Your Exalted Ego No Longer Lives, For You Have Been Crucified With The Humble Christ
Text: James 4:7-5:6
In
the name of Jesus. Amen.
What
do we mean when we refer to a person’s ‘ego?’
Yes, the word ‘ego’: E-G-O – Ego.
The word ‘ego’ properly defined is a person’s sense of self-esteem or
self-importance. An ego is made up of
what a person thinks and feels about himself or herself. An ego is what distinguishes a person from
others.
Now,
when a person defines himself or herself as separate from the outside world and
then considers himself or herself as the center of the universe, they are
considered to have a large ego. For
example, a big ego says, “I am better than you.” An overly inflated ego compels one to be
self-sufficient and it drives a person to make plans for ‘self.’ The magnified ego causes a person to fight
for precious self, drives competition, and also leads to the destruction of
others. Technically, the word Ego in the
language of Greek is, “I.”
In
thinking about big egos—egomaniacs that is—it is easy for us to think of people
like: Simon Cowell of American Idol, Donald Trump, Oprah, Barrack Obama, Kim
Kardashian, Madonna, Paris Hilton, LeBron James, and so forth. Just mentioning these names causes all of us
to roll our eyes, for these celebrities and athletes definitely flaunt egocentric
attitudes. I’m sure we could add many
more to this list. However, though, to
be totally fair each and every one of us is no different. We also have an ego, even though it might be
a bit tamer. Some of us have larger egos
than others, whereas others of us have quieter egos than other. The reason why we all have an ego is that our
egos are fueled by our sinful nature that continually bends ourselves inward. That is right; our sinful nature calls out to
us to live for ourselves, to do what we want, when we want to, and for whatever
reason we want. It cries out to us that
we are super, special, and fantastic; that we are unlike everyone else, that
the world, the region, the city, the work place, the school, 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
Epistle of James is tough on us that way.
It runs completely the opposite direction of where our inflated and
self-centered egos point us. More
specifically, in James chapter 4 verse 7, we hear James calling you and me to
submit ourselves to God. You see, 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 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 ‘me,
myself, and I.’ It means to 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 though. 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.
So,
my friends, with all of this said, 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 you are 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. That is not how
James rolls. There is no room for
mediocrity with James’ Epistle. So how
are you doing?
The
Epistle of James is definitely hard for us to swallow. It sobers us up; it awakens us from our
spiritual slumbering. James sets forth
some 51 commands for us to follow, eleven of which are 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 before us that 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 still remains though is that
in our congregation—that is in you and me—we desire to do what is good and
true, but when the rubber meets the road we simply do not do what is right. It is as if we end up doing the exact
opposite of what is right.
My
friends, the point of fact is this, our egos—our sinful natures—stand in direct
opposition to submitting to God. Our
egos and our desire to be self-sufficient cannot 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! You see, it is no different with God. According to our sinful natures we want to be
the master and commander not of our own ship but of our own lives. We do not want to let go of the steering
wheel. We insist and demand that we are
capable of being self-sufficient before God.
We fight being submissive to others and we fight to have people submissive
to our will. We do not want to be
controlled but want to control others.
This
is not a problem unique to just us. God’s
people of every generation have been unfaithful to God’s will. Simply look to the Old Testament and we see
thousands of illustrations of people’s ego and the resistance of following
God’s will.
Keep
in mind though, that James is not calling us to turn to grab ahold of our
bootstraps and our egos to do more works to be forgiven, but instead He 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—our self-centered egos—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 does not
believe the Gospel and will not. Trying
to get our ego to be humble and submit to God is like trying to put a square
peg in a round hole. It isn’t
possible.
Therefore,
what needs to happen to us is that first and foremost we need forgiveness for
not submitting to God. Furthermore, we
need our sinful nature along with all of its sin to be crucified. Our ego needs to be put to death.
. .
.
My
dear family of Zion Lutheran, 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’s will on your behalf. You are forgiven completely, totally, and
entirely by the Savior who submitted Himself to the penalty of your sin. You are forgiven completely, totally, and
entirely by the Savior that submitted Himself to death on a cross—your
death. You are forgiven by the Savior
that submitted to the Father’s love for you.
Blessed
Baptized Saints, it is true! You have
been crucified with Christ. It is no
longer you—your ego—that lives, but it is Christ who lives in you. And this life that you now live in the flesh,
you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave Himself for you.
Daily
you and I are crucified in Christ. Our ego along with its desires of
self-sufficiency, pride, self-importance and competition are daily put to death,
as we are repented and gifted faith by the Holy Spirit through the Word.
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 humbly went to the cross, we are humbled out of our pride.
Because
Jesus loved us on the cross, we are loved out of our apathy.
Because
Jesus died, we are taken from death to life.
Because
Jesus was glad to die for you; you are esteemed out of our need to prove yourself.
Jesus,
being completely obedient to the Father, has done everything for your salvation—you
need not want, worry, or fear.
May
our prayer together as God’s beloved and redeemed be this: Lord God thank you
for forgiving me. Thank you Jesus for
being obedient for me. Thank you for
submitting yourself to my sin, being made sin for me. Please continually crucify my ego, causing me
by your good grace to submit to you in all things. Continually crucify my ego
so that I may serve my neighbor. Create
in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me!
In
the name of Jesus, who submitted Himself to the cross, Amen.
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