HUMBLER THAN THOU by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction:  Today, we will be taking part in Communion. Once again, the Holy Spirit has guided our church in that we are at that point in the Book of James where James is talking about Pride and how we treat others. Humility is Tricky. The moment you think you have it is also the moment you lose it. I heard about the guy in church who was very humble. Everyone talked about how humble he was and how he was a model of humility for everyone! So, they came together to see how they could honor him for being humble. Someone suggested that since they gave people pins for most attendance and most cheerful, why not a pin for “most humble.” Everyone thought that was a great idea. So, at the next church service they announced that they had a special presentation, and they invited him to the pulpit. The pastor bragged on him. Others bragged on him for how humble he was. Everyone clapped and gave him a standing ovation. The man thanked everyone for their kind words and began to put the pin on. That’s when the pastor said, “Oh brother, we’re sorry, but we have to take the pin back…some pins are not meant to be worn.” So also, you can be humble; but the moment you think you are humble, you’re not. In today’s message in our series through the book of James, our message is titled “Humbler Than Thou.”

James 4:10 (page #1852) “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Context: Last weekend, we briefly touched on the subject of humility as James was teaching us about the source of wars and fights and all kinds of strife. We concluded with James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” In other words, we need to be humble in our relationship with God. The section begins in James 4 (page #1852) 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 7 Therefore submit to God.Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners…” This is the vertical aspect of humility.

Application: How do you see yourself in the sight of God? Do you daily humble yourself before God and seek him to lift you up?

Then, we need to be humble in our relationship with others. This is the horizontal aspect of humility. Keep in mind that if the vertical is not right, the horizontal will suffer. If the horizontal is not right, the vertical will suffer. 

How do you see and treat others? Horizontal aspect of humility. 2 applications:

1. How we talk about our brother or sister behind them.

James 4 (page #1852) 11 “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law…” How do you speak evil of the law? Earlier in James 2:8 “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well…” The whole 10 commandments are summed up in that one. When we speak evil of a brother, we are breaking the royal law, and, in turn, breaking/judging the whole law. What then? 11 “…But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?”

As someone said, “We judge others by their actions, but we judge ourselves by our motives.”

Application: How do you talk about your brother? What is your true motive? Are you trying to play the judge?

2. How we boast about ourselves before others.

James 4 (page #1853) 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 

Background: Imagine this person bragging on his future plans:

• WHEN WILL HE GO – Today or Tomorrow
• WHERE WILL HE GO – Go to this or that city
• HOW LONG WILL HE GO – Spend a year there
• WHAT WILL HE DO – Buy, Sell and make a profit

THERE IS ONLY ONE THING HE FORGOT IN HIS PLANNING – LIFE IS UNPREDICTABLE. This caution is not just about business planning but all of life planning. James 4 (page #1853) 14 “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

Background: the word for vapor can also be translated as a mist or a thin fog. On a cool day, if you breathe on a glass window you can see the condensation for a couple of seconds and then it’s gone. THAT IS YOUR LIFE. 

Listen to some other analogies that the Bible uses for our life:

• 1 Chron. 29:15  “…Our days on earth are as a shadow, And without hope.” (Ever seen a small child trying to pick up his shadow).
• Job 7:7 “Oh, remember that my life is a breath!…” (Blow into your hand and see if you can catch it.)
• Job 7:9 “As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up.” (One moment there is that cloud and then it is gone)
• Psalms 102:11 “My days are like a shadow that lengthens, And I wither away like grass.” (Pull up a piece of grass and see how long before it dries up and withers away.) 

It is not what the Beer commercials tell you – “Have Fun. You will Live Forever.”

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW UNPREDICTABLE LIFE IS:

• Ask the family members of those who lost a loved on the Tuesday morning, September 11^th 2001.
• Ask the parents of those children whose school bus collided with a semi-truck.
• Ask the family of Shannon Stone. Shannon and his son Cooper had gone to watch the Texas Ranger’s game last Thursday night. They had even stopped to buy a new glove on the way to the game. Even better, their seats were in the left field stands, shouting distance from Cooper’s favorite player and major League Baseball All Star, Josh Hamilton – outfielder for the Texas Rangers. Maybe, just maybe, he would throw one their way. In the second inning, he did. Hamilton grabbed a foul ball that ricocheted into left field, and tossed it into the stands. The boy’s father, 6-foot-3 Shannon Stone, caught it, tumbled over a 33-inch-tall railing and plunged 20 feet onto concrete below, right in front of his son.
• Ask the family of the soccer player from South Africa who just played in FIFA 2026 and died.

SOMEONE SAID: PEOPLE GO FROM HOTWHEELS TO WHEELCHAIRS IN A BLINK OF AN EYE. SOMEONE SAID: LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE BUSY PLANNING SOMETHING ELSE.

Application: I am not trying to make you afraid or depressed. I am trying to wake you up to the reality and brevity and unpredictability of life. Let’s answer this: WHAT GUARANTEE DO YOU HAVE ABOUT TOMORROW??? Are you living a reckless life? Are you presuming that you have all the time in the world?

I. DO NOT PRESUME ABOUT THE FUTURE – LIFE IS UNPREDICTABLE

James 4 (page #1853) 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

Background: The Bible is not against planning. IT IS NOT SINFUL TO PLAN. IN FACT, IF I MAY SAY “IT IS SINFUL NOT TO PLAN.” Now just in case someone thinks that a Christian should never plan ahead. James clarifies that we need to recognize God in all our planning. In everything seek God’s will for your life. That is how JESUS LIVED HERE ON THE EARTH:

• John 4:34 “Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” 
• Matthew 6:9-10    ⁹In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

This is how PAUL DID HIS MINISTRY:

• 1 Corinthians 4:19 “But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, . . .”
• 1 Cor. 16:7 “. . . I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits.”

Warren Wiersbe – “Making plans without God is like walking through a jungle without a map or being at sea without a compass.”

Application: In everything seek God’s will for your life. You are about to buy a house, did you check for God’s will? You are about to get a new job, did you check for God’s will? Where do you find God’s will? In his Word.

James 4:16 (page #1853) “But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

Background: This is a hard one to understand but once you see it, you realize how real this is. Some people not only leave God out of their planning but also brag about leaving Him out. COCKY SPIRIT. They look at those who try to put God first as being naïve and simple-minded. I say – “I will pray for you.” They reply: “Well you do that.” All this is done from a spirit of pride. THEY SAY SOMETHING LIKE THIS – “LORD WILLING, I’LL BE AT CHURCH SUNDAY. We don’t say that about our job or vacation.

Why do some people get so arrogant and boastful against God’s will?  Somehow, someway they have to come to believe that God’s will is like some bitter medicine they have to hold their nose and swallow. God is bent on making your life miserable.

Quite to the contrary – WHEN YOU DO THINGS GOD’S WAY, THE FUN IS JUST BEGINNING. The more you understand the nature of God, the more you will seek His will for your lives. GOD’S WILL SO WONDERFUL!!! I SHOULD GLADLY AND HUMBLY SUBMIT MYSELF TO IT. THE WILL OF GOD COMES FROM THE HEART OF GOD. HIS WILL IS THE EXPRESSION OF HIS LOVE. SO, I DON’T HAVE TO BE AFRAID.

Application: How do you see God’s will?

II. DO NOT PLAN WITHOUT GOD – HIS WILL IS SOVEREIGN

James 4 (page #1853) 17 “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

Immediate Background: At the first reading this seems to be a strange reference. When you seek God’s will, He will show it to you. God’s will is not some mystery that you have to wonder all your life. But when He does show it to you, what do you do about it? If you say – “one of these days” – “Get into church” – DO IT NOW

• “Start doing some ministry” – DO IT NOW
• “Start my daily devotions” – DO IT NOW
• “Start sharing the gospel” – DO IT NOW
• “Start tithing” – DO IT NOW

YOU LOVE GOD SO MUCH THAT TO NOT OBEY HIM IMMEDIATELY IS SIN. WHEN MY LOVE FOR THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS HOT, OBEDIENCE IS IMMEDIATE. Conversation between Felix and Paul. YOU NEED TO GET SAVED TODAY, NOT BECAUSE YOU WILL DIE TONIGHT. BUT BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO FACE TOMORROW.

For e.g. Have you ever been to a graveyard? Nicole and I have a strange past time of walking through graveyards. Not that we are morbid or anything. But we like to read the epitaphs. Do you know the average age in the graveyards? There isn’t one.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY IF YOU HAD ONLY 6 MONTHS, 6 WEEKS, 6 DAYS TO LIVE, 6 HOURS TO LIVE? YOU HAVE NO GUARANTEE

III. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE – IT IS A SIN

What does all this have to have to do with Communion? Luke 22:24 “Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.”

John 13 (page #1662-63) 1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end…3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.” 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Compare this to James 4 (page #1853) 17 “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

Both Jesus and James are saying the same thing.

How about you? Are you willing to change and be humble now?