We Have a Problem Called Pride
Luke 18:10-13
February 6, 2005
In 1994, I was the Annual Conference Secretary of Global Ministries. It was in that capacity that I joined a survey team to Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Andrew. Three of us went down to determine how best our Annual Conference could respond to the incredible devastation that was brought by that storm.
An RV dealer in Merrillville was gracious enough to lend us a 27 foot motor home for the trip. So my friend Greig and I took off from Crown Point, picked up another friend, also named Greg down in Wabash, and headed south. We needed to be self-contained with our own food, water, and power because we weren’t sure what facilities would be available once we arrived on the scene. As it turned out, we lived much more comfortably than did those to whom we went to minister. The mayor of Baldwin, Louisiana invited us over to his house for a fish fry one night. His house was relatively untouched by the storm and we enjoyed a wonderful evening of deep-fried Red Snapper fresh from the Gulf of Mexico. I still feel a little guilty about that when so many people were eating out of a Red Cross truck.
On the way down, we stopped for a night at a campground in Mississippi. This particular campground had a resident swan. This bird was the largest winged creature I have ever seen. What made it even worse was that he wasn’t yet ready to concede that the south lost the war of northern aggression.
As I was walking up to get a shower in the morning, this swan decided that the park was not big enough for the two of us. It must have looked really funny, but I was running for my life with this great white monster in hot pursuit. I knew that he didn’t have teeth, but I still didn’t want to find out what that flapping beak could do to my backside. I know you can’t ascribe human emotions to animals, but this creature was obviously very proud of his status as the alpha male of the campground.
I read a story in "The Workbook on the 7 Deadly Sins" by Maxie Dunnam and Kimberly Dunnam Reisman. It concerned Vince Lombardi when when he was the coach of the Green Bay Packers. His team won a playoff game that almost no one thought they could win. For some reason, his wife had been unable to attend the game. It was late when he got home that evening, and so he tried to climb into bed without waking her, but he brushed his feet up against her leg. “God, your feet are cold,” she said. He replied, “When we are in bed, just call me Vince.”
Today, we begin a series on the seven deadly sins. I thought that it would be a good topic for our Lenten sermons, and even though Lent doesn’t begin for three days, I thought we would get a head start. This first sermon is obviously on pride.
Lent is the time when we attempt to be honest with ourselves and with God about our sins. I fully realize that we really don’t want to talk about our sins. It is much too painful or embarrassing. It causes us to remember things that we would prefer remain hidden. It forces us to dredge up old memories which remind us that we are not as virtuous as we would have ourselves and others believe.
But, like it or not, sin is real. Grace, love, forgiveness, and salvation are real as well, but we can’t fully enjoy them unless we realize how far we have come. We are making our way to Easter and the empty tomb, but we can’t experience the tremendous joy in that event without first considering the depths of sin from which we have been saved. Coming face-to-face with our sins helps us understand that we have a choice. We can choose to remain mired in our sin or we can choose the way of Jesus, the path of righteousness, the road of salvation.
Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century catalogued the deadliest sins as being seven in number: pride, avarice (greed), lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. These sins are deeply rooted in our nature and not only affect us individually, but spill out and target the society around us as well. These are not private sins. They may be personal, but they are far from private.
I don’t know what your personal theology of sin might be, but our faith tradition has always traced the advent of sin back to Adam and Eve. Eve was beguiled by the Serpent, ate the fruit, gave a bite to Adam, and the rest is history. We all share this original stain of sin; this rebellion against God; this attempt to set ourselves up as the final authority in matters of right and wrong; this missing the mark of God’s high calling; this predisposition to offend God at every opportunity. Perhaps what is worse than any of that, is our inability to take responsibility for ourselves; our refusal to acknowledge the ways we have sinned; our inclination to deny that we have a problem.
The sin of pride comes first, perhaps because it is the sin of Adam and Eve. When Satan was talking to Eve, he told her that the reason God didn’t want them to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden was because it would make them like God himself. That was the hook. That was the selling point. That is what drew them in.
They could be like God, they were told. They could possess God’s power and knowledge. They could reign with God in the heavens. They could have dominion and control over the whole universe. They could puff out their chests and be proud of the fact that they were so important.
When you think about it, pride deserves its place at the head of the list of the seven deadly sins because it is the precursor of all the rest. Pride convinces us that we are invincible and so don’t need to be worried about the place of sin in our life. If it weren’t for pride, we wouldn’t have to worry about avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, or sloth.
Let me first try to find a definition of what the sin of pride is NOT. Pride can mean self-respect. It can mean satisfaction or elation at one’s achievements.
Those are GOOD things. To have pride in the way one looks, or behaves, or achieves is the beginning of healthy self-esteem. Minority populations in the United States are often encouraged to be proud of who they are; be proud of their heritage; be proud of their accomplishments; be proud of their contributions to the mosaic that is life in this country. I think that is healthy. I still remember the poster I saw when I was a teenager. It was a photo of a little boy, obviously poor. He was standing on a sidewalk with tattered shoes and a t-shirt with a hole in it. The caption read “God made me. And God don’t make junk.” Pride and self-esteem are good things. This kind of pride is not a sin.
If you remember, King David built a magnificent palace for himself in Jerusalem. In his prayers, he told God that it wasn’t right that he lived in a great home, but there was no Temple for the almighty. God, if you remember the story, told him that it would be his son, Solomon, who would build the Temple.
Years later, after the Temple had been completed, Solomon assembled all of the priests, heads of tribes, and leaders of Israel. They stood in front of the Temple and dedicated it to God’s worship. Do you think that Solomon was proud of his accomplishment? Do you think that he was proud of the finished product? Do you think that he was proud of this lasting symbol of God’s power?
You bet he was proud. But you see, the pride he felt was not for himself. It was for God. He was proud that God would be worshipped in a manner fitting God’s glory. Solomon spoke to his people and said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David (I Kings 8:15). This kind of pride is not a sin.
But what kind of pride is a sin? The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Rome and told them this. By the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned (Romans 12:3).
We all know people who are stuck on themselves, don’t we, people who think more highly of themselves than they perhaps ought? We all know some folks who walk around with their noses in the air because they believe that they are entitled to a few more perks in life than the rest of us, just because of who they are.
Sinful pride is like an itch that constantly needs scratched. It’s a need to always be the center of attention. It’s the need to always have recognition. It swells your heart and puffs out your chest. It’s like eating potato chips. I dare you to eat just one. You need another one and another and another. It is like the next drink for the alcoholic. You have to have it. It’s self-centeredness that drives out rational thought.
The real problem with sinful pride is that it prevents us from knowing the truth about ourselves. It won’t allow us to be honest with ourselves. It won’t permit us to even consider the possibility that there is a character defect with which we need to come to terms.
It’s like the Pharisee in the Scripture lesson for this morning. He spent his time in the Temple thanking God that he wasn’t like all of those other people there; thanking God that he wasn’t a thief, a rogue, an adulterer, or even a sinner like that IRS agent. His pride kept him from knowing the truth about himself. The truth was that his self-righteousness was keeping him even more separated from God than those whom he despised.
Pride makes us impatient with the faults and failures of others. Our own inflated egos serve to magnify the faults of those around us. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about our propensity to notice the speck in the eye of another without first noticing the log in our own (Matthew 7:3).
Pride makes us arrogant. Because we come to believe that we are better than everyone else, we think that they ought to cater to our needs. We selfishly insist that our own needs get met first, and so fail to consider the needs of others. Pride won’t allow us to give our attention to people who do not serve our needs for recognition.
Pride is ultimately destructive of our relationship with God. Like the Pharisee in the Gospel story, pride prevents us from recognizing the need to repent of our sins. If we can’t see our faults, then we can’t see any need to repent. It becomes impossible for us to say “I’m sorry” to God. That is perhaps the saddest result of all. Pride disrupts our relationship with God.
We are entering the season of Lent, the time when we recognize and repent of our sins in preparation for the coming of Easter and the promise of the empty tomb of Jesus. Easter will be a wonderful day and a glorious celebration. But we will never be able to fully appreciate and enjoy that day unless we realize the depths of sin from which Jesus has saved us.
This week, I would invite you to try to realize when you are wanting to be the center of the universe. Try to be aware of the times when you begin to think that the world revolves around you. Try to recognize those moments when you push the needs of others aside because they conflict with your own happiness. Try to be attentive to your own needs for repentance and forgiveness.
Sinful pride is something that has the ability to sort of sneak up on you without you realizing it. And before you know it, you begin to act as though you are God’s gift to the universe.
During this Lenten season, I pray that we will all do our best to get a handle on the pride that brings havoc and devastation to our lives. I pray that we will all be able to bow before God in humility, confessing our need for God, repenting of the ways in which we deny God, and opening ourselves up to be touched by the power of the Holy Spirit. My prayer is that we will be able to use this time before Easter to prepare ourselves for the greatest gift of all time: the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus. When we realize the depth of our sin, we will then be able to enjoy the height of glory.
