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00:01 Let’s discuss the theme 00:03 “Imitate Jesus in Showing Favor to Lowly Ones.” 00:08 Now, open up to Proverbs, please, chapter 19. 00:12 And here’s a beautiful proverb 00:14 in harmony with this theme, Proverbs 19:17. 00:18 It says: “The one showing favor to the lowly 00:22 “is lending to Jehovah, 00:26 and He [Jehovah] will repay him for what he does.” 00:31 Well, that’s a beautiful thought, isn’t it? We’re going to ‘lend to Jehovah.’ 00:36 The Hebrew word for “lowly” 00:39 literally means “thin,” “lean,” or “slender.” 00:42 So it’s someone who is weak 00:45 due to maybe some depressing circumstance 00:49 —poverty or illness. 00:52 The English word “lowly” means “bent low.” 00:56 And there’s a heavy weight on their back. 00:59 They need help; they are lowly. 01:02 And if you think about it, all of us are lowly at times, aren’t we? 01:05 There are times there’s a heavy weight on our back, and we’re bent low. 01:09 And, of course, we know that Jesus set the perfect example 01:14 in showing favor to lowly ones. 01:17 But now, here’s a question: What qualities enabled him to do so? 01:21 Well, let’s discuss three. 01:23 And those same three qualities will put us in a position 01:27 to show this favor to lowly ones 01:30 and lend to Jehovah. 01:32 Number one: compassion. 01:35 Now, compassion is defined in the Insight book 01:38 as ‘a sympathetic awareness of another’s suffering 01:42 coupled with a desire to alleviate that suffering.’ 01:47 So in other words, we’re keenly aware of someone’s suffering, 01:51 and we want to do something about it to alleviate it. 01:55 Open up to Mark chapter 6, please. 01:58 Now, here’s a beautiful example of Jesus showing compassion. 02:02 Mark 6, and please, let’s read verse 34. 02:08 It says: “Well, on getting out [of the boat], 02:12 “he saw a large crowd, 02:15 “and he was moved with pity for them, 02:19 “because they were as sheep without a shepherd. 02:22 And he started to teach them many things.” 02:26 Now let’s think about the circumstances. 02:28 Jesus was very tired. 02:31 He really needed some quiet time, some downtime. 02:34 He didn’t even have time to eat a meal in peace. 02:36 So he gets in a boat, he goes to an isolated area, 02:41 but a crowd of thousands of people found out where he was going. 02:46 They got there ahead of him. 02:47 Now, when Jesus got out of the boat, how could he have reacted? 02:52 He could have immediately dismissed that crowd 02:55 or maybe made an appointment with them. 02:57 “Now, come back tomorrow, this same time tomorrow, 03:00 and then I’ll help you.” 03:02 Or he could have maybe spent 10 or 15 minutes with them, 03:05 taught them a few things —flipped them a few spiritual tidbits, 03:09 we could say —and then sent them on their way. 03:12 But, no! 03:13 Pity and compassion moved him to teach them many things. 03:17 And apparently several hours were involved 03:20 because the account says that while he was teaching them, 03:24 ‘the hour grew late.’ 03:27 In fact, he even fed them physically 03:30 before he sent them on their way. 03:32 But, what was it that moved him to do this? 03:34 Compassion. 03:36 So similarly, compassion will move us 03:39 to extend favor to the lowly. 03:41 If we don’t have this right feeling toward them, 03:44 we might not even notice the suffering they’re experiencing 03:47 and we’re certainly not going to be moved to do anything about it. 03:51 But compassion will move us to visit them, console them, 03:58 provide transportation, give them a gift 04:02 —whatever it takes to show favor to these lowly ones. 04:06 But now let’s get our second quality: humility. 04:09 Please go to Philippians chapter 2. 04:13 Philippians chapter 2, 04:16 and here’s a beautiful scripture talking about Jesus’ humility. 04:21 Beginning in verse 5, it says: 04:24 “Keep this mental attitude in you 04:29 “that was also in Christ Jesus, 04:31 “who, although he was existing in God’s form, 04:35 “gave no consideration to a seizure, 04:38 “namely, that he should be equal to God. 04:41 “No, but he emptied himself 04:43 “and took a slave’s form and became human. 04:46 “More than that, when he came as a man, 04:49 “he humbled himself 04:51 “and became obedient to the point of death, 04:54 yes, death on a torture stake.” 04:57 Now, first, contemplate the humility it took 05:01 for Jesus to empty himself 05:04 of his glorious heavenly body, 05:08 his lofty heavenly home, his privileges, his position. 05:12 But then when he got here on the earth, 05:15 think of the humility as he dealt with the lowly, 05:20 diseased, dying offspring of Adam. 05:23 Now, think about it. 05:24 He was the only perfect person on the planet. 05:27 He could’ve become hypercritical, couldn’t he? 05:30 Comparing how perfect he was 05:32 with how imperfect everybody else was. 05:35 He could’ve really put people down, but instead, 05:38 he slaved for, ministered to, taught, washed the feet 05:43 of these lowly offspring of Adam, 05:46 treating them, in effect, as though they were superior to himself. 05:50 Now, to appreciate, perhaps, a little better 05:53 this humility of Jesus 05:55 —and this really doesn’t do the job, this illustration, but it may help— 05:59 imagine that you are confined 06:03 to a home, or institution, 06:07 for mentally handicapped individuals. 06:10 Now, you’re not mentally handicapped, but you’re confined 06:13 to this home, this institution, where these ones are cared for. 06:16 Now, it would be very easy to develop 06:19 a superiority attitude toward the other residents. 06:23 But, can you imagine slaving for them, 06:26 serving them, ministering to them, washing their feet? 06:31 Now, that would take humility, wouldn’t it? 06:33 And perhaps that does illustrate a little bit 06:36 the humility of this perfect man —uniquely perfect— 06:40 dealing with the handicapped offspring of Adam. 06:44 Well, that same quality of humility 06:47 will move us to perform 06:50 humble, down-to-earth tasks 06:52 in behalf of these ones 06:55 that may be more disadvantaged than we are, at least right now, 06:58 to show them this favor. 07:00 These ones that are experiencing poverty, 07:02 weakness—they’re bent low 07:05 by some depressing circumstance. 07:08 Well, let’s get one more quality: approachability. 07:12 Now, what do you think of when you think of approachability? 07:16 Well, the dictionary defines it this way: 07:18 “Possible to approach, accessible, 07:22 easy to talk to, or deal with, friendly.” 07:26 Open up to Mark chapter 10, please, 07:29 and here’s a scripture 07:32 that talks about this approachability of Jesus. 07:35 He attracted people of all different backgrounds to himself. 07:39 Mark chapter 10, 07:41 and just looking at some of these verses, look at verse 1: 07:44 “Crowds gathered to him.” 07:46 Verse 2, the Pharisees felt free to approach. 07:50 Look at verse 10, 07:52 the disciples approached him and “began to question him.” 07:55 Verse 13, people brought their “young children.” 07:59 Verse 17, 08:01 “a man ran up and fell” at Jesus. 08:05 Well, here you have, in those five verses, 08:08 crowds, the Pharisees, 08:11 Jesus’ disciples, parents with their little children, 08:15 just a stranger—a man. 08:17 Jesus certainly was approachable to people. 08:21 See, it was obvious that his accessibility 08:24 but also undoubtedly his countenance 08:28 —his friendly facial expressions— 08:31 made him appear not too busy for people. 08:35 But they felt free to approach him. 08:37 Well, similarly, we should do our best 08:40 to develop this godly quality. 08:42 Now, it’s true we’re limited and we’re imperfect. 08:45 But we should do our best to try to appear accessible, 08:50 not always too busy for others. 08:53 We should strive to maintain warm, joyful, 08:56 friendly facial expressions, 09:00 so that we appear accessible to people. 09:03 And then, as they approach, we can show them favor, 09:06 and we can lend to Jehovah. 09:09 Well, there we have three qualities that will help us. 09:11 Did you get them? 09:13 We talked about compassion, 09:16 humility, and approachability. 09:20 And how are we going to benefit if we show this favor to lowly ones? 09:25 Well, Psalm 41:1 says: 09:28 “Happy is anyone who shows consideration to the lowly.” 09:31 So Jehovah says, “You’re going to be happy.” 09:33 And then it goes on to say: 09:35 “Jehovah will rescue him in the day of calamity.” 09:39 And that applies to calamities now 09:41 and the big calamity—the great tribulation. 09:44 And then, remember that scripture we read at the beginning, 09:48 Proverbs 19:17. 09:50 When we show “favor to the lowly,” 09:53 we’re “lending to Jehovah.” 09:55 And if we do that 09:58 —we give to these lowly ones, not expecting anything in return— 10:03 Jehovah views it as a loan made to Him. 10:06 And he’s going to repay that loan with favor and blessings.
00:01 Let’s discuss the theme 00:03 “Imitate Jesus in Showing Favor to Lowly Ones.” 00:08 Now, open up to Proverbs, please, chapter 19. 00:12 And here’s a beautiful proverb 00:14 in harmony with this theme, Proverbs 19:17. 00:18 It says: “The one showing favor to the lowly 00:22 “is lending to Jehovah, 00:26 and He [Jehovah] will repay him for what he does.” 00:31 Well, that’s a beautiful thought, isn’t it? We’re going to ‘lend to Jehovah.’ 00:36 The Hebrew word for “lowly” 00:39 literally means “thin,” “lean,” or “slender.” 00:42 So it’s someone who is weak 00:45 due to maybe some depressing circumstance 00:49 —poverty or illness. 00:52 The English word “lowly” means “bent low.” 00:56 And there’s a heavy weight on their back. 00:59 They need help; they are lowly. 01:02 And if you think about it, all of us are lowly at times, aren’t we? 01:05 There are times there’s a heavy weight on our back, and we’re bent low. 01:09 And, of course, we know that Jesus set the perfect example 01:14 in showing favor to lowly ones. 01:17 But now, here’s a question: What qualities enabled him to do so? 01:21 Well, let’s discuss three. 01:23 And those same three qualities will put us in a position 01:27 to show this favor to lowly ones 01:30 and lend to Jehovah. 01:32 Number one: compassion. 01:35 Now, compassion is defined in the Insight book 01:38 as ‘a sympathetic awareness of another’s suffering 01:42 coupled with a desire to alleviate that suffering.’ 01:47 So in other words, we’re keenly aware of someone’s suffering, 01:51 and we want to do something about it to alleviate it. 01:55 Open up to Mark chapter 6, please. 01:58 Now, here’s a beautiful example of Jesus showing compassion. 02:02 Mark 6, and please, let’s read verse 34. 02:08 It says: “Well, on getting out [of the boat], 02:12 “he saw a large crowd, 02:15 “and he was moved with pity for them, 02:19 “because they were as sheep without a shepherd. 02:22 And he started to teach them many things.” 02:26 Now let’s think about the circumstances. 02:28 Jesus was very tired. 02:31 He really needed some quiet time, some downtime. 02:34 He didn’t even have time to eat a meal in peace. 02:36 So he gets in a boat, he goes to an isolated area, 02:41 but a crowd of thousands of people found out where he was going. 02:46 They got there ahead of him. 02:47 Now, when Jesus got out of the boat, how could he have reacted? 02:52 He could have immediately dismissed that crowd 02:55 or maybe made an appointment with them. 02:57 “Now, come back tomorrow, this same time tomorrow, 03:00 and then I’ll help you.” 03:02 Or he could have maybe spent 10 or 15 minutes with them, 03:05 taught them a few things —flipped them a few spiritual tidbits, 03:09 we could say —and then sent them on their way. 03:12 But, no! 03:13 Pity and compassion moved him to teach them many things. 03:17 And apparently several hours were involved 03:20 because the account says that while he was teaching them, 03:24 ‘the hour grew late.’ 03:27 In fact, he even fed them physically 03:30 before he sent them on their way. 03:32 But, what was it that moved him to do this? 03:34 Compassion. 03:36 So similarly, compassion will move us 03:39 to extend favor to the lowly. 03:41 If we don’t have this right feeling toward them, 03:44 we might not even notice the suffering they’re experiencing 03:47 and we’re certainly not going to be moved to do anything about it. 03:51 But compassion will move us to visit them, console them, 03:58 provide transportation, give them a gift 04:02 —whatever it takes to show favor to these lowly ones. 04:06 But now let’s get our second quality: humility. 04:09 Please go to Philippians chapter 2. 04:13 Philippians chapter 2, 04:16 and here’s a beautiful scripture talking about Jesus’ humility. 04:21 Beginning in verse 5, it says: 04:24 “Keep this mental attitude in you 04:29 “that was also in Christ Jesus, 04:31 “who, although he was existing in God’s form, 04:35 “gave no consideration to a seizure, 04:38 “namely, that he should be equal to God. 04:41 “No, but he emptied himself 04:43 “and took a slave’s form and became human. 04:46 “More than that, when he came as a man, 04:49 “he humbled himself 04:51 “and became obedient to the point of death, 04:54 yes, death on a torture stake.” 04:57 Now, first, contemplate the humility it took 05:01 for Jesus to empty himself 05:04 of his glorious heavenly body, 05:08 his lofty heavenly home, his privileges, his position. 05:12 But then when he got here on the earth, 05:15 think of the humility as he dealt with the lowly, 05:20 diseased, dying offspring of Adam. 05:23 Now, think about it. 05:24 He was the only perfect person on the planet. 05:27 He could’ve become hypercritical, couldn’t he? 05:30 Comparing how perfect he was 05:32 with how imperfect everybody else was. 05:35 He could’ve really put people down, but instead, 05:38 he slaved for, ministered to, taught, washed the feet 05:43 of these lowly offspring of Adam, 05:46 treating them, in effect, as though they were superior to himself. 05:50 Now, to appreciate, perhaps, a little better 05:53 this humility of Jesus 05:55 —and this really doesn’t do the job, this illustration, but it may help— 05:59 imagine that you are confined 06:03 to a home, or institution, 06:07 for mentally handicapped individuals. 06:10 Now, you’re not mentally handicapped, but you’re confined 06:13 to this home, this institution, where these ones are cared for. 06:16 Now, it would be very easy to develop 06:19 a superiority attitude toward the other residents. 06:23 But, can you imagine slaving for them, 06:26 serving them, ministering to them, washing their feet? 06:31 Now, that would take humility, wouldn’t it? 06:33 And perhaps that does illustrate a little bit 06:36 the humility of this perfect man —uniquely perfect— 06:40 dealing with the handicapped offspring of Adam. 06:44 Well, that same quality of humility 06:47 will move us to perform 06:50 humble, down-to-earth tasks 06:52 in behalf of these ones 06:55 that may be more disadvantaged than we are, at least right now, 06:58 to show them this favor. 07:00 These ones that are experiencing poverty, 07:02 weakness—they’re bent low 07:05 by some depressing circumstance. 07:08 Well, let’s get one more quality: approachability. 07:12 Now, what do you think of when you think of approachability? 07:16 Well, the dictionary defines it this way: 07:18 “Possible to approach, accessible, 07:22 easy to talk to, or deal with, friendly.” 07:26 Open up to Mark chapter 10, please, 07:29 and here’s a scripture 07:32 that talks about this approachability of Jesus. 07:35 He attracted people of all different backgrounds to himself. 07:39 Mark chapter 10, 07:41 and just looking at some of these verses, look at verse 1: 07:44 “Crowds gathered to him.” 07:46 Verse 2, the Pharisees felt free to approach. 07:50 Look at verse 10, 07:52 the disciples approached him and “began to question him.” 07:55 Verse 13, people brought their “young children.” 07:59 Verse 17, 08:01 “a man ran up and fell” at Jesus. 08:05 Well, here you have, in those five verses, 08:08 crowds, the Pharisees, 08:11 Jesus’ disciples, parents with their little children, 08:15 just a stranger—a man. 08:17 Jesus certainly was approachable to people. 08:21 See, it was obvious that his accessibility 08:24 but also undoubtedly his countenance 08:28 —his friendly facial expressions— 08:31 made him appear not too busy for people. 08:35 But they felt free to approach him. 08:37 Well, similarly, we should do our best 08:40 to develop this godly quality. 08:42 Now, it’s true we’re limited and we’re imperfect. 08:45 But we should do our best to try to appear accessible, 08:50 not always too busy for others. 08:53 We should strive to maintain warm, joyful, 08:56 friendly facial expressions, 09:00 so that we appear accessible to people. 09:03 And then, as they approach, we can show them favor, 09:06 and we can lend to Jehovah. 09:09 Well, there we have three qualities that will help us. 09:11 Did you get them? 09:13 We talked about compassion, 09:16 humility, and approachability. 09:20 And how are we going to benefit if we show this favor to lowly ones? 09:25 Well, Psalm 41:1 says: 09:28 “Happy is anyone who shows consideration to the lowly.” 09:31 So Jehovah says, “You’re going to be happy.” 09:33 And then it goes on to say: 09:35 “Jehovah will rescue him in the day of calamity.” 09:39 And that applies to calamities now 09:41 and the big calamity—the great tribulation. 09:44 And then, remember that scripture we read at the beginning, 09:48 Proverbs 19:17. 09:50 When we show “favor to the lowly,” 09:53 we’re “lending to Jehovah.” 09:55 And if we do that 09:58 —we give to these lowly ones, not expecting anything in return— 10:03 Jehovah views it as a loan made to Him. 10:06 And he’s going to repay that loan with favor and blessings.
