SUPERIORITY COMPLEX

Introduction

-{Romans 2}

-I want to begin today with a Biblical story, but maybe take it from a different angle that you haven’t considered before. The Jews were a people who had been wandering around for decades and they finally entered into the Promised Land and pulled off one of the most amazing victories in the history of war. Facing Jericho with its insurmountable wall and unbreakable defenses, there was no strategic way for them to succeed in conquering the city. But the Jews were not alone. What could not be done naturally could be done supernaturally. And God gave them a strategy that, while definitely odd, it was also effective. By following God’s way of doing things, the walls came tumbling down. The people of Jericho were routed and the city was burned.

~While reveling in this amazing victory, the Jews became arrogant. Some decided that God’s commands were not worth following. Then the leadership didn’t seek the Lord’s direction on what to do next because they saw themselves as unstoppable. They developed a superiority complex that led them to be overconfident in their own abilities. The next city to be conquered was Ai. Ai was a “blink and you miss it” kind of town—a little village that should be easy to overtake quickly.

~In their overconfidence, the leadership decided to send a small band of soldiers to make quick work of the city so they could move on to bigger and better things. The soldiers attacked this little town and were soundly defeated. Their superiority complex as the people of God who were seemingly unstoppable led to an overconfidence which then led to their downfall.

-Now we turn to the book of Romans where Paul speaks on the power of the gospel to save. But Paul first talks about the universal need of the gospel. Yes, unbelieving pagans who worship idols need the gospel—they need to know that they are sinners separated from God, that God sent His Son Jesus to die to pay the penalty for their sin, and Jesus rose again. And all who believe in Him are saved. But then Paul demonstrates that even good, religious people need the gospel as well. Here again, the Jews got a superiority complex as God’s people, and they became overconfident in their religious machine, which caused them to be prideful and look down their noses at the rest of the world. But their overconfidence led them to miss their Messiah.

-But there is a warning here for Christians as well, as we are not immune to developing this same superiority complex, leading to overconfidence in ourselves. We might begin to think that we are super-holy and super-spiritual. We might not say it out loud, but it bears itself out in our actions and attitudes. And just like the Jews, that can lead to a great downfall. Having a superiority complex, having overconfidence in ourselves, is not the way of God nor does it bring you closer to God (quite the opposite). So today, if you think that you are all that and then some because of your spirituality, or if your assessment of your spirituality makes you think that you are a legend in your own mind, then heed and beware the warning that Paul gives the Roman church.

Romans 2:17–24 ESV

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

-{pray}

-What does Paul tells us about this superiority complex? First, Paul warns us against...

1) The snare of overconfidence

-When you have a spiritual superiority complex, you suffer from an intense self-righteousness; and self-righteousness is an overconfidence in yourself and your spiritual capability. This leads you to trust only in yourself and you begin to look down on people who don’t follow your same self-righteous path. This is a spiritual trap, and Paul points out areas to the Jews where their overconfidence became a snare that caught them in wrong living and thinking. We can easily fall for some of the same. First, he points out that they were...

a) Overconfident in their lineage (v. 17a)

-In v. 17 he points out that they call themselves Jews, which wouldn’t sound like a big deal because it’s the truth. But within the context it implies that they are using the term with an air of superiority over non-Jews. They saw themselves as better than the Gentiles. I mean, after all, they were God’s chosen people. But the boasting came in their lineage, not in their God.

-They believed that since they were descendants of Abraham they could do whatever they wanted. They thought they could treat others shabbily because of their heritage. But, as John the Baptist tried to point out to them, God could raise up children from the stones. They lineage or heritage is not what matters, but your heart toward God is what matters.

-There are some ways we have to be careful about this. One thing to avoid is thinking that just because you grew up in a religious family, that you can ride those coattails and not have to come to faith in Christ yourself or work out your salvation yourself. You can’t ride others’ coattails—you have to walk with God personally and humbly yourself. Another way is putting your overconfidence in your denomination. I think to be Baptist is to be biblical, but your denominational allegiance doesn’t necessarily bring you closer to God or make you more like Christ. Walk with God personally and humbly. Another snare that the Jews ran into was that they were...

b) Overconfident in their love of law (v. 17b)

-He says in v. 17 that they call themselves Jews and rely on the law. The Jews were proud that God revealed His law to them alone, the only problem was that they weren’t actually following the law. They may have received the law, but they weren’t acting upon it. Many of Jesus’ confrontations with the Jewish leaders was over the fact that they followed some of the letter of the law, but they were not following its spirit with their whole heart. But because they were given the law, they saw themselves as spiritually superior.

-At least until some recent problems, Southern Baptists had a time when they kind of puffed out their chests and boasted about the fact that while other denominations fell, we had a Conservative Resurgence and we bragged that we won the war for the Bible. Now, don’t get me wrong, it is good and right to believe that the Bible is inerrant and infallible, because that’s it’s true. But here’s the thing we may have run into—what good is it to boast on your love of the Word if you’re not obeying the Word. You boast that you are a believer in God’s inerrant Word, but does your life actually reflect that claim?

-Jesus confronted the religious leaders of His day because they boasted about knowing the law better than anybody else. But Jesus pointed out how they broke the law that they boasted about. For example, the law says to honor your mother and father, but the leaders created so many loopholes in the law so as to excuse themselves from giving their elderly parents the help they needed. They voided the law by their actions, and yet they placed all their confidence in the fact that they possessed the law. That’d be like us boasting we own a Bible, but we never read the Bible and we don’t follow the Bible. But the snares continue, as Paul points out that they were...

c) Overconfident in their learning (vv. 17c-18)

-Paul talks about the fact that they boast about knowing God and being able to know His will and approve what is excellent because they received instruction in the law. They boasted that they had gone to the right schools and got all the right education and they learned all the right theology. In fact, the Pharisees had pretty accurate theology (up until it came time for the Messiah); they were the theologically conservative folks. But the problem was that it made no difference at all in their heart and lives.

-They knew every jot and tittle of the law, and actually had a good portion of it memorized. They knew theology inside and out, and yet it left them with a cold, dead orthodoxy because it led them to be confident in themselves and their learning rather than leaning on God. They thought that because they had all the right beliefs in their head that this made them superior. The thing is, James makes it clear in his epistle that even the demons have right beliefs. Demons probably have a better grasp of Scripture and theology than most humans, and yet it does them no good.

-I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have Bible knowledge or good theology. You need both. But where does that learning lead you? Knowing these things doesn’t make you superior. You say that you believe in the Trinity and the deity of Christ and the inerrancy of Scripture? Good, because those are true and right. But if they don’t make a difference in your life and if it gives you something to boast about in yourself instead of boasting in Christ, then what good is it doing you? There is a final snare, Paul says they were...

d) Overconfident in their leadership (vv. 19-20)

-In vv. 19-20 Paul says that the Jews considered themselves to be guides to the blind, light to the darkness, instructors of fools, and teachers of babes. They had the law and the learning, so they naturally thought that all the world should follow them and be like them. They thought they were the upper class, so why wouldn’t the lower classes want to follow their leadership.

-Not that wanting to lead people to truth is wrong—that is the calling of the Great Commission. But their motives were wrong, because they didn’t really want to lead people to follow God, they wanted to lead people to follow themselves. They wanted a cult of personality to follow them. Jesus called them blind leaders leading the blind.

-It plays out in our day with the whole culture of celebrity pastors. Listening to sermons from your favorite pastors is not wrong. But when it becomes all about those celebrity preachers and not about God, there is the problem. When you hear people boasting about their favorite celebrity preacher and not boasting about God, there is the problem. And a lot of these celebrity preachers eat it up. They lead people to be mini versions of themselves. They are trying to conform people to themselves instead of conforming them to the likeness of Christ. When you think you’re superior, and you think you have all the answers, so you point people to yourself, that is a big problem. Your superiority complex has led you to a snare/trap. But if people fall into these snares/traps, how does that play out in their lives. The next major lesson that Paul gives is that he tells them...

2) The symptoms of overconfidence

-How do you know if you suffer from a superiority complex? Paul gives three symptoms of this overconfidence. First Paul says that they develop...

a) Hard hearts (v. 21a)

-Paul asks a very good question in v. 21—you who teach others, don’t you teach yourself? These folks thought so highly of their self-righteousness that they figured they had it so spiritually all together, there was no need to listen because there wasn’t anything anybody could teach them that they didn’t already know. Their hearts had become so hard that they were closed to any sort of instruction or rebuke or correction or training. They were perfectly fine living out a superficial religion that lacked depth. They didn’t even think God could teach them anything, so they weren’t open to God prompting them by the Spirit through the Word. Their hearts were rock solid.

-There are people who sit in the pews of church all around the world, week after week, thinking that they don’t need to listen to the preacher because they can’t teach them anything that they don’t already know. In fact, in their hearts, they think they could teach the preacher a thing or two. Hey, I’m game—I’m always open to learning. Or else, if they do listen to the preacher, they think that the preacher must be talking about someone else—it couldn’t be relevant to them personally. Maybe the preacher touches upon a particular sin that these people are guilty of, but even though they may hear the word of the preacher, it doesn’t penetrate their heart to bring repentance. They think the preacher must be talking about someone else.

-Hmmm, I wonder how many people think in their heart GO GET ‘EM PREACHER! when instead they should be saying YOU GOT ME, PREACHER!!! When you are overconfident in your spirituality, you develop a hard heart. But that’s not the only symptom, because Paul says they also suffer from...

b) Hypocritical living (vv. 21b-22)

-In vv. 21-22 Paul asks them: Do you teach people not to steal or commit adultery or be idolatrous, and then turn around and you yourself steal and commit adultery and be idolatrous? Do you say one thing, and turn around and do another thing? Do you put on airs like you don’t sin and you condemn those who do sin, only to turn around and commit the same sins you just condemned?

-The religious leaders of those times were master hypocrites—Jesus really goes hard at them in Matthew 23 because they followed the policy of DO AS I SAY AND DO WHAT YOU THINK THAT I DO EVEN THOUGH I REALLY DON’T DO IT. Paul described them elsewhere as people who profess to know God, but in their works they deny Him because they do abominable, disobedient things and disqualify themselves from every good work.

-Our own hypocrisy could be something as simple as claiming to be people of the Word but not actually getting into the Word. Or our hypocrisy could take on different tones: like being all nice and sappy to someone to their face, and then turn around and gossip about them to the next person you see. Or maybe you raise your hand in worship to Jesus on Sunday after having partied and committed immorality on Friday and Saturday. Or maybe you go hard in condemning people for certain sins saying that they’re going to hell and all that, but then you turn around and commit the same or a very similar sin. If that’s you, excuse me but your hypocrisy is showing. But there’s another symptom Paul mentions...

c) Hurtful witness (vv. 23-24)

-In vv. 23-24 Paul tells them that they make all this boasting even though they’ve put their confidence in the wrong place, so now they have hard hearts and hypocritical living, which then causes the Gentiles to blaspheme God’s name. Listen to the message: Because of what you do, unbelievers see it and it completely turns them off of God and causes them to curse God. Christians who have a superiority complex, who pretend to be all high and mighty, turn around and act so low and wickedly that unbelievers say THANKS, BUT NO THANKS! When you live self-righteously, acting superior to others, it hurts your witness for Christ because even unbelievers know those are not the qualities of the Christ we proclaim. When your version of religion leads you to this superiority complex, you destroy God’s credibility in the eyes of unbelievers.

-Pastor/Author Stuart Briscoe (who just recently passed away) wrote about a time of having to deal with a fellow employee who embezzled a ton of money at a bank they both worked at. The reason he embezzled the money was because he had two wives and families to support—the two not knowing about one another. The problem was that the man was some sort of itinerant preacher or evangelist. Briscoe says that in the following weeks he spent a great part of his time mending the damage done by that man’s blatant inconsistency. To his chagrin, he found that his fellow workers not only despised the man, but they were quick to dismiss the church he belonged to as a bunch of hypocrites, they dismissed the gospel he professed to believe as a lot of hogwash, and they dismissed the God he claimed to serve as nonexistent

-Let me ask you, does your life and religion cause people to praise God or blaspheme God? What problems we cause when we are overconfident in our own spirituality. But let me make a very quick final point, and talk about...

3) The superiority of Christ-confidence

-Whereas your superiority complex will lead to bad religion, there is only one true religion—when you place your boast in Jesus Christ alone and all His accomplishments on the cross. Paul knew this to be true. He elsewhere wrote that He would not boast in anything else other than in the cross of Jesus Christ. Paul wasn’t going to boast in his lineage as a Jew, his love for the law, his learning, or his leadership ability. The funny thing is, Paul easily could have boasted about all of those things because he excelled at them. Nope…instead Paul was going to boast about Jesus Christ who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered, died, buried, and raised on the third day.

-Your superiority complex will place your confidence in the works of your self-righteousness. But true Christianity places confidence in the finished work of Christ on Calvary. And when your confidence is in that, it doesn’t lead to boasting about ourselves or confidence in ourselves, but it leads to humility and meekness and a deeper love for God and a deeper love for others. Jesus Christ is the center and substance of what it is all about. Our words and lives should paint a beautiful picture of Him for others to see and follow.

Conclusion

-Let me close with one final illustration:

-There was a commercial that came out several years ago that had to do with real beauty. What they did was that they got a police sketch artist to sit behind a curtain, and while behind the curtain he would interview women and have them describe themselves, all the while not actually seeing them because he was hidden behind the curtain. After he had them describe themselves, he would then interview them and have them describe other people in the group of ladies, who hadn’t know each other before that day. Based on the interviews, he would then draw sketches based on how they described themselves, and then a sketch based on how other people described them.

~What they found was that the portraits based on the women’s descriptions of themselves were sadder, less attractive, and more closed-off than the portraits based on descriptions from others, which were alway quite favorable. There was a lot of shock and self-realization when they saw the portraits next to each other, and then realized what they thought of themselves compared to how others saw them.

-I dare sat that there are many Christians in the world who have the exact opposite problem. Many paint themselves as some super-holy, spiritual person, while looking down on others. There’s a problem with that kind of religion. The problem is that we shouldn’t be thinking of ourselves or others at all. If we are going to paint a portrait of anything or anyone that has to do with our spirituality, then let’s paint a portrait of a Jewish man who happened to be God in the flesh, Who bore the sins of humanity on the cross, and rose back to life to grant everlasting life. Our confidence is in Him.

-Christian, come to the altar today and get some Christ-confidence. But if you haven’t trusted in this Christ, then come forward today and place all your confidence on Him.