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LOWLINESS, HOLINESS, AND LOVE

Julie wants it done one way, Tricia the exact opposite way. Back in the 1960s Nixons didn’t get along much with Kennedys; now it seems that they can’t even get along with each other. The Bible recommends a spirit of “lowliness” in dealing with a stubborn brother or sister, but how?

Maybe you remember one of the middle verses to the beautiful gospel song, “No, Not One,” written back in 1895 by Johnson Oatman, Jr. It goes like this:

No friend like Him is so high and holy; No, not one! No, not one! And yet no friend is so meek and lowly. No, not one! No, not one!

That plays, of course, off Jesus’ own words about Himself, found in Matthew 11:29:

“Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.”

The NIV says “humble in heart,” meaning the same thing.

But do you know something? Deep down, I think most of us are happy to leave the lowliness to Jesus. “That’s fine,” we say. “Jesus, You go right ahead and be lowly; that’s Your specialty. Dying on a cross; letting people beat You up. But me — I’ve got planes to catch and Internet stock deals to pursue. You be lowly and holy; I’ll be grabby and back-stabby . . . and we’ll see who inherits more of the earth in the end.”

There was a tragic little story in the Los Angeles Times back in mid-March, 2002. A Miami millionaire named Bebe Rebozo, was, for 40 years, essentially the closest friend and confidant of the late President Richard Nixon. It was “a friendship that both men said was steeped more in their love for a good steak than in politics,” writes Scott Martelle, and you trivia buffs will remember that Rebozo was with his friend when Nixon resigned back in 1974.

Well, when Rebozo passed away back in 1998, he left something like $19 million — more than half of his entire estate — to the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California. But now, four years later, something like $12 million of that money was in limbo because the two Nixon daughters, Tricia Cox and Julie Eisenhower, couldn’t agree on whether the Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation “should be operated by the family or by an independent board of directors.” Julie favored the independent board, while her older sister wanted the family to be more involved. Before the dust settled, there were legal briefs filed in Orange County, California, and also in Miami. Essentially, the two daughters, just two years apart in age, are suing each other in the public courts of law, and the team of staff writers for the Times described the situation as “a hopeless stalemate that threatened to deprive the library of millions of dollars.” In other words, legal fees alone could eat up the trust if the two Nixon women couldn’t come to terms. One director of the library put it very bluntly: “There’s a complete estrangement between the sisters.”

Isn’t that sad? So many people, even Christians, fight over money because there IS no money, but here there’s an entire yacht-ful of cold cash, and they still can’t agree. What’s more, here are two high-profile women, both well versed in the political art of compromise, of striking deals, of realizing that half a loaf is better than none. And apparently neither one was willing to consider this biblical word: lowly.

Yesterday we just kind of nudged up against four hard words here in Ephesians 4:2, and right now we want to put all partisan thoughts out of our minds — Republicans and Democrats alike — and prayerfully think about them in more detail. First, here’s that verse again:

“With all LOWLINESS and MEEKNESS, with LONGSUFFERING, FORBEARING one another in love.”

In the NIV the list runs like this: 1. Humble. 2. Gentle. 3. Patient. And 4. Bearing with one another.

Right away, let me say a kind word about the Nixon sisters, because did you know that “lowliness” has pretty much been a bad word, almost a curse word, since time immemorial? Cain didn’t like it, Nimrod — the builder of the tower of Babel — didn’t like it, King Saul — remember how David had killed tens of thousands to his single thousand — didn’t like it. In fact, here’s an interesting Greek lesson from the Tyndale New Testament Commentary:

“The life worthy of the calling of God is a life in the fellowship of the people of God,” writes Francis Foulkes, “and if this is to be maintained these four virtues are vital. The first, emphasized by the characteristic all, is lowliness.”

Remember that Paul, in the King James, begins: “With ALL lowliness and meekness,” etc. Dr. Foulkes continues, and this is so interesting:

“Very significantly, the Greek noun tapeinophrosune does not seem to have been used before New Testament times, and the corresponding adjective tapeinos nearly always had a bad meaning, and was associated with words with the sense of slavish, mean, ignoble.” He then adds this little P.S.: “To the Greeks humility was NOT a virtue!”

Well, friend, how much has changed in 2000 years? We have an incredible book here in our office, written by Bill Hybels and Rob Wilkins, entitled Descending Into Greatness. Let me ask you: is the idea of DESCENDING into greatness popular today? Was that the hot slogan at Enron? Is putting others first, is being lowly, how people get to be President around here? Right in chapter one of their book, Hybels and Wilkins say this:

“In the vocabulary of the world, ‘down’ is a word reserved for losers, cowards, and the bear market. It is a word to be avoided or ignored, and certainly not discussed seriously, especially in polite company. It is a word that colors whatever it touches, even the otherwise proper company of words that it keeps: down and out, downfall, downscale, downhill, downhearted, and, worst of all, down under. A word, it seems, only on the unfortunate lips of the weak, the poor, or the dead.”

So this concept of LOWLINESS is a tough sell. It was tough in the Old Testament, it was virtually impossible in the New Testament, and there’s no great popular rush to embrace it today. We found a devastating soundbite in the Adventist commentary in exploring this killer verse two:

“The command to walk with all lowliness is a hard saying to the unconverted heart, for it runs counter to every natural impulse of the human spirit.”

Is that also true for the Christian? Back to the Tyndale commentary, and the author makes this assertion:

“IN CHRIST lowliness became a virtue. His life and death were service and sacrifice without thought of reputation.” Philippians 2 is huge on that point; read it for yourself. Dr. Foulkes continues: “Because the Christian is called to follow in His steps, humility has an irreplaceable part in the Christian character, and also for the reason that he has been brought to see the greatness and glory and holiness of God, so that he cannot but be overwhelmed by the realization of his own weakness and sinfulness.”

The Tyndale commentary also gives us a good Greek lesson for that second word, meekness. It comes from prautes, or perhaps the adjective praos, which, interestingly, is a word from the farm. An animal that has been “meeked” has been tamed, brought under control. It might be a strong, powerful horse or ox or donkey, but that strength and power has been submitted to a higher power. James 1:21 instructs us to submit or receive “with meekness” the “engrafted word,” which is an interesting way to describe the Bible. But we’re also told to be meek regarding our brothers and sisters in the Lord. We’re supposed to instruct each other “in meekness” — and friend, I certainly hope and pray that this radio ministry broadcasts in that quiet, submissive spirit at ALL times; I mean that. Certainly all of us would want, most of all, to be meek before the Lord. To say, along with Jesus in Gethsemane, “Father, not my will, but Yours be done.” Interestingly — and who could argue the point? — these good Bible commentaries suggest that you can’t really BE meek unless you’re lowly first. Have you ever thought about that? We don’t willingly submit to another power, even the great God of the universe, unless we have quietly put ourselves into a position of humble, lowly worship.

What’s word #3, as we keep on borrowing from the Tyndale descriptions?

“Thirdly, there is longsuffering (makrothumia),” writes the author, “a word sometimes used of steadfast endurance of suffering or misfortune” – the Apostle Paul would know all about that – “but more often, as is the case here, of slowness in avenging wrong or retaliating when hurt by another. It is used of God’s patience with men, and the corresponding and consequent quality that the Christian should show towards others.”

That’s a heavy thought right at the end, and thanks to the Tyndale writers for that closing thought — that God Himself has shown incredible patience with this sorry old world. Here’s how they put it:

“[Longsuffering]” — our fourth virtue — “is a DIVINE quality that God has exhibited throughout the millenniums of the sinful rebellion of angels and men, and it comes to man as a fruit of the Spirit. The word is frequently used to describe divine patience.”

Well, friend, time is up — and this is a heavy list: lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance. Any one of those would be hard, and heaven gives us four. But two words here in verse 2 set it all straight: “In love.” Only “in love” can this happen.

“Love is the basic attitude of seeking the highest good of others,” writes Dr. Foulkes, “and it will therefore lead to all these qualities and include them all.”