Source Material - Why Great Men Fall, Wayde Goodall

Seven Deadly Vices, Graham Tomlin

Glittering Vices, Rebecca DeYoung

My current sermon series is about Monsters that Threaten. We know to be aware of the Devil’s schemes to destroy us, or so I would hope! But, what about those temptations born in us, from our own needs? These monsters can derail us just as certainly as Satan’s attacks. In this series we’ve taken a look at Fear, Lust, Greed, and Gluttony. I’m grateful for the comments from so many of you that say this or something like it: “That hit close to home. It was so practical and touched on an area where I needed to be reminded of God’s plans!” Praise Him.

The temptation on which I will turn the Word’s spotlight this morning is one that is as common as the air we breathe. It was present in the Garden of Eden and it is present in the Halls of Congress! It is present in our church and, from time to time, in my house! Jesus pointed it out many times in His teaching. In a story He told, we see it on display, for all to see.

TEXT: Luke 18:9-14

The sin I’m talking about today is PRIDE! It is the most basic of sins.

∙ Augustine pointed out that pride was the very thing that drew Satan from the Presence of God into rebellion.

∙ Aquinas brought it closer to where I live saying that “Inordinate self-love is the cause of every sin!”

∙ T. S. Eliot, the gifted 20^th century poet, and a Christian, wrote that “most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.” (The Seven Deadly Sins, Lion Press, Tomlin)

Pride is a confusing word to many of us. Being as individualistic as we are and being constantly trained about the importance of ourselves, we think pride must surely be the sin of another but not of ourselves. We think, “I am not proud. I simply enjoy a healthy self-esteem.” To avoid that argument, so I am going to change the word we use to describe the temptation to PRIDE this morning. Rebecca DeYoung, in her book, Glittering Vices, uses a much more colorful word though it is not often used in modern language.

That word? Vainglory!

Pride can be the desire to enjoy real status based on real achievement. There is even a sense in which it is good to have pride that is expressed in a desire to excel in accomplishment, to reach for high goals.

For example, a person who works hard in college for 4 years has reason to feel some healthy pride when they receive that degree. Yes, it is a dangerous thing and may very quickly be turned into a self-centered expression of ‘me-ism!’ That’s why I want us to use the word, vainglory, today.

Vainglory, as the word itself so plainly expresses, seeks recognition and applause for the sake of itself! Vainglory cares nothing for genuine worthiness. It desires only to be the center of attention. It is surely a sin of our time when we are so familiar with the phrase, ‘image is everything!’ In our culture of celebrity, ask the average teenager about the people they know about and admire. You will not hear much, if at all, about those who are making the world a better place, those whose scientific studies are improving our lives, or those who give themselves to charitable causes. You will hear about rock musicians, actors, and the so-called ‘beautiful people.’ Many of these people are simply famous for being famous, the height of vainglory! What has the much maligned Paris Hilton done of note, other than wear as little clothing as possible to get attention? The late Michael Jackson had amazing skills as a dancer and singer, but did his work really rate the world standing still to talk endlessly of his life for a week following his death? Such is the superficiality of a culture that is built on vainglory!

Being popular and/or famous is the obsession of our time and many of us will almost anything to gain notoriety. Rebecca DeYoung observes that ‘even if we are not celebrites, we might have a house we cannot afford, an embellished resume, and the hair color of people half our age.’ - Glittering Vices, pg. 64 Richard Foster, along the same lines, observes that many spend money they do not have, to buy things they do not want, to impress people they do not like!

You see vainglory in our elevation of job titles. Banks don’t just have managers anymore. They employ thousands of Assistant Vice Presidents! Janitors are now Maintenance Engineers. Secretaries are Administrative Assistants. Garbage collectors are sanitation engineers. The cafeteria lady is now a food service specialist! None of those are necessarily bad in themselves, but they represent our craving for recognition, to be more important than we are, don’t they?

You might be thinking,

“Well, Pastor, I hear you but what’s the harm of being superficial?

What’s the real problem with wanting to be noticed? It’s just human, if only evidence of emotional immaturity.”

No, disciple, vainglory is a truly spiritual issue, a sin. Here’s why.

First of all - pride that is expressed as vainglory destroys relationships turning us into competitors rather than cooperators.

Vainglory is always competitive, always measuring, always looking outward. It is never content, but demands to be first, richest, prettiest, strongest, most noted. It shows itself in the classic ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ syndrome. If our neighbor gets a new car, we feel the need to do so as well, even if our car is meeting our needs. Thus, the Word speaks directly to us and makes this demand of us.

∙ "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

(Philippians 2:3-4, NIV)

∙ "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." (Philippians 2:3-4, KJV)

Second - pride that is expressed as vainglory elevates the need for admiration to such a degree that we are willing to compromise ourselves in terribly destructive ways.

How many people totally sacrifice their family to gain the boss’ approval at work? I love a quote from Colin Powell, a four star general in the US Army, advisor to Presidents, and Secretary of State for the United States. When he came to that office, he told his staff, “If I am looking for you at 7:30 at night and you are not in your office, I will consider you a wise person. Anybody who is logging hours to impress me, you are wasting time.” - as quoted in Why Great Men Fall, Wayde Goodall, pg. 86

A pastor I know recently spoke to a group of young preachers aspiring for success and told them that the surest route to self-destruction by age 45 was to have no life beyond their church. He went on to tell them that professional ministry is a cruel mistress who will take as time and energy as you will give to her and she will still never be satisfied. I’m certain the same can be said for most all of our occupations!

Ask yourself- Have I confused diligence in pursuit of excellence with drivenness in pursuit of recognition?

Along this same line we can ask:

How many women sacrifice their dignity and self-respect to gain the attention of men?

How many men put themselves at great risk of harm simply to impress others with their masculinity?

For ex. - Why would Evel Kneivel have broken up his body numerous times except to be famous?

Vainglory turns us into hypocrites more concerned with keeping the outside clean than being truly holy. Jesus reserved His most scathing rebukes for the Pharisees, whose vainglory was legendary! He said of them,

“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 dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." (Matthew 23:27-28, NIV)

Third- Most signficantly, pride expressed as vainglory, leads us to rob God’s glory by causing us to ignore His blessings and that He is the true Source.

Daniel tells us a story of man whose vainglory brought God’s judgment to his life. The story opens with this simple line: “I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living in my palace in comfort and prosperity.” (Daniel 4:4, NLT) We learn that God sent this powerful king a dream. He saw a large tree grow up to the heavens. It became a home to many birds and under it lived many animals. It produces fruit that fed many. Then, an angel showed up and cut the tree down, leaving just the stump. Nebuchadnezzar knew it was an important dream, but he could not fathom the meaning. Daniel was called and explained that God was telling the king that he was great but not beyond destruction! The godly man urged the king to recognize God’s authority, to remain humble.

The story continues:

“But all these things did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar.

Twelve months later he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the royal palace in Babylon.

As he looked out across the city, he said, ‘Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor.’

“While these words were still in his mouth, a voice called down from heaven, ‘O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you! You are no longer ruler of this kingdom." (Daniel 4:28-31, NLT)

How easily we forget that we are just managers, not owners. How quickly we begin to believe our own press releases. The Bible is very clear about Who deserves the honors, and it is not you or me! Paul reminds us that “Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." (Ephesians 2:9-10, NLT)

Rebecca DeYoung makes me pause with her wise comment. “Vainglorious people glory in things that genuinely deserve glory and get it wrong! ... They receive renown and praise from others for some good gift from God, and they glory in the gift while ignoring its source or glory in the applause of others over God’s approval.” - Glittering Vices, pg. 67

Bach, who wrote beautiful music, and across the top of each manuscript he penned - ‘Soli Del Gloria’ - “Only For God’s Glory.”

So, how can we overcome this temptation?

We need, first of all, to understand that God made us to be ‘known.’

Our greatest longing is to be connected to others, to live significantly, to have a name! Vainglory short circuits our lives by causing us to try to gain what God will provide to us freely. Isaiah says, "Now, this is what the Lord says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine." (Isaiah 43:1, NIV)

In that wonderful Psalm 139 that describes God’s care for us, we are told, "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me." (Psalm 139:1, NIV) He who knows us best, loves us most! We don’t have to compete to be His favored child. We don’t have earn His favor, it is given to all as a gift.

Indeed, John profoundly reminds us that our ability to love others is directly connected to our faithful acceptance of the love of our Lord. “We love,” he says, “because God first loved us!”

Jesus Christ loves you, friend. He will never love you more than He does right now. Believe that with your whole heart and you have taken a huge step to defeating the demons that taunt you with feelings of worthlessness that feed the need for vainglory!

We also need to make the choice to serve without demanding notice.

Jesus says,

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:1-6, NIV)

How practical Jesus’ words are. He does not condemn our desire to receive a reward! But He reminds us that we cut ourselves off from the best reward, the highest approval when we lower our sights to people. I’d would much rather have God’s approval than that of any person, wouldn’t you?

Lastly, to defeat vainglory, we need to name it in confession!

One of my favorite authors, a well known and best-selling Christian author, confessed that when he published a new book, he was prone to sign on to Amazon.com to track sales. He realized that his sense of self-worth, his joy of life, tracked with the stats he read! So, he named his curiosity for the sin it was! And, he found freedom. He might have made all manner of excuses, but he would not.

This sin creeps into my life, too! A couple of criticisms following a sermon can wreck my day! If I am not careful, I turn even the gift of preaching the Word into a means of validating myself, of earning my place in this world!

I think we could all identify with this funny admission from Garrison Keillor, the main performer on the nationally syndicated PBS radio program, A Prairie Home Companion. He is quoted as saying, “I lust after recognition. I am desperate to win all the little merit badges and trinkets of my profession, and I am of less real use in this world than any good cleaning lady!” - Glittering Vices, pg. 59

If that’s where you’re living, let me urge you to look higher than the trophies, certificates, and awards. Give up on a life designed to gain recognition, which can never satisfy the desire for God’s love and approval. This does not excuse us from living well, from pursuing excellence, but we do so - in Bach’s phrase - “Soli Del Gloria” - Only for the Glory of God! What freedom. What joy. What satisfaction is found in His smile!

Amen.

Jerry D. Scott, 2009