How Humble Are You?

 “I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master.” – John 13:12

Jesus had less than 24 hours to live, and He knew it. He had precious little time left with His disciples—so, whatever He did, He was going to make it count. And what did He choose to do? In John 13, at the Passover meal, He washed His disciples’ dirty feet.

The disciples were stunned—and uncomfortable—as their leader and Savior knelt before them to wash 12 pairs of feet that walked on dirt roads, in sandals, everywhere they went. Peter even tried to stop Him until Jesus told him, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (v. 8). Jesus even washed the feet of Judas, although He knew Judas was about to betray Him into the hands of murderers.

Clearly, Jesus was sharing a spiritual truth here. But what IS that truth?

Jesus told them in verse 12: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master.” To follow Jesus Christ’s example, we must be humble. But how?

Let’s take a look at four principles of true humility. (Most of these principles are highlighted by Chuck Swindoll in his John commentary.)

Principle #1: Humility doesn’t discriminate but is expressed equally to all. Jesus knew that His disciples would all desert Him in a few hours. He knew Peter would deny Him three times. He knew Judas Iscariot would betray Him. Yet Jesus washed their feet anyway. Friends, there is no room for petty discrimination in your Christianity. Whether you like a person or can’t stand a person, whether they love you or hate you, humbly serve them anyway … just like Jesus.

Principle #2: Humility is an action and a behavior, not a thought or an attitude. Many people describe themselves as humble. But thinking you’re humble has nothing to do with humility. As soon as you announce, “I’m humble!” – you’re proving you’re not. Just as love is an action, not a thought or a feeling, so is humility.

Principle #3: Humility receives service without embarrassment. Sometimes the most prideful thing you can do is to NOT allow someone to serve you. Jesus was the most humble servant of all. But just five days before He washed His disciples’ feet, He allowed Mary to get down on her hands and knees and wipe His feet with her hair. Everyone in the room was embarrassed, except for Jesus—because He was gentle and humble in heart. Don’t just humbly serve others. Check your ego at the door and allow others to humbly serve you.

Principle #4: Humility leads to true and lasting joy. Did you know that the nearer you are to suffering people, the nearer you are to Jesus? Jesus identifies with the poor, the sick, the abused, and the outcast. So, the more we humbly serve them, the closer we are to Christ. Most people think that happiness comes from earning more money or taking more vacations. But the truth is, if we chase after happiness, we tend to miss out on it. Why? Because God had linked happiness to humble service.

Warren Wiersbe says it so well: “Be sure to keep these lessons in their proper sequence: humbleness, holiness, happiness. Submit to the Father, keep your life clean, and serve others. This is God’s formula for true spiritual joy.”

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church. Pastor Dane’s new daily devotional, “40 Days in Proverbs,” is now available on Amazon.com. Join us on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. or 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley, or livestream us on Facebook or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

How to Be Second Greatest

“A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.… He must become greater; I must become less.” – John 3:27-30

Aside from Jesus Christ, who is the greatest person in the Bible?

In Matthew 11, Jesus answered that question. Interestingly, he didn’t choose any of the great leaders you might expect. He didn’t choose Abraham, Moses, Esther or David—all great heroes of our faith. Surprisingly, Jesus said in Matthew 11:11: “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.”

Really? John the Baptist? The guy who lived in the wilderness? The guy who wore camels’ hair clothes and ate bugs? Seriously, Jesus? That’s the GREATEST man who’s ever lived? Yes. And John 3 explains why.

The Gospel of John makes it clear that the early part of Jesus’ public ministry overlapped with the final weeks of John’s public ministry. While Jesus was turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, while Jesus driving out the money changers in the temple courts, and while Jesus was having a one-on-one conversation with Nicodemus about being born again … John the Baptist was still out there preaching and baptizing.

Well, by John 3:22, Jesus had also begun baptizing people in the Judean countryside. Some of John the Baptist’s loyal followers didn’t like that. They felt that Jesus had come into John’s backyard and snatched up John’s customers. So they went to Aenon, where John was—once again—preaching and baptizing (v. 23). And they told John: “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him” (v. 26).

John’s disciples thought they were being good, loyal followers by being offended on his behalf. How did John the Baptist respond to his zealous disciples? He responded masterfully … by responding humbly: “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ … He must become greater; I must become less” (vs. 27-30).

It would have been so easy for John to side with his followers and feel offended and mistreated. It’s easy to feel offended. It’s easy to feel wounded. It’s easy to feel unappreciated. All of us have done it at one time or another. But John the Baptist didn’t take the easy road. John’s humble response to his disciples’ frustration and jealousy reveals WHY Jesus considered John the Baptist to be the greatest man born. Instead of following his ego into a trap, John corrected his disciples on the spot.

Here are three Life Lessons we can learn from this passage:

Life Lesson #1: Be careful that your sympathy for others doesn’t encourage them to be bitter or jealous. As the great theologian William Barclay writes, “Sometimes a friend’s sympathy can be the worst possible thing for us. It can make us feel sorry for ourselves and encourage us to think that we have not had a fair deal.” So often when people feel they’ve been ignored or treated unfairly, we validate their toxic thoughts and feelings. When speaking to a Christian who feels shafted, 1) Remind them that God is control; (2) Encourage them to be content with what God has given them; and (3) Urge them to rejoice with others who God is blessing.

Life Lesson #2: As you serve Christ, be content with every season of ministry—the highs, the lows and everything in between. The world’s view of success and God’s view of success are NOT the same. God doesn’t call us to be “successful” by the world’s standards. Instead, He calls us to be obedient and faithful … and leave the results up to Him. Sometimes the results God brings will knock our socks off. At other times, the results will seem underwhelming. But GOD KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING. He is always true to His promise to work ALL things together for the good of those who love God and are called to carry out His purposes. So, trust Him. And be content to be used by Him on the mountaintops AND in the valleys.

Life Lesson #3: As you serve Christ, make this your motto: He must become greater. I must become less. As the forerunner to Jesus, John had two important jobs: #1) Prepare the way for Christ. And #2) Get out of the way of Christ. Don’t you think that’s a pretty good job description for you and me as well? From the moment He was born, John the Baptist had a subordinate role to Jesus. He understood that. He owned that. John was okay with that—as long as Jesus Christ was glorified.

There was once a pastor who had a thriving ministry. His church services were full every Sunday. But as the years went by, most of his attenders left to attend a new church just down the road. So, one evening the pastor asked his small congregation, “Where have all the people gone?”

After a few seconds of awkward silence, someone spoke up: “I think they’ve gone to the church down the street to hear the new minister.” The pastor thought for a moment, then said, “Well, then. I think we ought to join them.” And he descended from the pulpit and led his congregation down the road to attend the other church that night. In Jesus’ book, THAT is a great pastor.

Do you want to be a great servant of the Lord Jesus Christ? That’s fantastic—as long as you don’t misunderstand what greatness looks like in the Kingdom of Heaven. Wherever Jesus is working and whoever He’s working through, celebrate the life-changing work of Christ. He must become greater; you must become less.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us for worship on Sunday at 8:30am or 10am at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley, or livestreaming on Facebook or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Who Do You Think You Are?

 “He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
 – John 1:27

During Super Bowl 39, a mortgage company sponsored a really creative 30-second ad. A husband comes home with a bag of groceries and a bouquet of flowers. Obviously he wants to do something really nice for his wife. He walks in, says “Hello!” to his fluffy white cat and immediately begins making dinner. He puts a pot of spaghetti sauce on the stove, and as it simmers, he sets the table, where he places candles and arranges the flowers.

But as he’s cutting up vegetables with a large knife, the cat jumps on top of the counter and tips over the pan full of spaghetti sauce. Then, the little white furball brilliantly leaps into the middle of the red puddle on the floor. Trying to keep a bad situation from getting worse, the guy picks up his sauce-drenched cat with one hand while still holding the large knife in the other … just as his wife walks through the door. To her, it looks like “Friday the 13^th: Cat Edition.”

At that point the commercial flashes the tagline: “Don’t judge too quickly. We won’t.”

In Jesus’ day, plenty of people judged too quickly. Some jumped to the conclusion that Jesus was just an ordinary guy from an ordinary town. They were wrong. Some people jumped to the conclusion that John the Baptist was the Christ—the promised Messiah. They were just as wrong. In John 1, John the Baptist set the record straight about who he was, and who Jesus Christ is.

The Jewish leaders wanted to know what this rogue preacher, John the Baptist, was up to. So the Jewish authorities sent a group of priests and priests’ assistants (Levites) to find out who he was, what he was doing and why he was doing it (v. 19).

When they arrived, John the Baptist knew they wanted answers, especially to this question: “Are you the Christ—the promised Savior and King of Israel?” So, he jumped right in and confessed in verse 20: “I am NOT the Christ.” That answer cleared things up a bit, but not completely. The priests and Levites asked if he was Elijah, or the great Prophet foretold by Moses in Deuteronomy. John said, “I am not” (v. 21). After being 0 for 3 guessing who John the Baptist was, his questioners threw up their hands and asked, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” (v. 22). In other words, they looked John the Baptist straight in the eye and asked: “Who do you think you are?”

John responded by quoting Isaiah 40:3-4, saying, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord’” (v. 23). Not satisfied, they asked an important follow-up question: “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” (v. 25). John took this opportunity, once again, to point to Jesus: “Among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” (vs. 26-27).

The very next day, Jesus emerged from the crowd and walked toward John the Baptist. And John knew EXACTLY who He was. So John the Baptist announced: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the One I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me’” (vs. 29-30). And in case that wasn’t clear enough for everybody, in verse 34 John the Baptist said loud and clear for all to hear: “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

Here are three important life lessons we can learn from John the Baptist’s example:

Life Lesson #1: Fulfilling God’s will for your life isn’t just about knowing who you ARE. It’s also about knowing who you AREN’T. John the Baptist was one of the most effective followers of Christ in the New Testament, in part because he knew exactly who he wasn’t. Time and again some of his most devoted followers wanted to make him out to be something much bigger than he was, and every time he refused to be put on a pedestal. Do you know who you are? And do you know who you aren’t? Stop trying to be someone you’re not. Don’t pretend to be greater than Christ has called you to be. But just as importantly, don’t pretend to be less than Christ has called you to be. Know who you are. And know who you aren’t.

Life Lesson #2: The greatest Christian leaders are those who use the spotlight to shine a brighter spotlight on Jesus. When the crowd looked at John the Baptist and became attached to him, he redirected their attention, crying out, “Don’t look at me! Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” If you are a leader, it’s natural for your followers to like you. But do you lead them to like Jesus more? As you lead, some followers of yours may think too much of you and think too little of Jesus. One of the signs of a great Christian leader is how effectively he/she can direct the spotlight back to Jesus.

Life Lesson #3: People will be more likely to listen to what you have to say about Christ when you are humble and transparent. Don’t pretend you have all the answers, because you don’t. Don’t pretend you weren’t a fool before you became a Christian, because you were. Don’t pretend to be anything or anyone you’re not. Just be the humble, sincere follower of Christ that God created you to be. You’ll find that more people around you will listen to what you have to say about Jesus.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us at our great NEW worship location in Apple Valley (16209 Kamana Road) at 9am and 11am. You can also join us livestreaming online at Facebook or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Who Wants to Be Poor?

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
— Matthew 5:3

Ask any Christian what the most important verse in the Bible is, and more often than not they’ll answer, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That verse beautifully summarizes the fact that we can never EARN our salvation. Salvation is a gift from God. And the key to receiving that gift is faith. We must believe—truly believe—in Jesus.

But somewhere along the way, many Christians have bought into the crazy idea that Christianity is ONLY about holding the right beliefs. As long as I believe right, I will be right with God. As long as I believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God, as long as I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, I can call myself a “good Christian.”

But there’s just one problem with this notion: It’s not true. Jesus never taught us that Christianity is only a matter of BELIEVING right. Christianity is also a matter of DOING right. We are not just believers in Jesus Christ. We are believers and followers of Jesus Christ.  And nowhere is that made more clear than in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

The first type of teaching Jesus uses in this great sermon are known as the Beatitudes, which we find in Matthew 5:3-12. The word “beatitude” is taken from the Latin word “beatitudo”, which means “blessed are.” Many pastors and Bible teachers translate this word simply as “happy.” But “happy” is far too narrow a translation. “Blessed” means so much more than happy. Years ago, one of my Bible college professors, Knofel Staton, did an in-depth study of this word “blessed,” and he learned that it means two things beyond “happy”:

1: Congratulations. In his Beatitudes, Jesus isn’t just saying that those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn and those who are merciful will be happy. He is also saying “Congratulations are in order for my followers who are poor in spirit and those who mourn.”

2: Buoyed up. Jesus is also saying, “In this sinful world we live in—no matter what hardships or insults come your way—the world will never be able to sink your faith or drown your relationship with Christ. God will see to it that you will always bounce back to surface. You are buoyed up in Christ. Neither this world nor the armies of hell can sink a faithful follower of Christ.”

Let’s focus on the first Beatitude from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (v. 3). Someone once asked the evangelist Billy Graham: Why doesn’t Jesus tell us to be rich in spirit instead of telling us to be poor in spirit? Reverend Graham answered: “If you put the word ‘humble’ in place of the word ‘poor,’ you will understand what [Jesus] meant. We must be humble in our spirits. In other words, when we come to God, we must realize our own sin and our spiritual emptiness and poverty. We must not be self-satisfied or proud in our hearts, thinking we don’t really need God. If we are, God cannot bless us. The Bible says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).” So, “poor in spirit” means humble in spirit and empty in spirit.

If I am serious about being in Christ’s heavenly kingdom, I must begin by confessing that by myself, I can’t ever get there. By myself I will never get to heaven. By myself I can never be right with God. By myself I can never ever be saved. If you don’t fall in line with this truth, you CAN’T be blessed by God.  So, if you can’t live out this first beatitude, there’s no point moving on to the other seven.

Some of us come to Christ with notions of our own righteousness. This first beatitude knocks us off our high horse. Some of us come to Christ thinking we’ll impress Him with our religious heritage: “I grew up in a good Catholic home.” “I was baptized as a baby and confirmed as a teenager.” “My wife and I were married in the church.” But this beatitude makes it clear, not only that our religious upbringing doesn’t impress God, but that it actually turns Him off when we hold it up like some sort of trophy. If you puff out your chest and brag to God about making it onto the religious honor roll, Jesus Christ will flunk you out of class. Religious pride is repulsive to Him. But He is drawn to spiritual poverty.

At the heart of this first beatitude is a humble recognition of my weakness and God’s strength, an understanding that I offer God nothing yet God offers me everything. Spiritual poverty is attractive to Jesus because it’s honest, it’s real, and—most importantly—it gives Him plenty of room to come in and fill us with more of God. The biggest problem with being a religious snob is that we’re so full of ourselves, there’s no room left for Christ. But when we are spiritually humble, spiritually empty, there is plenty of room for Jesus to come in and fill us with Himself. So, Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by saying, “Follow me humbly, or you won’t follow me at all.”

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. His latest book, “Buoyed Up: Jesus’ 8 Steps to an Unsinkable Life,” is available on Amazon in paperback, e-book and audiobook. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or online at 10 a.m. on Facebook Live or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.).

Who Wants to Be Poor?

 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 

— Matthew 5:3

Ask any Christian what the most important verse in the Bible is, and more often than not they’ll answer, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That verse beautifully summarizes the fact that we can never EARN our salvation. Salvation is a gift from God. And the key to receiving that gift is faith. We must believe—truly believe—in Jesus.

But somewhere along the way, many Christians have bought into the crazy idea that Christianity is ONLY about holding the right beliefs. As long as I believe right, I will be right with God. As long as I believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God, as long as I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, I can call myself a “good Christian.”

But there’s just one problem with this notion: It’s not true. Jesus never taught us that Christianity is only a matter of BELIEVING right. Christianity is also a matter of DOING right. We are not just believers in Jesus Christ. We are believers and followers of Jesus Christ.  And nowhere is that made more clear than in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

The first type of teaching Jesus uses in this great sermon are known as the Beatitudes, which we find in Matthew 5:3-12. The word “beatitude” is taken from the Latin word “beatitudo”, which means “blessed are.” Many pastors and Bible teachers translate this word simply as “happy.” But “happy” is far too narrow a translation. “Blessed” means so much more than happy. Years ago, one of my Bible college professors, Knofel Staton, did an in-depth study of this word “blessed,” and he learned that it means two things beyond “happy”:

1: Congratulations. In his Beatitudes, Jesus isn’t just saying that those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn and those who are merciful will be happy. He is also saying “Congratulations are in order for my followers who are poor in spirit and those who mourn.”

2: Buoyed up. Jesus is also saying, “In this sinful world we live in—no matter what hardships or insults come your way—the world will never be able to sink your faith or drown your relationship with Christ. God will see to it that you will always bounce back to surface. You are buoyed up in Christ. Neither this world nor the armies of hell can sink a faithful follower of Christ.”

Let’s focus on the first Beatitude from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (v. 3). Someone once asked the evangelist Billy Graham: Why doesn’t Jesus tell us to be rich in spirit instead of telling us to be poor in spirit? Reverend Graham answered: “If you put the word ‘humble’ in place of the word ‘poor,’ you will understand what [Jesus] meant. We must be humble in our spirits. In other words, when we come to God, we must realize our own sin and our spiritual emptiness and poverty. We must not be self-satisfied or proud in our hearts, thinking we don’t really need God. If we are, God cannot bless us. The Bible says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).” So, “poor in spirit” means humble in spirit and empty in spirit.

If I am serious about being in Christ’s heavenly kingdom, I must begin by confessing that by myself, I can’t ever get there. By myself I will never get to heaven. By myself I can never be right with God. By myself I can never ever be saved. If you don’t fall in line with this truth, you CAN’T be blessed by God.  So, if you can’t live out this first beatitude, there’s no point moving on to the other seven.

Some of us come to Christ with notions of our own righteousness. This first beatitude knocks us off our high horse. Some of us come to Christ thinking we’ll impress Him with our religious heritage: “I grew up in a good Catholic home.” “I was baptized as a baby and confirmed as a teenager.” “My wife and I were married in the church.” But this beatitude makes it clear, not only that our religious upbringing doesn’t impress God, but that it actually turns Him off when we hold it up like some sort of trophy. If you puff out your chest and brag to God about making it onto the religious honor roll, Jesus Christ will flunk you out of class. Religious pride is repulsive to Him. But He is drawn to spiritual poverty.

At the heart of this first beatitude is a humble recognition of my weakness and God’s strength, an understanding that I offer God nothing yet God offers me everything. Spiritual poverty is attractive to Jesus because it’s honest, it’s real, and—most importantly—it gives Him plenty of room to come in and fill us with more of God. The biggest problem with being a religious snob is that we’re so full of ourselves, there’s no room left for Christ. But when we are spiritually humble, spiritually empty, there is plenty of room for Jesus to come in and fill us with Himself. So, Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by saying, “Follow me humbly, or you won’t follow me at all.”

Dane Davis is the Pastor of Impact Christian Church. Please join us for our in-person worship service Sundays at 9 a.m. at 17746 George Blvd. in Victorville. Or, join us online at 10 a.m. on our YouTube channel (Impact Christian Church) or on Facebook. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

A Wretch Like Me?

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.

 I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” – John Newton

Without a doubt the most popular Christian song of the past 200 years has been “Amazing Grace.” It’s been featured on 11,000 different albums, and it’s sung an estimated 10 million times every year. I love the story behind the writing of this great hymn. “Amazing Grace” was written by John Newton, who as a young man did one of the most disgraceful things a human being could do. He was a slave ship captain who kidnapped dozens, possibly even hundreds, of Africans and forced them into the slave trade in England. But several years after becoming a Christian, he quit the slave trade as God convicted him that slavery was a wretched sin.

At the age of 46, as Newton reflected back on his life with a sense of guilt and shame for what he had done, he wrote these words: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Hundreds of millions of people have found strength and comfort in these powerful words. Countless Christians would say, “I LOVE this song!” But honestly, there is one word in this song that most Christians these days don’t like very much. It’s right there in the opening lines: the word “wretch.” 

Millions of Christians sing these words, but deep down inside they insist, “I am NOT a wretch!” After all, the word “wretch” means “a despicable person” –a scoundrel, a villain, a reprobate, a delinquent, a creep, a jerk, a good-for-nothing, a snake in the grass, a lowlife, a scumbag. Honestly, most of us don’t think of ourselves as despicable, do we? We don’t think of ourselves as scoundrels, creeps, lowlifes or scumbags.

But in Luke 7, the Bible shows us a woman whose perspective was much different from ours. If you had asked her, she would have told you: “I’m a wretch.”  And she would have been right. The incident took place when Jesus was dining at the home of a Pharisee named Simon. An unnamed woman who had lived a sinful life came in, walked up to Jesus and begin anointing his feet. “As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them” (v. 38).

Simon said to himself, “If this man [Jesus] were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner” (v. 39). And remarkably, this woman would have completely agreed that she was all those things: a scoundrel, a lowlife, a scumbag… a wretch. But clearly--Jesus accepted her anyway. Simon the Pharisee had straight A’s in identifying other people’s sin. But when it came to identifying his own sin, he flunked every class. Warren Wiersbe says it this way: “Simon’s real problem was blindness…. It was easy for him to say, ‘She is a sinner!’ but impossible for him to say, ‘I am also a sinner!’”

Until we open our eyes and see that we are deeply flawed and admit that we desperately need God’s grace and healing, we will never receive it. You see, God’s mercy and forgiveness are offered only to those who come to Him humbly, in desperation and ask Him for it. “God, please have mercy on me, a sinner.” “Lord, I know I don’t deserve it, but please forgive me anyway.” God loves pouring out His amazing grace on those who pray those kinds of prayers.

God despises self-righteousness. He hates it when sinners say, “I’m so much better than THAT guy! I’m so much more moral that THAT girl! I’m so much more deserving of heaven than THOSE low lifes!” Bottom line: If you insist on buying into the lie that you are right with God because you are a “good person,” you’re never going to be right with God.

The truth is: I am a wretch, and so are you. The world tries to convince us that we are basically good, but the Bible says the exact opposite. We are all in the same boat with John Newton and the woman at Jesus’ feet. We are all scoundrels, reprobates, delinquents, snakes in the grass. More than we’d like to admit, we are in the same boat as those we would call lowlifes and scumbags, because we say and do the exact same things as them. If you keep comparing yourself to people you know who have lied more than you or gotten drunk more than you or cheated on their taxes more than you or kicked their dogs more than you, then you are going to be in for a rude awakening when you stand before God on Judgment Day.

Whether your sins are few or many, you are no more or less deserving of heaven than the next guy. None of us deserves heaven. Regardless of how many sins are on your ledger, your only chance of making it to heaven is by God’s amazing grace. And here are the “A,B,C’s” of receiving God’s grace: A = Admit that you are a sinner who desperately needs God’s grace. B = Believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. C = Choose to follow Jesus Christ and obey his commands.

John Newton and the woman at Jesus’ feet understood something that far too many of us have missed. They understood that it’s not the person who has the fewest sins who will make it to heaven but the person who humbly brings whatever sins he/she has to the feet of Jesus.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of Impact Christian Church. Please join us for our online Palm Sunday worship service tomorrow at 10 a.m. on our website, www.GreaterImpact.cc, on our YouTube channel (Impact Christian Church) or on Facebook.

From Good to Great

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.” – Matthew 20:26-27

About three months ago, I met in my office with two of our amazing staff members: Patrick, our Worship Director, and Christie, our Children’s Ministries Director. Our congregation had just voted to move our church to a more central location with a new name and new determination to make a greater impact in our community. I said to Patrick and Christie, “We do some really good ministry here at First Christian Church. But as we make this big move and launch Impact Christian Church, we need to move from good to great.”

But what is “great”? In Matthew 20, two of Jesus’ disciples learned an important lesson about what true greatness looks like in Jesus’ kingdom. James and John, using their mother as a messenger, basically asked for the two best thrones in Christ’s kingdom—one on Christ’s left and one on his right. They wanted the seats of honor and authority right next to Jesus. Now, that takes guts! And Jesus’ answer was … “No! Not gonna happen!"

You see, the path to greatness in Christ’s kingdom is much different from the path to greatness that we are accustomed to in our culture. The path to greatness in Christ’s kingdom requires sacrifice and suffering. “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” The word “cup,” as it’s used here and elsewhere in the Bible, is a metaphor for suffering. So, Jesus asked James and John, “Are you willing to sacrifice and suffer the way I’m going to sacrifice and suffer?” Both men immediately answered, “Yes.” But they had no clue how much Jesus was about to sacrifice and suffer.

Afterward, Jesus seized this teachable moment to pull all twelve of his disciples together and teach them about true greatness. His words in verses 25-28 are so important for every Christian to grasp: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus was God in human flesh. That being the case, he had every right to ask his followers to wait on him hand and foot. But he freely relinquished this right because he so loved the world that he came to seek and save the lost. Paul says it so well in Philippians 2:5-7. He writes, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.” Here in Matthew 20, as Jesus had his sights set on the cross, his message to his disciples was loud and clear: “I’m not asking you to serve ME. I came to earth to serve YOU.”

Most of you have probably heard the famous words spoken by President John F. Kennedy at his inauguration. He said, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” These are some of the most enduring words ever spoken by a U.S. president. But when you think about it, President Kennedy—whether he realized it or not—was basically just asking us to follow in Jesus’ footsteps as citizens of this great nation.

We could just as easily apply Jesus’ instruction about serving to our marriages, to our friendships, to our work life and to our church. “Husbands, ask not what your wife can do for you. Ask what you can do for your wife.” “Wives, ask not what your husband can do for you. Ask what you can do for your husband.” How much healthier would our marriages be if we asked this question every day? “Ask not what your friends can do for you. Ask what you can do for your friends.” “Ask not what your coworkers can do for you. Ask what you can do for your coworkers.” If you and I will follow in Jesus’ footsteps and serve others without expecting them to somehow repay us for that service…it will transform our marriages, our families, our friendships, our workplaces, our church and our community.

Who would have thought that the path to greatness would be the path of serving and humility? Jesus, that’s who. The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life. As we launch Impact Christian Church, I pray that we will follow in Jesus’ footsteps. I pray that we will humbly serve each other and serve our community. As we do, there’s no doubt in my mind that we will have a greater impact in the Victor Valley for Jesus Christ. And best of all, lots of people are going to come home to Jesus.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us for our Worship Celebration every Sunday at 10 a.m. at the new Ralph Baker School in Victorville. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

So, You Want to Be Great?

“For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.” – Luke 9:48b

Just about every sports expert agrees that Muhammad Ali was one of the greatest boxers of all time. His joint records of beating 21 boxers for the world heavyweight title and winning 14 unified title bouts stood for 35 years. Sports Illustrated ranked him as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. And ESPN ranked him as the third greatest athlete of the 20^th century.

But as famous as he was in boxing, Muhammad Ali was best known for his trash talking. Before rap and hip-hop became mainstream, he would rattle off taunts and verbal jabs that were sheer poetry. Before fighting George Foreman, he said: “I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.” And here are a few of his other classic lines: “I’m so mean, I make medicine sick!” “If you even dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologize!” And one of his most famous quotes of all was, “I am the greatest! I said that even before I knew I was!”

Let’s just say that Muhammad Ali was not what you’d call a humble guy, and that made him really entertaining. But when that kind of arrogance is carried out by followers of Christ, who are supposed to be humbly serving others, it’s downright tragic.

And in Luke 9, it would appear that humility wasn’t on the minds of Jesus’ disciples. Luke tells us in verse 46 that the 12 disciples got into an argument “as to which of them would be the greatest.” Now, because James and John had just seen Jesus gloriously transformed a few days earlier on the Mount of Transfiguration, and because we read in Matthew 20 that a few weeks later James and John came with their mommy to ask Jesus to give them the best seats in heaven, I think it’s safe to say that James and John were instigators of this argument. In short, some of the apostles were dealing with what I like to call “Muhammad Ali Syndrome.” They had over-inflated views of their own self-worth.

But Jesus put a stop to their chatter with a classic response. He brought a little child to stand beside him and told them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest” (v. 48). Writing about this incident, Chuck Swindoll said, “The response by Jesus is priceless…. He rebuked [his disciples] by embracing a child, someone too small, too weak, too helpless to be great. With the little boy standing with Him, Jesus rearranged the worldly pecking order. He upset the normal conventions of hierarchy in leadership. His speech was simple, consisting of three statements.”

And what were those three statements? 1) Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me. 2) Whoever welcomes me welcomes God the Father. 3) He who is least among you all is the greatest. And Mark offers us this powerful addendum to Jesus’ teaching in Mark 9:35: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

We call this style of leadership “servant leadership.” And surprise, surprise, in the past 40 years, secular management gurus around the world have come to the conclusion that servant leadership is the most effective way for any CEO to lead. We lead others most effectively by serving others. Our greatness is not defined by how much we get others to serve us, but by how much we serve others.

Jesus’ definition of greatness is so different from the world’s definition of greatness. But sadly, far too many Christians choose to pursue greatness in the eyes of the world instead of greatness in the eyes of God. Far too many Christians pursue prestige, power and fame. But Jesus calls us back to a humbler, simpler Christianity—a Christianity marked by putting others’ needs above our own, by getting our hands dirty loving those whose lives are messy and undesirable, and by being the first to volunteer to be last.

On the heels of seeing Jesus in glorified form on the Mount of Transfiguration, what should have humbled James and John actually had caused their heads to swell. Jesus’ teaching about humbly serving others completely escaped them. It didn’t sink in. They so wanted to be great, but they just didn’t get it. They were still clueless about what true greatness looks like in Jesus’ kingdom. At this point in time, they were clueless, but in the days following Easter Sunday, their eyes would be opened. They would finally understand the truth, and they would be changed forever.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church of Victorville and the author of "Holy Huldah! Lessons You'll Never Forget From Bible Characters You Never Heard Of." Visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com, and join us for our Worship Celebration Sundays at 10 a.m.

Is It Too Late for America?

 "I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people … because they have forsaken Me…. [But] because you humbled yourself before Me … I have heard you, declares the LORD…. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.”  - 2 Chronicles 34:24-28

It was circa 625 B.C. The setting was Judah, and the recipient of God’s message was King Josiah. The northern ten tribes of Israel had been conquered 100 years earlier by the kingdom of Assyria because God’s patience had reached its limit. He could only stomach so much idol worship, murder, sexual perversion, blasphemy and injustice.  So, God’s judgment had come in the form of the invading Assyrian army.

And now, Judah—which contained the two remaining tribes of Israel in the south—was headed for similar destruction. Like her Israelite family members in the north, Judah had experienced a moral tailspin. During his lifetime, King Josiah was able to turn the tide and lead his people back to solid moral ground. Unfortunately, his efforts were too little too late. During the reign of Josiah’s son, the army of Babylon captured the city of Jerusalem. It was the first of three Babylonian invasions that would strike Judah over a 20-year period. 

The fact is, prior to Josiah’s ascension to the throne, Judah had already crossed a spiritual line in the sand that had sealed her fate. The people’s sin had mushroomed to such an extent that God’s judgment had to fall upon the nation. Even the godly Josiah could not alter this divine imperative.

In recent years, I’ve wondered if the United States of America has crossed a similar line in the sand. While it is encouraging to know that a growing number of Americans are “pro life,” that doesn’t cleanse our hands of the blood from over 58 million abortions in America since 1973. American churches spend millions of dollars sending missionaries around the world, but American businessmen spend billions peddling pornography around the world. Although many U.S. churches are teaching God’s word and standing firm in the faith, far too many others are caving to societal pressure to be soft on sin and firm on political correctness.

I believe that a major spiritual revival is on the horizon, one that will sweep through churches like wildfire, setting the faith of Christians ablaze and resulting in the conversion of millions across the country. I have been praying for revival for over fifteen years, and I am convinced it’s coming in the near future. Yet I wonder … even if such a revival turns our nation back to God, will it be too little too late? Have we, like Judah, already crossed a spiritual threshold? Will God’s judgment fall upon our country anyway?

If we have not yet passed the point of no return, it’s clear that we are moving in that direction and have no time to lose. Christians must do here in America what God instructed King Solomon to do in ancient Israel. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God laid out a four-step process for ushering in a national spiritual revival.

#1: We must humble ourselves. We have to honestly confess: We have become an arrogant nation. We have banned the Bible from our public schools. We have removed the Ten Commandments from our courthouses, and we have created our own self-serving morality. The first step to usher in revival is to get off our high horse and down on our knees before God.

#2: We must pray. Christians, we need to spend more time praying for our political leaders than we do criticizing them. Pray for them to be humble. Pray for them to bravely stand on the timeless truths of God’s word. Pray for them to be forgiven for their sin and follow Christ as they lead us.

#3: We must seek God’s face. We need to make sure that our prayers are not all about “Gimme, gimme, gimme.” Seeking God’s face involves hungering and thirsting for His presence, not just hungering and thirsting for the stuff His hands can give us.

#4: We must turn from our wicked ways. Without true repentance, there is no forgiveness of sin. And without forgiveness of sin, revival will never come. Repentance is not just a matter of feeling sorry for our sin. Repentance means acting upon our sorrow. It’s not enough to just be sorry Roe vs. Wade was passed; we must work to overturn it. It’s not enough to just be sorry that marriage has been cheapened in our country; we must work to strengthen it. It’s not enough to lament over how godless our public schools have become; we must strive to turn the tide by standing up for our kids’ God-given rights to pray, read Scripture and share their faith at school.

I hold out hope that there are enough Christians in this country who will cry out to God for a revival that will turn the tide. I hold out hope that there are enough people who will boldly proclaim God’s word, humbly repent of our sins, and prayerfully restore a solid moral foundation in our homes, churches, schools and government. If there are, there is great hope for our nation. Won’t you be one of the many who helps pave the way for revival in America?

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship tomorrow at 10 am.

Shed Those Grave Threads!

“You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” – Colossians 3:9-10

When Lazarus walked out of the tomb after being dead for four days, he looked like a mummy all wrapped up in his grave clothes. They were probably dirty and, to put it delicately, must have stunk to high heaven. So, what was the first thing Jesus told Lazarus’s family to do? “Take off the grave clothes, and let him go.” Since Lazarus was no longer dead, he no longer needed his dirty, smelly mummy outfit. He was ready for some fresh, new threads.

The same goes for you and me with our old sinful nature. When we come to Christ, we step out of the tomb and leave our old sins behind: the sexual immorality, impurity, lust, greed, coveting, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language and lies (Colossians 3:5-9). Those are nasty grave clothes that do nothing but shame our Lord and drag us down. As followers of Jesus who have been spiritually raised from the dead, we have no business clinging to our dirty, smelly sin threads. It’s time to put on Jesus’ fresh, new threads.

Paul described our old GRAVE clothes really well in verses 5-9, and he goes on to describe our new GRACE clothes really well in verses 12-17. Just as we layer our physical clothes on a cold day, we need to layer our spiritual clothes in this sinful world we live in. These new clothes have 10 layers for us to put on:

1. Put on compassion. Our hearts have to break for those around us who are dead in their sins and lost without Christ. And our hearts need to break for Christians around us who make dumb choices but are in need of grace and forgiveness.

2. Put on kindness. One of the most beautiful examples of kindness in the Bible is when King David reached out to a crippled man named Mephibosheth and adopted him into his family. Mephibosheth could never repay King David for his kindness, but that didn’t matter to David. Kindness never worries about someone returning the favor.

3. Put on humility. This is a mindset where you don’t think highly of yourself, but you also don’t think poorly of yourself. In fact, you think about yourself very little. As humble Christians, we should think first about Christ, second about each other and third about ourselves. That’s a humble mindset.

4. Put on gentleness. In Paul’s day this word referred to power under control. We have the ability to destroy others with our words and actions, but instead we exercise restraint for the good of others.

5. Put on patience. Remember that two of the sins of our old nature are anger and rage. But as followers of Christ, we are supposed to crucify and bury our short fuses. We are not to be short-tempered. We’re supposed to be long-tempered.

6. Put on forbearance. When Christians around us screw up, we may feel that they deserve our judgment and wrath. But forbearance holds back. There are times when we need to take another Christian to task. But these times are few and far between.

7. Put on forgiveness. Whether it’s your ex-husband or a trusted friend who stabbed you in the back … anyone who’s wronged you needs to be forgiven. Unforgiveness is part of our old, smelly grave clothes. Crucify and bury it. And put on forgiveness in its place. 

8. Put on love. Of all the traits that should distinguish a church and the Christians within it, love should be at the top of the list. It’s nice to be known as friendly. It’s great to be known as kind, patient and forgiving. But the greatest of these descriptions is … loving. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

9. Put on peace. When Christ saves us, Jesus sets us free from three wars that we were engaged in: our war with God, our war with people and our war with ourselves. As followers of the Prince of Peace we can now live at peace with God, at peace with others and at peace with ourselves.

10. Put on thankfulness. God has been so good to us. But it’s so easy to think the way the world thinks—to focus on what He hasn’t done for us. “God didn’t heal my family member who died of cancer. God didn’t restore my broken marriage. God didn’t get me that job.” Oh, friends, God didn’t do many things. But I guarantee you that the things God DID do in your life far outnumber the things that He DIDN’T do. So, you and I must be thankful.

Our Christian life means taking off our old sinful selves and putting on our fresh, new selves which are being conformed to the image of Jesus. So, take off your old grave clothes and put on the brand new clothes of Jesus Christ! We are called to wear these fresh, new threads everywhere—at church, at school, at home and at work.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.

Work Your Way Down the Ladder

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 2:5

In 1871, British author Lewis Carroll published a sequel to his famous book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Early in the book—Through the Looking Glass--Alice steps through her living room mirror and discovers a world that is completely backwards. She tries to move forward, but she ends up back where she started. She tries to go left, and ends up going right. Fast is slow, and down is up.

It’s a funny thing: The Christian life is a lot like Alice’s looking glass world. In Christ’s Kingdom, things work on opposite principles from the world around us. For example, to gain a blessing, Christ calls us to give a blessing. To receive forgiveness, Jesus commands us to extend forgiveness. To grasp the unseen, we must let go of the seen. To gain life, we must give up our lives. To lead well, we must serve well. To be first, we must be last.

One of these powerful, upside down principles is beautifully exemplified by Jesus Himself in Philippians 2:5-11. The principle can be summarized like this: If you want to be honored by God, you must be humble before God.  Humility is the path to greatness. And we need look no further than Jesus Christ to discover the power of this topsy-turvy, upside down principle in action. 

Philippians 2:5-11 has been called the “Mount Everest” among the Bible passages that reveal Jesus’ character. These days it’s common for skeptics to claim that Jesus was just a good teacher or, at best, a prophet. But the second chapter of Philippians sets the record straight. The verses clearly reveal Jesus Christ to be fully God and fully man. He was the God-man. And the process of leaving heaven above to become a human being here below was the single greatest demonstration of humility in the history of the world.

The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 2:6-8 that Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”

These verses begin by revealing that Jesus’ divinity was an ongoing, unchanging reality. Jesus Christ was God. Jesus Christ is God, and Jesus Christ always will be God. Just as surely as your nature is human, Christ’s nature is God. As the years pass by, your appearance may change dramatically. Your hair styles and hair color may change. Your complexion may change. And the amount of trauma your bathroom scale experiences when you step on it may change. But your humanness will never change. Similarly, Jesus’ divine nature has never and will never change. He could never stop being God.

Yet God’s Word tells us that Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” Instead He “made himself nothing.” In other words, although Jesus Christ had all the rights, privileges and honors of being God, He chose to lay them aside for a season. Why would He do such a thing? He did it because He considered your needs as more important than His own needs. He did it because He was looking out for my interests, not for His own interests. Jesus chose not to exploit His rights and privileges as God because He was, in a word, humble.

He temporarily left his cushy home in heaven in order to be born in a sheep stable. While on earth, He momentarily laid aside His face-to-face relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. He surrendered the majority of His power, intellect and transcendence. Clearly, while He walked this sin-cursed earth Jesus was at His absolute weakest. He became the lowest of the low and the servant of the servants. He descended the ladder of success to the lowest rung. And He did it all by choice because of His gracious love for you and me.

Honestly, some of us are pretty low on the ladder of success, but as Jesus stretched out His arms on the cross, He went even lower. He went lower than the blue-collar soldiers who surrounded Him. He went lower than the hypocritical priests who mocked Him. He went lower than the lowlife criminals who hung beside Him. He went lower than the ones who spat in His face, lower than the ones who gambled for His clothes, even lower than the one who betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver.

Why? Simply because he loved us and wanted to spend eternity with us in heaven. Jesus went down low, so that you and I could be lifted up high. Jesus died so that you and I could live. Jesus endured the torment of hell, so that you and I could enjoy the peace and joy of heaven. Jesus went low, so that we could be raised high. The Son of God was, is, and always will be the consummate example of humility. He did nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. He didn’t look out for His own interests but for our interests. And He lovingly turns to us as His followers and says, “Go, and do likewise.”  

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.fccvv.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.

Two Mortal Enemies of the Church

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” – Philippians 2:3

It was a sermon I’ll never forget. Back in the mid ‘90s when I was doing my pastoral internship, my pastor handed me an audio tape of a sermon that a friend of his had preached a few years earlier. What was most noteworthy about the sermon was not the fact that it was unusually short (less than twenty minutes) or biblically sound. What was most striking about the sermon was the fact that the pastor was fired before he could finish it. Since the sermon was being recorded, the whole incident was caught on tape. An elder called out from the crowd, “Please leave the pulpit,” and proceeded to tell the congregation that the pastor would never again preach in their church. It was shocking to say the least.

What on earth happened? Was the pastor preaching heresy? No. Had he been caught in an immoral sin? No. Was he guilty of a dereliction of duty? Once again, no. Sadly, it was because the elder didn’t like what the pastor was teaching about the dangers of division in Christ’s Church. The pastor had correctly identified one of the congregation’s practices as “a beautiful tradition,” not as a non-negotiable gospel truth. The pastor’s words were humble. Unfortunately, the elder’s response was not. And as a result, the worship service didn’t end well.

Of Paul’s thirteen letters in the New Testament, nine were written to churches. And in all nine Paul emphasizes the importance of unity in Christ’s Church. Paul understood well that, according to Jesus, Christian unity is critical. In fact, just a few hours before he was arrested, beaten and crucified, Jesus prayed, “I pray also for those who will believe in me…that all of them may be one…. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved me” (John 17:20-23).

When we consider Jesus’ prayer in John 17, we can’t help but conclude that disunity is one of the most destructive forces in the Church. To a watching world, disunity reflects poorly on Christians. But more tragically, it reflects poorly on Christ. After all, if a raucous group of believers claim to follow the Prince of Peace, unbelievers draw the conclusion that the Prince of Peace must not be all he’s cracked up to be. Disunity in the Church causes both Christ and the gospel message to lose credibility. So, with one voice, the New Testament writers urge Christ’s followers to be united under the banner of Christ.

Of course, it’s easier said than done. It’s one thing to nod our heads in agreement when God’s word says, “Be unified!” But it’s quite another to live it out. Thankfully, in Philippians 2:3, Paul highlights the key to Christian unity while at the same time identifying two mortal enemies of unity in the Church: selfish ambition and vain conceit.

Selfish ambition is an unrelenting pride that pushes its way to the front. Selfish ambition drives us to pursue personal desires and goals over Christ’s desires and goals. And it’s so destructive because selfishness is the root of all other sin. Think about it: It was selfishness (putting his own desires above God’s desires) that led to Lucifer to rebel against God and get kicked out of heaven. And selfish ambition was at the heart of the sin that severed Adam and Eve’s relationship with God. And today selfish ambition is destroying otherwise peaceful relationships between Christians in the Church. Without a doubt, selfish ambition is a mortal enemy of Christian unity.

And so too is vain conceit. Whereas selfish ambition leads us to pursue personal desires and goals over Christ’s desires and goals, vain conceit leads us to seek personal glory over God’s glory. At its heart is an over inflated self-image. A Christian with vain conceit thinks he is always right. And in his conceited mind he believes he is God’s gift to his congregation. He believes he is more valuable, more important and more intelligent than most other Christians. And that being the case, he is seriously deluded. Vain conceit is, by definition, self-deceptive. That’s why Paul writes in Galatians 6:3, “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Yes, vain conceit is self-deceptive. But worse still, it’s a very destructive force in Christ’s Church, spawning disunity where there should be unity.

In Philippians 2:3, Paul also identifies the key to Christian unity: humility. Paul writes, “In humility consider others better than yourselves.” Humility is the key to unity and harmony in any church. Instead of focusing on myself and pushing myself to the top, humility calls for me to focus on you and push you to the top. Instead of being full of vain conceit expecting you to bow your preferences to mine, humility calls for me to bow my preferences to yours. And instead of pridefully considering myself to be more important than you, I should humbly consider you as more important than me.

When a group of Christians is humble, it doesn’t matter how different their cultural backgrounds, personalities or experiences may be. God can unify them and use them in incredible ways as one body contending for the faith of the gospel. Had there been more humility in the room during the fired pastor’s sermon, I’m sure that the service would have had a much better ending. And if you and I are humbly serving each other and putting each others’ needs above our own, is there any doubt that our services will end much better as well?

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.fccvv.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.