Rediscovering Humility

Rediscovering Humility, Christopher A. Hutchinson

I am so proud of my humility. Really, I am a very humble person. And I congratulate you on your humility too, let me tell everyone about it so that we can praise you.

Ahh, humility: the call of the Christian life but a great challenge to live out. What is true humility? Christ humbled himself becoming a man, and dying on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). The bible calls us to humility (Philippians 1:3, Colossians 3:12), but what does that look like? What would it mean for our gatherings to be humble in their message, practice and outreach? How about with the wider church and how we live in the world?

Christopher Hutchinson’s insightful new book Rediscovering Humility builds a convicting case that humility is key to the believer’s life:

“I wish to advance humility as the central paradigm of the Christian life ( … ) Humility is the greatest prerequisite to faith in Christ and its most telling result. It is the alpha and omega of the gospel at work in God’s people. Humility ought to be the most prominent centerpiece of any Christian worldview.”

Why are there so few treatments on humility? Like Matthew’s Payne’s recent observations on godliness: we have stopped valuing it, it doesn’t draw a crowd, and we’re uncertain what it might even look like.

I have read one other in the last 15 years, C. J. Mahaney’s Humility: True Greatness. This book is similarly challenging but on a broader scale. Where Mahaney kept it personal and related to the individual, Hutchinson has made the application wider covering the personal Christian life, the way our churches operate, relationships amongst denominations, and then most broadly in light of the non Christian world in which we live.

Hutchinson posits that “modern Christians have not basked deeply in humility’s beauty, nor studied much its logic, nor practised well its ethics”; few value humility either within or outside the church. He touches on the traps of seeking humility (it’s a long process, it’s not just speech or demeanour, nor is it self-deprecation), and proposes that Christ is central to the pursuit of humility. In fact, we focus on Christ, not our own humility at all, reminding that “for every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ” (M’Cheyne).

The first section Humility Found – Faith reminds us of the core truths of the gospel, and how no-one can boast, except in Christ. We approach God humbly, in repentance, and accept his grace. Insightfully, Hutchinson addresses the tension many feel: “May Christians confidently assert that Jesus is the only way of salvation and remain humble?” and shows how this is indeed possible: embracing truth requires humility, we must proclaim truth humbly, we can celebrate mystery and allow for disagreement, and maintain a healthy distrust in ourselves. He looks at Christ’s humility in the Trinity, in his offices of prophet, priest and king (where he is also subject, sacrifice and servant) and in his character. Christ was humble and he was humbled, giving us a model to rest in.

Humility Embraced – Hope examines humility for the individual believer. Hutchinson exposes the prevalence of pride and challenges us to consider being “bold nobodies” for Christ. There is comfort that we grow in humility through suffering and challenges as we wait in hope for eternity. Finally, personal humility is displayed through how we love others, for “humility towards God is nothing if not proven in humility towards men” (Andrew Murray). We should settle at the bottom of totem pole, desiring to lift others up: serving in menial tasks, deferring our own agenda, not glorying in success, speaking only to bless and willingly forgiving others. He challenges: do we categorise key people or precious souls? Do we give special treatment to some, because of their high or low station?

Humility Applied – Love considers humility from various aspects of the Christian community: an incredibly helpful perspective and possibly unique in this area. We might expect application to be in family relationships or in our workplace, and those areas are worth attending to. But Hutchinson has applied it to the church, and our relationships within the body of Christ.

Humble churches house people willing to make a public declaration of faith and publicly sit under the leadership of others, alongside others. They are based around the word of God, are prayerful, and value the sacraments:

“A church that has abandoned the Bible as its authority, either formally or practically, is, by definition, proud. They lean on their own understanding, are wise in their own eyes, and will not be spiritually healthy until they turn again to the authority of the written Word (Proverbs 3:5–8).”

Turning to church leaders, using the rebukes of Matthew 23, he encourages them to serve menially as well as up the front, to be careful with praise and titles that elevate, and espouses the wisdom of a plurality of leadership so that one person doesn’t have all the power or praise.

Hutchinson suggests churches should operate in humility across denominations and larger groupings. Unity is important, as is maintaining truth but it takes great humility to do both well. I appreciated the use of J. I. Packer’s suggestion that there are trunk, branch and twig doctrines (or essential, important and indifferent doctrines). Truth requires you to maintain the essential, you can agree to disagree on the indifferent, but most conflict comes with the important. While not giving clear advice on how a church will define which doctrines fit into each category, he posits that how we deal with the “important” category is the most significant for how well we pursue unity humbly:

“True unity takes more than good intentions or doctrinal agreement or hard work. It takes gospel-wrought humility. So where unity is lacking, chances are, so is meekness toward one another.”

Next, comes the question: “what does humility look like as the church interacts with the fallen world?” Using the woes of Matthew 23, Hutchinson unpacks numerous areas, such as the message our church sends when people attend: what do they see up the front, a cross or a massive sign with the church’s name and motto? Is the photo of the minister the largest on the website? He considers whether people pray and give privately to the Lord or publicly for people to admire. I appreciated his thoughts on how to interact wisely and humbly with culture, for “whenever churches address the sins of society, they almost always mean someone else’s sins, not their own”. This may be an area the Australian church needs to think through a little more.

Finishing with the encouragement that our churches should be places of respite, not factories churning out programs, he gives an interesting final plug for church planting, suggesting that when done in a humble framework it spreads out people and resources and stops churches staying large for the sake of their own name and glory.

Hutchinson includes numerous quotes, as well as some wonderfully Christ-exalting responsive prayers, expanding the book’s overall impact. He has given the Christian community a valuable, biblical insight into the humility of Christ and our humble response as part of the body of Christ. I came away both challenged and encouraged, yet inspired to continue to turn to the Lord Jesus to focus on his sacrifice and humility, and seek the joy found in serving others.

Humility: True Greatness

Book Review - Humility: True Greatness, C.J. Mahaney

I chose to read this book solely on the recommendation it was recently given in the Briefing (Issue #363, Dec 08). Admittedly, the review was written by a friend, so I trusted what he said and I was certainly not disappointed. This is a great book.

It's an easy book to read, it's not long, it's not heavy in its language - but it packs a punch. If you read it, be prepared to acknowledge how much pride really has a hold on your life and be willing to have your heart changed.

In fact my only hesitation in reviewing it now is that I am still thinking about much of what it said and how to apply it personally. Rarely has a book's points of practical application caused my to think so much.

Mahaney has broken his book into three parts. Part I: The Battle of Humility vs Pride. Here he outlines what humility and pride are and what they look like. Mahaney says that

Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God's holiness and our sinfulness (p22)

In many ways this is the grounding of the entire content of the book. Mahaney points us both to the true holiness of God and our own sinfulness. When we have a true view of these, humility follows close behind.

He goes on to deal with pride and why God hates it so much:

Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him. (p31)

He notes how God opposes the proud (James 4:6, from Prov 3:34), he hates pride and arrogance (Prov 8:13)and that he detests the proud of heart (Prov 16:5). A quibble here is that he states that from God's perspective, pride is the most serious sin. I have not thought about this enough yet, and I can see his point. Pride is saying we can do it without God. However, complete rejection of God as King and Saviour is perhaps more serious?

Part II - The Great Reversal. Here Mahaney shows from Jesus what true greatness is: "Serving others for the glory of God" (p44) and he stresses the point that we need Jesus' death to learn true humility:

Consider your own life for just a moment. Where would you be today if He hadn't ransomed you, if He hadn't liberated you? I'll tell you where. You would be self-sufficient, seeking to cultivate self-confidence for the purpose of self-glorification.

But what has happened to you? If you've been genuinely converted, you've been forgiven and transformed. And though for now there remains in you a temptation and tendency to sin, a fundamental and radical change has occurred so that you have the desire to serve others and to see God glorified. We know the inner call to lay down out lives for one another because He laid down His life for us. (p58, original italics)

Part III: Our Great Pursuit - Practice of True Humility is where it starts to get very personal.

Seven chapters cover all aspects of our lives and how we can try to learn humility in all of it. They include: how we start the day, end the day, how we look for signs of grace in other people, how we encourage others, to invite and pursue correction from others and how we respond to trials.

This entire section was very helpful, so I am going to comment on those that were highlights for me:

1. The suggestion to identify evidences of grace in other people. That we should remind ourselves regarding every believer we encounter: "This individual has been previously acted upon by God" (p103). Therefore we look for signs of grace in their lives, rather than deficiencies. I found this a very helpful suggestion. When I am tempted to look at someone without grace and find a fault, instead I now want to find signs of God working in them. For example, instead of noticing that someone is always late, perhaps notice that they always have time for people in need. Instead of notice that someone does not 'parent' in what I think is a wise way, instead notice that they are always kind and gentle with their children.

As part of this he suggested writing a list of the fruit of the Spirit and the different gifts that the Spirit gives (having given bible verses such as Gal 5:22-23, 1 Cor 12:8-10, 28). I actually did this and have two little cards on my desk reminding me of the many and varied ways people can show God's grace in their lives and how different people can be. It's quite helpful.

An added bonus is that is has encouraged me to do it in my children too, so now I have more words to use when I praise them: "You are a good helper", "You encourage me when you are kind", "You had patience then", etc

2. His challenge to parents - to be the example they need in this area, to teach them about true greatness and to teach them how to discern and admire true greatness. He made the suggestion that no matter how well your children do academically, athletically, etc, "don't celebrate anything more than you celebrate godly character in your children" (p160). Make the special celebrations those for when you have noticed "humility, servanthood or godly character," rather than exam results.

3. The challenge to invite and pursue correction, from trusted friends who will ask you really how you are going, and what sins you are struggling with. This is a great idea. Not one I have ever implemented well, but the challenge remains to do so.

4. His focus on the words of God and how they should change us. He challenges one to study:

• the attributes of God, especially those that have no human equivalent (eg. omnipresent, self-existent, infinite),
• the doctrines of grace (election, calling, justification)
• the doctrine of sin

A proper attention to each of these will help to keep us humble -for who cannot spend time learning more about God and how holy and gracious he is, as well as being reminded of how sinful we are, and not be humbled as a result?


In many ways I felt like this book was a starting point for me, there is lots more I can do - read more of God's word and other books, but this was a great place to start - to challenge my own pride and to work, with God's help, towards true humility.