If you’re visiting with us this morning then let me get you up to speed by telling you that here at Redland, this spring we’ve been studying what the Bible has to say about seven of the deadliest sins. So far, we’ve looked to God’s Word for help in both understanding and dealing with the sins of greed, hypocrisy, and murder-and this morning we turn our attention to the sin of PRIDE.
Now, I’ve done a great deal of reading about the sin of pride over the past couple weeks-and I must say, the more I’ve read-the more disturbed I’ve become. I mean, my preparation for this morning’s sermon has really unsettled me-because the more I’ve studied about pride-the more I’ve understood the warning that’s found in Paul’s words in Hebrews 12:1 where he talks about the “sin that so easily entangles us.” You see, I’ve become convinced that the sin that MOST easily entangles all of us is this particular deadly sin-the sin of pride.
Up until this point in my life I guess I’d always thought of myself as a pretty humble person-but this week I realized that even that thought is prideful. The more I have looked at my own life through this week’s study-well, the more examples I have found of times that pride has very easily entangled me-very easily slipped into my life.
For example-and I hesitate to share this because doing so is somewhat prideful-so think of it as a confession of my own failings in this area. A few months ago I got a call from our director of missions, Ron Blankenship, asking me to serve as the President of the General Mission Board. Now, the General Mission Board is made up of representatives from Baptist churches in Maryland and Delaware-there are about 75 of us on the board. Most are pastors-and we meet four times a year to do convention business. It sounds boring but it’s actually pretty exciting work-we funnel funds to start new churches. We bring missionaries to work in areas where the gospel needs to be heard and approve of their salaries; We coordinate the ministries of hundreds of churches…things like that. I usually leave those quarterly meetings feeling very inspired. I mean it’s good to know that in spite of years of infighting, some Baptist Christians can still work together and join the Lord in His work without getting into squabbles over trivial issues.
Well, my first response to Ron’s request was “No-thanks, but no-you need a more experienced person for this important volunteer position. There’s no way I could be the president of the General Mission Board.” But, then about a week later, Dr. David Lee, the executive secretary of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware called and asked me to re-consider. He said I was the kind of leader they needed-someone without an agenda. When I mentioned my inexperience, he said not to worry because he’d help me get my feet on the ground. And after praying about it a week, I called him and accepted. I told myself it would give me a chance to have some much-needed fellowship with other pastors.
Well, our first meeting was just before Christmas and I want you to know that from the moment I entered the building people treated me with a special “red carpet” kind of treatment. The receptionist ushered me right into the office of our Executive Secretary. He rose to greet me and gave me a special file of important papers-presidential business-for us to go over together prior to the meeting. Then, when the actual General Mission Board meeting began I was shocked to hear that whenever I was addressed it was as, “Mr. President.” I’m not kidding. I almost laughed the first time they did this-thinking it was a joke-but then I saw they were serious. In their mind set I was indeed, “Mr. President.” And you know, it wasn’t too long before I went from feeling odd at being referred to like this-to liking it. Please don’t be impressed-since then I’ve learned that the President of the General Mission Board is really just a glorified moderator. I don’t get a limo or secret service protection or anything like that. I just use my very limited skills in parliamentary procedure to keep those 75 pastors on the agenda. It’s really not a big deal at all-it’s just tradition to refer to the moderator in this way. But PRIDE-this sin that, in my humble opinion, MOST easily entangles us, sprouted in my mind before I even knew it. I mean, I quickly grew to LIKE being called, “Mr. President.” As that first meeting progressed I began to look forward to the next time someone would have to address me. I even scanned the agenda to see when a board member might need to call on me and waited eagerly for those two words, “MR. PRESIDENT.”
Well that’s the way it is with PRIDE. Before we know it we find ourselves neck-deep in it. It’s that dangerous. It’s like a pesky weed that sprouts up when we least expect it. I saw this word picture in a message by David Rhodes. He says, “Pride is the dandelion of the soul. It’s roots go deep, only a little needs to be left behind and it can sprout again. Its seeds lodge in the tiniest encouraging cracks. It flourishes in good soil. The danger of pride is that it feeds on goodness.”
You know, when we began this series, I told you that we Christians tend to classify sin-which we do-and most of us “pridefully” think we are safe from those sins that we classify as being the worst: adultery, murder, car-jacking, etc. But I’m here to tell you this morning that we’ve erred in thinking this way. I believe the MOST dangerous sin is none of these. It’s PRIDE-because it gets us all and it does so very deceptively. It is SOOOO very easy to slip into prideful thoughts and actions.
This reminds me of a true story from the life of Ronald Reagan back in the days when he was governor of California and had just given a speech in Mexico City. Reagan writes: “After I had finished speaking, I sat down to rather UNENTHUSIASTIC applause, and I was a little embarrassed. The speaker who followed me spoke in Spanish-which I don’t understand-and HE was being applauded at almost every paragraph. Well, to hide my embarrassment, I started clapping when he spoke-BEFORE everyone else and LONGER than anyone else-until our ambassador leaned over and said, ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Mr. Reagan. You see, that man is interpreting YOUR speech.'”
Of course this was an innocent mistake-but it does illustrate the fact that it is very easy for us to LOOK prideful or slip into prideful actions. Even without our knowing it, pride can trip us up. Benjamin Franklin understood this. He once said, “There is perhaps none of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases-it is still alive. Even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it I would probably be proud of my humility.”
And you know, PART of the problem with pride is that it is easy to see in other people but hard to see in ourselves. This was illustrated in a satirical carton that The New Yorker magazine ran several years ago-a cartoon in which a smiling woman was jabbering nonstop to a glum-faced companion. The smiling woman finally said, “Well, that’s enough about me. Now let’s talk about you. What do YOU think about ME?” Pride is deceptive isn’t it? As this cartoon shows, it blinds us and gives us a tunnel vision such that we see everything through the lense of “me.”
In fact, SELF is the FOCUS of pride. Pride seeks to defend and advance SELF in every way possible. In his book, A Love Worth Giving, Max Lucado writes, “The self-centered see everything through self. Their motto? ‘It’s all about me!’ The flight schedule, the traffic, the dress styles, the worship styles, the weather, the work….everything is filtered through the mini-ME in the eye.”
Okay…before we go any further let’s stop and try to agree on an accurate definition of this dangerously deceptive sin. What exactly is Pride?
And to understand this word first we need to realize that PRIDE is not always a sin-I mean, there is such a thing as GOOD pride. GOOD PRIDE is seen in healthy self-respect, dignity, satisfaction in a job well done, joy in seeing others succeed…those kinds of things. But the other kind-BAD PRIDE-is conceit, egotism, it’s an attitude of superiority that manifests itself in ARROGANCE and BOASTING. This reminds me of a conversation an airline stewardess once had with Mohammed Ali when he was young and arrogant-just beginning his amazing career.
Ali was on a plane and refused to fasten his seat belt. The stewardess came up to him and asked him to do so but he said, “Superman don’t need no seat belt.” She looked at him and said, “Superman don’t need no plane.” Well, simply put pride is this assumption that we are somehow better than other people…that we are more important than others.
Pride can even make us think we are more important than God. In fact, it was this sinful way of thinking that entangled satan and led to his fall. Isaiah 14:13-15 records satan’s proud words, “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 the sacred mountains. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” And of course, once satan fell, he successfully led Adam and Eve to commit the same prideful sin. Remember? They ate of the forbidden fruit so they too could be equal to God.
Well, since pride is so destructive-since it can so easily entangles us-it would behoove us to learn to recognize it. So how can we? I mean, how do we know if we are slipping into the grasp of this sin?
To help you answer that question, here are some common symptoms that are found in prideful people. I found them in an article that was in an issue of Discipleship Journal a few years back. Listen and see if you recognize any of them in yourself:
- Spotty prayer life – this suggests that we don’t actively rely on God because we proudly think we can do it on our own without His help, which leads to a second symptom:
- Weariness – the inevitable result of pridefully trying to do it all on our own strength.
- Anger – can indicate that we are not trusting God’s sovereign plan and timing and are upset when things don’t go OUR way-and they never do when we ignore God’s guidance.
- A critical spirit is often found in prideful people – You see, the act of bringing others down especially when we do this to lift up ourselves points to an inflated sense of self.
- $ Taking responsibility for success, accomplishment, or financial prosperity – this may mean we have lost sight of God’s gracious and undeserved provision.
- Impatience about having to listen, wait, serve, be anonymous, or be led by someone else also hints at an overdeveloped sense of importance-or PRIDE.
And then, in his book, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, John Ortberg lists two other symptoms of pride that I think would help us in diagnosing this problem in our own lives.
One is VANITY – or a preoccupation with our appearance or image. Ortberg says, that if we exercise with spandex there’s a chance we have this problem-and, if we work out in a gym where there are mirrors on the wall and we watch, that’s a strong sign as well. I would add-if you have a closet that is over-flowing with clothes-you could be vain and therefore ensnared by pride. Lucado also writes about this particular aspect of pride and says, “Suppose you are in a group photo. The first time you see the picture where do you look? And if you look good, do you like the picture? If you are the ONLY one who looks good, do you still like the picture? If some are cross-eyed and others have spinach in their teeth-but you still look good-do you like the picture? If that’s what makes you like it even more, you’ve got a bad case of pride.”
Another symptom of pride is STUBBORNNESS. Proverbs 29:1 refers to this by saying, “One who is often reproved, yet remains stubborn, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.” You see, stubbornness can be a form of pride-pride that causes us to shun needed correction. It renders us unable to stop defending ourselves. When someone points out an error or flaw, we evade or deny or blame someone else. What about it? Do you often find yourself being defensive even when good friends or parents or siblings lovingly attempt to give you guidance? Do you find it difficult to admit wrong? Is it hard for your lips to form these three words, “I was wrong?” If your answer is YES, then there’s a good chance pride has you ensnared in its deadly grip.
And you know, after reviewing these symptoms, I think we’d be prideful if we didn’t admit that we are ALL susceptible to this sin! We ALL need God’s guidance as to how to break free of pride! AMEN? So let’s ALL pause now, as CC said last week for a word from our Sponsor. What does God’s Word say about pride? It says a great deal but in the interest of time, I’ve selected only two main texts that I think sum up exactly how our Heavenly Father feels about this sin. The first is Proverbs 16:16 and the second is 1 Peter 5:5.
Proverbs 16:16 – There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him: [and the first is] Haughty eyes…
1 Peter 5:5b – All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Now, please note that PRIDE is the first in this familiar list of seven things that are detestable to God. Pride is foremost. It gets top billing in this list. And here in 1 Peter it says that God “OPPOSES” the proud. Well, why would this particular sin be so upsetting to our Heavenly Father? Why would HE hate PRIDE more than other sins? Why would He oppose those who embrace it?
1. One reason is that He knows that, like all sin, pride HURTS us.
As Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction.” And I like the way The Message paraphrases it, “First pride-then the crash-the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.” This reminds me of a story I came across this week about a turtle who wanted to spend the winter in Florida, but he knew he could never walk that far. He convinced a couple of geese to help him, each taking one end of a piece of rope, while he clamped his vise-like jaws in the center. Well, the flight went fine until someone looked up in admiration and asked, “Who in the world thought of that?” Unable to resist the chance to take credit, the prideful turtled opened his mouth to shout, “I di….d!” Well, as this story illustrates, when we engage in prideful behavior we are setting ourselves up for a painful fall. Pride hurts and God doesn’t want His children to hurt-the thing He wants most for us is that we would experience the joy of living life as He intended. I think this is one PRIDE is listed first in this list of sins that God hates most.
A. And one way pride hurts us is this: it opens the door to other SINS.
Now, remember, pride is an attitude that focuses undue attention on self-and this focus ALWAYS leads to sin. For example we give in to GREED when we feel that SELF does not have enough. We give in to ENVY when we feel that SELF has not received its due, and honor has gone to someone “less” deserving. We often give in to ANGER when SELF is offended.
We give in to A CRITICAL SPIRIT when SELF esteem has been injured. We feel resentment when our own self is threatened by that of others. Well, for this reason pride appears not just on this list in Proverbs 16 but in every other major list of deadly sins in Scripture. As C. S. Lewis once said: “There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty of themselves: PRIDE. Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”
B. And then another way pride hurts us is that it prevents personal GROWTH.
You see when we think we have it all together we don’t have any motivation to keep learning and growing and developing and changing. Proverbs 10:17 refers to this by saying, “Anyone willing to be corrected is on the pathway to life. Any one refusing has lost his chance.” Or, as someone once wisely put it, “When the head starts swelling the mind stops growing.” The fact is pride keeps us from getting needed help. If we have MARRIAGE problems and we won’t talk to anyone about it, that’s pride. When we’ve got FINANCIAL problems and we don’t want to admit it and ask for help, that’s pride. When we’re not cutting it as PARENTS-when we’re not making it AT WORK and don’t want anyone to know about it-that’s pride and it keeps us from getting help and therefore growing. You see, pride makes us prefer to LOOK smart more than to BE smart.
2. A second reason God stands opposed to pride is because He knows it POISONS relationships.
The fact is, the root of all conflict and disharmony is pride. As Proverbs 13:10 says, “Pride breeds quarrels.” Think about it. When we act out of pride we tend to be demanding and unsympathetic. We become obnoxious and rude-and who wants to be around someone like that? I mean, when we shop for friends do we look for proud braggarts? No-of course not. This old cliche phrase is so true: “Pride is the only disease that makes everyone sick except the person who has it.”
One of the ministers who sat on my ordination council made sure we all knew he had just received his doctorate. He told us had gotten it via correspondence courses that only took him a couple months and he was very proud of his “accomplishment.” In fact, to commemorate his new educational achievement he had gotten a personalized license plate for his car that said, “Dr. Dan” and we all kind of groaned as we heard him boast. Let’s just say, he was a very PRIDEFUL person and unpleasant to be around. In current lingo, he felt he was “all that” and then some.
I remember asking my dad about him on our way home from the council. Dad told me that when Dan showed up at the council and first told him about his new degree he said, “Charles, from now on you’ll have to call me ‘Dr.'” And dad replied by pointing to his Masters Degree hanging on the wall and said, “I’ll be glad to Dan…..as long as you always refer to me as ‘Master.'” I know my father’s response was itself prideful…but he verbalized what the other ministers thought. No one enjoys a relationship with a prideful person. Remember, selfless, giving love BUILDS relationships but prideful selfishness ERODES them. You know, so many conflicts in marriage and in parenting and in churches would never happen if it weren’t for arrogance. Usually the key to reconciliation is for us to simply swallow our pride. And if it helps, remember, pride is non-fattening!
So, God detests pride because He knows it hurts us-He knows it poisons relationships-but the main reason God opposes pride is because….
3. it makes a growing relationship with Him IMPOSSIBLE.
I mean, you can’t even become a Christian until you first HUMBLE yourself and admit that you are a sinner and that you can’t make it on your own-that you NEED Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. PRIDE is the wall that will keep any sinner from a relationship with God and God loves sinners so He hates pride. Pride can lead us to exclude God from His rightful place in our hearts and to bow down before a mirror instead. It is the main form of idolatry in society today. And we see it so clearly in our culture where people foolishly think they are greater experts on how to live than God is.
You know, there is a lot of Catholic doctrine that I disagree with-but I must say, I like some of the things that are being said about the new pope. He’s been criticized as conservative and unbending when it comes to things like abortion and gay marriage-and I like his response. This is a loose quote but he said, that Christians should live according to the unchanging Word of God and not according to the ever-changing standards of culture. And-Pope Benedict is right-It’s prideful to think we know how to live this life better than our Creator.
Okay…how do we avoid the snares that pride sets? Or…if entangled, how do we free ourselves? I want to suggest two basic principles we need to follow.
1. First to defeat pride we must learn NOT take OURSELVES too seriously.
Speaking of popes, Lewis Smeades tells a wonderful story about Pope John XXIII. Apparently a member of the curia was continually nagging him to fix this or that problem. This official in the curia lived as though he alone saw the severity of the problems facing the church and the world, and as if without his warnings everything would collapse. Finally the pope had had enough, so he took his hyper-conscientious adviser aside and confessed that he, too, was sometimes tempted to live as though the fate of the world rested on him. He was helped, he said, by an angel who would sometimes appear by the side of his bed and say, “Hey there Johnny boy, don’t take yourself so seriously.”
Well, this is good advice for us to heed in our battle with pride because in order to defeat it we must remember that as the Psalmist says, “The Lord is God. It is He Who has made us and not we ourselves. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.” (Psalm 100:1-3) Paul refers to this attitude in 1Corinthians 15:10 where he says “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. I worked harder than all of them-yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” In other words, Paul didn’t take himself too seriously. He counteracted pride with the knowledge that anything good that he did was due to the grace of God.
To free ourselves from pride we must do the same thing-remembering that as James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father.” And of course the most important PERFECT GIFT to remember is the gift of God’s only Son. Above all else, this memory will help us not take ourselves too seriously. You see, when we look to the cross, we remember our sin. We remember that if it weren’t for Jesus death on our behalf we would be separated us from God and destined for Hell. Do you remember the words to that beloved hymn? Sing them with me:
“When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but lost, and pour contempt on all my pride.”
You see, the way to defeat pride is to re-direct it-to change it. When we remember that anything good in us is only because of the grace of God, we transform conceit into praise. Joseph Stowell tells of a French film, entitled “My Father’s Glory” in which a husband and wife living in Paris take a vacation in the countryside with their two boys and the boys’ aunt and uncle. Upon arrival, it becomes apparent that Marcel, the older boy, deeply admires his dad and he is embarrassed that his uncle dominates and intimidates his father.
Early one morning, the two men go hunting. Marcel begs to go with them and although his father seems to be weakening, his uncle firmly says that this is not something for a boy to be doing. But, as the men leave Marcel sneaks off and follows them from a distance. As the hunters walk through the valley chatting and looking for quail, Marcel walks along the ridge, hiding behind bushes when he thinks they might see him. Quite by accident, Marcel flushes two royal partridges out of the bush. As they rise, his father spots them and raises his gun, as does his uncle. But Marcel’s dad is faster, and he fires twice before the uncle can bring his gun to bear. Both birds come plummeting to the ground at Marcel’s feet. Ecstatic at his father’s triumph, Marcel grabs the partridges and lifts them high, one in each hand, and his shouts echo through the hills, “He killed them both! He did it! My dad did it!” As the camera zooms away from the boy, the gorgeous beauty of the hills and valley envelops him as he stands, arms lifted with partridge in hand, raising his father’s glory to the sky.
This is an illustration of the kind of RE-DIRECTED pride I’m talking about-looking at any accomplishment as coming from GOD. Transforming pride in self to pride in God defeats this sin in our lives. When we accomplish something good, instead of feeling pride, like Marcel we should praise God lifting our voices in praise saying, “He did it! My Heavenly Father did this!”
So, to defeat pride, DON’T take yourself so seriously…
2. …but secondly-DO take the needs of OTHERS seriously.
In other words, embrace the opposite of pride-HUMILITY-and put the needs of other people above your own. Make their needs a priority in your life. Now, in our culture, this word “humility” is often given a bad rap. I mean, when we think of humble people we think of doormats and people with self-esteem problems. But that’s not Biblical humility. No-humble people are not people who are always putting themselves down. They are simply people that have been empowered by God to love their neighbors the way they love themselves. Humble people don’t have inferiority complexes. To the contrary, they are secure in who God made them.
In fact, the truth is, humility is the mark of emotionally HEALTHY people whereas pride is the mark of emotionally INSECURE people.
Humility is not about convincing ourselves that we are unattractive or that we are incompetent. It’s not about beating ourselves up or trying to make ourselves into nothing. No, humility has to do with a kind of submitted willingness; humility has to do with a healthy self-forgetfulness. Real humility is not thinking poorly of yourself. It’s just thinking more about other people. It’s getting the focus off my needs, my desires, my hurts, my wants, and putting the focus on what other people need. Think of it this way: Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is simply thinking less about yourself.
Another thing-humility is an attitude that expresses itself in action. Humble people don’t just sit around thinking about the needs of others-they do things to help others. Humility not just something a person has-It’s something a person does. The elder President Bush praised Ronald Reagan’s humility in his eulogy. At the funeral he told of the time in 1981, when Reagan was recovering from the gunshot wound he received during the assassination attempt. Just days after the surgery that repaired his life-threatening injuries, his aides discovered him on his hands and knees in his hospital room, wiping water from the floor. Bush said of Reagan, “He did this because he was worried that his nurse would get in trouble.” Well, that’s humility-a strength of character that actively looks to the needs of others-especially in actions that are never seen.
I mean, like this former “Mr. President,” humble people don’t serve others to be seen. Well, let’s ask ourselves, do my actions-especially those that only God sees-do my actions indicate humility?
As you know, we close our service with a time of invitation. The idea is for us to take the time each week after we’ve studied God’s Word to humble ourselves and say, “God, You made me. You redeemed me. What change do I need to make in my life in light of what You’ve taught me today? What do I need to do in order to fully acknowledge You as Lord? You’re the boss. You’re the Creator. I’m the creature. Tell me what to do. Tell me what changes I need to make in my life, and I’ll do it.”
Let’s all to that right now. Let’s end this service as we began it – by humbling ourselves in the sight of the Lord. Pray with me.
Father God,
I ask that You would open our eyes now – even if it causes us discomfort or pain – so that we can see any instances in which we have allowed PRIDE to take root and grow. As we see PRIDE, I also ask that You would oppose it in us. I mean, convict us of our need to completely reject it. Help us to truly HUMBLE ourselves in Your sight. Show us the changes we need to make in life to turn from pride. And now, show us the decisions we need to make in order to humbly align ourselves with Your will. I ask this in Jesus’ name….AMEN
If in your prayer time, God has led you to respond publically, now is the time to do so. Won’t you come as God leads?