PRECEPTS AND PROMISES

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.

EPHESIANS 4:1-2

I still vividly remember a statement I heard at a Bible study in January 1952. It literally changed my life. The essence of the statement was, "The Bible is meant to be applied in your everyday life." As obvious as that is to me today, it was a brand-new thought that night. I had grown up in church and had never strayed beyond its moral boundaries, but as far as I can remember, the application of Scripture to one's daily life had never been taught in our church.

But that night, upon hearing that statement, it was as if someone had turned on a light in my mind. I was a young officer in the navy at that time, so on my way back to my ship, I prayed, "God, starting tonight, would you help me to apply the Bible to my everyday life?"

"Everyday life" is the crucial part of that life-changing statement. In Ephesians 4:1, Paul urges us to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called." In that context walk means to live out one's ordinary daily life, whether it's working at your job, doing the laundry, grocery shopping, or a myriad of other things we do in the course of an ordinary day.

As Paul expands on the meaning of a worthy walk, the first thing he mentions is humility. Think of what that means: As I drive down the street, as I interact with my spouse or my children, or with my coworkers at a job, or with the clerk at the grocery store, I am to do all of it with humility.

In the Greco-Roman world of Paul's day, humility was a despised trait. They viewed it as a sign of weakness. And our culture today is no different from that world of two thousand years ago. Maybe it's a little different in our Christian circles. We may even admire humility in someone else, but we have little desire to practice it ourselves.

But when Paul wrote, "walk ... with all humility," he was not just speaking for himself; rather he was speaking as God's spokesman. The Bible is not an ordinary book reflecting the thoughts of the various writers. Rather, as Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is breathed out by God." Peter helps us understand what that means when he wrote in 2 Peter 1:21, "Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." To be "carried along" means that the writers of Scripture were so guided by the Holy Spirit that they wrote exactly what He wanted them to write. That is why we frequently read in the Bible an expression such as "the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David" (Acts 1:16). God "breathed out" His words through David (or other writers). So we can confidently say, "What the Bible says, God says," even though He says it through the mouth or pen of human beings.

The issue here is one of authority, and one meaning of authority is the right to command. Paul does not have the right to command us to walk in humility, but God does. And though, speaking to his friends (and to us today), Paul uses a softer word (urge), he is still conveying the idea that a life of humility is not an option for a believer to choose or reject. It is a command of God.

This is a crucial point, because in our frenetic world of today, such softer character traits as humility, gentleness, and patience often get ignored or even regarded as unreal expectations in the hustle and bustle of life. But if we want to apply the Bible's teaching to our daily lives, we cannot ignore the call to live our ordinary lives in a spirit of humility.

Ephesians 4:1-2 is not the only Scripture in which Paul urges us to practice humility. In Philippians 2:3 he writes, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." And again in Colossians 3:12, he tells us to "put on ... humility." Peter adds his voice in 1 Peter 5:5: "Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another." These are not offhand statements made in passing. They are all the very words of God and carry with them the implied authority of God to command us to pursue humility in our everyday lives.

In addition to Paul and Peter, Jesus frequently addressed the subject of humility. Though He seldom used the word, the concept is scattered throughout His teaching. In fact the character traits in the Beatitudes, which constitute the major portion of this book, are all expressions of what I call "humility in action."

One of my favorite teachings of Jesus on humility is Luke 14:7-11, which I learned many years ago. I try (note the emphasis) to practice the principle He taught on appropriate occasions.

Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this person,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

LUKE 14:7-11

To apply Jesus' teaching to our present-day culture, we need to think in terms not of a seat of honor but of positions, of prestige, recognition, or authority, which most of us are tempted to seek after. Instead, a good rule to follow is found in the words of Proverbs 27:2: "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips."

Jesus not only taught humility; He practiced it Himself. We see this in His washing of the disciples' feet at the Last Supper (see John 13:1-11). What makes His act even more striking is that He did this in full awareness that He was the eternal Son of God (verse 3). And we see His ultimate humility, as He humbled Himself even to death on the cross for our sake (Philippians 2:8).

I've titled this chapter "Precepts and Promises," but so far I've used neither word in the text of the chapter. A precept, however, is a synonym for a command. In fact, my dictionary defines precept as "an order [or command] issued by a legally constituted authority." And of course there's no greater authority than God. A promise, meanwhile, is a declaration that gives a person the right to expect the performance of that which is promised. Only God has the infinite power and...