RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

Making Disciples – 2
Sammy Tippit: As we talk about discipleship, humility is the greatest thing we can develop in our lives. Augustine said, “In all of your getting, get humility.” Humility is so important, and there’s a reason for it. Philippians 2:3-8 talks about who Jesus is, and Corey, the essence of the person of Jesus Christ is humility.
Although he was God, the Scripture says, he humbled himself. He became obedient to the point of death. He took upon himself flesh. God, the Creator of this universe, took upon himself human flesh, and he became a man, the God-man, the most unique person to ever live. So when I think of Jesus… The essence of the life of Jesus, the human person Jesus, is humility. God became a man.
When we were talking about learning of Jesus and what it means to become like Jesus, we said humility was very important, but one of the reasons is that it’s the essence of Jesus. How do we develop a spirit of humility? You can say, “I’m going to be humble.” The Pharisees did that. They tried to show their false humility. What is humility? How do we develop it?
Corey Webb: All right. Well, I see humility as an attitude. It’s an attitude of God’s perspective. It’s an attitude that there’s a bigger picture here. There’s a bigger plan. It’s not just about me, but there’s something else greater that needs to take place. Jesus, as our greatest role model, always said, “I’m only going to do what my father wants me to do.” It was out of respect and honor of that greater plan, that greater purpose.
Sammy: Okay. So even looking at Jesus, the greater plan, the greater purpose, was not about him just coming and doing miracles so everybody would say, “Look at him,” but he loved people.
Corey: Right. Mm-hmm.
Sammy: He cared about people. He gave his life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…” It was all about God’s plan. He came for one reason: to die for sinners.
Corey: Right. Right.
Sammy: Okay. For us now in how we work this out in our lives in developing humility… Is there something that helps you? Does that come naturally, or is it something you have to do to develop that attitude? How does one get humility?
Corey: Well, there’s a process to that. I think that as Paul was writing to the Philippian church in Philippians, chapter 2, he said, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition…” All of us have thoughts like, “I sure would like to do this,” or, “I sure would like to have that.”
Sammy: That’s good.
Corey: But to do nothing out of selfish ambition means we’re going to do a heart check first, and we’re going to say, “Okay, is there a greater picture? Is there another need? He says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.”
Sammy: You know, I think… I’ve been around for a long time now, and as I’ve watched people walk with God, fall, and mess up, probably the greatest cause has been pride.
Corey: Right.
Sammy: Thinking, “It’s all about me. Hey, look at me. I’m the great one.” When we begin to think that way, when we begin to think it’s all about us, we’re headed for a big fall. One of the things I have found (I don’t know what you think about this) causes pride is comparing ourselves to others.
When we start comparing ourselves to others, we can always find somewhere we’re a little bit better than them and say, “Well, I may not be too bad.” But when we look to Jesus, when we see him, when we behold Jesus, then we say, “Oh, Lord. I’m so much unlike Jesus. I need you.” What helps you develop that kind of spirit, that attitude of humility?
Corey: Well, definitely recognizing that it’s not about me is a real key. I believe that’s a daily reminder in our lives, in our time alone with God in his Word and in prayer, for us to recognize that… I actually grew up with the challenge of comparing myself to others as a child, hoping I might feel better about myself.
But you know what, Sammy? It never worked. I always ended up feeling worse about myself. But then when I began to learn about Christ, to learn about his plan for my life, as I began to look to him, knowing I couldn’t be him, I began to feel better on the inside, recognizing, “I’m just going to do the best I can.”
Sammy: You know, that’s kind of a unique thing because when you compare yourself to others, you either become proud or get discouraged. It’s one of the two.
Corey: Right.
Sammy: You say, “Oh, I can’t do what they do.” When you look to Jesus, it’s amazing. You would think, “Well, he’s so perfect. That should be discouraging to us.” But what happens is you see his love and you see his grace, and it does something on the inside of you that gives you the power to overcome and say, “Lord, you created me uniquely.”  I think that when we understand humility, we seek Christ, and it causes us to see ourselves in a different way, a healthy way, a good way. It’s not a put-down way but a unique way. “Yes, I’m just going to be what God wants me to be.”
Corey: Yes. Then Philippians 4:13 comes up. Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Whatever we have, through our humility and reliance upon him, he gives us what we need to push through whatever we’re facing.
Sammy: You know, one of the first Scripture verses I ever learned was Philippians 4:13, but the Lord spoke to me a few years later and said, “Before you get to Philippians 4:13, you need to know John 15:5.” It says, “…apart from me you can do nothing.” So the flipside of that is that without him, we can do nothing, and the positive side of that is that we can do all things through him.
Corey: Yes. You bet.
Sammy: I want to go back to your illustration of running the marathon.
Corey: Okay.
Sammy: You said you were running that 6-minute mile instead of the 8-minute mile you were trained to run. Could some of that have been that you wanted to keep up with some others or you got caught up in the crowd?
Corey: Absolutely.
Sammy: Could that have been part of it?
Corey: You got me on that one. I thought, “I’m going to qualify for the Boston Marathon here. I’m going to tear this thing up.” I was following this time person, so I probably did get wrapped up in that moment, forget the bigger picture, and think more about myself and my skill than I normally would. That got me into trouble.
Sammy: Yeah. We always run our best when we’re running our pace, not someone else’s pace.
Corey: Absolutely.
Sammy: What happens is that in life, a lot of times we run somebody else’s pace rather than the pace God has given us to train at. He knows us. He knows our abilities, our weaknesses. I think that if we could just say, “Okay, I’m going to get sort of a narrow picture here,” look to Jesus, see him in his humility, and become what he wants us to become, we could become the people God wants us to become.
Corey: Absolutely.
Sammy: Let’s wrap this up by talking about humility and grace. One of my favorite Scripture verses says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” What he’s looking for is a humble heart. His grace is applied, and when that grace is applied, we grow.
Corey: That’s right.
Sammy: We become more Christ-like. That’s what I want us to begin to think about now: how to grow in his likeness. We’re talking about learning of him. We’re talking about humility being the center of what we need. Now how do we grow in Christ and become what he wants us to become? One quick word on growing in Christ… How important is it that we continually grow and not just become stagnant in our faith?
Corey: It’s very important to recognize every day that we need Jesus. In Isaiah 57:15, we read that when we come before God with a contrite heart, with a humble heart, what he does through his Spirit is revive us. It frees God up to manifest his Spirit in and through our lives, but that’s a daily principle. That’s a daily awareness of where we are, the bigger picture of God’s kingdom, and our willingness to surrender to it.
Sammy: Okay. Let’s talk about that here in just a moment. Let’s talk a little bit more about reviving our hearts, growing in Christ, and becoming what he wants us to be.
Corey: Great.