Crucify My Ego Lord
Text: James 4:7-5:6
What does it mean when we say, “That person has a big ego?” The
word ‘ego’ properly defined is a person’s sense of self-esteem or
self-importance. Ego is when a person
thinks, feels and is willing to distinguish themselves from others. When a person defines himself as separate from the outside world and considers
himself or herself as the center of the universe, they have a large ego. A big ego says, “I am better than you.” A
large ego compels us to be self-sufficient and it drives us to make plans for
the unholy trinity of, “me, myself, and I.”
The ego causes us to fight for self, drives competitions and also leads
to the destruction of others.
Technically, the word Ego in the language of Greek is, “I.”
Last night as I was
preparing this sermon I decided to do a search on Google that is to search the
internet, for the people who have big egos.
I typed in, “Who has the biggest
ego in the world?” In response to
this my search yielded me people such as: Simon from the music competition
American Idol, Donald Trump, Oprah, Barrack Obama, Kim Kardashian, Paris
Hilton, Glenn Beck, Terrel Owens, and so forth.
Now I am sure that we could all role our eyes at these celebrities for
the next 20 minutes and we could certainly add many more to this list. However, though, to be totally fair each and
every one of us also has an ego. Some
have larger egos than others. The reason
why we all have an ego is that our egos are fueled by our sinful nature that
continually bends ourselves inward. Our
sinful nature calls out to us to live for ourselves, to do what we want, when
we want and for whatever reason we want.
It cries out to us that we are special and that we are unlike everyone
else, that the world, the region, the city, the work place, the church, and the
family should revolve around us.
Now, it is to no surprise
to us that when we read our verses from the epistle of James that it rubs
against our egos. The message of James
runs completely the opposite direction of where our ego points us. More specifically, in verse 7 James is
calling you and I to submit ourselves to God.
Verse 7 sets the tone for this entire portion of scripture. James is calling each and every one of us to
voluntarily place ourselves under the authority of God. James is calling us to place ourselves under
the leadership, direction and under the will of God’s Word. To submit is to be put in subjection to
God. To submit is to be in the control
of God and to yield to God’s Law. But
doesn’t this go completely against our ego?
Seriously, doesn’t this mean that we are to give up our ego entirely? You see, what James is calling for is that
you and I give up ourselves completely, totally and without hesitation or
condition. To submit to God means to
deny yourself, to deny your ego, to deny “I” and take your will, desires,
thoughts, words and actions, gifts and abilities—your entire being—and place all
of it at the disposal of Almighty God.
Not only is James calling
us to submit to God, he is also calling Christians, like you and me, to come
near to God. He is not demanding a
partial coming near, but one that is complete and final. He is calling that you and I to approach God
in humility, acknowledging our total unworthiness and helplessness.
There are some
implications to this submission too. By
placing ourselves underneath the authority and rule of God, this also means
that you and I are to be a servant of all!
In submission to God we are to live in humility, humility that demands
that we place ourselves in service to those around us. In humility we are to serve our friends,
fellow employees at work, our family and stranger with all that we have. This is especially true in how we speak of
others. We are called to put the best
construction on others for when we speak evil of another person we are showing
a lack of love and a lack of humility.
When we speak evil of another, this is portraying an attitude that says
that we are equal to God’s position of authority.
So, my friends, how are
you doing with this? How are you doing
at submitting to God, walking in humility, and denying yourself? Are you 50% there, maybe 60% there? Also, how has your consistency been? Keep in mind that James calls for complete submission. He is not watering this submission idea
down. There is no room for mediocrity. So how are you doing? The Epistle of James is definitely hard to
swallow. James sets forth some 51
commands for us to follow, eleven of which on in our text today. James is calling us to submission, he is
calling us to turn from evil, and he is calling us to humility and service
towards our neighbor. For you and me we
can agree that this is good, this is God’s will for you and me as Christians. In other words, what James lays forth is
good, there is no doubt about it that this is God’s perfect and holy will for
you and me. So, how is this going for
you? How are you doing at fulfilling
this? How are you doing at submitting? How are you doing at being humble and serving
others?
It is pretty evident that
anytime that God’s will is laid out for us, we can agree with it and recognize
that it is good. We may also glean some great
insights of what living the Christian life looks like, things that we have not
understood before. Furthermore, I would
highly doubt that anyone here today would not agree with the idea of submitting
to God and the idea of speaking honorably about our neighbor. As a church we are blessed with the fact that
we can with great unity confess that God’s will is right, good and true. The problem that arises though in our
congregation is that we desire to do what is good and true, but then when the
rubber meets the road, we simply do not do what is right and what is commanded
of us. It is as if we end up doing the
exact opposite of what we desire to do and what is right.
My friends, our egos stand
in direct opposition to submitting to God.
Our egos and our desire to be self-sufficient can’t stand the idea of
being underneath someone else. If you
doubt this just try the following. Next
time you are in a group of people, announce to them that you are the most
important person in the group and that you demand that they all follow your
will and your desires. Watch what
happens! J It is no different with God. We want to be the master and commander not of
our own ship but of our own lives. We
don’t want to let go of the steering wheel and demand that we are capable of
being self-sufficient. We fight being
submissive to others and fight to have people submissive to our will. We don’t want to be controlled but want to
control others.
God’s people of every
generation have been unfaithful to His will, this is not new. Simply look to the Old Testament and we see
thousands of illustrations of people’s ego and the resistance of following
God’s will. Now, in our text for today James
is not calling us to turn to ourselves and our own ego to do more works to be
forgiven, but instead calls us to return to the Lord in repentance. I have said this before and I will say it
again, our sinful nature does not need to be reformed. The goal in the Christian life is not to get
the sinful nature to behave better or to be more submissive. The goal in the
Christian life is not to get our ego to be more humble or to submit to
God. Our ego, that is our sinful
nature, will not submit and cannot submit to God. Our sinful nature doesn’t believe the Gospel
and won’t. Trying to get our ego to be
humble and submit to God is like trying to put a square peg in a round
hole. What needs to happen to us is that
first and foremost we need forgiveness for not submitting to God. We need our sinful nature along with all of
its sin to be crucified. Our ego needs
to be put to death.
Therefore, hear the
Gospel. You and I who rebel and fail to
submit to God have been forgiven by the Christ, who submitted perfectly to the
Father on our behalf. You and I are
forgiven by a Savior who submitted Himself to the penalty of sin [our sin]
which is death [our death] on a cross.
Secondly, hear the good
news in Galatians 2:20 that you and I, “…have
been crucified with Christ. It is no
longer I [ego] who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live
by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” My friends, we are daily crucified in Christ.
Our ego along with its desires of self-sufficiency, pride, self-importance and
competition are daily put to death in the cross of Jesus. We can confess as a prayer today, “Lord God thank you for forgiving me. Thank you Jesus for being obedient for me and
Lord please continually crucify my ego so that I may submit to you. Lord God continually crucify my ego so that I
may serve my neighbor. Lord God daily create
in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me!”
My friends in the Gospel,
we have confidence not based on our own performance on how well we submit, but
we have confidence in the Savior that submitted for us. Because Jesus had to die for us, we are humbled
out of our pride. Because Jesus was glad to die for us, we are loved out of
our need to prove ourselves. Jesus,
being completely obedient to the Father, has done everything for your
salvation. Given such a great Savior—why
should you not freely, joyfully and with all of your heart and with an eager
will submit to God to receive more and more grace? We can submit because Jesus submitted to our
death and condemnation.
By faith we no longer
live, for we live in Christ praising God’s precious will and serving our
neighbor.
Sources: The Advent of Humility (Keller) ~ Sermon Studies on the
Epistles: Series B (NWP) ~ LSB (CPH)