The timing of this discussion comes during a month when modern Western culture celebrates the fact that it is rushing headlong into a moral abyss that will culminate in its eventual implosion. All our cultural institutions and leaders are trying to outdo one another to see who can demonstrate the greatest “pride” in a particular angle of humanity’s fallen state.
The very nature of pride is that it refuses to see the things that a person does to destroy himself.
In many of our sermon series at Venture we have discussed the sin of pride. This should not be a surprise, because so much of the Bible gives us different aspects of warning against pride. Here are some examples:
Proverbs 16:18
Proverbs 29:23
Isaiah 16:6-7
Daniel 4:37 (after the emperor was restored from pride-induced mental illness)
1 John 2:16
Paul brings a lot of light to these warnings in a way that is very much connected to the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone. If my works are worthless before God- If the things in which I might have pride only draw God’s contempt, then the warning against the evils of pride are only amplified in the light of the Gospel.
Read what Paul says in Galatians 6:3-5
The Gospel antidote to pride is humility. One of the greatest gifts that God uses to bring humility into our lives is to give us burdens to bear with one another. We have discussed in the last two sermons that these burdens can be the burdens of my sin, another person’s sin, or just things that happen because we live in a fallen world.
There is no greater picture of humility than the perfect Son of God bearing a cross for humanity up a hill where he will be beaten and hung naked to asphyxiate to death. And believing in Christ as our salvation gives us no room to boast in how much better we are than our neighbor….we are each needy paupers who have had grace lavished upon us.
Bearing our own load in this sense is not pride, it is the understanding that Christ is sufficient to bear the burden of our own sin. But we cannot blame others for our burden. We must each accept responsibility so that the responsibility can rightfully be laid on the strong shoulders of Jesus.
Discussion Guide
- What do you think Jonathan means in the first paragraph when he says “pride..celebrates…rushing headlong into a moral abyss that will culminate in (culture’s) eventual implosion?”
- Why is pride such a universal condition for mankind?
- What makes pride so destructive?
- How have you seen the Biblical warnings against pride come to fruition in real life?
- How have you been humbled after being in a prideful state?
- Why does God insist on our humility?
- How does it work for bearing burdens to take away our sense of pride?
- Why are we constantly tempted to compare ourselves to other people?
- How is God challenging you to “bear your own burden” by focusing inwardly on yourself?