The Problem of Pride
Where to pick back up where we left off. So I want to read to you at the end of chapter 3 in to chapter fours are making some Headway into this letter that Paul is writing. He says in verse 21 So that no one can boast in men for all things are yours with her Paul Apollo's or cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future all are yours your Christ and Christ is God's this is how one should regard us as Servants of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God moreover is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me is very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any other human Court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. I'm not aware of anything against myself, but I'm not there by a quitted. It is the Lord who judges meme. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time before the Lord comes he will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness will disclose the purposes of the heart. Each one will receive his Commendation from God. I have applied all these things to myself and to Apollo's for your benefit Brothers The Amazing by us not to go beyond. What is written that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another for who sees anything different than you. What do you have that you did not receive if any received it. Why do you post as a god? Why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Right over the last few weeks. We've been dealing with this church at Corinth Corinth is riddled with all sorts of problems yet Paul opens his letter and he declares the corn field with problems that they are a church like any other Church comprised of Center. They're also Saints loved of God belonging to God, Paul is doing in this letter is he's exposing their foundation and the Very fact of their foundation with their building a pond has some serious crack in it. There's issues and problems. There are parties that have Arisen amongst them and they begin to say things like, you know, what the Apostle Paul Kiedis I told me. He may be baptized me or Apollos. He he's the one that speaks. So well and is his great Orchard. Everybody loves him. He's our guy and we belong to his small group and because of that the begin to have all sorts of problems amongst themselves of fighting and divisions in their church. And Paul In this passage is finally moving from the exterior to the interior. He's finally moving from what's on the outside and their problems that are outward to what's actually going on inside of their hearts. And if we look at society today, there is something terribly wrong with human hearts. I think if I was to take a poll here this morning and was to ask of you does not want more love in your life. Any I'm going to go off. Yeah, you want more Love by the last love love you in here doesn't want more. Joy more piece less Wars, but what do we see in the world around us today? Not just even outside of the walls of a church, but also within there is fractures incisions and Division and problems, but we all have this common idea of what love is and what we desire for our hearts and we want for our lives. There's something terribly wrong with the human hearts and James's letter chapter 4 verse 1. He says what causes fights and quarrels among you Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? In the case of corn the outward problem is division and fighting but there's something deep within that is wrong with them problem start from the inside and they work themselves out from us attitudes. Y'all got teenagers teenagers way to go. Where do they begin where do they start problems of arrogant and greet issues of lust they start within somebody and they work themselves outside of Sweden City outward consequences of the N word problems. Here's the deal if you take something that somebody loved dearly Maybe it is their wealth and possessions. Maybe it's a relationship and you begin to attack that whether verbally physically however you want to go about an emotionally Rush on that you will see them begin to respond and very harsh ways because what they love they want to protect and if you go at something that somebody loved Then you're going to begin to see that anger. Come out of a person you're going to see the problem arise because of what's already inside of them. Now if we're going to deal with the outward manifestation of anger, we actually have to tackle the inward problem of a person. Now, how are we going to tackle that it's easy to identify external problems if your married in here or you have children in here or you are a human being with a pulse and you have a friendship. Urges to be covered all single married young old whatever. Okay, if you're in here and you look at the person across from you and what you see of the things that annoy you that bugs you that are problematic whether it's the way that the toothpaste does or doesn't get put back. I've been sharing a bathroom. I live with my parents for 45 days and the kids love our toothpaste and it was just as volcano disaster every morning. I was so bent the start of every morning as I begin to get up and wake up and I would see Justice disaster thinking of all their germs and disgusting this and what's what's going on. Is this word problem? Reveals this inward issue in my heart. I shouldn't have to clean that. They should know better. I could easily Point towards my kids but really there's an inward issue in my heart now for Corinth. They have divisions. But what is really going on Paul hits out of here this morning. The reason they have divisions is because they have pride now there's a couple different uses of the word pride in scripture. And Paul is going to latch onto a used that really no other writer in the New Testament latches onto the most common use of the word of the humerus. Is this idea that you're arrogant?
Noxious with your pride, you know it all the Paul does not use that word is going to start it and he's going to talk about two different ways that work frightful first. She says let no one that's in chapter 3 verse 31 verses 6 through 7 and 1st Corinthians 4. I want you to read this again. It says there have applied all these things to myself in a Polish for your benefit Brothers what you may learn by us not go beyond. What is written that none of you may be puffed up in favour against one another this term this idea tough. I thought about being an Innovative church this morning. I just didn't have the time is this pain that you got a balloon and you're blowing it up and it's swelling and swelling that what happens. If you blow a balloon up to large tops, it's going to deflate one way or another it's going to come back down and there is six times in this letter to the Corinthian Church. This term you are puffed up. He uses it one other time in Galatians and he think this is your problem Corinth. You are so puffed up you are so proud.
Your overinflated your swollen you gone beyond the proper size. And when you look at this, it's going to cause severe pain in their lives. The Bible nerd his name is Louis Mead and he says every time you meet a new person. You are unconsciously wondering how can this person contribute to my need to prove that I count light becomes a constant battle to use people to bolster your own self. There's the sickness Pride. Which is a hunger for Glory and need for respect. I need to be assured that were real.
Church of Corinth has a problem. The problem is pride. The problem is pride know when I use the word pride we can have all different kinds of ideas that begins to move to our heads and definitions that we need to kind of filter out and work through and really what I want to focus on is this term that tall is using here when he's saying they need this assurance if they matter but they want to know that they belong and so what are they do they link themselves to important people anybody know people like that then the conversation with them and all the sudden they're talking about everybody. They know why are they doing that? I've done it before why do we do that? So you'll face the important people I must be important. I must be valuable. There is therefore meaning stride to my life is a hunger for Glory. The problem of pride is this puffed-up condition of the natural human ego? That is the problem of Pride that Corinth is facing and because of sin sin is this Rebellion against God this desire to do it our way not his way a rejection of him. The natural condition of the human ego is empty. What this means? Did you have to feed it with something? This is Corinth. Because they understand their human ego is empty. But they're prideful they have to fill their life with something. I'm going to butcher his name. I might have a meeting with some people that are going to correct me. But Soren Kierkegaard kicker guard, that's not it. I like it better in his book. The Sickness unto death says it is the normal state of the human heart to try to build its identity around something besides God spiritual pride is the illusion that you are competent to run your own life, but you achieve your own sense of self-worth and find a purpose big enough to give you meaning in life without God what he saying here is that humans have a natural inclination to fill their lives with something because they are empty now in Western American culture tends to play stuff out of materialism doesn't it or maybe it's sexual relationships, or maybe it's getting to know certain people to prove your value and worth like we're talking about earlier. There's this desire because we have You go inside of us and our ego is empty. We have to fill it with something in order to feel important in this life. Take a moment. Think about why you do what you do and what it means in terms of feeding your ego your value the very person hood of who you are. It's been a very well-used metaphor throughout Christian history and communicating. There's this idea that we have that god-shaped hole. We when we try to fill it with things that are not God it just rattles around in there in that hole begins to inflate and then we try to fill it with something. It won't actually feel Our Lives. What is this mean? It means that it's painful. It's painful Pride puffs up because we're empty. It means that were in pain because you noticed that you are empty. every human being at the moment in their life Finish Line Nike they look at all. They've accomplished you're not accomplished. You look at the devastation in the wake of the problems. They left behind them and they go who am I? What is my purpose and there's a potential emptiness that Rings true and people's lives and his attention is drawn to it because we have these Eagles that need to be filled and when it's not filled in a way that brings the kind of value and credit that we want we realized that were empty you feel empty when you get snubbed. I did this person do that for me when your reputation is tarnished. And then your inclination is how am I going to deal with this pain? You noticed this when you feel stupid ignored when you feel dumb in a group you walk away feeling empty experience that in their lives. Why because we have this nagging and need for approval. So what do we do after it's painful we get busy. It's way worse than life because it's empty and painful. The ego is incredibly busy and it needs to do some work in order to validate itself. I need to draw attention to itself and it's incredibly busy trying to fill its emptiness not what Paul says we do is right here in 1st Corinthians. He says there is this comparing and this posting that happens in every single person's life because they need to get busy they need to deal with their emptiness and need to deal with their inner Brokenness. They have to do something to fill that hole. Their life and you'll notice in verse 6 of 1st Corinthians 4. He says then you will not take pride in one man over against another he doesn't say that we just won't be prideful but that we won't take pride in one man over another the eagle tries to fill its emptiness. To deal with this incredible discomfort by comparing itself to other people. Hey, baby.
City size of this room when you walked in and you thought who should I get to know that's going to help me out benefit me.
Maybe you comparing your daily lives with your jobs. You look at others what they have what you don't have let me get caught in this tragedy of always looking out toward comparing and boasting in order to give ourselves value and worth. This is the language of the Fall narrative. You see there with Adam and Eve in the garden. I know it didn't take long to get back to Genesis 3 there they are hanging out and here comes in a cash that serpents you will be like God you're not like God. So they were told their created in the image of God. You will be like God if you take of the street you will know right from wrong. You will determine good from Evil. You will be the masters of your own life just like God is he has something that you don't have to go and get it and then you will be someone something somebody that's truly the American dream that gets pushed down the throats of society today. If you get enough you will be important in culture if you make enough in your life is successful. Do you have enough then you will be like CS Lewis talks about this in Mere Christianity He points out that pride is by nature competitive by the very essence of Pride you are competing. He says pride is something that is essentially competitive pride gets no pleasure out of having something. Pride gets no pleasure pleasure out of having something only having more than the person next to you. That's pride gets no pleasure out of having something cuz you have it but that the person next to you doesn't have it so you can go hahaha, right? I have it. You don't pass your pride gets his pleasure. He goes on and says you may think you're proud of being successful intelligent are good looking but you really aren't your only proud of being more successful more intelligent more good-looking than other people when you're in the presence of people who are much more successful intelligent and good-looking and you you lose all your pleasure and what you had because you really had no pleasure in it. You are proud of it pride as the pleasure having more than the next person pride is the pleasure of being more than the next person and he said last may drive a man to sleep with a beautiful woman, but at least less make someone her Pride makes a man to sleep with a beautiful woman just to prove you can do it and to prove he can do it over and over to others Pride destroys the ability to have any real pleasure from her. Pride
I just constantly comparing and boasting. Not even taking pleasure in the job that we have. Let me take no pleasure in that but the very fact that we can look at our neighbor and say you don't have this. Therefore. It makes me someone for taking pleasure in the very things that were doing only that we get to do them in the person next to us doesn't get to do them. We're doing all sorts of things in our lives that stir up this problem of Pride within us, comparing or boasting. Or posting for recommending ourselves in the creating the self-esteem resume that says this is why I am fatter than you. princess a problem There's a problem in the world has a problem. The church is premature circles in church cultures. Better than you were better than with the best desk with the best. That's when we constantly go around to compare. But the only reason we're comparing is to make ourselves feel better about what we're doing here. I think of Pride I just think of some arrogant person who does things in the world of themselves, but I don't think of when I think of pride is my problem with pride that's so loves to compare to the person next to me and go why do they have that? Why do they get that we're better than them because we do things this way or that way rather than being satisfied with what God has actually given us we get both sit up in our ego cuz we have to feed it. We want to know that we're needed and what we belong and so we look at the person next to us and we think I am so much better off than you. That is a problem with pride that we rarely see in our lives and what that means is we're incredibly fragile people anything that is over flated ultimate ultimately eminently become deflated to be over inflated brings about this danger to be deflated. That's probably all heard the proverb pride comes before a fall race. You're going to fall you're puffed-up. If you're proud at some point you're going to be deflated and you're going to have this emptiness deep inside of you. People who seem to have no Pride because they hate themselves tell you they hate themselves and they hate themselves because at one point they love themselves to such a degree that they were inflated. There are people in here. Are you look at yourself? And you wonder why do I have this empty feeling in my life? I used to have all the self love and self worth and self value and now this and I feel so empty because we become become deflated at some point in our lives and tall is warning the church at Corinth about this if your puffed up and filled up,
you need to be Elvis something solid as a procedure that probably means talk about otherwise, we're just fragile this morning. How do I know if I'm full of pride? If you answer it, you probably are. No, no. No, not me. I'm such a humble person. Oh my goodness. Everybody tells me how humble I am. How kind I am a generous. I am your parental rights. If you if you go that route your prideful and you begin to answer that question directly. You going to realize how filled with pride you are. The only way to deal with private to indirectly deal with pride. You can't directly with humility can't directly deal with it here this morning. How do I know if I'm full of Pride? First of all Pride causes us to go against God's way and everything. I'm talking a lot about our culture goes left and we need to go right.
Price of you know what I can do about life. However, I darn well, please. I can greedy and it's okay. I can be selfish and it's okay I can take and not give and it's okay. I can be all about me. I don't need to honor anything that's in this unless it really will benefit my life and approve me and validate me here. We have God's word and when it comes to all sorts of different things people everyday or saying yes or no to it based upon often their own pride in their life. Taking God's word will be like if we don't that is a problem of pride. Number to you never have rest in your life. I need my taxes. If you're driven for all the wrong reasons. Is it okay to be a driven person person? Yeah, you can be driven and I hope there's many driven people in here. Jonathan Edwards says here's how you can tell if you're a proud person. You're driven. You need success. You're always unhappy you didn't do that. Well, you didn't do it right? You can do better. You're driven your restless. Here's what he's getting at. What drives you what drives you It could be that you're one of those weird people that love running any of you in here. Oh, man. I wish I was you I'm obviously never going to be you but I tried to be you know, you can love running Just For the Love of athleticism. The reason you're running is just to compete with yourself into run faster and get a better time and they can also be this joy and competitiveness that is healthy and it's driven in a right way and it makes you happy but here's the thing is you're running for sports and somebody else beat you out. Can you rejoice with them? Can you glory myself? I want you to think about that. There's a way in which we can be competitive and driven that will not allow us to Rejoice with the person next to us who is successful when we see somebody else who is successful if we come down on them, we push back against them. We critique then we kind of blow them up with our words because they're having successful were not that means you are a proud person you're driven for all the wrong reasons. You aren't driven For Your Love of running. God forbid. You aren't driven you are driven. Cuz you want to be better than the person next to you. Kindness when it comes to work be the best at whatever God has placed you in. Make the best food make the best table make the best music but when your neighbor wins award celebrate with them, otherwise, it's exposing problems of Pride and our lights and we're competing for all the wrong reasons. We're competing for some reward for their Schumann recognition monetary gain, whatever it might be in our lives. This is where Pride begins to move in and she constructs our very Souls says what matters most is not what God thinks of me. But what others think of me therefore I have to live my life as a slave to the thoughts and opinions of other people.
a place to be how can I talk about that hair? What drives you?
Pride doesn't get pleasure out of hiding something but more than the next man be prideful this morning. RP prideful as a people humility humility is the opposite of will furnace will fund that sorry Jonathan Edwards continues to say spiritually proud. People are always absolutely sure of every point of their beliefs proud person cannot admit their wrong. They can't take advice but can't take Direction. They don't like repenting the repentant always under duress. They're not teachable. They're not open to advice but not willing to change their mind. They don't listen.
Publix at Corinth he says you're so set in your ways. You need to hear from me you need to receive for me even saying I'm your father in the face and when they shut him out is declaring your fried full. Look at your own life when somebody speaks into your life. How do you respond to an I have this horrible propensity inclination in my heart's especially when it comes from my mom and dad and they tell me to do something even at the age of 36 and then I D like hey, we really think you should do something this way. If you concerning a move our decision my wife and I make and I didn't sign out their advice. I may not like what they said. If they bring it up again with me there is not a chance on this planet, even if it's the best thing in the world for me to I will do it because of the continued to push I pull away.
This was a bad week for me when I studied because it hurt me because it hit home because it shows a dirt issues of pride in my own heart in my own life because what Edward says here is if you're not open to advice. Because you don't like it when we take every piece of advice every single person gets us if we ask something of them. Or asking are we truly listening are we teachable? Humility has has willfulness to actually be humble and receiving from others before just a few more things and we'll get out of here humility is the opposite of self-consciousness. What you think about this for just a minute with me? When you think about proud people you think about arrogant people? former Pride would think about proud people we think about self-promoters people always talking about themselves bragging about themselves they have
the biggest Pride ultimate pride in our life is the opposite of humility really brings about this insecurity and needs to honor ourselves and bring glory to ourselves. It's manifested in all these ways in which we come out as feeling much more Superior to somebody next to us. Let me look down on the person on the streets with a down on people that are less fortunate and we think well if they would just work hard like me if they would just be like me. This is where Pride begins to creep up in our hearts and in our lives. When we meet with somebody if you have dinner with a new family some new friends, and we're constantly coming across does thinking about how did I come across?
So one of the things I love about being the pastor of this church is I get to have a lot of you in my life whether we grabbed lunch at lunch with a lot of you coffee got coffee with a lot of you been in my home for dinner at dinner with a ton of you. One of the things that can often happen afterwards is I replay the night with my wife and I think I wonder what they thought about me. I wonder how this came across and you see what happens with pride as we become so consumed with ourselves and how were appearing to other people and that reveals in our self. Yes. We are actually prideful when we're living that way you're always thinking about ourselves to be humble is to not notice yourself. It's not just thinking less of yourself. That's false humility. Obviously, he's not thinking more of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. That's a pride opposite of prior this week. You know what he is real humility. It's self-forgetfulness. The best way I can really explain this is this morning. I woke up after a week moving and the Pinnacle of moving is an 800 pound piano.
remove four times It doesn't even fit in our house kits for free on Facebook right now. If you want it as a pitch you Halt and we get this thing out put it in for different rooms. I'm as love my wife dearly and I just said it's not going to fit in anywhere Hallelujah. Okay, somebody else come get the thing and I woke up in the morning going my biceps are so sore. Just feel like if I pick anything up and just falls out of my arms and so tired of lifting stuff chips. Think of another time in the last year. I woke up and when my biceps are so sore. Why is there a tension being brought to that part of my body because it's in pain it's crying out. It's hurting. Maybe you're somebody that woke up this morning and my knees hurts. Why would anybody say their knees hurt because they didn't hurt before but now there's a tension being brought to that part of the body look when it comes to Pride and your ego begin to notice it. When it gets hurt Amy gets snubbed and we feel like we've been wronged we realize that our pride has come under attack when somebody out. There was saying bad things about me and I get angry and mad is bringing attention to my own deficiencies to my own sense of who I am.
You wouldn't be looking at yourself in that way if it didn't hurt in some way. You always thinking about yourself. You're always wondering how you come across.
You got a problem Pride. You're always feeling hurts. insulted and wrong I have a buddy and he gets a group of us together Mike card sometimes. I'm sorry, I do that sometimes and he got all these cop friends. Friends are awesome. And they told me the story where they picked up this person for like the fifth time and the person went why does this always happen to me? Why is it's always me and they feel like they're the ones at the center. They're always talking about and Drawn to themselves. Obviously, there's something wrong on the inside and they have this issue and their ego and their sense of self is deeply deeply hurt.
Always looking at our own interest. What do we do if it is pakeeza sin? He says the solution is Gospel humility verses 5 and 6. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time before the Lord comes he will bring to light the things not hidden in darkness will disclose the purpose of the heart. Each one will receive his Commendation from God in order to deal. In order to deal with the problem of pride in order to become a humble person. Here's what we need to do. We don't look to ourselves. We look to something else will it to someone else if all I do to become a humble person is like a ways for me to become humble. I'll become proud of my humility. How'd you become so humble? I did these five things. You should do what you like me. I'm better than you.
Indirectly, how do you become a humble person? You become a selfless person. How do you become a selfless person? You put your focus on somebody else. Riverside across from somebody who is truly humble. What are they? Like that's a lot of questions nothing. They don't talk very much about themselves. Do they they want to get to know you for who you are that somebody you walk away from and go there. There's something there that cared about me. It wasn't about then. How do we become a humble person? We take the focus and we put it on to something else can't just focus on being humble. You have to actually move the position of your heart to someone else. What does that look like? Will Paul declares? That is the good news of Jesus wear a heart is moved from ourselves in the selfishness that it contained and it's been placed upon the god of the universe. We fix our eyes and our attention upon him. The remedy to Pride is worship and it's not selfish if it's God directed worship. It's a call to worship God with all your heart strength. So landmines to use your talents and treasures and gifting for his kingdom. You see this gospel. He know it is saying I got this whole and it's painful and I can't fill it up with being liked by everybody else out there. I need to fill it up with God in my life. Publix in his own life and says, I don't judge me. You don't judge me. God judges me and that gives me a sense of relief. Just because of what Christ has done for me. The Judgment has been paid and I can rest because of that Paul also says in this letter if you want to be a humble person, you need to move from ownership to stewardship need to become a person who doesn't look at everything as your own is my gift is my money my place my stuff and somebody looks at all their stuff and how can I use this to help others to serve others? How can I meet the needs in this world giving of yourself serving others takes the focus on God and places it back on to something else. Finally when we look at Christ. He made himself of no reputation. Can someone know if you Tatian every single person here? For the vast majority of us. I would say prize our life on a reputation when you hear my name. What do you think about me scoundrel? Scam bad guy? Good guy here. We see Christ made himself of no reputation.
How can we make ourselves of no reputation or like John the Baptist said I must decrease he must increase I must come to this place where my hope is fixed upon the god of the universe.
redeemers there's a word for us. Are you prideful? And if you are, what are you going to do to deal with your pride today? May I suggest and I suggest that you fix your eyes on God that you confess you repent and areas of pridefulness, whether it's corporately as a church or maybe those problems. We've had gone look at how great we are. Minutes individually, we don't give other people the time of day because we think we're better than them where we've been so inflated and now we're bummed out because we're deflated we can change his life between these two extremes because we need the value and opinions of others to make us can I suggest to you? Can I suggest to me today that we turn from that by fixing our eyes on Jesus by serving loving and caring for one another and by not caring about our reputation. Embracing Apollo has said here. Look you can do this because your judge was judged so you can have life. You're judge the god of the universe. He who knew no sin became sin for you. So you can be made the Sons and Daughters of God. That is the good news of the Gospel. Then freeze you to live in such a way that everyone there's a various opinion ever thought about you. It's a radically change and shift. It doesn't make you didn't tell you who you are doesn't Define you. It is Christ. Who defines you Is the help this morning? I'll be the first to admit. Pride is a problem.
Movie let the word of God move on our hearts shift our focus and place it on God that's praying father. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your love and mercy and Grace. You care for us that you love us that you can pick this the guy we ask this morning that you can eat a move amongst your people. May we fix Our Eyes Upon Jesus the author and finisher of our faith worship you praise you and look to you in all things in Jesus name. Amen.