Humility vs. Worm Theology [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. For so often in my Christian life, somebody said, be like Jesus. And I'm like, he is the world record holder in love. He's the world record holder in patience and humility.

He's the world record. Don't tell me to try to be like Jesus. I can't be like Jesus. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Unspeakable Joy as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastoralan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. When you see God doing something, you can't even think in a moment like that of how special we are. You wouldn't want any attention on yourself. It would be... It wouldn't only be wrong. It'd be... It'd be unclean.

It'd be unholy, wouldn't it? That's what I'm saying. Humility comes like that. It's not like, oh, I'm going to try to be humble here and remind myself this wasn't about... You don't even have to when you know it's God.

You know, it's not the way you think. And I'll never forget that afternoon. The plan was my family was on vacation down at the beach. And so the plan was Bob was going to drop me off at Ocean Isle Beach.

Then the other guys were all flying back into Winston. But a line of thunderstorms lined up and we couldn't get to the beach. And so we just had to land in South Carolina as I remember it. And I went and rented a car one way to drive down the beach to join my family. And so I had several hours in the car. And I was thinking back through all the blessings of the week's events down there in Moultrie and looking forward to seeing the family. The extended family was there, cousins and all that. And I called and I said, well, I'm running late.

I had to get a car. I'll meet you all at the restaurant because they were going to be at the restaurant. And I'll never forget walking in and I'm just kind of thinking I'm just on cloud nine from just what a wonderful, wonderful week. And I'm just thinking how wonderful it would be to come in and just sort of celebrate with everybody. But I came in there, food had already arrived at the table and this was my welcome. Oh, dad's here. Another one said, where have you been? And somebody else said, why did it take so long? And I said, it's good to be home.

It's just good to be home. Do you see what I'm saying? Is that there has to be a way in which like Christ being so identified with Christ, you can know who you are and affirm who you are in all of its glory and majesty and wonder in Christ and all of your giftedness and not count it a thing to be grasped. And you can at the same time same time be thankful for the sheer ordinariness of life in which you realize your giftedness does not make you superior to anybody else, but it is something that God gives you to be a blessing to the world.

And so you can feel good about that. And yet you can never step over into a line and be like Christ if you begin to think, look how special I am. And there's something that we see about true humility that when these two things can come together and that you can understand your giftedness in the Lord and you can be like Christ who knew himself to be God, who knew himself to be highly exalted, who knew himself to be perfectly loved by the Father, but didn't grasp all of that as something to be held on to even to the point that he was obedient in the death of a cross, which means that the greatest moment of temptation was probably on the cross itself when he could have called down a legion of angels to destroy those who were crucifying him, but he didn't count his equality with God a thing to be grasped, but instead he emptied himself and he bled for you by his own sovereign choice. And this is the way humility works. That's what true humility is. If you want to be humble, you don't try to be humble, but instead you remember the goodness and the glory of God and you credit him for every good thing.

Years ago in Reader's Digest, Warren Buffett was interviewed, a billionaire, and he often refuses to take credit for all of his company's success. And he used the illustration that at his granddaughter Emily's fourth birthday party that there were parents there and kids and there was entertainment from Beamer the Clown. And Beamer the Clown was doing various magic tricks and then he said, now I need a volunteer. And of course he called the birthday girl Emily up and gave her the magic wand. And he had a little box and first Beamer put some blue cloths into the box and he said, wave the magic wand. And Emily waved the wand and he pulled out red ones and everyone went, oh. And then he took some cloths that were some handkerchiefs that were separate from each other and put them into the box and he said, wave it. And she waved it over it and he pulled it out and they were all tied together and everybody went, wow.

And after a couple more moments of doing these tricks where she waved the wand over it, Emily couldn't contain herself and she just said, gee, I'm good at this. What humility is, is actually in the words of Andrew Murray, complete dependence on God. Complete dependence on God. That's humility. There's got to be a way that both everything that makes the gospel so wonderful and affirming who we are is intimately perfectly connected to the place of perfect dependence on God that keeps us ever humble. Tim Keller has put it as well as anyone, the Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time.

It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself.

Instead, I think of myself less. How Christ's humility was at work is what's on display in this hymn that you can have this same mind. Christ, verse 6, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, made himself nothing taking the form of a servant.

Being found in human form humbled himself obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. It's a picture of the the way humility works in our lives. It is something that steals in upon the soul without you realizing it, because in the recognition of the goodness of God, you're caught up in a self-forgetfulness that flows. John Piper wrote, the really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. It's such a wonderful moment. At such moments, we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves.

See, here's how it works. Christ was assured of the love of the Father perfectly. He was filled with the deep assurance that enabled him to live a life of self-forgetfulness.

You just don't see Jesus going around all the time thinking about himself. Oh, what am I going to do? What am I going to do with all these crowds? Oh, I've got this big mission and I know death is looming in front of me. Oh my goodness.

And I've got a crick in my neck because I don't have a good pillow. And you just don't see Jesus thinking about himself like that. Why? Because he's too deeply assured. It's not because he didn't suffer.

He suffered. But he has so much assurance in the love of the Father that we can have self-forgetfulness. And because he's utterly perfect in his understanding of who you are and who I am and all of our majesty and the wonder of who we are but we are made through Christ. He understands who we are. And thus voluntarily he takes on the form of a servant, displacing his power at times in order to be human. And this deep confidence and unending love and this self-forgetfulness come together for him to be willing to experience the depths of human suffering because he has such a confident assurance of the redemptive power of God.

And this is the way humility works. It comes when you are assured of the love of God in Jesus Christ. Whenever you see a text and it says something like this, and have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. Whenever you see a text and it's telling you to be more like Jesus.

How do you see that? For many years it didn't feel like good news to me at all. To say be more like Jesus felt like almost bad news because you're going, how can I do that? Be like Jesus.

That's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Have you ever thought that joy is a delight reserved for those who have no problems? Or have you ever assumed that some people are just born with a joyful personality?

If so get ready for some good news. Joy is a fruit of the spirit available to all in Christ no matter the circumstances of life. Though Paul was in jail when he wrote his epistle to the Philippians he spoke of joy 16 times. No matter what you're going through you too can discover the secret to unspeakable joy as Pastor Alan Wright leads you through a life-building exploration of Philippians. When you make a gift to Sharing the Light Ministries today we'll send you the new CD album The Secret of Unspeakable Joy as our way of saying thank you for your partnership. Your gifts are the only way we are able to continue broadcasting the message of grace all over the nation. Happiness may rise and fall with happenstance but joy is ever present in the spirit.

So become a partner today and discover joy like never before. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.

Or come to our website PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. For some reason this week I was looking over in anticipation of the Olympics I started looking over some of the world records for some of the Olympic events and I had Bennett and Abby and my father-in-law in the room we started I started trying to make them guess on what the record was on certain events.

Two of which especially fascinated me. The long jump what we used to call as kids the running brawl jump. One jump you get to run ahead of time and then one jump. And I said what do you think the world record is for this?

And I was asking around and and like people guess somebody said 10 feet somebody said 15 feet maybe like that. The long jump record one jump over 29 feet. Now you go home and you walk that off and just see this is me jumping over Bob Roach's head on the fifth pew in one jump. This is one of these I'm sitting there thinking how far could I jump? And I thought if I even tried to make that jump I'd have to be hospitalized later that day.

So we ought not try to even experiment with what that would be. But here's the one that really fascinates me the world record for the marathon. Some of you are runners you may you may already know this information. I had no idea that the 26.2 miles the fastest has ever been run is two hours and two seconds. But before you even start doing the math on this I just want you to think about what what do you think don't do the math yet but what do you think that the world record marathon is averaging per mile of the 26.2 miles?

It's going to blow your mind. When I was in high school I played soccer and it was sort of a requirement or at least highly suggested that if you're going to make the team you had to be run able be able to run two miles in 12 minutes. So two six-minute miles back-to-back. And I went I was in the best shape of my life and I went into training for this and I barely did it. I barely did it.

I was young. I was I was at the fastest I've ever been in my life and I went out and I did it but I barely did it. I was never a big runner but I did it. It was really hard.

And it was really hard. The average pace on the world record for the marathon running 26 of them is four minutes 40 seconds. I'm just I can't even I can't even wrap I can't wrap my mind around this. I could never in my whole life ever come close to running one mile in four minutes and forty seconds. I can't even I can't run a five-minute mile. I don't even understand and somebody goes out and runs 26 of them in a row going at four minutes and forty seconds every single one. Are you kidding me? It's unbelievable. Now point of telling these stories is it would not be good news to me if you said Allen go out and run a two-hour marathon.

That other guy from Kenya did it. Why can't you do it? Get out there. Jump 29 feet. Let me see you jump 29 feet. Can you just give me 20 feet?

You can give me 15 feet. Can't you do more like that world record holder? That would not be good news to tell me to be like a world record holder in the marathon because I cannot be. I just can't be. The things don't work like that.

The legs are not long enough. The heart's not strong enough. It can't be done.

So don't tell me to. And so for so often in my Christian life somebody said be like Jesus and I'm like he is the world record holder in love. He's the world record holder in patience and humility.

He's the world record. Don't tell me to try to be like Jesus. I can't be like Jesus. And see this is why the mystery of humility comes in right at this point. It is at the point of you realizing I can't be like Jesus unless Jesus does this in me that makes you completely dependent upon Jesus which therein defines you as humble and in that humility Christ is exalted in you. It's a wonderful mystery. If you look at the beginning of this text what you'll see is that there is a triune affirmation of our capacity to walk in the mind of Christ because it virtually because at verse one it says if there's any encouragement in Christ any comfort from love any participation in the spirit any affection and sympathy complete my joy by being of the same mind it's almost like it's almost like the trinity here because you're saying is there encouragement in Christ any comfort from love implied here the love of the father and any participation in the spirit. These words are fascinating because the word for encouragement in verse one is paraklesis and it's the same word that Paul uses at first Corinthians 14 to describe the benefit of prophecy the reason that we prophesy he says is for encouragement and upbuilding and for comfort and the word for encouragement is this word paraklesis which very interesting is closely akin to the word that Jesus uses to describe the Holy Spirit himself the the parakle the the parakleitos which means he is the helper paraklesis means to call alongside this is the image that comes to mind is we're going running down the path and then someone comes alongside for encouragement and refreshment or maybe you've been you've been wounded and you have to put your arms up along somebody who comes alongside so you can keep walking someone who comes alongside to teach you to instruct you to be with you he is with you and so what encouragement is it's like there's a power of God that comes alongside of you and there's encouragement in Christ because when your heart meditates upon what Christ has done for you you remember that he loves you you remember that he died for you you remember that he's forgiven you you remember that he reigns in power for you you remember that he advocates and intercedes for you you remember that you are seated with Christ because of what Christ has done for you and you start having this thought that maybe I could do all things through Christ who gives me strength that's encouragement in Christ but he says but there's also a comfort in love there's a comfort in love the love of the father shed abroad in our hearts comforts us John says that perfect love casts out fear when you're troubled love unconditional agape love comforts us but then he says if there's any participation in the spirit and the word here is koinonia it's the word we use for fellowship there is a connection an organic fellowship in the spirit so you have encouragement in Christ in the love of the father and you have intimate koinonia in the Holy Spirit and when Paul says if you have this what he means is not there's a chance you don't he means since you have it because you have it because it's a mark of who you are in Christ is that the more that you have an awareness and contemplation of what Christ has done for you the more that you receive the love of the father and the more intimately you walk with the Holy Spirit with whom you are in perfect fellowship then you have the mind of Christ the language actually says the mind of Jesus which is yours and so what happens is for us to be living out a life of humility it begins with the intimacy with God that leads us into assurance of God's love so that we like Christ though we are not God he was assured he was God but we're assured we're in Christ we're assured we're forgiven by God we're assured that we've been restored to fellowship with God humility starts with an awareness of who you are in Christ and humility grows with the confidence of the love of God shed abroad in your heart and then it is manifest by the powerful connection of your life with the Holy Spirit so when you know your security then you're able to be led into a self-forgetfulness wherein God is able to call you up into his mission and liberate you from the tyranny of self-absorption so that your mind like Christ's mind is set upon how it is that you could love and serve others there is a way beloved in which you are able to be utterly 100 percent confident and secure in Christ celebrating the gifts that God has given you comfortable in your own skin knowing your strengths and celebrating them laughing at your own weaknesses and at the same time so forgetful and it's unnecessary for you to be absorbed with yourself that you can be concerned with the well-being of others and find it to be the great delight in your life just like Jesus that you are laying down your life for the cause of celebrating honoring and serving others for the gospel of Jesus Christ is of a Lord who emptied himself who took on the form of flesh of flesh as a servant and became obedient even into death of a cross because it's God's plan and the way he designed the universe that the first will be last but the last shall be first and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted and the promise that was true for Jesus is true for you that you might live out a life of humility but get ready beloved there's going to be a day and the trumpets going to sound and you're going to be glorified and you're going to reign forever exalted with Christ forever and forever and forever the humble are in the end blessed magnificently and these two things just go together that's what true humility is and that is the gospel alan might and uh what a great what a great message true humility and versus worm theology in our series unspeakable joy alan is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and today's final word cs lewis said no soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it in other words joy isn't an elusive dream reserved for a select few who have no problems or for those who were born with a joyful disposition actually joy is a fruit of the spirit available to all in christ no matter what you're facing you can have the joy of the lord in the midst of it the apostle paul did though he wrote his epistle to the philippians while imprisoned he spoke of joy 16 times alan wright's newest cd album the secret of unspeakable joy takes you chapter by chapter through paul's explanation of the secret of joy in philippians when you make a gift today to sharing the light we'll be delighted to send you the new cd album as our way of saying thanks for your partnership become a partner today and discover the secrets of unspeakable joy we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastor alan.org alan if it's not us it may be somebody we know who truly is going through a really rough time in life and they they find themselves wanting to identify very closely to jesus who says i'm a man of sorrows acquainted with grief and so how do we reconcile joy even when our savior said i'm a man of sorrows how does that counter the warm theology yeah well i think they say that uh there is a such a thing as being happy and such a thing as being sad but the biblical picture of joy is different from either of those um happiness and sadness may ebb and flow with the circumstances of our lives and there's a time uh for weeping um there's a time for grieving it's very important that we learn to grieve yeah but but even in the midst of um those times what god is not he he doesn't discipline us or bring us to those points of humility so that he can disparage his children not so he can um demean us and devalue us just the opposite real humility is accompanied by an assurance of the love of the father and accompanied by an assurance of his purposes for our lives so the two things go hand in hand great destiny great purpose real joy and authentic humility but if there is a what we call worm theology where we're just nothing but a miserable wretch and uh there's no uh there's no other identity except sinner right well that's a different kind of self-absorption that really will in the end rob us of our joy today's good news message is a listener supported production of allen wright ministries