and to walk humbly with your God

Luke 18:9-14

Here is the problem that we face when we act justly and love mercy - when we live our life in all the right ways, we tend to get proud and boastful about it.

One pastor wrote about his favorite sermon to preach.  He had never tasted alcohol in his life, and he would often preach against the dangers of alcohol.  He was reading this story in the Bible, when he realized that if a sermon is too easy to preach, he probably shouldn't be preaching it.  He was so proud of his accomplishment of staying away from alcohol, that he thought the rest of his sins were somehow less bad.

As soon as we get our act together, it becomes so easy to begin judging others for not living in the right way. And in this passage, we find Jesus lifting up the man on the ground, and rejecting the man who is so proud.

And so, of the list of three - the list of how we should live our lives, "to talk humbly with your God" is the third and the final.

This is one of those impossibly complicated things to explain, "to walk humbly with your God."

Let's begin with humility.

I'm rather convinced that humility is one of those things that most people just don't understand.  I think that we try and find some way to show humility.  We find some act that is a symbol of humility.

And all of these little actions, they show that we value humility - but they don't make us humble.

I once saw a foot washing ceremony that left me feeling very confused.  A foot washing ceremony is used as a symbol of humility and service.  I have seen really beautiful services that included a foot washing.  In this one, a very wealthy leader of a large community had invited one of the church leaders up on the stage.  They were both in suits.  The leader rolled up his sleeves, and prepared to wash the other man's feet.  But, he noticed that he was still wearing his watch, and it was obviously a very expensive watch.  He gently took it off, and waved for someone to come over and take it from him before the ceremony.  One of his staff members ran over and dutifully held on to the watch throughout the service.  After the other man's feet were washed, the leader took his expensive watch and put it back on.

And, in this service, who showed humility?  It was the staff member who was a servant to the wealthy leader.

Do you want to grow humble - go sit on the street in the cold and beg for change.  Crawl on crutches and maimed legs from place to place and wait for the kindness of strangers to make things better for you.

When you are humiliated, you will be made humble.  When the whole class joins the lecturer in laughing at your mistake, you will feel what it means to be humble.  

When I have gone with the group that does the feeding ministry, I have seen some really humble people.  I have seen people who have been humbled by their difficult circumstances.  Christina, will now come up and share some words about the feeding ministry which will be next week.

In the church, we value humility; when we meet a truly humble person - we are in shock.  I don't know how many of you had a chance to meet Hans Vaxby when he was in Lviv this summer.  He is retiring this year after serving as the Bishop of the United Methodist church in Eurasia.  When you meet Hans, he immediately asks you to just call him Hans.  He doesn't like to be called Bishop or Mr. Vaxby.  He prefers the simple use of his first name, Hans.  He just exudes humility.  In everything he does, he just does it humbly.  He gladly steps aside so that others can step up.

As Christians, we work to imitate Christ.  It is  Christ hanging naked on the cross that shows us what true humility is.  They ripped out his beard.  They beat him.  They hung a sign over his head which read "King of the Jews"  They humiliated him.  And humility is that he forgave them.  In humility, we never try to boast about our own accomplishments and good deeds.  They are all rags compared with the glory of Christ.

My favorite hymn comes from the Spanish language.  What it says is simple: When the poor ones who have nothing share with strangers, then we know that God still goes that road with us.  When the thirsty give water to others, then we know that God still goes that road with us.  When we show humility, we show that God is real, and that God is by our side.

Matthew 28:16-20

When we read the scriptures that record the great commission, we read Jesus calling us to go out into the world and to share the good news of Jesus Christ.  In the English version, they translated the first word "Go" as a direct command.  But, this wasn't entirely correct.  It would be better translated, "As you are going"  This great commission, this call to go into all the world - this is a call for us to keep walking on the road we are on.  This is a call for us to live our lives - to go to the university, to show up to work, to go on vacation, to eat dinner with friends - and in doing those things, to walk humbly with our God.  We are not called to stand on the street corners and yell and scream about our faith, we are called to humbly live life and through that, invite others to join this road with us.

And this same scripture, it ends with the final thought, "I am with you always"

In days of great success and in days of terrible failure - God is with you.  When I am able to live out my faith fully, and when I am a terrible witness of God's love - God is with me.  Like the thirsty who give water, when we share our time and energy with this ministry - God is with us.

As we walk in humility, God is with us.