Humility in our relationship with people

| Sermon Summary by PKD Lee |

Luke 18:9-14 - Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Maintaining humility in our lives is not easy. Even if we are living by the Bible, it is not easy. Matt 7:1 says do not judge others, but other parts of the Bible like 1 Cor 5:1-8 say that we need to correct our erring brother and if necessary, punish him or her. But when you do that, you are seeing yourself as better than him or her, and humility is vanishing.

Even if I do not judge others, as I grow in my spiritual life and I see the changes taking place in my life, I want to measure my growth against a standard. Since no standard exists, we compare ourselves with others, and slowly begin to see ourselves as superior to others. The same is with success in career and other areas of our lives, given to us by God, but seen as merited by us. The most difficult one to avoid is the spiritual arrogance which comes to us as we see others who have not accepted Jesus, as sinners and people who are spiritually inferior to us. Can this be avoided?

These problems come because we compare ourselves with others. We especially do this when we are doing something that does not come naturally to us. In areas where we striving, we look for yardsticks to measure our progress and the easiest yardstick is to compare with others. This results in a lack of confidence in self, with the resulting lack of self-esteem or the reverse, pride in self, for having achieved. Why does being a Christian fall into the category of doing something not natural to me?

This is because, from an early age, we have been immersed in the competitive culture of the world and the hedonism of the world, that living for God and His kingdom is alien to us. So, we begin to compare our progress in this with others, with all the resultant problems of pride and having an identity like that of the Pharisee rather than the tax collector. What is the solution?

Humility does not come by being ‘humble’ but by accepting people as they are. By not comparing ourselves with others, and not assessing the life of others, but by accepting them as creations of God to be loved and cherished for who they are.

Humility is looking at the strengths and gifts the other person has. Since your identity is as the child of Jesus, the achievements of the other person do not put you down or make you feel inferior. Rather you praise God for making a unique individual for His purposes. Humility is how I perceive others. To achieve this, I need to have a clear identity as a child of God rather than from anything else. As a child of God, we do not try to ‘please’ God but rather we live a life of total dedication to God and His purposes – not to please Him but recognizing that is the only reason for existence (2 Cor 5:15).