Chapter 16
Pride
The Problem
Pride is the sin of comparing yourself to others in order to justify your actions or to establish yourself as superior. It isn’t necessarily a long process. It can be done very quickly.
Our memory verse for last week was Romans 14:7-8. The verse is:
“For none of us lives to himself, and none of use dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
The context of this verse is an unrighteous comparison with others. Paul focuses specifically on vegetarianism but it applies much more broadly. We judge another when we are puffed up at our behavior and consider it superior to another.
Paul goes on to say in Romans 14:10-12:
God deals with pride in our lives and we need to hear what he says about judging molehills.“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; For it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
I think it was C.S. Lewis who pointed out that pride is the easiest sin to overlook in our own lives but the sin we tolerate the least in others. Pride in others is a good test for pride in your heart. How do you respond to someone who is prideful and thinks they are better than you? Does it roll off or does it burn? You don’t really have much input into the role of pride in another man’s life but you do have responsibility and accountability for pride in your life.
Morley draws the distinction between the feeling that we have when we test ourselves and find ourselves to have been faithful and the feeling we have when we compare ourselves to others and therefore feel self righteous. That joy we find when we are tested and are obedient is not a sin and can be termed pride (Gal 6:4). When we feel superior to others we are sinning (Luke 18:14).
Morley points out that we can fall into error with humility too. We are not to think more highly of ourselves than we should but we are not supposed to enter into a place in which we are dissatisfied with God’s work in our lives. Then we can become self critical rather than expressing Godly humility.
We can become faithless because of the way we respond to blessing (Deuteronomy 8:12-14). Blessing can cause us to neglect spiritual things rather than focus. Blessing reveals our heart and the pride in it in a way that is somewhat similar to running into a prideful individual. God’s abundant blessings, or the prideful individuals we meet, are not creating anything; they are just manifesting what is already present in our hearts – sin.
The Pharisees were the kings of pride in self righteousness. Jesus spoke the truth to them clearly. When you consider their sins committed before the Lord of Glory it is a testimony to God’s mercy that they were not all struck dead on the spot. God is merciful to us too and deals with us as children to correct the sin of pride in our hearts.
Chapter 17
Fear
Our courage is challenged frequently. Fear is an attack that we all face in one way or another. We can have fear for ourselves and fear for others like our wives and children.
An uncertain future can generate fear in health, business, and even in our spiritual growth. Courage is one of the cardinal virtues. God speaks against fear repeatedly because He knows the high profile and hold it has in our lives. Morley identifies some factors that can produce fear.
First, we have been surrounded by lies all of our lives. It is a way of life for some. Second, since there is no free lunch, we are uncomfortable with an unearned salvation. Third, by the Grace of God we know our guilt. So we can have an unhealthy fear of God that comes from knowledge or our sin and His holiness. Our experience in life can make us question what we know. We’ve been lied to and never had a free lunch so why trust the Gospel?
Morley uses the story of Jesus walking on the water and the disciples in the boat to develop a cycle of fear that develops in our lives (Matthew 14:22-31).
1) Reality – We see the wind
2) Response – We become afraid
3) Result – We begin to sink
4) Return – “Lord, save me!”
5) Recovery – Jesus reaches out His hand
I always remind myself of one thing when I read this story. That one thing is that Peter was the only one out of the boat. I don’t think he deserves too much grief for starting to sink but it illustrates our dependence on Christ for accomplishing the tasks he calls us to. Peter was called out of the boat so he was obedient. He prayed for his calling first but he was called. I think the cycle we see Peter in is another cycle in which we should be challenged to short circuit the cycle and move straight to recovery. Our focus should be singular. In other words, even in the midst of the tasks God gives us, we keep focus on God. He enables us. Maybe we all need to be standing on water to remind us that God names the task and we must allow Him to enable us to perform it. It is an unfortunate thing that we stand on earth and forget He called us and must enable us to the task.
Morley makes a really good point about what Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane. We may face things that result in dread and agony. The word used to describe what Jesus went through is the root for the word we use as agony. Even Polycarp who seemed to laugh at death and made a joke at the Roman’s expense would have had dread and agony in his death. Jesus didn’t have fear but carried agony for you at paying the price for your sins.
When our walk with God calls for courage we are likely to be tempted to fear. It is not sin to be tempted to fear but fear is sin. But by the same token we shouldn’t condemn ourselves for dread. Jesus experienced dread but didn’t yield to fear. From the moment Peter stepped out of the boat he was aware that he was on the water and was naturally dreaded sinking in the waves. Fear resulted when he considered his position and ability apart from God and fear was gone when he refocused on Jesus. Just like other sins, when we find fear in our heart we confess it and seek God for strength not to fear.
We may find fear coming from a number of places. Right now in my life I don’t know where I’ll be in a year. In my mind I feel I’m a little old to be in that position. God obviously feels differently. In addition, the possible move feels halfway like being sent on the mission field and halfway like being given a work assignment that I could fail in with no low profile way in which to fail. However, Pat and I have repeatedly told God in prayer that we’re open to His leading in our lives. So are we or are we not? Utah isn’t the Congo. I’ve already been to North Sumatra and Africa without getting malaria or some scary disease. If I’m doing my best to follow where God is leading then I have no right to be scared.
I’ve heard a lot about Polycarp lately and he isn’t a new hybrid fish. Polycarp was an early church martyr. He was burned because he wouldn’t renounce the Faith. He even showed attitude. He studied under the Apostle John and served the church at Smyrna (no not Smyrna, GA). He stood against heresy and his martyrdom is well known. All he had to do was say that Caesar is lord and burn some incense. He refused and was martyred. They set out to burn him at the stake and apparently that didn’t go well due to the wind so he was stabbed. He was 86 years old. We’re going to be with folks like Polycarp for all eternity and more have been martyred recently than in all the other years since Christ. I don’t want any discussions of fear to come up in front of guys like that.
Peter’s walk on the water was not a blind leap of faith. He knew who called him out onto the water. That was why he was there. And his recovery was not the result of a blind leap of faith either. God calls us to courage expressed in faithfulness to relationship with Him. Our faith and our faithfulness are directed toward and focused on Christ. Our courage is needed to produce obedience in spite of the dread we face and the temptation to fear.
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