Virtues of Christ ~ Humility

October 19, 2024 — jwwealand

Micah put this truth forward centuries before Christ.

“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy


and to walk _____________ with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

Walking humbly with our God, of course, is humbling ourselves before God. Acting justly and loving mercy are respecting and showing concern for our neighbors, humble service of others. 

What Humility Is Not. Humility has sometimes been distorted into self-abasement, self-denigration, lack of courage, non-assertiveness & low self-esteem. To clarify what we mean by true biblical humility, we’ll flesh out from Scripture what authentic biblical humility looks like. Humility can be seen throughout the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-10.

1. Meekness Is Not Weakness

The world sometimes considers weakness as wimpy. The word translated “meek” in Greek is “praus”, meaning “the attitude or mindset of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance, but gentle, considerate & self-controlled.” In the Bible, the meek are not the weak and docile, but the ones who endure oppression and persecution and still stand in faith. They are the persevering confident saints of God that can rejoice even in service that hurts. They are tough!

2. Humility Is Not Timid or Passive.

The phrase “Meek as a mouse” is heard often enough to identify meekness with timidity and fear, with running from a challenge, “a timid, meek, or unassertive person. This describes neither Moses (Numbers 12:3) nor Jesus, nor the disciples Jesus is laboring to form. Jesus is not passive.

FOUR REASONS TO ADOPT A HUMBLE MINDSET

  1. The apostle Paul instructs and encourages us to have a mindset of humility in Colossians 3:12-14. 
  2. Even divine love itself carries within it humility, see 1st Corinthians 13:4. 
  3. Humility gives priority to the concerns and needs of other people, Philippians 2:3-5.
  4. Everything we have is from God (Dt. 8:18; 1st Cor. 4:6-7). Since everything we have has been given to us by God, we have no reason for boasting in self, that we are somehow better than others, we don’t boast over a gift, but we should boast of the Giver.

“I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, 

but to think with __________  ____________________, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith”. (Romans 12:3)

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Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus from the Gospel of Luke

October 5, 2024 — jwwealand

Luke 1:17 quotes Malachi. 4:6, The success of John the immersionist is not measured by longevity, because his life was cut short, not by riches, because he lived in poverty and ate poor, not by miracles because he didn’t perform a single sign, but by the acceptance of God’s word into the hearts of many Israelites, (Lk. 3:21 “ALL”). Jesus said John the immersionist was the greatest of men born amongst women because of his ability to practice what he preached in holy living (Matthew 11:8-11).  The word “Turn” is a great word for describing the emphasis of John’s message of repentance, Mark 1:4 & Luke 3:3. In John’s ministry, baptism was immersion expressing a changed lifestyle in exchange for forgiveness, however in Christ’s ministry, baptism is immersion expressing death to sin and being raised to new life in exchange for a forgiven heart that can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:37-39.

Luke 4:18-19 quotes Isaiah 61:1-2, The success of Jesus Christ (Anointed) – ‘Masah’ Isa. 61:1, would be emphasized in preaching, the word “Preaching” is repeated 3 times in this passage. Proclamation of God’s word, not necessarily the acceptance of His word. The miraculous healing and many other powerful signs was simply the proof or confirmation of power from God in the word’s message, see Mark 16:20 & Hebrews 2:3-4. The preaching is described by two words, firstly, “Euangelizo” which is a reference to the inherent goodness of the message. Secondly ‘preaching’ or proclaim is “Kerysso” which is a reference to publication of the message. This kind of message is always public, never private. The fact that the Christ (Anointed) one did the preaching fulfilled the prophetic promise in Isaiah to make the “year of the Lord’s grace” known. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, Jn 1:17, not Moses or any other prophet or religious leader of any kind, it was only Jesus who can deliver gracious words and absolute truth, see Luke 4:22.

Luke 23:30 quotes Hosea 10:8, Jesus points to the destruction of Jerusalem impending with warnings, from prophets of the past, to his own generation. A sign of mercy to those who accept his word as God’s word, to flee and escape the judgment of God. Reference Matthew 24:15 & Daniel 12:11. If non-believers stay in Jerusalem to see this wrath they will cry out for creation itself to fall upon them, see Revelation 6:15-17, because the destruction is so thorough there will be no hope anywhere else but under the earth, i.e., dead!

Luke 24:27 quotes “all the prophets”.., after Cleopas said “but they did not see him”, v24. Jesus replied with a rebuke towards their wondering curiosity and wherever in the Old Testament Christ was spoken of prophetically, Jesus explained his fulfillment. What is amazing about this encounter, is that Christ’s knowledge did not open their eyes, but rather it was fellowship and prayer over dinner! A prayer of blessing opened their eyes, v30-31. Do you pray about what you read in the Bible?

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Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus from Mark’s Gospel

September 17, 2024 — jwwealand

Mark quotes from Old Testament passages which Matthew & John do not, so we will look into the following passages that are unique to Mark.

Isaiah 53:12 & 66:24

Jeremiah 7:11 & Isaiah 56:7

Zechariah 13:7

There are some other Old Testament scriptures which Mark quotes from, but they have already been covered in our past discussions in John & Matthew. Next week, we will look into Luke for the Old Testament passages he quotes.

Mark 9:44, 48, quotes Isaiah 66:24. The last chapter of Isaiah is about how Jerusalem will be punished but in the future they will be revived along with “all people” Isa. 66:18-23. They will see both “new heavens & a new earth” as well as punishment in judgment that is perpetually ongoing or eternal. The new heavens and earth will “remain standing” as well, Isa. 66:22.

Mark 11:17 quotes both Isaiah 56:7 & Jeremiah 7:11. God’s Temple is to be holy and a place for all nations of anyone to pray. But Jewish leaders took their unique position with God and robbed the world of both spiritual and physical blessings. This desecration angered Jesus so much that he stopped their retail work and damaged the wares of priests who were running a currency exchange and marketplace for sacrificial animals. The “den of robbers” and “marketplace” see John 2:16, which is a reference to Zechariah 14:21 “trader”

Mark 14:27 quotes Zechariah 13:7 to emphasize the horror of striking the Shepherd, which the sheep could not face and then fled. Jesus quoted this during the last supper to warn them while at the same time he knew they were too weak to withstand the horror of what would happen to him. This is true love, love that endures death as a sacrifice for your friends while your friends forsake you.

Mark 15:28 & Luke 22:37 both quote Isaiah 53:12, The fact that the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem treated Jesus as a criminal before a “trial”, and after their version of a mock-trial, all the way to the cross was prophesied and publicly obvious in it’s fulfillment. Isaiah points out that “my servant” (Isa. 53:13) will carry their sins and willingly be falsely accused to death. No one forced Jesus to accept wrongful conviction or be willingly executed as a criminal. The sole source of power to submit and carry our sins was from his love for sinners to be our sacrifice for sin of his own volition.

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