Be Humble in Spirit

TEXT: Luke 14:7-17; Matthew 6:1-4

OBJECTIVE

The students will be able to explain that honoring others before ourselves is what God expects of His followers. They will be able to relate what pride is and some ways that it might be evidenced. They will realize that God's Word warns us against being proud.

BIBLE LESSON OUTLINE

Introduction: Reproduce and mount a set of the proud and humble faces as described under Preschool Suggestions. (The patterns for these faces are provided.) Ask your students to describe what kind of person each of these faces represents. Which kind of person do they like to be around? Tell them that in our Bible story today Jesus told which kind of person He wants us to be.

1. Jesus rebuked pride and self-exaltation, and warned His listeners of place-seeking.
2. Jesus said that people should choose a low position for themselves rather than a high one, using rooms at a wedding as an example.
3. Jesus told the host at the dinner that the poor should be invited to feasts rather than rich friends and kinsmen.
4. God will not reward acts of benevolence that are done to be seen of men. He sees all and will bless what is done in secret.

Climax: God wants us to be humble, to put others first and not to exalt ourselves.

Conclusion: Pride is something to be guarded against. Place-seeking and doing alms to be seen of men was denounced by the Lord.

Response: The students can explain that God expects us to honor others before ourselves. They will be able to tell what pride is and ways it is evidenced. They will realize that God's Word warns us about being proud.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In James 4:6 we read, "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." God hates pride. According to many theologians, that is what caused Satan to be cast out of Heaven. Satan appealed to Eve's ego when he told her that the forbidden fruit on the tree in the midst of the Garden would make her wise (Genesis 3:6). The idea so tempted Eve that she disobeyed God and ate of the fruit. From that time on, pride has been found in the hearts of mankind and unless repented of, will bring certain judgment.

There are examples in the Old Testament of those whose pride brought them to destruction. Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice ... ?" (Exodus 5:2). Pharaoh's pride brought about the ruin of the country of Egypt as well as judgment on Pharaoh himself. Absalom, the son of David, became proud and sought to take the kingdom from his father. When his army was engaged in battle with the army of David, Absalom's army was defeated. Absalom rode upon a mule which carried him under a tree. The hair of his head caught on a branch and he was left hanging. David's captain of the host found out about it and came there and slew him. Haman, who was next to King Ahasuerus, was another very proud man. Because Mordecai would not bow to him, Haman planned to destroy all the Jews and hang Mordecai on a gallows. The Jews were spared and Haman was hung on his own gallows. Nebuchadnezzar also learned that God is able to abase those who walk pridefully. He said, "Is not this great Babylon that I have builded?" But the same hour God took his reason from him and he became like an animal and ate grass like an ox. Fortunately, he was able to learn from this lesson, and after seven years his sanity returned and he praised the God of Heaven.

IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES

• Have a Humble/Proud scavenger hunt for the students. Prepare enough proud and humble faces, each drawn on 3" circles, so that there will be one of each kind for every student (see Patterns). On the back of each humble face write Bible verses concerning humility or write some good sayings, such as: Be humble; Love everyone; Care for each other; Share what you have; Do good to all people. On the back of the proud faces write Bible verses concerning pride or write descriptions of behaviors that are not so good, such as: Don't share; Only like rich people; Don't obey your parents; Only think of yourself. Hide these around your class area and at the beginning of your class time have the children search for them. When all the faces have been found, have the students read what is written on them then put them in two separate piles. Divide the pile of humble faces between your students. Throw the proud pile away!
• Make a Humble Wheel from construction paper (see Patterns). Use a paper fastener to secure the two parts of the wheel together. Children could color the pictures on the wheel. Explain each picture in the wheel to the class.
• Make a set of flashcards of opposite things (see Patterns). Show the children the up/down, day/night, etc., cards and tell how some opposites are okay and sometimes even needed. We can use all of them for good. But with some opposites we need to choose between good and bad; for instance, in our attitudes. Pride and humility are opposite attitudes. Which should we choose?

QUESTIONS

1. What does it mean to have pride?
2. How can pride affect the way people feel about you?
3. How can someone feel happy and pleased and yet not feel proud?
4. God wants us to be humble. Tell some ways a person can be humble.
5. When we choose our friends, should they all be rich, popular, and nice looking? How would God have us choose our friends?
6. How does God feel about our bragging about things we do for Him?
7. Tell of a time when someone did something for you and you never knew who it was.
8. Talk about how when we work for God, we are not interested in having everyone know we are doing this. We just want people to know that God cares for them.

PRE-SCHOOL SUGGESTIONS

• For each child prepare a set of the proud and humble faces (see Patterns). Photocopy the faces onto heavy paper and cut them out. There are three ways to use these: Make paint-stick puppets by gluing a paint stick to the back of each face. Make paper bag puppets by cutting the faces in half across the mouth and attaching them to a paper bag so they can "talk." Or, make masks by cutting out the holes for the eyes and attaching string to the sides of the faces (be sure to reinforce the string holes so the string won't tear the paper).
• Make a pair of spoon puppets for each child. On the convex side of wooden .or plastic spoons draw proud and humble faces. You can add yarn hair and tie cloth or a bow around the "neck" to dress up the spoon puppets. As you tell some present-day situations illustrating proud and humble behavior, have the students hold up the appropriate proud or humble puppet.

REVIEW IDEAS‍

Have a skit showing children in line for lunch. One child keeps elbowing to the front of the line, using different excuses. He claims to be taller, bigger, smarter, better dressed, have better grades, is a better catcher, etc. Finally he gets to the front of the line, but the teacher has him hold the door for the rest so he is last after all!

Discuss opposites with the children, using enlargements of the patterns given for opposites flash cards under In-Class Activities. Show them one picture and have them guess what the opposite will be. After showing the proud/humble pictures, discuss situations which might show if a person is proud or humble.

Make two hearts which open up like pockets. Write HUMBLE on one heart and PROUD on the other. Write words on pieces of paper which apply to each type and put into appropriate hearts. Cut out some sin-spot pieces of paper and put into the proud heart. Put a picture of Jesus into the humble heart. Show the hearts to the children and, one at a time, take out the slips of paper and read something about that type of person. Last of all show the sin-spots and Jesus, to show children why each heart is different.