Humility Like Jesus
What does humility look like? Sometimes it’s easier to understand something by looking at its opposite. So, what’s the opposite of humility? Pride. And what does pride look like?
What is Pride?
You might be prideful if you…
- Have a habit of boasting
- Think you're more important than others at work or at church or because you have more money than others
- Want others to serve you; in a relationship, you’re a taker and not a giver
- Think you know everything and have all the right answers
- Want the nicest things because you think you deserve them
There was a three-year-old girl sitting at a picnic table. After watching all the adults around the table struggle to open the pickle jar, she said, “I can do it!” and reached for the jar. She was prideful, wasn’t she? Why did she think she could do it when others more qualified couldn’t?
I'm a prideful person. I’m not someone to boast. I’m not the kind of person who needs to hear compliments and praise from other people. I don’t buy myself a lot of stuff - except tools, when I need to get a job done. But I do want others to like me and focus on me and respect me for the type of person I am. I expect people to listen when I speak. That’s prideful, isn’t it?
There’s another kind of pride. It’s the pride of not wanting others to see you fail or do something embarrassing or not know something.
Examples of Humility in the Bible
C.S. Lewis said humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less. And why would you be thinking of yourself less? Because you're thinking of God and others more.
Where do we see examples of that kind of humility in the Bible?
Moses - when he interceded for the people of Israel rather than taking God’s offer to make him a nation (Exodus 32)
John the Baptist - in saying he was not worthy to untie Jesus’ sandal, in not wanting to baptize Jesus, in wanting Jesus to become greater and himself to become less
Jesus’ Humility
How was Jesus humble? First, He submitted to leave His throne in Heaven to be born as a human and suffer all the things we do. He humbled Himself so far as to suffer and die for us.
Philippians 2:6-8
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Jesus submitted to the Father's will; when He was about to be arrested, He prayed, “not My will but Your will be done.”
When He was on trial, He didn't argue with the priests or Pilate. He did, however, tell the truth about how they were wrong. Which shows us that humility is not allowing others to walk all over you and you not saying anything about it. We can speak the truth in love. We can speak the truth humbly.
Foot Washing
The evening before Jesus was arrested, He washed His disciples’ feet.
John 13:1-17
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Jesus served out of love. When we humble ourselves to serve someone, it has to be because we love them. If we’re serving but not loving, we’re serving out of obligation, not humility.
The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Jesus didn't see Himself as lowly. He served because He knew He was not lowly. He knew who He was and what He was about. Don't serve others out of a sense of lowliness. Serve out of a sense of your identity in the Lord and confidence in your mission.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Why doesn't Peter want Jesus to wash his feet? I think Peter is thinking about an event he witnessed earlier, when someone washed Jesus' feet.
Luke 7:36-48
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
What type of woman was washing Jesus' feet? A sinful woman who needed to be forgiven. Her rightful place was to humbly serve her Lord who saved her. That's all of our rightful place, by the way.
But does Jesus need to be forgiven for anything? Does Jesus need to be humble toward anyone? He’s God! Does He need to serve anyone?
So Peter sees what Jesus is doing in washing His disciples’ feet and thinks, Is Jesus taking the place of a sinful woman humbly coming to wash my feet? No way! This is not the place Jesus deserves in my life!
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
It’s like Jesus is saying, “Peter, unless you learn this lesson, you can't be My disciple. Peter, unless you learn humility the way I'm showing it right now, you won't be fit for the ministry I want you to do.”
If you want to minister to others, if you want the Lord to work through you, you don't care how humbling yourself looks to other people. You don't care about the respect you think you deserve. You just serve.
What kind of service is below you? What kind of service would you not want others to see you humbly doing? None - because Jesus didn't consider anything below Him, and we're certainly not better than Jesus.
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
He was washing Judas’ feet! Jesus knew that Judas was already planning to betray Him. Judas did not deserve to have Jesus serve him. But Jesus showed love and served him anyway.
Do you remember what Jesus called Judas when Judas came with the guards to arrest Him? He called him “Friend.”
Who is undeserving for you to serve? No one.
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.
Jesus served, then returned to His place and started teaching again. Humility is teaching.
“Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
God blesses the humble.
Jesus was humble to set the example for us. And it was a lesson that Peter learned well. Peter became so humble that when he was arrested for being a leader of the Christians and was about to be crucified, he said, “I’m not worthy to die my Lord did. Turn me upside down.” So Peter was crucified upside down.
Being Humble
What does humility look like for us?
- Saying no to your flesh
-
Loving and forgiving
others
- Knowing that anything good
in me comes from the Spirit of Christ, and anything worthwhile I say is because
Jesus led me to say it
-
Submitting to God's will
-
Living simply so that you
can be generous in meeting the needs of others. Asking what would Jesus spend
your money on? He would use it to bless you, yes, but not more than He would
use it to bless other people
-
Prioritizing God and the
time you give Him above yourself
-
Listening to wise advice
- Humbling yourself and taking correction from someone
Conclusion
Who does the Lord Jesus want you to be more humble toward? What's one way you can act more humbly toward them this week?
Who does He want you to serve?
How does Jesus want you to think of yourself and present yourself more humbly?
Now that you know these things, may your God and Father bless you for carrying them out!
