Unchanged or Unburdened?

Pride, especially when it infiltrates my faith, becomes an attitude that says, “I am spiritually better than you.”  And this attitude was evident in the parable Jesus told about a Pharisee and a Tax Collector.

In Luke 18: 9-14 we are reminded how easy it is to fall into the trap of pride, especially when we begin to compare our righteousness with someone else’s.

And when we begin to compare our faith – our goodness - to that of others we will see that our prayer doesn’t resonate with the Spirit of God.  Rather, it drips with pride and selfishness.  Our prayer becomes polluted and lacks any concern for the will of God.

The Pharisee only prayed so that God and others could see how righteous and good he really was.  He had no concern for what God may want – He already had that figured out as he shared with us in his prayer.

But Jesus contrasted the attitude of the Pharisee with that of the tax collector.  And we see a prayer resonating with humility – a prayer that was only 7 words long, yet showed a man broken before God as he realized the magnitude of his disobedience toward God.

And this is what we want to look at specifically today – the attitude that exists when a person is in the presence of God.

So the question to be asked is:  When in the presence of God, how do you walk away from God:  Unchanged or Unburdened?

Pride is an easy temptation.  

Many of us find ourselves being lured by it, enticed by it, and Satan uses it as a means to bite us OFTEN.  And with the Pharisee, he was so far gone in his pride that there was no room in his heart to hear what God desired of him.  

The Pharisee came into the presence of God, did his religious thing, and walked away unchanged.  After all there was no need to change – he was religious and proud of it.  And that’s what you will often see in religious persons.

Religious people don’t need to hear from God – they’ve already got this faith thing already figured out – they know exactly what God wants from them and other people, and when others don’t live up to the expectation, these people are seen as weaker and looked down upon.

Yet the opposite of pride is humility, and we must seek it. 

True humility keeps pride in check.  True humility is grounded in Christ and desires to give credit where credit is due.  True humility says, “I am who I am and do what I do because Christ has redeemed me.”  And true humility is what we see in the tax collector.

The tax collector beat his chest; at a distance, not even looking to heaven because he knew he was guilty of disobedience toward God.  He was so distraught that his prayer was a mere 7-word prayer, ‘God have mercy on me, a sinner.” 

So if you look very closely at the parable Jesus taught, the difference you will see between the Pharisee and tax collector in the presence of God was merely how they viewed themselves before God. 

The Pharisee viewed that God needed him.  And when he walked away from God, he walked away unchanged.

The tax collector on the other hand viewed that he needed God.  And when he walked away from God, he walked away unburdened.  He no longer was a sinner with a past, but a redeemed man with a future.  The burden of his sin no longer held him in captivity.

Too many people come into the presence of God, come to a worship celebration knowing that they are living in sin like the tax collector, but walk away from the experience like the Pharisee.  And Jesus asks “Why?”  Jesus asks, “Why do you let your pride keep you from living fully for me?  Why do you continue in your sin knowing that I am the final judge of your soul?  Why do you take advantage of my grace?”

Psalm 51: 16-17 states, “You (God) do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  My sacrifices, O God, are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

In today’s terms it would state, “You (God) do not delight in how I worship you; you do not take pleasure that I play an instrument, sing a song, raise my hands, pray an eloquent prayer, or dance in the aisles.  No, you God desire that my worship is done in humility and done in response – in gratitude – for what you have done for me.”

So God is not delighting in persons who need to be needed.  No, He’s delighting in persons who need Him.

God is looking for humility, for persons who reverently say to Him, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”  And what does He do every time for that person if the prayer is sincere?  He grants mercy.  That’s the good news of Jesus Christ.

Humility is hard.  Pride is easy.  But God makes it clear, “You can either exhalt yourself now and be humbled later or take time now to learn humility and be exhalted later.”  And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather learn the lesson of humility now rather than later.  It won’t hurt as bad now as it will then.

So in closing, you’ve been in the presence of God today.  Are you walking away Unchanged or Unburdened?  It’s easy to be a Pharisee.  It’s right to be a tax collector.

Attitude Check

Last week I shared in my blog a dream of mine to be a great evangelist for Christ.  It was a dream that was not rooted in a calling, but out of pride and fame.  And I shared how God has shown me with time that I am not an evangelist – that it is not my gifting.  And though the realization was somewhat painful because God was removing my pride, it was what was needed to bring me back to earth – it was needed to help me see my actual gifting.

How about you?  You ever had a time in your life where pride got the better of you? 

A time where God had to get your attention, maybe through drastic actions, to help you realize you were living for self and not God? 

Pride, especially when it infiltrates my faith, becomes an attitude that says, “I am spiritually better than you.”  And this attitude was evident in the parable Jesus told about a Pharisee and a Tax Collector.

The parable Jesus told in Luke 18: 9-14 reminds us how easy it is to fall into the trap of pride, especially when we begin to compare our righteousness with someone else’s.

And I have heard it said before and at times have felt it in my soul, “God, look at all I am doing for you.  Why aren’t others doing as much for you as I am doing?  If they really loved you like I do, they would.”

And if this is our prayer, it doesn’t resonate with the Spirit of God, but rather with a spirit of pride and self.

So Jesus teaches us that in order for us to avoid pride and self-righteousness, to be humble, we have to check our attitude daily.

And this is what we want to look at specifically today.

As I wrote last week, we need to check our attitude; for whatever attitude we have for the day will affect others and our relationship with God.  Our attitude for the day is like a virus that spreads its joy to all around it – if you get what I meanJ

Jesus said, “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself:  ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’”

The Pharisee in this story had an attitude of self-righteousness and pride – “Look at me God.”  He was very arrogant and boastful of his goodness and following the Law.

You could almost hear the Pharisee singing, “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way.”

But now let's look at ourselves.  How can I know when pride is evident in my life?  

Well, there are 3 characteristics Jesus shows us in the Pharisee that God will know and others will see in me when pride is evident.

Characteristic 1:  Pride loves to talk about self

You ever been around someone who always talks about himself/herself?  How does that affect you?  Does it make you feel like you and your opinion aren’t valued?  Think about how that also affects God.  

The Pharisee was saying, “Look at me!  Look at me!  Look at how good I am, Lord.” Because he only wanted to talk about himself in the presence of God, God was not valued and could not speak to him, even if God tried.

Characteristic 2:  Pride seldom admits a need

People who have pride are too afraid or are not willing to mention they need help, help for physical, emotional, and especially spiritual needs.   After all, they just got done telling others how wonderful and great they are.  They can’t give anyone the impression that they don’t have it all together.  They can’t let anyone see them sweat. 

The Pharisee was saying, “God, I’ve got it all together.  I don’t sin like others do.  I do what I am supposed to do.  Just wanted you to know that I’m good.  I don’t need anything from you.”  Because of his pride he wasn’t asking God to help him with any of his needs, instead he could only hear what was in his heart – that he was good.  And even if God did try to speak into his life, he wouldn’t have heard it because he was too high on himself.

Characteristic 3:  Pride sees the faults of others

People who have pride point the finger at others.  They compare themselves to others who seem to be weaker so that they can claim to be more righteous.  They see the speck of dust in their brother’s eye, but fail to see the log in their own (Matthew 7:3) 

The Pharisee was saying, “God, I’m not a sinner.  I don’t steal.  I don’t do all the other things you have said are evil.  I don’t cheat on my wife.  And God, I’m not a traitor like this Jew over here that collects taxes for the evil Roman government.”  Because he could only see the faults of everyone around him, he could not even see that his attitude about others was wrong. 

Comparing myself to others so that I can place myself in a position of authority is a sure sign that pride is evident in my life.

Let me share with you a little joke that relates to this third point:  A man came home from work one day and discovered a monkey in the house.  So he found his wife and asked her, “Where did the monkey come from?”  She replied, “It was just so cute I just had to have it, so I bought it.”  The man was furious about sharing the house with a monkey so he said, “Where will the monkey sleep?”  “In our bed with us,” said the wife.  “But what about the odor?” asked the husband.  The wife said, “Well, I got used to you, I guess the monkey can too.”

The point is this:  Before you point out the faults of others, before you look to criticize, you better take a good look at yourself.  Maybe it’s not the monkey that stinks, it’s youJ

Sometimes churches take on the attitude of the Pharisee.  Listen to this story, called The Blood.  Notice how the perfect people of this church were so ready to administer judgment according to their righteousness.

One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart.  She responded to God’s call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.  The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution.  But the change in her was evident.  As time went on she became a faithful member of the church.  She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children.  It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor’s son.  The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans.  This is when the problems began.  You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor’s son.  The church began to fight and argue about the matter.  So they decided to have a meeting.  As the people made their arguments, the tension increased, and the meeting was getting completely out of hand.  The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past.  As she began to cry the pastor’s son stood to speak.  He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife-to-be.  He began to speak and his statement was this:  “My fiancée’s past is not what is on trial her.  What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin.  Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial.  So does it wash away sin or not?”  The whole church began to weep as they realized that they had been slandering the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Too often, even as Christians, we bring up the past and use it as a weapon.  We use it against our loved ones, our friends, and even against our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Yet we forget that forgiveness is a foundational part of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

But always remember this about pride – about self-righteousness:  If the blood of Jesus does not cleanse the other person completely, then it cannot cleanse you and me completely, either.  And if that’s the case, then we are all in a lot of trouble.

Remember the hymn?  What can wash away my sins?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus!  What can make me whole again?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus!  END OF CASE

When our pride tempts us to point fingers at others for their faults – faults that have been repented of and confessed before God almighty – we are merely saying to Jesus, “Your sacrifice meant nothing and it has no power to change.”

In closing, pride is an attitude.  It’s an attitude that I must keep in check because it can show its ugly head at any time.   And I do it by analyzing myself:  Am I always talking about myself and how great I am?  Am I never asking for help because I fear asking or feel I don’t need the help?  Am I finding fault with others?

If I’m answering "yes" to any of these questions, then it’s a sure sign that pride is evident in my life.  Thank God the Holy Spirit can take pride when caught and turn it into humility.  I just have to be willing to admit, “yes” to the questions.

Oh Lord, It's Hard to be Humble

I remember vividly a time in life where I wanted to be some great evangelist who would win thousands to Christ.  I thought it would be cool to have the ability to speak the Gospel in simple terms that would convict hearts to the point of repentance.  And in a sense, though the cause was good and right, my heart was not in the right place.  You see my heart unknowingly at the time wanted God to receive countless souls into His Kingdom, but not because it was a God-given call; rather because I would become famous.  Many would know my name and people would flock to hear me.  I would be the talk, especially among the Christian world.

 

And so God has helped me to see with time that being an evangelist is not my gifting and that my desires were simply coming from my pride – wanting to feel like I was doing something grand for God.  God had to humble me – and He did it through minimal responses to the Gospel invitation that I have offered.  Thank God I see it now.

 

There’s a parable in Luke that speaks of this kind of pride – this self-righteousness.  A parable that reminds us all that we can very easily fall into the trap of pride as Children of God if we’re not on guard.  It’s a parable that reminds us how hard humility, for those living for God, can actually be.

 

Luke 18: 9-14 describes to us two men, a Pharisee and a tax collector, who both came to the temple to pray.  And Jesus used this story to teach a couple of points that I want to touch on today and then spend some more time in detail in future posts.

 

The first point is this:  Humility requires an attitude check

 

Daily, I said daily, we need to check our attitude.  We need to ask ourselves:  “Is it good?  Is it bad?  Is it ugly?” And whatever our attitude is for the day will affect others and also our relationship with God.  

Attitudes are like viruses.  They are contagious, so be careful what you are spreadingJ

 

The attitude of the Pharisee was one of pride.  He was proud of his goodness, which in itself is not wrong.  In fact, there is nothing wrong in doing the right thing, especially when it saves you from heartache and ongoing pain.  So don't be ashamed to take pride in doing what is right.

But what Jesus points out about this man’s pride was his arrogance – his self-righteousness – "I know it all; I’ve done it all."  You could almost hear the man singing, “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way.”

Jesus said the Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself.  He wasn’t praying to God to fulfill God’s will.   Instead he was praying to God about how great he was. 

The Pharisee was saying to God, “Look at what I am doing.  I’m not a robber, not an evildoer, not an adulterer.  I’m especially not like this tax collector over here.  Look at me.  I fast twice a week, which is more than is required of me by law, and I tithe.  Lord you just won’t find any better than me.”

 

So if we don’t check our attitude daily, we can very easily become entrapped in pride, which leads us to telling God who He needs to be rather than Him telling us who we need to be. 

Pride is an attitude.  Make sure yours is in check.

 

The second point is this:  When in the presence of God, how do we walk away:  unchanged or unburdened?

 

Pride is probably one of the easiest temptations to fall into.  And when you give into it, it ruins relationships, it undermines faith, and it pollutes prayer. 

Just look at the Pharisee.  When he walked away from God (when he went home), he was unchanged.  He was religious and he was proud of it.

 

You see, pride is what keeps many of us from coming before the church to admit and confess our sins.  Pride is what keeps many of us from even acknowledging what we know to be wrong as sin – pride causes us to justify our sin.  Pride is what keeps many of us from asking for help when we desperately need it.  Worse yet, pride is what keeps so many from accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior because it means I have to admit I’m a sinner.

 

But on the other hand, there’s humility.  Humility helps keep our pride in check because it keeps things in perspective – not in perspective of our world, but of God’s. 

Just look at the tax collector.  His 7-word prayer, “God have mercy on me, a sinner” is dripping with humility.

 

His prayer said, “God I’m not worthy.  I can’t even look at you or stand before you because my life has not been lived according to your will.  I have no ground to stand on, no legal case to argue.  I stand before you guilty as charged and I’m begging for your mercy.” 

 

When he walked away from God (when he went home), he was unburdened.  He was right with God and thankful for it!  His guilt was gone.

 

So when in the presence of God, do we walk away unchanged or do we walk away unburdened?  

God’s not looking for how good we think we are.  He’s looking for humility.  He’s looking for people who really understand who He is – that He is King, Lord, Creator, Judge – and He’s looking for those who come to Him reverently saying, “Have mercy on me.”

In closing let me share with you a story, which I read recently about a snake and a caterpillar.

 

Suppose that while we’re in Church this morning we witness 2 guests in our service:  a snake and a caterpillar.  They are both here to pray and to worship.  During church, the snake begins to shed his skin, and the caterpillar begins to molt.  After the celebration is over, the snake goes back out the door minus a little skin – but he was still a snake.  The caterpillar also leaves, but he is no longer a caterpillar – he has been transformed into a beautiful butterfly. 

And that’s exactly what happened to the 2 men that Jesus spoke of in his parable.

 

The Pharisee went home unchanged, with nothing but an experience – he came as a Pharisee, he left as a Pharisee. 

He had the opportunity to pray.  He had the opportunity to worship.  He had the opportunity to change.  But nothing happened.

 

The tax-collector, he went home changed – he came as a tax-collector, he went home justified. 

He went home “made right.”  The demand for his punishment was satisfied through his act of confession.  He had all the same opportunities as the Pharisee, and he took advantage of them.  He realized his position and relationship with the Living God and threw himself upon God’s mercy.  And thus a transformation happened.

 

Today and every day, you and I have to make a choice:  we can either be unchanged Pharisees or unburdened Tax-collectors. 

Jesus said to pick the latter.  He doesn’t want us singing, “O Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.”  Instead he wants us grasping hold of his words, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

BEWARE THE DOG!!!

Warning Signs give us advanced notice of possible consequence if we fail to heed the sign’s message.   And often we find ourselves concerned about the physical signs, making plans in our minds of how to escape the consequence of bodily and financial harm, but ignoring the spiritual signs which have grave consequences.  So because we ignore the spiritual signs, we find ourselves being bitten time and time again by the meanest junkyard dog around – Satan, who not only wants to bite you, but to devour you.

But we don’t have to be bitten by him.  We can escape his bite by knowing how he operates – how he lures us in for the bite, which he hopes will infect us, mame us, and destroy us.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of all the wounds and scars from bites I’ve taken simply because I didn’t prepare myself to see the warning signs.  So let’s discuss what to be looking for – how Satan operates – so we can avoid at all costs another bite.

And to do that we will look at how the dog first attacked humankind when he tempted Eve.

Genesis 3: 1-7 gives us a great picture of how the dog Satan works in trying to lure us in for the bite.

The first warning sign that Satan is trying to bite you is he has conversation with you.   He begins to have dialogue with you in your mind.   It’s like the old cartoons where the writers gave a great portrayal of this conflict with an angel speaking into one ear and the devil speaking into the other.  It creates a great moral dilemma because the dialogue creates confusion and doubt.

We can know Satan is coming in for the bite when we begin justifying in our minds something that we know is wrong to be okay. 

So what did that conversation look like with Eve, and what can we learn from it that will save us from being lured into Satan’s attack zone?   Now keep in mind that Satan can bite you in many ways, and sometimes it takes no effort if he sees a weakness – vulnerability, but he generally will try to lure you in first with these tactics.

Satan says to Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

That is Satan’s first tactic of luring you in for the bite – the questioning, the challenging of God’s Word – “Did God really say…”  Can he get you to doubt what you have heard, what you know as true?  Can he get you wondering if you heard God correctly?

Think of Charles Darwin, the scientist who gave humankind the Theory of Evolution for our existence.   He knew the story of creation and heard the Gospel throughout his childhood, yet one day he heard in his head this thought, “Did God really create?  Is there really a God? “  And Satan continues to use this bite to impact countless generations that there is no God – that God is a figment of our imagination and that only the weak need Him.

Eve responds, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the Garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the Garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

Did Eve really understand God’s command regarding the tree of knowledge of good and evil?  No, because what did God really say?  He said not to eat of this tree, but never said anything about touching its fruit.  Satan had her dialoguing and now she began to question what God really did say.

Satan then says to Eve, “You will not surely die.”

This is Satan’s second tactic of luring you in for the bite – the denial of God’s word – “God didn’t mean….”  So even when you get part of God’s truth right, Satan will take that part and twist it.  He will take the part that is truth and make a false statement from it.

God did say they would die if they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  But because Satan had Eve questioning what she knew and heard, he now had her in a position assuring her that all would be okay if she disobeyed – God won’t follow through on what he said.

Satan has done this quite well in our culture.  He has a lot of people believing that God is not to be feared and won’t judge.  People have bought into the ideas that as long as you are a good person, as long as you believe in God, as long as you even state you believe in Jesus, God will not judge you to Hell. 

But if you read the Bible in its context – its purpose – you see that even though God is very loving, He stills hates sin and rebellion.  You see that no one makes it into Heaven on merit, but solely on His grace and mercy offered through His Son’s sacrifice, and this can only be accepted through humility and repentance.  You see that those who call upon the name of Jesus as Savior take on His very nature because they are grafted into Him, bearing His fruit.  You see that those in Christ Jesus persevere in the faith until the end of their mortal lives.

Finally, Satan concludes, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

This is Satan’s third tactic of luring you in for the bite – to puff you up with pride – to get you to rely on your own power and be self-sufficient – “You don’t need God.  You can be like Him.”  Satan puffs people up by making them feel self-sufficient.  He puffs them up by making them feel they can understand all situations and can handle these situations in their own strength.

Yet we know the result of this lure – “pride comes before the fall.”

When we feel that we are self-sufficient, with no need for God, we find ourselves thinking we are the greatest thing to ever come along – I think it is called narcissism.  And so the narcissist replaces God in his/her life with something else, science, medicine, sexuality and sensuality, substances, etc.  The narcissist believes these are the answers to the conversation of good and evil going on in their heads.  The narcissist finds his/her satisfaction in fulfilling desires, and so this satisfaction becomes the good in his/her life.

Eve wanted to be like God, and this lure is the one that got her bit.  But it took the first two to set her up for the third.  Satan got her in a dialogue where he knew she wasn’t grounded, and he kept coming at her until he could get a chance to bite her.  He got her to misquote God’s word by adding to it.  He got her to relax and deny God – to believe that God would not do what He said He would do.  And he built up her ego by telling her she could be like God – that she could have His wisdom.

And so, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.  She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

So in conclusion, if there was ever a battle raging in your mind between good and evil – between what God desires and what you want – and you justified your desire over His, then you have been bitten.  If there is a battle raging in you right now over good and evil, then know you are being lured into a place for attack and you still have time to heed the sign.  And if there is a battle raging in you right now over good and evil, and you heed the sign by doing what God desires, then you have used your sword of faith to wound the dog and he will flee.

Satan’s only power over you is when you try to argue/debate/dialogue with him in your strength.  He actually knows God’s word better than you.  He just doesn’t live it. 

His lure comes in trying to trip you up:  in challenging God’s word to see if you know it, in denying God’s word that He will follow through on what He has said, and in making you feel proud and self-sufficient.

Be aware of this.  Go on the offensive.  Be real about what you are facing or have faced in your internal battles.  And learn to rely solely on God’s strength and the strength of others to help you win these battles.