Tag: pride

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The Fourteenth Mark of a True Disciple of Jesus

True disciples humble themselves like children

humble themselves like children

True disciples enter the kingdom of heaven, while false disciples do not make the cut. As the Son of God, Jesus knows with absolute clarity who will enter. He knows who his true disciples are, and he wants us to know.

Thus he tells us one more mark of a true disciple in Matthew 18:2–4:

“Calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus is not exaggerating here when he says you will never enter the kingdom of heaven without this mark. You really must turn and become like a child. And then he elaborates on the quality of a child he has in mind, and that quality is the willingness to humble oneself. “Whoever humbles himself like this child…”

Turn

Notice also that Jesus says there is something that happens in your soul that precedes becoming like a child. He says you must first “turn.” We must first turn because naturally if we are not children we are adults. And the kind of adulthood that Jesus is speaking of is not a positive maturity that is good but rather a negative sort of adultness that is bad, and what makes it bad is pride. As we get older, if we follow our sinful nature, we become more proud.

Pride runs so deep in the soul of the fallen human that it corrupts and controls everything about us. Pride is a major part of what caused Satan to fall from being a perfect creation of God to being evil. Our pride leads to rebellion against authority. It leads to self-centeredness. It leads to arrogance toward others. It leads to stubbornness, hardening of the heart, and disobedience to God. It leads to an independent spirit and self-righteousness. Pride leads to a spirit of unbelief toward God and his words.

And that is why we can never enter the kingdom of heaven without turning away from our proud unbelief and self-justifying thoughts, to humbly acknowledge our sinfulness and inability to save ourselves. We must become humble enough to acknowledge that we need a Savior, that we can never do enough good works to merit eternal life and acceptance from God. Apart from Christ Jesus, we can never be holy, never be perfect. We can never atone for our sins; we can never be free of our guilt unless we follow God’s way of forgiveness.

Proud people do not think they need Jesus. They think any religion will get them to heaven. They think they can be nice people and earn heaven. Whereas humble people recognize their own brokenness and need for God to save them.

The Pharisee and the tax collector

Jesus brought this crucial point home with an unforgettable parable:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:10–14 ESV)

Humble enough to believe Scripture

We need childlike humility because the “adult” mind does not accept God’s truth.

We must humble our proud mind. Believing in God and Jesus Christ his Son is not irrational or unscientific. Far to the contrary. Nevertheless no one through human reasoning alone can come to faith in Jesus. No one can prove Jesus rose from the dead. No one can prove Jesus even existed. There are mountains of compelling evidence and arguments, but they are not proof.

And God wants it this way. He deliberately planned for a way of salvation that did not depend on human wisdom. 1 Corinthians 1:21 says, “Since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”

Young children humbly believe what their parents tell them. We must humbly believe what God tells us in his written Word.

The apostle Paul identifies the proud mindset that resists God and the gospel. He says that his evangelistic ministry required that he “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

Why did the Pharisees and the scribes reject Jesus even though they knew the Scriptures better than anyone in Israel? Because they were proud in heart and mind. They were in fact blinded by their pride. They believed they could be accepted by God by their keeping of the Old Testament laws. They believed they could be good enough to earn eternal life. They were proud of how externally religious they were, even though their hearts were filled with darkness.

Childlike to the end

We never outgrow the need for the humility of a child. We cannot humble ourselves, repent, and give our lives to Christ and then start depending on ourselves to save ourselves. While in this series of articles we have identified over a dozen marks of a true disciple, none of them is meritorious in the sight of God. These marks do not make us good enough to have God’s approval on Judgment Day. Till the day we die we always need the grace of God found through childlike faith in Jesus Christ.

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Self-respect and Knowing God

There is a powerful relationship between self-respect and knowing God, between emotional health and knowing God deeply.

self-respect and knowing God

If you have been reading this blog for long, you know the theme verse:

“Thus says the LORD:
‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom,
let not the mighty man boast in his might,
let not the rich man boast in his riches,
but let him who boasts boast in this,
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD
who practices steadfast love,
justice, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these things I delight,
declares the LORD.’”

(Jeremiah 9:23–24, ESV)

Boasting has a prominent place in this important verse.

The word boast can be used in two senses, one positive, one negative. The negative sense is the familiar one that comes first to mind, but the positive sense of the noun boast is simply “a cause for pride” (Merriam-Webster). That is, a cause for feeling good about yourself, a cause for feeling you have value, a reason to respect yourself.

All people need this kind of pride, and it is not wrong in God’s sight if a person does not take credit for it. He wants us to have a legitimate boast because he created us with value—and to have a sense of value—and he wants us to know what that value is and where it comes from.

People who do not have a legitimate boast become unhealthy in every way, feeling they have no worth, loathing or disrespecting themselves, feeling that others including God disdain them, and as a result relating to others and God with difficulty, wishing they did not exist, performing poorly in work, and on and on.

So in this verse God teaches us what sort of human boast he approves of. More than any other quality in your life, what should you feel good about? What gives you ultimate value? What accomplishments merit enduring honor?

Common ways people seek self-respect

Before giving his answer, the Lord dismisses the usual suspects. What does the wise man or woman—the expert, the business consultant who is so successful she can charge $10,000 for her advice, or the best-selling how-to author who can charge the same to give one speech—typically regard as her boast? Of course, her boast is her wisdom, her “secret sauce,” her understanding of how things work and how people can get what they want. She has done it, and she can help you do it. She feels good about knowing that.

But the Lord says, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom.”

What does “the mighty man” boast in? Naturally the man with muscles, the man with height and weight who towers over others in a crowd and could manhandle anyone, who could be the dominant pass-rusher on the finest football team—he feels good about his might. When he, not wearing a shirt, looks in the mirror, he takes pride in what he sees.

But the Lord says, “let not the mighty man boast in his might.”

We could add, let not the beautiful woman boast in her beauty, cosmetic skills, and wardrobe.

And what does the rich man boast in? The size of his investment account. A man who values money, who opens his Fidelity account and sees the number $10,000,000, feels good about himself. He knows the skillful things he did to earn that money, the hard work he poured into it, and the shrewd ways he invested to make it grow. He knows most people do not have numbers that size in their investment accounts.

Yet God says, “Let not the rich man boast in his riches.”

Whether we are talking about a wise, mighty, or rich person who is ungodly or godly, in any case, what God says applies to them. Do not make your human strength and ability your primary boast, your ultimate reason for self-respect.

Self-respect and knowing God

And then God makes clear what should be our source of legitimate pride: “Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me.” Expertise is nice to have; muscles, fitness, and beauty are nice; money and possessions are nice, but none can begin to compare to the value and benefit of knowing God.

For starters, expertise, muscles, beauty, and wealth are temporary. They all pass away. Sooner or later we lose them all. They are like soap bubbles.

My wife and I were visiting our son and his family on a fall day a few months ago, and they had a toy for the kids with a long, narrow wand that you dipped in a tall soap bottle and waved in the air to create amazing, huge, colorful bubbles. I guess the soap solution was also special in some way, producing bigger, longer-lasting bubbles. The bubbles floated away in the fall breeze with the sunlight sparkling on them in rainbow colors. I was impressed with their size and beauty, and the kids were squealing with pleasure. But eventually they burst in the air or hit the ground. Imagine spending your life savings to buy one of those bubbles.

That truly is what you are doing if you base your worth on wisdom, might, beauty, or wealth. Sooner or later that pretty bubble that you and others admire is going to pop.

On the other hand, if you put your boast in knowing God, you are investing in what you can never lose. God is the only sure thing. He is not going anywhere or going away. He is permanent. Whatever you invest in knowing him lasts forever, and whatever self-respect you gain from knowing God endures. This is one relationship that will not come and go.

Knowing God and moving up in the world

Moreover, self-respect that comes from knowing God is not like settling for an inferior job until you can find something better. Most people choose between living—really living, doing the thing that brings them true joy and fulfillment—and doing what pays well enough to keep the lights and water on. And so they reluctantly decide to take a job that may feel pointless but at least pays the bills and gives a few hours of free time each week for what really brings happiness.

Knowing God is not like that. He is not the necessary, inferior choice. He is the superior choice. For he is the ultimate person. He is the only good person. He is the most creative, knowledgeable, and interesting person. And he is the most loving person. He is the most beautiful and inspiring person. He is infinitely superior to us in every imaginable way—the most excellent person. And he is literally perfect and without limitation. Absolutely pure—clean, morally sanitary—and thus eternally healthful to one’s body, soul, and spirit. He is kind, gracious, generous, compassionate, patient, benevolent.

When you choose to boast in knowing God over all other boasts and make it your goal to know him better every day, it is as though you were the poorest person in the world marrying the richest person in the world, or the most disfigured guy in the world marrying the world’s most beautiful super-model, or the lowest IQ in the world marrying the greatest genius in the world. When you choose to boast in knowing God, you are “marrying” way up—infinitely up.

Knowing God is the most rewarding, delightful, and inexhaustible knowledge you can have, and it gives you true worth, not a soap bubble.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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How Boasting Can Keep You Out of Heaven

God’s opposition to human boasting is more intense than most people, even most Christians, realize.

boasting

In this post we explore one of the least understood truths about God. Without this, the gospel will not make perfect sense. You might even think the saving work of Jesus on the cross is ultimately unnecessary, that people can come to God without believing in Jesus. The gospel makes this truth about God crystal clear.

Here it is in a nutshell. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). “Opposes” really does mean opposes, as in, he is against the proud.

Here it is in a coconut-size shell: Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Here it is in watermelon size: 1 Corinthians 1:27–31 says, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”

What’s so bad about boasting?

Why does God adamantly oppose a man boasting in his presence?

1. Because boasting is proud

To boast is to exalt oneself. To boast is to take more credit than one deserves. To boast is to regard oneself as superior to others.

God opposes such pride.

There is a second reason God opposes boasting.

2. Because boasting is a lie

The God of all truth—all truth—will not make peace with one single lie or one single liar in his universe. He hates and exposes each and every falsehood. And for humans to boast as if they have or do anything apart from God is utterly false.

Scripture says, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Scripture says, “From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36).

Notice, it says “to him,” to God, not to any man, be the glory forever precisely because everything is “from him.” And for emphasis this truth is solemnly affirmed with an “Amen.” No human has anything except what they have received from God, and what they use through God’s continuous, enabling power. The God-ordained purpose of every human accomplishment is that it be “to him,” that is, that it bring God glory. This is the circle of God’s glory that must not be broken through the lie of boasting.

Similarly, Scripture says, God “himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything…. In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:25, 28). This enlarges on the truth that all things are through God. God not only made an initial deposit in the person that created possibilities, but he also continuously sustains and upholds the person’s life and accomplishments, as well as the environment in which the person works. For example, God sustains the football team for whom the star player performs or the family whom a mother faithfully serves.

Because he is the absolute source and sustainer of everything, God devised the gospel in such a way that no one may boast in his presence.

There is a third reason God opposes boasting.

3. Because boasting is idolatry

To boast is to act like God, to claim his role and powers. God didn’t do this; I did. I deserve credit and glory.

To act like God is to put oneself forward as a false god, an idol.

In the Bible, what does God do with idols? He sees to it that idols are burned to ashes and ground to powder. They are toppled, knocking off their heads and hands. They are mocked. They are regarded as abominations, as objects of hissing and the worst contempt, as things to abhor and banish, whose names are not even to be spoken in the holy land.

When God himself carved into stone with his own finger the Ten Commandments, the first commandment he wrote was, “You shall have no other gods before [or beside] me” (Exodus 20:3), and the second commandment forbade making idols.

Because his fury rages against idols, God devised the gospel in such a way that no one may boast in his presence.

There is a fourth reason that God opposes boasting.

4. Because boasting seeks to rob God of his glory

A boaster takes what rightly belongs to God. He or she is a thief of something God prizes: glory.

He is infinitely glorious. That is the truth. And he is worthy to receive all the glory for everything. That is the truth. And the God of truth will not falsely act as though it should be any other way.

He has infinite pleasure in every single word of thanks and praise because it is true. He perfectly enjoys every adoring heart, every bowed knee because it is right.

We would look down on any human that wanted such worship, and that is because we know intuitively it is false. But nothing could be more true than that God be worshiped.

To be God is to be great and greatly worshiped. That is the nature of things.

Therefore he says, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” “I will not give my glory to another.” (Isaiah 46:9; 48:11).

What Americans Believe

What this means is that many Americans are in deep trouble with God, and they do not know it.

In a 2017 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 56 percent of Americans said it is possible to be a good person without a religious belief.

Consider what that implies. If you can be a good person without religious beliefs, then you have something to take credit for, something to boast about.

If you talk to people about their beliefs, as I do regularly, if you ask why people expect to be received into heaven, they will usually say they do indeed expect to get into heaven and the reason is that they are good. They will usually say nothing about Jesus Christ. They often give the feeling that God will owe them eternal life.

But they are trusting in themselves and their moral ability to make the grade. They believe human beings can be good enough to merit—even require—God’s approval.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: We want to earn heaven on our own. We proudly imagine we can be good enough for God. We want to be able to boast in his presence, “I am a good person.”

God’s way: There is no one good, not one (Romans 3:9–20). No one will be able to stand before God on Judgment Day and claim to deserve to enter heaven apart from trusting in Jesus Christ and the forgiveness he provides in his death on the Cross.

Life principle: The right way to boast is to boast in the Lord, and the way to boast in the Lord is to make much of Jesus. When we put all our faith in Jesus Christ to save us, we are boasting in the Lord alone.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)