Transcription downloaded from https://sermonarchive.gfcbremen.com/sermons/100790/what-are-you-wearing/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Good morning. We've reached chapter 10 in our series on pleasing people.! And let me ask you in way of review, what is the root cause of people pleasing? [0:16] ! What is the sin that is behind all people pleasing? Pride. Now if pride is at the root of people pleasing, what do you suppose the only remedy for people pleasing is going to be? Or one of the only remedies for people pleasing? [0:38] Humility. Yes, humility. This morning you woke up and I see you all got dressed and it's Sunday so you tried to make yourself presentable. You put on your nicer clothes. But did you take time this morning to clothe yourself in humility? Turn to 1 Peter 5.5. 1 Peter 5.5. [1:06] It's going to be our launching point this morning. He begins the verse by talking to young men and ends it by talking to everyone. Really everyone in the whole world. 1 Peter 5.5. [1:23] Young men, in the same way, be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. [1:37] So, how often do you get dressed? Probably do it every day, don't you? And in the same way, every day, you need to get dressed and clothe yourself with humility. Now, you parents with younger children, and maybe you parents with older children can remember that in the beginning it's hard for children to get dressed, isn't it? They have a hard time with the buttons and getting their shirts over their heads. And my wife reminded me this morning on the way to church that one time she went to Walmart and the cashier noticed that anyone's blue jeans were on backwards. [2:16] And she had a zipper running up her backside. It's hard. It's hard at the beginning to figure all that out. And at first, clothing yourself with humility is going to be like that. It's going to be more difficult. But as you day by day, pray and consciously seek to put on humility, you'll find that it gets to be easy. None of you thought about buttoning up your shirts this morning or putting on your sweaters and your jackets. It comes naturally after a while. And with the Spirit's help, you can regularly clothe yourself with humility. And so begin to destroy the power of pleasing people, of being a people pleaser in your life. This morning we have two big points, two main points. And they're pretty simple. The first is why put on humility? Why put on humility? And then we're going to look at how you put on humility. So why and how? Why put on humility? Clothing yourself, like we just said in the beginning, with humility is hard. It's the exact opposite of what is naturally in my heart and in what is natural in your heart. [3:35] It's going to take a battle. It's going to take wrestling and striving to put on humility. So why should we do it? If the United States is going to go to war, the President has to convince the people that the war is worth fighting. And so we, in the same way, are going to need to be convinced that it's going to be worth it to put on humility. So we're going to try to answer the question, why is humility necessary? [4:05] Why is it such a good thing? First answer would be, we should put on humility because it's God's ordained path to honor. It's God's ordained path to honor. God's idea and Satan and the world's idea of how things should work are totally different. You know that. They're exact opposites. Satan thinks that through competition and a display of glory and power is the way to honor. But God says otherwise. [4:41] He says humility is the way to honor and condescension is the way to honor. We should be reminded that honor is a good thing. Honor is a good thing. To be thought well of is a good thing. Glory is a good thing. [4:57] And it's all about how you seek it that determines if you're a sinner or if you're a saint. Paul says in Romans 2, To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. [5:17] That's a statement that sort of puts a lot of our so-called Christian thinking on its head, doesn't it? To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. [5:30] And you mean, Paul, that if I don't seek glory and honor, that I won't have eternal life? And I think that's exactly what Paul is saying. Honor and glory are good things. [5:44] And you better pursue them. But if you pursue them the wrong way, it will be misery for you. Satan wants glory and honor. [5:55] And he will have misery. God wants glory and honor. The saints should want glory and honor. But because they pursue it by humility, they will have it. [6:08] In God's kingdom, the way up is the path down. The way up is the path down. Proverbs 15, 33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. [6:22] And before honor is humility. Christ was the servant of all. And so he is exalted above all. Paul and the apostles were considered the scum of the world, is what Paul said in one place. [6:36] The dregs of all things. But now who is honored among all men in God's eyes. Paul considered himself the least of the apostles and the worst of sinners. [6:49] And that's perhaps why God chose him to write 13 books of our Bible. And I don't say that to glorify Paul, but to illustrate that in God's kingdom, the way up is the path down. [7:03] This coin of humility has two sides. On the one side, it says the way to honor is humility. And on the other side, it says if you don't humble yourself, God will humble you. [7:21] And we should all know, and everyone should listen, one day you will be humbled. Some of you are not humbled now. Some of you don't know anything of the fear of God. [7:34] You walk throughout life without a thought of God. You do what you want. You think what you want. You're proud. [7:46] In all your thoughts, there's no room for God. You go to work, and you don't ask yourself, what does God think I should do here? How should I act here at work? Or you're at home, but you don't let God come into your home. [8:01] How you parent and how you obey your parents has no reference to God. You don't think about him when you're raising your children or how you spend your time and your money. [8:14] All those things are totally divorced from any idea about God. You've written a declaration of independence from God. Just as our founding fathers wrote a declaration of independence against King George and Great Britain, you have said, I will think what I want. [8:31] I'll do what I want. I'll live how I want. Maybe not in so many words, but all of your actions show that you don't care what God thinks. [8:42] And I'm here to tell you from the word of God that God has not accepted your declaration of independence. He hasn't accepted it. Over every inch of your life and every one of you, God has said, this is mine. [8:59] This is my work. This is my family. This is my home. This is my money. This is my life. This is my breath. This is my body. This is all mine. And you are still mine. [9:10] And you are going one way. And God is going the complete opposite way. So there's conflict. And the result of the conflict is that you will be humbled. [9:23] You will be humbled before God. God opposes the proud. And His arm is long. He is powerful. He can reach you wherever you are. [9:36] The stars were just the work of His fingertips. And He will humble you. And if you won't turn to God, God will turn you to Him. And if you won't bend your knee, God will break your knees. [9:50] One way or the other, all of you will confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's the word of God. And so we see that humility is not only the way to honor, it's the way to salvation. [10:07] It is the way to avoid destruction. One person said, and I don't know who it was, humility is the only sure defense against humiliation. [10:20] Humility is the only sure defense against humiliation. And if you turn and admit to God, God, I've been going my own way. I've been thinking my own thoughts. I haven't been thinking about you. [10:32] And if you ask God to forgive you for your sins, for Jesus' sake, only for His sake, God will listen and He will forgive. [10:43] Proverbs 28.13 He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. [10:54] Proverbs 28.13 And I want to talk to all the believers in here for a minute. You can't say to yourself, oh, that's the gospel again. [11:06] I don't need to hear that again. I'm already saved. I won't be humiliated. And I have to ask, is there no pride in your life that you have to run from? [11:16] God will oppose the proud even among His own people. It's a blanket statement that God opposes the proud. And God has ways of humiliating His own people so that they learn their lesson and so they learn not to be proud. [11:33] But the best way, the best way is to not have to learn it through the rod, but to do it voluntarily. We must all learn to put on humility. [11:46] So that's our first point. That was pretty quick. Our second point is how. How exactly do we clothe ourselves with humility? Or what will a humble person look like? [12:01] And how mechanically do we put on humility? We have three things to say about putting on humility. The first is that if you want to be humble, seek forgiveness and grant forgiveness. [12:14] Seek forgiveness and grant forgiveness. Turn to Colossians 3.12. Colossians 3.12. [12:26] And when someone arrives at the passage, can you read verses 12-14? Colossians 3.12-14. If someone would read that. Therefore, as God has chosen people, only in spirit and love, hold yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, carefulness and patience, prepare with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against them. [12:50] The Lord has given you and over all means for it to be the God of love, which is trying to fall together in the purpose. Thank you. Paul uses the idea of clothing ourselves in humility. [13:03] And he says, Clothe yourselves in humility. And then it naturally flows into an encouragement, a command to forgive one another. [13:14] Forgiveness. Humility expresses itself in forgiveness. Both seeking forgiveness and granting forgiveness. When we grant forgiveness, we show humility. [13:31] When our brother and sister steps on our toes and makes some careless comment, some hurtful statement, and it hurts us, it takes great humility to forgive that person. [13:44] And Paul here calls us to forgive as the Lord forgave you. Or in Ephesians 4.32, Paul says, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. [13:58] So let's think about how humble God is. The humility of God. When we were going astray, and our sin, we were sinning recklessly, we had no thought about God, and our sin was just piling up. [14:14] And our sin is like filthy rags. I talked about that last time I was teaching. And it's like a garbage dump that's just rising before God, and it stinks. [14:25] But God took the initiative to reconcile us to Him. He sent forth His Son as a goodwill ambassador to break down the wall that was dividing us from God. [14:38] Jesus dealt with our sin, and with our sin's penalty, so God could forgive us. Our Father was the offended party, and He took the initiative, and He sought to forgive. [14:55] And our God is humble. He's not standoffish at all. Pride says, let Him come to me. Let Him make things right with me. [15:05] He's the one that offended me. And maybe if He grovels at my feet, I will forgive Him. But until then, no way. No way. I'm not doing it. But look how Jesus paints a picture of Himself, and of God the Father, in the story of the prodigal son. [15:23] The son goes away, and he sins recklessly against the Father. And Jesus compares Himself to the Father. When He sees the Son coming down the road, the Father tears off, and His clothes are flapping behind Him. [15:37] He falls on His Son. He's embracing Him. He's crying over Him. Jesus has no dignity when it comes to forgiving sinners. He's not standoffish. [15:49] He's not waiting for you to grovel. He has no dignity when it comes to receiving sinners. There's no pride in our Lord's heart. [16:02] And Paul says, Now you forgive as the Lord forgave you. Willingly. Happily. So how's it going to be? [16:12] Next time someone here steps on your toes and hurts you and really sins against you, remember our Lord's humility in forgiving you, and then go and do likewise. Likewise. Granting forgiveness is humbling. [16:26] It's humble. But so is seeking forgiveness. Seeking forgiveness is probably what we usually think of when we think about humility. And it's probably one of the most humbling things that we do in the Christian life is when we send against someone to go and admit it and to ask for forgiveness. [16:47] And I know in my heart there's a real reluctance to do that. I would rather maintain the facade of being good. The facade of being good than actually being good. [16:58] Of actually doing the right thing. Asking for forgiveness is hard. Because it's putting the control, the power, of the relationship in the other person's hands. [17:12] Asking forgiveness from God is easy, isn't it? Because we know how He is. He is all loving. He's kind. And we know, He's encouraged us that He's going to forgive us. [17:25] But with other people, we don't have that same assurance. And probably for good reason. It's harder. I can't say it any better than what Priolo says. [17:36] So, listen to this long quote. He says, But confessing our sins to people against whom we've sinned, well, that's another matter. [17:47] They don't know exactly how messed up we are on the inside. They may not stand willing to forgive. If they're Christians, of course, they're supposed to forgive. But not every professing Christian does what he's supposed to do. [18:01] Besides, they may not forget. They may hold a grudge. They may use it against us sometime in the future. They may lose respect for us. [18:12] They may lose trust in us and not give us a chance to earn it back. Basically, they may reject us. That's why it's hard to seek forgiveness. [18:23] Because it's quite a risk. We don't know how that person will receive us. But humility will chance those things. Humility will be able to bear the loss of respect. [18:37] Humility is able to bear the idea that someone might continue to hold a grudge against us and continue to not really like us. Humility, in short, is willingly putting ourselves in the other person's hands and asking them to stand in judgment over us. [18:56] You see, humility is the opposite of pride. Pride wants to condemn and judge others. And humility is willing to be judged and go to the lower place. Now for a moment, or notice for a moment, that I've been saying asking for forgiveness and not saying, I'm sorry. [19:15] Do you know the difference? I think this is an important point if you don't know the difference. There is a subtle difference between asking for forgiveness and saying, I'm sorry. Asking for forgiveness is a lot harder and it's a lot better than saying, I'm sorry. [19:32] So let's imagine a conversation. One of you ladies sinned against your sister and you say, or she says, I'm sorry. And you say, I'm sorry too. [19:45] Now, let me ask you, has really anything happened? I mean, maybe something's happened, but not a whole lot. No one's really assumed the responsibility for reconciling, for coming to terms with the problem. [19:59] No one has sought the lower place. Let's imagine another scenario. Men, you're watching a football game and you're really into it. Maybe this happened yesterday. [20:10] You're watching the football game and somewhere out of the clear blue sky this undisembodied voice starts talking to you. And what is it? It's my wife. She's telling me something about the kids. [20:24] And, why, can't you see I'm watching the football game? And you keep watching the game and she goes away belittled and offended. [20:36] And a little while later the Holy Spirit, maybe like only the Holy Spirit can, pricks you in the heart. Or maybe your wife comes and confronts you only like your wife can confront you. [20:48] And you see, ah, I really messed up. I really sinned. You know that you've messed up. So now what? [20:58] Instead of saying, I'm sorry, which would probably receive the retort, yes, you are sorry. I have heard it a time or two, I think. [21:14] You say, will you please forgive me? Will you please forgive me? I sinned against you. I should have stopped watching the TV and turned off the TV and listened to you. [21:26] that was not the loving thing to do. You see the difference. Asking for forgiveness shows that you are sorry. And it puts the offended person in the position of power and authority. [21:43] You humble yourself and in humbling yourself, you actually unleash the power of God in weakness. Humility shows itself in granting forgiveness. [21:57] And because you do the humble thing, you have God on your side to reconcile and to bring the relationship back together. So, we must be moving on. [22:08] Humility shows itself in granting forgiveness and asking for forgiveness. clothing yourself in humility will involve esteeming others better than yourself. [22:21] Esteeming others better than yourself. Turn over to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2 verse 3 says this. [22:33] Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. [22:49] So, what's the opposite of humility in this passage? There's two things. What's the opposite of humility? It's right there. Selfish ambition! [23:02] And what's the other one? Vain conceit. What is selfish ambition? Ambition? What's selfish ambition? You tell me. What's good for me? [23:19] Selfish ambition. We talked about ambition last week, I think. It's a goal. It's an aim. Selfish ambition is seeking and doing things only for yourself. [23:31] Seeking and doing things only for yourself. What's vain conceit? Vain conceit. Thinking you're better than the other person. [23:45] Okay. That's good. Thinking you're better than the other person. What else? What's vain mean? Empty. [23:57] Worthless. Useless. Vain conceit is thinking empty, proud thoughts of yourself and thinking low thoughts of others. So humility is the opposite of selfish ambition and vain conceit. [24:09] It's thinking proper things about yourself and acting for the good of others as well as for your own good. And that kind of humility is rare. [24:20] Isn't it? It's a rare thing. There's few examples of it. The supreme example. And we're going to talk about Christ's example later. The supreme example is Christ. [24:31] Christ. But now look at verse 19. Skip down to verse 19. Paul is trying to encourage this sort of behavior, this attitude with the Philippians. [24:41] And he points out two examples and we're going to look at Timothy. Verse 19. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. [24:54] I have no one else like him who takes a genuine interest in your welfare for everyone looks out for his own interest, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. [25:13] I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see how things go with me and I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon. Paul looked around in his situation. [25:25] He's in prison and the Philippians need help they need someone there they need an example of humility and he looks around at the various people that are with him and he looks at Timothy and he thinks you know what there's no one like Timothy. [25:42] I have no one like him and I'm going to send Timothy to you soon. How remarkable Timothy's humility must have been. I mean that all the people that Paul had with him every now and then Paul would say there's no one like him. [25:57] Timothy looked out for the interest of Jesus Christ and the interest of others much more than his own interest. He really esteemed others better than himself and he showed it in the way he worked with Paul. [26:14] He said Paul says as a son with his father Timothy put himself under Paul's leadership and he listened and obeyed even after years of serving with Paul. [26:26] Timothy was humble. And so let me ask you to put on your thinking caps for a minute and help me answer this question. How can I in my thought life and in my life my outward life my the life I live how can I esteem others better than myself or to put it in a different way how is humility going to show itself in my relationship with others. [26:51] examples. How can you show humility towards others? Mark. It's just appreciation for small things and small things for you. [27:07] Right. Saying thanks when they've done something for you is humble. Priolo talks about when he was graduating from Bible college that they formed the line and everyone was shaking hands at the graduation ceremony and then he realized that his professors were congratulating him and it was his professors that had actually done a lot of the work to prepare him to graduate and so with that thought in mind he really could begin to say thank you for what they've done for him. [27:45] Saying thank you is one good way. How else? Yes. That's kind of the bottom line isn't it? [28:03] That when confronted between my interest and the interest of others I seek to do what is good for them. Is there anything else? [28:15] How about in our thought life? Just in the way we think about people we tend to not look face to face with them but when we're alone to think negatively I can't believe this person is this way or they did this thing and to put to death those sorts of thoughts so when we are face to face with them you're not thinking those things and putting on a false front and flatter anger or whatever else. [28:39] You're genuinely kind of that person. You can't explain those harsh thoughts. Right. Paul here says esteeming others or considering others better than yourself. [28:55] And that's a thinking thing isn't it? You actually think really think you know what they're better than I am in some way in many ways they're actually better than I am. [29:08] And that shouldn't be really hard because we don't know all that much about each other but we sure do know a lot about what's in our own hearts don't we? It should be really pretty easy to think wow that person probably doesn't struggle with these sins like I do in one sense. [29:28] It should be easy to think that others are better than ourselves. Here's what some of Priola says don't assume that others this is what kind of what Pastor Aaron says don't assume that others have exactly the same evil motives as you find in your own heart. [29:46] Love believes all things 1 Corinthians 13 7 humility will put the best interpretation on a person's actions as possible and that's one way that you can esteem others better than yourself. [29:58] You know your sinful motives but that doesn't mean that that other person is acting on sinful motives. Two look for those virtuous qualities in others that you know you are most in need of yourself then seek their help in acquiring those qualities those virtues. [30:18] Young ladies is there an older lady that you admire that her industry and her grace are beautiful and you want them then go and ask them to help you ask their advice ask them how how they live that's humble that's humility that's esteeming others better than yourself. [30:42] You're not saying you know what I know enough to be good I know enough and I don't need help but if you seek others help you're showing that you really are esteeming them better than yourself you're honoring them. [30:57] Three don't assume your time money energy thoughts and opinions are more valuable than your neighbors don't assume that your time money energy thoughts and opinions are more valuable than your neighbors and I think that's where the rubber meets the road is isn't it pride puffs us up in our own estimation we think my time is more valuable than your time my money is more valuable than your money and so let's say Saturday comes around and there's someone that needs moved a family that needs moved and you say you know I can't go and help them I really wish I could but I just don't have time the things that I'm doing are more important than helping them move or you know this guy has some good ideas but I just think my ideas are better and you don't even consider what they're saying or how many times do we talk and we're just talking to hear our own voice we like the things that we're saying but they're not necessary they're not good they're not useful how often do you interrupt others to interject your opinion into the conversation [32:06] James says be slow to speak and quick to listen don't interrupt listen to what they're saying don't just wait your turn you actually listen and that's esteeming others better than yourself for when making a decision consider not only how the decision will affect your own interest but also how it will affect the interest of others that's what Dave said five demonstrate your high estimation by commending them for those qualities that are biblically worthy of praise if you see something that is biblically worthy of praise it is alright to honor that person six pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ don't we all need to learn to pray for one another better I have no problem praying for myself I can pray earnestly I can pray frequently I can really wrestle in prayer for myself but do we pray earnestly frequently and really wrestle for others listen to what Paul says about [33:18] Epaphras in Colossians 412 Epaphras who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus sends greetings he is always wrestling and prayer for you that you may stand firm in all the will of God mature and fully assured and that's an admirable goal that we would actually be wrestlers for one another and if any of you know anything about wrestling and I'm not talking WWF wrestling wrestling is absolutely exhausting it's 9-12 minutes of activity and you are exhausted wrestling in prayer is one way that we can esteem others better than ourselves we can lay ourselves out and give our energy for praying so to clothe yourself in humility every day you must esteem others better than yourself and the last way to clothe yourself in humility that we're going to look at this morning is putting on the mind of Christ putting on the mind of Christ and I debated whether I should put this point first or last because without the mind of [34:26] Christ none of the things that we've talked about are going to be possible if you don't have Christ's thoughts you're not going to forgive you're not going to seek forgiveness if you're not thinking Christ's thoughts you're not going to pray you're not going to consider others better than yourself but we put it last Christ is the beginning and end of all things and he is the alpha and the omega of humility he's where it begins and he's where it ends you should have your Bibles open to Philippians 2 and if you don't turn there Philippians 2 and we read in verse 5 your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus or have the same mind or as one looser the contemporary English version says think the same way that Christ [35:29] Jesus thought think the same way that Christ Jesus thought humility in essence is thinking like Christ and how did Christ think what was his attitude well Paul tells us what his attitude is in the next verses I'm not going to read it he had the status he was God he had all the perks and all the glory of being God he didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped or held on to he didn't have to steal it because it was his but he was humble enough to give away that glory for our good he became a man he took on the form of a servant he became a slave and then he submitted to the most humiliating death that is possible a death without any dignity he was naked beaten jeered at and finally he was forsaken by everyone especially [36:37] God and Paul says this is how Christ thought now you think the same way well how can I begin to think that way that's not who I am that's not how I think I'm selfish and I'm proud and I like to take it easy I like to take it easy on myself so how can I start thinking like Christ thought and there's only one answer for a Christian there's only one way and that's meditation meditation putting on the mind of Christ thinking like Christ means meditating day and night on the word of God so in your hands or on your laps you have the word of God you have God's thoughts God's words you have Jesus Christ words Jesus Christ thoughts this is what Jesus thinks about you this is what [37:38] Jesus Christ thinks about others this is what Jesus Christ thinks about himself and about God and about the world and about everything this is the mind of Christ that you have in your hands and the only way to get the mind of Christ into your meditation if I had a bar of iron here pure iron do you know I could bend that bar of iron no problem probably any of you could did you know that pure iron is not strong it's flexible but when you put certain elements into iron it changes if you put manganese and tungsten and a little bit of carbon and you make it really hot and you purify it iron is transformed it becomes something that is useful that is powerful that strong that you can build buildings half a mile high or something very tall and now only the freakishly strong none of us the freakishly strong can bend meditation it works the same way you add something to your mind and you transform it and the more you meditate the more you become humble the more useful you become or [39:41] I have a cup of water here it's a nice 180 degrees perfect cup of hot water and I have a bag of tea So I put the tea in the cup of water and I take it out and I drink it what does it taste like it tastes like hot water but if I leave my tea bag in there and I stir it up and I leave it in there some more the water is transformed the water becomes tea and when we leave the word of God in our minds our minds are transformed and our heart begins to beat after Christ Jesus heart and we start thinking his thoughts after him and we start loving people like Jesus loved people we start acting humble and granting forgiveness we have the same attitude as Christ Jesus had he esteemed others better than himself we begin to want [40:42] God's glory we begin to not be a people pleaser anymore but to be a God pleaser and it's through meditation so Priola says if you want to put off pride and put on humility if you want to replace the love of man's approval with the love for God's approval then learn how to meditate on God's word so how do you meditate on God's word take smaller sections eat less those who read through the Bible in a year programs those are good but if that's all you're doing that's not good enough that's not going to help you have to answer or you have to think about how this passage your small passage applies to your life how does this passage apply to my life at work how does this passage apply to my relationship with my husband or wife what is this passage saying about my heart what is this passage saying about my [41:47] God do I need to obey this passage and how do I obey this passage does this passage have any encouragement for me any comfort that I can think about throughout my day that will change me and pray over it and if you don't know how to pray over it pray that you would know how to pray over the passage and you meditate on it and you think about it and you see that meditation is going to take time and you say I don't have time to meditate like that I don't have that much time and I ask do you need to change your priorities around maybe you do maybe the first things aren't first anymore and if there is no time in your day if you are really meditation then use the spare moments of your day to think about your passage that's what David meant when he said day and night I meditate on your law and that's what [42:48] James was talking about when he said do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves do what it says anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like but the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this not forgetting what he has heard but doing it he will be blessed in what he does it's like this you're gardening or you're working on your car or something and you have dirt and mud all over your face now what do you do you go into your bathroom and you grab a towel and you look in the mirror and you're like I'm covered in filth and you grab a towel and you walk out the bathroom and you rub yourself and you throw your towel away is your face going to be clean no what do you do well you turn the water on keep looking in the mirror until your face is clean and brothers and sisters we need to look into the mirror of [44:02] God's word and keep looking until we're humble until we're clean and you need to take your mirror with you you're going to take your pride with you everywhere you go you need to take your mirror with you and if you don't take it in your back pocket! [44:24] is the attitude that was in Christ Jesus the attitude that I have am I acting like Christ am I esteeming others better than myself and I need to forgive that person because Christ forgave me well may the spirit of God help us to clothe ourselves in humility so that we can free ourselves from the tyranny of being a people pleaser and humility is the only soil where the God pleaser is going to grow it's a rare flower and it's only in the soil of humility that we will be able to put to death people pleasing let's pray our heavenly father we ask that you would by the power of your spirit press your word into our hearts and transform us will we take our responsibility seriously to look into your word intently and to wash ourselves with the pure water of your word father forgive us for our pride we ask ask that you would give us grace to be humble and we ask this for [45:37] Jesus sake that he would have a holy and beautiful bride that is just for him and we ask that you would help us to love and adore and emulate him more and it's in his name I pray! [45:51] Amen! We're dismissed!