Bible Study Notes
3-12-16 work session
Humility
3-12-16 work session
Humility
Chapter
2
Highlighted=quote from book
Pray
Recap
last lesson
God Created us to show
& share His goodness
Pride interferes w/ the
great blessings God wants to give us & empower us to give to others
We must be restored to
full humility to regain that connection to the full blessedness that God offers
Jesus is the way we
obtain that restoration
Hard to do, but
possible w/ God’s help:
Seek
His help
Trust that God will get
you there in the interim difficulties
Intentional action
Overview of this week
This week
we will look at the ultimate sources of pride & humility and what they mean
for our efforts to grow in humility
Pride
comes from outside of us & God—from the Devil
“Pride has its root and strength in a
terrible spiritual power, outside of us as well as within us; as needful as
it is that we confess and deplore it as our very own, is to know it in its Satanic origin.”
Pride was not originally part of man, life was therefore
good
Genesis 2: 8-9, 15-7, 25
8 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the
east, and placed there the man whom he had formed. 9 Out
of the ground the Lord God made grow
every tree that was delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree
of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil.
***
15 The Lord God then took the man and settled him in
the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it. 16 The
Lord God gave the man this order:
You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden 17 except
the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when
you eat from it you shall die.
***
25 The man and his wife were
both naked, yet they felt no shame.
God
created us & the world in a way that demonstrates how humility works:
God selflessly & generously provided
& directed
We
accepted, participated, in His plan & obeyed His direction
The
world & our lives in it were wonderful
How did
that change?
Genesis 3:1-8
1 Now the snake was the most
cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say,
‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?” 2 The
woman answered the snake: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3 it
is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said,
‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 But the snake said to the woman: “You
certainly will not die! 5 God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be
opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil.”
6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food
and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. So she
took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who
was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of
them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves
together and made loincloths for themselves.
Pride was interjected by a third party—the
snake/Satan
God did not will/create that in
us
The Devil’s actions were the opposite of humility
- Raising
doubts about the nature—and the very the goodness—of God’s design
- Push
back against God’s plan=Pride
We accepted and the results were devastating &
long lasting:
Genesis 3:8-10, 16-19
8 When they heard the sound of
the Lord God walking about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from
the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 The
Lord God then called to the man and asked him: Where are you? 10 He
answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I
was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.
***
16 To the woman he said: I will
intensify your toil in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.
17 To the man he said: Because
you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,
you shall not eat from it, cursed is the
ground because of you! In toil you shall eat its yield all the days of your life.
18 Thorns
and thistles it shall bear for you, and
you shall eat the grass of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread,
until you return to the ground, from which you were taken;
for you are dust, and to dust you shall
return.
“[Eve’s]
life and the life of the race that sprang from her became corrupted to its very
root with that most terrible of all sins and all curses, the poison of Satan's
own pride.”
“The power
that Satan brought from hell, and cast into man's life, is working daily, hourly,
with mighty power throughout the world.”
“All the wretchedness of which this world has been the
scene, all its wars and bloodshed among the nations, all its selfishness and
suffering, all its ambitions and jealousies, all its broken hearts and embittered
lives, with all its daily unhappiness, have their origin in what this cursed,
hellish pride, either our own, or that of others, has brought us.”
Because
of pride’s supernatural origins, we need a supernatural antidote to it—Jesus.
We as mere humans cannot shake pride ourselves
because it has supernatural origins
- Like
someone with a chronic disease that we can’t shake on our own
- It’s
just too much for us on our own
- We need
a savior
Romans 7:19-25
19 For I do not do the good I
want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now
if I do what I do not want to do, it is
no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right
there with me. 22 For in my inner being I
delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my
mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What
a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to
death? 25 Thanks be to God, who
delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Ephesians 6:10-13
10 Finally, build up your
strength in union with the Lord and by means of his mighty power. 11 Put
on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up
against the Devil's evil tricks. 12 For we are not fighting against human beings
but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers,
authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.
13 So put on God's armor now! Then when the evil day comes, you will
be able to resist the enemy's attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will
still hold your ground.
We need
a doctor, and those same passages identify that doctor
Romans 7:19-25
19 For
I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep
on doing. 20 Now
if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin
living in me that does it.
21 So
I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with
me. 22 For in my inner being I
delight in God’s law; 23 but
I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and
making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What
a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me
from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through
Jesus Christ our Lord!
Ephesians 6:10-13
10 Finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of his
mighty power. 11 Put on all the armor that
God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil's evil
tricks. 12 For
we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual
forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of
this dark age. 13 So put on God's armor now! Then when the evil
day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy's attacks;
and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground.
Deliverance
only comes from “accepting
a power and a life outside of ourselves too, even the humility of heaven as
brought down and brought nigh by the Lamb of God, to cast out Satan and his
pride”
Jesus is “that supernatural power in which alone our deliverance is
to be found”
A.
Murray, Humility,
chapter 2, excerpt 1
“There can be but one answer: it is His humility. What is the incarnation
but His heavenly humility, His emptying Himself?”
“What is His life on earth but
humility; His taking the form of a servant?”
“What is His atonement but humility?
"He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death."
“What is His ascension and His glory,
but humility exalted to the throne and crowned with glory? "He humbled
Himself, therefore God highly exalted Him."
“Christ is the humility of God
embodied in human nature; the Eternal Love humbling itself,
clothing itself in the garb of meekness and gentleness, to win and serve and
save us.”
We must
focus on, learn about, Jesus’ humility; look at the gospel with the goal of
seeing how Jesus executed/displayed humility
“we need to
know well the Second Adam [Jesus] and His power to give within us a life of
humility as real and abiding and overmastering as has been that of pride”
“Our one
need is to study and know and trust the life that has been revealed in Christ”
“study the
humility of Jesus.”
Matthew 11:28-29
28 “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you
rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart…
Sirach 14:22-27
22 Go after Wisdom like a hunter looking for game.
23 Look
into her windows and listen
at her doors. 24 Camp as close to her house
as you can get, 25 and you will have a fine
place to live. 26-27 Build your home there,
safe beneath her protecting branches, and shaded from the heat.
We Must
actively seek to follow Jesus’ example of humility & actively pray for
humility
Hebrews 12:2
2 Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from
beginning to end.
Philippians 2:3-5
3 Don't do anything from
selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one
another, always considering others better than yourselves. 4 And
look out for one another's interests, not just for your own. 5 The attitude you should have is the one that
Christ Jesus had:
“We are to
walk ‘rooted in Him’"
“If this be
the root of the tree, its nature must be seen in every branch and leaf and
fruit.”
“consent to
[it] gain[ing] possession and mastery of our whole being.”
“Sink down
into it deeper day by day”
“pause and
ask whether he sees much of the spirit of the meek and lowly Lamb of God in
those who are called by His name”
We must
ask—and keep asking—for God’s help
“the cry of
our whole heart, night and day, ought not to be, O for the humility of Jesus in
myself and all around me!”
Luke 11:9-13
9 'So
I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who
knocks will
have the door opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asked for a fish,
would hand him a snake? 12 Or if he asked for an egg, hand him a scorpion? 13 If you then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy
Spirit
to those who ask him!'
“Believe
with your whole heart that this Christ, whom God has given you, even as His
divine humility wrought the work for you, will enter in to dwell and work
within you too, and make you what the Father would have you be”
