Lesson 2 of 4 from Module 5 Practice Humility, Even if it s Humiliating (Lesson 2 of 4) Scope and Sequence Felt Need: I want my needs to be met above others. Doctrine: Humility Objective To equip students with principles and concrete plans towards serving the needs of others in their lives. Memory Verse Philippians 2:4 If you have the mindset of Christ, whose interests will you put first? Worth Repeating: Humility is never about you and always about others. THE FELT NEED: I want my needs to be met above others. Washing feet illustration Washing someone s feet is not a very glamorous job, in fact, it can be a humiliating job. We all have a natural tendency to want to be in the high position, not the one washing someone s feet. When someone says you have an attitude, they are talking about your way of thinking or feeling about someone or something. THE TRUTH: 1. Humility is never about you (Philippians 2:3a). a. The opposite of humility is self-centeredness. Show the YouTube video Is Lamar Odom's Cancer Charity a Fraud? It is so easy to see a self-centered attitude in others, but we tend to be very far sighted when it comes to seeing it in ourselves. b. Selfish ambition = self-promotion Ambition itself can be a very good thing, but when the object of that ambition is you, it will not satisfy. c. Empty conceit = motivation for empty rewards Conceit literally means excessive pride in oneself. Our goal as Christians is not to make ourselves great in the eyes of others but to make God s name great. Page 185
2. Humility is always about others (Philippians 2:3b). a. Consider others better Self-sacrifice is a characteristic of Christ-like humility working in the life of a person. b. Look not only to your own interests Paul makes it apparent that there is something even more vital than having others respect us and that is our own high esteem for others. 3. The perfect example of humility (Philippians 2:6-8). a. High position exchanged for lowly service The kind of humility Jesus displayed was literally allowing someone to spit in His face, pull out His beard, curse Him, beat Him with their fists, and whip Him. b. Life exchanged for death Ultimately, Jesus served the world through His death. THE CONNECTION: Humility is never about you and always about others. THE DECISION: Tell at least one other person who you know about your plan to serve this week. Definitions Attitude: a way of thinking or feeling about someone or something with an action that conveys a mood or opinion Checklist Large bowl filled with water and towels Enough moist wipes for each student in your group to have two A power point presentation for this module is available Equipment to show You Tube Video Video Is Lamar Odom's Cancer Charity a Fraud? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw_jxqin4gg Video 7 Astonishing Acts of Self-Sacrifice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g8ecvpnti8. The Skit Guys, The Jesus Memo, http://skitguys.com/videos/item/the-jesusmemo Resources Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 1277). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans. The Felt Need: I want my needs to be met above others. Washing Feet Illustration Have a chair at the front of the room. Have something large enough to carry water and place a pair of feet in, a bar of soap, and towel off to the side. Have one of your youth leaders dirty their feet before the lesson begins. At the beginning of the lesson ask this leader to come up front and sit down. Take the water, soap, and towel, place them in front of the leader with dirty feet. Then bend down, put their feet in the clean water, and take the soap and wash their feet. When their feet have been washed take the towel and dry them. Page 186
Washing someone s feet is not a very glamorous job, in fact, it can be a humiliating job. While a lot of us would not mind being called humble, almost nobody likes to be humiliated. Isn t that interesting? They are very similar in meaning, but there s just something so degrading about humiliation. We're not talking about the kind of humiliation like the last time you stood on a stage for a performance and forgot what your lines were, that s just embarrassing. Humiliation has a lot of connotations to it, especially another word disrespect. Think about it. Whenever you feel humiliated, it's usually because your pride was hurt because you felt disrespected in some kind of way. No one likes to be humiliated, in fact, what we really want is to be the one others treat with respect. We want to be first; we would much rather be the one whose feet are washed, who sits in first class, who goes first, who gets the biggest cut of steak, or who gets honored. We all have a natural tendency to want to be in the high position, not the one washing someone s feet. In this lesson we will see an example of humiliation and humility that we are to emulate; we will learn that humility is never about you and always about others. Have a student read Philippians 2:1-9. What Paul tells the Philippians to do in verse 5 is central to this entire passage; he wants them to have the same mind Jesus Christ had. The idea is to think or to make plans the way Jesus would. This passage is all about having the attitude of Christ and thinking the way He thought. When someone says you have an attitude, they are talking about your way of thinking or feeling about someone or something. By referring back to verse one through four we can see how to develop the attitude of Christ. A person who has the mind of Christ has a grateful heart for all that Christ has done for them. The rest of this passage lays out what Christ did. The Truth: 1. Humility is never about you (Philippians 2:3a). a. The opposite of humility is self-centeredness. Read Philippians 2:3. Humility is obviously the focus here, but just what is humility? When considering the weight of a word, it helps to think of its opposite. Humility is never about you; it is never displayed in a self-centered attitude. Let s take a look at one example of this where former NBA basketball player Lamar Odom was displaying selfcenteredness. Show the YouTube video Is Lamar Odom's Cancer Charity a Fraud? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw_jxqin4gg Play it to the 1:53 mark. It is always amazing to see when a self-centered celebrity tries to pull off a stunt to make themselves look different than what they really are just for publicity. For one Page 187
reason or another, celebrities will perform a deed that the public considers a good thing, whether it s donating to charity or visiting poor villages in Sudan. Sometimes, celebrities simply do this as a marketing scheme with the purpose of changing the public s perception of them. While that is not in itself a bad thing, it can sometimes be driven by a self-centered motivation and the celebrity loses sight of the things they are supposed to be helping with. It is so easy to see a self-centered attitude in others, but we tend to be very far sighted when it comes to seeing it in ourselves. b. Selfish ambition = self-promotion We see in verse three the term selfish ambition, which is something Paul didn t want the Philippians to be motivated by. The word ambition means, a determination to achieve success. Ambition itself can be a very good thing, but when the object of that ambition is you, it will not satisfy. Paul is saying that they should never be motivated by things that only help themselves and things that only promote self. Lamar Odom sought to promote things that promoted what benefited him through giving donor money to his friend and towards the things he wanted. c. Empty conceit = motivation for empty rewards Empty conceit is another wrong motivation. Conceit literally means excessive pride in oneself. It s not wrong to seek rewards, in fact, rewards in and of themselves are morally neutral things. The Pulitzer, the Nobel Peace Prize, the Oscars, none of these are inherently good or bad. However, rewards become worthless when they are pursued simply for vanity s sake. There is stark contrast to selfish ambition and vein conceit which we see in the second part of verse three. 2. Humility is always about others (Philippians 2:3b). a. Consider others better Our goal as Christians is not to make ourselves great in the eyes of others but to make God s name great. At its core, humility is an attitude that has others in mind because humility is always about others. In a society like ours, groups of people are often singled out and treated less favorably. Sometimes we don t act humbly towards people because they are different than us or because they look or act a way we find unattractive. But humility is an attitude that is blind to skin color, gender, sexuality, occupation, mental illness, physical deformities, handicaps, and social or economic standing. Humility overcomes cultural norms and personal prejudices and puts the needs of other before themselves. Show the YouTube video 7 Astonishing Acts of Self-Sacrifice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g8ecvpnti8. You will want to preview this video and choose just one or two stories that show putting others first. Page 188
Self-preservation and self-promotion are natural to the human nature. Self-sacrifice is a characteristic of Christ-like humility working in the life of a person. b. Look not only to your own interests Paul makes it apparent that there is something even more vital than having others respect us and that is our own high esteem for others. Think about the individuals that God has placed in your life. They are not there to serve you but rather for you to serve them and put their needs ahead of your own. Have the students think of one person in their life that they don t normally serve. Then ask them to think of just one way they could put that person s needs ahead of their own. Ask them to share not the person s name, but what they could do to serve that person. Write their responses for everyone to see. As hard as putting someone else s needs before yourself is, most of the time we do this with people we love. Even though it is still hard, we do put others before ourselves. As we close the lesson we will look at the ultimate example of selflessness. It is the ultimate example because it was demonstrated toward people who hated the servant. 3. The perfect example of humility (Philippians 2:6-8). Have a student read Philippians 2:6-8. a. High position exchanged for lowly service The kind of humility Jesus displayed was literally allowing someone to spit in His face, pull out His beard, curse Him, beat Him with their fists, and whip Him. That is the kind of humiliation that no one wants to be on the receiving end of. If we are to get a handle on true humility we need to realize that Jesus attitude of humility was seen not just in His suffering; it was even seen in the life He chose to live. Jesus exchanged His high position for lowly service. He recognized what we need to learn; humility is never about you and always about others. Jesus entering the world was like a king coming to a dirty village to serve everyone, even to allow them to treat Him as worthless. He loved us so much that He emptied Himself of all His deity. He was and still is God, the Creator of everything! The Maker of the stars, the earth and our bodies. He was and is above every king that ever lived, Ruler of the universe. In fact, you would think Jesus would have used His form of equality to God as an advantage while living in the world. He could have imposed Himself on the world as a rightful dictator. And yet, He gave it all up, to come to the earth, to disregard His equality with God in exchange for human flesh, so that He could come into contact with us, to become the lowest of servants, to practice perfect selfless humility. If the richest man alive left his mansion, took off his suit and tie and traded them in for rags, even then it wouldn t compare. There simply is no comparison! b. Life exchanged for death Page 189
The way Jesus met people s basic needs is an example we can follow, however that is not the only purpose that Jesus gave up His high position for. There is something that Jesus did that is the embodiment of true humility, an act we can never truly mimic. Ultimately, Jesus served the world through His death. Jesus died to take the punishment of our every wrong man has ever done. He did this knowing that there was nothing we could do in return for Him, knowing He had nothing to gain from us and knowing we were His enemies. What grace and humility He displayed toward us! In John 3:17 we learn that God sent Jesus so that that the world might be saved through Him. What we must do is acknowledge our sin and receive the free gift of Jesus payment for our sin by faith. Jesus humility made it possible for you to have a restored relationship with God. The Connection: Humility is never about you and always about others. You see that life isn t about what we can get out of it or about serving our own interests. As we follow Jesus example we will see that life is more about having a servant s heart and serving the interests of others. Remember the list we created of ways we could serve others? Use the upcoming week to start to cultivate Christ-like humility in your life as you serve the people God has put in your life. The Decision: Show the Skit Guys video The Jesus Memo http://skitguys.com/videos/item/thejesus-memo to close the lesson. This will reinforce the application of cultivating humility and serving someone else in the coming week. Tell at least one other person who you know about your plan to serve this week. Ask them to check up on you in a week to see if you followed through. Live this week with the attitude that humility is never about you and always about others. Page 190