Humility Provides Us with the Blessings of a Deeper Relationship with God and Man!

Right on Thursday evening, April 18th, we are going to be having a very special meeting.

Very special meeting. It's unique. Totally unique. Because it's by invitation only. Not everybody can come. You've got to be invited. And you've got to be invited by God. Not only have you to be invited, but you've got to accept that invitation. Plenty of people have been invited, and not everyone accepts the invitation. But we're having a special meeting here. We'll be having a special meeting in Beloit. We'll be having special meetings all around the world on that very special evening of April the 18th, as that comes to the various peoples around the world. This meeting is for the baptized members of God's church. It's a special meeting of God's family. Once a year, God's family convenes, those who got the health to do so, in this meeting to celebrate the Passover.

And as you're well aware, the Passover is the most solemn occasion of the year. It's solemn because we are reflecting on the painful suffering and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But it's encouraging. It's encouraging because we also understand that Christ's victory had victory over sin and death in our place. So as I was thinking about preparing the congregation for Passover this year, I was thinking about the tremendous blessings that we have in the Passover service. Over the years, I've approached Passover in a number of different ways. Never this way. This is something that is a new way of thinking, not way of thinking, but a new approach for me in terms of getting a congregation ready for the Passover. Because I want to get myself ready for the Passover as well. Think about the blessing of all that Passover represents. The annual reminder that God has given to us of His unconditional love for you and I. Unconditional love. Truly a tremendous blessing there. We come together on Passover evening to express our faith in the Reconciling Death of Jesus Christ. We come together to renew our commitment to live the way Christ would have us to live, to allow Him to live in us, each and every one of us. Now, as you're well aware, as you've been going to the Passover services year in and year out, there are three major portions of the service. The first thing we do is we read some scriptures and then we get into John 13. John 13 talks about the washing of feet. And we'll discuss that on Passover evening. I'll be here with you this year in Chicago. But over the years, I've taken a look at John 13 and I've gone through all the various verses and expounded and explained. But there's one verse I think over the course of time I've not done due justice to. Let's take a look at John 13. John 13. John 13. And verse 17. John 13. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. If you know them, you are blessed. Now, typically, I have read that. I've made a couple of comments or two over the years, but I've never taken the time to really examine that the way I should have. Maybe you have. I'm glad that you have. But today we're going to take a look at that verse. And I was looking at the expositor's Bible commentary regarding John 13. And it says this, and I quote, Jesus portrayed for them the true nature of Christian living, serving one another. And for those who would be willing to take this role on themselves, Jesus said there would be blessings.

Jesus said there would be blessings. My theme for today's sermon, for those of you who like to take notes, if you want to write something across the top of your paper, would be this. Humility provides us the blessings of a deeper relationship with God and man. Humility provides us the blessings of a deeper relationship with God and man. And we're going to look at a number of tremendous blessings when you and I have a foot washing frame of mind. A point of view. Let's begin our discussion by turning to Isaiah 66.

Isaiah 66, verse 1 and 2.

Verse 1, Thus as the LORD, heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool, where is the house that ye will build me? Where is the place of my rest? For all those things my hand is made, and all those things that exist, says the LORD, but on this one will I look, on him who is of a poor and a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

One of the first blessings that I want to discuss with you regarding this very first point. My first point in this sermon is this. I've given you the overall theme. I want to break that down just a little bit. Point number one. Humility provides us with the blessing of a deeper relationship with God. Humility provides us with the blessing of a deeper relationship with God. Point number two is going to be talking about man, but let's stay with point one right now. Here we see a tremendous blessing that we are looked upon by the great God with favor. Brethren, that is a tremendous blessing. A tremendous blessing that comes to those that it says here, who is of a poor and contrite spirit, and who tremble at my word. Those who have a foot-washing frame of mind. Brethren, think on it. Here we've got the great God, the majestic, the powerful God of the universe. The mind that designed everything, who not only designed it, created it, sustains it, gives law and life to it. Now, when we think about that kind of a mind, and we think about our mind, what is it that you and I have created in our mind? Let's forget about bringing to fruition, in terms of just the thought, in terms of just the blueprints. What original thing have we ever come up with in our life? Absolutely nothing. Everything we think, there's something that went before. There's a blueprint. There's something we've seen. There's something we can play off of. But with God, in Jesus Christ, the canvas was blank. The canvas was blank, talking about such a brilliant mind, in that brilliant mind, who's running the entirety of this universe, keeping the sun burning, keeping every breath of air coming in and out of your body, all the microbial life on this planet, making sure they're living and they're doing their thing. All this going on, He has time for you, and He has time for me. How many of us, probably everybody in this room, at some point in our lives, were so busy, somebody came up to us, wanted a piece of our time, and we said, uh, not now! Can you come back in five minutes? Can you come back in an hour? Can you come back tomorrow? And yet, our Father, who's running the whole universe, is delighted when you get on your knees and you pray to Him, and you ask, Father, I need some help. Should I paint the front room blue or green?

He delights, you know, so many times in the world, not every case, but so many times people who are bright, and no one's bright like God. But so many times when you've got somebody with a really high IQ, they kind of look down their nose on the average Joe, the average Jane, don't want to be bothered with someone who just has their same mental firepower, and yet our Father looks upon us with favor as we have a foot-washing attitude. He delights in us coming with those little itty-bitty questions that are almost nothing, but because they're meaningful to us. They're meaningful to Him.

So the foot-washing attitude gives us a tremendous favor with this God, with the brilliant mind, but also with a universe, a heart that is just unbelievably big. God is not just a cerebral God, He's a God of passion. He's a God who loves us. He looks upon us with favor.

And for us to have a foot-washing frame of mind is healthy for us. It's a blessing for us. We don't get too big in our britches, so to speak. We realize we're just so much clay. And so when we look at the Passover service and we see that foot-washing, we understand it's about humility. And how many sermons have you heard about humility? What it is, how to get there.

But I can't remember many sermons I've heard where it talks about the blessings of humility.

And we are such a blessed people as we think about what God has for us. That's why He's given us the Passover the way He has. It's a tremendous blessing for us. It gives us a deeper relationship with Him. Let's take a look at another blessing. This one is found in Psalm 8.

Psalm 8.

Verse 3 and 4. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, again, this entire universe, and again, God names all the stars by name. You know, just doing that would probably, I don't know what would happen to our laptops, our laptops after a while couldn't take all the information. And yet, God names all these stars that go on forever. When I consider your heavens, and the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of Him, or the Son of man that you visit Him?

So kind of drilling down on that first blessing that we are looked upon with favor, great favor, by our tremendous God. A second blessing is that we are highly valued by our great God.

He doesn't say, well, they're just so much clay and that's all they will ever be.

He understands we're clay. He understands we're weak. He understands we've got our issues. He understands our need for a Savior. But He also understands that He's created us for something else. He's creating a family, a family of God beings. He understands our value. And you know, that's a tremendous blessing as we have a humble frame of mind and we look to God appropriately to realize that we're not just nothing. Yes, we understand 1 Corinthians chapter 1. God calls the weak of the world for the most part. But God doesn't want us to stay there, does He? He wants us to move on. God doesn't want us to go through life thinking we are worthless, that we are inferior.

And you know, people make really good money today by going to see professionals who will tell them that they're not worthless, that they're not inferior. And yet we have in God's Word so many different scriptures where our great Heavenly Father talks about how much He values us.

Again, He's not too busy running a universe that He can't answer a prayer.

One of the prayers I had this week is I was praying for a certain particular thing.

I said, Father, I really need this. I really need it right now.

And before the day was out, I got it. And I'm sure that has happened to you.

It wasn't anything big or financial or, in one sense, earth-shaking, but it was something that I personally needed. I said, Father, I'd really like to have this. You know, it's up to you whether you want to present that to me or not. But I really, at this point in my life, I really could use this.

And before the day was out, I had it. God wasn't so busy running a universe He couldn't answer a little tiny prayer of Randy Delosandro. And the same thing is true for you.

He values us. We're His kids. We're His kids. Think about the love you have for your children, your grandchildren. Think about, you know, you are people of intellect. You know, you have little babies that are grandkids or little ones. They don't have the intellect you do, but do you love them the less because they can't talk math to you? Because they can't talk about what pie is. We're not talking about the pie you eat or some sort of, you know, scientific discussion. You know, when you see them, they smile at you. When I see my little grandkids and they smile, smile to me, it melts your heart. And when you're praying to God, it melts His heart. And the reason His heart is melted is because you have a Passover foot-washing frame of mind. He knows you're on track. He understands you're going to be there in the Kingdom and join the Kingdom with Him.

Take a look at another blessing we have from our God over here in 2 Corinthians 12.

We've quoted this any number of times. Another blessing here in 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7. And lest I should be exalted above measure, lest I be arrogant, he says, by the abundance of the revelations a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. So God gave Paul the gift of being humbled.

Many of us in this room have been given the gift of being humbled physically.

As I was thinking about this portion of the sermon, I started to listen to my notes here.

You know, when I was a young adult going through college, I felt I was indestructible.

I was foolish in thinking that. But you know, I was living in a dormitory for four years in the bedroom I would be in in one of those four years. There were either three or four other people. So there were four or five people in each of the bedrooms I would be in those four years. And all through the height of my college years, there were a number of times where everybody was sick as dogs in that bedroom, throwing up, having diarrhea, both together, being just awful. And you know, I went through four years and never got sick. And it wasn't that I went to work sick or went to class sick. I just didn't get sick. Then I had kids. You know how that goes.

And they go out and they play with the other little kids, and they bring home who knows what, and you've got plague. And it just seems it goes from family member to family member. And I started missing all kinds of work and stuff. And then you get into the older years in your life, but they call the golden years. They call them the golden years because you get the doctors and the dentist all your gold. Right? So I was cataloging. I said, okay, now, first thing of consequence is when I was pastoring in Tennessee, there were several times as I was driving down the road, I almost passed out. And I don't know why. I was really concerned about that. And my cardiologist says, certainly not your heart. And then they thought, well, maybe it's your head. And Randy, you've got to have your head examined. People still say that to this day. But I went in for an MRI. How many of you have had MRIs? You know, right? They wanted to scan my brain. They wanted to, they wondered if I had a tumor or something in there. And so they put you on this table. They strapped my head down so I could not move my head at all. They stick you in this tube. And my arms, the sides of the machine went against my arms. And the top of that was no more than about a half inch from my nose. Now that's fun for somebody who battles claustrophobia.

And they give you a little button, a panic button. And if you can't take it, they can pull you back out, give you a shot, knock you out, and stuff you back in there.

Well, I thought, well, I didn't wear my pink underwear today, so I'm going to be a man here.

Stuff me back in there and give me the panic button. Then I, you know, I was in there for 55 minutes, and they start the machine. It sounds like someone's running a jackhammer right next to your ear. And so here I'm battling in my mind. I'm thinking one of two things. I'm thinking I'm going to take vengeance on the person who said this is easy. Or I'm going to play every golf course I've ever played in my life, hole by hole.

And so for the next 55 minutes, I mentally went, closed my eyes, and went through every hole and every golf course I'd ever played. So I had that over the course of years. Had more than more than one of those. I've had both of my eyelids operated on. You know, when you pull down a shade and you let it go and it goes up to the top. Well, that was happening with my muscles and my eyelids. You know, if you got droopy eyelids like I do right now, again, they had to...

well, for your lady's sake, I won't say what they do. But you're awake the whole time. They operated on both eyelids. When I got done, you know, there was nice seams here where the stitches were on my eyelids and two big black eyes. You know, people's pastors thought he got the worst of it in an alley fight. Had two procedures on my nose, an ear that has gone almost deaf, a mouthful of expensive teeth worked on, a hernia, an appendix that exploded to the point where the surgeon, when she came to see me after the operation, said, you know, Randy, we're going to keep your incision open because everything blew apart to the extent that we had to take some of your organs out, clean them up, put them back in.

And so, in case there's something we missed, we've got to go back in there. We're going to keep that open. And so, poor Mary, bless her heart, had to clean that thing every day for twice a day for about a month until it closed up. So, the hernia operation, the appendix, and then the quadruple bypass for the heart. So, I've known a little bit about what we're seeing here. So have you. God gave us the gift of being humbled in this flesh. Notice verse 8, 2 Corinthians 12, 8.

Concerning this thing, I plead with the Lord three times that a might depart from me. Notice, he pleaded. He wasn't just being cerebral and saying, well, Father, how about it? No, he was pleading with the Lord three times that a might depart from me. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

And as you and I go through our troubles and trials of life, in whatever the category, we must realize and have this Passover frame of mind, this foot-washing frame of mind, that we are weak individuals. But we can rely upon God's strength. And that, brethren, is the blessing. The blessing of looking to God's strength. That is a blessing. What are you going through right now? What kind of a trial are you going through? What kind of turmoil in your mind right now?

Well, you can look forward to the strength of God in your life. It's a blessing that we can do that. Those in the world don't know to do that. God's not opened their mind to see that. But it's even so blessed that God has shown us.

For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Notice what Paul says here in middle verse 9. Therefore, most gladly, I would rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Here we see a man who is embracing, embracing life's humblings, not fighting them.

He's embracing them. Verse 10. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Brethren, too many times in our lives—I've seen it in myself, I've seen it in others—we only rely upon God's strengths during the heavy duty trials.

Things that are so obvious, we know it's over our head. But does God want that, or does God want us to look to Him for everything? Whether they're a heavy duty trial or just a garden variety kind of a trial? God, you know, even if we think it's just a garden variety type of trial, God knows what lies ahead. Just two days ago, I found out somebody—I was pastoring in Michigan—went for an operation, it seemed kind of a routine operation, a person that was younger than I am now, really lovely person, and complications came, and they died. It was the kind of operation you would never think would be life or death.

Mother, wife, fine lady, and she's gone. No one expected that. You just never know what life is going to take place. So we need to be consulting God and looking to His strength in all situations. In all situations. It's a blessing to be able to look to God's strength. It's a blessing to embrace the humblings God gives us, realizing that His work will be done in us.

I felt kind of a glow the other day when I asked God in the morning when I was praying, God, I really need some help with this. I really need an answer to this. Would you please give me something? I really need it. I thought maybe it would come in weeks or months or something, but before the sun went down, I got what I needed. I went to bed with a glow. I felt really good.

You know, I felt really good. Let's start to look at Joshua, chapter 7. The background here, we had the march around Jericho. Jericho Falls. The people of Israel told not to take any spoil for themselves. One individual decided that he wasn't going to follow that dictate, that command, and he took something that he shouldn't have taken. His name was Achan. And we see here in chapter 7 that part of the army of Israel went to go and conquer the city of Ai. And they were met with defeat because of the sin of Achan. So after this defeat, especially just prior, they took down one of the strongest fortifications known in that region. Jericho was a tremendous fortification.

It was legendary. It was one of the most ancient cities in the world. And those walls came tumbling down. So that happened, but then they lose to this little tiny city of Ai, a nothing little town.

Joshua was beside himself. Let's take a look at Joshua, chapter 7 now, starting in verse 6. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord till evening. He and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. They had a foot-washing frame of mind here. They had been humbled, and they were not running away from it.

And Joshua said, Alas, Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? All that we have been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. I mean, here's a man who's being honest with God in his prayers. Here's a man who says, What gives God?

I don't understand. You know, our Father doesn't mind that. He wants to have a dialogue with us.

Even if we don't understand, you know, when my kids don't understand me, I want to have a dialogue with them. If I can have a dialogue with them, then we can come to terms. But if they walk away in a huff and they won't talk, then there can be no dialogue. There can be no mending offenses. There can be no understanding. Now we don't want to stay angry with God, but God will bring us through that. Verse 8. Oh Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns his back before its enemies?

For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it and surround us and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name? And so God gets a little, you know, he starts abrading Joshua a little bit and begins to just work with him. But the blessing here, brethren, that I want to cover, the blessing is having a more powerful prayer life. As God humbles us, as things go against us and contrary to us in life, we have the blessing of a more powerful prayer life. Hiding our needs from God doesn't work. Ignoring our needs when only God can help doesn't work. God welcomes our honest prayers, wants us to express our true feelings to him. And so we've got the blessing when we have the foot washing frame of mind of the blessing of a more powerful prayer life. Second Kings chapter 5.

Here are the stories that you, I'm sure, have read a number of occasions about Naaman. Second Kings 5 verse 1. Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man, and the eyes was master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor but a leper. So God's working in this man's life, at least in terms of being a soldier. And the Syrians had gone out and raised and brought back a captive a young girl from the land of Israel. And she waited on Naaman's wife, verse 3, and she said to her mistress, If only my master were with the prophet who was in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy.

And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, Thus and thus said the girl who was from the land of Israel. Then the king of Syria said, Okay, this man is valuable to me. I want this man to be healed. I want him to have a long and eventful life. King of Syria said, Go now, I'll send a letter to the king of Israel. So he departed and took him with ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, ten changes of clothing, the proper way to go before another king. Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy. And it happened when the king of Israel read the letter and he tore his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. So the king of Israel construed this as this is king of Syria's pick and a fight. King of Israel is thinking, I can't do this. There's no way in the world I can help this commander of yours. You just want this as a pretext for war or something, for battle.

Verse 8, So it was when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent, that the king saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Please bring him to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel. The Naaman went with his horses and chariot and stood at the door of Elisha's house. Now we're going to see later on, he's not there by himself. A man of this nature doesn't travel by himself. The enemy would love to pick him off if he was by himself. He had a retinue there with him. And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, Go Washington, Jordan, seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you, and you shall be clean. Now remember, this is a commander of the Syrian army. A great man of valor had his king's ear. His king sent a letter to the king of Israel. And so he goes to this man of Israel, their enemy, Elisha. And Elisha doesn't even come out to see him.

Verse 11, Naaman became furious and went away and said, Indeed, I say to myself, He will surely come out to me and stand and call the name of the Lord as God, and wave his hand over the place and heal my leprosy.

Interesting how people always want God to do things their way.

Right? Are not the Abana and the fire power of the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? You know, he's being true to his own country. He had great rivers in his country. Why should he go to Israel, this muddy little thing in Israel? Could I not wash them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And a servant came near and spoke to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more than when he says to you, Wash and be clean? So Naaman went down and dipped seven times into Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned to the man of God and he and all of his aides, and came and stood before him and said, Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. What do we learn? What blessing do we learn here, brethren? What blessing do we learn here? We learn the blessing as we have a foot-washing frame of mind, as we have a humble frame of mind which Naaman had to come to. We find the blessing of learned obedience, the blessing of learned obedience. Very, very powerful. Very powerful. So to this point in the sermon, we've gone through point number one. Humility provides us with the blessings of a deeper relationship with God. We've gone through five different blessings. I'm sure there are many more that you can add to that list. I just wanted to give you an example of five different blessings we went through. Let's go to point number two. Humility provides us the blessing of a deeper relationship with our fellow man.

With our fellow man. I may mention a couple of weeks ago when I was talking about giving this as a series, because next time I'm here we'll talk about the blessing of the bread, and the time after that the blessings that come with the wine. I may mention about the Greek philosophers and how they viewed humility. I'd like to quote to you from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, and I quote, The Greek philosophers despised humility because it implied inadequacy, lack of dignity, and worthlessness to them.

The Greek philosophers, which much of Western civilization and the thinking of Western civ, is based on the Greek philosophers despised humility. And yet, not so with God.

Let's look at Philippians chapter two. How does humility help us in our relationship with our fellow man? Well, the world would say, well, it'll get you killed. Get you beat up, you'll get rolled. Philippians chapter two.

Philippians chapter two, verse three. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, with a foot-washing frame of mind. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, the mind of Christ, which was also in Christ Jesus. The blessing here, brethren, as we take a look at something that was written 2,000 years ago, roughly. And I'm going to quote a number of studies that the psychologists have performed. And if you would like, I can send you the links to that after. If you want to email me, I'll be happy to send you the links. But what we see here in Philippians chapter two is another blessing, and that is the blessing of being helpful. As we are humble, we have the blessing of being helpful. I want to quote from a study that was found in a journal of positive psychology written by Jordan LeBeouf and several others. And the title of the article was, Humble Persons are More Helpful than Less Humble Persons.

Clinical study. And I quote from that study, Humble people are, on average, more helpful than people who are conceited or egotistical. In this study, participants who are more humble were more likely to offer help, offering more of their time to those in need. Unsurprisingly, humble people also have been found to be more generous. Humility also correlated positively with agreeableness. These findings support the notion that humble people will engage in far less conflict with others, as they are naturally less argumentative and more inclined to help those around them. Now, I can quote, and I will quote a couple more studies here, but these behavioral experts are only reaffirming the truth we've known from the scriptures. What we read in Philippians was written many, many, many years ago. And so hooray, they're finding it today. They're finding it being humble, you know, like we used to say back in the days with WYU. God's way works, right? Remember those of us who took our kids to all those WYU activities? God's way works. Being humble works. Being humble helps us to be more helpful to our fellow man. Science is showing us that day. Let's take a look at another study. This one was found in an article, a Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Madison, University of Wisconsin, Madison. And the name of the actual article was, Is Humility the Soil for Happiness to Grow, written by Dr. P. Lynn Kessiber, social psychologist from who got a degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Before we look at what she has to say, let's look at Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians chapter 4, let's go back a couple pages.

Look at verse 32.

Ephesians 4, 32. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Again, the truth of God written several, a couple thousand years ago.

But notice what Dr. Kessiber wrote in her study. She says, there is a strong correlation between humility and a lowered sense of entitlement. With a high sense of entitlement comes a feeling of superiority, and feelings of superiority will ultimately breed hatred. Humble people are innately more kind, as they will never hold themselves on a higher plane than others.

Humility is predicated on perspectives of universal gain over self-achievement. A universal gain. Where do we see that? We saw that in Philippians chapter 2 verses 3 through 5, where everybody benefits. So here we have another blessing of having a foot-washing frame of mind, the blessing of being more kind. See, there's a reason why God gives us what He gives us.

We come to the Passover service, and right on the heels of that, you know, we will have the night to be, and then the days of unleavened bread, where we're talking about getting sin out and bringing God's righteousness in. God is even teaching us those lessons on Passover evening. To be humble, there are so many blessings associated. Being humble allows us to serve God better, to love God better, have a deeper relationship with Him, and our fellow man. God is the ultimate in terms of being a teacher. One last example. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

1 Corinthians chapter 9. Let's start here in verse 19. Paul writing, 1 Corinthians 9.19. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win them all. So here we have it again, another foot-washing frame of mind.

And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win the Jews, to those who are under law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law, to those who are without the laws, without the law, not being without law toward God, but under the law toward Christ, that I might win those who are without the law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak, I become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. The blessing here, as you see Paul talking, embracing a foot-washing frame of mind in terms of our loving our fellow man, the blessing here is the blessing of better relationships. Having a foot-washing frame of mind blesses us with better relationships. One last study to quote. This is from Don Davis, article or paper, Humility and the Development and Repair of Social Bonds, Two Longitudinal Studies. Humility and Development and Repair of Social Bonds, Two Longitudinal Studies. And he writes, and I quote, humble people may have better relationships because they accept other people for who they are. In his study, a group of people found that Humility helped to repair relationships and build stronger bonds between people. Again, the blessing of that foot-washing attitude. So we saw five different blessings regarding our relationship with God. We're seeing three different blessings with our relationship with our fellow man due to Humility. Let me give you a little bit of a bonus section here.

A little bit of a bonus section, and that is that Humility, point three, Humility facilitates personal growth. Humility facilitates personal growth.

Let's go to Psalm 37.

Psalm 37 verse 11.

But the meek shall inherit the earth, the lowly, the humble, the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. When we have a foot-washing frame of mind, God blesses us with peace of mind. Peace of mind. Living a humble existence keeps us away from the stresses and pressures of always trying to do something better, of one-upping those around us, trying to outperform ourselves or others. We don't do that. We want to be the best we can be, and there's nothing wrong with that. We should strive for excellence. I've talked about that. You understand and believe in that, but we don't want to keep on upping the ante all the time for ego reasons. So having the blessing of Humility relieves us from the notion of trying to be more significant than we really are. Humility keeps us grounded.

And that's something, as I was reading the various studies and doing various research, I saw over and over, even by those people who are psychologists and what have you, they kept on talking about how humility makes for a grounded experience. A grounded experience. Philippians chapter 3. Another blessing. Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians chapter 3 started here in verse 7. But when things were gained to me, these have counted loss for Christ.

Again, he's embracing the idea of a foot-washing frame of mind.

He was talking about all the various things that he could have done in his life, but that wasn't anything for him. Verse 8. Yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. For I have suffered a loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I might gain Christ. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death.

Again, he's embracing the foot-washing narrative here. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, not that I've already attained or I'm already perfected, but I press on, that I might lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also has laid hold of me.

Now, here we come into the meat of what I wanted to give you as a blessing here, the blessing of seeing opportunities to grow. As we are humble people, as we embrace the foot-washing frame of mind, we have the blessing of seeing where we can continue to grow. We're not so arrogant that we think we've arrived. Verse 13, Brethren, I don't count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, forgetting all the things I've accomplished, forgetting all the things I've been able to do. That's in the past. We can rejoice in those as God has done those in us, but we want to keep on moving forward. Notice what he says at the end of verse 13, Reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, as many of us are mature, have this mind, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

Have the mind of Christ. Look forward and enjoy opportunities to grow.

Humility, a foot-washing frame of mind, helps us to realize that as an individual, we have room to grow. Room to grow. In the research I was doing for the sermon, I came across a book entitled The Character-Based Leader. I came across the book as a result of seeing a blog. This book, The Character-Based Leader, was put together by 21 authors.

One of the authors, a man by the name of Dan Rockwell, summarized his section of the book. And for those of you men who aren't a speaking schedule, you might want to take special note here.

There's seven different sets of phrases. Any one of these can be a sermon or a sermonette. If you want to take notes on this, you might want to leave space for eight lines.

On that top line, you put humble strength. Draw a line straight down the middle of your paper. On the left, you have humble strength. On the right, you have arrogant weakness.

Let's go through them. Number one, humility learns. Arrogance knows.

That's a couple of sermons right there. You've got an SBS right there, fellas. Humility learns. Arrogance knows. Number two, humility listens. Arrogance talks. Number three, humble people serve others. Arrogant people serve themselves.

Number four, humble people are free to build up others.

Arrogant people build up themselves.

Oh, there's a sermon on encouragement, right? Number five, humility opens hearts.

Arrogance builds walls.

Number six, humility joins. Arrogance stands aloof.

Have we not seen that in X number of church splits in your lifetime and mine? Humility joins. Arrogance stands aloof. Number seven. And lastly, humble people connect.

Arrogant people disconnect.

You know, I gave the sermon last week in Beloit, Wisconsin, and after services, a number of people came and they wanted this section of the sermon. Would you please send me those notes? And I did. Be happy to do the same for you. So in the bonus section here, we see how humility facilitates personal growth. Brethren, today, my theme has been this. Humility provides us the blessings of a deeper relationship with God and man. I've gone through five different blessings as we have a foot-washing frame of mind that blesses us as we have a deeper relationship with God, three different blessings that show us a deeper relationship with our fellow man, and then we had two bonus. We had a bonus section since we're in March Madness time. We're in the bonus rule here. So I didn't want to start the sermon off by saying I've got 10 points for you because I know how that goes. They say, see you after the sermon, De'Lisandro. But brethren, this this this Passover season, let's truly appreciate, truly appreciate the blessing that God has given to us in that foot-washing and all that it represents.