2 Chronicles 26:3-21  (NIV)

³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years.  His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem.  ⁴ He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done.  ⁵ He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God.  As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.

⁶ He went to war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod.  He then rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines.  ⁷ God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal and against the Meunites.  ⁸ The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful.

⁹ Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the angle of the wall, and he fortified them.  ¹⁰ He also built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain.  He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.

¹¹ Uzziah had a well-trained army, ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officials.  ¹² The total number of family leaders over the fighting men was 2,600.  ¹³ Under their command was an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies.  ¹⁴ Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army.  ¹⁵ In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones.  His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.

¹⁶ But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.  He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.  ¹⁷ Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in.  ¹⁸ They confronted him and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord.  That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense.  Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”

¹⁹ Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry.  While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead.  ²⁰ When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out.  Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.

²¹ King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died.  He lived in a separate house—leprous, and excluded from the temple of the Lord.  Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

Today we will talk about humility, a fruit of the Spirit that has diminished importance in our society.

Philippians 2:1-11 (NIV)

¹ If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  ⁴ Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷ but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!  ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Today I want to give us a larger view of humility, I will talk about the problem of exalting self, what healthy humility is in community and what the cure for the lack of humility and where it can be found.

In verses 2-3, ‘being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.’  Paul is talking about the church in Philippi.  This description is what a model community should be about.

We know within the Christian community there is conflict.  Paul addresses this subject of a lack of humility that is causing division, arguments within the church.  The church is not unique in all the churches who experience conflict.

Why is there conflict in the church?  There is something wrong with the human heart, and it is not plaque.

The heart is filled with selfish ambition, vain conceit, glory-hungry, empty of honor or glory, or respect.

We all have experienced emotions that don’t matter, we don’t count.  (Dust in the wind.)  We have a need to be known or have significance.

We have been shaped by sin more than God’s Word.  God created us to be with Him, to be known by Him, to be significant.

Lou Smedes says this is all pride, “Pride in the religious sense if an arrogant refusal to let God be God.  It is to grab God’s status for oneself.” 

We were created for eternity, but because we’ve walked away from God we now feel like we’re fading away.  Pride creates this fantasy of us at the center of the universe, and when reality doesn’t line up with the fantasy, we lash out.  We are subjected to anxiety attacks, constant fear, until we learn to bluster our way forward.  Pride, the hunger for glory and respect, is a need with no way to fill the hole.

Humility in Greek means gently, modest in the New Testament of the Bible.  But in Greek culture/ literature, humility is a derogatory term that describes a slave.  The Greco-Roman world valued strength, social stability based on fear.

The Bible uses the word humility 270 times in a positive way.

The Bible promotes humility.  Blessed are the meek (the humble); for they will inherit the earth.  “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  Matthew 11:29  Jesus is saying come to God humbly, with humility, and say, ‘Lord, I’m sorry for all I’ve done, I need your grace, and I have nothing, I have done nothing to curry favor with you, nothing to earn a right relationship with you, please adopt me into your family, because of Jesus’ sacrifice, repentance, faith, and it takes humility to be saved by grace through faith.

When there are differences, humility saves the day.  When there are differences without humility, there is strife and division.

God elevates the humble, think about Mary and Joseph.

Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man… It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.  Once the element of competition is gone, pride is gone.  ~C. S. Lewis

Humility means building others up, actively with courtesy, grace, politeness. 

Humility can offer advice, understanding, not looking for fault, understanding of the human condition with love and care.

Humility is building others up, looking for strengths in them, finding commonality, personality, team-work, looking for solutions that are a benefit to others.

I want you to have humility and be looking for ways to help others in need.

Paul says, to develop humility we need to have our attention, and our focus of love directed toward others in need.  The cure of pride is to focus on Jesus. 

What sets our hearts on fire is the focus of Jesus, how He became flesh, He made himself nothing in the eyes of the world to save us from our sins.

The way to rule is to serve.  The way to become happy is to seek the happiness of others.  Jesus emptied Himself so we could be full.  He made Himself small so that in God’s eyes we would loom large.

Philippians 2:7-8  “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave… He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death.”

The more you think about and focus on Jesus, the more you grow in Christ.  As we grow in Christ, the humility in our lives will become more like the Christ who spared us.

God bless, continue to look for people in need and allow Christ’s love to fill your heart in seeing others.