Message
Matthew 19:16-22
Avoiding Spiritual Arrogance
(Put up the picture of a set of scales)
This is how many people believe God should work.
It is all about the balance. Where do I sit on the scales?
And, generally, most people feel they are good enough for God.
“I'm a good husband and never abuse my wife”.
“I'm a good mother and always care for my children”.
“I work hard giving an honest day’s work”.
“I pay my taxes and give the government what they require”.
“I'm nice to the people around me”.
“I give money to the Salvos and other charities”.
Why wouldn't God be happy with me?
Of course God is going to be happy with you. After all that is His job.
God needs to accept me. Doesn’t He?
In fact when people are asked to think the ratio of those who have God’s favour, and those who don’t have God’s favour, the common consensus is that the ratio looks something like this.
But what has happened is that many have forgotten the first commandment.
You shall have no other gods before Me.
Exodus 20:3
The call here is to put God first, in everything.
Which is not as easy as it sounds.
10 “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Roman 3:10-12
13“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 7:13-14
It is really hard to have no other gods before God when there is no-one who is righteous.
It is really hard to enter such a narrow gate.
In fact there are people who are fooling themselves into thinking that they are OK with God – when in reality they are not ok. We read about one such person in Matthew 19:16-22.
The man in this parable is a classic example of someone who thought that being saved was like balancing a pair of scales. He was sure that he was good enough to earn God’s applause. Now we don’t know too much about this man.
We don’t know what he does for work.
We don’t know his name.
We don’t where he lives.
Yet he does have some attributes which make us suspect that he just might be a good candidate for winning the applause of God. Let’s have a look at
The attributes which might help this man win the applause of God.
He is rich
In Jewish society riches where a sign of God’s favour to you, so this man must have something going for him. Verse 22 tells us he had great wealth. Italian leather shoes. A wardrobe of tailored suits. He has money invested to be comfortable in retirement. He carries an American Express gold card and he uses it frequently as he lives a first class life.
He is young
The youth are the ones who fulfil the fading dreams of the old, and this man is envied by many. Maybe in his 30’s, maybe younger. He pumps away fatigue at the gym. His belly is flat, his eyes are sharp. Energy is his trademark and death is an eternity away.
He is a man
In Jewish society men had the distinct advantage. Indeed there is a prayer which the Pharisees pray that says, “Lord I thank you I am not a woman or a tax-collector”. But he is not just a man … he is a man’s man. You don’t make it this far this quick in life if you are not. He knows what life is about. You got question – he’s got answers. You got dilemmas – he’s got solutions. He knows where he is going and he expects to be there tomorrow.
This is the candidate. The rich, young man who thinks he has got what it takes to impress all, including God. And then, to top it all off he goes and asks Jesus this question. What good thing must I do to get eternal life? … What must I do?
Can you see the problem?
It is the same problem that not-yet-believers are confronted with … and they don’t even know it.
It is the problem that many Christians are confronted with … and they might not even realise it.
It’s a problem that we might even face ourselves.
The name of the problem is spiritual arrogance.
What does spiritual arrogance look like?
We think our life is fine
… we OK with God.
… our spiritual life is doing well.
… we have so much to give and people are noticing us.
… in the end me and God will be pals.
That is what we perceive is happening.
But the reality is something very different.
Our life is going nowhere spiritually.
… we might have looked OK.
… and there is still a semblance of usefulness.
But the reality is that we are a wreck.
And that is the boat we are all in. We need to understand that many lives are a wreck … even when it doesn’t look like it from the outside.
There are so many people who are like this rich young man. They think they are going to win the applause of God but … in the end they haven’t made the grade.
The reason they haven’t made the grade is because they are not listening to the first commandment.
You see the problem the man in our text has is not that he is rich.
Abraham was rich – God made him the father of all believers.
David was rich – God calls David a man after His own heart.
Being a rich Christian is not a sin.
But putting your earthly treasures before your heavenly treasure is a sin.
Jesus makes the situation very clear
Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor; then follow Me.
The command is … You shall have no other gods before Me.
The “other gods” are not other divine beings – there are no other divine being. There is, and there always has been, just One God.
The “other gods” are those areas of life which we make a priority over God at the expense of our spiritual relationship with God.
For the rich, young man his “other god” was wealth.
He was making his wealth a priory over God at the expense of his spiritual relationship with God.
And it is easy to point the finger at him and go “tut-tut” but let’s modernize the situation a little.
Never go on social media again – and come and follow Me.
Stop idolizing your wife – and come and follow Me.
Don’t renew your Broncos season pass – and come and follow Me.
You already have plenty of shoes – come and follow Me.
Put a hold on continually chasing that promotion – and come and follow Me.
You don’t need more stuff in your house –come and follow Me.
Get rid of all your books – and come and follow me!
Those are just a few examples. But all of us have something.
That thing in our life which we are constantly tempted to make as a priority over God at the expense of our spiritual relationship with God.
We all have it. And because we all have it we can be tempted to turn our relationship with God into a set of rules.
You see the big question is not:-
What good thing must I do to get eternal life?
This question becomes a question of rules, and boundaries, and negotiation and compromise.
How much can I get away with before God gets upset?
What is the minimum level of morality that I need to hold to, to make God happy.
How many times can I break the rules before God breaks me?
If eternal life is about what I do then these are the conversations that start to happen.
What good thing must I do to get eternal life? It is not the big question. It is not even the right question.
The big question is:-
How do I avoid being spiritually arrogant?
The spiritually arrogant hear God say, “Don’t put other gods before Me” … and then say, “How do I get around this?
Those who want to avoid spiritual arrogance hear God say, “Don’t put other gods before Me” … and then say, “I can’t do this!”
If we want to avoid becoming a spiritually arrogant wreck we need to see ourselves the same way that God sees us. We are not people who have it all together. We are not people who are worthy in and of ourselves. We are not people who have a built up account of goodness and virtue.
We are lost, because we did not follow the path set out by God.
We are enemies, because we turned away and made ourselves kings and queens.
We are unholy, because we trashed the blessing God was willing to give.
We are sinners who stand before a God who requires justice.
There is no-one righteous … we have a tendency to go through the wide gate.
SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US?
It leaves us totally relying on the only One who can salvage the wreck … and that One is Jesus.
And that is how it has to be for anyone who wants to avoid being a wreck and gain the applause of God. We need to step back, so that Jesus can step forward.
Jesus steps forward to take your sin – the sin that can keep you eternally separated from God – and He buries it forever.
Jesus steps forward to take your guilt – guilt which can stop you from looking to the future with hope – and He forgives it forever.
Jesus steps forward to take your shame – the shame which you carry because you know you have hurt God – and He turns it into confidence forever.
Jesus steps forward to take your failures – failures which keep coming up like large potholes in the road – and He covers them out of sight forever.
We avoid spiritual arrogance by coming to the Lord and saying.“Lord I have nothing within myself that I can offer You. I am totally dependent on You to use me for Your service. I come to you with empty hands to wait for Your deliverance”. Then Jesus steps forward and does it all.
That is why God says in the first commandment
You shall have no other Gods before me.
It isn’t because He wants to dominate you … but He does want to be the dominant focus of your life.
It isn’t because He is authoritarian … but He does want you to accept His authority.
It isn’t because He wants to strike fear into your heart … but He does want you to have a fearful awe of Him.
It isn’t a command designed to crush, or dictate, or panic, or overwhelm you.
It is a command that enables you to find freedom.
The rich young man believed he could find his greatest freedom in his wealth.
He was wrong … the “other god” only leads to emptiness and fear.
We might believe that we can find freedom in our “other gods”
… relationships.
… material possessions.
… status.
… knowledge.
… success.
… identity.
or whatever else our “other god” is.
But all these other paths are paths to spiritual arrogance. Ultimately they leave us feeling sad and empty.
So here is how the first commandment works.
It is making us ask the question:- How do I avoid being spiritually arrogant?
We need to be people who look to Jesus and say:
no matter what I do.
no matter how many times I fail in my goodness.
no matter how difficult I find life on this earth.
no matter how many times I am tempted to just give up.
no matter what.
I know my heavenly Father will catch me and keep me secure in His arms.
God is calling us to have no-other gods – not as a rule but as a way to freedom.
By having Him as the goal it sorts out the shortcomings.
Doing life God’s way gives us the freedom to enjoy Him.
Prayer
