Squeezing
Bad News from the Good News
.
by Sam Williamson
Last
spring I attended a wedding and heard an
impressive pastor preach a stirring sermon on
a powerful passage called The Kenosis
(or The Emptying).
It’s my favorite passage on humility:
Though he was in
the form of God, he did not count equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, taking the form of a servant, being
born in the likeness of men. And being found
in human form, he humbled himself becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on
a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8)
The pastor urged the couple to be humble, to
think first of the other person, and to give
the remote to their spouse. He said humility
is one virtue all religions agree on:
Confucius said,
“Humility is the solid foundation of all
virtues,” and the Quran says, “The servants of
the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the
earth in humility.”
He claimed to offer the key to marital bliss
found in the gospels. He said the entirety of
the good news can be summed up on one simple
sentence: Be ye humble as Jesus was humble.
But equating the gospel with our humility is
confusing cause and effect. The fruit
of the gospel is humility, but chasing
humility to find the gospel is squeezing
bad news from the good news. We’re trying
to get wine from a rock.
It doesn’t deal with
our sickness
Our deepest inner-sickness is a sense of
insignificance. We feel empty, like our lives
don’t matter. We’re passionless and without
purpose, a dewdrop in the ocean, dust in the
wind.
That’s why Paul introduces that famous
passage on humility with this verse: “Do
nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.” The
Greek word for “conceit” (keno-doxia)
literally means “empty-glory.” It means, don’t
let your emptiness drive how you live.
We think humility is a low sense of self and
pride is a high sense of self (as in, “he is
full of himself”), but this is the exact
opposite of spiritual reality. C. S Lewis says
that, “Pride is ruthless, sleepless, unsmiling
concentration on the self.” Our emptiness
sends us screaming, scratching, and clawing to
fill our inner-void.
Even our futile attempts at humility
commits our unsmiling concentration back
on ourselves.
In the movie Amadeus, the aging
composer Salieri is in living hell. Not
because he’s hated—he could deal with enmity.
His grief is inconsolable because he’s
forgotten . . . and empty.
Pride is not knowledge of our giftedness—some
of the most gifted people I know are the most
humble (just look at Jesus). The people of
highest pride are the people most concerned
with themselves. In other words, the
people who feel the most empty.
It’s hard to work on
humility
We can practice generosity. Try it for a week
or a month (a lifetime would be better). Over
time you’ll become more generous (and more
gentle and patient). But humility is the
single virtue—among all the virtues in the
world—that practice makes imperfect.
Because, “Humility is not thinking less of
yourself, but thinking of yourself less” (C.
S. Lewis). Even attempting humility directs
our attention to ourselves. Practice humility
for a day or a week (a lifetime is worse).
Soon you’ll start noticing, “Wow, I’m getting
humble.” We’re trying to squeeze grapes out of
wine.
So what are we to do?
Jonathan Edwards noticed that there are
two kinds of virtue, counterfeit and genuine.
Moral reformation creates counterfeit
virtue while spiritual transformation
creates real virtue. Moral reformation
squeezes the heart while spiritual
transformation melts the heart.
Moral reformation looks to the rules while
spiritual transformation looks to the ruler.
That’s why Paul tells us to look to Jesus.
Jesus emptied himself of his glory; but he
emptied himself by pouring his glory into our
emptiness. On the cross he was forgotten;
forgotten so that you and I will be remembered
forever.
I’m in favor of humility. My family and
friends would live more happily if I lived
more humbly.
But I’ll never be more humble by working on
myself, only by looking at Jesus. That’s the
secret of the gospel; not personal moral
reformation, only the spiritual transformation
of seeing Jesus; not looking to the rules but
the ruler.
At least, in my humble opinion.
Sam
© Copyright 2015, Beliefs
of
the Heart, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sam
Williamson grew up in Detroit, Michigan,
USA. He is the son of a Presbyterian pastor
and grandson of
missionaries to China. He moved to Ann
Arbor, Michigan in 1975. He worked in London
England from 1979 to 1982, helping to
establish Antioch,
a member community of the Sword of the
Spirit. After about twenty-five years as an
executive at a software company in Ann Arbor
he sensed God call him to something new. He
left the software company in 2008 and now
speaks at men’s retreats, churches, and
campus outreaches. His is married to Carla
Williamson and they have four grown children
and a grandson. He has a blog site, www.beliefsoftheheart.com,
and can be reached at
Sam@BeliefsoftheHeart.com.
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