Ok, we got today’s very important birthday taken care of.... so let’s get started as we wrap up our series of messages today on what we have been calling the C-Team...or those guys that we have come to call apostles...the ones that followed Jesus around during the entire time he was on Earth...the ones that he tasked with being his witnesses and started his church...and the ones that we hopefully have learned this month that were really no different than anybody else.... they were very average people...in today’s world they would be the plumbers, farmers, and other blue collar workers...hence the name we have given them...the C Team.
Let’s quickly recap what we have talked about this past month...first we talked about Peter and how he has often been ridiculed by others for his lack of faith and all he often got wrong...but we also pointed out that he was the only one who wasn’t afraid to get out of the boat. The next week we covered Nathaniel or Bartholomew and how he questioned whether or anyone notable could come out of Nazareth.... and how his buddy Philip simply brought him to Jesus to make his decision.... and last week we talked about Matthias...the one selected to fill Judas’ spot and how fulfilled the basic requirements that God had to complete his roster and we also talked about how we should not raise or lower God’s requirements ourselves...and today we conclude with a look at the apostle Paul. Maybe the best way to describe our series is that Peter and Paul are the bookends...we started with a "major" apostle and then talked about two very unfamiliar ones...and now we end with the man who I think is the most important one in the New Testament after Jesus.
As we begin today I want to ask you...are you familiar with the so called "seven deadly sins?" These sins are ones that many have been elevated.... they are viewed as being worse in some form or fashion than others. Included in this list are gluttony, envy, greed sloth, and....pride. So, someone, somewhere, ranked all the possible sins that one could commit and ranked among these "bad" sins is pride.... so, can you guess what we’re going to talk about today...did I give it away? That’s right...pride.
Webster...he defines pride this way: an inordinate self-esteem, delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship, and a reasonable and justifiable self-esteem. All these definitions are for the same word...so, that makes me ask the question...is pride always wrong?
Let’s take just a minute and answer that question...what can we be proud of? Well, me personally, you know one thing I am proud of...the fact that I am Suzy’s dad. Another thing I am proud of is that me, an ugly old country boy married a beautiful lady...I am proud of my son even though I haven’t met him yet...I am also proud of being the minister of this church. I am proud of being a United States Marine...I am proud of the fact that I graduated from college...my sister and I are the first generation in my mother’s family that both kids in a family graduated from college. My cousins are well on their way...but we were the first. This is just the tip of the iceberg...I have so much in my life to be happy and proud about...so...because I feel this way...does that mean that I am committing one of the so called "seven deadly sins?" Does the fact that I experience pride...does that mean that I am sinful?
Let’s turn this around a little bit...what in your life are you proud of? Some of you...your in the same boat that I am in.you have a child you haven’t met yet to be proud of...others you have grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be proud of. For others...it might be your job...or maybe its your house...your car...you education...I am willing to bet that everyone of us have something in our lives to be proud of. So, the question returns...if you are proud of those things.... does that mean that you are living a life of sin and you have to give up your pleasure in them?
We’re going to answer that question today and we’re going to start in Philippians. So, those of you that have your Bibles with you turn over to the third chapter. We’re going to read that Paul...he had a lot of things to be proud about...here was a man who had it all going for him...if he lived today there would be some impressive set of initials after his name. Maybe it would be CEO...PhD...or something else. This was a man who was on his way to the top...yet...today we will read about his attitude toward those things. Again, we’re going to be reading out of Philippians chapter three...we’ll start with verse one and end with verse eleven.
So...ok...we read here all the things that Paul lists that he has to be proud of...he says that if he wanted to...he could "have confidence" in these things. Again...like we do almost every week...in order to get a complete understanding...we have to go back to the original language...which is in this case is the Greek verb PI-tho. Confidence is one of the meanings...but it goes much deeper than that.... this confidence is the same as having faith...a saving faith...trusting in them for salvation.
You see...at the time that Paul wrote this letter there was some people going into the local churches and they were teaching that salvation was a result of Christ AND something else. To them, Jesus he needed some help in bringing about salvation. What they were teaching was this: accepting Christ was necessary for salvation but in addition to this you also had to be circumcised.... you also had to follow the Mosaic Law...and that included the Food Laws. In order to understand this we have to remember that Christianity got its start among the Jewish people. They had grown up observing these laws and they didn’t let go of them very easily. In fact, practically all of them continued to observe the Mosaic Law even after they became Christians. Paul himself continued to be a functioning after his conversion. He is at the temple offering sacrifices when he is arrested for the last time in Acts...so they didn’t immediately let go of the law...and I would say that quite possibly was not an issue.
But...here...there IS a problem.... Philippi...it’s a Gentile City. In fact, if we read the account of the conversion of Lydia.... there’s not even a Jewish synagogue...Paul had to go to the river to teach. So...these Jewish believers who have not let go of the law...they have come to the Gentile believers and started to teach them that they had to do all these things in order to be saved.... and circumcision...it’s one of them.
Sounds kind of like what we talked about last week, doesn’t it? Here we have some people who are adding to the requirements to please God...and these extra requirements are a part of their own personal preferences. Convenient, isn’t? No one ever "adds" anything that they don’t personally agree with, do they?
Paul...he has a different opinion...he calls these Judaizers "dogs" and what they are preaching he calls "mutilation." He then goes through a list of things that he could be proud of.... let’s take a look at just a few of those things.
First, he says that he was circumcised on the eighth day. This, of course, was the requirement of the Jewish Law...so he had done the very things that these Judaizing teachers were requiring.
Next he says that he is "of the stock of Israel".... he’s of the tribe of Benjamin...and he is a Hebrew of Hebrews. He has already brought out that he was obedient to the Law concerning circumcision...and now he is showing that he is a card-carrying member of God’s chosen, covenantal people. He is from the line of Abraham...thus he can claim the promise of the "old" covenant. So...Paul is a circumcised Jew...but he isn’t just any ordinary Jew.
He next tells us that he was a Pharisee. Let’s back up a little bit here...remember a month or two ago we were talking about the Semitic culture of the first century and we learned that there were two classes of people...the rich and the poor...the haves and the have nots. Just in case we forgot or you weren’t here that day...let me tell you...the Pharisees...they were a part of the haves. They had social standing, power, leadership, and riches. The ruling Jewish council was made up of Pharisees and Sadducees. Paul...as a Pharisee...he had everything going for him.
That’s not all...Paul says in Acts 22 that he was educated by the rabbi Gamaliel...the same Gamaliel that we read about in Acts 5...the one who is "respected by all the people" and who stands in speaks in middle of the Sanhedrin. We have to back up again for a moment...back to the first week of this series...Paul...he was one of the best of the best of the best...he was chosen to continue his education past the basic level. He had every reason to be proud...proud of his race...proud of his background...proud of his education...in fact, he says that as far as the law went...he was blameless. If anybody had a reason to be proud and to have confidence in all that they have and were...it was Paul.
But...what does he say...he considers all these things to be a loss for the sake of Christ...and he goes as far to say that he considers them to be rubbish. This is the only time this word...skoo-bal-on appears in the New Testament...and it is probably for a good reason...because the literal translation...is dung...manure...or as we say around our house..."potty". These things that Paul could be so proud of...that he could boast about.... he says that their are worth as much to him as the contents of a cat’s litter box.... they are worthless.
Not hardly the Paul we encounter at the start of Acts, is it? What does Luke tells us in Acts...Paul...he breathes out murderous threats against the church...he gets letters from the Sanhedrin to throw members of the "The Way" in prison.... he is determined to rid the world of this Jesus...he is sure of his education...he is sure of his interpretation of the law...he is sure that this carpenter can not be the Messiah...he knows that these things that he can take such great pride in.the things he knows to be true...they will result in his salvation. God, though, he had other plans.
It’s kind of like that Charles Dickens story...A Christmas Carol. Scrooge begins the story as a total miser and jerk...and he ends as almost a saint. Paul.... he begins his career as a prideful, hateful Pharisee and he ends it a totally different person...even telling the Philippians that the things that used to be important to him...they are as valuable as manure.
I think we all know the story of the conversion of Paul...in fact it was the first sermon I preached at this church...but it goes so much deeper than just that experience. God...he realized that he had to bring Paul down...to bring him to a point of total dependence. Let’s think back to what we are told Paul went through: he spends years in Arabia...just getting to know God...he flees Damascus by being lowered in a basket.... he says in 2nd Corinthians 11 that five times he had received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one...three times he was beaten with rods...he was stoned once...shipwrecked three times...and he goes on to list all the other things that he endured...and I am convinced that this was God’s will that he endure these things...what is Annanias told in Acts? God tells him that Paul will be shown all the things he must suffer for the sake of Christ. How can we conclude anything else then these trials were from God?
You see, in order for Paul to be a member of the C Team...in order for him to be able to be of service to God...he had to be brought down from his religious high horse...he had to realize that all those things he had...without Christ...they were as valuable as trash.... as valuable as manure. God...he didn’t want religious Paul...he didn’t want Paul the Pharisee...he wanted Paul the average man...Paul the evangelist.
And Paul, he got the point...he says in this section of scripture...that he had to count all these things as rubbish so that he could gain Christ.
So, the question is...have we been brought down that low? I know that none of us have been beaten, shipwrecked, or stoned...but have we been brought down off of our religious high horse...have we let go of our pride.... have we counted all other things as worthless so that we may know Christ?
Clive Staples Lewis...who is better known as C.S. Lewis...he had this to say about pride in his book Mere Christianity:
“According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison; it was through Pride that the devil became the devil; Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind...If you want to find out how proud you are the easiest way is to ask yourself, ‘How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronize me, or show off?’ The point is that each person’s pride is in competition with everyone else’s pride. It is because I am so annoyed at someone else being the big noise. Two of a trade never agree. Now what you want to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive - is competitive by its very nature - while the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.”
Now, if you have had me tuned out up until now I want you to listen now...this part is very important. C.S. Lewis...he points out something very important here...your pride.... it is competitive by its very nature. The pride that you have in your heart will compete against your desire to be a servant of God. Paul is a good example...he had to let go of these things that previously meant so much to him.
Now, let’s be clear here for a second: there is nothing wrong with being happy or even proud of something...in the happy sense of the term. Paul was educated and he was able to use that education in the service of Christ...he was a Jew...he was able to use that as well...these things were not something to be ashamed of and to totally discard. That is not what he is saying that they are as valuable as rubbish to him.
What he is saying...compared to knowing Christ...they are rubbish. It is ok to be proud of your children...as long as you realize that compared to knowing Christ...they are nothing. That’s kind of hard to swallow isn’t it...but it’s the truth. It’s ok to pursue education...to study.... to equip yourself...as long as you understand that compared to knowing Christ...your education is rubbish. Jesus said that you can only have one master…if you try to have two they will compete against each other and one will win. What is most important in your life? What has been relegated to the status of rubbish…. is it all your qualifications…or is it Christ. Rest assured…. one of them is…so, which one is it?
If you have accepted Christ as your Savior…the answer to that question is easy…because the one on the refuse pile is the Son of God. It may not be intentional…but it is true all the same. You see, pride…it goes both ways. For those who call themselves Christian…pride can keep you from Christ…. and those that aren’t Christians…pride can keep you from Christ as well. We have already talked about how it can keep Christians away…we begin to see ourselves as more important than what we actually are…we begin to rely on our education and our status just as the Judaizers were relying on circumcision. But how can pride keep you from accepting Christ?
It happens when you tell yourself that you are not that bad of a person…that you don’t need Christ…that you have done nothing really to offend him. Yes, it might be true that you aren’t Jack the Ripper…but your still as far from God as any mass murderer. The moment that you committed your first sin…then you were as far from God as you are due to your 1,000th or 1,000,000th sin. There is no other way back but by Christ. That voice that is telling you that you don’t need him…that’s your pride. That rationalization in your mind that is telling you that you are not a sinner…that is your pride. Your pride is the biggest obstacle that you have to overcome in order to come to him. It’s a matter of simply coming to your senses…and realizing that you can’t do it on your own…that you need someone to help you. Your goodness will not get you home…because good is never good enough…the only way back is through the cross.
So, as we wrap up this series on the C Team…which one of these men are you? Are you Peter…. ready to get out of the boat? Are you Nathaniel…doubting that anything good can from Nazareth? Are you Matthias…recognizing the core requirements of God…or are you Paul…realizing that all the things that used to mean so much to you…they aren’t so important after all? Maybe you are a combination of all four. We have said it every week…membership on the C Team…it’s still open…you only have to take the first step to join…everything else has been done for you. Please…if you want to accept him…don’t put it off…instead come as we pray and sing.
