Pride
by Rev. Paul Howden
February 6, 2008
Ash Wednesday
The Seven Deadly Sins
The list of seven deadly sins was hammered out over the first seven centuries of the Church. The list of seven is not found in the Bible itself. Yet it grew out of the response to Scripture by men and women who were seeking grace to reshape their characters and communities toward God and neighbor. The first versions come from the fifth century, out of the deserts of Egypt. John Cassian set out eight deadly sins. Desert hermits and monastic communities were struggling to root out the sinful patterns that distracted them and kept them from giving themselves wholly to the contemplation of God. Later, one of the sins was left off the list, and Pope Gregory the Great made them normative for all Christians. The Seven Deadly Sins became important throughout the middle ages. The Archbishop of England asked the clergy to read a sermon on them four times a year. Thus the seven deadly sins became ingrained in the spirit and psyche of the English people. These seven categories of sinful dispositions were used during lent. During the season of lent, Christians give themselves to self-examination and repentance in preparation for Easter.
The Seven Deadly Sins are:
1.) Pride
2.) Greed
3.) Lust
4.) Anger
5.) Gluttony
6.) Envy
7.) Sloth
Sometimes these seven are listed in different order, or called something else, but this is the most common list. We will begin with pride tonight. Next week we will cover greed. What about pride? Augustine and other Christian thinkers held that pride was the root of all other sins. Some people object to this notion. However, even if something else like covetousness or ungodliness is the root of all other sins, still pride is a major sin inside and outside the church.
Concerning pride, one author wrote: “Christians are not noted for a readiness to admit that they have been wrong. We do not find it easy to ask brothers and sisters for forgiveness. We are not eager to receive loving correction. We tend to be touchy, stubborn and dogmatic. Our feelings are easily hurt and we then cherish a sense of injury, as if it were a precious jewel. The idea of an infallible pope is anathema to us, but we sometimes act as if we ourselves were above contradiction. We recognize, of course, that we are sinners, but woe betide the person who dares to identify one of our sins!”
[Peter: Eyewitness of His Majesty by Edward Donnelly p. 28. I borrow the outline for this sermon from Lent and the Capital Sins by Fr. Arthur Tonne. Also helpful was Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges. Highly recommended!]
I. Biblical teaching about pride.
1. It was the sin of Satan (Is. 14:12-15). Babylon was a proud and haughty empire; similar to Satan himself when he rebelled against God before the Fall. The traditional teaching of this passage holds that it is a description of Lucifer’s fall as a beautiful angel of God. In pride he wanted to be as God. This happened sometime before he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden.
2. God hates pride (1 Peter 5:5). “God resists the proud.” Peter was a proud man and God humbled him later in life. On the eve of His crucifixion Jesus prophesied, “All of you will stumble this night.” Peter retorted, “I will never stumble.” Yet, Peter denied the Lord three times before the rooster crowed. Peter gradually grew in maturity and humility.
3. The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14). Jesus speaks about spiritual pride. You can’t brag about how excellent you are. You can’t look down on others and ignore your own sin. The example of the Tax Collector was much better. He beat his breast and cried to the Lord, “Be merciful to me a sinner.”
4. Pride is sly. You can easily be tricked into thinking you are better than others. It leads to other sins (Prov. 16:18-19).
5. “Mene mene tekel uparsin” (Daniel 5:17-29). King Balthazar held a party in his palace. Suddenly a hand appeared and the fingers wrote on the wall. All were terrified. The king asked all his wise men to interpret what this meant. Nobody knew. Someone said that Daniel could decipher it. Daniel reminded Balshazzar that Nebuchadnezzar had lifted himself in pride and fallen to animal like status. Balshazzar was now following his father’s example in pride. The writing on the wall meant his kingdom would fall due to this haughty spirit. And it did. That night he passed away and his kingdom was given to the enemy. Pride leads to destruction.
II. What are the ways pride comes out? Here are some of the ways pride manifests itself:
1. By giving yourself the credit for the good you do and the gifts you possess. You shouldn’t give yourself so much credit. All your gifts and talents come from God.
2. By disobedience to authority in school, work, state, and church. On rare occasions it is permissible to rebel against authority. But that is very rare. Otherwise you obey and submit to the authorities over you.
3. By unwillingness to cooperate with the plans of others. Planning a picnic, or going to the park, or going on a trip. Pride makes you say, “It’s my way or the highway. I want to go here, and I want to do this, or I’m not going.” Pride is inflexible. It doesn’t get along with people.
4. By refusing to listen to advice or asking counsel from others. It’s foolish to think you can live by your own experience. You need the experience and wisdom of others.
5. By showing impatience and disrespect when corrected. Children will sometimes roll their eyes when corrected. That’s wrong. When corrected, it is wrong to groan in disgust, or sigh loudly, or walk away, refusing to respond with respect. My brother complains about how often he hires employees in his construction business and they end up nearly impossible to teach. They are unteachable because they haughtily already know everything.
6. By looking down on and criticizing others. “My car is better than yours.” “I have more money than you.” “I have more academic degrees than you.” “I’m smarter than you.”
Then pointing out the faults of others is incorrect. It comes from pride. Criticizing others and bringing out their faults is a form of pride.
7. By boasting and bragging about your accomplishments. “A fool is right in his own eyes” (Prov. 12:15). Don’t brag about yourself even concerning spiritual matters. Don’t tell people how holy you are, or how wonderful you are.
8. By ignoring or winking at your own faults. You must be willing to admit you are wrong. Admit your mistakes. Apologize for your wrong actions. If not, you are afflicted by pride. Parents should apologize to their children. If you never apologize to your children you suffer from pride. Spouses should apologize to one another.
9. By an inordinate fear of failure. You don’t want to teach a class, or play a game, because you think you’ll fail and someone will laugh at you. People won’t take up a hobby or do something good because they think they’ll be imperfect.
10. By being overly concerned about the impression we are making on others. Why worry about what others think, as long as you are doing your best, and looking reasonable? Don’t be extreme in making a good impression.
Pride is a serious sin. God hates it. It is unbecoming of a Christian. One of the goals during lent is to take seriously the heinousness and gravity of sin in the eyes of a holy God.
III. How can you overcome pride?
1. Study the example of Jesus. Appreciate His prayer and fasting (Mt. 46:22). “Not my will, but your will be done.” Phil. 2:5-8 shows how Christ humbled Himself in leaving Heaven to live and die on earth. Jesus is our example.
2. Read about humble Christians of the past. There are many missionaries who were humble i.e., William Carey, Allen Gardner, Hudson Taylor, Mother Teresa, etc.
During the bubonic plague of 1348, typically, a family would contract the disease, and the entire family would abandon the sick. Some priests came and cared for the dying. Other priests fled. The best priests perished at that time, the worst ones survived.
3. Consider the emptiness of fame, praise, and applause. How fulfilled and happy does Britney Spears feel these days with praise and fame? The average Hollywood star is miserable.
4. Remember that you can do nothing without God’s help. “Without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
5. Realize how much God hates pride, and how He punishes the proud. The prophets are full of denunciations against pride. Check Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel in a Bible concordance for the numerous references.
6. See the beauty of humility (Prov. 11:2). “With the humble is wisdom.” Humility is a beautiful virtue. It is easy to be with people who are humble. It is misery to spend time with people who are proud and haughty. It is depressing.
IV. How can I learn humility?
1. Obey those over you, at home, at school, at work, at church and wherever you are in society. It is humble to obey the laws and officials over you.
2. Yield your opinion to that of others. Express your opinions humbly with less certainty. Be more humble and less opinionated than you are. Be more tentative about your own ideas and readier to listen to others and to learn from them. In 1650, Oliver Cromwell was leading an English army in an unwanted war against the Presbyterians of Scotland, who were called the Covenanters. In most respects the two sides were very close, but certain issues had opened a chasm between them. On Aug. 3, Cromwell, in a famous plea to the leaders asked them to think again: “Is it therefore infallibly agreeable to the Word of God all that you say? I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible that you may be mistaken.” Who was mistaken, Cromwell or the Covenanters? Opinions may differ, but no-one can doubt the general wisdom of the exhortation. Perhaps we should all practice saying, and meaning: “This is what I think, but I could be wrong.” Have an opinion, but preface it with the words, “I could be wrong.”
3. Use moderation and modesty in your dress, your gestures, the tone of your voice, and the expression of your opinions. It used to be that a baseball player would hit a homerun and modestly jog around the bases. Now they have to stand still and watch it sail over the fence, and put on a show-off show of narcissism.
4. Be willing to ask advice and to accept it when given.
5. Cultivate gentleness and kindness in your dealings with others, especially with those who are more inferior than you in age, talent, or education. Care for the sick and poor.
6. Be willing to do favors for others that take time and effort and money on your part. Become interested in the interests, concerns, and needs of others.
7. Stay calm and patient with insults, mishaps, delays and hitches with your plans. Don’t complain.
8. Accept humiliations when they come. When corrected by your teacher or parent accept it with humility. Listen humbly even if you think that the person correcting you is completely wrong.
9. Avoid praising yourself and your accomplishments. Don’t brag. It makes you look bad.
10. Perform humble tasks and jobs. Wash the dishes, take out the trash, clean the bathroom, do the laundry, volunteer to help with small jobs.
11. Look at Christ carrying His cross. Deny yourself and take up your cross and follow the Lord. Such denial can build humility.
12. Remember the things that count for eternity. You are merely a pilgrim and foreigner in this life on earth. This life is fragile and imperfect. You are dust and ashes. Next year I would like to have the imposition of ashes on our foreheads. As the minister puts on the ashes he says, “Remember that thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.” There is a life better to come and you must look forward to it and long for it.
13. Let Christ’s humility drive out your pride. A picture of Jesus hanging on a cross is a picture of love and humility. Look at the cross. Imagine Jesus dying on the cross for you. That was humility. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Next week we will examine the sin of greed.