1 Corinthians - Pride
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This month in our nation is Pride month. This month, we are told that we need to support LGBTQ+. In our culture, it is not enough to civilly get along, but rather we are expected to actively support, defend and promote these behaviors.
What is the Christian response?
First, we need to realize that we are in a spiritual battle.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
I find it interesting that this is Pride month. What was the first sin by a created being?
“Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “ ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
Pride filled his heart.
the quality or state of being proud: as
a: inordinate self-esteem: CONCEIT
b: a reasonable or justifiable self-respect
c: delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship
You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
Pride Month shows what is behind all of this. It is Satan and his forces working against the rule of our Lord. And, how do they do that? They work to seduce people. We saw that in the garden.
“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
He used the allure of being like God, making one’s own choices of good and evil, to lead them away from following their Creator and Lord.
The same is true today.
But we also see that it is not just a battle with the forces in the heavenlies.
Look again at Genesis.
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Here we see that the woman had desires which were at play. It was good for food, it was pleasing to the eye, it was desirable for gaining wisdom.
We certainly have an enemy in Satan who is wanting to fill us with pride, arrogance that we know better than God; that we can know what is right and wrong with out him.
We also have our own fleshly desires working against us. We want, we think we need, we must have what we want, over and above what the Lord says.
And finally, not only do we have an enemy, the devil, our own sinful desires, we also have the world working against us.
For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
The world wants to conform us to its image. Paul speaks of that in Romans 12.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
So what is the Christian response to Pride month?
Recognize the Spiritual Battle
Recognize the Spiritual Battle
First we need to recognize the spiritual battle that is raging in this world. The devil, the world, and our own flesh are filled with pride, arrogance, wanting to choose our own way over the Lord.
Recognize the Ways of the World
Recognize the Ways of the World
We need to recognize that the world is going to do all it can to conform us to its image. They are going to try to brainwash us into thinking their way. They want us to not live and let live, but to agree with them, and join them in the pride of open rebellion against the Lord.
Do not be conformed, be transformed
Do not be conformed, be transformed
We need to work to keep ourselves from being brainwashed, from being conformed to this pattern of pride. We need to recognize this prideful, willful rebellion against the Lord for what it is. We need to have our minds transformed, renewed by the Holy Spirit. We need to wash ourselves our minds with the Word of God, and know the truth that can set us free from this pride.
Pride says we can do what we want. But just because the world and our own pride of thinking we know better than the Lord says we should engage in and support specific behaviors, should we?
Just because the world says it is okay, should we support and defend these behaviors?
If the world says it is okay to commit adultery, should we? Should we betray and hurt the ones we love?
If the world says it is okay to lie, cheat and steal, should we?
If the world says it is okay to murder, should we?
Or, should we listen to our Creator, the One who made us and knows what is good for us?
Let us not be conformed, but transformed by the renewing of our minds! We need to be in the word and know the truth that will set us free from sin, and the thinking of the world.
And finally, we need to
Recognize our own pride
Recognize our own pride
When we are being transformed in our minds, and recognize this sin and pride for what it is, we need to recognize that pride it at work in each and every one of us. We cannot look down on these people because of their pride and arrogance. We need to see them as being just like us.
Pride says we do not need to listen to Him. Just as a child grows in pride and thinks they do not need to listen to their parents, we tend to have pride and not want to listen to the Lord. Maybe not in the same ways as the world, but in our own ways. We all have struggles with pride, and we need to recognize that if we are going to speak to the world with grace and truth.
Pride says my way. Humility says, God’s way. It is really that simple. We are either walking in our pride doing our thing, or we are walking in humility, acting as God would like.
Which will it be?
Pride is what the Corinthians were struggling with. They thought that they had arrived. They were saved. They were Christians. They knew better than anyone else.
They lifted themselves up and put others down.
That is Pride. That is not walking in humility. Looking at the end of chapter 3, and through chapter 4, it is obvious that they were struggling with pride.
Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise.
So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours,
Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
The Corinthians were struggling with pride, thinking that they had arrived. They felt like they were all wise and all knowing. They boasted in teachers. They were puffed up. They were prideful.
As we look at this passage this week, we need to look at ourselves and ask if we are walking in pride.
If we are looking down on the world for their pride, there is a good chance that we are walking in pride.
We may think we are better than the world, but when we are walking in pride, we are walking as the world does.
That is what Paul is addressing at the end of 1 Corinthians 3, and through 1 Corinthians 4. But I love the way he does it. He warns them, and does it as a father.
Look at how he appeals to the Corinthians.
I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children.
Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
Paul, as a spiritual father, is warning the Corinthians about this pride.
I love that Paul is not trying to shame them, but warn them. Often we can take correction as shaming. However, the desire is for us to not be shamed, but to grow and change. Paul’s correction is for their good.
And, Paul urges them to not follow the world’s way, or their own ways, but rather to imitate him.
What is the example that Paul wants them to imitate?
Let’s look at some of the details in Chapter 4.
This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.
Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
Servants
Servants
We are God’s servants. We need to obey and follow him, rather than just doing what we want, when we want.
We have been entrusted with the good news of Jesus Christ! We are not better than others because we are Christians. We were given grace, just like they need to receive.
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
We received grace. We have been set free from the ways of the world. We have been shown the truth about what is right and wrong. We did not arrive on our own. We have received God’s gracious gift of salvation. We have no room for boasting, or thinking ourselves better than anyone else. At one time, we too, were deceived and without God and without hope. We do not look down upon them. Rather as God’s servants, we try to share what God has entrusted us to give to them. Hope and freedom through Jesus Christ!
We need to have the understanding, and live as Servants of the Lord. Then, as his servants, we will not worry what others say, or even our own judgement of things, rather we will want to know,
What does God say?
What does God say?
Looking to the Lord’s judgment. This is what Paul covers in the next section of chapter 4.
I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
What does God say?
Paul goes on to make several contrasts in chapter 4 to help us judge whether we are living in pride, or following his example of living in humility.
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you!
For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings.
Rulers or Spectacles?
Rulers or Spectacles?
We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!
To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;
when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.
Cursed - Bless!
Cursed - Bless!
Persecuted - Endure!
Persecuted - Endure!
Slandered - Kindness!
Slandered - Kindness!
Scum and garbage
Scum of the Earth (dishwater), garbage of the world (scrapings).