Well, I had an experience yesterday that will
long remain in my memory. I learned to speak
three words of Norwegian. I attended a meeting
of what is called the Norske Torske Kuben. Do
you know what that is? Well, that's a group of
people of Norwegian descent, primarily. There
are some exceptions, obviously. who get together
once a month, nine months out of the year, to
eat Torsk. I was introduced at the meeting. I
guess there must have been about 300 people there,
and there were four or five pastors who happened
to be visiting yesterday. And we were all introduced
together, and the emcee then said, Well, it's
nice to see you pastors in person and not on
television. That's kind of how I felt, too. I
wanted to laugh, and yet there was a certain
cut to that comment because of the scandal within
Christian broadcasting in the recent two weeks.
It has produced calamity and confusion, embarrassment,
sorrow. Sad to say, the gospel of our Savior
has been subjected to ridicule among the unregenerate.
because of the actions and manners of certain
Christian television stars. That was one example
of several in recent days which showed to me
how much the world has rather enjoyed seeing
the dirty laundry hanging, flying in the wind.
Our family, my wife and I and son, walked into
a local restaurant a week and a half ago, just
after the news first broke, and walked by a table
of four men who were making a joke of what had
happened to the bakers and some crude remarks
about it. Undoubtedly, many of you, as I watched
Nightline, as on two consecutive nights they
interviewed some of those associated with these
events, I tell you we're all the losers for it.
What does the typical citizen of this world say
when these kinds of things occur? I'll tell you
what they say. They say, see, they're not really
any different than any of us, except that they're
hypocrites. And the sad thing is, And in some
cases, they're absolutely correct. That surely
is not the design of God, is it? I'd like you
to turn in the Bible first this morning to 1
Peter. And notice with me the consistent teaching
of the Holy Spirit through Peter to us regarding
our lifestyle. For example, in chapter 1, beginning
in verse 14, it says, As obedient children, do
not be conformed to the former lusts which were
yours in your ignorance, that is, before you
knew Christ. But like the Holy One who called
you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.
That's our lifestyle. Because it is written,
You shall be holy, for I am holy. God isn't saying
there that he expects us to be sinless in this
world. He has made provision for the sins that
we do commit. He knows that we're not going to
be sinless. But what he exhorts us to here is
a different life, a life that is separated from
the lifestyle of the unregenerate. And it's based
upon his holiness. Look in chapter 2 and verse
9. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for God's own possession
that you may proclaim the excellencies of him
who called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light. For once you were not a people, but now
you are the people of God. You had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers, to abstain
from fleshly lusts. which wage war against the
soul. Keep your behavior. There's your lifestyle.
Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles.
That's the unconverted. So that in the thing
in which they slander you as evildoers, they
may on account of your good deeds, as they observe
them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Turn
over a page to chapter 3 and look at verse 13.
And who is there to harm you if you prove zealous
for what is good? But even if you should suffer
for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.
And do not fear their intimidation and do not
be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your
hearts, always being ready to make a defense
to everyone who asks you to give an account for
the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness
and reverence, and keep a good conscience. So
that in the thing in which you are slandered,
those who revile your good behavior, there's
your lifestyle, your good behavior in Christ
may be put to shame. How sad when that's reversed.
And then chapter 4 and verse 3. For the time
already passed is sufficient for you to have
carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having
pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness,
carousals, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.
And in all this they are surprised that you do
not run with them into the same excess of dissipation,
and they malign you. How sad when they malign
because of some deed of darkness. My point is
this, that God has called us with an unbelievably
high calling. He has called us to be the royalty
of his universe. And because of who we are in
Jesus Christ, we cannot, we dare not, live a
lifestyle that is in conformity with the world
system around us. That is not the design or the
plan of God. Our destiny is to share the glory
of Jesus Christ and to inherit with him an eternal
kingdom, beloved. Because that is our destiny.
The design of our life now needs to be one that
pleases God. My brother -in -law teaches in a
public high school in the Cincinnati area. For
a time he was a part of a faculty in an inner
city school that was largely black. They invited
to one of their sessions Jesse Jackson. That
was when he was running for president the last
time, I think. And as he came into the session
with the students, he had basically one message
to communicate to them. Now, as typically inner
-city students, they were not too respectful
at first. They were talking and so on, but he
quickly got their attention by getting them to
repeat after him three simple words. His message
to that student body that day was this, I am
somebody. And of course he said it as only he
could say it. He got them repeating that until
the whole room was reverberating with the students
shouting those three words, I am somebody. May
I say to you today, They're based upon the word
of the living God. If you have trusted the Lord
Jesus Christ as your Savior, not in some temporal,
earthly sense, but in an eternal and real sense,
you are somebody. You are a prince, a princess
of God's eternal kingdom. And because of that
high calling of God in Christ Jesus upon your
life, he tells you to live a certain way. He
appeals to us to live, as it says in Ephesians
chapter 4, going to our text for today, he appeals
to us to live, to walk in a manner worthy of
the calling with which you have been called.
In other words, he is saying that we should live
a lifestyle that befits a person professing Jesus
Christ as Lord. He is telling us here that there
ought to be a certain equivalency between our
position in Jesus Christ and our practice in
our daily living. Now what does that kind of
a lifestyle look like? When you boil those words
down into the everyday practice of living, In
the world where you and I live, what does a life
like he's talking about here really look like?
Well, he gives us the answer not only in our
text today, but in these last three chapters
of the book. He tells us, first of all, that
a life that is worthy of the calling of Jesus
Christ is a life that is noted for unity. That
is oneness of heart. and action with other people
in the body of Christ. He tells us in our text,
which we have already read this morning in our
scripture, that this unity originates with the
Holy Spirit. It is not something that you and
I work up. This unity is said to be the unity
of the Spirit, verse 3. It's the Holy Spirit
who works this unity into us. And it's evidenced
by what is said to be here the bond of peace.
Peace. Christians ought to be known as peacemakers.
I commend those who have sought as best as they
could to try to make peace in the last two weeks
in the evangelical television world. The bond
of peace is evidence that the Holy Spirit is
working in unity. But he tells us here that the
bond of peace, the unity of the Spirit, is preserved
by the personal and individual character of the
believer. I want you to notice that. He tells
us that we are to preserve what the Holy Spirit
produces. And you and I individually preserve
that by our integrity. by the character that
we are, by the spiritual and godly qualities
that mark us as people. It is that integrity,
it is those qualities which produce unity, or
rather preserve unity, which the Holy Spirit
produces. When a person is marked by these qualities,
that's the kind of character that you'll never
forget. When you run across a person who's marked
with the words of verses 1 through 3, that's
a person that you'll never be able to erase from
your mind because the mark of that life will
be indelibly imprinted upon you. I want you to
notice these qualities. And the first one that
we're going to look at is found in verse 2 where
he tells us that we are to walk, that is to live
with all humility. The first quality that marks
the life of God's child and which preserves unity
among God's people is humility. What is humility?
Well, literally the word means lowly thinking.
It is esteeming oneself as small. That's the
idea. Frankly, the Greeks and Romans of the New
Testament day had no such word because they despised
this concept. This word was created by the Holy
Spirit in the New Testament. It does not exist
in classical Greek because those people hated
this kind of a concept. To them, the concept
of humility was cowardly. and weak. In their
writings in the first and second century they
mocked this concept. To the pagans of that day,
the key to being a real person was self -assertion.
That's right. It was self -assertion, not humility.
And I think you see that in the pagan society
in which we live today. In fact, there are seminars
that people take in order to learn to be self
-assertive. In Philippians chapter 2, I'd like
you to turn there. In Philippians chapter 2,
we have an important statement on this matter
of humility. He uses the very same word where
it is translated here, humility of mind, in verse
3. Here's what he says. If therefore there is
any encouragement in Christ, and the way he writes
this, he's saying, since therefore there is encouragement
in Christ, since there is consolation of love,
since there is fellowship of the Spirit, since
there is affection and compassion, Make my joy
complete, says Paul, by being of the same mind,
maintaining the same love, united in spirit,
intent on one purpose. He is writing to a church
that was not united. Now what all of the problem
was, we might not know, but there were two individuals
in the church who were feuding, and it seems
as though the people had sort of become parties
to the feud. The church was divided into teams,
opposed to each other. And so Paul says, look,
there's all of these benefits in Christ. Now
he says, I want you to be of the same mind, the
same love, be united in spirit, intent on one
purpose. Do you see what he's after here? And
then he tells them in verse 3, do nothing from
selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility
of mind. Now there's the very same term as back
in Ephesians. humility of mind that each of you
regard one another as more important than himself.
Do not merely look out for your own personal
interests, but also for the interests of others.
He elaborates upon the idea of humility here,
and I think it's important so that we can understand
what real humility is. Humility is not cowardice.
Humility is not weakness. But humility is esteeming
oneself as small. Here's how he puts it positively
in Philippians. He says, first of all, that humility
means regarding others as having it over oneself
in priority. That is, as being more important.
It means looking at the other person and settling
in advance this important basic fact regarding
your relationship. That other person is more
important than I am. That's what humility does.
To regard means to thoughtfully consider the
situation and come to that conclusion, inevitably.
In Romans 12 .3, he tells us that proper self
-esteem is not erased in this. He puts it this
way. He says, for us not to think more highly
of ourselves than we ought to think. Now, folks,
there's an important principle there. that I
think some people have skewed out of size in
our day. But nonetheless, it's an important principle,
and that is that we are to have a certain sense
of self -esteem. We are to be satisfied with
ourselves and to love ourselves in this sense
that we're satisfied with who we are in Jesus
Christ. Humility is not thinking myself worthless.
Would you please note that? Humility sees myself
as unworthy, but that's different than worthless.
I am worth so much to God that he sent his only
begotten Son into the world to die for my sins.
So are you. We are not worthless. We are unworthy
of God's blessing. We are to have a certain sense
of self -esteem. That is not erased by humility.
But the point is that we are to regard others
as more important than ourselves. He says it
also this way in Philippians, that we're to look
out for the interest of others. But notice, we're
to do that as well as look out for the interest
of ourselves. That's there too. We have interests
we have to look after. That's part of responsibility
in life. We are to be a faithful people to those
interests that have to do with our lives. But
we are also to take time to look after the interests
of other people. We are not to be totally self
-absorbed and self -centered. We are to look
out for the interests of others. And Jesus Christ
is said to be the example. He says in verse 5,
had this attitude in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus. In other words, what he's talking about
here is the very attitude that Jesus Christ possessed.
He is the great example. He says it this way
in Romans 15, 1 and 2. He tells us, don't just
live to please yourselves. But he says, let each
of us please his neighbor for his good to his
edification, just like Christ did. That's what
he says. We are to live to look after our own
interests, but we're not to stop there. We're
not to draw the border and say, that's as far
as I go. As we look after our own concerns, we
are to be concerned about others as well. Now
negatively, he says a couple of things about
humility. He says it means doing nothing out
of selfishness, what we just said. Nothing out
of selfish ambition. or self -seeking to exalt
ourselves before others or above others. Never
let that be your motive, he says. That's not
humility. And he warns us as well against empty
conceit. Don't do anything through empty conceit.
That is hollow boasting. Have you ever met a
grade -A braggart in your life? Some of the most
disgusting people I've ever met are people like
that. Would you agree with that? All they can
do is talk about themselves. They boast of their
abilities, boast of their achievements. Everything
is focused on themselves, and it's all hollow.
He says, look, don't be that way. That produces
disunity in the church. in the fellowship of
God's people. Selfish ambition only divides.
He says, rather, be characterized by humility
of mind. Let's think this morning not only about
an explanation of humility, but the enemy of
humility. We've already talked about it, really.
It's pride. Pride is the absolute antithesis
of humility. The first expression of pride in
recorded history is not in a human being. Did
you know that? Go back with me to Isaiah chapter
14, and you find out who it is. Now what is said
here is being said to the leader of Babylon,
but the words have to go beyond. The king of
Babylon. This cannot refer to a mere human being.
The statement is too broad in its scope for that.
Look in verse 12 of Isaiah 14. How have you fallen
from heaven, O star of the morning, sun of the
dawn? You have been cut down to the earth. You
have weakened the nations. But you said in your
heart. I will ascend to heaven. I will raise
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit
on the mount of the assembly in the recesses
of the north. I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most
High. Nevertheless, says God, you will be thrust
down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. Who
is this? Well, it is Satan. That's who it is.
It's Lucifer. This is something that occurred
before, as much as we know, before the creation
of mankind. Satan conceived pride in his heart,
expressed here in five strong, I will. And for
that pride, he was thrown down to the earth.
And then that pride was passed on through sin.
to human beings. I will. That was the origin
of pride, and pride is now the natural mentality
of those who are in Satan's world. That is, the
order of humanity that he has organized against
God, the world system which controls the population
of the world. The world system, which determines
the styles and the attitudes and the wars and
peace, the world system, which I repeat is headed
by Satan, advances this mentality of pride. Pride
in ourselves, in our achievements, our abilities.
So the human beings are noted today by saying,
I will do this, I will do that. I'll see an example
of that in a moment. Because it is the mentality
of the unregenerate, it is therefore grotesquely
out of place in the child of God. The Corinthian
church was one that was characterized by pride.
Just go back in the New Testament with me quickly
and look at the Corinthian church. Here we have
a church that had spiritual gifts. It had a lot
of advantages, but it's a church that was carnal,
and that carnality was evidenced in their pride.
Look in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians, verse 18.
He says, Let no man deceive himself if any man
among you thinks that he's wise in this age.
Let him become foolish that he may become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God. It is written he is the one who catches
the wise in their craftiness. And again, the
Lord knows the reasoning of the wise that they
are useless. So then, let no one boast in men.
What is Paul saying? Well, he's kind of concluding
an argument he began back in chapter 1. He warns
them that they have divided themselves up over
their spiritual leaders. Here you've got the
camp of one television evangelist, and here you've
got the camp of another television evangelist,
and here you've got the camp of yet another one,
except they weren't on television in those days.
And the leaders' names were Peter and Apollos,
Paul. Then there were the very super spiritual
ones who said, we just follow Jesus. And Paul
doesn't commend them because their attitude was
wrong. What's the problem? The same as we see
in our evangelical world today. They were boasting
in men, pride. They boasted in their heroes.
And look at what he says in verse 6 in chapter
4. He says, These things, brethren, I have figuratively
applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes,
that in us you might learn not to exceed what
is written, in order that no one of you might
become arrogant in behalf of one against the
other. You see how the pride in the church was
evidencing itself? They were following their
heroes. And that was pride. They were boasting
of these superstars of that day, just like people
boast of the superstars today. My friend, there
are no superstars. There's only one, the morning
star, Jesus Christ, that we ought to be boasting
in. Turn over to chapter 5. He says, it is actually
reported that there is immorality among you.
An immorality of such a kind as does not exist
even among the Gentiles, that is the unsaved
pagans around them, that someone has his father's
wife. So here is a man who professes to be a
Christian who is living with his stepmother as
his wife. Paul says even the pagans don't do
stuff like that. And he says, you have become
arrogant. and have not mourned instead in order
that the one who has done this deed might be
removed from your midst. Here he accuses them
of being proud of their broad -mindedness. Let
me tell you, there is a kind of broad -mindedness
that God condemns. And you see an example of
it right here. We are not to be broad -minded
about sin. We are to detest it, to hate it, and
to judge it. And he says that these people in
Corinth were so boastful of their broad -mindedness
that they refused even to judge sin in the church.
They bragged about the fact that their fellowship
was so broad -minded that they would even have
people like this living a sinful lifestyle flagrantly,
publicly, disgracing Jesus Christ. He says that's
an evidence of your sinful pride. We won't take
time to look at it, but over in chapter 12, he
suggests that they boasted of the carnal abuse
of their spiritual gifts. Even the very things
that God had given them to use to exercise for
the glory of his name, they abused and they were
boastful about that. Some bragged because they
were an eye in the body and some bragged because
they were another part of the body. And Paul
says to them, look, quit doing that. You all
need each other. And then he puts the capstone
on his whole argument in chapter 13 when he says,
Love does not brag and is not arrogant. Pride
is grotesque when it's among the people of God.
Pride can be based on a number of matters. Pride
can be based on God -given abilities, as we see
here among the Corinthians. Let's slip back to
chapter 4 for a moment and look at verse 7 again.
He says, Who regards you as superior? And what
do you have that you did not receive? But if
you did receive it, then why do you boast as
if you had not received it? You know what he's
saying here? These people were bragging about
their spiritual abilities. And Paul is saying
to them, look, why are you bragging about it?
You're just the recipient of a gift from God.
Do you think that that originated with you? That
it's inherently yours? He's arguing against their
pride. We can be boastful of spiritual abilities.
To one, God gives the gift of teaching. That
can go to a person's head. To another, God gives
the gift of helps. And because of that kind of
ministry that's helping others, He gets a lot
of pats on the back, a lot of words of appreciation
that can go to a person's head. We can become
proud of our God -given abilities, even our natural
abilities that God gives us, such as our intellect,
athletic ability, musical ability we have. You
see, humility keeps me focusing on the Savior.
and then using whatever he's given me for his
glory. I don't focus on the gifts and allow myself
to become proud of them. I brag about my Savior.
I'm boastful of him and his cross. And as I'm
focused on him, I simply use the gifts, whatever
they are that he's given me, for his glory. Pride
can be based also on our wealth and possessions.
I wish we had time to read it. We don't. But
in Luke chapter 12, verses 15 to 21, there's
a man Jesus talks about who is a real successful
farmer. When he filled up his barn, he said,
what am I going to do now? He says, I know what
I'm going to do. I'm going to tear down these
barns. I'm going to build bigger barns, and I'm
going to do this, and I'm going to do that. And
finally God came to him and said, you fool. Tonight
your soul is required of you. An example of a
person who became proud of wealth and possessions.
I want to tell you that's a tendency that Christians
face just like the unregenerate do. Begin to
parade and display our economic gains, whether
it be through our cars, our homes, jewelry we
wear, our clothes. Now there's nothing wrong
with those things inherently. Of course not.
But when those objects become... the point of
our pride, then it's sin. It's sin. The object
doesn't become sin, but our attitude about it
becomes sin. We have to watch our hearts about
these things. We run the danger in this day of
thinking that we're somehow self -made. And once
we arrive at that conclusion, then we begin to
waste what God has given us rather than investing
that wealth in God's work. We absorb it for ourselves.
And we save it up for our children. And in some
cases, how sad it is that godly people have built
up wealth in their lives and left it to their
kids who've wasted it. Sometimes leaving it to
ungodly kids who have no appreciation for their
parents' value. I think parents make a mistake
in doing that. What should I do with my wealth?
What Jesus tells us to do, is to have enough
to take care of us, to be wise in preparation
for our older age, but to be investing it all
of our life long in the work of God. Because
in that way, you see, we're sending our treasures
on ahead. We're investing in eternity, and we're
wise. Humility keeps things in perspective, so
that I lightly grasp the things of life, and
I freely give. and I wisely invest them for eternity.
Then pride can be based upon personal position.
It may be a social position, or it may be the
prestige of an office. It may be one's race.
But when this kind of pride enters the life,
there's a tendency to become snobbish, to despise
those that we consider to be beneath us. and
to only socialize with those who are our equals.
There's the danger that we will then expect to
be treated in a certain way because, well, after
all, who we are. And all of that is nauseating
to God. Over in the book of James, in the second
chapter, he warns against this kind of thinking.
He says, my brethren, do not hold your faith
in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude
of personal favoritism, that is, with discrimination.
If a man comes into your assembly with a gold
ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also
comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you
pay special attention to the one who's wearing
the fine clothes and say, you sit here in a good
place. And you say to the poor man, you stand
over there, sit down at the footstool. Have you
not made distinctions among yourselves and become
judges with evil motives? He goes on in the following
verses then to condemn that kind of activity.
Luke chapter 14, Jesus says, rather than having
an attitude of pride about your position, take
the low spot. Very practical advice that Jesus
gave. You ever notice that? They were arguing
about who should sit at the head of the table,
and Jesus says, look, when you come to a feast,
don't go to the head of the table. Go down to
the foot of the table. And then you won't be
embarrassed if your host says, scoot down a little
bit and let this fellow sit there. Very practical
advice. Don't seek the spot of fame, the spot
of notoriety. But he says, take the low spot.
What is Jesus saying? Be humble. Be humble. It
may be that the host will say, hey, come up here
and sit here. And then you've been honored. But
be humble in your attitude. Pride can be based
upon physical appearance. Oh, this is big these
days. If you want to find the crowded place.
In Roseville you go to one of these sports clubs
around here later in the afternoon I'm not condemning
them. They have a spot, but I'll tell you what
People are very concerned in our day about their
physical bodies and They go to lengths to show
them off They wear clothing that or sometimes
they don't wear clothing That is intended to
attract sensually the opposite sex. Sometimes
jewelry is worn for the same reason. Have you
ever looked at your wardrobe and said to yourself,
now why do I wear those clothes? Is Jesus Christ
honored when I dress this way? When I adorn myself
in this particular fashion? That's an important
question. We can become so proud of our physical
appearance that it becomes sickening. Now, we
ought not to be sloppy. I'm not saying that Christians
ought to wear only ugly clothes, dress in black
all the time, and never wear makeup, never wear
jewelry. I don't think men ought to wear makeup.
No, the principle of Scripture is that we are
to dress ourselves, to adorn ourselves modestly.
Modestly. Now Satan is another example in this
whole area. Because it tells us in Ezekiel chapter
28, beginning in verse 11, that Satan became
proud of his appearance. He was apparently the
most beautiful, the most glorious of all of God's
created angels. before the very throne of God,
and somehow his appearance caused Satan to become
proud and feel that he could become his God.
My point is just this, simply. Do not become
proud of your physical appearance, and if you
are, repent of it. Because your physical appearance,
whatever it is, is God's design. And then we
can become proud, and this is perhaps the most
deceitful and dangerous of all, we can become
proud of our spiritual and religious experience.
And we begin to judge others because they're
not as committed as I am. We begin to judge because
they haven't had the experiences that I've had.
Perhaps of all the kinds of pride, this is the
most nauseating to God. It's the kind that Jesus
condemned so roundly in Matthew chapter 23 when
he absolutely lacerated the Pharisees because
of attitudes like that. They were filled with
abominable hypocrisy. I don't know where pride
may be in our lives today. It may be that God
has dealt with all of us. And that we're truly
walking in humility. But wherever the finger
of God may have fallen upon us this morning,
that's where we need to do some repenting and
do it fast. Because there are few sins that are
so destructive as pride, that so take us down
the tube spiritually and in every other way as
pride. The mark of lifestyle that witnesses to
one being a child of God. is humility. Spurgeon
said, God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly
humbled spirit. You want God's blessing? Then
walk in humility. John MacArthur tells the story
of some Moravian missionaries to West India who
desired to reach the slaves. But that population
of slaves was so separated from the ruling classes
that no one could reach them. And so these two
missionaries decided that in order to reach the
slaves for whom they were burdened and to whom
God had called them, they themselves would become
slaves. And that's what they did. They entered
that society of slaves. They worked side by side
with them until God closed the gap. between the
hearts of the slaves and those missionaries.
And the result was that the slaves eventually
listened to their message and their hearts were
touched. And they came to Christ because they
saw missionaries who had humbled themselves to
their condition. Walk in humility. That's what
Jesus did, my friend, when he emptied himself,
as it says in Philippians 2, and came into this
world for you and me. And so because he has come
for us and lifted us to the heights of heaven
in our calling, let's also walk in humility like
he did. Let's bow together. I can't know your
heart, but you know God knows your heart as well
as he knows mine. What is the point today that
he's talking to you about? Will you allow the
Holy Spirit of this moment to deal with you,
to speak to you, humble yourself? O Spirit of
God, lover of our souls, one who desires to sanctify
us, to make us like our Savior, we pray that
you will humble us. And enable us to follow the
instructions of your word that says to us, humble
yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand
of God. Speak to us, I pray, in this moment.
In Jesus' name, amen.