Humility

The sermon at Stonegate last night was on humility.  Out of the probably thousands of sermons I've heard over my life that was the first one I'd ever heard on humility.  How strange isn't it?  Since humility is the number one most important character trait that a Christian needs to have.  I read a book titled Humility by C. J. Mahaney. Great book. :)  But never heard a sermon on the topic.  Maybe that is why pride is such an issue in the church, because it is hardly ever addressed directly. :) 

Did you know that all sin stems from pride? 

We sin because we think we know better than God, in any area of our lives.  But humility says, "Yes God, you are right.  I am not right.  I will do things your way." 

Then we don't sin, or we sin less at least. :) 

Pride was what caused Satan to fall from heaven, and what caused Eve to eat the fruit.  Satan's pride said, "I can do a better job than God."  And Eve's pride said, "I want to be like God." 

Every time we sin, we are saying the same thing that Satan said, "I can do a better job at running my life than you God."  So we do what we want and sin. 

Did you know the theme statement for the satanic bible is "do what thou wilt."  Why?  Because that is the opposite of what God says.  Yes there is freedom in Christ, but we still need to live by the commandments.  Freedom comes from living by the commandments.  Sin enslaves us.  Sin, going astray from God's commandments, puts us in bondage.  But seeking to live out God's laws is what leads to freedom.  It is contrary to what seems logical. :)  We, in our natural selves and fallen nature, think that doing whatever we want is freedom.  But no, that is not freedom.  Why?  Because when we do whatever we want the flesh wins out over the spirit and we sin and come into bondage to that sin.  Freedom is following God's laws and his truth and his truth sets us free.  His laws set us free to live a happy and fulfilled life. 

Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  The law is not nullified, it is fulfilled in Christ.  But it is still needed.  That means, we no longer follow the law in order to be saved, Jesus saved us when he died for us, but we follow it in order to live our best life possible.  We still need to live an upright life in God's sight.  Scripture says, "Be holy as I (God) am holy."  No one can be perfectly holy, but we still need to strive to be as holy as we can. 

And how do we do this?  Humility.  Humility is the key.  It is recognizing that God knows best.  He is right, we are not.  We cannot be our own God.  We cannot do a better job than him, contrary to what we may think. 

Humility is trusting that God knows best.  Trusting that he is in control. 

Worry, anxiety, fear all stem from pride, because they show thet we don't trust God. 

When we worry about anything we are saying to God, "I don't trust you.  I need to take control of this situation myself.  I don't believe that you really are good."

But God is good right?  All the time?  He allows bad things at times to happen to us, but he is STILL good.  He is always good. 

Never forget that.  Amen. :)