The Sin of Pride 2016 Bob Marcaurelle
Copyright 2016 by Bob Marcaurelle
Email: freesermons@homeorchurchbiblestudy.com
THE SIN OF PRIDE
“There are six things God hates, seven that are
detestable to Him: haughty eyes..” (Proverbs 6:16)
“Pride and arrogance I do hate.” (Prov. 8:3)
“The Lord detests (KJV- an abomination) all the proud of. Be sure
of this: They will not go unpunished.” (Prov. 16:5)
We get the message- Pride, to God, is an abomination. The church agrees. Augustine, who laid the foundation for Protestant Christianity, called it the “Unpardonable Sin”. Acquinas, who laid the foundation for Roman Catholic Christianity said it is the deadliest of of the deadly sins.
WHAT IS PRIDE?
Not all pride is bad. There is nothing wrong with being proud of someone who has overcome obstacles to achieve a worthwhile goal. If your child works hard to improve their grades and suceeds it is not only right to be proud but we need to let them know. Everybody needs an “attaboy” sometimes to be encouraged.
Pride becomes bad when achievements are not worthwhile. For example a bully can be proud of being able to beat up everybody in school. It is when his achievements make him feel superior to others; when he boasts about achievements and when he does not thank God for motivating him, helping him and giving him the ability.
Discussing the bad Proverbs singles out the “proud look” (haughty eyes). We have all seen it – from the straight “A” student looking at the all “C” student; the superior athlete looking at the kid in the band; the rich person in his new car looking at someone driving a car with black smoke coming out of the exhaust; the pretty cheerleader looking at the girl who is overweight. etc. All around us we see pride of race and pride of place whether is be financial, social, intellectual, physical or national.
It has helped me when I see someone with the “pride look” all over his or her face, to think of a Camel. A camel is ugly, nasty and smelly and he looks down one you. You can look into his nostrils and is mouth because he is always chewing something and slobbering. That is how a proud person looks to God.
Worst of all is pride of grace. This is when a strong Christian (or someone who thinks he is a Christian) looks down on and feels superior to the weaker Christian. This, along with the absence of love was the crowning sin of the Pharisees, the ones most responsible for having Jesus killed.
One day Jesus saw a crowd of Pharisees who “were confident of their own goodness (righteousness) and “looked down on everybody else.” (Lk. 18:9). And He told a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector- the group hated the most by the Jewish people who considered them traitors. The two were in church and the tax collector far away from the Pharisee bared his soul about his sinfulness and cried for mercy. The Pharisee prayed about himself and told God how good he was and how thankful that he was not like that Publican there.
We should be thankful for things like this but this man made two mistakes. He felt that his virtues made him better than others who didn't live this way and he did not pray for God to help the Publican. He criticized him. Jesus said, he “exalted himself” (18:14).
We find this in our churches. First Timothy 3:6 says we not to ordain a new convert as a Pastor because, “He may become conceited and end up receiving the same judgment that came on the devil” (1 Tim. 3:6). The devil lost his place before God because he was proud.
WHAT IS SO BAD ABOUT PRIDE?
1. It Dethrones God
Pride, on the surface seems to be harmless and “victom-less”. Why is it called an abomination? Reason number one is that it dethrones God in a person's heart. Psalm 10: 4 says, “In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him (God). In all his thoughts there is no room for God.”
The most important person in a proud person's life is himself. He is the center of his existence. He is his own little god. In Acts 12 King Herod began persecuting the Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem and killed James. God did not strike him down for this. But later when he wore his kingly robes and delivered a speech the people shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not a man.” Because he relished in this and did not give praise to God, God sent an angel to give him a disease that created worms that ate him on the inside until he died.
We do not have many who will be this brazen. But the majority of people in our world dethrone God in their lives, trust in their own strength and wisdom an in essence tell God, “I don't need you.” Wallace Henly wrote in “Invictus”, a declaration of independence from God,
It matters not how straight the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the captain of my fate
The master of my soul
2. It Damns the Soul
The Pharisee in Jesus' story confessed no sins and in essence was saying he did not need God's forgiveness. He felt the life he lived by his own choice, commitment and will power made him eligible for heaven. Paul said if “righteousness (being right with God) can be gained by doing good things then Jesus died for nothing” (Gal. 2:21) The proud person looks at Jesus on the cross and says, “I don't need you.”.
3. It Damages Others
It is the opposite of love. First Corinthians 13 says of love, “It is not proud, boastful, rude or self seeking.” People receive no help from those who look down on them. The rich man in Jesus' story had a few scraps handed to the beggar Lazarus but he never helped him find a way out of his life of begging.
The Pharisee had no desire whatsoever to help the Publican mainly because by putting him down he was elevating himself. Churches do this. We take food and second hand clothes to the hungry but never get to know them as individuals and see if we can help them.
People are demoralized by the proud.
The number one reason for suicide among elementary students and teens is that they are looked down on by the “in crowd”. Sometimes, because of the evil in human nature, it turns cruel and the “in crowd” turns to bullying and making fun of a person.
Our society elevates brawn (athletics), bucks (living in nicer house and driving a newer car than others), beauty and brains (going to college, getting a PHD, etc). Our churches are caught up in this. On the cover of our denominational magazines you almost always find beautiful, thing people.
ABC's program “20-20” with hidden cameras had heavy people and thin people walk into a store. And the thin people were almost always waited on first and with more courtesy than the heavy ones. This is demoralizing and takes the heart out of people and the desire to be or do better.
Worse when it comes from church members like this Pharisee it keeps people from finding God. If Christians act like they are better than us, we don't want any part of them or their God. Paul told the proud Pharisees, “The name of God is blasphemed because of you.” (Rom. 2). If we have a one hundred dollar tie on with a gravy stain on it, all people will see is the stain. When we, in humility, give Jesus the credit and do all we can to seek to love and help others we will draw people to Christ and not drive them away.
Alexander Whyte was one of Scotland's most admired Pastors. People everywhere talked about his godliness and humility. When his young associate James Black told him this, Whyte said, “They would not say this if they knew my heart. Almost daily I fall short of what I know God wants me to be and I am drive to my knees asking for mercy and help.” On another occasion he and Black heard the town bell ring to announce an execution. When his eyes filled with tears Black asked him if he knew the person. Whyte said, “No. I was just thinking that were it not for Christ in my live that bell could be ringing for me.”
4. It Damages Us
Pride separates us from others. Nobody likes a braggart. When Rory McElroy was young he was the best golfer in Ireland. He would come home from a match in high school and tell his parents all about his score and the shots he made on the golf course. They were rather cool about this and would say things like, “That's nice Rory. Wash your hands, its time for suppear.” One day he asked his father why he wasn't more excited about his achievements. The dad gave him a life lesson we all need to learn. He said Rory, you are a good golfer. But when you become a great golfer other people will tell your mom and I how good you are.
5. Pride separates us from God's power.
God not only hates pride he “gives grace to the humble and resists the proud.” (). When we think we can do something without Him he will let us do it without him and in spiritual things like building a Christian home and helping others come to Christ, this means we will fail.
Even Paul got caught up in this. At some point in his life he started hurting with some kind of terrible pain that tortured him like a thorn. He begged God to take it away and when he didn't he kept on talking to God about it and God showed him the reason was his pride. Somewhere in his life he was blessed with a strange, out of body experience that let him hear beautiful sounds from heaven. Through his persistent prayers he learned the why of his pain. He said, “It was given to me to keep me from becoming conceited about my revelations (from God). Getting pride out, he said, made his weakness be replaced by God's strength. (2 Cor. 12)
Spurgeon told of a proud young seminary graduate. He went to his first little church thinking how fortunate these common people were to have someone like him with all his intelligence and spiritual maturity. When the time came for him to preach in his first worship service he walked to his pulpit with head held high to deliver his masterpiece. He failed miserably and walked out with his head low, thinking about quitting the ministry. A wise deacon took him aside and said, “Son if you walked in like you walked out (head low) you would have walked out like you walked in (head high).
HOW SHOULD WE DEAL WITH IT?
We will never eradicate pride. Our so called “victories” or “deliverances” from certain sins are like the “delete” button on a computer. We think what we deleted is gone but it is hiding somewhere in the computer. It is the same with bad attitudes and actions. The Bible says, “If you think you are standing securely, you'd better look out for a fall.” (1 Cor. 10:12) This is especially true of pride because to say you have beaten something is a proud thing to say and “pride goes before.. a great fall” (Prov.16:18). In addition to this, pride is so much a part of who we are as fallen human beings, that if stays with us like our shadow.
If we are honest we feel it every day. We drive a new car and the car in front of us needs paint and has smoke coing out of the tailpipe. We have good health and work with a person who is in chronic back pain. We graduate from a University and a classmate graduates from a Tech School. We exercise and lose weight and our friend talks about exercise and keeps on eathing too much. The list is endless.
See Every Person as Special to God.
God tells us through James, “Never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearance (If you do) you are guilty of making judgments based on evil motives.” (2:1,4 TEV)
The Jews hated the cruel Assyrians so when God told him to go and preach to them Jonah went in the opposite direction. After being thrown up by a fish he went. In four he told God, “I knew you were gracious, compassionate and slow to anger.” God answered him, “Nineveh has 120,000 people who don't know their right hand from their left (eg. don't know right and wrong; don't know the kind of life God wants). Shouldn't I be concerned about (them).”
Fear God. To belittle anyone is to belittle what God has created.
We all know the anger that borders on rage we experience when someone hurts one of our children. Certainly God is above this kind of anger but the depth of emotion this creates in us lets us know how serious God must take this.
Thank God for your victories and opportunities.
If you worked had and succeeded it was God who gave you the motivation and the power to see they challenge through. It is also God who gave you your family, the ones who participate in your successes and give your achievements meaningful for you.
Think of how ugly you are to God when you feel
superior to than someone
Every time you think you are “above” someone, picture a camel with his open nostrils and remind yourself this is how you look to God in that moment.
If you are “money” or “things” proud ask yourself
how much do you use your money to help others
Go to the Cross
Paul said, “May I never boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 6:14)
Standing at the cross think about yourself.
1. Think about how selfish and rebellious you were when God found you. Ask yourself, “Where would I be today without Jesus; who would I be married to; what kind of home would I have, etc”
A Christian social worker led a poor woman living in a railroad shack to faith in Christ. She then gave her a beautiful vase of flowers. When she visited again she saw that the walls of that little shack were painted; pretty curtains had been hung on the windows and the house was spotlessly clean. The beauty of the flowers showed the dinginess of her little room and she felt led to make her room a pretty as she could. That is exactly what Jesus should be doing in each of us.
2. At the cross think about others
... and see them as people, as fellow human beings. Looking at the awesome God of creation we see how small and seemingly insignificant we all are. We say with David, “When I look at the sky you have made and the moon and the stars you set in place – what is man that you think of him, mere man that you care for him” (Ps. 8:3).
But from the vantage point of Calvary we see how valuable we all are. Picture a refugee camp in the Sudan with a little child drinking dirty water from a puddle. That child is more valuable and precious to God than all the stars in the sky. God exerted no energy when he “spoke” the stars in place but to show his love for that little child he had to hang on a cross.
Muretos was a wandering scholar in the middle ages. He fell on hard times; became what we call a homeless or “street” person and was found almost dead in an alley. In the hospital the doctors looking at him spoke to each other in Latin the language of the scholars and well educated, They talked about how he was worthless to society perhaps they should just let him die. Muretus, who knew Latin, got their attention and said, “Gentleman, call no one worthless for whom the Son of God was willing to suffer and die.”
