PRIDE POISONS; HUMILITY EXALTS

We love to think that we are morally superior and deserving. If you ask young secularists if they are good people, it seems that 98% will answer this question affirmatively. However, this attitude will create distance between themselves and God. Why? Because God wants us to stand in the light of truth – that we are sinners and that He alone is the Savior, and that any good thing we receive comes as a gift and not a deserved wage (Romans 11:35).

Simon the Magician thought that a payment would entitle him to a blessing from God. He had wanted the power that he observed coming from the Apostles John and Peter. They were able to lay their hands on people who would then receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. However, Peter was horrified by Simon's offer to buy this gift:

• Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, "Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." (Acts 8:18-23 ESV)

The belief that we can purchase or earn anything from God is abhorrent to Him (Luke 17:10). Peter therefore told Simon to repent of this belief, this attitude of heart.

Let me try to illustrate the problem. If you give me a beautiful painting that you have painted, but then I take credit for painting it, you will be deeply offended. If I refuse to humble myself to confess my sin, it might be the end of our friendship.

If we believe that we have earned or purchased what God has given us as a gift, this belief will offend God. Consequently, I have learned to give God the thanks for all the good that comes into my life.

The Apostle Paul thanked God even for his hard labors:

• But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

But don't we reap what we sow? Certainly, but we sow by the grace of God. When we understand this, we then understand that we cannot take credit for the blessings we reap. Why not? Because they too are a part of the gift of God!

Jesus’ teachings brought this set of truths home in many ways. Simon, a Pharisee, had invited Jesus back to his home for an exclusive luncheon. While they were all reclining at the table, an uninvited prostitute entered, wept over Jesus’ feet, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with costly oil.

Simon was horrified and concluded that because Jesus had allowed this sin defiled woman to touch Him, He couldn’t be a prophet. Knowing what he was thinking, Jesus asked Simon a rhetorical question: Who would be more grateful – the debtor forgiven a great debt or the one forgiven a small one? Simon answered correctly and Jesus explained:

·       Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” (Luke 7:44-47 NLT2)

According to Jesus, we are all undeserving sinners who need the mercy of God: “The world…hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil” (John 7:7 ESV), the last thing we want to hear! However, the prostitute realized this, and that she had been forgiven. In gratefulness, she gave her all to Jesus. Simon had suppressed this vital truth (Romans 1:18; Luke 16:15; Matthew 23:5-7). He had convinced was had convinced himself that he was above the need for forgiveness. Consequently, he looked down upon the prostitute.

Truth belongs to God, and it is His truth that we suppress, when we convince ourselves of our entitlement. In God’s eyes, this represents an arrogant refusal to face the truth.

To some extent, we are all narcissistic, inflating our self-esteem to impress others and to suppress the truth of our moral failures and our due punishment (Romans 1:32). To suppress the truth is to rebel against God’s truth.

To love God and to be forgiven is to find freedom from the guilt, shame, and everything else we have suppressed. The prostitute had found this freedom, and so she poured her love out upon Jesus, even at the cost of the contempt of the religious leadership. Having such love depends upon realizing how much God has loved the undeserving - us. She now had His love and no longer required the love and approval from others. As a result, she had the boldness to enter this exclusive luncheon.

Do not think that you need to become a prostitute in order to love God and man. It is enough to merely see that we are already prostitutes, having surrendered ourselves to self-deception. If we would just face the truth about ourselves and seek the mercy of our Lord (Romans 6:23)!

From Jesus’ perspective, it seems that the greatest enemy of truth is pride and the love of the darkness, where self-righteousness reigns. Pride suppresses any counter-evidence (John 3:19-20), anything that might call into question our worthiness. Many of Jesus’ parables sought to expose the deceptions of pride, including its notions of superiority and entitlement. The Pharisees had taken captive the religion of the Hebrews to serve their self-righteous appetite (Matthew 23:5-7; 6:1-5). To build themselves up they also put others down. Therefore, Jesus directed many of His parables against them:

·       He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. (Luke 18:9)

Jesus described two who entered the Temple to pray. The Pharisee used this as an occasion to boast about his moral superiority. The other understood that he was a condemned sinner whose only hope was in the mercy of God. Jesus concluded:

·       "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the [Pharisee]. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:9-14)

Almost everything that Jesus taught exposed human arrogance and pride, and this exposure was needed. Right after telling this parable, Jesus disciples once again barred the way to little children from coming to Jesus for His blessings. Evidently, they failed to realize that they were no more deserving than these children. Instead, the disciples believed that they were entitled to God’s blessings, since they had given up much to follow Jesus (Matthew 19:27).

To make His disciples into effective ambassadors of the Kingdom, He would have to humble them and to break them of their pride, and He did this in many ways. Contrary to everything that the Jews believed, Jesus only held up two Gentiles as exemplars of the faith – a Roman centurion (Matthew 8:8-10) and a lowly Canaanite woman with a demon-possessed child (Matthew 15:21-28). Never once did He commend the faith or character of His disciples. He only did so in a prayer to His Father (John 17:6-8).

It therefore shouldn’t be surprising that, in love, Jesus feeds us with a lean and humbling diet. I too required such a diet.  Into the Christian life, I carried a pack of addictive self-righteous beliefs. I had convinced myself that Jesus had chosen me because I was more spiritual than others. Had He lifted me up while I was still possessed by these beliefs, I would have taken His blessings as a token of my superior righteousness and would have continued to look down on others.

What I had to endure as a result was a good look at myself and my total unworthiness – the most painful thing imaginable. However, in retrospect, I can now endorse King David’s words:

·       It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (Psalm 119:71-72)