A Lesson in Humbleness

The lesson this evening is centered on "A Lesson in Humbleness."  We'll see a parable of Jesus and discuss a few points about our attitude toward ourselves and others, keeping in mind what God wants us to do in our lives. 

Here are the notes of our discussion.

November 28, 2011

A Lesson in Humbleness

Opening question: What does it mean to be humble and what is a situation when you or someone else has shown some humbleness?

The definition for the word “humble” is “to be marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful.”  Another definition is “to show submissive respect.”  For example, if we have made a mistake, we can apologize for it and show our humbleness by accepting our mistake and learning from it.

What does the Bible teach in the topic of humbleness?

Our main passage from the Bible today comes from Luke 18:9-14: 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Now, let’s discuss about the meaning of this parable.

Jesus is telling this parable as a lesson for some people who were confident in their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.  So, right away we see two issues: the people’s confidence in their own righteousness and the way in which they were looking down on everyone else.

What is the problem with having confidence in your own righteousness?  What does the Bible say about it?

In Romans 3:10, we read: There is no one righteous, not even one.

What does this mean?

It means that no one is righteous.  We have all sinned and in the eyes of God we are all sinners.  We cannot trust our own righteousness, because as hard as we try, we all stumble and fall and do bad things in our lives.

So, no one can trust in his own confidence and look down on other people.  The idea of “looking down” on other people means that you think of yourself as better, as being in a higher place, closer to God and that other people are wrong or worse than you are. 

In Romans 2:1-4, we read: 1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

Therefore, we should not judge other people, because we are doing and in the past have done the same thing.  If God has forgiven us, that he can and will forgive those other people too, if they seek God.  Also, if we judge, we are taking the place of God and we are by any means to do that.  (James 4:11-12)

Back to the parable.  The Pharisees were the people that pretended to be the teachers of the law, the ones who understood it better and who could help other people with learning it and applying it.  But here we have a Pharisee that is considering himself to be better than these people.  It may have been true that he was not a robber, an evildoer or an adulterer, but still he had his own sins.  And one of these sins was looking down at his brothers and pretending that he was better than the other people.  However, he was not.

On the other hand, the tax collector prayed with humbleness.  Even though he may have been considered an evil person by many Hebrews and other people at the time, because of his job – collecting taxes for the Romans – he understood the true condition of himself and asked God to give him mercy.  And Jesus tells us that God heard the prayer of the tax collected and he was the one who went home justified.

In the last verse, Jesus tells us that those who humble themselves will be exalted.  Which means that when it comes to our salvation, it comes from God and when do not gain it with our own merits.  While there are certain steps that we need to take toward being right with God, it comes from Him and we do not receive it because we are better than others.

Conclusions

God wants us to have a spirit of humbleness, to trust in Him and not to look down on other people.  We are all sinners and not righteous and we all need God to save us from our sins and to help us act in accordance with His will.