Exalts and Humbles

11-5-23

Hoonah-Hadley

Matthew 23:1-12

Call to Worship Psalm 43

Daily Verse Matthew 23:12

“And whoever exalts themself will be humbled, and whoever humbles themselves will be exalted.”

If humility hasn’t arrived yet in your life, get ready, it’s on its way. God’s word is tried, tested and true. It’s accurate, old, present and new. It teaches, corrects, rebukes, chastens, cleanses, heals, strengthens, transforms, renews, sends, forgives, saves, redeems, consecrates, sanctifies, exalts and humbles. (among other things) God’s word is trustworthy, it’s for our health and well-being, prosperity and abundance. He says in Malachi, “test Me in this”, and we do. This verse in Matthew 23 is the text book example of what God says He will do, He does. He is the judge, jury and verdict, every time. You may not see it, it may not look like it right now, but justice will be served, you can take that to the bank. If history is “His story”, then history shows us and teaches us. Whether we learn from it or not is evident in our lives individually and corporately. One of our best and most obvious examples is professional football, it goes with the territory as they say. Certain positions on the field lend themselves or seem to be more common when it comes to exalting one self. Actually, this verse should be written all over the walls in locker rooms, hallways and end zones. True story, a kicker after kicking the winning field goal, jumped up in the air, pumped his fist and landed awkwardly, damaging his knee which required surgery to fix. If we went back and showed you all the celebrations and the end of the stories, there would be a pattern of behavior and the corresponding results. (as it is with anything)

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Philippians 2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient…” If we go back to verse 5 here in Philippians and read, it says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ…” Think about what you are thinking about. In the famous movie Silence of the Lambs, Dr. Hannible Lecter played by Anthony Hopkins, says, “what do you covet Clarice? You covet what you see.” In other words, you think about what you see and you covet what you see. To covet in its simplicity is to “crave”. What is it that you see? What is it that you crave? What is it that you think about? “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ…He humbled Himself…” Philippians 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection…” Crave Christ, know Him, think about Him. The opposite of humility is pride.

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Pride, an overly high opinion of oneself. Both James and Peter borrow from Proverbs 3:34 “God resist the proud but gives grace to the humble.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Trust me, you do not want God to resist you. On the contrary, His grace is sufficient. Trouble in paradise? Humble yourself before the Lord and He will exalt you. Knowingly or unknowingly, it doesn’t matter. Often times it is simply ignorance, our genetic disposition, it is a disease, our fallen nature, our selfish, self-centered, narcissistic bend toward destruction. We see it in creation everywhere. You look at a big bull elk, a peacock, a wood duck, that’s the creation story, it’s by divine design. With humanity it is more apparent in the gym than in the woods. Let us not miss this critical word in our verse, “will”. “Whoever exalts themselves will be humbled.” We can learn the hard way or learn from others, either way, we will be taught. Think about it, have the mind of Christ, He humbled Himself, know Him.

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If we think in terms of medicine, God is the great physician and He administers to His children their daily vitamins and minerals, their medication. The human body requires 21 essential minerals, they are essential because the body cannot produce them. There are by most studies, 102 minerals in the human body, 21 are essential and without them you can become seriously ill. In Dr. Joel Wallach’s famous book, “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie”, he found that most of what aisles us physically is a mineral deficiency. The human body does not and cannot produce saving grace. It does not and cannot provide Holy Spirit power. It does not and cannot be transformed by the renewing of the mind through dog nasty determination. It does not and cannot be merciful in its own right. It does not and cannot forgive without assistance. It does not and cannot cloth itself in humility simply because it is the fashion of the day. It cannot and will not heal itself of darkness without light. Healing, mercy, grace, forgiveness, transformation, humility are essential minerals the body simply does not produce on its own, without them we are seriously lacking and quite frankly, ill.

In Matthew 23 Jesus teaches us how to live a healthy life and how not to. The Titanic was “The Pride of Man.” It was the ship that couldn’t sink, but design flaws left it at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. “Pride goes before destruction…” C.S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” If all we’re doing is thinking of ourselves, we leave no mental space for God and others. Pride places itself in the center, the center of attention, the center of authority, the center of control, etc. Nothing can be healthy if you’re at the center, not you, relationships, family, children, profession and so on. By some studies, humility is spoken of in scriptures about 900 times in one form or another.

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It has nothing good to say about pride, 0. The world on the other hand promotes pride, essentially being contrary to God’s word. There is “Pride Month”, “Pride Parades”, rainbow flags hanging from churches signifying their stance on the moral compass of the day. Humanity has taken God’s sign, His covenant with us and completely desecrated it. 1 Peter 5:5-6 “…All of you, cloth yourself with humility toward one another because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourself, therefore, under God’s mighty hand that He may lift you up in due time.” Both James and Peter borrow from Proverbs here. Humility does not come naturally; it is administered by God. “Those that exalt themselves will be humbled.”

Matthew 23:11 “The greatest among you will be your servant.”

Jesus said in Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life a ransom for many.”

Humility serves, gives. Pride takes, says, “serve me.” Mark Driscoll says, “Pride is demonic, humility is Godly. Pride pulls hell up; humility brings heaven down.” Pride is natural, humility is supernatural. Pride is enmity with God, humility is how we worship God. The purpose of God’s word is to bring you along. Humility is a journey. We can all ask ourselves the question, am I a giver or a taker? Am I serving or do I have a sense of entitlement. Joshua 24:15 “Choose for yourself this day whom you will serve.” Jeremiah 15:19 “I will restore you that you may serve Me.”

Matt. 4:10 “…You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.”

Matt. 6:24 “No one can serve two masters…”

Ephesians 4:12 “…to prepare God’s people for works of service.” If you are His and He is yours, you have been chosen, called, prepared for good works. Humility and service, inseparable. “Whoever exalts themselves will be humbled, and whoever humbles themselves will be exalted.”

Amen.