Summer Fruit: The Honeydew of Humility

August 23, 2015      [NOTES NOT EDITED]

Summer Fruit:  The Honeydew of Humility

The Book of Esther, esp. 4:12-16

SIS—God accomplishes great things through humble people.

My text this morning is the Book of Esther.  I don’t often take an entire book of the Bible as my text, but it seems the best avenue for addressing the issue of “humility.”  We will read some introductory verses and then I will briefly outline the story to give us a good context.  Join me as we read God’s Word this morning. 

Reading:  Galatians 5:22; Esther 4:12-16

Esther is one of the most interesting books in the Bible.  It is the only book in the Bible that does not mention God.  This caused it to be challenged as inspired Scripture even to the time of the Reformation.  Yet, it has been a part of the Jewish Bible since ancient times.  The story is a simple one with set against the backdrop of three sub-plots.  The story begins when Xerxes, the Persian King, summons his wife, Queen Vashti, to join him at a celebration.  For reasons not given, Queen Vashti refused the King’s invitation.  Understandably, the King was furious and consulted with his advisers who advised him to issue a law that Queen Vashti be stripped of her crown and never again enter the presence of the King.  King Xerxes made such and order.  His advisers suggested Xerxes find another beautiful woman who would please him to be the queen.  After many years and a long process vetting many beautiful maidens, a beautiful young Jewish girl, adopted by her cousin, Mordecai, caught the eye of the King.  Xerxes made her his queen.  Another subplot involves Mordecai, the Jew.  He overheard servants of the king discussing a plot to assassinate Xerxes and warned the king through Esther.  Thus, Mordecai gained favor and position in the kingdom.  A third subplot involves a Persian named, Haman.  He’s the villain in this story.  The King honored Haman as a position as one of the highest nobles.  All the royal officials would bow down to Haman when he passed, except Mordecai the Jew.  Haman decided to get revenge on Mordecai by tricking Xerxes into issuing a decree to destroy all the Jews in the realm.  Haman convinced Xerxes the Jews were plotting against him. Here is where the main plot of the Book of Esther begins.  Mordecai convinces Esther to intervene on her peoples’ behalf by telling her husband, King Xerxes of Haman’s evil plan.  What Mordecai was asking Esther to do could very well lead to her death.  We read:

^4:9 Hathach came and repeated Mordecai’s response to Esther.

¹⁰ Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to tell Mordecai, ¹¹ “All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard  and who has not been summoned—the death penalty.  Only if the king extends the gold scepter will that person live.  I have not been summoned to appear before the king  for the last  30 days.” ¹² Esther’s response was reported to Mordecai.

¹³ Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace. ¹⁴ If you keep silent at this time, liberation and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place,  but you and your father’s house will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”

The main plot of the story sets in contrast the beauty of humility and the ugliness of pride—Esther representing beauty and Haman representing pride.  Haman’s pride shows in his response to an invitation from Queen Esther to attend a party.  Haman did not know the Queen intended to expose his plot.  Haman says,

^5:10He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh to join him. ¹¹ Then Haman described for them his glorious wealth and his many sons. He told them all how the king had honored him and promoted him in rank over the other officials and the royal staff.  ¹² “What’s more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she had prepared. I am invited again tomorrow to join her with the king.

Haman’s pride will lead him to hang from the very gallows he built to extract revenge against Mordecai, whom he hated.  Pride is an ugly thing.  The Scriptures say, “pride leads to a fall” (Prv. 16:18).  By contrast humility is a beautiful thing.  We will learn that God accomplishes great work through humble people.

My study this week impressed upon me the complex nature of “humility, or meekness” as I have studied the “Fruit of Humility” in Galatians 5:23.  Translations offer several options for translating the original Greek word:  “gentleness” (HCSB, et. al.) is the most popular among modern versions.  The King James Version gives us, “meekness,” which is a good term.  The Good News Translation offers the option of, “humility,” which is also a very good translation.  All three words--gentleness, meekness, and humility—describe important aspects of the original word.  Using Esther as a model, we will examine the “Honeydew of Humility.” 

One of the reasons I choose to focus on humility as a translation rather than, “gentleness or meekness,” is because the latter two in English can be misleading.  Even humility can be greatly misunderstood.  For example, humble can give the impression of “inferior,” as in “a person of humble means.”  Or, a “humble dwelling” as opposed to a lavish mansion.  The Biblical word related to “humility, meekness, and gentleness” represents something powerful, not inferior.

Humility actually gives us the boldness to do things that otherwise we might try to avoid.  I remember a very humble employee that had worked for one particularly company for over 20 years.  This man was known for never bragging or seeking attention of any kind.  Then, one day he seemed to get a spark of boldness.  He marched into his boss’s office and said, “Sir, I deserve a raise!”  The boss, somewhat surprised by the boastful attitude of the employee responded, “Charlie, that’s not like you to barge in and make such demands.  What makes you think you deserve a raise?”  Charlie replied, “You need to know that I have three other companies calling me on a regular basis.”  “Is that so,” the boss mused.  What other three companies are after you?”  Charlie responded quickly, “The electric company, the phone company, and the gas company!”

Humility helps us break free from our pride and do things we might otherwise be uncomfortable doing because we are concerned with what God wants, not what we want—except perhaps for Charlie.

Humility, as the Bible portrays it through the life of Esther has three distinctive elements:  Surrender, Strength, and Success.

1.  Surrender (4:15-16)

Look again at verses 15-16 of chapter 4:  ¹⁵ Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, day or night. I and my female servants will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law.  If I perish, I perish.”

The most important element of humility is surrender.  Esther faced a life threatening challenge by seeking the will of God on the matter.  “Fasting” is a spiritual discipline that puts a person in a state of dependence for the purpose of seeking God’s will.  Spiritual surrender recognizes that we are not the “masters of our own destiny.”  We are not our own in any way.  Paul expresses this by reminding us:

^{1Cor 6:  19} Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit  who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.

Notice particularly those words, “you are not your own.”  Carnal man rebels against such a notion.  Pride gives us a false sense of superiority, and that lies at the root of all the evil in the world.  Someone has called pride, “The Father of All Sins.”  Pride drives us to reject the command and control of Almighty God and substitute our own desires for His decrees.  Pride declares we are “Masters of Our Own Destiny.” 

Here is a picture of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office Building located at 200 N.W. 5th Street in Downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States prior to April 19, 1995, a little over 20 years ago [PIC].  Here is that same building on April 19, 1995 [PIC].  Here is a picture of the Oklahoma City National Memorial with 168 empty chairs honoring the lives of people killed that day, including 19 children [PIC].  Here is a picture of the man that set off that bomb [PIC].  Timothy McVeigh died by execution for this horrible crime.  He did not speak his last words, but had the Warden pass out a sheet of paper to each news representative (about 10).  That note included lines from a poem titled, “Invictus.”   McVeigh did not speak but he did write a statement that the warden passed out to each of the reporters in the witness area.  this note, written by Timothy McVeigh  said:

Out of the night that covers me, Black is the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeoning of chance, my head is bloodied but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade and yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.  McVeigh signed the note.

The “Black Pit of Evil” did indeed engulf the sorry soul of Timothy McVeigh.  The blackness came from the shroud of pride that covered McVeigh and shut out the light of God’s grace and mercy.  McVeigh was NOT the Master of His Own Fate nor the Captain of His Own Soul.  He was prisoner to pride and the captive to the sin he embraced.

The war against sin in our lives is not won by our conquests, but by our surrender.  Plato put into the mouth of Socrates these words, “Know thyself.”  For Socrates truth mattered above all else.  Truth begins by seeing things as they are, not as we want them to be.  Aristotle, Plato’s chief student would later expound the idea that the beginning of knowledge is to put things in their right “categories.”  In his great work by that name, Aristotle put every possible notion of human apprehension in one of ten categories.  The great philosopher, Confucius, said in a like manner:  “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.”

Pride confuses the categories of life.  Pride causes us to “misname” the notions of life.  As a result of the sin of “pride,” man confuses the categories of Creator and creature.  Notice this happening in the lives of the very first humans.  The Devil’s enticement to disobey God and eat the fruit was:

“You will be as gods!” (Gen. 3:5)

The truth of the matter is this:  there is a God, and you are not Him and you will never be Him!  Humility means that we seek no position or hold any idea of “superiority” over others but we are completely surrendered to God to be used for whatever purposes or designs He chooses.

Esther realized this.  She surrendered to God’s absolute control over her life—even if it meant she would LOSE her life.  This is the foundational element of true humility—giving up control of your life—absolutely, resolutely, and without any reservation at all.  To the degree that we can do this, is the degree to which the eternal power of Almighty God can flow through our lives.  Surrender leads to another element of humility:

2.  STRENGTH

Esther was a strong woman.  Look in your Bible in 2:7:  ⁷ Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin  Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she didn’t have a father or mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.

Along with being a woman in a male dominated world, Esther was an orphan—and, on top of that a Jewish orphan.  The Jews were in Persia (Iran) at this time, the remnant from grandparents who were carried off into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon (Iraq) a century before.  Jews were in society, but never seen as equals.  Esther was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth.  Her greatest asset was her beauty and humility.  Her humility allowed her to be not only “pleasing to look at,” but she had a captivating presence also.  She was a humble lady, but she was a strong lady.  She did not let a bad start lead her to a bad finish.  Humble people are strong people—whether they are men or women.

One of the reasons I chose to use the word, “humility” to translate the original word in Galatians for this particular fruit, instead of “gentleness (HCSB)” or “meekness (KJV)” is because gentleness and meekness, in English, are not strong enough to convey the idea of “power and strength” wrapped up in the original Greek word.  The original word implies strength.  It speaks of great strength that comes from being a conduit for God’s power.

Humility is not helplessness and meekness is not weakness.  Gentleness is not feebleness.  There’s a beloved Christmas Carol that describes Jesus as:

GENTLE Jesus, meek and mild,

Look upon a little child (C. Wesley).

What meeker, milder, or more gentle than a child?  Children are weak and vulnerable and do not even possess the strength to hold up their own heads.  This kind of Jesus—meek and mild—is safe, even endearing to the staunchest skeptic of Christianity.  However, this picture of “meekness, gentleness, and humility,” is NOT represented by the Fruit of the Spirit we call “meekness, gentleness, or humility.”

The word translated, “gentleness” in the HCSB (and others) is also translated, “humility” (TEV), or “meekness” (KJV).  The Greek word, prautēs (πραΰτης, prow tace), occurs in numerous forms in the Bible.  It cannot easily be reduced to a single word in English, though gentleness, meekness, and humility together offer a good range of its meaning.  Humility seems best suited of the three because the English words, gentleness and meekness, are too weak to convey the foundational strength of the Greek.  We find the word from, prautēs, used in reference to “taming wild horses,” especially for use a war horses.  Horses are powerful beasts but can be controlled by training and a bridle.  Humility (meekness, gentleness) imply “power under restraint, or authority.”  This sense of “power” is lost or diminished by English equivalents of “humility, gentleness, or meekness.”  Meekness is often views as weakness and humility is often viewed as inferiority.  Biblically, humility (meekness, gentleness) is seen as both strong and superior.  Humility may be compared to the conduit through which a powerful surge of electricity flows.  Humility is a powerful virtue and a source of supernatural strength.

Now, we are always to practice self-restraint in regard to how we interact with others—especially our enemies.  Humble people do not react to others, they respond with power under restraint.  In Classical Greek, especially with the influence of Aristotle, the word, prautēs, represented a disposition that fell near midway between “anger and spineless incompetence” (TDNT ⁶⁴⁶).  One of Aristotle’s primary contributions to the issue of virtue was his concept of the “Golden Mean,” or in modern vernacular, “moderation in all things.”  Humility is power under restraint, and the restraint derives from realizing who WE are in Christ, and the value that God places upon others.  Humility demands that we use the strength God gives us to help and assist others, and not to enrich ourselves.

Humility makes us a conduit through which the eternal, immeasurable power of God can flow through our lives.  Humility is like the wires that transmit power all over the nation—or even the world.  Most of us never think of the power that flows constantly all around us.  A few of us have experienced that power when we foolishly cross two live wires in our house (of course, we always thought the power was turned off).  It can give you quite a “surprise,” and even a burn.  Under the right conditions, household current can kill you.  Household current operates on about 110 volts.  That’s more than enough to get your attention.  Consider the power flowing in the lines above your house.  These high voltage wires crisscross the landscape of our nation, though many high voltage wires are being buried under ground.  These high voltage wires typically carry about 750,000 volts—or almost 7000 times the voltage of your home.  This much power is absolutely deadly and can instantly kill or seriously injure anyone that comes in contact with the wires. The power flowing through the lines does not damage the wire because the wire is designed to carry the power.

This is the same principle at work with the Fruit of Humility.  When we humble ourselves and we are in the proper relationship with God, His eternal power can (and does) flow through us exhibiting strength and power that is nothing less than supernatural.  This is what Jesus referred to when He said,

I assure you: The one who believes in Me  will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these (Jn. 14:12).

Humility turns us into dynamos of supernatural strength.  We saw this earlier in the life of Esther as she faces a possible death sentence when we read, “If I perish, I perish” (4:16).  Her attitude was one of strength, boldness, and confidence, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

As we have already observed, “humility” (meekness, gentleness) as a Fruit of the Spirit, operates much differently than the way culture commonly views it.  By surrender, we win the battles of life because when we humble ourselves before God, He fights the battles for us (Ex. 14:14).  Rather than being a position of weakness or frailty, humility expresses itself in the life of a believer as strength—supernatural strength.  Humility is not helplessness and meekness is not weakness.  Just the opposite.  This brings us to a third element of humility:

3.  SUCCESS (8:7; 10:3)

If you humble yourself before God, you WILL BE successful.  Humility does not mean inferiority.  The common use of the word, humility, associates it with situations that are less than presentable or fall below some accepted standard.  For example, we often here of some celebrity or successful person as “coming from very humble beginnings.”  Humble, in this instance meaning “poor,” or inferior by societal standards.  I was reminded of this idea while watching Kathy Lee Gifford give a moving tribute of her husband, Frank Gifford, who passed away last week.

Anybody that has ever watched an NFL game or had any kind of conversation in regard to the NFL has heard the name of Frank Gifford.  He was a college hall of fame player at USC, and went on to the NFL hall of fame as a professional.  He then became a hall of fame broadcaster with Monday Night Football for 27 of its first 28 years.  He was a true celebrity.  When he died August 9^th of last week, his estimated net worth exceeds $18 million dollars.  That is a respectable sum to acquire—especially when you consider Frank Gifford’s “humble beginnings.”

Gifford was literally born into the depression in 1930.  His dad, an oil driller, struggled to find work—as so many did.  Before Frank entered high school he had moved 29 times.  There were times the family was so poor they ate dog food.  This is truly what it means to have “humble beginnings.”

Yet, humility as a Fruit of the Spirit does not paint such a picture of poverty, lack, deprivation, and inferiority.  Humility is not related to failure.  Humility is a fast track to success.  Lowly estate may be one component of humility, but not the most significant component.  As we said above, humility is a conduit for great power and strength.  It is also a pathway to great success in life.  Consider Esther’s path from an orphan Jewish girl, to the Queen of Persia, to the saving benefactor or her people, to the owner of the very assets of the man that conspired to destroy her and her people.  Look at chapter 8, verse 7:

⁷ King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) said to Esther the Queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked  the Jews

The same principle of success through humble obedience to God applied to Mordecai as well.  He was just a Jewish exile in Persia at the beginning of the story.  Notice his rise to power and prominence in chapter 10:

³ Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, famous among the Jews, and highly popular with many of his relatives.  He continued to seek good for his people and to speak for the welfare of all his descendants.

Far from being a position of inferiority, humility is God’s pathway to great success in life.  God has promised to “exalt the humble.”

1Peter 5  ⁵And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. ⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time.

The word, “humble,” used twice in this passage represent is synonym for the noun translated, “humility,” in Galatians 5:23.  Resisting the proud and exalting the humble is a common theme throughout the Bible.  A Greek language scholar commenting on this synonym for humility remarks, “The mission of the gospel involves putting the mighty down . . . and exalting the humble” (Trench ¹⁶³).  Humility has never been highly prized among men as it is generally viewed as some sort of “inferior position” that will lead to inferior results in one’s life, or failure.  The opposite is true.  Humility is the pathway to great success—success that transcends this life and applies to one’s account in heaven.   Esther’s life, as with others in the Bible, perfectly demonstrates this principle.

I hear a lot of talk about “humility” among church goers, but I don’t see the kind of expressions of that fruit that I see in the life of Esther.  Certainly, I could take a few lessons from Esther.  God does great work through humble people.  We should cultivate this important Fruit of the Spirit.

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