Below are some sermon illustrations about humility.
Clothed with Humility
The word "humility" means literally a low estimate of self. But this does not imply self-deprecation. When you hear someone deprecating himself, usually you can put it down as a sort of counterfeit humility. Someone has said, "The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your full height before some higher nature that will show you how small your greatness is." "Walk humbly with thy God." Here is where we learn true humility. Walking with God, seeing ourselves by the side of His greatness, we see how little we are. And seeing how little we are is the first step toward becoming what we can and ought to be.
We never become truly great, we never do our best work until we are "clothed with humility"; until, like our Lord and Savior, we are willing to live to serve others.
John R. Gunn, Facing Life
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The Ambitious Disciples
Jesus and his disciples were coming to the town of Capernaum. As they entered the house where they would be staying, he asked his disciples, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet, says the writer of Mark’s Gospel, because on the way they had argued about who was number one among them.
So, the disciples were human just like you and I are human. Who doesn’t want to stand out? Some of the greatest people who have ever lived were also among the most ambitious.
It is said that Michelangelo prayed: “Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.”
Abraham Lincoln often said to himself as a boy studying by the pine log fire at night: “I will study and get ready and perhaps my chance will come.” And, indeed, it did come.
Having an African-American president reminds us of other people of color who have succeeded against even greater odds. They, too, were driven to succeed.
Who can help but be impressed by the accomplishments, for example, of George Washington Carver? Carver was born to an African slave mother. He never knew his father. But he wanted to make a difference in the world, and he did! Carver became one the greatest scientists in American history.
The disciples were human beings. They wanted their names to be in lights just as you and I want to stand out from our peers. There is nothing wrong with that as long it does not cause us to mistreat others or betray our values. My guess is Jesus wanted them to be ambitious because ambitious people get things done. He just wanted them to be ambitious in the right way.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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He that is down needs fear no fall,
He that is low, no pride:
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide.
From the Song of the Shepherd Boy, The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
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Passing by the Children
A persistent judgment leveled against parents today is this: they gladly provide their children with every resource: Leaders, coaches, teachers, tutors, and youth workers. Certainly children should be happy and well-adjusted. They have everything money can buy. But they do not have the listening ear of Mom and Dad. "Too busy, later, not now, I'm working hard for your good." Recall the old saying:
"For the want of a nail the shoe was lost;
for the want of a shoe the horse was lost;
for the want of a horse the rider was lost;
for the want of the rider the battle was lost."
It is still true. For want of a quiet, caring intimacy, a child's primary sense of self-worth is lost. And for want of security and self-worth, the child is lost. In most churches I've known, members find it quite easy to pass a youth by; they are more timid to engage a child than a stranger in conversation. Frequently, when youth are on committees, little sensitivity is expressed toward making them comfortable and enabling them to contribute.
Thomas Peterson, The Needle's Eye, CSS Publishing Company.
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Something Which Time Cannot Efface
Life is a matter of building. Each of us has the opportunity to build something -- a secure family, a good reputation, a career, a relationship to God. But some of those things can disappear almost overnight due to financial losses, natural disasters and other unforeseen difficulties.
What are we to do? Daniel Webster offered excellent advice, saying, "If we work on marble it will perish. If we work on brass, time will efface it. If we rear temples, they will crumble to dust. But if we work on men's immortal minds, if we imbue them with high principles, with just fear of God and love of their fellow-men, we engrave on those tablets something which time cannot efface, and which will brighten and brighten to all eternity.
Morning Glory
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Teaching
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
William A. Ward
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Carry Someone with You
There was a tribe of Indians who lived a long time ago in the state of Mississippi. They lived next to a very swift and dangerous river. The current was so strong that if somebody happened to fall in or stumbled into it they could be swept away downstream.
One day the tribe was attacked by a hostile group of settlers. They found themselves with their backs against the river. They were greatly outnumbered and their only chance for escape was to cross the rushing river. They huddled together and those who were strong picked up the weak and put them on their shoulders; the little children, the sick, the old and the infirm, those who were ill or wounded were carried on the backs of those who were strongest. They waded out into the river, and to their surprise they discovered that the weight on their shoulders carrying the least and the lowest helped them to keep their footing and to make it safely across the river.
Jesus is trying to teach the disciples an object lesson about greatness, about servanthood, about leadership. He is saying to them and to us, "Have you lost the childlike joy and love and faith that once were yours?" He is also saying to them and to us, "If you want to walk on secure ground in this world it helps to carry someone with you."
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Mastering the Virtue of Humility
"What do you think of the candidates?" That's what a reporter for a news magazine asked a young woman at Dartmouth University after a debate among presidential hopefuls. She didn't say a word about their positions on the issues or their skill at debate. She simply remarked, "None of them seems to have any humility."
Benjamin Franklin, the early American statesman, made a list of character qualities that he wanted to develop in his own life. When he mastered one virtue, he went on to the next. He did pretty well, he said, until he got to humility. Every time he thought he was making significant progress, he would be so pleased with himself that he became proud.
Humility is an elusive virtue. Even Jesus' disciples struggled with it. When Jesus learned that they had been arguing about who was the greatest, He responded, "If anyone desires to be first, he should be last of all and servant of all" (Mk. 9:35). Then He took a little child in His arms and indicated that we need to humbly serve others as if we were serving Christ.
If a news reporter were to talk to our friends, neighbors, or fellow church members and ask them to describe us, would they use the word humble?
Our Daily Bread
