Humility Contests

Some of you know that several years ago Julie made a comment that one of our members was “the humblest man she had ever met”. Of course I said “what… more humble than me?” And told her I could be the humblest guy at church and started a humility contest with the other guy.

In retrospect, maybe that humility contest thing is not such a bad idea and what would that look like anyway? A lot of people have the wrong idea about what humility is and think that humility is incongruous with a strong personality or a lot of confidence in ones abilities. So before we can see what a humility contest looks like we first have to understand the Bible definition of humility.

Phillipians 2:5-11 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

Jesus Christ our supreme example in everything was also supreme in the attribute of humility. He had a strong personality, strong self- confidence and was very forthright in his speech and yet… humble.

Jesus Christ was humble because he served others. He gave up his rights and his life to serve humanity.

So get this… humility has nothing to do with a quiet nature/personality but has everything to do with helping and serving others. So what would a humility contest look like? It would look like people sacrificing their time, energy and resources to help other people out.

That original humility contest thing was a big joke because the motivation was misplaced. Our real motivation to be humble is to serve God and defeat Satan. We do that by killing the self-serving pride in our lives and by cultivating and nurturing selfless humility.

Ephesians 2:19-22 A Holy Temple

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

This passage is taken out of a context to illustrate to the non-jewish Christians that they were equal to Christians from a jewish background. It begins with the concept that all individual Christians are built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ (and the Apostles and prophets) as is consistent with Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 3:10-11. Paul laid a foundation and a spiritual building is built on that foundation. As people build their lives on the foundation a building arises and that building looks like Jesus Christ because as is stated in Ephesians 4:15 we grow into being the very likeness of Jesus Christ.

Now here’s an interesting thing… these individual buildings are assembled together (the church) to create a Holy Temple. Christian people, then, make up a Holy Temple in which God lives. Remember that in Jewish times a man- made temple was constructed and God lived in an especially sacred part of it. No man could enter in to it except the High Priest of Israel and he could only do it once a year to carry in a blood offering to atone for the sins of the people.

The people had no direct access to God!

With the coming of Jesus Christ we not only have direct access to him but he lives in a Temple that is composed of his people… a living Temple. What a great blessing. Here’s the important thing… live your lives in such a way that God has a beautiful and majestic place to live. He deserves it for all he’s done and continues to do for us.

Building Homes

There was a problem in the church at Corinth, and the problem was pride. Some teachers had come in after Paul had left and undermined his teaching and impugned his character. They said he wasn’t a real Apostle (for one thing). In the letter, Paul defends himself and the Evangelistic work he had done among them. In 1 Corinthians 3:10-16, he describes himself figuratively as a wise Master Carpenter who laid a perfect foundation. That foundation was Jesus Christ. He goes on to say that someone came after him and started building on that foundation with inferior materials. The inferior materials were false teachings (lies). Paul says these buildings (who are individual Christians) would be tested with fire. If the building was made with combustible materials (lies) the buildings (Christians) would be burned up. If they were built with non-combustible materials (truth) the buildings (Christians) would not be damaged. He concludes in verse 16 that Christians are a Temple of God in whom the Holy Spirit resides. Paul warns that these false teachers could destroy the Temple of God and if they did the false teachers would also be destroyed (by God).

Paul had to demolish these buildings (remove the lies they had been taught) until he reached the true foundation and begin re-building with non-combustible materials (truth). Christians must be careful to examine the scriptures to see if truth is being taught. If they don’t, and build their spiritual house with lies… God won’t live with them and they will be destroyed.

Let’s build a nice house together so God can live with us.

Scatter Shooting 2. Thinking about Parenting

When I was in the fourth grade (the first time) we lived in Utah. I guess Utah had a big grasshopper problem because mom gave us a jar of alcohol and paid us a penny for every 10 grasshoppers we caught. That’s’ right 10 cents for every 100. Every time I think about the three of us chasing grasshoppers all over the neighborhood I want to call CPS. Never underestimate the power of a mother to manipulate her young charges.

When I was about 13 we had a litter of puppies. Mom said “Robby don’t you think you’d like to be a Veterinarian one day?” I guess so mom. So she kept reinforcing that idea until I thought it was my own. Now I wonder if I ever had any original thoughts or if they all came from my mother.

When I was in the seventh grade I always wanted to arm wrestle mom but she wouldn’t do it because she didn’t like getting beat. One day she wanted to paint my bed room some sick color and I stedfastly refused. She asked me if she could paint my room if she beat me armwrestling? I said.. sure because she couldn't do it. So she signed me up for life-saving lessons at the local pool. After swimming about 100 laps I came home exhausted and mom said “do you want to armwrestle?” Of course I did and she beat me. I looked at her grinning face and realized she had already painted my bedroom. Manipulative and cunning.

The last whipping I ever had was when I was 16. Actually it was a mass whipping because mom ordered Scott, Greg and I to lay down on her bed and she proceeded to lay into us with a belt. I’m not sure of the offense but I am sure we were well deserving of the punishment. Anyway we had learned to ignore the pain and just laughed instead. Pretty soon she started laughing and she never whipped us again. What a confusing scene that was.

When we would come to California to visit the relatives there were two big things we always wanted to do; go to the beach and go to Tiajuana, Mexico. When we would go to Tiajuana we were always told two things. Don’t buy any fire crackers and meet us back here at 4 pm. What parents in their right mind left their three sons alone in a foreign country? I don’t know but guess it worked out, except we always snuck firecrackers back into the states with us.

When we moved from Utah to Alabama and I repeated the fourth grade. Scott told mom he was going to run away from home. Mom said… go ahead. Well the little rascal did it. I still remember mom going crazy about it. So while mom was searching all over Athens, Alabama for Scott the police came by in a patrol car and told me to come with them they had found Scott. So when we picked him up the cops told him that if he ever ran away again they were going to throw him in the basement of the jail where they kept all the bad criminals (actually these were not the exact words). Needless to say he never ran away again. I’ve always wondered if mom told those cops to say that.

Of course we always had BB guns as kids and would try to shoot apples off of each other’s heads and of course have BB gun wars. Uncle CB who was eight years older than me happened to shoot my cousin Sharron right in the buttocks and it left a horrible bruise. Off course Sharron, destined to be a great mother one day, manipulated the situation by “over crying”. So here’s what our parents did, they had Sharron lay on a bed with her naked bruised buttocks exposed but tastefully surrounded by towels and had us file in to see the damage. I still feel bad for uncle CB about that

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When Lauren was little she would cry for no reason at all… it was very annoying. So I told her if she would stop crying I would let her hit Walker in the stomach. Through the tears she nodded her head and punched Walker in the stomach and quit crying. Sometimes you’ve got to take one for the team.

When Walker first got his driver’s license I let him drive my Mazda pick- up. It was my truck of many colors. The salt water had not been kind to it and I had done the Bondo and fiber glass work myself and used whatever spray paint I had available. So one day a client tells me they have seen Walker driving recklessly. I thanked them and told them I would take care of it. After I verbally disciplined my son he replied, “as long as I’m driving dad’s truck I might as well have a bumper sticker that says ‘How’s my driving, call 241-9864?” It’s good that kids realize they can’t live anonymous lives.

I was filleting Flounder one day and Walker and some of his buddies were watching and I asked them if they wanted to taste the Flounder eggs? They said “no… you do it”. I responded that if I tasted them they do it would too and when the said yes I made them seal the deal with a promise. So I ate some Flounder eggs and said… your turn. They all went back on their word. Then I fastened my eyes on my beloved son and said, “you’re going back on your word too?” And he said, no dad I’m not and ate the Flounder eggs”. Proud moment.

Walker preached his first sermon when he was about 16 years old and just prior to that I asked Lauren if she would do me a favor. She said… what? I told her that when they sang the invitation song I would like her to respond and go forward and confess some vague sin and ask for prayers that it would help her brother’s self- image. Of course she refused. It’s good to teach your kids to have a sense of humor. Both my children have excellent senses of humor.

Mom let it go to my kids that I had repeated the fourth grade. Of course they were very interested in that and she explained that she had started me in school really young and I was “socially immature” and so she had me repeat the fourth grade when we moved from Utah to Alabama. of course they ran with that and said “maybe dad needs to repeat the fourth grade again”. I told them their grandmother had lied to them that the real reason I repeated the fourth grade was because I had killed another kid. There’s that sense of humor thing again.

Incredible Hospitality

Ken Osbourne visited recently and I was reminded of the hospitality Parkway showed to us when we came here. In 1982 I was working in a predominately Beef cattle practice in Mexia, Texas and looking for a better paying job. I heard of one in Corpus Christi so I set up an interview. Julie’s Dad knew a member of the Church in Corpus, John Osborne, and told us the Osborne’s wanted us to stay with them. We don’t usually stay with strangers but since we were dirt poor we agreed to. So we got in our 1974 Dodge Charger, that burned more oil than gas, and headed for Corpus. Julie was six months pregnant and Walker was about 3 years old. We reached Refugio, Texas about 11:00 at night and didn’t want to be a burden to the Osborne’s so we called and said we were getting in late and would just find a hotel. Brother Osborne told me all the Hotels were full and they would wait up for us… he wouldn’t take no for an answer. So we rolled in after midnight, met them and went right to bed.

The next morning I was at Riverside Veterinary Clinic interviewing all day, which meant watching Dr. Denman work his clinic until about noon. Then we grabbed a hamburger and I went with him on a farm call to see a sick cow. On the way back we came to an agreement and I drove to the Osborne’s house. Keep in mind this was before cell phones and I hadn’t talked to Julie all day long. When I got there I told Julie I had taken the job and she told me that the Osborne’s were throwing us a party that night that there were some people in the church that we had known from our A&M days. So that night they had a houseful; Brad & Beth Roach and Tim & Dorothy Torno were young couples we had known from A&M. And of course we made many life-long friends that night; Carl & Dot Miller, Elmer Moore, Hutchins, Barnes, Ray Tornos, Dansbys, Grafs, etc.

We went to church the next morning and afterwards Brother Osborne took me around looking at rent houses. We rented a place that Sunday where one of the malls stands now. The rental company would not take my out of town check so Carl Miller took our check and gave me cash and we were able to put a deposit on that rent house. Julie reminded me that Linda Torno came to the rent house with her kids after we left and saw the condition of the back yard and cleaned up a lot of broken glass and other trash. Of course, we moved in July 4th week-end and Lauren was born Aug 31. Four weeks later the church ladies had a baby shower. Julie said she held Lauren and let Walker open the gifts and he kept expecting a truck or a motorcycle but kept getting something pink until finally one of those thoughtful church ladies handed him a present that contained something for him. God bless them. Incredible hospitality which we will never forget and I was reminded of when Ken Osborne visited last Sunday.

Satan’s 10 Commandments

1. There is no God and if there is one he doesn’t really care about you. So, live your life however you want to.

2. Since there is no God you can worship whatever you want to; Sex, Sports, Food… whatever.

3. Use God’s name however you want to. It really doesn’t matter… it’s not like he’s going to throw thunderbolts at you. If you do offend him all you have to do is say “I’m sorry”.

4. The Sabbath Day is just like any other… do whatever you want to. You’ve worked hard all week… rest up or go do whatever makes you happy.

5. Your mom and dad… what makes them so special? They’re human just like anyone else. I say respect wisdom and experience. If your parents have that then great but so do a lot of other people. Find those people and respect them

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6. Thou shalt not kill? Really? Didn’t God kill people for violating his so called laws? If it’s good enough for God why not you? There is a law of self-preservation and benefitting self. If someone violates that then… you know what to do.

7. Adultery is OK as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. After all it is your own body and you can do with it what you want.

8. Stealing is not that bad, especially if the other person does not deserve what they have. Why should they have something they don’t deserve? Stealing is also OK if the other person has too much and you have too little. God told the rich to share with the poor. It’s OK to punish them by taking what they have.

9. It’s OK to “bear false witness” if you have to in order to protect yourself. Also you can bear false witness if the other person has ever harmed you or if they are not nice.

10. Wanting what others have is not bad. We all want to better ourselves and have more. What could be wrong with that?