Pride & Prejudice

Opening & Intro

I went into a produce store to buy a banana.

I went in and I grabbed the banana put it on the counter and said, “just that please.”

As I went to pay for the banana the lady at the cash said, “We are giving away free bananas today.”

I was like, “amazing!” I turned to leave and the lady behind the cash said. “Where do you think you are going? I said we are giving away free bananas not that all the bananas are free.”

She got me there. I said, “oh I’m sorry. Which of the bananas are free...”

How crazy would that have been if that was my response? If someone says to you, “we’re giving away free bananas today.’ and without question you go, “Which specific ones? I mean it can’t be all of them we aren’t living in a fantasy land. This isn’t my dreams.”

So, I looked at her and said, “Well which bananas are free then.”

Her eyes lit up, she couldn’t wait to tell me which bananas were free.

And she pointed to a pile of jet black bananas. You know, the kind that were supposed to be used for banana bread but we never got around to using them and now they are a fun game called try to scrape the banana off the counter in one piece.

So I said, “I think I will just buy this banana then.” So I did. And just as I was turning to walk away I heard her scoff and say under her breath, “Thinks he’s too good for a free banana.”

Never before had I ever been so offended at something that I 100% agreed with. “I am too good for a free banana, actually.” We all are aren’t we?”

If you are sitting here this morning thinking, “Oh, I’m not.”

Believe in yourself a little bit. It is a Banana.

You aren’t standing there holding a banana and someone comes up to you and goes, “(sarcastically) Ooh-hoo, you’re punching above your weight , aren’t you?”

It’s never happened.

That banana is lucky to have you if anything.

That was a joke by a comedian names James Acaster but it illustrates the point well. which is ...

Believe it or not a little bit of pride & prejudice can be a good thing. Have pride enough to know that you are of worth. Also, have prejudice againt things that will hurt you.

But when that pride and that prejudice starts hurting other people and we start elevating ourselves above others that is when we need to make a course correction.

I was watching something and I can’t rememebr what it was or where or when I saw it but the point of what I saw was this.

A rich kid was flaunting his wealth over a poor kid. The rich kids father quickly corrected his behaviour and said somethign along the lines of, “Our money doesn’t make us better than anyone else. In fact this money is not your money at all. It is mine. I worked for it and I earned it. You benefit from this money but it isn’t yours. You will have to earn your own someday.”

All that to say, it is the same with us. We shouldn’t brag when things are gong well and we shouldn’t curse God when things are going rotten. Any wealth we have in our lives is because of God. The goodness we feel is due to Him. The badness we feel is due to us.

Paul said it best in

Ephesians 2:8–9 NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Main Point

We are no better than the people around us. We are all image beareds of God.

Genesis 1:27 NIV

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Why Does it Matter

If we think we are better than the people around us what will happen when this world shifts and our situation changes and we need those people who are around us?

As we said last week. No one is invincible. We will all fall on hard times. It has happened before and it will happen again.

Scripture

Edom was making plans to hurt Israel. Obadiah was warning Edom and at the same time reassuring Israel.

Who was the nation of Edom?

the other half of the twins. Jacob and Esau. The older brother was still picking on his little brother.

God was having none of it.

Obadiah 3–4 NIV

The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

False sense of pride for 2 reasons

they already lost once to someone else.

They will be standing against God.

Luke 18:9–14 NIV

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

How often do we take the blessings that God gives us and claim them as our own and then lord it in one way or another over someone.

Might be small.

winning a game. (sore winners exist.)

Obadiah 10–12 NIV

Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.

Romans 12:18–21 NIV

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Explain this.

Obadiah 13–21 NIV

You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head. Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been. But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance. Jacob will be a fire and Joseph a flame; Esau will be stubble, and they will set him on fire and destroy him. There will be no survivors from Esau.” The Lord has spoken. People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau, and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath; the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev. Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

Again it has happened before it has happened again.

Application

You might need your brother. Maybe treat Him with respect. Maybe be there for him next time.

Maybe we need to give all the honour and praise to God and make sure we are humble.

We can have pride in our accomplishments and we can have prejudice against what will hurt us. but again.

when that pride and that prejudice starts hurting other people and we start elevating ourselves above others that is when we need to make a course correction.

Closing

Is there somethign in our lives that we need to rededicate to God. Is there a way that we can love others more fully recognizing that God is the one who gives us all we have. This is a personal journey that we are all on.

Please consider making a course correction to humble ourselves to give God what is His and brag in Him.