To say that Jesus defied the expectations of the Jews would be anunderstatement...roughly equivalent to saying that the sun is hot.Jesus was not at all who the Jews were looking for.What they wanted was a well-heeled blue blood. What they got was the “illegitimate”son a poor carpenter.What they wanted was a king who would triumphantly march into Jerusalem on hisroyal steed and reclaim the holy city from the barbaric Romans. What they got was aking who made His royal ascent into Jerusalem on a donkey and was subsequentlynailed to a cross.What they wanted was a Messiah who would trumpet their piety and condemn thefilthiness of everyone around them. What they got was a Messiah who verbally floggedthem for their self-righteous hypocrisy and praised the faith of the “sinners.”Jesus was not who the Jews were looking for simply because they were not who Jesuswas looking for.~~~And the same might be said of us.If the “foolishness” of the gospel (1 Corinthians 

-25) still seems a bit backward to us,it’s likely because we’re still operating from human wisdom.If what we’re looking for is a Christianity that extols what we so often hold dear...selfconfidence,self-assurance, and self-reliance...we’re destined for eternal disappointment.Because it simply doesn’t exist.While humanity praises the self-confident, Jesus praises the meek (Matthew 5:5).While humanity glorifies the self-assured, Jesus glorifies the poor in spirit (Matthew5:3).While humanity commends the self-reliant, Jesus commends the God-dependent(Matthew 6:25-34).HumilityThere is hardly a more central concept to Christianity than humility. It is at the veryheart and soul of everything that Jesus taught.To speak of a “proud Christian” is to speak of an impossibility. A person can be one orthe other, but not both. Pride and Christianity are mutually exclusive.To speak of a “humble Christian” is to speak redundantly. A person cannot be aChristian without being humble. Humility is inherent in Christianity.Not surprisingly then, Scripture speaks often and favorably of humility and those whopossess it:• Psalm 18:27: “For you will save the humble people, but will bring down the haughtylooks.” (NKJV)• Psalm 25:9: “The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches Hisway.” (NKJV)• Psalm 147:6: “The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to theground.” (NKJV)• Psalm 149:4: “For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humblewith salvation.” (NKJV)• Proverbs 3:34: “Surely He scorns the scornful but gives grace to the humble.” (NKJV)• Proverbs 15:33: “The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor ishumility.” (NKJV)• Proverbs 22:4: “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor andlife.” (NKJV)• James 4:6: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (NKJV)• James 4:10: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift youup.” (NKJV)Jesus and HumilityIf Christ proclaimed the virtue of humility and commanded His followers to becharacterized by it, we should find conclusive evidence that Christ exemplified this traitin His own life.

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At it's heart, this material is a study of the character of a godly individual. This should come as no surprise, since nearly all Bible study, at least in some respect, is a character study of the godly individual. One of the more fascinating qualities about the study of godliness, though, is its adaptability to a variety of study approaches. Only the base subjects of this life can be exhausted through a simple study that stems from one perspective. The more robust a subject is, the more times it can be studied and the more perspectives it can be looked at from...all without exhausting the subject.Take, for example, the kingdom of Heaven. In Matthew 13 alone, Jesus tells 6 parables, all of which start with, "The kingdom of Heaven is like...". The kingdom of Heaven is not a topic that can be described adequately with one analogy, one approach. In fact, were Jesus to have told a thousand parables about the kingdom of Heaven, He would not have said all there was to say about the topic, because its very essence surpasses our human comprehension.Godliness is similar in that it can withstand scrutiny from multiple perspectives. One can spend a lifetime--and indeed many have--studying what a Godly character looks like and still not learn every detail.