Pride is a killer if…
Introduction-
Good Morning, Glad that you are able to join us this morning.
It is a wonderful thing that we can record our sermons and those that want to listen have a place to go to hear God’s word.
Question for you- What would you do if you began listening to this service and you heard something you totally disagree with?
You probably would hit that delete button and stop watching.
But life is not that easy- you don’t have a delete button, at best you have an adjust button.
You are forced to work your way through some tough times.
Sometimes you have to hear some hard things and you have to suck it up when you don’t want too. Why? Because life does not revolve around you.
There are too many moving parts that we do not control.
Just like when I was a kid in Milwaukee and on a snow day (A day with too much snow and you get sent home) that we have been let out of school my mother thought it important I go sliding down the hill on a metal flying saucer for fun! Sometimes it isn’t pleasant and you can’t control it because we have too many moving parts.
We have been indoctrinated in the world today by loud worldly voices that have said we don’t have to listen, we don’t have to do what we don’t want too, and we don’t have to obey when we disagree.
What do we call that? Doing your own thing? Not exactly. Are you getting older and wiser and not redoing things that were hard? Not exactly. It is pride- we have made our opinions known and we have let others know how great we are. we don’t care what others think about it.
In the Bible, God’s word, the truth of God, God gives us His Word for our guidance. He tells us that His word is a double-edged sword that cuts out and adds things for the betterment of our lives.
God does not defend His word/ He does not have to prove who He is to anyone- giving us a choice of wither we accept it as truth, He only telling us the cost or penalty of not listening to His word.
God talks about pride quite a bit. It is one of the six things that God hates-
There are a lot of things that we can have options-
We can go to a fast food menu and pick anything we want on the menu.
We can go to any store full of clothes and only buy what we like- both places we get to have it our own way. Why? Because the choice is ours and it has no spiritual value- who cares wither you buy the blue shirt or the red shirt- whither you have the happy meal or order off of the dollar menu.
But there are some decisions that if we make the wrong decision can affect our life forever.
According to C.S. Lewis “According to church teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil is pride- unchasity, greed, drunkenness, and all that are mere “flea bites” in comparison.”
The great author of the protestant faith- the writer of the movie the witch and the wardrobe says that pride is the worse of the evils and the rest are as flea bites in comparison.
Prayer-
Pride is a hard thing Lord because most notice it in us before we know pride is a problem. Help us today to see pride as you do and that is dangerous sin in our lives that takes us out of focus of what you want for our lives. May you reveal to us areas of our lives that we need you to be working on and where we can replace prideful with the humility of Christ who is our model of redemption and service for you. Amen.
I think before we can make sure we don’t have pride in our lives, we have a working definition of pride-
What is pride and make sure our definition of pride is the same way that God defines it.
Webster definition of pride- “a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
Pride is thinking that you are all that and a bag of chips- you are looking down on someone else to elevate yourself.
You have gone past proud because to be proud is an accomplishment that brings self worth but when you have gone past a healthy proud to pride you have stepped into a dangerous place.
God actually says in Proverbs 6:16-19 that it is one of the seven deadly sins that draw us away from the Lord. “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him; haughty eyes (pride) , a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”
I have three steps to prevent pride from killing you- there may be more but preachers always have three points-
Pride will kill you if… Don’t identify it
Pride will kill you if…You don’t address it
Pride will kill you if... You don’t destroy it
Pride will kill you if… You don’t identify it
How do you identify if you have pride in your life? Well, you probably won’t notice it yourself but friends and family and those who are around will let you know if you ask them. They won’t call it pride but they might tell you that you can be arrogant, self-absorbed, full of yourself, hard on other people, talk a lot about yourself, only think of yourself, and are just plain mean at times. Opinionated, always have to have the last word and you were born into the greatest family that ever existed and you should be so happy that they have allowed you to be in their presence… but enough about me is there favorite line that is followed by a deep breath and part two of how great they are. Do you know anyone like that?
If not be careful that you are not that person.
Isn’t it nice to discover something new and exciting about someone rather than being pinned in a corner to have to listen to it from that someone where the story never ends except to say that’s nice…good…great..wow… thanks for sharing but now I have to go wash my ears out and take a nap!
God Hates Pride
Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
Proverbs 16:5 “The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.”
Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Why would God hate pride so much? Because it is the same pride that caused Satan to fall from heaven because he wanted to be God.
Isaiah 14:12- “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart I will ascend to the heavens; 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. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the most high. But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.”
He wants us to identify it so we can do something about it.
I…I…I… that was Satan’s problem with pride and it is our downfall if we do not identify it in our lives.
We must learn to hate what God hates and to love what God loves. How much do you hate pride?
Proverbs 8:13 “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behaviour and perverse speech.”
God is opposed to the proud. You don’t want God as your opponent.
James 4:6 “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.””
Pride will kill you if… you don’t address it
Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
Proverbs 29:23 “A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honour.”
God opposes the prideful but humbles the humble- to be a person of humility and humble is to be the opposite of prideful- God desire us to have a humble and renew a right spirit-
“Create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a right spirit in me!
Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up
Isn’t it funny that for some they are always blowing their own horn and trying to elevate themselves and the Lord keeps humbling them- the one who heart is right and has asked God to create in him or her a heart that can be used are the ones who are servants. The ones who don’t have to sit at the guest table and be lifted up- they are the ones that the Lord seems to exalt and put into possessions of influence.
If you raise yourself up, the Lord will bring you down, you humble yourself and the Lord will lift you up.
Song- humble yourself in the sight of the Lord…humble your self in the sight of the Lord..and He. And He will lift you up!
Pride will kill you if… you do not destroy it
Ways to do that
Speak less and listen more. Think about the most delightfully humble people you know. ...
Take correction. ...
Surround yourself with godly and talented people. ...
Grow your heart toward humility with humble actions.
Proverbs 2:1-15 Passion Translation
“My child, will you treasure my wisdom? Then, and only then, will you acquire it. And only if you accept my advice and hide it within will you succeed. So train your heart to listen when I speak and open your spirit wide to expand your discernment-then pass it on to your sons and daughters. Yes, cry out for comprehension and intercede for insight. For if you keep seeking it like a man would seek for sterling silver, then you will discover the fear of the Lord and find true knowledge of God. Wisdom is a gift from a generous God, and every word he speaks is full of revelation and becomes a fountain of understanding within in. For the Lord has a hidden storehouse of wisdom made accessible to his godly lovers. He becomes your personal bodyguard as you follow his ways, protecting, and guarding you as you choose what is right. Then you will discover all that is just, proper, and fair, and be empowered to make the right decisions as you walk into your destiny. When wisdom wins your heart and revelation breaks in, true pleasure enters your soul. If you choose to follow good counsel, divine design will watch over you and understanding will protect you from making poor choices. It will rescue you from evil in disguise and from those who speak duplicities. For they have left the highway of holiness and walk in the ways of darkness. They take pleasure when evil prospers and thoroughly enjoy a lifestyle of sin. But they’re walking on a path to nowhere, wandering away into deeper deception.”
You may be here saying preacher I thought we were talking about pride- we are! If we don’t want pride in our lives we must destroy it and the only way of destroying it is in the truth of God. The more Godly wisdom we allow in our lives, the more of His truth to be lived out , we crush pride and all the evil things that pride brings in our lives. Humbles spirit is what God is wanting in our lives and pride will destroy that- it is the opposite of what God wants.
James says “Who is wise among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
Doug Larson- “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would have preferred to talk”
As we close- You have to identify it, address it, and destroy it…what is it? Pride…and all the evil things that come with it. You cannot play nice with it! You have to destroy it! You have to crush it! You have to get rid of it completely in Jesus Name!
For some this will be hard- but today the Lord has shown you some things- you have to respond.
Beck use to substitute turkey bacon for my good old fashioned pork bacon- you can’t make turkey taste like pork- the same is true in our lives, you cannot substitute something for pride, you have to destroy it because anything that looks like pride will be pride and you cannot have even a hint of it in your life or it will destroy what God is doing.
