Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, bowing down, and making a request of Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left.” But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.” He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.” And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall he your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew (20:20-28) We live in a proud and egotistical generation. People push and promote themselves in ways that would have been abhorrent and totally unacceptable only a generation ago. Yet in a great part of modern culture, pride and high self-esteem have come to be redefined not only as virtues but as the supreme virtues. Our day is reminiscent of the time in history when at the height of the ancient Greek and Roman empires pride was exalted and humility belittled. This tragic development will surely contribute to the demise of modern society as it did to the demise of Greece and Rome. No society can survive the self-destructiveness of pride run rampant, because every society depends for its preservation and success on the mutually supportive and harmonious relationships among its people. When a significant number of them become committed only to themselves and to their own interests, with little regard for their families, friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens, society disintegrates. As self becomes stronger, relationships become weaker. As self-rights become supreme, the interpersonal bonds that hold society together are severed. The promotion of self-esteem, self-fulfillment, and self-glory has become a major industry that ranges from exercise programs to motivation for executive success. Tragically the cult of selfism has found its way into evangelical Christianity. Books, seminars, conferences, magazines, and organizations that promote self under the guise of personal spiritual development abound. The movement has found little resistance in the church, which often seems determined to beat the world at its own fleshly game. From countless sources, claims are heard that God’s great design for His people is health, prosperity success, happiness, and self-fulfillment. The Bible’s teaching of suffering and cross-bearing for Christ’s sake are either ignored altogether or foolishly explained away. A weak gospel, easy believism, and nonsacrificial Christian living are the reflections of this new “evangelical” selfism. Whenever the church has been spiritually strong it has distrusted its own wisdom and strength and looked to the Lord’s, it has shunned its own glory and sought only His, and it has condemned pride and exalted humility. Times of spiritual awakening are inevitably characterized by a sincere sense of brokenness, contrition, and unworthiness. There is always reverential fear of the Word of God, which, working through genuine meekness, gives the church great power Like Paul, the church becomes strong when it knows it is weak (2 Cor. 12:10). But a great part of the western church has become self-indulgent, self-satisfied, and self-reliant, claiming numerical and financial growth as evidence of spiritual blessing. It has replaced sacrifice with success, suffering with self-satisfaction, and godly obedience with fleshly indulgence. Yet the Bible’s testimony is clear and consistent. It was out of pride that Adam and Eve doubted God, believed Satan, and relied on their own judgment, and since that time pride has continued to be the chief characteristic of fallen, sinful mankind. The book of Proverbs warns that “a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin” (Prov. 21:4), that “everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord” (16:5), and that “the fear of the Lord is to hate evil��� pride, arrogance, and the evil way” (8:13). Insolence, arrogance, and boasting have always been marks of a depraved, reprobate mind (Rom. 1:30). Conceit is a favorite trap of Satan, even for believers, and has always been a trait of false teachers (1 Tim. 3:6; 6:4). “The boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world,” John declared (1 John 2:16). Since the first rebellion in the Garden, God has sternly resisted the proud (James 4:6; Ps. 138:6), brought them into contempt (Isa. 23:9), abased them (Ps. 18:27), judged them (Ps. 31:23), humbled them (Dan. 4:37), scattered them (Luke 1:51), and punished them (Mal. 4:1). By the same token, God has always honored humility and meekness. “He regards the lowly” (Ps. 138:6), hears “the desire of the humble” (Ps. 10:17), and values humility even above honor (Prov. 15:33). The Lord intends humility to be part of His children’s daily clothing (Col. 3:12; 1 Pet. 5:5) and daily living (Eph. 4:1-2). He seeks to bless that one “who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at [His] word” (Isa. 66:2). Abraham, that special servant and friend of God, humbly said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27). His son Isaac was selflessly willing to die as a sacrifice to God (Gen. 22:7-9). Isaac’s son Jacob cried out to God, “I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which Thou has shown to Thy servant” (Gen. 32:10). Jacob’s son Joseph, dishonored and sold into slavery by his wicked brothers, forgave them without a trace of bitterness or revenge. When they begged him for forgiveness, he lovingly told them, “‘Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.��� So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them” (Gen. 50:19-21). Moses, the meekest man on the earth, humbly pleaded before the Lord, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” (Ex. 3:11). After Israel’s defeat at Al because of the sin of Achan, Joshua, in humiliation in behalf of his people, “tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening” (Josh. 7:6). David, a man after God’s own heart, humbly prayed, “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Thine is the dominion, O Lord, and Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from Thee, and Thou dost rule over all, and in Thy hand is power and might; and it lies in Thy hand to make great, and to strengthen everyone” (1 Chron. 29:11-12). There were also Hezekiah, king of Judah, who “humbled the pride of his heart” (2 Chron. 32:26); Manasseh, another king of Judah, who “humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers” (2 Chron. 33:12); Josiah, king of Judah, to whom the Lord said, “Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God,��� I truly have heard you” (2 Chron. 34:27); Isaiah, who confessed, “I am a man of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:5); and many others who were great in God’s sight because of their humility and their self-sacrifice for His sake. The humility that accompanies true spiritual greatness is also illustrated throughout the New Testament. Although he was Jesus’ first cousin and had been called to the exalted task of announcing and preparing the way for the Messiah, John the Baptist humbly said, “He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals” (Matt. 3:11). It was because of such self-effacing and genuine humility that Jesus declared, “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matt. 11:11). Peter’s first hint of greatness was expressed in his saying to Jesus, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8). And at the end of his life, when “the laying aside of [his] earthly dwelling [was] imminent,” he could say of Christ with perfect sincerity, “To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity” (2 Pet. 1:14; 3:18). Paul’s greatness is seen in his declaring to the Ephesian elders that he had served “the Lord with all humility” (Acts 20:19). Each of those heroes of Scripture characterized the person who is great in God’s sight, because they refused to seek personal prominence but gave all prominence to the Lord. It is only the humble heart, the servant heart, that enjoys greatness in the kingdom of God. While they were with Jesus during His earthly ministry the twelve disciples desperately needed to learn humility. Not only did they need it for its own sake but also to enable them to understand clearly many other things their Master taught. It was not so much limited intelligence but excessive pride that prevented them from understanding and accepting Jesus’ teaching about such things as servanthood, self-sacrifice, humility persecution, and His clear and repeated predictions about His own forthcoming sufferings and death. They were too encumbered with self-promotion, self-service, self-esteem, and self-glory for those truths to penetrate their minds or hearts. They sought the high places of power and honor for themselves, with little regard for the welfare of their fellow disciples or even for their Lord. The disciples had, indeed, left everything to follow Jesus. They had genuinely confessed Him as the Messiah and as their Lord and Savior. But, like many Christians in every age since that time, they often focused on what they would gain, revealing that they had not completely let go of pride, selfishness, and worldly standards. No doubt the greatest hindrance to their accepting the idea of a suffering, dying Messiah was that they did not want to believe in such a Messiah. If Jesus were to suffer and die, they feared that they would suffer the same fate. At best, they would be disgraced outcasts rather than honored rulers. They much preferred focusing on such promises as that of their one day sitting “upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” and of their receiving back many times what they had given up for Christ (Matt. 19:28-29). Not only had Jesus told them on at least three occasions that He would be arrested and would suffer and die, but He had also told them explicitly that they should themselves expect and be willing to endure the same things. They had heard Jesus tell a certain would-be follower, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matt. 8:20). He had warned the disciples, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.��� But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the courts, and scourge you in their synagogues; and you shall even be brought before governors and kings for My sake.��� And you will be hated by all on account of My name” (10:16-18, 22). He had called for self-sacrifice when He told them, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (10:37-38; cf. 16:24). He had pointed them to humility when He told them, “Unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” and that “whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (18:3-4). But the disciples persisted in bickering among themselves, in refusing to take Jesus’ words at face value, and in continuing to exalt and promote their own selfish interests. Their primary concern was expressed in Peter’s question to Jesus, “What then will there be for us?” (19:27). Nineteen hundred years later, many Christians are still echoing Peter’s question: “What’s in it for me?” Many Christians look at grace as a free lunch, a divine open door to health, prosperity and self-fulfillment, a celestial storehouse of good things they can order on demand from God. John Stott has observed that “A chorus of many voices is chanting in unison today that I must at all costs love myself.” In his book The Danger of Self-Love, Paul Brownback writes along the same line, saying, “This sudden escalation of teaching on self-love��� was the spontaneous response of those who were firmly convinced of the solid biblical basis of self-love. And��� almost immediately the Christian public felt warmly at home with its newfound friend; self-love has been easily incorporated into the mind-set of evangelical Christians” ([Chicago: Moody 1982], p. 13). Also commenting on the current cult of self-love, John Piper writes, Today the first and greatest commandment is, “Thou shalt love thyself.” And the explanation for almost every interpersonal problem is thought to lie in someone’s low self-esteem. Sermons, articles, and books have pushed this idea into the Christian mind. It is a rare congregation, for example, that does not stumble over the “vermicular theology” of Isaac Watts’s “Alas! And Did My Saviour Bleed”: “Would He devote that sacred head/For such a worm as I?” (“Is Self-Love Biblical?” Christianity Today, August 12, 1977, p. 6) Referring to that last phrase from Watts’s hymn, critics often accuse evangelicals of being victims of “worm theology” because they preach and teach the total depravity of man. Embracing self-love is not a new danger in the church. It was clearly a threat to the unity faithfulness, and purity of the Corinthian church and doubtlessly to many others of that day as well. Several hundred years later, Augustine wrote in his classic The City of God: “Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself. The latter in the Lord.” About a thousand years later, John Calvin said, “For so blindly do we all rush in the direction of self-love that everyone thinks he has a good reason for exalting himself and despising all others in comparison.” He then comments that “there is no other remedy than to pluck up by the roots those most noxious pests, self-love and love of victory. This the doctrine of Scripture does. For it teaches us to remember that the endowments which God has bestowed upon us are not our own, but His free gifts, and that those who plume themselves upon them betray their ingratitude.” Someone has wisely written, The cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a bright ornament upon the bosom of the self-assured and carnal Christian whose hands are indeed the hands of Abel, but whose voice is the voice of Cain. The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemns; the new cross assures. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it. The old cross brought tears and blood; the new cross brings laughter. The flesh, smiling and confident, preaches and sings about the cross, and before that cross it bows and toward that cross it points with carefully staged histrionics, but upon that cross it will not die and the reproach of that cross it stubbornly refuses to bear. It is to the cross of suffering and death that Jesus calls His disciples, and to the obedience and self-giving that lead to that cross. But the believer’s cross is small and his suffering insignificant compared to what his Lord’s suffering and death purchased for him. “For if we died with Him,” Paul assured Timothy “we shall also live with Him; if we endure, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:11-12). To the Roman church he testified, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). And at the end of his life Peter had long since stopped asking, “What’s in it for me?” Instead, he confidently counselled fellow believers: “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Pet. 5:10). But while Jesus ministered on earth, the Twelve were far from such self-giving, self-effacing discipleship. Consequently, Jesus’ third and most detailed prediction of His passion and death fell on deaf ears. No sooner had He again finished mentioning His death and resurrection than two of the disciples tried to secure from Him a place of honor and greatness for themselves in the anticipated kingdom. In that event and in Jesus’ response to it we can see four wrong, worldly ways by which men pursue greatness. Following that, the Lord gave an exhortation and example of what constitutes the true greatness that God honors.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 00:41:15 +0000