Living By Faith: Fighting Against Pride

James 4:6

We’ve been trying to create a picture of what the Christian life should look like, trying to find the right fuel with which to live the way God wants us to live.

We’d like to focus in on the area of pride.

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Proud people seek their own glory, God seeks his own glory, so we set ourselves against God.

God gives grace to the humble, and we want to receive grace.

Forms of Pride

Pride has numerous forms and flavors. As we go through these different forms, consider what’s going on deeper within. We want to fight pride at the root, not at the surface.

I’m never weak

never ask for help; never need a handout; never vulnerable, always strong.

don’t want to ask for directions, ask for help, never show tears

“A man should only cry twice in his life: once when he’s born, once when his mother dies.”

Some guys won’t admit pain, even if they sprain their ankle, bruise their kidney, etc.

I had these skin things on my neck and when I was in Chicago, I went to this Korean lady to get them removed. She used this electronic “zapper” that effectively burned each spot. When she first did it, I jolted because it was a significant electric shock and the neck is a somewhat sensitive area. She then talked about how women have this done all the time and they take pain so much better than the men. And so I tried to endure the pain. At some points, I could smell my flesh burning (it really hurt), but I sat there and “took it like a man.”

I’m never wrong

never admit you made a mistake, won’t apologize

You get into a fight with your spouse, and though you know you messed up, you don’t want to admit it. You’re bad at apologizing.

You blame everything else instead of admitting that you were at fault. Do you ever think? . . .

In school: “I’m a good student.” “The professor is a bad teacher.”

Social settings: “I’m a friendly person.” “Why are people so unwelcoming?”

Church: “I have a good heart.” “The preacher was off, sermon was weak.”

See how wonderful I am

wanting to recognized, applauded, admired and celebrated; vanity. Want people to know your titles and degrees, your popularity and your talents, etc.

like Pharisees, wanting seats of honor, to be recognized

I heard a story about Muhammad Ali riding on an airplane. A stewardess asks Ali to fasten his seatbelt. Ali protests and says, “I am the greatest. I am the toughest. I don’t need no seatbelt. I’m superman. Superman don’t need no seatbelt.” And the stewardess replies, “Superman don’t need no airplane.”

We know better than to be so blatant. But it probably comes out in more subtle ways:

You like taking your shirt off at the beach.

You like hosting and having people admire how well you can cook.

You like to give really deep and insightful answers in your small group, so people can admire how wise and spiritual, vulnerable and mature you are.

Want people to know how busy you are, how important you are.

We have a lot of busy people at Emmanuel, but some of us noticed that it seems we see that business as something of a virtue, a badge of honor. It means you’re important, you’re significant. You have so many responsibilities, have so many friends.

Notice when people want to plan an activity, everyone pulls out there PDA and checks their schedules. Now suppose you know that you’re free all week, but you pull out your planner and start fumbling with dates . . . because you don’t want to look unimportant.

I’m better than you

Superiority complex: wealthier, smarter, more successful, more righteous. You look down on others.

The Harvard guy talking to the Camden community college student

The pretty & popular girl talking with the less than pretty or popular girl

The attending physician talking to the med student or the nursing staff

The Pastor talking to the drug addict

Luke 18:11-12 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

2 more subtle forms

I’m going to NY next week

or “I’ll graduate next year,” or “I’ll go to work on Monday.”

The Bible calls this pride.

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)

What’s the problem? We ignore God. This attitude presumes that we have power or foresight to determine our future. Instead James says, we’re only a mist—we’re fleeting, we’re without weight or power, we’re not the cause, we’re the result. We overestimate our significant and power; we don’t recognize our weakness.

In one sense, pride is just placing yourself as God, acting like it’s all up to you. We’re not under anyone; we are captains of our ship.

Piper calls atheism the ultimate pride: the safest way to stay supreme in our own estimation is to deny anything above us.

How could this happened to me?

“I don’t deserve this. That’s not fair.” Self-pity, feeling sorry for ourselves.

Maybe it’s not winning the softball tournament, an unfriendly co-worker, demanding young children, an extended bachelorhood, stressful week, some illness or tragedy.

Boasting is the response of pride to success. Self-pity is the response of pride to suffering. Boasting says, “I deserving admiration because I have achieved so much.” Self-pity says, “I deserve admiration because I have sacrificed so much.” . . .

The reason self-pity does not look like pride is that it appears to be needy. . . The need self-pity feels does not come from a sense of unworthiness, but from a sense of unrecognized worthiness. It is the response of unapplauded pride. (John Piper, Desiring God, 222)

We feel sorry for ourselves because we feel we should be treated better.

It is not that we think too low of ourselves, its that we think we’ve been treated less than we deserve. We don’t feel a sense of unworthiness, but a sense of unrecognized worthiness. It is un-applauded, un-recognized, un-exalted pride.

We think we’re worthy, important. We want to lift ourselves high, we make much of ourselves.

The joy of pride comes from making much of ourselves, and we are sad when we are not made much of.

Gospel: Tearing down pride

“I’m never weak, I’m never wrong”—the gospel says, you are weak and you are wrong. You’re sinful, broken, needy. You can’t save yourself. You need a Savior.

“See how wonderful I am, I’m better than you”—the gospel says, we’re all hell-deserving sinners needy of grace, and everything we have we’re received from God. There’s nothing wonderful in sinful selves, but there’s gloriously wonderful things in what we’ve received from God.

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? 1 Corinthians 4:7

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

This touches on what we’ve been saying. The Christian life isn’t about giving back to God; the Christian life is about receiving. But there is no boasting when you receive. The only boasting in the gospel is boasting about Christ.

Faith: Getting rid of the itch

The pleasure of pride is like the pleasure of scratching. If there is an itch one does want to scratch; but it is much nicer to have neither the itch nor the scratch. As long as we have the itch of self-regard we shall want the pleasure of self-approval; but the happiest moments are those when we forget our precious selves and have neither but have everything else (God, our fellow humans, animals, the garden and the sky) instead . . . (C. S. Lewis, Letters of C. S. Lewis, 1966, p. 256)

Core: we’re finding out satisfaction in ourselves, we’re making much of ourselves.

Self-regard: self-importance, making much of ourselves.

We like success and talents, admiration and recognition because we want ourselves to be made much of. And if we’re not made much of, we’re sad and feel sorry for ourselves.

If in your own mind you are very important, we want others to recognize your importance.

If you make much of yourself, you want others to make much of you.

But there is a humility that doesn’t focus on how important they are. It’s not that they think they are unimportant (Korean “humility”, putting self down), they just don’t think about themselves that much.

Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less.

Last week we talked about hearing that a steak is good and tasting that a steak is good.

Faith is putting God on the pallet of our souls, so that we taste Him, that He becomes wonderful, beautiful, and glorious. Faith embraces the beauty and worth of Jesus.

Pride: pride is not having God on the pallet of our souls, but having ourselves. We feed on ourselves. We embrace the beauty, worth, importance of ourselves.

Where do we find our satisfaction? Pride finds itself satisfaction in self. Faith is being satisfied with all that God if for us in Jesus. Christians turn/repent of putting ourselves on the pallet and instead turn to Jesus to be our satisfaction.

Is not the most effective way of bridling my delight in being made much of, to focus on making much of God? . . . Only in that speechless, all-satisfying admiration is the end of self. (Piper, quoting his journal, 97)

Only when by faith you see the glory and beauty of God, that self is no more.

Faith, worship is the antidote to pride.

I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon [picture], but I’m told it is absolutely breathtaking. People travel from all over the country, the world to see it’s grandeur and beauty.

Why? What joy do people find in seeing the Grand Canyon?

Do people look at the Grand Canyon and say, “This makes me feel strong and powerful and beautiful!” No. They say, “The Grand Canyon is strong, powerful and beautiful!” It is the joy of forgetting about ourselves, getting ourselves off the pallet of our souls.

There is our key. We fight pride when we find something more glorious, more awesome on which to gaze.

Only in that speechless, all-satisfying admiration is the end of self.

Not a Christian: this world says it’s all about you (you deserve it, have it your way). But the Bible says, it’s all about Him. There’s a profound irony: in losing your life, you’ll find it. There is a God so glorious that when you see him, you’ll bow in worship and admiration and not thinking about yourself anymore.

Christian: let’s repent of our pride and end with worship. Get our eyes off of ourselves and finding beauty, worth, joy, treasure in Jesus.