The Practice of Humility - Andre Bercot

Today we're going to look at the topic, the practice of humility. I'm going to open with a story, a true-life story in my life that happened in October 2018. Our church had planned a picnic that day at the Ruritan Park on Edenville Road, but we had rain that day, so we had to cancel our picnic. Instead, we had our picnic at the Trident Church, a couple of miles up the road. Instead of playing softball that evening, our church, we played several games of basketball. I didn't participate in the original games of basketball, but after supper, I played, I think it's three or four games. Our team ended up winning two or three of the games, or maybe three or four games.

I'm not quite remember. But what I remember is what I did afterwards. I came to Justin Wadle. I asked him permission to use his name. I came up to Justin Wadle. After we played, he was a member of the losing team. Instead of saying, "Hey, we played a good game. Yeah, we all had a lot of fun, and we had a good time just playing basketball," instead of saying that, I said, "Look how well I played basketball, Justin. I have imitated Tim Duncan, who was a former NBA player. I tried to play my game like he did. He was very good under the basket. He could develop, or he could shoot about 10, 15, 16 feet out."

And I told him that. I remember the look in his face. He did look at me meanly, but he looked at me like, "What are you doing? Glowing and bragging and boasting about yourself." And it stood out to me for many years. I should have apologized to him a long time ago about doing that. So I'm apologizing to you today, Justin. It's like it's been on my conscience for eight years now to make it this right.

You don't, but I do. So that's why my springboard for humility. We're going to just break it down into a couple of parts. We're going to give a definition of humility and pride. We're going to look at a couple of Bible verses. I'm going to share how did you develop the spirit of pride in your life, and what are some ideas of how to overcome pride instead of develop a spirit of humility.

The first definition I found of humility, and it was one of the best I felt, was the absence of self. Because most definitions of humility are very theological. If you look at a Bible dictionary, or very kind of don't talk about something in a spiritual way.

Two synonyms of humility are lowliness and meekness. But when I looked at the dictionary definitions, it didn't give you much information. It called lowliness a humble state of mind. Well, what is humility again? And it called meekness the virtue of humility. But I'm going to say, develop that a little bit more. But what's the opposite of humility? And that is pride. Here's a good definition. Well, I'll read that second. But the first thought of pride is haughty, self-centered, self-conceit, cherishing a high opinion of our value, our worth, our merit.

C.S. Lewis called pride this, not like what he said. Pride leads to every other vice. It is the complete anti-God state of mind. And I think that second part is very true. Pride is anti-God. What I can do as a man without God. So let's look at some other definitions I think that developed humility a little bit better. This first one is from William Law. If you're not familiar who William Law is, he had been part of the Church of England in the early 1700s. He never became an official pastor, but he had been a member of the Church of England. He wrote several things. His most famous work is a series called To Develop a Holy Life that influenced John and Charles Wesley and George Whitfield.

So these quotes will be from him. So this is when you see it, that's why it has like an English spelling and things. Humility does not consist in having a worse opinion of ourselves than we deserve, or in abating ourselves lower than we really are. But as all virtue is founded in truth, so humility is founded in a true and just sense of our weakness, misery, and sin. He that rightly feels and lives in the sense of his condition lives in humility. And that picture in the background is a picture of the church that he would have attended there in Kingsclift, England, in the latter part of his life.

Just think about that thing. It's, yes, a true sense of who we really are. C.S. Lewis defines humility as this. He will not be thinking about humility. He will not be thinking about himself at all. Again, absence of self.

And one final one that I found from St. Francis of Assisi. And I like this one a lot. Blessed is the servant who does not regard himself as better when he is esteemed and extolled by men than when he is reputed as worthless, simple, and despicable. For what a man is in the sight of God, so much he is and no more.

And if you think about that last one, isn't that so true? People who are prideful can be viewed as great in this world, but are they really great in the sight of God? And if you think about when we were talking about the martyrs, the early Anabaptists, they were viewed as all as worthless, simple, despicable, but in the sight of God, they had value. And isn't that how we should be looking at humility?

I would say that humility is the essential part of one's Christian walk. I would even say without it, can one truly follow Christ? Jesus says this word about humility. Matthew 18, verses 3 through 4. Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Again, as I say, without humility, I would say we can't be a follower of Jesus. Here's two other quotes from William Law. "An humble state of soul is a very state of religion because humility is the life and soul of piety, the foundation and support of every virtue and good work, the best guard and security of all our holy affections."

And he also says this, "If our common life, which means our ordinary everyday life, is not a common course of humility, self-denial, renunciation of the world, poverty of spirit, and heavenly affection, we do not live the lives of Christians." I think that's a very sober warning.

I'm going to just look at a Bible story here. That's going to be my main text on the scripture. There are not a lot of Bible stories in the Bible about humility, but the one I found that I really liked was the story of Naaman. Do we remember the story of Naaman?

It can be also referring to baptism as well with him dipping the Jordan River. But I'm going to just read it, and I'm going to be looking at the humility. So I'm going to read it, and I'm going to put some of the verses on the screen there overhead. "Now Naaman, commander of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.

And the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife. Then she said to her mistress, 'If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy.'

And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, 'Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.' So then the king of Syria said, 'Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.'

So he, that's referring to Naaman, departed and took with him 10 pounds of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and 10 changes of clothing. Then he brought a letter to the king of Israel, which said, 'Now be advised when this letter comes to you that I have sent Naaman, my servant, to you, that he may heal him of his leprosy.'" I'm not sure why he sent the letter to the king of Israel, because it was not the king of Israel who could heal people from leprosy. "And it happened when the king of Israel read this letter that he tore his clothes and said, 'Am I God to kill and make alive? That this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy.'

So it was when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, 'Why have you torn your clothes? Please send him, referring to Naaman, to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.'

Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, 'Go and wash in the Jordan seven times. In your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.'" This is where we'll pick up on our overhead, so you can read what Naaman's response is. "But Naaman became furious and went away and said, 'Indeed, I said to myself, 'He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy. Are not the Abinah and the Farpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?

Could I not wash in them and be clean?' So he turned away and went away in a rage.

Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, 'My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you have not done it? How much more then would you want when he said to you, 'Wash and be clean?'

So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a child, and he was clean." Just a few thoughts of that.

I first thought of that Naaman wanted healing, and he heard from this servant girl that there was a prophet who could actually heal him. So he had a little faith in God at that time period. If he was willing to go down to Israel and check this out.

Then the next thing I thought about was, what was his response? If you remember, right here, he became furious when instead of Elisha coming out and putting his hands over him and saying, 'You're healed,' he sent a servant. Which that reminded me of what happened with the servant and the centurion in the New Testament. When the centurion sent his servant to Jesus, Jesus didn't heal that by saying, 'Okay, because of your faith, you're healed.' Just like I could say it a similar idea, except this was slightly opposite. So what do you see? Naaman is furious. He says, 'Well, aren't the waters better?' Talking about the two rivers of Damascus. And they like that he was a man of glory and renown.

So obviously, at this time period, he wasn't a humble person. He was proud. He was seeking glory. But then I thought about his servants. They must have had true compassion for their master. This guy is upset, and you go up to him and more or less contradict him, saying, 'My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, will you not have done it? How much more then when he says, 'Wash and be clean?' I say that takes a lot of love and compassion for this man. He's furious, saying, 'Why didn't he heal me?' You know, whatever, screaming, yelling, whatever he was doing. But then if you think about Naaman's response, what was it?

And he obviously thought about it. And I would say he repented, and he humbled himself and obeyed what the prophet said. Because if he hadn't, he wouldn't have, like I said, dipped in himself in the Jordan, as I said, seven times, and he was healed. I think that is an example of repentance and showing true humility. And I think his humility even went a little further. As he exits and leaves that story, he even asked Elisha if Elisha would pray for him for forgiveness, as he has to go with his master in that false temple back in Syria, you know, that shows deference to his master.

And one other note about Naaman, he is the only, if you remember Jesus in Nazareth, Jesus says that Naaman is the only leper who was healed by Elisha. I mean, so I can say Naaman, I'm not saying, yeah, definitely had something there.

Here's a couple of other verses about pride and humility in the scriptures. This is not a comprehensive list, but just a couple. First one is found in Proverbs 3:37. The Lord opposes the arrogant, but he gives grace to the humble. That's a very common theme.

Proverbs 16:5. Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Though they join forces, none will go unpunished. This one we're all familiar with, the list of the things that the Lord hates. Proverbs 6:16-17. These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood.

We're familiar, I think, with this proverb from Jesus.

14:7-11. And that's the he referring to Jesus. And he told a parable to those that were invited when he noted how they chose the best place to sing to them, the being, you know, like I said, the being proud, lifting yourself up. When you're invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him, and he who invited you, and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and you again will shame to take the lowest place.

But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you, for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.' I think an excellent example of this thing of pride being put down and humility being lifted up.

One last verse for here. This is 1 Peter 5:5. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Again, repeating that from Proverbs.

I'm going to just give two quotes about pride here. And then the first quote is from a minister named Henry Scugal. He was a Puritan minister in the Church of Scotland, which we'll quote in the mid-1600s. This brother lived approximately 28 years. And his most famous work was called The Life of God and the Soul of Man. And I'm just going to read this quote that I felt was very, yeah, I really like this quote about pride and humility.

Contention which comes from pride betrays a man into a thousand inconveniences, which those of a meek and lowly temper seldom meet with. True and genuine humility begets both admiration and love among all wise and discerning persons. While pride defeated its own design and deprives a man of that honor it makes him pretend to. I just like that those things, the contention, that when you have true humility, there is a love among people who have true humility. And then the last thing, that you think your pride is going to lift you up, but in reality, it takes you away the honor that you're pretending to. And William Law has another comment about pride himself.

Pride is in no respect nor in anything made for man. It destroys the piety of our prayers and alms. It destroys the piety of everything that it touches. And it renders every action that it governs incapable of being offered to God. And isn't that so true that if we do anything in pride, it's absolutely worthless before God? And I would actually say it's actually worthless before everything else.

So if pride and the spirit of pride, the spirit of this world is so wicked and is detested by God, then why do we, or me or you, how do we obtain it? And I think, and I guess this is not a comprehensive list, but there's some ideas. The first idea is we taught it, got it when we were little, be it from our parents, be it from ourselves. But just if you with your little children and you go into education, you praise your children for doing something right. Not saying it's wrong to praise your children, but that does slowly but surely, you know, it gets in their head that, hey, look how neat I am, look how glorious I am.

I can do all these neat things. And then it goes into our education. Doesn't matter, I can say if you, where you went to school, if it's quote a Christian day school, even public school, or a home school, it's because we do this thing of putting pride into our children. William Law makes this comment. The first temper that we try to awaken in children is pride, as dangerous as a passion is that of lust. We stir them up to vain and thoughts of themselves and do everything we can to puff up their minds with a sense of their own abilities. I thought about myself when I was in school. And I definitely, as I would say, have to be governed by pride when I was in like grade school and stuff.

I worked really hard, studied hard, did well in my academics, and I was always very pleased to find my name in the honor roll. I'll be honest, that's what, yeah, that was me. I don't remember if the honor roll was published at the school, but I know for a fact it was published in the local newspaper. And so you could look in the newspaper and you could see the honor rolls, you know, whatever, A's, A pluses, whatever. And I always remember seeing that. And hopefully most of you were not like that, but you probably were. We'll have to give this thing. When I was in college, I did the same thing. I still have nightmares about not being prepared for tests and not doing my homework.

And I'm 51. So I would not recommend that. It's not a good idea. But pride is caught in other places as well. Now, besides our schooling, we catch that our family is the best. We're proud of our family. We catch that our hometown's the best. We're proud of Shippensburg, Chambersburg. We catch that the state of Pennsylvania is the best, or the country we live in, the United States of America. And it's not just, like I said, it's not just the world who does that. We just pick that up from people's comments, see something in the newspaper, see something on the, hear something in the radio or whatever. It just picks up that, hey, we live in the best country.

I thought of two things that, you know, they did kind of propaganda, the U.S. did. The first one, if you remember my World War II, I mean, World War I sermon, we listened to the sermon, not the sermon, the theme song of the old-time radio show, Superman. And it ends that Superman is pursuing truth, justice, and the American way.

That the idea of the American way being in contrast to the communist way of like communist China or what was the former Soviet Union. And that was made in like 1946. But again, trying to put pride that the American way is, we're proud of the American way.

Or something else, I would, most of you probably didn't go to public school, but I know that those of us did. We learned the Pledge of Allegiance. And if you think of the Pledge of Allegiance, you at least think of it as patriotism, which it is because you're quote standing in front of the flag, putting your hand on your heart. But if you also think of the words of the Pledge of Allegiance, it is instilling a ton of pride in you and this nation that we live in, that it's the best nation if you think of all under God, indivisible, all that type of stuff.

So like I said, that's another way that you get pride in you. But it doesn't stop there, just like I said, education or families. It's even in our own church. I know some churches, thankfully our church is not one of them, but some churches claim that they're the one true church. All other churches are false. Some of them will say that you might be a Christian in those other churches. Others will say you aren't. But if you think about how prideful a statement that is, you're a part of the one true church.

Or if not, you might not be quite that bad. But I know of churches that will make the claim, our church is the most biblical. We do things right. We try to follow God. I'm not saying it's, I think it's not wrong to say we try to follow God, but they even go as far as to say that our church is at the forefront of God's kingdom.

Isn't that a prideful statement? That they're so much better, everybody else is down here.

Or even this aspect. I think all of us in this auditorium want to follow God. We truly want to be like Jesus. Obey him, love him, all this. But what often happens with people like that, they start developing a spirit of pride in themselves. Hey, look how, look, and not necessarily that they're putting out, but maybe they are, but hey, I'm following Jesus so closely. What about the rest of them? They just aren't trying, you know, they're going to go to hell, all that type of stuff. And it's like, isn't that prideful again?

William Law makes this quote about that. No people have more occasion to be afraid of the approaches of pride than those who have made some advances in a pious life. For pride can grow as well upon our virtues as our vices instills upon us in all occasions. So I can say we have to be careful in pride, even when we're trying to follow God. I can say, I mean, no way saying that we don't want to follow God, but this is just a warning to be careful.

Here's a saying I came across by Ciro Cicero, who was a Roman statesman. That's just more or less envelops the spirit of pride that you see in this world we have. And now I'm going to say this as best I can in Latin. I asked both my father and Lowell, but it's, but I didn't think about it until the Friday. So I'm going to just say what, and it's not going to be perfect. It says, Ponte eres alis, quante tibi furius. Cicero was, like I said, Roman statesman about the time of Julius Caesar, give or take in that area. You'll be as much valued to others as you have been to yourself.

And if you just think about that, it's like, so he's saying that if you're, if you're glorious, then you're going to be valuable to others. Exact opposite of what Jesus, what the Bible says. John Wesley, what is how I came across this quote, is John Wesley in one of his sermons made us, in his sermons, he was rejecting that quote. He says, be clothed with humility. Reject with horror that favorite maxim of the old heathen, sprung from the bottomless pit. Ponte eres alias, quante tibi furius. The more you value yourself, the more others will value you.

Not so. On the contrary, both God and man resist the proud. And as God giveth grace to the humble, so humility, not pride, recommends us to the esteem and favor of men, especially those that fear God.

That's, yes, I like, I like what Wesley said there.

Some thoughts I have how to overcome the spirit of pride and instead cultivate a spirit of humility.

I think the first step is we have to be truly honest with ourselves and really dig deep and look at ourselves. And I'm just going to look at a couple of quotes here. This first quote, I think most of us are familiar with, is by this Richard Feynman. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you're the easiest person to fool. Isn't that so true? I mean, it's hard for us to fool others, but we can, we can do all kinds of stuff, think in our own mind and heart that we can just fool ourselves with what we, who we really are.

William Law says this about humility and this idea that we have pride. Now, in order to begin and set out well in the practice of humility, you must take it for granted that you are proud, that you have all your life been more or less infected with this unreasonable temper. I think that's so true that we have to acknowledge that we have, it might not be a lot of pride, but that we have been infected by this.

C.S. Lewis makes the same similar concept. The first step is to realize that one is proud. If you think you're not conceited, it means you're very conceited indeed. And I say, I think we have to really dig deep and look at ourselves. Truly ask ourselves, and we might need to be praying to God, asking our spouse, asking someone we really trust and care, are we proud? They can help us see that because we can, like I said, we can easily deceive ourselves.

I know as I studied this lesson, I realized that there is still a spirit of pride in me on certain things. I think, and I think if we're all honest, I think we all have something still inside us that we need to conquer.

So I did some ideas how to conquer, to overcome pride. The first step in my mind is to repent. Repent meaning changing our mind, changing our actions, changing our loyalty, changing our allegiance. Like I said, and that's we fill the spirit of pride in us. We need to stop and pray for God, for grace to help us overcome the spirit of pride. It's like, I can say, I think it's going to be a daily practice. I don't think it's something of once and done. Okay, I'm going to just be cleansed of pride and never come back. But as you look at this in a daily way, you will begin to change your thought pattern and develop the godly habit of humility.

William Law makes this comment about prayer and this idea, and I think it's excellent. By this means, you will have an opportunity of being large in particular and all the parts of any virtue or grace, which you then make the subject of your prayer. And by asking for it in all its parts, making it the substance of a whole prayer once every day or more than once every day, obviously, you will soon find a mighty change in your heart. And that you cannot thus constantly pray for all that parts of any virtue every day of your life and yet live the rest of the day contrary to it.

If you don't understand that saying, it's saying if we're praying for humility, then the rest, and we're then living the rest of our day in pride, either we're going to stop praying that God can give us the virtue of humility or we're going to stop, we're going to stop living in pride because they don't go together. If we're going to honestly pray that God can give us victory, then somewhere in that process, we're going to slowly have victory over pride or we're going to quit praying that God will give us victory because you can't do both.

And I think that's so true.

There we go. So next thing I thought I had was looking at these two verses. The two verses being Mark chapter 12, verse 29 and 31. They're what Jesus said were the greatest two commands. Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment. And the second like it is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There is no other commandment greater than these.

Just think about these verses for a second. I have to say in my mind, as I was studying, that these two verses play a key role in overcoming pride. That you have to truly incorporate these in your Christian walk, which I think most of us have, but they play a key role. If you think about the idea of loving God with everything of our, this is heart, soul, mind, and strength. And you think about what pride is, what C.S. Lewis made the comment, the anti-God spirit. Again, those don't go together. If we truly love God, how can we have, then we won't truly love the anti-God spirit? Again, those are direct contrasts. And the same idea with loving our neighbor as ourself.

If you're prideful, what characteristics do you exhibit? You think of yourselves better than others. You might boast like, like I did when we played basketball, that, "Hey, look at my great skills." If you're truly loving your neighbor, you can't do that.

And that's, and that's again, it doesn't go together. First Corinthians, we're familiar with the chapter in First Corinthians about love. This is something that's going to read one verse. First Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 4. "Love suffers long in his kind. Love does not envy. Love does not prey itself, being arrogant, is not puffed up." Again, prideful. Because they go together, that you can say if you're truly loving God and loving your neighbor, that is a very key step in overcoming pride.

Okay, the next idea I have is I had said, we taught, we were taught pride or we caught pride. I'm not going to say it was always an outright being taught, but we caught it or taught it when being little on up, when whatever, two, three, five, whatever you want to say. So it's something we have developed over the years.

So I've, like I said, I believe it's going to be an active unlearning the spirit of the world and the spirit of pride. William Law makes this comment, "Every person when he first applies himself to the exercise of this virtue of humility must, as I said before, consider himself a learner. That is to learn something that is contrary to former tempers and habits of mind, and which can be got by daily and constant practice."

And one of the tempers I was thinking about that we have to unlearn, again, it's like this is pride, and one of the verses that talk about that is that defining a little bit of what pride and everything is as another verse, verse 1 John, chapter 2, verse 15 through 17. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

The world is passing away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever." One of the spirits that we have to unlearn, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Truly cultivating a spirit of humility means that we have to, as I said, be less of ourselves and instead focusing more on other people. Look at a verse here, two verses in Romans. We're from, I think all familiar with these verses.

I'm just going to read two, Romans 10. It should have said 10 and 16, but yeah, so the first verse is 10, and then starting with B is verse 16. "Become the affection to one another with brotherly love and honor, giving preference to one another. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on haughty things, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own opinion."

And a similar verse found in Philippians chapter 2, verse 3. "Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having of the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself."

Selfish ambition, referring to the idea of that you're going to get above other people. I have a slightly longer quote here from William Law that's just talking about this daily walk of humility. It's broken down in more than four slides, so we'll just read each one here for a second. Now we'll then talk about the last one and have a comment on it. His first thought, "Vanish therefore every thought of self-pride and self-distinction. And accustom yourself to rejoice in all the excellencies and perfections of your fellow creatures. And be as glad to see any of their good actions as your own." A reinforcement of what the Apostle Paul said there in Romans and what we saw in Philippians.

That we're rejoicing in the good actions of other people. We're rejoicing in their perfections, their excellency. "Hate despise all human glory, for there's nothing else but human folly. It is the greatest snare and the greatest betrayer that you can possibly admit into your heart. Love humility in all its instances. Practice it in all its parts, for it is the noblest state of the soul of man. It will set your heart and affections right towards God and fill you with every temper that is tender and affectionate towards men."

On this last slide, I'm going to, this last slide from William Law, I'm going to make a comment about one of the words. Now, I tried to get a better synonym and I couldn't get one, but I'm going to explain to you, and I think actually the original word, if you understand what it means, it's very powerful.

So let's read it and I'll explain. "Let every day therefore be a day of humility. Condescend to all the weaknesses and infirmities of your fellow creatures. Cover their frailties, love their excellencies, encourage their virtue, relieve their wants, rejoice in their prosperities, compassionate their distress, receive their friendship, overlook their unkindness, forgive their malice, be a servant of servants, and condescend to the lowest offices to the lowest of mankind." We in the 21st century view the word condescend in a bad way, which is, and that's what it has come to mean. It means patronizing, feeling prideful when you have to do with, do stuff with people you feel are beneath you. But that word condescend was also found in this verse as well.

Do not, it says, "Do not set your mind on haughty things, but associate with the lowly." The King James translated it, "But condescend with those of low estate." So it was a, it was a common word in the 1600s and 1700s. But in that time period, condescend, which I think is actually a very powerful meaning, means that we voluntarily lowered ourselves to associate with others. But it doesn't stop there. That we, that those people we are associated with, we perceive in our mind that we are higher, we're in a different class, a different rank.

Which in the society we live here in the United States in the 21st century, we don't have class distinctions. But the time of the Bible was written in the same time when the King James Bible was translated in early and European, there were class distinctions. And that was one of the things that was so revolutionary about Christianity. You had the rich and poor eating together, going to the same church. That would have been unheard of. You had Jews and Gentiles, masters with their slaves or servants. And they said that was a true revolution that Christianity did, that it brought everybody equal. So when I view the, look at the word condescend here, he is saying that we are voluntarily lowering ourselves to do stuff with our fellow humans with their weaknesses and infirmities, even if we felt that they were of a different class, which obviously, thankfully we don't have that anymore.

But I can say it's a, that's a more, much more powerful statement. I can say lower, but I say when I actually think about what condescend actually meant in that time period, I really like that idea. That it's bringing us together, that it's not a class distinction. And so that's why when I read that verse there in Romans, if you think about it, that's when you read that, that doesn't make very much revolution, but associate with the lowly. But if you think about what it actually was saying, but you're voluntarily lowering yourself to associate who you might think is in a different class, a different social rank, and that was saying with the lowly of those of a lowly estate.

That's a much more, in my mind, much more revolutionary statement. Because I read that and say that's not anything associated with the lowly, what does that mean? But if you actually think about when Apostle Paul wrote that, that is actually a revolutionary statement.

So I'm going to finish with two last things here.

One last thing here. Well, two last things. What about the companions you spend time with? Is the companions you spend time with are prideful people telling you how wonderful their life is? Or their house, or their vacation, or their business, bragging on their children, saying, "Hey, look, my children are so athletic, so smart, so handsome."

People do that. You all smile, but that's not, that's a very, that people do that. It's going to most likely develop a spirit of pride in you as well. Well, maybe I need to be bragging in my family. Tell people how wonderful my children are, how wonderful my spouse is.

And I'd say, no, that's not the, I would say those are probably not the type of people you need to be hanging out with. In 1 Corinthians, we read this. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 33. "Do not be deceived. Evil company corrupts good habits." I think you might need to, yeah, find other companions to be hanging out with if they're being prideful.

I wanted this, as we come to near the end of this, it took us, you developed a spirit of pride, probably like from little on up. So it's going to, in my mind, it's going to take some time to overcome that. I'm not saying maybe you might be different than others, but I think it takes some time. That you're going to be, it's going to be a process of daily repentance, prayer, changing your life, becoming more Christ-like, and the continual disavowing of the spirit of pride. Jesus himself says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

One last warning here. A truly humble person does not go around telling everybody how humble he is. Otherwise, I say he's not a truly humble. Now, in the book David Copperfield, which was written by Charles Dickens, there's a character that some of you are probably familiar with. His name was Uriah Heep. And here's a quote of Uriah. "I'm well aware that I am the humblest person going," says Uriah Heep, "modestly. Let the other be where he may. My mother is likewise a very humble person. We live in an humble abode, Master Copperfield, but have much to be thankful for. My father's form and calling was humble. He was a sexton." I did find out from Pierre that the humble doesn't necessarily mean he was saying that purposely.

There is a working-class dialect of British English that would have possibly left the H off. But if you read the book and know anything about Uriah Heep, in the end you found out he was an absolute scoundrel. He was not humble, and he stole money from his employer, embezzlement, blackmail, porch text, you name it. He was not a humble person.

So we're just going to conclude just rereading those three definitions of humility. Humility is an absence of self. This first one, humility does not consist in having a worse opinion of ourselves than we deserve, or abating ourselves lower than we really are. But as all virtue is founded in truth, so humility is founded in a true and just sense of our weakness, misery and sin.

He that rightly feels and lives in the sense of his condition lives in humility. He will not be thinking about humility. He will be thinking about not be thinking about himself at all. And the final one, blessed the servant who does not regard himself as better when he is esteemed and extolled by men than when he is reputed as worthless, simple, and despicable. For a man is in the sight of God, so much as he is and no more.