Live Free with Josh Howerton - Humble Yourselves Before the Lord | Ep. 341 | Monday, May 27, 2024

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

We jump back into the book of James and chapter 4 this week. Pride is a dangerous thing that leads to broken and dysfunctional relationships. We need to learn how to humble ourselves with God and others. When we humble ourselves and follow the example of Jesus, God will lift us up. Where might God want you to humble yourself this week? For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, summer is officially here. And in the words of that great theologian, Kenny Chesney, schools out and the night rolls in just like a long-lost friend

you ain't seen in a while and can't help but smile. There's two bare feet on the dashboard, young love, and an old four cheap shades of a tattoo and a y-hoo bottle rolling on the floorboard. Man, sweet, sweet, summer time. I love summer, great weather, lots of fun with cookouts with friends and trips with family and swimming and boating and sitting in the stands for t-ball games and daylight until 930, and you're spraying off all over your body,

so mosquitoes don't eat you alive, and I love absolutely all of it. Plus, I get to preach the next four weekends at Lake Point Church starting this weekend and at Eastside Church, the next four after that. I am the summertime guy that they bring in out of the bullpen, and I absolutely love every bit of it. My name is Bro, by the way, and this is the Daily Drive, and we've been spending a few minutes every weekday going through a great little book in the back of the Bible called James. Now, James

is the author's name. And the letter was written, like, way back in the 40s, not the 1940s, like the original 40s. He was the brother of Jesus, and he comes to faith in Jesus after his resurrection. He goes on to become a leader in the early church and was actually martyred in 62 AD. His letter lives on, and as all of God's word is, it's as relevant in 2024 as it was way back then. We left off in chapter four last week, so let's pick it up right there. He has been talking about the destructiveness of pride and the importance of humility.

And I don't know, maybe it's just me. Because I have struggled against pride for most of my life. And when I say I've struggled most of my life, I say that because a good portion of my life, I didn't struggle. I just fed it. I didn't struggle. I just went with it. But it seems like everywhere I turn in the Bible is talking about the destructive nature

of pride and the life-giving value of humility. I'm sure you've seen it play out in your own life, and you've seen it play out in relationships. I mean, we have all seen, like, long-time friendships implode because one or both people can't humble themselves and ask for forgiveness. I've watched so many marriages break up because one or both of them is to win every argument, every decision, it's just selfish pride. I know parents that cannot humble themselves and admit that they're wrong, and they leave their kids resentful, wounded, and broken, and paying for lifelong therapy sessions. I've watched people in churches sit in the same auditorium, sing the same songs, studied from the same Bible for years who never speak to each other over an incident that happened decades ago, simply because they cannot humble themselves.

You see why James says God opposes the proud. Look what he goes on to say in verse 8 and follow me. He says, wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. He's talking here about when we, draw close to God, as he talked about in verse 6 or 7, we're going to realize our sin and how much we need is grace. And you know what, gang, that's a good thing. He says in verse 9, let there be tears for what you've done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter

and gloom instead of joy. It takes us right back to that blessed are the poor and spirit trait that Jesus talked about. It takes us back to a conviction of our spiritual poverty. It reveals our pride, our anger, our selfishness, our greed, our lust, our envy, our gossip, is slander, it makes us once again, grateful for the amazing grace of God that saved a wretch like me. Now, he's not saying that we should mope around and define ourselves as sinners, but to realize that that is what we were, to stay humble and live gratefully for the unfailing love of God, who took us out of the kingdom of darkness and put us into the kingdom of light. He took us from slavery to sin to the freedom of walking with him.

And so James wraps this up by saying, stop trying to lift yourself up. Stop trying to put yourself first and push your way to the front as you ignore other people. Instead, humble yourself before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor. Maybe that's a verse you need to cut out of your Bible, circle, copy it, stick it somewhere where you can see it. Just write it out, put on the dashboard of your car, put on your bathroom, mirror, put on a refrigerator door, wherever you can see it. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up in honor. You know, James' brother Jesus kind of said the same thing in Luke chapter 14, verse 11. For all of those who exalt themselves, they will be humble.

And those who humble themselves, they'll be exalted. And you know what? That's exactly what Jesus did. So let's follow his example of the day. Let's make ourselves small. Let's give up our rights. Let's deny our selfish desires. Let's resist the devil, draw close to.

of the Father and be dependent upon Him. Let's serve other people today and honor them above ourselves. Let's humble ourselves and let God do the lifting up. Let's let God do the exalting. I'll see you back here tomorrow. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services

on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.combe. Church slash daily drive.