Profundity

Profundity                     

(Grace Gems, February 20th, 2014)

A proud sinner and a humble Savior

(William Gurnall, "The Christian in Completer Armor")

"I hate pride and arrogance!" Proverbs 8:13

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"The Lord detests all the proud of heart! Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished!" Proverbs 16:5

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A man may be very zealous and painstaking in preaching--and all the while pride is the master whom he serves, though in God's livery. 

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It is hard starving this sin of pride--it can live on almost anything!

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Nothing is so sacred, but pride will profane it. 

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So far as pride prevails, the proud man prays and preaches to be thought good by others--to enthrone himself, rather than Christ, in the opinion and hearts of his hearers.

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Pride loves to climb up, not as Zaccheus, to see Christ--but so that others may see himself! 

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"God resists the proud" (James 4:6). The humble man may have Satan at his right hand to oppose him; but the proud man shall find God Himself there to resist him. We must either lay self aside--or God will lay us aside.

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A proud sinner and a humble Savior will never agree! Christ is humble and lowly, and so resists the proud--but gives grace to the humble.

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"If God," says Augustine, "did not spare the angels when they grew proud; will He spare you--who are but dust and sin?"

            During the many years I was in school in Memphis, Tennessee, I was a member of the great Bellevue Baptist Church.  I heard the great pastor-preacher, so famous around the world, make this statement many times, "If I tell my people to go and jump in the river, I will hear water splash.  If I tell my people to jump in the fire, I will smell clothes burning."  This writer was so enthralled by this man's intellect that he did not pay careful attention to these words at the time, but I have since.  To many preachers, servants-shepherds, living well off of the money people have given to God, get too enthused with their own ministry.  They forget the members-followers who are surviving on low pay.  I heard one preacher from Tennessee say he would rather be whipped than go to a clothing store to buy new clothes.  Many of us never buy new clothes, everything we wear comes from a thrift store.  Another television preacher told about how particular he was about his shirts, the quality, having to hang a certain way in the closet.  I have known old church members giving through their frugality to keep a church going, who never had more than 2-3 shirts over their entire life.  One of my old uncles never owned but one suit, one pair of "Sunday" shoes, his entire life, but he knew the church depended on his gifts. 

            I knew one black preacher, patient of mine, who always drove a very large car with a blinking light on the front.  He said, "My folks can hardly wait for me to lead their funeral procession." 

            It is not just these shepherds who get confused about pride, but church members as well.  Would it not be great if the average church, instead of carpeting-pew cushions-climate control would get interested in what goes on with the lost outside of the building?  It is wonderful to have a beautiful edifice, comfortable sanctuary, with beautiful windows to talk about numbers.  It is far, far better for numbers to count instead of counting numbers. It is far, far better to make our worship (worth-ship) sinners a welcoming place to the disabled and the seekers.  How many blind-deaf-cripple do you have in your services?  WE who are disabled truly want and need a church.  Maybe it is like a restaurant owner told me several years ago, "I don't want disabled people in my restaurant because it makes my normal customers feel uncomfortable."  Do those who God chose for His work here on earth have so much pride, are they so proud, that they have forgotten the essentials of the Christian faith? 

            When the first king of Saudi Arabia met F.D.R., he was unaware F.D.R. was crippled, in a wheelchair.  He was totally fascinated by the wheelchair, so F.D.R. gave King Saud his extra wheelchair.  Then, the big-fat-rich king could be rolled around without him even having to walk.