We Built this City (On Pride)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Buzz Lightyear
We all have something in common with Buzz Lightyear. We are told by everyone who we are, who we should be, and what we can do.
We let platforms created by others do the defining for our lives.
After deciding to believe in it and accept those things as reality, we become convinced that what the world telling us is what is true.
We believe so much that it becomes the center of who we are… And there is nothing that can change our mind.
For buzz, he is supposed to be the hero of the world. He is one who shoots lasers, has access to star command- a fleet created to protect our world from space danger and the legendary villain of Zorge, and he has wings that help him fly...
And the reality is this- we all want to be accepted, valued, and cherished with an identity that proves to be filled with the right character and influence.
But the more we take pride in what the world is telling us we should do and what we should be… we realize that is fails us every time...
And just lie Buzz, pride is quickly followed by… a fall.
Pride is tricky.
We often hear of pride in many different forms, both positively and negatively. There is a type of pride that is positive...
hyperephania: arrogance, disdain, contempt towards
kauchesis: booasting, reason for boasting, glory
31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!
4 I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.
Tonight, we will be tapping into the negative emphasis of pride… the type of pride that is rooted in our natural state of sin.
But what is tricky about pride is that its victim is usually unaware of it.
The story of Zeeke and the horseshoe. (He was never wrong!)
Jesus was completely aware of what pride was.
“This first and fundamental sin in essence aims at enthroning self at the expense of God...” (J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership)
“This first and fundamental sin in essence aims at enthroning self at the expense of God...” (J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership)
Pride is the action of thinking of oneself, your ideas, your opinions, and your directives as the end all be all in such a way that it is supplemented with that of God, His ideas, His way of life, and His commandments as seen in the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures.
*Pray
1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.
Don’t be a Pharisee.
Don’t be a Pharisee.
Don’t you hate it when people are just critical?
Honestly, I have been this person. I am sure we can all think of people who feel it is their sole purpose on earth to poke holes in your boat.
The Pharisees were simply following Jesus to do nothing but criticize Him.
Believe it or not, churches have people who are like this today...
“We can’t do it this way, music has to sound like this, the color of the carpet better be that..” etc...
Jesus didn’t have time for those people, but His words were cutting and for good reason. That attitude hinders gospel advancement!
3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
Earlier in Mark 3, Jesus had already defiled the tradition of the Sabbath by eating and picking grain when He wasn’t supposed to.
Here, He has broken the judaic tradition of cleansing.
Jews created a set of traditions over the years that would be reminders to them of their ownership by God… It separated them from the rest of the world.
The tradition being stated here is that after dealing with other nationalities such as gentiles and samaritans, they were to wash themselves pure of their dealings with them.
The problem was that this was no longer a reminder but had been abused to the point that it communicated a false truth, that the jewish people were special and everyone else was unclean.
Let me note here that the only thing that is unclean are the natural hearts our own.
The pursuit of holiness begins in the heart, not with your hands.
The pursuit of holiness begins in the heart, not with your hands.
The pharisees were really bound to traditions. They were extremely focused on the external- what people were doing on the outside in terms of their actions, and less worried and concerned about their hearts.
This wasn’t the case in their history at all! Moses knew what was the real concern… It wasn’t what was done with their hands, but what was filling their hearts!
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
It is a matter of the heart! yet the Jewish leaders were all about the traditions and actions...
They were so obsessed that they begin building a collection of traditions in a book called the Mishna.
“It is of greater offense to teach anything contrary to the voice of the rabbis than to contradict scripture itself.”
“It is of greater offense to teach anything contrary to the voice of the rabbis than to contradict scripture itself.”
What. This is messed up!
But before we call out this error, we should probably consider the fact that we do the same thing...
Student Traditions within the Church
Student Traditions within the Church
Service Flows
No games? No deep teaching?
Attendance Alone Counts
Camp Locations
We HAVE to go there.
Song Setlists/Worship
We need more hymns, more hype, more oldies, more Passion
Social Media Accounts
Senior Sunday
Student Entitlement
Seniors are “too old”
“I have been here since I was 0 years old.”
I can read music, I have been vocally trained, I am in musical theater, I tour in a band...
DISCLAIMER, I am not stating that tradition is always bad. It is not.
There are hymns of the faith that we sing from 200 years ago to REMIND US of truth.
But when that tradition is held higher than the truth itself, we have a problem...
This was the problem Jesus was facing...
6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“ ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
In this passage, Jesus is exposing the Pharisees and using them as an example of what happens when tradition was placed before God.
The Pharisees, on the basis of tradition, are actually disobeying the law. Instead of caring for their families, they are giving their money to the synagogue (Corbin), inadvertently putting the money back in their hands...
When we as believers begin to defend tradition over truth, we cause destruction.
Defending tradition over truth destroys character.
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
2. Defending tradition over truth destroys influence.
The Pharisees were supposed to be the influencers of God’s people, those who lead by example are teach the Law in a God-honoring way.
However, their abuse of power has destroyed their credibility, causing many to roll their eyes and hesitantly follow.
We see this take four different forms… And the same can happen with us today...
What happens when we hold tradition over truth.
What happens when we hold tradition over truth.
1. We begin to teach our own beliefs.
1. We begin to teach our own beliefs.
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
2. We lay aside God’s word.
2. We lay aside God’s word.
8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
3. We reject God’s word.
3. We reject God’s word.
9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!
4. We withhold the power and influence of God’s word.
4. We withhold the power and influence of God’s word.
10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
The bottom line is that if we want to pursue our purpose and who God has created us to be, it doesn’t begin with what we do, it begins with who we are…
14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
The source of Holy living, the way of life that is filled with grace, mercy, purpose, and identity comes from within, not from what we do or accomplish!
Every non-believer can...
Attend church.
Say a prayer.
Help the needy
Sing along in worship.
Raise their hand in need of a life change...
But what a non-believer can’t do is draw from the source of life within their hearts- the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
The irony is this- God has always been dealing with the heart!
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
This is why God commands His people through the law of Moses, to hide the teachings of the law in their hearts!
*btw this is our memory verse for the month!
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
And now look at us! Not only are the pharisees forgetting this command, but we do too!
Let’s continue reading....
17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
In other words...
Jesus is saying- You’ve been taught that our life is a matter of what is happening in the heart, yet you are concerned that I am eating with uncleaned hands…? Food doesn’t go to the heart, it goes to the stomach.... you moron!!!
But then it takes a turn...
If what comes our of the heart defiles a man… he lists what comes out of every heart… and it is not a pretty sight.
21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
We all have broken these commandments...
But their is one word in there that is interesting.
Look at the account of this conversation that Matthew gives...
18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
Matthew doesn’t refer to PRIDE as being one that made the list from Jesus.
I believe the Holy Spirit reminded Mark of this word from this conversation purposely.
When we talk about the negative sense of pride (hyperephania), we are talking about the very thing that brought sin into this world in the beginning.
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
18 Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
It is in our pride that our sinful heart is magnified.
And without Christ, this is what defiles a person.
So what is our antidote to this pride, the pride that raises our desires, our traditions, our preferences over the very truth of God?
Humility.
The greatest dose of humility will defeat the greatest disease of pride.
And that dose of humility is Jesus.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Because of His death, the death that you deserved, we can tap into a humility, one flowing from the truth of our salvation by faith through grace alone, not our works or what we accomplish or where we go, but through Jesus Christ alone.
I hesitate to say maybe pride might be something you need to address tonight.
The reality is that we all have pride in our lives.
What pride is keeping you from pursuing Jesus?
Where do you need to insert a dose of humility.
Remember, this is about your heart, not your hands.
