Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: humiliation, mortification, chagrin, ignominy, loss of face, shamefacedness, embarrassment, indignity, abashment, discomfort, discomfiture, discomposure, guilt, remorse, contrition, compunction, disgrace, dishonour, discredit, degradation, disrepute, ill-repute, infamy, scandal, odium, opprobrium, obloquy, condemnation, contempt, pity, misfortune, crying shame, cause for regret, source of regret, sad thing, unfortunate thing, discredit to, disgrace to, stain on, blemish on, blot on, blot on the escutcheon of, slur on, reproach to, bad reflection on, bring into disrepute, degrade, debase, defame, stigmatize, taint, sully, tarnish, besmirch, stain, blacken, drag through the mud/mire, give a bad name to, put in a bad light, humiliate, mortify, make someone feel ashamed, embarrass, abash, chasten, humble, put someone in their place, take down a peg or two, cut down to size, show up

Antonyms: honor, pride, respect, glory, praise, dignity, honor, esteem, glorification, laud, compliment, regard, credit, elevate, acclaim, pleasure, favor, kudos, recognition, flatter, admiration, greatness, happiness, self-confidence, reverence

Showing 1 to 25 of 505 results

1. The Paradoxical Power of Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... weakness, a sort of Achilles' heel, a dent in his shining armor that he called his "thorn in the flesh." What it was we do not know. Epilepsy perhaps, or semi-blindness, malaria, or uncontrollable stuttering. Whatever it was, it embarrassed him and brought humiliation and disgust. It made him appear weak, and he asked the Lord to remove it, but was refused. Paul says he learned that this was God's way of keeping him humble. Furthermore, Paul noted that he discovered that through his handicap, through his ...

2. A Bad Temperament Can Kill You

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... on his own terms then he would not have it at all. Better to go home and rot and still have your pride than to be humiliated and get well. Now that's a real deficiency in one's attention, isn't it? Naaman's bad temperament almost killed him. "The guy ... t it? We can resonate with that story. Many times in life, we prefer to be a non-insulted leper, in our own way, than a humiliated well person. Sometimes our own attention deficiencies get in the way of our love for life. We want to stay and fight, put up the ...

3. O Holy Night

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... That's what Jesus did; left the penthouse and came down to the mail room that He might be our Savior. II. Christmas Is the Humiliation of a Savior Now just how low could Jesus go? Well, listen to v.8, "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled ... you had been living in the days of Jesus there were many little boys running around with the name Jesus. Jesus is the name of humiliation. Lord is the name of exaltation. Whoever is Lord is supreme overall. You see, Jesus was born as a man, so that He could ...

4. Who Could Forget That?

Mark 14:32-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... ride to their baptism, ride to Easter service, ride to Christmas service, and ride to their funeral. (3) Every church has its four-wheel members. But we do not have a four-wheel Lord. He totally surrendered himself even though he would suffer inconceivable pain and humiliation. Why did he do it? How else could he communicate the love of God to us? The late Eddie Doherty, the veteran reporter for the Chicago Sun, recalled that on his wedding day he had wanted to say "I love you" to his bride. His hesitancy ...

5. Going Hard against the Grain

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... place; they were not hypothetical but actual. If I am facing you, and if you are right handed, and if you strike me on the right cheek, it means that you did it with the back of our hand, which in that culture was an extreme insult and act of humiliation, likely done in public for maximum effect. I am attacking your character, possibly for being a follower of Jesus. And if you are higher than me in status, my social superior, what am I to do? If I do nothing, I accept your estimation of me and live with the ...

6. A Glory Revealed in the Cross

John 8:12-30

Sermon

... more time at Jesus "lifted up" on his cross, slowly dying, looking perhaps like the sad-eyed angel boy. Then the Spirit whispers to us, "Where is God? Where is He now? Here He is - He is hanging here on this cross, without beauty or attractiveness, deprived of justice, humiliated, without glory or power." It is to this cross we cling and dare not let go. For in it God reveals His heart and we behold His glory. We see that God did and still does love the world. So we sing: O sacred head, now wounded, With ...

7. Hooray for Humility!

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... it. JESUS’ HUMILITY IS MANIFESTED "He humbled himself and became obedient unto death." This is an important doctrinal statement concerning Jesus. William Barclay says "it is the greatest and most moving passage that Paul ever wrote about Jesus." This really is the climax of humiliation - the cross! But it started long before the cross. Christ was always doing the humble thing. He started out by God becoming man - by leaving heaven to come down to earth. He was born in a barn instead of a palace. He lived ...

8. Sustaining the Weary with a Word

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... me. “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.” Those who beat me tried to humiliate and dehumanize me, but I kept my back straight. I stood tall. I refused to trade evil with evil. I refused to submit to the reign ... shame in my face. There is no disgrace in my brow. There is no terror in my eyes. Why should I drop my head in humiliation? Why should I hide my eyes from thee? Why should I look towards the ground instead of the heavens whence I have been called to ...

9. The Majesty And The Misery

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... another boy from their school on a shiny new bicycle. The boy on the shiny new bike offered the girl a ride home. Immediately she hopped on the back fender and rode off, leaving Charles burning with humiliation. Within his heart he made another vow. There would come a day when nobody could humiliate him like this again. HE would have the equivalent of the shiny new bicycle and he would use his status to demand respect. Charles Blair went on to become a successful pastor, father and member of his community ...

10. How To Be Rich And Poor

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the rich. Let's read the text again, verses 9 and 10: "Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation,because like the flower of the grass he will pass away." I think of the story of the parrot and the woman. She was ... we don't earn that which enriches our lives. It is all Grace. It's interesting to note that the Greek word which is translated "humiliation" in verse 10, is the same root word used in verse 9 to describe the brother who is lowly. What a tremendous insight. God ...

11. Framed, Changed, Challenged

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Tony Everett

... Fortunately, it did not. They had begun to appreciate the new respect from other teachers and students. Every day we challenged each other. It’s surprising, but we actually seem to like each other… most of the time anyway.” Hmmm… something ridiculous, humiliating, and impossible that changes everything. Sounds a lot like the crucified and risen Jesus, doesn’t it? On the cross Jesus framed us in the center of his love. Through his resurrection Jesus changed us from a people with little meaning and ...

12. Paradoxes Of The Christian Faith

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... of God, where in great moments of agonizing pain and suffering they turn it in for a crown of joy. He who loses his life shall find it. He who finds it shall lose it. Suffering and pain are integral to life's experience but they need not humiliate, defeat, and destroy us! A Detroit News article some years ago carried the story of Kirk Gibson during his glory days with the Tigers. Few really knew the price of pain and agony paid by Gibson for that glory. According to the article, Kirk Gibson is a baseball ...

13. Wash Up First For The Meal Before You Eat!

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... times, if an activity was women's work, it was not worth much. Yet, our Lord, God himself, did that job on the evening of the last supper! God:humbled himself by serving us, his followers. Jesus makes it very clear in our Gospel lesson that he knew how humiliating a task he was undertaking. John writes: "When he [Jesus] had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am ...

14. The Yoke of Christ

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

... yoke is being borne. On the other hand the boy may choose an easier yoke to bear. He may choose to deal with his human failing in a way we might call spiritually creative. The boy goes to his father immediately. Yes, there is the burden of self-humiliation to bear. He must painfully hear his father say, "I told you that would happen!" As every young person hates to realize, he must suffer the pain of admitting that in some ways his parents are more intelligent and better informed about life than he is. He ...

15. What Would Bill Do?

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... adult life. You think you have a hard job. Has it ever left you physically beaten up by mobs, thrown in flea-infested prisons, shipwrecked far from home? In Acts 16:22-24 we read that Paul and Silas were beaten, flogged, dragged through a public humiliation, locked in stocks and put in prison for preaching the gospel in Philippi. In Thessalonica an angry mob forced them to make an early exit from the city. There is evidence that Paul may have had a physical condition, as well--perhaps epilepsy--that caused ...

16. Cross Connections

John 18:1-11

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... was only to be used for unclean tasks. So the only way to strike the right cheek with the right hand would be to use the back of the hand. Hence, we are talking here about backhanding someone as a form of insult. The purpose is to humiliate and put someone in his place. In that culture, one did not strike a peer and if that happened, the fine was significant. But backhanding was the normal way of admonishing inferiors, and in the context of this teaching, Jesus is addressing people whom the culture deems ...

17. No Room for Gloom

Isaiah 9:1-4

Sermon

Tony Everett

... , the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness" (Isaiah 8:20, 22). In today's text, Isaiah states: "In the former times he brought into contempt the Land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali" (Isaiah 9:1). On the one hand, this was a bitterly humiliated and devastated group. Their sin had brought the wrath of God upon them. For God's people, it was the worst of times. On the one hand, many of us may be feeling the same way about our own situations in life. It may seem to us that if ...

18. The Curse of the Tongue

James 3:1-12, James 3:13-18, 2 Timothy 2:14-26, Psalm 34:1-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the scriptures, the punishment for “leprosy” was to be placed outside of the community for a period of time, usually a week, in atonement for the sin of speaking against another. The time apart was to allow that person to experience a similar humiliation and pain such as they afflicted to the one they slandered or spoke against. In order to re-enter the community, the priest would need to pronounce that person “clean!” Yet more power! Without that word of pronouncement, that person could not become ...

19. The Cost of Discipleship

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... , and made into beams. One Friday morning the third tree was startled when its beams were taken from a woodpile and roughly placed onto the shoulders of a man. The tree flinched when soldiers nailed the man’s hands to the wood; the tree felt shamed and humiliated. But early on Sunday morning, as the dawn appeared, the earth trembled with joy beneath the tree. The tree knew that the Lord of all the earth had been crucified on its cross, but now God’s love had changed everything. And the cross from that ...

20. Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley

Luke 19:28-40 · Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... got. The other children began to snicker, then to giggle. Finally, there was open laughter in the room. He looked back to his older sister for support. His parents had died some time before. His sister was the last person left to care for him. With hurt and humiliation, he looked back at her for support, but she too had her head buried in her arms laughing as hard as anyone in the room. He turned to his teacher, but she was obviously doing all within her power to keep a straight face herself. Little Starr ...

21. People With Power To Forgive

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... implies obligation, that we then "owe them one." Consequently, even our gift giving degenerates into a legalistic point system of who owes what to whom. Thus to receive a gift is an affront to our pride. To receive forgiveness as a gift is even more humiliating; but it is precisely the humility we need to be healed, to be liberated from all the odious self-righteousness that separates us from one another and from God. The big breakthrough with Saul, the zealous Pharisee, came when we saw how obnoxious all ...

22. Named And Claimed

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Tony Everett

... creative and redeeming word to all the world. What a text for baptism this is! What a text to remind us that God has chosen us! The word of the Lord continues: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you" (v. 1b). No more bondage to the forces that separate and humiliate. No more bondage to the power of sin. Here is deliverance. "I have called you by name, you are mine," says the Lord (v. 1b). Here is precisely what happens at baptism. Here the Lord names us "chosen child of God." Here God claims us as members of an ...

23. Failure Is Not Final

Hosea 2:2-23

Sermon

William L. Self

... Ai would be so easy to take that there was no need for a full army to be sent to battle. So a detachment was sent forth to capture Ai, but they were defeated and had to flee from the men of Ai. Needless to say, this was a humiliating turn of events. Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord, wailing and questioning God's leadership. God was quick to let Joshua know that Israel was experiencing the logical consequences of sin and transgression and gave instructions ...

24. You Can Be Less Worried

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

... worried about material things to the virtual exclusion of concern for God or neighbor. During the disastrous storms in Bangladesh a few years ago (when approximately 200,000 lives were lost), I heard a man remark on having a check bounce. He said, "I am humiliated. This is the most upsetting thing that has ever happened to me. I was awake almost all night worrying about it. It's terrible. I can't imagine anything worse!" His extreme concern over one bounced check would have been laughable had it not been ...

25. And Then Came The Angel

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

William B. Kincaid, III

... every family has been touched in some way by divorce, but some still think of it as an easy way out for someone who has grown tired of a relationship. Those who have been through a divorce know that it is one of the most humiliating experiences one can endure. The sense of failure is overwhelming. Years are spent trying to overcome the guilt and second-guessing. Marriage and divorce are awesome considerations. They are for us, and they were for Joseph. Even though things were different in those days, we ...

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