Very Narrow Path To Life
John 7:18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
When we speak or act for God, what is the intention of our heart? It matters to God and whether it is true service or dead works . Are we truly serving God or are we seeking gain from the world? If we are seeking gain or the approval of men anything we call worship is vanity to God as has been written about often on this blog.
The original me, the one that was born of the flesh is a self-centered human. From this innate selfishness I have sought and lusted after things that bring pleasure to me or promote my standing in the world among my fellow man. This is the very nature we must repent or turn away from if we choose to follow Jesus. By His grace the Lord called me to repentance which means I turn away from my selfishness and turn to serve Him, the living God. As I mature I am putting to death the desires of my flesh which at the core is my selfishness and this is how “we” the Bride of Christ, prepare ourselves for the wedding.
Revelation 19:7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready
Selfish Ambition is the nature of Satan. Because of Adam’s fall, all men inherited this selfish sinful nature. Putting selfishness to death and walking in true humility and love is the call of a Christian walk of holiness. This is the war that is waged between the powers of darkness and our flesh. We cannot win unless we put our full trust and faith with the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil will get us to glorify ourselves, build an earthly kingdom for us, and entice us with fame, fortune, popularity, possessions having us seek the approval of man ahead of seeking the approval of God. Anything we do out of selfish ambition will lead us away from the real Jesus and the devil has been quite crafty at putting religious wrappings on many things and then getting us to pursue them out of selfishness. Our ambition must only be to seek Christ and His approval alone.
2 Cor 5:9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
Denying ourselves, the opposite of selfishness or self-love is what Jesus demands from all who desire to enter His Kingdom. Jesus tells us we must give it ALL up for Him if we want to gain eternal life. Seeking after things of this world destroys us. Read the words of Jesus on this.
Luke 9:23-25 If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
The opposite of denying ourselves is pursuing the lusts of our sinful nature (heart) — the one we are born with and must get rid of by repentance. If we do not give this up, we are saying Jesus is not our Lord with our hearts. Not denying ourselves tells Jesus we love our sin and the lusts of our heart more than Him. We must purify ourselves of these idols and repent and turn fully to God. That is the only way we overcome selfishness and put on the divine nature of Christ. To live otherwise we are just the double minded man who James tells us about. Double-minded people should expect nothing from the Lord!
James 4:8 Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
If we love the world or the things in the world we are not pursuing lusts and not the Lord. We get to make these choices every day. That is the cross we must carry.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. These were the three temptations of Jesus and the very same tests that all of us must overcome to prove ourselves worthy of Him. The boastful pride of life is the least obvious to most Christians.
Puffing ourselves up and seeking the approval of man is an acceptable sin but not to God. Anything we put in front of Him or love more than Him is an idol. It is not enough to avoid the immoral vices like sexual sin, criminal behavior, greed, addictions and thoughts that even the pagans know are wrong. We must have a pure heart before God. An awful lot of “religion” is to make ourselves look good to our fellow man. We do things in the name of God but the real motive is to call attention to ourselves and make us the object of esteem. Anything we do tied back to pride will not lead us to love our neighbor as ourself.
Pursuit of selfish ambition is behind the carnal love that has been passed off as Godly love. Wishing not to offend anyone, we tell people what they want to hear instead of speaking truth to them. Having them like us or esteem us is put ahead of rebuking sin or providing them life correcting feedback that can snatch their souls from the fire. This is how false teachers build large earthly kingdoms and are creating many fake Christians all in the name of God. While not the place for a diatribe on that topic know that the Scriptures of full of warnings about false teachers that will come and tickle our ears, especially in the end times. All Christians that strive to serve God are promised they will be persecuted. We must preach the Word in truth and be aware of those that tickle ears out of selfish ambition.
2 Tim 4:2-4 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
If we walk in true faith, we cannot fear or truly care what other people think. We must only fear God and what He thinks. As soon as we fear men or anything besides God, we will not act in true faith, we will change or alter God’s truth to be pleasing to men. The gospels shows this happening during Jesus’ ministry on earth. The revelation of Christ and His implanted Word will not bear fruit if it is made subservient to the approval of men.
John 12:42-43 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
We must be careful and not deny our Lord. When we fear men and seek their approval, we deny God by failing to trust in Him. If we are not willing to risk rejection and persecution by man, we are not walking in true faith. Don’t you see this?
If our practice of religion or ministry to others elevates winning the approval of our brothers/sisters above the truth, we are not serving Christ, instead we are serving ourselves. Paul bore much criticism from the early churches that were mesmerized by false teachers that came after Paul left and tickled their ears with a watered down gospel that said sin was okay. Paul taught a much harder message of true repentance and walking in holiness by the grace of God and did not hesitate to rebuke those that erred or practiced sin.
Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
By no means should we seek to make enemies or upset people but if we are to serve God, shouldn’t we be speaking the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Even if our words upset people and makes them not like us? Of course we should. Jesus walked around preaching the truth out of love and people wanted to push him off cliffs, stone him and plot to kill him.
This is a tough truth to get a grasp on. On one hand, I see myself pushing people away by the truth I now speak out on. I am not trying to push them away but I am no longer seeking their approval as my ambition. I have been critical of many modern-day churches for they do not teach sound doctrine that agrees with my Bible. I have struggled finding the right heartfelt attitude about what I see as clear apostasy yet not becoming an evil judge.
The Quandary of False Teaching
Even in Paul’s time, many came preaching Christ to win the approval of men and build their reputations and earthly kingdoms. Paul’s reference in Scriptures about false teachers contain severe condemnation to those that would mislead the brethren and put them on a path to destruction. The warnings against false teaching relate to the truth being taught and not the motivation of the teacher. The motivation of a teacher is less important than the truth of the message being taught. Consider the following words of Paul on this matter.
Philippians 1:15-18 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
I have come to this realization myself recently. We need to let God do the judging of hearts and speak His truth and not engage in chest beating exercises on who has the most knowledge about God. None of us know it all, we are all just mere men. It is not about us, it is about Him!
This passage seems to indicate that selfish ambition as the motivator behind religion is okay so long as Christ is preached. It is hard to argue since this is what the Scripture seems to say. But we need to be wary of selfish ambition and how the devil uses pride to derail and deceive us.
James 3:14-16 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
James makes it clear that selfish ambition is from the devil and leads to disorder and all kinds of evil. That is where a lot of religion has gone today, it is evil at the core and comes from peoples hearts that are pursuing the boastful pride of life.
All mature Christians will need to develop very thick skin. When the rejection and persecution of the God’s truth is thrown back at us, which is a must to confirm ourselves as true followers, we have a choice to make. We either put God first and stand firm on His truth or we give in to selfish ambition and place winning the approval of man above pleasing God.
Are you seeking to please God or to please your fellow man? We should indeed examine ourselves to ensure we are of the true faith.
May God Bless You Richly!!!
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom
Proverbs 11:2
I want to share a lesson, one I already knew but one I have failed to faithfully live by. It is the lesson of Pride, Judgment and Humility. I had found myself becoming more critical of others and slowly becoming a secret evil judge of hearts and only seeing the imperfections in people’s lives, their walk with God or even their practice of religion. While we are indeed to judge righteous judgment using the Word of God, this went way over the top. It was pride and the polar opposite of Godly humility that was at work in me.
I have always been a “glass is half empty” type of man, focused on what needs to be improved and not resting on my laurels as it pertain to business matters. While this may serve me well in business, when we begin judging things and other people especially, we bring judgement upon ourselves. This is a sure-fire way to lose your peace with God instantly as Jesus tells us.
Luke 6:37-38 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” You have heard we reap what we sow and that is the same thing Jesus says here in this passage. You can substitute any action you want in the bolded verse 38. You want love give it. You give hate, you will get hate. You sow stress, you will get stress back so we need to choose wisely how we live.
We cannot walk in love and obey the Royal Law of God if we are prideful. We will judge others, be critical of things and think more highly of ourselves than we should. This is one of my weaknesses, one the enemy has used quite effectively during my life and one God has awakened me and challenged me to surrender this to Him. I am working it out with fear and trembling trusting that God will finish the good work He has begun in me. Jesus defined the Royal Law as Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself. John reminded us of this as did James.
1 John 4:7-8 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love
If we act or think pridefully we cannot fulfill this law. As an expert on prideful living I can say the root of a judgemental or critical spirit comes from pride. This is chief scheme of Satan, the very one that got him kicked out of heaven and that he used to deceive Eve and even tempt the Lord in the desert. All Christians need to be on guard for the wiles of the devil. It has been my experience and the experience of the Apostle Paul as he wrote to us that pride can sneak into our lives and derail our walk with God. I am writing on this topic again as it has proven to be a continuing struggle for me and I suspect many other Christians. Understanding a problem is the first step in finding a solution.
Once God begins to reveal the truth to us in greater ways, the Devil is always there to come and get us to bite the hook of spiritual pride. If we start thinking we are pretty smart and got it all (knowledge of God) figured out, there should be alarm bells going off inside our spirit. No man has all the light, we only have what God has chosen to give us. We are all nothing by ourselves but serve a purpose only in the Body of Christ.
Romans 12:3-6 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them
Peter told us that we must always be on our guard because the devil walks around like a roaring lion looking for Christians to devour. Pride will devour us and lead us into rebellion and walking in judgment of our brothers and sisters. That is why the Scriptures warn us repeatedly about pride and the need for us to humble ourselves.
God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble
All the Apostles warned us about becoming prideful. The warnings are nearly identical and I believe the repetition was put there by God for a reason. Here is how Peter put it.
All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Living in an evil world is hard enough but if God is resisting us just imagine how stressful life will be. That is not the easy yoke and light burden that Jesus promised us, IF IF we humble ourselves and put our trust in Him alone. God sends this trouble upon us to bring us to repentance, and submit all of ourselves to Him. God wants your whole heart and if we begin walking in idolatry, including pursuing selfish ambition, approval of men or any sense of self-righteousness, the enemy will come and puff us up and trouble will soon follow. You see this all the time and many a Bible guru has become nothing more than evil judges of hearts and actually destroy the kingdom of God all the while they think they are doing God a favor.
We Humble Ourselves
Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!
Jesus showed us the way of life. Jesus humbled himself and never acted out of pride or selfish ambition. He obeyed the Spirit in Him even to the point of death on the cross. We are to walk as Jesus walked. If we choose to follow Jesus, we are to deny ourselves and pick up our own cross daily. That means walking in humility my friends.
A very important aspect of humility (the opposite of pride) is that we must humble ourselves. It is folly for us to pray that God will grant us humility. The Scriptures are very clear on this – we must do it. It is our choice to submit to God or not. True faith is trusting fully in God and thereby surrendering our will to His will and letting the Holy Spirit lead us. It is by the grace of God that we have the ability to supernaturally do this, it is not a work of the flesh. But know this, if we do not humble ourselves, we simply cannot please God and we will really be out to please our flesh instead. Paul explained how we walk with God in his famous verse from Galatians.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me
Satan will do all he can to keep us from submitting to God. Pride is a favorite scheme as has been said. The end result of a prideful heart is the opposite of love, it is heart full of judgment and criticism. I have caught myself going down this path and I publically repent to all and my God. Do this and call ourself a Christian and we are just another hypocrite.
When we are living in torment or lacking peace, we are fault and are operating out of the will of God. Do not blame the devil, while he may be involved in carrying out God’s chastisement, the problem lies with us and our right standing with God. This not to dismiss the trials of life that we must overcome but it is indeed how we respond to those trials that tells God where our heart really is. God is our healer, our comforter, protector but He requires the surrender of ourselves to Him. That is true humility and is the opposite of pride. Listen to what the Lord told Israel at the initial dedication of the Hebrew Temple under King Solomon’s reign. In this verse, God says that when He brings judgment (drought, locusts, plagues), He is doing that to get our attention because we are out of His will. God then tells us what we must do to come back into His presence.
2 Chronicles 7:13-14 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
This is the love of God, to discipline and chastise us to bring us back to repentance and right standing with Him. Humbling ourselves is essential.
I love the Book of James as it is an easy read with crisp and clear instructions for godly living. James tells us how to overcome the devil and purify our heart and again tells us the requirement for us to humble ourselves.
James 4:7-13 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
So understand God brings calamity upon us. It is His way of getting our attention when we are out of step with His will. Lack of humility before God is frequently an issue if someone is living a life of stress and no peace. Examine yourself to see if you are acting out of pride, selfish ambition and leading ourselves and not being guided by the Holy Spirit. If we are ensnared by pride and selfishness and continue to rebel and do not humble ourselves God ratchets up the judgement upon us until we either respond or ultimately we are destroyed. The story of Pharaoh is just one example of this. Pharaoh ignored repeated warnings to humble himself before God and ultimately was destroyed and his heart was continually hardened as his rebellion lingered. Don’t play with fire.
Exodus 10:3 So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
God sends the trouble, it is how He tests us, it is when we respond with humility and not pride that we truly receive His blessings. If we act out of pride, we not only miss the blessings, we are further chastised and brought under judgment until we do respond. This is the love of God, He is calling us to repentance, we must choose to serve Him and not ourselves. Understanding how pride and humility work together with God’s grace is an important lesson.
Deut 8:2 And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
If we want to be exalted by God, we must humble ourselves. In one of Jesus’ classic riddles he said this:
Matthew 23:12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted
This is the exact opposite of worldly logic that teaches us to build ourselves and seek esteem and approval from our fellow man. Jesus said the least of us here on earth would be the greatest in His kingdom. If we exalt ourselves in this life, we will have no reward in heaven, we will humbled on the day when He comes again and may not be worthy of entering His kingdom.
Salvation belongs to the humble. Death and hell belong to the prideful.
Psalm 149:4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people, He will beautify the humble with salvation.
2 Samuel 22:28 You will save the humble people but Your eyes are on the haughty (prideful) that You may bring them down.
To walk in love and fulfill the Royal Law we must overcome pride. We do this by loving God with all our heart. When He has it all, there is nothing left for ourselves and that is His will. Self love and selfishness must be put to death and when it is pride does not exist.
May God Bless You Richly!
This three part video is highly recommended. Make sure you look at a different reference than the NIV translation as the NIV has stripped out a few key words from the parable making the truth much harder to see. Here is the parable in the KJV which is what the author speaks to in the video. It is a short and sweet parable but it contains very deep meaning and knowledge that is essential to overcome all that is going on in the world today. I believe you will be edified by watching the videos.
Matthew 13:33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
The woman is the religious systems (the churches) and the leaven is the false doctrine or spiritual poison that has been mixed in with the truth and ultimately perverts the Word of God to those that do not have eyes to see what is really happening.
This explanation of the parable directly contradicts the footnotes in my bible that provides an entirely different meaning. I point this out so you will be wise and seek wisdom from God and not any man. For there is but one Teacher. Parts two and parts three of the video are shown below if you do not know how to access YouTube directly.
Stumble It!
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