The Way Up is Down (Proverbs 12:15) | Louis Azuma

Speaker: we are gonna be in Proverbs chapter 12.

Proverbs 12 · chapter mention

Proverbs chapter 12.

Proverbs 12 · chapter mention

We're gonna start in verse 15.

All right, so, um, conveniently, I didn't make this whiteboard, but, um, I guess

someone was talking about humility, and we are gonna be talking about humility,

which is really awkward for someone to come up here and talk about humility.

I kinda feel like this guy, um, because it's really awkward for me to be like,

"Oh, yeah, being humble is so great.

You should be humble."

And then for me to be like, "Yeah, I'm, you know, I'm trying

to be humble, too, and I'm…"

You know?

Kinda like in the Book of, uh, Numbers, is it?

Where Moses is, like, the most humble man to walk the Earth, and he wrote the book.

So anyway.

Um, it's kinda awkward, but I am, right, also trying to be humble, right?

I'm not perfect at it.

I'm not trying to be up here saying, "Oh, yeah, I'm the most humblest ever."

Um, I'm also pursuing humility, just like you.

So anyway, um, there you go.

Don't be like this guy.

Um- But what I did wanna tell you about, something that I, I learned recently,

is, uh, there is this country that people believed to exist for about 100

years, uh, more than that actually.

It's called Frislandia.

Frislandia.

Ever heard of it?

Um, it's not a real country, but it is really on real maps.

So in the 1500s, back, you know, like think about explorers, right?

Think like, you know, Magellan, and, um, Amerigo Vespucci, and

Christopher Columbus, right?

If you took your, your world history, or if you didn't, that's okay.

Um, but when people were exploring, right, when they were trying to get to

America and they thought it was India, they thought there was a country up

here by Iceland called Frislandia.

This is the best picture I could find, sorry.

Um, but hopefully you know that this is Iceland.

Um, there was this country up here that people really thought existed,

and for 100 years, like all the maps from this era have this country up

here, north of Ireland and the UK.

And for a long time, and there, there's a explorer who, like, was one of the

most famous explorers of the time.

He went to Greenland and thought he was here.

And so this whole time he had this map that was bad, right?

He had a bad map, right?

This is supposed to be, I think Greenland, right?

Um, G-R-O-E-N, right?

That's like reading my notes from school.

But Greenland, right?

And then we've got Frislandia.

So anyway, and look, there's like real cities that they thought

existed on this, like, fake country.

They like…

This is like a legit map from the time.

Anyway, so this explorer basically, or this dude, his name is Zeno.

He found a story from his ancestors about how they were exploring up here in like

the 1300s, and he, like, just made up this island in his story about his ancestors.

And he, it got published on like all the maps of the time.

And then actually, England claimed this land.

They were like, "Yeah, that's our, that's our island.

We own it."

They were like, "We were there.

We did it.

We got it."

They really, I think…

I don't even know where they went.

They thought they landed here, and they were like, "We got it," right?

Which is, imagine if you were, like, the explorer who, like, claimed this

land for England, and then you found out actually, dude, you claimed

land that, like, doesn't exist.

Like, literally does- it's not even there.

Like, you could, you could sail to this spot on the map

and it wouldn't even be there.

Would, like, would just be gone.

You would just be like, "Uh, we should be on land right now," and you're

in the middle of the ocean, right?

That would be…

You'd feel so foolish, right?

You'd be like, "Well, I'm- I feel like the dumbest person in the world."

Right?

My claim to fame is that I explored this land that doesn't even exist, right?

So if you see the world the wrong way, you make a fool of yourself, right?

If you, if you see the world, if you think things are, are one way and they're really

not, it's really embarrassing for you.

And what we're gonna see through God's word tonight is that God has set the

world up a certain way, and that's, that's one way to view the world.

But if you try to view it the opposite way, you're…

You, you think maybe, "Oh yeah, I'm doing so good.

I'm exploring, I'm discovering things.

I'm d- I'm doing awesome."

But really you're just gonna make a fool of yourself and

be really, really embarrassed.

Okay?

And so really seeing the world is…

has to do with humility.

Okay?

Humility, what I, what I want you to see tonight is that humility

is a way of seeing the world.

Okay?

So we're gonna be in Proverbs 12, starting in verse 15.

Okay?

Humility is a way of seeing the world, and it's the right way to see the world.

If you see the world In a proud way, right, a self-inflated way, you're

gonna embarrass yourself or you're gonna make a fool of yourself.

If you see the world as a humble person, that's the right way to see the world.

Okay?

Here's what we have in Proverbs 12:15.

Proverbs 12:15

"The way of a fool," right?

The, the path, the life, lifestyle of, of a foolish person.

Remember in Proverbs, we got a wise person, foolish person, right?

They're, they're opposites.

"Is right in his own eyes."

So this foolish person, he thinks … He's like, "Yeah, I got this.

I'm smart.

I know what I'm doing.

I have my life together.

I know what to do.

I'm … I, I always am," right?

"The, the smartest person in the room.

I always have the winning side in arguing.

I'm always the, the winner in the debate.

I always know something that you don't know."

Right?

This, that's this type of person.

I, "I always have something that you might not know," right?

"I'm right in my own eyes.

I got it figured out."

"But a wise man listens to advice."

So the person who's foolish thinks they're not, and that's what's so crazy

about foolishness and wisdom, right?

Is foolish people think they're not foolish, right?

Foolishness is … It's kinda like one of the symptoms of being foolish is tricking

yourself into thinking that you're not.

Whereas being wise, you know I have more wisdom to gain.

I'm not wise enough.

I need advice.

I need help.

And so a wise person sees themself the right way.

They see others the right way.

They see God the right way.

Whereas a foolish person, his, his world is all out of, out of sorts.

He sees God as not very important.

He sees himself as having it all together and having everything figured out.

He sees other people as maybe, eh, sometimes useful, not that

important, or maybe obstacles to what he wants to accomplish or what

she wants to do, and that really is gonna end up being embarrassing.

Whereas the wise person, they are humble, right?

They, they know they need more wisdom, and that really is the best way to live.

So all your points tonight, I don't know if you saw, start with look, right?

So basically we're gonna, we're gonna see three looks.

Okay?

So we're gonna start with how do humble people look at God and

how do proud people look at God.

Okay?

So first point, look at God, right?

Look at God How do humble people see God versus how do proud people see God?

And one of those ways will leave you really embarrassed and make a fool

of yourself, and one of those ways will lead to life, to joy, right?

To, to you being happy.

To you standing before God one day and, and not having the

worst day of your life, right?

But having the, the best day of your life, where he says, "Enter

into the joy of your master."

So, how do wise people see God?

Well, Proverbs 15:33 says, we talked about this before, "The fear of

Proverbs 15:33

the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor."

So we talked about this fear of the Lord, right?

We talked about what that means.

Basically, in case you, you, you haven't been with us in Proverbs, fear of the

Lord means God is God and I'm not, right?

Someone who fears the Lord, they let God be God.

They don't just let God be life coach.

They don't just let God be helpful.

They let God be God.

Right?

God is in control.

God is big.

God is mighty.

God is smarter than me.

God loves me.

He knows better than me.

They let God be God.

That's fearing the Lord.

Right?

It also means, in a sense, you, you do really fear the Lord.

You do see, man, God is powerful.

God is way bigger than anything I could come up with.

That's what fear the Lord means, and it's related to humility, right?

If you're proud, you will not fear the Lord, because y- you're not

gonna think God is a big deal.

You're not gonna think God is relevant.

You're gonna think, "Well, you know, God is for people who need

help sleeping at night," right?

"Religion is just for people who, who need to make their conscience feel good

or who need the warm fuzzies," right?

Maybe you've heard an atheist say that, right?

"It's just your moral crutch to, to help you deal with the problems in life."

Or, you know, if you're a proud person, maybe you'll s- you'll say something

like, "Well, you know, fearing the Lord, it's great for, great for you.

I don't need it."

Right?

"True for you, not for me."

That's something that a proud person would say about God.

Or maybe something, something like, "Well, yeah, m- maybe that works

for my parents, you know, or, or previous generations, but the, the

Bible doesn't really have anything to say about my life right now in 2026.

What God says in the Bible doesn't really matter for my problems, for my life,

for my friends, for my circumstances."

That's what a proud person says.

Right?

"God, you don't understand.

You don't know.

You don't know what it's like."

If you're humble, you're gonna say, "God is God."

Right?

"God, God knows me better than I know me."

Right?

"God cares about me more than I care about me.

God made me, and so I'm gonna let God be God.

I'm gonna trust him."

Right?

That's what humble people do.

And naturally, right, if you do fear the Lord, if you do think

God really is who He says He is, you're gonna depend on God, right?

Proverbs 13:13 says, "Whoever despises the word…"

Proverbs 13:13

That word despise, we saw that in our very first series or our very

first sermon in Proverbs, right?

Despise, you think of someone who thinks something is, like, worthless.

Right?

Someone who looks down on something.

Oh, not, you know, maybe, maybe you think, you know, you, you have a

preference on, on what your favorite, uh, you know, ranch has been in the

news lately, right, with, you know…

You, you ever met a ranch snob?

You know those people?

They think, they're like, "Well, you know, this ranch is too watery, or

this ranch or that, but, you know, that place, they've got the best ranch."

Maybe you've never heard of anyone like that.

Or I talked about my brother with his chocolate, right?

He, he, he goes to Switzerland, and now he won't eat regular chocolate

anymore 'cause he's had Swiss chocolate.

He's like, "I'm not gonna eat milk chocolate in America.

That's so lame," right?

He despises American chocolate.

He thinks it's beneath him.

Right?

It's not good enough for him.

He's too good for it, right?

If you're that way towards God, you're proud.

You're saying, "What God says is beneath me, not good enough for me."

Not relevant enough for me.

Not important enough for me.

That's being proud, right?

Me, oh, it only matters when I'm older.

That's you being proud, saying, "What God has to say doesn't

matter for my life right now."

You're despising it, right?

So whoever despises the Word, right, God's Word, brings destruction on himself.

This isn't just like a, oh, yeah.

You know, I've heard Hindus say, "Hinduism's just the

best way for you to live.

It's one of the many ways, we just think it's the best way.

That's why you should be a Hindu."

What God says is, "It's the only good way for you to live.

Every other way to live is self-destructive."

And that's not God being prideful, right, and saying, "Oh, well, you

know, everyone else who's, who's, who doesn't go my way is, like, way

worse than people who go my way."

The i- the idea there is God cares.

He made you, and he says, "My way is so good for you, and

I want you to live this way."

Right?

Every other way is self-destructive, and it's him protecting you.

Right?

If, if you knew someone was gonna drink poison, you wouldn't be

like, "Oh, yeah, but it'll just…

You know, that's just your diet.

You do you."

Right?

If you cared about them, you'd say, "That's actually gonna kill you.

That's bad for you."

Right?

Looking down on God's Word is poisonous.

It's gonna kill you.

But whoever reveres the commandment will be rewarded, right?

Think about the opposites here, despise and revere, right?

Someone who despises something, "It's not good enough for me."

Someone who reveres something, like, "Wow, that's so cool.

That's so awesome."

Right?

Like, imagine if, um, you know, you got a autographed jersey from, from

your favorite, favorite player.

Or imagine hypothetically, just hypothetically, imagine if you were

golfing at, you know, PGA Omni, and, uh, you saw Cooper Flagg, right?

And you got to take a picture with him, right?

You'd be like, "Wow, this is so cool.

This NBA player, you know, first pick in the NBA draft."

It'd be so cool, right?

You would have that, that sort of reverence.

You know, maybe you'd even be scared to talk to him or something, right?

Um, there's difference in attitude there, right?

Humble people have a different type of attitude towards God and His Word.

Prideful people don't Or there's this sense of dependence.

I, I am helpless without God, right?

If I don't follow God's way, I'm lost.

I don't know what I'm gonna do.

I, I'm, I'm gonna die.

I need God.

It's not just like, "Oh, yeah, I should do this 'cause my parents tell me to."

It's that I need it.

That's what humble people think.

That's how they feel about God.

It's not just like, "Oh, yeah, maybe sometimes I'll check

out what God has to say."

It's like, "No, I need to know what God has to say about everything 'cause

I need God in every aspect of my life.

I need God's wisdom for my friends, for how, who, who should I be friends

with, how should I talk to them?

I need God's wisdom for what job I should take, what college I should go to.

I need God's wisdom for who I should date.

I need God's wisdom for how I spend my time, how I spend my money."

Right?

You want it to impact all of you because you're like, "I need it."

Not just, "Oh, yeah, it'd be helpful sometimes," but, "I need it."

Right?

That's how humble people feel about God

Humble people also know, right, that they're not good enough,

that they need God, right?

That's, that's part of being humble.

Proverbs 28:13 says, "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not

Proverbs 28:13

prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy."

Okay, so anyone who covers up their sin, right?

If you're, if you think, "Oh, I'm gonna sin, but I'm not…

No one's gonna find out about it.

I'm not gonna tell anyone.

I'm not gonna tell my friends, I'm not gonna tell my parents, I'm not

gonna tell my small group leader.

No one needs to know."

Right, if you're that type of person, it's not gonna go well for you, right?

You won't prosper.

All the stuff you think you're gonna get out of hiding your sin,

not gonna be helpful for you.

That's what God's Word says.

Now, if you think you can get away with it, oh, like, no, you know, no one, you

know, I, I cleared my search history or, or no one heard the words I said

That's not gonna go well for you

'Cause one, God already knows.

He already saw you, right?

But two, the way to, to obtain mercy from God, right, to have a s- restored

relationship with God, is not pretending like you have it all together.

It's to confess, right?

To bring it into the light and say, "I am a sinner.

I really thought those things.

I really said those things.

I really looked at those things," and own it.

Right?

Confess.

Agree, right?

I say the same thing about myself that God says about me.

You don't try to minimize your sin.

"Oh, well, you know, it was just, uh, just some white lies," or, "Uh, you

know, everyone's anxious," or, "I just…

They're just so annoying, I can't help but get angry," or, "I'm

just a guy," or, "I'm just a girl.

This is just how it is."

You agree with God.

This is sin.

This is sin that deserves to be punished forever in hell 'cause it's against God.

You say the same thing God says about your sin, and then you turn from it.

You forsake it.

You give it up.

You say, "I'm not doing it anymore.

I'm not living for that.

That's not my life anymore.

It's not who I am."

And you run to God, and He gives you mercy, right?

The, the people that hide their sin don't get mercy.

The people who confess their sin get mercy.

It's not the people who don't have sin that get mercy, right?

'Cause everyone has sin.

That's the whole point, is you're either hiding it or you're confessing it.

There's n- there's no other option.

And so a humble person is really the only type of person that goes to heaven.

Maybe you've never thought about it that way.

You will not go to heaven if you're proud

James 4 says God opposes the proud.

If you want God to be your enemy, be proud.

Puff yourself up.

Think you know better than God.

Look down on other people.

Focus on yourself.

That's how you get God to oppose you

But if you want a relationship with God that's full of grace, right, mercy, favor,

love, you, you say, "God, I need you.

I'm, I'm a sinner.

I'm guilty.

I'm not gonna hide it.

I'm not gonna try to make up for it.

I'm not gonna try to excuse it or minimize it or sanitize it or whatever.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna confess it and turn from it."

That's what humble people do with their sin.

So humility starts with God, starts with who you think God is.

Is God really God to you, or is He just kinda there?

Is He sometimes helpful, or is He God, right?

Is He the Lord of your life, or is He just, I hope I don't

have to go to hell one day?

Right, so humility starts with who you think God is, but then naturally

it turns to who you think you are.

So our second point is look at yourself

Look at yourself

See, humble people know that they don't have it all figured out.

Right, there's a…

Humble people have a healthy sense of distrust of themselves.

They're like, "Oh, I might not be right.

It's actually pretty likely that, that I'm wrong."

There's a healthy sense of, "Okay, I think it should go this way, but I

need other people to, to, to, to give their advice, and most importantly, I

need to hear what God says about it."

Right?

Humble people know my ideas are usually not the best, and actually

sometimes they're really bad.

There's a, there's a healthy sense of distrust.

Right, I don't know if you've ever felt that, where you're like, "You know what?

I might totally have messed this up."

Um, this happened a lot.

I got to witness it, uh, firsthand when I was dating my wife.

Um, she would often come home from work.

She'd get halfway to work, and then she'd come back 'cause she'd be scared

she'd left her hair straightener on and was gonna burn down her apartment.

Guys, you ever, you ever felt that before, right?

You ever feel like you left the hair straightener on, you're like, "Oh,

my goodness, I might totally…"

You know?

Yeah.

Um,

so anyway, but there's a, the reason she goes back and doesn't go like, "Oh, it's

fine, I got this," right, is because she knows, oh, I might have forgotten it.

I really might have.

Right?

She's humble enough to say, "I really might have forgotten that.

I really might have left it plugged in and left it on."

Right?

She, she knows I could have done that.

Right?

If, if you were proud, right, if my…

If, if Shay was proud, she would've been like, "Oh, I, I never do that.

Who would do that?

Only losers do that.

Why would I ever leave my hair straightener plugged in?"

Right?

But she distrusted herself enough to go back and check.

Right?

And that's what humble people do.

They say, "You know what?

I might not have done that right.

I might not have done that perfectly, and honestly might not

have even done that very well."

There's a, there's a healthy sense of my way isn't always the best way.

Proverbs 14:12 says, "There's a way that seems right to a man," right, or to a

Proverbs 14:12

woman, "but its end is the way to death."

What the Bible says about you and me is that we are messed up.

Our sense of what's good for us and what's bad for us are often backward.

They're often flipped.

There's, there's a way that, that you and I think, "Oh, that, that's so good.

I'd love to do that.

I'd love to be friends with those people.

I'd love to go to that school.

I'd love to, to have this much money.

I'd love to wear those clothes.

I'd love to, to look this way.

I'd love to, to be in that group."

And it's actually horrible.

Like, it's not even, right, it's not even just like, "Oh yeah, you

know, that's like 10% worse than the other thing you could have picked."

No, no, it's like gonna kill you.

Then we're like, "Oh, that sounds great.

I love that."

Right?

The Bible is very clear that, that you and me are really bad

at knowing what's good for us.

And that's how humble people look at themselves.

They say, "You know what?

I, I, I have a, a messed up way of looking at the world because I'm a sinner.

I'm infected"

I often think that things that are good for me are actually bad for me, right?

I often think that, oh, time in God's Word, it's boring, it's hard to

understand, it's a waste of my time.

I often think that praying is just, uh, uh, well, it's hard to focus, it's

not worth it, I'm not gonna do it.

I often think that, oh, hearing a sermon, going to church, it's, you

know, it's just, it's old, it's hard to, to, you know, it's what adults do.

It's not on my level.

It's not relatable to me, right?

I think things that are good for me are bad for me.

Right?

Or, or talking to that person, being friends with that person

that no one else is friends with, oh, that's, you know, that's gonna

make me look bad, or, uh, it's not very cool, or something like that.

We think that's, that's a good thing to do.

That's a loving thing, a humble thing to do.

And we think, "Oh, it's not my thing.

Someone else can do that."

Right?

Or, or obeying my parents, or loving my siblings, or being patient, right?

We think those things are gonna be bad for us.

But really, those are, those are the best things to do.

And then we think the things that are bad for us are good for us.

We're like, "Oh, yeah, sign me up.

I'd love to, to embrace the world and all the values that, that the world has.

I'd love to, to wear the clothes that the world wants me to wear.

I'd love to, to go hang out with the people that the world

wants me to hang out with.

I'd love to pursue myself and, and my desires and, and my pleasures

So we often think that those things are good for us, and

really they're gonna kill us

A couple other proverbs that, that show that same thing.

And there are those who are clean in their own eyes, but

are not washed of their filth.

That was just, like, such a memorable proverb, I had to put it in here.

And maybe that's you.

Maybe you think, "I'm right with God.

I go to church.

I know the Bible.

I'm a good person.

I don't do drugs.

I eat my vegetables," right?

"I'm a good person.

I drive only five over the speed limit.

I'm a good person," right?

Maybe that's you.

Maybe you're clean in your own eyes, but before God, you're filthy.

Because on the inside, you're a hypocrite, you're prideful, you're distrusting Him.

You think God's lame.

You gossip behind people's back.

Maybe you, you get angry at people, but you don't say

anything, you just hold it in.

You think you're clean, but before God, you are guilty.

Maybe that's you.

It's really easy for us to think that way.

That's what humble people think.

Humble people think, "Oh, it'd be easy for me to trick myself into

thinking I'm okay when I'm really not."

A proud person thinks, "Oh, no way I'm wrong.

No way."

Similar idea here.

"Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks

in wisdom will be delivered."

All right, someone who relies on their own ideas, their own conception of

the world, God says that's foolish.

Right?

You never ask people for help.

You don't ever wanna talk to people who are older than you or wiser than you

to get their, their input on things.

You think you got it figured out.

You think your parents are lame and boring and they don't have

anything good to say to you.

You're trusting in yourself

Right?

Humble people are, are ready and willing to be wrong.

They're not holding on to, "I need to be right.

I need to be right.

I need to be right."

And humble people assume that we have a lot of problems.

And that's true, right?

If you don't think you are, then you're actually…

If you think you have it all together, you're actually crazy.

Maybe you never thought about it like that

Um, another angle to take on that, 'cause maybe you're thinking, "Oh,

does that mean God just wants me to hate myself and think I'm a loser

and I can't do anything right?"

The, the Bible talks about looking at yourself.

It uses this word called sober judgment.

Okay, in Romans 12:3, he says, "Everyone among you, don't think of

Romans 12:3

yourself more highly than you are."

Right?

Don't have an inflated opinion of yourself.

Right?

Don't think, you know…

You ever see those videos of the NFL players or NBA players, they see their,

like, Madden ratings or their 2K ratings?

And they're like, "There's no way I'm a s- 86 sprint speed," or, you

know, "There's no way I, I'm…"

Whatever, right?

They're, they're like, "There's no way.

I'm way higher than that."

Right?

They've gotta…

They think of themselves more highly than they are.

Right?

They have an inflated view of themself.

Instead, it says, "Think of yourself with sober judgment."

Right?

Maybe you only heard the word sober in a, in an alcoholic context, right?

But the idea here is you're looking at yourself the right way.

Right?

You're not saying, you're not looking at yourself…

Don't…

Notice he doesn't say, "Think of yourself more lowly than you are."

He says sober, right?

Clear, clear-headed.

You see it the right way.

You see yourself for who you really are.

Not less than you are, but not more than you are.

Who you really are.

When I was in, in health class in school, they gave us these, uh,

they called them drunk goggles.

And so, 'cause, uh, what they did, 'cause you know how if, like, so if

you're driving and, and the, and the, your, the police officer pulls you over

'cause he thinks you're intoxicated, he's gonna have you do, like, some tests.

You know, he has you, like, walk…

Well, you don't know this 'cause you've never done this, right?

Um, I hope.

Um, but he…

Uh, I don't know this from experience.

Never happened to me, just so, just so we're clear.

Um, but what they told me is that if you're, if the police officer

pulls you over, he thinks you're intoxicated, what he has you do, he

has you, you know, sometimes they make you, like, say, you know, some, some

sentences to, to, to, you know, if you're slurring your words, whatever.

But one thing they have you do is they have you, like, like, walk in

a line like this and then, like, touch your, your fingers to your

nose and do something like that.

And so they gave us the drunk goggles, and they put the drunk

goggles on, and what those do is they make it feel like you're drunk.

And so you can't…

Y- your balance is totally off, and you c- you literally cannot do this when you

have the goggles on because you, you're not seeing the world the right way.

It's like, you know, when you get o- get off a…

Not…

The, you know the teacup ride, the thing that spins, right?

What are those called?

Teacups.

Teacup rides.

No, but, like, 'cause they're at parks, too.

But they're not teacups all the time.

Anyway.

Spinny things.

The spinny things, yes.

Spinning teacups.

Spinning teacups.

Okay.

That sometimes aren't t…

Those things, right?

You're, you can't walk because the world is spinning, right?

You're not seeing the world the right way.

In a sense, you're, you're not sober, right?

You're not clear-headed.

Right?

Humility is not hating yourself or putting yourself down, okay?

It's seeing yourself for who you really are, right?

So, so maybe you think, "Oh, I'm so humble because I think

God would never forgive me."

That's actually not being humble.

That's being prideful, 'cause that's you saying, "God's grace is

too small and my sin is too big."

That's really self-focused of you.

That's actually you minimizing God, right?

If you think God would never forgive you because of what you've done, or

maybe you're someone who thinks, "Oh, well, people just don't understand me.

They don't know what my problems are like.

They don't know what my circumstances are like.

They don't know, you don't know what it's like to be me."

That's actually really prideful of you to say that.

'Cause what you're saying is, "No one in the history of the world has ever

been through what I'm going through.

I'm the only person who knows what it's like to feel like this."

Which first of all, God knows.

God knows everything.

He can empathize with you and how you feel, right?

Um, but also, you're, you're saying that, "Yeah, no one else can understand me."

Right?

It's very self-focused.

Or maybe you're saying, "Oh, I wish I was different," right?

"I hate myself.

I wish, I wish I looked different.

I wish I felt different.

I, I wish all this stuff was different about me."

But again, that's not being humble.

Right?

If you're out there saying, "Oh, I wish I had, you know, more of this or, or less

of this," or, "I wish I looked like this," or, "I wish I wasn't like that," right?

That's a lot of self-focus, right?

And we're gonna talk about this, this soon, but really that's you focusing on

yourself, and it's you looking at yourself in a way that's not even true, right?

'Cause what you're saying is, "God, you made me wrong.

You messed up, God."

You're accusing God which is not a good place to be

So really, if you're someone who thinks of yourself too highly,

obviously you're, you're crazy, right?

You're, you're not sober.

But if you think of yourself too lowly, right, if you're someone who maybe

hates themselves, um, you're, you're not seeing yourself soberly either, right?

You're not seeing yourself clearly

Or you're looking at yourself with the wrong eyes, right?

You're listening to the wrong voice, right?

You're judging yourself by the wrong standards.

You're judging yourself by maybe the world's standards or the standards

you see on Instagram, and that's why you feel the way you feel.

Or you're telling yourself the things that the world tells you.

You're not telling you what God says to you.

All

right.

My mom had this sticky note, and it's been ingrained in my head, and

it was really cheesy, but it works, and it says, "The truest thing about

you is what God says about you."

Right?

You can make up whatever you want about yourself.

The world can tell you whatever it thinks about who you are and what

you're like and what you're supposed to do and what you're supposed to be.

But what really matters is what God says about you, 'cause that's what's true.

That's what you can rely on.

And that's what humble people do.

They take God at His word.

God gets to define who I am and what I'm like and what I should be, right?

Not the world, not myself, not my expectations, not

my parents, not my friends.

God defines who I am.

What He says about me is true, and you take Him at His word

But also, we talk about how humble people look at themselves, right?

We said they don't really trust themselves.

They look at themselves clearly.

Um, but also they don't look at themselves very much.

Uh, Philippians 2:4 says, "Let each of you not look only to his own interests."

Philippians 2:4

This is kinda Yoda speech right here, right?

Don't look out for only your own interests, but also to

the interests of others.

So don't just think about what do I want, what do I need, what do I need to have

a good day, what am I gonna do today, how am I gonna make myself happy, right?

Think about other people, right?

How can I encourage someone?

How can I serve someone?

How can I love someone?

Right?

Humble people don't really think about themselves.

It … And maybe this is kinda sound weird to you.

Humble people aren't really worried about how humble they are, 'cause they're

too busy worrying about other people.

They're too busy worrying about how can I, how can I be a blessing to my friends?

How can I be a good friend today?

How can I be a good son or daughter today?

How can I be a good sibling today?

They're not stopping to worry about, oh, am I being humble enough?

What they're worrying about is how can I, how can I love someone?

How can I honor God today?

What does that look like?

If you're worried about that, you don't really have to worry

about how humble you are, right?

Uh, the phrase that a lot of people talk about with humility, they say,

"Humility isn't thinking less of yourself.

It's thinking of yourself less."

You're not, you're just not that concerned with oh, w- what do I get out of this?

Doesn't really bother you, 'cause you're not in it for that.

You're in it for how can I honor God here?

How can I serve the Lord?

How can I make him look good?

How can I bless my friends?

That's what you're in it for, and so you're not really worried about oh,

I didn't get everything I wanted out of that, 'cause it's like, "Oh, cool.

I encouraged my friend, or I grew from … I gained wisdom from that."

So the way humble people look at themselves is kind of just not very much.

Right?

They look at themselves some, but mostly they're concerned about, about

God and His glory and about other people and how they can serve them.

And so our third point is look at others.

And humble people usually look outward, not inward.

So Philippians 2:4 is what we just saw, right?

Philippians 2:4

Don't look at, out for yourself.

Don't always be coming to, coming to your, your class or, or

True North, or, you know, going home thinking, "What do I need?

What do I want?

How do I establish my rules," right?

But think about others.

But right before that, here's what it says.

"Do nothing from selfish ambition," right?

So you all know what that means, right?

I want this.

These are my goals for today, my agenda for how this is gonna go.

Or conceit, right?

That means basically, uh, when someone's conceited, it's, they

think they're better than you.

Right, and something interesting about how God set up the world, do you notice that

whenever you see someone who you think is prideful, you wanna, like, tear them down?

You want them to, like, you know, come down to Earth a little bit.

Like, maybe you're watching the World Cup and there's a player who's,

like, s- you know, bragging all the time and doing all this stuff.

Like, did you see that guy from France was, like, yelling at

the goalkeeper from Cape Verde?

And I was like, "Dude, seriously?

You're, like, angry at the goalkeeper from Cape Verde?

Like, you just won a game, and now you're yelling at this…"

Anyway, right, but we want him to…

Like, we're like, "Oh, that's so lame.

Why is he doing that?"

Right?

But then when you see someone who's humble, who's, like, not getting what

you think they should, you're like, "Oh, they, they deserve recognition.

They deserve praise," right?

God has set up the world for you to, to think humility is awesome

and pride is so unattractive.

Right?

You don't wanna be around someone who's all about themselves.

Right?

The way God has set up the world is we love humble people.

We just don't always wanna be a humble person because that hurts us, right?

Here's what he says.

"Don't do anything from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others

more significant than yourselves."

Which that's really hard to do, right?

Because the problem is, is, is you and me, if we're honest, we're

wired to put me first, right?

You're wired to put you first.

And so really being a Christian is undoing yourself.

'Cause you take yourself off the throne of your life and you put God on the throne

of your life, and now your main concern isn't, "What do I get out of this?"

But instead you're saying, "Oh, other people, what they need is

more important than what I need."

Isn't that crazy?

When you become a Christian, if you, if you say, "I'm gonna follow Jesus,"

you're signing up to say, "Other people are more important than I am."

That's how humble people live.

That's how people follow Jesus

Right?

When you show up to, to school, you're not thinking, "How do I have a good day?"

You're thinking, "What do my classmates, my teachers, my

friends need from me today?"

Right?

What words do they need?

What conversations and topics do they need?

What encouragement?

D- does somebody need to hear the gospel from me today?

That's what you're thinking.

Or maybe when you're at home, you're not thinking, "Oh, well,

what can I do with my free time?"

You're thinking, "How can I serve my family?"

That's what humble people do.

Say, "Oh, maybe…"

And I mean, this, this is, is so relevant to so many things because

if you think about this, if you are, are selfish, you are never going

to share the gospel with anyone because they probably won't like you

But you have to sacrifice your own ambition, your own desire to be liked,

your own desire to, to be included or to be looked at as cool, and you

have to be willing to, to kill that and say, "No, I'm gonna risk it for…

'cause I love this person.

What they need is they need to know Jesus."

Right?

Someone did that for you.

Right?

They loved you enough to say, "I'm, I'm gonna risk my friendship," or maybe your

parents did that, "I'm gonna risk my kids not liking me 'cause I force them to

go to church, 'cause I care about them.

I want them to hear the gospel."

Right.

So we look at others as more important if we're really humble.

Right?

We see that person's needs, what they need from me is more important

than what I should get from them.

Right?

But also, humble people come to, to give, not to take, right?

And this is very similar, but we see this from Jesus, right?

Jesus says in Mark 10, "If you wanna be great," right?

If you wanna be cool, you wanna be awesome, you want God to

think, "That's someone that I want to, to, to lift up," right?

"You should be a servant.

And if you wanna be first, you should be a slave."

And notice he doesn't just say slave of some people, nice people, people you like,

people you think deserve your effort.

Everyone

You should serve all kinds of people.

You should count all sorts of people as more significant than you.

Not just your friends, not just people that will love you back, but anyone.

For even the Son of Man, right, even the King of Kings came not to be

served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many, right?

Jesus came to give.

He gave Himself for you.

Didn't have to, right?

You didn't ask Him, Jesus, to come die for you.

Right?

You didn't ask God to, to make salvation available to you

But Jesus came to give, right?

And so maybe you're like, "Well, I'm not really that prideful, you know.

I'm, I'm a nice person."

Um, but maybe the reason you're nice is so people are nice to you, right?

That's really you being selfish then.

You're nice because you're, you're selfish

Or maybe, you know, you're someone who you're always harsh with people.

Your words, your tone, you're always, you're always harsh.

You're always grumpy.

You always sound like you don't like people.

Or maybe you're someone who you, you always find problems

with everyone and everything.

Right?

That's probably because you're, you're proud

Or maybe you're someone who, uh, you're like a, you really

care about how things look.

You don't really care about how things really are.

Right?

You just wanna look good in front of people.

You just, you just want people to, to see you and be like, "Oh, yeah, they,

they dress really well," or, "They, they know a lot," or, "They're really

smart," or, "They're really athletic."

You, you just wanna … You do it because you wanna be seen.

Or maybe you even do religious things for that.

You, you serve at church, or you, you memorize the Bible, or you

answer questions in small groups 'cause you wanna be seen, right?

'Cause you care more about how things look than how things are.

Right?

That's a proud person.

And that's how … that's, that's the type of person that doesn't confess

their sin, like we talked about earlier, 'cause they're too scared

about messing up how things look that they hide how things really are.

Right?

That's a sign of being proud.

Maybe you're really defensive.

Right?

You're gonna talk about this, I think some of you, in small groups.

A good sign of how humble you are is how easily it is for you to be corrected,

for someone to say, "Hey, I notice this about you, and it's not good."

If you're a proud person, you're gonna get defensive really fast.

"Oh, but, uh, uh, I don't really like you.

I don't wanna talk to you anymore," right?

That's what proud people do, right?

Where humble people, they're not afraid to be disliked, right?

They don't rise or fall on, on people's opinions of them.

They're, they're really loose with their preferences.

They're not like, "Oh, it has to be this way.

I can't believe y- y- you do it this way.

It's so dumb.

Why do you do that?"

Or humble people, they're always ready to give, whether it's

they're really generous, right?

They'd rather see you be happy than them be happy.

They love when other people succeed, right?

When someone else gets the spot on the team that you wanted, or when

someone else gets the grade that…

Or, or the, the person, right, that you wanted to have.

Are you happy for that person, or you wish you had it?

Good test of how humble you are

So humility, right, is all about how you see the world, right?

It starts with how you see God, right?

Do I see God as God, or do I see God as

meh?

And then that shapes how you see yourself.

If, if God is God, you're not.

Right?

And so then you say, "You know what?

I, I'm a s- I'm sinful.

I disobey God.

I need God.

I'm helpless without God.

My own way isn't the best way.

In fact, it's really bad."

And then you realize, you know what?

If God is God and, and I'm me and, and I'm a sinner, then I wanna

live His way, so I trust Him.

And then you see, oh, well, God's way to live is really

that you give yourself away.

You give yourself for the good of others.

And so then you don't really worry about yourself so much, and you

start worrying about other people, and you, you show up to, to things

thinking about, "Who can I…

How can, how can I help people?"

Right?

"How can I encourage people?

How can I bless people?"

Or maybe, "How can I correct someone?"

Not because you wanna be right, but because you wanna help them.

So it's all about how you see things, right?

You, you gotta see God as God, you gotta see yourself as, as you, and you gotta see

other people as more important than you.

So let's pray, and we'll talk about that more in small groups, okay?

Father, we want to right now just acknowledge that

you are God and we're not.

That you are everything you say you are, and everything you say about us is true.

And so I pray that you give us the humility to embrace that, to not

push back against what you have to say, but to take you at your word.

And I pray that you help us to grow into people who are focused on others,

who really care about other people, who love other people, who want

what's best for other people, even more than what we want for ourselves.

So even right now, as we go to small groups, help us to be humble.

Help us to be thoughtful about other people, be thinking about, about

how we can serve you and serve them.

And I pray that you help us to rely on you and not rely on ourselves.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.