Part 5 - Men Submit Unto Christ Series

The Home as God Intended

Part 5 – MEN: Submit unto Christ

Rev. Bruce A. Shields

First Baptist Church of Tawas City Michigan

www.TawasBaptist.org

WELCOME

PRAYER

SCRIPTURE READING

Luke 18:9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about[a] himself: ’God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ’God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Pride is the idolatrous worship of self.

We discussed the importance of the family structure.

We understand that for us to receive God’s blessings, protection and all of the benefits and promises of the Bible, our house must belong to him.

Christ MUST be the head of the man, and therefore the man will rightly be the spiritual head of the house.

But as long as the man has pride, Christ is not his head.

James 4:6-7

“…"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."[b]

7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

If you have pride, you are in opposition to God.

If you are not humble, God gives you no grace.

Submit yourselves to God, THEN you will be able to resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Pride MUST die in you or nothing in heaven can live in you.

James 4:1

“1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”

James asks the question to Jewish Christians (Christian Jews?) at the time, but the question is more of a rhetorical nature.

PRIDE SAYS “I am not responsible for the turmoil in my life. It’s not my fault.” – Kids, young adults

But in reality, the true cause of most turmoil in life stems from the desires of the heart. – The battle between flesh & spirit

PRIDE SAYS “I want something, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get it.”

Their hearts desire for something becomes more important then their peace, and relationship with God.

But if we fill our heart with the word of God by reading it like we’re supposed to, then our hearts will be filled with God’s word and His will instead of our desire and our will.

Flesh against spirit.

The flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.

This eternal war wages in the heart and mind of man.

We’ve been blaming others out of pride since the fall of man.

It’s not my fault. It was the woman. (We blame our spouses.)

The woman YOU gave me! (We blame God.)

We blame our circumstances.

Pride says “As long as you understand, it’s NOTHING YOU DID!”

Pride is demanding of other’s.

James 4:2a

“You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want.”

PRIDE SAYS “If you don’t contribute to MY desires, then I will walk all over you. I may even destroy you.” Sound familiar?

Cain was the perfect example.

The desires of his heart, his pride, led to the killing of his brother.

James 4:2b-3a

“You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…”

PRIDE SAYS “I don’t need to ask God for anything. I’m self sufficient.”

Or rather,

PRIDE SAYS “I’ll ask God for what I want, but don’t expect any commitment out of me.”

Pride keeps us far from God.

Isaiah 14:12-15

“12 How you have fallen from heaven,

O morning star, son of the dawn!

You have been cast down to the earth,

you who once laid low the nations!

13 You said in your heart,

"I will ascend to heaven;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,

on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. [c]

14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High."

15 But you are brought down to the grave,

to the depths of the pit.”

When the disciples asked Jesus how they should pray, Jesus said to them “THY will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”