Andrew Murray once wrote that the primary feature in Jesus's life, “the root and essence of all His character as our Redeemer,” [1] was humility.
What gave Jesus the right to receive “the name that is above every name” (Phil 2:9). It was his humility. I believe that the subject of humility is taught more often in the New Testament than any other subject. If we look at Phil 6-8, we see a progression of his acts of humility:
He relinquished his divine rights v. 6.
He became a servant v. 7.
He took on human flesh vv. 7-8.
He allowed humanity to crucify him v. 8 (for our salvation).
Murray continues,
“What is the incarnation but His heavenly humility, His emptying Himself and becoming man? What is His life on earth but humility; His taking the form of a servant? ... ‘He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.’” [2]
Therefore, Murray concludes we must see humility at all costs:
“If humility be the first, the all-including grace of the life of Jesus,—if humility be the secret of His atonement,—then the health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of Him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else.” [3]
Still Arguing at the Last Supper!
Whenever Jesus's disciples argued over who would be the greatest, he would emphasize that to be great is to serve, that is, to humble oneself. It took them a long time to understand this—Luke tells us that at the Last Supper, they are still arguing over who is the greatest.
Peter, many years later, tells us that if we humble ourselves, God will exalt us, but if we walk in pride, God will resist us. (1 Pet 5:5). Who wants to be resisted by the Almighty?
Pride is crafty. We can think that because we are doing the right thing, our bad motives are OK. Do we need to make sure that everyone knows how great we are? Do we need others to know our accomplishments? For preachers, when someone comes up to you at the end of a service, do you look them in the eye or act as if you are not interested? Being ADHD, I had to really work on this. I love to preach in front of others, but I'm not always so patient when those people want to talk to me, and thus, I don't give them the value that they have given me. All these things express pride and bring a heavenly resistance.
Shepherds Must Model Humility
Peter tells the shepherds of God's flock to gently oversee the sheep (1 Pet 5:1-4). In v. 5, he says, “clothe yourself in humility.” Scholar Bruce Barton gives us powerful insight into why Peter chose this word:
“The Greek word here egkombosasthe is derived from egkomboma, an apron a servant wears while working. Thus to clothe yourselves with humility means to put on the apron and go to work, humbly serving one another. Humility means being able to put others’ needs and desires ahead of one’s own.” [4]
It is more than putting on clothes; you would “tie something on oneself.” [5]
Peter could've chosen a different word, such as enduō, as Paul does in Romans 13:14, “Clothe (enduō) yourselves with the Lord Jesus the Messiah.” Peter emphasizes that leadership must be expressed through humility and servanthood. Darby must've understood this as he uses the word “bind” for egkombosasthe, which means to tie or fasten: “bind on humility towards one another.” God is calling us to “apron up,” so to speak. It conjures up the image of Jesus washing his disciple’s feet and wrapping a towel around him.
“So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (Jn 13:4–5).
Intentional Humility
It's a little difficult to apron up these days. There are tremendous temptations for fame, as it's never been easier to obtain it. We see young megachurch pastors being treated like celebrities. Those with an online presence can be tempted to constantly post controversial information to get them noticed. At least, that is what the consultant told them. Anybody can start a podcast. And if you have a gifting from God, people will be attracted to it. God wants to use that gift to touch and change people's lives. But without the proper foundation of humility, it can be a setup for disaster. And you don't get humility by reading a book about it. For sure, that helps. It just doesn't happen overnight. Humility must be proactively practiced daily.
When I was in Bible school, we had a teenage prophet come to minister. Everyone was in awe of him. He took an interest in me and actually invited me to travel with him to be his assistant. Ironically, I can thank Dr. Brown for protecting me from him. It turns out that this young man would go on to abuse his youth pastor sexually. Our Bible school Director got up after the young man left and said, “There's no other way to get wisdom except through years.” I would say the same thing about humility, particularly if you're like me—not humble by nature.
Just after we were married, my parents took Elana and me on a vacation. They had money; I barely had a job. We stayed at the beautiful Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. As we pulled up, a bellman ran out and grabbed my bags. It felt right, I thought to myself. Even though I was poor and broke, I began to think like a rich person. I was immediately convicted of the arrogance in my heart. Now you have to fight me if you're going to carry my bag—a simple act like that has reminded me that I am no different than the people that I'm speaking to. (As I get older, I don't fight as much.) We are all made in the image of God, and while our giftings are not the same, our value before God is equal. There really are no superstars or favorites in the body of Christ (Acts 10:34-35)—save Jesus.
So, let's apron up and serve one another in humility.
[1] Andrew Murray, Humility: The Beauty of Holiness (New York; London; Glasgow: Fleming H. Revell, 1800), 20.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid., 21.
[4] Bruce B. Barton, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Jude, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Pub., 1995), 134–135.
[5] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 274.
