Pastor, “I’m amazing and everyone else sucks” is the sermon aimed at you.

Ever said it about yourself? Maybe not out loud. “I don’t know why my staff doesn’t get it. I don’t know why my church doesn’t get it, or the pastor down the road. Look at everything I’ve built.” Unmasked, it sounds like this: “I’m amazing and everyone else sucks.” That’s a sermon of the serpent, and it’s aimed at leaders. Here’s what it is, how it shows up in ministry, and how to refuse it.

What hubris is

Hubris is self-sovereign pride: taking credit for what God has done and putting yourself in His position. All hubris is self-sovereignty. Underneath it is a quiet claim: “I’m worthy of worship.” It’s rebellion against God, and it’s also sitting in His chair.

Narcissism is its insecure cousin. Hubris says, “I’m above you.” Narcissism needs the room. It’s the insecure leader who has to be agreed with and diminishes the people around him, instead of collaborating and building a strong team.

The serpent’s question

This one echoes the garden promise, “You will be like God.” The question is: “Did God really build all this, or did you?”

Nebuchadnezzar answered it wrong. Walking on his roof, he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built… by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30). While the words were still on his lips, he was driven away to live like an animal in the fields. And in the wilderness, the serpent offered Jesus the same transaction: all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, “if you will bow down and worship me” (Matthew 4:8–9).

Step 1 — See how it shows up in a pastor

In ministry, hubris rarely sounds like Nebuchadnezzar’s speech. It looks like conviction. “I have the vision. They don’t get it.” It’s the man who can no longer hear constructive feedback or weigh pushback. The elder who raises a concern becomes disloyal instead of right.

Watch for the markers. Nobody on staff can tell him no anymore, or the ones who could have quietly left. Criticism gets sorted into categories (jealous, small-minded, not on board) so none of it ever has to be weighed. The only counsel he takes comes from people outside the church who can’t see the actual thing.

Step 2 — Notice where it starts

It doesn’t usually start with arrogance. Maybe you were idealistic and everything was great. Then betrayals happened in ministry. People hurt you. You built a shell and a wall, pushed people away, and decided, “This is all on me.” The wound comes first. The pride is armor. Over time you become functionally narcissistic, walled off from any input, with an inflated sense of self. The serpent’s voice flatters and isolates in a single move.

Step 3 — Ask the diagnostic question

Here’s the question I’d put to every leader: When did you last change your mind because someone on your team pushed back? When did you last say, “Maybe I’m wrong about this”? When did you last take feedback from anyone?

Answer it honestly. Then ask your team to answer it about you. Name one person who can still tell you no, and protect that seat.

Because pride always leads to a fall (Proverbs 16:18). “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (James 4:6). Either we humble ourselves, or God will humble us, or life will. I have a good friend who became extremely successful, looked down on everyone around him, and said, in effect, “Look at everything I’ve built.” Within twelve months it was nearly all gone. I hope he learned the lesson. I hope that never happens to you.

Step 4 — Refuse it, then give thanks

Of the three wilderness temptations, this is the one Jesus didn’t debate. He dismissed it: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Matthew 4:10). Some offers you don’t weigh. You refuse them. The unteachable man is usually deliberating over whether he’s the exception instead of refusing the question.

And remember the contrast. Jesus had every right to grasp equality with God, and He didn’t (Philippians 2:6). We have no right to it at all, and we reach anyway. The antidote is gratitude, humility, worship, thanks, and praise. Build them into your rhythm, because anything good in your world is because of God.

Reject the sermon that flatters you into believing everything in your life is because of you. It’s all because of Christ. So here’s the question to sit with this week: when did you last change your mind because someone on your team pushed back?