THE SIN OF PRIDE

Proverbs 21:4 (NIV)

[4] Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin!

Someone who is haughty is arrogant and full of pride. When you're haughty, you have a big attitude and act like you're better than other people.  A haughty person acts superior and looks down on others.  (Taken from vocabulary.com)

Pride is the lamp of the wicked. It’s the light that shines on the world when they look at life and at others. It’s the very foundation of their heart, what fuels their motives and desires.

Pride resides in all of our hearts.  It’s the very essence of “self”.  We are all told to love ourselves.  It is true that there are some who are more haughty than others, who show it and express it.  But all of us have pride.  And for many of us we try to hide it in our eyes, but it resides in our heart.

A haughty person is someone who shows it, who reveals it, through his words, his life, his attitude.  But pride can be secret.  There are many of us who secretly look down at others.  In fact, we look down at people who look down at us.  All of us are proud.  For some it is more evident in their haughtiness.

What this proverb reveals is that it is SIN.  Pride is sin against God.  Why?  Because it exalts self above God.  We take this for granted, don’t we?  How natural it is for us to be full of self, to defend our self, to love our self, that we don’t see it as SIN.  But it is.  

There are so many who will not admit they are “sinners” because they are “good”. They will tell you that they haven’t killed anyone, murdered anyone, stolen from anyone.  But none of us can escape this sin of pride.  

There are a number of ways to describe how Adam sinned against God.  One of them is pride.  They thought of themselves.  He did what they felt was good for himself, what they believed was beneficial for him, above what God had commanded him.  And so he disobeyed.

That’s how pride became sin.  This is how pride is sin in our hearts.  We are sinners basically because we have put our self above God.  This is why we need a Savior.  Because sin cannot exist with God, here on earth or in eternity.

Proverbs 16:5 (NIV)

[5] The LORD detests all the proud of heart.  Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

The wages of sin is death.  Our living for ourselves, and not for God, is sin, and its penalty is death.  Jesus’ death on the cross paid that price for us.  He died instead of us.  But this is not automatically applied to all.  You have to believe.  You have to believe that He came exactly for that reason - to die in stead of you, that your sin may be paid for, atoned for.

And when you believe, His life is given to you, His righteousness.  We are now enabled to live the life He wants us to live.  We are given a righteousness that comes from God, and a righteousness that lives for God, and glorifies Him.  This is the life that destroys pride.

This is why a major dealing in the heart of Christians is with our pride.  Because it is not our self that is to be exalted, but God.  This is what true humility is.  Humility is simply turning away from our self and turning to God - for everything.  And just like pride is in our eyes and in our heart - we are to be humble with our eyes, how we see life and others;  and we are to be humble in heart, a heart where God is continually humbling us, turning our hearts to Him and away from self.  Humility becomes the lamp of the righteous in Christ.

Have we come to Christ as our Savior, trusting in Him to save us from our sins, from our self?

As believers of Christ, are we submitting to the working of God in our hearts to live for Him, His ways, and not according to self?  Is Humility the lamp of our life?  Do we have humble eyes?  Is God working humility in our hearts?

Or is pride still the lamp that shines in us? 

GOD FULFILLING HIS PURPOSE IN OUR LIFE

Psalms 138:8 (ESV) [8] The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

 It is important to note - “the Lord will fulfill HIS PURPOSE for me”. It is His purpose in our life that matters, not our purposes. This is what the Lord asked us to pray - “your kingdom come, your will be done”.

 The challenge of a Christian is now is to seek, and submit to, that purpose of the Lord for us.  This is why we pray.  This is why we meditate and ponder on God’s Word daily.  This is why we continually worship and submit to a God who is higher than us, higher than anyone or anything in this world.

 When God created man, He placed him in His garden, in His world.  Man was a steward in the world that God had created.  Man was created for God and His purposes.

Of course we all know that man rebelled, and chose to disobey God.

 Look how man was tempted:

Genesis 3:5-6 NIV  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.  (6)  When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

 The serpent told Eve:

·         You will be like God, knowing good and evil.  Good and evil was meant for a holy God, not for a created being.  Their trust was supposed to be in their Creator.

·        They saw the fruit of the tree was GOOD and PLEASING, and DESIRABLE FOR GAINING WISDOM.  Instead of focusing on God, they focused on their “self”.

 Isn’t that how we live today?

We see and desire what we think is good, pleasing for us and desirable for gaining wisdom on our own.  God and His will, His sovereignty over our lives as Creator, is nowhere to be found.  We live for ourselves.

The same deception used to tempt Adam and Eve is working in the heart of man, in each of our hearts.

We, Christians, aren’t exempted.  That’s why there is still a part of our heart that believes that God exists to meet our desires, our purposes, our plans.

 From the time of Adam man has been rebelling against God and His will.  The good news is from the time of Adam God has been redeeming man from this sinful rebellious heart, bringing man back to Himself.  And all those who responded to this gracious work of God of redemption was brought back to a right relationship with Him.  Today that redemption is found as we put our faith in Jesus Christ, who paid the price for our sinfulness and rebellion, and through His death set us free and reconciled us back to Him.

 But what about Romans 8?  Doesn’t this tell us that God is for us?

Romans 8:31 NIV  What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

 What did the apostle Paul mean when he said “if God is for us”?  Immediately we think that God is on our side, and anything that we plan or desire God will meet.

But is it really that Paul was saying?

Romans 8:28-30 NIV  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  (29)  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  (30)  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

 The ESV sounds better -  Rom 8:28  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

 Imagine – all things work together for good!  It sounds like God is saying that He will work all things for our good.  And, yes, that is what He is saying, but in what context?

God works all things for whose good?

·         First, to THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.  Not to those who love themselves, or their own lives.  It’s for those who love God.

·         Second, for those WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.  

 God saves us from our rebellion, through Jesus Christ, bringing us back so He can work His purposes in our life.

 What is God’s purpose for those He has saved?

Romans 8:29-31 ESV-r  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  (30)  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  (31)  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

 We are being conformed to the image of His Son.  That’s His purpose.  This is what classifies as "good" for those who love Him and for those called according to His purpose.

And if this means it happens through blessing, through trials, through suffering, through riches or poverty, through health or sickness, what is important is we understand that God is working in our life for His purposes.

 And this becomes what we live for - God's will, God's purposes, God's working, knowing that He loves us, and that we have been saved from our rebellion and brought back to the life He desires for us to live.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV  (14)  For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  (15)  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.