It's Hard to be Humble

Humility is the hallmark of the Christian. Christianity is not about doing right, but being honest about where we are going wrong. 

Transcript

James 3:13–4:6 (ESV)
Forty four years ago a singer named Mac Davis had a hit song entitled “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble.” The song goes like this:

Oh Lord it's hard to be humble / when you're perfect in every way.
I can't wait to look in the mirror / because I get better looking each day.
To know me is to love me / I must be a really great a man.
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble / but I'm doing the best that I can.

James would agree. It is really, really hard to be humble. Especially if you think you are perfect in every way.  Which is why, like his brother and Lord in the Sermon on the Mount, James is intent on disabusing you of that idea. You are not perfect in every way. You and I are far from perfect.

We show partiality to those who we think will help us. We treat the rich man who can give us money better than the poor man who asks us for money. We treat the businessman who can get us a job better that someone who can’t. We like the church that can help us but not the church that needs our help. We hardly give the time of day to the neighbours who can’t help us. We have, as James writes, “dishonored the poor man.”

We want and expect and even command people to forgive us. We don’t think we’ve done anything wrong, so why are they so mad? We apologize, but not really by saying “I apologize that you were hurt by the things that I said.”

But what about the others who have hurt us? They deserve what’s coming to them. Why should we forgive them? “Judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy” says the Bible.

Last week we heard about our tongues. They are restless, waging evils that sing praises to God but curse people made in God’s image. “My brothers and sisters, these things out not to be so” says the Bible. 

Today James goes a little further. The Holy Spirit says, “If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.” James does not say “stop having bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart!” That is beyond our abilities. But we can acknowledge the truth that those things are always lurking at the bottom of our hearts. Otherwise “we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8)

Lord, it is hard to be humble until we recognize we are not perfect men or women. You have shown partiality, even when you’ve tried not to. You’ve judged others more harshly than you yourself want to be judged. You’ve let you tongue burn others, leaving nothing but ashes in your mouth.

When you no longer boast about being “perfect in every way,” when you are no longer “false to the truth,” then a miracle happens! Because “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Again, James does not say “God opposes the evil but shows kindness to those who deserve it!” He says “God opposes the ones who aren’t honest about what’s happening in their own hearts. He shows undeserved kindness, though, to those who know they are poor in Spirit.”

Look at our Gospel text this morning. Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? The one who is last of all and servant of all. The one who is humble, not proud. The one who is like a little child with no rights, no demands, no commands. A child has a heart  that says, “Lord, I am not worthy that you come under my roof. But only say the word and [I] shall be healed” (Matthew 8:8). 

This is why Christianity is different from many religions. Christians are not the good people who are opposed to the evil people. We are the evil people who know the evil in their own hearts and want Jesus to take it away. They want Jesus to wipe them clean. They want Jesus to show them grace which is undeserved, unearned kindness. And Jesus does. 
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Jesus dies on the cross as a perfectly humble man. He does not strike out or strike back. He was a “gentle lamb led to the slaughter.” We devised evil schemes against him, to cut Jesus off from the land of the living, doing our best to destroy the tree with its fruit. But he rose with his body from his grave as the same humble Lord that was buried three days and nights before. Our resurrected and ascended Lord remains the servant of all, a little child of his Father. A little child of our Father in Heaven.

Jesus forgives those who know their own hearts, and raises up those who know they are fallen. He saves those who cannot save themselves. Lord, it is hard to be humble. But by your grace, we know we now can.