Lent: Pride of Life

This post is the second in the series of sermons on the three temptations of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, juxtaposed with 1 John 2:16. The first sermon, Desires of the Flesh, highlighted the fact that the tempter appeals to our basic human appetites and needs to lead us to sin. Because the temptations are related to our human appetites and needs, they are actually difficult to discern and overcome.

This second sermon will deal with the second temptation of Jesus Christ, which John referred to as “the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Matthew 4:5-7, ESV, records the second temptation:

The devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and

‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

One of the lessons I have never forgotten is from my Doctrine of Holiness class from fifteen years ago. Rev. Randy Lingenfelter commented that everyone has pride. The fact that we check ourselves in the mirror before leaving our homes reveals that we want to appear presentable to other people. He said that this is an evidence of pride. I agree with him. Everyone possesses a lingering amount of pride. This means that pride is not altogether evil. Without pride, we would all be dirty and smelly. In the first temptation of Jesus Christ, Satan appealed to His human basic appetites and needs. In the second temptation, Satan again appealed to our human sense of dignity.

In the Syriac and Arabic manuscripts, the translation is “the pride of the age.” What is it that drives people today? What do people want to achieve in life right now? What characterizes success today? It would not be an exaggeration to say that there is a feeling of unrest and un-accomplishment among peoples of the world today. This is partly because we compare ourselves to others, resulting in self-pity, discontentment, and careless busyness. But it is also partly because we live as people trying to feed our pride.

In 2015, the estimated annual income of Filipino families is Php267,000.00. If compared to 2006, when the annual average income was Php173,000.00, there was actually a 35% increase over the last ten years. But do Filipinos feel as if they are wealthier and are saving more? I highly doubt it. There is a widespread discontent and desire for more. People still feel that they are poor, but why? Dewi Hughes is right: “The widespread consumerism and materialism of the culture—expressed above all in our incessant advertising—seduces many people into making extravagant decisions about major purchases like houses and cars and smaller things like recreation, eating out, vacations, etc.; and the result is that most families are financially pressed in spite of enormous wealth.”[1] In short, people feel that they are poor because they are proud. They want to compete with their neighbors and friends, because their pride won’t allow them to not enjoy the same things the people they know are enjoying. Once, a salesman became very successful by using one line to sell to his customers: “Let me show you something several of your neighbors said you couldn't afford.”

Temptation about Public Life

Interestingly, temptations related to the pride of life are temptations that involve our public life. Most of the times, we are tempted in relation to our private lives, and we want to hide the sins that we do. People watch pornographic videos while doors are locked and the curtains are closed. Shoplifters steal very discreetly. Big time robberies are committed by people wearing masks. Corrupt politicians stealing the government money do so in secret, making sure to remove trails leading to them. When people commit fornication and adultery, they do so in a carefully planned way so that they remain hidden from the world. Sins of lust are committed in secret or in the dark.

But the temptations related to the pride of life are different. These are public sins. We do them while others are around, inviting everyone to see them. They are things done in the open. This is the temptation to show off what we already have. First, it is the temptation to display one’s glory and achievements. In Filipino homes and offices, it is not uncommon to see certificates, diplomas, trophies and medals hanging in walls, displayed for everyone to see. This has a name: “The WOW! Wall.” Honestly, I have never felt comfortable doing this, which is why I never put these things in display.

Secondly, it refers to the temptation to show off our wealth. A popular Filipino story I heard when I was young was about a young lady went to the market wearing a huge gold ring on her finger. She would intentionally raise her hands to point at things in the market in order to show off her ring. In one of the stores she entered, a merchant happily assisted her, but when the merchant realized that the lady was just showing off, he began to smile from ear to ear. The young lady was shocked, because she saw that all the teeth of the merchant was made of gold. Jeremiah 9:23 warns us about showing off: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches.” Thirdly, this also includes the temptation of public display of religiosity. Jesus warned His followers about this as well: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them” (Matt 6:1).

The Greek word used in 1 John 2:16 is alazoneia, which means boasting. Boasting seems so simple, but why was it given that much attention in the temptations of Jesus Christ? Considering that there are other seemingly bigger sins out there, why would the second temptation be related to boasting? Is boasting really such a big thing? Paul actually writes the seriousness of this sin in Romans 1:28-30, “God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents.” This means that boasting is a product of a debased mind or corrupted mentality. In short, boasting is done by crazy people! This is all the more so because if this temptation is related to the things we do in public, radical shamelessness is a necessary requirement if a person is to commit it.

Temptations about Power

Looking closely at the three temptations of Jesus, the second temptation is quite unique. The temptations related to the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes are related to things that Jesus did not have: food and wealth. Quite simply, Jesus was hungry and poor. But the second temptation is a temptation related to what Jesus already had. As the Son of God, He had the power and capacity to call for angels to help Him. Satan was right. In fact, the whole temptation narrative actually ends with a note that angels did come to help Him: “the devil left him, and angels came and attended him” (Matt 4:11).

So what is the temptation all about? The temptation about the pride of life is related to the things that we already have, and we are tempted to show them or use them for our advantage. This is the temptation to use our authority, positions, social status, economic status in a way advantageous to us. There are many examples: a teacher using her authority to extort money from students, a policeman using his authority to accept bribes, a businessman using his money to evade the law and social responsibilities, a parent using his authority to abuse his children, a muscular student using his strength to bully other students, a leader using his power to siphon money from the company, a manager using his authority to delegate all works to his subordinates while he plays Clash of Clans at the office. The examples can go on and on.

Jesus refused to use His authority over the angels of heaven in order that He might have a graceful landing when He crazily jumps from a high place. He refused to take advantage of what He had at His disposal. Paul alludes to this characteristic of Jesus in Philippians 2:5-7 (NIV),

Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant.

Temptation about Preponderance

Moreover, the second temptation of Jesus was also about enjoying more than what He was currently experiencing. Satan’s words can be paraphrased as: “You are not getting the treatment you deserve. Are you not interested in enjoying more benefits than what is currently available for you right now?” These are the whispers of the tempter to us as well: We deserve more. We deserve a better status. We deserve greater things than what we are enjoying right now. We deserve better!

This was the same tactic that Satan used to tempt Eve in the Garden of Eden: “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:5, ESV). Satan was telling Eve that there was a better status and greater knowledge that was available for her. She deserved to enjoy greater benefits. The means to achieve greater knowledge was right there at the Garden, ready to be picked, so Eve did not really need to wait. The pride of life is the desire to have more than what we currently have. In essence, this is a good thing: the desire to be better is godly. But it is precisely this desire that Satan uses to appeal to us so that we might sin. 

The Israelites in the wilderness also fell because of this desire. They complained to Yahweh because they were hungry, and God provided them manna (Exo 16:1-36). But they soon got tired of eating manna, and began to complain again: “The rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at” (Numbers 11:4-6, ESV). Again, the desire was to enjoy life a little better. It is amazing how the simple desire for preponderance can lead many to sin.

Moses’ demise is also related to pride. He desired greater respect and honor. Numbers 20:2-12 records the story where because his authority and leadership were questioned by the Israelites, he decided to take the glory that should belong to God for himself. He was tempted to raise his status in the eyes of the Israelites by using God’s own miracle. This was why God told him: “because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel…   you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel” (Deut 32:51-52). Ironically, Moses’ desire for greater authority was precisely his downfall.

Why does Satan use this trick to tempt humanity? The answer is because this temptation is very effective even for the holy ones. In fact, this was the temptation that was actually potent even to Satan himself. It is so effective that Satan himself became a victim of this temptation. Isaiah 14:12-15 (ESV) writes:

“How you are fallen from heaven,
    O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground…
 You said in your heart,
    ‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
    I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
    in the far reaches of the north;
 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.’
 But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the far reaches of the pit.”

It would do us a great deal to remember that the sin that resulted in Moses not receiving the fruits of his 40-year sacrifice and labor with the Israelites, the expulsion of Satan from heaven, and the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden came through the temptation to be better or have a better status in the eyes of people. 

Conclusions

The first temptation tells us that Satan appeals to our natural human appetites and basic human needs to lead to sin. The second temptation tells us that Satan appeals to our public image, to use what we already have, and our desire to be better. Make no mistake about it: to have a good face in public is good, to use whatever we have is good, and the desire to be better is good. But let us remember that all these three things can be and will be used by the tempter to tempt us to sin.

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[1] Hughes, “The Whole Church as a Transformed and Transforming Society,” 50.

Stewardship of Possessions

Luke 16:10-13

This is the second of my sermon series on stewardship.

Crown Financial Ministries says that there are 2,500 verses on finances and possessions in the Bible. This is actually more verses than all the thirteen letters of Paul in the New Testament, or 1/10 of the whole Bible (which has 25, 145 verses), or 1/3 of the New Testament (which has 7,957 verses). That the discussion about possessions occupies a large amount of space in the Bible might sound excessive, because we might think that surely there are better things that the Bible can talk about, like spirituality, morality, holiness, etc. So it is a bit surprising to realize that 1/10 of the whole Bible deals with possessions. What is important to realize here is that God cares about how we view and use our possessions.

That God cares so much about how we view and handle possessions is also evident in the Ten Commandments. In fact, three of the Ten Commandments are related to how we handle our possessions and the possessions of others.

4 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

8 You shall not steal

10 You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, servants, or properties.

Considering that stewardship of possessions is so central in the Bible, there should be more preaching about it. In fact, every ten sermons should be about handling our possessions. But the problem is that we do not hear a lot of preaching about money and possessions because it is truly an awkward topic. Preachers like myself often shy away from the topic because this topic can offend many people. Even I am guilty of not preaching on this topic more often than I should.

We will be looking at Luke 16:10-13:

¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

¹³ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

“Someone Else’s Property” (16:12)

“If you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” (16:12)

The first thing we need to realize about possessions is the principle of ownership. First and foremost, we must recognize that “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Ps 24:1). Everything that we think we own are from the God who gives (John 3:27; James 1:17). This includes our wealth and honor: “Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things” (1 Chron 29:12). Even our employment or the means we gain income are from God: “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Deut 8:17-18). As dependent creatures, “we brought nothing into the world” (1 Tim 6:7). There is a spiritual and economic significance of the fact that we are born naked (Ecc 5:15; Job 1:21). Everything we have is only given to us.

The fact that we own nothing in this world is highlighted by the fact that when we die, we cannot take anything with us.

“Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands” (Ecc 5:15).

“We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it (1 Tim 6:7)

“They will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them” (Ps 49:17)

There was gold in the Garden of Eden and everything great (Gen 2:10-12), but when Adam and Eve were driven out, they did not take anything with them (Gen 3:24). Like them, we can enjoy everything on earth, but when we die, there is nothing we can take with us (Job 1:21; Ecc 5:15; 1 Tim 6:7). Whatever we have, whether a 5M handbag or a 25-yr old car, they all remain. We do not own them.

This realization is important because it leads to two other realizations:

1. That since it is God who gives, it is He who also can take: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21).

2. When we give back to God, it is not as if we are doing Him a favor. Don Moen’s song poignantly makes the point when it rhetorically asks, “What can we give that You have not given? What do we have that is not already Yours?” Therefore, we should not develop pride when we respond to God’s graciousness by giving a little of what He Himself gave. We would not want the mighty God to echo His words recorded in Psalm 50:9-12:

I have no need of a bull from your stall

or of goats from your pens,
for every animal of the forest is mine,

and the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.”

When we think what we have is our own, we are tempted to protect them. If we think that what we have are things we have accumulated on our own strength and capability, we will try our best so that they are not taken away from us.

“True Riches” (16:11)

“If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? (16:11)

The word “steward” is a compound of two old English words, stig (house) and weard (ward). In its original meaning, the steward is the protector of a house, which is not too distant from the Oxford definition today of the steward as someone “employed to manage another’s property, especially a large house or estate.” This is who and what we are with the earthly possessions that we have.

What is interesting about Luke 16:11 is this: It would appear that God uses our stewardship of earthly riches to determine how much He can trust us with “true riches.” God is grading us or testing with how we use our possessions, and in the light of how we manage materials things entrusted to us, He will entrust us greater things. This means that for us, every financial decision is a spiritual decision.

Some people interpret Luke 16:10-11 as a foundation for a so-called prosperity gospel. Although it is not entirely inaccurate to say that God gives more earthly blessings to those who are faithful, the passage points to something greater. God is looking for people He can trust with real and eternal things, and He evaluates us through our management of entrusted money and possessions. As such, how much we have is not an indication of our spirituality; how we manage what we have is an indication of our spirituality. Our possessions and money can become something like a spiritual thermometer.

How can this be? Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt 6:21; Luke 12:34). What we do with our money and our possessions reveal our real priorities. Jesus is right: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Luke 16:13).

Conclusions

There was on older lady who was protective of her property, and was prepared to act violently if someone dares to take advantage of her. One time, she finished shopping and went to her car. She found four men inside the car. She dropped her shopping bags, drew a handgun, and shouted: “I have a gun, and I know how to use it. Get out of the car!” The men got out and ran like crazy. However, when she went into the car, she realized that the car is not hers. Her car is parked four of five spaces away. Like her, we can make terrible decisions and act terribly, just because we think something is ours. In reality, what we think is ours belongs to someone else. Many people ruin their lives in pursuit of something that they cannot really own, leading to their own downfall.

Because many are unwilling to let go of their earthly riches, they become destitute of spiritual things. Because they serve Money and their selfish wants, they are unable to serve God wholeheartedly. They pursue earthly riches at the expense of true riches. Jesus said: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt 6:19-20).

We should not be like monkeys unable to make good decisions. Monkeys are very clever animals, but they are very greedy. In order to catch them, hunters only need to put food inside a coconut fruit tied to a tree. When a monkey grabs on to the food inside, it won’t let go. The foolish act of not letting go what it thinks is precious leads to its capture and demise. Our deliverance from death to life might only be connected to the act of letting go of whatever we are trying to keep. We are not monkeys. We are stewards.