The Connection Between Generosity and Humility

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

 

In last week’s study, regular contributor Pastor Clarke Dixon looked at the church in Acts 2 and their generosity.  Today he looks at a character flaw which impacts all of us at some time or in some degree that can destroy a generous spirit.  Click the title below to read this at source.

So That’s What It Looks Like! Generosity and Getting Past Ourselves.

Last week we considered the work of God on our hearts, causing us to be a people who are marked by generous hearts. Generosity is to be a character trait of the Christian person and it should end up being reflected in all of life. However, just because such heart-work is Holy-Spirit-work does not mean that it will happen automatically and without some difficulty. The Bible teaches us to “not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19 NRSV), which means of course that we can quench or stifle the work of the Holy Spirit.

One of the quickest ways of quenching the Spirit’s work in our lives is through pride. Pride kills the generosity in our hearts before we even get started. We think to ourselves “I do generous things. I am generous. I have a generous heart. I am generous enough!” See what such thinking does? It cuts us off from growing further. We may well be generous, and may seem especially so when compared with others, but when pride hits, growth stops. Even the best givers among us have room for heart-growth in generosity.

So how do we keep ourselves from aiming a fire hose at the generosity-fire the Holy Spirit has lit in our hearts?

Let me begin with an example. One area in which pride can quickly grow in me is in my ability to play bass guitar. Having participated in numerous bands with a diversity of styles I have progressed in my abilities. Though signing far less autographs than the frontman or guitarist, I have received much affirmation as a bass player. However, when I see, hear, or am with a really good bass player, I want to never play bass again! Instead I want to leave it to the masters and go back to jamming alone in my basement. This is an experience of humility, a recognition that I have so much more to learn. So the trick to dealing with pride is to spend time with a master. And when it comes to generosity there is no master greater than the Master Himself. Consider that God the Father is:

• generous in setting up a universe fit for human flourishing
• generous in provision
• generous in giving freedom
• generous in giving us the Scriptures
• generous in sending prophets
• generous in establishing covenants
• generous in making promises
• generous in loyal love
• generous in grace
• generous in giving His Son
• generous in giving His Holy Spirit

And now consider God the Son who is:

• generous in his teaching
• generous in his calling of disciples
• generous in his healing
• generous in his feeding
• generous in his serving
• generous in his death
• generous in his resurrection
• generous in His return
• generous in His shepherding

And consider God the Holy Spirit who is:

• generous in His presence
• generous in His comfort
• generous in His conviction
• generous in His challenge

And we could think of so much more. Now that is what generosity looks like! You do not need to walk with our Lord too far before you realize the extent of His generosity and the humble generosity that is yours. The prophet Micah encourages us to “walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8 NRSV).” Is there any other way to walk with God? When you spend time with God you get over yourself. Pride is replaced with humility.

But humility is not the only thing that we experience. Upon hearing a master bass player I want to give up, yes, but I do pick up the bass again and aspire to do better. Pride gives way to humility plus aspiration. Spending time with our Lord will make us aspire to greater generosity as we seek to emulate the Master.

Do you have a generous heart?

If you immediately answer “yes” then the challenge is to walk with Jesus. You may well be generous and you may be an example to others. But be careful you are not stifling the Spirit’s work in your life, getting stuck where you are and no longer growing toward where Jesus is. Walk with the Master and let Him deal with your pride as you learn what a generous heart really looks like. Let pride turn to humility and aspiration and let your already generous heart grow under the Spirit’s guidance.

If you answered “no” then you have the opportunity for great growth. Walk with the Master and let Him show you what a generous heart looks like. Then aspire to have generosity fill your heart, emulating the Master.

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Go deeper: If you want to engage with a study on the generous heart of The Father, check out The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller.

What’s in a Name? Saul Becomes Paul

Thanks to those of you who recommend blogs or specific posts.  If I don’t use your suggestion, feel free to re-submit the idea. 

Today we introduce the writing of Darrell Creswell, where today’s post appeared as Why Did Saul Change His Name to Paul?

By divine sovereignty the Lord intervenes in Saul’s life and he is genuinely converted during an encounter with the Lord Jesus. Under the ministry of Ananias he is also healed and filled with the Holy Ghost. Saul immediately began preaching Christ in the synagogues of Damascus. It is uncertain when Saul’s name was changed to Paul. The first reference in the sacred record to this name change was while Paul was ministering on the Isle of Cyprus during his first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-9).

• Acts 7:58 – Saul is introduced in the New Testament giving approval to Stephen’s death

• Acts 8 – Saul continues persecuting the church

• Acts 9 – Saul travels to Damascus and is converted by Jesus in the process

• Acts 9:19 – Saul (no name change yet) begins preaching Christ in Damascus

• Acts 13:1-3 – Saul and Barnabas (still no name change) are set apart by the Holy Spirit for missionary service

• Acts 13:4 – Saul and Barnabas set sail for Cyprus

• Acts 13:9 – Saul or Paul name “change” takes place

• Acts 13-28 – Saul goes by the name Paul for the remainder of the book and the remainder of the New Testament

The Bible does not tell us how or when Saul’s name was changed to Paul. In the book of Acts, Luke simply identifies Saul as the one who is also called Paul.

Acts 13:9 “Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him.”

So why the change from Saul to Paul?

There are two possibilities.

The first is found in the first book of Timothy when the Lord informs Saul that he would become an apostle to the Gentiles.

1 Timothy 2:7 “For which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am speaking the truth in Christ, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”

One reason that Paul may have converted his Jewish Saul to the Gentile equivalent Paul is so that non-Jews would accept him more easily. Jews were intensely hated throughout the Roman Empire and very few Gentiles wanted to listen to or be around Jews.

The second possibility and the topic of this piece may be that his new identity reflected a new life in Christ Jesus. After his conversion on the road he was a new man with a new heart. The old man Saul with his persecution of Christians was a thing of the past. I personally believe that Paul knew that this new man with a new heart required a new name.

The name Paul is a fully Romanized name that means “small”, with no Jewish roots attached to it.

Did God change Saul’s name? If He did, the Bible doesn’t say so, and if it wasn’t done by God, then Paul must have done it.

Paul referred to himself as the “least of the Apostles”, a pun on the meaning of “Paul” meaning small in Greek.

It is no small wonder that it was most probably Paul that introduced the word  tapeinophrosune into first century literature. The word was first introduced in Ephesians in about 61 AD. Ephesians 4:2 with all humility (tapeinophrosune) and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.

In Greek pre-Christian writers, the word tapeinos is with a just a few exceptions used by Plato and Platonic writers, in a bad or inferior sense–meaning something evil or unworthy. In secular Greek literature, the adjective (Greek) “humble”, or “lowly” was used always in a derogatory and negative way, most commonly of a slave, bum or a vagrant. It described what was considered unfit, unclean and having little or no value.

If I were to say to you in the year 20AD, “Hi Buddy, your wife sure is humble”. You would go ahead and punch me out. That is how bad the word humble was. But just as Christ came to change the world, He came to change the word tapeinos to tapeinophrosune and give it a new meaning changing the negative definition to a positive and eternal meaning. Jesus’ death on the Cross and the sharing of that message gave us the meaning of the word we now know as humility, now that’s powerful. Paul understood that as the Holy Spirit directed him to write God’s word. And humility as a believer goes even a step farther than the secular world.

It is Paul who first penned the word as found in the New Testament as a  noun that is translated “humility” (Col 2:18, 23); in several other places in the New Testament it is also translated “lowliness” and “lowliness of mind”.

Neither the Romans nor the Greeks had a word for “humility”. The very concept of humility was so foreign to their way of thinking that they had no term to describe it. During the first several centuries of Christianity, pagan writers borrowed the term (tapeinophrosune) humility from the writings of the Paul  in the New Testament. The pagan writers always used it derogatorily—mostly in reference to Christians—because to them humility was a pitiful weakness. Thus, it is not surprising that the word “humility”, has not been found in any Greek literature outside the Bible before the 2nd century.

The word humility (tapeinophrosune) in the New Testament always has a positive connotation. Humility of mind and spirit is the opposite of pride, pride being the sin that has always separated men from God. Christ through the power of His Blood has transformed the word humble from that of shame in the eyes of man, to that of humility (tapeinophrosune) which carries glory, strength and honor, and is exalted in the eyes of our Lord.

The prominence that humility has gained in Christian scripture indicates the power of this concept in our relationship to God, ourselves and to our fellow man. Jesus not only strongly impressed His disciples with the need of humility, but was in Himself its supreme example. He described Himself as “meek and lowly (tapeinos) in heart” (Matt 11:29) “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted”.

Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility (tapeinophrosune) consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Here Paul gives us the Scriptural “antidote” for pride, selfish ambition and the pursuit of our own egos and glory. We are to view others as being above and better than ourselves, and to hold ourselves as lower than them, which is exactly the opposite of what our flesh desires to do. The word indicates the esteeming one’s self as small or recognizing one’s insufficiency but at the same time recognizing the powerful sufficiency of God! This the power of the word tapeinophrosune (humility), transformed by the Blood of Christ.

It is not a weakness when we surrender, but in strength when we reject our own wants and desires and look after the needs of others.” It is good to show humility to the world as we follow Christ and humble ourselves that our “labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1Cor 15:58).

This is perhaps Scripture’s clearest portrait of the humility called for in the Gospel. It is not a weak man’s surrender, but a strong man’s rejection of selfishness and determination to be actively concerned with the needs and interests of others. In Christ there are no empty, meaningless lives, only strong eternal lives through humility.

Humility is the understanding of our own insignificance, in light of His significance. I think that what Paul is trying to teach us here in understanding humility is

Colossians 3:12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience

The word humility here refers to the saints, to see themselves as sinners saved by God’s grace, to esteem others better than themselves; in ascribing all they have, and are, to Christ; in doing works of mercy and righteousness without ostentation, or boasting of them, or depending on them; owing all to Christ Jesus in humility.

So it is fitting that Saul whose name was changed to Paul after his conversion would refer to himself as the least of the apostles and coin the noun tapeinophrosune (humility) for all of recorded history from the time of Christ to see. The word for humility used by Paul is but a reflection of how he saw himself in Christ Jesus -– Small and Humble. A wonderful legacy in Christ Jesus to leave for us all to see and read.

~Darrell Creswell