DEFLATING THE INFLATED I Corinthians 4

Someone has said, "Swallow your pride occasionally, and console yourself with the knowledge that it is 100 percent calorie free." There are many that need to swallow their pride. Someone else has said, "People are strange: they want the front of the bus, the back of the church, and the center of attention."

TV newsman Tom Brokaw told of how he was wandering through Bloomingdale's in New York one day, shortly after he was promoted to co-host on the Today Show. That show was a pinnacle of sorts for Brokaw after years of work, first in Omaha, then for NBC in Los Angeles and Washington, and he was feeling good about himself. He noticed a man watching him closely. The man kept staring at him and finally, when the man approached him, Brokaw was sure he was about to reap the first fruits of being a New York television celebrity. The man pointed his finger and said, "Tom Brokaw, right?" "Right," said Brokaw. "You used to do the morning news on KMTV in Omaha, right?" "That's right," said Brokaw, getting set for the accolades to follow. "I knew it the minute I spotted you," the fellow said. Then he paused and added, "Whatever happened to you?"

So often we let our blessings go to our head and make us haughty, rather than letting them go to our heart and making us humble. In our text, the Apostle Paul tackles the matter of pride in the life of a believer. He uses a certain phrase three times in verses 6-21 that speaks of pride. It is the phrase, "puffed up." (Cp.Vs.6,18,19) The words speak of something being inflated. It was like the blacksmith's bellows being filled with air. The phrase describes someone filled with pride.

I read about a missionary that was trying to do translation work in a particular tribe and found it hard to translate the word pride or at least the concept. He finally came to the idea to use their word or words for the ears being too far apart. In other words, he conveyed the idea of an "inflated head."

I submit unto you that it was a good description and fitting translation of pride, for that is exactly how Paul described pride. What was true of the Church at Corinth is often true about us. We become puffed up and inflated with ourselves.

Two Texans were trying to impress each other with the size of their ranches. One asked the other, "What's the name of your ranch?" He replied, "The Rocking R, ABC, Flying W Circle C, Bar U, Staple Four, Box D, Rolling M, Rainbow's End, Silver Spur Ranch." The other Texan was much impressed and exclaimed, "Whew! That's sure some name! How many head of cattle do you run?" The rancher answered, "Not many. Very few survive the branding."

Many try to impress others and make them think that they are what they think they are. Pride is being puffed up or inflated with self. Paul first expressed his desire that the Corinthians believers learn not to think of man above that which written. He says in verse 6, "And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written." When Paul spoke of that which is written, he was referring to what God had said in his word about pride. Paul knew that God repeatedly rebuked pride in the life of a Christian.

We read in Proverbs 8:13, "The fear of the Lord is hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way…" Also, Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." D.L. Moody used to say, "Be humble or you will stumble." 1 Peter 5:5 says, "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."

That which is written condemns pride, therefore, Paul finishes verse 6 by saying, "that no one of you be puffed up for one against the other." In verse seven, Paul asks a series of three questions. Each of his questions is aimed at deflating the inflated. Let's examine these three questions.

1. THE PROBLEM OF PRIDE IS DEFINED!

The first question Paul asks in verse seven is "For who maketh thee to differ from another?" In that question the problem of pride is defined. Notice the question.

A. WHAT IS OFTEN THOUGHT.

In essence, what Paul was asking is, "Why do you think you are better than others?" "What makes you think that you are different than others?" Pride is a form of thinking that you are different than others. Pride is thinking that you are above others and better than others.

I think of the state of Illinois. It gets its name from an Indian word to which a French suffix has been added. It means "tribe of superior men." There are those who think they are superior to others. If that be the case, we have got a state just for you (my apologies to anyone from Illinois).

Muhammad Ali was in his prime, and as he was about to take off on an airplane flight, the stewardess reminded him to fasten his seat belt. He came back brashly, "Superman don't need no seat belt." The stewardess quickly came back, "Superman don't need no airplane, either."

Feeling like you are better than others is the essence of pride. It is an inflation of self that leaves one thinking they are better and superior.

B. WHAT IS ALWAYS TRUE.

Now a person may think they are better. Let me just say that such a person would get along real good with Hitler! But the simply honest truth is, no one is better than another in the eyes of God. In Acts 10:34, Peter said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons." Peter was declaring that God does not consider one nationality better than another and neither does He consider one personality better than another.

Will Rogers used to say that he never met a man he didn't like. One day a woman told him, "You never met my husband." One thing you can absolutely be sure of and that is there is no one God does not love and in his eyes there is no one better than another. In our own eyes the ground may not be level, but the ground is always level in God's eyes.

This is the problem of pride. It is thinking we are different than others, better than others.

2. THE PERVERSENESS OF PRIDE IS DESCRIBED!

The second question Paul asked goes to the heart of why pride is so hated and abhorred by God. Paul asks, "What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" Paul was asking, "What is it that you have that was not given to you?" Paul's question reminds that when we are filled with pride we become forgetful of where our blessings come from. Paul's question reminds us:

A. THE GOODNESS OF GOD THAT IS RECEIVED.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer. Lincoln said, "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own."

Pride forgets that who we are and what we have; we owe it to the goodness of God. We have nothing that in one way or the other, that can't be traced back to the goodness of God.

I remember a scene in the movie Shennadoah. James Stewart is the father and all the family is sitting around the table getting ready to eat. Stewart leads the family in prayer and says something like this, "Lord, we plowed the ground, worked the field, sowed the seed and harvested the crops, but we thank you anyway. Amen."

There are some that have the same attitude. But we forget there would be no fields if it weren't for God. The seed we put into the ground would be worthless if not for the life God put into the seed. Furthermore, one owes their strength and ability to work to the God who gives life and strength. Anyway you look at it; we owe all we have to the goodness of God.

But you say, "I made my own way in life. I worked and earned ever penny I have. God had nothing to do with it." I remind you of what Deuteronomy 8:18 says, "But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth…"

As Paul asked, "What hast thou that thou didst not receive." All that we are and all that we have we owe to the goodness of God that has been received in life. Paul's question not only reminds of the goodness of God that is received but also:

B. THE GLORY OF GOD THAT IS ROBBED.

The goodness of God in our life should lead to giving God glory. But pride turns the focus on us instead of God. Instead of giving God the glory for who we are and what we have, we take the credit. Pride causes us to rob God of the glory that is rightfully his. It is this very thing that makes pride such a wicked and perverse matter. Pride makes us a thief and robber. It makes us a spiritual criminal. It robs God of His glory.

A young woman talked to her pastor to a besetting sin. She said, "Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I look around at the other women, and I realize I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?" The pastor looked at her and said, "That is not a sin. That's just a mistake!"

May I say that pride is both a mistake and a sin. It is a sin because it robs God of His glory. Paul said in I Corinthians 1:31, "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

3. THE PRESENCE OF PRIDE IS DENOUNCED!

The third and final question Paul asked in verse seven was, "Why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" In light of the fact that no one is better than another and all that we have is due to God's blessings, why are we puffed up? Paul is denouncing pride in any form.

In summary, what is Paul saying there are two things we should acknowledge about pride.

A. WE SHOULD ACKNOWLEDGE THE BASELESSNESS OF PRIDE.

We should recognize that pride is baseless and without foundation. There is no reason for us to be proud. Instead of being haughty, we should be humble. Instead of pride there should be praise.

B. WE SHOULD ACKNOWLEDGE THE SINFULNESS OF PRIDE.

We should look at pride as nothing more than a dirty, filthy, wicked, evil sin. Instead of cockiness there should be confession. Instead of boasting there should be bowing.

The inflated need to be deflated!