Uh oh! Pastor's a sinner

Ever read a Bible verse and know you’re wrong. You know that what the Bible says is not something you do or you do something the Bible tells you not to do. Like you didn’t see it before but as soon as you see something written in the Bible, God’s word, you know, uh oh something needs to change.

For a follower of Jesus, if I am really going to be a follower and not a fan of Jesus then when I confront and understand a truth in the Bible, I need to change.

Today’s scripture is like that for me.

Philippians 2:3 HCSB

3 Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.

This might be the most unusual verse to live by. It is not American, it runs counter to the culture around us.

Listen to what a Christian from the late 300s said, when confronted with the truth of this verse, he dropped a powerful word for today, this is from 1,700 years ago.

“Love grows cold when we are in love with human glory and become enslaved to the honors of popularity. One cannot be both a slave to popularity and a true servant of God.” - John Chrysostom.

I want to be a servant of God but from my early teenage years I also want to be popular. Maybe your saying, I don’t want to be popular. Perhaps I am using the wrong word. What I believe is the heart of this is the desire to be liked, honored, or even feared by others. Maybe for you, you gave up on being the next viral sensation decades ago but do you still find yourself giving your opinion on people who aren’t even there, in ways that you would not want someone talking about you.

The desire to be liked or honored comes out in many different ways in different cultures and settings but it always has at its heart , a focus on self-first.

It doesn’t take long, when we live in a world where computers will show us exactly what we individually want to watch for 3 minutes and then change to something else we want to watch for 3 minutes that trying to focus on others is very very different.

But what if we were to live out the vision of the church here at New Day.

If we really apply this to our lives, live it out, strengthen our relationship with God, with each other, even in the midst of our own struggle, the stuff we got going on, if we live out this verse imagine what changes.

Do you see it. What if you did nothing out of rivalry or conceit but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves? Perhaps you don’t see it yet, maybe your like that does describe me. I’m a great person. Maybe it does but perhaps, just maybe, let’s ask God to put us to the test, to see if we live out this verse with our church friends, our co-workers, those we come into contact with, our family and our friends. Does this describe us?

I mean you might immediately say rivalry? I don’t have a rivalry? I like a team maybe. Like we just made a big announcement on Father’s Day, we are no longer A’s fans as they move to Las Vegas but staying loyal to our area, Go Giants with their rivals the Dodgers. But this is not the kind of rivalry that is being spoken of.

Rivalry is not exactly the original word used when it was written but because we don’t speak Greek and have to translate it we have to come up with a modern word that is close to our way of speaking. Here it is as close as we can get to the original today.

Nestle Aland 26th Edition Greek New Testament Morphological Edition Chapter 2

3μηδὲν κατ̓ ἐριθείαν μηδὲ κατὰ κενοδοξίαν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ ἀλλήλους ἡγούμενοι ὑπερέχοντας ἑαυτῶν,

Anyone else ever feel like we are on one of those Archaeologist movies or shows when you see the Greek. Like I’m going to reveal to you the ancient mysteries and then a big bolder is coming in right before I finish.

Ok I’m the only nerd here and I’m not that great a nerd but this is an ancient wisdom from God written down about 2,000 years ago. The key words in this scripture are:

Nestle Aland 26th Edition Greek New Testament Morphological Edition (Chapter 2)

μηδὲν κατ̓ ἐριθείαν μηδὲ κατὰ κενοδοξίαν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ ἀλλήλους ἡγούμενοι ὑπερέχοντας ἑαυτῶν,

The other words are conjunctions and meden the first word is a negative like No or nothing. As scholars Lou and Nida point out, in the original greek, “no verb appears in the first half of this verse”

It would literally read

No Eritheian or Kenodoxian.

Eritheian means a sense of hostility, selfish ambition, like the movie mean girl, or a guy who always has to get to the top. Someone who desires to be known as better than others. Going after position or things “simply because you want things for yourselves,” or “because of what you yourselves desire.”

Kenodoxian means empty pride, a state of pride without evidence or justification.

According to scholars this word may be expressed as “simply because you wish to show off,” “because you are so proud of yourselves,” or “because you want people to know how great you think you are.”

Now before you thank me for reading a dictionary to you and I thank you for your biting sarcasm, I will tell you that this really matters to your life.

Because God is telling you to do something that is different than what is normal.

Hostility to get things simply because you want them will get things done for you. “Going off”, being loud and aggressive, It will accomplish things on the streets, at work, in the classroom and so many other places. People you act in that way to won’t like you but it will get things to happen.

How many have said to me and maybe to you to go back to a business and give them a piece of your mind when things didn’t go the way you wanted. Go back into that meeting. Bragged about getting something fixed in whatever way necessary. I’ve done it!

.The whole saying of “Don’t be a Karen” even though our Karen is so nice, is because being a Karen will often get the other person to give in just to get you to go away.

One time my wife was in a parking lot outside of Panera, she ran into the store, while the kids were in the van. It was not hot. Charlotte was old enough to open the door for everyone. Panera takes just minutes. Another lady came while my wife was walking out and said, “Don’t ever leave your kids in the car and go outside.” My wife was pissed got in the car and left.

She never ever, ever left the kids in the car again. The other woman was not right. Some of you might immediately have feelings about this situation. Many of you might have immediate feelings about what you would do or say and I bet that most of your initial feelings are not nice.

Are they taking into account the needs of the other?

Speaking into another’s life is extremely powerful. Speaking into their lives aggressively is even more so.

Remember this today

Just Because Something Works Doesn’t Make It Right

We define right as what God says is right.

A person can be a total jerk and make things happen in church world too. Anytime people come together to make decisions whether it happens in Washington DC about some new law or happens in a church room about painting a wall a certain color, anywhere there is leadership, people can attempt to become leaders through rivalry or conceit. People can attempt to do it anywhere.

I have to tell you those who are following Jesus we shouldn’t be surprised by this, when people who don’t follow Jesus, never claimed Jesus, they do what seems right to them.

We are different even though we live in the same world

Decisions do have to be made. Tough conversations have to happen. At times we cannot tolerate some things because those behaviors or things might hurt others. Yet even then we are told to love our enemies.

Galatians 6:1–2 CSB

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. 2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

For those of us who follow Jesus, we have a huge responsibility to love as Jesus loves, to care as Jesus cares, to confront evil as Jesus did and to help people see what that looks like in this world.

Nothing can wreck spiritual formation than rivalry or conceit. This is probably the number one sin I have seen among leaders in my years. Churches can still grow, more money can come in, when pastors or worship leaders become famous when church leaders go after what they desire. It is the usual for what many Christians look for: what church can I be proud of, I hear jealousy often. It takes work to not criticize others when they are blessed with more.

I have confessed, on the stupidity, that as I was growing up we had heroes of people who God used to change thousands, millions of lives, and I pursued that kind of ambition and got jealous when I found it.

Ambition seeking, empty pride, doesn’t always work but it can work to grow a group. That doesn’t mean its right, good or honored by God.

For you yourself, don’t go after things this way. Don’t seek to be the most important. Always seek to Love God and Love Others let love be the way things get done at New Day.

I fall into this trap easily, ask yourself am I loving in what I am doing.

But there are two traps. It is easy to become conceited about not being conceited.

When we try and raise ourselves up by our own hard fought for righteousness. When we see our right living as a badge that makes us better, we have empty pride.

I attended a music conference once at a larger church seeing the big staging and the nice stuff almost immediately I felt intimidated, knowing that the church had “better stuff than us”. I can’t remember the negative comments I made, but I’m sure I made them.

About 15 minutes later everybody is singing songs in worship of God at this conference and a woman playing the keyboard speaks and says she has already heard people speak as if God is limited. She called it a spirit of envy and rivalry. There is no need she reminded us, God is limitless and all can succeed.

Yes I too have times when it seems somebody who doesn’t know me is speaking right at me. She had a message from God for me.

The desire to be the greatest, the best, at following God is made by service and generosity, not possessions, talents, good looks or followers.

Jesus said it when his closest followers asked to be the greatest under him. He told them it wasn’t his to give but when his other followers heard about it they got angry.

Mark 10:41–45 NLT

41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42 So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Son of man is what Jesus called himself. Jesus came not to be served but to serve. Leaders are to be servants.

Mark 10:43 CSB

43 But it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant,

The greatest should could not even realize that they are the greatest because they are constantly going out of their way to serve others.

This is the key, the heart of humlity. It is so easy to miss it.

I even saw a facebook post that said something like

I read the Bible and pray everyday but bet your not brave enough to post this.

This is the attitude of empty pride and hostility, selfish ambition. Calling people cowards because they don’t do what you say is pretty hostile, and to take that kind of hostility and pride in a facebook post?

In this election year and this time in our cultural lives, followers of Jesus need to be very careful not to go along with the kind of speech and the kind of attacking that is done everywhere by everyone.

Wherever you find people trying to gain influence, gathering a gang of friends, there you find the possibility, the potential of rivalry or conceit.

This kind of spiritual division is directly against Phil 2:3 but the good news is the antidote is right there in the scripture.

Philippians 2:3 (HCSB)

3 Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.

You see the last part of the verse is the attitude that should be the rule in my life and in yours.

it is the antidote. It is the vaccine. humility was thought by those who taught morals in the ancient Greek world as a bad thing. It was supposed to be the attitude of a lower class person. I would suggest it is still thought of as a bad thing. Some of the people who make the most money in our current world are influencers those who can, for some reason, influence people to do something.

But in the ways of Jesus humility, knowing who you are and how you rank before God, takes on a positive idea.

When we realize what God has done for us and what we mean for others

1 Peter 5:5–6 CSB

5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time,

That’s right, humility the opposite of Pride, is the desire to follow God in our treatment of others and ourselves. It is an easily forgotten idea. It takes maturity, it takes practice. It doesn’t just happen. Children will not become humble as they grow up. It has to be learned.

“Top-pee-no-fro-seen-E” is the word translated as “humility.” Plato, the greek philosopher defines it as

Humility - “That state of mind which submits to the divine order of the universe, and does not impiously exalt itself.” “The word is used in a secular document, of the Nile River at its low stage, in the sentence, ‘It runs low.’”

When we are humble we are looking at how to be generous with ourselves and we are understand that are importance comes from God, no where else.

It is an incredibly difficult daily practice to remain consistent in. It doesn’t matter who you influence, what you can do, how many people attend your Bible Study, how far you can walk, how many grandchildren you have, or how much money. Your value comes from Jesus dying for you. This is the essence of humility.

One scholar gave an example,

Ephesians–Philemon (How One Becomes Humble)

“A friend was asking me the other day, “How can I be humble?” He felt there was pride in him, and he wanted to know how to get rid of it. He seemed to think that I had some patent remedy and could tell him, “Do this, that, and the other and you will be humble.” I said, “I have no method or technique. I can’t tell you to get down on your knees and believe in prayer because I know you will soon be proud of that. There’s only one way to be humble, and that is to look into the face of Jesus Christ; you cannot be anything else when you see him.” That is the only way. Humility is not something you can create within yourself; rather, you look at Jesus, you realize who he is and what he has done, and you are humbled.

Perhaps that is why we are ordered to go after it. In it we spend time with the face of God. It comes with a promise, that may not be seen on this side of heaven but it is a promise.

Proverbs 18:12 CSB

12 Before his downfall a person’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.

Honor God, Love others