Notes from Sunday services..12-27-2020 - Pride is turning away from God..
I have a confession to make.
I believe that we have suffered too much, while deeply longing for a whole different way of life.
When considering things which drive our behavior I considered many things common to us, for myself, like fear, pride or ego, anger, a insatiable need for attention, basically just called attention seeking behavior ( which happens for many reasons) and so on.. In the process of assessing or re-assessing my own life I found that “pride” drove me in many important areas of my life. From personal relationships to work and everything in between my need to excel was always present and powerful in my life.. I worked hard to be proud of myself and rose in my profession to positions which gave me great freedom and creative license… I went to college against all odds and excellence was ever present in my mind, in those years. It became a lifestyle more than a goal. A personality trait, if you will … It has always been a defining factor way down deep in my bones…And was proud to say that I did it All by myself… I showed that we can direct our own destiny and we can be masters of our selves. I was a living example of how We can sculpt our own lives.. Be proud and independent..What a great feeling !…Or so I thought…
I had a wonderful life in many ways. I wanted to change lives for the better. So what is wrong with that. Don’t all healthy people strive for self-esteem? Shouldn’t everyone strive for excellence even if they fall a little short??
I thought of the work “Invictus”
BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY
"Invictus" is a short poem by the Victorian era English poet , Henley and is said to be a reflection of his own life.. With seemly timeless sentiment, this piece was written in 1875 and published in 1888 in his first volume of poems and Book of Verses.
Invictus is as follows:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul
In my gut I wanted to have his grit…. His words always ring beautifully in my ears… So now I will try to put a finer point to this protracted thought process which has brought me to my present place ..which has brought me even here with you this morning…
Do you think God wants us to do our best? I certainly do.. If we just lay back and think that He will just carry us along without effort I believe that we are mistaken…
So is to strive for excellence wrong? It is not wrong but it is only half of the picture.
Proverbs 13:4
“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.”
How we often credit our successes may be wrong. If we forget or ignore the acknowledgement that we receive help from the Lord, that would be a mistake .. The understanding that He has made our successes possible does not detract from our joy. Quite the contrary ! It enables us to define our lives by a force larger than ourselves… It allows us to lean on God’s shoulder .. It incorporates gratitude and humility into our thoughts, into our prayers, in our living example and into our lives in general. It grounds us and helps us understand that we are privileged to be able to do God’s work in an excellent way. It gives us another dimension… So can I be or can you ,as Henley says, be the master of my fate,and the captain of my soul.. I can understand now that with his grace I can be all that I can be and with his guiding hand maybe a little bit more. But the credit runs through us like a deep stitch and is an understanding as to how we came to be and how we may proceed with the blessings of our Lord as he fills our sails and gives us the power to be all that we can be…
As much as we can lean on the lord when we lean on others who are so moved we must also acknowledge them. We must see the whole picture and appreciate it for what it is. It is all a part of the Lords work in us and for us…
So this morning, on a personal note and with great humility I would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, encouragement, prayers and support. You know when I was in the hospital I ran short of money and did not know where to turn. But out of the blue, our brother Robert Maule and his wife came to my aid and sent us and amount to meet our medical obligations at that critical moment in our lives… I would not normally talk about these things, always contending that I was a private person… But I understand now that much of that contention came from “pride”… not privacy..
What is pride and why is it bad?
The Bible condemns proud men and women in the strongest terms (Proverbs 16:5). This is because human pride directly undermines everything God created us to be.
God made us “in His image” (Genesis 1:27): we are like mirrors, and our purpose in life is to turn toward God in love (Mark 12:30) and reflect His glory to the world (Psalm 115:1). The opposite of this is sin: turning away from God (Romans 3:10-12), so that we don’t reflect God’s glory any more (Romans 3:23).
Pride: turning away from God
Why would humans turn away from God? Part of the answer is pride: our desire not to praise God (1 Corinthians 1:31), but to boast about ourselves (Philippians 3:4-9); not to promote God’s name (Matthew 6:9), but to make a name for ourselves (Genesis 11:4). Satan appealed to human pride in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:5), and throughout the Bible there are countless more examples of people taking pride in things rather than in God. We take pride in our wealth (Deuteronomy 8:13-14); in our jewellery (Ezekiel 7:20); in our salary (Ezekiel 28:5); in our health and strength (Psalm 73:4-6); in our beauty (Ezekiel 28:17); in our power (2 Chronicles 26:16); in our successes (Psalm 140:8) and in our victories (2 Chronicles 25:19). But instead of humbly thanking God for all these good gifts (Romans 1:21), we proudly refuse to respond to His kindness (2 Chronicles 32:24-25) and instead try to take for ourselves the credit for what God has done in and through us (Isaiah 10:12-15; 37:23-26).
Proud people have no interest in listening seriously to God and obeying what He commands them (Leviticus 26:18-19), because they have put their confidence in themselves (Isaiah 9:9-10). Rather than seeking God or even thinking about him (Psalm 10:4), proud people act as though they themselves sit on God’s throne (Ezekiel 28:2), assuming that God is powerless to stop their plans (2 Kings 19:10-13, 22).
Pride deceives
Pride, however, deceives us (Jeremiah 49:16) and corrupts our wisdom (Ezekiel 28:17): all our proud boasts are empty (Isaiah 16:6). When we turn away from God seeking freedom to live life our own way, we are quickly enslaved to false gods and to our own stubborn desires (Jeremiah 13:9-10). The results are catastrophic. First, since God designed us as mirrors to reflect the One we worship (Psalm 115:8), when we swap the glorious God for an unworthy substitute (Romans 1:21-23) we increasingly degrade ourselves (Romans 1:24-32). But second, and even worse: since God is worthy of our worship, when we proudly turn away from Him we insult Him and invite His punishment for our faithlessness and disloyalty (Isaiah 2:12-18). Pride comes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18), and the Bible is full of examples of how God may even bring this destruction in this life, upon individuals (e.g. Nebuchadnezzar – Daniel 4; Haman – Esther 5-7) and upon nations (Tyre – Isaiah 23:9; Babylon – Isaiah 13:19; Moab – Jeremiah 48:29-47; Edom – Obadiah 1:3; Egypt – Ezekiel 32:12; Assyria – Zechariah 10:11; Philistia – Zechariah 9:6; Israel – Amos 6:8).
Pride vs humility
The opposite of pride is humility (Proverbs 11:2) that trusts in the LORD (Zephaniah 3:11-12) and obeys His word (Isaiah 66:2). Abraham is a good example of this kind of humble faith (Hebrews 11:8-12). Unlike people who work hard to build their own reputation (Genesis 11:4), Abraham trusted God to make his name great if he simply obeyed Him (Genesis 12:2). God richly rewarded Abraham’s faith: through Abraham’s descendants came the Lord Jesus Christ, Who, through His own perfect humility, brought blessing for all nations of the earth (Romans 3:21-24), just as God had promised Abraham in the beginning (Genesis 12:3)! Stooping down from heaven itself (Philippians 2:5-11), the Son of God humbly washed the feet of sinners (John 13:1-11) and freely gave His life for those who were His enemies (Romans 5:10). In this way, God showed us how much He loves us (John 3:16), so that we could learn to trust Him again (Romans 8:31-39), surrender our pride (Mark 8:34-38), and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:3).
Forgiveness of pride
Today, Jesus freely offers the gift of forgiveness to all who will humbly receive it like a little child (Mark 10:13-27). Ask God for the gift of faith, so that you can learn to humbly trust God, and so enter into fullness of life (John 10:10) for which God created you in the very beginning: a life overflowing with joy, because we no longer boast of our own proud achievements for God, but instead, of God’s humble achievement, in Christ, for us (Galatians 6:14).
Be blessed always....
So is to strive for excellence wrong? It is not wrong but it is only half of the picture.
Proverbs 13:4
“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.”
How we often credit our successes may be wrong. If we forget or ignore the acknowledgement that we receive help from the Lord, that would be a mistake .. The understanding that He has made our successes possible does not detract from our joy. Quite the contrary ! It enables us to define our lives by a force larger than ourselves… It allows us to lean on God’s shoulder .. It incorporates gratitude and humility into our thoughts, into our prayers, in our living example and into our lives in general. It grounds us and helps us understand that we are privileged to be able to do God’s work in an excellent way. It gives us another dimension… So can I be or can you ,as Henley says, be the master of my fate,and the captain of my soul.. I can understand now that with his grace I can be all that I can be and with his guiding hand maybe a little bit more. But the credit runs through us like a deep stitch and is an understanding as to how we came to be and how we may proceed with the blessings of our Lord as he fills our sails and gives us the power to be all that we can be…
As much as we can lean on the lord when we lean on others who are so moved we must also acknowledge them. We must see the whole picture and appreciate it for what it is. It is all a part of the Lords work in us and for us…
So this morning, on a personal note and with great humility I would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, encouragement, prayers and support. You know when I was in the hospital I ran short of money and did not know where to turn. But out of the blue, our brother Robert Maule and his wife came to my aid and sent us and amount to meet our medical obligations at that critical moment in our lives… I would not normally talk about these things, always contending that I was a private person… But I understand now that much of that contention came from “pride”… not privacy..
What is pride and why is it bad?
The Bible condemns proud men and women in the strongest terms (Proverbs 16:5). This is because human pride directly undermines everything God created us to be.
God made us “in His image” (Genesis 1:27): we are like mirrors, and our purpose in life is to turn toward God in love (Mark 12:30) and reflect His glory to the world (Psalm 115:1). The opposite of this is sin: turning away from God (Romans 3:10-12), so that we don’t reflect God’s glory any more (Romans 3:23).
Pride: turning away from God
Why would humans turn away from God? Part of the answer is pride: our desire not to praise God (1 Corinthians 1:31), but to boast about ourselves (Philippians 3:4-9); not to promote God’s name (Matthew 6:9), but to make a name for ourselves (Genesis 11:4). Satan appealed to human pride in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:5), and throughout the Bible there are countless more examples of people taking pride in things rather than in God. We take pride in our wealth (Deuteronomy 8:13-14); in our jewellery (Ezekiel 7:20); in our salary (Ezekiel 28:5); in our health and strength (Psalm 73:4-6); in our beauty (Ezekiel 28:17); in our power (2 Chronicles 26:16); in our successes (Psalm 140:8) and in our victories (2 Chronicles 25:19). But instead of humbly thanking God for all these good gifts (Romans 1:21), we proudly refuse to respond to His kindness (2 Chronicles 32:24-25) and instead try to take for ourselves the credit for what God has done in and through us (Isaiah 10:12-15; 37:23-26).
Proud people have no interest in listening seriously to God and obeying what He commands them (Leviticus 26:18-19), because they have put their confidence in themselves (Isaiah 9:9-10). Rather than seeking God or even thinking about him (Psalm 10:4), proud people act as though they themselves sit on God’s throne (Ezekiel 28:2), assuming that God is powerless to stop their plans (2 Kings 19:10-13, 22).
Pride deceives
Pride, however, deceives us (Jeremiah 49:16) and corrupts our wisdom (Ezekiel 28:17): all our proud boasts are empty (Isaiah 16:6). When we turn away from God seeking freedom to live life our own way, we are quickly enslaved to false gods and to our own stubborn desires (Jeremiah 13:9-10). The results are catastrophic. First, since God designed us as mirrors to reflect the One we worship (Psalm 115:8), when we swap the glorious God for an unworthy substitute (Romans 1:21-23) we increasingly degrade ourselves (Romans 1:24-32). But second, and even worse: since God is worthy of our worship, when we proudly turn away from Him we insult Him and invite His punishment for our faithlessness and disloyalty (Isaiah 2:12-18). Pride comes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18), and the Bible is full of examples of how God may even bring this destruction in this life, upon individuals (e.g. Nebuchadnezzar – Daniel 4; Haman – Esther 5-7) and upon nations (Tyre – Isaiah 23:9; Babylon – Isaiah 13:19; Moab – Jeremiah 48:29-47; Edom – Obadiah 1:3; Egypt – Ezekiel 32:12; Assyria – Zechariah 10:11; Philistia – Zechariah 9:6; Israel – Amos 6:8).
Pride vs humility
The opposite of pride is humility (Proverbs 11:2) that trusts in the LORD (Zephaniah 3:11-12) and obeys His word (Isaiah 66:2). Abraham is a good example of this kind of humble faith (Hebrews 11:8-12). Unlike people who work hard to build their own reputation (Genesis 11:4), Abraham trusted God to make his name great if he simply obeyed Him (Genesis 12:2). God richly rewarded Abraham’s faith: through Abraham’s descendants came the Lord Jesus Christ, Who, through His own perfect humility, brought blessing for all nations of the earth (Romans 3:21-24), just as God had promised Abraham in the beginning (Genesis 12:3)! Stooping down from heaven itself (Philippians 2:5-11), the Son of God humbly washed the feet of sinners (John 13:1-11) and freely gave His life for those who were His enemies (Romans 5:10). In this way, God showed us how much He loves us (John 3:16), so that we could learn to trust Him again (Romans 8:31-39), surrender our pride (Mark 8:34-38), and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:3).
Forgiveness of pride
Today, Jesus freely offers the gift of forgiveness to all who will humbly receive it like a little child (Mark 10:13-27). Ask God for the gift of faith, so that you can learn to humbly trust God, and so enter into fullness of life (John 10:10) for which God created you in the very beginning: a life overflowing with joy, because we no longer boast of our own proud achievements for God, but instead, of God’s humble achievement, in Christ, for us (Galatians 6:14).
Be blessed always....
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