Trust AND Obey » Faithful Shepherds

The Paradox of Humility

Dave Miller — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:11:09 +0000

Two weeks ago at church, our council of Elders called a man up to the front of the church before the worship service began. They presented him an award for being the most humble Christian at our church. The award was a tiny lapel pin a little smaller than a dime. The man accepted the award with a tearful and red-faced “Thank you all, so much” and returned to his seat. Last Sunday, the man came to church wearing the pin in the lapel of his jacket and the head elder took it away from him because he showed pride by wearing it and didn’t deserve it anymore.

This actually didn’t happen. It is an old joke rephrased. Nevertheless, humility can be a difficult concept to understand. Last week I listened to a two-part sermon preached by John Piper entitled Battling the Unbelief of a Haughty Spirit. You can download it and listen to it yourself here:

Battling the Unbelief of a Haughty Spirit Part 1.mp3

Battling the Unbelief of a Haughty Spirit Part 2.mp3

When I listen to podcast sermons (usually about a dozen each week) I like to take notes on the parts that hit me hard, or speak to my heart. Sometimes I’ll stop the playback and just start writing about instances where I have personally experienced what the preacher is talking about.

Here are the notes that I took while I was listening to the sermons linked above. If you get anything out of this, I encourage you to download and listen to the entire sermon. Not all of what appears below is Piper’s and not all of it is mine.

All acts of unbelief and all acts of sin flow from selfishness and pride. We know what selfishness is, but pride is more complicated. There are two main forms of pride. The first is our traditional understanding of pride that John Piper defines very well as “…knowing we’re good and wanting others to know it.” This is what the bible calls boasting. The other, trickier, sneakier form of pride doesn’t look like this at all; it is called false humility. False humility is when we go out of our way to demonstrate to people how humble we are. Yes, you can be prideful about being humble just like the man in the old joke.

If you are a Christian and you know anything at all about humility, I am confident that you have encountered this type of pride at least once. Here are two examples: The man who volunteers for the worst task at a church function and then for weeks afterward, brags about doing such a menial job. The woman who helps somebody anonymously and then “lets slip” what she did to one friend who she knows can’t keep her mouth shut. These are examples of a craving that people have for other people to think well of them.

Each of these forms of pride is an example of making much of yourself. As Christians, we should be delighting in Christ alone and in God’s mercy to us.

Isn’t it funny, considering our size and place in the universe, that we humans would struggle with genuine humility?

True humility means casting everything on the Lord. Casting your anxieties on the Lord is humility, because proud people don’t feel that they need help from the Lord. Pride makes people deny their anxieties and want to look like they’ve got it all together. Piper says, “…how easy it is to ‘be made much of’ even for my self-denial.” We have to be such cool customers. God is our LAST refuge instead of our first thought. We are afraid to be vulnerable. We are afraid to look human.

Piper says, “God loves people, but hates pride.” The condition of your heart is of utmost importance. It is almost impossible for anyone to tell the difference between genuine humility and false humility in another person, but it is easy for us to know it in ourselves. This is a skill that we work inwardly on ourselves, not an outward skill that we work on others.

If we are making much of Christ and little of ourselves, then we are practicing humility well. And the proper response is to make much of Christ for granting us a humble heart.

Various Quotatious

Dave Miller — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:32:32 +0000

Some wonderful quotations from some Godly men:

When you see that saving faith is a being satisfied in all that God is for you in Jesus, then the good fight of faith (as Paul calls it in 1 Timothy 6:12) becomes a fight for JOY! A fight for Joy in Christ, not television. In Christ, not sex. In Christ, not money. In Christ, not fame. There’s the battle. And it is to be fought every day as we put to death what is earthly in us and all of our cravings for this world and they rise up again and again and they must be killed with this truth. Put to death what is earthly in you. (Colossians 3:2) Die every day to the things that will destroy your Joy. That changes everything. – John Piper

The only foundation and basis upon which those of us who have been called through the teaching of the bible by the enabling of the spirit to mediate the rule of Christ’s headship among his people is as we have the bible preached to ourselves. And unless it comes in power to us, it cannot come in power through us. Therefore, no man can exhort you to submit to the headship of Christ with any sense of realistic integrity unless that man himself has been so beset upon by the necessity of his bowing to the headship of Christ. So it is not some monarchy that God has established, where with Kings and popes and princes he has established some hierarchical structure, and in the midst of that you have the proletariat in Colossae or Cleveland or Corinth and they are called upon to do what the leaders say. No. It is that together we bow beneath He who is the supreme one and the all sufficient one and He who alone is the head of the Church. So who is in charge around here? Christ! – Alistair Begg

A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent. – John Calvin

Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt. – Augustine

Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will. – Jonathan Edwards

Matt Chandler – Man of God

Dave Miller — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:31:59 +0000

Matt Chandler is the Lead Pastor at The Village Church in Denton County, Texas. On Thanksgiving morning, he had a seizure and collapsed at his home. He woke up in the hospital and it was later found that he had a one inch by two inch mass in his frontal lobe on the right side of his brain. On Friday, December 4, he had surgery to remove the mass and is currently recovering in the hospital. Biopsy results will be completed this coming week.

Matt is a faithful witness for Jesus Christ and he recorded a video message just before his surgery last week. It was played at his church on Sunday the 6th. It is a remarkable witness to the power of Christ. Please take a look.

Video from Matt.

UPDATE – 9 Dec. 2009: Matt will be in the hospital for a few weeks. Please send him a card C/O The Village Church 2101 Justin Road, Flower Mound, TX 75028

Link to keep up with the latest news about Matt. Please, take the time to pray for him, his family and especially his children.

What is the Gospel?

Dave Miller — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:00:59 +0000

This is an interesting question, “What is the Gospel?” Explaining the Gospel can take anywhere from 140 characters (like on Twitter) up to millions upon millions of words and everything in between. Here is my attempt to keep it “Twitterfied” (Less than 140 characters)

Perfect God loves man, hates sin.

Fallen man hates God, loves sin.

God sends Son, crosses out man’s sin.

Man repents, believes, is saved.

That is my best attempt, but it leaves out so much. Can you do better? Post your attempt in the comments section.

My favorite pastors named John have addressed this question and their responses are below. John Piper’s is very complete and well organized – one of my favorites. John MacArthur’s is short, sweet and brought me to tears when I first heard it. Paul Washer’s offering follows. It is longer, but is so good that I had to include it even though his name isn’t John.

Who Sits on Your Throne?

Dave Miller — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:21:37 +0000

There is no such thing as a carnal Christian

- Paul Washer-

Take a look at the graphic below. Which of the two circles represents your life most closely? Be sure to read the descriptions carefully.

There is a third circle that is also a possibility. It is a blend between the two circles above, the dots might be a little more organized than the Self-directed life, but not as organized as the Christ-directed life. Christ is inside the circle, but Self is still on the throne. This circle is typically known as the “Carnal Christian” circle. See below and read the descriptions carefully.

In the “Carnal Christian” circle above, Christ is a part of your life, but you have not fully yielded to Him and probably about half the bullet points apply to you. Sadly, this is the most fitting description for most people who claim to be Christians. In my experience, more than half of the people sitting in church on any given Sunday fall into this category.

Perhaps you are one of them. Until relatively recently, so was I. Are you trying to take the Bible more seriously, trying to live a better life, trying not to worry, trying to pray a little more often, trying to consider what Jesus would do before you decide what you will do? Doing these things usually just leads to a legalistic attitude where you do your best and hope it is enough. Sadly, according to Matthew 7:22-23, most of the people who try to “do” their religion this way will be turned away from the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now, take a look a this short video from OneTimeBlind.

The hard news of Christianity is that until you relinquish complete control of your life to Jesus and let His will be your will, you will not be living in Him and will have no part of the Kingdom of heaven when this life is over.

The good news of Christianity is that when you relinquish complete control of your life to Jesus and let His will be your will, you will be living in Him and will have a part of the Kingdom of heaven when this life is over.

Repent and believe, trust and obey.

Conversion Story – Paul Washer

Dave Miller — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:56:15 +0000

Paul Washer is a great Christian speaker. He is an itinerant preacher affiliated with the HeartCry Missionary Society. His most famous message online is known as “The Shocking Youth Message” which was given in 2002 at a youth evangelism conference in Montgomery, Alabama. It is an hour long but every Christian should see it at least once.

Below, is the account of Washer’s conversion at the University of Texas in Austin. Please take 15 minutes out of your day to listen to this entire message, especially if you are feeling down or discouraged. Hearing how God worked to bring Paul to Himself is uplifting for all and helps us to know that God will work miracles for those who love him. (Romans 8:28)

He references Psalm 103:15-17 NASB in his testimony.

If your tear ducts haven’t kicked in yet (mine didn’t, but my heart was refreshed) watch this next video. It’s about six minutes long and it is an amazing story of God working His righteous will in the USA and Peru. Like two electrodes in a spark plug, God worked to bring two men close together to do great work for the Lord.

All for the glory of God! Soli Deo gloria!