Introduction

Today I want to talk to you about humility, particularly, "the command to be humble." So turn with me to Romans 12:3 and notice that right in the middle of the verse is the following exhortation: "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment." By way of introduction, let's put this verse into its context.

1) First, consider verse 3 in the flow of thought down to verse 21. We have a unit of thought in verses 3-8 that is distinct from 9-21. One way to describe this is to speak of a panorama of gifts in the first section and a panorama of principles in the second section.

But what is the main point of the first section (3-8)? Our attention is immediately drawn to the theme of gifts and how they are delineated in this paragraph. But having a gift or exercising a gift is not the only thing treated. As a matter of fact, it is not the main point. The main point is found in the opening words of the section. The main point is the exhortation, which is more central than the gifts because the theme of gifts is introduced as the basis for the exhortation to humility (cf. the last phrase in v. 3). In other words, attention on the gifts flows out of Paul's focus on humility  (humility is primary, the gifts are secondary).

2) Now, consider verse 3 in the flow of thought beginning at verse 1. Paul gives exhortation on how to view ourselves. This is truly interesting coming as it does right after the grand exhortation of 12:1-2. Here, Paul exhorts us to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God in such a way that wherever we go and whatever we do we see ourselves in God's temple. We are there to offer sacrifice beginning first with ourselves, our very bodies that are to be placed on the altar to God.

It is reasonable to so offer ourselves given the astounding mercies of God. Furthermore, we are to do this in active pursuit of the will of God. This means, of course, that we pursue the prescriptive will of God given in His law. So we are to give ourselves away to God. We are to look away from ourselves, from our own wants and ways, from the legalistic commandments of men. We are to look away from these in order to look to God's will, ways, and commandments in their true spirit and intent.

In light of that direction of thought and reasonable worship-service-work unto the Lord, Paul now directs our attention back to ourselves. This is to clear the air. He clarifies a healthy view of the self for our priestly work. He calls for specific reflection on humility.

3) Here is the bottom line in verse 3 itself. We are commanded to be humble. Attention is given to the nature of this as a command by Paul's appeal to apostolic authority. He gives this injunction "by the grace given me." Then he makes a point of scope: "I say to every one of you." None of us can elude the impact of these words. They are pointed directly at us because those addressed at Rome are first and foremost the people of God and they represent the church of the NT in all ages. Thus we have to face the fact that humility is a command given to each one of us. In one sense, this means that today we are each looking into the barrel of a shotgun and the trigger is on the other end!

Summary: Looking back in the context (to vs. 1-2), Paul tells us to be humble in our priestly work before God as His marvelously and specially blessed people. Looking forward in the context (to vs. 4-8), he tells us that this duty carries over to all the various works, functions, and activities that we engage in as the body of Christ. In context, the command amounts to this: be humble as believer-priests in all the works that you do as a holy nation (cf. 1 Pet. 2:9).

In the light of this context, I want to work on a definition of humility. Next week, as we move down the context, I will work on the implementation of humility. Let me state the goal for today like this: we need to know what is being commanded in order to obey the command. It is good to put the target out in front of us so we know what we are shooting at.

In a word, to be humble means to have a heartfelt sense of our own comparative unworthiness that manifests itself in a corresponding manner of life (cf. J. Edwards, Charity). Paul presents the command in two ways, 1) negatively, then 2) positively. He tells us how we are not to think and how we are to think in order to be humble.

1A. How we are not to think in order to be humble.

The negative is stated first. Do not. It is a matter of thinking, of how we should not think, of how to think about yourself (forms of the word think occur four times: do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but think so as to think soberly). And the direction is first negative. We are not to think a certain way regarding ourselves. Namely, we are not to have too high a view of ourselves: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought. He is warning about pride with a capital I in the center.

Pride is first a matter of attitude and thought. It is a view of ones self. But it does show up in a corresponding manner of life.

How would this thinking manifest itself? These are the things we are to avoid along with being on guard with respect to the wrong way of thinking. Have any of you ever played the game: "step on a crack and break your mother's back"? The idea of course was to avoid stepping on cracks in the sidewalk or street and you lose if you do. You would be very alert at first, then as time went by, you might forget and lose the game. The following are cracks to avoid as we make our way in life. Stepping on these cracks means breaking our own backs and the backs of others.

1) The capital "I" shows up in ambition. A text in Jeremiah states this point succinctly: "Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not."

2) It shows up in ostentation. A feature of the Pharisee was to parade his good deeds down main street. Ostentation is becoming more and more acceptable in sports (the "in your face" stuff used to be considered poor sportsmanship). It involves making a show of your advantage, whatever it may be whether in possessions, natural abilities, or accomplishments.

3) It shows up in arrogance. An arrogant person has a certain "air" about them; he has his nose in the air. He is to be given the greatest regard. His ideas are the best and are to be followed by everyone else. As Edwards put it, "Everyone must bow and truckle to me." The arrogant person takes the best seat in the house. It helps us to think about these manifestations to drive us back to the root of the tree of an undue estimate of ourselves.

4) It shows up in scorn. To scorn is to belittle by words or actions, to make people feel small or unworthy in our presence. It comes out in sneering ridicule (directly or indirectly given). Sometimes we learn how to improve when we are scorned but it still hurts (I recall becoming aware of how I spoke by being ridiculed for using words like "chimly" for chimney and "tager" for "tiger" as in the Detroit Tagers).

5) It shows up in stubbornness and being unteachable. Stubbornness leads to contention because the stubborn person wants everything to go his way and if it does not then he will make things difficult for others.

Open-mindedness goes hand in hand with humility. Unwillingness to compare (with empathy, looking for the good) shows how narrow mindedness manifests a proud spirit. It shows up in the "I don't need" posture. I don't need to be confronted with this, I don't need counseling on that. A good question to ask ourselves when confronted and the "I don't need" phrase comes out is, "Do I have a pride problem, am I thinking of myself more highly than I ought?" A humble will back pedal on issues and differences first instead of taking the hard line first with inflexibility.

6) It shows up in leveling spirit. This is the spirit of destructive criticism, of being judgmental. Why do we tare down and level the playing field? One key reason is that this is how we lift ourselves up.

7) It shows up in self-justification. Is the first response to correction self-defense (internally or externally)? We need to be willing to face the shame and tolerate reproofs.

All these things point us toward the positive.

2A. How we are to think in order to be humble 

Positively, it is a command to have sober judgment with regard to one's self.   The positive side of the equation helps us define humility. A humble person has a balanced, accurate, realistic, and true view of him or herself. To begin with, though we need to probe deeper, we can speak of humility in the words of the text as thinking with regard to ones self that is sober, sensible, and balanced (a "steady and clearheaded understanding" Moo).

This language was current in Greek society as a reference to a cardinal virtue. So to understand Paul we must understand the word within the context of the gospel. In other words, once we say that we are not to view ourselves more highly than we ought or in a prideful way but in a sober, sensible, and balanced way, we still must define what is meant by sober, sensible, and balanced.

For example, Aristotle's sensible and true view is of man is that he is at the top in the scale of being working up from rocks, plants, and animals to man. To make a long story short, man is higher than God on the scale of being because "God" is merely a philosophical principle. So for Aristotle it is sober and virtuous to think of yourself as the highest of existing things (higher than God) with human reason as the ultimate standard of truth. Therefore, we must put this call to self-understanding into a biblical framework to distinguish it from the Greek thinking. Biblically, humility is a heart-felt sense of our comparative unworthiness and smallness before both God and man.

Here are some key verses for meditation in this connection. 

Genesis 18:27. Abraham says, "I am but dust" in contrast to God whose throne is in the heavens.

Ps. 139:1-6. I am ignorant O Lord before your knowledge that is "too wonderful for me, it is high and I cannot attain unto it."

Isaiah 6:5. With Isaiah we will acknowledge that God is so holy that by comparison we must cry out, "Woe to me, I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips."

Job 42:6. With Job, the humble person says, "I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

Lk. 18:13. It begins with the eyes facing downward and the lips saying, "God, have mercy on me a sinner."

Lk. 15:21. Like the prodigal we will claim only unworthiness before the Lord: "I am not worthy to be called your son."

Philippians 2:3. Now attention is drawn to the practice of humility before man. This is a loaded verse for us all especially in how it draws attention to the example of Christ that we are exhorted to follow (2:5-11).

1 Peter 5:5-7. Peter weaves humility before man and before God into the same fabric of godly conduct.

So humility begins with the fear of God. It presupposes the belief that man is created by God to be His image. We can never have a proper view of ourselves without the Creator/creature distinction and relationship. Humility is a comparative thing. This is where we often get into trouble yet this is exactly where humility comes into play. It is a matter of how we see ourselves in relation to God and from that perspective how we see ourselves in relation to others. The thinking that results will manifest itself in various ways.

Conclusion

1) Trust in God, depend on Him and not on your own ways. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

2) Give glory to God renouncing glory to yourself. Fear God and give Him glory. Say, with the Psalmist, "not unto us, not unto us, but to your name give glory."

3) Subject yourself wholly to God under His yoke and mighty hand.

4) And subject yourself to the interests and concerns of others. It all funnels to this end. This is where we show that our faith is not pie in the sky but of no earthly nourishment. A gospel view of oneself will humble us before God and before others; it will lead to a life lived for God and for others.

Benediction

Lord, help us to walk on the path of humility, enable us to think properly about ourselves by comparison with you, and help us to make this self-assessment in order to glorify your name in our love to others.