Pride

The Place Of Honor

Jesus is continuing to speak to the scribes and Pharisees after the church lunch

He was observing them as they jockeyed for positions at the table

Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath which they were not approving of

Jesus displayed to them their hypocrisy V 5

what Jesus is doing is to help these men to realize their sinful hearts

their hypocrisy, now their pride

Jesus is not giving them a strategy of how to get everyone to see them be exalted by the host

by showing a false humility

V 8 -9

instead of running and jockeying for a coveted seat

Go sit at the end

V 10

allow the host to recognize you and bring you a place of honor

If you deserve the honor

do any of us deserve honor?

this is what Jesus is alluding to

we want to use this worlds standards. we want recognition

children come up and proudly sow their masterpieces

they want to be recognized

we have a in-born need to be recognized

there is a lot of talk about self esteem

you are somebody

you are to be proud of yourself for who you are

we have pride month

does the whole universe revolve around you?

these men are proud of their status their religious rightness

their being of Abrahams seed

being better than everybody else

The Kingdom of God is an

Upside Down World

Proverbs 8:13 LSB

“The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the mouth of perverted words, I hate.

self esteem has no place in the kingdom

and God will punish the prideful

Isaiah 13:11 LSB

Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the pride of the arrogant And bring low the lofty pride of the ruthless.

why does God hate pride so much?

the world promotes pride saying its the best thing ever

so why is it so wrong?

one of the problems with Job and his friends is

they thought they knew God and God was like them.

god has a series of questions for Job to answer

turn to Job 38.

there is so much we don't know about ourselves and God

Pride comes before the fall

pride prevents people from turning to Yahweh

to be saved we need to come to the cross with a desperate need of a savior

to be saved we need to realize the muck and mire of sin that we live in

the story goes of a prideful king that loved expensive lavish clothes

one day a tailor convinced the king that he could make the most elaborate clothing ever made

well of course the king paid a healthy sum for the clothing

after some months the tailor brought the clothes to the king

and with much pomp and flourish put the new clothes on the king

the king paraded around his court completely naked

and his people commended him on his new clothes

then he went out into public and the people also praised the king for his wardrobe

until a little boy said the emperor has no clothes

all people are like this king

we are naked blind poor in a dungeon chained to the wall and can’t see it because of pride

we are blinded by our self worth

I am good enough God will weigh my good against my bad

these men were proud of their self righteousness

I have risen in the ranks of our self made religion

my standing before God is impeccable

so when I walk into a room you had better give me the highest seat

Jesus was telling us the only way into the kingdom

a humble realization of who we are and the Holiness of God

we cannot come to God for salvation with a high self esteem

a new christian read through the bible looking for herself

what do I get out of being a christian and she was disappointed

her pastor told her to read again the bible and this time find out about God and who God is

after this she fell in love with the almighty thus changing her vision from herself to God

this world where pride is celebrated

it is a detriment to the Kingdom of God

PRIDE is also s a detriment to the one who is a

Boot Strap Picker-Upper

the self made man

the George Jeffersons of this world who went from the streets to a deluxe apartment in the sky

this person is self made and has no need for God

sometimes these people are Christians

I knew a man who was successful beautiful home and family

one of his goals was to be a deacon at his church

he saw this a good achievement for a professional to have

he saw the deaconship as the church success team of planning and strategist to make the church bigger and better

I was discipling this man at this time and so I took him through Timothy and Titus to teach about what a deacon is

we come to think that God is lucky to have me

but it’s just the opposite

Jesus took the fisherman

the unlearned in the conventional ways

took the men who are strong in their own eyes and humbled them so He could work through them

Jesus used men who had trouble looking down on others because they were so low they always had to look up

when we rely on our own power to do anything spiritual we are saying to God I got this. I don’t need your grace

my pride will see this through

we do this quite frequently when we rely on our abilities

when we don’t humbly come to God and seek for His grace to do the good work He has called us to do

we need His grace to stop sinning

we need to be totally dependent on Him to succeed in His kingdom

Jesus works through us to do His work

there is no boot strap picker uppers in the Kingdom

there are only totally dependent on Jesus people

in the end there will be 2 types of people

The Humbled And The Exalted

V 11

Jesus will be this Judge

the eternal Judge of the world

those who are trying to work their way into Heaven

those who are Good enough for God

those who are using their pride to get into the Kingdom

these will be humbled right into Hell

those who are using their pride in ministry

they also will be humbled in the ministry

they also wont accomplish anything for the Kingdom

our pride , our self reliance, is what keeps us stagnant in ministry

if something great is done in the Kingdom it is God doing it and allowing us to participate

we are small potatoes and we need to have full reliance on God to do anything.