"Humility is not thinking of yourself as less, it's thinking of yourself less." - C.S. Lewis

If you are truly walking in gospel humility, you'll constantly be amazed by how good God is and how gracious he is to all of us. You are loved, it's not about you, it's all about Jesus. We need to remember that we are not the centre of our lives, Jesus is. This can help us put to death pride and teach us to walk in gospel humility. The bible says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Humility is an eternal attribute of God's children. So let's find a way to practice it now and continue to walk in it the rest of our lives. There is true freedom in the self-forgetful life.

At the Burning Bush: Moses asks “Who am I to do this?” God says  “I am with you.”

God doesn’t massage Moses’s ego or remind him how he’s skilled or qualified to go to see Pharaoh, he simply promises He is with Moses. Our identity is not based in our competence or our qualification but in God’s presence.

God reveals more of his nature to Moses when he reveals himself as Yahweh (I AM).

God-confident, not self-confident.

Unity doesn't mean we are all the same. Difference doesn't have to cause division. (Unity is not the same as conformity - we are to be united in diversity).

Paul was writing to a church that was divided over leadership. Division is a product and temptation of the fall. Unity is a product of the Spirit. These people were divided over leadership - where are there threats of division in OH1? Student's and 20s & 30s. Those in leadership and those not. Those in that small group and not this one.

Paul's basically saying they've missed the point. It's all about the gospel. Being in OH1 isn't about whether the students are the centre or the 20s & 30s are the centre. Jesus is the centre! We need to check ourselves. Is our need to be centre pushing Jesus and the good news out?

 

Our God is not a God you appease or that you need to be anxious about. He is the God who provides for you - Jehovah Jireh (Gen 22:14). We don’t appease and offer to God, ultimately God offers for us. When Isaac is offered as a sacrifice, God reveals His identity as provider, He's always going to give us what we need. 

If God says he is our provider, what does that say about our identity?

Who am I? I am provided for. I am safe. I’m an heir, not an orphan. I am off the hook. I am not ultimately responsible for pulling it out of the bag.

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.” A.W. Tozer

Often when we ask God “who am I”- he does not reply how we expect. He replies saying who He is.

In this series, we are going to explore a number of times in Old Testament scripture where God reveals in a fresh way who he is for us. This new revelation is to say: He is different to how we imagined him. And God is asking us to live in dependence on Him. Our identity flows from his. We are to build our identity - find our greatest meaning, significance and security - in God.  So as we understand more deeply who He is, that gives us a new way of understanding who we are in the light of who he says He is.  We are made in his image and for relationship with Him.