Question of the Week: How do we understand pride biblically?

In order to understand pride, we first need to recognize that there is a concerted effort within pride itself to prevent that from happening. Recovery circles have a saying that “your pride doesn’t want you to know how proud you are.” The most basic definitions of pride available to us are the following;
A self-centered, rather than God-centered, worldview.
A dishonest perspective of yourself and others.
The anti-God mindset.

Pride has been described as the sin above all others. It was pride that made the Devil the Devil as C.S. Lewis once observed. If given full reign to accomplish its purposes in your heart, you will have adopted the mindset of those in Hell. No Jesus. Only me. If the impact it has on us is so severe, the question remains. Where do we find this established for us in scripture? The first example will be the King of Babylon;

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.
Isaiah 14:12-15 (NKJV)

If there is ever a word of advice worth following, it’s to make sure you have the least in common with Satan as possible. In Isaiah’s prophecy, the chapter begins by establishing this statement from God as directed towards the future king of Babylon who would have a very direct and dramatic series of interactions with the people of Israel. Hindsight clarifies for us that this was referring to Nebuchadnezzar. In order to properly illustrate the degree to which their pride was going to end up destroying them, a direct comparison is made between their self-centered worldview and Lucifer, who we know today as the Adversary, Accuser, or Satan. In their hearts, they built themselves up to be higher than God, and reality caught up with them. This was modeled by Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:30. The greatest condemnation against his behavior isn’t just the end result, but the fact that Jesus modeled the exact opposite. And as was stated before, if you have more in common with Satan in your attitude than Jesus, that’s the definition of a problem.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of other. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:3-11 (NKJV)

Other examples of pride can be found in Ezekiel 28:1-4 where the King of Tyre was similarly compared to Lucifer by allowing his worldly success to go to his head and allowed himself to believe he was a god. This dishonest view of himself was going to be corrected verbally and historically. Yet in light of all of these examples of what not to do, the focus always needs to go back to the person of Jesus Christ. He didn’t model this. He didn’t react to compliments by putting Himself down. That would be just as self-centered and self-focused because it would have just as many personal pronouns in it if you were bragging on yourself. When we saw Jesus, we saw someone who received worship as God and at the same time always sought the glory of the Father. We saw someone Who was higher than us all and voluntarily chose to stand at our side as our Advocate. We saw someone who was exempt from all suffering, and voluntarily chose to become a part of it. That is the model we should follow. Not the opposite.

And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”
John 8:29 (NKJV)

A Reason For Hope is a ministry of Calvary Christian Fellowship of Tucson

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Question of the Week: What is the Christian attitude towards persecution?

In order to understand how we as Christians should respond towards persecution, we first need to understand what persecution is. Persecution is any negative treatment in response or reaction to a certain kind of behavior. There are good forms of persecution. When a criminal faces legal penalties for their behavior, their actions are being persecuted. When a child misbehaves and is disciplined by their parents, their actions are being persecuted. When a student gives an incorrect answer to a question and the teacher corrects them, their actions are being persecuted. When Christians refer to persecution, they are talking about facing negative treatment in a verbal or physical sense because they are acting like Jesus Christ.

With a proper understanding of persecution defined, the question remains how we should react to it. Like anything else in Christianity, our first and ultimate example for anything goes to the commands and example of Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His answer to this question in the Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5:11-12 (NKJV)

Blessed, or supremely happy, was the reaction Christians should have when they receive negative treatment for His sake. This does not mean that being treated in a negative way in any sense is persecution. People who act obnoxious or aggressive with people shouldn’t consider the persecution that naturally follows to be because they are Christians. Jesus uses the example of the prophets before us who were treated cruelly for being prophets. Someone who spoke for God and faced opposition from the world were dealing with that persecution for talking like God. Likewise, someone who is reviled, persecuted, and has all kinds of evil said against them for Jesus’ sake would have to be acting like Jesus for His point to apply to them. In later conversations with His disciples, Jesus further clarified this.

“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.
John 16:1-3 (NKJV)

The answer to the question is “blessed.” The question that should follow is why. Why should we be supremely happy when we face social consequences for doing the right thing? To ask the question is almost to answer it. If you are doing what is right in God’s eyes, people may not like it. God always will. If He is the one whose opinion of and reaction to your behavior ultimately matters, then having a right relationship with Him will be your reason to be happy. We don’t enjoy being treated poorly. We shouldn’t try to develop a sense of masochism or look for opportunities for people to hate us. We simply need to remember that the one whose opinion of our lives ultimately matters needs to be God rather than men. That is the Christian response to persecution.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:10 (NKJV)

A Reason For Hope is a ministry of Calvary Christian Fellowship of Tucson

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Question of the Week: Is it wrong for Christians to celebrate holidays that aren’t mentioned in the Bible?

In order to determine if anything is right or wrong for a Christian to do, there are three criteria we need to judge it by in order to conclude whether it is Christ-like behavior. Did Jesus condemn it? Did Jesus model it? And did the followers of Jesus follow through on the matter in light of His life and Old Testament Scriptures?

Follow me as I follow Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1 (NKJV)

Did Jesus condemn the celebration of certain holidays? No. The only time He ever addressed the celebration of certain days above others were regarding the Sabbath day. In a situation where tradition had taken over the intent that holiday was first given to man, Jesus clarified the purpose of that holiday on the authority that could only come from the one who founded it to begin with. He didn’t condemn the celebration of a holiday, but how it was being celebrated. The attitude in which we approach certain celebrations or observances are what matter most to Him given what we actually have Him speaking about regarding the celebration of holidays.

Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him? And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
Mark 2:23-28 (NKJV)

Did Jesus ever model the celebration of holidays that aren’t mentioned in the Bible? Yes. The Feast of Dedication, also known as the Festival of Lights or Hanukkah, was something Jesus personally celebrated despite the fact it was not an event recorded in scripture. The book of 1 Maccabees details for us the revolt led by Judas Maccabeus and the miracle that followed during the reign of Antiocus Ephiphanes during the Hellenistic occupation of Jerusalem. The Jewish nation chose to remember a moment where God miraculously made a day’s worth of oil last over a week as they prepared more in order to obey the Temple Laws after driving out the Greeks that were persecuting them for it. In a demonstration of God being faithful to His promises as they were faithful to His commands, neither Judas Maccabeus nor the Jews who preserved his legacy claimed he was a prophet of God. Yet Jesus celebrated this holiday outside of the Bible’s commands. This was either a sinful action on Jesus’ part, or merely another opportunity He took advantage of to talk to people about the things God had done and was doing in their history. It’s fair to assume it’s the latter.

Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.
John 10:22-23 (NKJV)

The final test we could hold the behavior of celebrating non-biblical holidays to are the teachings of Jesus’ followers that bore witness to His example first-hand. And regarding the celebration of any kind of holiday, they have no words of condemnation for that kind of behavior. The only thing they address was the same thing Jesus modeled. It doesn’t matter when you celebrate something, but why and how you are celebrating it.

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.
Romans 14:5-13 (NKJV)

Notice that Paul the Apostle equates the decision to celebrate or not to celebrate on particular days as good things under the condition that it is with the Lord as the focus. If you are uncomfortable celebrating a holiday because of supposed historical controversies or modern distortions, then spend that day focusing on God instead. If you are fine with focusing on God during that holiday, you are just as Christian in doing so as you would if you chose not to. The only word of condemnation is the attitude of looking down on and condemning each other for acting against your own convictions. If Jesus is made the focus of that holiday, then it’s not sinful to focus on Jesus on a particular day. If Jesus is the focus regardless of that holiday, it is not sinful to forego celebrating that holiday with higher priorities in mind.

A Reason For Hope is a ministry of Calvary Christian Fellowship of Tucson

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