Jesus Humility Changed the World

Jesus’ Humility Changed the World.                              Kelly Durant

When Jesus was born God had given up on the religious people, the proud people who thought they knew it all. Jesus was God’s last chance for saving souls from their destruction.  And Jesus is God’s new opportunity but it in spirit and in truth!

Look how Jesus was born: God chose a humble woman, and women today are usually not respected as they should be either in the church or in society, but Mary was a woman God praised for being humble, from a humble family;

And God chose that Jesus be born in a manger with humble animals of sheep and cows;

And finally God chose as the first to know, the humble poor shepherds watching their sheep.

Do you see it? That is God repeating to you and me 3 times that He only makes His presence known in the humble people.

In the world humility does not exist. Look how quickly people become rude in Miami, driving or in the stores.  People in the world rely on pride. In Jesus time the Jews thought that Jesus would be born in a royal family, and that as a leader He be born with parents of wealth and power, and they thought that all the religious leaders would gather to honor his coming and birth. But “God rejects the proud and gives grace to the humble!”  

When we think about the Latin countries and our community here, so many people you meet boast to you, l am from the upper educated class of blue blood, I am not a whoever, my family has money, I am a leader, even a religious leader in my church and community, but does God care? No God only cares about humility, humility, and humility! That is the main message we see from Jesus’ birth!

God, and those of us who really know Jesus Christ, do not appreciate people who have position, wealth, and royal blood, and even religious leadership and no humility! Pride does not allow people to follow Jesus to do God’s work! Pride brings a curse and humility a blessing!

In the Bible we see that God stop talking to the religious people who were not humble. Remember between the OT and the NT God sends no prophet for 400 years! God simply cannot work through people who are proud and stubborn, unfaithful to His work, un-available to do what is needed, and who think they know it all already.

In Jesus day the religious world, the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and hypocrites were worshipping God how they wanted to, comfortable in their world of getting what they wanted from the church.

But Jesus came along and exposed how comfortable these religious leaders were, how evil they were to not love God and others and attack Him and criticize Him when all he did was love, serve, and heal with humility.

How are humble people different from proud people? Humble people when you see their face you see they reflect Jesus and that that they are just there to serve and to bless and do good. But the proud people are like a negative energy that seems to drain you dead like a dead car battery. In just a few by minutes some people with all their words, problems, and criticisms can take away all of the joy of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration that God wanted you have! You have felt that from some people?

What happens in our churches today? When a new member makes their self faithful, available, and teachable to serve God in the church, the comfortable ones, start with the criticism. They start sending rumors that these new people really are just no-bodies who are just trying to get some personal gain. The pastors should know how bad they are and how good I am and I am doing the pastors a favor to tell them to watch out for them! Do you see the difference between pride and humility?

Who gives us an example of the opposite of Jesus? King Herod. People who have authority and feel threatened by new comers who come to serve like Jesus are like King Herod. Herod acted humble in front of others and said to the other Oriental Kings, “I want to worship baby Jesus too”, but he was a hypocrite and to their backs he was angry and all he wanted to do was kill the completion!

This is what some people do with their tongues, they kill the new spiritual babies who come to the church because they do not want anyone else to have any control. This is selfishness and pride, satan’s qualities, and we see it time and again, so many people allow their tongues, their actions, and their attitudes to be controlled by satan instead of our humble King of Kings, Lord Jesus.

Jesus coming as we know brought Salvation, hope, love, and unity but only for those who were willing to become humble and accept and follow Him like a little child.        

Matt 10:34-36   34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.   35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.    36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

Jesus coming into our communities and hearts creates division and old friends and family become enemies while others become friends! It means there is war! In the Salvation Army we are an Army to make war on the enemy. And not always is the enemy outside our doors, he may also be in our hearts! Humility means killing the evil in your own heart first.

Many people are proud and don’t even know it because as the Word says       

Prov 20:6

6 Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?

Sometimes people forget that the anointed leaders, the Captains, can see more than the surface. It is our job to discern people’s motives and to exalt as leaders the humble people, the ones who are like Jesus.

People expose their selves with their words. People are showing us who they are if they are being faithful or not to the Corps, available or not for the mission, trainable or not to learn how to do what is needed, humble or proud.

Also humility means respecting others and saying “Hi!”! Some people come to church and they don’t even need to say “Hi!” to the Captain or the Mrs. Captain sometimes. We must fight the war within ourselves against our proud with know that God will only accept humility!

We must bring respect to the humble women, and men, who serve from their hearts! We have learned it was in 3 ways and probably more with Jesus birth that God showed humility and attacked pride. If God attacked pride, and exalted the humble, how do you do that in your life?