For the past few weeks, it has become apparent, as I have sought to find applications, that the root of many (if not all) of our problems is the sin of pride. It is something that is so great and evil that we should not allow it to linger in our lives. And yet it is so commonplace among us that we’ve accepted it as a part of who we are. It is as if there is a big tree growing up through our living room, and instead of cutting it down, we simply walk around it and adjust to it as if it is good, right, and normal for it to be there.
Therefore, this morning I want to try to expose our hearts and minds that we might see the pride that dwells there, and then try to arm us with something that might serve as an axe, as it were, cutting at the base of this tree that we too often ignore.
I think the axe that we should arm ourselves with is found in verses 28-30 of Luke 18. However, before we get there, I want us to see a few things that are apparent in the preceding verses. For the truths that are apparent here very much lay a foundation for the truth that we will see in these final verses.
Probably all of us have heard this story. A rich, young ruler comes up to Jesus and asks him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds citing the Ten Commandments, to which the ruler answers, “All these things I have kept from my youth” (v. 21). Then, Jesus says to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess, and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (v. 22). Finally, Luke tells us that when the rich, young ruler heard this, “He became very sad; for he was extremely rich” (v. 23).
Why did he go away sad that day instead of following Jesus?
I think the answer is that though he was willing to do many external things, he was unwilling to put Christ first in his heart. And following Christ costs you everything. Again, the parable in Matthew 13:44 is a good picture, where Christ tells us, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.” For following Christ means that you find in him enough value that you would give up everything else to follow him.
Now, for the rich young ruler, the thing he was unwilling to let go of was his riches. His money had a tighter grip on his heart than Jesus did, and thus he left sad. For us it might be a number of other things that have our heart in the place of Christ. If Christ is not the very utmost in our heart, then we cannot say that we love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
To follow Christ means that he is your Lord. Which in turn means that we obey his every word. We have forfeited our right to direct our own lives.
For many of you, this is probably quite real as God has called you to mission work. You probably grew up wanting to do something that everyone revered, and yet when God took hold of your heart and called you to that work, you knew that you had to obey. He had your heart. To do anything else would be miserable, and you understand Jeremiah as he declared that even when he wanted not to speak that it was like a fire in his bones and he could not hold it in.
For all of us who know Christ as our Lord, we have seen the impossible come about in our lives. For as the rich young ruler walked away, Jesus told his disciples, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (vv. 24-25).
And this includes all of us. There are very few in America that aren’t rich. We can all go to our homes this afternoon. None of us are forced to miss too many meals. We all are able to receive education if we want it. Most of us have cars. And most of us think (along with most everyone else in this country) that we are entitled to everything that we cannot afford. We’re rich. Jesus could have spoken those words directly to us on that day.
But how then do we sit here now? How do we know Christ as our Lord when Jesus says that it is “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God?” Or to put it as the disciples did, “Who then can be saved?”
The answer is in the response that Jesus gave them, “The things impossible with men are possible with God” (v. 27).
The reason that we know Christ as our Lord today, and the reason that we can say that we cannot help but follow him is because he has done the impossible for us. He has taken hold of our hearts when our hearts were unwilling to come to him. He has opened our eyes to his beauty that we might see it so clearly that we would be unable not to grab hold of him.
Or to say it another way, the reason that we have left all and followed him is that we have responded to his call and now he holds our heart. The reason why we cannot enjoy the sins that we enjoyed before coming to him is because he has changed our heart. The reason why our lives are not our own is because he has bought them for himself with his own blood.
Such a realization should bring us great joy and humility. But often in the midst of that realization we feel something much the opposite. Often we have this feeling of pride and self-pity. Instead of feeling what should overcome our hearts, we feel the very thing that we wished we had overcome. And in our daily battle, it seems always to be presenting itself to us as our greatest temptation.
Though pride and self-pity seem different if not the opposite, I believe they are simply different sides of the same coin. Though maybe too simplistic, I think the difference between the two is only whether or not others know of your sacrifices.
In other words, for many of you who have been called to sacrifice much in following Christ see note 1), you might be tempted with pride or self-pity. For if you are making all these sacrifices and men are around to applaud you, pat you on the back, and speak highly of you, then you will probably be tempted with pride. You will be tempted to think that you really are a great person and above those who are not making the sacrifices that you are making.
However, if you are making many sacrifices and nobody sees you, or applauds you, or speaks highly of you, then you will probably be tempted with self-pity. You will be tempted to think that you are a great person, doing more than others, and yet you will feel sorry for yourself because you will feel that you are being robbed of your due recognition.
Thus in my mind, pride and self-pity are the same monster. One simply surfaces when you are recognized in your sacrifice of everything to follow Christ, and the other comes out when you fail to be recognized.
And don’t we battle with these every day? Every day I feel that I am fighting off pride or self-pity, and so often losing the battle.
But how do we battle it? I think we see how in verses 28-30. Upon hearing Jesus declare to the rich young ruler that he had to sell everything and follow him and watching him walk away, and upon hearing Jesus say that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, Peter says, “Behold, we have left our own homes, and followed you” (v. 28).
Now, I don’t know how Peter said this, but I tend to think he said it out of either pride or self-pity. That is to say, he either was saying, “Jesus, we’ve left all to follow you and so aren’t we pretty great? We’ve done the impossible.” or “Jesus, we’ve left all; why won’t you recognize us when we’ve done all this above others?”
However, it could be a completely innocent inquiry. Peter could have simply been saying, “Jesus, in light of what you just said, have we done what is required to follow you?”
But even if it was not a statement from pride and self-pity, Jesus still gives us the solution to dealing with pride and self-pity in the Christian life. He says in verses 29-30, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”
And with that, I think he eliminates any foundation we may have built upon which we hold our pride and self-pity.
What did he do?
He reminded us that there is no real sacrifice in the Christian life. It is impossible to sacrifice as a Christian. Peter claims to have left his home to follow Christ. But Jesus tells him that no one can sacrifice anything except that they be given a hundred times as much in this lifetime and eternal life in the life to come (see note 2). A renewal of your mind to this realization will make pride and self-pity nearly impossible to maintain.
How does this happen? Well, let’s break it down. Why do we feel pride? We feel pride because we think we are making a great sacrifice and everyone around us is telling us the same thing. Why do we feel self-pity? Again, because we feel that we are making a great sacrifice and no one around us is recognizing it.
So what do you do if you destroy the fact that we can truly sacrifice? You destroy the basis for pride and self-pity. And that is what Jesus did.
Think of the hardest thing that Christ could cause you to give up to follow him. Maybe it is leaving your parents to obey him. Well, Jesus tells us that the comfort and companionship that your parents give you will be given to you one hundred fold now through his church and himself. Thus, how can we see that as a great sacrifice. And that is true without even mentioning that after this we have heaven for an eternity.
To think that we as Christians sacrifice is like thinking that the individual who gives someone a five dollar bill and in return receives five hundred dollars has sacrificed. We only can truly think we have sacrificed if we forget Jesus’ words in Luke 18:29-30.
For the Christian, sacrifice is impossible.
David Livingston was a missionary to Africa who went through much adversity, however, as you listen to his words to the students at Cambridge University in 1857, you will see that he knew this reality. He said,
“For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa … Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing for the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice” (see note 3).
May these words echo in our minds. May Christ’s reminder of the joy that we have in following him be the axe that we might lay strike at the tree of pride and self-pity.
O God, grant us the grace to see the reward of you! Destroy our pride and self-pity. Amen.