Proverbs 25:6-7a - Transformed Humility

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The following sermon was preached on August 31st, 2025, on the basis of Proverbs

Proverbs 25:6

chapter 25, verses 6, and the beginning part of verse 7.

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our sermon text today from Proverbs chapter 25.

Proverbs 25 · chapter mention

You'll see some similarities between what Jesus just said in the gospel lesson in this proverb here.

It says, Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence and do not claim a place among the great men.

It is better for him to say to you, come up here, than for him to humiliate you before his nobles.

This is God's word.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I should imagine that you have had a rough

couple months, and maybe you don't have to imagine that. Maybe that's been true for you.

Life has been very busy, and so you're heading on a much-needed vacation,

and it's so needed, you're so tired.

It has been crazy, and you can't remember the last time that you had a moment

to just relax, to disconnect, to refresh yourself, and so you go on vacation.

And you travel to your destination and you check into your Airbnb and then you

make the fatal mistake without thinking about it because you just kind of do it so naturally.

You log on to the Wi-Fi there and that's when you see it.

Five text messages, one email, voicemail, all from your team members who know

that you're on vacation.

And everything within you wants to scream.

I never do this. I never get away. And the one time that I finally got away,

I can't, there's, it's following me. It's following me.

Can you relate to that to some degree? Maybe not that exact situation where

you just feel like you can't get a break.

It's not the exact same scenario, but Jesus had been going and going and going.

He'd been teaching a lot. He'd been doing miracles and healing people. Yeah.

And he was tired. Remember, Jesus is 100% true man, just like us. He had our humanity.

And so he got tired. He needed to sleep. He needed rest.

On top of his busy schedule, Jesus has just received word, some really sad news,

that his cousin, John the Baptist, had just been killed by King Herod.

And so the physical toll was also mixed with this emotional toll that he was

experiencing. And he just needed to get away.

Plans to. He made plans to go to a solitary place and to be with just his disciples.

And he wanted to take time to pray, to spend time in prayer with his heavenly father.

And so Jesus gets into a boat. He goes across the Sea of Galilee with his disciples.

But as he got into a boat, some of the people saw him.

Some of the people that had been following him around, wanting healings for

their sick, wanting to hear Jesus teach.

They saw him get into the boat, just a few people, and they followed him on the shoreline.

And maybe some of the other ones went back and told more people,

Jesus is going over to this place.

And they all followed him on this shoreline so that when Jesus got to this remote

place where he wanted to get rest and relaxation,

spend time in prayer with his father, when he landed on the shores of that solitary

place, there's a crowd of people waiting for him.

A crowd of people that were sick, they were sick.

A crowd of people that wanted to hear Jesus teach, a crowd of people that would

eventually later in the day be kind of hungry.

And Jesus wasn't frustrated. He wasn't angry that his vacation was ruined.

But you see the perfect humility of your Savior, that he didn't insist on his own needs.

Instead, he thought about the people that needed him.

And so he got off the boat and he taught the people all day.

He healed their sick and then eventually in

the day when they got really hungry he took five loaves of bread and two

pieces of fish and made it enough to feed over 5,000 people and they had 12

basketfuls left over pretty amazing that's just one example the humility of

your savior you could page through the the scriptures of the the new testament

there and you could example after example of of jesus humility i want i want

to give you a few and have you considered just a few today,

One would just be, here's what he couldn't control, right?

He couldn't control how he was born. Well, he could because he's God.

But as a matter of speaking, he couldn't control where he was born, how he was born.

But look at the humility of his birth. Here's the God of all creation.

And he's born to a poor virgin teenager in a manure scented cave in the nowhere town of Bethlehem.

The humblest of births, right?

Think about the company that Jesus kept throughout his life.

We saw in our reading from the gospel today that he was in the house of a prominent Pharisee.

So Jesus did rubbers with the rich and the powerful, the people that people

look up to in the community.

But he didn't just interact with them.

Jesus interacted with all kinds of people. In fact, a lot of times you find

Jesus with the poorest of the community. A lot of times you find Jesus with

the people that other people cast, right?

Like the tax collectors or prostitutes.

Jesus was perfectly humble in his dealings with other people.

He was willing to hang around Jesus.

Think about this. When Jesus did miracles, I want you to try to think about

a time that Jesus did a miracle that served himself.

You'd have to think for a long time because there wasn't one of those.

In fact, there was one specific instance that maybe you can remember where Jesus

was tempted to use his own divine power for himself right after Jesus was baptized.

And he had been sent out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

And the very first temptation that we're told of anyways, is after Jesus had

fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, he was desperately hungry.

And the devil came to him and said, turn those stones to bread.

And Jesus, according to his divinity, he had to do that, but he didn't because

he wasn't going to use his divine power to serve himself.

Every time that Jesus used his divine power as a miracle, he did it in the service

of others or to reinforce his message. He was perfectly humble in all ways.

But we're starting to get an idea, I think, of what does it mean to be humble?

What does it mean to show humility?

Even from just looking at Jesus, right? And how he treats people and how he

asserts his own rights and authority.

Think of this. When Jesus hung on the cross in front of the same people that

put him there, what did he do?

He didn't curse and swear at them.

He didn't harbor this anger and this resentment towards them.

They had made all these things up and that's why he crossed.

No, he freely forgave them from his heart. That's the most dramatic example.

Certainly Jesus forgave and forgave and forgave and was given many opportunities

to forgive throughout his entire life here on earth.

Another picture of humility, not holding on to his own desire for justice,

willing to freely forgive. One last example.

Jesus showed his humility by

perfectly submitting to the will of the Father. He didn't assert my way.

He didn't assert, this is what I want to do. He submitted to the will of the Father.

We see that in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? When Jesus is praying to the

Father, if it's possible, take this cup from me, but not my will,

but your will be done. He submitted to the will of the Father.

Jesus was perfectly humble in all ways. Perhaps the most dramatically would

just be the fact that he came to earth in the first place. This is the God of all creation.

He filled things. He created a universe that we will never get to the end of,

and he chose to inhabit human flesh to come save us.

That's a truth that we'll spend our entire life trying to wrap our head around. We won't get there.

It's amazing. It's awesome. It's inspiring, the humility of Jesus.

But I don't know if you're like me. I sometimes hear that,

those examples of Jesus' humility, and sometimes it's a little convicting,

because if I was that boat trying to get away for vacation and I rolled up to

the shores of this solitary place where I was hoping to spend some time in prayer,

and there was a crowd of people there,

I don't think I would act like Jesus.

Maybe I would have put on a face, right? Smiled. So happy to see you inside. Not so much.

I know I couldn't have done what Jesus did as he's going through terrible pain

and suffering at the hands of certain people and he freely forgives them from the heart.

How many times is it hard for us to just let go of some small things?

For us to let go of these grudges that we hold and forgive.

If you had the power to turn stones to bread and you were desperately hungry

and you could satiate that, would you have the will to avoid that impulse?

I don't think it's a secret to anyone here that human nature,

the sinful nature that we have is prone to pride and selfishness in all kinds of ways.

We want our way, no matter what it is. If it's our way versus someone else in

our lives way, we want our way.

We'll throw a little tantrum. Maybe not externally. Adults, we do a pretty good

job of hiding those things.

We keep the tantrum internal, but we still have that tantrum. I want my way.

We maybe treat our relationships like I need to get a return on investment on

this, that I will only have this relationship as long as it serves me.

We treat some of our relationships like it's a competition, trying to one-up

or get something from another person.

The list goes to ways that pride and selfishness can appear in our lives because

it really is the heart of sinfulness.

Pride and selfishness in its essence is saying, I want my way and not God's way.

And that's really the heart of, of every sin.

The person who breaks that law breaks all of it.

Jesus' humility as an example to us can be convicting because it shows us what we are by nature.

It shows us our sinful heart, what comes easy to us as breathing.

And it shows us that we do need a heart transformation.

The good news is though, the good news is that Jesus didn't show humility as

an example to us, first and foremost.

Jesus didn't come to be the shining example. Here's how you show humility.

Now you go and do likewise.

Humble so that he could transform your

heart so he's saved from all your sins

so that you could be forgiven so that you could be washed clean

that's exactly why he came in the first place he inhabited human flesh he humbled

himself to that degree be the substitute for you and me which means he could

take all the times that you've been selfish in a relationship with somebody

else all the times that you've had the attitude of pride.

Every time you've said, I want my way, God, not your way.

He took all of those times, all of those sins, and he put them to death because

we needed those to be put to death within us.

He put those to death on the cross, and there they died.

There they were buried, and you were buried with him. You were connected to

that sacrifice when you were baptized. You were buried with him in your baptism

and you were raised with him in your baptism.

And because of what Jesus did, because of what the Holy Spirit has connected

you to in him, your heart has been transformed.

And so here's how that looks different in the world around us then.

To the unbelievers of the world around us, the unbelievers of this world,

they do not have a transformed heart.

They are still in their sinful flesh, the sinful flesh in which you used to live.

They can show outward signs of humility, but it's not humility that flows from a transformed heart.

These are not fruits of the Spirit, but the unbeliever can show those acts of

humility sort of as a mask to cover up the unbelieving heart.

But you, who have been washed by water in the Spirit, who have been connected

to Christ, whose heart has been

transformed, that that humility flows from within you. It starts in here.

It starts in here and it makes its way out into what you think and say and do

because the spirit has transformed your heart because the spirit then produces

his fruits and one of those fruits being humility.

That's who he's made you to be. Not just to show humility, acts of humility,

thoughts of humility every once in a while, but, but he has made you to be humility in him.

And that has a massive impact. That's, that's the gospel that has that impact,

not just on your eternity, but on your lives here.

And I think maybe the best way to, to think about that is imagine if in your

relationships, both people in the relationship were showing that fruit of the spirit, that humility.

Imagine if in marriages, people treated one another, spouses treated one another with humility.

That rather than trying to get their way, rather than trying to compete with

their spouse, rather than trying to one-up them, rather than holding on to old

things that they did or didn't do, imagine if each spouse gave themselves up for one another.

Imagine if each spouse wanted to live as the one flesh that God made them to

be, and they would move forward.

Imagine if each spouse was so ready and willing to forgive that as soon as the

other spouse admitted their fault, they were ready to forgive them.

Imagine that each spouse would willingly admit when they did something wrong

and ask for forgiveness.

Imagine that each spouse would show amazing appreciation for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

That wouldn't just impact a marriage. That would impact kids.

That would impact the people around them.

That would be an amazing impact that this gospel, this fruit of the spirit,

this humility would have around us.

Or think about that in your relationships with family and friend.

The things that are true for marriage can be true for those relationships too.

If you are quick to forgive or quick to admit when you're wrong,

imagine how relationships could be blessed in that way.

Imagine if you didn't treat your friends and family members like you needed

a return on investment, that you just loved and respected them because of who

they are in Christ, and that that love flowed both directions.

That would be amazing. That would have a large impact, not just on that relationship,

but on your whole life and the people around you too.

Or think about your jobs. Imagine if your employer thought about things that way.

Imagine if your employer thought, not just about what could make them the most

money, but imagine if they thought about, what can I do to treat my employees?

What can I do to produce a product that really serves our world well?

Or if employees went into work and said, thought about not what I can get from

this company or this business, but what can I bring, what value can I add to the world around me?

That humility would change everything, right? It would have such an amazing impact.

But that's not the world we live in. That's not the experience generally in life.

And that's not what we see in our own hearts, too.

You see, we have a transformed heart, but we still have that sinful nature that

defaults to pride, that defaults to being selfish, to trying to get away, to exalt myself.

We still fight that battle. The thing's true too.

You live in a world where there are people who don't have a transformed heart,

who aren't believers in Jesus.

And so they have no reason to produce humility within their life.

That exaltation is what they're after.

And so temptation is real. The devil can come after your sinful nature,

your pride, and can use those circumstances to tempt people.

Everybody else is seeking exaltation in life. If everybody else is looking out

for themselves and I'm showing humility, aren't I just going to be stepped on,

forgotten, left behind?

Those are real thoughts within the Christian heart. Those are real temptations

that the devil will play on.

Can I give you two things from the Bible to speak to that?

Here's number one. It's nothing in the gospel message again.

If you never are on the receiving end of someone else's humility,

never, ever in your life, if you give and you give and you give and you never get anything back,

if you show humility and you get stepped on and forgotten, if no one ever thinks of you, God does.

You're in the palm of his hand. He knit you together in your mother's womb.

He claimed you. He put his name on you at your baptism. He's got your name written

in the book of life. He's got a place prepared for you in heaven.

He saved you. He's forgiven. He promises to provide for you and protect you.

He promises that whenever you talk to him, he's not going to be distracted with

something else. His mind's not going to be elsewhere.

He's really going to listen to you all the time whenever you talk to him.

It's the secret to contend.

Speaks about how he can be content in any and every situation.

And the reason why he can is because he's made whole in Christ.

He doesn't need anything else from anyone else or from this world because he's

been made whole in Christ. If all he has is Christ, that's true for you too.

That's your encouragement. Here's thing number two.

What you are in this life isn't what you'll be in the next.

Jesus spoke about that, right? Jesus said that the ones who humble themselves will be exalted.

You were connected to Christ at your baptism.

That means, we've already talked about that to some degree, right?

You were buried with him in your baptism.

You were raised with him in your baptism. So your sins died.

You were raised and given new life.

You're connected to Jesus.

Jesus lived a life of humility here

on earth. We call it his time of humiliation. That time came to an end.

When Jesus rose from the dead, he was exalted to the highest place and given

the name that is above every name.

If you are connected to Jesus, that means that you might live a humble life here.

One day you will be exalted to be where he is one day.

You won't be stepped on or forgotten. The Lord has not forgotten about you.

And exaltation in this life pales in comparison. That's an understatement even.

It pales in comparison to the exaltation that he has in store for you in the next.

And it's all because of what Jesus did for you.

And it's that same message that produces that humility within you.

So if I might encourage you to bring that fruit of humility with you to the

workplace, Bring that fruit of humility with you, with your kids,

into your relationship with your friends and your family members.

If I might encourage you to look to Jesus just as an example,

but look to Jesus for the strength showing humility in all aspects of your life.

God help you to do that and I'll be praying for you this week. Amen.

Hey, Pastor Wilkie here. Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

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Amen.

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