e2020: A Year of Celebration!

“Jesus’ Priority for You is to Become Gentle and Humble in Heart!”

Matthew 11:29

If Christian discipleship is the work of the church, then the formative work of the Holy Spirit is the heartbeat of all that we do. We call this spiritual formation. When I use the word spiritual and formation together, I am talking about how the Holy Spirit is the acting agent in fulfilling Jesus’ promises in you and through you. You are incapable of doing them on your own. So, let me say it simply and directly: Spiritual Formation is the heart of the church because apart from the work of the Holy Spirit we can neither become like Jesus Christ nor live as Christians. Christian witness/mission/outreach is all about Image Bearing! It’s all God’s grace!

Christian Discipleship is the intentional journey of living your life like Jesus Christ. One of the greatest dangers in the church is conformity to outward observances of Christian discipleship with no heart transformation. The world calls that “fake it unto you make it”, but we all know what it really is—acting (“hypocrisy”). Discipleship must happen from the inside out, not the outside in. Christian spiritual formation can be defined this way:

The Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself. [It] is focused entirely on Jesus. Its goal is an obedience or conformity to Christ that arises out of an inner transformation accomplished through purposive interaction with the grace of God in Christ. “That Christ be formed within you,” is the eternal watchword of Christian spiritual formation (Galatians 4:19, PAR). This word is fortified by the deep moral and spiritual insight that, while “the letter of the law kills, the spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6, PAR). Christlikeness of the inner being is not a human attainment. It is, finally, a gift of grace.[1]

Jesus’ desire for your spiritual formation is to be the priority of your life. Listen again to his famous invitations of discipleship. From Mark 1:17 and Matthew 11:28-30:

Jesus’ invitation into Christian discipleship comes with a goal: to become something that only Jesus, the Promise Giver can do in us through God’s grace! Next week, I’ll be focusing on the priority of mission (“the fisher of men”), but today I am focusing on what must happen within you for your mission work to have any eternal results (You must become like Jesus who is “gentle and humble in heart”).

I believe that if you miss this you will miss the abundant life, no matter how hard you work for Jesus because to do any work for God apart from God is to carry a heavy burden that will crush you. We can’t be like Jesus or do the work of Jesus apart from Jesus living in the center of our lives—our hearts! Spiritual formation is the inner renovation of the outward person—is it the becoming the new wine skins, the new tree, so that you can carry the new wine and bear the fruit of the Spirit.

To do any work for God apart from God, even if in the Name of God, is to fall short no matter the appearances of success or godliness because if there is one thing we learn over and over from the Bible: God looks to the heart, not the appearances (1 Samuel 16:7)!

And what is God looking for in the heart? He tells us over and over again in the Bible: humility (God-reliance!), not pride (self-reliance!).

What does it mean to that Jesus’ priority for every one of His disciples is that we become like Him, “gentle and humble in heart”?

Without a big long research discussion about it, Jesus’ priority for every one of us is our complete submission to the Father’s will. To be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29)—the image of God (Genesis 1:27). This has always been God’s plan for us—to be His Image Bearers!

Humility, at its core, humility, is a revolution over the central command of your life. Because all things flow from your heart—guard it (Proverbs 4:23). You or God will rule your known universe—salvation is found in the reality of that—look to the fruit of your thoughts and action and you will know if you are humble or proud.

“But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, ‘God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”

This is not new…this was not something Jesus brought into the world. It was what Jesus and His Father and the Holy Spirit created into us from the very beginning. When we act in proud ways, we are screaming out in rebellion against the God who made us to be yoked to Him and to no other, including our own lives.

“Humus is the Latin word for earth (a rich and nutrient-filled soil) and is also the root word for human. Humility is derived from the same word, humilitas, one who is grounded or near to the earth.”[2] 

“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

Let’s agree to some basic, but highly controversial, biblical anthropology: man was first formed by God of the dust from the ground. Humans are designed to be humble by the very fact of how we were created—of the earth, but given life by the very God who made us! Apart from God’s grace we have no life, so to believe we have ever had life apart from Him is the root of pride. This is why the origin story is so controversial—it’s a battle for supremacy.

I have heard it said that the greatest deception is when a proud person considers himself or herself humble. The easiest way to explain this is to remind you that you are a container (“jar of clay”) for glory, not the glory itself (2 Corinthians 4:7-9). When we lose sight of this or forget it or deny it, pride sets in and humility is lost.

Moses was considered the most humble man on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3). Now consider this: Moses led the Israelites out of slavery to Egypt in the first exodus, but who led all humans in the second exodus out of slavery to sin? Who is considered the second Moses, with even greater authority and standing than the first Moses? Jesus, the new Moses! Yes, humility is essential! God trusts humble vessels with His works because “jars of clay” don’t seek to rob God of the glory that is only due to God alone. They simple shine forth!

Throughout church history, it has been said that humility is the queen of the virtues. Because, at its heart, humility is about seeking first God and His rule for our lives. Humility is about our rejoining in the effort for which we were designed—to be Image Bearers of God! To work the ground from which we came. To love one another as He first loved us. To build and expand a community of people that will live willingly and lovingly under the teachings of God, most clearly seen and experienced through Jesus Christ.

To be humble is to be completely submitted to the heart of God for your life. Listen to Jesus talk about this from the Gospel of John 5:19; 8:28–29; 12:49–50; 17:4, 7–8, 20–21:

Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. … When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. … For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me. … I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. … Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. … I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

I close with this practical example from Jesus and the great test of our humility. Turn with me to John 13:5-15,

Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.

We are to become gentle and humble in heart, like Jesus. How, by taking on His lifestyle and doing what He did. If this was the life and teaching of our Master and Teacher, then it must become our lifestyle, too. But I warn you, again as I did in the beginning of this teaching time, that to do this apart from spiritual formation is to attempt love, service, and forgiveness by your own power and strength. And if there is one thing that we need to be warned of, it is our pride to think that we can do anything apart from God.

The first step to true humility is a full surrender to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The renovation of your heart and life; the revolution for your soul, starts with His grace, His love, His service, His forgiveness. All else flows from His heart…

The second step is to do it again and again, every day, every moment of your life. To remember that you are a vessel to shine forth His glory… what a privilege!

[1] Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Carol Stream, IL: NavPress, 2012), 22-23.

[2] Brenna Davis, “Humus, Humiliy, and Human.” (February 26, 2020). Accessed August 30, 2020. https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/humus-humans-and-humility. I attribute my awareness of this idea to the Rev. Rex Espiritu who shared it with me for the first time nearly a decade ago in a private discussion.

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