One of the most damaging traits in any believer's life -- whether they be from a small group or travel the world -- is ambition. Believers, who are driven by it, normally don't know it, can't see it in themselves, even as they are driven by it. They must discover, sometimes by the hardest means, to repent of AMBITION. This spiritual disease has been around since the first days of man's existence.
Here's an early example:
Genesis 11:4
4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
And yet, we are told:
Psalm 127:1
Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
Many other examples within Scripture show this terrible trait among God's people. It takes over all of these one man shows. Please look over these verses as well:
Jer. 45:5, "And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not:"
Acts 8:9, "9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one..."
1 Kings 1:5, "Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him."
Isaiah 14:12-14, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High", or, as we hear today, like little gods.
Even the disciples were guilty of ambition which showed by their refusal to accept others into their ministerial clique.
Luke 9:46-50, "Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest. 47 And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him, 48 And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great. 49 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. 50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us."
Luke 22:24, "And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest."
The counter examples that we should all memorize and meditate upon include:
John -- John 1:23 and John 3:30, "He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias."
Timothy -- Philippians 2:19-22, "But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. 20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. 21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
22 But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel."
Paul -- I Cor. 3:5, I Cor. 15:9, II Cor. 12:15, "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?"
"Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness," we are told in Prov. 20:6. Verses that confirm this include:
Luke 16:12, "And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?"
How often we've seen this take place, where men call themselves what they will without ever having been faithful in the least. There is a pattern whereby men rise to serve the body, and this is it, to be faithful first with the least and gradually move up as the Lord gives the increase, and not toward more of these one man shows, but to serve where the person lives and fellowships as just another member of the body of Christ.
I Cor. 10:24, 33, " Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth."
Do you want to be great? Then seek prosperity for those within your small group of believers with whom you meet, not big named personalities.
Isa. 56:12, "Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant."
A believer must be willing not just once, but every day to "fetch," to serve, to give of himself, not merely one time and he/she suddenly awakens to stardom, which is nothing more than blatant ambition.
We're told to "look not every man on his own things" in Phil 2:3-4.
Examples of this include Gal. 5:26 and Romans 15:1-2, "Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." and again, "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification."
