Famous Vs Faithful

Good morning. Welcome to church. It’s a joy to have you here. I hope it has been just a wonderful week for you, and I hope that you are in the process of wrapping up a fantastic weekend. As we are close to wrapping up this series Lost. And when I heard this was gonna be the name of the series and I heard I was gonna be preaching a message in the series, my mind went to the most famous story in my life of the time I was lost. Now, growing up, my dad was in the oil and gas business, and so in the summers, me and my brother, I’ve got a brother three years younger than me. Our summers were spent pretty much totally with my dad. Mom worked at a bank that wasn’t a good spot for two boys who barely knew Jesus. And so we got stuck with Dad, uh, going on the road to drill sites and things like this.

It was a ton of fun. Uh, we later discovered it is ’cause we didn’t know anything else. We’d never been to Disney World or anything like that. So we, we would go on these sites, these small towns, these back roads, lots of maps were involved. But, but my dad had something he trusted more than a map. Uh, he called it his West Texas navigation system. Uh, we later learned that was just a fancy word for hunch, but one particular day my dad used to always say, I’ve never been lost. Never. One day we found ourselves lost, and me and my brother, I mean, we’re on this back road and me and my brother, we are just letting my dad have it. Oh, we are lost. Mom is gonna be so mad how long till they find our bodies like we are just, we are letting dad have it.

And we said, I thought you’d never been lost. And that was the phrase that triggered something. And my father turned around and said, I’m not lost. I just don’t know where I am right now. <laugh> and I, I don’t know about you, but when I hear the series lost, there’s just not a whole lot of points in my life where I would say, Hey, I was just totally lost. But there’s a whole bunch of times in my relationship with Christ and my walk with the Lord where I haven’t always known where I was, moments where I didn’t know what God was calling me to do. Moments where I didn’t really know what choice God was calling me to make, what path God was calling me to take. How was it that I was to, to walk this road and to figure out how to avoid the temptations and the pitfalls and the, the struggles that, that the enemy would throw along the path.

And this morning we’re gonna look at a topic that, uh, we see very clearly in scripture was a major issue 2000 years ago. And I think we would all agree this morning is a major issue in 2024. And that’s the topic of pride. And so if you have a copy of God’s word, I would love for you to open them to Acts chapter four. And we’re gonna be in, uh, I’m sorry, acts chapter 12. We’re gonna be begin in verse one. And we’re gonna see one of the most disastrous outcomes, maybe one of the most incredible remarkable outcomes of pride found anywhere in scripture. Acts chapter 12, beginning in verse one says Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. Notice verse two. And he had James, the brother of John, put to death with a sword.

Now at this time, persecution against the church is not new. Okay? Peter and John have been arrested on numerous occasions. They’ve been persecuted, they’ve been thrown in jail where, where just a few, uh, moments really removed from the conversion of Saul. Up until chapter nine, Saul is still breathing out threats and murders against those who are believers. Those belong to the way, and he’s throwing them in prison. Stephen has been stoned to death, but this moment here is different because this is a new round of persecution brought about by Herod Agrippa, the first. And, and what Agrippa wants to do is he seeks to please the Jews and all costs. So he has rounded up key believers and he’s thrown them in jail. But, but just very recently, he has carried out the execution of James, the brother of John. And that execution came with such huge political favor to him that he decides Peter is next.

Peter is gonna be executed. And so he is arrested and Peter is placed in a maximum security prison. If you look ahead just a couple verses, we’re not gonna read those, but you will see Peter is actually sleeping bound between two guards. But there in the night, God sends an angel and he frees Peter from the jail. And this decision triggers something in Herod’s life. And, and it’s the beginning of a disastrous downturn. Look at verse 19. When Herod had searched for Peter and had not found him, he examined the guards in order that they be led away to execution. You see, this moment is gonna send Herod on a journey. This moment’s gonna send Herod on a disastrous journey because he becomes consumed with rectifying this moment. He becomes consumed with righting this wrong. He has been so propped up. He’s been held in such a position of power that he simply cannot let this moment go.

He, he can’t let Peter get away with this, we’re reminded. Proverbs 16, verse 18 says, pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before stumbling. My dad used to always say, pride cometh before the fall boys. And it’s a reminder of how dangerous pride is. And I would say of all the sins we’re prone to pride really is up there for me. And it doesn’t seem like it’s that big of a deal, but lemme tell you why it’s so concerns me. It’s because it’s prevalent everywhere, right? Growing up pride really wasn’t a massive thing in sports. If there was an egotistical athlete, it stuck out, it didn’t consume coaching. Now, pride consumes athletics. Pride consumes Hollywood and the music and the movies that we watch and listen to pride consumes relationships. Many of you will head to an office tomorrow where you would say, yeah, pride is on display.

Pride consumes my professional work experience. But I think one of the reasons that it just so alarms me today is because the en enemy has managed to have pride fill the pulpits and the platforms of churches all across the country, as we’ve seen even pastors fall victim to it. And that’s because the enemy is so crafty. There is a constant urging from the enemy to make much of ourselves and to make little of the Lord, right? We are living in a day and age that rejects humility and rewards self-promotion. And we forget, James four 10 says, Hey, humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord. Why? Because then he will exalt you. And I wanna make something clear this morning, and I’m gonna use two phrases to help us kind of understand how do I walk this road and not get lost? How do I take the right turns?

And that is that scripture doesn’t openly reject pride, but what I think scripture rejects is prideful praise. Instead, God calls us the purposeful praise, right? There’s nothing wrong with being proud of your name. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of a job well done. There’s nothing wrong with saying, Hey, I’m proud of the product we make or, or the service that we offer. I’m proud of my kids. I’m proud of what my last name means. I’m proud of the character and integrity I live with. But you see, purposeful praise is just a gratitude to God for allowing all of that to happen. But this purposeful praise has an evil twin called prideful praise that is consumed with self, that is consumed with pursuing more and more that is consumed with, uh, fame and glory. And it demands that others must decrease so that it can increase pride and prideful.

Praise is a major deterrent in our relationship with the Lord. It keeps us from growing closer to God. It leaves us forever searching. And we’re gonna see right here in verse 20. It has a disastrous outcome. As the story continues. Herod was very angry with the people of Tyra and Sid. These are just Venetian coastal cities. They are lands that are not controlled by Herod Agrippa, but they are dependent upon Agrippa for all of their food and all of their supplies. And so in this dispute, Agrippa easily has the upper hand. And it says, with one accord, they came to him having won over or convinced blast this, the king’s Chamberlain, the mediator in this dispute. And they were asking Herod for peace because their country was fed by the king’s land. Now this morning, I can’t tell you what this timeframe was. I, I don’t know what it was.

It could have been a couple weeks, a month, maybe up to a year from the moment that Peter walks out of jail. So, so I don’t know the timeframe, but I know the reason. Okay? I don’t know exactly when he went there to Caesarea, but I can tell you why he went. He went because he needed to feel good about himself. He went because he needed to flex his muscles. He went because he needed to remind people and be reminded just how powerful he was. Right? Let’s face it, when this lowly disciple walks out of your maximum security prison, that’s not exactly a good look, is it? I can’t tell you exactly when he went, but I can tell you why he went for an ego boost. Now, I’ve actually been on the receiving end of one of these moments. Uh, when I was a freshman, I was placed on our varsity scout team.

Can you believe that Lil l Bronson placed on the Varsity scout team? I didn’t really even know what scout team meant. I learned it’s Greek, forget hit really hard. You gotta dig deep in the Bible for that. But on my first particular day on the Varsity scout team, I met a guy who was a senior who was having a her a grip a moment. Now, I don’t know what was going on in his life. I don’t know if his girlfriend broke up with him or his dog stopped liking him, but there was something that had shattered all of his confidence and he needed to take it out on this little old freshman. And that day he reminded me over and over and over that he was a big bad senior and I was a little bitty freshman. I looked him up on Facebook before I preached this message.

He has not aged as well as I have. I like my chances today, but that’s not being proudful, that’s just being factful. Okay? But that’s the moment for Agrippa. Agrippa needs to feel good about himself. And he got great joy out of hearing these defenseless people plead his name and beg him reminding how powerful he was. Look at verse 21. It says, so on an appointed day, Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum. That’s just a platform. And he began delivering and addressed to them. Now, unfortunately, our Cherry Hills trip to Israel got canceled because we would’ve gone to Caesarea right here. There’s two things. When you travel to Israel, there’s places that you visit where they would say, it happened here. And there are places you would visit where they would say, if not here, it’s near. Okay?

We don’t know every place of the time of Jesus, but we can get a general idea. Caesarea, the auditorium at Caesarea is one of those places right here. Now, at that time, it would’ve been four stories high. They’ve, they’ve, they’ve condensed it just to one in order to keep it functioning. But we would’ve stood on this very stage with this very view as Herod Agrippa stands there on this platform, he is dressed in a robe that is full silver. It’s even made of silver thread. And as we read, historians would tell us he is timed this out with the rising of the sun and the height of the platform to create this amazing spot that in my mind, looks like a human disco ball. Okay? That’s what I think, that’s what I think this moment looks like, an insane scene. But it gets crazier. Look at verse 22, that his hair is preparing to deliver his speech.

Verse 22 says, the people kept crying out the voice of a God and not of a man. You see, this is how easy it is to end up lost. This is how easy it is to fall for the trap because pride aims to enhance our ourself. But that must come at the expense of God. It feels good to get the credit and glory, doesn’t it? It feels good to have praise heaped on you, doesn’t it? And and I don’t know about you. I think the enemy is so strategic in when he attacks. Like for me, I don’t often struggle with that when I’m just living in a season of just purposeful praise. Like I don’t really struggle with it. When, when it’s just like, man, I’m just so thankful. I see everything from the Lord. I see him as the source of it all. Where, where I feel like my boss appreciates me, that the people in my life are thankful for me.

I don’t often struggle with that. It’s, it’s typically when I’m on one extreme or the other, right? When everyone is singing your praises and telling you how great you are, the enemy loves to attack, doesn’t he? But I would guess for most of us, those attacks tend to come at the other extreme when you’re passed over for that promotion, when someone receives an award that you thought you were worthy of, when someone received a position you thought you were deserving of, when someone posted about everything that they did, and they received all of this credit and praise while you just did your work quietly, the enemy loves to show up, doesn’t he? And he loves to whisper in our ear, and he loves to say, no. That should have been you. You were deserving. The enemy loves to come and whisper the most dangerous words in our life.

That’s not fair. You deserve that. And you see, the enemy prayed on Herod’s pride, and the people shouted his name and they said he was a God. And what did he do? He never corrected them. And I don’t know, that’s just been stuck in my mind this week of preparation. He never corrected them. And I think it’s convicted me to say, how many times am I guilty of the exact same thing? How many times have people given me credit and glory, even if it was just well-meaning even if it was innocent, and I didn’t stop them and say, Hey, thank you. I understand, but, but it was all God, it’s all him. I wonder how many times we choose to live with just this arrogance of self instead of this astonishment of God. I wonder how many times we found ourselves in a place where we never corrected people, where instead of saying, I, I’ve gotta point you over here to Jesus, only Jesus, we said, yeah, you’re right.

It’s about me, myself, and I look right here. Look at what we’ve done. And I’m just reminded of how powerful and how dangerous that moment can be. And we need people in our lives to keep us humble. There’s a story. It’s not famous, you’ve never heard it, but it involves a preacher that you might have heard of. Uh, just a little backstory. Uh, us preachers when we prepare a message tends to be one of two ways. We either prepare a message and we’re like, man, I feel pretty good about this message. This is, this is sharp. And then we deliver it. And we’re like, well, that wasn’t very good. And then on the other hand, sometimes you write a message and you’re like, this is just not good. But as they say, Sunday’s coming, so it’s got to work. And then you deliver it and people are like, Hey, that was a great message.

But then every now and then, who the perfect storm? The two come together and you work really hard and you prepare this message and you deliver it, and you look out over the room and you see someone nodding their head and you’re like, yeah, thank you. And then, and then you see someone actually jotted down a note and you’re like, oh my goodness, this is like the greatest sermon I’ve ever preached. And then one time, there was this preacher that the perfect storm happened. He had worked so hard, and he was like, yeah, this is gonna be good. And then he, then I, he delivered it. And he was like, yeah, people, in fact, on that particular Sunday, people didn’t avoid him out the doors. They walked past him in the lobby. They shook his hand, they said, great job, pastor. But then he went home and he sat down to lunch with his wife and she didn’t say anything about the sermon. And so all through lunch, nothing. So finally I was, I mean, he was like, honey <laugh>.

Like I, I thought I cleared all the jokes with you. Like I did all the things that we said. Like, what did you think about it? And she, and she was just like, sweetie, they said, they said enough good things for a month. Like, you’re good. You don’t need more of this. And, and that’s just been my life. Like, I’m like a small child, always like, honey, look over here. Look at me, look at me. And she’s just like, yeah, good, good job, sweetie. Good, good job. You know, like I just, I’m married a wife who’s just never impressed with anything I do. And that’s a good thing. We all need that in our life. Because if you knew me before, I knew her, like I love me some me, then she’s just like, you’re good. You don’t need this. We need people in our life who will remind us, who will keep us humble, who will point us back.

The historian Josephus, look what he said about this very moment. He said, Herod flatterers cried out. He was a God though not for his good. You see, when the whole world shouts your praises, be careful. It’s almost never for your good. And look at this moment that happened according to Bronson, it’s one of the coolest moments in all of scripture. Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died. That doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. I don’t have any experience with this, but I’m just thinking that doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. Why don’t they ever teach this in Sunday school? Like, I don’t remember this as a 6-year-old, right? Like I could see it, plastic cup, gummy worms, some dirt. It would be perfect lesson.

But you see, this is a powerful reminder. He’s a god of mercy. Yes, but he’s also a god of judgment. And there are severe consequences in our life to living our life and accepting all credit and all glory and all praise instead of pointing people back to the one who’s responsible for it all. And I just wondered this morning, as we think I, I, I know this can be tough and I I don’t want to ask convicting questions. Some people said after the first service, like, man, that really convicted me. And I, I always say, man, I hope that’s of the spirit, not of Bronson. I’m not trying to convict you, but just in a reflective moment, the only time I’m gonna ask this, like, would you say, what’s your default response in moments like this? Like if we had a machine that could somehow see the overflow of our heart, would it tend to be prideful praise or purposeful praise?

Uh, like would you choose to, to tend to point people to yourself or people back to the creator? Would you choose to accept all credit and glory or, or would you say, no, it’s not about me. And I would say, there are so many of you in this room living with purposeful praise. I’ve met you, I’ve heard your stories. So many of you are like, man, God is just so good. I can’t believe what he’s done in my life this week. I was barista Bronson for several days. That’s scary. And I was in a coffee shop hanging out. Two people walked in there having a conversation, I overhear it. And I said, you’re gonna be in my sermon. And they were just talking about what was going on. And, and the first individual asked the second one a question, and the second one sent back and said, I’ll just tell you this.

God is just so good that for many of you in this room, purposeful praise just pours out of you. But the enemy is so crafty and he’s always lurking and herod’s desire to chase glory led to the grave. And it’s that reminder for us that it can do the same. In 2019, Clemson University, be Alabama in the national championship in football, it was a huge moment because Davo Sweeney had been so close to winning a national championship as a coach. And this really solidified him and his reputation was a huge launching point for him. And the program that is Clemson as we know it today, at that point, Alabama really the best team in college football. So this is a huge moment. And, and there’s this incredible scene in the locker room afterwards. This as Sweeney is really seeing this team for the final time that year. And you think of all the things that you might tell your team in that moment, you think of, I, I think as a coach of all the things that I would tell my team in that moment of, of having reached the pinnacle. And instead Sweeney looked at his team and he said this, he said, just remember, always let the light that is in you be brighter than the light that is on you.

Just a powerful reminder to say, the world’s gonna cause us to chase prideful praise saying, look at me, look at me. But this purposeful praise that just redirects our attention to say no, but it’s all about the Lord. It’s all about him. It’s not about me, and it’s not what I’ve accomplished because chasing the glory of the world leads to the grave. But we can live with purposeful praise for the creator of it all because he conquered the grave and he overcame it all. And so as we close, I kind of want to close with just five points here. Just a takeaway, not so much action steps, but just reminders as I’m trying to navigate this road, and I’m trying to say, how do I avoid walking down this trap called prideful praise? And instead, how do I live chasing after purposeful praise for the creator?

Number one is to understand private pride leads to a public fall. You see, public arrogance always starts in private. It always starts with this small seed of private pride. Agri didn’t just wake up and say, today would be a good day. Make me a silver robe. I’m gonna go stand on the platform and I’m gonna consume all of this. It’s a gradual need for more. It’s a gradual need to chase after, to want more, to never be satisfied, always seeking more credit, always seeking more glory. Private pride always leads to a public fall. We, we’ve seen this with athletes, we’ve seen this with coaches, we’ve seen this with pastors. We saw this two weeks ago. Many of you are aware of the news of two of the biggest names in, in Christian curriculum and publication. And every single one of these huge falls is disappointing.

But we have to understand every single one of us is just as vulnerable because none of those falls happened in the moment when, when you take whatever fall you’re most known to, and you begin to backtrack. It wasn’t that moment. It was little moments moving away from what is right and away from what is true over and over and over again. Prideful praise starts as this tiny seed and it grows to massive proportions. Number two, prideful praise glorifies the wrong God. You know, I think we hear the story and we kind of chuckle like, bro, you were in a silver robe on a platform. Wait, walk me through this, right? I would never do that. How much do you have to be so consumed with yourself to do that? And, and, and we laugh at that. But the reality is, while we not, might not put ourselves in that position, how easy is it to put a title on the platform?

How easy is it to put a relationship on the platform? How easy is it to put a dollar figure for retirement on the platform? How easy is it to, to put a promotion on the platform? You see, I think here’s what we forget tho. Those are good things. Scripture says, do everything to the glory of the God, to the best of your ability. And you should chase those things. But good things cannot come over God things. I think what we often forget is idolatry is just placing anything other than God on the rostrum in your life, right? That that word is the same word we use for what a conductor stands on or a metal stand, right? Like a place that we would pursue and how easy it is for us to put other things on that stand. And we realize that anything other than God is wrong.

Number three, prideful praise limits our purpose in the gospel. I think this is, this is the hardest one to navigate because we’re in this overly connected social media driven world. And, and yet we also want to tell the story of what God is doing. And sometimes they converge in a dangerous way. Like we want people to know what God is doing at Cherry Hills. We want people to know what a great movement of God. Last year we baptized 200 people, almost 80 people on Easter Sunday. Like that’s a God story that only God can do. And you want to share that good news maybe for you in our life. We haven’t lived near family for 12 years, like posting things that people can see about what our kids are up to or what we’re up to. It’s how our, our family kind of stays in the loop.

And so you post these things that are well-meaning, and you say, man, I just want you to know like what God is doing in our life. And then someone clicks like, click, and then someone else clicks. Love. I love that. Then someone clicks, wow, woo. Like that. Then someone comments, congratulations, you guys are awesome, whatever they type. And all of a sudden this slope becomes really slippery because it feels good to be affirmed and noticed and liked and loved by the world. And can I just tell you, as a church, we have to be so careful that your affirmation, your worth, your value cannot ever be dictated or determined by the things of the world. Your love and your value and your worth can only be determined by the creator and the sustainer of it all. And I would say that’s what makes this place such a joy that June will be two years for us here.

And when people ask all the time, man, what was it like to, to leave pastoring a church, to, to come to this role? I say, it’s been the greatest two years of our life because the gospel is flourishing at Cherry Hills. Amen. God is doing an amazing work here. You are proof of that salvations, full worship sinner, change lives like God is up to something. But what’s been so amazing is I’ve seen it from both ends of the spectrum. And the most amazing thing here is that our church is under the leadership of a pastor. Pastor Kurt is not chasing fame or glory or self. And that is such a joy to work under to say, we are all flawed. We are all imperfect. I tried to change our motto, just a collection of imperfection. It got voted down, but I think it would be good, right?

<laugh>, let’s be honest, everybody in the room got a problem, right? We’re all messed up. And I, let me just tell you this, as great as things are here, if God removes his favorite tomorrow, we’re nothing but praise be to God that he is. And we have to remember that. Number four, prideful praise elevates the flesh at the expense of the soul. You see, what, what was herd’s focus? It was on a robe, right? It was on this perception, right? That’s what focus on the flesh does. It makes us envious and selfish and lustful, right? We’re consumed with all the check boxes of the things we’ve gotta have in the world, and we neglect our soul. Verse 21 says, on the appointed day, Herod put on the royal apparel. He had everything of the world. You can go to Caesarea one day, we will take a trip.

You will go there. He’s got a massive mansion there as well. He had the title, he had everything the world said he needed, but it came at the expense of his life that when our focus becomes this exterior vision, it comes at the expense of an internal and eternal peace. Prideful praise draws us to all the things over here. But purposeful praise snaps our attention back, says, no, it’s all of God. Without him, we are nothing. And so as Herod achieved all this worldly success, it came at the greatest cost ever. And I think it’s a fitting in ’cause. Number five, prideful praise leads to death. Prideful prize cost you your life. Listen to me, prideful praise leads to death. Here’s what we know. Herod didn’t actually die right away, says he suffered for up to five days. That sounds even worse, doesn’t it? But I think it’s so fitting because pride is a slow killer, isn’t it? And I hope you hear me this morning. Pride doesn’t often kill right in the moment, but pride will slowly kill your relationship. Pride will slowly kill your marriage because you won’t meet someone halfway because you won’t just understand that you’ve got flaws. You want own adjustments and improvements that need to be made in your life because you won’t seek wisdom and, and decision making from another party.

Young people in the room, listen to me. Pride will kill your relationship with your parents because you won’t just say, my bad that that’s on me. I, I I own that. I’ll do better. And if you’re a parent in the room, can I always tell you whether you got young kids or grown kids, pride will kill your relationship with your kids. ’cause you won’t just acknowledge that you weren’t a perfect parent for me and Leah. We’ve never, we’ve had to own that. I think some of the worst phrases in our home are when we tell our girls like, Hey, we need to sit down and have a talk. And they’re like, oh, great. What’s changing now? But we’ve told ’em on many occasions, Hey, we got this wrong. We’re making a change today. And man, it will kill your relationship with your kids if you can’t own, Hey, that that was just the wrong decision.

We need to fix that. Pride will kill your relationship with your coworkers, your family, your community and pride will take your life. And I just wonder today we’re about to close. I I just wonder if you just pictured that maybe today you’re sitting at a fork in the road and, and what it would look like if today, from today till the end of your life, if you made every decision believing you were the master of it all, believing you had everything figured out, believing you don’t need feedback, you don’t need input, you don’t need anybody else, all credit, all glory, all praise, all answers belong to you. What your relationships are gonna look like. Maybe you just imagine what community would look like and, and maybe over here you would say, but what would it look like if today if I just laid everything down and I just said, today I’m choosing prideful praise, or I’m rejecting prideful praise. I’m choosing purposeful praise and purposeful glory and purposeful honor to the king of kings, to the Lord of Lords, to the Creator and the sustainer of it all. What those memories, what those moments in your life might look like, what those relationships

Might look like. You see, the reality is the road called prideful praise ends in death. But the road called purposeful praise ends in life. But it doesn’t just end with a life. It ends with a life with the very one that your heart was created for. And maybe here in this moment, you would just close your head, close your eyes, we bow our heads. You would just think on this, father, father, help us to just lay it down.

Father, just help us to, to reject the urge, to chase self, to please self Father, to say, no. It’s all about you, Jesus, the chasing after you and hungering for you and needing you. Father, that if there’s one in this room that is just struggling, maybe today there would be a marriage that just says, we’ve gotta lay it down. We’ve gotta lay the weapons down. Quit running to our corners and digging our hills in. But we’ve gotta just come and say, Jesus is all about you. And Father, for an individual in here who just says, man, I’ve made it all about me. Father, whatever it is, what our life would look like, what our homes would look like, what our families would look like, Lord,

If we would just lay it all down and run to you. Thank

You, God for putting breath in our lungs. Thank you, God, for giving our life purpose today. Thank you, God for allowing us to be here. Thank you, God, for my family and my job and my friends. It’s all from you

And with a very purposeful heart. I praise you for that. Father, if there’s someone in here that just needs to lay it down through the power of your Holy Spirit, would you just allow them? Would you move in a way that allows it to happen? Thank you for loving us. Thank you for being enough. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.