Series: Practical Proverbs
Thesis: The primary message of Proverbs is “Get wisdom or act and look like a fool!”
Sermon 1 & 2: Wise vs. foolish
We learned that wisdom is God given not manmade but foolishness is manmade not God given. We learned that wisdom is given by God to us so that we use knowledge rightly and correctly and if we don’t have God then we don’t have wisdom and therefore we are unable to use knowledge correctly or rightly.
Sermon 3: Wickedness vs. godliness
We need to be able to recognize and avoid wickedness in our lives and instead embrace godliness.
Sermon 4: Laziness vs. diligence
The writers of this ancient wisdom literature inspired by God try to convey the message to us of “Don’t be lazy - be diligent!” In other words “Make a commitment to work hard at being all God wants you to be!”
How are you doing reading through the book of Proverbs? How are you doing applying the spiritual truths of godly wisdom to your life? Are you using the wisdom that comes from God to use knowledge rightly? Or are you trusting in your own judgment of right and wrong and looking like a fool to the Kingdom of Heaven? Remember God wants us to be wise and the Devil wants us act and look like fools!
The Hebrew word for "proverb" (mashal) means a "comparison." Our next comparison found in our book of wisdom is one which defines the attitude of a person’s heart toward God.
Sermon 4: Proud vs. Humble
Scriptures:
Proverbs 3:33-34: The LORD’S curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.
Proverbs 8:13: To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. (Who hates pride “Wisdom” personified which is Jesus!)
Proverbs 9:12: If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.”
Proverbs 11:2: When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
Proverbs 13:10: Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
Proverbs 16:18-19: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.
Proverbs 18:12: Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
Proverbs 27:1-2: Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.
Proverbs 29:23: A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.
Introduction:
Pride brings cursing, brings destruction, brings ruin to a person, brings dishonor, is quarrelsome, is evil, is associated with wickedness, has no fear of the Lord and ultimately brings disgrace to the person.
Illustration from sermon central by Richard Burkey:
Someone in our day who has a prideful self-centeredness we say has the disease of Narcissism. The name comes from Greek mythology and refers to a handsome young man name Narcissus who fell in love with himself. Whenever he would come along a pool of clear water, he would look at his reflection for hours admiring the view. One day he said to himself, "You are handsome, Narcissus! There’s nobody so handsome in the whole world!" He stooped down to kiss his reflection, fell into the water, and drowned.
Have you ever met a person like this? A person so filled with pride and arrogance they think they are better than others, superior to God and His wisdom? A person who is patting themselves on the back for what they have accomplished in life? The book of Proverbs tells us that God rewards the humble not the proud. He even says pride is one of the seven deadly sins – so avoid it because it only brings disaster.
Illustration: From sermoncentral.com from Austin Mansfield:
We think that God wants us to try something on our own first, and then come to him in prayer for help only after we’ve worked at it and can’t figure it out. We hear the saying, “God helps those who help themselves” and think it’s true. Many people even believe it’s in the Bible. It’s not. It actually comes from Greek mythology. A man is pushing his cart along a dirt road and it gets stuck in the mud. He sits down on the ground next to the cart and asks the gods to free his cart. Hercules appears say, “Get up, man, and put your shoulder to the wheel. The gods help them that help themselves.”
Sounds harmless right! Sounds logical right! Yes, it seems like the good old American work ethic but the subtle danger is we humans really want to take credit for our successes and our victories when the majority of our achievements or blessings come directly from the hand of God.
T.S - Pride is very subtle and crafty and loves to work or weave its way through our lives, our hearts and our minds. It wants to convince us that all the blessings come from our work, our talent our pride tells us that God did not help or intervene – you did it all yourself – it’s your gifting – it’s your insight – it’s your knowledge. God had nothing to do with it --- you did it all!
I. The subtle deception of pride is a path to destruction and disgrace.
a. This is what pride looks like and remember proverbs says it makes you look like a fool!
i. Wing clips from “True Grit” clip!
ii. Does pride make us look foolish?
b. 7 Quotes on Pride:
i. Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas said of Pride "Inordinate self-love is the cause of every sin ... the root of pride is found to consist in man not being, in some way, subject to God and His rule."
ii. “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” ¯ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
iii. “Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don't want..to impress people that they don't like.” ¯ Will Rogers
iv. “Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you.”
¯ Andrew Murray, Humility
v. “Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.”
¯ Ann Landers
vi. St. Augustine – “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men angels.” (12,000 Religious Quotes, page 237).
c. To understand this message, I want to give you new definition of pride and humility from David Wilkerson.
i. “Pride is independence - humility is dependence. Pride is an unwillingness to wait for God to act in His own time and in His own way. Pride rushes in to take matters into its own hands. One of the greatest temptations true Christians face is getting ahead of God. It is acting without a clear mandate from God. It is taking things into our own hands when it appears that God is not working fast enough. It is impatience.”
d. Pride will mask itself as self-sufficiency. This deceptive focus on doing things ourselves without asking for God’s help leads us to believe we actually do life without God’s help. This deception causes us to think we do not need God’s help to live our life.
i. The subtle deception of Pride says – “I don’t need God!”
1. Have you met people who have communicated this deception to you?
ii. Gary Collins notes the research of Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton who carefully studied today’s church and coined a term for many today called “Toxic Faith”. A faith that becomes rooted in our own self-righteous works and pride!
1. Collins states, “Some people show this in their compulsive church activity, rushing from one meeting to another, serving on committees, feverishly working around the church, determined to please God by doing his work while their families suffer and their bodies wear out. Others build fantasies about God, creating in their minds a deity who is at our beck and call, eager to bring fixes and easy solutions.”
2. I add, “Toxic Faith occurs when the Christian becomes self-centered and seeks to create God into their own image.”
a. This deceived spiritual formula for God does not use the whole Bible as its guide. Its focus is on itself not God.
e. The truth is if we believe we don’t need God’s help, we can easily believe that we don’t need Him for salvation or His Holy rules for living a God honoring life.
i. We start doing our will instead of God’s, and the more we do it the more prideful we become. Our pride causes us to focus on our will which in turn makes us even more proud of ourselves. It’s like a self-licking ice-cream cone. It will eventually lick itself to death.
f. Gary Collins gives more insight when he quotes Arterburn and Felton again and says, “Faith becomes toxic when the individuals use God or religion for profit, power, pleasure, and or prestige’ (127).
i. A negative big P = Power = it’s for self-edification and self-direction. This type of self-power always leads to chaos, anarchy and confusion and it’s all rooted in another P word Pride.
a. Imagine what would happen in America if everyone could make up their own rules and guidance for living.
i. Some would have no problem drinking and driving.
• Oh that’s right people still do this and they cause death and destruction.
ii. Some would have no problem stealing.
• Oh that’s right many people have robbed others of their retirement and investments.
iii. Some would have no problem killing.
• Oh that’s right we have people killing their babies everyday in this country.
iv. Some would have no problem changing the definition of right and wrong.
• Oh that’s right people are doing this with the sin of homosexuality. This group wants us to admire how they are proud of their sin. They now have a new campaign out which says, “be proud because pride is not sin!”
• People now just live together and thinks its okay inthe eyes of God but he has not changed His mind on whatis sin.
v. Some would lie and deceive to get their way.
• Oh we have the media doing this everyday in America along with the politicians.
vi. There would be lawlessness and much devastation.
• By the way we are as a nation headed down this path according to what Proverbs teaches and the Bible.
b. The next P which leads to death and destruction is Prestige also rooted in Pride.
i. This aligned with the first P and has the focus, “How great I art!”
• I have all the answers to the world’s problem. Just give me more money and things and power and I will correct all the problems.
• I can do a better job than God!
• I can do all things through me!
• Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction.”
• Proverbs 8:13 “I hate pride and arrogance..”
ii. This originated with an entity who once said, ‘God I will exalt my throne above yours, get out of the way because I am the best!”
• Ezekiel 28 – his name was Lucifer better known as the Devil or Satan.
• 1-19 are in reference to the spirit behind the king of Tyre made clear in verses 12-19!
T.S. – Pride is to be avoided in our life and the best way to keep our pride in check is by embracing and cultivating the character trait of humility.
II. The path of humility is a path to wisdom and grace.
a. This is what humility looks like;
i. Video clip from Bruce Almighty from wingclips.com “I surrender”
b. Humility brings grace, brings the blessings of God, brings honor, is teachable, is considered good, is associated with godliness, has a healthy fear of the Lord, and ultimately brings wisdom.
i. Humility is the opposite of pride because it knows it needs God! Humility knows it cannot do anything in life without Him and His assistance. Humility recognizes what Jesus did for them! It sees the sacrifice and it sees the love!
c. Jesus is a prime example of humility: Look at the way He “The King of Kings” was born -- in the manger—in the barn –in the stable! It was dirty smelly and not fit for the King – The Creators of the universes _ God in the flesh! Yet he humbled Himself for our benefit – for our salvation for our restoration with God the Father.
i. Philippians 2:8: We need to be like Jesus as Christians
1. Imitating Christ’s Humility Philippians 2:1-11:
1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5In your relationships with one another, have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: 6Who, being in very nature£ God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature£ of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming 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 acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2. Jesus in His birth – His life – His ministry-His death! All revealed His humility! He lived it and he preached about it:
a. Matthew 23:12: Key verse!
i. A Warning against Hypocrisy -- Jesus teaching from Matthew 23:1-12:
1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
2“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
4They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries£ wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them ‘Rabbi.’ 8“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Messiah. 11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
• Jesus made it clear humility will be rewarded pride will be punished by God.
d. Prayer does not change God it changes us: A person who realizes this is filled with humility!
i. Illustration from sermoncentral.com: PRAYER DOESN'T CHANGE GOD, IT CHANGES ME:
1. In a scene from Shadowlands, a film based on the life of C.S. Lewis, Lewis has returned to Oxford from London, where he has just been married to Joy Gresham, an American woman, in a private Episcopal ceremony performed at her hospital bedside. She is dying from cancer, and, through the struggle with her illness, she and Lewis have been discovering the depth of their love for each other. As Lewis arrives at the college where he teaches, he is met by Harry Harrington, an Episcopal priest, who asks what news there is. Lewis hesitates; then, deciding to speak of the marriage and not the cancer, he says, "Ah, good news, I think, Harry. Yes, good news." Harrington, not aware of the marriage and thinking that Lewis is referring to Joy’s medical situation, replies, "I know how hard you’ve been praying .... Now, God is answering your prayer."
"That’s not why I pray, Harry," Lewis responds. "I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God; it changes me."
SOURCE: Thomas G. Long, Whispering The Lyrics, CSS Publishing Company. http://www.eSermons.com.
2. C.S. Lewis makes a great point for us all who think we can do it all on our own – we need God – humility teaches us we are helpless and we pray for God to change us! We pray because we are humble and we know we need to yield to His direction and grace.
e. Humility is a foreign concept today in our world and society. It goes against what our flesh wants which is recognition and praise. The Bible is filled with teachings that we struggle with – concepts that seem well rather crazy or nuts. Doesn’t Jesus teachings sometimes drive you crazy – make you scratch your head?
i. Illustration from Sermon Central: AGAIN – so much of what Jesus teaches is just nuts according to the world… he taught THAT…
• The way up is down
• The way in is out
• The way first is last
• The way of success is service
• The way of attainment is relinquishment
• The way of strength is weakness
• The way of security is vulnerability
• The way of protection is forgiveness (even to 7 x 70)
• The way of life is death – death to self, society, family
• Know your strengths. Why? Because that’s the only way that you can lay them down.
• God’s power is made perfect…where? In our weakness.
• Want to get the most? Go to where the least is.
• Want to be free? Give complete control to God.
• Want to become great? Become least.
• Want to find yourself? Forget yourself.
• Want honor? Honor yourself with humility
• Want to ‘get even’ with your enemies? Bless, love and pray for them.
Nietzsche was right. To a people clawing their way to reach the top of the their dung heap, this is nuts. The gospel presents crazy ways of thinking about power, crazy definitions of success, crazy ideas and images about the meaning and purpose of life, crazy story-lines that no author would plot (Leonard Sweet, Jesus Drives Me Crazy)
f. But Proverbs the book of wisdom, the book on how to live a life that works tells us that God rewards the humble, gives grace to the humble, blesses the humble!
i. But heed the warning: But it also says God detests – no hates - the prideful and arrogant mindsets. He will never bless Pride – He will not reward pride! But He will reward humility!
ii. It’s crazy but wisdom comes from God and God alone – you cannot give yourself wisdom. You cannot attain wisdom on your own strength or intellect – it comes from God and God alone.
1. This is why James 1: 5: 5If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
iii. The Devil discovered that His pride – the arrogance he had when he exalted himself against God costs dearly:
1. Isaiah 14: 13-15: 13You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. 14I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.
2. Ezekiel 28 – see the comments above.
3. Satan was cast out of Heaven to this earth as punishment for His pride and arrogance. He will be destroyed in the end.
a. Why? He is driven by pride and arrogance.
i. We should not be!
Conclusion:
How important is it to be humble and to rid ourselves of Pride? To one of our presidents it was critical for the future of this nation.
OUR DEPENDENCE ON GOD
“It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord. We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”
SOURCE: Abraham Lincoln, Oct 1863. Contributed by: Daniel Becker to sermoncentral.com
I love this quote and thoughts from http://www.gotquestions.org/pride-Bible.html:
There is a difference between the kind of pride that God hates (Proverbs 8:13) and the kind of pride we feel about a job well done. The kind of pride that stems from self-righteousness is sin, and God hates it because it is a hindrance to seeking Him…Psalm 10:4 explains that the proud are so consumed with themselves that their thoughts are far from God: “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” This kind of haughty pride is the opposite of the spirit of humility that God seeks: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The “poor in spirit” are those who recognize their utter spiritual bankruptcy and their inability to come to God aside from His divine grace. The proud, on the other hand, are so blinded by their pride that they think they have no need of God or, worse, that God should accept them as they are because they deserve His acceptance. …Pride has kept many people from accepting Jesus Christ as Savior. Admitting sin and acknowledging that in our own strength we can do nothing to inherit eternal life is a constant stumbling block for prideful people. We are not to boast about ourselves; if we want to boast, then we are to proclaim the glories of God. What we say about ourselves means nothing in God’s work. It is what God says about us that makes the difference (2 Corinthians 10:13).
Why is pride so sinful? Pride is giving ourselves the credit for something that God has accomplished. Pride is taking the glory that belongs to God alone and keeping it for ourselves.
Listen up Christian God will never give you blessings to boast of yourself and your great power. He will never allow you to take Pride in what He has done for you as if you earned it!
25 Scripture Verses on Pride
1. I will break down your stubborn pride. Leviticus 26:19
2. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ Obadiah 1:3
3. His pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God. 2 Chronicles 26:16
4. In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. Psalm 10:4
5. For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. Psalm 59:12
6. When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2
7. Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. Proverbs 13:10
8. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
9. A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor. Proverbs 29:23
10. The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Ecclesiastes 7:8
11. The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. Isaiah 2:11
12. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. Isaiah 13:11
13. Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaiah 13:19
14. The LORD Almighty planned it, to bring low the pride of all glory and to humble all who are renowned on the earth. Isaiah 23:9
15. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. Daniel 5:20
16. “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. 1 Corinthians 4:6
17. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load. Galatians 6:4
18. Your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 8:14
19. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low. Job 40:11
20. Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. Psalm 138:6
21. The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. Proverbs 16:5
22. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. Proverbs 16:19
23. Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor. Proverbs 18:12
24. The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled). Isaiah 2:12
25. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 1 Corinthians 13:4
