280 Sermon Illustrations on Humility

You can eat crow, have egg on your face or eat humble pie,

depending on how much pride you want to swallow. Whether

offered the figurative humble pie or the real dish, you may

want to think twice about asking for seconds.

In old England, the intestines of animals were known as

"umbles". After a hunt, the upper class would keep the meat

as their own and give the entrails to their servants. It

was traditional for the lower class folk to make a pie out

of the innards, and the "umble pie" became known as "humble

pie" because of their low position in life. The name stuck

as a way to describe any disagreeable or humiliating

situation.

Remember the Women's Olympic Figure Skating in February 1994? Like millions of other Americans I rooted for Nancy Kerrigan to take the gold. She didn't. No problem--she still did well--took the silver. Then the cameras caught her and the bronze medalist waiting for the awards ceremony. There was a hold-up while Oksalana Baiul, the gold medalist from the Ukraine, was getting makeup. Do you remember what Nancy Kerrigan said? "What's the big deal? She's just going to cry and mess it up again anyway!" I'll never see her as anything but an arrogant "prima donna."

If I try to make myself as small as I can, I'll never become humble.

Humility comes when I stand as tall as I can, and look at all of my

strengths, and the reality about me, but I put myself alongside Jesus

Christ. And it's there, when I humble myself before Him, and realize

the assumness of who he is, and I accept God's estimate of myself, and

I stop being fooled about myself, and I stop being impressed with

myself, that I begin to learn humility.

-- Dr. Gary Inrig

Did you hear about the pastor who was so humble that one Sunday his

church presented him with a solid gold lapel pin that said "World's

most humble pastor."

The next Sunday he wore it on his suit, so they took it away from him!

Somehow it has always bothered me to see a person in arrogance kick their dog in anger and then see the little dog come crawling on it’s belly to lick the persons shoe. That little dog may think that person is pretty important… .but I think they are a scoundrel.

And I believe there is an important comparison we could make in everyday life. It seems that when some people come around Christians tend to grovel on the ground and say kick me if you want to I’ll be glad to lick your boots anyway. But does God see the same importance in that person that we do? Probably not. It is the humble person that seems to impress God. The one which serves God faithfully but quietly not expecting any reward. If we could only learn to see things as God does!

In countries where deep snows cover the ground for a large part of the year, an intelligent, strong dog, thoroughly broken to sled harness, is a very valuable animal. He often sells for as much money as a first-class work horse will in our climate. He is worth more to the man living in Greenland or Alaska than the finest horse would be, as he is strong enough to pull a pretty good load, and yet can travel on top of a crust of snow without breaking through. Well-trained sled dogs are intelligent creatures, and a team of them, like the same number of human beings, show a great variety of dispositions and traits. One dog will have a friendly nature, while his running mate may be quarrelsome and hard to get along with. Some dogs are what boys call “bullies,” and others are cowardly and easily imposed upon. There will be the dog who can always be depended upon to pull his share of the load, and there will be the one who shirks when he can. Quite a bit like folks, aren't they?

A missionary in Alaska owned a fine team of dogs, which carried him and his sled as he went from place to place on his preaching circuit. In a letter to a friend he told about one of his dogs; a strong, handsome fellow who was the leader of his team. He was evidently very proud of his place at the head of the pack and made a splendid leader. But after a while the missionary thought it was best to train another

dog to lead, so that, in case anything happened to this one, he would not be without a leader. The next time he started on a trip, therefore, he harnessed his second best dog in the leader's place: but what do you suppose the first dog did? Why he dropped to the ground, as sulky as he could be, and refused to get up until his master used a whip on him! He had to go on, then, but he was not conquered. His next trick was to gnaw the harness of the new leader just in front of him until that dog was freed, which left him in the first place once more.

He did this several times until his master had to take him out of the pack, and tie him up where he could see the other dog get his training. This made him very angry. He grew morose and surly, and lost his appetite. Indeed he was so changed that he did not seem like the same dog. When he died a few months later, the missionary was convinced that it was because he could not stand having to share his place as leader with another dog. You can see what was the matter with him: he must have first place, or none. And then the missionary asked his friend if he had ever met people like that? But I think that the important question to ask would be this “Am I like that dog? Am I satisfied only when I can have the first place, or at least a very prominent one?” If we are honest about it, we may find out something about ourselves which we have not known before, but which perhaps our friends have known all along.

By William Moses Tidwell, “Effective Illustrations.”

On his way to a reception held in his honor, Ulysses S. Grant got

caught in a shower and offered to share his umbrella with a stranger

walking in the same direction. The mn said he was going to Grant's

reception out of curiosity; he had never seen the general. "I have

always thought that Grant was a much over-rated man," he said.

"That's my view also," Grant replied.

- {The Little Brown Book of Ancedotes}

Dr. Mark Guy Pearse says: “I watched an old man trout-fishing the other day, pulling them out one after another briskly. 'You manage it cleverly, old friend,' I said; 'I have passed a good many below who don't seem to be doing anything.’ The old man lifted himself up, and stuck his rod in the ground. 'Well, you see, sir, there be three rules for trout-fishing, and it is no good trying if you don't mind them. The first is, keep yourself out of sight; and the second is, keep yourself further out of sight; and the third is, keep yourself further out of sight still. Then you'll do it.’ 'Good for catching men, too,' I thought, as I went on my way.

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J. Wilbur Chapan, “Present Day Parables.”

I saw one evening in Glasgow what seemed to be a window set with

diamonds. It was flashing from afar, It seemed to be set all round

with jewels. The window blazed forth in an effulgence that made you

stop on your heel. What is that magnificent window? You discover it is

but an ordinary skylight of an ordinary house; the diamonds are but

the sun's rays. The glory on that window did not belong to the house,

The sun had kissed the window and flung his glory all round that

ordinary structure, and I have seen a life like that, an ordinary

life, an ordinary man, an ordinary woman, who never got a newspaper

paragraph in their life, spent and being spent for others. Unknown

they lived, unknown they died, and I have seen hundreds of passersby

stand before that humble life and say: "Whence came those jewels of

effulgence, whence this glory of self-sacrifice, of likeness to

Christ?" They came from heaven; those jewels belonged not to life. The

shinning came from the other shore, and whatever the material, how

ever ordinary your life may be, if you only get into the rays of the

sun of glory, if you can take your humdrum duty, your monotonous daily

toil, and let it bask in Christ's face, the angels will stop on

flitting wing and behold with admiration thy glory -- yet not thine --

Christ's.

By J. Wilbur Chapan, "Present Day Parables."

Oliver Cromwell once visited Yorkminster Cathedral in England, and his attention was drawn to twelve silver statues of the apostles, which stood near the ceiling of one of the cathedral apartments. Looking upon them for a moment, he said, "Who are those fellows standing yonder?" After being informed, he exclaimed, "Take them down ... and let them go about doing good." Accordingly, they were melted down and put into his treasury.

Before Oliver Cromwell could use those silver apostles, it was necessary that they be taken down. Likewise, it is sometimes necessary for Christ to take us down spiritually before He can use us. Thus, perhaps often, the essence of His prayer to the Father for His followers is: "Take them down."

-- Duane V. Maxey

[see #1530 for another angle on this story]

Humility is a strange thing. As a rule, once you discover you have it you lose it. Humility is like a rare flower -- put it on display and it instantly wilts and loses its frgrance! Humility is one character trait that can never come out of the closest; it is not something to announce from the rooftop. Perhaps you have heard the humorous account of the fellow who attempted to write about his humility. He had trouble choosing a title for his book. "Humility and How I Attained It" didn't seem to fit; nor did "How I Became Humble." He finally decided on "Me and My Humility" -- and included twelve full-page pictures of himself! No, humility is not something to be announced. For then, if you can imagine the irony of this, you have become proud of your humility.

When Walter started working for the largest corporation in the world, the personnel director said he would have to start at the bottom and work his way up. So Walter found himself in the basement of the corporation’s headquarters building in the mailroom. Walter liked his job, but often day-dreamed about what it would be like to be a junior executive, vice president, president, or even chairman of the board.

One day, as Walter was busy collating the mail, he heard tiny footsteps in the corner and noticed a small cockroach creeping around. Just as he was about to step on it, he heard a small voice scream: “Don’t kill me! Please, don’t kill me! I’m Milton the cockroach. And if you spare my life, I promise to grant all of your wishes.” That sounded like a pretty good deal to Walter. So he spared Milton the cockroach’s life.

Walter’s first wish was to get out of the mailroom and be a junior executive. Milton granted that wish. Next Walter wanted to become one of the vice presidents of the corporation. That wish was granted too. As a matter of fairy tale fact, Milton the cockroach kept granting every one of Walter’s wishes until Walter was finally elevated to be chairman of the board, on the top floor of the headquarters building, of the largest corporation in the world.

Now everybody looked up to Walter and he was very happy. Ever so often, Milton the cockroach could hear Walter saying to himself: “I am Walter. Everybody respects me. Everybody knows I’m in control. I’m at the top. No one is bigger or better or more important than me.”

One day as Walter was sitting behind his desk and daydreaming about how important he had become, he heard footsteps on top of the roof. When the sound of the footsteps suddenly stopped, Walter decided to investigate. What he found was a little boy who was on his knees praying.

By this time, as you can imagine, Walter had become quite impressed with himself and his position as chairman of the board of the largest corporation in the world. So he asked the boy, “Are you praying to Walter?” “Of course not,” said the little boy with a smile of innocence. “I’m praying to God!” Walter responded, “Why are you praying to God? I’m chairman of the board of the largest corporation in the world. What can God do for you that I cannot do for you?” The little boy replied, “God made me and God saved me.”

Walter didn’t know what to say. Very disturbed by this turn of events, he sent for Milton the cockroach as soon as he got back to his office on the top floor of the headquarters building of the largest corporation in the world. “I want to be like God,” Walter told Milton. So Milton the cockroach granted Walter’s wish and Walter went back to the mailroom in the basement.

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Robert R. Kopp, Preaching, November, December, 1994 “All I Want for Christmas,” pp. 30-33

Several years ago I read the story of Sammy Morris, a devoted

Christian from Africa who came to America to go to school.

Although his pathway to service for Christ was not easy, his

difficulties never deterred him. Perhaps this was because he

had learned genuine humility. One incident that showed this

occurred when he arrived at Taylor University in Upland,

Indiana. He was asked by the school's president what room he

wanted. Sammy replied, "If there is a room nobody wants, give

it to me." Later the president commented, "I turned away, for

my eyes were full of tears. I was asking myself whether I was

willing to take what nobody else wanted."

At a reception honoring musician Sir Robert Mayer on his 100th birthday, elderly British socialite Lady Diana Cooper fell into conversation with a friendly woman who seemed to know her well. Lady Diana's failing eyesight prevented her from recognizing her fellow guest, until she peered more closely at the magnificent diamonds and realized she was talking to Queen Elizabeth! Overcome with embarrassment, Lady Diana curtsied and stammered, “Ma'am, oh, ma'am, I'm sorry ma'am. I didn't recognize you without your crown!”

“It was so much Sir Robert's evening,” the queen replied, “that I decided to leave it behind.”

That's the kind of quiet humility Jesus would have applauded. The queen could easily have grabbed the spotlight, but she willingly gave the place of honor to another.

A government official in India, who was engaged in irrigation work,

came to the proprietor of a field and told him he was going to make it

fruitful. To which the proprietor answered, "You need not attempt to

do anything with my field; it is barren and will produce nothing." The

official replied, "I can make your field richly fruitful if it only

lies low enough." If you and I are willing to go down, down, down,

Christ can make us fruitful. --Gordon Watt

The London Times, some years ago, told the story of a petition that

was being circulated for signatures. It was a time of great excitement

and this petition was intended to have great influence in the House of

Lords; but there was one word left out. Instead of reading: "We humbly

beseech thee," it read: "We beseech thee." So, it was ruled out. My

friends, if we want to make an appeal to the God in Heaven we must

humble ourselves; and if we do humble ourselves before the Lord we

shall not be disappointed. --D. L. Moody

Watchman Nee writes: Our spirit is released according to

the degree of our brokenness. The one who has accepted the most

discipline is the one who can best serve. The more one is

broken, the more sensitive he is. The more desire to save

ourselves, in that very thing we become spiritually useless.

Whenever we preserve and excuse ourselves, at that point we are

deprived of spiritual sensitivity and supply. Let no one

imagine he can be effective and disregard this basic principle.

William Carey, sometimes called “the father of modern missions,” always seemed to have a humble spirit. In young manhood he had a job repairing shoes. As the years went by, honors were heaped upon him because of his many accomplishments. Yet this unassuming man would only accept positions and appointments that opened the way for him to do more work in Christ's service.

Even at the zenith of his popularity, one of his most striking characteristics was his meek and selfless attitude. To emphasize this point, The Illustrator related an incident that occurred at a state dinner given in his honor, With a sneer a jealous English officer asked the host, “Wasn't your great Dr. Carey once just a shoemaker?” Before the man could reply, the renowned missionary, who was near enough to hear the remark, answered with quiet dignity, “No, sir, I was not that skilled. I was only a cobbler.”

Humility is one of the Christian's loveliest virtues; may God help all of us to obtain that rare and crowning grace!

An industrialist, though somewhat untutored, was about to receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from a rather hard-pressed college. After the initial reception the evening before, one of the more sensitive members of the faculty approached the president and said, “This man doesn’t look like a scholar to me.” The president said, “No, but he looks like a woman’s dormitory to me.”

After the occasion, the industrialist was riding in the back seat of his limousine with his wife. Patting his rather expansive stomach while smoking a large cigar and thinking of the beautiful words spoken about him at the doctoral ceremony, the industrialist said to his wife, “Dear, You know, there are not many great men in the country today.” She said, “Dear, you are absolutely right. In fact, there is one less than you think.”

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A similar illustration that focuses on preachers:

Most Christians struggle with pride from time to time. I know I do. Melvin Newland told the story of another preacher who got a Christmas card one year. This card had a note from a lady in his congregation. She was very complimentary about his preaching, and even compared him to Billy Graham. She finished by saying, “I think you are one of the really great preachers of all time.”

*Later that day he showed the note to his wife. It was a big church, and his wife didn’t know the woman, so she asked, “Who is that woman?” Her preacher husband replied, “She is a very intelligent woman in the congregation who loves great preaching.”

*Then he then asked his wife, “How many great preachers do you suppose there really are in the world?” She quickly brought him back down to earth by answering: “One less than you think.”

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SermonCentral illustration contributed by Melvin Newland - Source: SermonCentral sermon “Dealing with Pride” by Lynn Floyd - Luke 18:9-13

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A shorter version:

A young preacher, looking up from his reading, asked his wife, "How many really great preachers do you think there are?"

She replied, "Well, I don't know, but there is probably one less than you think."

Shortly after the Civil War had ended, Gen. William T. Sherman's victorious army was scheduled to march in a triumphal parade in a large city. On the night before, Sherman called Gen. Oliver O. Howard to his room and said, “General, you were at the head of one of the divisions that marched with me through Georgia, and you ought rightfully to ride at the head of your division in the parade tomorrow. But I have been asked to let the General who preceded you in command to represent the division. I don't know what to do.”

Gen. Howard replied, “I think I am entitled to represent my division since I led them to victory.”

“Yes, you are,” said Sherman. “But I believe you are a good man, and I was wondering if you might yield your rights for the sake of peace.” “Oh,” said Howard, “in that case, I will yield.” “All right,” said Gen. Sherman. “I will so arrange it, and you will please report to me in the morning at nine. You will be riding with me at the head of the army.”

Gen. Howard's willingness to submit to his commander and deny himself his rightful place led to the position of greater honor.

Getting our own way serves only to get in the way of our service. The ability to walk humbly is an attribute taught by our Lord and should serve as an example for us.

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James Long, Lake Hills Bulletin, Vol 29, #36, September 13, 1998, 4519 Oak Hill Road, Chatanooga, TN 37416

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God rules in the affairs of men. Napoleon, at the height of his career, is reported to have given this cynical answer to someone who asked if God was on the side of France: "God is on the side that has the heaviest artillery."

Then came the Battle of Waterloo, where Napoleon lost both the battle and his empire. Years later, in exile on the island of St. Helena, chastened and humbled, Napoleon is reported to have quoted the words of Thomas à Kempis: "Man proposes, God disposes."

This is a lesson with which history confronts us all. God is able to work his sovereign will - despite man.

Humility is like a slippery watermelon seed. Once you get it under

you finger and you think you have it, it slips away from your grasp.

Felix Mendelsohn, playing with two others pianists in a three-piano

arrangement, found that the other two had to concentrate grimly on the

score. Although he could easily play the piece from memory, he placed

some music on the rack and asked a friend to turn the pages for him.

A number of years ago I heard about a humble man whom his church

recognized him for his genuine spirit of humility. The congregation

gave him an award pin for his consistently humble disposition.

However, the amusing story concluded with the church having to recall

his "Humility Award." The humble brother wore his pin to church the

following Sunday morning for all to see.

- Stewart, {Design for Discipleship, }p. 71

Helen Roseveare, an Irish medical missionary to Zaire [now Congo], learned an interesting lesson in humility. She was the only doctor in charge of a large hospital where there were constant interruptions, constant shortages, and constant red tape and interference from the government.

There came a time when she had been working so hard, but so impatiently, that her irritation was showing all around. One Friday afternoon the African pastor of her church took things into his own hands. He went to the hospital and gently, but firmly, insisted that she come with him.

In his ramshackle car he drove her to his humble house and ushered her into a small room. Then he told her that she was to make a weekend retreat to be quiet and away from all the bustle and noise. She was to pray until her spirits were restored for the work ahead.

All that night and the next day, she struggled alone. She prayed, but it seemed as if her prayers got no further than the thatched hut of the little building.

Late on Sunday, she ventured outside to a spot where the pastor and his family were sitting around a fire, cooking their evening meal. Humbly, almost desperately, she told him that she was getting nowhere and asked him to help her.

"Helen, may I tell you what's the matter?" he asked. She nodded.

The pastor stood up and with his bare toe drew a long straight line in the dust. "That is the problem. There is too much, too much Helen, in what you are doing."

Then he went on, "I have noticed you in the hospital. A number of times during the day you will take a brief break and ask for a cup of hot coffee. You hold that cup of coffee in both of your hands while it cools off, and then you drink it."

Again he took his big toe, and this time he drew another line across the first one.

"I want to ask you to do this," he said kindly. "Every time you stand cooling that cup of coffee, why don't you say in your heart, 'Lord, cross out the /, cross out the / ' ?"

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Leighton Ford, Transforming Leadership (Downers Grove: IVP: 1991) page 157

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