YouTube video sermon
Proverbs 16:5, 18-19, 25
Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word, this morning, and turn with me to Proverbs 16, Genesis 3, and also Matthew 6 and Luke 18. I was not particularly fond of Literature and Grammar in my primary education. Instead, I rather enjoyed History and Math, and some of the Sciences. However, with every passing year, as your pastor, I’ve grown more and more in my affection for some of the old writers of previous generations. For example, consider this excerpt from Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation of a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer in 1863:
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.
If I hadn’t told you otherwise, you might have been tempted to think this was the result of contemplations and musings and journaling from a contemporary author or commentator regarding our present day and age. But no, tucked away in the archives of history, among the dusty and dingy volumes of books on a shelf is this masterful expression of lament and humility over pride.
You know, despite its difficult and hard passages, despite the geography and names and places, despite all of the history and cultural elements, the Bible has some pretty amazing things to say too. In fact, we’re going to open the pages of this old book and see what God has to say to us this morning about pride. But first, join me in a moment of prayer.
“Father, now, as we turn again to Your Word, our dependence is upon the Holy Spirit to enable both speech and listening, to quicken our understanding, to give us grace to respond to what You might say to us in these moments. And so, we ask that You would help to free us from every distracting influence and that Your Spirit may wash over and amongst us, and that You will write Your name upon our hearts as we read Your Word together. For we ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.”
“Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 16:5).
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19).
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 16:25).
This morning, I want us to consider the sin of pride. And it will be of no surprise to those of you that are regular here that I’ll address it from three perspectives: the source of pride, the showcase of pride, and solution for pride.
Source of Pride
Genesis 3 gives us the account of sin entering the world and also reveals that pride lays at the root of those events. So, when we talk about the fact that pride exists and we want to know why pride is in our hearts, we find ourselves here, in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and the serpent – that is the devil. And we read:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:1-6).
Notice what happens here. Eve followed her impressions rather than God’s given instructions. She made self-fulfillment her goal. She made prideful attainment her aim. Notice, particularly verse 6. She looked at the tree and saw that it was good for food (not sin). She took delight in what she saw (not sin). But notice this next line, “and that the tree was to be desired to…make…one…wise” she took and ate (sin).
Eve’s actions, based upon what she saw and what she perceived was missing in her life, brought forth sin into her life. And Adam’s doing the same brought forth sin into his life, and into the lives of all mankind. In essence, it’s as if Eve said to God, “I know better than You, God. I don’t want Your instruction. I can be wise on my own. I don’t need You, God. I… I… I…” “There is a way that seems right to a man/woman, but its end is the way to death” (pride).
And this doesn’t take the Bible by surprise. Beginning in Genesis and continuing all the way through to Revelation, that prideful response is repeated day in and day out. Listen to this from the apostle John in his first epistle near the end of the New Testament, and notice how these words parallel the very same experience that Eve was confronted with: “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world” (1 John 2:16, NLT).
So, the source of my haughty look, the source of my proud statements, the source of my arrogance, the source of my condescension is sin – plain and simple – which is as real in my life as it is in yours. Part of the problem of our dealing with the sin of pride is that we’re able to disguise it. We’re able to hide it behind the façade of more noble and righteous acts.
Is it any wonder, then, why the Westminster Shorter Catechism begins the way that it does? What is the chief end of man? “Man’s chief end is to glorify God (not ourselves), and enjoy Him forever.” There, we meet the problem head on. The reason for human existence is to give God glory. The reason that we stumble and blunder through our world is because we do not give God glory. And the reason that we do not give God glory is because we are proud. The reason we are proud is because we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity.
So, the source of pride cannot be shifted to some “external other,” but can be discovered by looking within. Pride is the elevation of self.
This is a great quote by C.S. Lewis. Admittedly, it’s a wee bit long, but Lewis has a way of cutting through and saying things exactly as they need to be said and the way most of us think anyway. He writes:
“The essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind. [P]ride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If someone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.
The source of our pride is in our sinfulness. And rather than shift blame to God because He’s the One that made us, we need to consider humanity’s parentage and see that we are guilty of the same thing. And just in case you’re thinking to yourself, “I surely wouldn’t have eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree” then check your attitude, because that’s a prideful statement indeed. We elevate ourselves rather than give glory to God.
Showcase of Pride
Now, lest we begin to pat ourselves on the back because we are church-goers, and we read our Bibles, and we pray, and we serve others, and we give, and on and on we may go, thinking that this sermon is really meant for the man/woman sitting in the next pew, let me invite you to turn (in your Bibles) with me to Matthew 6 and Luke 18. Some of the worst pride has a religious face. Some of the most prideful people are those attending worship services.
If there was ever a person that exposed pride it was Jesus. He never had time for those that were trying to impress others. It’s interesting to me that the longest sermon Jesus ever preached wasn’t to struggling sinners, and it wasn’t to discouraged disciples, but was reserved for religious showoffs.
Matthew 6 begins this way, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them…” Notice what Jesus is saying and what He’s not saying. He’s not saying don’t go to church. He’s not saying don’t pray. He’s not saying don’t read your Bible. He’s not saying don’t give to the needy. He’s not saying don’t serve others. He’s not negating the necessity of doing righteous acts. Rather He’s reminding us to do it within the right context. The problem for many of us is not that we’re doing the wrong thing, but that we’re doing the right thing in the wrong way.
One of the greatest perils of having the privilege that I have (and others like me) is that imperceptibly one’s motivation may move from a genuine desire to preach the Word of God in order that men and women may come to faith in Jesus Christ, and that others may grow in maturity of that same faith, and then begin to teach it as an unbelievable ego trip. It will become apparent over time, but in the immediate context only I and God would know the real issue – and sometimes we (pastors) have deceived ourselves and don’t even know our hearts have changed. The title “celebrity pastor” or “popular preacher” is an unfortunate reality in many churches today. So, Jesus says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them…” Why? “…for [if you do] then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”
Do you see what Jesus is saying there? He’s saying that a lot of people are going to go through life doing a lot of righteous deeds, but at the end of the day there will be no reward. They may arrive in heaven like a shipwrecked sailor but there will be no reward. They will be saved, perhaps, but only as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:15). They may have published many books. They may have had their names in many magazines. They may have been invited to speak here and there and everywhere, but the God who judges the motivations of men’s hearts will – on that Day – reveal what was really going on. What Jesus is saying in 21st century language is this: Stop showing off!
When I was growing up I was taught three kinds of basketball passes: the chest pass, the bounce pass, and the overhead pass. Do you know how many hands I was taught to use? TWO! Today, these kids are making one-handed bounce passes and weak rainbow lob-passes and the result is a steal. Why? Because I know better… Because I want to show off…
It used to be that when you played football and you scored a touchdown you handed the ball back to the referee and went to celebrate with your teammates. Today, you make all kinds of gestures and dramatic antics in order to show off – assuming, that in the midst of your prideful run or catch you don’t actually drop the ball before you cross the goal line.
Jesus uses the rest of Matthew 6 to illustrate three righteous acts that religious people, and church-attenders, and Christian people tend to fumble the ball on: giving, praying, and fasting. Again, He’s not saying don’t do these things. He’s just saying be careful how you do them.
This past Friday, I received word that Dr. Peter Cotterell, former Dean of the London School of Theology and founder of the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology and long-time missionary to Ethiopia died, at the age of 91. He was such a humble academic leader. Part of a poem he wrote in his book Church Alive! A Fresh Look at Church Growth, goes like this:
Have you seen William Braggins while toiling in prayer,
How he’s pleading and weeping and tearing his hair?
You can hear him all night, famous Bellowing Bill,
’Cause he shouts all his prayers from the top of a hill.
Bill has had his reward in the praises of men,
And God’s not going to give him it over again.
That’s why Luke records for us the parable that Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector (in Luke 18), where He sets forth for us the standard of God in relationship to the sin of pride. Look at Luke 18:9, “Jesus told a story to some people who thought they were better than others and who looked down on everyone else” (CEV). They had haughty eyes. Do you remember the six things that God hates (from Proverbs 6), yeah even seven are an abomination to Him? The first in that list is haughty eyes – a prideful disposition.
And in Luke 18:11, the Greek text is clear that the Pharisee was praying to himself. In fact, some of your Bibles might even have a footnote related to verse 11 telling you that. Listen to how the original Greek text reads: “The Pharisee, having stood, thus toward himself was praying…” He was praying to himself. His prayer wasn’t upward; it was inward. “God, I thank you that I am not greedy, dishonest, and unfaithful in marriage like other people. And I am really glad that I am not like that tax collector over there.”
In contrast (v. 13), “The tax collector stood off at a distance and did not think he was good enough even to look up toward heaven. He was so sorry for what he had done that he pounded his chest and prayed, ‘God, have pity on me! I am such a sinner.’” Again, let me remind you. Jesus wasn’t saying do not pray. Both men were praying. They were both doing something that God calls us all to do. Nor was Jesus saying do not going to church. Both men were in the temple. This parable isn’t about the what (prayer) or the where (temple/church). It’s about the how. It’s about our attitude. It’s about our motivation. It’s about the disposition of our hearts.
Benjamin Franklin 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 should probably be proud of my humility.”
The source of our pride is the sinful heart. The showcase of our pride is the selfish heart. And lastly, the solution for pride.
Solution for Pride
If you want to know whether or not you’re prideful today; if you want to know the test for pride, then just consider the standard you’re using to measure yourself. It’s right here in this parable. The Pharisee was looking down, while the tax collector was looking up. Scripture says “don’t look around you, but look up.” See, if we look around we’ll always be able to find someone that we perceive is “less than” we are, and thus we’ll only continue in our pride.
If I may, let me go back and finish that earlier quote from C.S. Lewis, “[P]ride always means enmity… And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God. [I]n God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God [in this way] – and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison – you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. 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.”
The solution to our pride is to compare ourselves to Jesus, who, “[knowing] that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.”
That’s the question. That’s the point at which pride turns. Prepared to set aside myself, my position, my reputation, my power, my authority, my riches, my everything, and wrap a towel around my waist and get down where it’s dirty, and dusty, and stinky and show that I really am walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Or else we stand and look up and say, “Lord, you know how I’d love to wash ole Doug’s feet, but I have to be fasting.”
We have four vehicles at the Norris house. Three of them are white. My grey pickup truck is the sole standout among the crowd. We like white because it’s not as hot in the brutal summer heat and because it doesn’t reveal dirt as quickly or as obviously as darker-colored vehicles. That is, until you see them sitting in a fresh blanket of snow. Then, you notice that they happen to be rather grey.
My friends, as I look at my own life this morning and I use my own criteria – because of that cruel and ruthless enemy of pride – I can conclude that my life looks pretty white. But when I stand it up beside the blazing glory of Jesus Himself, it looks decidedly grey. So, what’s the solution?
Isaac Watts, that great hymnwriter of the 1600-1700’s put it this way:
When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
“When the two men went home, it was the tax collector and not the Pharisee who was pleasing to God. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored” (Luke 18:14, CEV). Do you know Jesus as the remedy for your pride? Have you evaluated your life in light of the perfect standard of the cross of Christ? Have you ever come to Jesus, like a little child, and said, “Lord, Jesus, I’m a sinner – if for no other reason than I have a proud heart – and I need You to forgive me, to be merciful to me, to save me.”? If you’ve never done that, then there’s a battle going on in your life. I know there are some of you right now, maybe here this morning, others of you watching online, that are saying to yourself, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m not going to admit to that kind of thing. What would people think? Besides, I’m plenty capable of taking care of myself.” If that’s you, then be assured there will be no reward.
For others of you here today, the reason you aren’t as empowered by the Holy Spirit as you want to be, the reason you aren’t fulfilling your God-given purpose and meaning in life is because you think you can do it by yourself. All the while forgetting that without God you can do nothing, but with God all things are possible.
“Father, look upon us this morning in mercy, we pray. Grant that as we come to Your holy table and partake of this holy meal that we let go of our haughty eyes and our pride, and that we might gain a renewed perspective from which to see others. Help me, O Lord, as I shepherd Your people, to do so as a humble servant. In Jesus’ name, amen.”