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I come to you today with simply one of the most convicting sermons which unveils what most of us struggle with. This past Sunday at Elevation Church, Pastor Robert Madu preached a sermon titled “No Crown” in which he explores what he calls the “silent killer” PRIDE! To jumpstart his sermon, he employs two scriptures that illustrate pride and why it is useless in God’s kingdom. In John 3: 22-30, we meet John’s disciples full of pride and missing the whole point of their service to John as they complained about Jesus the Messiah (to John) who was also baptizing and in response John emulating humility reminds them that the whole purpose for his existence was to prepare the way for Christ. Among other words he said, “He must become greater, I must become less” (Verse 30), John refused to let the praise of man make him proud. This introduces us to the second scripture in revelations 4: 9-11 which explains why it is useless to have pride on earth. Here, John, disciple of Jesus (author), gives us a sneak peak into God’s kingdom and explains how in God’s presence, EVERTYTHING, (even those considered holy on earth) bows to give glory, honor, and thanks to the Almighty.

Pastor Madu explains that pride is the catalyst of destruction in marriages, families, ministries, and relationships. With reference to St. Augustine of Hippo who wrote, “pride is the commencement of all sin” and explained how the fall of satan was because of pride, pastor Madu demonstrates the various ways in which pride can be manifested. He mentions that in many cases, things in our lives such as bitterness, indecisiveness, worry and anxiety among others are a revelation of pride. For instance, he explains that those times when you refuse to step out in faith to do what God has called you to do only because you do not want to fail and be embarrassed (or ruin your reputation) in front of men can be a manifestation of pride. These seasons indicate that you think you know better than God. Using James 4: 6-7 he reminds us that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (also see, Proverbs 3: 34) and that God calls upon us to resist the devil and submit to him. Therefore, we need to be aware of the fact that it is the enemy that brings us pride so that we can be rejected by God.

As I reflect on pastor’s illustration in which he used a carbon monoxide detector to tell us that pride just like carbon monoxide is not easily visible but can be lethally dangerous as it affects you and kills your spirit silently. I find myself in a predicament. As a Christian, this makes me want to be cautious of the pride in my life that may be killing my spirit. Many of the things we do have pride underneath them. For instance, I get bitter with people, I get anxious when I feel like I am not getting what I want from God which in many cases only reveals that I think I know what I need or what’s best for my life and God doesn’t. There are countless times where I have used blessings/gifts that God has given me to feel like I am strong on my own or better than others. Other times, I get angry at people when we have a misunderstanding (working so hard on this) which result in me avoiding them or cutting them out of my life. Sometimes, I find myself feeling like I would never do some of the things people do thus becoming self-righteous. Listening to pastor Madu explain that “pride will block your access in the presence of God” reminds me of the times when I have failed to concentrate in prayer because I was bitter or worried about something.

Furthermore, pastor Madu explains the controversy of pride and humility. While he believes that sometimes pride can conceal itself as humility, humility can also disguise itself as pride. According to him humility is the “hinge upon which the heavens open.” He explains that when we are humble (aware that we are nothing in comparison to God), we give God glory. Therefore, in whatever we do, we have to remember to put our confidence in God. However, he notes that we have to be aware that “godly confidence sometimes can look like arrogance.” He illustrates this using the story of David. See at the beginning, David recognized that he was nothing without God. When he attacked Goliath, he was confident in God’s strength. Although his brother called him proud and his responses probably came off as arrogant sometimes, David often mentioned that he was doing it in God’s name. In the later years however, David did something that to the outside eye was normal for a king to do but this action was considered as prideful to God. David counted his army men and the bible shows us that his decision to do this was pride based. See David had won so many battles and in his heart, he had probably started to feel like he was the one fighting the battles and not God as he previously did. Therefore, God who knows our hearts considered this a sin because he knew that David had started to put his confidence in his success and not in God. Like I said, it is common to forget that everything you have is from God and that without him you wouldn’t have the success to begin with. This happens when we start to think that we know it all and make other people feel insecure and yet in actual sense, we too were once in their place and are only where we are by the grace of God.

According to pastor Madu, another manifestation of pride is through disguising it as inferiority. Those times when we become selfish and put ourselves in the middle of everything and make ourselves the victims of every circumstance. It may feel good to blame other people for everything they have done to you but you need to remember that making yourself inferior means that you are only focusing on you. Move on from such drama and grow out of it. Pastor Madu mentions four things that can help you test whether you have pride or humility. To find out, he asks us how we respond to what he calls the CRAP in our lives. These are;

Criticism: Do we let criticism get to us and make us defensive or cause us to deflect (ruin our day/year) instead of learning from it and growing or laughing it off? The former exposes pride while the latter reveals humility.

Rejection: Do we reject those who have rejected us or ignored us or do we swallow our pride and be nice to them or greet them?

Advice: Do we try to get advice from people only to hear them confirm our opinions or are we open to advice even when it is not something we want to hear?

Praise: Do we seek validation and affirmation from people or social media or do we feel like we have nothing to prove to the world?

Pastor Madu encourages us to emulate Paul and only have one goal in life, which is to know Christ. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul lets them know of all his accomplishments (the things that he would have chosen to put his confidence in) and tells them how he instead chose to forget all of them just so he can press on to what is ahead (Philippians 3: 4-11). Paul considered everything else-that he had accomplished in the flesh- as rubbish. Can you forget your wins or successes just to know God? or is this something that you find hard to do. John the Baptist forgot his crap too. He was at the peak of his ministry and could have chosen to compete with Jesus but instead, he put himself low. He didn’t let his disciples take his focus from the price of serving Christ.

Remember that while “pride locks the success, heaven opens at the hinge of humility” (Robert Madu). He further reminds us that we are just mere mortals, our purpose is not to be praised or glorified by man but rather for us to reflect glory back to God. He warns that when we let man’s praise get to our heads and intoxicate ourselves with their cheers on earth we set ourselves up for doom. “Give it back to the one who made you…remember that you can’t handle the crown” he says. It is significant for us to remember during endurance, our suffering on earth, the ridicule, etc. that we shall receive glory in heaven from the one who gives eternal praise. God will reward you for the things you do when nobody else sees, such as being nice to mean people. Remain faithful. When the twenty-four leaders received the greatest reward, that is being in God’s presence, they realized that they didn’t need their crowns, they laid them down before God and worshipped him (revelation).

It is a struggle to fight against pride but if we constantly remind ourselves that we are nothing in comparison to God it may help us learn to see other people (who may be less privileged or who aren’t gifted) through the eyes of Jesus. While reflecting on Jesus’s time on earth, I was reminded that he emulated this so perfectly. When an adulterous woman was brought to him, Jesus looked at her and told her he did not condemn her (John 8: 11). He had every right to, but he didn’t. Instead he reminded the people who brought her to him that they were sinners just like her and had no right to condemn her. Moreover, on the cross, Jesus humbled himself and accepted to be sacrificed with sinners just so our eyes would be opened, for us to believe in His power when he resurrected on the third day. Therefore, if the son of God could remain humble even to the point of his death, who are we to feel like we need to be praised, loved, acknowledged, etc.

I struggle with pride in so many areas of my life. Sometimes I don’t even know when it has manifested itself in my daily life. I am making a decision today to try and remind myself (daily) that this life is not about me. I am going to choose to believe that I have nothing to prove to this world and that I have nothing to lose when the world throws crap at me. I want to be like Paul and forget the things that make me feel better than the rest so I can focus on the main purpose of my life, which is to serve God and live to be rewarded by his presence.

I pray that you may be reminded not to get caught up on the crap and the praise of this world but that your heart and focus may be on knowing Christ and the glory in His name. Amen.

With love and prayers,

Resty Kansiime

Here is this week’s sermon. No Crown | Pastor Robert Madu | Elevation Church – YouTube