To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 1:24 “Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.”

One of the distinguishing marks of the Christian faith is the characteristic of humility.  The true believer in Jesus Christ is not impressed with his or her own goodness or righteousness. You don’t hear them speaking about how good they are and how upstanding. They are not like the world (or at least they shouldn’t be) that is constantly parading the message of self-love and self-exaltation.  Rather, they are in awe of God’s grace that’s been shown to them in spite of their own lack of goodness or righteousness. The believer has come to acknowledge that their own righteousness is worthless.  They are not like the Pharisee who prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” No, rather they are those who have the heart of the tax collector who prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:11-13). 

We see this in the apostle Paul.  Here was one uniquely called by God to be a leader of the New Testament Church. To Paul was given the responsibility of founding the nascent churches in Asia Minor.  To Paul, God gave the church through all generations 13 letters of the New Testament.  Yet, listen to Paul speak about himself as “the foremost of sinners” in his letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:15). And listen to these words as he writes to the church as Philippi: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:7-9). These are hardly words that one might expect to be written by a leader to his disciples, but that’s exactly what we have in the writings of Paul. 

We have this same humility expressed in the words above written to the church at Corinth.  Here was a church that had deep problems. Paul had written to them in very direct language in 1 Corinthians to confront the many sins that plagued them.  However, he neither wrote nor acted in a way of superiority over them. He didn’t view himself as a spiritual giant and he didn’t look down on them as below him in some way.  He tells them that he did not “lord it over their faith.” He wasn’t some cult leader that called people to allegiance to himself and himself alone, like a Jim Jones or a Joseph Smith.  No, he was one who saw himself as their fellow-worker, although he was certainly much more mature in the faith than they were.  He saw himself as one who was called to work with them for their joy.  He truly wanted what was best for them.  He acknowledged, “you stand firm in the faith.”  Here he acknowledges the same thing he had said to the church at Rome in these words: “Who are you (or we) to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:4). 

Paul knew that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11).  Because of this he would say “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). To anyone who was tempted to puff themselves up and to look down their nose at another believer, Paul would point us to the supreme example of humility that was demonstrated to us by Christ with these words: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).

What a beautiful thing this is.  What an example the Lord of Lords has set for us.  May God help us to follow this example of humility, the example that He – and great leaders like Paul – have laid down for us.  And may the Lord keep the following truth foremost in our mind as we interact with others: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). It’s an attitude that is so wonderfully expressed in words of the following song entitled “My Tribute,” sung so powerfully by Wintley Phipps (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iltoATb142M):

“How can I say thanks for the things
You have done for me?
Things so undeserved yet You gave
To prove Your love for me
The voices of a million angels
Could not express my gratitude
All that I am, and ever hope to be
I owe it all to Thee

“To God be the glory
To God be the glory
To God be the glory
For the things He has done
With His blood He has saved me
With His power He has raised me
To God be the glory
For the things He has done

“Just let me live my life and
Let it be pleasing Lord to Thee
And if I gain any praise
Let it go to Calvary
With His blood He has saved me
With His power He has raised me
To God be the glory
For the things He has done”