Today we are going to be continuing on in our series on the spiritual disciplines called “Sacred Rhythms.” We are going to do things a little differently this morning as we look at the disciplines of service and secrecy (they go hand in hand.) I am going to be looking for your participation today so please feel free to share.
Pride is the oldest sin and leads us to be preoccupied with ourselves and to shun correction. It also destroys our capacity to love God and other people. We simply cannot begin to live as Jesus would live if He were in our place if we’re caught in the trap of comparing ourselves to others and impressing them in order to gain their approval. Practicing the disciplines of service and secrecy (which is simply saying nothing about the good things we do) can transform our hearts and lives.
Let’s begin by defining pride. What is pride and how does it reveal itself in our lives? At the heart of pride is an attempt to put ourselves in God’s rightful place. Pride shows up in all kinds of ways: when we are preoccupied with our appearance, look down on other people, try to be better than other people, etc. Pride is pervasive in our culture and in our personal lives.
Now, when you hear the word “servant”, what comes to mind? What appeals to you? What repels you? Some of the negative images that may come to mind might be of a of a maid, someone who does chores for people, someone who is not paid much for his or her work, a doormat. Some of the positive images that may come to mind are of a person who does good things for other people or someone who does work behind the scenes without receiving recognition. For most of us the word servant does not carry a positive image.
How do you feel when you’ve pleased someone who is important to you? In what ways does that person’s approval influence your thinking and/or future behaviour? Approval makes us feel good about ourselves. Approval validates our success and most of us want more and more of it. We may go to great lengths to get people to think or say good things about us and go to equally great lengths to avoid negative feedback. We end becoming “approval addicts” and we focus our attention on “impression management.”
Let’s keep these ideas in mind as we watch a video by John Ortberg.
***** WATCH VIDEO *****
In the video, John Ortberg mentioned several ministries of daily life – the ministry of the mundane, the ministry of interruptions, the ministry of holding your tongue and the ministry of bearing one another’s burdens. In what ways does viewing these daily occurrences as opportunities to practice servanthood change the way we respond to them? Often we view interruptions and the needs of other people negatively because they get in the way of what we’d rather be doing and seem to lessen our importance. But if we are looking for ways in which God can use us to serve others, these become opportunities to live as Jesus would live. Choosing the path of servanthood trains us in humility, teaching us the essential truth that the universe doesn’t revolve around us.
Why do you think the discipline of secrecy is hard to practice?Many of us find it hard to practice the discipline of secrecy because it’s hard to do good things and net let other people know about it. We may not like being at the mercy of people’s opinions of us, yet we encourage (and even crave) their positive feedback.
Pride is a persistent human problem. It is so deeply rooted in us that it is even easy for us to become proud of our spiritual growth! Pride can be so subtle, yet it always leads us to be preoccupied with ourselves and our comparative worth. Whereas Jesus said the essence of a spiritual life is to love God and to love people, pride destroys that capacity. In contrast, the practice of servanthood sets us free from the endless contest to see who is the greatest. It helps us recognize that the world doesn’t revolve around us and in the process trains us in humility. Let’s explore the sin of pride and the grace of humility to discover how we can pursue humility in everyday life.
Pride is the oldest sin found in the Bible. How did the serpent tempt Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:4-5)? The serpent appealed to her pride, saying that if she ate the fruit she’d “be like God.” Pride leads to all sorts of trouble including disgrace and quarrels. It is opposed to love. But the greatest tragedy is that the proud do not seek God; they have not room for Him.
In contrast to pride, humility gives us the freedom to stop trying or pretending to be what we’re not. It allows us to accept our “appropriate smallness” so we can cease being preoccupied with ourselves and instead focus on and serve other people as Jesus would if He were in our place. In Philippians 2:3-8 Paul describes the life of humility and servanthood in this way.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, 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, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!”
Humility and servanthood are not acting out of our self-serving ambitions but acting out of consideration for the needs of others. Paul encourages us to have the same attitude, the same motivation, as Jesus had when He took on the nature of a servant in order to reveal who God is.
In Matthew 20:25-28 we see Jesus teaching His disciples about servanthood. Jesus explained to them how things worked in His Kingdom. He explained that while rulers on earth make a point of their greatness by using their authority, greatness in His kingdom comes through service to others. He used Himself as their example, saying that He didn’t come to receive honour, recognition and service. Instead, He came to serve and give His life so that those who believe in Him could be forgiven and receive eternal life.
Richard Foster in his book Celebration of Discipline wrote:
“More than any other single way the grace of humility is worked into our lives through the Discipline of service … Nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving in hiddenness. The flesh whines against service but screams against hidden service. It strains and pulls for honour and recognition.”
Foster clearly recognizes how greatly we struggle with pride and bondage to “approval addiction.” He also recognizes how important it if for our hearts to be purified and changed by the practices of servanthood and secrecy. As much as we may be inclined to fight against these disciplines, they truly set us free.
Let’s review some of the key points that we have looked at this morning.
1. Pride is the oldest sin, and no matter what form it takes, it is rooted in our attempt to be like God.
Pride has been a persistent problem for the human race since the Garden of Eden. It leads us to be preoccupied with ourselves and to shun correction. It damages our relationships. At its deepest level, pride causes us to exclude God and other people from their rightful place in our hearts. Whereas Jesus said the essence of the spiritual life is love God and to love people, pride destroys our capacity to love
2. The practice of servanthood transforms our prideful hearts.
Humility is not about convincing the world that we are something we are not; it is about recognizing the truth that the universe doesn’t revolve around us. True servanthood sets us free from the endless contest to see who is the greatest. Jesus calls us to servanthood not just because others need our service but because of what happens inside of us when we serve.
3. True spiritual maturity sets us free from the bondage of approval addiction.
It sets us free from the need to congratulate ourselves when we’ve gotten something right. Approval addiction means we are motivated to impress others, to seek their applause and approval. It is the opposite of living as Jesus would live in our place. Acts done to impress others are a form of pride and have no value as spiritual training. But by practicing the discipline of secrecy – doing good things for people but not saying anything about it – we can be released from bondage to approval addiction.
Here are some things to think about as we begin to wrap up this morning. Think about the people by whose judgment you measure your success or failure: parent (s), teachers, neighbours, coworkers, boss, members of your peer group, etc. How much influence do they really wield over you? Think about the people in your circle of influence. What opportunities do you have to practice doing “secret” things for them?
