John 13:1-5 (NKJV) 1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,

John 13:1-5 (NKJV) 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

I SURRENDER MY PRIDE John 13:1-5

I Surrender My Pride  Who doesn’t struggle with pride?  Who couldn’t use a little more humility in their life?  Just because we don’t brag about ourselves or walk around patting ourselves on the back, doesn’t mean that we do not struggle with pride

I Surrender My Pride  Our theme in 2013 has been “I Surrender All”  If we truly want to serve Christ in the way that He desires, we must surrender our pride  That means that we are never too good to do anything for anyone

I Surrender My Pride  Humility is a quality that is spoken of over and over again throughout the Bible  That is one reason why we should pay special attention to the dose of humility we have  Let’s test ourselves to see where we stand with the issue of surrendering our pride…

The Mind of Christ  In previous years, we have studied together the mind of Christ from Phil. 2  The mind of Christ is a mind of humility (vs. 7-8)  Could you imagine being superior to everyone around you in every way thinkable?

The Mind of Christ  Then imagine those same people, who you are clearly superior to, mistreating you  They denied Him, spoke falsely against Him, spit on Him, struck Him, mocked Him and crucified Him  Yet He did nothing in return

The Mind of Christ  That is the epitome of humility  Could we do the same if we were in that situation?  How many times have we said, “I’m not going to let him/her talk to me like that!” or “I’m not going to let them do that to me!”

The Mind of Christ  Christ had to humble Himself to come to earth and endure all that He did, even His death  If Jesus could humble Himself enough to do all of this, what should that say about our willingness to do the same?  Life actually becomes easier with humility

Submitting Ourselves  A large showing of humility comes through being willing to submit ourselves to others  Submit actually means to put under, subject to or to obey  It’s the showing of our humility, when we put ourselves underneath someone else in this life

Submitting Ourselves  The Bible speaks of submitting ourselves to God  “Therefore submit to God” (Js. 4:7)  We are also to submit to Christ, the head of the church (Eph. 5:24)  For the most part, we fall in line with that

Submitting Ourselves  The Bible also tells us that we are to submit ourselves to the elders  “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account” (Heb. 13:17)  Does pride make this difficult to do?

Submitting Ourselves  Let’s take it a step further…  “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another…” (I Pet. 5:5a)  How many of us are willing to submit to the person sitting 3 rows behind us?

Submitting Ourselves  We are to put ourselves under one another; to be in subjection to one another  Perhaps this is where pride takes over and keeps us from following God’s command  What excuses do we use?

Submitting Ourselves  “I’m much more faithful than him!”  “I’ve been a Christian for a lot longer!”  “My granddaddy helped start this church!”  “…and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (I Pet. 5:5b)

Submitting Ourselves  Jesus set forth the perfect example in John 13  Was He not above those apostles?  Christ did the unthinkable, He washed the dirty feet of the apostles  If He was willing to do that, what will we not do?

Test of Humility  So what is the test of humility?  How can I test myself to see if I am where I need to be?  Jesus commands a couple of things that could be the proper test  Matthew 5:41-42

Test of Humility  Basically, this service was forced upon them  A Roman soldier could force a civilian to carry his load as he passed through town  The Jews hated this practice because they hated the Romans and the fact that they ruled over them

Test of Humility  Jesus wasn’t asking them just to do this for a loved one or close friend  He isn’t just asking us to do this for the people that we care the most about  The true test of humility comes in going out of our way for people who aren’t kind to us

Test of Humility  Matthew 5:43-48  It’s one thing to humble ourselves to help out an enemy  It’s quite another thing to love our enemies, to bless those who curse you, to do good to those who hate you and pray for those who use you and persecute you

Test of Humility  For those who say they simply cannot do this, here is something to consider…  If we do not submit to those around us (our fellow man), then we are not submitting to God either  To submit to God is to submit to His complete will, in all things!