How To Walk The Worthy Walk

I’m going to give you three things about walking worthy in humility. First of all, self-awareness. First of all, humility begins with self-awareness. So important. Bernard said, quote, the virtue by which a man becomes conscious of his own unworthiness. Humility starts with really looking at yourself honestly. And you know what I believe that involves, people? Daily. Now mark it. Daily. Every day of your life. An open, honest confession of sin before God. You can mask who you really are. You can play games and convince yourself that you’re something wonderful and never be honest with yourself.

But we are the ones, 1 John 1.9 says, that are constantly confessing our sins. We are like Paul, who said, I am the chief of sinners. We, who never obtain but press toward the mark but never get there, must realize it. Whenever you’re tempted to be proud, remember who you are. You haven’t arrived. Don’t kid yourself. You’re not there. You haven’t done it all. You haven’t fulfilled it. Proper self-awareness. And you know what the problem gets to be every time? You know when we get all fouled up about who we really are? When we compare ourselves with other people, because we can always find people worse than us.

Do you know that? Well, I’m not so bad. Look at him. I used to use that on my mom. She was always concerned about my grades in school. I’d come home with a C, and she’d say, Johnny, you should not get a C. You did not put out your best effort. Why did you get a C? And I, well, mom, 10 kids got a D. See? That’s typical. You see, there’s always a lower standard. You can always find one, you know, and it goes on in the home, too. Your wife’s giving you, you know, nagging you a little bit about something, and you say, well, you know, if you don’t like it, go marry the drunk next door and see how you like that.

You can always find a, you can always find something worse than you. You know, you can think you’re the greatest pianist until you have to play a concert with Rubenstein. Or you can think you’re a great golfer until you’re asked to tee off with Jack Nicklaus. Or you’ve done a great job in painting. Isn’t it wonderful how well you painted the living room until you stand beside Rembrandt? We can always find somebody to make you look good. And that’s the problem. You know what you’ve got to do? You’ve got to deal with yourself honestly before God.

Second Corinthians 10 gives you the principle in verse 12. Paul says, listen, we dare not, listen now, we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. Say, boy, aren’t we wonderful? You know, boy, they commend themselves. They are the number who commend themselves. And you know how they do it? They measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves. You see, they use their own self-made criteria to evaluate what they are. And they’re never really honest. Humility is taking off the rose-coloured glasses of self-love and seeing that you’re nothing but an unworthy sinner.

That’s humility. That’s where it starts. And these false apostles in Second Corinthians 10, these false apostles were coming into town and saying, we got the greatest truth. We’re the new breed. Listen to us. We’re the calling themselves super apostles. They were the big shots. And Paul says, well, they compare themselves with themselves. That’s why they think they’re so great. They got the wrong standard. So to begin with, true humility springs from self-awareness. People, you’ve got to be honest with who you are. You’re never gonna know humility. And by the way, I’m talking about a worthy walk.

If you want to walk worthy and be blessed by God in your life, then you’re gonna have to walk in humility. And if you’re gonna walk in humility, you’re gonna have to be honest with who you really are. You’ve got to see your faults and confess your sins and deal with those things daily. There’s a second thing. Not only self-awareness, but let’s call it Christ-awareness. If you’re not the standard, who is? Well, it’s Christ. It’s Jesus Christ. It’s when we compare ourselves with ourselves that we get proud. It’s when we compare ourselves with ourselves that we feel like we’re all right.

But we are to compare ourselves with Jesus Christ, 1 John 2.6. He that says he abides in him ought even to walk as he walked. That’s the standard. Now, when you can stand up and say, I am happy to announce everyone that I now walk as Jesus walked, then you have a right to be proud. You’re not gonna get anybody to believe you. You know, people always often ask me this, what is the most humiliating experience you ever had? And, you know, you always think about something that was embarrassing, you know? Like the time I was preaching and my pants ripped and the choir was all giggling at me.

You think about things like that, you know? And, or other silly things that you did and you kind of had egg on your face. But when I think about something, the most humiliating experience I ever had, it’s very easy for me to answer that. It took two years and it was the two years that I taught here at Grace Church the Gospel of John. 96 sermons, about a hundred hours or more of preaching, somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 hours of study that I did. And you know what? As you study the Gospel of John over two years, week after week after week, every paragraph presents the deity of Jesus Christ.

And, you know, you live with the deity of Christ day after day after day after day and you know something? When you compare yourself constantly with Jesus Christ, that’s the healthiest thing you could ever do, because you see who you really aren’t. See? You’re nothing. There’s a third thing. Self-awareness, Christ-awareness, and ultimately God-awareness. As you begin to see Jesus Christ, you see Him in His humanness. You say, He was the perfect man. I mean, He met everybody, gave all the right answers, and you feel so inadequate. I give so many dumb answers.

He said just the perfect word for the perfect time. I don’t do that. He had the perfect attitude for every single situation, every single person He ever met. I don’t make it on that. He knew exactly how to help everybody that needed help in just the way they needed the help. I can’t do that. You know, what a standard He is, just to be aware of Him. But then, you know, you go beyond that and all of a sudden you see His deity and you begin to realize this is God.

And when you compare yourself with God, I mean it’s just, you know, staggering how puny, pusillanimous you really are. How about zilch? Zero, nothing. Listen to this one. Isaiah. He compared himself with God one day. This is what it says. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Isaiah says, Hey, one day I saw God. I saw God. And above it stood the seraphims, and each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly.

And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. That’s a trinitarian recognition. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of Him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said, I woe is me. I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Where did you ever discover that, Isaiah? How did you get that awareness, Isaiah? How did you come to that humility, Isaiah? For mine eyes have seen the King, you see.

That’s the perspective. When the Apostle Paul looked at himself, he said, You’re the chief of sinners. Self-awareness. When Peter looked at Jesus, he said, Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man. Christ-awareness. And when God saw, and when Isaiah saw God, he said, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips. See, that’s the heart of it all. When you see God, you say, What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the Son of man that thou visitest him? Who am I? Humility. Well, this is the perspective, and this is such a beautiful perspective.

Let me tell you something, beloved. If all of us functioned in humility, it would be incredible the testimony we would have on the world. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of how to walk the worthy walk. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye. And may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].