9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14 NIV)
This Lent, we’re focusing on the Seven Deadly Sins. Have you heard of them? Can you list some of them? Pride, greed, anger, envy, lust, gluttony, and laziness. Sound familiar? The list of the Seven Deadly Sins goes way back in history. Already in the first centuries after Jesus, Christians were recognizing the danger of these sins. It seems like these seven were first put together in a list by at least the 500s A.D. For 1500 years, Christians have talked about the Seven Deadly Sins.
When I told someone that this is what we’re going to focus on this Lent, he said, “Aren’t the Seven Deadly Sins a Catholic thing?” Kind of. We should clarify something. How many sins are really deadly sins? All of them. Every single sin is a deadly sin. Every single sin can lead our hearts away from Jesus. Every single sin deserves God’s punishment. At the same time, you’ll notice something as we go through the Seven Deadly Sins. Every one of them has to do with the heart. Pride, greed, anger, envy, lust, gluttony, and laziness. The reason it’s good to think about these seven sins is that they are at the root of all other sins. This Lent, we want to get at the heart.
Starting with the most dangerous sin of all: Pride. Last century, the Christian writer C.S. Lewis wrote a famous book called “Mere Christianity.” In it, he has a chapter on pride. Know what the title of that chapter is? “The Great Sin.” Tonight, we want to see the great danger of pride. Jesus did. He told a parable about it. Here was the background: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else…” What was their problem? Pride. Pride has two equally ugly parts to it. At its core, pride is self-righteousness—being confident of your own righteousness. And at its core, pride is always judgmental—looking down on everyone else.
What does that look like? Jesus shows us: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’” Remember the two ugly parts to pride? 1) Looking down on everyone else: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people…” 2) Being confident of your own righteousness: “I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
That Pharisee was proud! Isn’t that easy to see? No, actually pride is not easy to see. Pride is so dangerous because no one thinks they are proud. We don’t like to admit our sins, but sometimes we admit that we struggle with anger or alcohol. But how often have you confessed, “I’m really proud!”? I bet never. Because no one thinks they are proud. But, at the same time, we hate pride in other people. Nothing irks us like people who are full of themselves. People who look down at us. We never see pride in ourselves, but we see it more clearly than any other sin in other people.
So we need to learn to diagnose pride in us. Remember the two ugly parts of pride? First, looking down on everyone else. Do you do that? Pride is never content in having something. Pride is all about having more than someone else. It’s not about being beautiful. It’s about being more beautiful than she is. It’s not about being successful. It’s about being more successful than he is. It’s not about winning. It’s about winning more than they do. Do you see this? It’s destructive, isn’t it? Pride is behind every conflict in every family and every country since the world began.
And that’s just half of it—the “looking down on everyone else” part. The other ugly part of pride is being confident of your own righteousness. Pride is a spiritual cancer that makes life revolve around you. You think about you. You think about what others think about you. You get upset that others aren’t thinking about you. Every event in life is all about you. And you make yourself the hero. Because you are, right? Why don’t people give you the credit you’re due? Why can’t everybody else just be like you? Why don’t people realize how special you are? I don’t like preaching about this. Because I’m talking to me. And it hurts. Why? Because I’m proud.
Maybe you’re thinking, “Yep, I know lots of people like that.” No! You’re still not getting it. Sometimes we don’t think we’re the best. Sometimes we think we’re the worst. Sometimes we think we can’t do anything right. Do you know what all those thoughts are too? Pride! Because whom are we thinking about? Me! There is more than one way to revolve your life around you. If you think highly of yourself and boast about yourself, you’re proud. If you think low of yourself and complain about yourself, you’re also proud. Because whom are you revolving your life around? You! Can you see how dangerous pride is? It’s always calling attention to ourselves.
Think about this: Your body parts only call attention to themselves when something is wrong. Isn’t that true? How often does your elbow call attention to itself? Only when you bang your funny bone on something! How often do your teeth call attention to themselves? Only when there is something wrong, and you need the dentist! How often does your appendix call attention to itself? Only when it bursts, and you need life-saving surgery. Your body parts only call attention to themselves when something is wrong. So when you and I constantly yearn for people to pay attention to us—for good or for bad—there must be something wrong. Agree? It’s pride.
Here’s the greatest danger: Pride doesn’t just destroy our relationships with other people. Pride destroys our relationship with God. Because if we’re constantly wanting to be better than and more than and the center of attention, what happens when we run into God? It all breaks down. God is superior to you and me in every way. If I think I’m good, I don’t know God. If I think I’m right, I don’t know God. If I think I’m at the center, I don’t know God. When you’re looking at yourself, whether in the best possible light or in the worst possible light, you’re not looking at Jesus! Can you see that? Pride is the completely anti-God state of mind. It’s the opposite of faith.
Especially for people like us. Especially for religious people. It is sad—and scary—to read about the Pharisees in the New Testament. The Pharisees were the good ones. They were the religious ones. They were the moral ones. Sound familiar? Sound like what we think about ourselves? Yet, what did the Pharisees do? They crucified Jesus. Why? Because of pride. There was no room in their hearts for a king. There was no room in their hearts for repentance. What a warning! If ever we leave church thinking we’re better than anyone else, we just got a sermon from the devil. “God, I thank you that I am not like other people…”, said the proud Pharisee on the path to hell.
But there was someone else in Jesus’ parable. A tax collector. A sinner. “The tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’” There was something different about that man. He didn’t talk about his goodness. He didn’t even dwell on his badness, although he confessed he was a sinner. What did he dwell on? The mercy of God. “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Do you see the difference?
Here’s the Bible’s message: The Bible says that you and I are so sinful that it took God himself dying to save us. Listen to that again: You and I are so sinful that it took God himself dying to save us! Don’t believe that? Think you’re not really that bad? You’re proud. But if you believe that, it changes everything. You are so sinful that God himself died to save you. Do you realize how special you are? Trying to make yourself look better than anyone else will always result in failure. But if you believe that God himself died for you, you’ll never have to compare yourself to anyone else again. We’re nothing but dust and ashes, but Jesus died to save dust and ashes.
In fact, Jesus ended his parable with a very special word. Listen for it: “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.” Did you hear the special word? Justified. Justified means, “Declared not guilty.” Saved. Loved. Forgiven. What disarms the pride in our hearts is God’s grace. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The true love of God doesn’t depend on how beautiful you are. God’s grace is what makes you beautiful. You are lovely, because you are loved by Jesus.
I heard of a famous pastor who carried a notecard in his wallet. He would pull it out regularly and read what it said. On one side, it had a bunch of short questions, like this: “Whom are you trying to impress today?” “Who do you feel is judging you?” “What are you doing to make yourself look good today?” “What are you doing to call attention to yourself?” Get the point?
What would each of those questions convict him of? Pride. Every day, he wrestled with pride.
But the other side of that notecard had just one little sentence. Know what it said? In all capital letters, it read, “THE COURT IS ADJOURNED!” Understand why? Because of Jesus, life isn’t a courtroom. The verdict has already been declared by God himself: “You are justified. Not guilty in God’s sight. Forgiven!” Life isn’t a battle to prove how good you are. Jesus proved your worth when he died for you on the cross. What disarms the pride in our hearts is God’s grace. His undeserved love for sinners. For ashes. You are lovely, because you are loved by Jesus.
A while back, in a children’s devotion, I talked with the kids about how God tells adults to be like children. Remember why? What are children really good at? Receiving gifts. When we adults get a gift, what do we think? “I better give them something back…” Or, “I don’t really need this…” Or, “I going to make this up to them…” Where does every one of those thoughts come from? Pride. When a little child is given a gift, what does she say? “Cool! Thanks!”
This is what Lent is all about. This is what repentance is all about. It’s about beating down the pride in our hearts so that there’s room for the gift of the grace and mercy of God. Like that tax collector said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” He wasn’t thinking about how good he was. He wasn’t even focused on how bad he was. He was focused on the mercy of God. “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” And here’s what Jesus says, “I have. I have! You are loved. You are forgiven!” “All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” The grace of Jesus our Savior gives us humble hearts that trust in his mercy.
You’re free. You’re free to not think high of yourself. You’re free to not think low of yourself. You’re free to not think of yourself. You’re free to think of God’s mercy. There’s nothing better.
(To listen to this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior podcast, please click HERE. To watch this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior YouTube channel, please click on the link below.)
Comentários