Why Is God Humble? The King Who Came in Rags
There’s a scene in The Chronicles of Narnia that’s almost impossible to watch without something rising up in you. Aslan — the lion, the king, the lord of the whole land — is bound and led to the slaughter. They shear off his mane. They hurl insults at him, jab at him, mock him, all the way until they kill him. And the reason it’s so hard to take in is that you know, instinctively, that something is deeply wrong here. This is a kind, merciful, wise king. Kings aren’t supposed to be treated this way.
Pastor Keith Roberson opened with that image at New River Church, and then he named the feeling underneath it. We all carry an expectation of how royalty gets treated. We feel it even in small, funny ways — like the next couple of weeks, when some of us will host family for the holidays and scrub the house until it looks like no one has ever actually lived there. Baseboards cleaned for the first time since COVID. All of it so Aunt Bertilda can walk in and think your home is amazing. If we’ll do that for relatives, imagine what we expect when a king shows up. Ceremony. Regal. Majestic.
So it’s an entire surprise to the world when the King over all kings shows up in rags.
In a message from the SURPRISED series called Humble God — preached in the middle of Advent, one week after the church asked why God came in a manger — Pastor Keith took on the next question: why did God come with no majesty at all? Why did He come to be rejected? And why is God humble in the first place?
What this sermon is about
The answer the sermon lands on is both simple and stunning: Jesus came low, gentle, and despised because that is who He has always been — from eternity past. The humility of God isn’t a costume He put on for thirty-three years. It’s His heart. And it’s precisely that humility that makes Him the one King in all of history who doesn’t say “get out of the way” when He shows up. He says, “Come to me.”
If you’re walking into the holidays heavy — tired, anxious, hurting, unsure where you even stand with God — this message was preached for you.
A king described 700 years before he arrived
Here’s the part that makes the Christmas story so strange. The description of this coming King wasn’t written after the fact. It was spoken roughly 700 years before He ever showed up on the earth — and it reads like the opposite of a royal announcement.
Isaiah 53:2-5 — “He grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief… Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
This isn’t a conquering king with great ceremony and great splendor. It’s the picture of a king in rags. No esteem. Cast down. Not just overlooked — despised. Pastor Keith pressed the point: do you know of any other story, any other actual king, who has ever come this way? In all of history, no one of royalty arrives low on purpose. And yet this King’s lowness was so intentional that God published the description seven centuries in advance.
The question is why.
“Come to me” — the only king who has ever said it
Pastor Keith answered the question with Jesus’s own words.
Matthew 11:28-30 — “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Think about how royalty actually works. Whether you’ve seen it in Hollywood, studied it in history class, or watched a couple episodes of Downton Abbey — when kings show up, you bow. You get out of the way. You don’t make eye contact, because they’re above you. That’s how the world works, in every political system and every religion Pastor Keith said he could think of. Except this one.
This God who is King shows up in the flesh, and His words are not “get out of the way.” His words are come to me. You who are heavy. You who are tired. You who are exhausted. You who find yourself in need. He is the only king in any story who talks like this — and He talks like this because, as He says in the text itself, gentleness and humility are not a strategy. They’re who He is. “I am gentle and lowly in heart.”
“Deities and kings keep people at a distance. The true king says, ‘Come on, bring it all.’ That’s the humility of God.” — Pastor Keith Roberson
And here’s the twist Pastor Keith didn’t let the room miss: that humility is actually why He was rejected. The people were hoping for a king who would show up, exert his force, and fix all the stuff out there. The humility He came with was so stunning, so unexpected, that the world pushed Him aside. He was doing something completely different.
Hidden from the wise, revealed to children
Just a few verses earlier in the same chapter, Jesus explains the design behind all of this.
Matthew 11:25-26 — “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”
That landed with extra weight on a Sunday when the kids of New River had just led the room — and Pastor Keith said out loud what everyone was thinking: kids are amazing because they just run after the Lord. They’re not caked up with a whole bunch of mess in their hearts. They just trust.
That, Jesus says, is the point. He didn’t come with fanfare, ceremony, and “get out of my way” — He came low and said “come to me,” because what He was actually looking for was never sophistication or having life figured out. It was a heart like a child’s. A heart that simply trusts.
There is a day coming, Pastor Keith reminded the church, when the ceremony will be lights-out — when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, and this King will come in full fanfare and glory. But here’s what’s crazy about that day: the people who trusted Him now are invited to sit at the table with Him then, at the wedding supper of the Lamb. Come to Him now, and you will sit with Him then.
“This good news does not advance like earthly kings with heavy-handed, authoritative demand. It comes to us as an invitation to breathe.” — Pastor Keith Roberson
There is no one like this God. No one with this much righteous, glorious authority and this much humility in the same person — saying, don’t stay at a distance. Be part of the family. Let go of the heavy burden. You don’t have to carry it anymore.
The exchange: your heaviness for His righteousness
So what does the humble King actually offer? An exchange. You give Him your burdens, your heaviness, your pain, your sorrow — and in exchange, He gives you rest. The Apostle Paul put the whole transaction in one sentence to the Corinthian church:
2 Corinthians 5:21 — “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Pastor Keith got visibly delighted at this point — joking that the Wizard of Oz had popped into his head and he felt like skipping down the yellow brick road. Because look at what the verse actually says: this morning, you can take on the glory of the infinite God. Your identity, your hope, the promise you carry — His righteousness, given to you.
“You can leave a little light-hearted today. Not because you got the stuff figured out — the stuff is still there — but you are the righteousness of God, and nobody can take that from you.” — Pastor Keith Roberson
He was careful to be honest about what doesn’t change. You still have to cook the turkey. You still have to host the people. The hard stuff relationally, the job situation, the income stress — none of that disappears by noon on Sunday. But your heart can walk out as light as a feather, because the burden has a new owner. He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and with His wounds we are healed.
“He was humbled so you and I could be lifted up. Now, who does that?” — Pastor Keith Roberson
The sermon closed not with a hard push but with a quiet practice. Pastor Keith walked the room through two old church words and un-scared them both. Confess just means agreeing with God that there are things you’d love to fix or control but can’t — and handing Him the one sitting on the forefront of your heart. Repent is actually a gift: turning around and coming back home, free, not holding on any longer. Then, hands open if it helps, you receive — peace, rest, no striving, no ladder to climb. Everything you need, you already have in Him.
What this means for your week in Franklin
If you take this sermon seriously, four things change about this week.
- Notice which king you’ve been expecting. If you’ve been waiting for God to show up with force and fix everything out there, you may miss the King who came low to deal with what’s in here. He tends to arrive in rags, not ceremony.
- Actually bring Him the heavy thing. Not in theory. Name the one thing sitting on the forefront of your heart — the fear, the relationship, the thing you can’t control — and hand it over as an act of worship. That’s all confession is.
- Trust like a kid, not like an expert. These things are hidden from the wise and revealed to children. You don’t need to have your life figured out before you come. The figuring-out posture is the very thing keeping you at a distance.
- Walk into the holidays light-hearted on purpose. The turkey still has to get cooked and the family still shows up — but you can do all of it as someone who carries the righteousness of God. Nobody can take that from you, including Aunt Bertilda.
Watch the full message
The full sermon — “Humble God” from the SURPRISED series — is in the video above. We post a new message every Sunday from New River Church in Franklin, TN. Browse our message library for more from the SURPRISED series and other recent teaching.
Coming Sunday at New River Church in Franklin, TN
If this message resonated and you’d like to experience worship and community in person, we’d love to have you with us. New River Church meets Sundays at 9:00 AM and 10:45 AM at 1153 Lewisburg Pike in Franklin, TN 37064 — just minutes from downtown Franklin and easy to reach from across Williamson County, Brentwood, and Spring Hill.
You don’t need to dress up. You don’t need a good voice. You don’t need to know much about church or the Bible to come. We’re a community of ordinary people walking through ordinary life, trying to do it together with Jesus at the center. Whether you’ve been a Christian for forty years or you’ve never set foot in a church, you are welcome here.
If you’re new to the area or new to faith, our First Time Guest page walks through everything you need to know before your first visit: parking, what to expect on Sunday morning, what your kids will experience in River Kids, and how to find us when you arrive.
If you’re looking for deeper community beyond Sunday morning, our Community Groups meet across Franklin and the surrounding area throughout the week. Groups are where Sunday morning faith becomes Tuesday afternoon real life.
Whatever you’re carrying right now, you don’t have to carry it alone. There’s a place for you at New River Church in Franklin, Tennessee. Come as you are.
Watch more sermons: newriverfranklin.com/messages Plan your visit: newriverfranklin.com/firsttimeguest Find a group: newriverfranklin.com/groups
📍 New River Church | 1153 Lewisburg Pike, Franklin, TN 37064 | Sundays 9:00 AM & 10:45 AM
