The Discipline of Humility - Charles R. Swindoll

our speaker today is dr. Charles swindle and I think the entire world knows him affectionately as Chuck prior to becoming Chancellor at Dallas Theological Seminary served as the seminaries fourth president he's the founding pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco Texas his desire is to establish the church with a solid biblical foundation based on the faithful exposition of the Word of God his vision includes the importance of corporate worship and an emphasis on small group ministries that provide encouragement and accountability in the body dr. swindle is author of more than 50 books in the featured Bible teacher on the popular radio program insight for living which is aired 2,000 times daily worldwide Chuck and Cynthia his partner in life and ministry reside here in the Metroplex and they love to spend much of their time with their four grown children ten grandchildren in am I correct - great four great-grandchildren would you please join me in welcoming chuck swindoll special greeting to you who are looking at the school for the first time on campus our faculty is over here on your right I'm going to have our faculty stand up if you're a part of the faculty team here full or adjunct let's welcome our faculty here today people if you attend here you'll learn to love them and theorem as they hope mainly that you will learn from them what it means to walk with Christ to love him to serve him all your life faithfully and passionately I came to school in 1959 and I was accepted on probation I'm so pleased to tell you that I was accepted I didn't care how probation doesn't matter I finally convinced him I could do the work and they let me stay and I am grateful to have made my way through the school as a student and to have reaped the benefits of what this place offers over the years that have passed since then graduated in 63 has been involved mainly in pastoral ministries except for that little window of time when I came here as the school got very desperate for leadership and reached deep into the barrel and asked me to be a part of it for a while and what a what a privilege to return an ever dream that would happen never did anyway you're in for surprises as you think about ministry and as you think about your future you have no way of knowing what is in front of you and so don't even begin to try to guess what that would be you take it a day at a time a decision at a time and one of the big ones that you face is is the school where you will be trained for ministry no doubt you have been impacted influenced in some way by a Dallas graduate and because of that you're curious you're intrigued you're interested and our hope is that you are called to come and find your training here if God leads you elsewhere that's his between you and him if he leads you here then we take up the torch of responsibility and we'll do our very best to train you for what's in front of you because the work you enter is the most dangerous work on the planet the danger begins here and it only intensifies as you are involved in the work God calls you to do and I do mean danger the things you will learn to love here will be the very things the adversary hates and will do his work his best to move you away from it to cool your passion and to distract you hopefully he will hope to get you to quit before it's over and to leave disillusioned let's just laying it out before you straight I my challenge is always the same if you begin here finish here or you don't really know what Dallas seminary has to offer it's a full package it's a plan that's been thought through by brighter Minds than ours and it has worked successfully now over 90 years and by God's grace on into a hundred and more years soon to be celebrated on this campus I want to talk to you about an area that will be a battlefield for you from the start and will continue through your ministry to the very end and it has to do with the necessity of humility the importance of humility while I'm on campus this year beginning last semester and then including this one I've been thinking about the words that Paul wrote to Timothy regarding the discipline of godliness discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness Paul writes to Timothy in the fourth chapter of his first letter discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness we've talked about the discipline of intimacy the death the discipline of relationships not only with him but with others the discipline of solitude and silence the discipline of serenity in one's heart today the discipline of humility came across a little book by that name by a man named David Bob I know nothing of David Bob but I appreciate his words regarding humility no one is naturally humble right this man but pride comes as easily to us as sleeping or smiling my wife and I can see that almost every day in the lives of our two sons in one unforgettable moment several years ago our older boy reached an infant's peak of pride sitting upright without any assistance flexing his flabby muscles of Independence our little Explorer looked around like he had summited Everest an explosion of pride hid his face beaming my wife and I reflected that pride back to our baby we're so proud of you we exclaimed it's a phrase a fortunate child will hear often enough to enlarge his heart but not so frequently as to swell his head just as pride comes naturally to human beings so too does arrogance now listen to this humilities opposite is arrogance not pride though the virtue of humility is occasionally praised in some faraway tribe remote religious order or politicians rural birthplace the reality of our fame addled and power-hungry existence today means that arrogance is rewarded and humility is ignored you cannot ignore humility administer effectively for Christ he's the one who said if you follow me the very first order of business in a list of three is to deny yourself those two words are an awfully good definition of humility self-denial and I can tell you without hesitation self dies slowly and painfully especially when you get the knowledge you're going to get at this school because as Paul writes in first Corinthians 8:1 knowledge makes arrogance makes arrogant knowledge puffs up without the humility you need your knowledge will work against you because when you graduate you will know things most people in your congregation do not know and that knowledge in itself will work against genuine humility the more you learn the more self-assured you can become the more confident nothing wrong with any of that if it is marked by genuine self-denying humility is essential now I want to look at three sections of Scripture that Illustrated beautifully one is an illustration from Jesus in mark 10 as he encounters two of his apostle two of his disciples who had great things in mind for themselves and then we're going to look at Paul's words in Philippians 2 this is in mark 10 we're going to look at Philippians 2 and then we're going to wind up Peters words in 1st Peter 5 all three related to the subject of humility now look at this little vignette there are times in the Bible you wish you were a bug on the wall and you were able to have been there to watch this happen this is one of those occasions we read in verse 35 that James and John who are sons of Zebedee they're called otherwise sons of thunder came up to Jesus saying teacher we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you you be Santa you give us what we want and we will be happy guys Jesus doesn't fall for it in fact he says what do you want me to do for you and they said to him granted we may sit one on your right and one on your left in your glory it doesn't matter I'll be glad to take left if he wants right or he can take left I'll take right how about it when we get there and we're ruling we'd like to be right there on each side of you deal jesus said to them you don't know what you're asking he's often said that to me not not audibly but I realized later what I was asking for was not a wise thing what they're asking for is not good for them you know what you're asking for in fact he asked them a question are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized you ready for that look at their imputed answer they say to him we're able we're your guys you bet whatever you put us through we're going to go with you through it we're ready we're able to do that jesus said to them the cup that I drink you sheltering you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized what you have in front of you all of this represents pain all of this represents ultimately martyrdom you have all of this in front of you but to sit on my right or on my left is not mine to give but it is for those to whom it has been prepared now you might wonder what the other disciples were thinking about right now they were ticked off the next verse tells us the 10 began to feel indignant with James and John now why they want to be on the right and on the left side they want a place of honor they wanted to be seen they wanted people to realize that they really knew Jesus like nobody else they were right there alongside and and then he calls them all to himself and he lays it out you know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them that's the way it is in the real world there are there are employers and there are employees in the military there are generals and there are Colonels and there are majors and there are captain's and there are lieutenants and right down the line and each under ranks salutes or shows respect to the one who is above him it's in right you have status there are the rich and there are the poor there are the knowledgeable and there are the ignorant there are those who are popular and there are those who are not known in the Gentile world it operates like that and look at what he says following that statement after he says that's the way it is there but it is not this way among you it's different in our ranks in fact the the particular syntax places this out of order and drives it home with real emphasis real emphasis not so but is the way the sentence begins it's awkward in English but the emphasis that marked records is that they might realize this is not to be among you we don't strut around with a rank on our shoulder we don't conduct ourselves as if we were something special or someone that deserves someone's respect whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant and whoever wishes to be first I'm young you shall be slave of all even the Son of man did not come to be served but to give and to serve before we move on I want you to think about that you are going to come to the school let's assume that God calls you here let's assume that you you do well you take their courses and you begin to get the system down languages come easily for you perhaps you grab hold of theology whether it's practical theology or systematic theology you learn the details of church history you can repeat those things you do well on your tests you began to realize you can do this and before long you can do it well and let's say that you graduate with honors nothing wrong with any of that that's great isn't fair to the others of us but it's it's it's a good thing if that's what happens to you and you come out walking across the stage to get your degree which you have earned and we will applaud you because we we respect the hard work that went into it I was at a and a commencement at a Bible College years ago in a Dallas grad who had been a classmate of mine happened to be on the faculty there and we sat together on the platform I spoke at that little commencement and and they began to give the it was happened to be it their tradition to provide the awards for graduates at the commencement we have a chapel where we do awards just before commencement but at the school they did all together any and they gave an award of course for the valedictorian top of the class and she was she was there to receive her reward and everybody just exploded in in applause except my buddy sitting next to me he was sitting and watching him I mean he didn't boo but he had his ass and his hands on his lap and I leaned over and I said you don't seem to be too excited he said you know it's too bad we don't give a warts for energy because I can tell you she is very right but her attitude stinks I'm concerned about that lady she got a lot of knowledge she's got a lot of ability to do the academic work what she doesn't have is humility it was obvious by his response that he had encountered her on several occasions in the classroom and while she could do the work there wasn't a grade for attitude nor is there one at Dallas seminary unfortunately we have an emphasis we place on spiritual formation where you can get in groups where you are accountable and you're involved within one another's lives and I urge you to be a part of that just as you would be in the courses you take because it is there that one on each other will be able to visit you in places that would not be that visible in the classroom or at least not addressed ah these disciples had so much to learn that nothing to do with a theological facts and biblical knowledge as valuable as those things are they had much to learn about character about humility there they're spending time with Jesus and they're jockeying for who's going to be sitting on the right and on the left if you're not careful so will you and you may leave here or you may stay here and go on and get your your next degree and then I get more concern for you I was invited to be a be on a television show I'm not big on TV the man who asked me to do it knew I wasn't so he said I promise I'll ask you again but I would like you to be a part of a panel that's okay he's a friend of mine and I was in a time when a little program called day of discovery was a big thing and he had invited a pastor it was me and he had invited a a Bible School president was a person we didn't know but he knew him and he would be there and he had invited a missionary who would be a part of this discussion and then I forget one other there were four of us and we were going to meet the day before I have a little discussion then we were going to do the filming the next day um so he said to me hey Chuck uh would you and Frank go and and meet this man who's the president of this Bible School he's coming in on a plane I'm not able to go and I'd like you to be there to greet him and get him to the hotel sure why not be great and we were standing around and I said to my friend uh do you know him he said no I I don't know him I've never met him and I said well maybe we can spot uh I didn't mean that like you're thinking a minute but um I thought maybe you know he may show up it may big Jesus a sign or I don't I don't I don't know anyway you got we missed him which really ticked him off because he had to heavy bag he don't want to check any bags you know he's one of those guys and and he's got to heavy bags he's walking off with it's got his hat down to his ear and he's got his time really tiny candy and we walked up he said oh we found him down on the way out I said oh excuse me he said I said you must you must be Bob so associate dr. Boggs owns and I go oh yeah right and he puts the bags in our hands so my buddy graduate I grab I said we just we have never met you we were just looking for for you as people got off the plane yeah he said well what does the president looked like I wanted to go a jerk dodo you look like a jerk and somebody that night at that hotel had the audacity to order a 6-pack in pretzels at 3 o'clock in the morning delivered to his room could you believe somebody would do that why wouldn't ever do it sure when you get out of school will you promise one another including God that you won't be a jerk because you're sharp and you know stuff and you're able to deliver the goods and because of that more and more people who want to listen to you when you preach or when you teach will you promise not to be a jerk as you get your degree and as you carry the name of $1.00 grad with you somebody down the line did not disciple this man so that he learned you carry your own bags you don't look for somebody else to carry him for you you don't expect kid-glove treatment you're you're like everybody else you put your britches on one leg at a time you take life just as it is and the enormous logs in your own I keep you from looking for the specks and somebody else's eyes if you learn that you'll be a miles ahead of many who are engaged in ministry and are an embarrassment to the cause simply because like James and John the lack humility turn from here to Philippians 2 here's an insightful reminder from Paul that we've all read look at verse 3 do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit well that's a straight command but with humility of mind as where it starts regard one another is more important than yourselves don't merely look out for your own personal interests but also for the interests of others notice the difference the humble attitude makes go back to the versus number one you stop being selfish getting married will help if you're not married uh marriage is a is a is a good Check Point really I just finished the book 41 and a george w bush writes it about his father it's a terrific book he's crazy about his dad and he's not unrealistic but he really does give him honor and he says people think that my dad gave me advice all the way through my presidency said my dad never once gave me advice on how to govern or direct the affairs of the of the nation but he did often pass along words of encouragement affirmation and everyone's of all a good story I could use he said he sent me one that I've gotten miles out of I'm passing on to you and you can use it there this couple that had been married for fifty or more years and just long enough to really live kind of under each other's skin and a woman was especially aggravated with him on one occasion when he came home in the store and he had stolen the can of peaches and she was living so she hauls him down to the police station she turns him in she says my husband stole account of peaches and wound up in front of a judge and the judge says how many peaches were in that can and man said six I'm gonna give you six days in jail so that you will learn a lesson old man that you don't steal wife's sitting in the back the courtrooms it he also stole a can of peas getting married helps a good wife a good husband holds you accountable part of the responsibility it's why many don't stay married they don't want to be accountable having kids will help having lots of kids will really help heavy grandkids won't help but they think you too you know hotshot but boy kids don't pain helps one man wrote Payne plants the flag of reality in the fortress of a rebel heart when you're flat on your back and you're enduring pain as a friend of mine right now living with a malignant brain tumor wrote recently she said since December 2013 pain has been my constant companion there's no arrogance there pain will help you and God has a way of bringing you down to size so that you learn to stop being selfish you get to a place where you succeed and you succeed more and the congregation falls in love with you and before long of all things are quoting you and you find a publisher or week enough to take one of your writings and publish it and then you get to be known and in that circle you all through this time the danger factor increases you learn according to this section to stop being selfish you curb your your tendency to be conceited look how he puts it emptiness in our empty conceit third you begin to regard others is more important than yourself you do people on your staff who are so gifted you give them the credit folks who want to give you the credit but it's a staff did it you have no reason to take the credit set the record straight tell him you didn't do it she did it he's the one that that lined this up it was his idea for us to have this series of meetings more important than yourself you don't look out for your own interests but the interests of others I think I wrote down how Eugene Peterson renders that year it is don't push your way to the front don't sweet-talk your way to the top put yourself aside help others get ahead don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand I like good advice and then verses 5 through 11 classic example have the same attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus and look at that these are all the steps down who although he existed in the form of God thought it not a thing to be grasped to remain equal with God but emptied himself made himself of no reputation took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness and this is the god man this is Jesus who leaves all the glories of heaven and comes to this depraved planet to rub shoulders with people that curse him and never understand him and spit on him nail him to a cross that's what this passage is about being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself became obedient to death even the death on a cross even a cross kind of death there is even a definite article even a cross kind of death how great is that mmm the reminder of the cross is enough to drop us to our knees Dwight Eisenhower was reflecting on the Normandy invasion and the great men some of whom very few of whom won a medal of honour in his opinion they all deserved it and he made this statement on one of those occasions humility must always be the portion of anyone who receives a claim earned in the blood of his followers or the sacrifices of his friends don't care who you are I don't care how greatly God use you you are standing on the shoulders of someone who has helped you get there I am eternally grateful for the faculty at Dallas seminary a few and whom are still here when I was here I am so grateful for the time they spent thinking through the issues and listening to my questions and spending time to care in those experiences of brokenness that I went through in the middle of my senior year and we were up I'm going to come back after the break and have what was called in I don't know if we still do it the seating of the seniors back in those days your your thesis was announced and you were introduced one by one to come down and you took your seat in the chapel and then when everybody got in place then there was applause and I missed the seating of the seniors because we went to Houston we got hit by a drunk driver totaled our car broke my son's jaw and drove my wife into the steering wheel gear shift there and and she began to hemorrhage she was carrying our second child we'd already lost one so we have no car we had no money we had another half year to go with the school not at the very bottom miss the seating of the seniors mister you know it's fun a few moments anybody applauds you here so you you look forward to it hello that's what it sounds like and you I didn't I wasn't a part of that I got back here late late that night it was dark our apartment was cold mr. January and Cynthia was crying and I was crying and our son was sick broken jaw and I I know what to do I just didn't know what to do hell is facing a couple of more papers I hadn't finished and and we were going to have the finals they did finals then after the Christmas holidays dealt seminaries done some dumb things but that was the dumbest to death understand they changed that now now you get the test before Christmas you can ignore it but anyway we were coming back to all of that and the next day I was at the very bottom there's a been see you sit on under great big old oak tree out here and I was walking away from Stearns hall and dr. Hendrix the late dr. Hendrix saw me he said Chuck a Michigan class this morning as a yes sir aya kind of come on some hard times and he said what do you mean this very busy man with a full load teaching set down that bench with me and put his arm around me I will never forget it so I want to tell you something I am with you through this tears filled his eyes I was sobbing I don't know what I'm gonna do he says you don't have to know we're gonna do this together this is a prof at this school it took time to think about someone else and not many schools like that there aren't many props like that I remember a number of things but that's one thing that is riveted into my mind the feeling of his arm around my shoulder that he cared I mean he's known all over the world who was a high run you know seminary student you know trying to get through and here he is asking about Cynthia that afternoon he came by to see her she was bedridden couldn't get up we were afraid we're going to lose our next baby I knew with you all that horror just at a time when I could have gotten to be beaten pretty arrogant about my grade sir the way way I'd made it through school God has a way of just bringing you're right now it's all part of your training you know to pay you in tuition for that just part of the curriculum one more quick look and I through I'm through for first Peter 5 take a look right quick these are penetrating words I exhort you verse 1 of chapter 5 I exhort the fellow the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ this is Peter this is our friend who blew it the night of the arrest but he came around and by the grace of God it was used of God to form the church and then of all things to write a couple letters and he says this to all of us Shepherd the flock of God among you exercising overthought oversight not under compulsion but voluntarily according to the will of God not for sordid gain but with eagerness nor yet as awarding it over those allotted to your charge but proving to be examples to the flock verse 6 humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you that's it Jesus tells James and John that they don't know what they're asking for Paul tells us to guard against arrogance Peter says don't lord it over the flock don't don't don't play king of the mountain don't be the bully don't hold it against people when they do something wrong don't get back at them because they made life a little miserable for you you're a shepherd you're not a heavyweight champion which reminds me I think it was Mohammed Ali said it's awful hard to be humble when you're the greatest I read a true story of he got on he just finished a heavyweight championship bout and one of course he got on first-class to fly back to New York and he was signing autographs and was living it up and flight attendant came by to make sure everybody had their seat belts snapped so she came to him he didn't they were getting ready to take off she said sir need to pass his seat belt he said Superman don't need no seat belt and she snapped back Superman don't need no airplane buckle up whole lot of stuff I could have shared with you that I brought with me but you've heard enough and you've listened very patiently now do it or don't come to Dallas seminary either do it right or don't show up come with a spirit of teachability that says lord whatever however whenever whoever I'm Yours I want you to know I'm willing to say no to myself I'm willing to take up your cross and I'm willing to follow you and I'm willing to do it in your timing in your way for your glory that's it there's no question there on your form as you fill it out for admissions but that's all implied it's part of being a Dallas seminary graduate that's what those people model usually usually thank you Father for the things you teach us when we didn't realize a class was in session Thank You four times our Father when you break us in mold us and business and twist us in the process we learn the value of living like Jesus lived help us our Father to enter into this teaching in an authentic way guard us from putting on a show of humility worst kind of arrogance phony humility may we be your men and women may we serve you faithfully and well all our days in the name of Jesus we pray everybody say Amen

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 51,966

Rating: 4.7571883 out of 5

Keywords: Dallas Theological Seminary, DTS, Charles Swindoll, humility, Day at DTS

Id: E60s7vH8RGQ

Length: 45min 45sec (2745 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 06 2015