Gospel For Asia: Road To Reality Radio Program
Clothed in Humility
K.P. Yohannan
Aired on October 8, 2011
There are only a few things that are cardinal, that really, really matter. When you take the human body, obviously the heart comes as the number one thing on the list when you talk about health, especially when you hear about the number of heart attacks and people dying left and right and all those things. Of course kidneys are another organ that is significant, if you got kidney stones you know what that means.
When it comes to knowing the Lord, serving God, to be known by Him maybe more significant more important. To have the absolute assurance, when I talk to God he hears me, he understands me. What is it that one thing on the top of the list when God looks upon this whole thing, is it absolute perfect knowledge of all the doctrine? Radical commitment to fundamental, evangelical faith? Is it someone who is so given over to, full of zeal for world evangelism or to have absolute integrity, say the most perfect individual in every way of their dealings. You can go on and say many more statements like that but to me after this conscious journey I made, at least from the age of sixteen until now, to me there is nothing, nothing, nothing more significant in this whole world as far as God is concerned, it is humility.
I don't know how many times I read through this and studied this and learned my Greek and Hebrew and everything else with it, because the whole book has to do with redemption, nothing else. And Adam, the first Adam he lost and the whole humanity lost through the independent spirit and choosing his own way. And the second Adam, Christ, came to redeem mankind and he did it by saying, not my will. And describing himself, the only place Christ talked about who he is, his nature you will only find in Matthew's gospel chapter eleven toward the end he says, I am humble and therefore come and learn of me. If you understand the verse correctly he says you cannot understand me, you cannot follow me, you cannot become like me, you cannot be part of my world, you cannot be mine unless you bend your neck and take my yoke upon you and I will not force it on you. That means you give up all your ways and take my yoke for I am broken and humble.
What is it that is going to make it possible for the living God to come to our aid, to go the extra mile to answer our prayers. You see, in the Old Testament the children of Israel did some dumb stupid things although they saw God's work and his mercy and everything but then you'll find them again and again like in the book of Judges, end up in trouble and in their trouble they cry out to God and beat upon their chest and lament saying, come, we messed up, please. And then it says, and He saw their contrition and their tears and he rushed to their help, He said, I will not forget you. You will find this constantly, like the people at Nineveh, God said I'm going to wipe these people out, I mean there's no way I can walk away from it. But all of a sudden after God made his decision and said, Jonah go and tell these people I am going to wipe them out, just a few days and all of a sudden they start repenting and humbling themselves and God said I'm going to change my mind and He did change His mind. And Jonah gets upset and he says, you know God, I knew this is exactly what you would do, this is the reason I ran away.
There is this verse in the book of first Peter that I want to look at, first Peter chapter five verse five, starting in the middle of that verse, all of you, all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time or due season. When I'm at the airport, especially Frankfurt, there is a ten million, jillion airline landing there and going but I'm on Lufthansa and if I want to get some answers from Lufthansa, you know what I'm looking for, somebody in the Lufthansa uniform. I know exactly how they look, I don't need to look at their face, I don't need to look at their hand, hair, all I need to look for is what they are wearing. When you're in the train station in India and you have too many suitcases to carry you look for a coolie or a porter. How do you find them? They walk around in this red uniform with a badge and usually a red turban, you cannot miss them. You need someone to help here in Carrollton, you're stuck on the road. Well you look for a police man hopefully and you can find him not in civilian clothes, you can find him because he is wearing a uniform.
We are told here to dress up, to clothe ourselves in humility. That means young and old, Christian worker who is doing Christian work fifty years, somebody who has just started, all of you we are told to make a choice, not imposed upon us, I have to make a choice and that is something God will not do for me. If God were to humble somebody then it's a whole different ball game and he does that with some people. But here my choice is, by the way, humility here has nothing to do with the outside appearance, you know somebody can walk around like a sad donkey saying I'm nobody, I can't, no. I think it is much more serious, God is looking for attitude, our heart's condition. Pharisees who were militant in their doctrinal commitment and they walked around with such holy face, I'm so humble I'm praying and fasting can't you see me. And the Lord said you guys are going straight to Hell because their heart was so full of pride and arrogance about who they are and what they believe and how much they do for God and on and on things like that. And I think you know this very well, Jesus spoke more harsh words to these people than anybody else. The reason I think the Lord is telling us humble yourself and submit yourself under the mighty hand of God and clothe yourself in humility, I think it is so significant because God is desperately longing to demonstrate his authority, his power, his grace and his mercy to people on earth through those who are willing to come close to him. And the only way we can get close to him is through changing our attitude and humbling ourselves.
There may be some pain and difficulties and all that, so what, who really cares in the end because God's ultimate plan is not to rescue me right now from all the bad stuff and the pain and the ill reputation or whatever. His concern is none of this stuff, his concern is, finally when I see him face to face, in what shape I am going to be, more like Christ or more like myself. And so I think when you pray for stuff that we talked about, I can assure you the Lord will answer those prayers because you come before Him understanding I'm totally helpless without you Lord, we are helpless without you. But here is the interesting thing, as we talk to God about these matters, you know what, He turns around and answers your personal prayers. And finally Job stopped defending himself and arguing about his innocence, and he was right, I mean he was totally innocent against all the accusations his friends made toward him. Finally he sees God, he says, Oh no. Then he says, I'm lost. Then God said, alright, this the end of the story, I will bless you but before that Job should pray for his friends. I mean this takes humility. So there is something more sacred, more sobering, more important than being righteous, even proclaimed by God, the most righteous man in the whole earth, and that is, coming to the place saying, I'm nobody, I'm lost, God I see myself how wicked I am. And then my willingness to forgive and forget and pray for those people who just torture me and say God please bless these guys, and the Lord turns around and blesses Job.
I can assure you as we come before the Lord as broken, humble, needy people, look like he take bigger steps to get to us. When we pray as a prayer warrior I think in my imagination he takes small steps but when he sees someone who is crying and lost and helpless He says I better get to them very soon and this is how I think God works. And may we learn in our own individual life about the meaning of this verse, God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. And I thought about it, which is a serious thing, I did some reading on this by the way, when God resists, opposes it should mean He comes and squashes somebody and kills somebody, I mean He can just snap the finger and destroy the whole earth, He can do that. But somebody who is living with pride and arrogance and lack of humility and a haughty attitude it seems nothing happens to them just like that. They walk around healthy and strong like Psalm 73 you read about that, there is nothing wrong with these people but I was thinking through the Scripture about individuals and I saw something that is quite strange, I wouldn't say interesting but frightening, that is, it seems God removes his grace first of all and then all of a sudden, the powers of darkness have a heyday, and how the enemy works with individuals, slowly but surely, their hearts become hardened, they become cynical, the glow in the eyes, the grace is no more there, the smile and the joy no more is there. And then people wonder what on earth happened, there's no way to put the finger on this thing. There was a time when, like you take a bowl of honey and ants just crawl all over the place, but now, it looks like the same plate, same bowl, looks like honey but nothing is coming near. The sweet precious honey turns into bitterness and it's deadly.
Have you seen, known individuals, you just want to be near them, there's something about it that Watchman talks about it, the spirit. It is not the external, something about it, there's no way to explain it, there's something that gives out. But then I've known individuals over a period of years, something happened, it is no more joy being near them, unless you become like them, the gossiping, the carnality, and the evil talk and the things of the world and all other bunch of things. And you say, I used to be so close to that person, so wonderful, so beautiful, so nice fellowship like David cried out, Oh how you and I went to the House of God as one individual and then whatever happened to you.
I began tonight by saying, you can be a Christian or serving God for thirty, forty, fifty whatever years you've been, your sacrifice or whatever else you did, that is no guarantee tomorrow you will not fall apart and God takes his grace and you become hardened and cynical. And I'm saying that because I know this my own story, it can happen. How do I know if this is happening? Maybe a few statements would become a test. When our hearts are becoming proud and stubborn and resisting and the grace is going to slowly, we are going to lose, these are some of the things we can watch for.: focus on the failures of others, are self-righteous, have a critical, fault-finding spirit, look at own life faults with a telescope but others with a microscope, look down on others, these are the signs a person, individuals, man or woman is losing, are proud. They are independent, have a self-sufficient spirit, they want to be in control, must have their way, they have to prove that they are right, they have a demanding spirit, my way or no way, are self protective of time, rights and reputation, are driven to be recognized and appreciated, are wounded when others are promoted and they are overlooked, they think quote, the ministry is privileged to have me, end quote. Think what they can do for God, feel confident in how much they know, are self-conscious, keep people at arms length, are quick to blame others, are defensive when criticized, are concerned at what others think, work to maintain image and protect reputation, find it difficult to share their spiritual needs with others, have a hard time saying, I was wrong, would you please forgive me. Have a hard time saying, I made a mistake. Wait for the other party to come and ask for forgiveness in a conflict, compare themselves with others and feel deserving honor, and are blind to their true heart condition, don't think they have anything of which to repent. They don't think they need revival, they think everybody else does.
So it is hard enough to live in a home with your own brothers and sisters, your wife and husband, small four or five, six people, if you think that is not true, you look back and think about the rivalry the fight, the conflict. I remember growing up in my home, my brothers and I used to fight almost everyday for something. If that be the case, please don't be so foolish and stupid to think that in a group like this people that come from everywhere in the world, with the most weird, crazy backgrounds, some from dysfunctional families, some from terrible situations and some from well-mannered homes and backgrounds and we are a bunch of weirdos all brought together in one place. Can you imagine what on earth is it going to take for us to live in such love and perfect unity, caring for one another, willing to die for one another. What is it going to take, all of you, clothe yourselves with humility, thinking about others, better than, us. That is the way I believe we can survive and that I believe is the guarantee, what ever we ask Him for, He will run and say, I am there for you. And so it is my responsibility to chose how I think about me and about you and it is your responsibility. Some corrections need to be made, you can do that, take a split second say, Lord here I am. You know a lot of things we fight about and argue about, God cares nothing about it, really. He is more concerned about our heart condition. I think God is so grieved when he sees somebody who is right, but wrong in the spirit. I had to repent more times when I knew I was right, but the way I said things, and my spirit was wrong. And often I was convicted enough by the Lord that I would not even say, you know what I totally was right, please understand it, but the way I said it was wrong, no I wouldn't say it, I say, just forgive me I have done wrong, that's all, that's all it is.