The Beauty of Humility

Jesu Juva

James 3:13-4:10                                                           

September 19, 2021

Proper 20B                            

 Dear saints of our Savior~

          If you’ve been paying attention then you know that we’ve been reading from the book of James for the past few weeks.  And to be honest, James is the kind of book that stands up and demands your attention.  James is not easily ignored.  James is kind of like that elderly relative who has some very strong opinions—who isn’t in the least bit shy about speaking his mind at every family gathering.

          I mean no disrespect for Saint James.  He gives us God’s own truth, inspired by the Holy Spirit.  He tells us what we need to hear from the mouth of the Lord—even those things that we might rather not hear.  It’s James who tells us that faith without works is dead.  It’s James who tells us that if you keep the whole law of God, but stumble at just one point, you’re guilty of breaking all of it—every commandment.  It’s James who tells us how dangerous and poisonous the tongue can be—and how no human being can truly tame the tongue.

          As you might expect, today’s epistle from James pulls no punches.  Buckle your seat belts.  His main theme is drawn from what sounds like an innocuous, little proverb:  God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  No big surprise there.  The Bible is full of statements like that.  Countless Bible stories highlight either the peril of pride, or the beauty of humility.  Who can forget the pride of Peter; or the humility of Mary, the mother of our Lord?

          As James surveyed the scene among the believers of his day, he was

dismayed at what he saw:  bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, and boasting.  It was every man for himself, each person propelled by sinful passions and desires.  I’d like to say that pastors are immune to things like pride and jealousy; but last week I sat through eight hours of meetings with fellow pastors.  One of those pastors, I’m convinced, has a perfect ministry.  To hear him tell it, he’s got no problems, no struggles, just a constant influx of new members and an ever-increasing stream of big donations.  Even though I know that’s just pride talking; I still have to remind myself not to be jealous of him.

          Pride is one of the famous seven deadening sins; but we rarely give it much thought, I’m afraid.  What about you?  Is pride a problem for you?  If you were to make a list of besetting sins—sins that do a good job of tripping you up and entangling you—would pride be on your list?  As in the case of my fellow pastors, it’s always easier to spot the pride in someone else.  We’re more inclined to see ourselves as humble and gracious.  Or perhaps your thoughts about pride can be summed up in this brief, little poem.  The poem is entitled, “Dilemma.”

I want to be famous

so I can be humble

about being famous.

What good is my humility

when I’m stuck in this obscurity?

And while we all may know what it’s like to be stuck in obscurity, even obscurity is no remedy for pride.

          So let me take a lesson from James and state a few inconvenient truths about pride.  Pride in its most deadly form is not what you think it is.  Pride is not trash-talking, smack-talking, jaw-boning, braggadocio.  Most of us learned not to indulge in that kind of thing by the time we were confirmed.  (Although, whenever the Packers play the Bears all bets are off.)  No, the real problem with pride—pride in its most dangerous form—is not running around and saying, “Look at me.  I’m better than you.”  Beloved in the Lord, pride is saying “no” to God.

          Pride is saying “no” to God—reducing Him, shrinking Him down to size, confining God only to the cracks and crevices of our lives.  On Sunday mornings we pray, praise, and give thanks.  On Sunday mornings we let God be God.  But what happens on Monday and Tuesday and the rest of the week?  We bow our heads and bend our knees on Sunday mornings; but the rest of the week, we stand up and proudly declare our independence from God and His commands.

          There’s a blatant and obvious example of this in our culture today.  If pride is saying “no” to God, then could there be a better example than the LGBTQ movement—those who literally rally beneath the “pride” banner?  Pride is their creed.  They are experts at saying “no” to God:  No to God’s divine design for sex within marriage, No to God’s natural design for marriage between man and woman, No to God’s gift of family, No to God’s creation of the body as either male or female. 

          We’re different though, right?  We know God’s Word.  We know God’s will.  And we’ve been humbled by His holy will.  Yet we still say “no” to God.  God says, “Be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you,” but we say “no.”  We say “no” as we nurse our grudges and look for ways to repay evil with evil.  God says, “Flee from sexual immorality,” but we say “no.”  We say “no” as we consume a steady diet of sexual immorality in our entertainment choices, becoming more and more desensitized to it.  God says defend your neighbor, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way, but we say “no.”  We say “no” every time we go along with the gossip, and leave the lies unchallenged, and allow the slander to spread.

          We know God’s will and God’s Word and still—still!—we say no.  Who do we think we are?  Our first parents said “no” to God; and their pride landed us all in a world of hurt that will eventually deposit us six feet under.  God opposes the proud.  You can say “no” to God; but you do so at your own peril.

          God opposes the proud—and that includes us all.  God opposes the proud; but God—this God—is also love.  This God desires not the death of the proud, but the repentance of the proud.  His desire for them is forgiveness and life.  God set Himself in opposition to your pride in a strange and unexpected way.  God opposed your sinful pride by assigning it to His one and only Son.  Jesus carried your pride in His body.  Your unforgiving heart, your immorality, your slander and gossip were all assigned and imputed to the Son of God.  And on Good Friday God the Father opposed His Son—opposed Him with the wrath and fury that our sin deserves.  The God who opposes the proud opposed His own beloved Son—so that He might save the proud through the humility of His beloved Son.  In Jesus the problem of your pride has found a solution.  The problem of your sin has been met with God’s forgiveness.  The problem of your death has been undone by the Lord of Life.

          If pride is saying “no” to God, then we all stand guilty and condemned.  But Jesus Christ—and He alone—has said “Yes” to God.  Jesus humbled Himself and said “yes.”  “Yes” to your deliverance from sin, death, and the grave.  Jesus said “yes” to the suffering and spit—to the nails and thorns—to the cross and tomb.  Jesus said “Yes.”  And His “yes” counts for you through faith.  Because of that “yes,” there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

          If pride is saying “no” to God, then humility is saying “yes.”  Humility and pride are opposites.  And the beauty of humility is something to behold.  And we can behold it best in Jesus.  Humility is praying “thy will (not mine) be done,” and that’s precisely what Jesus prayed on the night He was betrayed.  This Jesus emptied Himself and humbled Himself by saying “yes” to the point of death, even death on a cross.

          God opposes the proud, but [He] gives grace to the humble.  This God is in the business of giving grace.  That’s what He delights to do.  He gives grace to you.  For in you God sees not your pride, but sees His Son, Jesus.  God opposed your pride in Jesus.  God punished your pride in Jesus.  And in Jesus you have been given forgiveness and grace.  Through faith in Jesus, His humility is in you.  Grace is yours.  Forgiveness is yours.  God is for you, not against you.

          And with God’s help you can say “yes” to God.  You can say “amen” to His Word.  “Amen” to His promises.  “Amen” to His will for your life—even when that will of His is shaped in the form of a cross.  As you receive the body and blood of Jesus today—as the Word of God has its way with you today—the God of Sunday becomes the God of Monday too.  Saying “yes” to God means that you begin to decrease; and Jesus begins to increase.  No longer can He be confined to the corners and crevices of your life.  He has been exalted to the highest place; at the name of Jesus every knee will one day bow.  On the cross we see the beauty of His humility.  And in that beauty the problem of our pride has met its match.

          In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.