You have your Bibles open with me to Ephesians
chapter four.
Turn there or look on the screen, either one,
we'll have the verses for you. And don't
forget,
keep reminding of you, the first three
chapters of Ephesians give us heavy theology
and doctrine of
who Christ is and who we are in Christ. And
then the second half of the epistle to the Eph
esians
is now that we know who we are, how are we to
live? So it's divided right in the middle. And
so
now we're moving into how are we now to live?
If you look there in verse one, Paul implores
us.
Remember, that word in the Greek is begs,
literally, to walk in a manner worthy of the
calling
with which you have been called, the high
calling to come to repentance and faith in
Jesus Christ
and be a Christian. And we took two sermons to
consider. What does it mean to walk worthy?
And in general, walking worthy means living a
life that matches our position in Christ.
And how do we learn to live up to who we are?
How do we do that?
If you remember from last time, I told you
that the Greek word for worthy has to do with
balance, one of my favorite words I say to you
all the time. It's a word used of equalizing a
scale.
We are to equalize our behavior in accordance
with our identity as Christians. If you
profess
with your lips to be a Christian, how are you
living out that profession? Paul is calling us
to live as who we are. We are children of the
king of kings, to live up to our position.
So again, we ask the question, okay, brother
Philip, how do we do that? How do we walk
worthy?
Well, the answer comes next, as it often does,
in verses two and three, and let's read them
together.
How do we walk worthy, Paul? With all humility
and gentleness, with patience,
showing tolerance for one another, in love,
being diligent to preserve the unity of the
Spirit
in the bond of peace. Those are five things in
there that are characteristics of the worthy
walk. Look here, humility, gentleness, also
translated in other translations, meekness,
and patience, also translated long suffering
in other translations, showing tolerance in
love
and in unity, five characteristics. This is
where it starts, and humility, the first one,
is basically the overarching principle, and it
really encompasses the other four.
They really all fit together, one another, and
yet, yet at the same time, they're different.
And so we're going to walk through a
progression with these characteristics.
Wherever you find true biblical humility,
there will be gentleness, there will be
patience.
It will result in tolerance for one another,
in love, with the end result being that last
thing in verse three, unity. So they're all
tied together, but there's shades of
differences.
But again, the key to the whole thing is
humility. Now, true humility
is a very elusive thing. We talk a lot about
humility in the Bible, but do we really
understand it?
Just exactly what is humility. Somebody said,
"It's that thing that when you finally got it,
I'm humble," then you lost it right there.
Like I said last week about the humble brag,
remember? So maybe it's when you don't know
you've got it that you really got it,
but that isn't necessarily true either,
because some of us know we haven't got it,
because we know it's proud. So it is a very el
usive reality, and yet at the same time,
it is a very necessary thing if we are going
to walk worthy of the calling with which we
have been
called. Now, a prime example is, of course,
Jesus, the self-existent second person of the
Trinity
who created all things, who sustains all
things in the universe. He came here before in
glory,
exalted infinitely above any human being who
ever lived, and yet Paul says this in Philipp
ians 2,
verse 8, about Jesus being found in appearance
as a man. He, look at that word, humbled
himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross. I want you to think
just that he became a man. Starting as a fetus
in his mother's womb, consider the condesc
ension
of the one who existed from all eternity as
God, allowing himself to become totally
dependent
upon his earthly mother as a fetus, as an
infant, as a toddler. It's extraordinary.
It's mind-boggling. There's no reality like it
in all of human history. And in Matthew
chapter 11,
verse 29, he said, "For I am gentle and humble
in heart." Consider Jesus born in a stable.
After he left home to start his ministry, he
never owned a home. He never owned property.
He never accumulated any wealth. He was buried
in a borrowed tomb.
And it's extremely convicting to know what
John teaches us in 1 John 2, 6,
the one who says right here, he abides in him,
ought himself to walk in the same manner as he
walked. And there's that word walk again,
lifestyle. He walked in humility every day.
And that is something that is so opposite to
the culture of our society in this day and age
.
Our culture does not accept humility. We exalt
pride, especially here in America.
When do you hear great speeches from any
politicians about humility? Never.
In fact, all through history, with Satan
behind the scenes, of course,
most societies have looked down on humility as
weakness, as something to be despised.
We think of the humble person as the milk
toast beta male who's afraid of his own shadow
. That's
what comes to our mind as Americans in the
culture. But does that define true humility
as we learn about it from Scripture? In our
country, we love to talk about the things that
we are proud of. We always say how we're proud
of so and so. And there's a place for that,
certainly with your children, especially in
your grandchildren. They do make an
accomplishment.
We're proud of you. I'm proud of you. You
should say that to your children and
grandchildren. But
we take here in our country boasting and par
ading and exalting people to a whole other
level.
We are forever pinning awards on everybody. I
mean, today every kid gets a trophy just for
participating. It wasn't like that when I was
a kid. Hollywood and the music industry love
giving
out awards. And millions of people watch the
award shows and watch them be awarded when
they do.
You have to understand why this is. We are
proud by nature. As sons and daughters of Adam
as fallen people, we come into this world
fallen and we're proud by nature. But here in
Scripture,
God has called us to the exact opposite. He
has called us to humility
while the world throws pride at us constantly.
As you know, pride was the first sin ever
committed.
The angel Lucifer decided that he would exalt
himself above God. You can read about it in
Isaiah 14. You can read about it in Ezekiel
chapter 28. The whole story is in both those
texts. And
remember, you've heard many preachers say this
and I'm going to say it again. He got the eye
disease.
I will be like the most high. I will be ex
alted. I will, I will, I will five times he
said it.
And then one time God said, no, you won't and
threw him out of heaven. Pride was the first
sin.
I will be exalted. I will exalt myself and
people are still staying and doing that.
Today, C.S. Lewis said this, for pride is
spiritual cancer. It eats up the very
possibility of love
or contentment or even common sense. But in
Proverbs 11 verse two, it says,
when pride comes, then comes dishonor with the
humble is wisdom. Proverbs 16 five says this,
everyone who is proud in heart is an ab
omination to the Lord. Assuredly, he will not
be unpunished.
Proverbs 16, 18, pride goes before destruction
and a haughty spirit before stumbling.
Proverbs 21 for haughty eyes and a proud heart
. The lamp of the wicked is sin. So the
scripture is
clear about pride. On the other hand, true
humility, biblical humility is a virtue of the
Christian.
It should always grieve believers to see other
Christians or even ourselves engaged in pride.
So how do we overcome pride? Well, let me tell
you, if you really sit and think about it and
you
don't see it overcoming pride as a battle that
you have to engage in with yourself every
single day,
you are a long ways away from getting to what
we're dealing with here. It's a battle. It's
in us.
Pride is a sin because it is the sin of
competing with God. Pride lifts me up and
steals from God
his glory. In fact, God says in his book, I
will not give my glory to another.
In fact, if you think you can compare yourself
with God, Isaiah two has a word for you.
In verses 10 and 11, listen to what he says.
Enter the rock and hide in the dust
from the terror of the Lord and from the
splendor of His majesty. The proud look of man
will be
abased and the loftiness of man will be
humbled and the Lord alone will be exalted in
that day.
Whether you believe that or not, it does not
affect the reality of it and one day every
knee
will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
The scripture promises that every president,
every king, every prime minister, every low
person,
every high person, it doesn't matter. It'll be
every human being who ever lived in history.
God alone is worthy of exaltation. God alone,
no one, ever, else, nothing you've ever done,
nothing I've ever done, nothing we've ever
done or will ever do that's worthy of glory
or worthy of honor in comparison to God.
Nothing. The Puritans were right to place the
emphasis
from scripture on designating all of us,
including themselves as worms compared to God.
We are worms. We are lower than worms. If you
don't understand that,
you're not understanding the God of the Bible.
All right. It says next in Isaiah 2.12,
"For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reck
oning against everyone who is proud
and lofty and against everyone who is lifted
up that he may be abased." That is a serious
word.
The same theme goes on for the rest of that
chapter. And what he is simply saying is this,
God is going to judge pride in particular. The
people of Israel and Isaiah's day,
go back and read. They paraded pride just like
we do today.
I mean, think about our nation for a minute.
Keeping up with the Joneses. That is a
uniquely
American saying that many people are wholesale
engaged in, whether they have a lot or a
little,
as far as earthly terms are considered. So
many people in our country are very concerned
about having the best car and the biggest
house and the best clothes and the newest
electronics
and the nicest stuff. They're consumed with
that. And the underlying reason for that right
there
is pride. Thinking of ourselves is better than
other folks. Looking down on others,
because through your stuff, you are trying to
display how successful you are and how others
below you are not. Now, don't get out of
balance. There are things that we need, right,
to survive,
to live. But as you well know, there is a big
difference between what you need and what you
want.
Big difference. And when getting what you want
is for the sake of having more
and better than other people so that you can
exalt yourself, that's pride.
And also don't get out of balance with making
good money and enjoying the blessings of God
when you do make good money. Making a good
living and having nice things are not a sin at
all.
There's no virtue in poverty for poverty's
sake, but it's what you do with what you have
that is the issue. If you're a Christian and
you're living your life with the prime
motivation
of bringing glory to God with your life, what
you do with what you have will be very
different
from keeping up with the Joneses. You won't
care about the Joneses, one eye open, if you
're living
for the glory of God. Remember James 4-6, "God
is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to
the
humble. God is against pride. God is for
humility." Proverbs 15-33, "The fear of the
Lord is
instruction for wisdom and before honor comes
humility." Proverbs 27-2, "Let another praise
you
and not your own mouth, a stranger and not
your own lips." Let somebody else do that.
If you have any tendency whatsoever to be
proud, go back and read Ephesians 2 and who
you were
before you came to Christ, dead in your tresp
asses and sins, by nature a child of wrath and
it goes
on and on. And the only reason that we've been
changed, the only reason we have faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ is the sovereign hand of God
invaded our life to change us. And really,
if you think about it, every sin before God
really has its root in pride. If you trace it
all the way
back, because all sin is a defiance of God and
His right to be God. Wherever you find
problems,
whether in the family, in the workplace, in
the church, if you trace the root of the
problem at
some point in your tracing, you're going to
find some pride. That's why when anybody used
to go to
a brother Huey Mote with a problem that they
had with another person, most of the time
before you
left, you were the problem according to him. A
lot of times people didn't go back with a
problem
about another person for the second time. They
got enough dose in that first time. No matter
what
you've done in your Christian life by way of
ministry or service or Bible reading or church
attendance or prayer, if you have never walked
in humility, you have never known what it
means to
walk worthy of the calling with which you have
been called. That's why the very first point
Paul
brings up here in verse 2. How are we going to
walk worthy of this calling? Paul verse 2 with
all humility. I mean, you can't be saved
without humility. Jesus said in Matthew 18,
verses 3 to 4, "Truly I say to you, unless you
are converted and become like children,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."
Whoever then, look at that word,
humbles himself as this child. There's your
example. He is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven.
When you come to Christ in repentance and
faith, you don't bring anything with you,
but your sin. That's all you have to offer him
. You acknowledge before him that you deserve
nothing
except his wrath. You recognize in yourself
your complete spiritual bankruptcy at that
moment.
You come with no works whatsoever to present
before him. You come as a beggar seeking only
mercy and grace from him. You can only
approach God for salvation in complete
humility as a sinner.
That's why the gospel offends so many people
when you give it to them. That's the only
right attitude that you can have in order to
come to Christ on his terms is humility.
And then when the miracle of regeneration
happens and you repent, you believe in Christ,
and once you're in the family by grace through
faith alone, there's no other way to walk
worthy
of this great calling once you're in humility.
The primary standard of Christian living, the
very
top characteristic of every Christian should
be humility. Now go back to our text.
Remember, there are five characteristics here
in verses two and three of a worthy walk, so
don't
plan to get too far into the five. The goal of
everything though here is in verse three,
the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.
That's the goal that we're heading to. Paul
continually wants us to know that God desires
unity in his church. We saw that over and over
here in the first three chapters of Ephesians.
Remember, we are one man, one body, one family
,
one household, one habitation of the spirit.
We are to be opposite of the world in the
church.
You know yourself because we all live here.
The world is full of disharmony. How many
people
do you encounter in workplace, wherever you
are, Monday to Saturday, on social media,
full of bitterness and anger and resentment?
And here in our culture, it's every man for
himself most of the time. But we, as the
church, we are to be an oasis of unity on
display before
the outside world. Even though we are a small
church here, one of our greatest traits as a
church
is that here we have unity. And that's not a
statement of pride, it's just the truth.
We do. We know it. We're here every week. We
live in this church family because remember,
the bigger the church, the more problems you
have. The last possibility of unity you have.
And we just happen to be a whole lot less
sinners bumping into one another every time
we come together than many other churches. But
we do have unity. There are churches as small
as ours that don't have unity. So we have to
strive more than anything to keep the unity
that we have in our church. So that we can say
to others outside, not look what we can do,
but rather look what Christ can do with a
group of sinners saved by grace, but sinners
still.
You can have unity in this church that you
rarely find in the outside world with groups
of people.
Because for sure, if everybody in a church is
walking in pride, you'll never have unity in
that church. When everybody is out for what
they want and what they can get, unity is out
of the
picture. But where you have people walking all
individually in humility, there you will find
unity. And as always, listen carefully, not in
perfection. Perfection for any Christian
doesn't happen until you get to heaven. Not in
perfection, but all of us walking in humility
in the direction of our life. Not perfectly,
but striving for that goal. Sometimes att
aining it,
sometimes not. Getting back up on the horse
and trying again when you fail. Paul exhorts
us in
Philippians two, three, do nothing from
selfishness or empty conceit. Look at that
word, but with
humility of mind, regard one another as more
important than yourselves. Unity happens in
a church, in a family, in a workplace. Peace
happens. We are all together regarding one
another
as more important than ourselves when we are
looking first to the needs of others before
our own needs. That brings about a unity and a
peace that is naturally, humanly, unexplain
able.
It doesn't exist outside a group of unified
believers. That just doesn't happen in the
world.
But that is what God wants in his church, that
kind of unity. And for sure, that's something
that we
have to work at and be intentional in because
it does not come naturally to us. But for
Christians
and the power of walking in the spirit, it is
possible. You can. Now, this phrase here in
verse two, look at it all humility. In the
Greek, that means total humility, nothing else
,
no exception in everything. Man, that's very
convicting. This means that the standard that
Paul is giving us is humility in every
attitude, every relationship, every act, every
deed he is
saying we are to to manifest humility. And if
you don't think you have to struggle and
battle
and work at that every day, again, I'm going
to tell you one more time, you're a long way
from it.
And here's the second part to that Greek. It
means low. It sometimes refer to as for poor
people,
low, low class in society. It's also used to
speak of unimportant.
And what it's getting at is that is how we're
to think of ourselves as low
as unimportant. That's directly opposite of
how the world wants you to think of how our
culture
wants you to think. Think about all the people
on social media wanting to be Facebook and
Twitter
famous. Think of all the people who actually
strive to boost their self-esteem based on the
number of likes that they get on social media.
That isn't especially a big problem with our
young people. When social media engagement
goes wrong, it can lead to suicide. And it has
many
times based on the likes and shares that
somebody doesn't get or based on the bullying
on social
media. When somebody posts something, it's a
terrible problem. And the root of it all,
pride.
I wish we could go back to no social media. I
put us out there on social media because that
's
where the people are. That's the public square
now. But putting us out there means putting me
out
there. And I would just rather it be like the
old days and it just didn't exist. So I didn't
have to do it. But those days are gone forever
. They're not coming back. And we have to be
wise
about what we put out there on social media.
And always we have to ask ourselves some
questions
before we hit share or send or whatever the
button is you're pressing. First question is,
before I put this on there, will this glorify
God?
Or how about will this bring reproach upon the
name of God that I'm fixing to share?
Or how about will this affect my witness as a
Christian before I share it? Let me tell you,
I'm far from perfect with that, especially on
Twitter. I get a little more dicey on Twitter
if
you follow me on Twitter, especially in a
political year like this one. But I'm striving
to be better.
But that should always be the standard that we
're striving for in all of our engagement,
both inside the church and out. The world says
we ought to always think of ourselves as
something
great. Big emphasis on self-esteem has to be
high. And you want to raise good confident
children who
are confident in their self, but Scripture
tells us self is our problem. It's exactly the
opposite
of what psychology tells us. The Scripture
says we are to live selfless lives. The
Scripture calls
us to die to self. And Paul is telling us here
to think of ourselves as love. Remember, he
says
in Romans, we are not to think more highly of
ourselves than we ought to think. How ought we
to think with all humility? An interesting
note here is that the word for humility was
coined by
Christians because that word never appears in
classical Greek. Neither the Romans or the
Greeks
had a word for humility. They didn't have one.
And the reason why? They despised
the attitude of humility. They just used a der
ogatory word in its place. They saw humility
as cowardly and they mocked anybody who
thought of themselves in that way. But in the
Christian life,
it's the opposite. Humility is to be the
primary virtue. What did Paul say? Even though
he was,
wow, extremely very well educated, he had
traveled the world. He was extremely gifted as
a speaker
and as a writer. He said, there's only one
thing I boast in. It's Christ. If I'm going to
boast,
I'm going to boast about Christ. I'm going to
boast in Christ. And of course,
just look at the life of Jesus, the standard,
acquainted with grief, hated without a cause,
homeless, betrayed, condemned, mocked,
numbered with criminals beaten and nailed to a
cross.
It was his life. Even though he was God in
human flesh,
he walked in total humility when he was here
as a man, tempted in all points,
as are we yet without sin, the Bible says. And
look at Psalm 138 in verse 6.
It says, although the Lord is exalted, yet he
regards, look at that, the lowly,
but the haughty he knows from afar. You see?
That's what we're to be striving for. It's all
over
the Bible. Not exalting ourselves, not
thinking we've made it. We're big time looking
down on the
people below us. It's the opposite. And we are
to think of ourselves, listen carefully, not
as
doormats for people to run over. That's not
what we're talking about. That's not the idea,
but as low in biblical humility, with
understanding, with wisdom.
As Paul says, "Enact serving the Lord with all
humility of mind." If you don't see yourself,
Christian, as anything more than a humble
servant of the King, you will never walk
worthy of the
calling with which you have been called. "I am
what I am by the grace of God," Paul said.
That has to be our mantra every day. That's
what our attitude should always be.
Now, let me close out with just three short
points of application for you.
I'm going to give you three characteristics of
true humility. Okay, you ready? Number one,
self-awareness. You ever met anybody with no
self-awareness? We all have, right?
True humility starts with self-awareness. Hum
ility is, one commentator says,
"The virtue by which a man becomes conscious
of his own unworthiness."
Humility starts with really looking at
yourself honestly. And that involves, listen
to me,
a daily, honest confession of your sins before
God. You don't have to go to anybody else but
him.
One mediator between God and man, the man
tries Jesus.
Now, at this point, I've got to take a little
break and remind you,
there's two levels of forgiveness in the
Christian faith. Number one,
you come on Bible repentance and saving faith
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Imposition,
judicially, you're forgiven of all of your
sins. Past, present, and future. Christ takes
all of your sin upon himself on the tree, on
the cross. Now, all of God's wrath is poured
out
upon Christ as your substitute on the cross.
All of his righteousness is imputed to you,
and all of those sins are forgiven. That's imp
osition, but there's a second level
of forgiveness. We're living here. We're
breathing in and exhaling out God's air,
and as we do as Christians, our inner redeemed
spirits are completely and always wanting to
do every second of every day that what is
right and fitting before God, but we're enc
ased in
bodies of flesh, of spirit wars against the
flesh, the flesh wars against the spirit.
That's how God has ordained for us to grow as
Christians, to go through this struggle.
And so therefore, since we do sin every day as
Christians, saved by grace, but sinners still,
we need to go before God in daily prayer and
acknowledge that reality. And then you can
turn and say, "And I thank you, Lord, that all
my sins are forgiven." You get to go right to
the gospel and preach the gospel to yourself,
which you should do every single day, because
we
can mask who we really are, not only with
others, but do you know we can even deceive
ourselves?
We can convince our own selves, even as
Christians, you know, really, I'm doing pretty
good. I read my Bible this morning, I prayed.
I mean, that's why daily you need to get real
with God every day. As I've said many times,
think about, just think about it for a second.
There is no sense putting on a show for God.
He's omniscient for heaven's sake. He knows
what
you are going to say or think before you do.
So you might as well just lay it all out there
for
Him, because He knows it all anyway. And be
honest with Him every day, on a daily basis.
Look, as Christians, we are always pressing on
toward the mark, as Paul teaches us, but don't
kid yourself. You are not at the mark. I am
not at the mark. We are not at the mark. We
have not
arrived. We don't arrive until we get to
heaven, but we are striving. We are striving.
We don't
obtain the prize this side of glory, but we
are striving to live in a way that brings
glory to
God. So proper self-awareness daily about
where you are right now in your Christian life
when you
pray and you should daily, when you get away
from daily, I can tell you that's where you
start doing
things like comparing yourself with other
people. That's what you start to do. I mean,
we can always
find people worse than us, right? Really, I'm
not that bad. I'm like that guy, right? Kind
of like
when you're in school as a kid and you brought
home a C, and what did you say? Well,
everybody else
got Ds and Fs, right? There's always a lower
standard that you can compare yourself to. Don
't do
that. Just compare yourself with yourself. It
's bad enough when you go before God in prayer,
deal
honestly with Him. He wants you to do that. He
doesn't want you to put on a show before Him.
If you do that daily, I promise you you will
be headed in the direction of a healthy,
mature,
spiritual Christian life. Number two, Christ-
awareness. If you are not the standard who is,
Christ is.
When we compare ourselves with others or even
with our own selves, that's when we get proud.
But compare yourself with Christ, and you'll
go straight to humility when you do that.
Remember, I quoted earlier, I'm going to say
it again. This is very convicting. 1 John 2-6.
The one who says he abides in him, ought
himself to walk lifestyle, live in the same
manner as he
won't. There's your standard. That's the high
bar that you're to be reaching for. And if you
ever
say, "I've reached it," you need to go back to
the starting gate because you haven't in this
life,
but you're to be reaching for it. Comparing
yourself with Christ is the most spiritually
healthy thing that you can do because it keeps
you in check with who you really are.
And then we broaden it out to number three,
the last one, God-awareness. What's the
difference?
Well, I want you to think about this. When we
see Christ in the Scripture,
most of the time, except for parts of the book
of Revelation and other parts in the epistles
and
stuff, but most of the time, especially in the
Gospels, when we see Christ and we encounter
Christ in the Scriptures, we see him as a man.
Think about it. We just went over the feeding
of the 5,000 last week in the book of John. We
see him there as a man with this great miracle
,
and he was the only perfect man. But as a man,
he always gave the right answers.
We give so many dumb answers, especially me.
And he always said the exact right thing at
the exact right time, every time. He always
had the perfect attitude in response to every
single
situation. I fail at that so often. He knew
exactly in every case how to help everybody
who needed help in exactly the right way that
they needed to be helped. And I fail at that
too,
in so many ways. But we see him in the Word in
every situation as a man acting in all those
ways
and more. And there, as he was a man when he
was here, there's our standard, our ultimate
standard
right there. But then you broaden it all out.
After you read another amazing account and
another
amazing account of Jesus' life and how Jesus
navigated life when he was here, as you do
that,
you begin to realize this is God. That's how
he can behave this way.
This is God who came to earth in human flesh.
We weren't expecting to act any other way.
And when you back it all the way out, then you
really become aware of your lowliness.
What happened when Isaiah compared himself
with God? When he saw God high and lifted up
on his throne in Isaiah 6, the very first
words out of his mouth, "Woe is me." Remember?
He saw God and he said, "Woe is me, for I am
undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and I
dwell
amidst a people with unclean lips." That was
his first reaction to being in the presence
of a holy God. How did you get that immediate
awareness, Isaiah? How did you come to that
humility? He says next, "For my eyes have seen
the king," he said. And instantly, "Woe is me
."
That was his reaction. That's the right
perspective. When Paul said, "I am the chief
of sinners,"
that's the apostle Paul who wrote two-thirds
of the New Testament, who wrote this epistle
of
Ephesians. That was self-awareness from Paul.
Do you remember when Peter looked at Jesus
after he pulled in that huge net of fish after
fishing all night and they hadn't caught
anything?
And Jesus said, "Put it on over on this side."
And Peter said, "Okay, just do what he wants."
When Peter saw all those fish in that net, he
said, "First thing, depart from me. Oh,
Lord, get away from me, for I am a sinful man
," Peter said. That is Christ-awareness of who
he is.
When Isaiah saw God and he said, "Woe is me, I
am undone," literally, it means, "Woe is me,
I am literally unraveling before you as I look
at you." That's God-awareness. It's the
attitude of
Psalm 8-4. "What is man that you take thought
of him and the Son of man that you care for
him?
Who am I in comparison to God Almighty? I am a
worm." That is a good start, but that didn't
get to
the full reality. Humility, chief perspective
that we're to have. We're calling. We're going
to
walk in the way Paul is calling us to. Now,
next time, we're going to move on to verse 2.
And gentleness. It's also translated there, me
ekness. Meekness is not weakness. And we're
going to
learn that if you come back after next Sunday
when we're at Foster Road, Lord willing, and
we'll be
back in this book of Ephesians. Let's pray
together. Father, in heaven, we thank you for
amazing and profound teaching from the apostle
Paul. It sets us straight in the primary
characteristic of humility. Lord, help us.
Help us to strive every day to be humble.
Help us to strive every day for unity in our
church. Help us to strive every day to walk
worthy
of the high calling which we have been called,
the Christian faith, servants of the king,
children of the king, adopted by grace into
the family of God. What a wonderment it is
to be a part of God's family by faith. I pray,
Father, for your blessings upon your people
here today. I pray if anyone here has not come
to Bible repentance and saving faith,
that you would draw them with your spirit. And
for the rest of us today, Lord, maybe go
back out into the world to live for your glory
. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.