God’s Work By Humility

October 12, 2014 Series: The Old Testament

Passage: Micah 5:1-5a, 10-11, Micah 6:6-8

Synopsis:

The prophet Micah was living through a frightening time where a neighboring super-power was threatening to destroy his entire nation. In the sermon passage God was calling Micah to testify to His people Judah to trust in God’s ability to work through what the world sees as insignificant or impotent. The LORD was going to raise up a Savior, but He would be humble. And not only was God calling His people to trust His ability to work in ways we seldom expect (just think about how unexpected His work was through Jesus), He calls His people to live humbly. So as we trust Jesus’ work to atone for our guilt – for our arrogant tendency to want to be the most high – we also can trust Jesus to work by His Spirit in our hearts to help us grow to be joyfully and genuinely humble. We can trust Him to change us to be compassionate to those who are weak, to those who have failed, to those who offer us no advantage – just as He loved us when we were just like that.

HIS WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS

Read together the sermon passage, Micah 5:1-5a; 10-11, 6:6-8 & Matthew 2:5-6. What does it reveal that the LORD, the Most High works with the lowly; that the Eternal One loves to take His time? What examples can you think of in the Old Testament of God working through the weak or lowly rather than through the wealthy or powerful?

Where do we ever see the lofty going down into misery (not just site tours)? Why do you think that is? How have you lived as if you deserve the highest place, refusing to live humbly? How do we resist God’s use of time and His requirement that we be patient?

THE ENDANGERED HERO

Read 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 14 & Ephesians 2:14. As we see with EMT’s or fire-rescue, or doctors working in Ebola “hot zones,” why do those seeking to rescue someone have to go where the person in peril is?

How deeply do you recognize your peril? How do you resist trusting Jesus’ work to rescue? What has helped you to trust Jesus’ work to rescue you?

HE CALLS US TO LOVING HUMILITY

Read Matthew 11:28-30. How has Jesus called us to Himself and to His ways? Only from a certain perspective can you even see a rainbow, so how does it make sense that only from a humble vantage point can you see God work?

Read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. How did God use humility to help Paul trust His love and work? So how readily do you side with the weak & broken in the way that Jesus took your side?

YOU CAN PRAY WITH US…

  1. Worship the LORD for His compassion and grace to sinners like us. Praise Him, Father, Son and Holy Spirit that He is not like us, that His thoughts are not like our thoughts and His ways not like our ways (Isaiah 55:6-9).
  2. How have you lived as if you deserve the highest place, refusing to live humbly? Confess your pride as a true effort to replace Jesus as God. Ask Him to forgive you and change your heart to bow before Him truly.
  3. Give thanks to Jesus for the beauty of what Jesus did to go into peril to rescue us from sin, death and hell. Thank Him for moving down so radically to do what we could never do – atone for our sin and secure us in love.
  4. Who do you know that tends quickly toward pride or superiority? Pray for them, asking the Lord to open their eyes to God’s love of humility and His design for us to walk humbly with Him.
  5. Ask the Holy Spirit for help you grow in compassion to the weak, to those who offer you no advantage. Pray for His work to so secure you in His resurrection power that you’re unafraid to live humbly and in true love for others.

More in The Old Testament

November 23, 2014

The LORD: Generous & Unchanging

November 16, 2014

Accused, Redeemed Ambassadors

November 9, 2014

Seek First