BECOMING A REFLECTION OF JESUS SERMON SERIES

Humble

Luke 12:1-3

Pastor Robyn Hogue October 12, 2014 Skyline Presbyterian Church

Every visitor to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem must stoop to enter. The main entrance to the church is so low that no person, except a child, may walk through it erect. The door was made in this fashion to prevent medieval raiders from riding their horses into the church to persecute the Christians and disrupt services of worship. Although the threat of the medieval raiders has long since passed, the low door of the church has not been heightened to offer a more dignified and easier access to the birth shrine.

It has become symbolic and has become known as “Humility Gate.” Regardless of station in life, all who would visit the place of our Lord’s birth must enter the same low door in the same humble fashion. They must stoop down to enter one of the holiest and most sacred shrines of all Christendom.

When bending down to enter Humility Gate, we recall that this was the same way our Lord entered the human scene that first Christmas. Born in a stable, at the backyard of the world, He came without royal pomp or splendor and made His entrance through a humility gate. The world into which Christ was born was very much like our own. It, too, had its share of sadness, was torn by war, and was filled with suffering, injustice, and insecurity. Contrary to the pictures on our Christmas cards, Bethlehem was a crowded on-the-other-side-of-the-tracks kind of a city. God Incarnate chose to stoop through a humble experience common to all, that of being born into the world as a baby, in the least of all circumstances. That is how far Christ’s great love goes in order to show the world His never-ending quest for the hearts of all. By such action Christ demonstrated that no one is beyond the reach of His compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.

And frankly, it should be the same for us as Christ followers. Humility is a silent friend. It doesn’t point to itself. We don’t often see humility as a corporate value. Here are some helpful facets of humility. Humility is…

· A modest and accurate view of one’s self.

· A state of being a life-long learner

· The ability to see life as it really is and act accordingly

· To live knowing that God is God.

Notice I am not saying being humble is saying “Everyone else is better than I, and I am just a jerk compared to everyone else, so I’ll just be a doormat and let everyone else walk on me.” That is not what I am saying. Humility begins with an accurate view of our selves. It is not seeing ourselves higher than we are, not lower than we truly are.

If we are honest, we will admit that we are not all that smart. Only by God’s grace did we have the opportunity to accomplish what we did. Only with God’s help did we bump into that person who gave us the right contact for that doctor or therapist or book or church that helped us.

How about this as a definition for humility: We are not smart enough to be successful without God, but we are not dumb enough to mess it up if God is in it.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Ourliers, he makes a case for opportunities that come to us that have nothing to do with our ability. He says that Bill Gates happened to be born into an affluent family near a university that gave him access and practice with computers. If Gates was born in Rwanda, he might not have had that opportunity.

Humility directs us towards an accurate view of ourselves. When we have that we should not be arrogant but thankful for how God gave us the opportunities to be where we are today. Humility can surround us with thanksgiving. If it were not for God putting us here in the Puget Sound, we would not have clean air, clean water, a good health plan, a low crime rate compared to other places, beautiful scenery and breath-taking views.

Humility should also cause the sense of entitlement that some of us may have to evaporate. Imagine what the world would be like if Christians were the ones to say to our family, friends and co-workers, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” every time we are made aware that we have done something wrong. See how humility will make our jobs better? Don’t we all want employees or bosses who are humble enough to say, “You know, I messed up on that one. Sorry, my fault. I was so off on that. It was so not Jesus of me to say that.”

I’d like you to bring to your imagination the image of someone you would like to reach for Christ; someone you pray for, someone you would love to come to church with you. Got it? Now thank the Lord for that person. Name their strengths before God. Also name their weaknesses. Can you imagine what it might look like for you, to stoop through the Humility Gate to reach them? How might your relationship change?

Here’s the strange thing: We have to have a good self-esteem to be humble. If we have a low self-esteem we are often so hurting and so desiring of credit that it is hard to be humble. We tend to always want to toot our own horn or put others down.

But when we get to a place where we really know how great God is, how much God loves us, how God has chosen us to be His child and how all the good things in life come from Him, we will find improvement in our self-esteem.

All of us are sinners and I am not sure that some sinners are really greater sinners than others. Some sins are just more visible than others. I can cover up well on the outside and still be deeply broken on the inside. The Pharisees, whose outsides were whitewashed, had not repented of the inner hidden sins and were thus handicapped in their ability to love.

We are to be reflections of Jesus to those around us. We are to be humble, which means we will have a modest and accurate view of ourselves, become life-long learners, get better at knowing that God is God and have the ability to see life as it really is and act accordingly.

Upon leaving the Church of the Nativity it is necessary once again to stoop at Humility Gate. Again, we are struck by the thought that not only did our Lord come to us by way of humility gate in the stable, but He left this earth by way of humility gate on the cross.

It’s not practical to lower the threshold of our church doors so that we have to stoop to enter or to leave, but it would be a powerful reminder of how we are to serve others wouldn’t it? I encourage you to visualize the doorway to your classroom, your place of work, the place where you live, or shop, or spend time with your friends as a Humility Gate and become a reflection of Jesus there so that others may find God’s love.