Tag Archives: pride
Blogging With Saint Paul: Equality and freedom in Christ.
Paul continues to uphold his authority by describing those events which support it, specifically his meetings with the Jerusalem church leaders. His purpose is to counteract the smear campaign conducted against him by the false teachers. He proclaims that although he was not dependent on anyone but God for his commission and the message he preached, he preached the same gospel the other apostles did, with their knowledge and approval. This is also demonstrated by Peter’s reaction to the incident in which Paul chastised him for his duplicitous behavior when fellowshipping with Gentile believers at Antioch.
Paul’s main concern, however, was not self-justification and pride. He was concerned for the truth, the unity of the church, for the edification of believers and the salvation of the lost. He wanted to uphold the truth of the gospel which frees the Gentile believers (and all believers) from the requirements of the law. He also desired to see that all believers held equal status in the Church and before the Lord. This he does by proclaiming the central truths of the Christian faith: all believers are incapable of keeping the Law but all believers are in Christ so all receive the benefits of His atoning sacrifice. Essentially then, no amount of keeping of any laws by humans can bring them closer to God. Christ keeps the law for us and through us.
A legalist thinks and teaches otherwise. You may be such a person if you think Christianity is at heart a set of rules and moral laws that must be followed by everyone and if you try enforce those rules on others. You may be a legalist if you condemn those who do not agree with your lists of rules or who disagree with your pet theological doctrines. The gospel is about love and mercy not anger and hatred. We should feel sad for those who reject our message for they face eternal chaos and emptiness.
Blogging With Saint Paul: Unity in diversity.
As we have already noted, the Corinthian Christians were proud of their status as spiritually mature believers. They felt that they had already attained perfection. This pride and arrogance left them blind to their faults which included an elitist attitude, a lack of love, and a serious theological misconception about the resurrection from the dead, all issues which Paul now addresses. He points out that part of the problem is an overzealous concern for the gifts of the spirit notably prophecy and speaking in tongues. To the Corinthians these two gifts in particular were the signs that they were spirit-filled and above earthly concerns and problems. Their maintained that all true believers had to manifest such gifts (much as many contemporary Charismatic groups do today). Naturally this attitude led to factions, divisions and disagreements such as we saw in their attitude towards the Lord’s Table.
Their treatment of these gifts was no different from their previous behavior as pagans, before they came to the Lord, since similar ecstatic utterances were part of pagan rituals. Yet as Christians they felt that the manifestation of these gifts of powerful utterance were evidence of God’s presence with them. Paul points out that these gifts were given by God for the exaltation of the Lord Jesus, not the self, and for mutual edification. All the gifts are given by the Holy Spirit as He wills and they are not meant for personal glorification. Thus each believer needs every other one in the church so that as the church they may properly function as God’s Kingdom on earth. This requires different gifts and talents. Diversity of gifts, not absolute uniformity, is the indication of the Spirit’s presence. And no believer ought to look down on any other believer because of differing gifts. None are inferior: all are needed.
Blogging With Saint Paul: Be appropriate in your worship.
1 Corinthians 11:1-16
The opening verse sums up the Christian life. We believers ought to follow Christ in all He did. What Paul means here is that Christ did not seek His own comfort or ease, did not demand His rights but gave up His glory to come to earth as a man to save us, to sacrifice His life for us who were at the time His enemies. Paul is again emphasizing that our behavior should always take into account the weaker brethren and those who are watching us in the world. We must always be acting in love and charity towards other people, considering them more important than ourselves. That also means correcting them in love when they are in sin.
It is in this context that he raises issues concerning the shortcomings in their worship. Their worship does not focus on the Lord but is again a demonstration of their own rights and spiritual pride. The first of these issues concerned hair and head covering. We ought not to read this in a legalistic manner as if Paul were laying down rules for the whole church, that is, women should pray with their heads covered and men should not have long hair. If we did this then we would miss the whole point. The idea again is that many of the believers were disregarding social and cultural customs because of their exalted spiritual status, they could engage in scandalous and inappropriate behavior in the worship service.
Paul is telling us that women and men should not seek to exalt their own freedom at the expense of others. Inherent here is a warning against men behaving like women and verse versa by cross dressing or acting in ways not in keeping with their own gender. Finally, Paul refers to Genesis 1 and 2 to state that woman is the glory of man. This is not an excuse for men to abuse their wives. Rather it is an acknowledgment that the woman is the completion of the man. She is indispensable to him as his partner.
Blogging With Saint Paul: Unable to establish our righteousness.
Paul continues to expound on the free gift of salvation that does not come by our works. He points out to the Jewish Christians that Abraham was deemed to be righteous before the Lord by faith. This the Lord did before He ratified the covenant by circumcision and before the Law of Moses was in effect. All Abraham had done was believe in God’s promises that He would make him a great nation and would give him many descendants through whom the Lord would bless all the peoples of the earth. This faith is what God accredited to him as righteousness. Therefore all Christians trace their spiritual heritage through Abraham because salvation comes by faith to all who believe. Those who keep the Law, or try to, and those who are circumcised cannot boast in their legacy or claim that they are in any way superior to others in the Kingdom of God.
Paul wants us to know that we cannot establish our own righteousness. To even attempt it is an act of pride and conceit because it is impossible. Moreover it is unthinkable for, if we could keep the Law, if we could become sinless on our own, Christ would not have had to die for our sins. But the truth is no one can keep the law of God, moral or Mosaic to the perfection God demands. When God calls us He gives us the faith that is credited to us as righteousness by applying to us the righteousness of Jesus. This is a free gift apart from any works of obedience or charity. He pardons and covers over our sins by deeming them as having been paid in full by the sacrifice of Christ.
A free gift sounds wonderful but it is still quite difficult for many to accept. Most do not want to hear that their good deeds, their noble charity really earns no merit with God. Why else would one want to do good deeds if not to earn one’s way to eternal life? Of course many do good deeds to exalt the self, assuage guilt or to receive praise and adulation form others, even from God. But the free gift of eternal life allows us to do good deeds out of love for God, not to make Him or anyone else love us.
Blogging Through the Psalms: Why God may not answer a prayer for help.
In this Psalm David expresses his trust in God to fulfill His promises. He starts by praising Him for His steadfast love and faithfulness. He then makes his requests for victory over his enemies by reminding the Lord of His promises concerning those nations that surrounded His people. He acknowledges that victory is possible only if the Lord remains true to those promises. Of course he does realize that defeat may result because of the sinfulness of the people but in the end he acknowledges that in any case he relies on the Lord alone for deliverance.
When we pray for victory over our spiritual enemies, our temptations and sins, we must do so with confidence that God will deliver. However, we must pray with humility and an awareness of our weakness, vulnerability and our own sinfulness. Too often when we pray and ask God for help in our own time of need we forget that sometimes that the problem we are facing, the very obstacle from which we are seeking deliverance may be the result of our sin or of our sinful attitude. In that case we must realize that we have to forsake the sin and then the obstacle may disappear. On the other hand we may be harboring sin in our hearts that is unrelated to the issue at hand. Then the Lord may not answer our prayer in the way we would like until we have recognized the sin and repented of it.
Biblical thoughts on Suffering: Is God really so remote that He does not care what we do?
Eli
hu continues his attack on Job with a rather overconfident claim to knowledge superior to any of the 3 friends. He directs them all to consider how great the difference is that separates man from God. Because of this vast chasm, Elihu asserts that it is vain and useless for Job to question God or demand justice or a fair hearing. God is so far exalted beyond man that he is unaffected by either the good or the evil that he does. The deeds of an individual such as Job affect only himself and his fellow men. God does not even hear the prayers of most humans including those who are afflicted and in pain because most requests are made with ulterior motives, not out of repentance or sorrow over sin, but out of a desire for relief and peace or to exalt one’s pride.
We know, however that God is in fact quite affected by the deeds of man. The evil things men do insults His law, His perfect holiness and even His love. He created all human beings and loves each one. He shows grace and kindness to all, even in the midst of difficult circumstances. This is often rejected. God is accused, cursed and maligned; man ignores His help, preferring to do things his own way rather than God’s. This saddens Him because it hurts us.
God is pleased when we do the right things, not for personal gain or to earn favor in His sight, but because they are right and pleasing to Him. He does not answer all prayer, especially those prayers prayed to He will not answer prayers offered solely out of pride and self-righteousness, but He often answers those prayed with mixed motives because He knows our weakness and imperfection. He knows who asks with a humble admission of imperfection coupled with an earnest desire to serve Him and do what is right.
Blogging Through the Prophets: Pride has no place in worship.
Yahweh had revealed Himself to Israel and Judah so He expected more of them. Instead, the chosen people behaved in exactly the same way that the pagans did. To begin with, they worshipped Yahweh in the form of an idol of a calf. They offered sacrifices to placate Him and were proud of their worship and their formal religion. Yet they also continued to worship other gods and engage in the accompanying ritual sexual immorality. In addition, the prosperity of the rich came at the expense of the poor. They abused, cheated, defrauded and enslaved their fellow Israelites and deprived them of justice, care and kindness. Thus they came under judgment just as the pagans did.
We may think it unfair of God that He would judge ignorant pagans who did not know Him. Many today think that God will not pour out His wrath on those who are not Christian, that all people, regardless of their religion or lack of it are basically good people who will all go to heaven. Amos tells us otherwise. In addition he teaches us that The Lord will pour out His wrath even upon those who have been exposed to the truth, even upon those who call themselves Christian yet who serve the world and the lusts of the flesh. They will come under wrath because they have tried to deceive God as well as other men. They are without excuse for the truth had been revealed to them, but they chose the way of the world.
Blogging Through theProphets: Pride brings destruction.
Here we encounter the third portion of the oracle against Tyre which has exalted herself by her pride into the very status of godhood. She was proud of her strength, her beauty, her fame, her wealth and her wisdom. She boasted of these attributes as the work of her own hands and did not acknowledge that they were the gifts of God Almighty. The city of Sidon her sister is also included in this picture. Neither would escape God’s sure judgment. Both would be brought low and humbled never to regain their former status. As for the people of God, the Lord promised to restore them and give them blessing and security as He had always desired. The ultimate fulfillment of the promise is found in Jesus.
The Lord is using Ezekiel to teach a spiritual lesson about the dangers of self-exalting pride. Many have found that the portrayal of Tyre in this chapter is really that of Lucifer, Satan who was created by God as a beautiful and powerful cherub or angel to serve Him in heaven. Because of pride he fell because he aspired to be the equal of God Himself. The figurative language of the oracle may or may not be describing this pre-historical fall. Nevertheless Ezekiel drives home the point that there is grave danger in trusting in our own wisdom and prowess to make a name for ourselves and ensure our security. God holds in His hand all things and gives as He sees fit, according to His will and desires. We may think what we have is ours, but it is not. No one can escape His will, no matter how smart, accomplished, wise or beautiful in the eyes of the world. God is responsible for making us what we are. That means that my life, your life is not mine or yours to live as we choose. We belong to God and must live in accordance with the laws of His Kingdom and live to give Him glory not seek it for ourselves. This is fundamentally true in the Church. Any Christian who seeks profit, fame or the praise of men through the ministry entrusted to him or her by God will be humbled before God.
Society is crumbling.
Ezekiel utters words of destruction upon the false prophets and prophetesses who speak not the words of the Lord, but words drawn from their own imaginations. They led the people astray for they did not warn sinners of the need for repentance and they persecuted the righteous who disagree with them. They said positive things to the wicked, things they wanted to hear rather than the truth in order to give them a false sense of security. They did this, not because they wanted to hurt people, but because they wanted to make money and good news sells. In addition they really believed what they said for they refused to contemplate the opposite. They wanted to speak words of comfort so they would be comforted. Their unbalanced optimism is like whitewash painted onto a crumbling wall. It looks good and the problem appears to be gone, but when the first storm comes, it crumbles into dust.
The church should learn from Ezekiel to stand up for the truth and against sin and wickedness on every level of society. There are many churches that speak only positive things and half-truths, rarely, if ever, condemning sin. Many churches do not teach the total depravity of every individual, that all human beings are sinners by nature, all are deserving of God’s wrath and so all need a savior, Jesus. They would rather teach people to have high self-esteem, to be self-reliant, proud, to think happy thoughts and positive things about themselves. In this way, they maintain, all their troubles and emotional problems will vanish. The people who teach and subscribe to the health and wealth, prosperity gospel and/or the gospel of positive thinking and psychological wholeness are in for a rude awakening. They whitewash over sin, but it is still there. When the storms of life come and when judgment falls, they will collapse. This is why all the educational, civic and secular methods to stop crime, suicide, unwanted pregnancies, mental illness and violence have failed and why the world is slowly crumbling into dust.
Theophany: Meeting With God in His Word 