Dealing with Spiritual Pride

Introduction

Theme: Spiritual pride

Open you bibles to Romans 3:27 “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.”

How many of you big strapping guys have even been like me? Maybe you are moving someone’s furniture at their house and you see that big old box. You think, “I can handle that.” so you grab it and for a second it seems like you are going to make it when all of a sudden you hands start hurting. The box is beginning to slip so you try propping it up with you knee, but it still keeps slipping. At that point you are looking all around for someone to come help you and you can’t see anyone around; so you call out, “Help.”

Sometimes our pride gets us into a lot of problems.

Men we don’t like to get advice from any one and that extends a lot of times to reading the instruction manuals on how to put furniture together. I once tried to assemble a piece of furniture without reading the instructions, thinking I could figure it all out on my own. After several frustrating hours and an unintentional jigsaw puzzle of wood, I finally admitted defeat and grabbed the manual. This experience showed me that pride can lead us to chaos.

There are many different types of pride and they are not all wrong. In fact, Paul says we should boast or take pride in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:31 “That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” But often our pride is contaminated by self.

There is pride in our achievements

There is pride in our appearance

There is pride in our country

There is pride in what we know

There is pride in our position

But there is a type of pride that we often are not aware of because it blinds our eyes . Jonathan Edwards noticed a trend on how Satan was attacking the revival of the first great awakening through pride. He wrote these words:

The first and worst cause of error that prevails in our day is spiritual pride. This is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christ. It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit to darken the mind and mislead the judgment, and the main handle by which Satan takes hold of Christians to hinder a work of God. Until this disease is cured, medicines are applied in vain to heal all other diseases.

Pride is much more difficult to discern than any other corruption because, by nature, pride is a person having too high a thought of himself. Is it any surprise, then, that a person who has too high a thought of himself is unaware of it? He thinks the opinion he has of himself has just grounds and therefore is not too high. As a result, there is no other matter in which the heart is more deceitful and unsearchable. The very nature of it is to work self-confidence and drive away any suspicion of evil respecting itself.

As believers, we can become proud of our achievements.

We think we are spiritual just because we don’t do x,y,z. Many times it is our standards that cause us to be spiritually proud. Maybe you have chosen as a woman not to wear pants and you think that makes you more spiritual or you don’t watch any TV at all so you must be more spiritual. Spirituality is not gaged by externals alone, but by a heart.

We think we are spiritual because we serve God in so many ways. We are always available to help with every activity, we go on visitation all the time. We see results. May I remind you that some of the most carnal pastors in our nation have mega churches so activity and results are not a gage of spirituality. In fact Jesus told his disciples: Luke 10:17–20 “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”

We think we are spiritual because of how much we know of the scriptures. 1 Corinthians 8:1 “Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.” Some of the most spiritually proud people are those who know their bible through and through. Knowledge of the facts of scripture is not the same thing as knowledge of God.

Since Spiritual pride is so hard to find in ourselves, it helps to have someone else to diagnose our problem. Edwards goes on to give the following six marks of the spiritual proud person:

Jonathan Edwards Marks of Spiritual Pride

Fault Finding/ sees so much evil in his own heart

Criticism/ the humble either doesn’t speak of it at all or is grieved by the failures of others

External Appearance/ is determined to do right even if others don’t follow, he doesn’t set himself up to be viewed by others, he isn’t different just for the sake of being different

Taking Offense- You grow cold or avoid people who you criticize or who criticize you/ continues to extend love to those who hurt them, doesn’t rail again

Dogmatism You cannot distinguish between minor and major issues. You are unteachable/ knows that they do not know everything and is willing to learn, understands that not everyone sees everything the same, doesn’t make minor disagreements into major battles

Unhappiness- they know how life should have gone and they deserve better/ all that I have is the grace of God.

Paul wraps up chapter 3 with a question Where is boasting then? What do we really have to brag about? If you were a Jew who had lived all your life strictly keeping the law, it would be easy to become proud. In fact, I believe this is one of the central problems the church of Rome faced. Because of their pride, the Jewish Christians were struggling to get along with the Gentile Christians. So Paul heads straight on to attack this problem.

So if we are so prone to being spiritually proud, how do we correct it. Spiritual pride is a matter of the heart and so the mind and heart must be renewed. Our thinking must be corrected. If you look back at out text, notice how Paul deals with spiritual pride. Paul gives them three reason’s not to be spiritual proud.

What is the law of faith?

Salvation by faith excludes pride

It is excluded- Paul begins by saying that pride is excluded from the christian life. There is no place for pride in Christianity. If you find yourself walking around like a spiritual peacock showing off your feathers hoping to get attention, you have lost sight of the gospel and are not living according to the truth of the gospel. Spiritual pride should be our greatest enemy and we must do everything we can to fight it off.

But why is there no room for pride in Christianity? I mean Paul did a lot of great things for God, shouldn’t he be allowed to take some pride in that. Look at what he accomplished. The answer it is excluded by the law of faith.

The word law in this passage is a play on words, but means the rule or principle of faith. If salvation were of works, then yeah we have something to brag about. Let’s think back over the gospel. Was there anything you had to do other than place your faith in Christ to be saved? No. Were there any prerequisites about how good you needed to be before you could ask to be saved? No. Did it have anything to do with what family you came from or you heritage? No. Salvation was never about what you brought to the table. So in Christianity, pride is eliminated.

Often times pride comes in because we like to compare ourselves.

2 Corinthians 10:12 “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

1 Corinthians 4:7 “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”

Paul goes on an concludes in Romans 3:28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”

Your salvation was never about you. The only thing you brought was the sin that made your salvation necessary; so why is it that you think you have some advantage over others? Why is it that you think of yourself as more than other Christians? Every step of your salvation and every part of your sanctification is all a work of God’s grace. What do you have that you didn’t receive?

So the very essence of our salvation leaves no room for spiritual pride in the Christian life. If you find yourself struggling with spiritual pride, meditate for awhile on your salvation.

We are one people under God

The second reason to reject spiritual pride is given in Romans 3:29–30 “Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.”

Paul argues that God is the God of the Gentiles and the Jews both. Think about it, if God is only the God of the Jews who is God of the Gentiles. Judaism’s central tenet is that there is one God vs 30 and so Paul reminds them of that. Paul is referencing back to the truth of the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:” and I believe has in mind the teaching of Zechariah 14:9 “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.”

God is not just God over one group of people. You do not have any special privilege that is denied to everyone else.

Nothing spiritual can be gained in competition.…

When two men step into a prize ring they know that only one can win, and whoever wins can do so only by forcing the other to lose. When five men line up on the track for a race they know that only one can come in first. Four men must lose that one may win. It is not so in the kingdom of God. Christians do not run against each other. All can win the race. Paul likens a Christian to a fighter, but the Christian’s fight is not with other Christians. Each one can win and no one need lose. The man of faith fights against the devil, the flesh and the world. He wins as they lose; but he never wins anything truly spiritual in competition with a fellow believer. In the nature of things he cannot. To think so is to entertain an absurdity.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27; Ephesians 2:1–3; Ephesians 6:10–12; 2 Timothy 2:5

The Price of Neglect, 96, 97.

A. W. Tozer

1. You know the one thing that pride does consistently: it divides. When I think so highly of myself that I want others to look at me, I am making a division. I am the one to be revered and they are the ones who should be praising me. I am of a higher class spiritually than you are behold my glory. Those words may not come out of your mouth, but they are in your heart. God will not share his glory with another.

2. Spiritual pride also divides because when people aren’t like us they become other. We don’t hang around with that family in the church because they don’t dress like us, or act like us. They don’t believe in our version of dating or hold to our minor doctrines; so we can’t fellowship with them. We set up walls and only include the people who are like us.

3. Spiritual pride also divides because it creates contention. It makes us uber critical of others and hurts relationships. It pushes people away. Think about it who wants to be around someone who thinks they are better than everyone else.

The gospel is intended to unite believers together. Sometimes divisions are necessary but they are always a shame. We are all made one body in Christ as Ephesians teaches. Because we are one, there is no room for pride.

The fulfillment of the law by faith is to love one another

The third reason Paul gives for rejecting spiritual pride is that our faith actually fulfills the law. Think about it this way, In my own self efforts, I never really could keep the entire law. I was guilty. I was a failure. In our own strength, we constantly fall to the temptations of our hearts. We all have that one thing that trips us up all the time. That one sin we really enjoy. How many times have you fought against it and failed?

After having failed over and over again, we have nothing to brag about. Paul argues that faith doesn’t make the law pointless rather faith establishes the law. The word establish means to confirm the validity of the law. The law has its purpose it reveals us to be the helpless, sinners we are. It shows us that we are failures. We couldn’t keep the law if we tried.

But faith actually has a surprising affect on the law. Faith actually enables us to keep God’s moral law in a way that self effort never could. I mentioned this verse last week I believe but Galatians 5:6 “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.”

Romans 13:8 “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.”

Spiritual pride comes from legalism, self-effort. Its focus is on what I have done for God. But faith, working by love removes legal obligation. I do the things I do because I love God and I love other people. Faith trusts God for the strength to do right and serve him and so it removes pride. When I love others and I cannot take pride in who I am and what I do for God.

Christianity overthrows spiritual pride because it realigns our service for God. It changes our motives from self to others, from pride to love. How can I take pride in what I do when my heart is consumed with a desire to serve others. I am no longer looking at myself at all. I am focused on meeting the needs of others.

Conclusion

The Solution to religious pride is a deep understanding of what you bring to the table with God. The answer is nothing. Everything you have is all of grace, it is all of God’s goodness. You are only saved because of God’s work to save you, not you own. I have quoted this quote by Paul Washer many times because it is so true: There are no great men of God... Only weak, little men of a great and merciful God.

Clearly this doesn’t mean there are no men who were used greatly by God, but the men we can great men of God were not great because of anything about themselves. They were great because of the great God they served.

Maybe you find yourself constantly struggling with pride. Maybe you have been unaware that this was you. Pride hides like that often. This morning will you come to the front, confess your sin of pride. Meditate on these three reasons to reject your spiritual pride and then commit to servicing God and others in love.