I just did something that I was told not to do when I was just a boy.
And I was told not to do this by someone I greatly admired.
It was someone who was a few years older than me,
but someone who I knew really knew God.
And they said to me, Daniel, never ever pray for humility.
Because if you ask God for humility, he delights to answer that,
and you won't like his answer.
And they weren't joking either.
They were sincere.
Don't pray for that.
And I think a lot of us would not ever tell us,
or tell someone else not to pray for something,
but I think a lot of us actually walk around with that unspoken suspicion
that if we actually ask God for humility, we're not going to like the answer.
Because a lot of us are afraid of what that would actually look like
if we truly were to become a humble people.
We're spending the summer at Church of Messiah going through the book of Proverbs,
looking at the various themes that Proverbs speak to.
Proverbs, as you know, is a book that was written with all these incredible pearls of wisdom from God.
And so rather than what we normally do at Church of Messiah,
going through a passage of Scripture and unpacking it,
we're kind of putting a thread through these various pearls of wisdom from the book of Proverbs
around different themes.
And so this summer we've looked at the need to fear God
and what that really looks like from the book of Proverbs.
We've seen the harm sexual impurity causes and the healing found in the gospel.
We've seen the need to take good advice, to listen to people, to truly be listeners.
We've looked at these and other things,
the responsibility to care for the vulnerable and the marginalized.
Various ones of these themes, I'm guessing, have hit various ones in various ways.
Some of these things have probably gripped various ones of our hearts.
And there's certain weeks where it really hit home for us
and the person beside you just didn't really hit home for them.
And other ones, unlike the certain weeks that convict you a lot,
other weeks it's really your sweet spot.
There's some of us in the room and you heard about protection for the vulnerable.
That's your jam.
That's your thing.
And so you hear about that and you're really tracking with it.
Not so much from a conviction standpoint,
but just to be inspired to continue doing what you're doing.
But it is this week, specifically it is this week,
that I'm praying will hit home for every single one of us
because this is the week we're looking at pride and humility.
And while various ones of us have various strengths and weaknesses,
I do believe that the struggle with pride,
being a people with pride,
is something that every single human being struggles with.
C.S. Lewis in his famous chapter on Pride and Mere Christianity wrote,
It is pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation
and every family since the world began.
Other vices may sometimes bring people together.
You may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people
or even unchaste people,
but pride always means enmity.
It is enmity, and not only enmity between man and man,
but enmity to God.
By this he is saying that whereas other sins,
other things that are contrary to God's way,
there is the sense of fellowship in these wicked things,
pride is unique in the way that it always puts you in opposition to others,
in the way that it always makes you an enemy of those around you.
It's by nature competitive.
It is by nature opposed to those around you,
threatened by other success.
And in that respect, it brings disunity
and breaking of friendship between people
and breaking of friendship between people and God.
Now, I'm not here just to unpack C.S. Lewis' words,
but rather to unpack what the Bible says about this.
So, Proverbs 16, verse 5 says,
Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord.
Be assured he will not go unpunished.
I believe you have the words on the screen, I'm hoping,
but I'll read it again.
If they're not on the screen, I'll read it again for you slowly.
Everyone who is arrogant in heart
is an abomination to the Lord.
Be assured he will not go unpunished.
There we are.
The next verse we'll look at is Proverbs 6, 16-19.
There are six things that the Lord hates.
This is strong language.
There are six things that the Lord hates.
Seven that are an abomination to him.
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood.
A heart that devises wicked plans.
Feet that make haste to run to evil.
A false witness who breathes out lies.
A one who sows discord among brothers.
So in this list of six and seven things that God hates,
the very first is haughty eyes.
And it's not meaning like eyes that are hot.
It's not saying that like that.
You have very attractive eyes.
It's not saying that God hates that.
It's saying that God hates the eyes of those who are arrogant.
He hates arrogance.
This is strong language.
And I think sometimes we find ourselves,
sometimes we find ourselves reading the Bible
as if there's two different gods.
It's a God of the Old Testament who hates things
and pours out wrath on things.
And then a kind and loving, nice, tame God of the New Testament.
But just to burst that bubble,
in 1 Peter 5.5 and James 5.6,
so those are two different authors in the New Testament,
it says,
God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.
So whereas in Proverbs,
it speaks of God hating pride,
and we can think of it as
God is hating this pride element,
but liking all this other stuff about us.
In the New Testament,
it speaks of God opposing the proud.
So if we're a proud person,
it means that God is opposing us.
Now how can this be if we know that
for God so loved the world
that He gave His only Son?
How can it be that
that this God who we know is so loving,
that He created each person to know Him,
that He would actually oppose
the very people He created?
How can this be?
Well, this is because pride,
by its very nature,
as Jesus was spoken of,
pride by its very nature
is putting ourselves in enmity
with people and with God.
And that pride is, in essence,
a desire to kind of tower over people,
to be looking down on people,
to be looking down on all things.
And when you're looking down,
you cannot see what is above you.
And so the person that is proud
is, in a sense,
not going to see the beautiful sunset above
or anything above them,
including God Himself.
The person who is proud
is threatened by the success,
the well-being,
by the thriving of someone else.
And so God who is perfect,
God who is always going to be more powerful,
who is always going to be more,
more everything good than us,
is by very nature a threat to us.
And so it puts us in opposition to God.
And so God, in His love for us,
and His desire for us to be people
who are people who have more than money,
people who have more than friends,
people who have more than wealth,
people who have Him,
people who have come alive
and that they know the living God.
And God's desire for us
to truly come alive and to know Him,
to be people that aren't bent over like this,
but people who are fully,
who are upright and able to live
and to see the beauty that He made us for.
In God's desire for our good,
our thriving,
He must necessarily be opposed to our pride,
for our pride is truly a bending us out of shape.
In his book,
The Blessedness of Self-Forgetfulness,
Tim Keller talks about how
we only notice those parts of our body
that are hurting.
We don't often stop and think like,
oh, what a wonderful small toe I have.
But if you're like me
and you've ever stubbed your small toe,
all of a sudden you realize
that every step you take
and every moment you're awake
depends on that small baby toe of yours.
And the same can be true
if you pull a random muscle in your lower back.
You don't even realize that muscle existed,
but all of a sudden you know that muscle.
In fact, all you can think about is that muscle.
Some time ago,
after reading this,
maybe a year and a half ago,
one of my roommates and I
were walking home from the church office
and we were just discussing the reality of this.
So we thought,
you know what,
let's just stop as we walk home
and let's start thanking God
for all our healthy body parts
that you'd never think of.
We're just like,
God, thank you for my esophagus,
that it's swallowing food properly
and it's not hurting right now.
We just thought this would be
the one moment of our lives
where we actually are thinking
about the body parts that are healthy.
And you chuckle because it's funny.
We don't do that.
We don't think about our body parts
that are healthy.
We think about the body parts
that are broken.
And so for all the various body parts
with its various weaknesses that we have,
some of us have lower back issues
and other ones of us have really bad eyes
and whatever it is,
whatever is unhealthy in us,
the thing that is most unhealthy,
that is always drawing attention to itself,
is a part of us that isn't actually physical,
but is our ego,
our perception of ourselves.
We can define the ego as our self-perception,
our idea of our identity.
And that part of our being,
of who we are,
is always drawing attention to itself.
I might be much worse at this
than many of you,
but I believe all of you can relate to,
just this past Tuesday,
I was at a worship service.
And I'm not someone,
you'll notice I'm ever on the worship team,
I'm drumming,
I'm not singing,
because I don't have one of those voices
others want to listen to.
I don't,
my voice doesn't help people enter into
thinking of God's goodness.
It more speaks of the fallen nature of man.
And so I'm at this worship service,
and I'm singing,
and all of a sudden I hear that,
I'm hitting the notes.
And it was this beautiful worship time,
it was just such talented musicians,
and they were so God-centered,
and those songs we're singing
were all about the glory of God,
and I was in the zone,
and I'm worshiping God,
I felt so alive,
and then I hear my voice,
and I'm like,
oh, this is beautiful.
And all of a sudden,
instantly,
my attention goes from being about God
to, like,
my voice is awesome.
And I go from, like,
this puffed up thing
to all of a sudden this shame,
like, oh,
I'm such a proud person.
And then I'm like,
oh,
not only am I proud,
but like,
man,
I'm looking at myself again,
like,
how come I'm not,
and then I turn to worshiping God.
And then I'm just,
like,
just lost in the worship of God,
and all of a sudden,
like,
I started thinking about,
like,
how,
like,
I'm,
I just,
I kept going back and forth with this.
We find that our ego
is always drawing attention to itself,
always trying to find worth
and value in ourselves.
And,
and it's broken,
it's broken.
And you'll find,
like,
throughout the day,
like,
just pay attention,
just take a day,
pay attention
to how often you find yourself
kind of defending yourself.
I,
a lot of people,
like,
I'm not someone that,
like,
looks for offending people.
Like,
I,
I like getting along with everyone.
And so I tend to be,
like,
a nice,
polite person.
If I'm at the dinner table
and a sibling will say something
about me that I just feel is not fair,
and,
like,
right away,
I'm just defending myself.
Like,
that's not true.
Like,
I just,
when it comes to,
when someone is threatening
our,
the way people see us
and our perception of ourselves,
I know that you and I,
I might be worse than you,
but that you and I both struggle
with always the need to defend ourselves
because we feel like our,
our perception of who we are
and our value is,
is under threat
over and over and over.
And so,
even as these words are heavy
before us today,
on Proverbs,
speaking of God's hatred
for pride,
we actually are going to find
as we go through
the book of Proverbs
on pride and humility
that these,
these words actually
speak to us
about how we find our healing
and our freedom
from our broken ego.
So,
so what we see,
the first point I want us
to just pause on today
is that pride positions us,
positions,
you need to learn
to speak English,
pride positions each one of us
as an enemy of God.
I'm strong with that,
but it's up on the screen.
You can see it.
Pride positions,
positions each one of us
as enemies of God
in that the way that it,
it bends us out of shape
as we seek to tower over people,
as we seek to,
to find this,
this,
our value
in,
in the,
in being in something awesome
is something in this way.
It,
it turns our attention away
from God
and in doing that
it puts us at opposition to God.
But not only that,
as several of the verses
Nora read,
I'll read again right now.
Proverbs 11 verse 2,
when pride comes,
then comes disgrace,
but with the humble
is wisdom.
Proverbs 16 verse 18 through 19,
pride goes before destruction
and a haughty spirit
before a fall.
Now this is one of those things
a lot of us have learned
when we're pretty young.
We're told pride goes before the fall.
And I think a lot of us
treat this truth
that Proverbs speaks of
as if it's karma.
Like,
oh,
I don't want to be proud
because then something bad
will happen.
You know,
if I'm a proud person,
then I'll get what I deserve.
And so we don't want to be proud
as if it's a formula.
But it's not a formula.
In fact,
if we stop and think about
the people we know
and the people who are most proud,
or if you look at the Bible
and look at who are proud,
the proudful people,
you'll see that very often
it seems like this truth
is not true at all.
That very often,
like for example,
not to name names,
but that you'll find someone
who is exceedingly,
exceedingly in love with themselves,
the most proud person
that is on the airwaves today,
and you find that
unlike what these words are saying,
that they'll have destruction,
instead they're a multi-billionaire,
one of the richest men in America,
and that when they throw their hat
into running for being
the Republican nominee,
they find themselves
pulling at the top.
You know what I'm saying?
It just doesn't seem fair.
You look at these words,
pride brings destruction,
and then you see a man
who is exceedingly arrogant,
and he seems,
not just,
he is so successful
financially,
politically,
business-wise,
in all these different ways.
It's phenomenal.
So what do we do
with this truth and that?
Well, there's actually,
these words, I think,
are telling us,
not simply that
the proud will one day
meet their judgment,
their maker,
one day.
We know that's true.
But that there's this misery
that is found in pride.
There's a misery,
not glory,
that's found in pride.
And that is something we saw
this past week
at Church on Wednesday.
We just happened
in a very different passage.
We're going through
different kings of the Bible.
But it just so happened
this week,
I was scheduled to speak
on pride and humility.
And at Church on Wednesday,
we were looking at Nebuchadnezzar,
and that happens to be
on pride and humility.
And we see that Nebuchadnezzar
was the richest of all kings
that had ever lived before him.
It was the richest
of any of his contemporaries.
Not only does the Bible
speak of his wealth,
but historians also know
that Nebuchadnezzar
was this ferocious,
wealthy,
luxurious,
just king of kings.
He was known
as the king of kings,
even though that's a title
that's supposed to apply
to God alone.
And Daniel chapter 4
opens with him,
on the one hand,
being so successful,
and on the other hand,
he's filled with anxiety.
He's having these scary dreams,
and he's so afraid.
And as you meet people,
and you actually get to know people
who have so much success,
you'll often find
that they're actually people
who don't have any enjoyment
in their success.
I don't often quote from her.
In fact,
I never before this week
quote from her,
but to illuminate the scriptures.
But as someone who actually
has a lot of insight
on this issue,
is a woman who's been
so successful as a musician,
as a pop star.
She has so much more money
than any of us in this room have.
Probably more money
than all of us combined.
She has a lot more friends
and popularity
and just all the various things
that you and I tend to find ourselves
pursuing to find happiness.
She's got them in spades.
And her name is Madonna,
and she wrote this
in Vogue magazine,
which I read quoted
by someone else.
I didn't actually read Vogue.
Just saying.
She says this,
My drive in life comes
from a fear of being mediocre.
That is always pushing me.
I push past one spell of it
and discover myself
as a special human being.
But then I feel
I am still mediocre
and uninteresting
unless I do something else.
Because even though
I have become somebody,
I still have to prove
that I am somebody.
My struggle has never ended.
And I guess it never will.
Madonna's words
should devastate our pursuit
of the American dream,
of pursuing whatever it is
that you and I pursue
to find a sense of value and worth.
Whether that's money,
or whether that's material stuff,
whether that's popularity
and friends,
or even some of us
have forsaken all of that
and instead we're pursuing
this seemingly humble life
of service.
We may even find ourselves
living among the poor
and maybe even being hippies
and fighting the system
and raging against the machine
and all that stuff.
We're not pursuing
the American dream.
But what instead we're pursuing
is a sense of worth found
in our doing,
wonderful Mother Teresa-like stuff.
And what Madonna is saying,
it doesn't matter
how much you pursue,
whatever you choose to pursue,
as you achieve that thing,
you find that this thing
you thought would give you
significance is failing that.
There's a poverty,
there's a destruction
that is greater
than not having any food.
And that is having a lot of food
and yet finding it
doesn't fill you.
There's an emptiness
that is greater
than having no friends
and that is being surrounded
by tons of friends
and feeling so very alone.
King Nebuchadnezzar found that,
the king of Babylon
in Daniel chapter 4,
that he has everything
a man or woman
could ever dream of
and so much more
than he can ever have.
And yet even in the midst of it,
he's so afraid
he's going to lose it.
There's no enjoyment in it.
C.S. Lewis speaks
how pride does this to us.
He writes,
pride gets no pleasure
out of having something,
only out of having more of it
than the next person.
We say that people
are proud of being rich
or clever or good looking,
but they are not.
They are proud of being richer
or cleverer
or better looking than others.
If everyone else
became equally rich
or clever or good looking,
there would be nothing
to be proud about.
He writes about how pride
is the most perverted
of all sins
and it robs us more
than anything else
in that we looked
a few weeks ago
about how sexual impurity,
how lust will lead us
to do things
that are harming ourselves
and others
in such horrific ways.
And yet C.S. Lewis talks
about how as perverted
as sexual impurity is,
that lust brings a man
to sleep with a woman
or a woman to sleep
with a man
because he desires her,
albeit in a selfish way.
But pride leads someone
to sleep with someone else
in an impure way,
something to prove
that they can.
That the proud person
is not actually desiring
the things they're pursuing,
they're desiring
a sense of significance
from it.
And so it actually robs them,
empties them.
It takes from them
the ability for them
to enjoy those very things,
even those sinful things.
In a sense,
pride robs people
of even being able
to enjoy sin.
It's a very,
very destructive thing.
And if it robs us
of the ability
to enjoy sin,
how much more
it robs us
of the ability
to enjoy
what we're really made for.
Pride is a horrible,
horrible thing.
And in that respect,
even though you may see
billionaires
who are very arrogant,
you'll find that
their destruction,
they're already living
in their destruction.
So often,
the proud are actually miserable.
And that not only applies
to the billionaires,
it also applies
to you and me
as we continue
to search for significance.
So we see that
not only does God,
not only does pride
put us in a position
of being an enemy of God,
we read it in that
about how God hates pride.
We see that pride
harms each one of us.
It causes destruction,
it causes misery
and disgrace.
That's the second point
if we can pull it up.
Pride harms each one of us.
We read about how pride
brings destruction.
It harms us.
It is the opposite
of what we're made for
and it robs us
of our ability
to enjoy life.
Now, the scriptures
illuminate part
of why this is.
It says in Proverbs 29,
verse 25,
if we can bring it up
on the screen,
Proverbs 29,
verse 25,
the fear of man
lays a snare,
but whoever trusts
in the Lord
is safe.
The fear of man
is a snare,
but whoever trusts
in the Lord
is safe.
The fear of man
is a snare,
is speaking
to the very nature
of what pride is.
See, pride
is this search
for a verdict
of who we are.
Every single one
of us is born
with this.
Again, we have this ego,
this perception
of self,
when we're looking
for a verdict,
who am I
and what is my value?
And the fear of man
is saying that.
It's not that simply
that we're afraid
that every man
is actually the boogeyman.
No, the fear of man
means that we're looking
for a verdict
of our value.
Our ego is calling
out to us
for its sense
of identity
from the value
that others give us,
from the verdict,
the judgment of others.
Now, today,
if you speak
with a lot of
popular counselors
and all that,
or even just
your average guy
on the street,
they'll tell you,
don't care what
others think of you.
All that matters
is what you think of you.
I was at camp
a few weeks ago
and I was about to,
I was going to be leading
for all the kids
a fitness exercise,
like dance class thing.
I'm not a dancer,
but I was going to lead it.
And so,
we were trying to figure out
whether or not
the clothes that they
were thinking of me
wearing for this
was clothes from
workout videos
of the 1980s
or girls' clothes.
I don't know
if you're familiar
with the 80s,
but there's some overlap
right there.
So,
we're trying to discern,
is this cross-dressing
or is this funny?
You know?
And I mean,
you can,
because cross-dressing
in the Bible
actually speaks against
the funny from the 80s
would be okay.
So,
we're trying to figure this out
and kind of looking
at the Bible,
trying to see what it says
about this.
And this guy,
this Christian,
he's one of the leaders
of this camp,
just blurs out to me,
like,
judge not lest you be judged.
He was saying,
like,
don't try to make
a judgment about this,
just do whatever
feels right to you,
go for it,
thinking that that's
what the Bible
calls us to.
In a sense,
he's doing what
a lot of people do today,
which is,
okay,
don't fear man,
just fear yourself.
Just find your verdict,
your value,
your sense of ego
from yourself.
That's what determines
your verdict
of who you are.
But,
these words about
fearing man,
them being a trap,
is a trap for us,
whether it's that
we're fearing the opinion
of others,
we're looking to others
for value,
or we're looking to
ourselves for value.
Either way,
it's a trap.
And it's a trap
because there's such
promise in that.
If you've ever tasted
praise from people,
if you've ever received
praise from someone,
others or from a sense
from yourself,
it feels so good
for a moment.
And so we continue to pursue
that,
pursue people thinking
highly of us,
or pursuing ourselves
thinking highly of us.
But what we find
and what Madonna
found to be true
is that it's a trap,
that it never satisfies,
that it's never enough.
And we have this
relentless,
never-ending
pursuit of significance,
pursuit of a verdict,
a good verdict,
that never lasts,
that never ever lasts.
So if pride
and looking to others
for the verdict
ever solves
is a trap,
how do we become
free of it?
Benjamin Franklin,
in his effort
to become humble,
found this.
These are his words.
There is perhaps
no one of our natural passions
so hard to subdue
as pride.
Beat it down,
stifle it,
mortify it as much
as one pleases,
it is still alive.
Even if I could conceive
that I had completely
overcome it,
I should probably
be proud
of my humility.
And I think that
you and I can relate
to that,
that we sometimes
find ourselves
living and thinking
in a humble way
and instantly we're like,
yes,
I am the humble man,
like I am,
this is awesome
and then you find
that you're proud again.
Another way
that we deal with it
is not simply
being proud of our humility
and that's perverted
but is that
we so often,
especially in the church,
we try to become
humble people
by thinking
really,
really bad stuff
about ourselves.
We often want to
just dwell
and think about
our wretchedness
thinking that this
will make
our humility possible.
But what we find
is that that ego
that is always
drawing attention
to itself
and in a sense
longs to be puffed up
that the reverse of that
that a very much
deflated ego,
a very low view
of yourself
is actually still
this self-obsession.
And so we find
that whether we are
those who think
that we're awesome,
super, super awesome,
or we're those who think
that we're super,
super trash,
that either way
it's this broken ego
that's always drawing
attention to itself.
in a pursuit
of trying to become
a humble person
as a teenager,
I used to always be
saying under my breath
about myself
and I thought
this was good spirituality.
I thought this was
walking with God.
I'm a wretch.
I used to always be saying
that something would happen.
I'm like,
I'm a wretch.
I'm broke.
I'm a wretch.
I'd always be saying
these things
and some of the things
I was saying
some of it is bordering
on biblical
but it was always
about me.
I was not someone
who was a worshiper of God.
I was someone
who was self-obsessed
of my wretchedness.
It was still my ego
calling attention to itself.
So how do we become
free of this?
Well, Proverbs 11.2 says
what we already read,
when pride comes
then comes disgrace
but with the humble
is wisdom.
Proverbs 22.4 says
the reward for humility
and the fear of the Lord
is riches and honor of life.
We see that humility
is in a sense
synonymous with wisdom.
We see that humility
is synonymous
with the fear of the Lord.
Why is that?
Because each of us
is searching for this verdict
and so many of us
our ego is broken
and it's always relentlessly
trying to find that verdict
for ourselves
to illustrate
what it means
to be fearing God.
And Paul,
the Apostle Paul
is an amazing example
of someone
who is truly
a humble person.
In 1 Corinthians 4.3
he says
he's rebuking
the Corinthians
for competing
with each other
for their verdict
of their significance.
And he says
but with me
it is a very small thing
that I should be judged
by you
or by any human court.
In fact,
I do not even judge myself.
So he's saying
I don't actually look
for my verdict and value
from any one of you
nor am I trying to
find the verdict
from what I think of myself.
No,
it doesn't matter.
Instead he says
but I'm not thereby acquitted
by the fact
that he doesn't judge himself.
He says no,
it is the Lord
who judges me.
He's saying
I'm looking for my verdict
of who I am
from God.
Now,
that might sound
really freeing at first
but if you think about it
God knows each one of us
and the depravity of ourselves
so much more
than any one of us.
God knows
the wickedness of our hearts
even more than you and I
can ever imagine.
And so when he turns his attention
to a verdict from God
that might sound good at first
but then you think
oh no,
God actually knows.
When everyone else
is fooled by my politeness
and when I seem like
I'm caring for people
but I'm actually doing it
for the desire of praise
God sees that.
So in a sense
God being our judge
should actually fill us
with more fear
and more insecurity
in a sense
than if it was
us fearing man.
Except that Paul
knows reality
and he knows
that the good news
isn't just an idea
it's the reality
that Jesus has actually
achieved the perfect verdict
that he lived
the perfect life
and that Jesus
made the verdict
that he received
God said over Jesus
this is my son
whom I love
and whom I am well pleased.
And by Jesus dying
on the cross
we all know the story
we celebrate every Easter
and every communion service
that Jesus died on the cross
Jesus did that
in order that we might
receive that verdict
from that Jesus deserves.
That the verdict
over Jesus
that God says
this is my son
with who I am well pleased
that you and I
can actually receive
that verdict
that value
of who we are
is the value
that Jesus has
that we receive that
as we turn from
our own self-obsession
and turn from
our own sin way
and we look to God
as we pray to him
for forgiveness
and look to him
for life
and trust in him
we receive what Jesus
has made possible.
And as Paul
does that
that's becoming a Christian
Paul has become
a follower of Jesus
and receives Jesus' verdict
he no longer
has this broken ego
that's always calling
attention to itself.
2 Timothy
is Paul's final letter
before he dies
and I know that
when he's chained
to a wall in that letter
and it's incredible
how that letter
which is where Paul
has so much to be
in a sense
unthankful for
he's going through
such hard times
instead the letter
bursts with Paul's
love for the Lord
and his concern
for Timothy's well-being.
How do you be someone
that when you're going
through your worst day ever
you're actually concerned
about someone else
you're not just there
to just pour out
all your lament?
It's because Paul's ego
was healed.
Paul had a healed self
a healed understanding
of who he was
that it wasn't
bent out of shape
always trying to
call attention to itself
instead because he had
become someone
who was actually humble
whose view was on God
his life was on God
whose attention was on him
his fear was of him
he was able to therefore
be someone genuinely
interested in other people.
C.S. Lewis writes
in that famous chapter
on pride and humility
how if you ever meet
a truly humble person
you probably didn't realize
you're a humble person.
He writes how
it's not the person
who is always speaking
of their wretchedness
that is a humble person
but that person again
is actually quite self
obsessed with their wretchedness.
Rather you wouldn't notice it
because the humble person
would be someone
who's actually genuinely
interested in you.
He's genuinely interested
in other people.
Lewis writes that
a humble person
is not someone
who thinks less of themselves
it's someone
who thinks of themselves less.
That a humble person
isn't someone
who thinks less of themselves
it's someone
who thinks of themselves less.
that as our ego
becomes healed
as we receive
a verdict
from what God
thinks of us
we become people
who are actually able
to turn our attention
away from ourselves.
We're actually able
to find freedom.
And as our attention
turns away
from always trying
to get that verdict
from other people
we're actually
you're able to
when we thank God
for a meal
we're actually there
saying
I'm not trying to
have this meal
so to have
more of a meal
than someone else.
I'm actually able
to enjoy my meal.
that you have friends
not for the sake
of having more friends
than others
but you're having friends
not to find value
in your friends
but you found your value
in God
and therefore
you're free
to actually enjoy
the friendships you have.
And in that respect
the person who might have
much less than the rich
is living a life
of so much more joy
and meaning
and even enjoyment
and pleasure
than the person
who is so very proudful.
And so just finally
a few takeaways
of how we can become
these people
who instead of
fearing what others think
or fearing what we think
of ourselves
or living a life
that is thinking
of ourselves less.
How do we become
free of that cycle
that Benjamin Franklin
spoke of
as we try to become
more humble
we just get more pride
about our humility
or be free
of just trying
to be obsessed
with our wretchedness.
How do we become
truly humble people?
Well,
as so many other issues
we need God's help.
And so this is a prayer
I want to invite you
to pray
even if you use other words
to consistently pray
this in your life.
Dear God,
grow in me
a humble
trust and confidence
in your saving work
in my life
through the gospel.
That we'd be
people who consistently pray
Dear God,
grow in me
a humble
trust and confidence
in your saving work
in my life
through the gospel.
The next thing
to pray
another way
to pray this
would be to pray
a prayer like this.
Dear God,
grow in me
a fear of you
an awe of you
and a love for you
that captivates my heart
holds my attention
and transforms
the way I see
everything.
In preparation
for the sermons
this week
I went onto Twitter
and I just typed
in the hashtag
Grand Canyon.
I wanted to see
what do people tweet
when they go
to the Grand Canyon.
And I saw that
although if you look up
almost anything else
you'll see selfies
of someone in front
of whatever monument
a famous monument
or place
when you look at
tweets of the Grand Canyon
what you see
is the Grand Canyon
and you end up
reading these tweets
about I never felt
so alive
freedom
all this kind of stuff
about freedom
and being alive
and being awake
and about the beauty
of the Grand Canyon.
You don't see much selfies
almost none.
Why is that?
It's because no one
goes to the Grand Canyon
this majestic thing
in nature
to glory themselves.
They go to feel
so small
and so alive
as they turn
their attention
finally from themselves
for a moment
to the majesty
of the Grand Canyon.
I'm trying to become healthy
so I've been trying
to go to the gym
and I was at the gym
the other day
there was a guy
whose muscles were
I think 18.6 times
bigger than mine
like he was huge
and I noticed that
like every time
he passed any mirror
in the gym
like he just kind of stopped
he just like
he caught his own eye
and he just looked
and he just like
looked so lovingly
at himself
and I just picture
like what would this guy
look like if he went
to the Grand Canyon
like would he actually
be standing at the Grand Canyon
just like looking
at his biceps
like his biceps
might be big
but compared to the Grand Canyon
they're very small
and it's something
so freeing
people chop the Grand Canyon
as if it's like
quite often
because
it's something
where they finally
get a piece
a moment
of what it feels like
to turn your attention
from yourself
the Grand Canyon
as awesome as it is
can hold your attention
perhaps for an afternoon
or maybe if you camp there
for a week
but there's only one thing
in all of the universe
that can hold our attention
for all of eternity
and for all of our lives
and that is God
the one who breathed
the universe
into existence
this freedom we find
as we look to God
and so that's why we pray
dear God
grow in me a fear of you
and an awe of you
and a love for you
that captivates my heart
that helps you
turn my heart
and my attention
away from my muscles
or my voice
or my
how caring I am
all those kind of things
Lord turn my attention
from that
would you hold my attention
and transform the way
I see everything
so those are
two different prayers
to pray
just that God
will grow in us humility
and the third thing
is that we'd be
worshippers of God
one of the best ways
to combat pride
in our lives
is just as we worship God
that's the final point
just worship God
that's why
some of why we sing songs
is that it's turning
our attention from ourselves
and turning our attention
to the bigness of God
I mentioned King Nebuchadnezzar
before
and how he was the richest
of kings living in such fear
eventually
in God's mercy
God drives him
into the wilderness
and makes him like an animal
for seven long years
and Nebuchadnezzar's healing
and restoration of sanity
is found
as he turns
after seven years
turns his eyes toward heaven
and worships God
and as he worships God
his self-obsession
his arrogance
is taken away
and he becomes someone
who's fully alive
and the joy
that jumps out
of the page
of Nebuchadnezzar's prayers
and worship
is a beautiful thing
we become alive
as we turn our attention
away from ourselves
and turn our attention
to God
so the final point
that we have
is that humility
restores our sanity
our friendships
our joy
and our life
that humility
restores our sanity
our friendships
our joy
and our life
this is contrary
to the input
I received
as a young boy
this is something
to pray for
this is something
to ask God for
and to look to God for
that he would make us
a humble people
so let us
look to him right now
in prayer
Heavenly Father
I would venture a guess
that every single one
of us in this room
knows what it's like
to try to be humble
and to find that
even in our pursuit
of humility
we're so proud
God it seems that
we lack the ability
as human beings
to be really
truly humble
apart from you
and God we don't want
to be apart from you
Lord we want to be
so close to you
and so Father I ask
that you would help
each one of us
in this room
to overcome
this sin
that every man
and woman knows
the sin of pride
that you would bring
us freedom
from trying to find
a verdict
in the value
and opinion
others give us
or that ourselves
give us
that instead
we would look
to you
that like Nebuchadnezzar
you would heal us
God
from our
self-obsession
that you would
restore to us
the joy
and the meaning
and the purpose
and the lives
that we were made for
that each one of us
would truly be lovers
and worshippers
of you
God that you would
grow in us
a humble
trust and confidence
in the finished work
of Jesus
and the verdict
we receive
from you
through him
and that you would
captivate our hearts
that you would
hold our attention
and you would
transform the way
we see everything
that we might be people
fully alive in you
for your glory
and for the good
of this world
in Jesus name
Amen