Humility

^     Isaiah 66:2 - All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit

          and trembles at my word.

    Psalm 138:6 -  For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.

     1 Peter 5:5 - Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1. Humble      people are small in their own eyes.

John 1:27 - even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

2. Humble      people know that God determines the outcome.

Proverbs 21:30-31 - No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel
can avail against the Lord. 31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but the victory belongs to the Lord.

Proverbs 16:9 - The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Psalm 127:1 - Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

John 15:5 - I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

3. Humble      people have confidence in God.

Romans 9:15-16 - For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

2 Timothy 4:18 - The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

4. Humble      people consider others better than themselves.

Philippians 2:3 - Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Romans 12:10 - Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

James 1:9-10 - Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.

5. Humble      people have learned to embrace their weaknesses.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 - Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

How do you learn Humility?

1. God      teaches it.

Deuteronomy 8:1-5 and 16: "The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.

16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.

Hebrews 12:5-11 - 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

2. We      learn it from Jesus.

Philippians 2:5-8: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.