TEXT: Matthew 11:28-30

SUBJECT: Attributes of Christ #3: Humility

At the Lord’s Table, we recall what Jesus Christ did to save us from our sin and misery. The bread stands for His body torn to pieces and the cup for His blood poured out. The sacred memory is central to the Lord’s Supper.

But in remembering what He did for us, we must not forget Who did it. What kind of Man is the Lord Jesus Christ? Most historians make Him a shadowy figure, about whom we can say very little with confidence. Others turn Him into a blank sheet of paper on which they write whatever they want. In the 19^th Century an American critic of unbelieving German theologians said the portrait of Christ they found in the Bible looks very much like an unbelieving German theologian! We may laugh at the joke, but the joke’s on us too. For, we too, are tempted to make Christ want we want Him to be—a Man we’re comfortable with.

This is as wrong as it can be. The Gospels describe our Lord for us in great detail. And it is He—and not someone else—we must know, serve, and adore. We can see Him more clearly as we study His attributes or the things that make Him what He is and not something else.

Thus far, we’ve studied His wisdom and His courage. Now, at the Lord’s Table, we’ll have a look at His humility. The Man who died for us was the meekest Man in the world and a man you ought to love for His humility and a humility you ought to put on yourself.

What is humility? Humility is low self-esteem; perfect humility is no self-esteem. The humble man—like Moses or David or Paul—doesn’t think about himself very often. But the Lord Jesus Christ does them one better: He doesn’t think about Himself at all! Paul says He

None at all. Paul says He "esteemed others better than Himself" and He "Looked out—not only for His own interests, but also for the interests of others".

Humility, then, is not wringing your hands all the time about how wicked you are or walking stooped over under the burden of your nothingness. The Pharisees did this with their phony fasting and their long-winded prayers, so full of pretended self-hatred!

No, humility is a turn outward—thinking of God and others before yourself.

The Lord’s humility is seen, first, in what He didn’t do. For example:

He didn’t feel sorry for Himself. If anyone has a reason to feel this way, it is certainly our Lord. Think about:

His poverty. He did not grow up in the lap of luxury or even the relative security of the middle-class. No, He was born in a stable. As a baby, He and His family were driven out of their country and lived as refugees. Later He moved to Nazareth (which is something like way out in the country down south)… …Apparently His father died when He was a boy and He had to drop out of school and support a big family all by Himself. Then, of course, He lived without food for forty days and nights, and finally—even after becoming a celebrity—"The Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head". Paul was not being a mere poet when He said,

Even birds and foxes had better accommodations than He did. Yet, He didn’t resent His poverty.

His family life. The Proverb says "Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is than the fatted calf with strife". That’s true: a man can take almost anything out in the world, if he has a loving family to come home to. And that’s the point: our Lord didn’t have that kind of family.

You know, it wasn’t until His resurrection that His brothers believed in Him! When He lived with them, they said things like, "Let us lay hands on Him because He is beside Himself". He embarrassed them; if they’d had their way, they would have put Him in a loony bin!

His mother wasn’t this bad, of course, but she too, was capable of misunderstanding Him and yelling at Him in public—which humiliates any kid, including the Lord.

But despite an unhappy home life, our Lord didn’t feel victimized by it or use it to excuse His selfishness.

His unpopularity. "He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him". This means He came home and nobody wanted Him! For a thousand years—or more—the Jews had prayed for the Messiah. When He came, they wanted no part of Him. The King became a vagabond; the Innocent Man was nailed to a cross.

Have you ever been rejected? It hurts! People pretend it doesn’t—but it does. Yet this Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, was consistently and widely, "Despised and rejected of men". This broke His heart, but it did not cause Him to pity Himself.

His God. The most hurtful thing inflicted on our Lord didn’t come from wicked men or the devil. It came from God His Father. He appointed Him a hard and painful life; He sent Him to the cross; and when the Lord needed Him most, the Father was not there for Him!

How easy it would have been to die in despair—or even in defiance of God! But His last words are full of hope and devotion—"Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit".

The second thing this humblest of Men didn’t do was: hold grudges. Everyone has had his feelings hurt. But people who won’t—or cannot—get over it—are not hurt so much as they are bitter. Not letting go of the wrong others have done to you is another way of saying you’re holding a grudge.

Which our Lord did not do!

Think of all the wrongs done to Him—by His mother, His brothers, His disciples, and by His enemies. Now, tell me which one made Him bitter and sulky? Who did He hold it against?

He thinks of His mother on the cross. He saves His brothers after the resurrection. He restores Peter and the others who forsook Him. He even prays for the men who put Him to death—and fifty days later—pours out His Spirit on them! Luke tells us that even "A great number of priests became obedient to the faith".

How could our Lord live without bitterness, without feeling short-changed? It’s because He was humble—He had no self-esteem.

The Lord’s humility is seen—not only in what He didn’t do, but also in what He did. I must be brief:

First, He helped others even when He was tired and they didn't respect His need for rest. Read the Gospels and you’ll often find the Lord physically and mentally shot, yet He’s never irritable or standoffish to people who need Him. The greatest example here is when He washed His disciples’ feet. Because they needed it.

Secondly, He did His Father’s will even when it meant a cross for Him. His prayer in the Garden is humility at its most perfect.

If the Lord is the humblest of all men, He calls you to learn His ways and to put them into practice. Do you feel "put out" all the time? Do you think some things are beneath your dignity? Are you easily offended and hard to make up with? In short, do you think more of yourself—and what you want—like money or privacy—than you do of what others need?

We’re all like this at times. Thus, we all need to go back to Christ and learn His ways. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus".

The Lord’s humility also means we ought to love Him for it and be thankful.