THE HUMILITY OF GOD

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedience unto death, even the death of the cross”
(Philippians 2:6-8).

What is Christmas today? Christmas trees, decorations, lights, tinsel, parties, Santa Claus, and an over abundance of food. Total antipathy to the very first Christmas!

The first Christmas was celebrated in poverty. In fact, it was more than poverty. It was degradation. Today, if a couple were so poor that they had to have their baby in a dirty animal stable, the Social Services would take their baby away from them. But, 2000 years down the line, it seems that the humility of Christmas has been forgotten.

I think it would be good to remind ourselves of the true reality of Christmas, don’t you?

1. The humility of Mary

Mary was a humble maiden with a humble lineage. She was not a royal princess. She was not a High Priest's daughter. She was not rich. Mary herself confesses in her song, "He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.... He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree” (Luke 1:48-49). But God chose this unknown virgin to bring forth His precious Son. He chose her because she was a willing vessel. Often those who have everything materially are not willing vessels.

God does not look for riches and material possessions. He looks for women with obedient hearts -- mothers who welcome to their hearts the children God sends them. He looks for those who have the same spirit Mary had when she said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy Word" (Luke 1:38). She was totally surrendered to the will of God. In the face of poverty, ridicule, rejection, and estrangement, she embraced this child who would be the Savior of the world.

I will never forget going to the famous art gallery in London and seeing a painting of Mary with the caption: “Be it unto me according to thy word.” It was such an anointed picture. The artist captured the look of total submission and abandonment to the will of God upon her face. I looked and looked at it for hours.

2. The humility of Joseph

Joseph was a humble carpenter from a humble village. Do you remember that Nathanael said of Jesus: "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). Jesus was spurned by his fellow residents of Nazareth who asked: “Is not this the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55).

3. The humility of His birthplace

Jesus was born in a stable, most probably a cave, with the dirt, smells, and messes of the animals all around. He was then laid in a stone feeding trough, fit only for the animals. Jesus was born to be King, but God didn't provide a palace for His Son in which to be born. He didn't provide a doctor, nurses, and hospital. There was no cradle beautifully draped with lace and frills. Only straw! Was there even that? No Christmas card paints the true reality of the scene.

If this was the beginning of the Son of God, why do we, the sons and daughters of God, expect that we should have all the niceties of life? Of course, if God blesses us with them, we receive them with joy, but should we expect them? Everything surrounding the birth of Jesus was humble.

It is interesting that in the body of Christ we have the "Faith movement" and the "Discipleship movement" and so on. But has anyone ever heard of the "Humility movement"? We don't take to this aspect so well, do we? And yet this is how God planned for His beloved Son to be born. And this is how he lived all through His life. Shouldn't humility also be the hallmark of our Christian experience?

I think that God revealed His heart in the place He chose for His son to be born—the lowliest and humblest place possible. God loves the poor. He promises to raise up the poor. He watches over them. Even in the birth of His son, He related to the poorest of the poor.

It is also amazing to think that God chose to bring forth His beloved Son through the process of birth. He could have sent him down from Heaven on a chariot of fire! He could have sent a legion of angels to escort Him from the majesty of heaven. But no! He chose for His Son to be conceived and nurtured in a womb, to be born of a woman, the way God planned for all human life to come into this world.

Surely this raises birth to a high estate. What a privilege to give birth and give life to children, the very same way that Jesus came into the world? How blessed we are as women.

4. The humility of Jesus' dedication

After the days of a mother's purification, the parents took the baby to the temple to be dedicated. They had to bring a lamb to be sacrificed for the dedication. However, if they could not afford a lamb, they brought two turtle doves or young pigeons (Leviticus 12:6-8). The account in Luke 2:23-24 tells us that Joseph and Mary brought doves or pigeons. They belonged to the poor class. They couldn't afford to bring a lamb. God chose the poorer class to bring forth the King of kings and Lord of lords.

We don't have to own our own home and have all the modern conveniences before we are ready to have a baby. All we have to have is willing and welcome hearts. God always provides for the children He sends. The poor who have children are richer than the wealthy who reject children.

May God pour out His Spirit upon you at this very special season. as May God keep all our hearts focused on the humility of His birth, rather than tinsel and toys.
Love from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for leaving the glory of heaven to come to this earth. Thank you for humbling yourself to become a little baby. Thank you that you came to die for my sin. How can I ever thank you adequately? With all my being I worship and love you. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

"That the Great Angel-blinding light should shrink
His blaze, to shine in a poor Shepherd's eye;
That the unmeasur'd God so low should sink
As Pris'ner in a few poor rags to lie."

~ Richard Crashaw

THE LIFE AND TESTIMONY OF
STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS
Part 4

“But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.
And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.”
(Philippians 3:20-21 NLT).

7. PILGRIMS LIVE BY FAITH

The only way to live this pilgrim life is by faith. Writing about Abraham, Hebrews 11: 9 (Phillips) says: “It was faith that kept him journeying like a foreigner through the land of promise.” Our journey through this world is a faith journey. When we resort to trusting in what we can see and plan with our own minds, we move into the realm of the unbeliever who lives for this world. As strangers and foreigners, we live for another world.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Pilgrims don’t live according to the circumstances around them, but by faith in the promises of God. Pilgrims don’t live by the “seen and temporal,” but by the “unseen and eternal.”

In the midst of troubles and deception all around, keep journeying by faith with your eyes upon the Lord.

8. PILGRIMS BELONG TO A HEAVENLY COUNTRY

Philippians 3:20 in the Berean Literal Bible says: “For our citizenship exists in the heavens, from whence also we are awaiting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 11: 10 says that Abraham “Looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

Hebrews 11: 16 says: “But now they desire a better country, that is, a HEAVENLY: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”

9. PRILGRIMS TRAVEL LIGHT

Pilgrims don’t get bowed down with too much stuff. They are not accumulating for this world, but for the world to come. They do not waste their time building treasure on earth, but send it up for their eternal home (Matthew 6:19-21).

Hebrews 12:1: “Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses (the strangers and aliens who walked by faith on this earth), LET US LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Luke 9:58: “And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”

10. PILGRIMS MAKE THEIR HOME A PRILGRIM HOUSE

Even though God chose a land for His people Israel and gave it to them by divine intent and promise, He wanted them to see it as a pilgrimage land. Genesis 6:4 says : “I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.”

David said to God: “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.” Even though David was a king, he still confessed he was a sojourner in the earth. Because was a sojourner, he understood that the home he lived in was to be a sojourning home. Our home is not a place to put down roots forever. It’s only a half-way house on the way to our heavenly home.

But David wanted to make his home as much like the heavenly home as he possibly could. David loved the presence of God. He loved to worship God and therefore organized 24 hour continual worship in the temporary tabernacle during his kingship. And I am sure he filled his own home with worship too.

This is also God’s plan for us. He wants us to make our pilgrimage homes as much like our heavenly home as possible. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, He told them pray in this manner: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9, 10). Let’s just stop there. Can we get hold of these words? Jesus asked us to pray that His will would be fulfilled in earth, just as it is in Heaven. That means that His ways, His will His presence, and all that fills Heaven should fill our homes. The atmosphere of Heaven should be the atmosphere of our pilgrimage home on earth!

Pilgrim homes should be glorious homes--filled with the presence of the Lord, filled with worship, filled with the riches of God’s Word, filled with love and joy and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and filled with the atmosphere of Heaven.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but Thou art mighty,
Hold me with Thy pow’rful hand. Amen.”

~ William Williams

AFFIRMATION:

“This world is not my home
I'm just a-passing through,
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me
From heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home
In this world anymore.”

~ Jim Reeves

THE LIFE AND TESTIMONY OF
STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS
Part 3

“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”
(Philippians 2:12).

5. PILGRIMS ABSTAIN FROM FLESHLY LUSTS

Peter pleaded with the believers in 1 Peter 2:11: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).

Jesus prayed for the believers yet to be born: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world “ (John 17:14-16).

The apostle John also pleaded with the believers: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but here that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

When we give one inch to fleshly lusts, they war against our soul. They hinder us on our pilgrim walk. We must get into the habit of saying No to the flesh, and Yes to the life of Jesus Christ who lives in us and walks with us.

6. PILGRIMS LIVE IN THE FEAR OF GOD

1 Peter 1:17 says: “And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.” The English Standard Version says: “Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.”

This Scripture describes God as both Father and Judge. He is our loving, approachable, compassionate Father, but He is also Judge. The judgment of God also reveals His love for us. If there was no judgment upon our lives, there would be no safety and we would end in destruction.

There are many folks who only want to experience God’s love. There are others who only talk about the judgment of God. Both are wrong for we must embrace God as both loving Father and loving Judge. It is this understanding that causes us to walk in the fear of the Lord while we sojourn on this earth. We walk in fear before our Father because we do not want to hurt Him or displease Him. We walk in fear before Him as Judge because we know that sin is so hateful to Him. He sent His beloved Son from Heaven to die and to take the punishment we deserved because of our sin.

Do we have this relationship with God? Do we walk in fear of displeasing Him? Do we walk in fear of being deceived and falling into sin because we know we are only human? Alexander Maclaren writes about this fear: "A lowly consciousness of the heinousness of sin, and consequently a dread of offending the Divine holiness. He who thus fears, fears to sin more than anything else, and fears God so much that he fears nothing besides." He also writes: "The strongest needs to fear; the weakest, fearing, is safe. For such fearfulness is indispensable to safety . . . The only safety for any of us is ever to be on the watch, and to dread our own weakness."

F. B. Meyer writes of this Scripture: “The holy soul realizes this; and a great awe falls upon it and overshadows it--an awe not born of the fear which hath torment, but of love. It passes the time of its sojourning in fear. Not the fear of evil consequences to itself, but the fear of grieving the Father; of bringing a shadow over his face; of missing any manifestation of his love and nearness to Himself, which may be granted to the obedient child. Love casts out fear; but it also begets it. There is nothing craven, or fretful, or depressing; but a tenderness of conscience which dreads the tiniest cloud on the inner sky, such as might overshadow for a single moment the clear shining of the Father's face. So the brief days of sojourning pass quickly on, and the vision of the Homeland beckons to us, and bids us mend our pace.” I pray that I will walk with “a tenderness of conscience which dreads the tiniest cloud on the inner sky.” Is this your prayer too?

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father in Heaven, please save me from being captivated with the worldly things of this life--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Please remind me each new day that I am only a stranger in this world and doing the will of God is the only thing worthwhile. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’m walking in God’s fear
Along this pilgrim way,
His presence brings me cheer
Even when skies are gray.

THE LIFE AND TESTIMONY OF
STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS
Part 2

“And confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth”
(Hebrews 11:13).

3. PRILGRIMS CONFESS THEY ARE STRANGERS ON THIS EARTH

The great faith chapter reminds us: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were PERSUADED of them, and EMBRACED them, and CONFESSED that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth” (Hebrew 11:13).

The saints of old CONFESSED they were strangers and pilgrims. They acknowledged they were citizens of Heaven. The faith men and women of old lived in the light of eternity. What is your confession? Do you talk more about the material possessions of this world or the eternal kingdom? Are you preparing your children for the eternal world?

We learn to do this is by continually CONFESSING we are strangers and foreigners. Perhaps we should confess this truth each morning as we rise. “Thank you for being with me today, Father, as I live as a temporary resident on this earth. Help me to realize that I belong to another kingdom apart from this world. And in the name of Jesus, I confess that I am a stranger and pilgrim. Amen.”

The word “confession” is the Greek word homologeo and means “to speak and confess the same words God says to us and about us, to agree with God, and to assent to and publically acknowledge God’s truth.” We must daily confess the truths that belong to God’s kingdom instead of the humanistic jargon of this humanistic society.

And do you notice that the saints of old not only CONFESSED the principles and promises, but were PERSUADED of them and EMBRACED them to their hearts?

Jacob confessed his life was a pilgrimage when he spoke to the Pharaoh of Egypt. He said: “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 120 years” (Genesis 47:9):

4. PRILGRIMS KNOW THEIR LIFE IS ONLY A SHADOW

David confessed before God in 1 Chronicles 29:15: “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a SHADOW, and there is none abiding.” David says again in Psalm 144:4: “Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.”

Why do we get so bogged down in this life when the eternal realm is the truly real world? God’s word gives many pictures to remind us of our temporary life on this earth. Let’s look at them, shall we? He says our lives here are like:

A CLOUD (Job 7:9).

A FLOWER that comes forth and is cut down (Job 14:2; Isaiah 40:6-8 and 1 Peter 1:24, 25).

A SIGH (Psalm 90:9).

A SHADOW (1 Chronicles 29:15; Job 8:9; 14:2; Psalm 102:11; and 144:4 ).

A VAPOR (mist) that appears for a little time and vanishes away (James 4:14).

A WIND that passes away and comes not again (Job 7:6, 7 and Psalm 78:39).

AN EAGLE swooping on its prey (Job 9:26).

FEW (Job 14:1 and 10:20).

FLEETING (Psalm 39:4 ESV).

GRASS (Psalm 90:6, 7; 103:15, 16; Isaiah 40:6-8; and 1 Peter 1:24, 25).

HANDBREADTH--measurement of four fingers, about four inches (Psalm 39:5).

SHORT (1 Corinthians 7:29).

SWIFTER than a runner (Job 9:25)

SWIFTER than a weaver’s shuttle (Job 7:6).

SWIFT BOAT (Job 9:26).

VANITY meaning a breath or a vapor (Psalm 39:5).

WATER spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered again (2 Samuel 14:14).

More to come.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father in Heaven, my everlasting home, I thank you for all your eternal promises. With all my heart I embrace them and confess them. They are my daily confession. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am accumulating treasure in heaven rather than on this earth.