With this post, I am beginning a new series called, “Get Unplugged and Plugged In.” Our theme this entire year is, “What’s Next?” We’re talking about and thinking about how we can have more of the joy and fulfillment of Christ in our daily lives and relationships. In this particular series of blogs, we’re talking about things in our lives and society we need to “unplug from” and things we need to “plug into” in order to be the people God wants us to be and to experience the joy and peace God wants us to experience.

We are beginning with the single biggest problem we human beings have – pride. In wisdom literature we are told that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and humility comes before honor” (Proverbs 15:5). In James, we are told to, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up” (James 4:10). Without humility, it is impossible to make any progress in the Christian life.

There is nothing that keeps us from experiencing the blessed life more than pride. Therefore, there is no virtue more important to achieving the blessed life than humility. As long as we are driven by our desires, and as long as we feel that we are competent by our own powers to achieve happiness, it will always elude us.

Before we begin, we need to be clear about what we are talking about. We use the word “pride” in more than one way. If I say, “I am proud of my children” I am expressing happiness at their accomplishments. There is nothing wrong with this kind of pride.  The kind of pride we are talking about is an inordinate, unjustified sense of one’s own capacities, abilities, merit, worth, or superiority. It is the notion that I know more than I know, that have greater abilities than I possess, etc. It is this kind of pride that can warp and ruin our lives.

Paul, Corinth, Pride, and God’s Secret Wisdom.

Our text for this blog comes from First Corinthians. The city of Corinth was a wealthy and prosperous town. The people of Corinth had every reason to be proud of their city. When Paul came to the city, he planted a church. This church was in a strategic location because Corinth was on the main trade route from Asia to Rome. After Paul left, spiritual pride began to develop and various factions in the church began to argue (I Cor. 1:10-13). Some people claimed to follow Paul. Some people claimed to follow Peter. Some people claimed to follow a man named Apollos. Everyone was sure they were right. Word of these arguments reached Paul, who was probably in Ephesus at the time. In response to the problems at Corinth, Paul wrote what his First Letter to the Church in Corinth. [1]

Paul diagnosed the Corinthian problem as a lack of humility in the Body of Christ. Here is a part of what he said:

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (I Corinthians 2:1-8

 

Let us pray: Eternal God, who came to us in the form of a humble servant, come this morning among us so that we may overcome our own human pride and have the humility of Jesus. Amen.

 

Pride and the Human Condition.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek (or humble) for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). In Romans, Paul diagnoses our fundamental human problem as pride. He says that the deepest problems of human life are caused by our propensity to think we are wise and in the process become fools (Romans 1:21-22). Therefore, we can never enjoy the Blessed Life we seek until we overcome (or get unplugged from) pride and develop (or plug into) humility.

This week, I pondered the quip from the comic strip “Pogo: that goes like this, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”  Think for a moment about the worst decisions you ever made. This week it occurred to me that many of the really bad decisions I’ve made were motivated by pride, by an excessive sense of my own abilities or worth. If we think we know everything, if we think we’re smarter than other people, if we think we’re always right, we never learn anything.

Our church has adopted Booker T. Washington high school in Memphis Tennessee as a mission project. Many people don’t remember Booker T. Washington. Born into slavery, Booker T. Washington was a brilliant student who became the president of the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. He was an early leader in the civil rights movement and an advisor to Presidents.

There is a famous story about Booker T. Washington. Shortly after he took over the presidency of Tuskegee Institute, he was walking through an exclusive section of the city. A wealthy resident of the neighborhood stopped him. She didn’t know who he was. She asked him if he would like to earn a few dollars chopping wood. Dr. Washington agreed.            

The next day, when the woman understood what she had done, she came to apologize. Dr. Washington did not confront the woman. He just said, “That’s perfectly all right, madam. Occasionally, I enjoy some physical labor. Besides I’m always happy to do something for a friend.” The woman became a close friend of Dr. Washington and a supporter of the Tuskegee Institute. Washington’s humility was a part of his success, just as humility is a part of our success. [2]

Pride and Paul.

As Paul speaks to the Corinthians about their pride, he compares their pride with the “Cross-centered humility” he showed when he was among them.  The part of First Corinthians I read a moment ago is just a small part of a long argument Paul makes at the beginning of First Corinthians. Paul points out that the message of the Cross, the message that Christ came in human form to die for our sins and separation from God, is not the kind of message that appeals to merely human wisdom (I Cor. 1:18-21). It did not appeal to human wisdom in Paul’s day; and, it does not appeal to human wisdom today. We human beings naturally favor pride over humility.

The Jews wanted a Messiah that would do signs and wonders and the Greeks wanted a God of cold logic who would overwhelm them with brilliance (vv. 22-24). Instead, God chose to reveal himself on a cross. The true wisdom of God, the deepest wisdom of God, was revealed in weakness and vulnerability on a cross outside the city gates of the city of Jerusalem. God, it turns out, has all power and authority, but chooses to work in love and humility.

Paul, when He came to Corinth did not try to wow the Corinthians with his wisdom, preaching ability, or other natural talents. Instead, he concentrated on Christ and upon the cross. We think of Paul as a great, natural leader. He does not seem to think of himself in that way. He says that he came in weakness and in trembling (v. 2:3). He was not so much trying to be wise, as he was trying to be Christ-like in the way he shared the Gospel with the people of Corinth. Paul’s example in Corinth is an example to us as we minister to people in our culture: We don’t have to be wise or powerful, just Christ-like.

Jesus and Pride.

Most of us remember this long quote from Philippians:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:3-11).

In other words, the reason Jesus is worthy to inherit the earth is precisely because he alone achieved that humility that would make him worthy to inherit the earth. He is worthy to be the leader of the human race precisely because he was willing to be its servant. This idea of “Servant Leadership” is a uniquely Christian development. The idea that before we can be trusted to lead others we need to learn to bear a cross for them comes directly from God’s revelation in Jesus.

Wisdom and Humility.

One of my favorite books is by the legendary investor John Templeton. Templeton, who gave the Templeton Prize for Religion, was a man of humility. [3] Part of his success as an investor had to do with his understanding that he was not smarter than the market nor did he understand exactly how the market worked. Therefore, he spent his life studying companies to try to understand what made them valuable. He found that, when he understood what made a company valuable, he could see if other people were underestimating the company’s value. Many, many people placed their retirement funds with John Templeton because of his reputation as a humble student of financial markets.

In fact, scientists and others will tell you that before progress can be made in science, those involved have to have the humility to accept the limits of human understanding and let nature speak for itself. Most of the achievements of modern quantum physics are deeply non-intuitive. It is surprising and unusual how nature operates. It was only by letting go of some preconceived notions and allowing nature to point towards its surprising and mysterious character that progress was made.

There’s a story told about a very powerful king. He was also a brilliant master at chess. This king sent a message across the land stating that he would give a tenth of his fortune to whoever could prove himself worthy of playing against him. However, if that person were found “unworthy” he would be executed. Many people risked their lives to challenge the proud king. Rich, poor, stupid, intelligent, they all lost—and the king had each one executed as “unworthy” to play against him.

Many years later, a poor beggar came to the palace to challenge the king. Many people tried to dissuade him, but he insisted in confronting the king. When the beggar was brought before the king, the king asked, “What makes you think you are worthy to play me?” The beggar answered, “Because I forgive you for all the evil you’ve done.” The king was stunned. The more he thought about the answer, the more he realized the bigger was right. In his pride and arrogance, he had become unworthy to be king. Therefore he resigned and made the beggar king. [4]

Conclusion.

In First Peter, we are told:

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (I Peter 5:5b-7).

Part of becoming like God—that is becoming like Jesus—is getting rid of our pride and becoming humble.

Years ago, in the midst of Oil, Realestate, and Banking Crisis, Houston, Texas adopted the motto, “Houston Proud.” It was all over the place. Kathy and I decided to have some cards made that read, “Houston Humble” and handed them out in our Sunday school class. You see it was the pride of Houston that created its problems, and humility was the answer, not more pride.

To some degree, this is a message we all need to hear. The problems of our country are very largely problems of pride. The solution to our problems is not more pride, but more humility. So, you see, the first thing we all need to do is get unplugged from our human pride and plugged in to the humility of Christ.

Amen