Proverbs - Wisdom for humility

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We are continuing our series in the Proverbs this morning, so if you've got your Bible there, you'll need that. Keep it open to Proverbs. We'll be jumping around a bit as we have been in the last few weeks as you've been following along. It's been a good series so far. We've discovered at the beginning true wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. We've had that healthy, helpful definition there, that fear being a profound reverence and awe towards God, coupled with a healthy awareness of the danger brought about by our sin. As we go through this book of Proverbs looking to find God's wisdom for living as disciples of Jesus, we've been hearing these two voices speak to us from the Proverbs. There's this voice of wisdom, and then there's the voice of folly or foolishness. I'd encourage you to listen out for those two voices as we go through this morning. We've looked at wisdom for families, for work, for money and finances. This morning we're going to be looking in or focusing in on some wisdom from the Lord for humility and looking at some of the warnings against arrogance and pride. That's where we're going this morning. What we're going to do is we're going to look at four lessons from the Lord about humility and pride. Then we're going to look practically towards the end of the message at some practical ways that we can cultivate humility. That's where we're going. Let's open in prayer. Lord God, we do just want to humble ourselves before you once more. As we open your word, we are thankful for it. Thankful that you are a God who speaks, who reveals, who desires to be known. Lord, we thank you for the way in which you've revealed yourself to us through your word. Speak to us, Lord, this morning. Give us ears to hear and hearts that are open to what it is that you would say to us this morning as we look at your wisdom for humility and your warnings for arrogance and pride. We thank you. We commit this time to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Back in 1974, the American country music singer, Mac Davis, had a hit song and this was the following lyrics of the chorus. Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror because I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me. I must be a hell of a man. Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doing the best that I can. Now, allegedly, apparently Mac wrote this song as a lighthearted look at how popularity and good looks could go to one's head. He was exaggerating for the purpose of entertainment and it's an older song. It's older than I am, but I think the warning that we read in those lyrics is still relevant. I think it's especially true in the culture in which we find ourselves in today, in Western culture, modern Western culture particularly. Our culture celebrates and champions the individual, whether that's individual talent, individual success, self-sufficiency, our own self-achievement, whatever it is, our culture seems to be driving us to see ourselves as the most important person. Our culture these days is increasingly concerned with popularity, money and fame. Growing up as a young boy, I'm not sure I knew anybody who wanted to be famous, but yet these days you ask any young person and a lot of them want to be a famous YouTuber or a social media influencer. It's a real goal for many young people today. In a 2023 survey of primary school aged children, 30% listed YouTuber as their top career goal. That was three times more kids that wanted to be a YouTuber than put astronaut. There was another survey of millennials, that's Gen Z. Those who were born between 1997 and 2012, that survey showed that 57% of millennials said they would become a social media or an influencer if the opportunity presented itself. They even have creator camps and after school programs that are being run to teach young people about video editing, about storyboarding, content creation, all so that they can pursue these dreams of being an influencer, of being famous. I find it interesting in all of this that the yardstick for success that our culture looks at, it's not the quality of the videos necessarily that are going up on YouTube or from these influencers, it's not the quality of the videos per se, but it's the number of followers the influencer can amass. Personal fame is the goal because that's what our culture values. Humility on the other hand, it's not valued at all in our culture, it's often seen as a threat to our self-worth and our identity. And friends, what we'll find in the Bible this morning is that can be a slippery slope towards arrogance and pride. And as disciples of Jesus, those who are seeking to live according to God's wisdom, we need to guard against this type of thinking. The Bible tells us quite clearly that arrogance and pride is the path of foolishness, it's the path of folly. We're going to look at a few proverbs that show us the link between arrogance and pride to fools, scoffers, and the wicked. So if you've got your Bible there, have a look at Proverbs chapter 30 verse 32. Again, we'll move fairly quickly, they'll all be on the screen. I do encourage you to follow along for yourself just to check that it says what it says. But if you miss any of that, the slides will be up on the web during the week, you'll be able to get those and go back over it for your notes. Proverbs 30, 32 says, if you've been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you've been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth. The link is clear, being exalting yourself, trying to lift yourself up, it's described as foolish. Turn a little bit earlier in Proverbs 21, 24. Scoffer is the name of the arrogant haughty man who acts with arrogant pride. In the book of Proverbs, we often hear one of the terms used for the fool is a scoffer. That's just somebody who mocks the truth. And here in this proverb, we see the reason why they're so prone to mocking the truth. It's because they think they know better. They're full of arrogant pride. Proverbs 21, 24. Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked are sin. Haughty person is someone who thinks that they're above others. They look down on others as being beneath them or inferior in some way. They're usually unwilling to learn from God or from others. Because why would they? I mean, what can other people teach them that they don't already know? That's the arrogant attitude of superiority and disdain towards others and oftentimes towards God as well. And the Bible says this type of person is wicked. It's a sin to go about your life with the lamp or the light by which you illuminate and see things. Essentially, it's talking about a person's worldview and the worldview that's marked by wickedness and sin is a worldview that's seen through the eyes of haughty eyes and a proud heart. We need to have nothing to do with pride and arrogance for it's the path to foolishness, mocking and sin. Came across a helpful quote from John Stott. He warns us that at every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend. We need to beware the foolishness of pride. The second lesson we can learn this morning in the Proverbs is that God hates arrogance and pride and he will punish it. Have a look at Proverbs 16 verse 5. Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured he will not go unpunished. That word abomination is a word we might not use much in everyday conversations these days but it describes something that's offensive, detestable or awful. Something that's so offensive and so awful you just want it as far away from you as possible. Friends, Proverbs tells us this is what an arrogant heart is like to God. It's supremely offensive to him. When you think about it you can understand why that would be the case. If God is the only truly exalted one, think about it. God is above all things. He's before all things. He created all things. He holds all things together. He created us in his image. Not to compete with him for glory, but to reflect him and to reflect his glory. God said through the prophet Isaiah in chapter 48 verse 11, how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. God is righteously jealous for his own glory. Therefore when we as created beings created by God to be dependent on him to reflect his glory, when we as created beings turn the mirror back on ourselves and revel in our own glory, it's a complete distortion of the purpose for which we were created. To reflect God and reflect his glory. It's highly offensive to God. It's why he detests it, but Proverbs says he doesn't just detest it, doesn't just hate it. He's going to deal with it. Proverbs 16 verse 18, before a pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. You might have heard that saying a pride comes before a fall, wisdom saying it. This is where it comes from, from God's wisdom. But notice that it says more than just pride comes before a fall. It's more serious than just tripping or falling down. Pride goes before destruction. There's a real danger here. The fall that we're being warned about is now being destroyed. Pride doesn't work. It leads to destruction. If you try and exalt yourself and lift yourself up, you just end up going in the opposite direction in the end. It might not seem like it right now. You might still seem to get the accolades and get the honor, but in the end it leads to destruction. You might be familiar with that Greek legend of Icarus, the one who had the wings made of wax. His father made them both some wings of wax, and Icarus tried to fly to the sun against the advice of his dad, and the story goes that he flew too high, his wings melted, and he crashed and burned. It's a legend. It's a myth. But it's what happens with arrogance and pride. It leads to overconfidence. It leads us to reject wise advice. It ultimately leads to destruction. There's a reason for that, as we'll discover in the next few Proverbs, Proverbs 15-25. The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but maintains the widow's boundaries. In the Bible, God is always pictured as having a genuine concern for those who are truly vulnerable in society. Those who are poor, those who are widows, those who are orphans and strangers. God is always deeply concerned for these ones. But what we find in the Scriptures and what we see in the Proverb we just read, God is consistently pictured in the Bible as being actively opposed to those who are arrogant and proud. You can see that in some more Proverbs that'll be on the screen there. Proverbs 11-2, 18-12, 28-13. When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. Proverbs 18-12, before destruction a man's heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. Proverbs 28-13, whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. It's clear, isn't it? That last Proverb, Proverbs 28-13, it points to a key moment in our lives when pride often shows up, or at least when we might become aware of the pride that's hiding in our heart. It's in those moments in life when we recognize that we've done something wrong, when we find ourselves concealing our sin, because we don't want anyone to find out. Often that's driven by pride. We don't want people to think less of us, that's the thinking there. And it's a prideful thought that causes us to conceal and to hide. It's quite the opposite of the Apostle Paul's thinking if you remember in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul, as he wrote this letter to the church, he was more concerned that they were going to think more highly of him than they ought. And so he kind of had that posture of humility as he wrote to them. It's not the posture we normally take. We're often more likely to worry about people thinking less of us than we think they should. That's what motivates us to cover our sin, to conceal it and keep it hidden. We need to be aware of the foolish and destructive path of pride, because the Bible says it doesn't work. It leads to destruction and to not prospering. Proverbs 29, 23. One's pride will bring him low, but he who's lowly in spirit will obtain honor. You try and be high and lifted up. You try and exalt yourself. The Bible says pride's always going to be a path to failure, to destruction. It's not going to work. And the reason it's not going to work is because the creator of the universe, Almighty Living God, the one who's truly deserving of all the glory, he's going to be actively opposed to any competition. He's against the proud. There's heaps of examples of that in the scriptures. We're not going to go in huge detail with them this morning. We don't have time for that. But I'd encourage you if you're interested this week, and check out Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter four. He was this great king of Babylon, this mighty empire that had conquered Egypt, Israel, and the surrounding nations at that point in history. God gives Nebuchadnezzar this warning in a dream about his pride and what will happen if he continued along this foolish path. And yet, surely enough, even after receiving this warning and having Daniel interpret that warning for him, only a year after receiving that warning, Nebuchadnezzar's walking on the roof of his palace. And instead of humbling himself before the Lord, he looks at all of his achievements and he trusted entirely in them. He trusted in himself. And the punishment which had been foretold in the dream came to pass. He tried to exalt himself and he was brought low. He read in Acts chapter 12 of that King Herod. He had the same arrogant and proud spirit as Nebuchadnezzar. Towards the end of Acts chapter 12, Herod gives this speech in a town in Caesarea. We don't have the words to the speech. They're not recorded for us. Luke doesn't give them to us. But we read the crowd's response to the speech. Herod gives this speech and the crowd sings out, this is the voice of a God, not the voice of a man. Once again, we see God bringing low those who try and exalt themselves. Because Herod didn't correct the people. He didn't reject that praise of them calling him a God. Luke tells us that immediately because Herod didn't give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down. He was eaten by worms and he died. There's many more examples. You could probably think of some more maybe in your own quiet time. Lucifer, Haman, the builders of the tower of Babel. So many examples in the scriptures. All of them showing us this truth. God hates arrogance and pride and he will punish it. Third lesson this morning. Humility is shaped by the fear of the Lord. It begins like wisdom and knowledge with right thinking about God, right thoughts about who God is and right thoughts about who we are in light of God. The reward for true humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life. Humility and fear of the Lord are listed as two core values for those who would seek to walk the path of wisdom. We can see that in Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 to 8 as well. While humility is not mentioned explicitly in these verses, I think we can see a posture of humility described there. In Proverbs 3 verse 5 we see that humility is placing our confidence in God. It's trusting him with all that we have and with all that we are, with all of our heart. In verse 6 the posture of humility means being willing to submit all our ways to God. That means there's nothing that's off-limit to him. There's nothing that we hold back from being under his rule or reign. Nothing that God's not fit to rearrange means that we're prepared and willing to seek out the straight paths that he's marked out for us in his word. Notice the opposite of humility in Proverbs 3 verse 5. We see the opposite of humility as not putting our confidence in God but placing it in ourselves. The opposite of seeking God's wisdom in verse 7 is to be wise in our own eyes. You think about that verse being wise in your own eyes. It reminds you a bit of what we read through the book of Judges if you're familiar with your Bible history. Throughout the book of Judges time and time again there's this arrogance of our pride, the opposite of humility as people just did whatever they thought was best in their own eyes. The end of the book of Judges we read these words. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. We see why they did that as we look at these Proverbs this morning. They did that because they were trusting themselves, leaning on their own wisdom, following this foolish path of pride instead of trusting God and leaning on his wisdom. That's the problem with pride. It's born out of a wrong view of God and a wrong view of ourselves in light of him. Pride says I'm big and God is small. I don't need anyone to tell me what to do or how to live. I'm big enough and wise enough to live life my own way. Humility on the other hand says God is big and I am small and I am wholly dependent on him. Those who, with humble fear, God and shun evil, we learn to lean on God's wisdom. That's what the Proverbs is telling us this morning. We adopt this posture of dependence on God and friends it's always going to be the better way. Proverbs 3 verse 8 says it brings health to our bodies and nourishment to our bones. It leads us to flourish in life because this is what we've been created for, to be in right relationship with our God, to reflect his glory. The fourth lesson we want to look at this morning is that the path of humility is always better in every way. Proverbs 3 verse 34 says towards the scorners he, God, is scornful but to the humble he gives favor. It's grace. Just as God is opposed to the proud and will deal with it, God shows grace to the humble. This is so good because it helps us to see the heart of God. If you think about it, it makes sense that God is opposed to the proud because he's the only truly exalted one. It makes sense that he would be against those who want to take his glory. God could rightfully look at us if we're humble and he has, if we've got that right view of God as God being big and us being small, because God is who he is, he could rightly look at us even in our humility and dependence on him and God could look at that and just go, great, good. That's how it should be. But he doesn't just do that. He goes beyond. He gives us grace. When God recognizes someone who is humble before him, someone who recognizes his glory, who knows he's big and that they're small, when God sees someone who's humbly dependent on him, his heart of grace is drawn towards that person. And the Bible says he gives favor, grace and mercy. He lifts us up. It's so good. We read earlier in Proverbs 18, 12, Proverbs 22 and Proverbs 29, but there were elements of that grace that he gives in those verses as well. They'll be back up on the screen there. Proverbs 18, 12, humility comes before honor. Or Proverbs 22, 4, the reward for humility is riches and honor and life. Proverbs 29, 23, he who's lowly in spirit will obtain honor. Humility is the only path to true greatness, because God in his grace ensures that the humble are honored and find favor. I think that's just so cool. So amazing. God doesn't have to give us a reward for humility and fearing him. There should be our default position, but God is so good. We recognize that the Bible says God rewards those who are humble before him. The path of humility is always better than the foolishness of arrogance and pride. Pride tries to grab honor by lifting yourself up. And the Proverbs say, it just gets knocked down. Humility says, I'm content with being low and dependent on God. And the Proverbs say that leads to our finding honor and grace, as we reflect the glory of God. Friends, that's the better way, the path of humility, the path of wisdom. Proverbs 12, 9 says that it's better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than to pretend to be somebody and have no food. Proverbs 16, 19 says it's better to be lowly in spirit with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. It's so much the better way, the Proverbs are saying, that it's actually better to be humble and poor than it is to divide up wealth and spoil with the proud. Four lessons, arrogance and pride is the way of foolishness and sin. God hates pride, he'll deal with it. Humility is shaped by the fear of the Lord and the path of humility is always better in every way. That's our lessons from the Proverbs. But practically, how do we cultivate humility in our lives? We want to be obedient to God if we want to walk the path of wisdom. How can we cultivate that? What is that going to look like practically for us as disciples? Well, just quickly, there's a few ways I think we could think about that. Maybe you can think of some more. But I think it begins by us following Christ's example. Philippians chapter two tells us that, says to 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 others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. We know that mindset, don't we? Jesus is that classic example of humility. Even though he is God, even though he's objectively greater than any of us by far, he lowered himself down. He became like us. He humbled himself, took on humanity, and then willingly went to his death. Not just a death, but a shameful criminal's death on a cross. This is a man who'd committed no crime. He was innocent, and yet he willingly laid down his life for us so that we might live. That's the grace of the gospel. That's the good news that Jesus took the punishment for our sin so that we could be restored to right relationship with the God who made us. Friends, in all of this, Jesus had the posture of humility. He considered us more important than himself, and we're encouraged to follow Christ's example. That's one way that we can cultivate humility. Read about the life of Jesus. Look at what he said, what he did, and emulate it. Follow as disciples of Jesus. Second way we could cultivate humility would be to be willing to take the lowest spot. Proverbs 25 verses 6 to 7 says, do not exalt yourself in the King's presence. Do not claim a place among his great men. It is better for him to say to you, come up here than for him to humiliate you before his nobles. It's a similar lesson to the one that Jesus would tell by way of a parable in Luke chapter 14. If you've got your Bible there, open up to Luke chapter 14 verses 8 to 11. Luke 14, 8 to 11. Jesus is at a Pharisee's house, a prominent Pharisee's house for a meal, and he's noticing how the guests are taking all the good seats for themselves. And so Jesus tells them this parable in Luke 14 verse 8. He says, when someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor. For a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come to you and say, give this person your seat, and then humiliate it. You'll have to take the lowest place. But when you're invited, take the lowest place so that when the host comes, he'll say to your friend, move up to a better place, then you'll be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Jesus is reiterating for us here the truth that we've discovered in the Proverbs this morning. This is what it looks like in practice to walk the path of humility. And that can be a little bit hard for us, I think, at times to read a proverb like that, to read a parable like that, because we don't get too many invites to important people's homes for lunch. I don't know about you, I don't. It doesn't happen that way. I've never been asked to go to the King's Court. I just don't know what that looks like. I'm trying to think about this in a more modern setting. What would this look like? What's the heart of what's being said here? I was thinking, maybe what about at work? If you're on your lunch break or something, and you see your boss sitting over there on their own, and you've been wanting to ask your boss about a promotion, or you've got this business idea that you think would be good for the business that you want to share, you could go up and sit next to the boss, just assume that the seat's free, that he has the time without checking. But what could happen is he could say, well, hold on Dave, I'm waiting for somebody, I'm about to have a meeting, can I catch up with you later? And you could be humbled in that way. Maybe instead of just assuming that it's free and the boss has the time, you go up and ask, or maybe sit at the table next to him, and maybe the boss sees you and says, oh, hey, come and join me for lunch. And then it's a different story. You could think of maybe better scenarios that are relevant to your life, for your situation, scenarios where you're faced with a choice to take the best for yourself, or to humble and lower yourself, and see what God might do. Friends choosing to take the lowest position can be a powerful way of showing love and concern for others, leaving the best for someone else. It can be a real way of showing love and care. I was trying to think about some practical examples about our meeting together on a Sunday, because we're a family here, we're a family of faith that means together here on a Sunday. What does it look like in our family to take the lower position? Maybe if you're young and healthy, it could mean parking further away from the entrance on Sundays, so that those who have mobility issues, those who aren't as healthy, might be able to get a space closer to the door. Maybe it could mean sitting towards the front in the auditorium, even if it's not your preferred location. That way, leave some seats free up the back for those with young families, or those who might be running late, those who struggle to walk all the way down the aisles towards the front of the room. It could mean thinking graciously about our little ones in our services. We've got a great family across all the ages in our church family, got little ones here. And from time to time, they're not as good as us, as being quiet, as sitting still, and they can make noise, and it could be distracting when they go out to kids church and come back in, or after the service, it can be hectic with them running around and playing with their friends. Cultivating humility by taking the lower position could be being willing to not see these little ones as a nuisance or a distraction, but rather an important part of our church family. What a privilege it is that we've got little ones that we can teach and point to Jesus as we seek to follow Christ's example of thinking of others more than ourselves. We could take the lower spot when we notice a new family or someone we don't recognize by name, whether that's before the service or afterwards at the morning tea. We could cultivate humility by attending to the new persons need to be welcomed and connected instead of our desire to connect with those friends that we know better and are easier to talk to. Maybe that's a way that we could cultivate humility together. You'll have many opportunities on any given day, not just Sundays. The challenge is to think about where can we choose to not take the best for ourselves, but to take the lower position so that we can reflect God's glory and cultivate humility in our lives. Third way we can cultivate humility is to practice thankfulness. We can thank God often and always. 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 to 18 tells us to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, to give thanks in all circumstances, actively thanking the Lord for his work in your life, for the ways that you experience his goodness. This can be a really great antidote for pride. Generally, I think we're pretty good at thanking those of us in our lives that help us out, those that are a blessing to us. Most of us are pretty good at thanking those people that God has put in our lives. I think that sometimes we need to be reminded to thank God for those people. He's the one that's blessed us. Bible tells us he gives every good thing. So if somebody's in your life and they're a blessing to you, thank the Lord for them. Yeah, that can be a way of cultivating thankfulness. If you struggle to think about how to feel thankful, maybe just start with one thing each day to be thankful for. It could be that you've got enough food or for the weather, something that happened in your discipleship group this week. You could thank God after you visit with somebody or somebody visits with you for one thing that was encouraging about that visit. You think about your friend, your kids, your husband or your wife. Think about the things that you're thankful to God for them. God-centered thankfulness helps us grow in humility and it stops pride from growing. So we need to cultivate and practice thankfulness. The fourth way we can confess our sins regularly, keeping short accounts with God. The Bible encourages us in that way in 1 John 1, 8 to 9. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confession is a really good reality check because it reminds us who we are. It reminds us that we need God's grace. It helps to keep us from feeling proud because we're reminded of our greatest need, salvation. Reminded of God's grace to us, his forgiveness that gives us peace and security. We need to confess regularly to the Lord. Number five, how we could cultivate humility is learn to listen well, both to God and to others. I think that's a really helpful way to cultivate humility. Proverbs 18, 12 to 13, we read verse 12 earlier, but verse 13, Proverbs 18, 13 says, if one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. It's a proud and haughty heart that jumps in and answers before taking time to listen. Maybe you've had those telemarketing calls where they're just 100 mile an hour, they just want to sell you something or convince you of something and they don't listen. I had one a while back where it was telling me something about what's wrong with my Windows computer and I'm telling the guy which one, which one. I don't have Windows computers at home, but he didn't listen. He just wanted to make the sale or do the scam or whatever it was. I could tell he didn't care by the way that he didn't listen and it quickly closed the door to that relationship. In our relationships with our friends, with our family, with those God places in front of us, if we jump in without listening, it can close the door to those relationships as well. And so we need to cultivate a posture of humility by listening before we speak. And same with God, we need to listen to God's word and apply it to our lives. Proverbs 10.8 says, the wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin. Proverbs 13.13, whoever scorns instruction will pay for it. Whoever respects the command is rewarded. We need to listen well to God and to others. Finally, we need to make sure that we don't sing our own praise. That's probably a big one in how we cultivate humility. Proverbs 27 says, let another praise you, not your own mouth, a stranger and not your own lips. If you do something good, don't tell everybody about it. Leave that to others. Let someone else say something if something needs to be said. Leave your reputation to others. Proverbs 27.21 says, the crucible is for silver, the furnace is for gold, a man is tested by his praise. It can be a test of a person's character, not what they say about themselves, but what do others say about them? These days it's easy to blow our own trumpet. Social media makes it not only easy, it makes it acceptable. It's completely acceptable to brag about ourselves online, whether it be with a picture or a quick, quick, real, some clever words about all the great things that we've done today. As long as we put that hashtag blessed or hashtag thankful, it can be totally acceptable to say how awesome we are, but that's wrong. It's not the way. We've become our own PR departments and that's not the way of wisdom. If social media is not your thing, maybe you've had that experience when you've done something and no one notices and deep down you've got that inner urge to kind of slip it out in conversation or just to let somebody know that happened, friends, beware. All of that is pride trying to win in our hearts and it's the path of foolishness. We don't want to let it win. Humility says, I'm okay to be low. I'm okay to go unnoticed. I don't need anyone to know how kind or generous I've been to others. I'm okay if only God knows, because I'm trusting in Jesus that He will see it and reward me for my faithfulness, because that's what God's called us to be, is faithful. Jesus taught in Matthew six, verses one to four, be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you'll have no reward from your father in heaven. When you give to the needy, don't announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be honored by others. Truly, I tell you, they've received their reward in full. When you give to the needy, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret. Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. If we want to cultivate humility as disciples of Jesus, we need to try and not build up our own reputation, not try and manufacture it so that others notice. We've just got to be content with simply seeking to be faithful to God. If others happen to notice and you've got the reputation gets out, let it be their words and not yours, because that's the path of wisdom. Friends, it's a challenge to my own heart. Now, I'm sure it's a challenge to yours as well, too. We want to have this posture of humility before God, because that is the way to wisdom. Let's pray. Father God, we just come before you this morning. Thankful for your word to us. Thank you. Thankful for your wisdom, which teaches us the right way to live. Lord, would you humble us this morning? Help us to see so clearly that you are big and that we are small. Help us to see the foolishness of arrogance and pride. Help us to see that humility is the better way. Lord, would you help us to cultivate wisdom as we seek to live as obedient disciples of Jesus? We pray that in Jesus' name. Amen.