Humility

[Vince Massi]

One of HAC's failings is that they did not teach us how humility is vital to success in the ministry. On another thread, I saw that humility is not well-understood on this forum, so let me try to help. But I have to start with "grace."

Grace gives us the ability to succeed in God's work, including the willingness to work hard: 1 Cor 15:10 "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."

HAC motivated us to work hard with fiery chapel sermons. After graduating, most HACcers cut back sharply on their work, because they lacked grace. Once the hollering and exhortation was gone, they had little motivation. Without grace, you cannot succeed in God's work. If you are succeeding in God's work, and you realize that it is because of His grace, you also realize that you have no grounds for pride.

Which brings up an important question: How do you get grace?

 

[praise_yeshua]

Pride is a problem for most any person. Even Job had a problem with it.

Have you ever notice that some people use an outward show of humility as a means of self promotion?

Pro 27:2  Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.

Mat 23:5  But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

 

[julie33]

Good scriptures praise_yeshua.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Vince Massi]

Grace is not the only way to succeed in God's work.  Acknowledging that God is using grace and other methods to make you succeed keeps pride out of the picture.

However, grace guarantees that you will succeed in God's work. So how do you get grace?

"God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5

"Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble." Prov. 3:34

"God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." James 4:6

 

[lnf]

Grace is not the only way to succeed in God's work.  Acknowledging that God is using grace and other methods to make you succeed keeps pride out of the picture.

However, grace guarantees that you will succeed in God's work. So how do you get grace?

"God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5

"Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble." Prov. 3:34

"God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." James 4:6

Mr. Massi, have you considered:  Matthew 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Please don’t misunderstand me.  I am in no way saying you are among the “evil” or the “unjust”.  My point is that a person cannot count themselves humble simply because God seems to be blessing the work.  A wise person once told me, “The moment you think you are humble, more than likely, you no longer are.” 

I think of humility as a fluid state.  The state of being truly humble flows in and out of our lives, at different times of our lives, and in different areas of our lives. 

I’ll use myself as an example.  God has given me a gift for numbers.  He has granted me the blessing of serving as the Finance Director of my church.  I love my work!  I truly consider it my ministry.  I can clearly see how God is using the talents He gave me to bless my church.  But I’m a department of one, so it’s pretty easy for me to consider myself to be “indispensable”.  When I grumble because I “can’t take” my vacation time, I slip out of being humble about the gifts and position God has given me.  Because the truth of the matter is that if I were to either resign or “call in dead”, someone would step in and fill my place.  In fact, when my husband was dying of cancer in 2008, I was largely absent for six months while I took care of him.  I offered to resign my position, but my church wouldn’t accept it.  “Nobody wants your job”, they said.  But the work was still accomplished, even in my absence.  Were things done exactly as I had done them?  No, they were not.  But I didn’t/don’t do the job exactly as my predecessor did before I stepped in, either.  Somehow, God knits together our disparate works into His perfect tapestry!

I’ll close my thoughts by quoting you:  “Acknowledging that God is using grace and other methods to make you succeed keeps pride out of the picture.”  NO, it’s never about our personal success!  Pride creeps in whenever we think that God’s work will somehow be damaged or diminished because we happen to be absent for whatever reason. 

 

[Vince Massi]

It is a common belief that humility consists of denying that God is blessing you, and I appreciate the courtesy of most of the people who have written in to defend that belief. But now let's look at the Scriptures.

In Acts 3, Peter, with John, heals a man who had been lame from birth. He tells the man ""Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you:" Peter understood that he had power from God, but he went on to explain that it was God, not Peter, Who had the power to heal.

A crowd assembled, and Peter explained "Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" Peter knew that he and John had healed the man. But Peter clearly explained to the crowd that it was the power of God, not their own power, that was the cause.

Peter then used the event as a means of witnessing.The next day, on trial before the Sanhedrin, Peter started "If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man," acknowledging publicly that they had healed the man. But he went on to explain that it was the power of God, not their own power, that did it.

"And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it." The Sanhedrin couldn't deny that Peter and John had healed the man, and Peter and John didn't deny it either.

Now, Readers, humility is NOT denying that God is working in your ministry and blessing you. Humility is realizing that it is God, not you, Who is the cause of this success.

 

[BALAAM]

Why does hac get the blame for not teaching humility in the ministry? Much of the ifb is populated with pompous windbags and hac and fbc kind of took it to extremes but the Bible is pretty clear on the matter. It should not make any difference what hac emphasized.

 

[Thomas Cassidy]

vince.... you talking about humility is like biker talking about decency......it;s giving the benefit of the doubt to say neither of you have a clue.....

I have been riding motorcycles for over 60 years, and am thus, a biker.

Why does my riding motorcycles make me indecent?

 

[FSSL]

Lol! There is a poster that goes by the name "biker."

 

[T-Bone]

Humility is not thinking too highly of yourself, nor is it thinking too lowly of yourself...humility is not thinking of yourself at all.  Paultold us to be like Jesus in Phil. 2....who made of Himself no reputation ...

 

[praise_yeshua]

Humility is not thinking too highly of yourself, nor is it thinking too lowly of yourself...humility is not thinking of yourself at all.  Paultold us to be like Jesus in Phil. 2....who made of Himself no reputation ...

Great!!!!

There is a HUGE difference between seeking a reputation and having a testimony. Even then, a testimony is only important in the sense of what God testifies of us. Not what any man has to say. There will come a day when God will speak of us and every man will stand silent. In that day, what God says will matter.

 

[T-Bone]

Humility is not thinking too highly of yourself, nor is it thinking too lowly of yourself...humility is not thinking of yourself at all.  Paultold us to be like Jesus in Phil. 2....who made of Himself no reputation ...

Great!!!!

There is a HUGE difference between seeking a reputation and having a testimony. Even then, a testimony is only important in the sense of what God testifies of us. Not what any man has to say. There will come a day when God will speak of us and every man will stand silent. In that day, what God says will matter.

Yes! Spot on!

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

I've got the corner on humility.  I'm the most humble person EVER, and proud of it. 

 

[Walt]

Humility is not thinking too highly of yourself, nor is it thinking too lowly of yourself...humility is not thinking of yourself at all.  Paultold us to be like Jesus in Phil. 2....who made of Himself no reputation ...

I've always liked what (I think) CS Lewis said about humility -- something to the effect: "To be humble is, for example, to be no more proud of a good painting no matter whether you painted it or someone else did."

It is  false humility to refuse to acknowledge that we did something good, or to denigrate something we know to be good.  However, it becomes pride when we are taken up with the fact that WE did the good thing.  I should be equally proud of the "something good" if someone else did it.

 

[Vince Massi]

Okay. Humility produces grace, which gives us the ability to do God's work successfully.  Humility is not denying God's blessing, it is acknowledging that it is God, not you, Who is the source of the blessing.

Another common mistake is to believe that everyone is either proud or humble, yet the Scriptures teach no such thing. If you can point to something humble about yourself (You realize that you are a sinner who does not deserve to go to Heaven), that does not prove that you are humble overall. Most of us have some humility and some pride in our lives.

But if you ARE humble, God is giving you the grace to succeed in His work. If you ARE proud, then God is resisting you.

 

[praise_yeshua]

Okay. Humility produces grace, which gives us the ability to do God's work successfully.  Humility is not denying God's blessing, it is acknowledging that it is God, not you, Who is the source of the blessing.

Another common mistake is to believe that everyone is either proud or humble, yet the Scriptures teach no such thing. If you can point to something humble about yourself (You realize that you are a sinner who does not deserve to go to Heaven), that does not prove that you are humble overall. Most of us have some humility and some pride in our lives.

But if you ARE humble, God is giving you the grace to succeed in His work. If you ARE proud, then God is resisting you.

Humility is wrapped around motive. Its hard to judge the motive of anyone. Sometimes its easy to see and sometimes it isn't. Either way, God knows the heart of all men. Sometimes he reacts immediately. Sometimes he waits. The outward appearance of success isn't an absolute witness to right or wrong. Paul put it perfectly when he said...

1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

I hear Pastor Shepherd is offering his book, "How to get rich by sending me money" for free (just pay a shipping and handling charge of $81.64). 

 

[lnf]

Okay. Humility produces grace, which gives us the ability to do God's work successfully.  Humility is not denying God's blessing, it is acknowledging that it is God, not you, Who is the source of the blessing.

Another common mistake is to believe that everyone is either proud or humble, yet the Scriptures teach no such thing. If you can point to something humble about yourself (You realize that you are a sinner who does not deserve to go to Heaven), that does not prove that you are humble overall. Most of us have some humility and some pride in our lives.

But if you ARE humble, God is giving you the grace to succeed in His work. If you ARE proud, then God is resisting you.

Humility is wrapped around motive. Its hard to judge the motive of anyone. Sometimes its easy to see and sometimes it isn't. Either way, God knows the heart of all men. Sometimes he reacts immediately. Sometimes he waits. The outward appearance of success isn't an absolute witness to right or wrong. Paul put it perfectly when he said...

1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

Well said, praise yeshua!  I particularly agree with the part I underlined for emphasis, and your scripture citation is spot on.  There have been many thoughtful comments in this thread.  It seems to me that Mr. Massi is simply talking around those comments and is not really engaging in the conversation. 

 

[Thomas Cassidy]

it doesn;t...not in any way form or fashion........sorry for the misunderstanding.... but i wasn;t talking about you.... nor my sister either... she rides motorcycles too.... 8)..... and i;m actually a kind of a biker myself since i ride bicylces everywhere i go.......   ........

i was talking about the poster that calls himself "biker"....... the one who started this thread linked below last year........

My fault. I failed to notice the lack of an article before "biker." Not "a biker" which would have included me (and, apparently, your sister) but rather "biker" indicating a screen name.

I will clean my reading glasses and pay closer attention to what you actually said instead of what I thought you said!

 

[Recovering IFB]

You know who learned a lesson in humility yesterday?



Florida St.?