Embracing Humility: Finding Freedom in Brokenness

When one experiences a profound setback in the course of an enviable life you had things that other people would look at and think oh that must be a good life that must be the stuff that you wanted and that is taken from you one has a variety of options spurred by shame one may attempt to hide all evidence of the change in one's circumstances. [00:02:04]

In a state of self-pity one may Retreat from the world in which one has been blessed to live biblically I would think of Elijah in First Kings 19 where he was doing these extraordinary things and then Jezebel gets mad at him and he finds out that she's coming after him and so he runs away Retreats hides up on the mountain and says to God take my life. [00:03:00]

Like the Freemasons the Confederacy of the humbled is a close-knit Brotherhood whose members travel with no outward markings but who know each other at a glance and they do for having fallen suddenly From Grace comment here um you may know that phrase fallen from Grace is actually from the Bible when Paul writes it's the Galatians in the 5th chapter. [00:03:49]

Paul says to people who are trying to justify themselves you have fallen from Grace and so in a strange way if all of a sudden reality opens up and that life that you thought you really wanted is no longer available to you you may find that while it looks like you have fallen from Grace you've actually fallen into Grace. [00:04:34]

For having suddenly fallen from Grace those in the Confederacy of the humbled share a certain perspective knowing Beauty influence Fame and privilege to be borrowed rather than bestowed they are not easily impressed oh that's great freedom I don't own any of this I'm Steward of it for a little while um charm is deceptive beauty is fleeting. [00:05:19]

The strange truth is that when you join the Confederacy of the humbled when the way that you want it to look in front of other people is no longer an image that you can prop up anymore there's a kind of strange Freedom that can come with it and it is this way all of which leads to what the Apostle Paul says. [00:06:52]

The church was the original Confederacy of the humbled and the only way you could get into it is like a camel going through the eye of a needle and and money won't get in in fact in a lot of ways it makes it kind of hard to get in and and self-righteousness and reputation won't sometimes it makes it kind of hard. [00:07:16]

Peter who makes so many many many mistakes including at the climax of Jesus's story Peter denies him three times and then the rooster crows and Peter joins the Confederates the humbled there's an old tradition I think William Barkley writes about this that ever afterwards when Peter would speak someplace if somebody wanted to humiliate him they would crow like a rooster. [00:07:46]

He does not hide in shame he does not retreat in self-pity the verdict was in see Jesus took him back Paul put it like this when he's writing to the Church of Corinth I care very little if I'm judged by you or by any human Court not I don't care at all there there's some little bit of emotion around that but it's not much. [00:08:24]

Humility is kind of when you just let go of that balloon called me which is puffed up that's a word the Paul uses In this passage and a number of other ones where you inflate something with air to try to make it look bigger than it actually is and and it can be punctured in a second and our little egos are that way. [00:10:17]

To be delivered from that which sounds so awful but then I'll look so small yeah but then there's Freedom it's kind of a painful thing to walk around being puffed up so today just let go of that balloon called ego just let me float way up there be interested in God be interested in the world be interested Ed in the people around you. [00:10:36]

Ask what can I do to bring value to life in this moment and please and honor and serve God today the invitation is join the Confederacy of the humbled. [00:11:01]