Why Should We Be Humble?

Thank you, Robert. Hello, everybody, and greetings from Texas. It's good to be back. Let me change my glasses, because if I don't put my readers on, we're not going to have much of a sermon today.

We came here to do a little vacation, our family a little R&R, and Mr. Kinebeck asked if I would give the sermon, which I'm very happy to do. When we left Texas, we moved to Texas, hoping it would be warm. It was a chilly winter when we left. We came down here with these 80-degree sunshine weather and just absolutely loving it. We're going to head back, and hopefully the cold snap that's hit the whole country will have let up a little bit, and it'll be warm again.

The sermonette dovetailed so nicely into the sermon today. Let me ask you a question. What makes us acceptable to God? Is it what you believe?

Put it this way. Think about this. If you believed everything correctly, would you still be acceptable to God? If you believe everything you believe right now, could you be unacceptable to God? Is it what you believe?

Maybe a better question would be, is it only what you believe? Is it with whom or where you assemble to worship Him? What, in God's words, in His words, not our opinion, makes you acceptable to Him? It's going to be a basic sermon today, basic Christian living, the basics of the conversion process and where it begins. But it's not just about the beginning. As we will see through the Scriptures we're going to go through today, these basics need to be remembered by everyone who is a Christian. Isaiah 66 verses 1 and 2. This is our anchor scripture for the sermon today. This will be our foundation that we're going to build off of. What makes you acceptable to God? Is it because you have the doctrines of the United Church of God memorized? Nay, nay. Isaiah 66 verse 1. This is what the Lord says. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? In other words, my son, my daughter, who do you think you are? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? And so they came into being? declares the Lord. This is the one I esteem. Who is it he accepts? He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. It's not who we are. It's not where we are. But it is what we are that is most important to God. And with our human heart, what we are is not most important to us, is it? That doesn't give us status. It's the things on the outside, our career, our position.

Who acknowledges us? Who praises us? That's what's most important by nature to us. And is least important of all from the point of view of the creator of the universe. This is what counts with God. What we are like on the inside, in the heart. And here is where we can so easily deceive ourselves as Christians, as long-time members of the church. This sermon is so basic to Christianity.

It's where every person who is thinking about beginning that Christian journey needs to start. And it's something that someone who's been in the church for more than 50 years, myself included, must not forget.

It's like your ABCs, when you learn them in kindergarten.

And you're going through college and you're getting your PhD. Can you forget your ABCs? Do you think you're going to write that dissertation without knowing the letter A? You're not. You have to keep the fundamentals in mind. But this is where we trick our own selves. Jeremiah 17 in verse 9. Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9. This should be a memory scripture.

We likely should tape this to our mirror so that when we're looking at our face, we remember what's on the inside. The heart is more deceitful than all else. I'm reading this from the New American Standard Bible. The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. It says in the King James, desperately wicked. Wicked is not a word we use in the year 2024, unless you're talking about a tattoo. So we really don't use the word wicked anymore. What the word in the Hebrew actually means is sick in desperate need of medical attention. In this case, spiritual medical attention.

What is in desperate need of medical attention? Your and my heart left on its own.

And Jeremiah is inspired to ask the question, who can understand it? We all know that God wants us to be humble, but people have a very different idea about what being humble is. If we asked 30 people in the congregation today, we would very likely get 30 different answers as to what humble is and what God is actually looking for to be acceptable to him. The word humility doesn't mean the same thing to everybody. So whose definition are we going to go by? Gods, obviously. There is a common misconception of humility expressed with these words. We are just humble folks. We make do with whatever God gives us. Those words imply that being poor is the same as being humble. And that is simply not true. To be poor or uneducated is the same as being humble, and it is not. Humility is not restricted to those who are poor because poverty is an external condition, not a condition of the heart. The misconception of replacing the word humble with the word poor can come from the fact that God himself actually uses the word lowly to convey what he means by humility. But notice the contrast that God contrasts the word lowly with. He uses a word and it's not wealth. He uses a word and it's not education. It's a different word that God makes a contrast with the word lowly. It's something entirely different. Psalm chapter 138 verse 6. Psalm chapter 138 and verse 6. Let's zero in on what God means when he says we're supposed to be humble. What is he talking about? Psalm 138 verse 6. Though the Lord is on high, yet he regards the lowly. Now here comes the opposite. Here comes the contrast. But the proud he knows from afar. The difference between lowly and humble and something else is not wealth and is not education. It is pride. So what is pride? In a word, it's always having to be the one who's right or being right in your own eyes.

Proverbs 16 and verse 19. Another contrast here. Just to prove the point, God uses this contrast regularly. Better, Proverbs 16 verse 19, better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. The word lowly often refers to those who are downtrodden or mistreated or despised, so it is easy to think that God considers those people who are poor above those people who are wealthy. But again, that is not a matter of the heart. And that is not what God regards in you. What is God looking for in you? From the time you wake up until the time you go to bed, what is he looking for from his son or daughter? Not your physical wealth. Not your status. But something inside you. Here is a very clarifying scripture about being lowly, and it's from Jesus Christ himself. Let's go to the New Testament. Let's go to Matthew chapter 11, where Jesus Christ uses the word lowly. Matthew 11 verse 28. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. That was a very key statement there, where he said, learn. Because there's a connection between being humble and being able to learn, not just willing, but able. And that's something that the pride have a disability in. They have a learning disability, an inability to learn. They're already right. There's no need to learn.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. Not lowly in wealth or education. He is the logos of God, the Word of God. He knew every single, he actually was every single word of the Old Testament. He was the Word of God in the flesh, dwelling among men. It wasn't a lack of education he had. That's not what made him lowly. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He owns the universe. He's not poor. What makes Jesus Christ lowly? He's lowly in heart. He says, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Are you and I becoming like Jesus Christ? Is it easy to get along with you? Are you someone who people delight in seeing? If the answer is no, you're not a failure. You're just not there yet.

You need to become more like Jesus Christ. What we need to understand clearly is what he means humble in heart, and that's what I want to spend the rest of the sermon on today. Here's a scripture that gives us a practical contrast between someone who is humble and someone who is proud. What's the difference that you can look in yourself for? Luke chapter 14 and verse 11. This is so clarifying. This makes it so simple to understand. Am I a humble person? Do I have pride in me? Luke 14 and verse 11. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. You know, wanting others to acknowledge how smart you are, how good of a person you are, how funny you are, when we're competitive, when we serve, in the duties in the church even. You know, you can have pride while stacking chairs after services. Not that you stack these chairs, right? But if you had to do it, you could be the best chair stacker and make sure everybody knew that you were the best chair stacker in church. And that's not what God's looking for.

Your position in the world or in the church, do you exalt yourself? That's a very clarifying statement. Whoever exalts himself, if you want to exalt yourself, if you feel competitive, if you feel jealous of somebody else's position, that is the opposite of what God is looking for. That is the opposite of humility.

God is looking for us to grow up. God is not looking for us to remain Laodicean. Human nature is Laodicean.

You know, just out of the gate when we're born.

In need of nothing. Always right. Never needing to change.

Matthew 18 verse 3. Matthew 18 and verse 3. We don't have to be Laodicean. We can be the faithful group that God esteems, that God looks down and says, that's my daughter. That's my son. Matthew 18 verse 3. Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself even as a little child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Children can be competitive. What is he talking about? Have you ever seen children argue over a toy? Want the best piece of pie? Want the prettiest dress? Oh, we all have seen that. We have been that. What is it that a little child has that God and Jesus Christ are looking for? Little children are very dependent. Now, he's not talking about even toddlers here. He's talking about little children. Pay attention to the details. It's very important. As they become older and they become more independent, that's a very good thing. God actually intended that. When they get into teen years and they're becoming adults, and that's a very awkward time. It's very difficult to deal with your children in the teen years, and you need to be more conversational and much less disciplinarian because they're learning to become adults. And that's on purpose. God made it that way. But the analogy isn't to become as little teenagers.

It's to become as little children. Not exalting yourself above others, especially above their opinion. Here's a good example of a couple of people who weren't dependent. They weren't subordinate like a little child is. You know, when you tell a little child, the sky is blue, they believe you. The sky is blue. They believe you. And for the rest of their life, that sky is the color blue. And if someone tried to tell them, no, we're changing the sky to red, they wouldn't change their opinion because mommy and daddy told me the sky is blue. And that color out there is called blue. And they would call it blue the rest of their life. They would call a bird a bird, a chair a chair. A glass of water would be water because you told them it was water. And now it's water. That's a little child. And that's what we're to become to God. When God says don't, we don't. And when he says go, we go. And we don't question it. Just like a little child doesn't question it. But here's a great example in the book of Numbers, chapter 12. Let's go back there. Numbers chapter 12. Of two very important people, not bad people, people of the congregation of God. In this case, it was ancient Israel. But these were people who were incredibly helpful. These were people whom God spoke through. And after God disciplined them in this little scenario that we're going to read, God continued to speak through these two people. These were very, very important people to God and to Israel. But they needed a lesson in humility. And sometimes we all do, brethren. And this is Miriam and Aaron when they spoke against Moses.

Numbers chapter 12, verse 1. Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. For he had married an Ethiopian woman. And you can just hear the conversation. Not trying to add to the Bible, but just embellishing a little bit. You know, you can just imagine, aren't there plenty? There's millions of women here from Israel. He had to go outside the camp to marry somebody. And this, you know how rumors get around? And they forgot who they were. Who they're... Now, remember, Miriam was Moses' older sister.

She was the one who put Moses in the basket and sent him down the river. She literally saved his life. He owed his life to her. And so, yeah, she had the right to be upset. She was venting her feelings.

But he wasn't just her little brother anymore. He was an officer of the universe, the creator of the universe, the great God. And so, she wasn't speaking against Moses when she did that. She and Aaron were speaking against the great God. So they said, verse 2, Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?

Has he not spoken through us also? And that was true! We have a song recorded in the Bible from Miriam, and every word in the Bible is inspired by God. And Aaron spoke for Moses because Moses wouldn't speak to Pharaoh. So Aaron spoke for God all the time.

So Miriam wasn't wrong. And even after this, they continued to serve God. They weren't canceled, if you will. Has not God spoken through us also? In other words, I'm the older sister, I'm the older brother, I have the right. Verse 3. At the end of verse 2, it says, And the Lord heard it. Verse 3. Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the face of the earth. Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting.

So the three came out, and then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. And then he said, Hear now my words. Brethren, we need to listen to these words and apply them to ourselves, that we don't even challenge God. I love the sermonette, don't ghost God, which I totally agree, don't leave him without prayer and never challenge him. He's always right. Not because he's proud, but because he's actually always right. Hear now my words.

If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream, but not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. I speak to him face to face, even plainly, not in dark sayings. And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against Moses, my servant? That is an ominous thing. Do not challenge the creator God. You know what I love in that little, of course, he gave them a little punishment. They got over the punishment and they went on to serve God.

But the thing I love in that whole story is that little statement that Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth. And it gives the feeling that God actually regarded Moses even more because he didn't deserve to be treated that way because he was so humble. Here's the key to being humble. The key to having God esteem you, as we read in Isaiah 66, the very first scripture, the foundational scripture that we read, here is the key, brethren, to being humble.

It's in Proverbs. God inspired King Solomon in Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 through 7. Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 through 7. God inspired Solomon to give us an extremely clear definition of humility. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. By the way, this whole thing is the definition, not just one statement or another. This is what humility looks like. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not on your own understanding. In all, not some, not half, not three quarters. All your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear, which means respect and have awe. The Lord and depart from evil. You want a definition of humility? You read those three verses right there, and you remember that's humility. Trust in God, not leaning on your own understanding. Acknowledging him in everything you do all day, every day, not being wise in your own eyes and just having awe and respect for him.

And he will get you through your day. He will get you through your life. He will get you through no matter what. Here's the danger.

And here's the purpose why I give this sermon to myself, and I give it to anybody who's willing to listen. As we begin to learn, we also, and it's so easy to do, can start to assume that we know an awful lot more than we really do.

True humility makes us cautious about how much or how thorough our understanding truly is. Let's go to the Apostle Paul for this one, 1 Corinthians chapter 8.

1 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 1.

Now, concerning the things offered to idols, so obviously we're dropping into a point here, and I'm not going to make his point. I just want to pull this one little scripture, one little passage out. We know that we all have knowledge. Consider what he's talking about for a moment. If you've been in the church for more than a year, you've accumulated some knowledge. If you've been in the church for more than 50 years, like I have, you've accumulated quite a bit of knowledge. You even talk in church speak now, like you say things like FOT and Night to Be, and everybody knows what that is. And if I said that out in the street, nobody would know what I was talking about. And we've accumulated all of this knowledge.

We all have knowledge, Paul says, and he's not wrong, and that applies to us in this room. Knowledge, he says, puffs up. But love edifies, in other words, builds up brick by brick, taking care of the needs of other people, outgoing concern. That builds up. Knowledge puffs up. If anyone thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing yet, as he ought to know.

I grew up with a great dad. I loved my dad.

My dad was a minister for more than 50 years, and he was a true student of the Word of God. He wrote a lot of the booklets that we send out in the church today, The Ten Commandments, The New Covenant, Does It Abolish God's Law, The Book of Revelation Unveiled. He wrote those booklets. Very knowledgeable man. But he was always studying.

One day, he was in his 70s, and he was in his office, and I came over for dinner, and I went to go around the corner to his office, and he came out of the office and said, hey, dad, what are you doing? And he took his glasses off, and he said, Rod? And he was learning something new. He said, you never stop learning. The Bible is just too big. Here's a man who had been a minister for 50 some years, had written all kinds of booklets, was actually a true scholar. Wasn't just somebody who attended church and, you know, sort of soaked it all in. This guy really, his job was studying the Bible, and he was learning something new that he didn't understand before. That's what humility looks like. If you think you know enough that you can now be comfortable where you're at, let's read this verse again. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. If anyone thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing yet, as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him. Don't stop learning, and make sure that learning turns into love. That learning turns into action, because if you're learning from God, you're learning to love. And that's Paul's point.

A lot of people get really puffed up with knowledge, and they start to have this special knowledge, and they come up with these—and we've all known them—these special theories, these conspiracy theories. I'm not going to name them. I don't want to pick on anyone. But we all know those people that have that special, oh, if the church would only understand what I understand. The word heresy is related to the word opinion. Did you know that? Be careful of your own opinion. A heretic is somebody who simply has an exalted view of his own opinion. And I would love to convince people that your opinion is just not that valuable.

It's really not. You know, there's being open-minded, and then there's trusting God. Those are two completely different things. If you're open-minded, you're pretty much open to any deceit that can happen. You're open to changing your mind constantly. You're tossed about like a wave on the sea, as it says in the book of James. If you trust in God, you're not on the sea. You're on the rock that the sea bangs into and splatters in every different direction. You're stable. You're safe.

Trusting your own opinion? You're riding the waves, and you're going to go wherever those waves take you.

Because an exalted opinion of yourself, of your judgment, places you above being corrected or being taught. And it gives you a disability, a Christian spiritual disability, of being unable to learn. Read Revelation chapter 4 at the end of the chapter, what it says about the Laodiceans. They have no humility. Often, such a person will listen. Oh, they're good at conversation sometimes, and they don't cut you off, and they don't interrupt you, but they're only listening to find out how they can object to your point. They listen only to strengthen their own prejudice, not with a humble heart willing to admit an error.

A heretic is not humble, because his opinion is at the root of his own problem. And I want to give you a great example of this.

This example that we're going to go through from the Old Testament, to me, absolutely represents human nature. This is who people are, and it has to do at the end of the nation of Judah. Remember, the two nations split apart, and the northern ten tribes were taken after Isaiah, Isaiah the prophet, and many other prophets warned them they were taken away by the Assyrian Empire. Then the Assyrian Empire fell to the Babylonians, and Judah remained a little while longer. And the prophet Jeremiah and some other prophets came up and taught them. So, just to set the scenario, before the Babylonians wiped out Judah and King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and burned the temple down, before that happened, they had at least two, they had more than two, but two generations of prominent prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Isaiah to the northern ten tribes, and Jeremiah to Judah itself, warning them to turn back to God, to turn away from idols, to turn away from their own opinion. Jeremiah predicts that the Babylonians are going to conquer Judah and tear everything down. And it happens! And King Nebuchadnezzar kills most of them, takes captive the vast majority of the rest of them back into Babylon, and leaves a remnant of the poorest of the poor to take anything that was left, anything that wasn't burned down, any vineyard, any house, hey it's yours, you can have it. And so all of these people who were left, and there were very few of them left, rallied around Jeremiah. Had they only been humble, but human nature just doesn't have room for humility, does it? After two generations of prophets, and witnessing, personally being an eyewitness, that the prophet Jeremiah, everything he predicted, came true in front of your eyes, still rejected the prophet. Notice Jeremiah chapter 42. This just represents us. This is what human nature is like. And this is what we need to be aware and fight within ourselves. Jeremiah 42 in verse 1. Now all the captains of the forces, Joanna and the son, I'm gonna mispronounce those names, so I'm not even gonna pronounce them, and all the people from the least of the greatest came near and said to Jeremiah the prophet, please let us let our petition be acceptable to you and pray for us to the Lord your God. What? They had two generations of prophets. They saw the one prophet that they already knew all of his prophecies came true, and it wasn't their God, it was his God. Are you serious? Oh, they were keeping arm's length. You know, they were they were keeping some deniability to themselves. You can already see the pride building up. Please pray for us to the Lord your God, for all this remnant, since we are left but a few of many, as you can see, that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do. You think they were gonna do what God told them to do now? After all the prophets told them, if you don't, God's gonna wipe you out. Don't you think human nature will have learned something? Hey, verse 10. Jeremiah 42, verse 10. If you will still remain in the land, God gives his answer back. So Jeremiah goes to God, God gives this answer. Verse 10. If you will still remain in the land, then I will build you and not pull you down. I will plant you and not pluck you up, for I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you. Wow! The trial is over. The crops are gonna work. The enemies are gonna stay away. We're gonna eat. We're gonna drink. We're gonna be fine. We're gonna sleep in warm houses.

No more disaster. Yay! Nay, nay.

Verse 11. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him, says the Lord, for I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand. And I will show you mercy, that he have mercy on you and cause you to return to your land. But, a warning, because God knew who he was talking to. God loves his children, but he is not confused as to what the nature of his children is like. Verse 13. But if you say we will not dwell on this land, disobeying the voice of the Lord your God, saying no, but we will go to the land of Egypt. The irony. The irony. God delivers Israel from captivity in Egypt. They wander in the wilderness because of their complaining for 40 years, but he does deliver them into the promised land. There they stay for hundreds of years, only to disobey God and get wiped out. And what do they want to do? Run back to Egypt!

Is that not human nature? People find the truth, and you hear 10-15 years later, you see on social media their Christmas photo, you know, with their new family. Verse 14. Saying no, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will see no war. We will hear no sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread. And there we will dwell. They had two generations of prophets warning them. Just follow God. Just do what he says. Disregard your opinion and regard his opinion.

They witness the prophet's words coming true.

Human nature has an inability to learn. Why? Because we love our opinion.

Verse 15. Then hear now the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel. If you wholly set your face to enter Egypt and go to dwell there, then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there and the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt, and there you shall die. But in chapter 43, Jeremiah goes and he delivers this message to them. In chapter 43, they went to Egypt anyway, and they said to Jeremiah, who was speaking the word of God to them, that he was a false prophet, loving their own opinion above the word of God. They trusted their opinion. They trusted their eyes. They didn't trust God, who had opened the Red Sea and then closed it on Pharaoh, and they were going to go back.

Chapter 44. Jeremiah 44, verse 1. Then the word came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt. So they go to Egypt. God makes quick work of them.

Who dwell in Migdall, to Panis, Nof, the country of Pathros, says, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, verse 2, the God of Israel, You have seen all the calamity that I brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah. You saw it! You were an eyewitness! You saw the soldiers going by the swords and the shields flashing! You saw the temple burn to the ground! You saw Jeremiah's words come true! And you disregarded them? Yup, that's human nature. And brethren, that is what is inside of you and me. That's why these words are recorded for us thousands of years later. Not to look back and judge them. That's irrelevant. They're in the ground. This is for our benefit. Verse 3. Well, let's drop down to verse 4. God promises desolation on them.

However, I have sent you all of my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate. But they did not listen or incline their ear and turn from their wickedness. That word that means urgent need of medical care. The human heart. And burn no incense to other gods. Don't be open-minded. Follow God.

They have not been humble. Verse 10. To this day they have not feared. They have not walked in my law, in my statutes that I set before you and your fathers. Therefore, thus says the Lord of Host, the God of Israel. Behold, I will set my face against you for catastrophe, for cutting off all Judah. In other words, all who was free. There was also captives that would be returned later. They were safe. These are the free ones that God let go free. They had it made. Verse 12. And I will take the remnant of Judah, who have set their faces to go to the land of Egypt and dwell there. And they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die. And we'll stop there. You get the point. One day, brethren, even ancient Israel will be humbled and come back to God and be reunited. But I'm not giving this sermon for them. I do just want to encourage us. And, yeah, we don't really have time. So I'll leave those verses out. But there are some really neat verses in Isaiah and in Zephaniah that show that God's going to bring them back meek and humble. So even they are not condemned. They just learned a really hard lesson.

But you and I need to learn this lesson today. You need to learn it when you're first considering your Christian journey. The starting point in Christian journey is humility, followed by faith.

But humility and faith don't leave us once we become more, if I can use the word, advanced in Christianity. The more you learn, the more you grow, the more mature you become, the more you need to know humility. There were many in the Corinthian congregation who had become puffed up over what they thought they knew. They were competing with each other, and they were breaking their congregation up into little cliques, little smaller groups within the main congregation, thinking themselves better than those who were in the other cliques. And Paul wrote to them, hoping to bring them back to reality. That they were disrespecting the children of God, like Miriam and Aaron disrespected Moses. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. And do you know, after this, the Corinthian church actually listened and responded? With God's Holy Spirit, we can do this. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 6.

Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. You think you know so much that you're actually turning against people in your own congregation.

For what makes you differ from another? So Paul wasn't even saying they didn't know more. He was saying, what makes you different?

Now, if indeed you did not receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? In other words, everything you have was given to you by God. You didn't invent it. You didn't create the universe. You didn't create the plan of salvation. And if you do know something a little bit more than somebody else knows, which is possible, so what? That's Paul's point. So what? You got it from God anyway. It's not yours.

Verse 19.

But I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power.

In other words, I am not going to deal gently with those people who mistreat other people in the congregation, because God esteem those who are humble and contrite of spirit. Last verse, Colossians chapter 2 verse 18. Colossians 2 verses 18 and 19.

Verse 18. Let no one cheat you of your reward. That's what this is really about today, this sermon. You have an incredibly special reward at the end of the road.

When you've repented and you were baptized and you received, without deserving it at all, the forgiveness of your sins and the laying on of hands, you receive the power to overcome human nature inside you. You started a walk, and you're walking this walk, and if you haven't done it, I encourage you to do so. And you're now walking this walk, and when you breathe your last, you are victorious! And Paul is saying here in the book of Colossians, don't let anyone, including yourself, cheat you out of that reward. Taking delight and false humility and worshiping of angels, adding to the doctrines, having special knowledge. It's not just angel worship he's talking about. That's just an example he's throwing in that happened to apply to that congregation. But it could be any special knowledge that you might think you have.

Intruding into those things which has not been seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, not holding fast to the head. So who's your head? Is it you? Is it your opinion? Or is it our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? From whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments grows with the increase that is from God. God and Jesus Christ are here to help us. And they regard somebody who is not in love with their own opinion. Because that person has a disability. And it's not that God can't force you to learn, but he gave you a choice to choose life or death. And he's not taking that choice away because God's not a liar. And therefore, God will not force you or me to learn anything. You see, he doesn't want a robot. He doesn't want a pet. He can program you as a pet, and you would be perfect. But you wouldn't be his son or his daughter. You would just be a pet. And he wants someone who will willingly, earnestly, fervently love him and the rest of the family back in return, share the love that he gives. And in order to do that, we have to learn. And in order to learn, we must be humble. And that's why God respects or esteems the humble. Let's be humble.