A Christians approach to life situations part 4
Pride
Pride is something that many people have to struggle with and so I want to show what the Bible says about pride and what happens when people allow pride to enter into their lives and what we can do to prevent pride from entering into our lives. First let’s define Pride.
Pride - pride,
haughtiness, arrogance, the
characteristic of one who, with a swollen estimate of his own powers or merits,
looks down on others and even treats them with insolence and contempt: (Thayer)
I am sure most of us know
people who fit this definition and I don’t know of anyone who likes to be
around such people who think so highly of themselves and as we will see in this
lesson Christians are to stay far away from pride and from those who are
prideful.
What is the source of
pride?
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world
-- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not
of the Father but is of the world.
The world and manmade
ideas is the source of pride.
1 Corinthians 4:6 Now these things, brethren, I
have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you
may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be
puffed up on behalf of one against the other.
Paul is telling us that when we use the Bible as
our guide and we do not go beyond it principles we will not have pride, which
shows that God nor His word is not the source of pride. This means that pride
comes from those things found outside of God’s righteousness.
The Bible has nothing good to say about pride and
will cause you to suffer the same fate as the devil (1 Tim. 3:6). Let’s take a
look at some of the things that God word says about pride.
1 Samuel 2:3 Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance
come from your mouth, For the LORD is the God of knowledge; And by Him
actions are weighed.
Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to
hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
Proverbs 13:10 By pride comes nothing but strife,
Proverbs 15:25 The LORD will destroy the house of the proud,
Proverbs 16:5 Everyone proud in heart is an
abomination to the LORD; Though they join forces, none will go
unpunished.
Proverbs 21:4 A haughty look, a proud heart, And
the plowing of the wicked are sin.
Psalm 17:10 They have closed up their fat hearts; With
their mouths they speak proudly.
Psalm 101:5 The one who has a haughty look and a proud
heart, Him I will not endure.
Psalm 119:69 The proud have forged a lie against
me, But I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart.
Psalm 138:6 Though the LORD is on high, Yet He
regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar.
Jesus
says that pride defiles a person Mark. 7:21-23.
James 4:6 "God resists the proud, But
gives grace to the humble." 7
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
All these verses we have looked at so far clearly
show that God does approve of pride and that we will never make to heaven if we
are prideful people. Now lets take a look at several examples of pride and what
the results were.
Our first example comes from Ahithophel who was a
counselor for David at first, but Absalom, David’s son, rebelled against his
father, Ahithophel joined Absalom’s side. First he told him to go into his
father’s harem and he did. Next, he advised him to pursue his father while he
was weak, so he could destroy him. However, Absalom did not follow that advice.
Now watch what happens to Ahithophel because of his pride.
2 Samuel 17:23 Now when Ahithophel saw that his
advice was not followed, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his
house, to his city. Then he put his household in order, and hanged himself, and
died; and he was buried in his father's tomb.
Naaman almost allowed pride to keep him from being
cleansed of his leprosy 2 Kings 5.
Haman allowed his pride to make him plot and try
to destroy Mordecai and the Jews and it ended up causing him to be hung by the
gallows he made to hang Mordecai on.
Daniel 4:30 The king spoke, saying, "Is
not this great
Daniel 4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and
honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways
justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.
Now lets take a look at some N.T examples
Herod was prideful.
Acts 12:20 Now Herod had been very angry with
the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having
made Blastus the king's personal aide their friend, they asked for peace,
because their country was supplied with food by the king's country. 21 So on a set day Herod, arrayed
in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. 22 And the people kept shouting,
"The voice of a god and not of a man!" 23 Then immediately an angel of
the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by
worms and died.
Paul was prideful with his Jewish decent. This is
what kept him from hearing the truth. It took Jesus himself to break his pride.
Another great example comes from Jesus.
Luke 18:9 Also He spoke this parable to some
who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 "Two men went up to the
temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 "The Pharisee stood and
prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men --
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 'I fast twice a week; I give
tithes of all that I possess.' 13
"And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his
eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a
sinner!' 14 "I tell you,
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted."
We could
look at more examples, but now I want to take a look at how we can stay away
from pride. First lets look at Jesus advice.
Matthew 20:25 But
Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of
the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over
them. 26 "Yet it shall
not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be
your servant. 27 "And
whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- 28 "just as the Son of Man
did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for
many."
This is the attitude we
must have as Christians that will help us overcome pride because if we are
focusing our efforts on serving instead of being served we won’t have a problem
with pride.
Luke 14:8
"When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the
best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; 9 "and he who invited you and
him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with
shame to take the lowest place. 10
"But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that
when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you
will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. 11 "For whoever exalts
himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus is teaching us that
the best way to overcome pride is to always seek to be humble. In another place
Jesus says we must be like little children and if we are not like them, then we
will not make into heaven. So, the best way to overcome pride is by being
humble and remember God only gives his grace to the humble.
As we talked about earlier
Paul was a prideful man when came to being Hebrew, but once he was converted to
Christ, he learned to put pride behind him and he teaches us many things about
not being prideful. Lets take a look at few of them.
Romans 12:3 For I
say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God
has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the
members do not have the same function, 5
so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of
one another.
We cannot think that we
are something great or consider ourselves better than another person. Every
person in the church has function and a place. Just because one person might
lead singing or be a great teacher it doesn’t make them any more important than
the person who encourages others or who helps make meals for the sick and
bereaved. Even Elder have not room for pride.
1 Timothy 3:6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride
he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
Paul also gives advice to
the rich in 1 Tim 6 not to allow their riches to cause them to fall away from
God, but instead to use their riches for the service of God. We have to be
careful that we don’t put our treasures here on earth because we will end up
like the rich young ruler who would not follow Jesus because he had to much
pride in his riches. We need to remind ourselves daily that our riches are in
heaven and not on this earth.
As you can see the Bible
has a lot to say about pride and how we as Christians must stay far away from
it because it is a sin and it can keep us from going to heaven. I want close
this lesson with one last bit of advice from the Paul on how we as Christians
can keep pride out our life.
Philippians 2:1 Therefore
if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any
fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one
mind. 3 Let nothing be
done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each
esteem others better than himself. 4
Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the
interests of others. 5 Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,