The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride
--II Timothy 3:1-9 and Proverbs 16:18-19
Margaret McCormick and Lila Sunderland were good friends of ours at our second appointment Grace United Methodist Church in Alton, Illinois. They visited us at least once while were at our third appointment Sumner and Beulah United Methodist Churches in Lawrence County, Illinois. During that visit they shared with us that for first time their Church had participated in a Round Robin Lenten Series which I believe was ecumenical in nature. I asked them what the preaching theme was for the series, and Lila replied, “The Seven Deadly Sins.”
From that time forward I have wanted to prepare such a preaching series myself, but this is the first opportunity I have had to do so. Therefore, for the remainder of Epiphany and for about half of Lent “The Seven Deadly Sins” will be our preaching series.
The Ancient Greek philosophers did not view sin as a really serious problem. They basically interpreted sin as a fundamental and unavoidable imperfection in human character, a weak point in our personalities. As the Holy Spirit multiplied the growth in the Early Church around the Mediterranean Sea, it became evident that the Church must stress the seriousness of the problem of sin in their teaching. The result was the concept of “The Seven Deadly Sins.” While part of Protestant preaching, this teaching has held a paramount place in the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church since around the fourth or fifth centuries.
What exactly is meant by the terminology “deadly sins?” They are not deadly in the sense that they are beyond God’s grace, love, and forgiveness. They are serious because they are harmful to our Christian character and salvation if we let them go without repentance and confession. We might look at them in terms of our math teaching in elementary school where we were taught to reduce all our fractions to their “lowest, common denominator.” In other words, these seven sins are those we might come to view as primary or basic. They in turn give birth to other sins or form the core of other vices in human nature. They are basic roots of all sin.
The root, primary, or basic sins have always included: pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth. We are going to look in turn at each one of these. The sin of pride always heads the list and for very valid reasons.
Just what is the “Deadly Sin” of Pride? Pride conveys a positive as well as a negative imagine and connotation. In a good sense pride refers to a proper and justified self-respect. Pride becomes sin when I exhibit too high an opinion of myself, my own importance, my own talents, my own abilities. Pride is sinful when I believe and behave as if I am superior to other people and that I can live and manage my own life by my own strength and through my own abilities totally independent of God and with no regard for Him to guide and direct my life. Like William Earnest Henley in his poem “Invictus,” my attitude in life is “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
Sinful pride is an “unreasonable self-esteem and personal attitude that treats God and others with rudeness and disrespect.” Sinful pride seeks personal glory, praise, and applause from others and becomes distressed and angry when the praise is lacking or withheld. Sinful pride refuses to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over one’s life.
I truly believe that we are living in “The Last Days.” By that I mean I am convinced that Jesus Christ’s return is sooner than we might think. The “Last Days” refer to the time when the Messianic Kingdom of Jesus Christ will be established in and rule over our world. In a real a real sense the “Last Days” began with the first Advent of Jesus Christ at the time of His Birth in Bethlehem.
Our text this morning from II Timothy 3 affirms: “But mark this; there will be terrible times in the Last Days. People will be “boastful, proud, abusive.” James 4:6 furthermore declares: “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” Paul too asserts in Romans 1:30, “They are . . . insolent, arrogant, and boastful. Scripture often links arrogance, boastfulness, and insolence with sinful pride. In reality boastfulness and arrogance are different expressions of pride. An arrogant person is full of pride and self-importance. One who is arrogant oftentimes shows no respect for other people.
Do you realize that the name of our State Illinois comes from “an Indian term to which a French suffix has been added?” It literally means “Tribe of superior men.” Throughout history many individuals and nations have seen themselves as superior to others. In particular we remember Hitler and Nazi Germany that viewed themselves as the superior race. [SOURCE: Robert C. Shannon, 1,000 Windows, (Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).].
Hitler and Nazi Germany are not the only ones to persecute and look down upon others. How many times have we as white Americans been just as guilty of a proud spirit that has shown contempt and disrespect towards Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. Our junior high chorus in my eighth grade year of junior high sang an anthem entitled “Prayer for World Peace.” The opening sentence was this prayer: “Save us from ourselves, oh, Lord defend us from sinful pride.” We all would do well to sincerely make that our daily prayer.
The famous British Baptist pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon tells the story about “a Spaniard in South America who suffered severely from the gout but refused to be cured by an Indian. ‘I know,’ he said, “that he is a famous man and would certainly cure me, but he is an Indian and would expect to be treated with attentions which I cannot pay to a man of color, and therefore I prefer to remain as I am.’” [SOURCE: Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc., 1990)]. God opposes such a spirit and attitude. This is the pride of arrogance that is full of self-importance and shows no respect for others.
Boastful pride is seen, as we saw in our Children’s Sermon, when we “toot our own horns.” It is those times we talk about our own accomplishments or abilities with too much pride.
“On May 31, 1889, there was a terrible flood at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Thousands of lives were lost. The event was one of the most significant news makers of that year. A story was told about a man who lived through the flood. Every time he got a chance, he would tell people about it. He died and went to Heaven, where he was told he could have anything he wanted. The man said he wanted a great hall where he could tell his story to tens of thousands. The wish was granted. The day came. The hall was packed. As he was ready to make his talk about the Johnstown flood, the master of ceremonies told him he would be the second speaker on the program. He would be preceded by a man named Noah.” [SOURCE: Robert C. Shannon, 1,000 Windows, (Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).].
It has been well said, “Don’t brag—it isn’t the whistle that pulls the train.” [SOURCE: Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990).]. We all would do well to follow the example of the Apostle Paul who reminds us in Galatians 6:14, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Again it has been well said, “You can’t glorify self and Christ at the same time.” [SOURCE: Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990).]. Pride boasts in one’s own accomplishments or abilities. The Christian boasts of the grace, forgiveness, and love that are found in a personal, daily relationship with Jesus Christ.
James. S. Hewett, former pastor of the Saratoga, California, Presbyterian Church, tells the story of “once hearing a missionary tell how he was trying to do translation work in a particular tribe and found it hard to translate the word PRIDE or at least the concept. He finally came to the idea to use their word or words for the ears being too far apart. In other words, he conveyed the idea of an INFLATED, OR “BIG” HEAD which is probably hard to improve on when we talk of the problem of pride.” [SOURCE: James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1988), p. 439.].
It was pride that led to both the Fall of Satan and the Fall of the human race when tempted by him. We remember the account of humanity’s fall in Genesis 3:4-6, “You will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
It was the temptation of pride that led Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. She “saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom.” She was motivated as well by the serpent’s words, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” As someone again has well said, “The greatest barrier between some Christians and God’s omnipotent power is their own supposed strength.” [SOURCE: Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990).].
My brothers and sisters, this is “The Deadly Sin of Pride.” If we let it go unconfessed and without sincere repentance, it will continue to impair our Christian character and witness and harm our salvation and relationship with Jesus Christ.
Pride heads the list of the “Seven Deadly Sins.” Solomon knew what he was talking about when he warned us in Proverbs 16:18:
Pride goes before destruction,
A haughty spirit before a fall.
Yielding to the temptation of pride led to the Fall of Satan and the entire human race. It has led many others throughout the centuries to fall as well. Indeed, to me at least, “Pride” is the basic root of all sin. That is why it heads our list of the “Seven Deadly Sins.”
As we live in these “Last Days,” may we humble ourselves continually in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and He will continually renew us in grace. When tempted to be arrogant or boastful, may we so yield ourselves to His control that we show love, grace, and mercy towards others and think more of them than we do ourselves, and may our boasting be in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through His cross, may the world be crucified to us, and may we be crucified to the world. Then the Holy Spirit will enable us to overcome the deadly sin of pride.
