The Deception And Danger Of False Humility
Greg Austin
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow
Colossians 2: 18, 19 (NIV)
My heart is deeply saddened as I observe the waste and deception and the pronounced foolishness that is the product of false humility among leadership in the church of Jesus.
Our generation has come to earth’s stage in an era marked by an exaggerated sense of self-importance, self-appreciation and self-accomplishment.
World-wise but Kingdom-deficient minds have brainwashed us into thinking we are far more “special” and wonderful than reality can bear.
Men and women of God, called to otherwise humble ministry offices have been paraded, exalted, lifted high on man-made pedestals and applauded into heights and atmospheres so rarified that mere mortals are rendered breathless.
It is a satanically created condition intended to render ineffective and putrid to the masses of humanity the very ministries these men and women have been called to provide. It is a false humility addressed by the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the wealthy citizens of an exalted city, established on a “well-watered” hill called Colossae. And so Paul writes, Do not let anyone who delights in false humility . . . disqualify you for the prize (Colossians 2:18).
False humility looks in the mirror and glories in the marvelous image it beholds. True humility of the heart looks into the face of Jesus Christ, through His Word and glories in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6
Humility is the opposite of arrogance. Arrogance manifests itself as an attitude of superiority that is displayed through presumption and assumption; supposition that one is better or greater than others without recognizing the gifts, understandings and abilities of others.
We need look no further for understanding than the example of Herod, who sat “arrayed in royal apparel” in regal pomp and circumstance at Caesarea “and gave an oration. And the people kept shouting, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. (Acts 12:21-23).
We may scoff and declare that none of us is in danger of making such a claim, that we are “gods” and not “men.” Yet the seed of the cancer of false humility is insidious, subtle and inexpressibly difficult to perceive.
The demonically inspired “clergy – laity” concept which much of the church assumes has been a fertile breeding ground for the birth of false and dangerous false humility for millennia. Believing, because of God’s unique and special calling and gifting – anointing – that one is “above” or greater than other, common believers, has been the embryo of death in untold numbers of potentially wonderful men and women of God, who have become little more than stumbling blocks and obstacles to the very people they were called to bring God’s grace to.
Humility is the defining characteristic of an unassuming person, someone who does not think that he or she is better or more important than others, but considers him or herself with “lowliness of mind.”
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
Philippians 2:3
For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
Romans 12:3
Recall that the original and chief architect of sin, Lucifer was first guilty of PRIDE. Before there was rebellion or tyranny or a satanic plan to destroy God’s Seed and eternal purpose, there was arrogance and pride.
Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. Ezekiel 28:17
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart:
'I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.'
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.
Isaiah 14:12-14
Time and again, revival is derailed, God's visitations are stopped, potential ministries are destroyed not by lack of faith or because of the absence of love or because angels departed, but because leadership is lifted up with pride. And it is insidious. It really is no humorous statement, when we boast, "I'm proud to be the humblest man in town." It's too often true!
The only antidote I can find for my own sickening pride is death. Dying to the flesh, dying to the self, dying to my need for recognition, my need for importance, my need to be "heard," my craving to be appreciated. All our worth, all our value is found in being hidden in Christ, living in Him, and He, living in us. The crazed chase of men to find value and significance can be satisfied only through an experience of death to self and life in Christ.
Because my own fear always is that I can be tripped yet again by the devils called Pride, Ego, Arrogance, Self-importance, I must, with the Apostle, “die daily.” Anything less than this continual act of dying to “me” will eventuate in pride and arrogance, masquerading as humility.
I have found as a desire of the life God has given me to live a life of significance rather than a life of importance. And there is great difference between “significance” and “importance.” Most of earth’s significant people have never been important people, and most of the “important” people have been the least significant.
There is a strange pride which presents itself as the standard of humility. This false humility is almost wholly the product of self-righteous hypocrisy. Chrystosomos
I love the generation of leaders that is now arising - warts (tattoos and piercings), strange (to me) sounding music and all. I want this generation to stand on our shoulders and reach to heights we could never have imagined in our own ministries. But I desperately want them to reach those heights, enfolded within the protective borders of God's Holy Word and the principles contained therein which will guard them from the sickness of false humility.
Any ministry, any attempt, any dream, vision or goal which is not rooted in the fundamental soil of Holy writ and the revealed purposes of God will ultimately collapse upon itself. The greatest tragedy is not "old school" leaders holding back this generation; the greatest tragedy would be for this emerging generation to build on sand while the "old school" cheers them on. That would be double tragedy, and failure all around.
Recall the words, "without Me (Jesus), you can do nothing." In so many places today, the prevailing attitude is "Yes, we know, we’ve got Jesus.” It’s almost as though Jesus is allowed to come along for the ride, but this “new breed” of leader is going to do “great things” with or without Him.
There is an unhealthy and unbiblical interpretation of John 14:12 where Jesus declared, “greater works than these shall (we) do” than He accomplished. First, it is “greater works” that we will do, and not “greater importance” that we will attain. Second, there is a common and severe misapplication of Jesus’ words in John 14:12 when it is assumed that we will have greater anointing than those who have gone before us, or even Christ, (the anointed One). Listen to Wesley (a man who accomplished greater works than any living person I have personally met.)
"Greater works than these shall he do - So one apostle wrought miracles merely by his shadow, another by handkerchiefs carried from his body, and all spake with various tongues. But the converting one sinner is a greater work than all these. Because I go to my Father - To send you the Holy Ghost."
Those who believe shall have power given to do works, in some respects greater; not greater miracles, but to effect greater moral and spiritual revolutions. At the time of his death, as far as we know, he had only about five hundred disciples, but he "went to his Father" and "shed forth the things seen and heard" on Pentecost, and the eleven apostles converted three thousand in a single day. (John Wesley, Commentary on John 14:12).
The point in the above citation is this: In both cases, the emphasis is upon the "greater works" of converting sinners to Christ. Secondly, in both cases, the prerequisite "Because I go to my Father" is the operative power which allows "greater works" to be done. The term "Because I go to my Father" is indicative of submission to the Father, direction from the Father and enablement by the Father. Once again, the “without Me, you can do nothing” expression is emphasized.
There is almost an independent spirit among some (especially young) leaders today that tempts them to believe they can accomplish whatever they desire, dream or envision if they simply have desire. The worldly and ungodly mantra is “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” The weakness of such philosophy is found in the word “you.” There is much that can be done by the fertile imagination and the industriousness of man, but the question becomes, whose dream is it? We must do ONLY what the Father desires. God did not give us free reign to dream and envision and to accomplish anything our hearts might conceive: Our portion is to do the will of the Father. Jesus said, "I speak only what the Father gives me." If our dream is God’s dream, if the source of our vision is God, if the root of our desire is within the boundaries of the Word of God, “we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us.” If our dreams, visions and aspirations are of our own making, we are destined to disappoint heaven and to fail in our mission on earth, and to potentially cause multitudes to fail with us.
I have repetitively PREACHED, (Yes, I'm shouting now) “Word of God, Word of God, Word of God.” Oh, to know His Word and to allow His Word to fill, empower, energize, direct, lead, inspire, correct, convince . . . Word of God, speak, and let me hear, and hearing, let me move and moving, let me give all glory and praise and honor to the Majesty of His Kingdom and of His glory forever.