Whoever Humbles Himself

Whoever Humbles Himself. The general instruction is generally not well received: “Know your place,” “Stay in your lane,” “Mind your own business.” The pride that is in each person often produces even more desire to buck conventional roles when told to maintain them. “Do not eat,” for instance, usually makes us want to eat nothing else but that which was prohibited. Instead of attacking human pride, humans usually attack the rule or the ruler. While this primal urge to revolt is celebrated as good, even enshrined as courageous, in the Lord’s created order pride is never good or courageous because it is the hostile intruder against peace. The Beatles might have lightheartedly sang, “I don’t know why you say, ‘Goodbye,’ I say, ‘Hello,’” but the Bible knows why: pride! “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18). Pride doesn’t endure being told what to do by authority.

Yet, the result of pride doesn’t mollify pride. Like the churning of the sea, pride isn’t ultimately happy when it gets its way; it always wants more. Pride is insatiable because there is ever another hunt to begin, another conventionality to shatter, another authority figure to topple.

The opposite of pride, therefore, is not external debasement but internal humility. Humility finds and enjoys what pride cannot locate or possess, namely peace with God and contentment under God’s sovereign rule. Humility, as seen through the lens of pride, is weakness. But humility, as seen through the lens of faith, is greatness. “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4).

I had a pastor friend in another place who was gifted a late model Lincoln Towncar by one of his parishioners because he genuinely needed a new ride. But the gift caused this pastor grief. “It is too nice,” he said one morning at a coffee fellowship with other pastors. “What will the people in the church think seeing me drive this car into the church parking lot? A pastor should be poor.” Right there in his conclusion, it was clear that he was not talking about salary constraints but about his perception in the eyes of others. Trying to appear humble by driving a relatively frumpy car is just another variation of pride. Ah, but before I could cast the first stone, I was reminded of my own false piety in wearing only clothes from the Thrift Store.

Humbling oneself is not constructing an external façade but resting in an internal understanding that one doesn’t need a façade whatsoever. Pride reaches, even clamors for achievement; humility relaxes by faith in the peace of God and the provision from God.

Repent and Believe in the Gospel

Repent and Believe in the Gospel.  While we cannot easily recognize the name of the ancient Greek courier, Pheidipiddes (sometimes spelled Philippides), without a little help from Google®, we can immediately recognize the foot race that Pheidipiddes inspired: the marathon. Versions differ, but Greek lore tells that Pheidipiddes sprinted the 42.2 kilometers (26.2 miles) back to Athens with urgent news from the Battle of Marathon, where Darius I first invaded Greece in 490 bc. “Joy, we win,” Pheidipiddes declared, his last words before his sudden death. The Battle of Marathon was the watershed victory in the Greco-Persia Wars where Greece first learned, if the City-States banded together, that they could defeat Persia despite Persia’s overwhelming number of soldiers.

We may not easily recognize the places Athens or Sparta or the name Darius either, but we can all recognize the role that Pheidipiddes filled. He was an evangelist, euangelion, a proclaimer of the gospel, the good news. From Classical Greek literature, which predates the New Testament, the word euangelion already existed, though rarely. A secular evangelist proclaimed victorious news from afar. The angels, announcing Jesus’ birth, masterfully commandeered this uncommon word, euangelion, recasting it in an exclusively Christian sense. “And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news [euangelion] of great joy that will be for all the people’” (Luke 2:10). The rest of the New Testament follows the angelic pattern of speech; every New Testament occurrence of euangelion refers to Christ’s victory.

Therefore, the term gospel in the New Testament is either the good news of Christ’s redemption (76 times) or the action of proclaiming of Christ’s good news (77 times). Or we might repurpose Pheidipiddes’ words, “Joy, we win,” to summarize the gospel, yet in a sense that Pheidipiddes could have never imagined. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel [euangelion]” (Mark 1:15). Our great joy comes from Christ’s victory over death.

My Father Is Working Until Now

My Father Is Working Until Now.  Two days past June’s full moon, which in years past Native Americans might have called Strawberry Moon, the pre-dawn dark remained remarkably lit. The moon cast blue shadows wherever its glow escaped the tree line. 

I arrived at the woodland theater late. The moon was already taking his bow behind a sturdy stand of Southern pines to the applause of owls, frogs, and a surprisingly early tanager. The neighborhood rooster(s) noticed the first First Light of July, heading out into the chicken yard. The field rabbits did, too, heading into their burrow for sleep somewhere beneath the muscadine vines. The day was just starting for humans, but it was nearly over for most of creation. “And there was evening and morning” (Gen. 1:5), the next day.

It is easy to imagine that activity in the universe stops when we close our eyes at night, like the refrigerator light going out when we close the door. But it doesn’t stop. Every dawn reminds us that though the Lord does not need us, he wants a relationship with us and tirelessly provides it to us. He literally works while we sleep.

“My Father is working until now” (John 5:17a), Jesus said, infuriating the crowd. God rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:5), but God did not cease working altogether. His first Sabbath brought a close to his creative action, but his sustaining and redeeming action continues without a pause throughout each night and during every Sabbath. “Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psa. 121:4). “In him all things hold together” (Col 1:17).

When Jesus added his next line, the crowd turned into a mob. “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (John 5:17). Only barely would they allow the theological truth that God is continuously “working until now,” but Jesus makes himself equal with God. “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18).

Moonset on pine ridge, which I stumbled upon this morning, was not for me but for Christ. God allowed me a front row seat today to see him working his glory in the pre-dawn dark. 

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle (2 Cor. 11:16-33).

¹⁶ I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

¹⁷ What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not with the Lord's authority but as a fool.

¹⁸ Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.

¹⁹ For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves!

²⁰ For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.

²¹ To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.

²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.

²³ Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

 

²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;

²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

³² At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me,

³³ but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

The Conversion of Saul

The Conversion of Saul (Acts 9:1-19).

¹ But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

² and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

⁴ And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

⁵ And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

⁶ But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."

⁷ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

⁸ Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

⁹ And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

 

¹⁰ Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord."

¹¹ And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,

¹² and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight."

¹³ But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.

¹⁴ And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name."

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

¹⁶ For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."

¹⁷ So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

¹⁸ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;

¹⁹ and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.

The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd.  One of Jesus' tenderest self-declarations, “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11, 14), contrasts with the lurking presence of false shepherds—unexpected predators in this very pastoral setting. In the same utterance that exposes the false shepherds in his audience (John 10:1-18), Jesus draws many parallels with false shepherds in Judah’s past (Ezek. 34:1-24).

In John 10, Jesus identifies a false shepherd as a leader who is a disguised intruder with hostile intent. “He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber” (vs. 1).  “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers” (vs. 5).

When his audience fails to grasp the significance of the dangerous reality of illegitimate leaders preying upon God’s people, Jesus brings forward a historical perspective. “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them” (vs. 8). Likely referring to Ezekiel 34, the Good Shepherd has nothing good to say about wicked leaders, factiously called shepherds. “Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?” (Ezek. 34:2). “The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them” (Ezek. 34:4). “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep” (Ezek. 34:10). The word play is sharp and somewhat cannibalistic, instead of feeding the flock, they are feeding themselves upon the flock.

What the Lord said in Ezekiel 34, he repeats in John 10! “Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out” (Ezek. 34:11). “I will feed them with good pasture … there they shall lie down in good grazing land” (Ezek. 34:14). “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down” (Ezek. 34:15). “I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd” (Ezek. 34:22-23). “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep” (John 10:11). “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). “So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16). Jesus, Son of David, is the one Shepherd whose goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life (Psa. 23:6).

Eat With Him and Him With Me

 

Eat With Him and Him With Me.  The act of sharing a meal with someone else is far more significant than the food served, the etiquette preserved, or the venue reserved for the occasion. Even as simple as, “Hey, I’m going to take a break, would you like to split my Doritos®?” marks a milestone in any relationship. Yes, I would like that, takes the relationship one direction. No, not this time, takes the relationship another direction. Eating together (or not eating together) is the metaphor for fellowship that the whole world understands and uses. Friends make meals; meals make friends.

The Bible is peppered with many symbolic meals that convey deeply meaningful moments, especially between God and humankind. In the Old Testament, Abraham “entertained angels unawares” (Heb. 13:2), including the Lord himself, sharing with them cakes, curds and milk, and a roasted calf (Gen. 18:8). Moses and all the elders of Israel were invited up the slopes of Mt. Sinai to share a meal with God immediately after the nation of Israel agreed to enter into covenant with God. “They beheld God, and ate and drank” (Exo. 24:11). The Lord spoke of a future feast with restored Israel that will also include regenerated Gentiles, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined” (Isa. 25:6).

In the New Testament, Jesus saved a marriage feast from disaster by turning water into wine, but only the servants knew it (John 2:9). Jesus commandeered the Passover meal, expanding its meaning around his imminent death and resurrection (Matt. 26:28). Using highly figurative language, Jesus promised to the repentant remnant of the church in Laodicea, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). Jesus is first guest, then host.

The final meal of the Bible, open to all who repent and believe, reverses the first forbidden meal of the Bible which became a curse to all (Gen. 3:6). “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9). Sharing a meal marks a relational milestone with God; our full restoration is accomplished by God.