Message by Chad Kelly
Introduction
The Gilmer High School Varsity Wrestling Team brought home another State Duals Championship Title last night! The team”™s 10th State Title, their 4th State Duals Title in a row, and the final match yesterday afternoon marked Coach Snider”™s 400th Duals win.
You may be wondering what this “Duals” word is all about. Wrestling is, in one way, an individual sport, as each wrestler goes to the mat and competes one on one. But wrestling teams compete AS TEAMS as well. One wrestler from each team represents his team in each weight class and the team that wins the most individual matches wins the team match.
The Gilmer Wrestling Coaching Staff are masters at building a line up that will bring home a team victory. Not every individual match will be won. Not every wrestler on the team will get to wrestle in every battle against another team. The coaches study their opponents and learn which weight classes are going to present the toughest challenges and which should be fairly easy wins. And then they put the Gilmer wrestlers that fit the bill for the need in each weight class in that slot to wrestle for the team and, ultimately, bring home a team victory””even a STATE-WIDE victory!
Now”¦as you can imagine, this isn”™t always easy on the individual wrestler because sometimes he won”™t get to wrestle at all in a match. Those individual wrestlers are called to be team players who are humble enough to forego their own desire to be the man on the mat for the good of the team. A Gilmer wrestler has to trust his coach”™s judgment and keep the big picture goal of a team victory in mind when he”™s told that he won”™t be wrestling today. And I admire those boys who find themselves in that position and yet are right there cheering on their individual teammates””and their team””to victory.
Truth be told”¦we can learn something about humility and unity and teamwork for the greater good from the Gilmer Wrestling Team.
Isn”™t that exactly how the body of Christ should function?
Humility Unifies
Philippians 2:1-8
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
Philippians 2:1-8 (MSG)
1-4If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care”” then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
5-8Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death””and the worst kind of death at that””a crucifixion.
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
1 John 3:16 (NLT)
We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian friends.
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
Paul Tournier
There are two things that we cannot do alone: one is to be married and the other is to be a Christian.
(Yancey, Why Bother with Church?, 37)
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
Chuck Swindoll
Maybe we should confess that one reason we find it so hard to set selfishness aside and adopt the spirit of a servant is that we’re driven by dreams of success. We want to be winners.
Face it; we live in a success-saturated society. Right next to the books applauding our selfishness are dozens of bestsellers telling us how we can be more successful. Dozens of books and magazines every year, along with scores of DVDs and hundreds of seminars, offer new ideas and new motivation techniques that have the promise of prosperity. Success is big business. No wonder thinking like servants is so hard.
Curiously, however, few ever address what most folks want (but seldom find) in their pursuit of success: contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction, and relief. On the contrary, the roads that are supposed to lead to success are not only rocky; they’re maddening. As the Executive’s Digest once reported, “The trouble with success is that the formula is the same as the one for a nervous breakdown.”
By the way”¦if your walk with Christ and service to Him don”™t result in contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction, and relief, then you”™re probably trying to serve Jesus in a self-centered, self-glorifying way”¦and it cannot be done.
If it”™s all about you, if it”™s all about me, then it cannot be about HIM!
And ONLY when I”™m serving for His glory will the Holy Spirit give me the contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction and relief for which I truly long!
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
Philippians 2 (NLT)
1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
3 Don”™t be selfish; don”™t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don”™t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal”™s death on a cross.
Chuck Swindoll
Stop permitting two strong tendencies—selfishness and conceit—to control you! Let nothing that either of these words suggests win a hearing. Replace “selfishness” and “conceit” with “humility of mind.”
But how?
By regarding others as more important than yourself.
Look for ways to support, encourage, build up, and stimulate the other person. And that requires an attitude that would rather give than receive.
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
WHY live this way? Because JESUS did! And we”™re following HIM!
John 13:1-17 (MSG)
1-2 Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.
3-6Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”
7Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”
8Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet””ever!”
Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”
9“Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”
10-12Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you.” (He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you.”) After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.
12-17Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it””and live a blessed life.
If I find myself unwilling to serve someone, unwilling to “wash the feet” of a certain person, then Christ-like humility is far from my heart.
Because Jesus washed the feet of proud and aggravating Peter”¦but even more amazing”¦Jesus washed the feet of Judas, the one who was about to betray him into the hands of those who would beat him, mock him and spit on him all before they attached him to a crucifix by nailing spikes through His hands and feet.
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
Romans 12:10-11 (NLT)
Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
Ronnie McBrayer
All forms of coercion, status, respectability, and jockeying for power are rejected for service, vulnerability, liability, and submission to others.
By the way”¦all of these forms of pride and arrogance””coercion, status, respectability and jockeying for power””rear their ugly heads in the church””even in the name of “service to the Lord”! And sometimes it”™s hard to recognize such attitudes for what they are. Yet you”™ll know something”™s not right. Even if you can”™t put your finger on it, even if it”™s not crystal clear and you can”™t quite explain it”¦you”™ll know”¦because the Holy Spirit will be speaking to you, convicting you that you”™re self-focused”¦or that, even though their words are smooth, the person speaking to you doesn”™t have Christ”™s glory and the good of His church at heart, but rather, a selfish desire to be recognized, to control, to be applauded.
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
Ronnie McBrayer
If there is not the danger ”“ even the expectation ”“ that we will be taken advantage of, that we will be marginalized, even nailed to a cross, then we have not yet humbled ourselves.
And furthermore”¦WHEN we are taken advantage of and marginalized, if we buck up and demand respect”¦guess what just happened?
Humility that forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who JESUS is just flew out the window!
And it just became all about me once again!
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
Conclusion–
Chuck Swindoll
Let me suggest a couple of revealing tests of humility:
- An authentic desire to help others that doesn”™t factor in your cost or recognition.
I’m referring to a sensitive, spontaneous awareness of needs.
A true servant stays in touch with the struggles others experience.
There is that humility of mind that continually looks for ways to serve and to give.
And it”™s not about your recognition.
It”™s done gladly, for Christ”™s sake, if no one EVER thanks you””or even knows you”™ve done it!
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
- A non-defensive spirit when confronted.
This reveals a willingness to be accountable and teachable.
Genuine humility operates on a rather simple philosophy:
Nothing to prove.
Nothing to lose.
If your knee-jerk reaction to being held accountable or to being instructed is to defend yourself, then you”™re pride, not humility, is the driving force in your heart””even in your “service to the Lord”!
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!
Philip Yancey
I like to think of the church as one of those Emergi-Centers: open long hours, convenient to find, willing to serve the needs of people who drop in with unexpected emergencies.
. . . it grieves me to see local churches that run more like a business institution than a family . . . failure does not cancel out membership . . . A healthy family builds up the weakest members while not tearing down the strong . . . Family is the one human institution we have no choice over . . . Church calls for another step: to voluntarily choose to band together with a strange menagerie because of a common bond in Jesus Christ.
Philippians 2:5 (NLT)
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Ephesians 4:1-3 (NIV)
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Humility forgets self and builds up others with the result of true unity that shows the world Who Jesus is!