I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:1-10, ESV)
Grace and peace to you from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Conceit is a dangerous thing. In the scramble to get along in this world a little conceit seems to go a long way. It was Andy Warhol who said that in the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes. I think he really meant that to be a good thing about the future. But now that we are here, I’m not so sure. Isn’t a lot of what’s going on in the world today based on conceit? A cell phone means I’m so important I can’t afford to miss a single call. No matter what conversation is taking place that cell phone call takes priority. Everyone rolls their eyes at the guy who takes a call during a movie, but if the little thing starts giggling in your pocket (or mine) we are very likely to answer it too. Whatever the call is, it’s more important, I’m more important, than whatever I’m doing right now. I’m more important than the commotion caused by my need to answer the phone. In fact, when was the last time you went to a large gathering of people and you didn’t hear the phone ring? Do you have a Facebook account? Just the name alone has conceit in it; my “face” out there for the world to see. I use it. I’ve gotten in touch with some friends that I hadn’t seen in years. Actually, I’ve not really spoken to them. I just know what they had for breakfast. If you know what Twitter is… it’s even more brief. In 140 characters describe what you are doing right now. (Actually, it is never really true, because you’ve interrupted whatever you are doing to send a twitter message!) Everyone in the world wants to know what I’m doing right now. By the way, I had a half a grapefruit, cheerios, dry toast, and coffee for breakfast. With Twitter you are never out of touch ‘cause your ‘tweets’ come and go from your cell phone. It’s a way to ‘publish’ your text messages “What am I doing right now” to the world. And just to overload the point… how many reality TV programs are there now? The networks get the best of both worlds here. They are cheap to make, controversial, widely popular, ratings grabbers. What a platform for commercials. You do know that that is what TV is all about, selling stuff. And it’s all based on conceit. Really it is. My life is important enough that everyone should know what I’m doing. I’ve got drama and intrigue enough to spare and everyone should be interested in my life. I’ve got it all! Look at me! I deserve to be famous. A recent poll said that a majority of young adults believe that fame is a reasonable way for a person with no talent to make a living. That’s what conceit is. I’m worth the all attention.
Well, I guess it’s a good thing we are immune to conceit in the church right? Hardly, God does something great and we are the first to take the credit. It is one of my pet peeves. Someone asks how big your church is. “Well, we worship around 100 people every Sunday.” No! We worship God, in Trinity and Unity, the one who saved us from sin, death and hell through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We don’t worship people! I think in a way we try to say, “we must be doing something right because we have these people in church.” It is especially hard for pastors to set aside themselves when things are going well in a congregation. After all there is a certain character trait in all pastors that makes the want to be the center of attention. If we didn’t have it we couldn’t be a pastor. And yet, the work that happens in the church is God’s work, not the pastor’s. If a church is growing as God would have it grow it is doing so because the Holy Spirit is working through Word and Sacrament. But, people want to give credit to people. Pastors want to take credit for themselves. Let’s make this very personal. In my sinful nature I want to take credit for all the good things that have happened here at Trinity. My conceit tells me I’m the reason. The Holy Spirit convicts me of my sin and shows me the forgiveness of the cross. Please remember, nothing good that happens here is because of me, rather the Holy Spirit works through God’s Word and Sacrament, convicting people of their sin and showing them their Savior, Jesus Christ. To God be all the Glory for His Work in the church. I am only trying to be faithful to what I have been given to do. So much for the pastor’s confession.
How about you? Where does your conceit lie? Do you look to the culture around you to determine what’s good for you? Do you want your fifteen minutes of fame? Do you want credit for your support of the church, as if the church would collapse without you? Does everything have to be done your way; because you are just conceited enough to think that your way is the only right way? Do you come and sit in the same seat so everyone knows you’ve been here? At least you’ve been a faithful teacher, weather or not the kids have learned the truth about our faith. Do you count your faithfulness to the church through all its trouble the reason this church is still here? You see folks, here’s the rub, isn’t it? There are a great many good things that you have done and do on a regular basis for this church. But instead of seeing them as God working through you, you want to take the credit. Better yet, someone else recognizes you for doing it. When was the last time you were disgusted because you didn’t get a thank you. Do you see the sin here? You see when we read this text we tend to look at Paul as if he had some special predisposition to the sin of conceit. We think that God had to do something to prevent him from taking credit where no credit was due. But Paul is simply being human. His temptation to conceit is no different from yours our mine. So here we are, you, me, St. Paul pointing to ourselves asking for credit that isn’t ours to take.
Whenever we talk about our story of sin, we find the same story in the Garden. Conceit was at the heart of what Adam and Eve did when they disobeyed God.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6, ESV)
“the tree was to be desired to make one wise.” Eve wanted that wisdom for herself. She wanted to make her own decisions about right and wrong. She wanted to have control for herself, and take the credit for herself. She didn’t want to be dependant on God, or Adam or anyone. Conceit is to think of yourself more highly than you ought. She thought of herself more important than God. And Adam, well he was standing right by her the whole time egging her on. He wanted it, too. He just made his wife do it first.
That’s conceit, really; placing ourselves above God; thinking of ourselves more highly than God; putting God in his place, below us. We do it, all the time. And it is a dangerous place to be. If we want to be on our own before God, we can do that. But imagine standing before God in the final judgment. He says, “Do you have anything to say in your defense?” What can we offer? Half righteous works that we did for our own benefit? Gifts that we gave to the church with a grudging heart or in hopes of receiving accolades from others? None of that will stand up to a judge who demands perfection. When we stand on our own, when we are taking credit, all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags, polluted by sin. And the wages of sin is death, eternal death.
So now you see what St. Paul is talking about. God beat down his sin with a healthy dose of the law. For him it came in this “thorn in the flesh.” It kept him humble. It kept him focusing on Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of his sin. It kept reminding him that all that God was doing was God’s doing. After all it is God’s doing that really matters isn’t it? We are filled with conceit. Jesus humbled himself on the cross and shed his blood to cleanse us of all our sin. We are full of ourselves. Jesus thought of nothing but us as he bled and died. We take credit. Jesus gives all glory to God the Father and submits to God’s will perfectly. Even to death on the cross. We think we know what’s best. Jesus takes the difficult road to the cross, the only way for sinners to be saved. It is there on the cross that your sin is forgiven. It is there on the cross that God does something about your self-centered conceit. It is there on the cross that God washes you clean through Jesus blood. It is there on the cross the God himself in Jesus Christ suffers the eternal punishment you deserve for thinking more of yourself than others and God. You are his baptized, loved, forgiven child. Through the washing of water and the Word you are dead to the sin of conceit.
Consider Paul’s words in Romans, he is speaking about God’s work for you in Jesus, through Holy Baptism:
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:8-11, ESV)
So what do we do? What does it mean to be dead to sin? Work hard. Do what’s necessary for the church to continue doing its work. Make sure Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sin is proclaimed from this pulpit. Give generously to the budget of the church and for missionaries in all parts of the world. Care for your neighbors when they need it, no matter what the need. Feed your family. Tell people about the forgiveness that God has for them in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Confess your conceit in all these things. Take your sin to Jesus. He will wash you in his blood shed on the cross. Open your mouth and receive the forgiveness that God pours into you through Jesus’ body and blood. And then rejoice in what he is doing in his church through you, in spite of your sin. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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