Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart: Breaking Free From Pride

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach All Nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Shea Standish. Speaker B 00:00:32 - 00:08:01 How do you rob a bank without getting caught? Most people would assume you needed a mask, a disguise of some kind, something to obscure you from security cameras and witnesses. But a man named McArthur Wheeler thought he had a better idea. Over the course of a few weeks, he walked into multiple banks Stole thousands of dollars and walked right back out. He didn't have a mask. He didn't have a disguise. And as you'd expect, just a short time later, he was arrested by police. When he was caught, he was shocked. He said, how did you do it? And the police said, well, we had your face clear as day. On the security cameras. He said, no, you don't! And they said, oh yes, we do! And they showed him the footage, and there he was. And he was bewildered. And he looked at them and said, but I wore the juice! I wore the juice! Because MacArthur was convinced that wearing lemon juice on his face would obscure it completely. Make him invisible, kind of like Invisible Ink. Obviously, he was wrong. He was wildly wrong, but to his credit, he'd even tested it. He tried to take a photo of himself, misaimed, and was convinced that that was proof. This is a prime example of something called the Dunning-Kruger effect. You might have heard of it. It's the effect that makes people with the least knowledge often feel the most confident, the most certain that they are correct. And we can see this happening today. A recent survey done by a company in Silicon Valley, a high-value tech company, had 42% of their employees respond saying, I think that I am in the top 5% of employees. That's nearly half the company convinced that they are better than 95% of their colleagues. Now, this isn't just a little bit of overconfidence. This can be dangerous because that almost half the company were convinced that any mistake Any mistakes they made, any trips they had, any problems they faced, they were still doing better than pretty much everybody else. And they weren't learning from that top 5%. The less we know, the more certain we often become. And this isn't a new phenomenon. We can see this going back to the Bible days. I'm going to start by taking you back to a story in 1 Kings 12, the story of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. Now this story takes place right at the end of the reign of Solomon, a powerful king, a wise king. He'd amassed wealth, And power and glory, and his son wanted to continue that. So when he first stepped into his role, the first thing he did was call on his father's advisors. Men who had advised him through wars, through problems, through years of wealth and prosperity, men who had experience. And he asked them, what can I do to be a good king? And those men told him, your father was a great king, but he was a harsh king. He was a harsh taskmaster. He drove the people hard. He worked them hard. He made their lives difficult. If you let up even just a little bit of that pressure, If you make their lives even a small amount easier, those people will love you. Your reign will be peaceful. It will be a good reign, and you will be remembered well. But Rehoboam didn't like that answer because he mistook that kindness as weakness. And he had an idea of what he wanted to do in his own mind, so instead of listening, he said, well, I'll get back to you in a few weeks. And he called on his friends, a group of young men, a group of young men without experience but with a great amount of confidence, men he knew were just like himself. And he asked them, what can I do to be a good king? What can I do to be a good king? And they told him, well, your father was wealthy, your father was powerful, and he had a great reign because he worked those people hard, because he was harsh, because he was powerful. So you need to be harder than your father was before you, and your reign will be great. And Rehoboam liked that answer. Because that answer made him feel powerful. It made him feel strong, and it backed up his pride and his confidence. So when he spoke to the people and he told them who he was going to be as a king, he said, my father whipped you with whips, but I will whip you with scorpions. Now Rehoboam isn't an often cited king, and that's because that was a bad strategy. It didn't go well for him. Had he listened to the advice of his elders, men with wisdom, experience, and knowledge, and taken the path that they suggested, even though he felt that it was weak, even though he felt that it was wrong, his reign would have been good. But he Didn't. His pride overrode his logical thinking that would have told him listening to experience is the right thing to do. He rejected experienced counsel, and he chose advice that fueled his ego. And his pride destroyed him. Now, this is a great example Of what we should avoid. Because today's Sabbath is Youth Sabbath. As youth, we are the next generation of leaders. We're going to go forth like Rehoboam after the rule of a great king, after the work of a great church, and we are going to choose how we should be. Speaker A 00:08:01 - 00:08:01 Amen. Speaker B 00:08:01 - 00:13:12 What we should do, how we should follow the mission that we're given. And our culture today, in the wider world, tells us that the best thing you can be as a young person is independent, self-reliant, come up with new ideas, do new things. But we have to remember That the next new fad, that our own pride, our own confidence, our own ideas aren't always right. We're not always right. Now, something that makes this phenomenon that we can see with Rhea Boehm, this focus on pride, self-confidence, an idea that we know best, is made worse by echo chambers. Now, I think we've all experienced sitting down and telling someone an idea and having them go, oh, that's great, you're so smart, and then go off later and think, oh man, I can't believe what she was saying, right? But just hearing that affirmation That idea that our ideas are correct goes a long way in creating that pride, feeding that pride, feeding that self-confidence. And we can see that when we go back to the story of Saul in the Bible. Saul was chosen by God, specifically called to be the very first king of Israel. When he was first called upon, we can see an example of his humility, the attitude that he started his reign with. Because when he was called upon to be king, he didn't celebrate, he didn't immediately go to take that wealth and that power, he hid. But over years of his reign, with courtesans and And friends and people who wanted a piece of his power telling him that everything he did was right and wise and good, winning wars, winning battles, being successful, wealthy, he began to get that pride, that confidence. Now Saul was advised by a prophet, Samuel. And Samuel told him that at every turn he needed to listen to God because Saul may be king, but God was the ultimate ruler of Israel, and every success, every victory came from God. But over time Saul became convinced that that victory, that power wasn't coming from God, it was coming From him as a great king, as a powerful king. So after winning many battles, after having many victories, Saul went out to wage another war against the Amalekites. And when he consulted Samuel and he consulted God before going out to battle, he was told— What? This battle is for God; it is not for you. So when you come back, you will take no spoiler spoils. You will take no prisoners. You will not profit because this war is for God; it is not for you. It's not for your ego. It's not for your pride. But Saul was convinced that it wasn't necessarily God's own power. That were— that was giving him these victories, it was his. So when he won the battle, he didn't just bring back spoils of war, he brought back the king of the Amalekites in chains as a symbol of his power, of his victory, of his goodness. And it was that act as a culmination of this escalation into pride Into self-confidence, self, self-focus, and selfishness that made God ultimately reject Saul as king. This is an example of what can happen to the extreme when we focus on ourselves as the ultimate source of wisdom. But God hasn't just given us examples of not— what not to do in the Bible. He's given us examples of what we can do. So just a few years after God withdrew from Saul because of his mistakes, because of his self-confidence, because of his self-assurance and his disobedience, God anointed David. Speaker A 00:13:12 - 00:13:12 Amen. Speaker B 00:13:12 - 00:20:19 David as the next king. And we can see a parallel with Saul at the beginning of his reign because God again chose someone from humble beginnings, someone with humility, someone who knew that God was King because David didn't start in wealth and power and self-assurance. He started as a humble shepherd boy who trusted God. And when he was anointed, he didn't immediately go to take the throne. He respected Saul because God had anointed Saul as king. And David went through his early life as a humble man. Even when he was hunted by Saul, he still didn't try to take that power and that wealth that he knew was available to him. Even when he had a group of men around him who could fight, Even when he had influence in King Saul's court, even when he was friends with the king, with the king's own son, he didn't try to take that power. And years later, while being hunted by Saul, David found himself in a cave. He was alone. He had his men, but he didn't have his family. He didn't have people around him. He didn't have power, wealth, or glory. He was in hiding. He was a fugitive. And King Saul, the man who was pursuing him, who was trying to kill him, came into the cave where David was hiding. And he lay down defenseless. He didn't have soldiers. Or guards, he wasn't on his guard. He wasn't aware that David was just a few feet away, watching with his men, whispering in his ear. Now is the time. God has given this opportunity to you. Now is the time for you to kill King Saul. Be done with this. Be free. You can go become the king. Take that power. You were anointed. This is your time. You should kill him. And instead of listening to the people around him affirming him, telling him that he was powerful, that he was right, that he should take that power and ignore what God had done in anointing Saul, ignore God's commandment not to murder, David did something different. He went and he cut off a piece of Saul's robe. And even after that, even after just cutting off a piece of Saul's robe, he felt guilty because he had done it to God's anointed king. God has given us the example of David as someone who was a man after God's own heart. And throughout David's life, He made many mistakes. He wasn't a flawless man. He was a man of war. He couldn't— he wasn't allowed to build God's temple because of it. He was a man who made many mistakes in his personal life. But every time after he made a mistake, he looked back to God. And when he started his reign and all throughout it, he looked To prophets to tell him what God wanted him to do. Because God gives us this example to show us that we need to look not within for wisdom, but without. We need to follow David's example in the Bible and look Look to our elders. Look to the church. Look to the Bible. Look to prayer. And ultimately, look to God as the source of all wisdom, all power, and all authority. We know that as we move towards the end times, The youth will begin to lead. We have a responsibility to continue the work that generations of Adventists have done before us. We need to spread the word. We need to build up the church. We need to work to help people in our community to spread the word of God, to spread. God's healing and power and glory and justice and love. And we can't do that by listening to ourselves. We can't do that by looking inward. We do that by looking out. God gave us a commandment: honor your father and your mother. And he did that for a reason. Because on our own, as young people, we're just learning about this world. Mistakes have been made before us. People have learned from those mistakes. And if we learn from those mistakes too, we won't make them again. But if we don't listen, If we don't look, if we don't trust in people around us, in our mother and our father, in our grandparents, in our community, in our church, we will make those same mistakes that people could tell us have been made before because we don't have the knowledge or experience to know any better. Jesus himself modeled this example. Jesus's very first miracle, turning the water into wine, was done because of his mother Mary. Jesus looked to her and told her and told others when they'd asked him to perform miracles before this, when his disciples had asked him, When others had asked him, it's not my time yet. But when Mary asked him to turn the water into wine, Jesus listened. And he modeled that example. Listen, learn, and don't assume that we're right, because we're not. Speaker A 00:20:19 - 00:20:20 Amen. Always right. Speaker B 00:20:20 - 00:25:29 Human wisdom is limited. Even as we look to those with more experience, more knowledge, who love us, care for us, and can tell us what has come before so that we don't repeat the same mistakes after, we have to remember that even those with wisdom and knowledge aren't always right. So ultimately, we have to look up to God, to God's example, to the words that he's given us in the Bible. We have to pray, we have to listen, and we have to learn, because it's our close relationship with God that will ultimately give us the wisdom Not to fall into the trap of self-confidence, self-reliance, and self-trust. We have to look outward rather than inward. Because if MacArthur Wheeler had asked any person on the street whether lemon juice was a good disguise, They would have told him no. In fact, if he went back and asked them whether robbing a bank was a good idea, they would have told him probably better to just get a job. If people taking that survey at that high-tech company in Silicon Valley had, instead of rating themselves the very best of the best, Just asked their supervisor for feedback, they probably would have come to the understanding that maybe they weren't quite as smart as they thought they were. And maybe if we, instead of looking to ourselves for every problem that comes our way, ask those around us, instead of listening to the first bright idea that comes into our head, Maybe we will succeed, and maybe we'll do the right thing because we know that we aren't always right. Obviously, we test any advice, any leadership, any traditions, and even our own instincts against what God has told us. We test every piece of advice we're given against Scripture, against God's character, against wisdom and against truth. But ultimately, we can't know everything. And trying to will destroy us. So I want you to think as you go into the week ahead, keep in mind, who do I refuse to listen to? Where has pride made me unteachable? Am I seeking wisdom or am I just seeking validation? And do I trust my own understanding before God's? Because just like that wonderful verse that was read to us, our young people will see— our young men will dream— will see visions. Our old men will dream dreams. In the end of days, we will be given wisdom from God. We have to remember that that wisdom ultimately comes from God. And that we can do nothing without him. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. You're not always right, and neither am I, but God is wiser than all of us. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you for bringing us all here safely today. Thank you that we have the opportunity to worship together, to get closer to you, to learn from you, and to be given that wisdom and that understanding. Please help us not to lean on our own understanding, but to look, to experience, Look to wisdom and ultimately look to you. Please protect us in the week going forward. Please bring us closer to you each day, and thank you for everything that you've done for us. Amen. Speaker A 00:25:45 - 00:25:54 This message was made available by the Waitara Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit waitarachurch.org.au. Speaker B 00:25:54 - 00:26:23 To listen to our Australian programs on demand, visit both of our YouTube channels, 3ABN Australia Radio and Creation Conversations, or search for us on your favourite podcast directory. Speaker A 00:26:23 - 00:26:29 It's been our pleasure bringing you this program today here on 3ABN Australia Radio.