A little child as a model of humilty.

Steve Brown:
A little child as a model of humility. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
That was author and seminary professor Steve Brown, and this is Key Life. We’re all about radical grace. Because of what Jesus has done, God’s not mad at you. Keep listening, and that message will set you free to live a life of joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
Hi Pete.

Pete Alwinson:
Hey man. How you doing?

Steve Brown:
I’m doing good and better since you’re here. We started, by the way, if you’re just joining us yesterday talking about the subject of humility. And we’ve decided to correct all the authors who are writing books on that so that people will know the truth. And if you believe any of that, you’ll believe anything. But it’s kind of a subject that a lot of people are talking about. And Pete and I have been talking about it. We thought, let’s do a week of broadcast on this particular subject. Let me read a very familiar text to you and then we’ll talk some about it. This is the 18th chapter of Matthew, and I’ll begin it’s the first verse.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and he be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Pete Alwinson:
Oh man

Steve Brown:
That’s pretty heavy.

Pete Alwinson:
Amen. Oh, that is powerful. And here we see then that humility is absolutely crucial to the process of becoming a Christian and entering the kingdom of God. But then it’s a virtue for those of us who are in the kingdom as well to continue to grow in that humility. So it’s, someone has said, Steve, that humility is the gateway virtue. It’s the key to all the rest of the virtues to which we’re called as Christians.

Steve Brown:
That’s good.

Pete Alwinson:
It’s an interesting, and I think they’re right. The more I think about it, the more I say, you know, you’re right, because if you’re able to grow in humility, then that unleashes all kinds of other things. It unleashes joy. It unleashes patience. In fact, a couple of these books that we are reading on this, you know, Gavin Ortlund’s subtitle on his book on humility, The Joy of Self Forgetfulness. Well, if you’re growing in humility, you are forgetting yourself. And that brings joy because where do most of the problems that we bring upon ourselves come from? It’s our discontent. And our frustrations with not achieving our goals or having somebody not praise us or criticize us, but if we, if it doesn’t, if those things don’t have that much effect on us, we can maintain joy. So humility is really the gateway virtue to so many other things.

Steve Brown:
I love that. I’ll think about that for a long time. You know, what Jesus teaches is almost always counterintuitive, isn’t it?

Pete Alwinson:
Totally.

Steve Brown:
You know, some of the bestselling books around are biographies of great Christians. And they can be good if they’re honest. But most of them just put a person on an altar, the altar where only God should reside. And if you have those books about great Christians burn them, unless they’re honest. You’d think Jesus would say, well, Moses was, who’s the greatest? He’d say, well, Moses was really a big deal. I mean, he wrote a lot of the Old Testament and he was. And David, even though he messed up, David was a man after God’s heart. And then there’s Jeremiah, he was something else. And he didn’t do that, he got a child that kind of surprised everybody and said, this is humility. And he wasn’t talking about sweetness or being obedient, children are not obedient.

Pete Alwinson:
Right, right.

Steve Brown:
If you don’t believe in total depravity, you’ve never had children.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. That’s right.

Steve Brown:
But there’s something about a child, that is the illustration of humility.

Pete Alwinson:
Really there is because a child can’t do a lot of things and they know it, they can’t reach up onto the counter, they can’t get the cereal box down, they can’t pour their own milk. You know what I mean? So, you’re right, they’re illustrative that a truly humble person doesn’t think they have all the answers or all the ability, but is willing to invest with other people and include other people and ask for help. That’s a big, that’s a big deal, I think, about what humility, in fact, you know, there’s a rich vocabulary of humility as I just, you look at the words in the Bible, humble, humbled, humbles, humbling, humbly, humiliate, humiliated, humiliate. I mean, there’s 11 key ideas.

Steve Brown:
Oh man.

Pete Alwinson:
associated

Steve Brown:
It’s everywhere.

Pete Alwinson:
It’s everywhere.

Steve Brown:
We were trying to decide on what text we were going to talk about. And Pete and I had problems.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
This is, there’s no wiggle room here. This is from Genesis to Revelation, and it’s taught clearly that humility, what, as you said, a gateway.

Pete Alwinson:
And it’s modeled by few. Now, Moses, it is said in Numbers 12:3 is the, was the humblest man that ever lived. But what I notice about that, when I think about that is he was 80 or so when they’re talking about him. And what was Churchill’s quote? He’s a humble man, he said of an opponent, but he has a whole lot to be humble about.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. Right. And when you’re 80 something, man, you’ve got it.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. And you look at the first 40 years of Moses life, he’s probably an arrogant, well trained guy in the Egyptian court. And he kept making mistake after mistake after mistake, and God humbled him. Now, he’s a shepherd out in Midian for the next 40 years.

Steve Brown:
You know, you said something yesterday, you said that God works at bringing us to this place. And it can be painful. You ever made a fool of yourself?

Pete Alwinson:
Oh man, Steve.

Steve Brown:
Oh, me too.

Pete Alwinson:
Oh, things I’ve said as a pastor or, just things I said impetuously. Or

Steve Brown:
The sermon you preached that you thought was going to be Charles Spurgeon ended up to be squat.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Oh man. I’ll never forget, the lady that patted me on the wrist at the greeting of the worm ceremony after church one Sunday, and she said, you know, sometimes the shorter sermons are the better ones, but she was right. And I prayed that she’d get the fever and die right after that. But she, you know, she was right that it was too long that I was, I was a young preacher at that time and I, a young preacher sometimes doesn’t know how to start and doesn’t know how to end.

Steve Brown:
That’s true.

Pete Alwinson:
And I needed that rebuke in one sense.

Steve Brown:
Been there, done that, and then you don’t, it doesn’t mean it’s all fixed.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
One time was at this big meeting of rich and famous people in Canada, and I thought, they’re very fortunate to have invited me and God decided that I’m going to make a fool of you. And it was the worst sermon anybody’s ever preached in history. And I had to get on the elevator and ride up with people who had just been sitting there watching me make a fool of myself. And there wasn’t a word, there was an occasional cough. And I got off.

Pete Alwinson:
Well, it wasn’t the worst sermon because I’m the one that did it.

Steve Brown:
Well, they gave me one of these coffee things, you put coffee mugs on. And Jesus said I had to put it on my desk to remind me, and I kept it there for over two years, just to remind me of the fool, and that was a severe mercy.

Pete Alwinson:
It was, and we need to think about this. We need to see this more as Christians, the older I get, the more I realize, you know, humility is a huge thing and we need to pursue it. All of us do, starting younger, but it’s harder when we’re younger. And God does give us the severe, I like the way you put it, severe mercy of humiliation.

Steve Brown:
It really is.

Pete Alwinson:
And he will let us fall. He loves us, but he lets us see the pride that is in us.

Steve Brown:
And you know, and you are getting up in years. And I’m way ahead of you and this’ll sound really pious and I’ll repent there some. But I’m, and I hesitate to even say it, but I’m more humble than I used to be.

Pete Alwinson:
And Steve, that is true, and I am too. And I, and I think that those who are writing these, that’s one of the myths that we could explode. That if you’re getting humble, you won’t know it. No, you will, I think it’s true that as we grow in humility, you will know it and you should know it. But we can’t brag. This was not a humble brag. I’m more humble. No, it’s just a fact.

Steve Brown:
What’s that old joke about the man in the club who won the award for being the most humble man in the club and they took it away from him when he wore it.

Pete Alwinson:
I love it. Well, our new book, When You’re as Great as I Am, it’s Hard to be Humble is coming out.

Steve Brown:
That’s right. But there is a sense in which you know it because you’ve been humiliated so much that you found out you weren’t as important as you thought you were.

Pete Alwinson:
And you’re seeing how great God is. Well that’s part of the process to growth in humility that we can talk about another time.

Steve Brown:
You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
And that was Steve Brown and Pete Alwinson continuing our special week of teaching together. Again, we’ll be doing this format all week and hope you will join us throughout. And if you want to listen to an episode or share it with a friend, remember you can stream all our episodes for free at Keylife.org Well, you just heard Steve and Pete talking about humility, and it’s a topic that we’ve been discussing more than usual lately. Back in December on Steve Brown Etc. we spoke with Richard Foster about that subject, and more recently we chatted with pastor and author Gavin Ortlund about his book on humility, something Gavin calls the joy of self forgetfulness. It’s a refreshing perspective on an often overlooked virtue. Take a listen for yourself by requesting that show on CD, for free. Just call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact for our mailing addresses. Just ask for your free copy of the CD featuring Gavin Ortlund. Finally, would you partner in the work of Key Life through your giving? Giving is easy. Just charge gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950 and then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. Both of those organizations assure financial accountability. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network. Oh, and Happy 4th of July, everybody.