Be Humble

This is the seventh message in the series on the spiritual qualities that are essential in the lives of people who minister to others in the words of God.

We must be godly, faithful, diligent, teachable, Spirit-filled, charitable, and humble.  Tonight we’re going to study the need to be humble.

In Phil 2:1-8 Paul told us to “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus… he humbled himself”.  When we are humble, we can be in one accord.  And we can do the will of God without strife or vainglory.  We can do everything in lowliness of mind and esteem others better than ourselves.

The ministry is not about fulfilling our ambitions, or gaining our personal recognition, or getting our way.  We must consider others and not ourselves when we minister for the Lord.  After all, he died to save others, not himself.

According to 1 Pet 5:5-9 we must all “be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility”.  God gives grace to the humble.  And the Lord knows that we need grace to be able to work together in the ministry.

But notice, that God resisteth the proud.  We surely don’t want God working against us when we’re trying to work for him.  In the context, we give the devil place when we don’t humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.

If we humble ourselves until we are as low as we can possibly go, the devil can’t knock us down any further.  You’re already all the way down.  This is the place from which to minister.  And from here, God will exalt you in due time.  And, by the way, now is not the due time.

In Jas 4:6-8, we must be humble to resist the devil.  Don’t we know how the devil works to bring discord into the church!  The greatest defense against his attempts to destroy our ability to work together for the glory of God is to be humble.