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Introduction
What comes to mind when you think of humility?
There are some false perceptions of what humility is as well as many ways to remind us about what humility is not:
Benjamin Franklin developed a set of disciplines which he hoped would enable him to attain moral perfection.
He drew up a list of twelve virtues which he considered essential to achieving the good life.
He ruled each page with seven lines.
Daily he appraised and recorded his behavior.
During a conversation Franklin shared his profile of excellence with an old Quaker, who quietly informed him he had omitted the virtue of humility.
Benjamin Franklin developed a set of disciplines which he hoped would enable him to attain moral perfection.
He drew up a list of twelve virtues which he considered essential to achieving the good life.
He ruled each page with seven lines.
Daily he appraised and recorded his behavior.
During a conversation Franklin shared his profile of excellence with an old Quaker, who quietly informed him he had omitted the virtue of humility.
Someone once said, “We all want to play Hamlet.”
Someone once said, “We all want to play Hamlet.”
Carl Sandburg once said, “We all want to play Hamlet.”
Alfred Adler, one of the fathers of modern psychiatry, considers the desire for recognition one of the strongest of all human instincts.
Benjamin Franklin developed a set of disciplines which he hoped would enable him to attain moral perfection.
He drew up a list of twelve virtues which he considered essential to achieving the good life.
He ruled each page with seven lines.
Daily he appraised and recorded his behavior.
During a conversation Franklin shared his profile of excellence with an old Quaker, who quietly informed him he had omitted the virtue of humility.
While John was at the peak of his ministry, Jesus appeared on the scene and the crowds, who had once streamed out of the villages to follow John, began to follow Jesus instead.
As John watched them go, his only response was, “He must become greater, I must become less.”
John’s response to Christ is the same response which all of us must offer Him.
I believe that John was able to do this for the following reasons:
I believe that John was able to do this for the following reasons:
I.
He Mastered the Man —“I must become less.”
A. The desire for recognition is a universal human drive.
1.
We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction.
2. This desire often drives much that we do in life.
B. The desire for recognition can greatly derail us if left unchecked
1.
Even good deeds can be undone by an overeager desire for credit and self-acclaim.
2. At its worst it can even become ruthless.
History is strewn with the wreckage of the havoc visited upon us by people who have reached for greatness with no respect for God or fellow humans.
C. The church can suffer from improperly channeled egos.
1. Ego-centric preachers, ruling elders, resident critics—all trying to impose their will upon the kingdom of God.
2. The unbridled ego may be the single greatest threat to the health of the church.
D. The desire for recognition can be the source of great achievement.
1.
In response to the egotistical request of James and John to sit at His right hand
2. Jesus urged them to seek true greatness through service
2. Jesus urged them to seek true greatness through service
3. Christian greatness is a greatness that undergirds rather than overpowers, that seeks to serve rather than to be served.
4.
This is the greatness John the Baptizer rose to in this, his most difficult moment.
II.
He Was Mastered the Message—“He must become greater.”
A. John immediately saw the greatness of Christ
1.
He noticed it in his preaching.
2.
He witnessed it in his miracles.
3.
He saw his person
B. True greatness belongs only to Jesus
1. History validates his greatness.
He alone is without peer.
2. Jesus was more than the greatest man.
He is the Son of God.
According to the scriptures it is He who: made the world, sustains the world, saves the world, presides over the world.
He is in every way the incomparable Christ.
C. John may have been the first person to truly see this
1.
When he sees Him coming to the Jordan, there is no question in his voice: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
2. With these words John acknowledges Jesus as more than the master teacher, more than the great physician, more than a great humanitarian.
He is uniquely the Savior of the world.
Conclusion
Let me close with quotes from two of my favorite Puritan pastors who had much to say about this matter of humility:
Thomas Manton once said, “The best of God’s children have abhorred themselves, like the spire of a steeple … the least at the highest.”
The best of God’s children have abhorred themselves, like the spire of a steeple … the least at the highest.
THOMAS MANTON
The best of God’s children have abhorred themselves, like the spire of a steeple … the least at the highest.
Jonathan Edwards said, “Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil’s reach as humility, and so prepares the mind for true divine light without darkness, and so clears the eye to look on things as they truly are.”
Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil’s reach as humility, and so prepares the mind for true divine light without darkness, and so clears the eye to look on things as they truly are.
Thomas Manton
May the Lord help each of to remain humble before the Lord and to grow closer to him as a result!
Elliot Ritzema and Elizabeth Vince, eds., 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).
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