The theme for this year is Living Worthy.  We have been working through Ephesians 4.  And I have been challenging you to think of yourself as a hero.  I believe we are called to significant to God. We are not simply objects of his love. We are not poodles. Poodles have no other purpose but to be loved. There are no guard poodles or attack poodles or watch poodles there are only loveable poodles. We are not simply high dollar poodles, we are his warriors.  We are the means he chooses to accomplish his missions.  We are the heroes in God’s epic story.  I think it is important for us to view ourselves this way.  We should not be a waste of space and oxygen.  We are significant. 

I have used several hero stories, through this year, in an attempt to help us think mythically.  I have talked about being Frodo delivering the ring to Mt. Doom. I have told you about Luke Skywalker and his confrontation with the Emperor.  You have been Neo before the Agents in the Matrix. I challenged you to be Marlin in your search for Nemo.  I have told you about being Tom Hanks saving Private Ryan.  I have attempted to get your to rise above just existing. It is so sad that many of the people around us just exist.  They live for their own comfort and nothing more. But we are called to be God’s men. We are called to be God’s women. We are called to be heroes.

But what I haven’t told you, yet, is how we fight. Every hero is armed with a great weapon.  Frodo had Sting.  Luke had his father’s light saber.  Neo had, “Guns, lots of guns.”  Marlin had… Dora. And Tom Hanks had a machine gun.  But what are we to be armed with?  How do we fight?  What is the name of our sword? We need to continue reading in our theme verses to find out.

Ephesians 4:1-2 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble…

The first weapon in our arsenal is humility.  “What?  I think I would rather have an M16 or at least some really cool sword with a name like Excalibur. Are you sure about this humility thing?  Our first weapon is being completely humble?” 

Let’s think about humility.  How is humility a weapon in the hand of the one who has been called by God?  This concept of humility as a weapon certainly is not the way our world thinks.  I began writing the sermon the day after the Super Bowl.  Certainly humility was not a very valuable commodity in that game.  The trash talking, the-smack-them-in-the-mouth attitude, the arrogance that goes along with football, as well as most other professional sports, is pretty amazing.  They apparently think of themselves as highly as they are paid.

Outside the realm of sports, bigger, stronger, richer, more powerful, is the way the world operates. I recently heard that Bill Gates is worth $47 billion. Can you imagine that much money?  Wow, that’s a lot of money. That is a lot of real power to do whatever he wants to do; to buy whatever he wants to buy.  He has the power to see most anything he wants accomplished.

The big scare now is that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. This is scary stuff. If they can enrich some plutonium and then develop some nuclear grade weapons material and a delivery system they will have power to demand what they want or take the lives of 1000s of people.  That’s pretty powerful stuff.

But is it really? Is athletic ability and tons of money or even nuclear weapons really the most powerful things in the world?  I want to advocate this morning that real power, the power to fight over people’s hearts, is the way of humility.  The real battle of the universe is not about winning football games or making tons of money or using weapons of mass destruction.  None of that can conqueror a person’s heart.  That is the real struggle in the universe; your heart.  That is where eternal power lies, in turning a person’s heart to God. This war begins in humility. Humility is the way of God’s warrior. 

Augustine said, “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men angels.”

It a world of arrogance, humility is mega-powerful! It has the power to win a heart, change a mind, capture a soul. But how does it work?  Let me show you.  Let me tell you about the biggest fight ever.  This fight was for all the marbles.  The winner took all and the “all” was all of us, as humans.  This fight was for control of the universe.  The bout was between Jesus and Satan.  Listen to the call of the fight…

Matthew 4:1-4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."  Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Satan comes out in round one and hits Jesus with a low blow right to the stomach.  He had been fasting for forty days.  He was starving.  “What could be wrong with simply using a little of that power you have to make a couple of Krispy Kreme donuts?  Come on no one will know.  What harm could there be?” 

But Jesus knew using his godly power for himself would be wrong.  Isn’t that a fascinating thought?  Humility is never using the gifts God gives you for the advancement of self.  Jesus was completely humble and never used his miraculous abilities for himself. He tells Satan there are more important things in this world than meeting our own needs; like listening to the word of God.

End round one. Jesus wins. How?  With humility.

 Matthew 4:5-7 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.  "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"   Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 

Round two there is a blow to the head, to Jesus’ ego.  “Boy, don’t you like the attention?  Don’t you like to show off?” Satan teases. “Go ahead.  Show them who you are.  Jump you won’t get hurt.  And then you will have all the followers you want.  Isn’t that why you came? Come’ on I dare you.”

Look at me. I’m important.  Look here I’m special.  Look, I’m talented.  I’m great.  It would have been an easy way for Jesus to gain followers.  If he had floated to the ground, everyone would have followed him.  But no.  Jesus was not going to use his gifts to show off; to point to himself.  Humility is never using the gifts God gives you for the advancement of self. 

Round two goes to Jesus.  Scripture again, “Do not test God.”

Matthew 4:8-10 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."   Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" 

Round three, Satan is losing in points he must get a knock out to win.  So, he offers the world to Jesus.  All the power of the world could be his.  Jesus could control the world without having to do it the humble way, the way of the cross.  Jesus came to save the world; Satan’s way would accomplish that.   But he turns down the easy way.  He turns down the way of power, might and domination to do it the hard way.  Humility is never using the gifts God gives you for the advancement of self.  Jesus the ultimate warrior for God shows us the way to victory is the way of humility. 

Matthew 4:11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Jesus could have called down 10,000 angels to defeat Satan and take control of the world.  But instead he did it through humility because he wants our hearts.  He is not satisfied with obedience he wants our loyalty and that comes only through humility.  

Jonathan Edwards stated, “Nothing sets a person so much out of the Devil’s reach as humility.”

Let me help us to understand humility by reading an article on how swords are made. It is the Japanese who in ancient times created the best swords in the world. To create these fine weapons, ancient Japanese sword makers had to create a sword that was hard enough to retain a sharp edge, but at the same time soft enough not to be brittle. Sword makers who made swords by making the steel hard found they could preserve a sharp edge. Such swords, however, were often so brittle that they would often break when they clashed in battle. Soft steel, however, was found to be not as brittle, but would easily dull and be unable to slice through armor. Japanese sword makers therefore had to forge a sword with steel hard enough to retain a sharp edge, but at the same time pliable enough not to break in battle.

What Japanese sword makers learned to do was to create a sword made of hard and soft steel. Multiple sheets of hard and soft steel are heated, folded and pummeled together over and over again. Japanese swords go through a lengthy forging process until they have up to 33,000 paper-thin laminations of hard and soft metal.

Each of these layers is one hundred thousandth of an inch thick. This is all done to a very precise recipe of temperature treatment. The end result is a finely crafted weapon with extreme pliability and a blade that will retain a finely honed edge.

When I think of being God’s warrior that is how I must be.  I must be humble; soft enough not to break when fighting but at the same time strong enough to keep an edge.  Humility is the softness.  Faith is the edge.

"True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit; it is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us," Tryon Edwards.  

Let me bring that down to where the rubber meets the road.  What does humility look like in my life? Four quick observations.

1. Humility is not pre judging others.  I say pre judging rather than prejudice because we get defensive if I say you are prejudiced.  Don’t assume you know someone because of how they appear.  Humility assumes a person is worth your time and effort to talk to.  Warriors of God don’t write off people.

2. Humility values others.  What is a person worth to God?  What is a potential eternal being worth?  We attempt to see others as God does.

3. Humility listens.  We are always tempted to talk.  “Let me tell you what you need to do!”  Nobody likes that.  “Let me listen to your story.”  Everyone likes that.  We must tune into others.  Attempt to understand before we advise. 

4. Humility doesn’t take itself too seriously.  Laugh at yourself.  God is quick to laugh.  Don’t get so serious that you are too heavy.  Watch this.  (Show AFV Babies)  

All of these suggestions are summarized by a passage of Scripture.

Philippians 2:3-8   Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross.

We are not poodles. We are called to be God’s heroes and all heroes have mighty weapons. Our first weapon is named humility.