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.”
NOT “MY WILL!”
Pride is what cost Lucifer heaven.
And the cost remains today.
Pride is the only disease known to man that makes everyone sick, except the one who has it.
PRIDE SAYS “If I don’t get what I want, then I’m leaving.”
Philippians 2:3
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
Do you think you are better than someone else?
If you do, you are in opposition to God.
Galatians 6:3
“If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”
2 Corinthians 10:18
“For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”
This brings us to the second issue at hand today.
Pride keeps us from being godly men.
But what distinguishes us and makes us godly men?
If we approach God in humility, He will give us grace.
If we submit to God completely, we will be able to resist the devil and he will flee from us.
If we fill our hearts with the word and therefore the will of God, then our will dissipates and we are left with humble hearts.
When we do this, we live and speak from the overflow of God’s word in our hearts.
Luke 6:45
“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart … For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
We become men of integrity.
REMEMBER
2 Corinthians 10:18
“For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved,
That’s pride!
but the one whom the Lord commends.”
Our value comes from living Gods word.
We can witness this in a man with integrity.
If I take a $20 bill, and ask who wants it, I’m sure many would speak up.
If I take that $20 bill and drop it on the floor, step on it and grind it around, then ask again, I’m sure the same people would still speak up.
Why, because the value remained no matter what the bill looks like on the outside.
No matter how scarred, bruised or beaten up, the value remains the same.
That’s integrity.
To become a man of integrity is to say;
“Today I am deciding to integrate my heart’s value into my daily actions.” – Developed from filling it with God’s word.
As we clothe ourselves with the characteristics of Jesus, let’s see how He responded when defending Himself against the religious leaders of His day.
He had this to say about his claim of being the messiah;
John 10:25
“Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me,”
The way Jesus lived testified of who He was.
The deeds He did in His Father’s name.
A person of integrity is validated by their life, not what they tell you about themselves.
If I am going to be a man of integrity, then I must understand the value to determine if it is worth the price I must pay.
Pride cost Lucifer his heavenly estate along with 1/3 of the angels.
Integrity will cost you pride. – You cannot have both. You cannot be in opposition to God (prideful) and serving Him at the same time!
1 Chronicles 29:17a
“I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent…”
You see, God is pleased with integrity and examines the heart to see if you are free of pride.
What you have in your heart will determine whether or not you are in opposition with God, or have Christ as your head.
Integrity begins in our hearts, and we must ask God to examine our hearts and show us what is questionable.
Psalm 26:2
“Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and mind.”
We can only become free of pride and men of integrity by studying the word of God and filling our hearts with it.
2 Timothy 2:15
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
WORD OF TRUTH=THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
How can you correctly handle the word of truth if you do not study it?
I would be scared to pose the question today, “How many here read the Bible every day?”
“…every other day?”
“…once a week?”
“At all?”
This is one of the reasons we have small group Bible studies.
To study the word of God.
If you are not in a small group, you should be.
If you are not growing your spirit, then your flesh is ruler in your life.
You will never come to stability in your life if you fail to grow spiritually.
Brent posed the question last week about direction for this church.
My question is;
How many are praying for this church?
How many are praying for Gods will?
How many are praying at all?
How many here care?
Peace
by Henry Van Dyke
With eager heart and will on fire,
I fought to win my great desire
“Peace shall be mine,” I said;
but life grew bitter in the weary strife.
My soul was tired,
and my pride was wounded deep:
to Heaven I cried,
“God grant me peace or I must die,”
The dumb stars glittered no reply.
Broken at last, I bowed my head,
Forgetting all myself, and said,
“Whatever comes, His will be done;”
And in that moment peace was won.
CLOSING PRAYER
