Thank you sir, We are not worthy...

Discussion points from today:
Pride seems to be at the root of many things both good and bad.
We "personified" the sins.. in discussion and ideology from Tiger Woods, Hugh Heffner, and Donald Trump to all of the characthers from Star Wars.  Sith or Jedi?  Which character do you identify with?  Who do you idolize?  The individual answers of attendees today were not surprising, but also lined up with our cultures' ideals.

THE TWIST:  We as a society idolize the very things which promise to be the root of a potential downfall.   We must remain focused on service and Christ. but... I posit that we should actually embrace our passions and have pride in who we are.. "fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image"... By doing so, we become the salt and light which the world so desperately needs.

I encouraged the class to embrace their specific uniqueness as first born beloved of Christ while understanding that there is a line which must be avoided.  Pride is a slippery slope, but it is balanced by the dangers of a lack of self esteem, and a collective passiveness to the Christians in a world desperately in need of their gifts.

"God fully expects the church of Jesus Christ to prove itself a miraculous group in the very midst of a hostile world.  Christians, of necessity, must be in contact with the world but in being and spirit ought to  be separated from the world. --- and as such we should be the most amazing people in the world."  A W Tozer 1897-1963

My premise... We as Christians have long embraced a spirit of humility and overempasized this ideal.  We have inhibited generations of evangelists, teachers, disciples, and missionaries by telling them that they must always learn more, know more.. before they can do more. The modern church institutions has a habit of inhibiting its member rather than empowering them.  Ministry must be contained, blessed, controlled by the powers that be in so many cases.  This is baffling to me.
We discussed God's examples of "equipping the called" rather than the, secular, pride filled, humanist model of "calling the equipped."


From Oliver to Wayne's World and back again with a short trip through Proverbs...

• How does a lack of self confidence inhibit your life, ministry, and mission?
• Is it better or worse than over-confidence and hubris run amuck...?
• Where is confidence appropriate? and how?
• Are you abdicating our moral and ethical leadership role as a Christian in today's society due to cultural pressure to conform with "political correctness"? Do you call that humility and is it?
• What do you do when you are right and you know it? with kids, family, friends, colleagues?
• How do you respond when someone affirms/tells you: how great you are, what a great job you did, how cool you are.. or what an amazing role model you are?  Ok.. so probably doesn't happened so much to most of us... but how would you respond if it did.. We will practice ;-)
• Do you affirm those around you or do you more naturally criticize them? Is it because of your pride or you humility that you most often take action?
• How do you decide to speak up or be silent... helping a friends succeed, but risking the friendship.. or allowing them to fail and just being there to support. When are you justified in interfering? 
• Is your pride fierce? Is your humility equally fierce? 

Proverbs 11:2; 16:5, 18-19; 27:1-6
11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.

16:5 All those who are arrogant are an abomination to the LORD; be assured, they will not go unpunished.

18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. 19 It is better to be of a lowly spirit among the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.

27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. 2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth—a stranger, and not your own lips. 3 A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both. 4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming but who is able to stand before jealousy? 5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. 6 Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

More References:
Excellent Blog post by Dallas Willard on Humility
"This is the path to humility. Never pretend. Never presume. Never push."


Competition or Collaboration by Dr. Charles Hulin III
"...We compete:
To receive attention . . .
To satisfy the ego . . .
To enable right to win over wrong.
We conclude that we have discovered the secret for the good life, namely, in the word "compete." "

OUT OF UR - OUT OF CONTEXT:  "When our goal of worship is to receive God's help to be successful, pride is taking over. Then we are just using God to further ourselves. Could it be that we want church-growth secrets, or even God's Spirit...for the wrong reasons? Have we slipped into a proud and competitive mode? Is this part of the reason why the American church seems so crippled right now?"