#9 “Book of
Nehemiah” Series
"THE HEALTH OF HUMILITY!"
TEXT: Nehemiah
9:1-38
INTRO: One of the
greatest statements in the Bible is said by Jonathan, the son of King Saul.
In 1
Samuel 23:17 he said to David who had been his father's enemy; "I will be second
to you." ... the rarest man in the orchestra of God is the saint who
knows how to play second fiddle well!
It is the humble man who can recognize
who God really is and who he himself really is! Instead of just being discontent all the
time for where God has you the humble man recognizes God's leading and is
content where ever he is led … even if it means being second
fiddle!
ILLUS: A man can
counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, he can counterfeit hope and all the
other graces, but it is very difficult to counterfeit humility. -- Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899) -- Edythe Draper, Draper's
Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers,
Inc., 1992). Entry 5989.
Humility has a healthy way to it,
though at times it is first a painful way!
Humility is an honest appraisal of the past but with one difference,
instead of mourning over the past it remembers it so the past is not
repeated again! It is a look
at the past with sorrow over errors, with the intent to heal the present and
give wisdom and direction for the future!
HUMILITY is meant to be an active
healthy role in one's entire life ... it should not end in self-pity, that is
not true humility, that is humiliation!
Real humility is solution oriented in healthy
directions!
PROP.
SENT: After a great time of
feasting,
I. HUMILITY
9:1-6
A. Personal
9:1-3
1. The humility of the Israelites had
to be both corporate AND individual!
a. While they agreed together to fast
... they each personally wore the apparel of genuine sorrow for that time
period!
b. This was not just another ritual
... it was serious business and the choice of each
individual.
2. As it turned out, the entire camp
joined together to analyze the errors of the past!
3. The key here was to EXAMINE the
past and acknowledge the sins ... but not to the point of self-pity, it was to
learn!
4. When the past steals our joy and
envelopes us with self-pity or self-hatred that is not the same thing as
HUMILITY!
a. Biblical humility by its very nature is healing
oriented.
b. Humility that is real restores the
joy of the saint and restores the proper appreciation for who they are in Christ
in spite of their failures, once they have been
confessed!
5. No one can make
you humble ... you might be invited to be, but you must accept the
invitation personally.
6. This genuine humility revealed
itself by the way the Israelites responded to the Word of God ... to separate
themselves from all foreigners (not as an arrogant "we are better
than you" type of separation) but because God's Word had told them to
be DIFFERENT FROM THE WORLD!
a. They maintained contact with other
nations.
b. They still did business with other
nations.
c. The point was to differentiate
themselves from the pagan lifestyles of the world; the idea was to be the
people of God the Word called them to be!
ILLUS: Fred
Craddock, in an address to ministers, caught the practical implications of
consecration. "To give my life for
Christ appears glorious," he said. "To pour myself out for others ... to pay
the ultimate price of martyrdom -- I'll do it. I'm ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of
glory.
"We think giving our all to the
Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table -- 'Here's my life,
Lord. I'm giving it
all.'
"But the reality for most of us is
that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents
here and 50 cents there. Listen to
the neighbor kid's troubles instead of saying, 'Get lost.' Go to a committee
meeting. Give up a cup of water to
a shaky old man in a nursing home.
"Usually giving our life to Christ
isn't glorious. It's done in all
those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of
glory; it's harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long
haul." -- Darryl Bell,
7. This brings out a special point of
real humility ... OBEDIENCE, regular constant
obedience!
B. Perspective 9:4-6
1. It is interesting to note that they
had spent 3 hours standing in place confessing their sins and those of their
fathers!
a. Notice they didn't start by
confessing someone else's sins first!
b. They started with their own sins
first!
c. It is always too easy and also
arrogant to ask God to reveal someone else's sin to you and to secondly ask God
for your side of the sin later!
d. Real humility starts with MY faults
before leaning on other's faults!
2. The next 3 hours they spent
listening to the Word of God ... a total of 6 hours in confession and
instruction in the Word of God, along with healthy expressions of worship ...
the second ingredient to proper humility ... RECOGNITION OF WHO GOD REALLY
IS!
ILLUS: True
humility is not looking down on yourself but looking up to Christ. -- Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers (Wheaton:
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990).
3. The leaders are with the people in
this.
a. First their own sins are
confessed.
b. Then the sins of the
past.
c. Then the character of God is
affirmed by WORSHIP!
d. Finally the characteristics of God
are alluded to in a long list:
(1. “You are
everlasting to everlasting” ... God is timeless and
forever!
(2. The point: We are temporal now, and can't
even guess the future ... but “You Lord are forever ... past, present, and
future!”
(3. This brought about a healthy respect for
God, reverence for the Lord is critical to genuine
humility!
4. "You alone are
God" ... this important affirmation was like saying “we are the
second fiddle!” We are
not NUMBER 1!
a. Notice their perspective, God alone
made everything, we can't share the credit, and this alone brings out a certain
healthy humility!
b. Secondly they affirm something very
critical ... even for today “YOU GIVE LIFE TO EVERYTHING...” It is arrogant for man to take life
casually or destroy it just out of convenience ... this really strikes home for
our generation!
c. God will bring down the proud ...
and lift up the humble!
II. HISTORY
9:7-31
A. Provider!
9:7-15
1. Who is it that really has provided
everything we need? GOD!
a. How arrogant man is about his
accomplishments, and rarely a word of acknowledgement about God's role in
providing.
b. Even simple acknowledgements like
praying before a meal is going the way of the dodo bird, disappearing from
families and homes around the world!
2. Notice the constant repetition of
“YOU” for God:
a. “YOU
FOUND”
b. “YOU
MADE”
c. “YOU
KEPT”
d. “YOU
SAW”
e. “YOU
HEARD”
f. “YOU
SENT”
g. “YOU
KNEW”
h. “YOU
DIVIDED”
i. “YOU
LED”
j. “YOU CAME
DOWN”
k. “YOU
SPOKE”
l. “YOU
GAVE”
m.
“YOU
MADE KNOWN”
ILLUS: It was
pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as
angels.
--
3. GOD has done so much ... yet we
really acknowledge so little! The
humble man doesn't forget history, especially what God has done in the
past!
4. God's past record of faithfulness
WILL sustain the humble man!
B. Pride! 9:16-31
1. Notice the change in tone and
identities here: “BUT THEY,
our forefathers…”
a. Now they look back at the errors of
the past.
b. But not in just an arrogant slap at
their father's sins!
c. They are looking back so as to
learn something!
2. This should be the reason we look
back at our sins or mistakes of the past ... not to relive the GUILT of
the past, but to RELIEVE the guilt and
RELEARN for the present and the
future!
a. They recount the cyclical pattern
of their fathers, thus they are not just pointing their fingers at a particular
group of failures, but to a cycle of failing!
b. They are careful to include God's
faithfulness all during these failures too!
c. What's the lesson? ... GOD IS SO GREAT AND HIS LOVE SO PERFECT THAT
HE IS SLOW TO ANGER AND GREAT IN LOVE!
3. What was the real problem with the
past? IT WAS THE ARROGANT STRIVING
TO LIVE WITHOUT ACKNOWLEDGING GOD AND HIS WONDERFUL
LOVE!
a. To ignore God's love and
forgiveness is to live in PRIDE!
b. Pride is a form of
self-reliance ... "I don't need anybody else"
mentality!
c. This is a real cultural problem
for the western world! We PRIDE
ourselves on how independent we are, this isn't always a healthy pride ... this
can be arrogance!
d. The
truth is we NEED GOD, AND ONE ANOTHER!
e. God saw that when Adam was alone
IT WAS NOT GOOD!
4. What was the lesson then from the
past? ... PRIDE had kept their fathers trapped in a lifestyle of sin that could
only be shaken by repetitious captivities from other godless nations ... in
other words, to HUMBLE
5. Arrogance is a type of captivity
... a bondage that is worse than an isolated prison cell ... it isolates
SELF!
ILLUS: A few
years ago, two men held up a bank in
That doesn't make it with a judge
in
6. Verse
29 contains the key statement – God had warned them but in their
arrogance they had ignored the warnings.
a. GOD WOULD WARN
b. And arrogance was demonstrated when
they didn't think they had to obey!
c. THUS AN IMPORTANT KEY TO REAL
HUMILITY IS OBEDIENCE!
d. Biblical humility is not so much
what DENNIS MARQUARDT WANTS, BUT WHAT GOD WANTS! Learning to understand the Word and
following it is the heart of humility!
III. HEALING! 9:32-38
A. Promises! 9:32-35
1. Something is coming into focus
here: "NOW
THEREFORE..." introduces a conclusion to all the comments that
preceded this statement:
a. God is an awesome ... great ...
mighty ... God, WHO KEEPS HIS PROMISES!
b. God is a sure
bet!
c. Life is a gamble without God ...
and the odds are 0 if you bet against Him!
2. There had been a pattern in the
past, one of cycles of disobedience and an unwillingness to learn from this
constant cycle!
a. Nothing can be sadder than someone
who continues to make the same errors again and again!
b. You can see them go from church to
church to church ... always its the church's fault, and perhaps at times it is,
but a pattern emerges that produces an arrogance and bitterness that eats the
joy right out of the heart of that saint!
3. However, God is faithful ... even
to the misguided saints ... and when they truly become humble God is able to let
them see and understand ... and break the cycle!
ILLUS:
Toward the
end of his life, Albert Einstein removed the portraits of two scientists --
4. In fact, knowing that God is so
faithful in itself is often enough to break the bitter heart, even the arrogant
spirit ... God's promises are yea and amen, and they bring healing to a hard
heart!
B. Petitions
9:36-37
1. Now that they have learned from the
past errors they are humbled to see the reality of their present
status!
a. The beam in their eye is now
obvious!
b. Genuine humility is finding its way
and its process in them!
c. The past now is past and what ugly
realities about their fathers they saw they now see in
themselves!
2. So they break out with petitions
... but not just for blessings, for more things; they break out with prayer that
God will forgive their failings, not just their father's -- their
sins!
3. With this they acknowledge their
total dependence upon God for their ultimate security!
a. Our security does not come from our
jobs.
b. Or our bank
accounts.
c. Or our
country.
d. Or our
positions.
e. Or our
breeding.
f. Or our family name.
etc.
g. The humble man of God recognizes
that when the final call comes it is God that gives us our sense of
security!
ILLUS: During
construction of Emerson Hall at Harvard University, president Charles Eliot
invited psychologist and philosopher William James to suggest a suitable
inscription for the stone lintel over the doors of the new home of the
philosophy department.
After some reflection, James sent
Eliot a line from the Greek philosopher Protagoras: "Man is the measure of all
things."
James never heard back from Eliot,
so his curiosity was piqued when he spotted artisans working on a scaffold
hidden by a canvas. One morning the scaffold and canvas were gone. The inscription? "What is man that thou art mindful of
him?" Eliot had replaced
James's suggestion with words from the Psalmist. Between these two lines lies the great
distance between the God-centered and the human-centered points of
view. -- Warren Bird in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching &
Teaching (Baker), from the editors of
Leadership.
4. Their petition ends with, "WE ARE IN GREAT
DISTRESS!" 9:37
C. Pledge 9:38
1. What do they do after petitioning
God for help and recognizing their utter dependence upon Him for forgiveness and
help?
a. They don't sit around and wait to
see what God is going to do!
b. The humble heart says, “ok, what do I
need to do now?"
2. They respond while waiting for God
to help them out of their distress by making a pledge to God ... not a foolish
one, pledges carefully thought out and based on the lessons of the
past!
ILLUS: God uses
broken things. It takes broken soil
to produce a crop, broken clouds to produce rain, broken grain to give bread and
broken bread to give strength. It
is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is the broken Peter, weeping bitterly,
who returns to greater power than ever. – Source Unknown
3. This pledge would be their promise
to walk with God, the leaders took the role of being the example in
this!
a. This pledge however was an
individual choice, anyone could sign.
b. All were invited to sign, but it
still would be an individual choice!
4. This is still true with God. Your pastor can't get you into heaven,
and you can't use him as an excuse for why you won't make it
either!
a. Each man and woman will have to
face God and their choices made here and now will affect the outcome
later!
b. The arrogant heart will say, "I have no need
of God, I can do it alone."
c. The humble heart will acknowledge
his sin and find forgiveness and be healed of the old nature and be created new
in Christ ... never to go it alone again!
5. Why not walk with the best ... it
doesn't get any better than God!
6. Sign your name in the book of life
with the rest of those who have learned from their past sins, and turn to the
one who forgives all sin and renews your heart and mind! COME TO CHRIST; join the covenant of
God's people! YOU CAN BE HEALED OF
GUILT, SIN, AND A SENSE OF NO PURPOSE. GOD'S JUST WAITING for your
pledge!
CONCLUSION: Real humility is a great healer --
for it brings out the honest good and bad of our human nature and recognizes
God's truly Holy nature! It also is
honest about history -- with the result of inspiring us in our hearts to live
righteous lives in the present and future, to learn from the past! God loves the truly humble heart, it is
the true strength of a spiritually dynamic walk with God. How humble are
you?