Father, we confess before you that a lot of us are sort of in a rush a lot of times.
And Father, that when we come to your word, we're in a bit of a rush.
And so if things just don't make sense really quickly and easily to us,
we just sort of think the problem is somehow not us.
So Father, we thank you that you know us.
We thank you that you love us, that we don't catch you by surprise.
So we ask, Father, that you would gently pour the Holy Spirit upon each one of us this morning
to calm our mind and our hearts and our wills, our memories, our imaginations,
that your Holy Spirit would calm us so that we might sit with your word and dwell with your word.
And Father, we ask that you would write your word in the command center of our lives.
And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So this week on Friday, I had the great honor and privilege.
I really do consider it a great honor and privilege when I get invited to go on Parliament Hill
to speak to the Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship.
Some of you know that there are Christian MPs on Parliament Hill and Christian senators.
They meet privately on some other day of the week just amongst themselves
so they can sort of share across party lines and pray for each other.
It might be a good idea for some of us to pray for them when they do that.
But on Friday, some of the staff workers and some of the people who work in civil service
right near Parliament Hill, they come together for a time to get to know each other,
encourage each other, and somebody usually opens the Bible and talks to them
about what the Bible teaches.
And that was my great privilege this past Friday.
And I gave them sort of like a little bit of a preview of what I was going to be trying
to say to you folks this morning.
And so one of the ways I began, here I am on Parliament Hill, and I said,
it must be really nice to work on Parliament Hill where you don't have to deal with anybody
with big egos.
And I got a bit of a chuckle out of that.
And then I said, you know, if I was in your seat, I would immediately respond,
George, it must be so nice to work in the church where you never have to deal with big egos.
Because, of course, there's a lot of big egos in the church.
But why are there big egos in the church?
You know?
And why is it that we're a lot better at seeing other people's big egos
than we are at seeing our own big egos, right?
I mean, that's the fact of the matter is, that we're a lot better at noticing big egos
in other people than we are with ourselves.
And so the text that we're going to look at today in Galatians chapter 5,
it has a lot of great wisdom and insight about the whole problem of big egos
and our ability to recognize them or not.
And it might be a bit of a surprise to you for me to say that,
because for many people when they read the text, which I read earlier today,
the main thing that strikes them isn't that it's talking about big egos,
but how it seems to contradict itself time and time again.
So if you look at the text with me, it's Galatians chapter 5, verse 26.
It's the last verse of chapter 5.
Galatians chapter 5, verse 26.
And here's what it says.
Let us not become conceited.
By the way, it's just six verses that we're looking at today,
but they're very packed and powerful verses.
And here's how it begins.
Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in any transgression,
you who are spiritual should restore him or her in a spirit of gentleness.
Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
By the way, this text isn't giving us permission to go around and be like a group of moral police,
examining each other, hoping to catch people in something.
That's not what the verse is talking about at all.
And notice this command about the self-awareness that we're tempted ourselves,
and we're to do it gently.
Verse 2, and this is where some of the contradictions,
or at least apparent contradictions, start to make themselves clear.
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone,
and not in his neighbor.
And just sort of pause before the last verse.
Doesn't it sound a little bit as if it's saying,
that we can boast, that we're allowed to boast, but isn't boasting a sin?
Like, how does boasting go along with the spirit of gentleness and not being tempted?
And then it says, for each of us, each will have to bear his own load.
That's verse 5.
So how is it that we have to bear each other's burdens,
and we each bear our own load?
And it just seems on one level to be a little bit confusing in the text.
And it starts off with this command.
It's easy to command people not to be conceited.
Of course, as you know, one of the problems is that we can end up being proud at how humble we are.
Boy, God, I thank you so much that I'm not conceited like those other people.
I mean, you know, that's part of the dilemma.
The very moment when you start to think that you have some victory,
the devil can completely and utterly undercut you by making you proud at your victory.
And which is, by the way, one of the reasons why the ancient spiritual writers
considered pride to be the deadliest of sins.
Because no matter how much victory you got on some of the other sins,
pride could always rear its head and bite you in the butt or infect you.
That it's, in fact, very, very hard to stamp out.
Many, many years ago in a previous church, I had a fellow in the congregation,
and I went to his 100th birthday party.
And I used to bring him communion about once a month.
And his name was Eve Byers.
And, you know, we had a bit of a conversation.
And just some of us, you young guys, you just have to trust me with this one,
just like I have to trust Eve Byers.
But when you're 100 years old, you don't have the temptation for lust as much as you did when you were 20.
Some of those desires die a little bit by the time you're 100.
But it's still easy to be proud of the fact that you've outlived so many people.
Like, no matter how old you are, pride can still rear its head.
So what's going on here on the text?
And why is it that there's so many big egos?
Why is it that we're blind about it?
And why is it that so many of us don't think that we have the problem with big egos?
We have battered and timid egos.
In fact, many people outside the Christian circles, if they were to talk about Christians,
they would see us as either being very, very timid, far too timid,
or they would think of us as being far too full of ourselves.
Well, let's just look at this one verse to sort of try to tease this text out a little bit.
Look at chapter 6, verse 4.
It says,
So here's the first insight about the text.
This is a very odd text.
We're going to talk about it a bit.
But here's the first thing.
If you could put up the first point, Andrew, that would be very helpful.
It is very hard for me to judge myself or assess myself.
Maybe assess would be a better word right here.
It's very hard for me to assess myself without assessing or judging myself by comparing myself to other people.
You ever notice that?
It's almost completely impossible for us just to assess ourselves as us.
Like, you know, if I'm assessing myself as a pastor,
it's very hard for me not to compare myself to other pastors and how they preach
and other churches and how they seem to be doing on metrics which the world thinks are very, very important.
It's very, very, very hard for me to do that.
Like, even if I try to do it, very quickly I'll start to notice that there's this comparison with others that sneaks itself in,
sneaks into my attempt to understand myself.
In fact, I would suggest that this is a human problem,
that human beings have a hard time doing this now,
just being able to assess themselves as if there's just almost as if they're the only person who exists and God,
and what other people are doing and how they're handling things are sort of irrelevant to assessing ourselves.
It's a human problem.
And it's a bit of a shock to a lot of Christians to discover that they're still human.
And we are.
That even if we've been saved by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone,
it's human beings who are saved, and we still have to grow and deal with the human condition.
And so some of you might say,
Well, George, that's really, really, really helpful for you to tell me that we have this human problem
that we're going to have all of our lives.
I was hoping for something a little bit more hopeful than that.
And then some of you as well might be saying,
Well, George, here's the problem with this.
If I was to really try to just assess myself and judge myself as if only I exist and God,
aren't you encouraging Christians to ignore social cues?
Like there have, I was just giving somebody in another church a week or two ago some advice.
They had a person in the congregation, and, you know, I don't know what the issue was.
Maybe it was there on the autism spectrum a little bit or whatever.
It was a bit of a mental illness or just whatever it is.
I don't know.
I wasn't a psychologist.
But what the problem was is that the person was causing trouble in the church
because the person didn't pick up social cues.
Like they were hugging women, and the women didn't want to be hugged.
And they would come and talk to people, and they'd stand way too close.
And one of the advice I gave is that for people who suffered that,
you have to be far more direct.
You almost have to be what...
If I was to talk to the person I was giving advice to, a pastor,
if I was to talk to you in this way, you would be unbelievably offended.
But for people who can't pick up social cues,
you have to realize there's something wrong with them,
and so you need to be far more direct and blunt with them
and in their face about it than you would be with a person who can't pick up social cues.
But the question is, if in fact the way forward is just to judge myself
without comparing myself to other people, George,
you're not encouraging churches and Christians to...
They're not dealing with their big ego.
They're not dealing with being too timid.
All you've done is made them like this person who can't pick up social cues.
Well, no, the Bible is far wiser than that.
Listen to verse 4 again.
Actually, no, before we read verse 4, could you put up the next point?
Here's the issue.
God never judges me by comparing me to other people.
Look all the way through the Bible.
Now, there will be times when God will say to Israel, for instance,
listen, you're even worse than the nations.
There is a time in 1 Corinthians when Paul says,
you guys are doing things that even the pagans wouldn't do.
But the heart of the judgment isn't that they don't match up to pagans.
The heart of the judgment is,
guys, it's wrong to have a young man sleep with his mom.
That's part of the issue in 1 Corinthians.
It isn't the issue of whether or not there's some type of curve going on.
But that God, in fact, all the way through the Bible,
God never judges me by comparing me to other people.
And yet, I can't judge myself without comparing myself to other people.
And, you know, the Bible does something, you know, just like,
I mean, this is really actually a very, very important thing to meditate upon.
You know, the average Canadian, and most of us are average Canadians,
but not maybe in this particular way.
What does the average Canadian say?
You know, you sort of, you know, parse out or take out the well-instructed atheists
who really are very consistent atheists who say that when they die,
they become worm food, and that's it.
And maybe you take out the very well-instructed Muslims
who would believe that a small percentage of the human race
will go to where all the virgins are, and everybody else goes to hell.
And you take out the small number of very well-instructed Hindus and Buddhists
who would understand that after the cycle of life and rebirth and life and rebirth,
eventually you merge with the one and you sort of disappear
because you've merged with the one.
And then you take out the very, very small number of maybe well-instructed Christians.
But the average Canadian, once you've taken all those things away,
and it might be, I don't know, 80% of Canada, what do they say when you die?
You go to a better place.
Now, why do they say that?
Because they say, I mean, they have no reason for saying that,
but they say that because at the end of the day,
they think God grades on some type of curve.
And they might say those mean, nasty Muslims,
they think only the top 2% are going to get into heaven.
And those crazy Christians,
they maybe only think the top 10% is going to get into heaven.
And we have no word at all to describe Jehovah Witnesses
that only think a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of 1%
will make it into heaven.
We're far more tolerant.
We think like 60% of people will be going to heaven,
or 80% of Canadians will go to heaven,
or everybody in Canada except those who voted for Donald Trump will go to heaven.
And we just sort of think that.
We just sort of think that God looks,
and he compares us and say,
yeah, you folks are all good folks,
you're all good lads,
all good women,
and yeah, yeah, you're all going to go.
Because how do we think?
We think that God judges us in comparison to other people.
And the Bible says that God never judges me
by comparing me to other people.
Like, never.
And so, when we start to realize this,
if you look now, look at this,
look at chapter 6 again.
Look at verse 5.
It says,
for each will have to bear his own load.
And just so you know,
in case I run out of time later on in the sermon,
the original,
I mean, in most of your English versions,
it'll have a different word for burden
in verse 2 and load in verse 5.
And that's because there's very, very radically different words
in the original language.
And the word for load
would be the same word as the pack
that a soldier puts on
to go off to leave the base
to go for battle.
He would carry, or she would carry,
their pack.
It is, in a sense,
it would be that
if you go on a hiking trip
and you have the things you need
to survive the hiking trip
on your back
or in your car
if you're going moose hunting
or something like that,
you carry the things with you.
And in a sense,
it's the things of your life.
The word for burden,
which we'll look at
a little bit more in a moment,
the word for burden
is something which is
very, very, very heavy,
which in effect
you can't really carry by yourself
and you have to carry
for a very, very long distance.
And so they're very, very different ideas.
So if you look at verse 5 again,
mindful of the fact
that God never judges me
by comparing me to other people,
the text says
each will have to bear his own load.
I'm held responsible
for how I do with you folks.
I'm held responsible
for how I deal with the money
that I've been entrusted with from God
with my own family.
It isn't that I'm judged
in terms of like Bill Hybels
with his big church
or somebody with a...
Like I have my load
and I need to deal with my load.
God will judge me
in terms of how I deal
with the things
which have been placed
in my care.
And, you know,
look back at verse 4.
But let each one test his own work.
Then his reason to boast
will be in himself alone
and not in his neighbor.
You see that whole idea there
about testing your own work
and not your neighbor
in terms of...
That we're so used to
judging ourselves
in terms of our neighbor.
And we'll talk a little bit
in a moment
about boasting about himself alone.
But just a very simple idea there, right?
Remember,
the idea is very clear
in the Bible
that humility
is not telling lies
about yourself.
If Einstein said,
I suck at math,
that wouldn't be humble.
If Usain Bolt said,
I can't even keep up
with a 95-year-old
and a walker,
he's lying.
And humility
isn't telling lies
about yourself.
It's other things about it,
but it's definitely
never telling lies
about yourself.
And look up at verse 3.
For if anyone thinks
he is something
when he is nothing,
he deceives himself.
And that's all
going to be seen
in a moment about...
We're going to understand
how the Bible means it,
but we tend to think
of ourselves
as being nothing
and compared to others.
We're something
and compared to others.
That if I meet
a whole pile of pastors
and they have churches
with only 25 people in them,
it's...
I mean,
this is self-disclosure.
You pray for me.
It's easy for me
to think I'm something.
And if I go to something
and everybody there
has churches
that have like a thousand
on a Sunday,
I feel like nothing.
But God never judges me
by comparing me
to other people.
Like, never.
So,
some of you say,
okay, George,
well,
I'm not sure
where to go with this.
Well,
let's go back
to how the text begins
in chapter 5,
verse 26.
It's just a few small words,
chapter 5,
verse 26,
but it's very,
very,
very powerful,
very,
very deep,
very wise,
and very insightful
about the human condition.
And it says,
let us not become conceited,
provoking one another,
envying one another.
And just so you know,
when it says here,
let us not become conceited,
provoking one another,
and envying one another,
I guess if I had thought about it,
it's not as if
there's three things
that we have to deal with,
conceited,
being conceited,
provoking others,
and envying others,
it's a very clear direction
that there's this problem
with being conceited,
and that leads
and shows itself
in two different ways,
provoking other people
and envying other people.
Like,
it flows from conceit,
these other two problems.
And so,
just to sort of
unpack it a little bit,
if you could put up
the next point,
underneath this text,
is something
which isn't very flattering
about the human being,
the human person,
but it's very true.
I am like you.
Yeah,
you come here
so I can insult you.
If the Bible,
it's not me,
it's the Bible.
I am like you.
I have glory hunger.
I've adapted this idea
from something
Tim Keller
talks about very movingly,
and he calls it
honor hunger.
And that is
that human beings
have this hunger,
this desire
to be honored,
to be recognized,
to not just be recognized
as,
oh yeah,
there's old Joe Blow,
or oh yeah,
there's Sue,
but to recognize
as,
whoa,
there's Joe,
or whoa,
there's Sue.
They're fantastic.
They're awesome.
They're brilliant.
They're beautiful.
They're whatever.
And every human being
has this honor hunger
or glory hunger.
And it's not even necessarily
something we struggle about
because it's almost hard
for us as human beings
who can't assess ourselves
without comparing ourselves
to others.
It's almost completely impossible
for us human beings
to assess ourselves
and somehow leave behind
this hunger we have
for recognition
and for honor.
And here's so many places
where the Bible
is just unbelievably wise.
Because,
you know,
it talks about how
in Genesis 1 and 2
how human beings
are made in God's image
and likeness
and how God makes
the entire created order
for us as human beings
to dwell here
as our home.
And he's given us,
you know,
a role in terms of
like almost representing
and being the ones
who can give voice
to the unceasing praise
of the mountains
and the seas
and the birds
and the animals
and the stars.
And his desire was
that he could walk
in the garden with us
in the cool of the day.
And we choose
to rebel against God
and rather than
being able to walk
with God in the garden,
we decide we want
to be like God.
We want to be God
because we don't trust
God's word.
We don't trust
that he's going to be
good enough.
We're going to be
God ourselves.
And when that happens,
there's this bending
and this fundamental break
in our relationship
with God
and our relationship
with ourselves
and our relationship
with each other
and our relationship
with the created order.
And it creates within us
because we're creatures
made in the image of God.
We are created
with this hunger
to be connected
to the one
in whose image we are.
a hunger
to walk with God
in the garden
where God
in a sense
every day
as we walk
with God
in the garden
puts his arm around
and he says,
how's it going?
I love walking
in the garden
with you.
And because he's God,
he can do it
for a billion people,
seven billion people,
20 billion people,
50 billion people
to each one.
We were in a sense
made for God
to put his arm
around you
and say,
gosh,
it's good to walk
in the garden
with you.
I love spending
time with you.
It's like we have
a type of a wound
within us.
That hunger
for honor,
for recognition,
for being in glory
which can only really be
not by being
like a God ourselves
but by being
with the true creator God
and sustainer God
and that's just gone.
And that's why
if you could put up
the next point,
the word translated
as conceit,
it's a very,
very,
very good word
but this is actually
one of those cases
where the old
King James version
of the Bible
actually has a better word.
If you go back
and you look up
the King James version
of the Bible,
it doesn't use
the word conceit,
it uses the word
vainglory.
That's really
old-fashioned.
But this word,
although I think
there's a video game
involving lots of
mayhem and murder
called it,
but that's separate.
So other than people
who watch,
you know,
play those games,
it's an old-fashioned word.
But I am like you.
I desire
vain glory,
glory for myself
in regard to matters
that are in reality
unrighteous.
So,
if I would ever
get to do this sermon
again,
I'm going to use
that line a little bit
different because
there's sort of
three ideas
behind this idea
of vainglory
and only one of them
is around
unimportant matters.
Quite a few years ago
when I was in my
previous church,
which was a rural
country church,
I was doing a wedding
rehearsal one night
and I was having
a lot of trouble
with my Chrysler minivan,
my Dodge Chrysler minivan.
And so,
the women hadn't arrived
but the guys were there.
And this is country.
Every one of these guys,
I mean,
they could have built
their own sawmill,
built their own truck,
built their own airplane,
wired the house.
I mean,
these are like the
archetype,
burly,
country,
handy guys.
So,
I think we have
a few moments.
I'm going to ask
one of them to come over,
the groom,
the future groom,
to come over
and have a look
at my van
which is giving me
some problems
and he saunters over
in his jeans
and his cowboy boots
and he looks at it
and for the next
five minutes,
and his buddies
and the dad
and all,
they come behind him
and for the next
five minutes,
he ragged on me
for being so stupid
as to buy a Chrysler.
And basically,
if you're stupid enough
to buy a Chrysler,
there's nothing you can do
for something
which is a Chrysler.
And for five minutes,
he and his buddies
ragged me on this issue
and it only ended
when it turned out
there were about six of them
and four of them
were Chevy guys
and two of them
were Ford guys.
So then they ragged
on each other
for being so stupid
to drive a Chevy
or a Ford.
And,
you know,
it was as if
it was a point
of importance
to them
that they're not stupid
like other people.
And this was
in the early 90s.
They would have gotten
very foul-mouthed
if it came to
Japanese vehicles,
let me tell you.
Had to be American,
North American.
And so,
but here's the thing,
okay?
So this word
which we translate
in our Bible here
is conceit
which could also be
translated as vainglory.
One of the aspects
of vainglory
is that we think
we're important
because of things
which are completely
and utterly unimportant.
There was a thing
in the National Post
just a week or two ago
and to my amazement
it said that
a lot of women
in their 20s
spend $300 a month
on makeup.
I wish,
I couldn't believe it.
Imagine the better Chevy
you could get
with an extra $300 a month.
But I couldn't believe it
so I asked
one of my kids
and they said,
yeah, yeah,
that's very,
there's a lot of
young women
who spend $300
a month on makeup
and then they said,
you should be so glad
you have me as your daughter
and you're married to Louise
and I'm very grateful
for them as my daughters
and Louise
because they definitely
don't spend $300
a month
on makeup.
But people can be
very proud about that
but makeup?
Your ability
to put on makeup?
You know,
you read style magazines
and people are proud
about their ability
to pick out the right color
or proud about their ability
to pick out the right whiskey
or proud about their ability
to pick up the right coffee
or whatever it is
or the anti type of stuff.
You know,
we don't waste our money
on all that stuff.
We go to Costco
or wherever,
whatever the hipster reaction is.
But so part of vainglory
and judging yourself
to other people
is a pride over things
which don't matter at all.
If you don't know this,
you've heard me say it before,
God never judges you
by how much money you make.
He doesn't judge you
and say you're bad
if you're poor
and good if you're rich
or bad if you're rich
and good if you're poor
and he doesn't judge you
in terms of whether
you have 10 extra pounds
or 20 extra pounds
or whether you're too skinny.
He doesn't judge you
on how many muscles you have
or whether you're good looking
or whether you're ugly.
He doesn't judge you
on whether you're smart
or whether you're dumb
or your IQ's high,
your IQ's low,
your EQ's high,
your EQ's low.
None of those things
which matter so much to us
does God ever judge us on.
And we really think
we're something
on a lot of those issues
and that's vain glory.
And the other aspect
of vain glory
is that it's a desire
for,
it's a desire
to be seen by others
as being important.
In effect,
it's a desire by others
to be seen by others
as if you're somehow
a little bit of a God
and there it's a matter of,
that's a vain pursuit,
right?
It would be like,
like a vain pursuit
would be,
I don't know,
like a football analogy
to Cleveland Browns
trying to win the Super Bowl
this year or next.
That's a vain pursuit.
There's no hope
in it whatsoever.
If they win it next year,
that would be really,
I'm not a prophet,
okay?
If they win it next year,
that would be shocking.
But a vain pursuit.
And then the third aspect
of it is it just means
vain in the sense
of self-centered
and conceit.
A vain person.
And it's all captured
in the original language
and it's all wonderfully
captured in this word
vain glory,
which I understand
why they don't translate it
because it's an old word
and has to be explained.
And so what the Bible
is saying is,
I am like you.
I desire vain glory.
Glory for myself
in regard to matters
that are in reality
unimportant.
Or I desire vain glory
because I'm vain.
I just think there's
something unbelievably
special about me.
Or I desire vain glory
because I want to have
everybody honor me.
I have an honor hunger.
I have a glory hunger.
And I walk around
with this glory hunger
and honor hunger
all the time.
But some of you
might say,
George,
I so wish
my husband
could hear this
because you've just
described him perfectly.
Or I just so wish
my dad could hear this
because you've just
described him to a T.
But George,
I've been beat up
by people like that
all my life.
And that's not my problem.
Let's listen to the text again.
Remember I said,
let us not become conceited
or let us not
become vainglorious.
Remember I said
that in the language
it then says
there's two different things
that flow from it.
provoking one another
or envying one another.
If you could put up
the next point.
So here's what the Bible
has said.
When I believe
I am doing a great job
in attaining vain glory.
I know Scotch
so much better
than everybody here
in the room
except one person.
Like just,
you know,
come on.
Give me the kudos, right?
When I believe
I am doing a great job
in attaining vain glory,
I provoke people.
And the word provoke
here in the original language
it means challenge people,
irritate people.
bother people.
But when I believe
I am doing a poor job
in attaining vain glory,
I envy other people.
In other words,
many of us
who struggle
with inferiority complexes,
our problem is
we have a vain glory project
and we just suck at it.
Or we think we suck at it
so we're depressed.
And other of us
have the exact same
vain glory project
but because we think
that it really matters
whether you buy your coffee
at Starbucks
or Tim Hortons,
we think we're better
than other people.
Like how stupid is that?
That's why the text says
we deceive ourselves.
Like we deceive ourselves
all the time.
And you see,
this is a very, very
unbelievably insightful
Bible passage.
And it's also,
by the way,
it's also a little bit,
see it's also very,
very helpful
because people are complex.
You know,
like,
so what can happen is,
so, you know,
I think there can just be somebody,
some people are just
so beat up by life
that they're basically
almost always
doing,
thinking they're doing
a poor job
of attaining vain glory.
And there's other people
who basically all the time
think they're doing
a spectacular job
and so they're dealing
with provoking people
all the time.
But most of us,
we're a mixture
of these things.
So it might very well be
that at work,
the husband thinks
he's really spectacular.
No, sorry,
got this wrong.
It might be that at work,
he looks at himself
and he thinks,
I'm not getting the promotions
I should be getting
and I don't,
I can't drive,
you know,
I'm stuck driving
a Ford Ranger
and I'd really like
to have enough money
to buy an F-150
or an F-250.
And so they're comparing
themselves to other people
and they feel insecure,
inferior,
and envious at work,
but they go home
and they think
their wife's a loser
and they feel superior.
And so they go through
their day
and they're a week
like a yo-yo.
They leave the house
and they feel inferior,
they come home
and they feel superior.
And you can multiply this
with friendships,
with sports,
with all sorts of things,
is that we can go
from one to the other.
But the fundamental problem
is that we have
a God project
and a glory hunger
and an honor hunger
that's completely
and utterly unexamined
and isn't being killed.
and isn't being replaced
by something else.
So, you know,
I don't say all this
to depress you.
I mean, think of all of us.
If you could put up
the next point,
great.
In the midst of our pursuit
of vain glory,
God, the Son of God,
emptied himself
and died for us
to save us.
In the midst of my pursuit
of vain glory,
God, the Son of God,
emptied himself
and died for me
to save me.
I mean,
you think about the gospel
for a second.
This is what's so
completely counter
to how we think
in terms of comparing
ourselves to others
and having an honor hunger
is that the Bible
describes it
from,
in Philippians 2,
it's very powerfully put
that
from all creation,
God,
the Son of God,
the second person
of the Trinity,
he lives in glory
and majesty
and splendor
and divine prerogatives
and he has this
unceasing love
and affection
with God,
the Father
and the Holy Spirit
is like the love
between the Father
and the Son
and is his own person
and there's just,
and God,
the Son of God,
out of love
for human beings
like you and me
who've rebelled
against God,
turned our back
on God,
shaken our fist
at God,
broken ourselves,
are walking around
with vain glory
projects,
glory hungers,
honor hungers,
comparing ourselves
to each other
and dumping on each other
and dumping on ourselves
and that's what we're doing
and God,
the Son of God,
looks down at us
and sees that we cannot
fix ourselves
and so out of love
for us,
he doesn't yell
at us
but he sets aside
his glory
and he sets aside
his honor
and he sets aside
his divine prerogatives
and he sets aside
everything that even
makes himself
look like God
and he sets all
of this aside
but he remains
in his fundamental
nature God
and he enters
the womb of Mary
taking into himself
our human nature
and God,
the Son of God,
the creator of all things,
the sustainer of all things,
the shaper of all things,
of unbelievable glory
and majesty
that when we
enter the new heaven
and the new earth
as redeemed individuals,
we will spend
all of eternity
and not exhaust
the beauty
and the glory
and the majesty
of God
and that same God,
the Son of God,
enters the womb of Mary
emptied of all
but that which continues
to make him God
but he empties himself
of all appearances
and his emptying
continues by living
a human life
in a remote corner
of the Roman Empire
under a conquered people
and he empties himself
even further
by dying on the cross
and on the cross
he bears your burdens
and mine,
he bears your load
and mine,
he bears your curse
and mine,
he bears our shame,
he bears our sin,
he bears our death,
he bears our rebellion
with nothing left over
that continues to be poured
into him
as he empties himself
and tastes all there is
to taste of death
and even for our sake
tastes abandonment
from the Father
and he does it all
to save you and me.
Could you put up
the next point?
Only God can save me
and only because
he loves me
and only by what
he did by his son's
death upon the cross
and only,
and it only
becomes mine
by faith
in his promise
to save.
Just like a little kid,
if you go out
after the service
and with the parents'
permission
and you say,
if you just put
your hand out,
I'll give you
ten bucks.
And that little kid
has to not just
have faith
that you're a rich guy
or a rich gal,
but that you do it
and they put their hand out
and you put it in,
the ten bucks in.
And
that's the same thing
with salvation.
God accomplishes
accomplishes something
in the person of his son
and the work of his son
and he tells us
that he's accomplished
it for us
and faith is putting
our hand out to God
and he puts that
in our hands.
So how does this story
help
as we're gripped
by the gospel,
as the Bible
comes into our lives,
as we think about
the gospel
and in thinking
about the gospel,
that we now start
to desire
that we want to have
God's word written
in our heart
because the gospel
now,
what does this text say?
This text says something
to those of us
who feel superior
over others.
This text tells us
those of us
who struggle with feeling,
who don't even struggle
with feeling superior
over others,
but this text tells you
and me
who think we're superior
to others
and just think it's natural
that our
our situation
apart from grace
was unimaginably worse
than we could ever imagine.
the worst nightmare
that Hollywood
or writers
or poets
could imagine
does not even begin
to come close
to our desperate need
and the horror
of our situation.
Therefore,
all superiority
should be broken.
And this very same
gospel story
tells those of us
who struggle
with feeling
that we are
losing the battle,
that all we can do
is envy.
We just feel inferior.
We've come to a point
in our lives
where we just feel inferior.
And this same gospel story
tells us
that you
are loved
by God.
That no amount
of pride
can even start to...
No amount
of narcissism.
No.
You are loved
by God
in a way
which you will
spend all of eternity
with God
experiencing
His love
for you
and all of eternity
with God
experiencing
His love
for you
and it will not
come to an end
because it is
so inexhaustible.
And as we're
gripped by the gospel
with what Jesus
did for us
on the cross
and as from
that perspective
God's word
starts to get
written on our heart
it begins
to shape us
and give us
the place
to stand
to deal with
all sorts of things
that we could not
deal with before.
It nudges us
to put a death
to our superiority
it nudges us
to put a death
to our inferiority
it nudges us
into the places
that the rest
of this text
tells us to go to
that when we see
a brother
or a sister
caught in
some trespass
that rather than us
on one level
secretly gloating
and saying
well I'm more
superior than them
the desire
is to restore
them
conscious
that we
ourselves
are beset
by sins
and when we
see somebody
bearing a burden
and rather
than feeling
that
we're superior
because that's
such a big burden
that there starts
to be a nudging
or a shaping
that maybe
I should get up
close and personal
that person
and help them
carry that burden
because
in the gospel
Jesus carried
my burden
didn't he
and maybe
for those of us
who are too proud
to confess
that we have
burdens
the gospel
will start
to shape us
in a type
of humility
to say
it's not wrong
to say
to another person
brother or sister
I have a burden
I'm having
a hard time
carrying
could you pray
for me
or maybe
even help me
and that
in such a
context
that maybe
we
I can test
myself
and if I test
myself
it's not by
thinking about
myself
do I preach
as well as
Matt Chandler
or Tim Keller
but how am I
doing compared
to a year ago
and it's maybe
not
you know
have I put on
five pounds
that I don't want
or lost five pounds
that I wanted
to lose
but
gosh Lord
how am I doing
with the fruit
of the spirit
do I love
more and better
than I did
a year ago
am I more
patient
than I was
a year ago
am I more
gentle
than I was
a year ago
you see
as
as the gospel
grips us
and the Holy
Spirit
then starts
to use
that gripping
to write
God's word
in our hearts
God
God works
to start
to free us
because wouldn't
it be so freeing
to be a human
being who doesn't
miss social cues
but no longer
thinks that we
have to compare
ourselves to others
but can carry
our own load
in light of the
God who loves us
and sent his son
to die for us
just to
I have other points
just I'm just
going to put them
up and then
we're going to
pray
next one
Andrew
every Christian
has burdens
don't believe
health and wealth
gospel people
who tell you
that you can
come to a state
of being filled
by the Holy
Spirit
you no longer
have burdens
Bible says
they're wrong
every one of us
here has burdens
we will always
have burdens
they'll change
but we'll have
them
next one
the Lord
the Lord did
not redeem
me to
bowl
alone
but to be
part of a
one another
local church
home
a one another
church home
where we learn
to bear each
other's burdens
you know
pray into this
for us as
Messiah
next one
no one
deceives me
better than
me myself
and I
I mean this
text is inviting
us to call out
to the Lord
to show us
each of us
and as a
congregation
how we're
deceiving
ourselves
not how my
wife is deceiving
me or my
boss is deceiving
me or my
friend is deceiving
me or the
prof is deceiving
me
I mean you can
keep praying about
that if you want
but most of us
spend ten times
hundred times
a thousand times
praying about
that and rather
asking the
question
father how do
I deceive
myself
please stand
just as
as we go
into this
I don't know
where you are
in all of
these things
but I just
want to assure
you of one
thing
the gospel
is for you
if you're here
and you think
George if you
knew some of
the terrible
things I've
ever done
you wouldn't
think the
gospel is for
me and all
I can tell
you is you're
right I don't
know the
terrible things
you've done
but God
knows them
and God
knew them
when he sent
his son to
die on the
cross for
you and if
some of you
are saying
George if
you knew how
much of a
failure I
am in so
many areas
of my life
you wouldn't
think the
gospel was
for me and
you're right I
don't know how
much of a
failure you are
in all those
areas but God
knows him and
still he sent
his son to
die on the
cross for you
there is no
one here so
broken or so
successful so
rich or so
poor so
sinful or so
self-righteous
that Jesus did
not die for
you on the
cross and
there is no
time better than
right now to
call out to him
for mercy to
thank him for
what he's done
for you on the
cross and to
believe his
promise that if
you put out
your hand what
he has accomplished
for you in the
person of Jesus
that that will come
into your hand and
into your life and
into your mind and
into your heart and
into your soul and
into your body and
that God will never
let you go there is
no better time than
right now to do
that business with
God let's bow
our heads in
prayer
father you know
that most of us
aren't even
struggling with
self-deception and
we ask father that
your holy spirit would
start to use your
word and the gospel
to reveal that to
us but father we
thank you so much
that you are a
gentle God and a
loving God and you
won't do it in a way
that unmakes us but
father bring that
home to us so that
we might cling to
Jesus and cling to
your word and cling
to your promises and
father you know those
of us who haven't
even begun to deal
with our vain glory
project our glory
hunger and and
suffer under
inferiority or
superiority and
father you know the
marriages which are in
danger over issues
like this and you
know father the jobs
that are in danger
over things like this
and the friendships
that are in danger
over over things like
this father even
know the ones who
are cutting themselves
over issues like this
or thinking of
suicide over issues
like that father you
know each one of our
hearts and we ask
father that you're
that the holy spirit
would be poured out
upon us and that you
would make us
disciples of Jesus
who are gripped by
the gospel
gripped by the gospel
and learning to live
free for your glory
and all this we ask
in the name of Jesus
your son and our
savior amen
you