Condemned Motives: Pride vs. Humility

Josh Taylor

Prayer • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Opening

1 Peter 5:6 ESV

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

1 Peter 5:6–7 CSB

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.

I wanted to open with these verses this morning because it captures what we need for ourselves in light of today’s passage and the things we are currently facing in the world. The need for Humility.....and understanding where that comes from. The understanding of how little we have control of in light of a completely sovereign God.

1 Peter 5

The understanding of how little we have control of in light of a completely sovereign God.

Most of what we will be looking at today deals with our pride...

Pride is a terrible thing that can absolutely ruin us. Here is what the Word of God says about Pride from the book of Proverbs-

Proverbs 11:2 ESV

2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 13:10 NIV

10 Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

Proverbs 16:5 CSB

5 Everyone with a proud heart is detestable to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.

Proversb

Proverbs 16:18 CSB

18 Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.

It should be clear to us what Pride can do. Pride gets in the way of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It condemns us to be unforgiving, arrogant, blinded to our own sin, without fault in our own eyes, and a people who rely on our own strength, not crying out to a Holy God to sustain us, but looking inward at ourselves, saying “ I can do it on my own.”

But what we see in scripture time and time again that God is calling us to is the opposite of pride.....Humility.

In Philippians chapter 2, we see Paul calling the people to humble themselves, telling them to find their complete joy in Christ, to do nothing out of selfish ambition, to elevate others above themselves, looking out for the best interest of those around them.

He goes on to put the full highlight on Jesus, exalting Him and showing us this perfect example of humility......and then, after all that he is giving us, he gives us these instructions-

Philippians 2:12–15 CSB

12 Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. 14 Do everything without grumbling and arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world,

Philippians 2:12-

Have we been a reflection of this among the current crisis our world is in? Without grumbling, arguing, Be blameless, pure. Shining like stars as a beacon for the only Hope their is.

In the last two weeks, has those around you heard more from you about the coronavirus than they have of Jesus? The world needs true hope and that only comes from Christ. Humility keeps our perspective where it needs to be.

Church, we must strive to live humble lives in the reflection of a Holy God, because if we don’t pride will be our downfall.

And we see ourselves confronted with all of this, this morning in our text.

If you would open to the book of James chapter 4, beginning in verse 1.

Read

Prayer

Fighting, Quarreling or Arguing does not reflect who God wants us to be as it comes from our own Pride and Selfishness.

It’s by no coincidence that the sections preceding this one are about watching what we say and understanding where wisdom and ambition should come from.

So, James immediately comes out in verse one to pose a question. What is the source of wars and fights among you? Your translation may say “What causes fights and quarrels among you?”

I don’t know about you but I love movies that have these epic battles in them.....

Here’s the thing, that’s not what James is talking about here. Though, it has the potential to blossom into an all out war, he’s referring to our personal relationships and ultimately the battle we have with ourselves.

Conflict within the church is not good for the body, God’s will or part of His design.

It should be our goal, objective and mission to avoid conflict at all costs. That is not to say that we are to avoid it or hide from it or run from it but we are to face it and deal with it according to the plan God has laid out.

John 13:34–35 CSB

34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

It is difficult for those who do not believe to see our love for one another and ultimately for Christ, if we are always at odds and fighting amongst ourselves.

Our personal pride can result in us holding our ground just so we are right and others are wrong, even if we are wrong. This will surely cause strife within the church.

Christ’s purpose for His church is for it to be unified, not in disarray.

Blogger........Sept. 2010

“Christian Unity is essential for the Church to operate correctly. When parts of the church are quarreling without care, don’t expect for Him to honor that. Think of it like an infection in the body. When an infection takes place the body doesn’t operate correctly. The same is true for the church. When we do not operate unified, we just wont work!”

And when we do find ourselves in a moment of fighting or arguing, we must take a step back, HUMBLE OURSELVES, seek the Lord in prayer ASKING for His Spirit to move within us to offer forgiveness or accept forgiveness, breaking us of the pride in our lives that causes us to sin, repent of that sin, restore the bonds of fellowship and continue on in the mission of the church. WE MUST BE BROKEN.

We only function as the church when we are humbled before God, keeping the bond of peace and loving one another.

Matthew 5:9 ESV

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

We avoid

Verse 2-3

God does not honor the prayers of those who are out for selfish gain or focused on earthly desires.

Throughout the book of James, James continues to point his readers towards this one basic truth: Ask God. But yet, we continually struggle with it. We ask for things selfishly, in a state of pride or earthly pleasures that don’t benefit us or the kingdom.

We must ask God because true wisdom only comes from God.

We see in chapter three that James was dealing with individuals who sought positions of prestige within the church but yet lacked the ability to ask God.

In chapter 1 in verse 5, James tells us:

James 1:5 ESV

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

We are being told here to seek wisdom by going to God in prayer and asking for it, swallowing any pride we have may have and humbling ourselves.

So when we see the context of that is dealing with our immense pride, it suggests that, if we are not actively seeking humility, it should not be a shock that our prayers and petitions are laced with prideful requests........ Or we aren’t even asking at all.

Too often we pray selfishly, outside the will of God and expect answers that will not come because God does not honor those prayers. He in turn honors the prayers of the righteous.

Psalm 34:15 ESV

15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.

1 John 3:21–22 ESV

21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

When we ask God for things based on our own prideful hearts and with such attachment to a world that is not our home, we ask in vain.

Verse 3- Spend

δαπανάω (Dop-a-now) - the Greek word to spend, use up or squander.

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. δαπανάω

δαπανάω

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. δαπανάω

δαπανάω

We see this word used by Jesus when he’s talking about the parable of the prodigal son and how he wasted his inheritance in Luke.

Luke 15:13 ESV

13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

Now if you are not familiar with this story, there is a great lesson in that parable for us.

The man gives is two sons their respective portions of the inheritance. One stays and works

The man gives is two sons their respective portions of the inheritance. One stays and works, the other leaves and wastes all his money on useless things.

Here’s even more of a lesson for us. It’s found at the end after he had returned, his father welcomes him with open arms but his brother questioned this decision and here is what the father says:

“We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

Now this is referring to those that are lost

This is the same for us. We are never out of the reach of the father. Our pride may be immense, but all we need do is go to Him, repent of our sinful pride, ask forgiveness of all the prayers we have prayed in vain and he is always there to welcome back in with His forgiving, open arms because of His immense grace.

Be honest with yourself:

Is your prayer life laced with prideful, selfish prayers?

Or do you chase after the will of God? Asking for his blessings on things with a heart that is completely sold out for Him?

Do you pray for God to fix other people but never ask for Him to fix you?

How often are you praying? Just when you need something or praying without ceasing?

Our prayers must be made with the right motives. And those motives must be completely focused on the perfect will of God that produces righteousness in us. If not, they are in vain.

We must ASK with the correct motives.

Verses 4-6

If we want to be a people after God’s heart, we cannot allow ourselves to become attached to the things of this world.

James comes out swinging at the beginning of verse 4, bringing clarity to us as a result of our disobedient pride.

He uses a term typically used to refer to a spouse that has broken their marriage covenant.

YOU ADULTEROUS PEOPLE!

He is showing us the spiritual infidelity that we show God and His Word by puffing ourselves up with pride, being consumed by our own desires and finding more joy in earthly delights then in him.

How fickle are we? We say with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, worthy to be praised, that we are committed to Him....only to lift other things as higher priority then Him.

We live in a fallen world that is consumed by sin. If we allow ourselves to love this world, not the things of God, but this world, the things it stands for, earthly pleasures, the human delights then we are going against the very nature God created us for.

When we attach ourselves to the things of this world, we are attempting to peacefully coexist with evil and are abandoning our great love for the Father.

1 John 2:15–17 CSB

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

1 John

Did you catch it. The things of this world create a pride in our life......and the tragedy is that all of it is going to fade away to nothing but yet we are investing so much of ourselves in these things. Whether they are activities, hobbies, attitudes, possessions, ambitions…the list goes on and on. They will one day be gone but the will of God in our lives is eternal.

James tells us this and ends in verse 5 by reminding us that God is a jealous God.

Why do you think He is a jealous God?

Because He knows that He is worthy alone to be praised, not this world but also He knows what the world has to offer is a facade and not true and not real and immensely temporary. It’s of no real benefit to us.

God demands our undivided commitment to Him because any other commitment is destructive to us.

But with all of this struggle.... what is the silver lining for us, especially as we all struggle with this.

GRACE. It is a wonderful gift from God.

James reminds us in verse 6, God gives more grace. Meaning when we humble ourselves, set aside the pride, He will give us grace. But do not think that a prideful spirit will find grace in the Lord. It tells us here very clearly. He opposes the proud.

We must humble ourselves.

Proverbs 3:34 NIV

34 He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.

Verses 7-10

As a people, we must humble ourselves before a Holy God and draw near to Him so that we might become His righteousness.

We will see in verses 7-10, there are 10 commands to us that are a call to us to repent of ours sins and return to the Lord. Whether that is for the Christian that has allowed themselves to stray and become lax or for the unbeliever who needs to place their trust solely in Christ as Lord, we all must submit ourselves under His complete Lordship over our lives.

The one thing we see from James through his epistle is his desire for professed Christians to test their faith but we also see him warn of the worldly wisdom of unbelievers that can certainly infiltrate the Christian ranks. Here i think he is crying out to both the Christian and the unbeliever in an act of love and concern for them.

So, lets look at the 10 commands here. Move quicky.....

1. He starts with Submit yourselves to God. HUMBLE YOURSELF.- v7

We all struggle with submission.

-Wedding story- Submission.

But at it’s core submission to a spouse, to our leaders and ultimately God is the act of humbling ourselves.

When we humbling ourselves to God, we are saying I’m not in charge, you are.

2. Resist the devil-v7

Once we humble ourselves to God, the natural reaction should be to resist the devil.

3. Draw near to God(fellowship)-v8

For us to have a relationship with anyone and to know that relationship and to understand that relationship we must draw near to that person. God is no different.

Philippians 3:10 CSB

10 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death,

How do we know him? How do we commune with a living God?

We pray to Him. We speak with Him and we LISTEN. We dive into His Holy Word. WE ASK!

4. Cleansing- v8

5. Purification- v8

Here we see James referring back to the religious ceremonies for moral purposes. The idea here is we cleanse our hands by removing them from all evil actions. We must purify our hearts before God.

We have a tendency to follow the practices of this world while we also attempt or even pretend to hold to God. We must purify our hearts and we focused on one, God.

Psalm 24:3–4 CSB

3 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not appealed to what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully.

The next three commands work together-

6. Miserable- v9

7. Mourn- v9

8. Weep-v9

Each of these actions are in response to our own self reflection. We are sinners.

Charles Spurgeon wrote:

“There is a vital connection between soul-distress and sound doctrine. Sovereign grace is dear to those who have groaned deeply because they see what grievous sinners they are.”

As we flee from our pride, we must recognize our state of sinfulness, we must mourn that sinfulness and in an act.... weep over it.

Mark 14:72 CSB

72 Immediately a rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered when Jesus had spoken the word to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Mark 14:

We must daily recognize our sin nature, repent of it and strive for righteousness.

9. Serious Nature-v9

There is no condemnation here for legitimate laughter and joy. He is speaking of the flippant, trivial, worldly and selfish pleasure we seek.

Luke 6:25 CSB

25 Woe to you who are now full, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep.

When we are faced with sin before our Holy God it demands serious repentance rather than hilarious celebration. Those times must not be met with levity but with all seriousness.

10. Humility- v10

Our salvation is built on humility. Our position before a Holy God.

We even see this from Jesus in the beatitudes. The first one is:

Matthew 5:3 ESV

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

He’s talking about the humble.

The Greek word humble, literally means to make low.

Matthew 23:12 ESV

12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

.......It takes me back again to the parable of the prodigal son. The son realized his sin and sought out for forgiveness and the father extended his grace upon him.

The same grace James is speaking of in verse 6.

Holman New Testament Commentary: Hebrews & James C. Self-Centered Living Demands Repentance (vv. 7–10)

If we look at ourselves from our own perspective, we will invariably either be flattering or hopelessly pessimistic about ourselves. When we respond with insight provided by the Holy Spirit, we see our unworthiness; but we also sense God’s ability to forgive us and receive us. Those who truly humble themselves before the Lord will experience his exaltation and elevation.

We see this amazing exaltation from Paul to the church at Ephesus:

Ephesians 1:3–7 CSB

3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

Closing

When we are lacking in humility, when our pride is front and center, we forget our sinfulness, we are blinded to it. Therefore we do not mourn and weep over it but we continue to revel in it. And the result is a life apart from God, we do not commune with Him, we do truly speak to Him in prayer and His words are foreign to us.

We either are not or we stop ASKING HIM for His will to be done in our lives.

BUT, when we humble ourselves before the living God......everything changes. Scripture declares to us that we are a new creation......we have to act like it!

Church, we must ASK! We cannot do this all on our own. To truly humble ourselves shows our reliance on Him.

If you are not speaking with Him daily, seeking Him out, ASKING for His will to be done in your life, what dependence do you have in Him? You don’t, it’s in yourself.

We have been granted grace abundantly, receive it, humble your pride, repent of your sin and revel in the righteousness of God.

I wish to end today with this verse:

Romans 12:2 CSB

2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.