Breaking Free From Pride
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If the Son has set you free...
This morning we continue our series “Set Free” by moving into a new direction that will have us talking about certain things we may need to be set free from.
Although we cannot cover all topics, we will look at a couple over the next few weeks that might be considered some of he major players.
And some of these topics may surprise you. Why? Because some of these topics might be so ingrained in your daily pattern that you don’t know the effect it is having on you… as we stated a couple of weeks back… a person can live in bondage for so long that it is all they know. Bondage… as crazy as this might sound… becomes a way of life.
Jesus wants to set you free today!
God did not create us for bondage. God desires for all of us in this room to be free. That is why He sent Jesus to die for us - Jesus came to break the chains that have us bound. He is our deliverer… He is our Savior… and He alone has the power to tear down the stronghold you might be facing today!
This morning, we dive into the topic of pride. We are going to talk about breaking free from pride.
We all know what pride is. Defined, pride is a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
Now, I must admit, there are times in life when I have experienced a feeling of pride or being proud.
For instance, when working construction or on the farm, when the job is done, when the build is complete or the harvest is in, there was a sense of satisfaction that came with it. It felt good to look at the fruits of our labor… the completed building or the rows of hay bails.
Or… what about when you watch your kids play sports or listen to a band or choir concert? When Sam makes the play, When Shae returns the spike, when Mason makes the reception or Keith shoots a free throw… dad is pretty proud of his kids. Actually, I am proud of them no matter how well they do on the court or on the field!
It’s okay to be proud of your kids! It’s okay to feel a sense of satisfaction after a job well done!
But… we need to be SUPER CAREFUL that we DO NOT allow pride to move us in a dangerous direction. That direction is this: I can handle my life and the challenges that might come without God’s help. OUCH! Who would be bold enough to say that!?!
Well, every time we take on the day in our own strength, wisdom, understanding, righteousness, etc… then we have set ourselves up to be trapped by the enemy! We have left a door open for the enemy to come on in!
Proverbs 16:18 gives us this very clear and sobering reminder:
18 Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.
Church, when we begin to think too big of ourselves spiritually, we are inviting destruction to our lives. Now, I do not believe anyone wants to see their life destroyed… but if pride leads the way, the Word is clear on what can be expected - destruction will come in one way or another.
Proverbs also warns of the haughty spirit that comes before a fall. This is arrogance, believing oneself to be superior or looking down on others. This is MORE than a bad attitude… it is a spirit that is harbored within. The word makes clear that such a spirit will cause a fall in life.
God wants you to feel good about yourself. God wants you to be confident in who He created you to be. You are His Son or daughter… someone He loves and values beyond anything we could ever imagine or understand.
But the problem with pride is… it places our dependency on us instead of God. Pride believes that we have what it takes to make it… we have the answers, we have the ability, we have the details figured out. Pride leads us to take matters into our own hands.
Today, we are going to talk about being set free from any and all pride that might cause us to rely on ourselves instead of relying on God.
God did not intend for us to try to do life on our own. Some of you have been taking on more than God ever intended you to take on. What I mean by that is your pride has kept you from crying out to God. Your pride has kept you stuck in the valley. You are more concerned with what others might think, more concerned with trying to prove to yourself, more concerned with trying to keep up an image, more concerned with covering up what is really going on.
Pride WILL exhaust you. Pride WILL extinguish your resources. Pride WILL keep you locked in the stronghold or obstacle. But worst of all… PRIDE WILL KEEP YOU FROM EXPERIENCING GOD’S BEST FOR YOUR LIFE.
Pride… opens the door for enemy influence and closes the door to what God wants to pour in. That’s why we need to be set free from pride.
Pride says “I can.” But dependency in God says “He can.”
Pride says “I will.” Dependency in God says “His will.”
Pride says “I have to.” Dependency in God realizes “He already has.”
Pride says “For my honor.” Dependency in God says “For His Glory.”
Pride locks us in to our limited resources, understanding, strength, ability, etc. But becoming fully dependent of God sets us free from our limits as we become dependent on God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, always present, forever loving, our faithful provider, and the giver of grace!
There are BIG differences here!
This morning, we are going to look at three top areas in which our pride may be rising up… and we don’t even realize it. We are going to look for the warning signs so we can be set free from any and all pride that might cause us to miss out on what God has in store for us.
Problem One: Trusting in Our Own Strength.
Problem One: Trusting in Our Own Strength.
Peter thought he was strong enough. Peter thought he had what was required. He was SO SURE of himself that he NEVER thought he would be in the place he found himself in.
Peter had denied Christ not once, not twice, but three times. He was warned that this would happen… and that warning came from Jesus… yet Peter never thought that it would become his reality.
Peter made one of those “Never in a million years” kind of statements. When Jesus gave Peter the warning, Peter reacted in a way of surprise and disgust.
33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
Jesus had just warned Peter of a failing of faith and what does Peter do in this moment? He speaks out of his personal strength instead of taking Jesus’ words to heart.
“I would never do that! I would never fail in that way! I would never do that to someone! I would never look at that kind of stuff! I would never treat someone like that!” and the list could go on and on.
Here’s the problem, church. We will often believe that we are stronger… than we really are! We will often claim that we can handle more than we actually can!
I want you see to see something very important here:
The Bible says we are only strong… when we are weak.
10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Jesus’ power is not only made possible in our weakness… it is made PERFECT in our weakness. We won’t know just how STRONG our God is… until we are willing to admit just how weak we truly are!
The Bible says we are only strong because of God’s power moving within us.
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
It is GOD’S power… not our power. It is GOD’S might, not our might. It is GOD’S Spirit, not our spirit that makes us strong. We become stronger as we become more dependent on God’s power and strength that is at work within us. The less we depend on ourselves AND the more we depend on Him determines just how strong in the Lord we will become!
The Bible shares with us an invitation from the Lord...
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
He NEVER expects us to depend on our own strength or to go it alone without Him! When we try to do that, that is when we fool ourselves and open the door to spiritual oppression.
What tends to happen when… we rely on our own strength instead of depending on God’s strength?
Burnout. Exhaustion. We reach our limits and the Bible makes clear we ALL have limits. Isaiah 40:30 makes it clear...
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
God doesn’t want you to burnout. God doesn’t want you to exhaust yourself or to reach your limit. Instead of burning through your resources trying to make it on your own… how about using that energy to pursue the One that can truly overcome? Look at what else Isaiah 40 has to say!
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
God is here to strengthen you! God is here to lift you up! God is here to move you beyond your limitations and into the realm of infinite possibility… but before you can get there… you need to get somewhere else… that is back to the posture of possibility.
Isaiah 40 closes out with this instruction.
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Those who hope or wait on the Lord will find new strength. We have to learn how to wait on the Lord. The posture of possibility I spoke of is this posture right here. Instead of trying to stand on your two feet in your own strength… kneel before the Lord and receive from Him today.
make that same discovery that Paul made. No matter his circumstance Paul knew that he could do all things through what?
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Drop the pride that would lead you to believe that you’re strong enough to do this on your own… and run back to the One who can strengthen you to do ALL THINGS!
Problem Two: Trusting in Our Own Righteousness.
Problem Two: Trusting in Our Own Righteousness.
Ephesians 2:8-9 reads
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
This is a verse believers often refer to anytime someone questions us about trusting in our own righteousness. OF COURSE we don’t trust in our OWN righteousness… we trust in God’s Grace! OR… do we?
Trusting in our own righteousness is a pride trap more believers fall into than we may think. Trusting in our own righteousness has results similar to that of what took place in John 8. The adulteress woman was brought to Jesus to see what He would do regarding her sin.
What they DIDN’T SEE COMING… was Jesus’ redirect of the situation! They thought they had Jesus trapped! They thought He would be forced to condemn the woman of her sins! What they didn’t see coming was Jesus called out ALL of their sin! If He condemned one… He would have to condemn them all… or rather if the CROWD condemned the woman, they would also have to condemn themselves!
The problem here is… people don’t want to be honest with their own spiritual shortfalls.
People have ALWAYS found it easier to point out the sins of others… instead of dealing with their own sins. In fact… it’s happening on a HUGE scale right now and no one is calling it out… Actually Jesus did in His Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:3-5
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
This kind of behavior… I BELIEVE… stems from a prideful position of forgetting that our righteousness is NOT something we have earned… but it was something we have received through faith and by grace!
This kind of pride is damaging in two major ways.
One - we deceive ourselves in believing we had anything to do with our deliverance from sin and
Two - we turn the world away from faith with behavior that Jesus calls out as hypocritical.
The most dangerous part about all of this… is somehow a person’s pride would lead them to believe that they somehow earned or worked their way into righteousness. The reality is… none of us have “earned” anything but one way ticket to hell!
Sound too dramatic? Romans 3:23 tells us
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
No one is exempt from sin. NO ONE.
Romans 6:23 says
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The “earned” result of our sin IS death. IF a person remains outside of Christ, he or she WILL perish. But those who call on His name receive the GIFT of God that is eternal life.
Our righteousness is NOT something we earn, it is something we have UNDESERVEDLY RECEIVED!
Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
1 Peter 2:24 says it this way
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
Paul again makes it clear in Galatians 2:20-21
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Our righteousness is not gained by what we do… it is received by grace through whom we serve! When our sins are forgiven and we come into relationship with Christ, He takes on our sin and we take on His righteousness. It’s NOT about what we can do… it’s all about what He has done!
Now, this doesn’t mean that we continue in our old ways… our new life in Christ is to be lived apart from sin and in pursuit of righteousness. And in that pursuit, may we be forever humbled by the fact that our being made right in the eyes of God came not from our actions, but from the love and sacrifice of our Savior.
Pride will try to say “look at me and my holiness.” Pride will trick us into thinking that we deserve anything else but condemnation… but those who humble themselves before the Lord WILL RECEIVE a gift they could not provide for themselves - complete and total forgiveness of their sins!
Lastly, there is one more problem area I want to look at as we bring this thing to a close.
Problem Three: Trusting in Our Own Wisdom.
Problem Three: Trusting in Our Own Wisdom.
This one is HUGE. In fact, this one is often central in the other two problem areas we have already discussed. Pride… will often lead us to believe that we have it all figured out - that our wisdom or understanding is all we need.
I’ll be honest… I don’t like being in positions or situations where I find myself facing more questions than I have answers. I don’t like facing the unknown… and I will often do what I can to learn or to gain understanding regarding the situation at hand to limit the unknown. But I’ve learned a very important lesson as I walk through this process. TRUST IN THE WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE LORD.
I believe the Lord wants us to be learners. I believe we need to be daily students of the Word. I believe we need to take that Word we learn and apply it to our lives. God fully expects us to PURSUE his wisdom and understanding as followers of Christ.
And sometimes… God’s ways… don’t make sense to me in the moment. And it is in those times when I am most tempted… to go my own way. But church… that is the LAST thing we need to do. If we want to break free of pride regarding what we know and don’t know, then we need to know this: We must trust the Lord and HIS wisdom in ALL things.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says this:
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Scripture flat out tells us to push our own understanding aside. But that can sometimes be easier said than done. Why? Because the wisdom of God is completely different from the wisdom of the world.
Our old ways of thinking will conflict with God’s ways of doing things… that is why that old self must be totally and completely done away with. How many times in the Bible do we see people in trouble because they went their own way?
How many times do we find ourselves in the same kind of trouble for the same exact reason?
Here’s the deal, if we desire for God to make our paths straight, we must be willing to trust Him in ALL things. We must be willing to lay down our own understanding for HIS understanding - not in just a few areas but IN ALL OUR WAYS.
Pride gets kicked out the door when we say goodbye to self - IN ALL OUR WAYS - and say hello to all that God has for us. Pride gets kicked out the door when we realize that NONE of this is about us… but it is about what GOD has done for us. This is all about our God!
The glory goes to Him! The honor belongs to the Lord! Pride would keep you in an exhausting circle making you believe that your works, your wisdom, and your strength had anything to do with it… when in all reality… it’s all about faith. A faith that understands you can’t… but HE CAN.
So there is one answer that helps pull a person from a position of pride… and back into a position of being humble… and that answer is… the position of possibility. We are going to get on our knees.
If your pride is getting in the way… it’s time to humble yourself. If you find yourself turning inward for answers instead of upward… it’s time to humble yourself. If you are ready to be set free from pride today… it’s time to humble yourself.
These altars are open and I invite you to come and to kneel… take on the posture… the position of possibility. Why do I call it that? Because kneeling is a physical humbling of our self - it is saying to God, “I can’t… but I know you can.” It is accepting that He is greater and worthy of our submission.