Tov #3 - Walk Humbly
Message Description
Wexford Campus Pastor Russ Brasher concludes the message series entitled Tov, which is the Hebrew word for “good,” exploring what it means to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
Message Transcript
Well, good morning, folks, and welcome to Orchard Hill Church. Let's pray. God, we thank you for loving us. Thank you for loving us first. Thank you for your grace and mercy. Thank you for giving us Orchard Hill and the ministry of KidsFest. Thank you for your word and for getting a chance to gather, either in-person or online, around your word today. And Father, I ask that the teaching I prepared today would glorify you, point to Jesus, and ultimately draw each of us and our hearts to the life changing good news of the Gospel. Amen.
Today, we are going to wrap up a three-week series that we've started called Tov. And Tov is a Hebrew word that is used for “good” in Micah 6:8. And here's again what Micah 6:8 says. Listen to this. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.” Tov. “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly[a] with your God.”
What we've done over the last two weeks and what we'll do one more time here today is try to ask and answer the question of what is good, tov, or required of us from God to do three things. Week one we talked about acting justly. Week two, last week, loving mercy. And today, what is good, tov, or required by God from us to walk humbly with him? That is going to be our mission for today. And so, to help us start off on a good point, I thought it would be good to try to set up a definition of what humility even means in a room of this size with this many folks.
If I were to ask you to shout out, how would you define humility, I would imagine that we would get a variety of different answers because it might mean something different to you than it does to the person on your left or right. And so, since we might start out the gate in a different place, I thought we would use God's word to bring us all in to start at the same point and let God's word define for us what humility actually is.
And to do so, we're going to jump out of the Old Testament and into the New Testament, the book of Philippians, written by a guy named Paul. In Philippians 2:1-11, if you're reading from the NIV study Bible, it gives this section of Scripture a header, a title that says, “Imitating Christ’s Humility.” Contained in these 11 verses is how we as believers, those who call themselves followers of Jesus, can learn to imitate Jesus's humility.
When we look inside these verses, looking specifically at verse eight, we start to get a definition. Here's what it says. “And being found in appearance as a man...” He referring to Jesus. “...he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!”
And so, just looking at this one verse, we start to get a biblical definition of what humility is. It says that Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient. So, simply put, humility can be defined here as obedience to God. That to walk humbly with God is to walk obediently, surround our life and define our life in all areas of our life in obedience to God.
And so now, looking back at Micah 6:8, we add a little more depth to our definition of humility, as one commentator points this out. He said when God in Micah 6:8 gave them the command to walk humbly, this command was meant to speak directly to the heart motive of people. In other words, what motivates your heart? Have you ever asked yourself that question? What motivates your heart? The command given to God from God in Micah was to say what should motivate your heart as believers and followers of Christ is obedience to God. It's a way for us to posture one's heart. Humility was to show what about that person is their heart directed towards. What is it beating for? Humility is the posture of one's heart, either towards God or away from God.
And so now when you combine Micah 6:8 and Philippians 2:8, we are starting to build a solid foundation and understanding of what walking humbly with God means. Having a heart that is postured, having a heart that is obedient to God. Or another way that you could say it is, as Paul's titled it, is walking humbly with God means to imitate the very heart of Jesus.
Now, if you're like me, imitating is something that, depending on who you're trying to imitate and what you're being asked to imitate, it can be easy. And sometimes, depending on who you're asked to imitate and what you're being asked to imitate, can be really hard. And in this text, we are being asked to imitate Jesus, who, if you don't know, was the very son of God who lived a perfect life. So, it sounds like that's going to be pretty hard.
But I also know this. I've got a son. His name is Bennett. He's nine years old, and he loves sports. And I, as his father, love him. And there's even times in specific situations where it's hard for Bennett, who's my son, to imitate his father, especially in the world of sports. And here's why. My son loves baseball. And so, me as a father trying to help him, who also played sports growing up, I'm trying to teach my son how to throw a baseball.
So, I'm like, hey, buddy, all you do is you catch it in your left hand, take a step, and you throw it perfect form. Or, you get down and you do the step, step, and you fire that ball with your right hand. Ben is standing there trying to imitate his father, who loves him. But he's going, what? And you can see the wheels turning in his head and he's like, I do what? Bennett's left-handed. He can't figure out how to imitate his dad. And then, even his dad, who still loves him, has to remember, oh, shoot, Bennett's left-handed. Son, it's like this. I can't help you, man.
And so, in a real-life situation, if a right-handed, left-handed problem can cause a son to struggle to imitate his father who loves him, how much more so does the true reality of a sin problem force us to struggle to try to imitate our Heavenly Father’s Son? And then when you let that sink in and realize, you go, well, then what are we supposed to do?
Our sin problem is real. So how are we supposed to try to imitate Jesus? How are we supposed to be obedient to God when we are struggling with sin? Paul doesn't leave us hanging. He says again in Philippians two, which still is titled “Imitating Christ’s Humility,” Paul says, hey, I hear you. You're right. This is a problem. It's a huge problem. It's a problem actually, that you can't do anything to change, solve, or fix, but there's still hope.
So now the question is, well, what is that hope? Staying in Philippians two. Here's what we read now, verses one through four. Paul says, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Do you catch here, in Paul's words, these four verses where Paul says hope is found? It's in that, “Therefore if you have any...” and he says that four different times in these verses. And what Paul is referring to is you trying to imitate Jesus on your own merit, your own strength, your own accord, your own desires which is going to be impossible. It's not just going to be difficult. It's going to be impossible. The only thing that makes this possible is Jesus.
And therefore, Paul says, if you have any understanding, any experience with if you've ever felt even just a little bit of the love that Jesus has for you, if you've gotten a chance to know Jesus, even just a littlest bit, and the more you get to know Jesus, it becomes easier to imitate because you've gotten a chance to get to know the very person you're being asked to imitate. To be motivated, or to start to imitate someone that your heart does not know, have no experience with, never felt this person's love, never been shown that this person is one who can be trusted, never seen this person demonstrate faithfulness to you or given you a reason to believe in them, is going to be hard, impossible with no motivation unless you and I get a chance to personally know and experience the person of Jesus Christ.
That is our big idea today. This is our big moment that if you've heard nothing else, hear me say these things. To walk humbly with God can be broken down into two simple steps. I've tried to make it very easy for us this morning, and those two simple steps are this. Step number one is draw near to the heart of Jesus. Draw near to the heart of Jesus. Step number two is, see and repeat step number one. I tried to make it simple, but we're sinners and we're going to screw it up.
So, let's spend some time on step number one. And I get a chance now to talk about a book that I got to read a couple of years ago, and it's one that I've read multiple times since then. This book is hands down today in my top ten must read list. Whether you would call yourself a believer on the fence, trying to figure it out, or even against God, I would still recommend this book and here's why. In fact, I wouldn't even be upset if right now you stopped listening to me, pulled out your smartphone, found this book on Amazon and ordered it so by the time you got home, it's sitting on your porch. I'd be okay with that. This book is called Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund.
Lowly, depending on what translation of the Bible you're using, lowly is a word that is translated as humble. Humble can be translated as lowly. In other words, gentle and humble. And the primary focus of this book is on Matthew 11:28-29, where Jesus says himself, Jesus speaks these words to you and me. Here is what he says. He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
You see, what Ortlund starts to point out in this book is that there's only one place in all the New Testament where Jesus himself is given the opportunity to describe what His heart is like. Again, what is walking humbly with God? It means obedience to God, obedience to God in the form of imitating the heart of Jesus. And Jesus here, using two words, describes and paints a picture of what His heart is like. Jesus says my heart. If you want to draw near to my heart, you are going to experience a gentle and humble heart towards you.
And this is good news. It's good news that as we continue, it only gets better. Here are just some of the quotes from this book that I have highlighted, written down, tried to memorize, that speak directly to the good news, gospel of Jesus Christ. That in our sin problem, our attempts to try to walk humbly and imitate Jesus, here's who Jesus is. That when we draw near to Him, when we draw near to His heart, this is what you and I will experience. It says everything that is lovely in God is in Christ Jesus. And everything that is or can be lovely in man is in Jesus. For He, Jesus, is man as well as God, and Jesus is the holiest, meekest, most humble in every way, the most excellent man that ever was. What most deeply attracts us to Jesus is his and should be his gentle, tender, humble heart. There is no love so great and so wonderful is that which is the heart of Jesus Christ.
He continues. What draws us to God is the beauty of the heart of Jesus. When sinners and sufferers come to Christ, the person that they find is exceedingly excellent and lovely. For they come to one who is not only of excellent majesty and of perfect purity and brightness, but also one in whom this majesty is conjoined with the sweetest of grace.
Jesus is one that clothes himself with mildness, meekness, and love. He is exceedingly ready to receive sinners. Given their sinfulness they are shocked to find that their sins cause Jesus to be all the more ready to plunge them into his humble heart. They unexpectedly find Jesus with open arms, ready to embrace them, ready forever to forgive and forget all their sins, as though they had never been done.
In other words, when we come to Christ and draw near to Jesus' heart, we are startled by the beauty of his welcoming, humble heart. The surprise of this in itself is what draws us in closer and closer. He says there is simply no one in human history that has ever been more approachable than Jesus.
Think about that for a moment. Do you believe that? There is no one in human history that has ever been more approachable than Jesus. And to draw near to Jesus' heart, there are no prerequisites, no hoops to jump through, the minimum bar to be unfolded into the embrace of Jesus is simply this. Open yourself up. Open your heart up to Him. It is all He needs.
You do not need to unburden yourself. You do not need to clean yourself up. You do not need to collect yourself, start doing one thing or stop doing a thousand things, and then come to Jesus. The Gospel is that Jesus is gentle and humble and ready to receive you just as you are.
Do you hear the good news of the Gospel? Do you hear what this means? When we draw near to Jesus' heart, no matter if it's your first time, no matter if it's your one millionth time, if you decide to start drawing near to Jesus' heart, what you will experience and what is promised by Scripture, Jesus’ words himself, is that when you start to draw near, no matter what you've done, what you will do, when you draw near to the heart of Jesus, you will experience a heart that is gentle and humble towards you. So humble, that it draws you deeper and deeper into the love that God has for you.
As you continue to draw near, here's what Ortlund says. This news only gets better. Consider what this means. When we sin, we are encouraged to bring our mess to Jesus. Not run from Jesus because of our sin, but in our sin bring it to the cross. Bring it to Jesus because he will know just how to receive us. He does not handle us roughly. He does not scowl or scold. He does not throw his hands up in the air and says this guy again. He doesn't lash out like some of our parents might have done. And all this restraint on Jesus’ part is not because he has some deluded view of just how great our sinfulness is. He knows our sinful situation far more deeply than we ever could. Indeed, we are aware of just the tip of the iceberg, Ortlund says, of our deep depravity, even in our most searching moments of self-acknowledgment. But Jesus's restraint simply flows from his tender, gentle, humble heart for his people, for us.
Our hearts gasp to catch up with this. Maybe right now your heart is gasping to catch up with this. Is this really true? Can I really bring my sin to Jesus, and he will extend gentleness and humility towards me. Our hearts gasp to catch up to this. It's not how the world around us works. It's usually not how our heart works towards others when their sin is brought to us.
But we must draw near to the heart of Jesus. Draw near to his heart and experience it for ourselves. And when we do bow in humble submission, letting God, his son, and his word, set the terms by which he will choose to love us. It is in Jesus' humility and his obedience to God, even to the point of death, that makes God approachable, that gives you and I complete VIP room level access to God.
We see it on the cross. We see Jesus’ humility in its finest, at its best, in complete and full obedience to God, even to the point of death. Jesus humbly accepts his death on the cross. He dies in our place. His blood washes us clean of our sin and pays the debt in full so that you and I can now have complete access to God. We can approach God and faithfully accept His Son and what He has done for us and be in relationship with him. And do you know what this is? This is tov. This is good.
One last time, Ortlund says, the gospel is the most counterintuitive aspect of Christianity. That we are declared right with God not once we get our act together, but instead, once we collapse into honest, humble acknowledgment that we never will. Therefore, we humbly accept the gift of Jesus and put our faith in Him and ourselves in Him and his saving works.
You see, walking humbly with God can only be broken down into two steps. Step number one, draw near to the heart of Jesus. And step number two, see and repeat step number one. We spent some time in step number one, but we also need to spend some time in step number two, see and repeat step number one. Because you see, walking with God is not always easy. It's usually harder than it is easier, but it is always tov. It is always good. But when it does get hard, when it's not as easy, when we are struggling and it's not coming as natural to our hearts to be in obedience, chances are two things are getting in the way.
They're both associated with sin, and it's pride and shame. What happens typically as we draw near to Jesus, we experience it. We might say to ourselves, okay, I've drawn near, I've gotten to know him, I get it. I've read the Gospels; I've given my life. I took my crown off, and I gave it to God. But now that I've been doing this for a little while, I'm a little bit more mature. You know, you should see the way I've been loving people lately. Like, I've got this figured out. And we take that crown, and we put it back on and say we're back in control of our own lives. Now, do you know what happens when we do that? We screw it up. We're sinners. We are going to screw it up because it's impossible to imitate Jesus apart from drawing near to Jesus. And we have to remind ourselves over and over again, repeat step one.
I want to share a story with you that will help us set this up. In our first year of marriage, we found out early on that we were going to have a baby, our first daughter, Peyton. Shortly after that we moved out of our house and away from home. We moved into this house because we didn't have any money, and it was very expensive where we were living. This guy made us a deal. He said, hey, you can come live on my duck farm. It's a 180-acre hunting duck farm. I grew up in the city. I am now a country boy. And how I paid rent was every morning and every night I had to get up early, drive and get in a gator. I didn't even know what a gator was, but I got in a gator. I would fill up these huge garbage cans full of duck food, and I would drive out to one of the five ponds on the area, and I would feed these ducks. I'm not joking. 5,000 ducks would come out, and I would do that morning and night.
I did not enjoy living the country life. It's not in my blood. It's not who I am. I need things within seven minutes of me. I'm a very close person that way. But I was getting confident. I'm a new husband, and I felt like I was crushing it. I'm a new dad. And I felt like I was crushing it. And now I'm a country boy. And I was like, I've got this life figured out. And an opportunity came for my wife for the first time since Peyton was born, for her just to go be with her girlfriends and have a night out.
And I said, you go, honey, don't worry. I got this. Husbands and dads, you've been there before. You know what happens next, right? I didn't have it. I get Peyton to bed. It's night out. A couple things you have got to remember. 180-acre duck farm, and no one around us for 180 acres. Country. Limited service. No Wi-Fi. Power goes out. I hear this loud bang, huge bang. And I thought, oh, my gosh, that was a gunshot. Someone just shot the power out because they're coming to kidnap and kill me, or they're coming to kidnap and kill my baby girl. I went from I got this to total panic. I freaked out. I can't see my hand in front of my face. I don't know what to do. I can't call anyone.
So, I did the only thing in my moment of panic that I could think to do. This was a barn turned into a house. And so, the only way in was from the basement, and there was a stairway up. That was the only way you could get up to where we were. And so, in pure fear and terror, I ran into the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and just stood at the top of those steps for what felt like two hours, because I didn't know what else to do. I admit it. I freaked out, and I panicked. I went quickly from I got this, pride, to I don’t got this at all. And then there was even a little bit of shame in this afterwards.
You see, what had actually happened was at some point in the night, a raccoon crawled up the power tower, bit into the wires, exploded them, and exploded him. I found his body three days later laying out in the yard. He just killed the power, and there were no people trying to kidnap me or my daughter. Power came back on a couple hours later and everything was fine. I had to humbly tell my wife this story and that she was never allowed to leave again. But very quickly I went back and forth between pride and shame. Shame in being like what kind of dad are you? Come on, you really were that scared. You loser. You don't got this together at all.
But you see, walking humbly with God doesn't allow room for pride or shame. It's not what the gospel says to us. Paul says this in First Timothy 1:15-16. He says this. “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.” Not my words. God's words. Accept them. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”
You see, Paul has discovered the secret of walking humbly with God. He has realized that it has nothing to do with Him and everything to do with Jesus. And all we can do is draw near to the heart of Jesus, where we learn hard truth. We are sinners, we are the worst of sinners. There is nothing we can do to change the situation. If anything, all we do is contribute to making it worse. Yet, because of whom God is. Because of what his son Jesus has done for us. Because His heart is gentle and humble. We can begin to imitate Jesus and walk humbly because Jesus made God approachable. Jesus gives us access to relationship, to the most gentle and humble human being we will ever encounter.
And so, what Paul says, when twice he says, I am the worst of sinners. What Paul is saying to all of us is this. I do not got this. But you know what the gospel tells me Jesus does. Paul is saying I am the worst of sinners. He says, I need help. I can't fix this on my own. You know what the gospel says, but Jesus can save you. And He did. Paul says, I am the worst of sinners. The hardest news you can ever tell someone. But the greatest news is while you were at your worst, while I was at my worst, Jesus died for me anyways.
You see, see, and repeat step one is an important step. Because the truth is whether you're about to try to do this thing called a relationship with Jesus or you've been doing it for a long time, at some point you're going to drop the ball. At some point you're going to fail to walk humbly. The truth is, you're going to try to draw near to the heart of Jesus by reading his word, getting to know Him in the Gospels, and you're going to come across things that your heart is going to go, I don't like that. I don't want to believe in that. I don't want to do that. You’re going to have to ask yourself and be obedient to it or not. And we become obedient as we draw near to the heart of Jesus.
When you go home today, or when you go back to school, maybe at work, and probably definitely when sometimes when you're driving, you are not going to act in a way that is imitating Jesus. It's the truth. Pride will tell you that you don't need Jesus. Shame will try to keep you from going to him. But the truth is, we need to draw near to the heart of Jesus every day, over and over again. The good news of the Gospel is I don't got this. I'm a sinner, the worst of them. But Jesus does got this. And thank God for him, because in Jesus we can find rest for our souls.
And so, as we look to wrap up here and just think about this, walking humbly, being obedient to God only begins to become possible when we choose to draw near to the heart of Jesus. As you continue to draw closer and closer to Jesus's heart, you will start to imitate Jesus's heart. Not because of anything you do, but because of what he starts to do in your heart. And when we do, that is when we start to walk humbly. And that is good, that is tov.
And there's actually a bonus here. Do you know what happens as you start to draw near to the heart of Jesus? You start to get to know Jesus. You get to see him for who He is, and you start to impersonate him, imitate him because you now know him. It's what allows us to walk into a room like this or any room, no matter what the size and how many people are in there and say, I don't care what is going on in anyone else's life. I am the biggest sinner in this room, but yet Jesus loved me and died for me still. And you make everyone in that room see you as approachable. See you as someone I could go to them. I can ask them why they are the way they are. Why do you react differently than the rest of the world? Why do you have such rest in your soul? Where are you getting that from? And you get a chance to imitate Jesus and point them and draw them and bring them with you to the heart of Jesus. If we are to walk humbly with God, we should draw near.
So, I don't know what that looks like for you. Maybe that's just simply saying that today I'm going to start, and I'm going to open up the Bible and read the Gospel of Matthew. Maybe you want a little extra challenge. You can do the John 21-day challenge where you open the Gospel of John for the next 21 days and read one chapter a day. I don't know what that is. Maybe for you it's asking God into your life, asking you into an area that you've not been obedient in, but knowing that even if I'm struggling this area, I can go to Jesus because he is gentle and humble.
Let's pray, Father. Thank you again. Thank you for your son. Thank you that your heart is gentle and humble, that we can draw near to you and what we will find is a gentle and humble heart towards us. Lord, may each of us draw near to you today and wherever point we're starting from Lord, would you meet us in it. That we would come to know you, trust you, and begin to walk humbly with you, knowing that it is tov, it is good. Amen. Have a great day, everybody.