Let Go of Ego
A sermon based on James 4:7-12
Sunday, October 1, 2017 – Pentecost 17B
"You know, I think I might be the humblest person that I know." What an oxymoron, right? Did you think that last week when in the book of Numbers (which Moses wrote by the way) it says, "(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)" (Number 12:3). Well, to avoid the accusations that Moses was full of false humility, many scholars suggest that that verse was actually added (by Joshua perhaps) after Moses' death. But you know, since Moses was inspired to write what he did, I don't have a problem with Moses writing that at the Holy Spirit's insistence in spite of Moses' protestations.
But that's the thing about humility: As soon as you think you've got it all figured out and that you're pretty humble, well… you're not. And that's why we need God's Word. When we struggle to produce humility in ourselves (or worse, become proud of how humble we are), God's law does a good job of humbling us for real. It reminds us that we have rebelled against God again and again and deserve nothing but hell. But it also prepares us for the gospel (that we would otherwise find no need for) and let's God lift us up in his grace. Then, having been humbled by the law and lifted up by the gospel, we can be truly humble in our service to God and to others.
Our text for consideration this morning is taken from James 4:7-12…
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Someone once asked Martin Luther, "What is the first step to having a sincere faith?" And Luther replied, "Humility." The man nodded in agreement and then asked, "And what's the second step?" To which Luther replied, "Humility." "Okay," the man said, pressing the issue, "Then what's the third step?" And, you can guess Luther's answer: "Ah, the third step," he said, "Well… that… is humility."
I know we often say that every sin is equally bad in God's sight. And there is a certain truth to that. To God, lust and adultery, hatred and murder, laziness and theft, are the same—equally damning before him—even though the consequences in this life are vastly different. But I would argue that there is a sin that is worse than the rest. And that sin is pride. You see without the humility to admit that we are wrong, to admit that we have rebelled against God, to admit that we deserve hell, and to admit that we are hopelessly unable to remedy that situation on our own, well… then we have no use for the gospel. And we will reject it and be lost forever in hell.
So it makes sense that the first three steps to a sincere faith are humility, humility, and humility.
Humble yourselves before God. And resist the devil. That's really saying the same thing isn't it? It's just two sides of the same coin. What would satan have us do? He would have us arrogantly throw off God's lordship and claim it for ourselves, to think that our lives belong to us, that we will do what we want, not what God does. That's exactly what satan did in the Garden of Eden and that's still what he does today. Every time we sin—every time we slander one another, speak against each other, proudly thinking we're so much better—we come near to the devil and resist God. We think we know better than he does and arrogantly defy him. How foolish!
And for foolishly drawing near the devil while resisting God, we deserve to join the devil in an eternity away from God. We deserve hell. And that leads us to, "Grieve, mourn and wail," and to "Change [our] laughter to mourning and [our] joy to gloom."
Admit it. You're an arrogant sinner. You deserve God's wrath and punishment. Humble yourself before God, fall on your knees (at least in spirit), and cry out to him to show you mercy that you don't deserve! For as Luther once said, "God cannot fill a cup that is already full." Empty yourself of yourself. Let go of ego and confess your sin to God.
And when you do… God will lift you up. "Come near to God and he will come near to you." James promises, not calling the unbeliever to convert himself (for that can never be done), but calling the believer to repent of sin before God. When we do God will come near to us, not to punish us, but to restore us. "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." For he is "the one who is able to save…"
And he has saved you through Jesus. The word, humble, as you know, comes from the Latin word for earth or dirt. To humble yourself is to literally get close to the dirt. Well, Jesus left his heavenly throne to come to this earth. He took on human flesh to walk in the dirt. And he lived a humble life always submitting to the Father's will, always pleasing him, never sinning. Then he died an innocent death on himself to take our sins committed in arrogant pride all away. And he literally humbled himself to death, being buried in the dirt. But after he humbled himself before the Lord, the Lord lifted him up on the third day. His resurrection is the proof that our sin is forgiven.
So now, when we humble ourselves before God in genuine repentance, he will lift us up with the assurance of sins forgiven for Jesus' sake. And there's no room for any pride since we did nothing to earn it or deserve it. We can let go of ego and let God lift us up. James 4:6 says, "God opposes the proud but, gives grace to the humble."
Someone once said that God has two thrones: One in the highest of heavens and the other in the humblest of hearts. When we let go of ego and empty ourselves of ourselves, when we're no longer a full cup, then God can fill us with his righteousness, with genuine purity, with peace, with himself…
And now, with God sitting on the throne of our hearts where he rightly belongs, we will live different lives.
Though we are still "double-minded" in that we still have sinful natures that long to please ourselves right along side that new desire to please God alone, nevertheless, we will do all we can to battle our arrogance, our pride, and our sinful natures. We will do all we can to, "Wash [our] hands… and purify [our] hearts…" There will be a change of outward behavior when we have a change of mind and will.
And when we are no longer be arrogant and proud toward God, we will no longer be arrogant and proud toward others.
It's been said that people can be a lot like vultures. They go through life soaring above beautiful scenery. But they miss it all. They see none of the beauty because they're only searching for what is dead and decaying that they might consume it. Just look at the tabloids and the gossip columns, the celebrity magazines, and the top dozen stories on your Facebook page. People look for the negative that they might, "slander one another… [speak] against [each other]… and judge [their] neighbor[s]…" so they feel bigger and better, so they can ignore their own sin and ignore God's law. What human vultures!
But we're not like that anymore, friends. Having been humbled before God, having been lifted up by him, having been freed of our sin and brought into peace with him by his glorious gospel…! We'll be more concerned with self-examination than with harsh criticism of others. We'll be eager to forgive others just as we've been forgiven. We'll be eager to let go of ego and humbly serve others in love in thanks to him who first loved and served us. In Jesus' name, dear friends, amen.
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