The Road to Humility...Pastor Peter Tan
Fatherly Talk 6.09 Submission – the road of humility
Dearly Beloved
Over the past few weeks and months we have been looking at the theme of humility. We all know by now how important it is as an attribute both in this life and in the next. The question now comes to down to how does one develop or acquire humility? It is obvious that we all will be humbled – either we humble ourselves and receive God’s grace or being proud we will resist God and be humbled by Him (1 Peter 5:5-6; James 4:6). There are keys in the Word that point to how humility can be developed in our lives.
Humility can be acquired through submitting and relating to others. The younger are told to submit to the older (1 Peter 5:5-6). This is not in regard to an abusive relationship where the younger get bullied by the older but speaks of one learning to submit to those who are older (physical or spiritual) in age to us. It implies that the older one is worthy of submission. Also a point to note is that submission is ‘given’ and not ‘taken.’ This states that no one (whether natural or spiritual) can claim authority and submission from another. Submission is voluntary and not compelled or coerced. Anyone who demands that people submit to them are not worthy of yielding submission. There are so many abusive relationships today that the very thought of submission causes a shudder to go through those who are innocent and new. Yet, despite all these, we cannot deny that there is some truth to the Bible telling the younger to submit to the older and also wives submitting to husbands as their husbands are in turn submitted to God (Ephesians 5:22-24).
In a modern world of independence and rights of individuals, the topic of submitting to one another is not a popular topic as everyone tends to walk around with a fat ego and expect recognition of one’s gifting and talent per se. Everyone is an independent and people are so mobile nowadays that one can easily pull up roots and move to another town or community when our ego is bruised or wounded. The fact is that many, many Christians do not learn to relate to one another because they just simple do not choose to do so. Superficial relationships thrive when one just see one another once a week or once in a while. It takes living under the same roof to bring out either the best or the worst in us. Whenever we relate to another person in a close manner (through marriage, through family relationships, through friendship, through sharing the same house, etc.) there is the necessity of give and take. Surprisingly, many people who have a vacuum in their ability to relate to their family or loved ones tend to also have the same inability to relate to others within the same church or community. This is because it takes humility to relate to another human being. Relating to another human being requires humility and a submission one to another (Ephesians 5:21).
The next time you are running away from a family, loved one, friend, employer, partner, etc. ask yourself, “ Are you running away because you are unable to submit to one another?” If you are then you are robbing yourself of life’s greatest lesson – the lesson of humility. We learn humility by learning to yield submission to one another in various relationships. We do not learn humility directly from God, we learn it first through relating to other humans around us. For how can we say that we are submitted to God when we cannot submit to those around us who are in authority?
The test of submission is also a test of relating to authority. Every one of us have to deal with authority even from our inception into the world. We are immediately under the laws and authority of the country in which we are born in (or acquire citizenship or permanent resident). We deal with parental authority when we are babies and growing into adulthood. We deal with school authorities when we start going to school. We deal with social strata and underpinnings of authority as the various school mates’ egos clash in social life until some become the head and others the tail. Authority is always around us. In this life, we cannot escape dealing with authority for when we work either in ministry or professional, we deal with established authorities. When we partake of any group of humans organized into a club, society, church, sports or any other organization of humans, we deal with authority.
Of course, those who are abused by authoritarian figures remain damaged in their soul and might be crippled and unable to deal in future with other authorities, even good ones. Others have simply no authority over their lives and lived undiscipline lives but always heading nowhere. Some have the extremes of both. Unfortunately, no matter what our experiences or background is, we all need to learn to walk correctly and in balance with authority over our lives and as God wills, exercise proper authority over others in our lives.
The prodigal son and the elder brother in Luke 15, illustrates the two extremes in responding to authority. The younger brother is an undisciplined person who obviously does not understand stewardship nor proper authority or submission to the father. He was outwardly conforming but inwardly had pride. True humility is outward conformity with inward humility. The older one was outwardly submissive and law abiding but he did not enjoy himself at all; he had no grace for the younger brother. There was no joy in the older son and no true love for the father in the younger. The younger son returned not because of the father’s love but because he was hungry and wanted to be fed well like the father’s servants (Luke 15:17-18). The older son had not comprehension of the generosity of the father’s love and lived a miserable law-cased life. He did not understand nor have the father’s love and joy for the younger brother (he refused to enter the celebration)(Luke 15:28). The older son obviously looked down on his younger brother in the statement that he made about him (Luke 15:30). The younger son was self-centred and licentious caring for no one but himself. However, the redeeming feature of the younger son was that he was willing to even renounce sonship and just enjoy servantship with the father. Though he did not understand his father’s love nor returned solely for the sake of the father, he was at least on the road of humility. No matter how our lives were or where we have been, the road home is always the road of humility. Humility brings us into the grace of God. The younger son was willing to walk the humble road of just being a servant and received the fullness of the grace of the father.
Humility must begin somewhere. It always begins in a relationship with another human in the right manner. Start right now to walk the road of humility. It does not matter your past, your sorrows, your pain or your losses. The younger son went through all those things and made a decision to walk the road of humility to the father. Like many of us, the younger son has no comprehension or appreciation of the love of the father. He was even selfish in thinking of his stomach and own survival but the road of humility brought him home. Grace is always given to the humble and never to the proud.
Sometimes, the road of humility seems to be forced upon us by circumstances (and God) without us realizing it. It is always for our own good. Hagar was going to run away because of the harsh treatment that she was getting from Sarai (Genesis 16:9). She had given birth to Ishmael and was feeling the wrath of Sarai. The whole situation was not actually her fault. It was Sarai’s idea to let Abraham sleep with her and have a child and not her own idea. She did have one small fault which she should not have done – she emotionally began to despise Sarah. However, we must remember that she was forced into bearing this child and not through her own generous voluntary choice. Who knows if she loved another person and was forced to sleep with Abram by Sarai? There are thousands of reasons in such circumstances to imagine why she hated and despised Sarah. Her anger or hatred turn to spite when she had the only child of Abram and Sarai had none. The treatment that she was receiving was so harsh (could have included unjust beatings and rough treatments topped with verbal abuse). She did the only thing she knew – run away. Yet the angel of God told her to stay on with Sarai and submit to her. She submitted to Sarah about another 14 years plus the number of years it took to wean Isaac (Genesis 16:16; 21:4-13). Despite all the cruelty of Sarai and her own weaknesses, God blessed her and the child and took care of her. If Hagar had left and disobeyed the Lord in shortening her own suffering under the heavy hand of Sarai, perhaps she and the child might have died. When it was the time for the test period of submission to be completed, God allowed her to leave Abraham and supernaturally took care of her and made Ishmael a great nation (Genesis 21:17-20).
The road of humility is not over just because we say it is over; nor is it completed just because we think we cannot take it any more. It is over only when God says that the test is complete and it is over. If we cannot take the road of humility than like Paul we should ask for more grace. Note that the situation where Paul required grace and was asking God three times for help was a situation given so that he would not be proud through the abundance of revelations given (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). It was the road of humility that Paul was trying to get out from but God said that His grace is sufficient for him. Paul learned to walk that road in the grace of God taking pleasure in humiliation and infirmities.
We do not have to wait until we have lost all our goods and bankrupt ourselves before we choose to walk the road of humility like the prodigal son. Nor do we have to wait until the abundance of revelations to come to walk in the road of humility. Nor should we try to shorten the road of humility by our own hand. Only God sees the heart and only God sees the pride in hearts. He knows all things and examines our deepest thoughts to see if there be any wicked way in us. Only God can determine whether we have humility.
Let us learn to walk the road of humility. Learning to wash one another’s feet like Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. Let us be willing to do the most humble and obscure work in God and not just look for places that the Pharisees look for – places to blow their trumpets and demonstrate their false religiosity publicly. Humility is in our hearts and it will allow us the grace to do the simplest task no matter how insignificant in our eyes or how small. True humility must be inward and demonstrated outwardly in our relationships with one another.
The humble shall be exalted and the proud brought down.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus continue mightily on each of us as we walk the road of humility.
In Christ’s love
Ps Peter Tan
Dearly Beloved
Over the past few weeks and months we have been looking at the theme of humility. We all know by now how important it is as an attribute both in this life and in the next. The question now comes to down to how does one develop or acquire humility? It is obvious that we all will be humbled – either we humble ourselves and receive God’s grace or being proud we will resist God and be humbled by Him (1 Peter 5:5-6; James 4:6). There are keys in the Word that point to how humility can be developed in our lives.
Humility can be acquired through submitting and relating to others. The younger are told to submit to the older (1 Peter 5:5-6). This is not in regard to an abusive relationship where the younger get bullied by the older but speaks of one learning to submit to those who are older (physical or spiritual) in age to us. It implies that the older one is worthy of submission. Also a point to note is that submission is ‘given’ and not ‘taken.’ This states that no one (whether natural or spiritual) can claim authority and submission from another. Submission is voluntary and not compelled or coerced. Anyone who demands that people submit to them are not worthy of yielding submission. There are so many abusive relationships today that the very thought of submission causes a shudder to go through those who are innocent and new. Yet, despite all these, we cannot deny that there is some truth to the Bible telling the younger to submit to the older and also wives submitting to husbands as their husbands are in turn submitted to God (Ephesians 5:22-24).
In a modern world of independence and rights of individuals, the topic of submitting to one another is not a popular topic as everyone tends to walk around with a fat ego and expect recognition of one’s gifting and talent per se. Everyone is an independent and people are so mobile nowadays that one can easily pull up roots and move to another town or community when our ego is bruised or wounded. The fact is that many, many Christians do not learn to relate to one another because they just simple do not choose to do so. Superficial relationships thrive when one just see one another once a week or once in a while. It takes living under the same roof to bring out either the best or the worst in us. Whenever we relate to another person in a close manner (through marriage, through family relationships, through friendship, through sharing the same house, etc.) there is the necessity of give and take. Surprisingly, many people who have a vacuum in their ability to relate to their family or loved ones tend to also have the same inability to relate to others within the same church or community. This is because it takes humility to relate to another human being. Relating to another human being requires humility and a submission one to another (Ephesians 5:21).
The next time you are running away from a family, loved one, friend, employer, partner, etc. ask yourself, “ Are you running away because you are unable to submit to one another?” If you are then you are robbing yourself of life’s greatest lesson – the lesson of humility. We learn humility by learning to yield submission to one another in various relationships. We do not learn humility directly from God, we learn it first through relating to other humans around us. For how can we say that we are submitted to God when we cannot submit to those around us who are in authority?
The test of submission is also a test of relating to authority. Every one of us have to deal with authority even from our inception into the world. We are immediately under the laws and authority of the country in which we are born in (or acquire citizenship or permanent resident). We deal with parental authority when we are babies and growing into adulthood. We deal with school authorities when we start going to school. We deal with social strata and underpinnings of authority as the various school mates’ egos clash in social life until some become the head and others the tail. Authority is always around us. In this life, we cannot escape dealing with authority for when we work either in ministry or professional, we deal with established authorities. When we partake of any group of humans organized into a club, society, church, sports or any other organization of humans, we deal with authority.
Of course, those who are abused by authoritarian figures remain damaged in their soul and might be crippled and unable to deal in future with other authorities, even good ones. Others have simply no authority over their lives and lived undiscipline lives but always heading nowhere. Some have the extremes of both. Unfortunately, no matter what our experiences or background is, we all need to learn to walk correctly and in balance with authority over our lives and as God wills, exercise proper authority over others in our lives.
The prodigal son and the elder brother in Luke 15, illustrates the two extremes in responding to authority. The younger brother is an undisciplined person who obviously does not understand stewardship nor proper authority or submission to the father. He was outwardly conforming but inwardly had pride. True humility is outward conformity with inward humility. The older one was outwardly submissive and law abiding but he did not enjoy himself at all; he had no grace for the younger brother. There was no joy in the older son and no true love for the father in the younger. The younger son returned not because of the father’s love but because he was hungry and wanted to be fed well like the father’s servants (Luke 15:17-18). The older son had not comprehension of the generosity of the father’s love and lived a miserable law-cased life. He did not understand nor have the father’s love and joy for the younger brother (he refused to enter the celebration)(Luke 15:28). The older son obviously looked down on his younger brother in the statement that he made about him (Luke 15:30). The younger son was self-centred and licentious caring for no one but himself. However, the redeeming feature of the younger son was that he was willing to even renounce sonship and just enjoy servantship with the father. Though he did not understand his father’s love nor returned solely for the sake of the father, he was at least on the road of humility. No matter how our lives were or where we have been, the road home is always the road of humility. Humility brings us into the grace of God. The younger son was willing to walk the humble road of just being a servant and received the fullness of the grace of the father.
Humility must begin somewhere. It always begins in a relationship with another human in the right manner. Start right now to walk the road of humility. It does not matter your past, your sorrows, your pain or your losses. The younger son went through all those things and made a decision to walk the road of humility to the father. Like many of us, the younger son has no comprehension or appreciation of the love of the father. He was even selfish in thinking of his stomach and own survival but the road of humility brought him home. Grace is always given to the humble and never to the proud.
Sometimes, the road of humility seems to be forced upon us by circumstances (and God) without us realizing it. It is always for our own good. Hagar was going to run away because of the harsh treatment that she was getting from Sarai (Genesis 16:9). She had given birth to Ishmael and was feeling the wrath of Sarai. The whole situation was not actually her fault. It was Sarai’s idea to let Abraham sleep with her and have a child and not her own idea. She did have one small fault which she should not have done – she emotionally began to despise Sarah. However, we must remember that she was forced into bearing this child and not through her own generous voluntary choice. Who knows if she loved another person and was forced to sleep with Abram by Sarai? There are thousands of reasons in such circumstances to imagine why she hated and despised Sarah. Her anger or hatred turn to spite when she had the only child of Abram and Sarai had none. The treatment that she was receiving was so harsh (could have included unjust beatings and rough treatments topped with verbal abuse). She did the only thing she knew – run away. Yet the angel of God told her to stay on with Sarai and submit to her. She submitted to Sarah about another 14 years plus the number of years it took to wean Isaac (Genesis 16:16; 21:4-13). Despite all the cruelty of Sarai and her own weaknesses, God blessed her and the child and took care of her. If Hagar had left and disobeyed the Lord in shortening her own suffering under the heavy hand of Sarai, perhaps she and the child might have died. When it was the time for the test period of submission to be completed, God allowed her to leave Abraham and supernaturally took care of her and made Ishmael a great nation (Genesis 21:17-20).
The road of humility is not over just because we say it is over; nor is it completed just because we think we cannot take it any more. It is over only when God says that the test is complete and it is over. If we cannot take the road of humility than like Paul we should ask for more grace. Note that the situation where Paul required grace and was asking God three times for help was a situation given so that he would not be proud through the abundance of revelations given (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). It was the road of humility that Paul was trying to get out from but God said that His grace is sufficient for him. Paul learned to walk that road in the grace of God taking pleasure in humiliation and infirmities.
We do not have to wait until we have lost all our goods and bankrupt ourselves before we choose to walk the road of humility like the prodigal son. Nor do we have to wait until the abundance of revelations to come to walk in the road of humility. Nor should we try to shorten the road of humility by our own hand. Only God sees the heart and only God sees the pride in hearts. He knows all things and examines our deepest thoughts to see if there be any wicked way in us. Only God can determine whether we have humility.
Let us learn to walk the road of humility. Learning to wash one another’s feet like Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. Let us be willing to do the most humble and obscure work in God and not just look for places that the Pharisees look for – places to blow their trumpets and demonstrate their false religiosity publicly. Humility is in our hearts and it will allow us the grace to do the simplest task no matter how insignificant in our eyes or how small. True humility must be inward and demonstrated outwardly in our relationships with one another.
The humble shall be exalted and the proud brought down.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus continue mightily on each of us as we walk the road of humility.
In Christ’s love
Ps Peter Tan
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