C.J. Mahaney on Humility

I was excited about the opportunity to hear John Piper speak. He is one of the foremost expositors of evangelicalism and one of its most recognizable names. Unfortunately God saw fit to take his father home to glory on Tuesday night. You can read about it here (grab a hankey--it is very moving to see God's grace to the Piper family).

Although disappointed about not hearing Piper, we were blessed last night with the wonderful exposition of C.J. Mahaney. If you want a more thorough presentation of his sermon, check out Tim Challies's post on the session. In fact, he is live blogging the whole conference at his website.

Here is a summary of my sermon notes. It was one of the best sermons I have ever heard.

Isaiah 66:1-2 was his text. He made two points during his exposition of the passage:

1. The Perils of Pride (66:1).
• Pride was the first sin, and is the source of all sin.
  
• God hates pride (Prov. 16:5)
• "Pride has many forms but only one end--self glorification."
• It is not a question of if pride exists only where it is hiding.
2. The Promise of Humility (66:2)
• Humility captures the attention of God: "the one to whom I will look..."
• Humility is divinely attractive.

He went on to list several specific methods for eliminating pride (our greatest enemy) and promoting humility (our greatest friend). I will list them without much comment:

1. Study the Attributes of God.
2. Survey the Cross of Christ.
   
3. Study the Doctrines of Grace.
4. Study the Doctrine of Sin.
• Learn about your depravity.
  
5. Apply the Doctrine of Sin.
• Confess specific areas of your depravity.
  
6. Invite and Pursue Correction.
• He especially encouraged us to pursue correction from our wives who know us best and love us most.

He then listed several areas specific to pastors:

1. Seize the humbling potential of the preaching task.
2. Use unflattering illustrations of yourself.
3. Recognize your theological limitations.
4. Prepare to be replaced.
5. Recognize your relative unimportance.
6. Play golf often
• He views this as a definite means of humility =).
  

As if this wasn't convicting enough, he gave us several daily tasks he does to promote humility:

1. As soon as you wake, acknowledge your dependence on God.
2. Incorporate in your devotions specific times of thankfulness.
• "Thankfulness is not a soil in which pride easily grows." --John Stott
3. Practice the spiritual disciplines (prayer, study and worship) as a means of admitting dependence on God.
4. Seize your commute as a time for meditation and Scripture memory.
5. Cast your cares on the God who cares for you.
• Trying to solve our problems on our own is an exercise in self-dependence and pride.
6. At the end of the day, transfer all glory for what you have accomplished to God.
7. Before falling asleep, acknowledge your insufficiency that is manifested in your need for sleep. Thank God for the gift of sleep.

I wish I had more time to write my further reflections. Just writing this post has fed my soul again from this passage. I will try to write more as the day progresses.

Grace to you,
Christopher