How does the Christian with a renewed mind put pride to death? Pastor Brian seeks to answer that question as he expounds Romans 12:3 at The Bridge.
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How The Renewed Mind Kills Pride
Romans 12:3
Pride is perhaps the most insidious and destructive sin in the Christian life. It was behind the first sin of Adam and Eve that plunged the human race into depravity, darkness and destruction. They did not humbly trust God. Rather, when the serpent lied and told them that God was holding out on them and was denying them this fruit that was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable to make them wise, they took it and ate it.
Pride is also the sin which causes more havoc and discord between people than anything else. It is behind most marital disputes and church splits. It is the exaltation of self and the demeaning of others. Unity cannot exist as long as pride reigns unchecked. Paul says in Ephesians 4 that in order to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, we need all humility and gentleness, patience, tolerance and love.
Proverbs 6:16 says that there are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him, and the very first thing is “haughty eyes.” What are haughty eyes. This is the person who looks at life and others with arrogance, conceit and pride. God hates that! In fact, 1 Peter 5:5 says that God is opposed to the proud.
Folks, remember that as we have come to Romans 12, we are in the Practical section of the book. In the first eleven chapters Paul has been teaching us spiritual truth. Now, in chapters 12-16 he is going to instruct us as to how to apply that truth. He begins by telling us how to obey the gospel in relationship to God. We must present our body as a living and holy sacrifice. In other words, we must surrender all of who we are, all the time, to God to do His will. He goes on to tell us how this spiritual transformation takes place. It is through the renewing of our mind. As our mind is renewed and we grow in spiritual maturity, we learn how to discern what God’s will is in specific situations in our lives where we don’t have a Bible verse to direct us.
But now, in verse 3, Paul is changing gears. He is switching from obedience in terms of our relationship to God, to obedience in terms of our relationship to man. He is going to have a lot to say as to how we should relate to others in these chapters. But the very first thing he says is that we must kill our pride.
“For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
He is following the same pattern he had established in verse 2. He begins with a negative command, and then follows it with a positive command. In verse 2 he said, “Do not be conformed to this world (the negative command), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (the positive command). Again in verse 3 he says, “don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think (the negative command), but think so as to have sound judgment (the positive command).
Notice that in verse 2 Paul is speaking about the renewing of the mind. Well, what does a mind do? It thinks, right? Well, that is the word (think) that Paul picks up and emphasizes in verse 3, “not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment.”
So, Paul is considering the renewed mind of the Christian and how it thinks. And the very first thing he tells us is that the renewed mind must learn not to think more highly of itself than it ought, but to think soberly. In verse 2 Paul just said that we are not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Here, in verse 3, he tells us the way the renewed Christian mind does not conform to the world, but is transformed. And the way is by not thinking more highly than we ought to think. You see the world does think more highly of itself than it ought to think. The world values self-exaltation, self-esteem, self-gratification, and self-promotion. But the kingdom of God is just the opposite of the kingdom of darkness.
This morning, let’s take the negative command first, “don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think”, and then we will examine the positive command, “but think so as to have sound judgment.”
1. Pride – The Universal Problem
For through the grace given to me. Paul is about to bring a strong reproof to the church in Rome, where he has never even visited. What gives him the right to bring this rebuke? What are his qualifications for reproving their pride? It is the grace that God gave him, when he called him as an apostle, and gifted him to teach His truth. Paul’s insights into truth were not due to his natural intellect or brilliance. They were a direct result of the grace given to him.
I say to everyone among you. What Paul is about to say is not just for a few. It is not for the minority of Christians in Rome who happen to have a problem with pride. This message is for all God’s people. All of us are infected with the sin of pride, and all of us need to be delivered from it.
Not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. If you have any doubt whether you think more highly of yourself than you ought, just ask yourself why it is so easy to be critical of others and not criticize yourself when you do the very thing that they do! We are very hard on other people, and very easy on ourselves. We think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.
How should we think about ourselves? Let’s take a look at some passages of Scripture that tell us how we should think about ourselves.
Luke 17:7-10, “Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? But will he not say to him, “Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’” Here Jesus tells us how we should think about ourselves. We should consider ourselves to be unworthy slaves. And when we have done everything we are commanded (and none of us does that!), we are to say that we only did what we ought to have done. In other words, we didn’t do anything great. We should have done it, so when we do it, there is nothing to brag about. My friends, do you consider yourself to be an unworthy slave of Jesus Christ? If you do, then why do you expect others to praise you or compliment you, or applaud you when you do something for the Lord?
John 15:5, “apart from Me you can do nothing.” Friends, do you really believe that about yourself? Do you really believe that apart from Christ you can do nothing? That is what we ought to believe about ourselves, because that is the truth!
Romans 7:18, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh…” I believe that Paul is talking about himself as an example of unregenerate people here. But in our fallen humanity, there dwells no good thing! That is how we are supposed to think about ourselves.
1 Cor. 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…” Paul here is tracing any good thing that he has done in his life to the grace of God. That’s how Paul labored more than all the other apostles. Not by his own will, or power, or efforts. It was all by the grace of God – undeserved favor.
1 Cor. 4:7, “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” How should we view ourselves? As people who have received every good thing from God. Every good fruit we bear, every good work we perform, every good virtue we display has come as a gift from God. We do not have these things innately. We received them from God.
1 Cor. 3:6-7, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.” In other words, we are not the important ones here – God is! We can’t give spiritual life to anyone. We can’t cause spiritual life to grow in anyone. The only one who can do that is God! That’s why we are nothing and God is everything!
So, how ought we think about ourselves? Unworthy slaves who have only done what we ought to have done. Those that can do nothing apart from Christ. Those in whose flesh dwells no good thing. Those that do every good thing through the grace of God. Those who have received every good thing from God. Those who are nothing, while God is All in All! That is a Biblical view of self! Those Christian or secular psychologists that tell you that you should be seeking to focus on yourself, and bring forth a greater self-esteem are not speaking truth from Scripture. The problem is that we have too high an esteem of ourselves. Our self-esteem is already much too great. We value, and cherish, and flatter ourselves much too much already! We need to prick the balloon of our pride, and come down to earth, and remind ourselves that we are nothing and Christ is everything.
Now, if you are thinking more highly of yourself than what the Scriptures we just read tell you, you have an inflated and exaggerated view of your own goodness. That is the universal problem – pride. Let’s move on to the godly solution – humility.
2. Humility – The Godly Solution
But to think so as to have sound judgment. The word “sound” means healthy, and “judgment” refers to your opinions and decisions. God wants us to make right and true and sound assessments of ourselves.
as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Notice that the sound and healthy assessment we make about ourselves is based on the standard of our faith. How do we form sound judgments about ourselves? By reflecting on the measure of faith allotted to us. But you may say, “Brian, if we do that, it will promote pride! I may say, I have more faith than that Christian over there. Therefore, I am better than them.” There are at least two major reasons why that can’t happen.
1) The nature of saving faith. What is faith? It is a self-emptying grace. It is looking away from self to Christ, as the all-satisfying Savior. Faith is total dependence on Another. Therefore, the essence of the Christian who has a renewed mind, is that he looks away from himself to Christ as the sum and epitome of all that is glorious, beautiful, and pure. Now, if faith is looking away from myself to Christ, how can I be proud of it? How can I boast that I have more than someone else? The more I look away from myself to Christ, and find Him to be altogether lovely, the less I think about myself. Rather than promoting pride, true saving faith crushes pride, by causing our gaze to focus on the altogether lovely One! Faith is a self-emptying grace, and thus the more faith you have the more you look away from yourself to Christ, and so the less reason you have to boast about anything.
2) The gift of saving faith. Now why did I say “gift”? Well, it is because of that word “allotted”. An allotment refers to “something that has been given out in portions.” Now what has been given out in portions? Our faith! God has allotted to each a measure of faith. That means that God has given out various sized portions of faith to each child of God. The faith that we have in Christ is a gift from God. And the reason you have great faith and I have small faith has to do with the measure that God has given.
But, is it really true that faith comes from God as a gift? Is this taught in Scripture? Let’s take a look and see.
Phil. 1:29, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Paul here is saying that two things are granted or given to the Christian – faith and suffering.
Ephesians 1:19-20 (ESV), “and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead…” What is Paul teaching here? He’s teaching that we believe according to God’s almighty power, the same power that raised Christ from the dead. It takes God’s power to enable someone to believe the gospel.
Acts 18:27, “Apollos greatly helped those who had believed through grace.”
Acts 16:14, “the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” What was Paul speaking? The gospel. So the Lord had to open Lydia’s heart to respond to the gospel. How does a person rightly respond to the gospel? In faith. Therefore, faith comes as the Lord opens the heart.
John 6:65, “no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” Now, what did Jesus mean by coming to Him? He tells us in verse 35, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” Do you see that Jesus is present two parallel statements. Hungering and thirsting are parallel, and coming and believing are parallel. Therefore to “come to Jesus” is the same as “believing in Jesus.” Therefore no one can believe in Jesus unless it has been granted from the Father.
Do you see what Paul is doing? He is making a person’s faith the measure of their greatness. Therefore, if Christ is more to you, you are more. If Christ is less to you, you are less. Your measure increases or decreases with your measure of Him. Your value of Him is the value you have.
So, why is it that some Christians have greater faith than other Christians? And why does the same person have more faith at one season of his life than at others? Ultimately, we have to resolve this question into the sovereignty of God. God allots to each a measure of faith, just as He allots to each various spiritual gifts as He desires.
So, Paul tells us that we assess ourselves by our faith. However, that will not puff us up or make us boast, first because the nature of faith is that it looks away from self to Christ, and second because it is a gift of Christ. Therefore we can’t boast of our amount of faith. In fact, the more faith you have, the least you will boast, because you’re not even thinking of yourself. You’re thinking of Christ!
Conclusion
A wise Christian once said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” My friends, that is what I want for you. I would like you to think of yourself less. And I would like you to think of Christ more. I would love for all of us to be conscious of Christ in our lives, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Brothers and sisters, God’s word to you today is to not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. How do we do that? How do we kill pride in our lives?
1) We think of ourselves the way the Bible tells us to – as unworthy slaves who can do nothing apart from Christ, and who do all the good they do through the grace of Christ.
2) We look away from ourselves to Christ as our all satisfying Treasure.
3) We understand that our faith has come to us as a gift of God.
If we would just do those three things, how much more peace and harmony we would experience in our marriages, our families, and our churches. Let’s determine that we will not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, by the grace of God!
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