Saturday, December 13, 2008

Pride and Christian behavior

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "

John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:1-12a).

A man was going to a costume party dressed as the Devil. It was a thundering, rainy, stormy night as he drove along a country road. The car went into the ditch; the man could not get his vehivle started again, so he got out and made his way across a cornfield towards the lights of a small country church.

The members of the congregation were having their evening prayer meeting, singing hymns and praying. At the moment that the man reached the door and opened it—dressed in his devil’s costume—there was a bolt of lightning and a clap of thunder. Everyone looked around in amazement and saw the Devil standing there, and they rushed out of the little church as quickly as they could—all except for one little old lady standing in the center aisle. With her cane in hand and shaking from head to toe, she said, "Mr. Devil, I don’t know what you want here, but I’ve only got one thing to say. I’ve been a member of this church for 40 years. But I’ve really been on your side all the time!"

Going to church does not get you into heaven. Just because your body is in the pew does not mean that your mind is in harmony with Christ. You can sin a lot during one brief hour in church: you can feel superior to the people who came in late, or sniff at the way that other people dress. You can grumble about the temperature in the church or the volume of the organ. You can mentally criticize other parents on how their children behave in church. You can plan your afternoon during the sermon. You can put less money into the offering plate than you will spend on eating Sunday brunch in town or on the cigarettes that you will smoke this week. You can repeat the Lord’s Prayer absent-mindedly, not giving any real thought to your conversation with God. You can leave singing the last hymn to others as you get ready to get out of God’s house as quickly as possible.

But the worst sin that happens in church is the sin of pride. This is what the Pharisees and the Sadducees were guilty of. The Sadducees were the clergy of the Jewish church; they were the ones who conducted worship services and offered sacrifices for the peoples’ sins. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were the Elders of the church. They did not lead services or offer sacrifices; their job was to help people understand how to live a life pleasing to God. They did this by studying the Scriptures and obeying the laws of the church as completely as they could. Their lives were lived as examples of righteousness for others.

The people had a great deal of respect for the Sadducees and Pharisees. In their view, the Sadducees and Pharisees were as close to perfect as human beings could get. If you were a Jew, these were the men you looked to for inspiration; in a society with no sports heroes, movie stars, or American Idols, it was the Pharisees and Sadducees who were looked upon with admiration as role models. They were churchmen, living examples of a God-pleasing lifestyle.

Of course, being treated like this can easily go to your head, and that is what happened to these church leaders. In the days of the New Testament, the Pharisees and Sadducees thought that they were the best of the best. Most would not touch a commoner, fearing that associating with a sinner would cost them the respect they worked so hard to earn. This attitude shows up in Luke chapter seven where we read, One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner."

That Pharisee, named Simon, had a problem with pride. He believed that because he did such a good job being a churchman, he was better than other people. And look at the result of that pride. If Simon had gotten his way, that poor sinful woman would not have been permitted to come close enough to Jesus to show repentance and receive His forgiveness! Pride causes unchurchly behavior.

God hates pride; the reason that He hates pride is given in Psalm 10 verse 4: In his pride the wicked does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. People with pride do not have a healthy relationship with the Lord. The reason is simple: pride is based on a damnable lie. Pride whispers words of assurance like these: "You are a good person. Look at all the wonderful things that you have done. God has to reward a person like you." Pride points us to ourselves. Look at how faithfully you have attended church, even while on vacation! You made sure that your children went to Sunday School and were confirmed; maybe you have even taught Sunday School. You have been faithful in attending church meetings; maybe you have been a church officer. You have given generously from your wallet to support the mission of the church. You read your Bible or devotional literature regularly. You don’t lie or shoplift or mouth off to people in authority. You do not stare wistfully at sexy-looking people. God has to reward you for living like this…doesn’t He?

You know what? If you have lived a life as pure as what I’ve just described, my hat’s off to you—you might, might be good enough to be a Pharisee. And yet when Pharisees came down to the Jordan River to check John out, they were met with scorn: You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? This was quite an insult—a viper is a snake, and the most famous snake in Scripture is the Devil. John greeted the Pharisees and Sadducees by labeling them as children of Satan! You can imagine their shocked indignation—didn’t John know who they were? Oh yes, he most certainly did.

I said earlier that pride is based on a damnable lie. The lie is this: pride wants us to believe that if we try hard enough, we can please God by our good conduct and earn a reward from Him. This is simply not true! The Bible repeatedly makes the very clear point that we are all evil, and that we cannot earn God’s favor. Psalm 53: God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Ecclesiastes chapter 7: There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. Isaiah chapter 64: All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. Romans chapter 3: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law.

God is clear—we are all corrupt, and nothing that we do can change that. That is why Jesus consented to be born into our world; our only hope for being freed from the trap of sin was for God Himself to come and free us. The Son of God assumed the form of a man to live under the obligations of being human. Jesus lived the perfect life that God expects us to live; 1 Peter 2:33 tells us He committed no sin. The only person who has ever had true justification to feel pride was Jesus—yet Paul writes in Philippians chapter two, Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. Instead of reveling in being superior to us, Jesus humbled Himself to a sinner’s death, dying for the evil that lives inside each one of us. Jesus did what we could not—He removed God’s curse on us for being sinners.

We cannot earn God’s favor by acting like good churchgoers. God is not impressed by how perfect we think we are—He can see into our hearts; He knows how much sin is hidden there. There is only one way for us to gain God’s favor: Jesus said, This is what God wants you to do: Believe in the one he has sent (John 6:29). Believe that the baby born in Bethlehem is truly the Son of God clothed in a human body. Believe that this Jesus lived perfectly in your stead, died under God’s punishment in your place, and rose from the grave to live forever as your King, who has the power to raise you from the dead and bring you to join Him in Paradise. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life (John 5:24).

However, there is a place for "churchly" behavior. There is a reason why we should worship regularly and serve in church organizations. There is a reason why we should see that children are taught God’s Word, that we should spend time regularly in Bible study and devotion and prayer. There is a reason why we should try and obey the Ten Commandments. That reason is simple--John the Baptist said it: Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Are you really sorry for your sins? Do you really appreciate the sacrifice that Jesus made so that you can be forgiven? Then show it—try your hardest to resist temptation. Try your hardest to always be polite, always be helpful, always keep promises. Try your hardest to resist the lure of illicit sex and substance abuse and wasteful spending. Heed the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter six: You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Just remember that what you do doesn’t earn you God’s approval; only faith in Jesus can make you right with God. Your attempts at being a good Christian will result in inevitable failures, failures that Jesus died to forgive. Your efforts at being a good churchgoer are your way of saying "thank you" to God for the Christmas gift of His Son, our Savior. So as you prepare for the anniversary of our Lord’s first coming, produce fruit in keeping with repentance; thank the Lord for His generous love towards you by living a life dedicated wholly to following His Son.

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