Today’s passage: Luke 17:1-10
Helpful thoughts:
- In contrast to the pride of the Pharisees, Jesus teaches his apostles (And the rest of us) what humility will produce in us.
- A humble teacher will be careful to ensure that his teaching is from the Bible (God’s Word alone has authority) and not his own errant opinion, which would cause others to go the wrong direction. (“Little ones” refers to all believers.)
- A humble leader will pay attention to himself first! (Matthew 7:5)
- A humble believer will be willing to rebuke, not preserving their own reputation in the eyes of the one needing correction.
- A humble believer will be willing to forgive, even repeatedly, knowing they have been forgiven of much more (Matthew 18:21-35).
- A humble believer will realize great things don’t happen because they had enough faith, but because God is the one who wills and holds the power (Not how much faith I have, but who my faith is in).
- A humble believer will see themselves as a servant doing their duty, not as a champion who’s master is lucky to have them.
- Philippians 3 shares Paul’s personal testimony of this transformation.
Questions to consider:
- How does a teacher/preacher know if their teaching is biblical? How does a listener know if the teaching/preaching they are receiving is biblical? How does humility promote biblical teaching and learning?
- In what way can pride motivate us to point our finger and bark at people’s sin? In what way could pride motivate us to remain quiet when someone needs to hear a rebuke? How could thinking too highly and/or too “lowly” of ourselves both be a result of pride? (Think, high self-esteem and low self-esteem…what is the common denominator?)
- How does preaching the gospel to ourselves encourage humility in our hearts? Children of God, what are we? Whose are we? What is our calling and mission? Who is our hope? Where is our home?