numbers 12 but he had a man leading Israel who had this characteristic this trait about him numbers 12 and verse 3 by this time the plagues had passed Israel was out of Egypt they'd been wandering in the desert they'd crossed the Red Sea numbers 12 verse 3 says now the man Moses was very humble he was very humble more than all men who are on the face of the earth you remember Moses his history 40 years a child of privilege I guess in Egypt may have had an attitude about him he was upper class upper crust God took him out of Egypt 40 years as a shepherd now he's leading God's people he'd been he'd been humbled and he came before God with the proper attitude as God led him more than anyone on the face of the earth God says now in the old King James the word translated their humble in the New King James is meek there's a big difference between humility and meekness we're gonna see here in a minute and if you look at the old the Hebrew word that's translated humble there in the New King James it's more appropriately translated humble it's the Greek it's the Hebrew word a knob aan AV it literally means lowly humble and poor and the fourth word they give is meek but many of the world and the translators don't really understand what meek means and there's a reason for that and certainly in the world today the word meek is one thing that's just bandied about and people don't have any clue what it is at all but it's notable that God said here this leader Moses he was a humble man I chose a humble man not a brash man that one who is pride and arrogant that's who I was going to lead one who looked to me who knew I that God had to be the one to lead and wasn't looking to his own power lesson looking to his own ideas he was humble in every sense of the word that God wants you and I to become humble Deuteronomy 18 18 you can mark it down but God says you know I'm going to raise up a prophet like you Moses like you Moses a humble prophet and indeed God did provide while Moses was the leader of Israel in the Old Testament Jesus Christ is the notable deliverer in the New Testament let's turn over to Matthew Matthew 11 and see what it says about Jesus Christ who was the logos who was the god of the Old Testament in many cases we see that but in Matthew 11 verse 29 Jesus Christ was born as flesh something so much less than what he was before he did it for you and I and in verse 29 of Matthew 11 he says this and Christ owns words he says take my yoke upon you and learn from me you know that's one thing throughout our lives we learn what we go through what we hear what we see we are always learning and we ever think we don't need more learning then we better check our humility barometer and see where it is because none of us have learned everything that God wants us to learn as long as we're breathing there are things for us to learn 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 well you don't see the word humble and that New King James Version you don't see the word meek but they're both there in that verse the word gentle the word that's translated gentle there is actually the Greek word Prabhu's pra us it means meek it's the fruit to the holy spirit the same word that's listed back there in Galatians 5 is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit so Jesus Christ says I am weak I'm sorry I am meek there I did I did what the world would do they don't know how to what does that mean he's meek for I am meek he says well we've talked in sermons past about this word Pratt's a beautiful word the world has lost its meaning really if you remember praat as you can translate it as like strength under the control of a master and you remember probably four sermons past about you know how when the Greeks used that word you would have a wild stallion we've all seen the pictures of wild stallions maybe we've seen him in in real life right powerful beings those horses they run fast they've got such power they can do so many things they're magnificent creatures but they're wild they're wild and mankind to use those horses those stallions has to tame them they have to domesticate them and you have to kind of work with them and when you do you still have this tremendous strength you still have this tremendous personality of the horses but now they're under the control of humans and used for the benefit that the humans need them and they are tremendous assets that's the same thing that God would look at us we are all wild people he's not looking he's not looking or he's looking to tame us I guess if you will with His Holy Spirit but he's not looking to make us weak and ineffective lose our personalities he wants to use those things and equip us with the power to do his will strength strength under the control of the master and when we look at Jesus Christ he to find that person but perfectly he was a strong man they translated gentle yes he was gentle but he was strong but he always said I'm under the control of my father in heaven I speak the words that he says I do the things that he tells me to do strengthen their the control of the master it only comes as a result of the Holy Spirit it's a fruit of the Holy Spirit as we repent and as were baptized and godly have lands laid on us and the power of God he puts in us through His Holy Spirit we develop one of the fruits meekness that's strength under the control of the master sorry the world doesn't really understand what meekness is because you have to have God's holy spirit to really and fully understand what that word means and what God intended by it derived from the greek word proce so verse 29 Christ says I'm meek i meek certainly he had God's holy spirit he was a strong man and he goes on and he says for I am gentle and I'm lowly in heart well that's humble that's the greek word tap a nose that's the greek word tap a nose it literally means base lowly humble so christ draws the distinction between those words i meek and I'm humble Jesus Christ humble Jesus Christ meek there is a difference between meekness and humility Jesus Christ was both he wants us to be both now meekness is a fruit of God's Spirit humility is something we need to develop before we're even baptized something that we can kind of keep a track on and a watch on or the examination on even as we go through life because the humility that might be there one year might be gone the next says things happen as we maybe have reason to think wow aren't I something or look what I did to conquer this situation in my life or whatever it might be you know humility precedes our commitment to God and humility precedes meekness it precedes that so as we head toward Passover and as we think about that first thing that we do as we wash feet humility is one of the things that God wants us to develop throughout our lives and it's a trait that is absolutely required of God's people if we hope to be in his kingdom absolutely required I know he read in James for let's read about God resisting the crowd let's look at first Peter 5 because he has something to say about the same verse in Proverbs 334 that James quoted the James 4:6 1st Peter 5 and verse 5 he draws an analogy to Authority that we're all under he says likewise you younger people submit yourself to your elders you know no matter how old we are we're all under Authority everyone's under Authority we can just replace our name with whoever we're under the authority of likewise you younger people submit yourselves to your elders yes all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility now that's the noun form of top notes so we talked about lowly heart lowly in mind for God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble then in verse 6 he says there for humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time humble yourself before God you know becoming humble is a process that we go through a lifelong process it's something that we participate in meekness God gives us with His Holy Spirit as we live his life and as we use his Holy Spirit but humility depends on us we have things to do we have to go through a process to become humble Moses went through a process before God said he's more humble than all the men on earth David went through a process before he became truly humble before God Peter went through a process before God would look at him and say he's humble we know Peter he was brash Paul went through a process before we guys would look at him and say he's humble you and I go through a process what is the process a process is a series of actions or steps which when taken result in a particular end so as God works with us through our lives through the various things that happened to us individually that may happen to us as a church that may happen to us as a nation what's his desired end he's looking for a humble people he's looking for a humble Ricochet B he's looking for a humble Dave remar and whatever your name is that's what he's looking for the process that you and I go based on whatever he writes for us that's what he's looking that's his desired and that's our lives that's something we need to be cognizant of that's something we need to be looking at that's something we need to be paying attention to because God will bring us down from our lofty heights whatever we think of ourselves no there's a verse back in Obadiah the little book of Obadiah and the Minor Prophets right after right after Amos in Obadiah one chapter book and notable verses about it and in in verses 3 and 4 of Obadiah says the pride of your heart the pride of your heart has deceived you you know that's one thing about pride people don't see their pride in themselves it takes others sometimes to point it out it takes God sometimes to point it out and get our attention and he doesn't always do it by him he will use others he may use our spouses he may use others in the church he may use those that we work with when people say you know what you're kind of you kind of act like you've got all the answers and nothing else you know you don't have to listen to anyone else we all have to listen to someone else we're supposed to be listening to God the nation should be listening to God the pride of your heart has deceived you you're not listening you'll become dull of hearing you shut your ears off you're not listening to the words of the Bible you're not listening to the words you hear you who dwell in the clefts of the rock whose habitation is high you who say in your heart who will bring me down to the ground who's going to bring me down to the ground hey I'm I me what can happen to me kind of like Nebuchadnezzar thought kind of like some of the Kings we read about in the Bible thought I like what some of the nations on earth today think who can bring us down we're the greatest ever we're the greatest military the greatest economy the greatest health care system what can knock us down and then we come to March of 2020 and we see a virus a virus has brought us to our knees as a nation maybe in our own lives we've seen things happen to us they think oh that brought us to our knees maybe God is getting our attention verse 4 though you ascend as high as the Eagle and though you set your nest among the stars from there I will bring you down says the eternal I will I will bring you down before destruction there's pride honor goes to the humble over in Luke Luke wooden Luke one and verse 52 Mary as she learns that she's pregnant with Jesus Christ and in verses 46 to 55 you can see what her prayer is verse 52 she says this he God God has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted lowly gods not going to exalt the proud of this world he's not gonna exalt us if we are Pride and if we allow that pride to continue in us he'll bring us down he will exalt the lowly Jesus Christ was lowly in heart Moses was lowly in heart you and I need to develop that same thing but how do we do it how do we do it how do we go through this process when Peter says in the Bible says humble yourself what is the Bible show is this process well let's go back let's go back to Luke 26 I'm sorry Leviticus 26 and look at the words look at the words that God recorded again for his people then for his people now individually his church and the nation that he richly blesses and Leviticus 26 we were in verse 41 let's look at that again and first are we gonna be verse 40 and read those verses again if they confess if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their unfaithfulness in which the were unfaithful to me that they've walked contrary to me and all of you all of us you know our signs we walk contrary to God by our the attitudes that we have and the way we present ourselves or the way we think and then I walk walk contrary to them but brought them into their land of their enemies if if they're uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they accept their guilt then I'll remember my covenant if they accept their guilt you know you don't have to turn there but remember 2nd chronicles 7 verse 14 when Solomon is is praying the prayer over the temple of God says if my people if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves if they will humble themselves if they'll go through this process if they'll remember me if they'll look at this square in the eye then I will heal their land then I will heal their land the first that has meaning for us today nationally for all of us that sometimes in our lives when we're sick a verse that we can go back to if my people will humble themselves I will heal their land but looking at verse 41 here I guess it yeah verse 41 the latter part the humble person will accept their guilt well accept their guilt now we talked about repentance we all know what repentance is true repentance is recognizing the way you've lived admitting before God you have not walked in concert with him sometimes just out of ignorance but when we learn something God says I call on all men now to repent turn to me so sometimes you know we don't know but what we know our job is repent truly repent now with our heart turned to God and purpose and baked make a commitment in our minds we're not going to do that anymore the proper attitude accept their guilt it's a hard thing for to do isn't it it could be a hard thing to do sometimes to accept our deal you know I said before and many of you who have supervised people you know it's it's it's a it's a tough thing when you have to call someone in and tell them you know you haven't been handling this right maybe there's something they've done wrong maybe there's something that isn't you know maybe they're not performing up to par maybe there's just something that's flat-out wrong it's not an easy thing to do but you got to do it and I always you know I would always brace myself and those times came and I knew that one of two things were going to happen either the person was going to justify and explain and defend everything that they did and it would go on and on and on and it would just be kind of agony and nothing would come of it because they just wouldn't accept it and it created a barrier there between employer or supervisor and employee and it was always like okay I know I know you did it just I'm not looking to get rid of you I want you to work I just want you to kind of do the things the way they're supposed to be done but there's defense defense defensive miss defensiveness and you know oh I don't well I don't think it should be done other than all the things that you go through it becomes irritating actually after a while well then there are those people who will readily admit it I didn't understand that from now on I'll do it I didn't realize I was coming across that way okay now I'll change I get it I didn't understand that process I didn't understand how it was and you know those were such wonderful wonderful times when people would do that that's the same thing in the church right Matthew 18:15 gives us the thing because all of us have problems in our lives sometimes it's going to be someone from the church someone in your family sometimes the minister sometimes from the outside that's going to bring something to you and God is looking to see how are you gonna handle it are you going to reject it are you going to defend they're gonna justify you're gonna you're gonna say you know with the people in Isaiah nine verses eight or nine and 10 say that's me I don't have to do anything else bla bla bla but you don't understand this media or whatever it is or are you going to accept it there's a home there's a humility that has to come and that's what we have to look at we can all look at ourselves what is it that we do well how do we respond to times when God is getting our attention you know Egypt Egypt of Israel and Egypt Fame back then God brought wave after wave after wave in the ten plagues upon Egypt right down the list and in Exodus 10 I think it's in verse 3 God says to Pharaoh how long will you not humble yourself before me what is it gonna take Pharaoh I'm gonna prove to you that I'm greater than you that I the power is with me not you Pharaoh never got it he never got it we can't be like Pharaoh we can't be that's not who God has called us to be David what an example that Dave would he's king of Israel he could have thought who's gonna challenge me who's going to ever challenge anything I say who would dare come to the king and indicate that he that he was sinned and yet when Nathan came to David and gave him the little story David when he saw himself in the story of Bathsheba and Uriah he didn't defend he didn't make excuses he simply acknowledged it he simply acknowledged it and changed his life let's turn to Psalm Psalm 51 sound 51 doubtless assalam we'll be reviewing between now and Passover a solemn of repentance such a good example of the attitude that God is looking for when we recognize our sins and we come before him in Psalm 51 and verse 3 David writes he says I acknowledge my transgressions I admit it I was that way you know what when we repent there's joy in heaven what does it say you know when we baptize someone there's joy in heaven over the repentance of the sinner when someone will acknowledge their faults when you and I when you and I acknowledge to God man I blew it I didn't handle that situation right I mishandled I I didn't I didn't behave properly in that situation yeah I could see where pride was in my heart on that David said I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me I see Who I am now and I know what I need to deal with Dinah verse 10 he says create in me a clean heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me don't cast me away from your presence and don't take your Holy Spirit from me I'm sorry I get it I'm turning to you and I want to follow you and I want to be who you want me to be don't give up on me God will never give up on you right we just read his hand is there still his hand is there he just wants us to pay attention he just wants us to turn to him he wants us he wants to give us eternal life you know we can look at again people in the New Testament Peter and Paul how did they handle the rebukes of Jesus Christ they didn't run they didn't get mad and sit there and say you're wrong you're wrong da-da-da-da-da they turned they changed you know you can mark down acts 8 there we had a split sermon not too long ago where Simon Magus was discussed and Simon Magus when he was rebuked he didn't handle it the right way he ran away then one hear what he was told started his own church because he wanted to be preeminent among them he wanted people looking at him Hebrews 12 Hebrews 12 verse 5 says you've forgotten you've forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as the sons my son don't despise the chastening of the eternal nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him for whom the Lord loves he chastens and he scourges every son whom he receives don't be discouraged be repentant acknowledge your sin acknowledge that attitude problem acknowledge that weakness no one's gonna condemn you for that people in church aren't going to judge you for it we all want everyone's has just become more and more like Christ you know reminds you that chastening there in verse 5 is that Greek word pi Hadiya that we speaking about before as the process that God has in us to train us up into what he wants us to be but as we go through the humbling process you know what it's going to happen to every single one of us we have to accept accept our guilt we have to listen we have to accept our guilt the same thing that God told Israel to do now let's go back to Leviticus 26 and see what else God tells Israel his people then and you and I today Luke 26 in verse 40 he says if if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers if they confess it that is if they acknowledge it then he says that he will well in the New Testament he says he will forgive and what he's indicating here is he'll forgive I'll remember my covenant I will remember the land God will forgive in the New Testament in Matthew 6 you know Jesus Christ died gave His life that our sins could be forgiven but that's not automatic we have to do something there's a process that we have to do in our part in it Matthew 6 verse 14 it says for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you but if you don't forgive men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses we have to ask for forgiveness we have to practice forgiveness we have our part we might know that Jesus Christ forgave but if we never asked for forgiveness well I don't know if God forgives they're not my guess is no if we don't ask he says ask and you will receive seek and you'll find knock and it'll be open to you you have to ask and even if we ask if we've got someone out there that we think you know what I just don't like that person what he did to me was wrong I can never really forgive him God says if you can't forgive someone else if that's harbored in your heart I'm not gonna forgive you either what I do to you I expect you to do others to others what Jesus Christ what he's forgiven for us there isn't anyone who has ever done to us what we've done in wine walking contrary to Jesus Christ it takes humility it takes humility to ask forgiveness we have to humble ourselves when we come before God because we have to admit I'm guilty I did it if we've done something wrong to someone or if they've come to us in the fashion of Matthew 18:15 and say you've offended me you've done this you've done that we have to ask for forgiveness that can be a humbling thing they didn't come looking for you to be defensive and saying I didn't do anything wrong it's all in your head you know I read something on the internet about this and the man who was writing it said even if it's 1% you if you think it's only 1% you that was at fault your job is still to forgive and ask for forgiveness if it's only 1% that that's what you think your job is still to forgive because people don't bring those things to you if there isn't a problem there God says you need you need to forgive I want to forgive you but the humbling process is you have to ask to be forgiven you have to forgive others you might have to ask forgiveness of them and put yourself below them for a minute and say I get it I didn't understand that I am sorry I did that it won't happen again I get what I did wrong I acknowledge my guilt if we're not willing to do that then what are we doing then we're holding ourselves up as superior and that's not the attitude of God that's not the attitude of Jesus Christ that's not the attitude of his people that's the attitude of the one who is the most proud of all who simply will not acknowledge the supremacy of God or anything that he's done and he'll be brought low Matthew 5 1 chapter back in verse 23 we know as we approach Passover these are some things we have to think about through the humbling process what is it that's there Matthew 5 verse 23 if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you maybe you haven't dealt with it maybe you've heard something maybe you sent you an email text and yes I want to talk to you about this and you haven't dealt with it yet and there remember your brother has something against you leave your gift there before the altar and go your way first be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift I would say the same thing before Passover if there's something that is unresolved in your life go there and resolve it be reconciled go through the process of humility go through the humbling process take the Passover with a clear conscience having truly examined ourselves looking at our lives the things that are left undone perhaps that God wants us to do you can mark down two fusions for verse 32 and the new later on Paul says you know forgive one another part of who we put on the new man is we're bearing with one another and we're forgiving one another let's go back to Leviticus 26 so we have to accept our guilt we have to ask for forgiveness you have to be willing to forgive that's part of the humbling process Leviticus 26 we see another thing that's notable that God says here in chapter 26 the first 14 verses here verse 13 verses now God says one thing verse 3 says if if you walk in my statutes and if you keep my Commandments and perform them then I will do all these good things for you you'll have plenty you won't have enemies you won't have Wars you won't have famines you won't have pestilences I will be your God you will be my people I will shelter you I will be your rock your shield as we sang in the first tune this morning if you obey me let's let's turn over to Deuteronomy 28 Judah ronnapee 28 kind of the companion chapter to Leviticus 26 where God is enumerate enumerated what will happen if a country if a nation if a person if a church doesn't obey Him let's just drop down because boy it's a long chapter but let's drop all the way down to verse 58 in Deuteronomy 28 and here this section God opens again with what we need to do if you don't carefully boy pay attention that word carefully I've said it a lot pay to the pay attention to the word diligently God is looking for us to learn the details of his life and apply every word into our lives if you don't carefully observe all all the words of this law that are written in this book that you may fear the glorious and awesome name the Lord your God then he will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues great and prolonged plagues serious and prolonged sicknesses moreover he will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid and they shall cling to you every sickness every plague which is not written in this book of the law will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed you will be left few in number whereas you were as the stars of heaven and multitude why because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God wave after wave going through the humbling process we must learn to obey God carefully paying attention to the details obedience to God heartfelt obedience to God is an act of humility he's our master we're his slaves who become friends to become sons and daughters who become kings and priests as we develop our relationship with God we have to learn to obey Him in detail building all those things into our lives let's look at Romans Romans 12 romans 12 and verse 16 Romans 12:16 they have the same mind toward one another Paul writes don't set your mind on high things but associate with the humble know that tell us have something there to write what God wants us to who we choose to associate with know the old saying is birds of a feather flock together sometimes you can tell what our attitudes are by who we hang out with associate with the humble but notice the last verse there don't be wise in your own eyes or in your own opinion it says in the New King James don't be wise in your own opinion you know there's a danger to God's people that we think we know it we know a lot we've been to the church for a long time we can do this and we can do that and sometimes we take the first is and the very clear directives of God and we have our own opinion on them our own interpretation well this I know God is okay with this even though he says this he's probably okay because in my mind in my opinion I don't have to do that I've got an unusual situation I don't have to do everything that God said I don't have to pay attention to that detail in fact I don't even want to hear that detail I kind of closed my eyes and my mind that my ears when I hear that being said in the sermon or if I have read it an article or if someone mentions it to me at church I just kind of close my mind that's I don't want to hear that that's being wise in your own opinion what have you done when you done when you do that you put yourself above God I know more about his word and I know more about what God wants than what he says he wants don't be wise in your own opinion obey obey obey know what he means when he says it listen to the people around you listen to your husband listen to your wife listen to your church friends listen to what people say if they say something and if you hear it I always said if you hear it once boy examine yourself and think could that even be true but when you hear it twice no it probably is and you need to be be paying real good attention to what's going on you know God talks about even obedience to authorities here we are you know with a basically an empty auditorium here in Orlando six people here today well we have well over a hundred on another sin because we're obeying the authorities they say don't gather in large groups we're not gathering in large groups the church has said no more than no more no size no larger groups than nine and if there's a stay at home or a shelter in place pay attention to it obey it's part of our life it's part of what we do Luke 6 verse 46 I think sometimes we apply this verse to everyone else and a lot of people on the outside world excuse me but we better at some times look at it and say could this be me could I be doing this could God say this to me one day Luke 6:46 why do you call me Lord Lord and not do the things which I say it's very easy to say this and that about anyone else but you know what those are words to you and me words that Christ wrote to his disciples not to the outside world but to us why do you call me and does any one of us want God to say that why do you call me Lord Lord you didn't do the things I say you did a lot of it you didn't want to hear that you didn't want to pay attention they kind of closed your ears shut him up I don't want to hear that I've got a you unusual circumstance it doesn't apply to me every single word applies to every single person God calls right remember we've been read recently God says the same law that applies to you Israel applies to the stranger and foreigner it's all the same regardless of our circumstance God wants us to obey Philippians 2 Philippians 2 and verse 8 we have the example of our Savior who we are to be like Philippians 2 and verse 8 Jesus Christ who was the logos who is the son of God when he was human see what it says written about him and verse 8 being found that appearance as a man he humbled himself that's that Greek word top eNOS he humbled himself he went through the process that same process that you and I go through he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross before honor goes humility verse 9 Jesus Christ humbled himself obedient to the point of death therefore God has esteemed him exalted him and given him the name which is above every other name before we can ever accede to what God has promised for us we need to be going constantly year by year for the rest of our lives through the humbling process well let's let's let's go back to the New Testament here let me finish with a couple more points here Luke 18 and I'm not I'm not saying that I've got an exhaustive list here I hope that you will contemplate what we talked about today you'll think about examples in the Bible other points that you could add to it because no sermon can ever give you all the points of the Bible of a humbling process or anything else that we need to do we can kind of just set the pattern for you and hope and and then you can take it from there meditate pray study run with it from there but in Luke 18 I'm sorry I said Luke listen Matthew is what I meant Matthew 18 Matthew 18 verse 3 something that we rehearse every year you know the second Sabbath after the Feast of Tabernacles we talked about becoming like children a few 18 verse 3 assuredly I say to you Christ said in his words assuredly I say to you unless you are converted and become as little children you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven pretty clear words therefore whoever humbles himself there's that process there's our responsibility there's a creep word top he knows whoever makes himself of a lowly nature therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven let me just read to you here we've talked about this you know many times I've series from some of the commentaries what they say about this verse this is what the John Wesley commentary says he says the first step toward entering into the kingdom of heaven is to become as little children lowly in heart knowing yourselves utterly ignorant and helpless and hanging wholly on your father who is in heaven for a supply of all your needs those are pretty clear words right that's exactly what Christ is talking about Matthew then he adds this he says children when very young they don't desire Authority they don't regard outward distinctions they're free from malice they're teachable and they are willingly dependent on their parents they're not concerned about position they're not exert was concerned about who sees me they're dependent on their person Christ said be like them humble yourself go through the process in life continually examine yourself are you am i I asked myself in the state that God would have us be you can we could talk about the publican who was there because he wanted to be seen by people that was his motivator and what a Christ say about him he's got his reward wasn't the kingdom of heaven to mark down Philippians 2:3 where Christ says esteem others more highly than yourself that means all others not just ones that you might think in your mind are clearly that are clearly above you but everyone everyone to steam them more highly like Moses did treat them with respect treat them the way God has done that and let's look at Psalm 113 Psalm 113 is an interesting song let's look at verse 4 here in Psalm 113 says the eternal the eternal is high above all nations none of us would argue about that right God is above all every nation everything on earth he is high above all nations his glory above the heavens who is like him who dwells on high we'd all agree with that but look what he does who humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth and his position is so far above us his mind his thoughts are on this way are so far above us he's got the grand universe that we can't even measure and yet the Bible says in a knob he humbles himself to look in oh what's going on with you and me that's his attitude toward us I'm concerned with what's going on with them I want them to inherit the things that I have for them I want them to become I want them to get it I'll do whatever it takes to get their attention because I want to give them eternal life I want to give them the Kingdom of Heaven that's why they were created to begin that's why I call them and I'll look in and then I'll humble myself because I've got surely better things to do than worry about what rachet be is doing about or Ewers doing about but he does it because He loves us he raises the poor out of the dust he lifts the needy out of the ash heap that he may seat him with princes with the princes of his people he grants the bear and woman a home like a joyful mother of children praise God what a tremendous father what a tremendous elder brother we have that he would humble himself to look in and us and be that concerned about us that he bothers his day with us what about us is there anyone is there anyone that we consider so low that we wouldn't want anything to do with them looking at pass other is there anyone that we would say man I just don't know if I could wash their feet if I happen to get paired off with them I don't know what I do I have an issue with them I really don't like them I don't really consider them to be whatever it is we might not consider is there anyone that we would say we won't wash their feet are we people who would say you know I want to wash this person's feet because you know when we work together as a group what we do is just pair off as whoever you're with right there is no positioning ourselves there's no you know positioning ourselves in line because I want to watch this person speeder that's where it's that's not what it's all about at all this year's gonna be an interesting year right because we don't have people they're gonna be together like that it's gonna be interesting when husbands watch the wives of their feet right when we realize what it means what it means what we're doing Wow I esteemed that person highly maybe we're gonna be someplace and you know or whatever whose feet would we not be willing to wash you know if there's anyone like that that you've had that thought I wouldn't want to watch their feet that might be a signal you want to examine yourself might want to be a signal that you want to look out of what what this is because God says gotta be humble he's concerned about everyone what we might even seen the lowest person on earth he's concerned he'll keep knocking on the door what about us are we preparing in that way are we using this time this coronavirus time to really look at ourselves in the different situation where now we're in now you know Isaiah 66 verse two you know the verse you can mark it down God says to this one I will look to the humble this is the one I'll look to don't you want God to look to you to this one I will look who is humble and of a contrite God says I'm giving grace to the humble Christ said if you don't become humble as these little children you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven isn't humility something that we should be paying attention to and really examining now maybe more than ever you know the first step to healing physically and spiritually mister developing humility acknowledging guilt looking to God pre-eminently looking to him as the provider of all things as America and you and I go through this coronavirus situation if America were to turn to God if they would look at this and say this is something that God has sent what does he want us to learn God would hear if it was done heartfelt in a heartfelt manner and he says I would hear and if they would turn to me with their hearts I would heal their nation but instead we hear those arrogant words the same goes for you and me you and I desire spiritual healing we desire physical healing turn to him be humble to him the first step the first step that God wants us to do and one that we review every year is being humble to him let's examine our humility before God as we approach this Passover season [Music]

Channel: United Church of God Orlando

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Length: 69min 16sec (4156 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 28 2020