Last Sunday we introduced the “Upside Down Teachings of Jesus”. The teaching of Jesus that just don’t make sense to most people. Today’s sermon will continue that theme by focusing on Jesus’ teaching: “the Last shall be First, and the First shall be Last”.
OPEN: When my dad first married my mom, they were sharecroppers. They’d rent farms and work them for a percentage of the income from the crops. One of the ways he subsidized his income was by milking cows and he had about a dozen cows out in the barn.
One day a salesman came to the farm wanting to show dad a new device called a “milking machine”. Instead of milking by hand, these marvelous new contraptions would fit right on the cows’ udders and when you turned it on and it would milk the cow for you. The salesman made his pitch and asked to show dad how it worked.
“Well,” dad said “You can use it on any cow in the barn except old Bessie down on the end”
Bessie was a mean and temperamental cow that would kick viciously if angered.
“Really?” the salesman said – obviously thinking dad was too young to know anything about real farming. And with an attitude that stated, “you’re just a boy, you don’t know anything” he proceeded to take the machine down to the stall the held Bessie.
As Dad retold the story he said “I thought for a moment he was going to get it done. He got 3 of those cups on Bessie and she stood there without moving a bit… but something must have gone wrong as he tried to put the last suction cup, Bessie went berserk. She bucked and kicked and she caught that salesman with one of her hoofs and kicked him all the way across the aisle.”
Dad ran over and found he was bleeding but still alive and he called out the house for mom to come and bandage the man.
And as she fixed him up, dad now had to decide what to do next, because Dad now a problem. Can you imagine what Dad’s problem was? That’s right - that milking machine was still on old Bessie, and she was in no mood to have anyone in the stall with her. But he finally got the machine off of her, put it in the car for the salesman and helped the man over to his car.
The salesman left without saying a word.
He never thanked them. He never made an apology – he just drove away.
APPLY: Now, what was that salesman’s problem?
His problem was that he didn’t want to listen to a young farm boy tell him his business. He thought he knew everything there was to know about cows… and he was going to show dad what it was all about.
That salesman was a proud man.
Proverbs 16:18 tells us that “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” and that’s exactly what happened to that salesman.
Here in our text this morning, we have Jesus warning the crowds about being proud and He used the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law as His examples of what pride looks like.
The Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law were always looking to be at the head of the line.
· If there was a place of honor at the head of the table, they expected to sit there.
· If there was a title they felt they’d earned, you better give them their proper respect.
· If there was praise to be received, they wanted some of it.
The Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law were proud men. And because they were proud men they expected to be honored by position and power that came from being at the head of the line.
Jesus was never impressed by these men, and He picked on them every chance He got - because they were proud men. As James says “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6
(pause)
In preparation for today’s sermon I did a study on the words “proud” and “pride” in Scripture, and I have to admit I was surprised by what I found. And as I did my study I began to realize WHY God opposes the proud.
In Leviticus 26:18-19 God declares: “If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride...”
* Pride seems to make it so that we don’t listen to God.
In fact, in Psalm 10:4 we’re told that “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”
* Pride makes it so there’s no room for God in our lives.
Deuteronomy 8:14 warns the Israelites that letting their heart “… become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
* Pride can make it so that we forget God.
James takes it one step further:
Pride appears to make me a friend of the world and an enemy of God.
“You adulterous people (says James) don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. …” James 4:4-8
Pride tends to make us seek the friendship of this world.
Pride seeks the applause of the crowd.
Pride seeks the position/prominence/power this earthly realm can bestow.
Pride lies at the heart of wanting to be a friend of the world and to receive it’s praises.
And thus makes me an enemy of God.
So I don’t want to be a proud person
I don’t want to forget Him and I don’t want to end up being His enemy
I want to listen to God.
I want to make room for Him in my life.
So, how do I avoid becoming proud like that?
Well – we need learn from the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law.
Someone once said that every one is an example for us. Some are good examples and some are bad examples. These guys were bad examples.
In their pride, they did what they did to get noticed.
· When they gave money – they wanted you to know how much they sacrificed.
· When they prayed – they made sure you knew how much they were praying.
· When they fasted – they wanted you to understand how they suffered when they missed those meals.
They did all this to get the applause of the world around them. They wanted people to marvel at them and wonder at their righteousness and wish they could be as righteous as the Pharisees.
But in the Sermon on the Mount:
* Jesus warned us that our giving should be in secret. “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:4
* He taught that when we prayed we should “go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:6
* And He told us that when we fast we should do it “so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:18
Christian piety shouldn’t be something we do for show.
That’s what proud people do.
We should be serious about our giving and our praying and our fasting, but we should almost be secretive about it because it’s God’s friendship/attention we want… not the world’s.
But proud people don’t think like that.
They need to be noticed.
They need to crowd to the front of the line.
They need to compete for the best seats at the table.
They need to preen over their accomplishments and their titles.
Jesus, though, said it doesn’t work that way in His kingdom.
If you want to get to the head of the line in His kingdom, you need to go to the back of the line.
In His kingdom “… the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:16
Now, that doesn’t make any sense to the people of this world. How could you possibly get to the front of the line if you insist on going to the back all the time?
It’s one of Jesus’ upside down teachings.
James tells us why: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” (James 4:10)
In other words – if God wants you at the head of the line… He’ll put you there. It won’t matter where you’re standing, or how long you’ve been there, if you humble yourself God will exalt you.
The proud don’t think that way.
The proud don’t want God to do the heavy lifting. They’ll do that themselves – thank you very much.
They adhere to proverb: “God helps those who help themselves” which they’d like to make you think is in the Bible somewhere.
It isn’t.
It’s a pagan teaching straight from the pits of hell.
God DOESN’T help those who help themselves.
God helps those who humble themselves for His sake.
He helps those submit themselves to His will.
He helps those who come near to Him and seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
Well now, you’d think that since this is such a basic teaching of Jesus that Christians would always seek to humble themselves so God can lift them up.
But do they? No.
Why not?
Because (before we became Christians) we were part of the world and we thought like the world.
ILLUS: Years ago, we had a very famous preacher in our brotherhood. He was so good at what he did that he developed a popular religious TV program that made a deep impact on people’s lives.
But then one day it was discovered that he’d become involved in an adulterous affair. It wasn’t long before he’d lost his pulpit and his TV audience. He became bitter and left our brotherhood to preach in a large denomination.
This large denomination embraced him with open arms – if he left our group he couldn’t be all bad - and they had him preach at many of their big functions.
But he eventually came back to our brotherhood.
Why?
Apparently, one of the things that influenced him was that denomination’s convention. In our brotherhood we have a national gathering every year called the North American Christian Convention (NACC). It’s a great gathering where 1000s of Christians across America m get together for a great week of worshipping, teaching and preaching (it’s being held this summer in Indianapolis).
We tend to take our convention for granted but this preacher discovered an intriguing difference between our gathering and this denomination’s.
At our conventions, preachers will often talk and mingle and eat together. It doesn’t matter the size of your congregation, or how important you may be in your sphere of influence, it rarely seems to matter. It’s just a great time to let down your hair and enjoy fellowship with each other.
BUT not at that denominational convention. At that convention, preachers at churches of 100 didn’t mix with those of 500. Preachers at churches of 500 didn’t mingle with those of a 1000 or more.
Why not? Because many of the preachers in that denominational group had gotten caught up in appearances (I seriously doubt it was part of the denominational statement of faith). Preachers at smaller churches didn’t rate mixing with the more successful men and thus their denomination fell into the trap of imitating the ways of this world. In their convention, the First was always first… and the last was always last… and that’s the way it was going to be all day long.
Jesus warns us to avoid that kind of prideful hierarchy.
And He even warns us against one of the ways that kind of pride sneaks up on people: titles.
"… you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father’, for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher’, for you have one Teacher, the Christ. (Mt. 23:8-10)
Skip the titles He says.
But why shouldn’t we use titles?
One reason is: titles tend to set us apart from others in the church.
Notice what Jesus says in verse 10: “you are not to be called Rabbi, for… you are all brothers”. Taking the title of Rabbi would ruin that relationship. It would tend to elevate you above the other believers in the church.
For that reason (and others) in this congregation we don’t get into “titles”.
We DON’T call our preachers “reverend” or “pastor”.
“Reverend” means to “hold in awe” or revere
(pause and smile) Do you folks hold me in “awe?”
Of course not.
The only time the word “reverend” shows up in the Bible is in the KJV where it says “holy and reverend is (God’s) name.” Psalm 111:9
We’d prefer you not hold any of us in awe here, because awe is something we’d like to reserve only for God.
And in Scripture “Pastor” refers NOT to the preacher, but to the Elders of the church. While I may do some of the work of an Elder, my job description is actually a little different that that of the Elder.
Someone will ask “what you call Jeff?”
Well, what should you call me?
“Jeff”
I don’t need a title. f you can’t figure out I’m a preacher by the end of the sermon… I’m not doing my job right.
But there are churches where titles can be extremely important to their leaders.
ILLUS: One church I know of INSISTS that their paid staff be called Pastor. The preacher is called “pastor”, their youth minister is called “pastor”, their music minister is called “pastor”. All of the paid staff are pastors, and if you go to that church, you MUST use that title for their leaders.
Why?
Recently I was discussing this with a man from a denominational background, and told me… “it undermines your authority if you don’t have the title.”
Really???
I shouldn’t be looking for that kind of authority.
Jesus said: “The greatest among you will be your servant.” Mt 23:11
So if I really want to be a person of influence in GOD’S church - if I want to be a great leader for Christ – then I need to become a servant… and servants don’t have titles. They have towels, and brooms and mops.
ILLUS: The need for titles can emphasize a person’s inner pride.
A friend of mine told of a denominational preacher he knows who becomes irate if you don’t call him “Doctor”. And the man said to my friend “I didn’t spend all that money to get my doctorate just be called ‘Pastor’”
In other words: there was a hierarchy of titles!
Being a Dr. is more important than a Pastor.
And this man wanted to be more exalted than a MERE pastor.
His title was crucial to him, because it told you how important he was.
Those are examples of how churches and church leaders can get caught up in pride.
But how do you know when you’ve fallen prey to this kind of pride.
Most church members don’t compete for titles.
And they generally don’t have conventions where they compare the sizes of their churches.
So, for most Christians it’s a little harder to recognize when you’ve got the pride of a Pharisee. But there is a way to tell if you’ve fallen into this sin of self-importance. There is a warning signal that you’ve gotten too close to the edge of becoming God’s enemy.
What’s that symptom? What is that warning sign?
(pause) Irritation.
Have you ever gotten “irritated”? I have.
Something doesn’t go the way you think it should and no one seems to be paying attention to your point of view on the matter. And you get irritated.
Or you feel irritated because you’ve been slighted or ignored.
Think about it – why would someone be irritated that they’ve been ignored?
They’d be irritated because they feel they DESERVE attention, appreciation or acknowledgement… and they’re not getting it.
ILLUS: A heard about one church where one of the women became angry with the preacher’s wife because the preacher’s wife hadn’t sent her a “thank you card”.
She was angry because she hadn’t received the recognition she felt she deserved.
She didn’t like the feeling of being unappreciated.
She didn’t like the feeling of being at the back of the line.
And she became SO angry that she lashed out at this other woman.
But servants don’t live for the recognition of the world around them.
They live for the recognition of their master.
CLOSE: Ruth Harms Calkin describes what it means to have a servant’s heart in her poem:
You know, Lord, How I serve You
with great emotional fervor in the limelight.
You know how eagerly I speak for You at a Women’s Club.
You know my genuine enthusiasm at a Bible study.
But how would I react, I wonder,
if You pointed to a basin of water
and asked me to wash the callused feet
of a bent and wrinkled old woman
day after day, month after month,
in a room where nobody saw and nobody knew?
If you’re looking for the applause of the world… that’s all you’ll get.
But if you humble yourself in the sight of your LORD then He promises that He will reward you… He will lift you up.
I want to close with a story about Booker T. Washington. Booker T. Washington was a renowned black educator from about 100 years ago or so. Shortly after he took over the presidency of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama he was walking in an exclusive section of town when he was stopped by a wealthy white woman. Not knowing the famous Mr. Washington by sight, she asked if he would like to earn a few dollars by chopping wood for her.
Because he had no pressing business at the moment, Professor Washington smiled, rolled up his sleeves, and proceeded to do the humble chore she had requested. When he was finished, he carried the logs into the house and stacked them by the fireplace. A little girl recognized him and later revealed his identity to the lady. The next morning the embarrassed woman went to see Mr. Washington in his office at the Institute and apologized profusely.
"It’s perfectly all right, Madam." he replied. "Occasionally I enjoy a little manual labor. Besides, it’s always a delight to do something for a friend." She shook his hand warmly and assured him that his meek and gracious attitude had endeared him and his work to her heart. Not long afterward she showed her admiration by persuading some wealthy acquaintances to join her in donating thousands of dollars to the Tuskegee Institute.
