Introduction:

Have you ever been off, the beaten path? Maybe in the woods? It’s almost the season for berry picking. I like to start planning my travels early!

When I go berry picking; I can get tangled up in some messes!

Have you ever been in the woods and got tangled up in a patch of briars, thrones, and/or vines?

Well, God has a word for you today!

I’ve been so deep in a bush, that I’ve had thrones sticking in my face, briars sticky hair, briars going up my backside, and vines wrapped around my feet. To make matters worse, there’s a nest of ticks I have ticks, rolling out of my hair and settling in my boots. I’m standing there and wondering how I’m going to get out of that mess!

I was covered in Scratches for days and

I checked myself for ticks everyday. I was just one hot mess.

But this experience playbacks in my mind, when I read it the following scripture it came back to memory. The memory really explained the verse. The verse is as follows:

Hebrews 12:1-2 (New International Version) “12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Sometimes, in life, we just take a wrong turn. The Holy Spirit tries to help us, our parents try to help us, our church family tries to warn us, but we go on and we do the wrong thing. We get wrapped up in something or we step into something. Just like getting wrapped up on the ones! Then, we don’t know what to do!

Now, this sin is holding us back from God. Then, when we try to hide it. We try to downplay it. We try to justify it, but the Holy Ghost will not let us run from our sin.

The reality is that part of your spirit is stuck. You’re entangled in the briars and in the vines. Something has a grip on you. Something is wrapped around you and you just can’t shake it.

Today one of those sons is the sin of pride. Today, let’s make all out war with the sin of pride!

This is actually is a popular sin. I see it more with seasoned Christians. It seems that young New Converts can easily pick out pride, but as we mature, we turn a blind to it!

The message:

Now, let’s turn to the book of Luke. Locate chapter 18. We will begin reading at verse 10.

Luke 18:10-14 (New International Version) 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

When Jesus taught the people, he would often capture their imagination. He was a great teacher. Think about it! Oral storytelling was the common form of entertainment. They did not have the television! And they didn’t really have any books! Oftentimes, his parables were not true stories, but they provoked thinking.

People could identify with Jesus, because He used the real name of streets and places. People who actually had experiences being on that street could visualize the situation easier. Jesus was a very vivid teacher.

In Scripture, Jesus says that two guys are heading to the temple to pray. There were other people who followed Christ who also coming into the temple. One of the men was considered to be a Pharisee, and the other man was considered to be a tax collector. As soon as Jesus introduced these two men, Jesus would’ve got some interesting stares back from his audience, because normal conversation would have not put these two characters together.

Back in this time era it was good to be a Pharisee. Pharisees were celebrities. They did not have any negative stereotypes about them. Today, these men would have been the ones that you would want to take a selfie; so weak, could post on social media pi! A tax collector was just not an IRS agent or auditor, making you pay your dues. A tax collector bought a territory from the government and robbed the people. They always collected the tax, but took more for themselves. This made the tax collector the scum of the Earth. So, for Jesus to put these two men in the same sentence; it would have been harsh. In addition, there was probably a few more Pharisees listening to Jesus’s message, and this would’ve made the situation even more awkward. Imagine, that, because the people would’ve been like no way! Are you stupid?

Jesus then continues in verse 11.

Luke 18:11 (New International Version ^“11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”

It’s likely, that a Pharisee would not openly pray this way! Thus, making this scriptural passage a parable. Jesus was

Some fun with the story. This prayer is an example of what not to do and I don’t think any of us would! is it that deep down we believe this about ourselves. We believe that we are further along spiritually, then our neighbor, or our brother and sister. The point Jesus is making is that the Pharisee walks into church feeling pretty good about himself. -Feeling pretty proudfull. The Pharisee does not realize his brokenness. Have you ever showed up for church, spiritual worship, in a prideful condition?

Sometimes, people walk into a church, feeling unbroken and are unsurrendered, because they think they are further along than others. So, if that is the way you feel, you don’t see a need for repentance. My friend, that makes you full of pride.

Here the Pharisee comes church, which is a good thing and the right thing to do, but he has pride. His pride comes before everything. See, when we come to church, we are supposed to come full of Thanksgiving not pride. When we bring pride to worship: we begin to nitpick, and we begin to see all the problems around us, but we don’t see the problems within us.

Jesus continues in verse 13 describing the men. The next man is a tax collector; which is not liked by society! Let’s read that verse together.

Luke 18:13 (New International Version) 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

What a great posture to be before God! This tax collector came humbly before the Lord! When is the last time you felt this before God?

Being humble is the best way to live, but our culture teaches us the opposite. The world teaches us to look out for number one.

Its in our day of self-love and self-promotion that we be reminded of Matthew 23:11. (“Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” )

It is far better to see ourselves as the wretched sinners we are! It’s when we are broken that we realize that we don’t bring anything to the table! This is when we can fix our eyes on Jesus.

The tax collector was at the end of himself. When we don’t know what to do and are totally relying on God he meet us.

When was the last time you came to God with your brokenness? With your sin and with your guilt?

Jesus continues the story in verse 14!

Luke 18:14 (New International Version) 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Jesus says the tax collector leaves justified in his humbleness, but the pharisee exalts himself. God says He is opposed to the proud but will give grace to the humble. And for those who pursue the Lord’s choice of humility, there is a promise of great reward.

“Whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” blessed in life, rewarded in death. (Philippians 2:9)

Furthermore, True humility is not forced upon you–you decide to be humble. True humility is a choice to take the low road, a determination to love others through sacrifice. Get this–I was humbled, but Jesus Christ chose humility. And like Christ, God calls you to choose humility. In fact, God expects you to clothe yourself with humility all the time.

First Peter 5:5 to 6 says exactly that. Your favorite outfit is not a short-sleeve shirt, cargo shorts and flippas–no, the Christian fashion craze is humility. “And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”

When we live life as humble servants of God we grow and mature. It’s what some us long to experience God, but rarely experience Him. – because we never get to the end of ourselves and we never embrace our brokenness! It’s only at the end of ourselves that we step closer to God! -and this is a sign of great Spiritual Maturity!

Now that statement might have shocked some of you, because you thought you obtained spiritual maturity through Bible study, church attendance, or obtained it because you were given some kind of rank in church!

Now, as I long at our church community I don’t see pride glaring back at me, but sometimes we can use a test to measure this for ourselves.

I’m going to be giving you a list of symptoms and you are going to mark how you measure up with that particular symptom.

The symptoms were given by the Holy Spirit, and they come from Scripture.

1. First common symptom pride is, do you have a critical spirit? (Judgmental)

That is the Pharisee in this passage! When he came into the church he was able to point out the faults of everyone.

Are you good at finding fault around you? Remember, when you point the finger at someone, you have two fingers pointing back at you!

2. Another way to be critical is having strong opinions. And with the strong opinions you must voice them.

Pride tells us that our opinions matter the most. A prideful person gets all riled up, must be heard, and believes everyone should feel as they do. In today’s culture, a prideful person has a desire to post, and share their nonsense. Result, these people repel people from the gospel, because others do not want to be around them.

Scripture does tell us that we are to speak truth. We are to speak truth in humility and it with love. Charity is the greatest command.

3. The third symptom of someone who is full of pride is that they are image driven!

Jesus called Christians white washed tombs. They were big and beautiful. They were both bright and beautiful on the outside, but dead on the inside.

Matthew 23:27-28 (New International Version) “27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

The pharisees cared more about their swag and image; then, what was inside of them. This is not uncommon! This is the Way of the world today. We want to be seen with popular people and we want to exclude people who are not considered to be in the in crowd. We want to be celebrities. We want to be rich and famous. People full of pride have a desire and an urge to be with the pretty people and to be seen with the pretty people. Sometimes, they have to drive a certain vehicle and wear a certain clothing style and they always care about the picture that’s posted.

Pride is so deadly because it loves the world and the things in the world. It seeks man’s applause instead of God’s approval.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:15-16)

4. The fourth symptom of someone who is full of pride is that they can not bring themselves to say: “I’m sorry.”

Pride prevents us from acknowledging our human vulnerabilities. This shame-driven pride makes us too uncomfortable to say, “I’m sorry, I was wrong, I made a mistake.” When pride rules, we believe we’re always right. This makes it difficult to sustain intimate relationships; nobody likes being with a know-it-all.

It is much easier to say I’m sorry; then, holding onto anxiety and ill feelings. Repentance is the way of the believer. Holding back on a confession, brings a rift in our soul. Apologizing comes from my humble heart, and God gives grace to the humble.

James 4:6 ( New International Version) “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”

4. The fourth symptom of someone who is full of pride is that they have a distaste for submission.

Do you have a problem with authority? For example, Paul, in the New Testament told the, people to respect government authority. It was terrible, because the officials were unfair, and just, and they made a horrible decisions.

People who are full of pride have power struggles with authority. They do not accept change and always buck the leadership.

For example, they find it hard to accept the rulings of church leadership. It could be as simple as a change in the order of service.

Pride is a sickness! Your pride is silently killing your relationships. it is killing your mental health. It is keeping you away from God. it is serious. And it needs treatment.

5 ways to put an end to pride..

1. The first step in recovery is always confess it. And confess it to those that you have hurt.

That is going to be a very humbling experience! Confession tonight between husband and wife. There might be a confession today. Between church members. there might be a confession to a boss to the bus. read to your coworkers. Maybe you need to say that you’re working on your pride and it’s affecting the way that you live.

2. Give God the credit.

Humility agrees and is glad that God gets all the credit for choosing us and calling us to himself. Humility loves to say, “God chose me; I didn’t choose him. God called me to himself. God wakened me from the dead. God saved me.” Humility loves to talk about the grace of God.

3. Recognize God’s gifts.

Humility agrees and is glad that everything we have is a gift from God. Whatever talents you have, whatever intelligence you have, whatever skills, whatever gifts, whatever looks, whatever pedigree, whatever possessions, whatever wit, whatever influence you have — put away all pride because it’s a free gift. And put away all despair because it’s a gift of God. If you think your talents, gifts, intelligence, wit, possessions are large, put away pride. If you think they’re small, put away despair because they are gifts of God.

4. The fourth way to treat pride is to hate your sins more than you hate the sins of others.

I have to admit, sometimes I hate your sin more than I hate my own. For example, I do not participate gossip. Don’t bring me gossip and expect me not to stop you in it.

I hate rudeness. I have been by the spirit to preach against rudeness for the past six months, and if I can stop gossip, and we all should; then, when someone is being rude to others and we are unctioned by the Holy Spirit; then, we should confront the rudeness. Gossip and rudeness are two reasons why churches lose members and churches do not grow. It’s that serious.

5. The fifth way to treat the symptoms of pride by humbling ourselves to serve others.

We are supposed to humble ourselves before others. Sometimes, this means finding those jobs that no one wants to do and then taking it upon yourself to do them. Putting humility into practice is a great way to treat pride.

Humility measures everything, not by how it will stroke my ego or enhance my reputation, but how it will serve the good of others. “Do nothing from selfish ambition [rivalry] or conceit” (Philippians 2:3). And the Bible says: Count others better then yourself — meaning, serve them.

Maybe now we can put the words of John into practice….

John 3:30-35 (King James Version^{) “30} He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Quiz: How do you measure up?

Directions: consider the last seven days for each question. Use tally marks or checkmarks to answer how many times this occurred for you….

1. How many times have you criticized someone this week?

How many why questions did you use?

For example, why don’t you do dishes this way?

How many questions began with the word: should? For example, you should have known I would wanted the dishes done! Or You should have known…

In the past seven days and even coming into church how many times did you make statements like the Pharisee?

God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”

2. How many times did you feel right and someone else to be wrong?

How many times did you have to make sure your opinion was heard? How many times did you have to have the last word?

How many times did you interrupt someone speaking?

How many times did you talk over someone?

how many times did you have to have your opinions heard on social media?

In person?

In a note?

3. How many times did you want to be seen with popular people?

How many times did we exclude someone?

Did you have the urge to post the best of yourself this week?

Did you buy something because someone else has one?

4. How many times did you withhold an apology this week?

How many times could you have given an apology, but held onto an old one?

5. How many times did you have problems with embracing a change?

How many times did you have problems with embracing a change in routine?

How many times did you have problems with embracing the placement of something in a different location?

Did you or would you get upset if someone sat in your seat at church?

Lord, thank you for this eye-opening quiz and this wonderful message. Thank you for ministering to each heart. Let us strive to be more humble, and show the love of God through our works. Let us now leave this lesson changed and more Christlike. Amen!