Mike Bickle emphasizes the profound humility of God, particularly as expressed through Jesus Christ. He highlights that God's humility is unique to Christianity, contrasting it with other religions that focus solely on divine power. Bickle explains that Jesus' act of washing the disciples' feet exemplifies His core identity of love and humility, which invites believers into a deeper relationship with Him. The sermon encourages understanding God's humility as a means to foster admiration, gratitude, and confidence in our relationship with Him. Ultimately, Bickle asserts that true transformation comes not from power alone, but from a voluntary embrace of humility.

Father, we come to you and again we ask you to reveal the Magnificent One to us. We want to love Him in a way that He's worthy of. Father, our love is weak, our love is frail, our love is fragile, but we do set our heart to love Him. We want to love Him in a way that He's worthy of. This glorious man, Christ Jesus, we thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Well, we're going to continue on the revelation of the Magnificent One. We're focusing on His humility. Now Stuart addressed the humility of God today and he has such insight on this subject. And again, I'd encourage you to get some of his teachings. He develops it quite a bit. He only gave a little hint this morning. I love it. I love the humility of Jesus. But the humility of Jesus is an expression of the humility of the Father. It's what the Father's like in His character and His nature. Paragraph A, the concept of a humble God is unique to our faith. There's no other faith or world religion that has a humble God. They have a God of power, a God that gives money, that gives pleasure, but no world religion has a humble God. Matthew 11, the only characteristic that Jesus ever said about Himself. He said, I am humble. Here it says, lowly in heart, other translations use humble, Matthew 11, 29. Now love and humility, we could distinguish them, but they're twin virtues that must always go together. I mean, they're almost synonymous for all practical purposes. There are some distinctions. Paragraph B, the passage that Stuart looked at this morning, John 13, verse 5, Jesus began to wash the disciples' feet. Then He said to them, what I'm doing, you don't understand. You'll grasp it later. You won't understand the implications of what I'm doing right now. You won't grasp the full revelation of who I am as the humble God. One reason, because humility is so foreign to our minds. Our nature is so different from God's nature. That we have to work hard to make sense of humility. That when the Lord leads our life in a way to where we grow in humility, but we lose some other things, it really tempts us with being angry at God. And God says, no, you don't understand. You will be far more glorious and liberated and like me, and you will have far greater fellowship with me the more you grow in humility. Oh yeah, yeah, that's right. I want to be humble. I forgot. I keep forgetting. I want to be humble. It's foreign to our mind, but it's natural. It's effortless to God's heart. Paragraph B, in John 13, God showed us who He is in His core identity. God's core identity is love and humility. That's who He is at the core of His being. Now we think of Him mostly as power, but power is not His core identity. He demonstrates His power to magnify His love, His righteousness, and His humility. Jesus did the most shocking thing. You know the story well. He girded Himself with a towel. He knelt before broken men, washed their dirty feet. Now the world religions, they seek a God of power. But Jesus revealed the kneeling God to the nations. The God of all power, but the God who delights to kneel in service and humility for the good of love. It's not effort for God to serve. It's not effort for God to kneel to demonstrate love. It's so bizarre to our minds. But we can only understand the full truth of His grandeur and His greatness as we understand His core identity in love and humility. When we see Him kneeling as a servant to enrich His people in love, I mean, it completely is shocking to our sensibilities. Somewhere we think if He kneels to serve us for the sake of love, He must diminish in power and glory, but it's the opposite. It expresses His glory. Paragraph C in the middle, man's humility is based on our weakness. In other words, we are humble because we're weak. We fail so much and God's kind to us. So in our gratitude, we say, thank you, thank you. We're so weak and you're so kind to us, oh, we deserve nothing like this. So our humility is actually based in our weakness. God's humility is based in His greatness. That's exactly opposite. Our humility is because we have nothing in ourselves. His humility, because He has everything in Himself. It's so different from the way we think. It takes the Holy Spirit to make sense of this to our natural minds. As Stuart pointed out so well, Peter was offended by the God kneeling to wash his feet. He goes, no! And Jesus said, if you won't receive me this way, you can't participate in all that I'm about. What? I want to receive you in your fullness, but this humility trips me. I can't make sense of it. But the Holy Spirit wants to magnify this core identity of Jesus in His eternal effortless humility, His infinite humility. His humility did not begin with His humanity, but it only expressed what was always true of Him from eternity past. Jesus did not become something in His character that He was not. When Jesus became man, He didn't take on a new character of humility that it was foreign to Him, but He expressed that which was eternally His, as it is eternally in the Father and eternally in the Spirit. Can you imagine the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from eternity past in perfect humility in love, serving one another, honoring one another in great pleasure in their fellowship from eternity past? I want to touch more of that, the most amazing thing, that Jesus invites us into that fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's unthinkable what that means. We don't ever become God, we are forever the creatures. We're human beings that are redeemed. But fallen human beings redeemed have been invited into the fellowship of the Trinity that relates to one another in love, in humility, in wisdom, and in glory. That's what we're called to, not just in the resurrection, even now. But the more that we understand His humility, the more we can participate in fellowship and understanding of His heart, we'll never understand His humility that much in this age. Even though some of you might grow in understanding beyond the others, it will only still be the beginning of the beginning of this glorious truth. Paragraph D, understanding God's humility, why do we want to understand this? Well it produces admiration in our hearts with great gratitude. When I see Jesus this way, I just say, I love you, oh I trust your leadership, I admire you, and I'm so grateful to be under your leadership. The more we understand His humility, the more gratitude and admiration and trust we have in His leadership. But not only that, the more we understand His humility, we have confidence to relate to Him. Because when I see the truth of who He is, and His humility, I understand He's so easy to relate to, because He's so kind and so humble. I mean it should be the opposite. I mean when you meet somebody in this life that has exceptional intellectual ability, I mean think of the most brilliant person on the earth, and you're going to spend an afternoon in conversation, you might feel a little intimidated. Or the most powerful person on the earth, the most gifted person, they would tend to be impatient with our lack of understanding. But not Jesus. Because of His humility, He is so kind. Even with His vast superiority, He enjoys relating to us. Could you imagine enjoying relating to us if you had His abilities? Jesus, I can picture it in the resurrection. Here I am, resurrected by Jesus. I love you. Oh Mike, I love you. Well, let me tell you. Oh, you already know. Oh no, you taught me that. Yeah, yeah, you got a lot more. What are we going to talk about? Am I going to tell him something that's interesting? The answer is yes. Not because it's a new idea, but because it's an idea in my heart, and He loves me, and it will move Him. It actually will be interesting to Him because He's so humble. But beloved, that doesn't just begin. Then, it's true now. Do you know the way you move Him? You move Him so much, not because you're so brilliant, because He's so humble. And He's so kind and loving. But it gives us confidence. The more I understand of His humility, the more I draw near to Him with boldness. I would be terrified if He only was powerful and glorious. In His display of splendor, I'd be terrified drawing near to Him. Paragraph E, Matthew 20, verse 22. Jesus said, the Son of Man, He did not come to be served. He said He came to serve. Now this is amazing. Remember in the last session. Every time you see the title, Son of Man, Jesus used it more than any other title. He's always referring to Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and 14. That's the only time that prophecy was ever spoken about Him as the Son of Man. So when Jesus said, the Son of Man did not come. He was connecting His dominion over the earth as the Messiah with serving in humility. He goes, yes. I am the Daniel 7 Son of Man over all the earth. I know who I am. But I want you to know, as the world leader, I came to serve. This is like scandalous to our minds. That the Daniel 7 Man of Glory over all nations is the greatest servant ever to walk the earth. Paragraph F, Matthew, I mean Psalm 45. We refer to Psalm 45 often. At IHOP. It's the glorious psalm of the beauty of the Messiah, the beauty of Jesus. The psalmist starts out, more beautiful than all the sons of men. There's none like you. And then it describes the beauty of Jesus at the time of His second coming. That's what it's describing in context. And in verse 4, when He rides forth in victory over all nations. When He, in the presence of everyone, defeats all of His rivals and all of His enemies. He will do it without a trace of pride. No pride at all. When He displays His power, His majesty is openly seen. The most powerful man in total victory. All of His enemies humbled. There won't be a trace of pride in Him as He unfolds this great victory. But the psalmist makes it clear. He does everything for the sake of humility. He does it from humility because He's humble. And He does it for humility to fill the earth with humility. He wants to fill the earth with humility. That's His agenda. Luke chapter 12, verse 37. Stuart references this morning. Jesus taught a parable about Himself and how He relates to His people. And the parable was this. The people that respond rightly to Him at this age. When He returns in His glory at the second coming. This is unthinkable. Again, it's scandalous to our natural mind. It's like, this can't be. He says this. Jesus talking about Himself. He says, the master, when He comes, the second coming. He will gird Himself again like He did in John 13. He will put the towel about Himself. He will have His people, His beloved sit down. He will serve them. Jesus, no, no. You're the great one. Well, that's why I'm the servant. Because I am the great one. For the rule of the kingdom is the greatest one is the greatest servant. And I am the greatest one. And I will be forever the greatest servant. Who are you, Jesus? I mean all the glory. All the power. All the honor. All the blessing. All the riches. All the strength of all the nations. It's yours. You rightfully inherited it because you prevailed over sin and death. And you used all of this to crown us with glory and serve us. No. We want to serve you. And oh, we will serve Him in the overflow of such gratitude. Beloved, it's a story of unthinkable love and humility that unfolds forever. Beloved, you have it made. Yes, you may lack some money. You may not have many friends. Your body may be broken. You may be rejected. But it's only for a minute. You have it made forever. Now, we want to see those other things changed in this life. I'm not giving up on those things. But if it doesn't happen the way I think it should or on my timetable, I know one day, for billions of years, I will be with this man forever. It's worth it. I mean, I want to see all the good things happen now. But when it doesn't happen just right, I'm not backing down. He's worth it. Top of page 14. Jesus, paragraph A, is the premier expression of God's humility on the earth. The man Jesus expresses the Father's humility on the earth for others to see. But here's the point. That humility has always been in the Father from eternity past. It's not a new virtue in the Father. It's a new revelation of the Father when Jesus came to the earth 2,000 years ago. We gain new insight into the Father. And the greatest statement of Jesus is humility. Not the only statement. His entire eternal existence is a statement of humility. When understood by Holy Spirit insight. But the greatest expression of His humility, Not the only expression, but the greatest when He became human. Lived for 33 years. Laying aside the privileges of God, He always was God. But He lived as though He was just a man under the anointing. Jesus was never ever less than God, ever. But for 33 years, He lived as though He was never more than a man. That's remarkable. His deity was always His to use if He wanted. But He laid it aside to qualify to be our Savior. And to be our Savior, He had to live perfectly within the restraints of humanity. In order to qualify as our Savior, our High Priest. Jesus could have anytime laid aside the whole program and said, No, I've had this humanity. No, no more. I'm not going to live under these constraints. I'm God. I'm the eternal God. I don't need to live under these restraints. But then He couldn't qualify as a Savior for the human race. So for 33 years, He lived perfectly under those restraints. Never less than God. Never ever less than God. But living as though He were never more than a man under the anointing. Philippians chapter 2. The premier statement in the Bible of the humility of Jesus. These three verses are so power-packed. Verse 6. Being in the form of God forever. Jesus is eternally the uncreated God from eternal past. Forever He is God. He didn't consider it robbery. The best translation is the NIV. He did not consider His divine privileges as something to hold on to. To grasp it. He said, I'm not going to clutch my divine privileges because they're mine. Because I am God. But I'm not going to clutch them. I'm going to let go of them. So that I can qualify as a man to save humans. Verse 7. He made Himself. This is unthinkable to me. Of no reputation. He laid aside His right to be understood and honored in the way He deserved. He laid it aside. His right to be understood. His right to be honored. He said, I'm laying it aside so that I can qualify as a man. To redeem you because evil men spoke evil of Him. Because He was so perfect and righteous. Paragraph B. In the middle of the paragraph. He did not insist or forcibly grasp His divine rights. He didn't insist on living free from rejection. Jesus was rejected by so many people and He accepted it. He could have by the breath of His mouth destroyed them. He could have set the record straight with His infinite wisdom. He could have raised the whole graveyard from the dead. To prove how superior He was to them. He didn't do it. He didn't insist on living free from rejection or pain or humiliation. Here's the question. Why should the creator, because Jesus is the creator of the earth. Why should He ever be hungry? Why should He ever be rejected by the people of the earth? Something's wrong. But here's the point I want to make. In denying Himself of His privileges. He did not deny His true identity as God. He was being true to Himself when He was denying His privileges. Because His core identity is humility. When He denied His privileges we might have think He denied the core of who He is. He didn't. He only expressed the truth of who He is. Beloved, this is the only man that is worthy of all the power of the nations. See, in verse 7 it said He was of no reputation. He emptied Himself of reputation in the eyes of men. This is tough. We've all done this a bit in our spiritual life. This is a tough one. I've set my heart to do this. But I don't do it well. I keep taking my rights back. Then I get convicted, then I yield them. Then I take them back. Then I yield them to God. Lord, it doesn't matter. I trust You. And then like a yo-yo it just shoots back again. My rights, I take them back. It just keeps coming back to me. This desire to be understood and honored in the way I think I deserve. Jesus said I didn't need that. I'm humble. I'm lowly in heart. That wasn't necessary to me. I made myself of no reputation in man's eyes. He did not insist on being honored. He didn't insist on being understood. Everyone that ever met Him underestimated Him. Every single person did. I can picture it. In his 20s in the carpenter shop. And the lady comes and says, Well, young man, this is a beautiful table. You did a fine job. And he could say to himself, Honey, I created the trees the table was made from. She thought he was a good carpenter. She had no idea he created the trees from which he got the wood to make the table. She had no idea who he was. Nobody did. Nobody grasped the fullness of who he was. Again, one of my favorite passages, Revelation 1. John the Apostle. 60 years after being an apostle, He sees Jesus in His splendor. He falls like a dead man before Jesus. And I imagine Jesus saying, John, it's just me. You know, we had many meals together. I'm the same. Oh yeah, I never showed you this part of who I am. But I've always been this man. Always. It's not new. It's new to you, John. But this is who I've always been. The people saw nothing to distinguish Him from other men. Unthinkable. He was content to be seen as ordinary. That's one of the most painful things in many people's lives. They will bear anything except for being seen as ordinary. They want to be seen as special so desperately, but they don't know how special they are to Him already. Not because of anything they did, but because of who He is. Isaiah 53. He had no form. He had no status in life. He had no comeliness. He had no special attractiveness that anybody would notice Him in the neighborhood. He didn't stick out as unordinary in any way. Just an ordinary young man with a good spirit. I can just see Him. Jesus, if you stay with this carpenter shop, you're a good young man. You've got a good spirit. You may have three carpenter shops one day in Nazareth if you stay with it. Don't be discouraged. You have a good future, young man. Thank you, sweet lady. Well, he left the carpenter shop, went down to Jerusalem, caused quite a stir. I mean, he was a better speaker than we ever knew. He should have taught some Sunday school classes back when he was in our hometown. He's a good teacher. Well, he stirred up everybody. He a little bit overdid it. They killed him. What a shame. He could have had three carpenter shops if he just would have stayed steady. He dies. After 33 years and three and a half years of ministry, he only has 120 followers. That's not very good. 120 followers. Only 120 people made it to the prayer room after he raised from the dead. A lot of people would say, Jesus, you did not do that well in your preaching ministry. He had no form or comeliness. He had no status. He had no accomplishments that anybody would pay attention to him. Consider the analogy. What if you were the wealthiest person on the horse? And what if you had billions of dollars and you never told one person ever your whole life? It would kill us. Well, I think I could afford that. Well, how could you afford that? You don't look like you could. Well, I could. Trust me. I mean, we would have to leak it out somehow. What if you had billions of dollars, you never spent a dime of it on yourself, and never told one person ever, ever, your whole life? We would naturally want a few people to know we had billions of dollars because they would relate to us differently if they knew how much wealth we had. Jesus said, I don't need that. I don't need to tell them the truth in fullness about me so that they will treat me differently. I'm happy to walk in humility. And he did these 30 years before his ministry. Nobody understood. Paragraph E. Jesus expressed the glory of the Father in his frail, weak humanity. What I mean by frail, weak humanity, he got tired every day. For God to get tired every day, that seems strange. Well, he's in a human body. He gets hungry! But he expresses the glory of the Father in the midst of this weak frame. And here's the point I want to make here in paragraph E. He did not lose his identity as God by being a servant in humble form. He expressed the truth about God. He did not deny the truth about God by being a humble servant. He didn't say, give me a while and I will get back to showing you what God's like. I have to do this Savior thing for a few years. Then I'm going to get back to being God. And then you'll know what the truth is. Beloved, he is as humble now in the resurrection as he was when he was kneeling serving the disciples. He never changes. Never, ever changes, ever. Paragraph F, Exodus 34. His humility is seen in his relational style. He's so gracious. Look what the Lord says. He's merciful. He's slow to anger. He's gracious, abounding in goodness. Now again, I mention this, when an exceptionally smart and capable person relates to an inferior, they often get exasperated with their inability. Like, hurry up, can't you understand what I'm trying to tell you? He's gracious, bounding with goodness, with his infinite superiority in relationship to us. It's beautiful beyond description. Gee, seeing one so high, who went so low, to bring us so near him, because we are so dear to him, that's the glory of the magnificence of Jesus. Beloved, the most high, the most high God, Jesus of Nazareth, became so low, to draw us so near, because we are so dear to him forever. H, the very fact, that he so zealously wants our love, is an expression of humility. Think it all the way through. Jesus, why do you want me so bad? What do I contribute to your profile? You have billions of angels and billions of saints that are redeemed through the ages. Jesus, why do you want me? I mean, come on. Let's be honest, Jesus. What do I bring to you that really matters? But the truth is, he zealously wants me. I want you, Mike. Every single one of you, that's how I feel. I want you. Why? Oh, I care so much. Why? I mean, I don't understand most of what you say. I don't follow through on most of what you tell me to do. I get discouraged. I believe the lies of the devil. I draw back. I compromise. Why? Why do you want a friendship with me? I really want you. Really. Beloved, it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to see this. Look what he said right before he went to the cross. John 17. Verse 24. This is so precious. He's just before the cross. He says, Father, I desire. I mean, he's hours before. Father, I desire. What do you desire, my son? That they are with me where I am forever. That's all I want. I want them with me forever. When he was going to the cross, the joy set before him, part of that joy was the knowledge you would be with him forever. Why do you care so much? It's an expression of his love or his humility. You pick either one of those virtues. But it goes beyond he wants us with him. Lord, you want me in the room with you. You want a fellowship with me. You want friendship with me. That's awesome. He goes, no, I want more than that. Revelation 3.21. I want you to sit with me on my throne. I want you to govern the earth with me forever. Why? Why do you want me to do this? Oh, do you see how I feel about you? I mean, the humility of Jesus. I mean, let's face it. He could govern the earth well without us. But he doesn't want it that way. Beloved, the very fact he wants us so zealously is a statement of his love. Top of page 15, paragraph K. If his core identity was in showing power, if Jesus' core identity was showing power, it would have been that the incarnation becoming human would have been a denial of his true self. He didn't serve to prove how noble he was. He didn't serve to say, hey, look, I really got my act together. He served because it was a genuine expression of who he is at the core of his being. There's nothing unlike God in washing the feet of broken men. He was totally at home washing the feet of broken men. Revelation 4, verse 3. John saw the revelation. He saw the Father. And, of course, the Son is next to the Father with the right hand. And the Son is an expression, it says in Hebrews 1, an exact expression of the brightness of the Father's glory. So whatever is true of the Father's glory, we know is true of the Son's. Hebrews 1, verse 3. He's the exact representation of the Father's nature and an expression of the Father's brightness. Well, what does that mean? John saw the brightness of the Father. He saw the Father in His jasper-like glory when He looked upon the Father in this vision. He had a diamond-like radiance of light emanating out of His being, shining brighter than the most glorious diamond you could imagine. Jesus has that same glory. Jesus didn't come to the earth to prove how powerful He was. I mean, He already proved how powerful He was creating the earth by His words. He didn't come to show us how powerful. His miracle ministry was a... I mean, it was a smallest, smallest, infinitesimally small expression of His power. His miracle ministry did not display His power. I mean, a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of one percent of His power was seen in His miracle ministry. The miracle of His ministry is not what He did, it's what He didn't do. That's the miracle. When He said, Lazarus, come forth from the grave. Raise Lazarus from the dead. He was careful to say, Lazarus, come forth. If He would have only said, come forth, all the graves would have opened. No, I didn't mean everybody not yet back. Everybody back. Oh, no. No, it didn't happen that way. The miracle was what He didn't do with the power He had. He came not to show His power. All He had to do was look at the sky and see His power. He came to win us. He didn't come as the Jasper-like God, diamond-like radiance. He could have. That's who He is. That's how He appeared to John in Revelation 1 and absolutely scared John to death when He came in His Jasper-like radiance, face like a sun. He came as a man expressing the glory of God in the mystery of humility. It's remarkable. He doesn't want to just dazzle us. He does want to dazzle us, but much more. He wants to win us to love and have relationship with us forever. And He wants us to walk in humility with Him forever. That's what He's after. We want to see dazzling power. He wants us to see His humility. We want to have power. He wants us more to have humility because with humility, we have a capacity to interact with Him in a deep way forever. He could have come and just displayed His power without dying, but He wouldn't have relationship. He had to walk in humility to have relationship with us. This is a strange idea in the Western culture. Paragraph N. In the Western culture, little and humble is negative. If something is little and humble, we kick it down. In the name of Jesus, I bind little and humble. I want big and powerful and everybody to know. That's in the name of Jesus. Give it to me now. And I love the power of God. Even the greatest display of His power is a fraction of what He's capable of. And we know that. Beloved, humility is not just an admirable trait. It's not just something we admire. It's who He is. But more than that, in addition to that, it's the way He will transform the nations by His humility. Because His plan is not just to have saved robots with resurrected bodies programmed, I will obey you. Yes, Lord, whatever you want. No, we will be free will lovers of God who choose humility forever. We're not going to be automated in the resurrection to obedience. When we go through death, we get a new body. We get a computer chip. Yes, I will obey you. Whatever you want, Master. I am yours. He doesn't want robotic obedience. He wants voluntary humility. He came to display humility, to raise up a people throughout 6,000 years of human history that would walk in humility with Him voluntarily forever to rule the earth in relationship. That's the only way that He could transform the nations. Paragraph O. To only use power, now catch my play on words, if Jesus only used power, just dazzling power and miracles, that's far too weak of a way to transform nations. When He used power, the nation of Israel, they worshiped Him for a while and then they all rebelled against Him under Moses. Power did not transform them. It delivered them from Egypt, but it didn't transform their heart to make them voluntary lovers of God with humility. If Jesus only showed power, that's too weak. Power is not strong enough to transform the nations forever. Power takes humility because the only way that nations will be transformed forever is if people volunteer. I mean multitudes throughout the ages volunteer in love and humility, which we will in the resurrection, but that's how the nations will be permanently righteous forever. He has a master plan and humility is the core of it. Many people ask the question, I'll end with this, why doesn't God speak more to me? And I want Him to speak more to me. Why doesn't God show more power? And we want Him to, for sure. But here's the part we have to consider. This is part of the answer, not the whole answer. God's hiddenness, God's humility is part of the message. That's part of the message. His restraint and His humility. Now, we don't like that because we want things different right now, but He's thinking of the nations being transformed forever in voluntary humility. He's got a big plan and He's sticking with it. In this hour, this bothers us. God listens more than He speaks. Father, would You speak more? You listen so well, would You say more to us? He waits to be invited by our love and our obedience. He waits more than He hurries to take over the nations by power. He can easily do it. He's raising up a testimony in His people through history and it's based on love and humility. And His power will multiply love and humility forever. Amen and amen. This is the man we love. Let's stand. This is the man that loves us.