The Blinding Prejudice of Pride

Have you ever noticed how much more willing people are to accept a message brought from a well credentialed messenger of the world, versus a foolish message of God brought from a lowly messenger in Christ Jesus? 

Take a look for yourself into what the Apostle Paul endured for the sake of the gospel; and while you're doing your online search you might want to take note that his critics are still attacking him some 2000 years later with accusations that go as far as to even deny him as a true Apostle of Christ.

In the church in Corinth there were men working against Paul trying to destroy his reputation and undermine the work of the Lord. This prideful tactic of the evil one was used by Paul's critics to put the focus of his ministry from the gospel of Jesus Christ to one which focused on Paul himself. And so Paul defended his ministry for the sake of the gospel, and for those in Corinth whom he had loved.

With that, Paul seemed to have to repeatedly explain and defend his ministry throughout his epistles, only so those who hated him would, even today, further accuse Paul as being an egomaniac who loved to write about himself. Some have pointed out that Paul's use of personal pronouns with words like "I", "me", "my", and "mine", are found almost three times more in his epistles than with his closest rival. Here are some other accusations made about Paul which he addressed and/or defended in Scripture:

1. Paul was fickle. (2 Cor. 1: 17)
2. Paul's presence was weak. (2 Cor. 10: 1)
3. He was strong in letter and weak in person. (2 Cor. 10:1 & 10: 10)
4. Paul was a poor speaker. (2 Cor. 10: 10) His speech was seen as contemptible.
5. He didn't accept support. Paul was criticized for not accepting support from the church in Corinth. Paul argued to the Corinthians for preachers to be supported by the church, but still he was criticized for he was not accepting support from them. Instead he made tents and accepted support from other churches. (1 Cor. 9: 1-15, Acts 18: 3, 2 Cor 11: 8, Phil. 4: 15-16)
6. He didn't love people enough. (2 Cor. 6: 11-13)

Reference: (http://www.truthmagazine.com/archives/volume41/GOT041030.html)

These are just some of the distractions the enemy used to oppose Jesus Christ's mission through Paul. In addition to the slander and gossip that people inside the church brought against Paul, he was also physically attacked through beatings, hunger, imprisonment, sleepless nights, and eventual beheading.

This is the age old tactic of the enemy, who uses the pride of man which will not recognize God's messengers, to deny Christ. The pride of a man/woman looks only at the messenger in the hope to discredit the message Jesus is bringing to his/her ears; and so to create a distraction away from the truth which will serve the evil desire to see human beings perish without hearing the gospel. Perhaps this is the biggest indictment against us; that in our pride we deny Christ at any cost, even when He was among us. 

In Matthew and Mark we read that Jesus was rejected by the people of His own town, and as a result of their lack of faith He was unable to perform many miracles there. They questioned His pedigree to have wisdom and perform miracles; they pointed to the fact that He was just a carpenter's son whose mother, Mary, and brothers and sisters they knew. And they took offense at Him. Jesus declared a prophet is only without honor in his hometown and household.

In John 7 the Jews questioned Jesus' knowledge because He had not been formerly educated. In John 8 after the scribes and Pharisees with the adulterous woman fled from His presence in the temple when He confronted their sin, He went on to declare His Lordship with the hearers, and He had many come to believe. 

But they hadn't submitted to Him yet. You would think Jesus would just wrap it up after so many in the crowd came to believe in Him, but instead in verse 31 we see that Jesus went on to tell them they had to continue in His word to be true disciples, and then they would know the truth and the truth would set them free. Why did He have to say that? Couldn't He have just left well enough alone?

No. Jesus is the truth and if we are going to follow Him then we must be willing to submit to Him even if He challenges our pride and human associations. In verse 33 the crowd seemed proud as they declared they didn't need to be set free because they were descendants of Abraham. 

Jesus went on to confront their sin and told them that sin was their master. And to the very same people who only a few minutes earlier, the Bible says, had just come to believe in Jesus, He was now confronting them that they were seeking to kill Him, and that their father was the devil. Of course John 8 concludes with Jesus declaring Himself as God by telling the crowd that before Abraham was born, "I am". This brought out a murderous rage in them and Jesus hid.          

In Luke's Beatitudes Jesus words said that the blessed ones are those who are hated, ostracized, scorned as evil, for His sake. Jesus also said woe when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

So what does that mean to us today? Do we have room in the institution of Christianity for evangelists who evangelize like Paul, Peter, Stephen, and Jesus Himself. Do we think Jesus is worth declaring publicly? Do we think we know a better way to salvation than through the declaration of the gospel? Are we willing to stand with those who are called? Or are we waiting for the perfect messenger to show up who will be more than human, and appeal to our flesh much more than God, before we're willing to share in the commission of that person?

Those who God sends our way know that they cannot wait for the approval of the masses before they answer their call. Those who God has sent know they are indebted to the Lord and to His sheep in a way that demands they go regardless of what others are saying/thinking about them. Today is the day of salvation, and the name of Jesus Christ is worth more than all of the universe combined; and His is the only name that saves.

There is a world right outside our door that needs to hear who Jesus is, and they need to see believers who are not concerned with the personal cost going to them. This is love, Christ's way. The body is made up of many parts, none greater than another. Let's move together for the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ!