Seeking Revival: Humility

Revive_humility-1

Seeking Revival
Dulins Grove has planned revival meetings September 18-21. Justin Nash will be speaking. But take note: we are not having revival like you have chicken fingers at Chili’s. We are seeking revival by Biblical means, some of which are:

1. Humility
2. Prayer
3. Repentance
4. Worship

And we’re not just seeking revival for one-hour blocks for a couple of days in mid-September. We’re seeking revival now.

Think of these four as wheels on the van that we’re steering toward God in hopes of revival. I got them from various places in the Bible, but the clearest is the old standby revival passage, 1 Chronicles 7:14, in which God says, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.”

God said this through his prophet to his people at a particular point in history, so we can’t take it as a direct message to us today. He’s not going to heal America’s economy or make your squash plants grow really well. But it does work together with the rest of Scripture to display how God is toward his people. He is gracious to those who humble themselves, pray, seek his face, and turn from their wicked ways.

In Isaiah 57:15, God says, “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the heart of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Humility
So what is this lowliness and contrition? What is humility? Is it wimpiness? Is it doormatism? Is it naiveté?

When you picture humility, don’t think pre-transformation Steve Rogers, the Stepford wives, or Forrest Gump. Think Jesus.

Philippians 2:5-8 says that Jesus humbled himself by emptying himself. And it is this self-emptying mindset we’re called to as Christians.

“Humility isn’t thinking about yourself in a low way but not thinking of yourself at all. Humility is thinking less about yourself, not thinking less of yourself.” (Kreeft, Back to Virtue)

In the Bible, humility is often contrasted with pride, which is viewing self above others. Our culture is poisoned by prideful selfishness, preaching that the unsure need self-confidence, the timid need self-esteem, the ashamed need better self-image, the undisciplined need self-control, and those making destructive decisions need self-respect.

But the gospel doesn’t pull us inward. It yanks us out of ourselves so that we trust God and we live for the benefit of other people. The gospel signals our escape from self.

How to Seek Revival through Humility

1. Get the gospel: There is only one way to be saved and find life: Jesus. Trust him and follow him.
2. Unload yourself in specific ways. What specific selfishness do you need to repent? What relationships has your selfishness fractured? (James 4:1-6) What specific sins do you need to kill? (James 6-10) What specific worries do you need to trust God with? (1 Peter 5:6-7)
3. Apply yourself to the interests of others in specific ways. (Philippians 2:3-8)

You may be thinking if I live this selflessly, who will watch out for me? I might lose myself altogether. Exactly! Jesus said it is those who lose their lives that find it. (Matthew 16:24-26)

Discussion Starters

1.     Share with the group why you want to seek revival.

a.     What do you hope revival will look like in your life?

b.     In the life of the church?

2.     Read James 4:6. How does God oppose the proud? (See Deuteronomy 8:2, 16 for one example)

a.     How does he give grace to the humble? (See 1 Peter 5:10 for help)

3.      Read 1 Peter 5:6-7. How is casting your anxieties on God an expression of humility? How then does pride factor into our struggles with anxiety?

4.     How can we serve one another in light of these passages?

5.     How can your group pray for you this week?

 

 

 

 

 

 

   
 
Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap