Spiritual Pride

INTRODUCTION

1st time guests

Last week, we began a new series that looked at how the church is different than Jesus intended and what Jesus would potentially undo if He was pastoring the church today. Because...

I am not convinced that this is what Jesus dreamed of as he was dying on the cross.

I am not convinced this is what Jesus dreamed of when He said to Peter, upon you I will build my church.

There is hope though.

So what would Jesus undo?

Jesus would undo hypocrisy.

One sentence from message

Jesus would undo spiritual pride.

Jesus would undo indifference.

PAIN/AMPLIFY

Spiritual pride. Very few Christians get saved striving to be prideful, but as I have said before, it is a slow fade that can occur in our lives.

Jesus wants to undo those places of spiritual pride in our lives.

Those places where we make our faith about us.

Those places where it is about what we accomplish and who sees it.

Those places were we live in comparison to those around us rather than to those things that God calls us to.

One of the first times I was left “in charge” that I can remember was at a summer camp. I was 19 years old and the assistant camp director. The director was offsite for our last day of camp and that meant that I was it. Looking back, that dude was dumb, but he saw something in me that I am not sure I even saw in myself. As soon as the campers left, we had to turn the camp over to get ready for the next group and I became a tyrant. It was my first time being “in charge” so I was going to do it right. You would be able to eat off the bathroom floors in a place where most people didn’t even want to go to the bathroom. They were so bad. Lindsay and I were dating and she was trying to tell me to back off a bit, but I did not relent. I was going around and wouldn’t let people go saying things like “grass should be in the grass, mulch in the mulch and gravel in the gravel. And we are not done til it is done.” That was the worst final day of camp in the 40 year history of that camp. I had let pride get the best of me and even have an award reminding me of that event - the mulch on the mulch, gravel on the gravel and grass on the grass award.

You see, pride comes before the what? [Fall]

Right. Pride comes before the fall and Jesus wants to undo the spiritual pride in our lives so that we don’t have to experience the fall.

Man what I wouldn’t give to go back to that summer at Camp Courtney in the mountains of North Carolina knowing what I know today! I don’t imagine that my award would have been the same.

Jesus narrows down all of the commandments into one that has two parts connected together. Love God and love people. And one of the best ways that you and I can love another person is to look them in the eyes and tell them the truth. Well today, God’s word is going to look us in the eye and tell us the truth.

If you have your bibles, turn to Luke 18 or if you have theBridge app, there are notes there and all the scriptures from this morning are there as well. Let’s start in verse 9.

SCRIPTURE

Jesus tells this story in Luke 18. He isn’t telling this story to everyone, but rather to a group of people that had begun to rely on themselves a little more than they should. They put their fate in themselves. They hoped in themselves. They became self-reliant. People that enter this territory begin to view themselves as righteous.

I do the right things.

Therefore I am right before God.

When we carry this view, we can distance ourselves from the world and those in it. And even view others with contempt.

Those full of spiritual pride are the ones that put Jesus on the cross. And I am not convinced that if Jesus were to come in person today, He would be welcome in the American church.

We pick up in verse 10. [Read Luke 18:10] - Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector.

Pharisee. A religious leader.

He was a good guy. A respected leader within his community.

By the time he was 12, he had memorized the first five books of the Bible, not just the titles, but ALL that was written in them. Let that sink in!

There were 613 laws and he not only knew them all, but followed them - all of them. He would cross every t and dot every I.

He was like a pastor or a bible teacher going to church.

And a tax collector.

What would a modern day equivalent be? We see the title “tax collector” and we don’t have the same disdain for the tax man today as they did back then. Some of us even get excited when tax season rolls around. I remember when I started to get a refund in my early 20’s I couldn’t wait to go see the tax man.

But here was this guy - the Bible tacks on despised in some places to remind the Jews that would have been reading this of those people. They all would have known one.

He was a constant reminder that their land was not their own. Their money was not their own. That while they lived in their country, another controlled them. They were not free. They were prisoners in a sense in their own home and this tax collector was a constant reminder of that and even worse, they would scalp their brothers and sisters, as tax collectors were Jews!

So this guy, who was your neighbor’s son, the same guy your son played with on the playground, he took your money to send to another country and at the same time fill his own pockets.

In the words of Roman Pierce, “we ain’t hungry no more.”

He’s the corrupt politician who is passing bills to line his pockets.

He’s the drug dealer who is selling in the neighborhood he grew up in to get rich.

Okay. I think we have it. We have the perpetual good versus bad.

We have all heard it before.

Luke Skywalker and Darth Vater.

Carolina and Duke.

The list can go on and on, but we all get it right? Good versus bad.

Read Luke 18:11-12 NASB - The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.

Did you catch that? Praying to himself. Not like them. Look at me I do all the right things.

This guy spent time in God’s word. You would have to if you memorized the 1st five books of the bible. 17% of our current Bible. He would have known it. He would have been around it.

Somewhere along the way, he stopped seeing his life and all that was in it as a gift from God and started seeing himself as a gift to God.

We begin to experience spiritual pride and spiritual pride promises us three things:

1 - It promises self-sufficiency

I got this.

I have what it takes.

I have value.

I have a title.

Look at what I have done.

I’m important.

I have value.

My kids go to the best school.

I live in the best neighborhood.

I carry a purse with the right label on it or wear a shirt with the right tag.

I serve. I give.

Spiritual pride is an inward emotion that will lead to outward action.

An outward action we don’t strive for.

An outward action we don’t want to be associated with.

An outward action that pits me against them. That creates us and them.

My first car that I drove to high school was a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle. I could see what this car could become, but its current shape was less than desirable.

The one thing it had going for it was the tinted windows. I could hide in them, but in 90 degree weather with only 255 as the form of AC, those windows had to go down.

The exhaust system had holes in it so everytime I would let off the gas, it would repeatedly backfire. In other words, hey look at me - I’m driving a POC! Although, we didn’t say POC in high school.

Eventually I traded up. I got a 1996 Dodge Avenger. My senior year I was driving a car that was from the same decade.

I would roll the windows down - open up the sunroof and blast “I want it way”. Heads were turning and in a good way this time.

My inner emotion led to a different outward action and spiritual pride can be that way as well.

2 - It promises comparison

I talked briefly about this last week, but comparison is deadly because we lift ourselves up by pushing others down.

You wanna know the worst offenders of this - parents.

Sally was walking at 15 months.

Seriously, Johnny was walking at two months and by 15 months he could do backflips while saying his ABCs backwards.

Or I know we are not perfect parents, but at least our kids aren’t like Kelly and Devin. They are crazy. At the rate they are going, they are going to be in jail if something doesn’t change.

Why do we do this? Because it makes us feel better.

Listen, no matter how well you do as a parent, you will give your kid something to talk about with their counselor later in life.

Why do we compare? Because it is easier to focus on their faults rather than allow God to focus on ours.

3 - It promises you can be good on your own

Maybe you find yourself at a place where many Americans find themself. You don’t really need God.

You work. You pay your taxes. You go to church.

We live in a world that is focused on a moral compass that moves. Look at our cancel culture today. What made entertainment 5, 10 or 50 years ago is now causing people to get cancelled.

People did what they thought was good for entertainment and today they are paying the price.

We have to realize that we will never be good enough on our own. Which leads me to the tax collector.

Read Luke 18:13 - But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’

Pay attention to the difference in the body language. The words.

This guy didn’t feel worthy to stand where the Pharisee was. He didn’t feel worthy to even look up to heaven.

He beat his chest which was a sign of sorrow. He recognized the weight of his sin.

The tax collector, under the law, had a way to make it right. Pay back all you made plus 20%. We don’t know how old he was, but the average income today is over $50k. Add in 20% you are at $60K. What if he was doing this for 5 years - $300k. 10 years - $600k. What if this was you? How on earth would you be able to repay that amount? You can’t.

That is where this guy was. Realization that if God doesn’t intervene, he is hopeless.

His value wasn’t on what he had done, but rather what God would do.

TESTIMONY

Prior to coming to theBridge, I had the privilege of leading 5 different ministries from youth groups, to another church and part of our denomination.

In every one of those instances, there was growth.

In every one of those situations, we saw God’s hand over and over again.

So with that as my history, I came to theBridge.

Without knowing it, I had become the Pharisee.

I stopped viewing my life as a gift from God and started living as if my life was a gift to God and to theBridge.

That this church needed me to come in and solve the problems.

I came in as a gift that was going to “fix” the problems.

I tried all that I knew how to do, but it didn’t work.

What worked before, wasn’t working now.

What I learned in school was not effective now.

Finally, one day, I sat across from a man that told me this church had one problem before I arrived - an empty pulpit and that was solved when I got here. I wanted to respond - there is much more than that, but what the church needed was a pastor. A church will always have problems just as a family always has problems.

Over the last 6 years, God has done a work in me just as hopefully he has done a work in you.

Today, I find my heart identifying with the tax collector while my thoughts at times line up with the pharisee.

OPPORTUNITY

So I as you...What is going on in your heart?

Is your life the culmination of all the things you have done or is it the result of all the things that God has done in you?

Maybe you are like the tax collector, you have tried it all and you don’t know how to fix it.

Maybe you have tried all that you know and you are exhausted.

Maybe you find yourself in a financial crisis and don’t know how to get out.

Maybe it’s a relationship that seems hopeless and will never be great.

Maybe it’s your kids - you are stuck in the comparison trap.

If you have ever found yourself in this place - it is isolating. It is depressing. And it is overwhelming.

How do you view your life?

Is it from a place of pride or a place of humility?

When we live from a place of pride, we fill ourselves with all the things that we do, but when we live with humility we empty ourselves so that God can fill us.

That’s great for you, but how does that work for me?

I’m just a homeschool mom, how does this work for me? He’s given you a gift of those kids you invest in. He’s equipped you in a way no one else can. Not only will your life be changed, but all of those that your kid’s impact. You could have the next Billy Graham, president of the US or one that will cure cancer.

I work at a cubicle farm - or at least I did, how does this work for me? You are a missionary and those you work with may be the only Jesus they ever experience. When you do your job well, people notice. When they look at your life, they see a reflection of Jesus.

I am retired, I played my part, I don’t have the energy for all this. We may retire from our careers, but we don’t retire from being a Christian. God hasn’t forgotten you!

Pride is about my glory - about making my name great, but humility is about God’s glory.

What’s our role?

Empty ourselves before God.

We do this by asking one question.

Is this about my glory?

Pride promises you freedom, but instead inprisons us because it is unattainable.

Humility offers freedom that we cannot experience outside of Jesus.

God has called you.

God has equipped you.

God wants to use you to bring glory to His name.

When we are full of pride, there is not room for God.

But when we empty ourselves like the tax collector, it puts us in the perfect position to be filled by His grace.

RESPONSE

This message is simple. Yet, the message is powerful. Pride destroys and humility builds.

I don’t have three points to bring you today. Just one...and it is this.

Embrace a life of humility.

Embrace HUMILITY!

Say it with me, “embrace humility”

Let’s explore some scripture about humility. Follow on the screen or flip through the bible with me for a moment. There is literally NO better place to go for answers than the Bible. If you are listening today and desire NOT to be prideful, the BEST way to do that is to learn about humility.

Let’s not walk around looking at pride and trying not to be prideful. Instead, let’s look at the quality that God doesn’t reject...the one he wants to see in each of us! Humility.

And the Bible has A LOT to say about humility or being humble. (read verses slowly)

Turn to James 4:6 (an awesome book on wisdom!) it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”

Self promotion isn’t the key to success in our life - it is humility. God wants us to be humble, I get it...but have you ever wondered on the HOW? How do I become humble? How does Humility win over pride? What does the Bible say about that?

Turn to Romans 12 - it is so rich in wisdom how a Christ follower should live. How we live in this world but not but be of this world. Further down in verse 15 we get a picture of what humility looks like:

Romans 12:15-18 says “Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”

The message version says, “Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody.”

Don’t be the great somebody. Isn’t that GOOD? Let me hear you? Isn’t that good?! To be great in God’s kingdom, we must be servants...we must be the least. Isn’t that refreshing? God isn’t after what you can accomplish. He’s after your heart of humility. He can use a humble heart.

I have two plants here that I need to plant in some soil. YOu may already know the answer to this, but do I need soft soil or a clump of hard clay for this plant to thrive? The clay represents our hearts filled with pride. Perhaps you have been hurt, so your heart gets packed in tighter and tighter. You feel that for God to love you that you have to show him what you can do. Slowly, your heart has hardened and become more like the Pharisee.

God desires to use you and for you to grow. He will not force you. But he can help - he can heal you and give you a new heart.

Go to Him. Surrender. Ask Him to forgive you and start fresh.

PRAYER

For our prayer time this morning, I want to lead you through a contemplative prayer. I will pray a prayer and you can read it on the screen and pray it in your heart. I will say a few sentences then pause so you can reflect and pray.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I am sorry for all the times I have taken the glory that is rightfully Yours and turned it towards myself. I humbly repent of my sin and my pride. (pause)

Please help me identify the events in my past that have caused me to privately crave admiration, acceptance and recognition. Did I experience a lack of affirmation when I was growing up? Did I suffer from unkind words from others? Help me see who I need to forgive so I don’t feel this need to put a wall of pride around my heart. (pause)

I know I don’t have to be like this, and that the Holy Spirit will help me in the renewal of my heart and mind. Teach me how to put on humility, gentleness and compassion every day, so I can become more like Christ and the desires of my heart will be more of a fragrant sacrifice to You, almighty God.

Help me to be humble in a world that presses me to be otherwise, so that I can be a light for Your Powerful name and a testimony of Your love and goodness.

In Jesus name, I pray, amen.”

(prayer taken from: https://teachinghumblehearts.com/en/prayer-pray-god-pride/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CDear%20Heavenly%20Father%2C,my%20sin%20and%20my%20pride.&text=Help%20me%20see%20who%20I,of%20pride%20around%20my%20heart. )

DECLARATION

Would you stand? Let us end our time together with a declaration and blessing. If you would like to lift your hands as if receiving a gift.

I declare that our hearts are healed, full of humility and kicking out pride. As we walk out these doors, may we be strong, courageous and filled with the power of the holy spirit at work in our hearts. May we be quick to notice pride creeping in and even quicker to ask for your help, God!

I declare this church to be a home of humility. That as we bow down and worship the ONE and TRUE king of kings, that you will lift us up. I declare that as we bow our hearts, we also submit our time to you. May we submit our loved ones to you and everything we invest in. Our life is yours and I declare today that we WILL serve you with everything we have! In jesus name, AMEN!

NEXTSTEPS (LINZ TO SHARE IN ENDING)