<![CDATA[ Christianbody.net - Humility]]>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:24:13 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[HUMILITY, Ch. 12:  Humility And Exaltation]]>Tue, 08 Apr 2014 13:59:12 GMThttp://www.christianbody.net/humility/humility-ch-12-humility-and-exaltation     In the twelfth and last chapter of Humility, Andrew Murray deals with the final outcome of true humility - exaltation of the humble one by God.  The author begins with multiple New Testament citations, starting with Jesus' teaching in Luke 14:11:  "He that humbles himself shall be exalted."  This important lesson was repeated by our Lord in Luke 18:14, and was echoed by James in James 4:10, and by Peter in 1 Peter 5:6.  The concept is key to Christian believers.  Pastor Murray then goes on to make some of the following points in his final chapter:

1.  The Christian is commanded to humble self.  This fact is repeated several times in this chapter.  Pride, the enemy of humility, is conquered first by one taking a humble position before God and man.  Then, the author declares, God does His work, which includes casting out pride, losing self, and then being exalted into the likeness of Jesus.  The command to humble self is not easily obeyed, and will be met by failure at times in attempting to obey.  The important aspect is to be persistent in trying, and to have faith in the grace that is present and will be made even more abundant for eventual victory.  Humbly identify pride in oneself, and God will be faithful to exalt.  He will remind one to be humble, and will give more grace.  That deserves all of one's thanks.

2.  God deals with man in two stages in this arena.  First, there is the time of preparation, which includes effort with failure to humble oneself, but then with training and discipline, partial success and the promise of greater things.  Secondly, God brings a "time of fulfillment" in which "faith inherits promise," and "enjoys what it had so often struggled for in vain."  This is a joint activity between God and man.  Man's obligation is effort and obedience in attaining a humble state, and in knowing one's weaknesses.  That leads to God's promise of dying to self, and to His exaltation.  The whole process begins with man's total ignorance of all these things, and grows into "a longing for God to be all."

3.  Man's sincere attempts to obey God's command to "humble yourself" will lead to two conclusions:  he/she has a depth of pride and a natural unwillingness to be nothing; and there is a weakness in his/her efforts and even her prayers to conquer pride.  One must put only hope in God to defeat pride and have humility before God and man.  Murray gives his own version of "practice makes perfect":  he states that human acts establish habits which become one's "will" and "character."  Therefore by repeated humbling of oneself one's will is strengthened by God into the nature of humility.  By humbling oneself, more grace is made available, such that pride is conquered, and Jesus comes into one's heart to live "meek and lowly" forever.
4.  Pastor Murray again exhorts the reader to humble self before God so that He will then exalt one.  But what does that mean, to be exalted?  Murray states that it simply means to be a vessel for nothing but God's glory.  But one has to be nothing first before that can happen.  The lower one becomes, the faster God's glory flows in.  Exaltation by God cannot be separate from Him - one's glory is only in HIS glory!  God's most exalting gift is more of Himself inside one, which can only occur when one has received the humility of Christ.  Jesus is the ultimate proof that humility leads to exaltation by God.  If we yoke ourselves to Jesus in His most humble form, then we can also become exalted by His Spirit.  But we must be humble to receives "the presence and power of the glorified Christ.

5.  When God is all in His believer, then He gets His rightful place by lifting us up in HIS glory.  Then we receive being perfected in Christ's Spirit, losing all aspects of self, so that being nothing becomes "sweet and natural."  There are then no thoughts of self, no self-focus at all, just total occupation with God and Jesus Christ.  In contrast, when we think we are "consecrated" in our faith, by our own self and effort, God is called in for self-exaltation, and we are devoid of humility, and farther from God.  We may still miss the point that Christ's humility is self-less, and required for our humility and closeness to God.

6.  The chapter, and the book's body, finishes with these quotations from the author:  "It is only in the possession of God that I lose myself."   "How great is God!  How small am I!  Lost, swallowed up in Love's immensity!  God only there, not I."  And then:  "May God teach us to believe that to be humble, to be nothing in His presence, is the highest attainment and the fullest blessing of the Christian life.  He speaks to us:  'I dwell in the high and holy place, and with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit' (Isa 57:15).  Be this our destiny!"

7.  (Don't forget to read "Note D" about the importance of humbling oneself in prayer before our Lord, and the author's "A Prayer For Humility" after the note section at the end of the book.)




Brief Comment:  I hope that you have read all of this book, and that it has entered your heart with its instruction about how to humble oneself into the Spirit of Christ and His exaltation from His humility, that GOD MIGHT BE ALL, and the self gone.  That truly is life-changing.  Repeated readings of this book may be needed to fully grasp the author's message, so that it may truly impact one's life.

     In our two book reviews we have now encountered ideas about prioritizing our belief's and ideas in LOVE NOT THE WORLD, and the critical importance of humbling oneself before God and man to achieve by God's grace the humility of Christ, and in that, His exaltation by God.

     Thank you to everyone who has followed along with us in this series of book chapters.  Thank Grover for the privilege of participating in this study.  It certainly has been a blessing. 

     Christ's love to all,    Harv







]]><![CDATA[HUMILITY, Ch. 11:  Humility And Happiness]]>Tue, 01 Apr 2014 15:26:10 GMThttp://www.christianbody.net/humility/humility-ch-11-humility-and-happiness     This chapter's beginning Scripture is from Paul's epistle, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:  "Most gladly . . . will I . . . glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, for when I am weak then am I strong."  Andrew Murray uses this comment by Paul to develop the concept that true happiness in believers comes only from humility.  Here are some of Pastor Murray's points from Chapter 11, the next to last chapter of this book:

1.  Paul seemed to express here the basic idea of humility, which he received from some type of affliction.  When he asked for its removal, the Lord told him that it was a blessing, that His grace might be shown through it.  So Paul did more than simply put up with his affliction; he gladly gloried and took pleasure in it.

2.  Murray states that Christians must go through stages to get to having humility.  First there is fear of the humbling situation and attempts to avoid or get away from it.  Then there is the seeking to obey the Lord's commands to be humble, but meeting utter failure due to a sense of the burden of the situation.  There is no seeking of humility at all expense.  Finally there is the revelation of Jesus, leading to the banishment of all self-seeking, delight in every humiliation, and the choice of humility as the highest blessing of our Lord.  Paul went through all of that, and we are to learn his lesson.

3.  Once again, as in previous chapters, Pastor Murray makes the point that many Christians may be devoted and have zeal for God and Christ, being gifted believers and teachers who have "heavenly experiences," but be lacking in humility.  There is always the danger of religious self-exaltation in that setting.  Paul had some of that, and had to learn how to be nothing, that Jesus Christ might be all in him.  Believers must die to self, and learn the pleasure of lowliness, glorying in weakness, that God might be all.  "The highest holiness is the deepest humility," the author concludes.  Such humility does not come by itself or by man's efforts, but through "special dealing" by the Lord for His servant.
4.  These are questions we must ask ourselves.  Do we glory in weakness, have pleasure in our trials and distresses?  Do we regard criticisms and condemnations, whether fair or unfair, from friends or enemies, and troubles with others, as opportunities to prove our humility, that Jesus is all in us?  Do we regard our honor as nothing, and humiliation as our pleasure?  Do we live by this standard, that "it is . . . blessed . . . (to) happiness . . . to be so free from self that whatever is said about us or done to us is lost and swallowed up in the thought that Jesus is all."?

5.  We must fall back on Him who "managed Paul" to also "manage us."  Discipline and divine instruction are needed to learn the glory in weakness.  He can guard us against our self-focus and self-praise.  When we exalt ourselves He shows us that error and delivers us.  In trials and troubles He teaches us that His grace is all, and that we can have pleasure in humiliation.  His strength is made perfect in our failings; His presence fills our nothingness to open to us the secret of humility that never fails in His being all.  That is the lasting joy of humility; the Lord's power and sufficiency brings that joy.

6.  Pastor Murray sums up two lessons:  i)  "The danger of pride is greater and nearer than we think," especially at the times that we think we are having powerful spiritual experiences, when we may become full of self and proud in our blessings; and ii) "The grace for humility is greater and nearer, too, than we think,"  for the humility of Jesus is our salvation, and He is our humility; His grace meets the notion of our pride and allows us to choose to be lowly and nothing before Him, bringing joy and gladness in HIS humility in us.

7.  The chapter finishes with the author's admonition that we should, like Paul, gladly glory and take pleasure in all weaknesses which humble or humiliate us.  The power of Christ then gives us His humility.  "Let us heartily consent, let us trustfully and joyfully accept all that humbles.  The power of Christ will rest upon us.  We will find that the deepest humility is the secret of the truest happiness, of a joy that nothing can destroy."

]]><![CDATA[HUMILITY, Ch. 10 ;  Humility And Death To Self]]>Tue, 25 Mar 2014 15:19:59 GMThttp://www.christianbody.net/humility/humility-ch-10-humility-and-death-to-self     As we get into the last three chapters of this book, Andrew Murray takes a closer look at the key to humility - dying to self so that God might be all in oneself.  The Scriptural basis for this chapter is Paul's description of Jesus in Philip. 2:8:  "He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death."  Death to self is an extremely difficult accomplishment, but one that Pastor Murray enlightens us about.  Here are some of this chapter's helpful points:

1.  The author begins by stating that humility is the path to death, and that the perfect outcome of humility is death to self.  Jesus chose the path of "humility unto death" as the only way that He proved that He fully surrendered His human nature to God.  That example shows us that our humility is the only way of proving our surrender of all to God.  It is the only way we are freed from fallen man's nature; humility is the foundation of our new nature in Christ.

2.  Murray makes the interesting point that only in His death did Jesus allow His Spirit to come and dwell in men.  His death brought into us all the power of His life in that way.  Only humility accepts death, and only death perfects humility.  Their nature is one in the Spirit.

3.  The point is again made that humility means the death of self, to be nothing before God.  The example of Jesus' reluctance to take "the cup," but then His humbly surrendering all of His own (as man) will to God's will unto death, is our example of giving up our own will and dying to self.  Jesus needed humility to die to the tempting of worldly sin; He never would have died for us without that humility.

4.  The key question is then asked by the author:  "How can I die to self?"  In a critical couple of paragraphs, Murray gives his answer.  "The death to self is not your work; it is God's work.  In Christ you are dead to sin.  The life . . . in you has gone through . . . death and resurrection.  You may be sure that you are indeed dead to sin.  But the full manifestation of the power of this death in your disposition and conduct depends on the measure in which the Holy Spirit imparts the power of the death of Christ.  And it is here that the teaching is needed.  If you want to enter into full fellowship with Christ in His death, and know the full deliverance from self, humble yourself.  This is your one duty."            "Place yourself before God in your utter helplessness.  Consent heartily to the fact of your weakness to slay or make yourself alive.  Sink down into your own nothingness, in the spirit of meek and patient and trustful surrender to God.  Accept every humiliation, look upon every fellow-man who tries or vexes you, as a means of grace to humble you.  Use every opportunity of humbling yourself before your fellow-men as a help to remain humble before God.  It is by the mighty strengthening of His Holy Spirit that God reveals Christ fully in you.  In this manner, Christ, in His form as a servant, is truly formed in you and dwells in your heart."  Then God accepts our sincere desire for that humility, and works it for us in His grace and power.  (This to me seems to be one of the very key passages in the entire book!)

5.  As he has done before, the author states that one can have a knowledge of this "death-life" unto humility but retain much of self, speaking of Jesus without seeking His humility, with His meek, lowly and kind nature.  So that nature must also be in us, His body of believers.

6.  Pastor Murray then gets back to the hopelessness of our doing this work ourselves, in ourselves.  He comments that self cannot cast out self.  But the work has already been done for us in the humble death of Jesus, who died to His self of man.  Christ has given us the Holy Spirit to make the power of the "death-life" our own.  Our souls know that we need more than self, and in faith we can claim and receive the fullness of the Spirit of Jesus, and know on a daily basis the power of His death to self, bringing His humility to our lives every day.

7.  The chapter then concludes with the reminder, from Romans 6:3,11,13, that we are dead to sin in Christ's death, but alive from death in His resurrection.  Therefore the Christian must present his/her self to God as one who died in Christ and is alive in Him, bearing His two markers:  humility with its death to sin and self, and resurrection power of Christ in heaven.  Murray urges the Christian to "claim in faith the death and the life of Jesus as yours."  By His death we are to "rest from self and its work" and humble ourselves through Christ's humility into daily "perfect and helpless dependence upon God."  "Every morning, sink in deep, deep nothingness into the grave of Jesus.  Every day, the life of Jesus will be made manifest in you.  Let a willing, loving, restful, happy humility be the mark that you have indeed claimed your birthright - the baptism into the death of Christ."  Only by entering into His humbling humiliation can we obtain the humility of His nature.  "The death-life" (of self) "is seen in a meekness and humility like that of Christ."


Brief Comment:  This is a powerful chapter that gives Christians more specific directions about dying to self, so that God can fill and be all in that self.  This chapter was one of the hardest to summarize, as I believe that nearly every word speaks God's education to the reader.  There  are three interesting particular points to me:  1) the idea that self cannot cast itself out, and that the death of self is God's/Jesus' work by the Holy Spirit; what we must have is an understanding and willing spirit that accepts our domination by self and our helplessness to change that (as always we must remember Jesus' admonition:  "Without Me you can do nothing.");  2) that we must go into the grave with Jesus to experience death of self; how many times have we heard that?  We are taught NOT to dwell on Jesus' grave but on His resurrection and life; perhaps our major hindrance to dying to self is our reluctance to examine, dwell on, and go into the grave of Jesus.  Imagine focusing, concentrating and praying on Jesus' death and the grave!  Wow!  and 3) the blessing we have, in God's grace to us, in humiliating and "vexing" experiences with other people.  We must happily accept those situations, and praise and thank God for the opportunities He gives us to display our Savior's nature.  (That, of course, is not natural to self, but it is to Jesus' Spirit in us.)

]]><![CDATA[HUMILITY, Ch. 9:  Humility And Faith]]>Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:37:30 GMThttp://www.christianbody.net/humility/humility-ch-9-humility-and-faith     This chapter begins with Andrew Murray citing a question Jesus asked those with Him, in John 5:44:  "How can you believe, which rather honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only?"  The author uses this Scripture as a springboard to examine the relationship between humility and faith.  Here are some of his points:

1.  Pastor Murray uses the analogy of the store window pane, through which outside viewers cannot reach or hold anything inside the store, to liken that to the "pane" of pride, which keeps Christians from grasping the "inside" prizes of peace, rest, love, joy and "abiding communion and fruitfulness."  Murray then argues that pride makes faith impossible, because pride and faith oppose each other, while faith and humility are of the same root.  He states, ". . . we can never have more of true faith than we have of true humility."  One may have Christian conviction and knowledge while still being motivated by pride, but be without humility, making "living faith impossible."

2.  The definition of faith is then given:  "the confession of nothingness and helplessness, the surrender and the waiting to let God work."  Faith brings humility with its dependence fully on God, and claims only what is given in grace.  Pride means one is self-seeking, self-willing, and self-exalting, and means that self is placed such that God cannot be all.

3.  Faith makes one focus on divine things, seeking only the glory that comes from God, while pride seeks one's glory in this life.  That makes true faith impossible.  Pastor Murray points out that salvation comes through Christ on the cross, and with fellowship with Him in His life's and cross-borne humility.  Our faith is weak when pride blocks this association and makes us unable to even properly pray for and desire humility, when humility is the most needed aspect of salvation.  And Murray reminds us that humility and faith go together in the Gospels, and cites the examples of the humble centurion (Matt 8:8-10) and the humble mother from Sidon (Matt 15:27-28), both of whom were praised by Jesus for their faith after they each made statements of humility.

4.  Humility before the Lord is what removes all that hinders faith.  But pride with its self-focus is often "secretly working within us."  And we are often also unaware that God, by coming in His power, can remove such pride.  We may not realize that "nothing but the new and divine nature, entirely taking the place of the old self," can give us humility.  We are also ignorant of the fact that unceasing, permanent humility must be our foundation for every prayer before God,  and for every approach to and dealing with both God and man.

5.  Most of us have erred in believing, when it was our old self seeking the blessings of God.  We must seek humility before God first instead, and then He will exalt us.  Christ Himself received God's glory for humbling Himself to death on the cross.  That should be our desire, to be humble like Jesus.  "Let us gladly accept whatever can humble us before God or men - this alone is the path to the glory of God."

6.  Murray asks the question:  don't those who have "blessed experiences" without evidence of humility prove their faith?  He replies to himself that, among several possible answers, there is some measure of faith in such a situation, especially as those individuals bring blessings to others.  But by showing that God is not all in them, the blessings from such experiences become superficial and/or limited.  Humility would bring a "deeper blessing," as the Holy Spirit would then not only work in them with more power, but would dwell in them in the fullness of His grace to give them a life of holiness, power and faithfulness.  Sadly, that is little seen today.

7.  Getting back to Jesus' question from John 5:44 (at the beginning of this chapter), nothing can free one from the desire of receiving honor from one's fellow men (or the anger and hurt when that is not received) except humility that allows God to be all, in His glory.  To quote Pastor Murray's final words of this chapter:  "Let the glory of the all-glorious God be everything to you.  You will be freed from the glory of men and of self, and be content and glad to be nothing.  Out of this nothingness you will grow strong in faith, giving glory to God.  You will find that the deeper you sink in humility before Him, the nearer He is to fulfill every desire of your faith."


Brief Comment:  Andrew Murray's definition of faith in this chapter is a little (or a lot) frightening to those of us who recognize our prideful nature, in spite of our attempts to be otherwise in Christ.  Since faith is the basis for salvation, does that mean that any pride in us blocks our salvation in Christ?  It is a very deep question that we as "believers" must ponder and take seriously.  Self is such an ingrained part of us, our nature in the flesh.  Luckily, we have Jesus Christ who knows just what that is like, and died in humility on the cross, that we (our selves) might likewise die with Him there.  But, as the saying goes, "that's easier said than done."  Our next chapter - "Humility and the Death of Self" - may help us even more with the dilemma of ridding ourselves of self and pride. 

]]><![CDATA[HUMILITY, Ch. 8:  Humility And Sin]]>Tue, 11 Mar 2014 15:45:38 GMThttp://www.christianbody.net/humility/humility-ch-8-humility-and-sin     The focus of this chapter is shown by Andrew Murray's choice of opening Scripture; he cites Paul's self-identification in 1 Timothy 1:15:  "Sinners, of whom I am chief."  Pastor Murray then approaches the topic of humility as it relates to man's sinfulness.  Some of the points of this chapter include:

1.  Many of us have been taught that humility is associated with penitence for sin; that means that we become spiritually preoccupied with our sins.  That is another way of focus on self.  In Jesus we see humility without any reference to sin.  Such humility is the essence of holiness through the loss of self, so that God might be all in one.

2.  But man remains sinful, so that God's grace brings a new, deeper level to man's humility.  Paul understood that; he continued to list himself as a sinner because he could not forget his heinous sins against Christians before his conversion.  Several of his writings about that are cited by Murray, including 1 Timothy 1:15 above.  Paul knew he had been saved by the grace of God, who did not remember his sins.  Then rejoicing in that salvation brought more awareness of His grace, leading to even more joy.  Paul was a saved sinner; he could not forget his sins, or the loving grace which took them away.  Much more than confessing his sins, Paul had the humility of one ransomed from sin by the blood of the Lamb.  Murray makes this powerful and amazing statement:  "Never for a moment in this life can God's child live in the full light of His love without understanding that the sin out of which he has been saved is his one and only right and title to all that grace has promised to do."

3.  The sinner learns that by this grace humility acquires a new meaning:  it becomes him in the adoration which naturally follows the loving redemption from God.  The focus is no longer on sin, as Paul demonstrated, but on duty, in humility, "in the power of the Holy Spirit."  Pastor Murray concludes that humility does not come from daily sinning, but from a deeper awareness of the grace in which we may abide before God:  as sinners saved by that grace.  But Paul also knew of the ongoing sin potential of the flesh and "a continuous victory given by the Spirit as He mortifies the deeds of the body," without destroying or sanctifying the flesh.
4.  Murray states that, in the Christian, "the indwelling of Christ through the Holy Spirit is the health and light and life of the soul."  He likens that to how good health rids one of disease, and light pushes darkness out of dark places.  As we understand the daily helplessness and danger from our flesh, we become dependent on God's grace alone, leading to humility through that grace, and to joy and peace.

5.  The author then summarized these ideas about God's grace, which:  1) humbled Paul; 2) allows sinners to "labor more abundantly" for Christ; 3) keeps one conscious of one's sin potential; 4) deals with and takes away one's sin; 5) reminds one of the need for humility because of sin and grace; and 6) makes one know self as a sinner, and makes the sinner's place of humility a place one never leaves.

6.  The strong self-condemnations and self-denunciations of those aware of their sins continues one's occupation with self, causing one to miss humility with Jesus' features of compassion, kindness, meekness and patience.  Knowing God's grace completely frees one from sin and self.  Then one can be made humble.  Murray again makes the point:  "There will be no room for self in the soul that waits for, trusts, worships and is filled with the presence of God the Creator as the all of man in his nothingness, and God the Redeemer as the all of the sinner in his sinfulness."  Only then will God alone be exalted, as the Bible commands.

7.  Andrew Murray finishes this amazing chapter with this short paragraph:  "It is the sinner dwelling in the full light of God's holy, redeeming love - in the experience of that full indwelling of divine love, which comes through Christ and the Holy Spirit - who cannot be anything but humble.  Not to be occupied with your sin, but to be occupied with God, brings deliverance from self."




Brief Comment:  What a fascinating chapter!  Pastor Murray deals with all three aspects of why Christians should be humble before God (remember way back in the opening Preface Murray wrote for this book).  In addition to the indwelling Spirit of the humble Jesus, we receive unbelievable grace from God in the forgiveness - the wiping totally clean - of our sins through Jesus and His sacrificial death on the cross, a truly humbling phenomenon.  And the second reason for why we should have humility, our repeated sinful failures, is eliminated by Murray in his definition of grace.  Wow, how freeing is that?

     It struck me as an avid baseball fan and former player that there is a powerful analogy here (non-sports fans forgive me).  With God as our scorekeeper, grace means that the only records He makes are of our base hits and errorless play.  Strikeouts, otherwise futile at bats, and flubs and errors in the field are simply not recorded; they don't count with God, because of our grace from Him through Jesus Christ.  We all bat and field 1.000; that's how Paul could be so positive about his work for the Lord in spite of his trials and tribulations, and his flesh.  Unlike most of us, Paul understood the perfect scorecard of grace.  Again, how freeing is that?   





]]><![CDATA[HUMILITY, Ch. 7:  Humility And Holiness]]>Tue, 04 Mar 2014 14:35:47 GMThttp://www.christianbody.net/humility/humility-ch-7-humility-and-holinessAndrew Murray begins this chapter with a different type of Scriptural quotation.  The verse he uses is an Old Testament verse from Isaiah, where God criticizes the profane and idolatrous leaders of Israel by saying of them (Isa 65:5),  "Which say, 'Stand by yourself, come not near me; for I am holier than you.' "  Murray then connects the display in believers of God's holiness to humility.  Here are some of the author's points in Chapter 7:

1.  Seeking "holiness" is very prominent among Christians today.  The test of holiness in us is whether or not it produces true humility, which then allows God's holiness to be displayed.  As Murray has said repeatedly before, the mark of man's "holiness" will be one's humility as shown before God and fellow men.  "Humility is the bloom and the beauty of holiness."

2.  The mark then of false holiness is a lack of humility, or the manifestation of pride.  Pride can even be present in one in "the very temple of God."  Murray cites the example of Luke 18's Pharisee, who thanks God that he is not like the publican there with him.  Pastor Murray then observes that it is not the Pharisees around us that we need to identify, but the Pharisee inside us.  We must always be on our guard against pride, which may present with the self-complacency of thanking God and congratulating self.  Pride has many manifestations, even in praising God and being penitent.

3.  While we openly reject that Pharisee and see the errors of his attitude, we may subconsciously carry much of the same self-complacency and attitude of Christian superiority as we compare ourselves to others.  Jesus' humility is little remembered or valued.  The work of ministries and missions is often blocked or set back by the "touchiness and . . . impatience, . . . self-defense and self-assertion, . . . sharp judgments and unkind words" of their workers.  There tends to be no esteeming of others as better than oneself.  Little humility is seen in such "saints."  (Murray quotes an excerpt from Hannah Whitall Smith from Everyday Religion about the tyranny of "Me" in the workings of the church - the seeking of the best place, the offense if that is not realized, and the quarrelsome nature of "Me" shows how little Jesus' teaching about taking the lowest place is sought or understood.)
4.  Even in brokenness one may not acquire the humility of Christ, which makes one willingly the servant of others.  Jesus was the Holy One, which made Him the humble One.  The author makes this powerful statement:  "There is none holy but God."  How much of us is God's determines our holiness and humility.  And Murray again defines humility:  it is the "disappearance of self in the vision that God is all."  Therefore the holiest of men will also be the humblest.

5.  Murray again also makes the point that while none of us would consciously voice the idea of Isaiah 65:5 above, we often carry that spirit.  How easy it is, seeing the faults of others, to think like the Pharisee of Luke 18:11.  Then the author returns to Paul's writings about humility, and returns to the topic of love.  "The power of a perfect love forgets itself and finds its blessedness in blessing others - in bearing with and honoring them, however feeble they may be."  That comes from having Christ within oneself.  As that love enters a person, so does God, making the person's self nothing.  This is not an off-and-on, seasonal phenomenon - it is a permanent dwelling of Christ and God, whose words and works may then proceed forth from that person.

6.  The chapter ends with Pastor Murray's exhortations to Christians:  a) to ask God to teach us that our thoughts and attitudes concerning our fellow persons are our mark of humility before Him; b) that our humility must be Christ's life within us; c) the pride and self-complacency of "self-holiness" is insidious and dangerous and is revealed in our attitudes about others; d) the world notices our false holiness, and takes it as a sign of unfruitful proclaimed faith; e) we are warned that even impressive acts and thoughts of "consecration and faith" can occur without humility being present; f) our holiness as a sign of God's presence in us can only be seen if we "hide ourselves" in Jesus until He clothes us with His humility.  "That alone is our holiness."

]]><![CDATA[HUMILITY, Ch. 6:  Humility In Daily Life]]>Mon, 24 Feb 2014 17:06:37 GMThttp://www.christianbody.net/humility/humility-ch-6-humility-in-daily-life     Chapter 6 is a powerful chapter in which Andrew Murray begins to transform the concept of the humility of Jesus Christ into instructions for today's believers as to how to live and manifest Christ's humility in one's Christian walk.  Murray begins the chapter by quoting 1 John 4:20 - "He that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?"  Here are some of this chapter's points:

1.  Pastor Murray likens the idea that as our love for God is shown in our love for our fellow man, so our humility before God is only proven in our humility before men.  Our daily actions show what we have and are of spiritually.  Murray states,  "Humility before God is nothing if not proved in humility before men."

2.  This chapter cites Paul's many writings about the need for humility.  In mid-chapter, the author summarizes Paul's teachings by saying,  "The humble man seeks at all times to act on the rule,  'In honor preferring one another;' " (from Rom 12:10), " 'Serve one another;' " (from Gal 5:13), " 'Each esteeming others better than himself;' " (from Philip 2:3), " 'Submitting yourselves one to another.' " (from Ephes 5:21).  Humility truly understands the self being nothing, does not compare itself with others, and honors, prefers and respects all other human beings, regardless of their perceived state.  Earlier in citing Paul's teaching, Pastor Murray cites that the Love Chapter, 1 Cor 13, includes these facts about love:  it "vaunts not itself," "is not puffed up," and "seeks not its own."  Love and humility stem from one another - Jesus' nature.  Christians are to rejoice in being nothing before God and man, and to have joy in being others' servant.

3.  The humble Christian has no envy or jealousy of others, and is not offended when forgotten or glossed over so that others are favored.  Considering oneself as nothing contains the true spirit of Jesus' humility.

4.  When tempted with the persistent markers of retained pride - impatience, sensitive or easily hurt feelings, harsh thoughts and sharp words - one must put on the Lord Jesus, with His heart of compassion, humility, kindness and forgiveness to show His humblest state.  It is the heart of sweet and lowly gentleness and compassion which marks one as being of the Lamb of God.
5.  In trying to achieve a higher Christian life, one might mistake the human Christian virtues of "boldness, joy, contempt for the world, zeal, self-sacrifice" for those divine features which Christ displayed:  "death of self - poverty of spirit, meekness, humility, lowliness."  We prove these by "forbearing and forgiving one another" (from  Colos 3:13), as we have been forgiven by Christ.

6.  Here again we are asked to ask those around us and "the world" if we display any of Jesus' humility.  If we study the Bible, we may more easily come to know the Spirit of Jesus, which He may then birth in us.  We mustn't be discouraged by our failures, but use them to urge us to more humility in turning to Jesus.  When He rules our hearts, then true humility will be one of the "streams of living water" which He gives to flow out of us.

7.  Pastor Murray then once again states how deficient of humility the Church is.  It continues to show what the author calls an "uncongenial mind" which causes a total lack of the "bond of peace" with other Christians and people.  He makes this incredible statement:  "Men and women . . . become a hindrance and a weariness" to one another, instead of the blessing of joy they should be.  All of this happens because of the utter lack of humility, which seeks to be nothing, the least of all, the servant of everyone, even those deemed "the lowest and unworthiest."

8.  The chapter ends with an exhortation, not a leveling criticism.  Murray writes,  "But let us not be discouraged.  Let the discovery of the lack of this grace stir us to larger expectation from God.  Let us look on every brother or sister who tries or vexes us as God's means of grace.  Let us look on him or her as God's instrument for our purification, for our exercise of the humility of Jesus, our life, breathes within us.  And let us have such faith in the all of God and the nothing of self, that we may, in God's power, seek only to serve one another in love."

]]><![CDATA[HUMILITY, Ch. 5:  Humility In The Disciples Of Jesus]]>Mon, 17 Feb 2014 16:44:09 GMThttp://www.christianbody.net/humility/humility-ch-5-humility-in-the-disciples-of-jesus     Chapter Five begins with a quotation from Jesus in Luke 22:26:  "Let he that is chief among you be as he that does serve."  Pastor Murray switches in this chapter from the ministry of Jesus - His example and His teachings - to the response and example of His immediate disciples.  Some of his points in this chapter are as follows:

1.  Jesus chose His disciples, and we look for examples of humility in them as they walked with Him.  If humility is not there, it shows:  the major difference between the Savior Jesus and his human companions; and the powerful change in men which came with Pentecost.  Humility is part of Christ's victory over Satan and the pride instilled in man.  Murray cites several examples from the Gospels showing that, even late in Jesus' ministry, the disciples had little humility.  There occasionally were brief flashes of humility, as in Peter, but the disciples were mostly focused on self.  The author then goes on to make three major statements about humility in Christ's disciples.

2.  First, even in devoted, disciplined, "earnest" Christians, humility may be absent.  Murray cites disciples who forsake all for Christ, receive revelations and gifts from Him, believe in and love Him, obey Him, and are ready to die for Him, but still are under the "dark power" of self-focus.  As it was with Jesus' immediate disciples, so it is in the Church today.  That shows how difficult humility is to obtain; only by the power of the Holy Spirit within us can true humility come.

3.  The second statement is that external teaching and personal effort are too weak to conquer pride and bring one humility.  Jesus repeatedly manifested and taught humility to His disciples in His three-year walk with them, but even in the end of that walk the disciples had learned little humility. 

4.  Statement three:  only by the dwelling of Christ within us, in His humility, are we able to have His true humility.  Our dominant pride came from another - Adam - so if we are to have humility, that, too, must come from another - Christ.  Humility must come into us and become part of our very nature.  Jesus' lessons and example of humility prepared the disciples for Pentecost, when the Spirit God had given Jesus came and took possession of His disciples, and made them able to have and be of the humility "He had taught them to desire."  In His death and Resurrection, Jesus was given by the Father a new life and power which enabled Him to enter, fill and live men's lives.  So such men have His humility before God and are made meek like Jesus.

5.  Murray lists a number of different kinds of believers as to how they relate to Jesus' humility:  those who have never thought of His humility; those who have tried to gain it on their own, and failed, feeling then condemned and discouraged; those who experience the Holy Spirit's power without any awareness that they lack humility; and those who have grace and deliverance in Christ along with awareness of their lack of humility.  All still need a deeper seeking of Christ's nature and His humility.

6.  I will again finish this summary of Chapter 5 with direct quotes from the last couple of paragraphs at the end of this chapter:  "We must understand the utter impossibility of the Church or the believer in being what Christ would have them be, as long as His humility is not recognized as His chief glory, His first command, and our highest blessedness.  Let us deeply consider how far the disciples were advanced while this grace was still so terribly lacking.  Let us pray to God that other gifts may not so satisfy us that we never grasp the fact that the absence of this grace is the secret reason why the power of God cannot do its mighty work.  It is only where we, like the Son, truly know and show that we can do nothing of ourselves, that God will do all.  It is when the truth of an indwelling Christ takes the place it claims in the experience of believers that the Church will put on her beautiful garments and humility will be seen in her teachers and members as the beauty of holiness."




Brief Comment:  While it may seem superficially encouraging to note that even the disciples who walked with Christ, living with Him 24-7, did not get humility, at the same time it shows how difficult the quest for Christ's humility can be.  This is especially true in the era of self-focus we currently seem to be in.  Everything in "my" life is about "me."  (Some provoking thoughts:  If you don't think self-focus is an issue, notice that even hymns and "praise and worship" songs, which are supposed to be about the glory of God and Christ, contain lots of "I" and "me" references.  And consider the statements:  "Christ died for me" and "Christ saved me" - how much of Jesus' true humility is in those?)  The above prayer in #6 is key; how easy it is to get puffed up and distracted over something we consider to be our own spiritual effort, when in real humility we must be nothing so God can be and do all!  I must totally die, that Christ can live in me (Gal 2:20 again).  How do we do that?  Only by surrendering to the Spirit that Christ plants in us.  (Other opinions are much appreciated!)

]]><![CDATA[HUMILITY, Ch. 4:  Humility In The Teaching Of Jesus]]>Tue, 11 Feb 2014 15:04:20 GMThttp://www.christianbody.net/humility/humility-ch-4-humility-in-the-teaching-of-jesus     Andrew Murray again makes his focus on Scriptures as he highlights some of Jesus' teachings on humility, a feature He expected His disciples to learn and display.  As the author says himself about the verses he cites, "I can scarce do more than quote."  Here again are some of this chapter's points:

1.  Nine Gospel passages which feature our Lord's teachings on humility are shown, mostly from Matthew and Luke, but also one from John.  The major themes are:  the poor in spirit and the meek receive God's blessing; Jesus Himself offered His disciples His own meek and lowly state for them to receive; repeatedly, in different ways, Jesus taught that those who humble self/become servants of all/abase themselves will be greatest/exalted before God.  From these verses, Murray points out:  that humility is the chief glory, and the standard of glory, in heaven; that Jesus' meekness and lowliness is our salvation; that humility/self-abasement bring honor and being exalted before God; that humility before God and men is the prime value God seeks in us; that being humble and everyone's servant is the essential element for discipleship of Jesus.

2.  Murray again emphasizes that humility, as Jesus taught, is little preached or practiced.  Most Christians do not recognize how deficient in humility they are.  And few believers today even seek to have the humility of Christ.

3.  The servant mindset is little understood.  The good servant is totally devoted to pleasing his master, to serving his interests, to delighting in his success, prosperity and honor.  We should recognize that being God's servant, in that mindset, frees us from self and sin; but Jesus taught us more - to be one another's servant, which is even more freeing.  We tend to be blocked from this by residual self-focus and pride. 

4.  We must learn that being nothing before God is man's glory there, allowing us the mindset to serve our fellow humans, even those who are frustrating and hateful.  Through Christ's example and teaching we find no place too low for us.  Then we can be everyone's servant.

5.  Murray emphasizes that the "path to a higher life" is to go lower.  "Seek not, ask not for exaltation; that is God's work.  . . .  abase and humble yourselves, and take no place before God or man but that of a servant."  That is the Christian's work; God in His faithfulness will then exalt and bless.  Humility is not weakness, but the most Christ-like of all man's characteristics.

6.  To again quote the last paragraph of Chapter 4, Murray writes,  "Jesus, the meek and lowly One, calls us to learn from Him the path to God.  Let us study the words we have been reading, until our heart is filled with the thought:  My one need is humility.  And let us believe that what He shows, He gives; what He IS, He imparts.  As the meek and lowly One, He will come in and dwell in the longing heart."




Brief Comment:  This is another chapter that is worth reading and rereading, even memorizing.  Jesus expects His disciples to understand and display His humility.  We have no humility in our own nature; our daily failures and our continued self-focus tell us that.  Jesus was gentle in correcting the pride which His disciples showed right up through their Last Supper with Him, despite what they had seen in Him as they left all to walk with Him.  Our one need is His humility; He eagerly imparts that to all who seek and long for it.  Do we do that?  When we do, He abides in us so we can manifest His humble nature. 

]]><![CDATA[HUMILITY, Ch. 3:  Humility In The Life Of Jesus]]>Tue, 04 Feb 2014 15:59:45 GMThttp://www.christianbody.net/humility/humility-ch-3-humility-in-the-life-of-jesusIn the third chapter of this book, Andrew Murray gets right down to the basics of his focus - Jesus' own humility in His life on earth.  (How does one summarize a chapter based on that?)  Murray begins with the citation of Jesus' key words about Himself in Luke 22:27:  "I am among you as He that serves."  Here are some of the other points the author makes in this relatively-brief chapter:

1.  Jesus most fully described His relationship with His Father in John's Gospel.  Jesus took the position of total subordination to God, to whom He gave all honor and glory which should have been due Him (Jesus).  He lived and experienced what He taught in the example of the proud Pharisee and the humble publican in Luke 18:14:  "He that humbles himself shall be exalted."

2.  Murray cites eleven specific verses from John in which Jesus' humility is clear.  Jesus spoke of being able to do nothing of Himself, that He came not to speak His own words or give Himself credit or glory, and even that He did not come of Himself or His own will.  Making Himself as nothing and totally empty of self, Jesus gave God credit for everything, and made God all. 

3.  Jesus humbled Himself before God, who honored and worked all through His Son.  That also allowed Jesus to humble Himself before men and to be God's instrument to them no matter what they said about or to Him or did to Him.  That was the redemption that Christ brought to us, that WE might model His complete self-denial, doing nothing of ourselves, that God might be all.  We must learn of Jesus and His meek lowliness; Christ teaches us that humility comes from "the knowledge that it is God who works all in all, that our place is to yield to Him in perfect resignation and dependence, in full consent to be and to do nothing of ourselves."

4.  If we have trouble grasping this idea, we must seek Christ's example of humility more vigorously.  It is not us, but Christ who lives humbly and meekly in us.  We must learn from Him to be nothing but vessels which manifest God.  "The root of all virtue and grace - of all faith and acceptable worship - is that we know that we have nothing but what we receive, and bow in deepest humility to wait upon God for it."

5.  Humility was not a coming and going, waxing and waning phenomenon in Jesus.  It was His basic nature, constant and never self-seeking in any way.  His life was totally yielded to God.  As His believers seek the fullness of Christ's nature, we must realize sadly how absent His humility tends to be in our lives.  Everything, including "religion" the way we know it, must be set aside to obtain through Christ the humility that will truly mark His presence inside us.

6.  Murray's last paragraph in this key chapter is worth quoting entirely:  "Brother or sister, are you clothed with humility?  Ask your daily life.  Ask Jesus.  Ask your friends.  Ask the world.  And begin to praise God that there is opened up to you in Jesus a heavenly humility of which you have hardly known, and through which a heavenly blessedness (which you possibly have never yet tasted) can come into you."




Brief Comment:  Amen!  This chapter shows the true essence of what this entire book is about.  As such it is almost worth memorizing, and is certainly worth reading over and over again, including the Scriptures which Pastor Murray uses as evidence of Jesus' complete humility.  Jesus was empty of self!  How far we are from that!  Only by His life in me (see Galatians 2:20) can we even begin to understand His humility.

I remember seeing this statement on Christian television several years ago:  "JESUS WAS UNOFFENDABLE."  When one says this, some people quickly (almost defensively!) point out that He threw merchants out of the temple.  But Jesus had no tolerance for blasphemy of GOD, or hypocrisy among those claiming to be GODly; however, He took His own rejection and criticism pridelessly.  His walk was not about Himself.

It is interesting to think of praising and thanking God specifically for Jesus' humility.  How many of us have done that?  That may be the first step in recognizing and inviting in divine humility into our own nature in Jesus Christ!

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