Humility & Priorities

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

What drives our sinful pride and inability to humble ourselves before God and others? The Bible suggests that what drives our sinful pride is worry. We are anxious for our lives and so we worry. And in worrying we are implicitly worshipping ourselves. This is the very opposite of humility. Anxiety leads to pride, which lead to further anxiety. A vicious cycle.

This subterranean sin is what Jesus goes after in Matthew 6:25

 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Jesus is suggesting that our worry about “worldly things” reveals that we are not worshipping God but ourselves. We are not seeking “first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

Surprisingly, this suggests that the most impressive of us are often the most prideful—and therefore, actually, under the surface, the most anxious.

And so, every area of our lives becomes warped:

·      Material possessions – I need to have more and nicer things than others.

·      Social status – I want to be powerful. I want to have an impact. I want to leave a legacy.

·      Spirituality– I want to be the impressive Christian that everyone looks to for wisdom and insight. I want to have all my spiritual and theological ducks in a row.

·      Happiness – I want to feel good all the time—especially about me.

Now, none of these things are bad things in and of themselves. But none of these are first things. God is the first thing, and so the sun around which all the planets of our other priorities must orbit. What twists them is our anxious pride—putting ourselves in the place of God. When we make any of these things the first thing, it inevitably leads to disordered relationships, especially a disordered relationship with God.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

Matthew 6 (NASB95)

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.