The Sneaky Effects of Pride on Our Lives

And he's digging around the bottom of the closet, and while looking for this other object, he finds a strange box he didn't realize was in his closet. And so he pulls out this shoe box, and he opens it up. And inside is an egg carton with five eggs in it, and a stack of cash of about a thousand dollars in this box. And he has no clue what this is. How it got there, and he's just wondering... it makes no sense. So he's thinking about it, as the day goes on, and his wife comes home, she was running errands out, and he says, hun, do you know what this box is that's in the bottom of our closet? And she sheepishly kind of looks down, she goes, yeah, I know what that is. And he goes, well, can you help me understand? She goes, he goes, there's five eggs and a carton. She goes, yeah, so as we've been married all these years, whenever you would give a bad sermon, I would put one egg inside the carton. And he goes, well, that's kind of odd. But he goes, but then in the back of his mind, and he didn't say this out loud, he's thinking, well, five sermons in all these years that we've been married, that's not too bad of a too bad of a... I haven't done too bad of a job. And she must think that most of my sermons are pretty good, because there's only five eggs. She goes, and he goes, okay, that's fine. What about the thousand dollars? She pauses and says, well, every time I got a dozen eggs, I would take them to the market and then sell them.

And so there was a few bad sermons. If you do the math, and I did it last week, I can't remember right now. If you do the math, four dollars, a carton of eggs divided by a thousand, let me just say it's 57 years of bad sermons. And so you can see why it's a joke and things. I love that joke, probably because I'm a pastor now, right? I love the joke also because you can easily put yourself into the middle of this situation and see how quickly that you could start to feel pretty good about yourself, right? Here's my wife. She thinks I'm a pretty good pastor.

I give pretty good sermons. There's only five eggs here. And oh wow, look at the work I'm doing. And then how good? Only to then be faced with reality of just the challenge that he had. It's also relatable because it touches on an aspect that I think is very tricky and one of the most dangerous elements that we face as Christians, and that is pride. Again, that pastor probably thought how wonderful he's been blessed, the gifts that God has given him, his work that he has put into serving God and serving his people, and all of a sudden pride is knocking at the door and he probably didn't even see it coming.

It's a really tricky balancing act for all of us to live a righteous life without pride rising to the surface. And often when I think about this subject or I talk to you or talk about pride, I often use a visualization because it just sticks in my mind. I envision kind of pride operating if you had this level surface like water, like an ocean or a lake, and you're just in a boat just cruising along.

Pride likes to sit right below the surface of that water to where it's out of sight. You can't see it. You don't really know it's there, but it's so close to the surface that it can pull life strings. It can manage and pull you from one direction or pull your thoughts in another direction. And it sits right below the surface because when pride comes up above the water level, we see it and we start smacking it with our ore because it's ugly and we don't want it in our life.

We want to get rid of it. We want to avoid it at all costs. Pride has this tricky way of disguising itself. It recognizes that you and I don't want it in our life, so it likes to go right below the surface because that's where it's safe. That's where it's protected. And then we just operate through life thinking, hey, I'm not doing too bad.

Hey, I'm a pretty good person. Hey, I'm following God. I'm developing his character in a nice way. And pride is just sneakily craftily right below the surface, I think, in a lot of our lives. At least I'm speaking to myself today, right? That's often how I find pride in my life, just below the surface, pulling some of the strings in my life without me really recognizing it. Because when it pushes itself above the surface and I have to see it with my own eyes, I recognize it.

We, I think we most of us recognize that when we finally see pride, we see it and we're like, we don't want anything to do with it. It's got to go. We've got to manage it. But truth be told, pride impacts every one of us. It permeates our thoughts and actions because our own nature loves to think highly of ourselves.

Deep down in a carnal way, we love to be told how great we are, right? Like that pastor. Only five bad sermons in all these years, he thought that they'd been married. We love to have things around us operating the way that we can control it, operating the way that we enjoy. Because if things are going right in my life, things are, people are treating me well. If things are organized the way that I like them, then I'm happy, right?

Life is good. But when things get moved here, or somebody's interrupting our peace, or something's not the way we like it, we can be bothered. We love to be in control of our future and our decisions that we make.

We love that we own it, and it's ours, and we control our path and our destiny and our direction, and when we wake up and when we go to bed. And so we love control and to be able to manage that.

We love to also often share our thoughts and our opinions on things, because I've read a book, or I've gone to college, or I've taken this trade class, or I've got 50 years of experience in the industry, and we like to talk, and we like to share. But then sometimes that sharing can be controlling. It can be telling other people how they should manage their life, how people should be making their different decisions.

And I think it's easy to also see lots of faults and flaws and problems in other people's lives, and to say, well, look at what they're dealing with. I'm so thankful that I don't have those issues, only to maybe be blinded to our own faults and flaws, and some of them are the same exact issues that you don't like to see in others. These are all, I think, the different ways, and there's others, that we deal with pride in our life, but not always in a way that it is staring us in our face and that we have to acknowledge. When I think of the subject of pride, and you think, okay, what are some biblical examples we can go to? There's one that always comes to the forefront of my mind, and that's in Daniel chapter 4, starting in verse 28. We can turn there right now. Daniel 4, verse 28. This is a passage that involves King Nebuchadnezzar, and I think you probably know where I'm going with it. King Nebuchadnezzar was having some troubling dreams, and Daniel was brought forth to explain them to him, and in this instance, Daniel, through God's revelation, was able to understand the dream, and I can only imagine thoughts that could have gone through Daniel's mind, because this dream is not the interpretation of this dream. What is prophesied to happen to King Nebuchadnezzar is not good, and nobody would want this to happen to him, and now Daniel has to tell the king, your behavior and your attitude is bringing on this punishment if you're not careful. And so Daniel interprets the dream. God gives him the meaning, and of course, gives him the confidence to share this interpretation with King Nebuchadnezzar about these humbling events that will occur in his life. And then we have the story goes on. Daniel 4, in verse 28, and it says, all of this that Daniel had talked about came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, he was walking around his royal palace in Babylon, and the king spoke, saying, and this is almost absurd to even speak out, even though it's in the Bible, because it just seems so outlandish. But here's what King Nebuchadnezzar said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty.

It's just one of those outlandish statements that when we hear someone else make, often we will kind of cringe, right? We're like, ugh, that is probably not a great attitude that person's having. And he goes on, and it says, while the words were still in the king's mouth, the voice fell from heaven, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you, and they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like the oxen, and seven times or seven years shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses. And it says that very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men and ate grass like oxen. His body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagle's feathers, like just long flowing covering his neck, and his nails like bird's claws. So his fingernails just grew without being cut like an unkempt, unkempt animal. I can only imagine that when Daniel was asked to give the interpretation of this dream, here you would have had King Nebuchadnezzar probably sitting on his throne, servants around him, advisors left and right, and Daniel approaches and says, well, King, this is the interpretation of the dream. And maybe did the king scoff? Did he laugh? Did he say, me, in my majesty, and all this is? And did his advisors maybe laugh? Or did maybe some of them say, could this actually happen? Could this really unfold this way? And then to see it, 12 months later, actually Nebuchadnezzar, by all accounts, to go mad, to lose his sanity, to lose that aspect that makes us human, that we're able to reason and talk and communicate and understand and have emotions, to remove that aspect from him so that he became as an animal.

I can only imagine that here's his servants that care for the sheep over here, care for the goats here, care for the cattle, and now they got to figure out, we got to create a pen to put King Nebuchadnezzar in, to keep them safe, to look after him, and then remember, Daniel said this would go on for seven years. They had to feed him, care for him, watch him just eat the grass, watch him just behave like the goats or the sheep. It shows the magnitude of a fall that we can have when it comes to pride in our lives. When it comes to thinking that everything's okay or it's not that big of a deal, pride can come in and literally wreck a life. Now granted, God brought this upon Nebuchadnezzar, and thankfully we don't suffer usually to that extent like he had, but God recognizing that the pride in King Nebuchadnezzar's life was so great that he would bring this punishment upon him in order to wake him up.

We see that he woke up and realized the magnitude of this in just a few verses in the next verse after, verse Daniel 4 and verse 34. It says, at the end of the time, at the end of those seven years, and this is now King Nebuchadnezzar speaking himself, he says, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned to me. And then he says, I blessed the most high and praised and honored him who lives forever for his dominion is an everlasting dominion in his kingdom. It's from generation to generation. I've got a bad knock-knock joke for you. Knock-knock. Pride. It's a bad joke. No, it's just that's where it stops. It's a bad joke. But I share that because when I was thinking about it, often that's how pride works, at least in my life. I'm at home, everything's fine. I'm busy. I'm doing things, good things. Handling this, handling that. There's a knock at the door, and I'm like, wonder who's at the door? So I go and answer it, and then I'm staring pride right in the face. The door's cracked. It's open, and I'm... and it's ugly.

Because when you finally see pride, it's ugly. And you're like, oh, I don't want you in... I don't want you to come in the house, and I want you actually to get off my property. I want you... And then your wife or your kids are like, hey, who's at the door? And you're trying to like, shut it, and you're wanting to keep it out? Because when we finally see that it's pride that has risen to the surface and is impacting our life or decisions, our attitudes, our words, our thoughts, it's ugly. And we want to shut that door as fast as we can. We want to get it out. We don't want anybody else to see it, if we can help it. And we want it just to go away.

Pride is powerful. Pride is impactful. Pride is dangerous. Pride is damaging. And if it can take down the mightiest of kings, in human terms, it can take down us as well, if we're not careful. And so with us just a few days away from Passover, and also with a full week to contemplate as we go through the days of Unleavened Bread, I'd like us to consider the days of Unleavened Bread. And I'd like us to consider the sneaky effects of pride in our lives.

We must never allow ourselves to be tricked into thinking that pride is not a big deal, or it's not really something that I deal with. Now, the way that pride affects my life, and the way that maybe I describe it, may be more suited to me, and what I've seen in my own life. If it's not this way in your life, you know where pride surfaces. You know the way pride grabs hold, or you know the way that your life individually is impacted by pride.

The reality is that we all deal with pride, and it's an attribute that God Himself actually refers to and calls an abomination and something that He hates. We see this in Proverbs chapter 6 and verse 16. Proverbs 6 and verse 16.

And consider the aspect of King Nebuchadnezzar. Now we're looking at what King Solomon wrote in his wisdom that God granted him and his understanding of God's Word in his ways.

Think about that as this King Solomon is now talking about this issue of pride.

Do you think he dealt with pride at times? Do you think maybe he's talking first person here, and he's saying, I know a thing or two about pride? Proverbs 6 and 16. He says, these six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him, and He starts off the list with a proud look. Now we're going to skip over that and just keep going real quick because pride... the rest of the things in this list we really dislike. So let's just skip over pride real quick. Let's talk about a lying tongue. Nothing... well, there's a few things worse than being lied to somebody because it breaks the trust, it breaks our relationship, and we hate liars, right? We hate to be lied to. It's just horrible, and so it makes sense. God says a lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood? Horrible. Absolutely. It deserves to be on an abomination list. A heart to devise wicked plans? Check that box too. That's an abomination. Feet that are swift to run into evil? People who are intent on just doing evil things and and want it and run to it? Yep. A false witness who speaks lies? Again, a liar. And one who sows discord among the brethren? One who comes in our midst and creates problems and divides us, turns us against one another, creates strife? Absolutely. These things make sense. We can focus so quickly on these abominations that we equally share in hating and miss that King Solomon and God inspired that first item on the list to be pride. That first item, a proud look. Because when we consider things that God specifically notes in as an abomination, which means a disgusting thing or something to abhor, something not even to look at, something to be like, I want to distance myself as far as I can from this item, we should definitely not lose sight that pride sits right at the front of this list.

When we talk about abominations, there's a few others that God lists in Scripture. He talks about idolatry, worshiping other gods or false gods, raising them to the same level.

He talks about child sacrifice. Absolutely horrible abomination. Improper sexual relationships. I mean, this list is ugly. And we all know, stay far away. I mean, this has no place. But then you get to pride. Sometimes we put pride in a bucket of not-so-bad sense, right? Or, I'm having a bad day. Or, yes, I have come to pride today, but what about all these other things I did? That's kind of looking at these other abominations and saying, well, yeah, I did those, but yeah, I still served and I still cared for my... And it's like, well, no, no, no, that's not okay. We can't let this slip that we have on this list of things that God abhors, that He hates, that He can't even... That is just disgusting. That pride sits right there at the front of this list. Matthew Henry's commentary in reference to this says, those things which God hates are things that are easy to hate in others, right? When we create a list of abominations, it's easy to put those other things on that list, but we must hate them in ourselves. Hottyness, conceitedness of ourselves, and contempt of others, this is a proud look. And there are seven things... Matthew Henry goes on to say, there are seven things that God hates, and pride is the first, because it is at the bottom of much sin and gives rise to it. God sees the pride in heart and hates it there, but when it prevails to the degree that the show of men's countenance witnesses against them, that they overvalue themselves and then undervalue all about them, this is in a special manner hateful to Him, for then pride is proud of itself, and sets shame at defiance. I think that last part is pretty specific and informative.

Pride, for pride, is proud of itself, and then sets shame at defiance. Instead of being embarrassed or shameful, pride then tries to cover that up and say, but you have reason to be upset. You have reason to like things in a certain order. You have reasons, and you're busy in your life, and so people should get off the road in front of you. They're holding you up. They're driving like they shouldn't be. They need to go take their driver's test again. This is ridiculous, but you are a great driver. You're courteous. You always use your turn signal, but everybody else, you can see where pride builds itself up, but then it's not embarrassed.

There's no shame in the attitude that you're thinking towards other people, or the things that are going on in other people's lives. It's like that knock knock, and it's staring at the face, but you're just like, don't see you. This is the same, actually, abomination that Jesus speaks of in Luke 18 and verse 9.

The parable in Luke 18 and verse 9 of the Pharisee and the tax collector, and at the root and heart of this parable is the sin of pride. Luke 18 and verse 9.

It's easy to read through this passage and start pointing fingers and say, weighing out in the balance the scales of righteousness and unrighteousness, and where these characters fall in this parable that Jesus is sharing.

But notice what Christ says. Luke 18 and verse 9, he says, Also, he spoke this parable to who? To some who trusted in themselves.

I'm a good person. I've got this figured out.

I know God's way. They trusted in what they were doing in their own life and what they were able to accomplish. And it says that they were righteous and they despised others. Now that seemed I don't even know how those two go hand in hand, right? How can you be righteous, but then yet, despising others. The scale is tipped. It says, two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, meaning he's a man of God. He knows God's word. He's doing things the right way. He's tithing. He's fasting. He's eating only clean meats. He's keeping the Sabbath, doing all these righteous things and the other attacks collector. And the Pharisee stood and prayed this within himself. God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this tax collector who was also praying there next to him. He says, I fast twice a week. I give tithes at all I possess. And the tax collector on the other side, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breath, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Christ goes on to say, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself, let's put yourself, or put that person in King Nebuchadnezzar's bucket, will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. None of us are immune to pride. And as I've shared before, it sits right below the surface, right out of sight, so that we don't see it working in our life. But often it's there.

I put myself in the Pharisees' shoes for a moment, because I've been in those shoes at different times in my life. And I don't believe the Pharisee, when they walked in to the temple to pray that day, thought that pride was a problem in his life. I think he thought that he was a good God-follower. He was living a righteous life. He may even praise God, saying, thank you, God, for showing me the better way to go in life. Thank you for opening doors for me, that only you could... thank you for performing a miracle in my mind, to open my mind so that I can understand your truth. Thank you for saving me from not understanding these things and making poor decisions like these people over here and these people over here, because I know that's where I would be if it wasn't for what you did in my life, God. So thank you for doing all these things in my life and showing me a better way to go. For giving me the ability to trust you enough to tithe, to trust you enough to fast. Thank you, God, for doing all these wonderful things.

I don't think it's a far stretch to think that the Pharisee had a lot of these thoughts in his mind which we can sometimes harbor and carry ourselves, yet not see the pride that is working and right below the surface when he went up to pray. The way that he thought about his neighbor, who was a fellow Jew, a fellow neighbor who was stuck, caught up. Maybe some of it was his own problems, but we see Christ demonstrate a huge example, a huge difference of heart.

And I don't think that that Pharisee thought that pride was a problem he was dealing with that day.

Because when you recognize pride, it's ugly, and then you have to deal with it. You have to apologize to people. You have to talk to God and repent. You have to realize, that is not an attitude that I should even be thinking right now. Man, where did that come from again? I don't think the Pharisee could have gone there, saying these words, knowing that pride is at work in his life.

Same thing can happen to us. Sometimes when we consider the state of our own spiritual life, we can fall into that trap of making a bucket of bad sins and not so bad sins.

And I think pride likes to be placed in that not so bad bucket. Or maybe we justify why a decision we made was okay, or at least it's not as bad as that person's decision. Whew! Man, I'm so thankful that I'm not making those decisions and wrecking my life that way. But we're completely unaware that pride is the root of our thoughts or our actions or our motives or attitudes while we're operating over here on this side that we think is fine. Or maybe we're critical of how someone else did something because we know the right way it should be done. And this is where the sermon starts hitting home for this guy. There's certain ways that you like your house ran. There's certain ways you like to drive your car. There's certain ways you like things to operate. And then when somebody interrupts that, what's going on? When truth be told, the person on the road deserves to be there as much as I do. Truth be told, I make mistakes sometimes behind the wheel of my car. I hope I don't like anybody else to see it. Truth be told, my way of maybe doing something in our house or doing something in the yard or doing something here at church is fine as good as the way that you do it or the way that you like and you prefer.

Maybe you like to have your mixer. This is not a problem I have. I'm just using an example. Maybe you like to have your blender on the counter and somebody else in your family says it should be on the shelf underneath. Okay, both are fine, right? Is one better than the other? It's preference. Again, that's not really... that one's not mine.

But I think I hit home to a lot of areas of our life where these things happen.

Pride seems to be ever-present in our lives, and it sits right below the surface, just enough out of sight that we don't recognize it's there. And it does it in a way as a self-preservation mechanism.

Because when we see pride, we have to squash it. We have to deal with it. We have to grab it, put it in a box, dig a hole, bury it, because it's ugly and it's got to go.

And so to be in our lives, it has to operate in a way that is sneaky. It has to... it's like these bacteria that morph and change so that they can continue to live, so the antibiotics don't work on it anymore. So that antibiotic... if you've got a way where you've recognized pride in your life and you've knocked it out, pride takes the punch and then it slides a little bit to the right, and then it changes color, and then it morphs into another way that then it's like, okay, I'll hide over here. I'll camouflage myself in this area of his life because I know this area of his life is easier to hide in because he gets really riled up in this area. This is one of his soap boxes. So let me put myself in the middle of his soap box because then he won't see the motivation that... of what's going on here.

It's pride sits in our life often in a false, unassuming fashion or a false, humble way, but it feeds and encourages our human nature to remain self-focused. And we're entering a time of the year when God says that self-focus can't be our focus, that motivating, having motivations for ourself has nothing to do with Christ and with His sacrifice.

And this is why pride remains such a dangerous attribute and, again, can wreck even the best people's lives. Let's look at another proverb, this one from Proverbs 16 in verse 2. Because, again, King Solomon, being the wisest man apart from Jesus Christ, he knew a thing or two about life.

And he was not ignorant of the way that pride can sneak into it. Because you think about... did King Solomon suffer from anything that he didn't have? He had it all. Whatever he wanted, he had.

Do you think that his meals were not his most favorite meals? He's kind of dictating the menu for the night every night because he's king. If he doesn't like broccoli, he doesn't eat broccoli. Nobody comes in and says, well, King, you know you really should eat your broccoli tonight.

Talking about he had everything the way he wanted, positioned the way he wanted, organized the way he wanted, people telling him how great he was at doing all this, too. I mean, he was king. And yet he could see that he also dealt with pride.

Or he couldn't write it so eloquently. He couldn't describe it in the ways that he does. Notice Proverbs 16 verse 2. He says, not some of the ways, not a few of the ways, not occasionally, we think this way, he says, all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, everything that I do, my motivations, the reasons, the choices I'm making, everything is pure.

But he says the Lord weighs the spirits. God understands. He can see deeper. He says, commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established. Reframe your thinking on what God says is righteous, what God says is an attitude to have. Reframe your thinking on God's character. And then he says your thoughts will be framed that way. That's why we can talk about pride. That's why the different men who get up here and share in different topics, they're often not talking to you. They're talking to themselves and sharing a message that they're battling themselves. Just like at times I have pride in my life. The only reason I can see that, or the only reason is because God is helping me frame my life with His word, His character, His attributes. And so then when pride knocks at the door, I'm like, that has no business being here.

And so that's how King Solomon is saying our thoughts will be established as we continue to go through this process we're going through right now. We continue to commit more of our life to Him than we can recognize that our ways are not always pure. He says verse five, everyone proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord. Again, something disgusting, something that's wicked.

Though they join forces, none shall go unpunished. Verse 18, pride goes before destruction and a haughty, which is an elevated or exalted spirit before fall. How can someone who's never experienced this write so eloquently about it unless he knew the effects of pride in his own life?

He says better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. That's a unique statement that we see in Scripture that I think, again, only can come from somebody who's lived and seen a thing or two about life. Because when we think about where's the fun in life, where's the joy, where is the excitement, it's fast cars, lots of money, and good food.

It's living the high life. It's your motor boat, your speed boat on on the lake. It's nice vacations on a beach resort. It's living with the high and mighty, and King Solomon could do that. He had nothing that he lacked. He could take any vacation. He could buy anything. He could do whatever he wanted. And he doesn't say that that's the high part of life, though. What's he say? He says, it is better to be with those who are lowly of heart. That's counterintuitive to living life. That's not the way that we normally would say, if somebody's living a great life, they're hanging out with the lowly. And here's someone who had nothing. He lacked nothing, and yet he's saying it's better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.

It's two totally different hearts, two totally different motivations of life, two totally different ways that people operate. And he's saying, I'd rather be with the humble that looks out for one another, that recognizes their poverty before God, that recognizes they need God more than anything in their life, because those people will be the ones who lift me up. Those people will be the ones who pray for me. Those people will be the ones who says, you know what, I love you enough that I'm gonna have to, can I talk to you about something?

Because those who are self-focused, their goal is to always remain higher than everybody else, always to be number one, always to see what they can get next, not what they can give, what they can get next. And to be around those people constantly is exhausting, and you're always looking over your shoulder because they probably want what you have.

And Solomon is saying, you want to find a happier place to exist. First, be humble, and then hang out with other humble people. This is God's way. This is not man's way. This is God's way. And we can all acknowledge that there's been times that we've given into this side. We've given into our human nature side. We have allowed our human nature to trump God's spirit, leading our decisions. We did what was right in our own eyes, only to suffer the hurt that we caused in ourselves or others around us. And in the throes of following our own nature, often we've been blinded to the motivation that is probably forefront and leading those choices, and that's pride. Considering the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector again, notice what different commentaries share on this passage. This is from the Life Application Study Bible. It says, the Pharisee did not go to the temple to pray to God, but to announce within earshot to all how good he was. The tax collector, though, went recognizing his sin and begging for mercy.

Self-righteousness is dangerous. It leads to pride, causes a person to despise others, and prevents him or her from learning anything from God. The tax collector's prayer should be our prayer because we all need God's mercy every day. From Thoughts of the Bible Day by Day by Frederick Brotherton Meyer, he wrote this, Let it never be forgotten that those who will be justified and stand accepted before God are those who are nothing in their own estimate. To be self-emptied and poor in spirit is the fundamental and indispensable preparation for receiving the grace of God. We think that children must grow up to become like us before they are eligible for the kingdom. Nay, we must grow down to become like them in simplicity, in humility, and in faith. The Matthew Henry's commentary shares, God sees with what disposition and design we come to him in holy ordinances. What the Pharisees said shows that he trusted to himself that he was righteous. Let us beware of presenting proud devotions to the Lord and of despising others. The publican's address to God was full of humility and of repentance for sin and desire towards God. His prayer was short but to the purpose, God be merciful to me, a sinner. It's at a time of the year like this, too, as we are following scripture and examining ourselves, thinking on God's character and thinking on our elder brother, that we reflect that Christ's own example is the righteous one that he set for us to follow. Of all the beings of the entire universe that had a right to elevate himself or to put himself first, would it not be the creator of the universe, the maker of all things, the designer of everything that we have, even us, the miraculous way that we are made? Would he not have a right to elevate himself above us all? And yet, what was his example when he came as God in the flesh? Let's turn to Mark 10 and verse 42.

Mark 10 and verse 42. The setting of this of these scriptures we'll share here is astounding. It's kind of like reading the Pharisee and the tax collector of how appalling it is to read that and think, wow, how could anybody be that blinded to themselves? Because we have 12 disciples who are crowding around Jesus, and two of them, James and John, say, we've got a great idea, Christ. We want to sit one of us on your left hand and one of us on your right hand, and they did it in the presence of the other 10 apostles, probably around them, and didn't even care a blink about who else was there. And they said, but isn't this a grand idea? I mean, look at what we've done for you. Maybe they're even talking in their mind, their own mind, saying, we followed you, we left our past, we don't have a lot of money because we're not fishermen, we're not doing this, we're not doing that. We could be doing those things, and we could be having a living for ourselves, but we gave all that up for you, Christ. So how about, and I'll take the lesser role, I'll sit at your left hand. My brother can sit at your right. I'm reading between the lines of Scripture, you know that. But this is the context of what Christ is about to share, and the rift going on between the apostles, or not apostles yet, there is disciples, and the heart, and the motivation, and the aunt. If you had to pin them right then and say, Paul's, James and John, are you dealing with pride right now? They'd probably look at you like, what are you talking about? There's no pride here. But Christ deals with that, because Mark 10 in verse 42, but Jesus called them to Himself and said, you know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them, and they're probably shaking their head like, yeah, that's what they do.

And yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to be great among you shall be your servant, and whoever of you desires to be first shall be slaves of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

I think at times, like when we read these passages, we can insert ourselves, or imagine being one of the disciples, or even being somebody else witnessing this event. But I don't know that we would have pointed the finger, well, if we were James and John, I don't think we would have been pointing the finger at ourselves that we have a pride issue. I think the other ten, they probably were like, go get them, Christ! Because this is horrible, like what they're trying to do and elevate themselves, and they think they're better than the rest of us, and that they deserve to be at your left or right. But I don't, I think they were seeing it, but I don't, I can't see James and John seeing it and still going to Christ. It's like knocking at the door, and you've got to recognize your pride, and you're like, it's ugly, get out of here.

I don't think James and John saw it, or I don't think they would have done what they did.

But yet Christ said, the one who could have elevated himself, the one who was deserving to be above everybody else, came to serve, came to help, and he gave his life. The Apostle Paul, and Philippians, let's turn to Philippians 2 verse 5. Because Paul shines some light, again, on a deeper light, more reflective light, on this attitude that Christ came and served with.

He adds some color to the example and the heart. Philippians 2 and verse 5, and as we read through these characteristics, like we see more of the way that we're supposed to be as we reflect Christ in our life. Paul writes in Philippians 2 verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery. He did not consider it something that he had to hang on to or see, something he had to wrap his arms around. I'm never letting this go. He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation. I love the action word here, because it doesn't say that he was coerced into giving his life. It doesn't say that he was dragged out of the house kicking and screaming, saying, No, I don't want to do this. Christ willingly gave of his life. He made himself lower.

It shows a mindset. It shows an attitude. It shows a willingness to push yourself down.

He performed an action that he expects that we do as well. He made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, and says, Therefore God also then did what? He exalted him highly above, and therefore God also highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. Do you see humility pushes us down and then who exalts us? God does. Do you notice that about Christ too? He made himself of no reputation. He didn't turn around and then elevate himself. Who elevated him? It was God, again, who elevated him. This is how a proper balance of humility and elevation and lifting up works. We humble ourselves. God lifts us up. We don't have to do it ourselves, but if we elevate ourselves, we'll get pushed down. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that the name of Jesus and every knee should bow, of those in heaven, of those on the earth, and those under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every year that comes around on our calendars that we're blessed to be able to be part of, God gives us these annual holy days that we're about to enter this week as a reminder. And in the case of these spring holy days, an opportunity to consider the motivations of our life. And as we come together, as baptized members come together this week, to partake of the Passover, we'll wash each other's feet in an act of humility, and in an act of service, an act of oneness, an act of serving the church and the body of Jesus Christ as we wash each other's feet. And then we'll take a small amount of unleavened bread and a small amount of wine, symbolizing what Christ gave in humility and in meekness and in love for you and me. This is a beautiful—and that's why there's excitement in the air. And that's why this is a reflective time of the year. And that's why sometimes this is a heavy time of the year, too, right? Because I'm working on a sermon. I don't want to spill the beans, but the more I live through life and the more I do a self-examination, the more I have to look at the person in the mirror, the more I realize, man, there's a lot of work still to do, right? And at times it can feel like we're taking steps back in life or it feels like we're not making enough progress. I told Laura, we were talking about this subject and some other things today, and I said, I wish I would be where I'm at right now when I was 30. And I should have been at 30 where I'm at right now. What have I done for 20 years? Like, I'm kind of disappointed. I'm kind of feeling like, man, what could I have done if 20 years ago I was at the point where I'm at now? Right? This is good. This is not a bad thing to do. But then we can't go too far that we feel like we can't show up here at Passover, right? That's the other ditch. That's that ditch where we feel like, oh, I'm not worthy, or I've disappointed God, or you're right, pride is here and pride is there and I can't stop it.

We got to stop that. We got to stop that thinking, too, because we have to be here.

God, the only reason you can see these areas or see other sins or see the growth that you wish you could have made to this point is because God has called you, has placed His Spirit within you, and that Spirit is convicting your heart, and that is a beautiful thing.

It's the most precious thing. And so if you feel that way, don't let this drag you down. Don't let this week drag you down. Don't let these next couple days before you take Passover drag you down. Don't let that first time after you sin, after taking Passover, let you down. Because this is life, and we have a Savior that overcame the world so that you and I have an opportunity at life.

This is what God is doing, the miracle that He is doing in your life. If you are a different person than you were when you were 30, or five years into your calling, or 10 years in your calling, or five minutes after you walked in the door for the first time here, you are a changing person, and there's nothing more beautiful than that.

And it's not because of what we're doing. It's because of what God has done and continues to do. And so that's why we have... if Tuesday night, and you're a baptized member, there's one place you need to be. And that is either here, if you can, or in one of our congregations, or at home, taking Passover with a little bit of bread and a little bit of wine, and with the unity of Christ in your heart through His Spirit. Because there's no other place we can be. And that's why this time of the year is a beautiful time for us. That's why this time of the year is also a sobering time, a serious time. That's why this time of the year is so refreshing, because we have the God of the universe that not only gave His Son for you and me, but that amazing brother, our elder brother, our Lord and Savior, our Master, our soon-coming King, set that example that He came and served and gave His life so that we can see that example and begin building that in our own life.

He didn't just come and say, here's the words of life, live them. He demonstrated it in His own life so He can say, if I can do it, you can too. And so this week we'll come together and we will partake of the Passover and we'll start keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread where we symbolize putting on Christ and taking in Christ and living our life more according to His way so that we can battle against pride. We can battle against the deceitfulness of pride, and we can battle against suffering and succumbing to the damage of pride. I'd like to conclude by looking and considering the bread of life again that we are going to take in this coming week and during the Days of Unleavened Bread. I'd like to look at it from the standpoint of a sheet of matzo, a simple piece of bread, a simple sheet of matzo. When you think about what goes into making plain matzo, and I just mean not the frilly stuff that some of you guys do, not some of it that you dip in caramel and chocolate and put sprinkle. I'm not talking... Let's get to the basics of what matzo is.

It's two ingredients, flour and water. You take a certain mixture of that, you put it together, you roll it out flat, you bake it quickly in the oven, and you get, ta-da, matzo. Now, I don't know about you, but most of us, I'm pretty sure we don't call up our family members and they ask you, so how was your week? What did you do? I made the most amazing matzo this week. Let me tell you about it. We don't really take photos of it and put it on our socials, do we?

Facebook. Hey, look at this amazing flour and water. Look at how long it took to do this. How great of a cook am I? I took two ingredients, put them together, rolled them flat, threw them in the oven. I'm pretty special. I always like to think through, too, like, I don't think I've ever seen a commercial on TV for matzo. I don't think I've ever, like, a Super Bowl commercial. I don't think Manichevitz has ever put out a commercial where they're like, hey, come buy our matzo. It's great. It's better than the neighbor's matzo. It's better than this company.

And I was sharing with the other congregations, if you want a fun conversation to have during church or at home or night to be, come up with what your Super Bowl commercial would be for the Manichevitz company to market their matzo to the world and draw in more income.

It's a hard product to market, right? It's two ingredients.

It's not a lot of flavor. There's not to it. A lot to it. But I think when we consider the spirit and the heart of matzo, it's the spirit and heart that God wants us to seek after every day in our lives. Let's conclude in Romans 12 and verse 3.

Romans 12 and verse 3.

Some of you guys like harbor. Some of—not harbor. Some of you guys protect special hand-me-down recipes from your grandmother and your great-grandmother and things. I don't think any of us harbor the matzo recipe.

I don't think we're afraid to pass that one along to others. Romans 12 and verse 3.

Paul writes, For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, to think seriously, to weigh out matters, as God has dealt to each one of us a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function—maybe they like their blender on the counter, maybe you like yours in the cabinet below—but we're all one body, so we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. And then he, starting in verse 9, the heading of one of my Bibles says, Marks of the True Christian. If you still are looking for something maybe to study or another topic or another passage to read this week before or during even on Love and Bread, maybe we can come back to this. Romans 12 and verse 9, it says, Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope but patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, and given to hospitality. It says, Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind towards one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men, and if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. And verse 21, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

It's a beautiful list. It's one that we could review and spend the rest of our lives as Christians considering and praying that God will help us to build these attributes, these characteristics. Having the spirit of a matzo is not a bad thing to desire or to develop in our lives. It's the same spirit that will live in the lives of those that God invites into his eternal kingdom.

There are a lot of things that we can consider at this time of the year. May we be on the lookout for sneaky effects of pride in our lives.