Bible study series: week 2: Pride and Secrecy

Pride and Secrecy

We all know that Pride is a deep issue of the heart that we all struggle with. Here are some verses about pride and humility, followed by a description of the spiritual discipline of secrecy from the book: Spirit of the Disciplines, by Dallas Willard. Then there are some thought questions to think about.

Proverbs 18:12--Before his downfall a man's heart is proud,
       but humility comes before honor.

Philippians 2:3-11: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
 6Who, being in very nature^[a] God,
      did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
 7but made himself nothing,
      taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,
      being made in human likeness.
 8And being found in appearance as a man,
      he humbled himself
      and became obedient to death—
         even death on a cross!
 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
      and gave him the name that is above every name,
 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
      in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
      to the glory of God the Father.

Numbers 12:3--Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth… Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, 6 he said, "Listen to my words:
       "When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" 

Matthew 23:12: For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Matthew 18:4: Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

1 Peter 5:6: Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (notice this is a command)

Secrecy: 

In secrecy, we abstain from causing our good deeds and qualities to be known. We may even take steps to prevent them from being known, if it does not involve deceit. To help us lose or tame the hunger for fame, justification, or just the mere attention of others, we will often need the help of grace. But we can also learn to love to be unknown and even to accept misunderstanding without the loss of our peace, joy, or purpose. 

Few things are more important in stabilizing our walk of faith than secrecy. In secrecy, we experience a continuing relationship with God independent of the opinions of others.  One of the greatest fallacies of our faith, and actually one of the greatest acts of unbelief, is the thought that our spiritual acts and virtues need to be advertised to be known. The frantic efforts of religious people to advertise themselves is a stunning revelation of their lack of substance and faith. Jesus, surely with some humor, remarked that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden (Matt 5:14). The gospel stories tell us how hard Jesus and his friends tried to avoid crowds but how badly they failed. If it is possible for our faith and works to be hidden, perhaps they are a kind that should be hidden. We might in that case think about directing our efforts toward the cultivation of a faith that is impossible to hide (Mark 7;24).

             

Secrecy rightly practiced enables us to place our public relations department entirely in the hands of God, who lit our candles so we could be the light of the world…we allow him to decide when our deeds will be known and when our light will be noticed. Secrecy at its best teaches love and humility before God and others. And that love and humility encourages us to see our associates in the best possible light, even to the point of our hoping they will do better than us. It actually becomes possible for us to “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than ourselves” (Philippians 2:3).  If you want to experience the flow of love as never before, the next time you are in a competitive situation, pray that the others around you will be more outstanding, more praised, and more used of God than yourself.

             

One more aspect of secrecy: the needs that arise in our efforts to serve God can often be handled by looking to God only, not telling others that there is a need, but counting on God to tell them. If we see needs met because we have asked God alone, our faith in God’s presence and care will be greatly increased.

Questions:

1. Take a moment of honest reflection to check your heart for pride—What area of your life is it most difficult for you to be humble? Do you desire to be humble there?
2. How could you sacrifice your ego as an act of love to someone else…even if it something you have a right to. Like what is something you have a right to that you could give up for someone else? (Example in 1 Corinth)
3. Is it a new concept for you to think of humility as a command. What does that look like to humble yourself before God and others?
4. What do you think the greater reason/ purpose is for why God wants us to be humble?
5. What do you think about doing things in secret and why is it hard?