OMTL - 4
Our theme through the month of July is One Month to Live - Thirty Days to a No-Regret's Life.
If you’re reading along, you should either have just completed chapters 16 to 22, or you can read those this week.
(HOLD UP THE BOOK!)
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Review - We have considered two principles so far:
A. Live Passionately!
B. Love Completely!
Today, we move to a principle that is quite difficult to live out in this world. Unless we ‘get’ this principle, we will never experience the power we need to live a ‘no-regrets’ life. I will challenge you with a story from the life of one of my favorite guys from the Bible - Peter! So here it is:
People who live a no-regrets life - Learn Humbly!
Before we venture any further into the subject, let’s work on our understanding of that word - humble.
That word often gets confused with the idea of “having lesser value,” as in, “their home was a humble little cottage.” Humility, in fact, has nothing to do with a person’s value, social status, or accomplishments! Great people can be humble and nobody’s can be proud!
You’re not humble just because you say, “I’m no good!” I have personally known people who went around proclaiming, “It’s all for God’s glory. What I do is nothing. I am just a humble servant of Jesus.” But, in reality, they were proud people who would respond like an attack dog the moment that they thought somebody was diminishing their work or critical of their acheivements!
Genuinely humble people, those who understand godly humility...
... realize that they are under authority and they willingly obey those who are in charge.
... understand their gifts and strengths and rejoice in them without comparing themselves to others.
... are content to live in the will and purpose of God.
The root of this kind of humility is an ongoing experience of God’s love as I shared last Sunday.
Ill. On Wednesday morning this week, I was up at 4 AM, standing in my backyard. Why? You guessed it. My dog woke me up for her urgent need. (This dog has been a gift to me in many ways!) Anyway, while I waited for her to finish, I was gazing up at the starlit sky. Suddenly, there was flash and a streak - a so-called shooting star. For some reason, seeing that touched me and tears welled up as I sensed the Holy Spirit saying, “All this vastness and beauty, yet I know and love you, Jerry!” It didn’t make me proud, at all. It was a humbling moment even as the God of Creation whispered of His love to me.
That evening, at Bible Study, when Terry led us in the song, “Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone,” I felt the same embrace of grace, and once again, tears ran down my face!
Knowing His love secures me and makes me desire to be obedient to HIM in humility!
We’re going to talk about learning humbly today and as I said a moment ago, we will be taking a look at the life of Peter. Before we get to the story about Peter, I invite you to turn with me to a passage about the humility of Christ Himself.
Key TEXT - Philippians 2:5-9 PB 1827
(READ, then re-read v.8)
PRAY - Lord God, we are awed by the wonderful truth in that You were willing to humble yourself to walk with us, to die for us to save us. Forgive us Lord for allowing ourselves to admire our celebrities, our rock stars, the beautiful and the powerful more than You. Show us Your beauty. Reveal to us Your grace. Lead us to a place of renewed humility in which You can empower us for service.
Amen
Kerry Shook, author of One Month To Live, the text we’re reading together this month, tells about attending a pastor’s conference led by Rick Warren, who authored The Purpose Driven Life, the best-selling book of this decade. It was in huge tent set up near Saddleback Church in California. Rick was encouraging the pastors that were gathered to remain humble. He said, “God has a million ways of humbling you.” As he said that, Kerry says that a bird loosed a shot that splattered on his book and on him!
It is true that God has a million ways to humble us, but He also promises that if we humble ourselves, He will lift us up! Wouldn’t you rather learn humbly so that God can lift you up rather than giving Him reason to take you down? (pause.....)
I love the man in the Bible named, Peter.
When I read about this man gifted with leadership skills, yet flawed by his impulsiveness and hindered by his fears, I take hope that God has a place for me in His work.
Peter was called by Christ from a career in fishing! He was a guy from the country, without an extensive formal education like that of Paul. He did not enjoy the keen intellect of Paul, either. Yet, he became a powerful influence for Christ across the Roman Empire.
Peter spent the first 30 or 40 years of his life near the little inland lake we call the Sea of Galilee, making a living fishing. Nothing in his life to that point had distinguished him. We first meet Peter in this verse. "As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”" (Mark 1:16-17, NIV)
At the time, he was known as Simon. He only became Peter after Jesus gave him that nickname and it stuck! Petros means ‘the rock.’ Jesus saw the potential in Simon and called him, Rocky! Peter was one of the first to proclaim his faith in Jesus as the True Messiah.
On that day, Jesus spoke prophetically over Peter with amazing words:
“You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." (Matthew 16:17-18, NLT)
Peter got proud! Maybe he thought something like: “I’m Rocky! I’m going to be a leader in His work. Wow. Jesus thinks I’m gifted. Does everybody see that?”
Now, let’s fast forward to the night just before Jesus was betrayed and crucified. The disciples are gathered for the Passover. Rather than being humbled, they are fighting over who is the greatest. I can hear Peter making great fuss about his nickname, about the fact that Jesus said he was going to be the leader.
In that moment, Jesus knowing the terrible ordeal that is ahead, tries to warn Peter, to prepare him, but pride in the man gives him what proves to be false self-confidence.
TEXT - Luke 22:31-34 PB 1638
READ
Implied in Peter’s reply to Jesus is that he is above the rest of the disciples. “You can count on me, Jesus. Remember you call me, Rocky. I’m ready to die with you!”
“No, Rocky, before the rooster signals tomorrow’s dawn, you will have even denied knowing me three times!”
About 6 hours later, here’s how it came down.
Luke 22: 59-62 READ
The question that hangs in the air is - what now?
Is Peter finished?
What about Jesus’ prophecy about Rocky?
One thing is unquestionably true about everyone of us - WE WILL EXPERIENCE DISAPPOINTMENT!
Some will do so spectacularly, some more quietly.
• Perhaps it will be a moral failure, a crash of character, that leaves you without self-respect.
• Perhaps it will be divorce that derails all the dreams and plans you had.
• Perhaps it will be a pink slip that announces that the company where you worked for 20 years
doesn’t need you anymore.
• Perhaps it will be a debilitating illness that robs you of your strength, making you dependent.
• Perhaps it will directly be your fault, maybe it will be the backwash of the choice of another, or
even being caught up in the turmoil of society that is far beyond your control.
What then?
Here’s what a humble learner will say in those moments - “I will learn from my losses!”
Here’s something to remember: ~ God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. ~ C.S. Lewis
Pride will lead us respond to our pain with anger, even bitterness!
∙ How could God allow this to happen to me?
∙ How could my husband abandon me and the kids when I’ve done so much for him?
∙ Why am I the one laid off and losing his house?
∙ What did I ever do to deserve having cancer?
Those kinds of questions are natural, but they are not born of humility. They emerge from an exalted sense of self!
James challenges us to learn from our losses by turning humbly to God and asking for wisdom.
"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking." (James 1:2-5, NLT)
Humility acknowledges God’s greatness, seeks His guidance, and waits for His plan to emerge!
Peter’s story was far from over, but that night he didn’t know it. God wasn’t finished with him. He had just started to transform this impulsive, proud redneck into the pastor that would lead the church at her birth.
TEXT - John 21: 15-19 PB 1688
Before I read it, let’s set the scene.
Weeks have past since the Crucifixion. The Resurrection happened and Peter, along with the disciples, met the Risen Lord. But, reading between the lines, we have to conclude that Peter’s heart was still broken. He had left Jerusalem and went back to what he knew - fishing, living in Capernaum. I wonder if he awakened before the dawn each morning and went to sit by the lake, full of questions, broken by regret, remembering that courtyard in Jerusalem where he had sworn, “I don’t know the Man!”
Did he see Jesus’ eyes as he turned to look at him, while bound and bleeding from being beaten?
Perhaps, maybe even probably.
But, Jesus had not forgotten Peter and He came to restore him. It’s one of the best stories in the Bible!
READ
Two steps are important for those who want to learn humbly:
a. Accept responsibility for failure!
b. Let go of guilt when you’re forgiven!
What if Peter had sworn at Jesus, lashing out in anger and embarrassment,
“Get out of here. Leave me alone. Do you have come and rub my past in my face?”
He would have spent the rest of his life living with broken dreams, regret, and futility. Instead, he let Jesus lead him through a time that had to be excruciatingly painful. He relived every moment of his worst failure while looking at the face of the One who loved him most. And as he owned his sin, Jesus extended forgiveness.
Peter was a humble learner and just weeks later, after being baptized with the Spirit, preached a powerful sermon that won 3000 converts!
I don’t think Peter could have handled that kind of success without being broken by failure! Not many can. The world’s stage is littered with people who came from nothing and nowhere to great fame or power, who became wrecks - victims of the money, adulation, and power that came their way!
When we are willing to LEARN FROM OUR LOSSES, we are ready to move into the second principle.
SURRENDER TO GOD’S STRENGTH!
Peter’s story continues in the book of Acts.
TEXT - Acts 1:4-5, 8-11
I don’t have a hard time imagining that the old Peter would have been taking charge, handing out orders, and laying plans, full of self-confidence. But note what he’s doing at that time.
READ Acts 1:12-14
Prayer is the response of the person who is a humble learner. No, not the kind of prayer with which most of us are familar - the desperate cries wrenched from us in our trials. The deep communion of prayer, the ongoing conversation in which we are aware of God’s presence throughout the day, when we ask Him - “What now, Lord?” That’s how we find Peter.
He’s waiting, prayerfully, asking - ‘what now, Lord?’
There is a passage in the Word that many of us can quote. It challenges our ‘can do it myself’ attitude, reminding us that if we want to be really useful to God, we have to let Him lead.
Paul was dealing with an affliction that he felt hindered his work. He prayed repeatedly for God to take it away. But, God asked Paul to humbly accept a different plan. He told the apostle:
“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me." (2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT)
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that God is asking you to be passive, to retire to your bed where you wait for stirring! We need to live passionately. We must love completely! But, we also must also confess on a regular basis: “There is one God, and I am not Him!”
We need to have the humility
to ‘wait on God’ for directions,
to know the value of taking advice from people we might naturally ignore,
to know that God’s time is not our time!
I want to close by turning to one more passage - these written by Peter after year’s of faithful leadership of the Church. They vibrate with authenticity when read against the backdrop of his failure and restoration.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5, NIV)
" Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:13, NIV)
" As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:4-5, NIV)
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10, NIV)
" Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin." (1 Peter 4:1, NIV)
" Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you." (1 Peter 4:12, NIV)
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." (1 Peter 5:6, NIV)
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Heavenly Father,
Our human nature brings everyone of us the temptation to trust in our own strength.
We confess, Lord, that we are especially vulnerable to this sin when things are going great for us!
Help us to hear your caution, to stay close to You, to let you lead.
When we hit the wall and fall, Lord, we thank you for your grace.
We pray your patience will pursue us as you did Peter, finding us and restoring us,
scarred but humbled, ready to be humble learners.
May our lives be filled with your power, a reflection of your goodness to all,
in every circumstance.
We pray this in the Name of the One who humbled Himself, lived among us, and died to save us.
Amen.
Jerry D. Scott 2009
all rights reserved
with thanks to Pastor Kerry Shook