Life of Paul Part 15 - Staying Humble

Well, good morning, everybody.

Hey, it's wonderful to have you here. And I want you to take a Bible, let's open it together, to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 14. We're going to be continuing in our study of the life of the great man, the Apostle Paul, Acts chapter 14. Now Paul Simon sang a song quite a while ago that said, after all the stuff I learned in high school, it's amazing, I can still think at all.

And there's some truth to that, I believe. When we were in high school, we studied all kinds of stuff that we don't half remember and don't use anymore. All of us took world history, we all took world sieve or whatever. And as part of that, do you remember, you know, the Spanish conquistadors? You remember studying those guys? Well, vaguely.

Well, I'm going to help you memory just a little bit today. Because one of the most famous of the conquistadors was a fellow named Cortez. Cortez landed in what is today Mexico in 1519. Of course, then it wasn't called Mexico. It was actually the Aztec Empire led by at that time, King Montezuma. And what Cortez did not know when he landed, is that there was a centuries old tradition among the Aztecs, that one of their ancient kings was going to be coming back as a god one day from the sea, and that this god would have white skin. And so of course, when Montezuma heard that these white skinned people had landed, he rushed down to meet Cortez, bow down on the ground before him, worshiped him as a god, invited him to come into his capital city to Noche Tolan, showed him all of his riches, his gold, his silver, and presented himself as Cortez's servant.

Now you talk about a moment of opportunity. This Cortez had a moment of opportunity. And what did he do with it? Well, he took Montezuma captive, he took control of the Aztec Empire, he soaked all the gold and the silver out of it and send it back to Spain. He became a hero in Spain. He got King Charles of Spain to appoint him governor of Mexico.

And he lived the rest of his life in luxury, most of it here in the New World. Hey, when it came to taking advantage of that moment of opportunity, Cortez did it for intense personal gain, got to give the guy credit, he maximized it for his own personal gain. Now the reason I bring all this up is because in our study of Paul's life, we're coming today to a passage where we're going to see Paul handed an exactly similar moment of opportunity just like Cortez was handed, except that the Apostle Paul is going to handle it very differently than Cortez did. And there's a huge lesson here for us who are followers of Jesus Christ in the 21st century, a lesson about staying humble, even when our successes hand us moments of opportunity, where we're tempted to take advantage of them for personal gain.

So we want to look at this. Let's look first at what happened to Paul, then we'll talk about us. So here in Acts chapter 14, we're going to pick up a little bit of background. Remember, Paul is on his first missionary journey. Here's Antioch, where Paul was dispatched from, he went and went across all of Cyprus, then he went up to the southern underbelly of what is today Turkey, went to Antioch, and now he's here in Iconium, as we pick up the story. And so verse one says at Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue, where they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jewish people and Gentiles came to Christ. Verse three. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.

Man, Paul hit this town like a ton of bricks. And before people knew it, he was doing all kinds of things to confirm that the message he was delivering was true. People were coming to personal faith in Christ by the droves. Verse two. Well, there were some Jewish people in town who refused to believe, and they stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers, against Paul and Barnabas. Verse four. And so the people of the city were divided, some of them sided with the Jewish people, and some of them sided with Paul and Barnabas.

And there was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and the Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat Paul, to stone him. But Paul and Barnabas found out about it and fled to the Lyconian cities of Lystra and Derby, where they continued to preach the good news. And now being run out of town for his own safety, he's gone to Derby and to Lystra, these two cities that were nearby. And when he arrives in Lystra, he's going to see the very same level of success that God's going to grant him as he's been having.

Look at verse eight. And in Lystra, there was a man who was sitting crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth, and he had never walked. And he listened to Paul and Paul looked at him and said he saw that he had the faith to be healed. And Paul called out and said to him, stand up on your feet.

And at that, the man jumped up and began to walk. And the crowds could not believe it. I mean, how are you going to explain something like this? So when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lyconian language, the gods have come down to us in human form. Now we know that the Romans and of course, the Greeks before them were worshiped a huge pantheon of gods and goddesses. And the only explanation that the crowd could come up with as to how you could heal a man like that is that two of the gods have come down and we're just walking around as people and and they decided to name them Barnabas, they called Zeus, and Paul, they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

Now, Zeus, of course, was the king of the gods, the big dog God. And they gave that name to Barnabas, I guess, because Barnabas was obviously the senior member of the team carried himself in a very dignified manner. They called him Zeus, and they had to find a name for Paul. And Paul, all he did is talk.

So they look for the God the closest. So you know, what God do we know that just talks all the time. And they came up with Hermes, who is the messenger God, the one that has wings, you know, on his feet or wings on his helmet, the messenger God who would go and communicate for the gods.

And that's the name they gave to Paul. Most of us don't know Hermes. But we know this same God better by his Roman name, Mercury. And all of us here are probably familiar, the older ones of us here are familiar with Mercury, because we remember him on the dime. But the younger of you guys here who never saw any of these dimes, you'll know Mercury because he's the FTD dude. This is that guy. That's Mercury. Okay, now, this is who they named Paul. Well, you say so everything's going good, right?

Well, no, things get a little complex right here. Verse 13. And the priests of Zeus, whose temple was outside the city, he brought bulls and wreaths to the city gate, because he and the crowd wanted to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas, they wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas, they wanted to sacrifice animals and do homage to Paul and Barnabas. Now, here we have Paul being presented with the very same kind of opportunity that Cortez was presented with these people think he's a god, these people would do anything he said, he they would go where he told him to go give him as much money as he said, give him I mean, he could have ruled this city as as the god of this city if he'd want it.

But look what Paul does what this opportunity very different from what Cortez did. Verse 14. When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, that they were there to sacrifice to them, they tore their clothes as a sign of anguish and agony and consternation.

They rushed out into the crowd and they shouted men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human, just like you, Paul and Barnabas refused to allow the crowd to to worship them to honor them that rather than use their success for any kind of personal gain. Look what they did with it, the rest of the verse, they go on to say we are just bringing you the good news, telling you that you need to turn from these worthless things like Zeus and Hermes and all this other nonsense.

And you need to turn to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them. Would you notice here that Paul and Barnabas intentionally took the credit took the honor that came from their success. And rather than turning it into personal gain, they refused to allow that to happen and instead reflected all of that credit and all of that worship on to Almighty God.

Do you see what they did? And verse 18 says, and even with all these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them. They didn't have to just say once don't do this.

They had to stand there and argue and fight with the crowd to get them not to sacrifice. Now, you know, a lot of us when people want to give us credit for stuff will go Oh, no, no, no, please don't, please don't. And then when they do it again, we kind of go Oh, okay.

You know, yeah, you're right. That was pretty good. What it did, huh? No, no, no, this wasn't Paul and Barnabas. They kept saying no, no, no, no, no, you got we're not doing this until finally they prevailed on the crowd. But it wasn't just a one time deal. They had to really stand their ground or the crowd was going to offer them sacrifice.

Now, that's as far as we want to go in the passage. Because we have a very important question that we need to ask here. And everybody knows what it was. And you guys in overflow, I want to hear you all the way down the hall. Ready?

123. Right. You say, Lon, so what? This is great. We had Paul's an honorable man. We really, really appreciate him.

But but what difference does it make for us? Well, let's talk about that. You know, in the 53 years I've been alive, I've noticed something. And what I've noticed is that one of the hardest things in life to do is to go up the ladder, to experience success, to experience a notoriety to experience achievement, and and to go up the ladder at the same time maintaining an attitude of true humility. That is a really difficult thing to do. Many of us know examples of people who haven't been able to master this skill. I mean, they were once pretty humble, but then with what God has given them, and they don't recognize God for it at all.

And they're as arrogant as can possibly be today. Well, the Apostle Paul kept the ability his entire life to go through unbelievable success. I mean, when you start healing people who've never walked before, that's pretty awesome thing to do.

When poisonous snakes bite you, and you rip the thing off and throw it away and nothing happens to you. That's pretty incredible. I mean, this guy had some amazing success. And yet he was able to remain a person of true humility through it all. And so we want to see how he did it.

How did he do this? So that we can copy it. How can we stay humble, regardless how much success God ever sends us? That's what we want to talk about. But before we talk about staying humble, let's first define what humility is. Okay, because it's kind of a fuzzy, humility is a fuzzy thing. So what is humility really?

Well, let me tell you what it isn't. Humility is not self deprecation, self depreciation. It's not dump on myself theology, that is not humility. And you've heard this, you know, people who go, Oh, woe is me. I'm such a horrible person. I'm a worm. I don't deserve to be alive.

Somebody step on me and crush me just smush me. Now friends, that is not humility. That is mental illness. That is not humility. And Jesus who is the most humble human being to ever live. Did you ever hear him talk like that about himself?

Of course not. That's pseudo humility. Real humility is simply an attitude. It's merely an outlook. It's merely a perspective. It's merely a way of seeing ourselves that allows us to stay low before God in our own estimation, and keeps us from becoming too big for our britches here with other people. That's all it is. It's a perspective.

It's a way we see ourselves. And you might say, Well, I hear you driving on about this humility thing. But I mean, what big deal is it? I mean, so I get a little arrogant.

So what? Well, it is a big deal if we're followers of Jesus, because listen to what Jesus said. He said, Luke 18 14, everyone, does that include us? Yeah, everyone who exalts himself will be humble. God will see to that. And everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. God will see to that too.

And folks, this is an equation that you and I never want to get on the wrong end of you understand what I'm saying? You don't we don't ever want to be on the front end of this verse. I've been on the front end of this verse a number of times. It is not a good place to be. It is a nasty place to be where God feels he has to step in and humble you.

Nasty, nasty. We want to be on the back end of this verse, where we humble ourselves. And God therefore feels the freedom to jump in and exalt us.

That's where we want to be. So how do we stay there, even when God sends us increasing levels of success? Well, there were three very simple things Paul did that kept him humble. They're all found in First Timothy one. So I want you to flip back if you got your Bibles to the first letter that Paul wrote Timothy first limit Timothy Chapter one.

And let's close today by observing what these three things are so you and I can copy them. Number one. How did the Apostle Paul stay humble, even with all the success he had? Number one, the Apostle Paul always remembered where he came from.

Look right here. First Timothy one. Look at verse 13. It says, Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy.

Paul said, Hey, I have no illusions about where I came from. I threw men and women into prison for believing in Jesus. I participated in killing people for their faith in Jesus. I was a profane man, a mean man, a cruel man. He goes on to say in verse 15 that I am the worst of sinners.

The worst. I was Hitler, Paul says. I was Stalin. I was Osama bin Laden of the first century.

I was a bad guy. This is such an important principle for us to remember. It helps us to stay humble no matter how high up the ladder God takes us. Remembering where we started. Remembering how unlikely a candidate we really were to ever get where we are today. Remembering what a mess we were in when Jesus picked us up. Because, friends, if we ever lose that awe, the awe that says, Hey, starting as I did with the faults that I have, how did I ever end up here? If we ever lose that awe, it's a guaranteed formula for arrogance.

And that's trouble. You know, when I was in high school, I don't know if your high school was like my high school, but we had senior superlatives. Did you guys have that? You know, smartest, best dressed, most friendly. And, you know, and you put the guy that got elected to that, the girl that got elected that, they got their big pictures on a special page in the yearbook, you remember, most likely to succeed. Okay, well, I never won any of them, but our high school had them. Let me tell you, though, there is one senior superlative that if we had had it in my high school, I would have won it almost by acclamation. I mean, almost unanimously.

And that is least likely to succeed. You say now you're you're you're exaggerating. Oh, no, I'm not.

Oh, no, I'm not. Man, I'm telling you, I grew up in a home where there was nothing but conditional love. My dad was never there. And my mom abused me both verbally and emotionally. I came out of that home emotionally scarred. I had no discipline in my life. I had a terrible self image. I was hugely obese from trying to eat all my pain away.

I had I was in terrible physical shape. I hated myself. I was paranoid. I was insecure. I was an emotional basket case. I came out of a home where we were never held accountable to any moral behavior, any ethical behavior. So my behavior was out of control. I was offensive to everybody around me and I had no friends, believe me, least likely to succeed.

I don't want in a landslide in my high school. There is nobody less likely to be a success in life than I was. And you know, every time some success comes along, and it's time I'm tempted to take it personally and let it go to my head. God taps me on the shoulder and says, Hey, Lon, don't you ever forget where you were when I found you, son, you were a disaster zone. You were a nuclear fallout area when I found you. Don't you ever forget that.

Don't you ever start believing your own PR, son. And you know what, as followers of Jesus Christ, a lot of you guys can relate with exactly everything I'm saying. You can you can relate to what I'm saying. Because when Jesus found you, you were a mess too. When Jesus found you, your life was a disaster too. Don't ever forget where you came from.

It'll keep you humble. May I say that if you're here, and you've never trusted Jesus as your real and personal Savior, that there's an important lesson here for you as well. Hey, you know, when I was back in high school, I had this, this sense inside of me, that there was some there was destiny down in there, that there was something great down inside of there. The problem was I was so emotionally scarred. And I had so much baggage, I couldn't get it out. And left to myself, I never would have gotten it out. It's only because Jesus came into my life, that I got it out that he healed me on the inside. And I became all that I could be. And if you're feeling that same way about yourself, that this down inside of you, I mean, there's some there's something really big inside of there.

But you can't seem to get it out. I'm here to tell you left to yourself, you never will. But you give your life to Jesus and you watch what happens. Hey, if you want to be all that you can be, forget about the army.

That's not where you go. You come to Jesus, and he will make you into everything that you've been created to be you watch what he does with your life if you just give him a chance. Let's go on to the second one. The second thing that Paul did that kept him humble number two is the Apostle Paul remembered who got him where he was today. First Timothy chapter one, look at verse 12.

He says, I thank Jesus Christ, our Lord, who's given me strength, who's considered me faithful, who's appointed me to his service. Paul says, Hey, when it when it comes to being the Apostle Paul and doing what I'm doing today, it's not luck. It's not fate. It's not coincidence. It's not chance. And it's not good fortune that got me where I was.

And neither is it anything that I've done in my own effort. The reason I'm where I am today is the mercy of God, the grace of God, period. In fact, he goes on to say down in verse 14, the grace of our Lord was poured out abundantly on me. That's why I'm where I am. And you know, as followers of Christ here in the 21st century, this same thing is true of us. Whatever we are today, whatever success we have, whatever notoriety we have, whatever position we have today, the reason we've got it is not because of us, but because of God's sovereign decision to give this to us, God's mercy, God's grace, and nothing else.

You say not time out, Lon. I got to tell you, I take offense at that. I resent that. I mean, I went to college, I worked hard, I built my business, I stayed up late at night working on all of those reports and those proposals for you to say that I'm where I am today just because of God, I resent that.

Okay. Well, you know what? There are a lot of other people who went to college and a lot of other people who worked hard and a lot of people who stayed up late working on things and a lot of people who tried hard to build their business who aren't anywhere near where you are today. It's not just about that. It's about God making the decision that you're where you are and somebody else is where they are. And you know, I talk to business people all the time who tell me that success in their business as they look back is suspended on a couple of the narrowest margins that went their way instead of going the other way, that at certain points in their life, if something little that was out of their control had gone a different way than the way it went, man, they wouldn't be where they are today. So who controlled those little things and got them to go the way they went instead of the other way?

Not you. Psalm 75, not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south, nor from your going to college, nor from your hard work, nor from your staying up late comes exaltation. God is the one who lifts one person up and puts another person down. And friends, remembering this is an important weapon in staying humble. Because if we see whatever success or prominence or position we have, not as an achievement that we rated ourselves, but as we if we see it as a sovereign gift from God, then staying humble is easier. Because if it all came from God, if it's a gift from God, then there's nothing to be arrogant about. That's why Paul wrote and said, First Corinthians four, verse seven, what do you have that you didn't receive from God? And if you received it, then why do you boast as if you hadn't received it?

That's a good question. Remember who got you where you are today? It wasn't you. It was the Lord. Third and finally, the Apostle Paul remembered the reason why God allows us to experience success. Why does God let us as his followers be successful? Do you ever think about that? You say, Well, because that's just the way it's supposed to be.

No, no. Think about it. Why God doesn't have to let us be successful. Why does he let us be successful?

I'll tell you why not. The main reason is not so that you and I as his followers can enjoy the benefits of being successful. The main reason is not so that we can enjoy living in comfort and affluence.

The main reason is not so that we can bask in the spotlight and have everybody tell us how wonderful we are. No, the main reason God allows us to have the successes we have is so that we can use those successes as a platform for God, so that we can use those successes as an opportunity to turn the spotlight onto God and the wonderful mercy that he's shown in our lives. Hey, Paul saw it this way.

Look what he says. Verse 16. He says, But for that very reason that I was the worst of sinners, for that very reason, I was shown mercy. Look, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Jesus Christ might display his unlimited patience.

The reason God has done in my life, what he's done is to use my life as a platform to display himself. And he says, as an example, for those who are going to believe on him and receive eternal life. Paul says, God wants people pointing at me and saying, Well, I'm not as bad as Paul. I didn't go around killing people. I didn't go around throwing Christians in jail like he did.

And if God can be merciful to him and do with him what he's done, God can certainly do it for me. Do you understand what Paul is saying? That the reason God had done for him what he's done didn't have anything to do with Paul. It had to do with using Paul's life to draw credit and attention to God.

That's why. And that's exactly what Paul did in Lystro. Didn't he?

Didn't he rush out the street and say, Hey, we're just human beings. If you want to give the credit to anybody, give it to the living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in it. Didn't he take the credit and deflect it away from himself, using his life merely as a platform to give the credit to God?

That's the way it's supposed to happen. And, folks, when you and I, like the apostle Paul, dedicate ourselves to intentionally, deliberately making sure the credit goes to God, not to us, that our lives are merely just a platform. I tell you something, you're going to see God give you success.

He says in Isaiah 42, I am the Lord. That's my name and my glory. The credit for what I do. I'm not giving anybody else.

So you give it to God and he's going to give you lots of success to give him the credit. All you got to do is be intentional about it. You know, my mom and I growing up had a horrible relationship.

I mean, just really bumpy. In fact, that's that's being kind. I hated my mom. Hated her. I hated her because she tried to control my life. I hated her because she she just abused me emotionally and verbally. I mean, I hated her. I went off to college hating her.

Didn't want to be anywhere near her. And then when I came to Christ, the Lord convinced me that, you know, that's just not right. I mean, the Bible says honor your father and your mother. So I began praying and asking the Lord to help me to do that. Well, five or six years later, my mom and I were together. She came up to me one evening and she said, You know, she said, You have really become a wonderful son. And I thought, you know, I can't take that credit.

That's the credit going to wrong place. So I said, Mom, I appreciate you saying that. That's wonderful. But, you know, you really got it wrong. I am still the same selfish, self-centered, arrogant, hateful son that I've always been.

I'm not a bit different. Believe me, all you're seeing in my life is the effects of Jesus Christ changing me. So the credit really is not mine. The credit belongs to him. And, you know, that's what Paul did. That was his intentional commitment is to always make sure the credit went to God. And friends, that's where God wants you and me to be. If our intent is always to give the credit to God and not put our hands on the ark and take credit for ourselves, what in the world can we get arrogant about?

Of course, it's easy to stay humble when that's our commitment. You say, But Lon, wait a minute. I can't walk around the Pentagon talking like that.

I can't walk around the Defense Department or my lawyer's office talking to people like that. I mean, it sounds cheesy. It sounds self-righteous. Okay, fair enough. Sometimes when somebody wants to give you a compliment, sometimes it really is better just to graciously say thank you and walk away.

I admit that. But when we walk away, what is it that we're saying to ourselves when we walk away? When we walk away, what is it that we are thinking inside when we walk away?

That's the important issue. Do we walk away from that encounter, even if we've merely said thank you? Do we walk away saying, Hey, Lord, but listen, you and I both know I don't deserve that credit. That credit goes to you. And I just want to affirm, even though I just said, I'm affirming it God, I'm not taking that credit in my heart.

I know it's yours. Is that how we walk away? Or do we walk away saying, Yeah, I am pretty cool, aren't I?

Yeah. That's the only you and the Lord knows what goes on way down inside there. Nobody else is going to know. But friend, what goes on deep down inside of there is essential to us staying humble before God. Who gets the credit in your life? Well, God says He's the one that ought to get it. And as long as we stay there, hey, staying humble will not be a problem. So let's review.

We're done. How is it that we can go through life and we can have enormous successes and still remain tamed true humility? Well, God tells us here in the Bible, it comes from not forgetting some things. He says, Don't forget some things and you can do it. Number one, don't forget where you came from.

Don't forget where you were when I found you and how unlikely a candidate you are to be where you are today. Number two, don't forget who got you where you are today wasn't you is me. And third, don't forget who the credit always belongs to doesn't belong to you.

It belongs to me. You make sure I get it. And I'd like to add a fourth thing we shouldn't forget. And that is don't forget what happens when we forget. Okay, we end up on the wrong side of the equation and it gets ugly. Don't get on that side of the equation.

Remember these things? Let's all try hard and let's stay on the right side of Jesus's equation. Let's pray. Lord, thanks for talking to us today about real issues in our life. You know, Lord, that every one of us here is human beings. Our human nature is just wired to be arrogant. I mean, we don't mean any harm from it, Lord. Just the way we are. We love the spotlight. We love the notoriety. We love being looked at as a big shot.

We love people noticing us. That's just the way we are, God. So my prayer today is that you would take the example of the Apostle Paul and that you would really motivate us to a different way of living, a way of living that that projects true humility. And how do we do it? Well, by remembering where we came from, by remembering who got us where we are today and by remembering who the credit belongs to. Lord, these are simple principles, but they worked for Paul his whole life and they'll work for us. And so, Lord, change our life because we were here today. Make us men and women of true humility so that you can exalt us, as the Bible says, in due time. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.