Self-deception

Father, we confess before you that a lot of us are sort of in a rush a lot of times.

And Father, that when we come to your word, we're in a bit of a rush.

And so if things just don't make sense really quickly and easily to us,

we just sort of think the problem is somehow not us.

So Father, we thank you that you know us.

We thank you that you love us, that we don't catch you by surprise.

So we ask, Father, that you would gently pour the Holy Spirit upon each one of us this morning

to calm our mind and our hearts and our wills, our memories, our imaginations,

that your Holy Spirit would calm us so that we might sit with your word and dwell with your word.

And Father, we ask that you would write your word in the command center of our lives.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So this week on Friday, I had the great honor and privilege.

I really do consider it a great honor and privilege when I get invited to go on Parliament Hill

to speak to the Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship.

Some of you know that there are Christian MPs on Parliament Hill and Christian senators.

They meet privately on some other day of the week just amongst themselves

so they can sort of share across party lines and pray for each other.

It might be a good idea for some of us to pray for them when they do that.

But on Friday, some of the staff workers and some of the people who work in civil service

right near Parliament Hill, they come together for a time to get to know each other,

encourage each other, and somebody usually opens the Bible and talks to them

about what the Bible teaches.

And that was my great privilege this past Friday.

And I gave them sort of like a little bit of a preview of what I was going to be trying

to say to you folks this morning.

And so one of the ways I began, here I am on Parliament Hill, and I said,

it must be really nice to work on Parliament Hill where you don't have to deal with anybody

with big egos.

And I got a bit of a chuckle out of that.

And then I said, you know, if I was in your seat, I would immediately respond,

George, it must be so nice to work in the church where you never have to deal with big egos.

Because, of course, there's a lot of big egos in the church.

But why are there big egos in the church?

You know?

And why is it that we're a lot better at seeing other people's big egos

than we are at seeing our own big egos, right?

I mean, that's the fact of the matter is, that we're a lot better at noticing big egos

in other people than we are with ourselves.

And so the text that we're going to look at today in Galatians chapter 5,

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

it has a lot of great wisdom and insight about the whole problem of big egos

and our ability to recognize them or not.

And it might be a bit of a surprise to you for me to say that,

because for many people when they read the text, which I read earlier today,

the main thing that strikes them isn't that it's talking about big egos,

but how it seems to contradict itself time and time again.

So if you look at the text with me, it's Galatians chapter 5, verse 26.

Galatians 5:26

It's the last verse of chapter 5.

Galatians chapter 5, verse 26.

Galatians 5:26

And here's what it says.

Let us not become conceited.

By the way, it's just six verses that we're looking at today,

but they're very packed and powerful verses.

And here's how it begins.

Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in any transgression,

you who are spiritual should restore him or her in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

By the way, this text isn't giving us permission to go around and be like a group of moral police,

examining each other, hoping to catch people in something.

That's not what the verse is talking about at all.

And notice this command about the self-awareness that we're tempted ourselves,

and we're to do it gently.

Verse 2, and this is where some of the contradictions,

or at least apparent contradictions, start to make themselves clear.

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone,

and not in his neighbor.

And just sort of pause before the last verse.

Doesn't it sound a little bit as if it's saying,

that we can boast, that we're allowed to boast, but isn't boasting a sin?

Like, how does boasting go along with the spirit of gentleness and not being tempted?

And then it says, for each of us, each will have to bear his own load.

That's verse 5.

So how is it that we have to bear each other's burdens,

and we each bear our own load?

And it just seems on one level to be a little bit confusing in the text.

And it starts off with this command.

It's easy to command people not to be conceited.

Of course, as you know, one of the problems is that we can end up being proud at how humble we are.

Boy, God, I thank you so much that I'm not conceited like those other people.

I mean, you know, that's part of the dilemma.

The very moment when you start to think that you have some victory,

the devil can completely and utterly undercut you by making you proud at your victory.

And which is, by the way, one of the reasons why the ancient spiritual writers

considered pride to be the deadliest of sins.

Because no matter how much victory you got on some of the other sins,

pride could always rear its head and bite you in the butt or infect you.

That it's, in fact, very, very hard to stamp out.

Many, many years ago in a previous church, I had a fellow in the congregation,

and I went to his 100th birthday party.

And I used to bring him communion about once a month.

And his name was Eve Byers.

And, you know, we had a bit of a conversation.

And just some of us, you young guys, you just have to trust me with this one,

just like I have to trust Eve Byers.

But when you're 100 years old, you don't have the temptation for lust as much as you did when you were 20.

Some of those desires die a little bit by the time you're 100.

But it's still easy to be proud of the fact that you've outlived so many people.

Like, no matter how old you are, pride can still rear its head.

So what's going on here on the text?

And why is it that there's so many big egos?

Why is it that we're blind about it?

And why is it that so many of us don't think that we have the problem with big egos?

We have battered and timid egos.

In fact, many people outside the Christian circles, if they were to talk about Christians,

they would see us as either being very, very timid, far too timid,

or they would think of us as being far too full of ourselves.

Well, let's just look at this one verse to sort of try to tease this text out a little bit.

Look at chapter 6, verse 4.

It says,

So here's the first insight about the text.

This is a very odd text.

We're going to talk about it a bit.

But here's the first thing.

If you could put up the first point, Andrew, that would be very helpful.

It is very hard for me to judge myself or assess myself.

Maybe assess would be a better word right here.

It's very hard for me to assess myself without assessing or judging myself by comparing myself to other people.

You ever notice that?

It's almost completely impossible for us just to assess ourselves as us.

Like, you know, if I'm assessing myself as a pastor,

it's very hard for me not to compare myself to other pastors and how they preach

and other churches and how they seem to be doing on metrics which the world thinks are very, very important.

It's very, very, very hard for me to do that.

Like, even if I try to do it, very quickly I'll start to notice that there's this comparison with others that sneaks itself in,

sneaks into my attempt to understand myself.

In fact, I would suggest that this is a human problem,

that human beings have a hard time doing this now,

just being able to assess themselves as if there's just almost as if they're the only person who exists and God,

and what other people are doing and how they're handling things are sort of irrelevant to assessing ourselves.

It's a human problem.

And it's a bit of a shock to a lot of Christians to discover that they're still human.

And we are.

That even if we've been saved by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone,

it's human beings who are saved, and we still have to grow and deal with the human condition.

And so some of you might say,

Well, George, that's really, really, really helpful for you to tell me that we have this human problem

that we're going to have all of our lives.

I was hoping for something a little bit more hopeful than that.

And then some of you as well might be saying,

Well, George, here's the problem with this.

If I was to really try to just assess myself and judge myself as if only I exist and God,

aren't you encouraging Christians to ignore social cues?

Like there have, I was just giving somebody in another church a week or two ago some advice.

They had a person in the congregation, and, you know, I don't know what the issue was.

Maybe it was there on the autism spectrum a little bit or whatever.

It was a bit of a mental illness or just whatever it is.

I don't know.

I wasn't a psychologist.

But what the problem was is that the person was causing trouble in the church

because the person didn't pick up social cues.

Like they were hugging women, and the women didn't want to be hugged.

And they would come and talk to people, and they'd stand way too close.

And one of the advice I gave is that for people who suffered that,

you have to be far more direct.

You almost have to be what...

If I was to talk to the person I was giving advice to, a pastor,

if I was to talk to you in this way, you would be unbelievably offended.

But for people who can't pick up social cues,

you have to realize there's something wrong with them,

and so you need to be far more direct and blunt with them

and in their face about it than you would be with a person who can't pick up social cues.

But the question is, if in fact the way forward is just to judge myself

without comparing myself to other people, George,

you're not encouraging churches and Christians to...

They're not dealing with their big ego.

They're not dealing with being too timid.

All you've done is made them like this person who can't pick up social cues.

Well, no, the Bible is far wiser than that.

Listen to verse 4 again.

Actually, no, before we read verse 4, could you put up the next point?

Here's the issue.

God never judges me by comparing me to other people.

Look all the way through the Bible.

Now, there will be times when God will say to Israel, for instance,

listen, you're even worse than the nations.

There is a time in 1 Corinthians when Paul says,

you guys are doing things that even the pagans wouldn't do.

But the heart of the judgment isn't that they don't match up to pagans.

The heart of the judgment is,

guys, it's wrong to have a young man sleep with his mom.

That's part of the issue in 1 Corinthians.

It isn't the issue of whether or not there's some type of curve going on.

But that God, in fact, all the way through the Bible,

God never judges me by comparing me to other people.

And yet, I can't judge myself without comparing myself to other people.

And, you know, the Bible does something, you know, just like,

I mean, this is really actually a very, very important thing to meditate upon.

You know, the average Canadian, and most of us are average Canadians,

but not maybe in this particular way.

What does the average Canadian say?

You know, you sort of, you know, parse out or take out the well-instructed atheists

who really are very consistent atheists who say that when they die,

they become worm food, and that's it.

And maybe you take out the very well-instructed Muslims

who would believe that a small percentage of the human race

will go to where all the virgins are, and everybody else goes to hell.

And you take out the small number of very well-instructed Hindus and Buddhists

who would understand that after the cycle of life and rebirth and life and rebirth,

eventually you merge with the one and you sort of disappear

because you've merged with the one.

And then you take out the very, very small number of maybe well-instructed Christians.

But the average Canadian, once you've taken all those things away,

and it might be, I don't know, 80% of Canada, what do they say when you die?

You go to a better place.

Now, why do they say that?

Because they say, I mean, they have no reason for saying that,

but they say that because at the end of the day,

they think God grades on some type of curve.

And they might say those mean, nasty Muslims,

they think only the top 2% are going to get into heaven.

And those crazy Christians,

they maybe only think the top 10% is going to get into heaven.

And we have no word at all to describe Jehovah Witnesses

that only think a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of 1%

will make it into heaven.

We're far more tolerant.

We think like 60% of people will be going to heaven,

or 80% of Canadians will go to heaven,

or everybody in Canada except those who voted for Donald Trump will go to heaven.

And we just sort of think that.

We just sort of think that God looks,

and he compares us and say,

yeah, you folks are all good folks,

you're all good lads,

all good women,

and yeah, yeah, you're all going to go.

Because how do we think?

We think that God judges us in comparison to other people.

And the Bible says that God never judges me

by comparing me to other people.

Like, never.

And so, when we start to realize this,

if you look now, look at this,

look at chapter 6 again.

Look at verse 5.

It says,

for each will have to bear his own load.

And just so you know,

in case I run out of time later on in the sermon,

the original,

I mean, in most of your English versions,

it'll have a different word for burden

in verse 2 and load in verse 5.

And that's because there's very, very radically different words

in the original language.

And the word for load

would be the same word as the pack

that a soldier puts on

to go off to leave the base

to go for battle.

He would carry, or she would carry,

their pack.

It is, in a sense,

it would be that

if you go on a hiking trip

and you have the things you need

to survive the hiking trip

on your back

or in your car

if you're going moose hunting

or something like that,

you carry the things with you.

And in a sense,

it's the things of your life.

The word for burden,

which we'll look at

a little bit more in a moment,

the word for burden

is something which is

very, very, very heavy,

which in effect

you can't really carry by yourself

and you have to carry

for a very, very long distance.

And so they're very, very different ideas.

So if you look at verse 5 again,

mindful of the fact

that God never judges me

by comparing me to other people,

the text says

each will have to bear his own load.

I'm held responsible

for how I do with you folks.

I'm held responsible

for how I deal with the money

that I've been entrusted with from God

with my own family.

It isn't that I'm judged

in terms of like Bill Hybels

with his big church

or somebody with a...

Like I have my load

and I need to deal with my load.

God will judge me

in terms of how I deal

with the things

which have been placed

in my care.

And, you know,

look back at verse 4.

But let each one test his own work.

Then his reason to boast

will be in himself alone

and not in his neighbor.

You see that whole idea there

about testing your own work

and not your neighbor

in terms of...

That we're so used to

judging ourselves

in terms of our neighbor.

And we'll talk a little bit

in a moment

about boasting about himself alone.

But just a very simple idea there, right?

Remember,

the idea is very clear

in the Bible

that humility

is not telling lies

about yourself.

If Einstein said,

I suck at math,

that wouldn't be humble.

If Usain Bolt said,

I can't even keep up

with a 95-year-old

and a walker,

he's lying.

And humility

isn't telling lies

about yourself.

It's other things about it,

but it's definitely

never telling lies

about yourself.

And look up at verse 3.

For if anyone thinks

he is something

when he is nothing,

he deceives himself.

And that's all

going to be seen

in a moment about...

We're going to understand

how the Bible means it,

but we tend to think

of ourselves

as being nothing

and compared to others.

We're something

and compared to others.

That if I meet

a whole pile of pastors

and they have churches

with only 25 people in them,

it's...

I mean,

this is self-disclosure.

You pray for me.

It's easy for me

to think I'm something.

And if I go to something

and everybody there

has churches

that have like a thousand

on a Sunday,

I feel like nothing.

But God never judges me

by comparing me

to other people.

Like, never.

Like, never.

So,

some of you say,

okay, George,

well,

I'm not sure

where to go with this.

Well,

let's go back

to how the text begins

in chapter 5,

verse 26.

It's just a few small words,

chapter 5,

verse 26,

but it's very,

very,

very powerful,

very,

very deep,

very wise,

and very insightful

about the human condition.

And it says,

let us not become conceited,

provoking one another,

envying one another.

And just so you know,

when it says here,

let us not become conceited,

provoking one another,

and envying one another,

I guess if I had thought about it,

it's not as if

there's three things

that we have to deal with,

conceited,

being conceited,

provoking others,

and envying others,

it's a very clear direction

that there's this problem

with being conceited,

and that leads

and shows itself

in two different ways,

provoking other people

and envying other people.

Like,

it flows from conceit,

these other two problems.

And so,

just to sort of

unpack it a little bit,

if you could put up

the next point,

underneath this text,

is something

which isn't very flattering

about the human being,

the human person,

but it's very true.

I am like you.

Yeah,

you come here

so I can insult you.

If the Bible,

it's not me,

it's the Bible.

I am like you.

I have glory hunger.

I've adapted this idea

from something

Tim Keller

talks about very movingly,

and he calls it

honor hunger.

And that is

that human beings

have this hunger,

this desire

to be honored,

to be recognized,

to not just be recognized

as,

oh yeah,

there's old Joe Blow,

or oh yeah,

there's Sue,

but to recognize

as,

whoa,

there's Joe,

or whoa,

there's Sue.

They're fantastic.

They're awesome.

They're brilliant.

They're beautiful.

They're whatever.

And every human being

has this honor hunger

or glory hunger.

And it's not even necessarily

something we struggle about

because it's almost hard

for us as human beings

who can't assess ourselves

without comparing ourselves

to others.

It's almost completely impossible

for us human beings

to assess ourselves

and somehow leave behind

this hunger we have

for recognition

and for honor.

And here's so many places

where the Bible

is just unbelievably wise.

Because,

you know,

it talks about how

in Genesis 1 and 2

how human beings

are made in God's image

and likeness

and how God makes

the entire created order

for us as human beings

to dwell here

as our home.

And he's given us,

you know,

a role in terms of

like almost representing

and being the ones

who can give voice

to the unceasing praise

of the mountains

and the seas

and the birds

and the animals

and the stars.

And his desire was

that he could walk

in the garden with us

in the cool of the day.

And we choose

to rebel against God

and rather than

being able to walk

with God in the garden,

we decide we want

to be like God.

We want to be God

because we don't trust

God's word.

We don't trust

that he's going to be

good enough.

We're going to be

God ourselves.

And when that happens,

there's this bending

and this fundamental break

in our relationship

with God

and our relationship

with ourselves

and our relationship

with each other

and our relationship

with the created order.

And it creates within us

because we're creatures

made in the image of God.

We are created

with this hunger

to be connected

to the one

in whose image we are.

a hunger

to walk with God

in the garden

where God

in a sense

every day

as we walk

with God

in the garden

puts his arm around

and he says,

how's it going?

I love walking

in the garden

with you.

And because he's God,

he can do it

for a billion people,

seven billion people,

20 billion people,

50 billion people

to each one.

We were in a sense

made for God

to put his arm

around you

and say,

gosh,

it's good to walk

in the garden

with you.

I love spending

time with you.

It's like we have

a type of a wound

within us.

That hunger

for honor,

for recognition,

for being in glory

which can only really be

not by being

like a God ourselves

but by being

with the true creator God

and sustainer God

and that's just gone.

And that's why

if you could put up

the next point,

the word translated

as conceit,

it's a very,

very,

very good word

but this is actually

one of those cases

where the old

King James version

of the Bible

actually has a better word.

If you go back

and you look up

the King James version

of the Bible,

it doesn't use

the word conceit,

it uses the word

vainglory.

That's really

old-fashioned.

But this word,

although I think

there's a video game

involving lots of

mayhem and murder

called it,

but that's separate.

So other than people

who watch,

you know,

play those games,

it's an old-fashioned word.

But I am like you.

I desire

vain glory,

glory for myself

in regard to matters

that are in reality

unrighteous.

So,

if I would ever

get to do this sermon

again,

I'm going to use

that line a little bit

different because

there's sort of

three ideas

behind this idea

of vainglory

and only one of them

is around

unimportant matters.

Quite a few years ago

when I was in my

previous church,

which was a rural

country church,

I was doing a wedding

rehearsal one night

and I was having

a lot of trouble

with my Chrysler minivan,

my Dodge Chrysler minivan.

And so,

the women hadn't arrived

but the guys were there.

And this is country.

Every one of these guys,

I mean,

they could have built

their own sawmill,

built their own truck,

built their own airplane,

wired the house.

I mean,

these are like the

archetype,

burly,

country,

handy guys.

So,

I think we have

a few moments.

I'm going to ask

one of them to come over,

the groom,

the future groom,

to come over

and have a look

at my van

which is giving me

some problems

and he saunters over

in his jeans

and his cowboy boots

and he looks at it

and for the next

five minutes,

and his buddies

and the dad

and all,

they come behind him

and for the next

five minutes,

he ragged on me

for being so stupid

as to buy a Chrysler.

And basically,

if you're stupid enough

to buy a Chrysler,

there's nothing you can do

for something

which is a Chrysler.

And for five minutes,

he and his buddies

ragged me on this issue

and it only ended

when it turned out

there were about six of them

and four of them

were Chevy guys

and two of them

were Ford guys.

So then they ragged

on each other

for being so stupid

to drive a Chevy

or a Ford.

And,

you know,

it was as if

it was a point

of importance

to them

that they're not stupid

like other people.

And this was

in the early 90s.

They would have gotten

very foul-mouthed

if it came to

Japanese vehicles,

let me tell you.

Had to be American,

North American.

And so,

but here's the thing,

okay?

So this word

which we translate

in our Bible here

is conceit

which could also be

translated as vainglory.

One of the aspects

of vainglory

is that we think

we're important

because of things

which are completely

and utterly unimportant.

There was a thing

in the National Post

just a week or two ago

and to my amazement

it said that

a lot of women

in their 20s

spend $300 a month

on makeup.

I wish,

I couldn't believe it.

Imagine the better Chevy

you could get

with an extra $300 a month.

But I couldn't believe it

so I asked

one of my kids

and they said,

yeah, yeah,

that's very,

there's a lot of

young women

who spend $300

a month on makeup

and then they said,

you should be so glad

you have me as your daughter

and you're married to Louise

and I'm very grateful

for them as my daughters

and Louise

because they definitely

don't spend $300

a month

on makeup.

But people can be

very proud about that

but makeup?

Your ability

to put on makeup?

You know,

you read style magazines

and people are proud

about their ability

to pick out the right color

or proud about their ability

to pick out the right whiskey

or proud about their ability

to pick up the right coffee

or whatever it is

or the anti type of stuff.

You know,

we don't waste our money

on all that stuff.

We go to Costco

or wherever,

whatever the hipster reaction is.

But so part of vainglory

and judging yourself

to other people

is a pride over things

which don't matter at all.

If you don't know this,

you've heard me say it before,

God never judges you

by how much money you make.

He doesn't judge you

and say you're bad

if you're poor

and good if you're rich

or bad if you're rich

and good if you're poor

and he doesn't judge you

in terms of whether

you have 10 extra pounds

or 20 extra pounds

or whether you're too skinny.

He doesn't judge you

on how many muscles you have

or whether you're good looking

or whether you're ugly.

He doesn't judge you

on whether you're smart

or whether you're dumb

or your IQ's high,

your IQ's low,

your EQ's high,

your EQ's low.

None of those things

which matter so much to us

does God ever judge us on.

And we really think

we're something

on a lot of those issues

and that's vain glory.

And the other aspect

of vain glory

is that it's a desire

for,

it's a desire

to be seen by others

as being important.

In effect,

it's a desire by others

to be seen by others

as if you're somehow

a little bit of a God

and there it's a matter of,

that's a vain pursuit,

right?

It would be like,

like a vain pursuit

would be,

I don't know,

like a football analogy

to Cleveland Browns

trying to win the Super Bowl

this year or next.

That's a vain pursuit.

There's no hope

in it whatsoever.

If they win it next year,

that would be really,

I'm not a prophet,

okay?

If they win it next year,

that would be shocking.

But a vain pursuit.

And then the third aspect

of it is it just means

vain in the sense

of self-centered

and conceit.

A vain person.

And it's all captured

in the original language

and it's all wonderfully

captured in this word

vain glory,

which I understand

why they don't translate it

because it's an old word

and has to be explained.

And so what the Bible

is saying is,

I am like you.

I desire vain glory.

Glory for myself

in regard to matters

that are in reality

unimportant.

Or I desire vain glory

because I'm vain.

I just think there's

something unbelievably

special about me.

Or I desire vain glory

because I want to have

everybody honor me.

I have an honor hunger.

I have a glory hunger.

And I walk around

with this glory hunger

and honor hunger

all the time.

But some of you

might say,

George,

I so wish

my husband

could hear this

because you've just

described him perfectly.

Or I just so wish

my dad could hear this

because you've just

described him to a T.

But George,

I've been beat up

by people like that

all my life.

And that's not my problem.

Let's listen to the text again.

Remember I said,

let us not become conceited

or let us not

become vainglorious.

Remember I said

that in the language

it then says

there's two different things

that flow from it.

provoking one another

or envying one another.

If you could put up

the next point.

So here's what the Bible

has said.

When I believe

I am doing a great job

in attaining vain glory.

I know Scotch

so much better

than everybody here

in the room

except one person.

Like just,

you know,

come on.

Give me the kudos, right?

When I believe

I am doing a great job

in attaining vain glory,

I provoke people.

And the word provoke

here in the original language

it means challenge people,

irritate people.

bother people.

But when I believe

I am doing a poor job

in attaining vain glory,

I envy other people.

In other words,

many of us

who struggle

with inferiority complexes,

our problem is

we have a vain glory project

and we just suck at it.

Or we think we suck at it

so we're depressed.

And other of us

have the exact same

vain glory project

but because we think

that it really matters

whether you buy your coffee

at Starbucks

or Tim Hortons,

we think we're better

than other people.

Like how stupid is that?

That's why the text says

we deceive ourselves.

Like we deceive ourselves

all the time.

And you see,

this is a very, very

unbelievably insightful

Bible passage.

And it's also,

by the way,

it's also a little bit,

see it's also very,

very helpful

because people are complex.

You know,

like,

so what can happen is,

so, you know,

I think there can just be somebody,

some people are just

so beat up by life

that they're basically

almost always

doing,

thinking they're doing

a poor job

of attaining vain glory.

And there's other people

who basically all the time

think they're doing

a spectacular job

and so they're dealing

with provoking people

all the time.

But most of us,

we're a mixture

of these things.

So it might very well be

that at work,

the husband thinks

he's really spectacular.

No, sorry,

got this wrong.

It might be that at work,

he looks at himself

and he thinks,

I'm not getting the promotions

I should be getting

and I don't,

I can't drive,

you know,

I'm stuck driving

a Ford Ranger

and I'd really like

to have enough money

to buy an F-150

or an F-250.

And so they're comparing

themselves to other people

and they feel insecure,

inferior,

and envious at work,

but they go home

and they think

their wife's a loser

and they feel superior.

And so they go through

their day

and they're a week

like a yo-yo.

They leave the house

and they feel inferior,

they come home

and they feel superior.

And you can multiply this

with friendships,

with sports,

with all sorts of things,

is that we can go

from one to the other.

But the fundamental problem

is that we have

a God project

and a glory hunger

and an honor hunger

that's completely

and utterly unexamined

and isn't being killed.

and isn't being replaced

by something else.

So, you know,

I don't say all this

to depress you.

I mean, think of all of us.

If you could put up

the next point,

great.

In the midst of our pursuit

of vain glory,

God, the Son of God,

emptied himself

and died for us

to save us.

In the midst of my pursuit

of vain glory,

God, the Son of God,

emptied himself

and died for me

to save me.

I mean,

you think about the gospel

for a second.

This is what's so

completely counter

to how we think

in terms of comparing

ourselves to others

and having an honor hunger

is that the Bible

describes it

from,

in Philippians 2,

it's very powerfully put

that

from all creation,

God,

the Son of God,

the second person

of the Trinity,

he lives in glory

and majesty

and splendor

and divine prerogatives

and he has this

unceasing love

and affection

with God,

the Father

and the Holy Spirit

is like the love

between the Father

and the Son

and is his own person

and there's just,

and God,

and God,

the Son of God,

out of love

for human beings

like you and me

who've rebelled

against God,

turned our back

on God,

shaken our fist

at God,

broken ourselves,

are walking around

with vain glory

projects,

glory hungers,

honor hungers,

comparing ourselves

to each other

and dumping on each other

and dumping on ourselves

and that's what we're doing

and God,

the Son of God,

looks down at us

and sees that we cannot

fix ourselves

and so out of love

for us,

he doesn't yell

at us

but he sets aside

his glory

and he sets aside

his honor

and he sets aside

his divine prerogatives

and he sets aside

everything that even

makes himself

look like God

and he sets all

of this aside

but he remains

in his fundamental

nature God

and he enters

the womb of Mary

taking into himself

our human nature

and God,

the Son of God,

the creator of all things,

the sustainer of all things,

the shaper of all things,

of unbelievable glory

and majesty

that when we

enter the new heaven

and the new earth

as redeemed individuals,

we will spend

all of eternity

and not exhaust

the beauty

and the glory

and the majesty

of God

and that same God,

the Son of God,

enters the womb of Mary

emptied of all

but that which continues

to make him God

but he empties himself

of all appearances

and his emptying

continues by living

a human life

in a remote corner

of the Roman Empire

under a conquered people

and he empties himself

even further

by dying on the cross

and on the cross

he bears your burdens

and mine,

he bears your load

and mine,

he bears your curse

and mine,

he bears our shame,

he bears our sin,

he bears our death,

he bears our rebellion

with nothing left over

that continues to be poured

into him

as he empties himself

and tastes all there is

to taste of death

and even for our sake

tastes abandonment

from the Father

and he does it all

to save you and me.

Could you put up

the next point?

Only God can save me

and only because

he loves me

and only by what

he did by his son's

death upon the cross

and only,

and it only

becomes mine

by faith

in his promise

to save.

Just like a little kid,

if you go out

after the service

and with the parents'

permission

and you say,

if you just put

your hand out,

I'll give you

ten bucks.

And that little kid

has to not just

have faith

that you're a rich guy

or a rich gal,

but that you do it

and they put their hand out

and you put it in,

the ten bucks in.

And

that's the same thing

with salvation.

God accomplishes

accomplishes something

in the person of his son

and the work of his son

and he tells us

that he's accomplished

it for us

and faith is putting

our hand out to God

and he puts that

in our hands.

So how does this story

help

as we're gripped

by the gospel,

as the Bible

comes into our lives,

as we think about

the gospel

and in thinking

about the gospel,

that we now start

to desire

that we want to have

God's word written

in our heart

because the gospel

now,

what does this text say?

This text says something

to those of us

who feel superior

over others.

This text tells us

those of us

who struggle with feeling,

who don't even struggle

with feeling superior

over others,

but this text tells you

and me

who think we're superior

to others

and just think it's natural

that our

our situation

apart from grace

was unimaginably worse

than we could ever imagine.

the worst nightmare

that Hollywood

or writers

or poets

could imagine

does not even begin

to come close

to our desperate need

and the horror

of our situation.

Therefore,

all superiority

should be broken.

And this very same

gospel story

tells those of us

who struggle

with feeling

that we are

losing the battle,

that all we can do

is envy.

We just feel inferior.

We've come to a point

in our lives

where we just feel inferior.

And this same gospel story

tells us

that you

are loved

by God.

That no amount

of pride

can even start to...

No amount

of narcissism.

No.

You are loved

by God

in a way

which you will

spend all of eternity

with God

experiencing

His love

for you

and all of eternity

with God

experiencing

His love

for you

and it will not

come to an end

because it is

so inexhaustible.

And as we're

gripped by the gospel

with what Jesus

did for us

on the cross

and as from

that perspective

God's word

starts to get

written on our heart

it begins

to shape us

and give us

the place

to stand

to deal with

all sorts of things

that we could not

deal with before.

It nudges us

to put a death

to our superiority

it nudges us

to put a death

to our inferiority

it nudges us

into the places

that the rest

of this text

tells us to go to

that when we see

a brother

or a sister

caught in

some trespass

that rather than us

on one level

secretly gloating

and saying

well I'm more

superior than them

the desire

is to restore

them

conscious

that we

ourselves

are beset

by sins

and when we

see somebody

bearing a burden

and rather

than feeling

that

we're superior

because that's

such a big burden

that there starts

to be a nudging

or a shaping

that maybe

I should get up

close and personal

that person

and help them

carry that burden

because

in the gospel

Jesus carried

my burden

didn't he

and maybe

for those of us

who are too proud

to confess

that we have

burdens

the gospel

will start

to shape us

in a type

of humility

to say

it's not wrong

to say

to another person

brother or sister

I have a burden

I'm having

a hard time

carrying

could you pray

for me

or maybe

even help me

and that

in such a

context

that maybe

we

I can test

myself

and if I test

myself

it's not by

thinking about

myself

do I preach

as well as

Matt Chandler

or Tim Keller

but how am I

doing compared

to a year ago

and it's maybe

not

you know

have I put on

five pounds

that I don't want

or lost five pounds

that I wanted

to lose

but

gosh Lord

how am I doing

with the fruit

of the spirit

do I love

more and better

than I did

a year ago

am I more

patient

than I was

a year ago

am I more

gentle

than I was

a year ago

you see

as

as the gospel

grips us

and the Holy

Spirit

then starts

to use

that gripping

to write

God's word

in our hearts

God

God works

to start

to free us

because wouldn't

it be so freeing

to be a human

being who doesn't

miss social cues

but no longer

thinks that we

have to compare

ourselves to others

but can carry

our own load

in light of the

God who loves us

and sent his son

to die for us

just to

I have other points

just I'm just

going to put them

up and then

we're going to

pray

next one

Andrew

every Christian

has burdens

don't believe

health and wealth

gospel people

who tell you

that you can

come to a state

of being filled

by the Holy

Spirit

you no longer

have burdens

Bible says

they're wrong

every one of us

here has burdens

we will always

have burdens

they'll change

but we'll have

them

next one

the Lord

the Lord did

not redeem

me to

bowl

alone

but to be

part of a

one another

local church

home

a one another

church home

where we learn

to bear each

other's burdens

you know

pray into this

for us as

Messiah

next one

no one

deceives me

better than

me myself

and I

I mean this

text is inviting

us to call out

to the Lord

to show us

each of us

and as a

congregation

how we're

deceiving

ourselves

not how my

wife is deceiving

me or my

boss is deceiving

me or my

friend is deceiving

me or the

prof is deceiving

me

I mean you can

keep praying about

that if you want

but most of us

spend ten times

hundred times

a thousand times

praying about

that and rather

asking the

question

father how do

I deceive

myself

please stand

just as

as we go

into this

I don't know

where you are

in all of

these things

but I just

want to assure

you of one

thing

the gospel

is for you

if you're here

and you think

George if you

knew some of

the terrible

things I've

ever done

you wouldn't

think the

gospel is for

me and all

I can tell

you is you're

right I don't

know the

terrible things

you've done

but God

knows them

and God

knew them

when he sent

his son to

die on the

cross for

you and if

some of you

are saying

George if

you knew how

much of a

failure I

am in so

many areas

of my life

you wouldn't

think the

gospel was

for me and

you're right I

don't know how

much of a

failure you are

in all those

areas but God

knows him and

still he sent

his son to

die on the

cross for you

there is no

one here so

broken or so

successful so

rich or so

poor so

sinful or so

self-righteous

that Jesus did

not die for

you on the

cross and

there is no

time better than

right now to

call out to him

for mercy to

thank him for

what he's done

for you on the

cross and to

believe his

promise that if

you put out

your hand what

he has accomplished

for you in the

person of Jesus

that that will come

into your hand and

into your life and

into your mind and

into your heart and

into your soul and

into your body and

that God will never

let you go there is

no better time than

right now to do

that business with

God let's bow

our heads in

prayer

father you know

that most of us

aren't even

struggling with

self-deception and

we ask father that

your holy spirit would

start to use your

word and the gospel

to reveal that to

us but father we

thank you so much

that you are a

gentle God and a

loving God and you

won't do it in a way

that unmakes us but

father bring that

home to us so that

we might cling to

Jesus and cling to

your word and cling

to your promises and

father you know those

of us who haven't

even begun to deal

with our vain glory

project our glory

hunger and and

suffer under

inferiority or

superiority and

father you know the

marriages which are in

danger over issues

like this and you

know father the jobs

that are in danger

over things like this

and the friendships

that are in danger

over over things like

this father even

know the ones who

are cutting themselves

over issues like this

or thinking of

suicide over issues

like that father you

know each one of our

hearts and we ask

father that you're

that the holy spirit

would be poured out

upon us and that you

would make us

disciples of Jesus

who are gripped by

the gospel

gripped by the gospel

and learning to live

free for your glory

and all this we ask

in the name of Jesus

your son and our

savior amen

you

you

you

you

you

you

you

you

you

you

you