Humility Personified │ Msg 10/14

4:34 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master, nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them. It is the Christian's goal to be Christ-like. That is the most mature answer you can give to the question, what is your goal in life?

5:03 But what does it mean to be Christ-like? It may surprise you to know that only once in all the Bible does Jesus Christ tell us what he was like. Now, there are many places where we are told about Christ, but only one place where we are told what his heart was like.

5:36 Stop and think for a moment. John tells us Jesus is the bread of life. He is the light of the world. He is the resurrection. He is the good shepherd. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to God, but through him, he is the true vine.

6:02 Our Lord even wept over those that continued to rebel and resist his plan. Even over the city of Jerusalem, he shed tears. but in only one place are we told from the lips of Jesus what he was like. Let's turn there before we turn to John 13. Matthew chapter 11 contains the verse that answers the question what Christ was like in his heart. There are many who say, I want to be like Christ. Our goal is to be like him. What does that mean?

6:54 Matthew 11, beginning at verse 28, we find an invitation. Come to me. These are Jesus' words. all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Now here it is. For I am gentle and humble in heart. And you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my load is light. Thank you. there you have the answer. The only place that I can find in all God's revelation where Jesus tells us what his heart was like.

7:51 It was a heart of gentleness, and it was a heart of humility. Now, unfortunately, both terms have suffered much from misuse and misunderstanding. There are some who feel to be humble or to be meek is to become insignificant, unworthy, spineless, lacking in discernment, small. Doesn't mean that at all. In fact, if you were to take the word humility in its basic Greek term, translated here in verse 29, humble, and go back to where it is reasonably safe to stop in the etymological study of that Greek word, you would find it means to stoop low.

8:51 And it is most often used with the picture of a servant in mind. Jesus says, come to me I am one who stoops low and serves now, when am I most Christ-like when I do that now I think that is significant I am impressed with that quality You know, it is true that there is no way that one can ape humility. You can fake love. You can fake patience. You can fake acceptance.

9:47 You can fake tolerance. You can even fake wealth or poverty. but you cannot fake humility. You try any way you wish to display it and it withers into pride. Someone has called humility the fairest flower that ever blooms. Display it once and it withers into pride. There's no way you can write a book on how you became humble. There's no way you can talk about achieving humility. A caretaker was leading a group of English tourists through the home where Ludwig von Beethoven spent his last few years and did his best works. Among the group of English tourists was a young woman who felt she could play rather well and was anxious to see one room where the piano of Beethoven was kept.

10:56 The caretaker brought this small group into the room and with great care drew from the top of the piano a cover. And he said, and there, my friends, is the instrument from which this man did his greatest works. The woman pushed her way to the front, sat down on the stool, and attempted to play one of his sonatas. Quirled around after she finished and looked into the face of the caretaker and said, I suppose you have a lot of people that like to play this piano, don't you? He said, well, miss, Enos Paderewski was here last summer, and some wanted him to play. But his response was, no, I am not worthy. After that put down, let's turn to John chapter 13.

11:56 You see, you cannot fake humility. If it is there under the Spirit's control, may I say, without wanting to sound mystical about it, the one who has it hardly knows it. it is without question the least obvious quality a person realizes he possesses. So therefore, it must come from the Spirit of God. Now, John 13 is written with a very significant background. Would you look at verse 1, for example? Verse 1 tells us the location, that is, by implication, and it tells us of the occasion.

12:46 Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And then it tells us what he did. To begin with, this took place in the city of Jerusalem. From chapter 13 through chapter 19, we have looming large across the page of Scripture, the cross. You see in verse 1 the words, the feast of the Passover. Look at verse 1 with me. Now before the feast of the Passover. Passover to the Jew was like the 4th of July to the American. it represented the history of their liberty it goes all the way back to the days of Moses to the plagues that swept Egypt by the way let me say that that has been one of the most interesting studies I have ever undertaken in the Old Testament studying about the insects and the gnats and the flies and those things that plagued Egypt. It is incredible what they went through in preparation for God's delivering the Israelites. Just incredible.

14:16 Now at the end of the plagues, there is the greatest and most significant of all the plagues, and that's the death of the firstborn. When death visited every Egyptian home from the Pharaoh right down to the smallest one in Egypt. And yet the death angel did not visit the Israelite homes because of the use of blood that they placed on their door. The death angel passed over those homes. That's where it gets its name. And right after the passing over of this angel's presence, the people of Israel were redeemed, delivered from bondage, and set free under Moses to build a new nation. Now from that historic day until the day of Jesus, the Jews had observed it regularly.

15:14 It was a time in which thousands of Jews came to the city of Jerusalem, mainly the males, the men of the family representing their family. And they feasted. They occupied themselves with nostalgic returns to Egypt. As stories were told, some of them for sure legendary. But as they reminded themselves of their historical moment of freedom. Now this event, however, in John 13 is not a feasting. they're eating, but it isn't a time of rejoicing. Why? Well, because of the time. Notice it says his hour had come. What does that mean?

16:07 It means the hour of his death. You realize that at this point, death was about 15 to 18 hours away from Jesus. If you travel from John 13 through chapter 19, the only thing that is a constant emphasis is the cross. He lives under the shadow of the cross from now on in the gospel. You must not forget that. And so he speaks from that perspective. In fact, there are three things I want you to remember that give Jesus his perspective. at this time first the reality of the cross his hour had come second the will of the father verse 3 the father had given all things into his hands nothing had been held back and third the security of his destiny he knew that he had come from the father and he would go back to the father if ever a man had a reason to be proud jesus did and i don't mean that to sound the wrong way he had accomplished the father's will no other human being on earth can die with that sense of reality he had never once been contaminated by sin never once had he failed because of carnality He came to his last hours in perfect obedience.

17:49 And if there was ever a time to dispatch the angels to display his glory, that was the hour, but he didn't do it. That's what made him great, you see. At his greatest hour, he's washing feet. You want to be Christ-like in your growth toward maturity? Here is the answer. let's discover one who was gentle and humble in spirit, shall we? Let's pick up some principles regarding humility in verses 4 through 12. Jesus, well, let's begin this way. First, notice in verse 2, verse 3, and verse 4, the beginning parts of the verses only. The latter parts are expanded clauses that could get you sidetracked from the flow of movement. For example, Mark verse 2, during supper, verse 3, Jesus, verse 4, rose from supper, verse 12.

19:01 when he had washed their feet and taken his garments, he reclined again. You got it? Jesus rose from supper, did something unrelated to the supper, and then came back to the meal and finished it. What made him leave the supper? why did he in the middle of the supper wash their feet it's like you're sitting down to a thanksgiving meal one or two o'clock in the afternoon thanksgiving day and you served yourself that well-baked turkey and the cranberry sauce and the dressing and too much of the gravy and it's all over your plate and you begin to eat it and suddenly you push yourself away and write letter why would you write a letter in the middle of a Thanksgiving meal there's no reason is there and then you come back and the meal is about over and yours is cold but you finish or make a phone call why would you do that it's the same kind of interruptive thought he's at the table eating the meal and suddenly he stops and he gets a basin of water and he with a towel he washes their feet and then he puts the towel up and covers his under tunic with his outer garment and sits down again to eat.

20:33 Why? Well, there are two reasons. I want to give the reasons to you first, and then I want to illustrate them from Scripture. First, because their hearts were proud. and there is a way they reveal their pride, and Jesus heard it. First, their hearts were proud. That's the first reason. Second, don't laugh at me now. Their feet were dirty. I told you not to laugh at me when I told you that. Now, obviously, their feet were dirty, but there is something deeper than the dirty feet. They represent something far more than Jerusalem dirt on skin. Turn to Luke chapter 22.

21:22 Luke 22, beginning at verse 14. Even though we're going back in our Bibles from John to Luke, we're going to the same time from a different perspective. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all four wrote of this last meal they had together. Luke simply includes something that John does not, and I want you to see why Jesus interrupted his meal to wash their feet. Luke tells us why they were in need of learning humility. 14, chapter 22, verse 14. When the hour had come, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

22:24 And then he goes on to talk about that event yet future. Verse 22. For indeed the Son of Man is going as it has been determined. That means he's going to die. but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed, namely Judas. And they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing. Remember that? They began to ask, is it I? For all they knew it was something that they weren't aware of. So some ask in all honesty, am I the one? The only one who knew was Judas, and he didn't reveal his secret. But this discussion led to a dispute. On the other hand, verse 24, we'll stop with this verse.

23:20 There arose also a dispute. The Greek word means a verbal fight. There was a verbal fight among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. Here we go again. Argument a la disciples. Can you believe it? The last night. Who is going to be the greatest? It doesn't seem to fit the lips of the disciples, does it? But that's what they argued about. And that's what Jesus heard.

24:00 In fact, it wasn't just a quiet discussion. It says a dispute. maybe you don't have that kind of conversation. If you're not Italian, you probably don't. But if you're of Italian, you know, background, you probably understand what it is to have a dispute at the table. That's the best place in the world for a dispute in many Italian homes. So that's the way it was, by the way, in a place where I was several years ago in the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps, by the way. Tomorrow is the Marine Corps birthday. It is older than our nation. You stop to think about something that's significant. You must set aside a little bit of time just in reverie, in quiet reverence for the Corps. Okay?

24:54 Now, back. Back to things less significant than that. I was sitting in a massive chow hall that was wider than this building is wide and half again as long. I guess there were a couple of thousand the Marines in there eating in this massive Quonset hut. And a little argument broke out at a table. And it was a noon meal, as I recall. and one fella had a piece of meat with gravy all over it that he decided belonged on the face of the fellow with whom he was arguing. And so he made sure that it landed on that spot. Well, the fellow, not wanting to be put down, decided he had a part of his pie that didn't need to be consumed.

25:48 So he picked it up and threw it and the guy dodged and it hit the fellow behind him. who in turn picked up part of his cabbage. And in the next 10 or 11 minutes, food was everywhere but on the trays. It was just everywhere.

26:12 Never forget that. I will not tell you what happened as a result of it, nor do we want to talk about who started it. but, but, wait a minute, this led to an incredible dispute that resulted in all sorts of things. Well, it's sort of that same kind of thing with the disciples, one after the other's throat, And Jesus now is in the midst already with this profound set of truth to give to those men. And what are they talking about? They're talking about who's the greatest. It's bothered some students of scripture that Jesus would precede this great upper room discourse with the washing of their feet.

27:12 But it won't if you link Luke 22 with it. You see, they were arguing over the greatest in the kingdom. They weren't humble. They were proud. Before one can really learn lessons, humility must be there. Now back to John 13. Let me also inform some of you that may not be aware of it or have forgotten it that their feet were dirty because they hadn't carried out the normal custom of washing feet. You see, in Jerusalem in those days, there were not paved streets. There were some paved highways that the Romans had implemented, but for the most part, most every city, large or small, lived with constant dust. Little alleys and even the cities where there was heavy traffic, The streets where there was traffic often had layers of dust, several inches of dust.

28:17 You can imagine what happened when the rains came and the bog it became. So there was the custom, a practical one, that when a couple invited you to their home for dinner, they provided a servant at the door and he was there with basin and pitcher and towel. when you arrived with your friend or your mate, you stopped and took off your sandals and the servant simply poured water over your feet and dried the feet with a towel. It was the job of a servant. And then you left your sandals at the door and went in the house and enjoyed the evening barefooted. That's not a bad idea. You often refer to just being so comfortable you could just kick off your shoes. So it built real comfort. But if the group was a voluntary group that didn't have a host or hostess, then usually the first one or two that arrived gave himself to the job of being a servant.

29:21 And he gathered water and had the basin ready and he voluntarily washed feet. Ah, not this crowd. I'm convinced the only one with clean feet was the Lord Jesus who arrived last when it was all prepared and probably had to wash his own but not that group and he saw so here they are arguing over who's the greatest in the group and Jesus just pushes aside the meal we notice in verse 4 he laid aside his garments, his outer tunic he took off and left the undergarment on, the long tunic, and he took a towel and he girded himself about. That means he wrapped the towel around him like you could picture in your mind. And then he began to pour the water into the basin and to wash the disciples' feet.

30:20 You see, they were willing to fight over the throne, but nobody fought over the towel. So Jesus, with towel ready, knelt before each one and began to wash the disciples' feet one by one. Picture that. Argument is going strong and steady and heavy, and all of a sudden, a little splashing of water can be heard. and the one you would least expect to be doing it is kneeling down beside Matthew, washing feet. He can feel the warm water over his toes and over his ankles and his feet are dried with a towel.

31:05 And then he came to John and then to Peter. Now, that's where the rub came. Notice verse 6, he came to Simon Peter. By the way, as we get into this, I want to share with you four principles regarding humility, some of which are stated and some are implied, that I think would be helpful for you and me to remember. First, humility is unannounced. Not once does Jesus say, I am now going to demonstrate humility. Does he? As soon as you do that, you're proud. You cannot demonstrate it by calling attention to it.

32:00 You simply must do it. It is unannounced. he simply girded himself with the towel and began to do it. You should read sometime the 23rd of Matthew for the contrast where the Pharisees loved to be viewed as the rabbis, as the ones of great spirituality. They loved the place of honor. They loved the title in the street corner to be called rabbi. They loved to sit in Moses' seat. They loved to wear big phylacteries. These were nothing more than little leather pouches in which verses of Scripture were kept. They liked big Scripture memory packets, you know, carry around with them.

32:55 Look at all those verses I'm getting a hold of, you know? long tassels on their robe. They love that. They like to announce it. And therefore they were proud. Not Jesus. There's no announcement. He comes to Peter and Peter says to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? The Greek sentence reads, Lord, you, my feet, do you wash? Puts the you and my together so as to contrast. You, of all people, wash mine? Of all feet, you, mine? and the Lord answers, verse 7, what I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand hereafter.

33:54 Peter said to him, never shall you wash my feet. The Greek sentence reads, no, never will you wash my feet unto eternity. that's what you call being opinionated in case you didn't get there from now until eternity you're not going to wash my feet now at first glance it looks as though he is really humble doesn't it i mean after all it sounds as though he's saying i'm the one that should be washing your feet, but that's not what he had in mind. This is self-assertive pride. This is pride that refuses to admit one's feet are dirty. This is the pride that causes us to tuck under our garments the truth about our lives.

34:54 You see, this is pride that keeps us from being vulnerable, exposed. It's hard to admit that you've got dirty feet, especially if you're a Peter. Second principle, humility is being willing to receive without embarrassment. A person who is genuinely humble is a person who is able to receive without embarrassment. He's not afraid of being vulnerable.

35:43 James Sullivan has written a book, The Frog Who Never Became a Prince. James Sullivan was a performing Christian. His life was characterized by doing. And as a result, he set all kinds of records in the Young Life Clubs of America. Doing, doing, doing. Going, going, going, gone. Till his wife broke.

36:14 He never really had a need for her and never shared it. He had it but didn't admit it. She tried to live under the strain of that. and finally had to be admitted into a psychiatric ward in a local hospital. He tells the story in his book of his drive back home, broken, disillusioned, bruised, closer to reality than ever in his life. Came to his kids, Scott and Kathy, and for the first time wept in front of them. Let a little bit of his emotional cracks show, and they loved him through it. And by and by, he began to be the recipient of one act of caring after another by those around him. Somebody picked up the tab for the hospital. That's humbling.

37:07 Somebody brought meal after meal after meal. That's humbling. Somebody cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed the carpet, did the dishes, helped this hurting family. And Sullivan was at a loss to know how to handle it because he'd never received. He'd never left himself open.

37:33 After learning the lesson, he wrote, the thing that destroys a good many of us as Christians is our inability to relate to each other in a warm, honest, compassionate sort of way. Now, please think of yourself as I read this, okay? Even with those to whom I was close, I failed in this endeavor. I was so busy being a doing Christian that I'd forgotten what God called me to be.

38:06 For so long, I didn't know that a Christian was supposed to let someone love him. I thought that he was always supposed to be loving somebody else. I didn't think it was necessary to let anyone love me, including Carolyn. It seems that in the context of my Christian faith, you were adequate if you could love people, but you were considered inadequate if you let them love you. great things began to happen when I found out how much I needed love from my Carolyn and my children. I came to terms with how much I needed other Christians. I began to realize that God is the one who gives and we are the ones who receive. I discovered giving love is not difficult for some of us, but for me, receiving love and letting people love me was one of the most trying things that I, as a Christian, had to learn.

39:17 Does that speak to some dads here today? Competent, capable, swift, strong, smooth, never vulnerable. And a wife reaches out. Kids reach up. Ah, you get to know me. But the remarkable thing is when that happens, they'll get to love you. like you've never been loved and like you long for it so much. Oh, you know, I can't give a sermon on it.

40:00 You can't pick that up just by hearing it from a preacher. You've got to implement it. You've got to let the guard down. When Frog Sullivan finally let the guard down, people all around were kissing him. All over. And for the first time he was loved and realized it. For the first time there was a real husband, wife, kid, dad, Christian, Christian stooping and caring.

40:42 Some of you have never experienced it. Breaks my heart. Honestly. honestly does and guys on our staff are really hurting it's remarkable to see what the staff does and he just opens a glimmer of his life that's really hurting i tell you we all run out of sermons and we all run into love it just pours out all over the study and the hallways around here like you can't believe. I told one of them recently we got a lot of room for failure. You fail, you're in the right company. Good. Now we'll go from there. You don't have to achieve to be loved. it's a great day in my life when I learned that. I'm still learning more and more through these guys how to do it. They're outstanding teachers, by the way. Outstanding. So is my family.

41:54 Peter says, you'll never wash my feet. And so the Lord says to him, oh, really? verse 8. No, not really. He didn't really say it like that. But verse 8 says, Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. In other words, oh really? Well, Peter, there's the door. Oh, wait a minute, Lord. Hold it. Just a second. If it takes that, wash my head, my hands, my body, my feet, every bit of me. You see, Peter was the kind of guy that when he got a truth, he hung himself on it. He hadn't gotten it yet, and when he finally got it, he went all the way to the extreme. The Lord says, now wait a minute, Peter, you don't need a bath. You don't need a bath. You've already been bathed. Verse 10, he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet. He is completely clean, and you are clean, Peter.

42:49 Not all of you. Verse 11, Judas isn't. But you are, Peter. Verse 10. there's a real spiritual truth here that can easily be lost so easily the spiritual truth is when you have been born again and get dirty later on you don't need to be born again again spirit of god didn't stutter when he referred to re re re re regeneration you know he just Gave it one re.

43:27 Regeneration is one time around. In your life, you'd come to know Jesus Christ once. Genuinely giving him your heart. You have bowed your heart and your will to Jesus Christ. He takes over. But you get soiled again as you walk through the streets of your Jerusalem. Well, you need to be cleansed with his only detergent, the blood. 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to cleanse us, to wash us, to forgive us, right? You don't need a bath. You don't need to be born again and again and again, just once. but you do need that constant daily cleansing.

44:21 That's the secret of the spirit-filled life is taking care of the dirt when you notice dirt is present. Peter finally said, Lord, you know, here I am. Well, Jesus finished with the washing of the feet and I want you to notice something. Verse 12 says, when he had washed their feet and taken his garments, reclined at the table again, he said to them, do you know what I've done to you?

44:53 Let me give you a couple of principles that we should mention as we wrap up our thoughts. We've given you two. The third is humility is not a sign of weakness. Put that out of your mind. Jesus was not weak with Peter. he told him the truth you don't let me wash your feet you have no part part of being in this band man is being vulnerable being honest you got dirty feet so being humble is not being weak fourth I notice humility is not selective he washed their feet you know who that includes judas there is the artist rendering i'm waiting to see let me see the example from some artist of jesus stooping or sitting down by judas washing his feet what an example of grace the epitome of humility wonder how judas felt

46:07 He washed his feet, didn't overlook him. Well, he washed their feet. That tells us he didn't choose some and reject others. Some are easy to wash. By the way, as we talk about washing feet, be careful the temperature of water that you use when you wash somebody else's feet. Would you please? For some people that you don't really like, you'd love to draw a pot of boiling water and haul it over there by, you know, four-gallon tub say stick your feet in there baby put them right on the end it'll clean you up skin and all it'll clean up then there's the self-righteous approach where you draw your water from the refrigerator you know the holier than thou here is the water for your feet that you need you know you sort of lay it in front of them here i am bending low to show you how dirty you are. Some people don't even use water. They dry clean feet.

47:11 Strong detergent, chemicals, mixture of poison and all sorts of things. Boy, it takes skin, bone, the hair, everything right off. hard to love your in-laws watch it that you don't dry clean them when you find that they're soiled hard to love somebody in the fellowship here the church, you got your group you run with your group because you don't like those in another group I'm not supposed to say that am I not unless I'm talking about humility You're not supposed to have a group. Forgot that? You got a problem with someone else that's just broken the fellowship?

48:07 You know, that breaks your relationship with God. You need to wash your feet. Wash his feet, her feet. That's part of it. You know, there are missionaries on the field that won't wash one another's feet. And so the ministry is restrained because he's not about to stoop and wash his feet.

48:32 It doesn't just happen in the States, you see. It's part of the family. So Jesus said, you know what I've done to you? So his approach was a question. And it was just beautifully designed. He wanted to draw them in. One of the best pedagogical methods of teaching is the question-answer. He asked a question, and they all had to wrestle with, what has he done?

48:57 Then he told them. after the question, he gave them two very practical truths that just sort of firmed it up. The first one is seen in verse 13 through 15. Now, I want you to read it with me, but I want you to stop reading when I tell you to stop, okay? And look up. You can't read on if I say stop. All right, here we go. Verse 13. You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

49:32 If I then, the Lord and the teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to look up. Stop. Now, let's talk about that right now. Jesus said, I am the Lord, I am the teacher. I've washed your feet. Now, if I, the teacher, have washed your feet, you ought also to wash, what would you think it says? Sure, my feet. But he didn't say that. He didn't tell him that. He shot him a curve. You ever had an inside curve when you're ready for an outside? Boy, you draw all kinds of air. He gave them a curve that they weren't ready. Anybody could wash Jesus' feet. I'd stand in line to wash his feet. I'd kiss his feet because he's my Lord.

50:27 That's worship. But it's tough to wash somebody else's feet. See? It's neat to wash Jesus' feet. But boy, to wash my friend's feet, that's something else. Concluding comment number one, humility includes serving one another, not just the Lord. Serving the Lord is the greatest delight in the world. Serving one another is work. Some psychologist has compared us to porcupines on a cold night. we get out here and it's cold and so we all come together and when we get close to each other we start bristling up with those little old things and we bounce away from each other and we go out we sort of have an in and out process that goes on somebody put it really well they said you know i've got to learn to love that person better because i'm going to spend eternity with him it's worth thinking about washing feet now you know will make all the difference in the world later. I wonder how you're going to handle it. Those people you don't speak to now, you're going to be living with them in eternity. If you make it.

51:58 Principle number two, that's too convicting, Swindoll. Go on with the message. Verse 17, if you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. Verse 17, if you know them, you're happy if you do them. Here it is. Happiness results from demonstrating humility not just learning about it. happiness results from demonstrating humility not just learning about it Philip says you will find your happiness in doing them you want to know the truth I'm going to level with you just as if you and I were sitting in my den and we were talking about this message if I were to announce this morning that we were going to have a series of classes on foot washing, the biblical basis for foot washing, and we were going to add that to our church service periodically. Do you know there would be hundreds and hundreds of people who would come to learn biblically about foot washing?

53:13 Man, we could start a class on foot washing and have fourth of the church involved in it before you turn the corner tonight. It's easy to learn about foot washing. Jesus didn't give us that so that we'd put it into our church. necessarily. He says you're happy if you do it. if you do it with your mate, if you do it with your contacts at school, not with the pastor, that's normal. Not with the staff, that's normal. With one another, that's abnormal, supernormal. You want to know that's the reason you're not happy?

54:00 Because you're not doing it. Happiness comes from doing it, not learning about it. We don't need another class around here. We need to personify humility, stoop low, so we can exalt Christ.

54:22 Let's bow together this morning, shall we? Message for the Christian today, especially designed for some of you that are, oh, pretty uneasy to be vulnerable, hesitant to be real. and others that are just so rigid and formal that no way in the world are you going to come around. I realize that. I leave that with God.

54:56 I suggest a project. Pick somebody not in your group, maybe even somebody that you've been a little bent out of shape over. and you wash their feet. I'm not going to tell you how to do it. That's the Spirit of God's job. Maybe through a letter of encouragement. Maybe through an honest discussion to clear it up.

55:28 Maybe through a phone call or a lunch appointment, or just a nice gift that you make. to some tangible, real, exacting demonstration of foot washing. If you've never come to know Jesus Christ, there's no way in the world the qualities of humility are going to come forth.

56:00 Genuine humility. I invite you while these Christians are really wrestling with how it can be implemented to give your heart to Jesus today. Gentle and humble in heart, he died for you, that you might live. Lord, this has been a searching time. We are reminded of your faithfulness in the hymn, of your love in Mark's presentation. We were reminded of your peace from the choir, been reminded of humility from your word, your Son. just reminders, without any change in our lives, if we let them remain as reminders, I pray that you would help us in the implementation of the truth.

57:08 May we genuinely give time to how we might personally do as your son did. Deliver us from a passing fancy and an emotional moment on a Sunday morning service.