You're in My Way or You Go First?

On this Foundation Sunday we are starting a new morning series of sermons called THE BIG TEMPTATIONS. We will be looking at the Seven Deadly Sins. These are sins that are permanent temptations for every one – believer and unbeliever alike. The list of seven evolved in the early Christian centuries for teaching purposes and they are: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. There’s no prize for guessing the sin we are focusing on this morning with our title You’re in my way or you go first? It is, of course, the sin of pride.

To help our thinking I want us to look at 1 Peter 5.1-11, our New Testament reading. And my headings this morning are first, PRIDE – THE SIMPLE REALITY; secondly, TRUE HUMILITY; thirdly, TWO MISUNDERSTANDINGS; and, fourthly, HOW TO BE HUMBLE

First, PRIDE – THE SIMPLE REALITY

Look at the second half of verse 5:

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”

Here is a universal command, “all of you, clothe yourselves with humility”.

The Bible teaches that pride is the archetypal sin. It destroys the relationship between God and man and then between man and man. Fundamentally, pride is putting yourself either in the place of God or above God or thinking you know better than God. It is self-glorification instead of you glorifying God. And pride is everywhere. The Bible teaches that since Adam we are all born proud. As recorded in Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to become like God and transgress the limits he had set for them. And ever since we have all inherited that deadly spiritual disease of sinful pride.

And pride can be collective as well as individual. The prophet Isaiah, referring to a pagan nation. wrote:

“God will bring down their pride, despite the cleverness of their hands” (Is 25.11).

The Old Testament especially teaches that pride needs to be addressed in public life and in political leadership as well as in private life and in the church. King Nebuchadnezzar, of Babylon, is a classic case. He had a dream of an enormous tree being cut down. Then Daniel warned him that the dream was all about himself, because Nebuchadnezzar’s pride led him to say:

“Is not this the great Babylon I have built … by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty” (Dan 4.30).

But he then learnt the hard way. He lost everything and went wild if not mad for a period. Only then was he brought to his senses. So he then said:

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble” (Dan 4.37).

Do pray for our own leaders to turn around like Nebuchadnezzar turned around. Unless there is a turning back to God in this country why should we think Britain can escape this fundamental law that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble"?

Consider the last decade. Reviewing the last decade on the 27 December, George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote in a national newspaper as follows: “[The] vital connection between the Christian faith and the British people is increasingly disregarded by our political leaders and our civil servants.”

He then mentioned Baronness O’Cathain saying recently that the Equality Bill (coming before the Lords this week) was, for Christian freedom, the “single most damaging Bill” to come before her in 18 years as a member of the House of Lords. And George Carey went on: “It is time for the silent majority in this country to stand up to governments and civil servants who seem determined to stamp out the Christian character of this nation either for fear of causing offence to those of other faiths, or through hostility to faith itself. Now please don’t get me wrong. Tolerance and inclusion are prized words for me. But I now find myself saying that Christians may themselves have to engage in civil disobedience to stand up against Governments which arrogantly [notice that word] act under the delusion that every problem and every detail of modern life can be fixed with yet another piece of legislation – sometimes ill thought through.”
You say, “but how does such a response fit in with this command to be humble?” Well, that leads us to our …

Second heading TRUE HUMILITY

If pride is ignoring God and putting ourselves in his place or above him, humility is, fundamentally, the opposite. It is depending on him, opposing all that takes his place (all idolatries) and submitting to him. But humility is not something that has to be weak and passive.

The humble person we are told here, in 1 Peter verse 9, is to “resist [the devil], standing firm in the faith.” And in the second part of verse 5 you are told to “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.” That looks like a reference to Jesus who in John 13, we are told, “clothed” himself with an ancient type of apron to wash the disciples feet at the last supper. So it is a reminder that the believer is to copy Christ’s humble attitude and behaviour.

But, remember, John chapter 2 and verse 15 tells us the humble Jesus made “a whip out of cords”. We then hear he drove “from the temple area, both sheep and cattle” and “he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.”

And we need to realize the immediate context of this chapter. It is unfortunate that our translators have missed out the word “therefore” that is in the original of verse 1. Chapter 5 should begin with a “therefore”. So what is written here in our passage is in the light of all the opposition or trials the Christians in Asia Minor were facing at this time. Look back to verse 12 of chapter 4:

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”

And in such situations the Christians (verse19 of chapter 4) …

“…who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”

They should trust God and get on with doing as much good as they can in the world and in the church. But instead of doing good when the church is under threat, as it is was then (and as in a milder way it is in Britain today), there are often temptations to disunity. And pride is a great cause of disunity in the church while true humility brings unity. And humility is needed in all sorts of areas.

First in our chapter Peter talks about pastoral leadership. For pride can be a problem with leaders and in subtle ways. Look at verses 1-3:

“To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers--not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”

So there are three warnings for church leaders.

One, they are not to lead under a sense of compulsion. They are to be motivated by God’s will and a concern for others. They should be “willing, as God wants”. Philippians chapter 2 says to everyone, so including leaders, you should …

“consider others better than yourselves [and] each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others.”

Humble leaders, concerned for others, will be “willing as God wants” in their leadership.

Two, church leaders are not to motivated by financial considerations. They are not to be like the hired hand in Jesus’ Parable in John 10 who was there for the money and would not fight the wolf. They are to be like the Good Shepherd who was there for the sheep not himself and so was truly humble.

And, three, they are not to be motivated by a desire for power or status. They are not to “lord it”. That certainly is not humble leadership. Jesus had said:

“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them … Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10.42-44).

Of course, being a slave of all means you have to be firm with some who want to disunite or even destroy the church.

So to repeat, humility does not mean being weak or passive. And younger people (or other junior leaders) are also to be humble. For all are to be humble and submissive. Look at the first part of verse 5:

“Young men [or junior leaders or subordinate leaders – like leaders of small groups], in the same way be submissive to those who are older.”

But that word “submissive” brings us to our next heading and …

Thirdly, TWO MISUNDERSTANDINGS

“Submission” is a much misunderstood word in the Bible. As we think about pride and humility, and related concepts like submission, we must make distinctions. And there are five points to make about submission.

First, we must note that Biblical submission has nothing to do with human status – of who is better or who is worse. The Bible teaches human equality. We are all made in the image and likeness of God. So we all deserve equal respect.

Secondly, the Bible teaches that we should all submit in various ways to one another. Paul says in Ephesians 5.21:

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

So if you are the most senior of leaders, you are to submit to the lowliest believer by serving them – by putting yourself out for them – as for the Lord. Jesus said in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats:

“whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mat 25.40).

Thirdly, while we are all equal, there is no suggestion in the Bible that we are all the same. So there has to be a right discrimination. For one thing we all have different gifts for the good of others and when we are in human groups we all have different parts to play and contribute. And you can be with the same people but on different occasions wearing different hats. Then there can be very different submission dynamics. An obvious example was when I gladly submitted to a member of this congregation this past year when I had a hip operation.

Fourthly, the Bible makes it clear that human submission is never to be absolute. When any Prime Minister or husband or parent or boss at work (or whoever) commands what God forbids or forbids what God commands, the Bible teaches you must obey God rather than any human authority (see Acts 5.29).

Fifthly, biblical submission is not “servile” submission, as the theologians call it, but “political” submission. It is for the right ordering of human societies and human groups and human families, as God intended. And so it is for the good and happiness of all. So much for submission.

But there can be a second misunderstanding. This is regarding pride itself. For on the one hand we are not to be proud, as we are told here in 1 Peter. But in Galatians 6.4 we read this:

“Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else.”

How is that to be explained? Answer: by making distinctions again. Sinful pride is when you ignore God who is the giver of all good things and you think you are the source of what is good in your life.

But the Bible insists that all that we have comes from God. And that includes our knowledge and good behaviour, as well as our possessions and, of course, our relationship with God. All is due to him and not to ourselves. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Cor 4.7:

“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?”

That certainly is true of me. And that is true of everyone else here this morning. Our possessions, our education, our understanding of the Bible and our salvation is all due to God’s grace, which means his “giving” to us. And sometimes that giving is indirect and through other people God brings our way.

That you are in this Christian fellowship this morning is a result of what was once given from God by others in obedience to his vision for them. In the middle of the 19th century Richard Clayton died fairly young after exercising a remarkable ministry in Newcastle. The lay members of St Thomas Haymarket (the church Clayton had planted) were not allowed by the church authorities to have, as a new senior minister, the man they believed would continue Clayton’s ministry. So they said (in effect) “fair enough; but we will raise the money to plant a new church to continue Clayton’s ministry elsewhere.” This they did and this church is the result. That is why today, 149 years later, we need humbly to thank God for the vision and faithfulness of our predecessors 149 years ago.

Pride is sinful when your attention is on yourself as the doer of something good or as having a great gift, rather than on the worth of what you’ve done or the quality of the gift. This is such an important distinction.

For many bad men and women do good and have great gifts. And it doesn’t help denying the fact. That is partly behind Article XXVI (of the Thirty-nine Articles) that I read out earlier in the service. As someone has put it: “Pride argues, ‘my work is good; therefore, I am good’”. But making yourself, instead of what you do, an object of value is at the heart of sinful pride.

And our positive good works can never make us good enough for God. That is why we all need Christ’s forgiveness for our sins. The only justification you can have with God is through faith in Christ’s death for us in our place on the Cross. Your positive good works then, although not justifying, are pleasing to God and should be celebrated. But you must recognize that the good comes from God equipping you and gifting you and strengthening you by his Holy Spirit. And the goal should be that others, as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount …

“will see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Mat 5.16).

Sinful pride is when the attention is on yourself and not on your work and God’s grace. Finally and briefly we must move on…

Fifthly, (to) HOW TO BE HUMBLE

Look at verses 6-7:

6“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Peter is saying here that when God allows trouble to come your way, this can help you to be humble. Illness, opposition for being a Christian or other problems help you to learn to depend on God and trust in him and not on yourself. It helps you realize he is your creator and you are his creature. Perhaps this is a truth someone here this morning especially needs to take to heart. So what do you do practically?

You “cast” – literally it means “throw” - all your anxiety on him [the Lord]”. It is like throwing a snowball (if you are still up to that). You want all of it to leave your gloves. You don’t want it to disintegrate all around you. So you are to cast all your anxiety completely onto God.

And why can you do that? Answer, “because he cares for you.” That is the gospel. That is why Christ came. And that is why, verse 10:

“the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”