Some people, probably most people, and maybe all people have to learn how to
be humble the hard way, and that is the humpty dumpty way of having a great
fall. This was the case with Max Eastman. A film was being made on the life
of Christ, and he happened to meet the well known woman photographer working
on that film, who was Alice Baughton. Shortly after this meeting he received
a note asking if he would consent to pose with Walter Hampden, the man
playing the role of Christ, in one of the miracle scenes. He was so proud of
getting such an offer after just a casual meeting, that he could not help but
brag. A thing like that couldn't just happen, he must have something on the
ball. He said to his mother who was visiting at the time, "See what it is to
be a beauty. I just knock them cold at the first sight." When he returned
from the studio, however, his glow had turned to gloom. "What did you pose
for?" Was the eager question of the family. Meekly he replied, "The corpse
of Lazarus."
Lazarus was certainly not unimportant role to play, even as a corpse,
but it hardly justified his boast of superior beauty. Had he not opened his
mouth, there could only be merit in getting any part at all, but he did, and
proved the saying true, "And ounce of vanity spoils a hundred weight of
merit." He thought too highly of himself. He was like the man whose wife
said to him as they left the party, "Has anyone ever told you how marvelous
you are?" "No, I don't believe they have," he said. "Well then," she
continued, "Where in the world did you ever get the idea?"
The idea comes natural, for the one thing most all people have in common
is their loyal love of themselves. E. W. Howe said, "When a man tried
himself, the verdict is usually in his favor." Subconsciously, if not
consciously, all men tend to make themselves the center of the universe.
Each of us is, to a lesser or greater degree, an I specialist. I read of a
printing company that had to postpone the publication of a Bishop's
autobiography because of they ran out of capital I's. Pope wrote in his
essay on man,
Ask for what end the heavenly bodies shine,
Earth for whose use, -Pride answers,-Tis for mine;
For me kind nature wakes her genial power,
Suckles each herb, and spreads out every flower;
Sees role to waft me, suns to light me rise;
My foot stool earth, my canopy the skies.
There is a touch of truth even in this self-centeredness, for man alone
was made by God with the capacity to appreciate and enjoy the order and
beauty of His creation, and man was given dominion over creation. But man
fell, like Satan, because of pride, and is now, as Pascal put it, both the
glory and the scum of the universe. He still has some basis for pride, but
so much more for humility and shame. Abraham Lincoln's favorite hymn by
William Knox put it this way,
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift-flitting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
He passeth from life to his rest in the grave.
Man is in a strange predicament, caught between his own dignity and
depravity; his own worth, and his wickedness. The result is another great
paradox of life. Man's self-love is both an evil and a good. It is both an
essential for a happy life in God's will, and the main cause for most evil
that is out of God's will. Paul in this great chapter on paradoxes deals
with both sides of pride.
In verse 3, he deals with that kind of pride which makes a man think
himself to be something when he is nothing. In verse 4, he deals with that
kind of pride which is an honest recognition of one's worth before God. The
border line between these two is so close, and so poorly defined, that one
can every easily slip over into exhibiting evil pride when he thinks he is
being rightfully humble. This makes pride a very dangerous area that Satan
takes advantage of. Ruskin said, "In general pride is at the bottom of all
great mistakes!" This is true of sin as well.
The Old Testament says so much about the evil and folly of pride we
cannot even begin to cover it. The New Testament is sufficient to establish
it as one of the worse evils of the human heart. Jesus lists it as one of
the major evils that proceed from the heart in Mark 7:22. Paul lists it
among the dominating depravities of the pagan world in Rom. 1:30. He also
lists it as one of the characteristics of men in the last days. He writes in
II Tim. 3:2, "For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud,
arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy." Both Peter
and James write that, "God resisteth the proud but gives grace to the
humble." Christians are urged to avoid pride, and all her ugly sisters like
conceit, arrogance, and haughtiness. Paul says in Rom. 12:16, "Live in
harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly;
never be conceited."
Pride among Christian is the greatest cause for lack of harmony, and in
our text Paul says, the brother or sister in Christ who is proud, and thinks
they are something when they are nothing, deceives themselves. They do not
fool anyone else, but they are themselves blind to the fact that they are the
problem, and are being dupes of the devil to hinder the work of Christ. Paul
says, something can become nothing, or somebody can become nobody. Something
becomes nothing when it fails to fulfill the purpose for which it exists.
For example, you have all had an experience like this. Suppose my son and I
were walking along the road, and he picks up a broken piece of metal, and
asks me what it is. I look at it, and see that it is from a machine of some
kind, and is no longer able to serve the function for which it was made, like
a burned out fuse for example. I therefore, say to him, "It is nothing,
throw it away." Now we both know it is something, for it exists, or he
wouldn't have asked the question, but by calling it nothing I meant it is
worthless in fulfilling its purpose, and so has no value whatever.
Jesus said, "When salt loses it power to be salty it is good for
nothing." It is still something, but as far as usefulness goes, it is
nothing. Something is nothing when it can no longer function for the purpose
of which it exists. You've all heard of the two boys who were bragging, and
the one son said, "My father is a doctor, I can be sick for nothing." The
other one responded, "Well, my father is a minister, and I can be good for
nothing." Paul is saying, that it is literally possible for a Christian to
be good for nothing. If a Christian thinks he is too good to help another
Christian lift their burden, he has allowed pride to render him useless in
fulfilling the law of Christ, and so at that point he is nothing. He is
still something, or there would be no point of warning him of his danger, but
he salt without flavor, and if he does not lose his sinful pride, he will
lose his usefulness as a Christian.
A Christian who cannot inner into the bearing of one another's burdens
because of pride is not able to fulfill a basic purpose in the Christian
life. He is about as valuable as a burned out fuse. Paul is simply spelling
out in a practical way the teaching of I Cor. 13. He wrote there, that if he
had the tongues of angels, and the gift of prophecy, and great knowledge and
wisdom, and faith to remove mountains, and did not have love, he would be
nothing. It is hard to believe that so much somethings can equal absolutely
nothing, but this is what Paul clearly teaches. Without love a Christian can
be nothing, in the sense that he would be useless for the cause of Christ.
This is why pride is such a great danger to the believer, for it can render
him useless. In Psa. 62:9 David says, "...men of high estate are a delusion,
in the balances they go up; they are altogether lighter than a breath." Paul
goes even further, and says they are not only lighter than air, they are
nothing, but either way, the two testaments agree, pride can make a man
weightless, and unable to exert even an ounce of weight on the scale for
good.
The tragedy is that this is not just a hypothetical possibility, but is
an actual reality. This was the case with the lukewarm majority in the
church of Laodicea. In Rev. 3:17 Jesus says to these Christians who are
neither hot nor cold, "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with
goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou are wretched, and
miserable, and blind and naked." They thought they were something when they
were nothing. They deceived themselves into thinking they needed nothing,
but in reality, they needed everything. Paul gives another example of this
deception of pride in I Tim. 6:3-4. "If anyone teaches otherwise and does
not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching
which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, and knows
nothing." Here is a man who thinks he is so wise he can go beyond the words
of Christ. He thinks he knows something, but Paul says, what he knows is
nothing.
Here is the paradox that runs all through the Bible. He who exalts
himself shall be brought low. The Tower of Babel is the great symbol of
human pride. When man seeks to climb to the sky, he ends groveling in the
dirt. When he seeks to go to heaven by self-exaltation, he lands in hell.
When he thinks himself to be something, he is nothing. This passage is
extremely relevant to all of us. Obedience is vital to our very existence as
useful Christians. Bearing one another's burdens is not just a suggestion,
it is a demand-do it or else. Here is a law in the midst of grace. A
Christian who is not fulfilling the law of Christ is not fulfilling the
purpose for which he exists.
This can be hard, and especially when the burden is the result of sin.
These are the worst, for it is easy to get your hands dirty, and even your
soul, if you are not careful, as Paul warns. Paul knew some Christians would
be hesitant on this matter, and would not want to risk spotting their lily
white hands in pulling a fallen brother out of the pit. He made his bed, let
him lie in it, would be their attitude. After all says the proud Christian,
"I am something. I am a leader in the church. I have a reputation of
respectability in the community. I can't get involved in helping some fool
brother who has gotten himself in a mess. What will people think of me?
They might think I approve of his sin, or that I help because I am guilty of
the same. I just can't risk the association and spoil my reputation."
This proud man's case is clear, and his concern for his self-image is
natural, but the Christian who wants to be used of God cannot afford to be
natural, for the paradox is, his very caution is his greatest folly. In saving his
reputation with men, he loses the favor of God. He remain something before
men, he becomes nothing before God.
Paul wants us to see this folly, and never allow pride
to keep us from our duty to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the
law of Christ. A Christian who cannot risk his reputation to rescue another
Christian from the grasp of the enemy is as good as a partner of the enemy,
and so of no value in the cause of Christ. Another paradoxical consequence
of this is that when a Christian becomes nothing because of pride, and is
lighter than air, and has no weight at all in the scale for good, he makes a
heavy impact on the scale for evil. When the love of Christ is absent in a
follower of Christ he becomes a useful tool in the hands of Satan.
Alexander Maclaren said, "Depend upon it, heresy has less power to
arrest the progress of the church than the selfish lives of Christian
professors." Nothing is so heavy, and such a drag on the church, as lighter
than air Christians, whose pride makes them useless for good. These lighter
than air Christians are paradoxically the heaviest burden the church has to
bear. God forbid that we be among these spiritual naughts by being proud,
loveless, and unconcerned about the burdens of others. Let us also be aware
of the subtlety of pride. It is a two edged sword which cuts both ways. It
hides on both sides of the narrow way, and we can fall into to its snare in
the very act of backing away.
For example, what is our attitude to those whom Paul calls nothing?
What of the proud loveless brother? Does he not immediately become one of
the fallen brothers who needs the help of the spirit-lead believer in order
to be restored. In other words, this something which has become nothing can
also be restored back to something, and become useful again in the cause of
Christ. His pride which kept him away from the pit lest he be stained, has
plunged him into even a muckier pit yet, up to his neck. He has fallen lower
than the brother he refused to help, but now he needs a hand, and if we
refuse him because he is unworthy of our help, we are only copying his folly,
and we will fall into the pit ourselves.
It is no advance on the Pharisee who said, "I thank God I am not as
other men, even this Publican," to say, "I thank God I am not as other men,
even this Pharisee." A Sunday School teacher after teaching the lesson of
the proud Pharisee said, "Let's bow now and thank God we are not like this
Pharisee." Pride is subtle, and it can get you coming or going. It is
present everywhere, and at all times. One Puritan lamented that ridding
ourselves of pride is like peeling an onion, for every skin taken off there
is another beneath. The first step to victory over pride is to be aware that
it is a clever foe, and the battle will never cease while we are in the
flesh. Second, we must overcome evil with good. We must learn how to
harness this inescapable characteristic of human life for good. We need to
use this which can make us nothing before God, to make us something of which
we can be proud, and which God can use for the purpose
for which He made us.
