Herod's Pride - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Before Bethlehem, Jesus had every advantage of being God, every advantage of deity. Jesus was timeless, he was limitless, he was boundless.

In fact, Colossians 1 says, all things were created by him and for him. Stop and think about that for a moment. How many things? All things. Every little thing. From microscopic bacteria to the size and breadth of the universe. Every single thing. Do you realize that if you could, and you had a special light to do it, everything that exists, everything, you could turn it over, put a light on it and it says, made by the Son of God, made by Jesus Christ.

He made everything. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Notice verse 18 of chapter 16 of Proverbs, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. God not only hates it, it's not only an abomination to God, but God says, I'm going to get you for that.

It's always in God's timing, but he said, I'm going to do it. You see, and it usually takes a long time because one of the worst things about pride, and I'm sure Herod had it too, if you know people that are proud, they don't know they're proud. Someone has said, pride is the mask of how we mask all of our own faults. That's what pride does. People who are proudful don't even know they're being proudful.

Everybody around them knows. And the reason is, is because pride always hurts everybody. In Philippians 2, Paul said, do nothing from selfish arrogance or empty conceit. In 1 Peter 5, 5, Peter wrote, God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

That's one of the things you see in the word of God, and that's part of the birth narrative. God hates pride. God loves humility.

And here's the issue for us. Pride comes natural to us. Humility is choice we make. Pride comes natural to you, but humility is a choice that you make.

That's what he tells us. Notice what happens when we're humble. Go to Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11, in verse 2. God says this, when pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom. The first thing God says is, do you know what I'll give people that are humble? I'll give them wisdom. Now, with pride, they're going to get dishonor, but with humility, they're going to get wisdom, he said.

That's going to come from me. Then look at Proverbs 15, in verse 33. Here he writes this, the fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom, and before honor comes humility. God says, I'll give someone who is humble, I'll give them wisdom, and I'll give that person honor. This is coming from God.

He's not finished. Go back to the book of Psalms with me to your left, to Psalm 25, in verse 9. Psalm 25, in verse 9.

He said, concerning this, verse 8, I'll pick it up. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in justice, and he teaches the humble his way. God says, I'll not only give the humble wisdom and give them honor, I'll give them justice, but I'll also give them direction. I will lead humble people. This makes sense, because if you're not humble, you'll never let the Lord lead you.

He said, there is the difference, and the Bible is just full of quotes like this. Psalm 138, though the Lord is supreme, he takes care of those who are humble. Isaiah 57, God says, I live with people who are humble.

Isaiah 66, these are the ones I look on with favor, those who are humble and contrite. That's what you have in the birth narrative. You have this king, Herod the Great is his name. And opposite this king, you have this stable in Bethlehem.

And this little baby, born to two obscure people. The difference between human pride and true humility, that's what the birth narrative is about. God says, can I make this picture any clearer to you? I hate pride, and I love humility. That would mean that I would have to think about my achievements less than God's achievements more.

You have to do that. It means that I have to spend less time on my throne and more time at the feet of his cross. It means we have to spend less time bragging about our work and bragging about his work. You see, the Bible says something about you. You are valuable, but you're not invaluable. Only the Lord is that. I love what Jesus said in Matthew 11. He said, I am gentle and humble in heart.

I want you to think about that for a moment. I am gentle and humble in heart. Would there ever be anybody else who ever lived who should be as proud as Jesus was? Anybody. You see, when we talk about pride, is there anybody who ever lived that should be as proud as Jesus was?

No one. And Jesus says of himself, he said, look, I am gentle and humble in heart. He's made a choice, and I want you to show you how this choice works. Go with me now to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 3. And this really is about the birth narrative or the Christmas story.

This is what really happened spiritually there. Verse 3 says this. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. It's a commandment. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. Now, I want to ask you, how much wiggle room does that verse give you? See, it didn't say some things, little things, a few things. We said do nothing. There should do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. Now, you say, but I'm not like that. Okay, let's see if you pass the test, next part of the verse. But with humility of mind, here we go, that's the humility.

Now, watch. Regard one another as more important than yourselves. Does that describe you? Is that you? Do you regard everyone else as more important than you are? And I don't mean like in this room.

Christians are really good on Sunday mornings in a house of worship. I mean, how about when you're at a restaurant? Do you regard the server as more important than you?

Really? Do you? You see, do you regard the guy who comes and mows your grass as more important than you are? See, you got to be honest here. He didn't say just a few people or regard people who really are more important than you. He said you regard everybody as more important than you. See, what does that take on your part? You have to choose to be humble.

You have to make a choice because this isn't natural and you know it's not. He said do not merely look out for your own personal interest. You have to look out for the interest of others. Think about your life that way in everything you run into, no matter who you run into. You see, that's what humility does.

And then he goes on and describes it in the most amazing way. He said, look, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. It's a commandment.

It's imperative mood. You need to have the same attitude that Jesus had. Now, a lot of the things about Jesus, by the way, you and I will never be able to do. There's a lot of things about Jesus you and I can never be. Like, I don't think you can walk on water. You see, I don't think you can raise the dead. You see, I don't think I could feed the 5,000. I don't think I could do everything that Jesus does.

But Paul says there is something that Jesus did that you can do. You could choose to be humble. Now, will you? Can you choose humility?

Remember, pride comes natural. This is easy. This is Herod.

But this is a choice. And notice now how he tries to illustrate this. Tremendous six-verse summary of divine intervention into the world. Some people see this as an early church hymn.

Some said it must have been a poem. No one knows for sure, but Paul writes this. Have this attitude in yourselves, which is also in Christ Jesus. First thing, who although he existed in the form of God. Now, understand what is clear here.

That word form is the word morphe. Although he is, in his essence, God. That's who Jesus was. In essence, he's the son of God.

That's who Jesus is. Although he existed in the form of God. Before Bethlehem, Jesus had every advantage of being God.

Every advantage of deity. Jesus was timeless. He was limitless. He was boundless.

In fact, Colossians 1 says, all things were created by him and for him. Stop and think about that for a moment. How many things? All things. Every little thing. From microscopic bacteria to the size and breadth of the universe.

Every single thing. Do you realize that if you could, and you had a special light to do it, everything that exists, everything. You could turn it over, put a light on it, and it says, made by the son of man, the son of God. Made by Jesus Christ. He made everything. He made everything. Every angel, every demon. Everything. He made everything. Although he existed in the form of God. He could do anything that he wanted to do here. Billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars. It's an amazing thing. One of the great things about studying astronomy is it gives you some sense of the scope of what he did.

He suddenly made them all. I mean, you realize, even our sun, it's just an average sized star. But one million Earths could fit inside the sun. One million Earths could fit inside the sun. The sun is only one thousandth as big as some of the stars in the universe. It's just enormous.

Every one of them. Made by the son of God. Made by the son of God. Made by the son of God. He said, although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.

How do you do that? He chose to be humble. He made the choice. He said he emptied himself.

Boy, those words. If he ever went to seminary, you have to write papers on those words right there. The papers only emptied himself.

It's called the kenosis in Greek. What do you mean he emptied himself? How does God empty himself?

And the beauty is, you don't know when you first get to seminary, but the longer you're there, you figure this out. Nobody has the complete answer for that verse, exactly what that means. How does God empty himself? You see, but he did. He chose to. My view of it is that he emptied himself of his divine prerogatives.

Not all of them, but most of them. He just emptied himself. I'm not going to take any divine prerogatives. How do I know he did that? Did Jesus ever get hungry? Yes. He ever get thirsty? Yes. He ever get tired? Yes.

Did he suffer real pain? Yes. Did he have to?

No. He's God. But he did. He emptied himself.

He said, of the divine prerogatives. Then he says, taking on the form of a bondservant. Bad word in English. Taking on the form of a bondservant. That's a regrettable word.

It's too politically correct to make any sense. It's called the word bondservant. You see, what is a bondservant? Well, he's a servant that's bonded. The word is doulos. You know what the word means?

It's real easy. Slave. That's how it's always used. Slave. Doesn't mean bondservant. It means slave. We're too politically correct to call it slave.

We want to call it a bondservant. So, he says right here, he said, he emptied himself taking on the form of a slave. He said, and being made in the likeness of men. I created man. I created man. Yeah, you're going to be in his likeness now. And it's not like he just did it on the sense of the likeness of man. He becomes everything that man is.

That's what's amazing. The guy who made everything made himself small. He's born as a baby in a stable. He's dependent on his mother to be alive. She has to feed him. He's got a little tiny heart and little tiny lungs working.

And he has to grow up just like you and I did. How do you do that if you're God incarnate? You make yourself really small. What does it take to do that? It takes humility.

You see, that's what he is saying. Notice verse 8, being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself. It was already humbling enough to become part of their creation, already humbling enough to be a man.

We said, no. Being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. What? Yeah, he humbled himself. See, why did Jesus die? Because he humbled himself. He emptied himself of his divine prerogatives. Everything about Jesus is humility.

Think about Jesus for a moment. Was he ever insulted? Oh, yeah. He was insulted. Was he ever slapped around? Yes. Punched?

Yes. Spit upon? Yeah, he was spit upon. Were any of the things people said about him and to him true?

No. Then what did Jesus do? You see, well, if I were God, he could have turned them all into dung beetles. As soon as you said something bad about him, not true, you're a beetle.

Because he's God. What did he do? He did nothing. What did he say?

He said nothing. That's humility. Pride always wants to fight. Pride wants to fight.

Herod wants to kill. I'll fight. I'm going to hold my place no matter what. Jesus said, I'm not fighting. I'm not going to fight at all or in any sense of the word. He said, that's not going to happen to me.

I'm going to do absolutely nothing. So he says he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death and then a great word, even death on the cross. Of all the ways you could die in the ancient world, this is the most humbling. This is the ultimate insult. This is the lowest form. No Roman citizen could be crucified.

This is for the worst of the worst. And this is the son of God himself. And he humbles himself even, he says, death on the cross. He was tortured and he was whipped. He was shamed. He was nailed to the cross beam. He was stripped naked. He was bloody.

He was made into a public spectacle. And he took the nails and he took the whips and he took the shame. And he took our sins. And he put them all upon himself.

How did he do that? Humility. He humbled himself. He made the choice six times, down, down, down, down, down, down. He was God.

He ends up dying in the worst possible way on the cross. Out of his humility. You see, it'd be one thing for God, in a sense, to enter a human womb. It's another thing for God to be placed in a human tomb. And he did it all on his own. Because he was humble.

But the tomb couldn't hold him. And I don't know about you, but I'm grateful for that. That's the hope of mankind.

Notice what happens then. For this reason also, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those in heaven and those on the earth and under the earth. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. God says, and once you are humble, I will exalt you. And he exalts the son.

How exalted is he? Everybody confesses. Everybody bows. Lucifer bows.

He goes on his knees and he confesses, you are Lord. Everybody. Every sinful person. From presidents to paupers. From billionaires to beggars.

From the superstars to the homeless. Everybody is going to bow. Because the Father says, now I will exalt him. Why did the Father exalt him? Humility.

He humbled himself. Paul says to you and me, you need to have that same attitude. That has to be your attitude.

One of the most difficult and terrible things to see as a pastor in a church is to see pride among God's people. And I hate to say this, but I see it. And I've always seen it.

And it's terrible. You know why? Pride always hurts people.

Always. That's what pride does. There's no reason for us to be proud. Geez. You're a creation of God. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. You had nothing to do with that. You've been redeemed because of the finished work of Christ. You didn't do anything. He did everything. All you did was receive a gift. Whatever your station in life, whether you're poor or rich or whatever, whether you're average or super intelligent, all of it's a gift of God to you.

You didn't do anything. So what are you proud about? You see, pride comes natural to us. It's just part of our DNA. We're sinners. We become proudful. That's what Herod does.

There are people in our world that mock Jesus Christ. They scoff at the idea that they have any need for Him at all. They are self-sufficient. They are self-made.

They are self-reliant. If you would ask them to bow before Jesus Christ, they would laugh at you. But I'm telling you, they will not laugh forever. Every knee will bow. Every tongue confess. Jesus Christ is Lord.

Everyone. Isaiah 45, 24, all who have raged against Him will come to Him and be put to shame. You see, one day nothing else will matter. One day no one else will matter. It's just going to come down to Jesus. He's a name above all the other names. Every accomplishment, none of it will matter. It just comes down to Jesus.

C.S. Lewis said this, God will invade. When that happens, it's the end of the world. When the author walks on the stage, the play's over. He said, for this time it will be God without the skies.

Something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It'll be too late then to choose your side. It will be the time when we discover whose side we have really chosen. That's what the birth narrative is about. That's the place of honor for Herod. Herod represents the most natural, worst part of us. Human pride. God hates it.

It's an abomination. The baby in the manger represents the best that we could ever be. Humble before God. Humble yourself before the one who humbled himself for you. That's the message. Humble yourself before the one who humbled himself for you.

He was the creator of everything, but he began his saving work in a stable in Bethlehem. That's a Christmas story. Let's pray. Father, this is difficult for us. There are those of us, Father, who feel the conviction of your spirit. And realize that so many times we act out of our own pride and wish we didn't. We see the humility of Christ and we want that in our own lives. And Father, I pray that we would move in that direction. That we would choose to be humble.

We would consider everyone else as more important than ourselves. But Father, I fear there are those among us who are truly proud. Pride sort of taints everything about them. It puts a mask over all their other weaknesses. And they don't feel the conviction. I would pray that your spirit would convict them this morning. That they understand that they have a pride.

And that pride is not only detrimental to their growth, but that pride hurts so many other people. There's a little of Herod in all of us. Father, that's why Jesus came.

To show us a better way. The way of humility. Father, that's what I pray for. Each and every one of us. That we dedicate ourselves to being much more like our Savior. And to choose to humble ourselves. For the good of everybody else and for your glory. For our own good. We pray this in his glorious name.

Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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