Embracing Humility: The True Path to Blessings

 

Summary

In today's gathering, we explored the profound nature of blessings as taught by Jesus in the Beatitudes. We began by acknowledging the greatness of God, the Great I Am, and His presence among us. We reflected on the journey to Israel, particularly the visit to the Church of the Beatitudes, where Jesus delivered one of His most significant teachings. This setting near the Sea of Galilee was a place of healing and blessing, drawing crowds who sought Jesus not just for His words but for His miraculous touch.

The Beatitudes challenge our conventional understanding of blessings. They present a paradox where true blessedness is found in spiritual poverty, mourning, meekness, and even persecution. These teachings invite us to a deeper understanding of what it means to live a blessed life, one that is often countercultural and counterintuitive. The Beatitudes are not just about receiving material blessings but about cultivating a heart posture that aligns with God's kingdom values.

Central to this teaching is the call to humility. We are reminded that humility is not about humiliation or inferiority but about recognizing our need for God and others. It is about emptying ourselves of pride and ego, allowing God to fill us with His grace and mercy. The story of the Laodicean church serves as a cautionary tale against pride and self-sufficiency, urging us to seek spiritual wealth over material abundance.

Humility, as exemplified by Jesus, is about serving others and putting their needs before our own. It is about being teachable and trusting like children, coming to God as we are, without pretense or pride. This humility leads to transformation, healing, and a deeper connection with God and others.

As we reflect on these teachings, we are encouraged to embrace humility in our relationships, our service, and our walk with God. By doing so, we open ourselves to the true blessings of God, which may not always look like what we expect but are rich in spiritual depth and eternal significance.

Key Takeaways:

1. The Paradox of Blessings: True blessedness often comes in unexpected forms, such as spiritual poverty, mourning, and meekness. These conditions invite us to rely on God and align our lives with His kingdom values, leading to a deeper, more fulfilling life. [53:26]

2. Humility as a Path to Blessing: Humility is not about feeling low or inferior but about recognizing our need for God and others. It is a posture that opens us to God's grace and allows us to serve others selflessly, following the example of Jesus. [55:47]

3. The Danger of Pride: Pride blinds us to our spiritual needs and separates us from God's blessings. The Laodicean church serves as a warning against self-sufficiency and the illusion of material wealth, urging us to seek true spiritual riches. [57:44]

4. Childlike Faith: Embracing a childlike faith means being teachable and trusting, coming to God as we are. This openness allows us to experience God's transformative power and enter into a deeper relationship with Him. [01:08:54]

5. Transformation Through Humility: When we humble ourselves before God, we invite transformation in our lives and communities. This humility leads to healing, restored relationships, and a church that reflects God's love and grace to the world. [01:18:16]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:45] - Acknowledging God's Presence
- [02:10] - Introduction to the Beatitudes
- [05:30] - Journey to the Church of the Beatitudes
- [08:15] - The Paradox of Blessings
- [12:00] - Understanding True Blessedness
- [15:45] - The Call to Humility
- [20:30] - The Danger of Pride
- [25:00] - Lessons from the Laodicean Church
- [30:15] - Embracing Childlike Faith
- [35:00] - Transformation Through Humility
- [40:45] - Humility in Action
- [45:30] - Prayer for Humility and Blessings
- [50:00] - Closing Reflections and Worship

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:
- Matthew 5:3-12 (The Beatitudes)
- Revelation 3:14-22 (The Message to the Church in Laodicea)
- James 4:6 (God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble)

---

Observation Questions:

1. What are the conditions and rewards mentioned in the Beatitudes as described in Matthew 5:3-12? How do these conditions challenge our conventional understanding of blessings?

2. In the sermon, how is the Church of Laodicea described, and what was Jesus' critique of them? [57:44]

3. According to the sermon, what does it mean to be "poor in spirit," and why is this significant for receiving the kingdom of heaven? [53:26]

4. How does the sermon describe the relationship between humility and receiving God's blessings? [55:47]

---

Interpretation Questions:

1. How does the paradox of the Beatitudes, where blessings are associated with spiritual poverty and mourning, reshape our understanding of what it means to be blessed? [53:26]

2. What lessons can be drawn from the Laodicean church's self-sufficiency and pride, and how does this relate to the modern church? [57:44]

3. How does the sermon illustrate the concept of humility through the actions of Jesus, and what does this teach about true leadership and service? [01:08:54]

4. In what ways does the sermon suggest that childlike faith is essential for entering the kingdom of heaven, and how does this faith manifest in our daily lives? [01:08:54]

---

Application Questions:

1. Reflect on a time when you experienced a blessing in an unexpected form, such as through a challenging situation. How did this experience deepen your reliance on God? [53:26]

2. Consider the areas in your life where pride might be hindering your spiritual growth. What steps can you take to cultivate humility and openness to God's grace? [55:47]

3. How can you practice humility in your relationships and service to others this week, following the example of Jesus washing the disciples' feet? [01:08:54]

4. Identify a situation where you have been self-sufficient like the Laodicean church. How can you shift your focus to seek spiritual wealth over material abundance? [57:44]

5. Think of a specific relationship in your life that could benefit from a more childlike faith approach. What practical steps can you take to be more trusting and teachable in that relationship? [01:08:54]

6. How can you create space in your life to be more receptive to God's transformative power, especially in areas where you feel spiritually lukewarm? [01:02:49]

7. Reflect on the concept of humility as not about feeling low but about recognizing our need for God and others. How can this understanding change the way you approach challenges and opportunities in your life? [55:47]

Devotional

Day 1: The Paradox of True Blessings
In the Beatitudes, Jesus presents a radical view of what it means to be truly blessed. Contrary to the world's understanding, true blessedness is found in spiritual poverty, mourning, meekness, and even persecution. These conditions invite individuals to rely on God and align their lives with His kingdom values, leading to a deeper, more fulfilling life. This paradox challenges believers to look beyond material wealth and comfort, recognizing that true blessings often come in unexpected forms. By embracing this perspective, one can experience a profound sense of peace and purpose that transcends worldly circumstances. [53:26]

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." (Matthew 5:10-11, ESV)

Reflection: Consider a recent challenge or hardship in your life. How might this situation be an opportunity to experience God's blessing in a deeper way?


Day 2: Humility as a Path to Blessing
Humility is a central theme in the teachings of Jesus, particularly in the Beatitudes. It is not about feeling low or inferior but about recognizing one's need for God and others. This posture opens individuals to God's grace and allows them to serve others selflessly, following the example of Jesus. Humility involves emptying oneself of pride and ego, creating space for God's transformative power. By embracing humility, believers can experience a deeper connection with God and others, leading to a life rich in spiritual depth and eternal significance. [55:47]

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:11, ESV)

Reflection: Identify an area in your life where pride may be hindering your relationship with God or others. How can you practice humility in this area today?


Day 3: The Danger of Pride
Pride is a significant barrier to experiencing God's blessings. It blinds individuals to their spiritual needs and creates a false sense of self-sufficiency. The story of the Laodicean church serves as a cautionary tale, warning against the illusion of material wealth and urging believers to seek true spiritual riches. Pride separates individuals from God's grace and hinders their ability to serve others. By recognizing the dangers of pride, believers can cultivate a heart posture that is open to God's transformative power and aligned with His kingdom values. [57:44]

"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18, ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on a time when pride led to a negative outcome in your life. What steps can you take to guard against pride in the future?


Day 4: Embracing Childlike Faith
Childlike faith is characterized by trust, teachability, and openness to God's transformative power. It involves coming to God as we are, without pretense or pride, and being willing to learn and grow. This type of faith allows individuals to experience a deeper relationship with God and enter into His kingdom with a sense of wonder and awe. By embracing childlike faith, believers can cultivate a heart posture that is open to God's grace and aligned with His kingdom values. This openness leads to transformation, healing, and a deeper connection with God and others. [01:08:54]

"Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." (Mark 10:15, ESV)

Reflection: In what area of your life do you need to adopt a more childlike faith? How can you approach God with trust and openness today?


Day 5: Transformation Through Humility
When individuals humble themselves before God, they invite transformation in their lives and communities. This humility leads to healing, restored relationships, and a church that reflects God's love and grace to the world. By embracing humility, believers can experience a deeper connection with God and others, leading to a life rich in spiritual depth and eternal significance. This transformation is not just personal but communal, as it impacts the way individuals interact with others and serve their communities. [01:18:16]

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." (James 4:10, ESV)

Reflection: Think of a relationship or situation in your life that needs healing. How can you practice humility to invite God's transformative power into this area?

Quotes

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of God whenever we speak words of blessings we will say you know this is how we interpret it this is how we understand it God I thank you for blessing me with a new house or a new job or a new car I thank you for blessing me Lord and just watching over me I always have enough in my cupboards I always have enough and enough to give as well and we used a word blessing than that respect but Jesus is speaking about blessings here and when I first started to read it I said to myself Lord you're speaking about blessedness happiness being fortunate and in the same breath you're talking about blessings and poverty you're talking about blessings and mourning in the same sense sentence blessing and persecution and I said to myself but do your people really consider that true blessings and this may seem paradoxical at first it will seem counter cultural it may seem counterintuitive but this is the way God says that he's going to bless his children this is the way he's going to bless his disciples people who are called by his name and so the Beatitudes here they're showing us how to live a truly blessed life and sometimes blessings doesn't always come in the way we expect them to come sometimes they come in the form of tears before we see laughter and we experience laughter and you know one of the things I noticed that as we were going up to the Church of the Beatitudes we had to walk up that hill Sermon on the Mount right it was that little hill that you had to walk up and as you walked up the hill on every step there were written the eight Beatitudes that we just read so it's that progression from one to the next this is how we progress and this is how blessedness develops in our lives but it starts at the beginning the first one blessed at a point spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and I know a lot of believers don't like to hear messages like these that makes us uncomfortable it makes us think it spins everything on its head God what are you saying to me but you know when that before Jesus started with the Beatitudes the Word of God tells us and seeing the multitudes you went up on the ground and you saw the multitudes and the the mountain and when he was seated his disciples came to him so everybody may not have come to hear his teachings but they certainly came to get the blessings so I want us to do two things today hear the teaching and expect the blessings amen let's hear the teaching and expect the blessings blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and all of the other Beatitudes all of the other blessings rest on this one why because we have to come to him humble we're not going to be blessed if we are filled with self we have to say God I want to empty empty my ideology my thinking or father what I consider important and you're saying they're not just all that important you know I want to have your hearts more than everything else so what does it mean to be spiritually poor it means to humble ourselves before mighty God it's to recognize that we are morally and spiritually bankrupt it's to realize that God we can't go far in this Christian life and I will walk without your grace and without your mercy it's recognizing that deep need for Christ in our lives you know church humility is not stupidity humility is not humiliation it doesn't mean allowing people to walk all over us you know Albert Einstein the great physicists and inventor he said a true genius admits that he or she knows nothing the more humble you are the higher you will rise and so when I think about a posture and a position of humility I think about the woman with the issue of blood how she came to Jesus emptied of self just crouching" [00:48:15]

"beggarly wanting to touch the feet of Jesus you know she may have heard the people talking she may have heard them saying that there's this man called Jesus and he's going around and he is making this claim that the Spirit of God is upon him and has anointed him to proclaim good news to the poor and I feel poor spirit I feel like I need to come to him because nothing else in my life has worked I want to be filled of something besides shame and sickness and degradation I want to be filled with God I want to get a touch from him today and so she came to him emptied of self and when she touched the hem of his garment the Lord fell virtue and power leave him life is transformed by the power of the Lord our lives are not the same when we have a touch from the master sickness goes it has to go brokenness is healed and so people in bondage are set free when we come to the master humility before God you brings blessings. St. Augustine says if you plan to build a tall house of virtue, you must first lay deep foundations of humility." [00:53:26] (94 seconds)


"James tells us that God opposes the proud. He resists the proud. He doesn't want to have prideful people in his presence. He can do nothing with a prideful heart but he gives grace to the humble. He gives grace to the humble and I pray Lord that you will give us your grace today." [00:55:11] (23 seconds)


"Jesus called out the Laodicean church for their pride. There were seven churches he mentioned in the book of Revelation and each of those churches he had a commendation for him. For them he had a criticism for them and then he had a blessings if they would turn and just follow him. But the church at Laodicea, he only had rebuke. They had no commendation. And the reason for that is because they were a church filled with pride. They were rich. They had everything. And he says, I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you will either be cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich." [00:57:44] (51 seconds)


"They looked just like the city. They didn't stand out as the people of God. They blended in. They were useless witnesses of God's humility. Just useless witnesses. They displayed pride in what they had, in what they possessed. And many people would say that the Western Church, the church that we are in now, reminds them of the Laodicean Church. We have everything to do ministry." [01:00:41] (35 seconds)


"not of poverty his humility was not born of poverty but it was born of riches he was rich yet he became poor jesus knew that there was a competitive spirit in the hearts of his disciples in fact within a few minutes the men were disputing over which siblings he was expecting of them was going to be the greatest and he gave them an unforgettable lesson in humility and by his actions he rebuked their selfishness and their pride too often we confuse the point spirit with being poor spirited and true humility with timidity and inferiority but Jesus knew who he was and he knew who he was going back to so he could take up a towel and a basin of water and wash his disciples feet and he said he wants us to do the same for each other his washing his disciples feet didn't make him less divine it didn't make him less God humility is not about gaining status or losing status humility is about putting others before ourselves because we are so confident in who we are and we want to lift up another person we want to say I want to take your hands and you know I want to lift you up humility recognizes our impoverished state that we are poor and we need Jesus we need a God who will pour into our hearts and make us rich make us full make us free make us bold this is what humility brings and so like children when we recognize that we are in need of humility we run to Jesus like children we run to Him truly I say to you unless you turn and become like children you you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." [01:08:54] (136 seconds)


"unless you become like children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven you know children are very trusting and children are very teachable but they are not perfect children are not perfect you know they throw tantrums sometimes they impatient they pick their nose right children sometimes it can be done right irritating right but the Lord is saying to us unless you become like these little children you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven what is he saying to us unless you become trusting and teachable many people they wouldn't answer the call of God because we come to God and we say I need to clean up certain things in my life first I need to get my life together and God has already paid the price he has already come and offered us deliverance salvation healing is coming he's offered us all of these things but yet we are saying God there are certain things I need to do before I come before you and he's saying no become as a child just come as you are just come as you are he would not cast us out for those of you who you know you've been through some stuff in your life and you say Lord I don't know that you can forgive these things I feel so unworthy again this shame culture maybe you've come from a family that shamed you or maybe you've come from a family that made you feel guilty about things and the Lord is saying I'm a heavenly father I called you my children I call you my children I am calling you my children come home come home to me don't don't wait with pride to say I've got this like the church in Laodicea I've got this I need some cleaning up to do and then I will come to you because you can't do what I could do and so we want to rethink how we come to God rethink what we need to give up or not give up maybe it's coming just as you are he came for the poor in spirit you know the religious people had a hard time coming to God the Pharisees the Sadducees religious people have a hard time coming to God because of how" [01:13:56] (169 seconds)


"are because of their position of authority they had a hard time coming to God because of influence they had a hard time coming to God and I know we face struggles every day the old nature is always at war with the new nature that Christ offers us this new life Christ offers us always at war with the old man within us but think about it for a minute all of the relationships that can be restored if we considered our loved ones above ourselves think about how our church will look different if we put on tenderness and compassion and compassionate heart if we have tender and compassionate heart how different will our church look we have those blessings when we humble ourselves and when we know we are his own I want to think about what transformation can happen if we only come to the Lord today and say father I am humble before you I want to say yes to you use my life oh Lord Jesus to lift up somebody to lift up this church to lift up my family or God and then I want to see your father as we do do that i know we will see broken relationships healed i know that we will see broken bodies healed we will see those things happen when we say god i come empty before you we will have a different church a church that looks different not like the world but a church that looks like how god looks and what he wants when he came those are the things that he wanted for us his people when he came that's why he taught the way he taught that's why he did some of the things that he did to show us and as an example and so we say today father we want this church to look different we want this church to lead i want my family to look different i want my community to look different and he's saying well if you'll just put" [01:18:16] (142 seconds)


"someone ahead of you. It wouldn't make you smaller. It wouldn't make your status in life feel less. But put somebody, somebody else's need before yours. Humble yourselves. In order to serve, we must humble ourselves. Jesus didn't come to be served but to serve. I believe that Fanny Crosby says it best in her hymn, perfect submission, all is at rest." [01:21:21] (37 seconds)


"Father, your way tells us that it's not about feeling low. Humility is not humiliation. It's not about being low. But when we come before you, oh Lord, you lift us up. So we ask for that lifting up today. Can we worship the Lord? And I thank I want us to just open up our hearts." [01:21:40] (30 seconds)


Chatbot

  • I'm an AI bot trained specifically on the sermon from Jan 20, 2025. Do you have any questions about it?

Transcript
What was the most surprising thing in this sermon?
Were there any personal stories shared?