CRCF\u201d\u201d1\/16\/11<\/p>\n
Introduction–<\/p>\n
Chuck Swindoll<\/p>\n
Philosophers are people who talk about something they don’t understand and make you think it’s your fault!
\nLots of philosophies are floating around, and most of them are more confusing than they are helpful. Interestingly, those that are clear enough to be understood usually end up focusing full attention on the individual. Consider a few of them:
\nEducation says, “Be resourceful; expand yourself!”
\nPsychology says, “Be confident; assert yourself!”
\nReligion says, “Be good; conform yourself!”
\nEpicureanism says, “Be sensuous; enjoy yourself!”
\nMaterialism says, “Be satisfied; please yourself!”
\nPride says, “Be superior; promote yourself!”
\nHumanism says, “Be capable; believe in yourself!”
\nPhilanthropy says, “Be generous; release yourself!”
\nYourself, yourself, yourself. We’re up to here with self! Do something either for yourself or with yourself or to yourself.<\/p>\n
I
\nME
\nMINE
\nMYSELF
\nThose four words stood out in bold print.
\nThey appeared as if they were forming an enormous monument, each letter seemingly chiseled out of granite. At the base of this strange “monument” were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people with their arms held up high, as if worshiping at a shrine. And then, in very small letters, this caption appeared at the bottom of the editorial cartoon: “Speaking of American cults . . .”
\nSurrounding the borders of this picture were four familiar lines from well-known commercials:
\n“Have it your way.”
\n“Do yourself a favor.”
\n“You owe it to yourself.”
\n“You deserve a break today.”\u00b9<\/p>\n
The Attitude of Jesus
\nPhilippians 2:1-8<\/p>\n
Humility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!
\nPhilippians 2:1-8 (MSG)
\n1-4If 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\u201d\u201d 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.
\n5-8Think 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\u201d\u201dand the worst kind of death at that\u201d\u201da crucifixion.
\nHumility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!
\n1 John 3:16 (NLT)
\nWe 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.
\nHumility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!
\nPaul Tournier
\nThere are two things that we cannot do alone: one is to be married and the other is to be a Christian.
\n(Yancey, Why Bother with Church?, 37)
\nPhilippians 2 (NLT)
\n1 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.
\n3 Don\u201d\u2122t be selfish; don\u201d\u2122t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don\u201d\u2122t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
\n5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
\n6 Though he was God,
\nhe did not think of equality with God
\nas something to cling to.
\n7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
\nhe took the humble position of a slave
\nand was born as a human being.
\nWhen he appeared in human form,
\n8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
\nand died a criminal\u201d\u2122s death on a cross.
\nHumility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!
\nChuck Swindoll<\/p>\n
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.
\nFace 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.
\nCuriously, 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.”
\nHumility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!
\nChuck Swindoll<\/p>\n
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.”
\nBut how? By regarding others as more important than yourself. Look for ways to support, encourage, build up, and stimulate the other person.
\nAnd that requires an attitude that would rather give than receive.
\nWHY live this way? Because JESUS did! And we\u201d\u2122re following HIM!
\nJohn 13:1-17 (MSG)<\/p>\n
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.
\n3-6Jesus 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?”
\n7Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”
\n8Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet\u201d\u201dever!”
\nJesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”
\n9″Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”
\n10-12Jesus 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.
\n12-17Then 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\u201d\u201dand live a blessed life.
\nHumility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!
\nRonnie McBrayer<\/p>\n
Church is something we become. It is a way of life that takes us into the world to love and serve others . . . Humility and the refusal of power, is nothing less than faithfulness to Christ and the basic means by which the church articulates the Gospel. The servant church is the only church that actually exists.
\nHumility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!<\/p>\n
Romans 12:10-11, 13 (NLT)<\/p>\n
Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically . . . When God\u201d\u2122s children are in need, be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night.
\nHumility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!
\nRonnie McBrayer<\/p>\n
All forms of coercion, status, respectability, and jockeying for power are rejected for service, vulnerability, liability, and submission to others.<\/p>\n
If there is not the danger \u201d\u201c even the expectation \u201d\u201c that we will be taken advantage of, that we will be marginalized, even nailed to a cross, then we have not yet humbled ourselves.<\/p>\n
Humility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!<\/p>\n
Conclusion–<\/p>\n
Chuck Swindoll<\/p>\n
Let me suggest a couple of revealing tests of humility:<\/p>\n
1.\tA non-defensive spirit when confronted.
\nThis reveals a willingness to be accountable. Genuine humility operates on a rather simple philosophy:
\nNothing to prove.
\nNothing to lose.<\/p>\n
2.\tAn authentic desire to help others.
\nI’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.<\/p>\n
Humility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!<\/p>\n
Philip Yancey<\/p>\n
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.
\n. . . 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.<\/p>\n
Philippians 2:5 (NLT)<\/p>\n
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.<\/p>\n
Humility that serves others is the attitude that proves we\u201d\u2122re following Jesus!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CRCF\u201d\u201d1\/16\/11 Introduction– Chuck Swindoll Philosophers are people who talk about something they don’t understand and make you think it’s your fault! Lots of philosophies are floating around, and most of them are more confusing than they are helpful. Interestingly, those … Continue reading