Be Humble

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Ash Wednesday, the 17th of February, 2021, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This was an abbreviated service due to constraints put in place from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our YouTube streaming channel is:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Our scripture reading comes from what we call the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus took His disciples onto a mountainside to a level place to teach them the ways of God’s kingdom, and, as always, a multitude followed.

In this particular passage, our Lord instructs us in how not to be like those others who only pretend to serve and worship God.  Jesus spoke these words to His disciples and to the people who joined them there on the mountainside, but one of the twelve, Matthew, recorded them so that we today might hear and heed them, too.

Please listen and follow along to what Jesus said that day, as saved for us by Matthew in chapter 6 of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 18, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

1 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

10 Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

13 And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

--Matthew 6:1-18 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, through Your prophets You have told us to be humble.  You don’t want us to forget that we are Yours.  You don’t want us to think so highly of ourselves that we forget all about the needs of others.  Father, please help us to always remember that we are Your creation, and that without You we would be nothing, we would have nothing.  Help us walk humbly through this life, serving You by truly loving others and seeing to their needs.  Help us turn from our sinful ways and give ourselves fully to You and to Your Son.  Forgive us and save us, please, O merciful God.  In the name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.

Through Micah, God tells us to always act in a just manner, to love mercy, and to walk humbly.  And what happens if we ignore those instructions?  What happens if we willfully, or even unintentionally, fail to follow this command?  Well, according to Moses, God will take it upon Himself to humble us, to make us humble.

The children of Israel became ungrateful and disobedient after God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, so He humbled them by forcing them to wander around in the wilderness for 40 years.  He humbled them by allowing them to go hungry, and then feeding them by His own hand, by sending manna from heaven.  He humbled them to remind them of just who they were and of all He had done for them.  And if God humbled His own chosen people, then we, a bunch of sinful Gentiles, are certainly not immune from receiving a similar humbling fate.

Then we see Jesus, preaching to us from the side of a mountain, with no amplifiers and loudspeakers, yet everyone clearly hearing His words, telling us once again to be humble.  Be careful, He says, that everything we do is done for the right reason.  When we do good, it should be done without concern of being seen by others.  Who are we trying to impress: other people, or God?

We’ve all seen the photo-ops, where some political big wig will go out into the community helping the poor of working the serving line are the homeless shelter just long enough to get their pictures taken and enough footage for the 6 o’clock news, then they’re gone in 15 minutes or less.  That is not what God expects of us.  This is exactly what Jesus tells us not to do.  He would call these folks hypocrites, and rightly so.

In His message on the mountainside, Jesus gives us three examples being humble.  The first is when we do any charitable deed, like I just mentioned.  The second is when we pray, and I believe this also includes any time we worship God and praise Him.  Again, we shouldn’t be praying or singing or lifting our hands in praise just because everyone else is, or just so that other folk can see us being so pious.  If we’re worshiping so that other people can take note of our worship, then it is hollow and not worthy of giving God His due.  Instead, we should follow the Spirit’s lead, even going into our own place of privacy to loudly worship our Lord if that is what we’re led to do.

And don’t just keep repeating the same things over and over, as if an additional word count means anything to God.  If we repeat something too often, it becomes meaningless to us.

The third example Jesus gives is when we fast.  Now fasting is not very common anymore in our culture, although some folks will give something up for Lent, which is kind of a form of fasting.  But it was common in Jesus’ day and locale, and it carries an implication for us as well, because again it is all about feigned piety.

Whether it is serving the needy or worshiping God or making some sort of personal sacrifice, Jesus cautions us not to do it for the recognition and acknowledgement of other people.  Watch me… I’m giving this blanket to a homeless man!  Listen to me… I’m singing praises to God for all to hear!  Look at me…  I’m giving money to the poor!  See how holy and righteous and pious I am!  Well, any recognition we get from our fellow man is all we’ll get, because God will not be pleased.

God knows us; He knows our hearts.  He can see what motivates us, what drives us.  If our motivation for doing anything is to receive praise and recognition from our fellow man, or for any reason that might serve our own agenda, then Jesus will call us a hypocrite and God will not be at all happy with us.  If we truly love others as we are commanded, we will serve God by helping them out of that love, for no other reason, knowing that God sees us and nothing else matters.

When we as a church do something in the community, I worry about having it publicized because some may see that as self-serving.  But as long as we are humble, as long as we are acting out of our service to God because of the love He has given us, as long as we are right in our hearts, then others may see our acts and decide to pitch in and help too.

It’s all about being humble.  As a church family, we’re not doing things for the recognition or publicity - we doing them to help other people.  If a little publicity might spur other folk into action, then that’s a good thing.

Tonight we are observing Ash Wednesday, to remind us of what Jesus did for us, of His sacrifice for us.  We have been forgiven and shown mercy even though we’ve done nothing, nor can we ever do anything, to deserve it.  This is God’s mercy shown to us.  He commands that we be forgiving and merciful in return, and that we walk humbly with Him.

As is my custom, I don’t have ashes to give you.  And COVID-19 precludes us from pretty much anything normal these days.  So instead, I have a small token of our Father’s love and of our commitment to God, to one another, and to the greater community around us.

God made a covenant with us and signed it with the blood of His own Son.  We acknowledge our end of that covenant by our baptism and our service to our Lord Jesus.  The little card included in your bulletin serves as our covenant as a church family.  We are each a member of the church, the body of Christ.  We have an obligation to act on His behalf.  Notice that each paragraph, after the opening, begins with a stated promise of action.  “We engage…”  This is what we, as a family, intend to do, in support of one another, in support of our community, in service to God.

Use this as a bookmark, hang it on the fridge with a magnet, or carry it in your pocketbook or wallet.  Just read it every now and then and remember what Jesus did for us, and our covenant with Him.  In the name of our Redeemer, the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for loving us so much as to send Your only Son to atone for our sins.  May we observe this season of Lent by examining ourselves, by confessing and truly repenting of our disobedience and sin, by prayer and fasting, by works of love and service, and by reading and meditating upon Your word.  We repent of our sinfulness, O Lord, and seek Your forgiveness.  This we pray in the blessed name of Jesus our Christ, who gave His all for us.  Amen.