The Pitfalls of Pride, Part 1

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for the beauty of music. Thank you, Lord, for the greatness of all that you do. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that we can gather together today to worship you and all of your glory and splendor. Thank you that we can study the Gospels and see Jesus Christ and understand your ministry, the ministry that was about giving your life away. May we learn to understand that more for us so that we might emulate your life. Thank you that we can gather together on this Lord's day to study your word.

You truly are a great and wonderful God. We thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen. Turn with me in your Bible Luke chapter 9.

Luke chapter 9 verse number 46. We come to a very, very brief incident in the life of Christ with his disciples. It's really two occasions that are back to back and yet they sum up and end the ministry in Galilee. They are brief occasions but they give us monumental principles to live by. And yet this is the time that the ministry in Galilee begins to end because in verse 51 he resolutely sets his face to go to Jerusalem. And from Luke chapter 9 all the way to Luke chapter 19, the triumphal entry, he is making his way to Jerusalem.

It will cover the last six months of his life. It will take us about three to four years to cover those last six months of his life. But our disciples, these twelve men, will be in the school of training. They've been trained, they are being trained, and we've already seen what Christ has taught them up to this point in the region of Galilee. But now he is going to set his face on Jerusalem. He is going to make his way down the Jordan Valley. He's going to make his way to the city of Jerusalem. All the while training and teaching his men the most important truths they will need to know before he goes back to his father in heaven.

Now I don't know about you but how did they keep up with the Lord Jesus? I mean they didn't have notepad and pencil. They didn't have computers to take notes on. They didn't have a tape ministry where they could go and buy the tape in the local city and keep it going in a tape recorder just in case they might have missed a few words that he said in one of his sermons. I mean can you imagine how slow down Jesus? We have a hard time keeping up with what you're saying. We didn't get that point. Could you please repeat it for me?

Jesus was profound and these men were in this school of training. Jesus was their professor and we in an instance are going to that same school. We are at the feet of Jesus. We are listening to him teach his men. He becomes our professor. He becomes our master teacher. He becomes our our rabbi as he teaches us the principles that we need to understand for life and godliness. So we need to put ourselves in the sandals of the apostles and the lesson he's going to teach them in these last two incidents in Galilee are profound and they will touch the core of your being.

They will deal with the ugliness of your soul and he will expose that sinful prideful attitude that both you and I possess and it all begins with an argument that arose among the disciples. Let me read to you verses 46 down through verse 50.

And an argument arose among them as to which of them might be the greatest. But Jesus knowing what they were thinking in their heart took a child and stood him by his side and said to them whoever receives this child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you this is the one who is great. And John answered and said master we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to hinder him because he does not follow along with us. But Jesus said to him do not hinder him for he who is not against you is for you.

This little snippet of an incident two of them opens up to us the ugliness of our relationships. It's a story about pride and Christ will teach his men about humility. But it's a it's a story about pride and we're going to give you the pitfalls of pride. We're going to give you six pitfalls of pride that erupt out of this passage that expose our ugly heart. Because what's happening with this these men happens with us every single day. That's why I like what it says that Jesus knew what they were talking about on the way.

He knew what was in their heart. He would ask them a question what were you talking about on the way? Not because he needed information about what they were talking about. But because he wanted to teach them the truth about humility. Oh he knew what they were talking about but he wanted them to voice it. They would not by the way. They would keep silent because they were embarrassed. As you would be if if you were exposed if the Lord came and said what were you thinking about in your heart as the pastor was preaching this morning.

He'd be embarrassed to say to anybody especially to Jesus because he knows what's going on inside your heart. It's a story about pride. It's a story about individual pride as well as corporate pride. I think that's really interesting. They were arguing among themselves individually about who was the greatest in the kingdom. Who's the best disciple? Who's the greatest disciple? Who has the greatest ministry among the disciples? But it was also an argument and a telltale story about corporate pride because John would say you know Lord we saw somebody doing something and they're not a part of our little group.

And so we wanted to stop them from doing it. It was not only individual pride. It was corporate pride. It encompassed all of these men because pride encompasses all of us. There are not some of you in the room today that have pride and others who don't have pride. Just in case you didn't know all of you are filled with pride just like I am filled with pride. Pride is a killer. It's a destroyer of relationships. It's divisive. And so these men in their life begin to expose the nature of their fallenness.

In fact if you had to define what it was to be a fallen person it would be wrapped up in the word of self-centered. A fallen person is into self-exaltation. A fallen person is into himself. A fallen person is so prideful that they want to worship themselves. A fallen person is one who wants to be self-fulfilled. Virtues in our society but in God's economy they're sinful. We want to accentuate self-esteem. We want to accentuate self-worth, self-fulfillment, self-exaltation. We are really into those things in our society but Jesus wasn't.

Jesus was against all of those things because it just reminds us of our depravity. We think only of ourselves. We love ourselves just like these men loved themselves. The essence of fallenness is pride. The arrogance of our soul. It is the damning sin that produces rebellion against God. Pride seeks to dethrone God. Pride seeks to dismiss God. God. Pride is that which causes us to rebel against all that God is and all that God says.

It grips the sinner's heart. Pride is that which seeks to replace God with me so that I am exalted, so that I am recognized, so that I am on display, so that everybody knows that I did it or I said it or I found it. That's what pride does and it's the essence of our depravity. That's why it's so hard for people to come to a point of repentance. Because you see pride must be shattered. It must be destroyed. That's why Jesus said if any man come after me he must deny himself. Well the essence of pride is not to deny myself but to accentuate myself.

To exalt myself and Jesus says if you are into self-exaltation, if you are into you, then you can't come to me because you must be into me not into you.

So if any man come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. We learned about that in Luke chapter 9 verse number 23. Remember that? Many many weeks ago. Same chapter but it was a number of weeks ago. Coming to Christ means that I am into self-abasement, not into self-affirmation. Coming to Christ means that I am into self-suicide. Coming to Christ means that I no longer want to associate with myself any longer because I am sick of my sin. I am sick of the direction I'm going and I want to follow the king, my savior and the direction he has for me.

That's what salvation is. That's what happens when someone gives their life to Christ. Only when pride is overpowered with conviction of one's sinfulness and wretchedness can one truly be converted. The best example of that is the apostle Paul. Turn with me in your Bible to Philippians chapter 3 for a moment.

Philippians chapter 3 the apostle says these words. Verse 2, beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. In other words, beware of the false Christian. Beware of the false teacher. Beware of someone who was not truly converted. And Paul says these words, verse 3, for we are the true circumcision or we are the true marked ones or we are the true believers who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. How do you know a true believer?

He worships God in spirit. He glories in Christ, not in himself. He puts all of his confidence in God and no confidence in his flesh. That is the best definition of a Christian in all the Bible. He worships God in spirit. He glories in Christ Jesus and he puts no confidence in the flesh. That is the definition of someone who was truly converted. So Paul says, beware of the false person because this is what the true circumcision looks like. This is what the true believer looks like. And then he says this, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more.

Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as a zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness, which is in the law found blameless. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things that I count them, but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness, which comes from God on the basis of faith.

Paul says this, look, if anybody had a right to boast in the flesh, it was me. He lists all of his credentials and his credentials were monumental. But he says, when I came to Christ, I realized that all my self-righteousness, all of my self-exaltation, all of my self-affirmation, everything that I counted for self-worth and self-fulfillment and self-esteem were all worthless. They were, in his words, scubalon, excrement, all dung. They mean nothing compared to coming to know Christ as my Savior and as my Lord.

In other words, he says, when I realized who Christ was, what Christ did, I realized that everything I had done was rubbish. And what Christ had did for me was something I could not accomplish on my own. So I gave my life to Christ. Let me say it to you another way, because Paul would describe his conversion experience in Romans 7.

Turn to Romans 7 with me for a moment. This is all introductory to our text in Luke 9. I'll tell you why in a moment. In Romans 7, Paul gives his testimony of his conversion. This is a description of Philippians chapter 3. This is what happened when Paul realized that everything in his life was rubbish. Everything that he accomplished for his own purposes, for his own glory, meant nothing. What took place? Verse 9. And I was once alive apart from the law. In other words, I was alive. I ran my life.

I did my own thing. I did whatever I wanted to do. I knew that my way was the best way. I ran my life apart from the law. So he says, and I was once alive apart from the law. In other words, I have never or never came under the conviction of living in violation of God's law. I was never convicted that I was living opposed to God's law. I'd never come to that point of conviction. I was well alive, he says, apart from the law. But when the commandment came, sin became alive and I, what? I died. That's self-suicide.

That's self-denial. That's learning to take up my cross and follow Christ. That's why Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. I died to self. I died. I came to realize what the law said and I was brought under conviction by the spirit of God in my life. And this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me. Before you come alive in Christ, you die to self. See that? And therefore, he says, for sin taking opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me.

It speaks of him dying to self. It speaks of his being crucified to the flesh. It speaks the fact that the invasion of the spirit of God in the life of a person is a powerful, miraculous work of God. That's why we tell people when someone comes to Christ, they are a new creation. They're just not a revamped old person. They are a brand new creation because the spirit of God invades their life and they die to sin. They die to themselves and they are made alive under Christ because of the spirit's transforming work in their lives.

Can't do it on your own. Only God can do that. It's God who who crushes the corrupt soul. It's God who breaks the spirit and you become contrite. You become lowly in heart. As the Bible says, you you become poor in spirit.

That's why David said in Psalm 57 verse 51 verse number 17, a broken and contrite heart God will not despise. Over in Isaiah 66 verse number two, the prophet Isaiah said these words.

He said, God says that this is the man I will look to, to him who is broken and of a contrite heart and who trembles at my word.

Before that in Isaiah 57, it was these words that were spoken by God. Isaiah chapter 57 verse number 15, for that says the high and exalted one who lives forever, whose name is holy. I dwell on a high and holy place and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. You come to a place when you cry out to God, be merciful unto me, a sinner. You come to a place of contrition. You come to a place of repentance. You come to a place where you crucify the flesh.

You've died yourself because the invasion of God's spirit in your life transforms your life. Now, why have I told you all that? Because that's what happens when someone's saved. But have you noticed that sin still remains? Notice that?

Have you noticed that pride still remains? Have you noticed that although you have crucified the flesh, that the flesh sometimes seems to flop around inside of you and raise its ugly head? You ever notice that?

Let me give you an example. I was not at home one evening. I forget where I was, and I was coming back home, and there was a rattlesnake in our driveway. Now, I wasn't home at the time, and so my son Andrew, who, because I wasn't home, was now the patriarch of the family, took it upon himself to kill the rattlesnake, okay? Now, if you listen to the story, the snake gets bigger and bigger as the story goes on, you know. At first, it was a two and a half foot snake, and now it's a huge bull constrictor that wraps itself around my house.

It's this huge, huge snake, but in reality, it was about two and a half feet long, but it had curled up in a corner of my house on the outside, and Andrew had gotten a shovel and had, you know, was trying to get it out, and my wife, of course, has video of all this kind of stuff. My son trying to show off his athletic prowess with the shovel in his hand, trying to kill the snake. Finally, he got the snake out of the corner and chopped off its head.

That snake was dead, but the funny thing about that snake is that it still crawled, still flopped, and still rattled for a long period of time. In fact, it would stop for a moment, and Drew would go over to pick it up, and it would move and scurry away. It was dead. It was beheaded. The snake was as good as dead, but it began to flop around and to scurry around, even though it was dead. The same thing that happens in your life and mine, that although we have crucified the flesh, there is those sinful attitudes that creep up and flop around inside of us and show the ugliness of the old man.

The stench of the old man that's been crucified still remains, and sometimes that smell becomes so strong that it just destroys everybody around about us. Paul would speak about that later on in Romans 7. If you're still in Romans 7, Paul would say these words in verse number 15. For that which I am doing I do not understand, for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the law, confessing that it is good.

So now no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. He would go on to say down in verse number 24, O wretched man that I am. Paul realized that the things he wanted to do he didn't do, and the things he shouldn't be doing he was doing. And he realized that he was a wretched man. He realized that he was still a sinful man. See, the whole sanctification process in your life and mine, when we are sanctified, it's just a theological word that means to be set apart, we are set apart at salvation positionally in Christ because we are covered with the righteousness of Christ.

But there is that continual setting apart in practice whereby we match our practice with our position as we go through this life until one day we are glorified, until one day we are with our God and the completion of our salvation takes place because we are finally now glorified.

That's what heaven's all about. Sometimes I think that we miss what heaven is. Heaven is the absence of sin. Heaven is a place where there is no longer any sin. That's what makes heaven so great. And that's why sometimes we don't long for heaven because we still like our sin. But heaven is a place where there is no sin. And one day when we are glorified we will be free from sin. But in this life there is that sanctification process which is defined best by this. Sanctification is the triumph of humility over remaining pride in your life and mine.

That's what sanctification is. It's the triumph of humility over the pride that remains in your life and mine. The pride that still flops around even though the old man is crucified, even though the old man is dead. The stench still is strong at times, stronger at other times than at other times, but there is that triumph of humility over the remaining pride in my life. In fact, how do you measure spiritual maturity? Spiritual maturity is seen in my desire to relinquish myself and humble myself before God and before my fellow man.

And therefore my rights are set aside that I might honor someone else above myself. And then I begin to see that sanctification is beginning to take off in a great way in my life where I am becoming more and more spiritually mature. Humility is hard. It's a hard lesson to learn, isn't it? It's a very difficult lesson to learn. In fact, if you're here today and you think that you're going to learn a lesson on humility today and come back next week and get the final lesson on humility and therefore be humble the rest of your life, I got news for you.

It doesn't happen that way. I mean, if that was the case, the disciples would have learned it right here in Luke 9 and therefore they would have conquered their pride and been humble for the rest of their lives, but that was not the case. Pride is hard to break and humility is something that's difficult to accomplish. Only the Spirit of God can accomplish that in you. And our Lord wants his men to understand that as he talks to them in this chapter. In fact, you realize that just not too long after this, in fact, Matthew 18 and Mark 9 are the parallel passages to Luke 9.

So when you go back to Matthew chapter 20, which is an occasion that happens after this incident, it says in verse number 20, then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, bowing down and making a request of him, and he said to her, what do you wish? She said to him, command that in your kingdom, these two sons of mine may sit on your right and one on your left. But Jesus answered and said, you do not know what you are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?

And they said to him, that is James and John, we are able. He said to them, my cup you shall drink, but to sit on my right and on my left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my father. And hearing this, the 10 became indignant with the two brothers. So here in Luke 9, we have an argument that arose among the men about who was the greatest in the kingdom. Mom evidently wasn't there. So a few weeks later, mom comes to Jesus and says, I have two fine boys.

You know them. One is James and one is John. And I would like for you to make sure that one is on your right and one is on your left in the kingdom of God. Now, James and John would not be two guys that we would consider to be mama's boys. But on this occasion, they somehow were able to connive their mother to go and ask Jesus about where it is they could sit in the kingdom, because what they didn't learn in Luke 9, Matthew 18 and Mark 9 now becomes even more evident in Matthew chapter 20. And Jesus says, listen, are you able as he looks to James and John to drink the cup, which I drink in the cup is symbolic of wrath.

And the cup signifies the drinking in of all of the wrath that I am about to accomplish. And they said, we are evil, which accentuates their pride. Sure, we can do that. We can handle the wrath. We can handle the persecution. We can handle the problem. Just make sure one's on the right and one's on the left. And Jesus says, that's not for mine to give.

And notice the text says that the other 10 were indignant about James and John and their request. You want to know why they were indignant? Because they didn't think about asking their mother to come and talk to Jesus. That's why they were angry. James and John had a brilliant idea in their own mind. Get mom to ask, get mom to do it. See pride still raises his ugly head. And even later on in Luke chapter 22, turn to Luke 22 with me for a moment. This is the eve, excuse me, of his crucifixion. And the argument is raised again.

Luke 22 verse number 24. And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be the greatest. Boy, pride dies hard, doesn't it? Humility is not so easy to accomplish. And these men exemplify the fact, now these men, listen carefully. These men had already made the great confession. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. They know the identity of Christ. In John 6, they've made it very well clear to everyone else when Jesus says, will you go away also?

Where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life. We're not going anywhere. You're the king. You have the right words. We're following you. They have already made their commitment known. It's there. And yet, and yet pride seeks to rule. Down deep inside of me, I want to be recognized. I want to be known. I want to be the alpha dog. I want to be the one who is recognized by all. I want to be the best. Down deep inside of me, there is the ugliness of pride that says, I want to be the greatest.

Maybe it's the greatest wife. Maybe it's the greatest preacher. Maybe it's the greatest athlete. Maybe it's the greatest plumber. I don't know what it is. But down deep inside of me, I want to be the best. And I want everybody to recognize that I'm the best. Down deep inside, the ugliness of remaining sin is vile. And these men exemplify that. These men demonstrate that. And I wish that, you know, we could give you a lesson on pride and talk to you about humility and everybody adapt and say, okay, man, I'm off to be humble.

Doesn't work that way. Because you see, on the human side, where we are, there is the understanding of scripture. There is a study of scripture. There's a recognizing of what the word of God says.

That's on the human side. And if that's all there was that was needed to become humble before the Lord and to serve the Lord with great humility, that would be great. That would mean that those who go to Bible believing churches would manifest that humbleness on a regular basis. But we don't. Our pride, our arrogance erupts in our homes because we don't want our wives telling us what to do. We are the leaders of our home and we don't want our wives crossing over on our territory. And we already know from Genesis 315 that the woman's desire will be to control her husband, to rule her husband.

That's what she wants to do. Ladies, that's what you want to do. Now, you might not admit that, but the Bible says that's what you want to do.

That's why you have conflict in your marriage. Pride seeks to rule, see? Seeks to be the greatest. And so, if it was just the human side in the study of scripture, that would be one thing, but there is a divine side. And the divine side is not something that we readily like to hear about, but it's the truth. And that is the suffering that God brings into our lives to humble us. Without the scripture, we would not understand what Christ is doing. But Christ causes us to suffer, causes us to go through daring times, difficult times, hard times, because that's what crushes the independent spirit.

You see, we need to live lives dependent upon God, but we are so used to being independent that God brings suffering and persecution and trials into our lives to crush that hard heart of ours, that independent spirit. And sometimes we bear it down and we knock it down and we say, I will not break, I will not break, I will not break. And God is trying to teach us a lesson that we will not listen to. How do we know that? Turn to the Bible to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. Peter says in verse 5, you younger men likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Now think about that understanding Luke chapter 9 and the argument that arose among them as to who would be the greatest. And Peter says, humble yourselves. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Sometimes the grace of God is absent in our lives because of our arrogance and pride. We want God to do something, but we are so arrogant and so prideful that we can't go to the throne of grace, humble ourselves, and ask God to bestow grace upon us because we are just too arrogant to do that, too independent of God to do that.

And Peter says, clothe yourself with humility toward one another. Peter would know he didn't do that. Now where did he learn that from? John chapter 13, Luke chapter 22. We read Luke 22 where an argument arose among them about who would be the greatest. That was the night of the last Passover that was celebrated by the Christ before his crucifixion. They had just celebrated the last Passover and Christ transformed that third cup of blessing into the, this blood is the new covenant in my blood.

Remember that? He transformed everything. It was after that last supper that there arose an argument once again about who was the greatest in the kingdom. So what did Jesus do? You will note that Jesus this time said nothing outside this fact, that he got up, quietly clothed himself with an apron, and began to wash his disciples' feet. Remember that story? And the Bible says these words in John chapter 13.

John chapter 13, Jesus says these words, if I then the Lord and the teacher washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Now people say, well, that means that we're to wash each other's feet. No, that's not what it means. It simply means a very practical principle. These men once again were self-absorbed. These men could only think of themselves. And so in the midst of the turmoil that Christ himself was facing and going to face the next day at Calvary, his men began to argue about who was the greatest. He just told them that this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

I'm going to die for you. And all they could think of was themselves. So an argument erupted once more as to who was greatest. So Christ got up, filled a basin with water, and he took a slave's apron and he tied it in a knot. Same word that Peter uses in 1 Peter 5, when he says, clothe yourself with humility. It's a word that means to tie in a knot. He's reflecting back in what happened way back in John 13, Luke 22, the eve of the crucifixion and saying, you need to humble yourselves. Jesus says in John chapter 13, if you do these things, you are blessed.

What? Wash somebody else's feet? No. It's not about washing somebody else's feet. What is it about then? Simply this. When adversity is present in your life, humility must be primary in your life. So ministry is powerful in your life. And that's exactly what Jesus did. Adversity was present. He was going to die. He was going to be betrayed that night by Judas. And so while all his men were arguing about who was the greatest, Jesus gets up. He ties a slave apron in a knot. He fills the wash basin.

He goes and quietly begins to wash his men's feet because he wants to serve them. He wants to demonstrate to them that it's not about who's the greatest. It's about the one who serves. And the one who serves is the greatest. And the time of service is at its best when nobody cares for you. When you are all alone and nobody is in your corner rallying behind you and no one is saying, boy, I'm sorry about what you're going to go through tomorrow. I know it's a difficult time. Your service and your ministry is the most powerful when nobody cares about your life and all they can care about is themselves.

And you decide to clothe yourself with a slave's apron, humble yourself and to serve your fellow man. Because then you know that God will give grace to those who humble themselves. That's what Peter says. So Peter says, verse six, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. What's that? The mighty hand of God is a phrase used in the Old Testament to signify two things. One, the discipline of Israel and two, the destiny of Israel. So Peter says, picks up an Old Testament phrase and says, this is what you need to do.

Amidst all of your adversity, amidst all of your pain, all of your loneliness, all of your suffering, all of your anxiety, you need to submit yourself under the mighty hand of God's discipline and the mighty hand of God's destiny for your life at that point. And when you do that, when you do that, he says this, he may exalt you at the proper time. God's going to exalt you. But not until you humble yourself under God's mighty hand of discipline and God's mighty hand of destiny and say, okay, God, I'm done fighting.

I'm done arguing. I'm done kicking and I'm done screaming. I will do, Lord, what you say. I will follow you humbly. I will do what you ask. And God will exalt you at the proper time. But Peter's not done. He says, cast all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, but resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of your suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who calls you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. After you have suffered for a while, look what God will do to you. He will perfect you. He will establish you. He will confirm you. He will solidify you. He will, he will make you firm and strong. God will do that. Peter knew. Peter was an arrogant, insolent, prideful man. And yet he knew what it meant to humble himself under the mighty hand of God's destiny.

He learned his lesson, but it didn't come until after a great amount of suffering, pain. Paul was the same way, by the way. 2 Corinthians 12, remember? He was exalted to the third heaven.

He got a vision of, of heaven. And God says that you can't tell anybody what you saw. Imagine that. You go to heaven. You can't tell anybody what you saw. Why, why, why would that be? Remember the guy who wrote the book, 90 Minutes in Heaven? He said he went to heaven. He was there for 90 minutes. I don't know. Did he have a clock watching him? I don't know how long he had. I don't know. How do you know? You know, he wrote a book on it. Not right away, by the way. It wasn't after until somebody gave him the idea that if you write a book, you'll make money on it.

So he wrote a book, made money on it, 90 Minutes in Heaven. Paul says, I was exalted to the third heaven.

And God says, okay, now you can't tell anybody what you saw. And on top of that, Paul says, I was given a thorn in the flesh so I could not exalt myself. So I couldn't walk around and say, hey man, look, man, I went to heaven and you know what I saw? Oh my, you should have seen what I saw. It was amazing. But Paul says, no, I was given a thorn in the flesh so that I would not exalt myself. And I asked God three times, God take it away. And God gave the same answer all three times, no, no. And one more time, no.

And Paul said, because it was through my weaknesses, I would experience his grace and become strong. And therefore I glory in my weaknesses because through him I experience strength. See that? It's through that suffering. And when I suffer and I go back to the scripture and I put the two together, I begin to realize what God is teaching me, how he wants to humble me, how he wants me to come under his mighty hand of destiny, how he wants me to take the slave's apron and tie the knot and bow down and serve those who are so self-absorbed that I might be able to understand the ministry of Christ.

And that's what Luke nine is about. Go back there with me if you would, please. I know my time is gone, but I, I got at least introduced the first point to you so I can say I got into the text.

An argument arose among them as to which of them would be the greatest. The first pitfall of pride is this, that it destroys unity.

It destroys unity. This was the first generation of preachers. They were to be united. This was the first generation of missionaries.

They had to be one. They had to be yielded to one another, encourage one another, serve one another, honor one another. But instead there arose an argument among these men as to who would be the greatest. Remember what Paul said in Ephesians chapter four, verse number one, he said these words, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

In other words, you need to walk practically how you are positionally in Christ. You need to match the two. He says, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Folks, listen, as a church, we cannot develop unity. We can only destroy unity. We have to be diligent at preserving what God has already accomplished in our lives. And that is, he's made us one in him. We are unified in him.

And so Paul says, you must be diligent. You must work overtime to preserve what God has accomplished in your life. And these men did all they could to destroy what Christ wanted to accomplish in their lives. An argument arose among them as to which would be the greatest. Pride destroys unity. It devastates relationship. It is so divisive. It is so critical. It is so judgmental. And one of the reasons that is, is remember in Romans chapter 12, verse number three, Paul says, I urge you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.

Why would he say that? Because we tend to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. He says, don't do that. But we are forever thinking that we are better than we really are. And the reason we do that is because we violate 2 Corinthians 10, verse number 12, which says, those who compare themselves among themselves are not wise. We want to look at ourselves better than we are because we want to measure ourselves against somebody else.

We measure our marriage against somebody else's marriage. We measure our church against somebody else's church. We measure our life against somebody else's life. We measure my giftedness against somebody else's giftedness. And the Bible says those who measure themselves by themselves are fools.

They're not wise. And it leads us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. God wants us to compare ourselves with him. See, we say, look at me, look at me, look at me.

Look at you. Look at me. Who wants to look at you? Look at me. That's our attitude. And God says, no, no, no, no, no.

Don't look outward. Look upward. Look at me, God says. If you look at me, you'll see you in your sinfulness, your pride, your arrogance.

And you won't measure yourself against anybody else any longer. Compare yourself to me. Don't compare your ministry to somebody else's ministry. Don't compare your family to somebody else's family. Don't compare your giftedness with somebody else's giftedness. Don't compare your church with somebody else's church. Don't compare your life with somebody else's life. Don't compare your marriage with somebody else's marriage. You're a fool if you do, Paul says. Compare everything to God. You'll always fall short.

You'll always cry out for mercy. You'll humble yourself before him and say, God, show me mercy. Be merciful to me. And that's why the Bible says in Psalm 40, verse number five, none can compare with thee, O God.

None can. And Proverbs 3, 7 says, Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear God and turn from evil. Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear God. Look to God. Fear him. And you'll turn from your evil ways. An argument arose among them as to who would be the greatest. Next time you're in an argument, you have those, do you? Next time you have an argument with your children, next time you have an argument with your spouse, next time you have an argument with your boss, next time you have an argument with your employees, ask yourself, is it an argument because I want to be the greatest?

I want to be recognized. I want to be the best. I want to be seen. Is it about you? Or is it about putting God on display so that he himself is glorified? Pride destroys unity. It fractures relationships. It devastates homes. It's the root of all kinds of sin. And may God give us the grace to humble ourselves before him, that we might learn to serve our fellow brethren. There's a reason that the Lord God would take a child and set that child in the midst of them and teach them a lesson, a lesson I wish they would have learned, but they didn't.

It would take them quite a while to learn it. My prayer for you and me is that it wouldn't take us as long as it took them to learn the lesson about humility, because we listen to the Word of God and apply it to our lives. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for today. What a joy. What a joy it is to realize, Lord, that in spite of all of our wretched, sinful lives, you still love us. You love us with an everlasting love. And you want us, Lord Jesus, to follow and serve you with humility. And I pray that that would be the case.

I pray, Lord, that you would deal with each of us as you see fit, that our lives might bring glory and honor to your beautiful name. Truly, Lord, you are great. None compares with thee. May we not measure ourselves by ourselves. May we look at our lives in light of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and compare ourselves to you, and to realize that you are perfect and we are not.

And may we learn to follow humbly at your feet, serving others. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.