Love & Humility
I.
Colossians
3:12-To walk in love you have to be wearing the right stuff
A. Put on
is not a suggestion, it’s a commandment – So should we put these things
on?
1.
There’s
something that every elect of God should be wearing because He just told you to
put it on
a. You are
holy-Uncommon, non-ordinary; You are not like everybody else, you are not like
the world
b. You are
beloved-You couldn’t love others if God didn’t first love you, but because he
did first love you, then lets get to it; You don’t stop on his love for you,
you continue through to loving other people
2.
Put
on-To sink into (clothing), put on, clothe one’s self, arrayed in, be endued,
be plunged into
B. Forbearing
and forgiving one another is connected to these things that he’s telling you to
put on and without putting these things on you won’t be able to forbear and
forgive
1.
Ephesians
6:11-Why put on the armor? To STAND AGAINST the wiles of THE DEVIL, that you
may be able to withstand/RESIST the evil one
a. You
wouldn’t even be able to withstand and resist and stand against the evil one
without this armor
1)
The
armor makes you able; It’s what you wear in your dealings with the evil one and
it enables you to overcome him
b. Questions?
1)
Should
you and I put this armor on? If we desire to overcome the evil one then we
better put it on
2)
Should
we take it lightly that God told us to put the armor on?
3)
How
well will it work if somebody goes and tries to stand against the evil one
without his armor? It won’t work
4)
Would
you say, “Oh I know the armor is
important, but I’m just going to go fight the devil. I’m interested in fighting the devil and
I need to learn more about fighting the devil and yeah I know the armor is important,
but I’m interested in learning about resisting the evil one and standing
against him.” – You can’t talk about fighting the devil without
talking about this armor
c. We’ve
majored on the armor of God and told people to put on the armor of God and
studied each piece, but when is the last time you heard somebody give that kind
of time to what you are supposed to put on in Colossians 3:12?
1)
Is
the PUT ON in Colossians 3:12 as important as the PUT ON in Ephesians
6:11
2.
Colossians
3:12-13-Put on these things so that you can forbear and forgive one another
a. Why
would you need to put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, and longsuffering? So that you can forbear and forgive your brethren
1)
You
put the armor of God on to stand against the wiles of the devil, but you clothe
yourself with compassion, humility, meekness, and patience to deal with each
other
b. Compassion,
Humility, Meekness and longsuffering is going to enable you to love your
brethren
1)
If
you don’t put these on, then you won’t be able to love your brethren
2)
If
you don’t put on what he tells you to in verse 12 then you can’t do verse 13
c. Should you
put these things on? If you desire to love your people and forbear and forgive,
then you better put them on
3.
The
mistake we’ve made is we give very little time to these things, and then a
whole lot of time telling people they need to love one another; So then in the
right heart people go to love other people and what the find out is they are
unequipped to get that job done because they went to loving other people
without their clothes on
a. I
believe as we major on and develop in compassion, humility, meekness,
longsuffering, the love of God will flow more naturally
b. We
shouldn’t take this “PUT ON” in Colossians 3:12 lightly b/c it is impossible to
forbear, forgive and love another without them
1)
How
loving are you going to be without compassion, humility, meekness and longsuffering?
Not very much at all
4.
You
own these things, but if you don’t put them on you won’t have them on; It’s
like owning clothes and not putting them on
a. These
things have been in our spiritual closet and they still got the tags on them
and look like we’ve never worn them
b. We have
to make an on purpose effort to put these one
c. If
you’d put these things on it’d be much easier for you to act right in your dealings
with people
C. Ephesians
4:1-3-We see the same types of things in this verse: Lowliness, meekness,
longsuffering
1.
Conduct
your life WITH lowliness, meekness, long suffering forbearing one another in
love, endeavoring to keep you unity
2.
Without
lowliness, long suffering, meekness there will be no forbearing and there will
be no unity
3.
People
have said, “Why can’t we all just get along?” – The answer is because
unity requires humility, longsuffering, and meekness
II.
There’s
a direct connection between your level of humility and your level of strength
in the love walk; Weak in humility = Weak in love; Strong in humility = Strong
in Love
A. Proverbs
13:10-They only way contention and strife comes is by pride
1.
Definitions:
Pride-Insolence, presumption, arrogance; Contention-Strife, struggle,
quarrelsome, Contention in anger
2.
If
we got rid of pride and developed in humility, towards you humility strife
would have no way in
a. If you
didn’t have any pride there would be no strife, no contention
b. The
more you develop in humility they stronger you’ll be in love and unity
3.
We
talk your ears off about love, but if you don’t develop in your humility you’ll
struggle to grow in love
a. The
idea that we can talk to you about love and ignore humility and have you
develop in love is just false
b. We’ve
had the idea I got to develop more in love, but maybe you need to develop away
from pride
4.
Versions-JUB-Pride shall certainty give birth to
contention; BBE-The only effect of pride is fighting; MSG-Arrogant know-it-alls
stir up discord; NIV-Pride only breeds quarrels; DR-Among the proud there are
always contentions; TNIV-Where there is strife, there is pride; ERV-Pride
causes arguments; NLV-Fighting comes only from pride
a. If
there are arguments, quarrels, and contentions seem to follow you around
everywhere you go, you maybe the problem and if you seem to have something
against just about everybody it’s the result of pride in the heart; Strife in
life come as the result of pride in the heart
B. Proverbs
28:25-Pride in your heart will hinder your love walk
1.
Darby-He
that is puffed up in soul excites contention; NASB-An arrogant man stirs up
strife; NLV-A proud man starts fights
2.
You
can’t try to walk in love with strife stirring heart, it just want work
C. Ephesians
4:2-3-Before unity is humility and there will be no unity without humility
1.
If
you’re going to live in peace with people you’re going to have to develop in
humility
D. 1
Corinthians 13:4-5-Love is not puffed up
1.
Love
is never deceived into thinking to highly of itself
a. Love
does not arrogantly claim that it is better than others
b. A
person who has an air of superiority and haughtiness or a person who is snooty,
snobbish in his dealings with other people
2.
Puffed
up-Proud, swollen, inflated; Inflate, to blow up, to cause to swell up, make
proud, to bear one’s self loftily
III.
Pride definition-What’s
the opposite of humility? Pride; If we can get an understanding of what pride
is, then we’ll have a good idea of what humility is because it’s the opposite
of pride
A. In our
minds our definition of pride is a lot closer to the truth than our definition
of humility
1.
I’ve
had Christians who have been saved for decades tell me a person is humble
because of the car he drives
B. To be lifted
up, to be high, to be lofty, exalt oneself
1.
The
same Hebrew word was used to describe the height of: Job 22:11-Stars; Isaiah
6:1-The Lord; Deuteronomy 12:2-Mountains; Ezekiel 6:13-High hill; Ezekiel
17:22-High Tree; Deuteronomy 1:28-People; Isaiah 49:11-Highways exalted;
Deuteronomy 27:14-Voice; Exodus 14:8-High hand; Proverbs 11:11-City exalted;
Genesis 7:14-The ark; Isaiah 52:13-God’s servant; Psalm 27:6-Head above enemies
2.
G1341-Proud,
rise up, lifted up, exalted, excellency, swelling of sea, haughtiness,
arrogance, pomp, a rising up of a column of smoke
3.
The
idea here is that when you are in pride you are lifted up and you need to be
brought down-Isaiah 2:11-12
a. The lofty looks shall be
humbled; The haughtiness (height, loftiness) of men shall be bowed down; Proud
and lofty and lifted up shall be brought low
b. Isaiah 10:32-And the ones of high stature shall be hewn
down and the haughty shall be humbled
c. 2 Samuel 22:28-Your eyes are upon the haughty (Lifted
up) that you may bring them down
d. Job 40:11-12-Every one that is proud abase him; Look on
every one that is proud bring him low
e. Daniel 4:37-Those that walk in pride God is able to
abase (bring low)
4.
Romans
12:3-We are not to think more HIGHLY of ourselves than we ought to think; Think
in line with the truth of God’s word
C. Pride
is untrue loftiness, an untrue over estimation of yourself (Proverbs 6:17
AMP-It’s an over estimation of yourself)
1.
An
pompous estimate of one’s means or merits, a swollen estimate of his own powers
or merits
2.
Pride
and deception go together because a person in pride is deceived and thinking
more highly of himself than he really is
a. Pride
always deals in fantasy, lies, untruths, non-reality
b. Obadiah
3, Jeremiah 49:16-They are deceived in their pride; they believe nobody can
bring us down and they have an untrue over estimation of themselves and God
says I’m going to bring you down
3.
You
see a connection throughout scripture of pride and lies because a person in
pride is believing lies about themselves
a. Isaiah 16:6-AMP-We have heard the pride of Moab, that
he is very proud – even of his arrogance, his conceit, his wrath, his
untruthful boasting
b. Jeremiah 48:29-We heard of the giddy
pride of Moab, the extremely proud one – his loftiness, his arrogance,
his conceit, and the haughtiness of his heart. I know his insolent wrath, says
the Lord, and the nothingness of his boastings and his deeds; they are false
and have accomplished nothing
c. Psalm 31:18-Let the lying lips be put to silence; which
speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous
d. Psalm 59:12-For the sin of their mouth and the words of
their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying
which they speak
4.
Psalm
10-This guy is living in the realm of pride based fantasy
a. 4-All
his thoughts are that there is no God so He never punishes
b. 6-He
said I shall never be moved, for I shall never be in adversity
c. 7-Here’s
the connection of pride and lying
d. 11-He
said God has forgotten and will never see it
5.
Proverbs
11:1-2-A false estimation of reality is abomination to the Lord
a. Pride
deals in fantasy; They need to be brought back to earth; There’s a coming down
from fantasy to reality
b. The
only thing you need to get delivered from pride is a good does of reality, of
truth, of honesty
6.
If
people are boasting even if what they are saying about themselves is true you
would think the way they are acting that they have everything to do with what
they have or what they did and nobody helped and they’re so great and they did
it all alone because of their greatness and that’s not true because if it
weren’t for the grace of God they wouldn’t have done or been anything but the
way they talk they’re acting like it was all them and it wasn’t all them
D. Prides
perception of reality is dim-G5187
1.
To
raise a smoke, to wrap in mist-That which dims or darkens and obscures or
intercepts vision
a. To
blind with pride or conceit, to render foolish or stupid; Beclouded, Besotted
2.
The
idea here is you don’t see reality
a. Proverbs
30:12:13-There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not
washed from their filthiness; There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes
and their eyelids are lifted up
1)
The
idea is the think they are pure and believe they are pure and their eyes are
lofty because they are not
b. Deuteronomy
8:14-Then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord thy God
1)
The
idea is you start thinking your something and you’re not
E. There’s
also a contempt for other people and the way they do things; An air of
superiority-(Psalm 123:4-The contempt of the proud)
1.
The
character of one who, with a swollen estimate of his own powers or merits,
looks down on others and even treats them with insolence and contempt;
despising others or even treating them with contempt, haughty
2.
Insolent-Proud
and haughty with a contempt of others
3.
You
are not “better” than anybody; If you are anything it’s by the grace of God
IV.
What is
true humility?
A. Rather
than high, humility is low; Low, not rising far from the ground, Low as opposed
to high and lofty
1.
Latin
Word-Humilis-Low, lowly, small, slight, base,
2.
Lowliness,
Humbleness of mind
a. Tapeinos (First
Greek Word)-Not rising from the ground; As a condition, lowly, of low degree,
base
b. Frane
(Second Greek Word)-The mind; the faculty of perceiving and judging
B. Rather
than living in some fantasy, where you’ve exalted yourself to some high and
lofty place you’ve lowered yourself to reality
1.
Humility
always deals in reality, in truth-2 Corinthians 12:6
a. Latin
Word Humus-Ground, earth, soil, land, country; rather than living in the clouds
in some fantasy world you come to earth
2.
Humility
is not the making of one’s self small when he is really great, but thinking
little of one’s self, because this is in a sense the right estimate for any
human being, however great – It’s reality
a. A
proper estimate of one’s own worth (Modesty-Decency, properly, suitable fit,
humility)
3.
A
deep sense of one’s (moral) littleness
C. There
is a false humility-Colossians 2:18,23 (It lowers itself below reality)
1.
VOICE- Don’t be
cheated out of the prize by others who are peddling the worship of heavenly
beings and false humility.
People like this run about telling whoever
will listen what
they claim to have seen; but in reality they testify only to an inflated mind,
saturated in conceit—not in the Spirit. 23 Here’s what they are
promoting: fabricated
religion, self-humiliation, and bodily abuse.
2.
MSG-Don’t
tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you
to bow and scrape, insisting you join their obsession with angels and that you
seek out visions. They’re a lot of
hot air, that’s all they are. Such
things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They give even they
illusion of being pious and humble.
But they are just another way of showing off, making yourselves
look important.
3.
People
think degrading yourself is humility and being poor is humble and being drab
and bland and gray is humble and if that’s the case then that would make God
the most proud being every
a. A lot
of time these things look humble to the untrained eye, but they are not
humility
b. If you
shouldn’t think more highly of yourself than you ought, then you shouldn’t
think more lowly of yourself than you ought
D. Act of
submission-1 Peter 5:6-Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God
1.
To
submit one’s self in a lowly spirit to the power and will of God
2.
Whatever
God says is what’s right and true; I don’t know better than him
E. We are
supposed to put humility on and you can’t walk in love without wearing
humility-Colossians 3:12, 1 Peter 5:5
1.
It’s
like trying to walk in space without a space suit; it’s not going to work
2.
Romans
12:16 (Amplified)-Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty
(snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust yourself to [people,
things] and give yourselves to humble tasks. Never overestimate yourself or be
wise in your own conceits.
V.
To love
people you’re going to have to be strong in humility because pride pulls you
out of love
A. James
4:10-12-Humble yourself and don’t speak evil of one another; when you are
speaking evil of one another you’re in pride
1.
When
are you judging? When you speak evil of your brother you are judging your
brother
2.
When
you are a judge you are not a doer
3.
Voice-Lay
yourself bare, facedown to the ground, in
humility before the Lord; and He will lift your head so you can stand
tall. 11 My
brothers and sisters, do not assault each other with
criticism. If you decide your job is to accuse and judge another believer, then
you are a self-appointed critic and judge of the law; if so, then you are no
longer a doer of the law and subject to its rule; you stand over it
as a judge.12 Know
this—there is One who stands supreme as Judge and Lawgiver. He
alone is able to save and to destroy, so who are youto
step in and try to judge another?
4.
There’s
a connection between humility and not speaking evil of your brother and judging
your brother
a. When
you are judging people and being hard on them and being critical, and giving
them no mercy you’re acting like you’ve never done anything like that,
pretending in pride, living in fantasy not reality with a loft and untrue
estimation of yourself
b. Humility
deals in reality and the reality is you’ve done stuff just like that and worse
than that; Be real; you’ve been where they’ve been, you’ve acted like they’ve
acted, you’ve missed it like they’ve missed it; I’d never do anything like that
– You’ve done stuff just like that and worse
5.
Because
you’ve missed it too and made mistakes too then who are you to judge?
B. To be
hard on your brother and be critical of him and judge him you have to get into
pride, go into the fantasy world and pretend like you’ve never done anything
like that
1.
Matthew
7:1-5- You’re going to have to pretend like there’s nothing in your eye to
judge your brother for his speck
a. 1-Amp-Do
not judge and criticize and condemn others
b. 3-You
don’t consider (perceive) the beam in your own eye because pride has deceived
you and clouded your vision
c. 3-4-The
only way you could see a speck in your brothers eye and be critical of him for
having the speck when you have a beam in your eye is to pretend you don’t have
the beam and to pretend you don’t have the beam is to live in a fantasy world
1)
To
try to reach for his speck with a beam in your own eye you’d have to be
pretending the beam is not there
2)
That’s
what pride does it lives in a fantasy world that I’m somehow superior and
therefore I can correct and judge
d. 5-This
is the behavior of a hypocrite
2.
John
8-They are acting like they’ve never done anything that violated the law, like
they’ve never sinned and they are living in a fantasy world the pride of their
heart has deceived them
3.
To
judge and be critical rather than forbear and forgive you’d have to pretend
that you are somehow superior and have never done anything like that
a. When
you’re operating in humility you’ll operate in reality and if you do see a
speck in your brothers eye you’ll say, “Man I’ve had beams in my eyes before
and had it not been for the Lord I’d still have them and you know some of those
beams didn’t come out real quickly and the Lord was patient with me and gave me
time; who am I to judge my brother when I’ve and specks and beams just like him
and the Lord was gracious to me and merciful to me and therefore the least I
could do is show that shame mercy for my brother.”
b. Why
don’t you cool it, humble yourself and come down to earth? And stop pretending
like you’ve never missed it, like you’ve never made a mistake.
C. Romans
2-Whatever you judge others for doing, you are doing the same things
1.
Philips-Now
if you feel inclined to set yourself up as a judge of those who sin, let me
assure you, whoever you are, that you are in no position to do so. For at
whatever point you condemn others you automatically condemn yourself, since
you, the judge, commit the same sins.
a. You’re
in no position to do so because you’ve missed it just like they’ve missed it
2.
MSG-Those
people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the
high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time
you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one.
3.
VOICE-So
you can see there are no excuses for any of us. If your eyes shift their focus
from yourselves to others—to judge how they are doing—you
have already condemned yourselves! You don’t realize that you are
pointing your fingers at others for the exact things you do as well. 2 There’s no doubt that the judgment of God will justly fall
upon hypocrites who practice such things. 3 Here’s what is happening: you attack and
criticize others and then turn around to commit the same offenses yourselves!
Do you think you will somehow dodge God’s judgment? 4 Do you take the kindness of God for granted? Do you see His
patience and tolerance as signs that He is a pushover when it comes to
sin? How could you not know that His kindness is guiding our hearts to turn
away from distractions and habitual sin to walk a new path?