It takes humility to follow Jesus.  It takes humility to be obedient to the One who tells us to bless those who abuse us, to pray for those who have wronged us, to ask forgiveness when we’ve wronged them.  

It takes humility to achieve recovery as well.  It takes humility to introduce yourself every time you speak at a meeting, “Hi, I’m Frank and I’m an alcoholic.”  

I’m working on a sermon based on Matthew 23: 1-12, in which Jesus takes the religious leaders to task for their pride, for their arrogance, for their wanting the best seats, the fanciest clothes, the prominent place in the culture.  They sit in the seat of Moses, Jesus said, so do what they say when they teach the Law — but don’t do what they do.  

Dallas Willard wrote that a key missing ingredient in most discipleship studies is obedience.  (The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship, 2006) We have techniques for growing churches, we have workshops for song leaders and preachers, we have programs to take our churches “to the next level”, but what we don’t have is obedience to the One who called us, who came for us, who died and rose from the dead for us.   We don’t have a lot of that, and in the workshops I’ve attended for church growth and preaching, I’ve not heard that mentioned.  (This has more to say about where I received my training.)

In other words, walk the walk. Live with integrity. Live with humility. How can we not forgive someone for things done to us when we have been forgiven so much more?

In Luke 6:46, Jesus asked his followers:  “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I say?”

In John 14:21 Jesus said:  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.  And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”   So here Jesus is saying that if we obey Jesus’ teachings we will not only be loved, but Jesus will “manifest” himself to us, he will show up! 

The prophet Jeremiah was told in 45:5 not to seek great things for himself, but that God would give him his life as a “prey” (KJV) — God will spare Jeremiah in the troubles to come, he said, but he will give him his life that others may “feed” off him, that he may nurture others in the word of God.  

Jesus said something similar in Mark 10:45 — For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life for many.  Our lives are given to us in order that we might be servants to others. Jesus calls us to humility.