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Humility – A Necessary Prescription for the Body

(Overcomer Wu)

“All of you, cloth yourselves with humility . . . for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” -- 1 Peter 5:5

(As I have been enlighten to see how short I myself am with respect to the topic that I have been burdened by the Lord to write on, this message is mainly a message from the Lord to myself and borne out of a conviction of my own short-comings and not a message aimed at others.)

Humility is one of the ultimate end of maturity and pride is of course the very opposite of humility. One of the ways we overcome pride is by taking on the mind of Christ and by seeing things from God's viewpoint, because when we truly see things from God's viewpoint there is no room for pride on our part. Like the apostle Paul said, “what do you have that you did not receive?” Perhaps, God has blessed you in an area of your lives that you claim to be the product of your own effort; whereas in fact, as the verse quoted above shows that there is nothing that we have whether in ability or material goods that is not received from God. Therefore, there is no room for boasting. Often there is a temptation to think we had something to do with the blessing. However, God is the one who is blessing us and rewarding our obedience. It is His grace that we are experiencing. Also, when we put on the “mind of Christ,” Who exemplified humility like no one else, we cannot possibly give room to pride. Philippians 2:5-7 says, “Let your mind should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant...”

Furthermore, since Christ Jesus is our example in His humility and lowliness, we need to understand the principles in which it was rooted, and in which we find the common ground where we can stand in Him in order for our transformation into His likeness is to be attained. If we are to be humbled not only before God but toward men, if humility is to be our joy, we must see that humility is not only the mark of shame because of sin and self. Quite apart from all sin, humility is being clothed upon with the very nature and essence of Christ.

Our Lord Jesus found His glory in emptying Himself and taking the form of a servant (Phi 2:5-11). He also said to us, "Whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant" (Matt 23:11). In this He taught us the blessed truth that there is nothing so divine and heavenly as being willing to humble ourselves to be the servant of all, as he demonstrated even in washing the feet of His disciples in John chapter 13 shortly before His agonizing death on the cross.

The faithful servant who recognizes his position finds a real pleasure in supplying the wants of the Master and His household members. This is also what the Lord delights in seeing us doing. Thus, he gave us the parable of the faithful servants in Matthew 24:45-51 where He said: “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?” Then he continued with the rewards He will give to His faithful servants: “Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.” When we see that humility is something infinitely deeper than contrition, and accept it as our fellowship and the living out of the life of Christ Jesus, we shall begin to learn that it is our true nobility. Our humility is to be proven in being servants of all – by meeting the needs of the saints in a practical way – is one of the highest fulfillment of our destiny as men created in the image of God, because it is the living expression of the humility of the “mind of Christ.”

It is not recognized as the only root from which the graces can grow, the one indispensable condition of true fellowship with Jesus.

In our preaching and daily living, in our communication of home, at work, in the church life and outside the church life, especially in matters pertaining to the work for Christ— what a pity that humility in Christ is not esteemed as the cardinal virtue! Serving one another in humility is often ignored and not recognized as the only root from which the graces can grow, the one indispensable condition of true fellowship with Christ. However much or little truth there is in the claim, it has been said of those who claim to be seeking the greater zeal of serving the Lord that it has not been accompanied with increasing humility rather of pride. This is a loud call to all earnest Christians to prove that meekness and lowliness of heart are the chief mark by which we who follow the meek and lowly Lamb of God are to be known.

The apostle Peter writes, "All of you, cloth yourselves with humility . . . for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time" (1 Peter 5:5-6). Many a prideful servants of God think that they alone have the calling from above and they alone can see the revelations from God and that God can speak through them alone. We need to learn from another great but humble servant of God, namely, Moses. In Numbers 11, when Moses called for a meeting with the 70 elders of Israel, 2 of them were absent. We are told in verse 26-27, “However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, 'Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.'” So, indeed the Lord also spoke through Eldad and Medad through His Spirit. Then Joshua, the zealous young lieutenant of Moses (so-to-speak) said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” (v.28). Then Moses' reply demonstrated his great humility, he said in the following verse, “'Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!'” We should never think that we have the corner on the truth and that the Lord can only speak through us. Thank the Lord that He has given many gifts to the Body of Christ. Even the main speaking-function types of gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 are all mentioned in the plural!

The place for us to begin is by admitting our own deficiencies in light of God's omniscience and omnipotence. Our loving heavenly Father cares deeply for us, and He wants us to realize that He alone is the Source that can meets the needs in our lives... of course through the various members of His Body in the Church. And we need to humble ourselves to respect and accept the different gifts given to the Body and not exalt our own as being the one of foremost importance while others can be dispensed with.

Whenever we feel that we are so self-sufficient that we don't feel the need of the other members of the Body of Christ except as an audience to to pulpit, we have already fallen into the pit of Satan. And the very essence of sin is independence from God or self-sufficiency. No matter how self-sufficient you may consider yourself to be, we are all inadequate without God's mercy and grace. Therefore, the Lord Jesus said in John 15:5, “... apart from Me, you can do nothing” -- that is nothing of value to God. A sure prescription for overcoming pride is to cloth ourselves with the humility of Christ by putting on the mind of Christ. This also means taking on the posture of thankfulness for the other members and their functions in the Body of Christ. When we begin to understand the greatness of God's all-embracing love and see the greatness of the Body of Christ with its many gifts and functions, designed by the multifarious wisdom of God, we will inevitably be filled with humility.

“True humility gives all the glory to God, and cast ourselves at His feet as nothing.” --O. Wu