TEEN TREE OF LIFE
The Doctrine of Arrogance
Part 3
January 13, 2019
Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1JOHN 1:9: If we confess our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
When a believer becomes involved with the cosmic system, the result is motivational arrogance. Motivational arrogance occurs when a believer becomes so involved with Satan’s cosmic system that he or she is motivated by evil. The cosmic system is the overall objective of Satan in using mankind to prove his superiority over God. The cosmic system is the devil’s policy for achieving this goal by making us think human viewpoint is better than Divine viewpoint. As we have learned, our goal as Christians is to have the Mind of Christ. This will enable us to have Divine viewpoint.
Motivational arrogance can cause believers to develop flaws which develop as a result of residence in the cosmic system. The areas affected are thinking; motivation; decision-making and action. This is important because once arrogance affects your motivation – instead of Bible doctrine motivating you – Satan is! When a believer becomes motivated by the devil in what he’s thinking – out goes The Mind of Christ. Look at ROM 12:3: For I say through the grace which has been given to me to everyone who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance beyond what you ought to think, but think in terms of sanity for the purpose of being rational without illusion as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from doctrine. Needless to say, it is at that point when arrogance affects your decision-making and the actions you take, you’re out of God’s Plan and living in the cosmic system.
It’s important to note here that we all have things about our personalities and personal style that might make each of us seem un-Christian. These things are NOT flaws. They have nothing to do with carnality or cosmic involvement. If these attributes are mistaken for arrogance or conceit, it’s not your problem! Never forget that the only One Whose opinion of you matters is God’s!
Motivational arrogance is a very destructive force in our Christian walk. It can be a result of Christian service produced inside the cosmic system. There are many good things that Christians do which are nothing more than wood hay and straw. The apostle Paul wrote: According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1COR 3:10-15) Believers shouldn’t be motivated to do things to please God. If we do, we’re negating His Grace Policy. God’s Grace is free, unmerited love and favor and we do nothing to earn it. Good works can only be done when you’re filled with The Holy Spirit. If a believer assumes that his works are spiritual, he is making a terrible assumption that human energy and human ability is greater than The Holy Spirit’s Omnipotence and Power!
There are many different types of good works which mean nothing to God. One is philanthropy which is defined as “collective efforts made to do good for others, especially in the form of making monetary donations or engaging in charitable works.” (wordsmyth.com) Think of all of the charities there are in the world today. They’re advertised on television – they’re even on Facebook! You can’t escape them. Charitable giving is not a bad thing but it won’t please God unless you’re motivated by His Word and not because you think it’s going to please Him. The only way to please God is to stay in His Pre-Designed Plan for your life!
Arrogance will stand in your way when seeking God: The wicked are windbags, the swindlers have foul breath. The wicked snub God, their noses stuck high in the air. Their graffiti are scrawled on the walls: “Catch us if you can!” “God is dead.” (PSA 10:4 The Message Bible) Arrogance will also hinder your relationship with The Lord Jesus Christ Who said: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart [right lobe], that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. (MAR 7:20-22)
Look at what the apostle John wrote about the cosmic system and what it does to your relationship with Our Lord: Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity. (1JO 2:16-17 The Message Bible) Once you’re motivated and controlled by arrogance, you’ll become convinced that you don’t need any help in running your life. You’ll think you can do it all by yourself without any help from The Lord.
Feeling sorry for yourself is a sin of arrogance. It’s self-pity – emphasis on SELF! Always remember that your very own volition can trigger arrogance from your Old Sin Nature. You have to take responsibility for your own decisions and choices. If you’re feeling sorry for yourself, it’s because you CHOSE to feel sorry for yourself. JON 4:1-8 (The Message Bible) describes an amazing example of feeling sorry for yourself: Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, “God! I knew it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness! “So, God, if you won’t kill them, kill me! I’m better off dead!” God said, “What do you have to be angry about?” But Jonah just left. He went out of the city to the east and sat down in a sulk. He put together a makeshift shelter of leafy branches and sat there in the shade to see what would happen to the city. God arranged for a broad-leafed tree to spring up. It grew over Jonah to cool him off and get him out of his angry sulk. Jonah was pleased and enjoyed the shade. Life was looking up. But then God sent a worm. By dawn of the next day, the worm had bored into the shade tree and it withered away. The sun came up and God sent a hot, blistering wind from the east. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head and he started to faint. He prayed to die: “I’m better off dead!” Imagine a grown man sulking like a child! Well that’s what feeling sorry for yourself looks like! That’s what arrogance can do to your life!
Now we’re going to look at arrogance and authority. Probably all of us have thought that we know better than those in charge. Whether it’s your teacher or your coach or even your parents – watch out! Thinking like this is not wrong in and of itself because you may actually be smarter in some instances. But REMEMBER that this was an idea that lodged itself in Satan’s mind: “I know better than the one in charge!” And who was the One in charge – it was God, Imagine his arrogance.
Authority has been delegated by God to four Divine Institutions. The first is the authority you have over yourself to make your own choices. God gives you the freedom to make decisions but remember that with this freedom comes responsibility: For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (GAL 5:13) We’ve already studied how arrogance can affect the choices we make.
The second is in marriage where the husband has authority over the wife. This is taught in EPH 5:22: Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. This is an important thing to learn now because one day, you may get married. Whether you become a husband or wife, there is only one authority in a Christian marriage.
The third Divine Institution in which authority has been delegated by God is an important one for teens. It’s the one which gives parents authority over you: Children, do what your parents tell you. This is only right. “Honor your father and mother” is the first commandment that has a promise attached to it, namely, “so you will live well and have a long life.” (EPH 6:1-3 The Message Bible) Authority arrogance begins in homes that don’t make God and His Word the number one priority in life.
{to be continued}