Alternate Tuesday
7.00 pm to 8.00 pm
Equip Time
MODELLING EFFECTIVE MINISTRY – HUMILTY VS PRIDE
Introduction – The truest test of character occurs in the arena where ministry takes place. Because that is where inner realities are revealed. That is also where the ministry’s fate is decided. Whether there will be fruit or none, whether it will be sustained or wilt into insignificance. There is no way we will talk about serving God or ministering to Him through our gifts and calling without jumping into the discourse of humility and pride.
Col. 3:12-14 - Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Note:
Compassionate heart: in the Greek, Heart /splagchnon/ = inward affection, bowels. It speaks of the ‘bowels of mercy.’
It is more than sentiment; it is an inward disposition that motivates concrete, self-giving action.
Kindness – speaks of moral goodness and gentleness towards others
Humility – Gr. /tapeinophrosune/ from two words; /tapeinós/= "low, humble" and /phrḗn/= "moderation regulated by inner perspective.“
It is an inside-out virtue produced by comparing ourselves to the Lord (rather than to others). Having a modest opinion of oneself; a deep sense of one's (moral) littleness.
Strongs Lexicon defines it as: the deliberate refusal to advance oneself, coupled with a readiness to esteem God and others above self.
Therefore, humility is acknowledging God is the source of our skills, strength and wisdom.
OUR ONLY COMPETITION IS NOT WITH PEOPLE, BUT WITH THE DIVINE STANDARD TO WHICH GOD HAS CALLED US TO BECOME.WE DO NOT MEASURE OURSELVES AGAINST OTHERS; WE MEASURE OURSELVES AGAINST THE FULLNESS OF GOD’S CALLING UPON OUR LIVES.
More on Humility…�
Ministry, if left unchecked, can cause a person to see himself/herself as the star who needs to be recognized and celebrated. If someone lacks the heart that owes it all to God and not self, he/she will be exposed to discouragement, dejection, and rejection. �
John the Baptist – a perfect example of humility
John 3:25-30 - 25Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. 26And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30He must increase, but I must decrease.”j
John was not intimidated by Jesus’s rising prominence; he recognized his assignment and stayed there.
In ministry, the way up is down. When we put ourselves down on the platter of God’s mercies (not our skills, influence, power or prominence), He lifts us up in our various roles in due time. James 4:10 - Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
We are most powerful in service to God when we stop fighting to be seen or seeking self-exaltation and start serving to exalt Christ.
THE MORE CHRIST INCREASES IN A PERSON, AND PRIDE DECREASES, THE SAFER THEY BECOME FOR GOD TO USE.
Ministering to the Lord through service requires us to imbibe these virtues:
True ministry is simply dying to your pride, ego, self, respect, and seeming indispensability. And be alive to the goal – Christ is exalted.
1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
Phi. 2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Psalms 149:4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.
Mark 9:35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
Let’s Comment on These Verses
Pride Goes before a Fall
One of the greatest dangers in ministry is that a person can begin sincerely with God and gradually become intoxicated with influence, visibility, gifting, entitlement, applause, revelation, success, or familiarity with spiritual things.
It rarely enters loudly. It comes subtly.
It can hide behind: gifting, hard work, vision,” revelation, church growth, and influence.
Isaiah 14:12-18 - 12“How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God, I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;c 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. 16Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, 17who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’
Note: the repeated language…”I will”…
When we choose to exalt ourselves, God Himself brings us down. He opposes the heart that says, without me, He (God) can do nothing.
God is no respecter of persons – Acts 10:34. None of us is indispensable. We are all replaceable.
Ezek.28:17 - Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you.
Lucifer’s beauty became his corruption. His gifting became his downfall. His position became his intoxication.
�SOMETIMES, THE VERY THING GOD GIVES YOU CAN BECOME THE THING THAT DESTROYS YOU IF HUMILITY DISAPPEARS. YOUR VOICE. YOUR REVELATION. YOUR LEADERSHIP. YOUR INFLUENCE. YOUR CHARISMA. YOUR SKILL. YOUR WEALTH. YOUR TIME.
King Uzziah – A downfall that started with Success.
2Chron.26: 5, 15 - 5He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.
15In Jerusalem, he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.
Vs.16-21 - 16But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valour, 18and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honour from the LORD God.” 19Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense. 20And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the LORD had struck him. 21And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD. And Jotham his son was over the king’s household, governing the people of the land.
Note: Humility in obscurity is easier. Humility in visibility is harder.�When his fame spread abroad, he succeeded beyond other kings; his heart was revealed.
This is why success is a dangerous test. Many people pray for growth, influence, opportunity, and increase. But increase magnifies whatever is already inside.
Pride makes people forget limits. He broke the rules(king was commanded to burn incense). He burned in anger against priest and became leprous. �It is dangerous to fight, disrespect, and disregard those God ordained to carry out His task. Its pride in full bloom.
Let’s Comment on These Verses
James 4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 29:23 One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
Jeremiah 9:23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
2 Corinthians 10:17-18 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.