Draw The Line: Pride

Introduction

Welcome

On every battlefield, in every war, there are territorial lines that are drawn.

Lines that divide where your allies stand, and where your enemies wait.

And in Battle there is contention for that line.

As the fight progresses that line moves back and forth, side to side.

The whole battle is a dance to further advance that line and secure more territory.

But that line is your point of conflict. And its a difficult line to see.

Misjudge that lines placement by too much, and you wander onto enemy territory where you are surrounded and killed.

Misjudge that lines placement by too little, and you're not engaged in the fight so the enemy might take more ground and overwhelm your forces.

Battles can be won or lost based solely on who has a better idea of where the line of contention sits.

I'm starting our series “Draw The Line”.

In this series we want to examine something we call “the 7 deadly sins.”

And beg the question “In your life, for each of these vices, where do you draw the line?”

The 7 deadly sins were first coined by an Eastern Christian man named Evagrius Ponticus around the 4th century C.E.

Ponticus was writing to fellow believers about things he found that would most interfere in their walk with Christ, and coined them “the eight evil thoughts.”

Pope Gregory I enumerated them into the Catholic church in the 6th Century.

And in the 13th century the philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas elaborated and condensed them.

Giving us today what we know as the 7 deadly sins.

Now all of these 7 are dangerous vices, but both Gregory and Aquinas wrote that Pride may be the most deadly of them all.

The NET Bible (Second Edition) Chapter 16

18 Pride goes before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall.

The thought was that through pride, all of the other sins gain a foothold.

Pride essentially opens the gate for the other vices to storm the city that is your spirit.

Pride can display itself openly, or can be subtle.

Pride is crafty and cunning

You cant even deny being prideful without being prideful.

Is there a more pride riddled statement than “I'm a humble person”?

With pride even when you are right you are wrong.

And because of pride when you are wrong you wont admit it.

Pride will lock you in a prison of your own making and make you proud to be his prisoner.

That is pride.

Lets kill him.

Arrogance

Pride wears 2 disguises

And with each disguise he presents himself in 2 different ways.

The first disguise is arrogance.

Now, arrogance is loud.

Like the hyper opinionated uncle at a family gathering he totes himself around seeking someone to argue with.

Often he makes odd statements that lack any evidential backing.

He is loud, obnoxious, and usually not quite sober.

And like the uncle, you love him because he is family, but you kind of just ignore his presence as best you can.

Isn't that what we see in our lives?

Every one of us in this room has some degree of arrogance.

However none of us want to admit that.

We would rather let that bit of arrogance do its thing, and pretend like we don't notice it.

Ignore its presence to the best of your ability, but don't tell it to leave.

In Ezekiel 28 we find a pretty spot on display of this version of pride.

Through the words of Ezekiel, God pronounces judgement on the prince of Tyre.

Tyre was a very wealthy place during this time.

Essentially Tyre ruled the sea.

They were a merchant city right on the coast where they controlled all naval trade.

Tyre's naval force had no equal.

And the king of Tyre, Ethbaal III (with Baal) was particularly proud of this.

Originally Tyre and Israel were allies.

The ceders brought from Lebanon to build the Temple were supplied by Tyre.

But over time Tyre's wealth and reputation grew, and they began to despise Israel, and declare themselves superior.

When Ethbaal took the throne, He exalted himself as a god.

He claimed that Tyre's wealth and grandeur came from His wisdom and divinity.

And that no god could challenge him.

The NET Bible (Second Edition) Chapter 28

2 “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says:

“ ‘Your heart is proud and you said, “I am a god;

I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas”—

yet you are a man and not a god,

though you think you are godlike.

3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel;

no secret is hidden from you.

4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself;

you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.

5 By your great skill in trade you have increased your wealth,

and your heart is proud because of your wealth.

Look at how the Kings arrogance is displayed.

Ethbaal considers himself a god because with his wisdom, he has amassed gold and silver.

Arrogant pride presents like this: “I have” and “I am”

In this case Ethbaal had wisdom, power, and riches.

And because of his pride in material and status, his pride in self was exalted so that he might declare “I am a god. None can challenge me.”

How might this look in your life?

“I have done good deeds, therefore I am righteous.”

“I have money, therefore I am without need.”

“I have studied relentlessly, therefore I am smart”

We even tell our children “you are so special because you are my baby”

“I have parents, therefore I am special.”

If that isn't the mindset of our current generation.

One that married couples are particularly bad at is:

“I have done this for you, therefore I am deserving of this”

Prideful arrogant thoughts that we run over and over again in our heads.

Its plain, blatant, and in the open, but we want to pretend that it isn't pride.

We would say we are justified in our statements and our actions.

After all, Ethbaal did make wise business decisions, and did accumulate riches because of it.

Why shouldn't he have room to boast?

In John 5 Jesus says something that is really quite intriguing.

The NET Bible (Second Edition) Chapter 5

16 Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began persecuting him.

17 So he told them, “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.”

18 For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.

19 So Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.

20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed.

Jesus, who is God in the flesh.

Who is spending His time healing others.

Who has every reason and justification to say “I Am greater than you, that's why.”

Responds to His accusers by saying “I only do what the father does”

All wisdom, wealth, power, and authority comes from God.

Every good deed, and admirable thing comes from God.

Ethbaal made the mistake of forgetting who gave him that wisdom.

Who gave him that birthright, that breath.

If you want to kill arrogant pride, then you must remember that there is only 1 who has.

Only 1 who is.

We have nothing but what we were given, and we owe it all to Him.

Dignity

Prides second disguise is a bit more subtle.

A bit more crafty.

This one carries the name “Dignity”.

We like this one a lot.

Dignity is that friend you had in the third grade who supposedly met all the famous actors, and has all the coolest toys. He rode a horse with John Wayne, lifted weights with Schwarzenegger, and shook the presidents hand.

Dignity sounds great, but in reality he is just a little liar.

Dignity is that little voice that tells you you can figure it out on your own, you don't need help.

When you clearly need help.

Dignity pretends like he is giving you advice, when he is really just watching out for himself.

Look at this passage in Matthew 26.

This is right after the last supper, and right before Jesus is arrested at Gethsemane

The NET Bible (Second Edition) Chapter 26

31 Then Jesus said to them, “This night you will all fall away because of me, for it is written:

‘I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

32 But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

33 Peter said to him, “If they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away!”

34 Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, on this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”

35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.” And all the disciples said the same thing.

That’s where dignity presents itself.

“I wouldn't” and “I would”

Most often in fantasy situations that we have never been in.

I would love to think that if I ever wound up homeless, I would find a way to clean up, apply for other jobs, and start again grinding from the bottom to the top.

But I've never been in that situation.

I don't know what I wouldn't or would do.

I've never been starving without any food

Or dying of thirst

Or had a child that I couldn't care for.

I've never had a million dollars

Or a million followers.

I'm not famous, I don't know how that would affect me.

Id like to think that I wouldn't do the bad things.

And that I would do the good things.

But that's all Dignity's plan.

You see, the moment you start thinking “I wouldn't do that” “I would do that”

You are really saying “I would react better than this person in that situation.”

We don't know the struggles that a fellow human is facing.

We don't know how far things might go before we ourselves break.

And dignity will push things further than this.

Because dignity wants to keep you from admitting your faults.

Dignity wants you to rely on yourself.

Dignity says you are better than that.

You are better than this.

You are better than them.

“you don't need to see a marital therapist, they just need to listen to you.”

“You don't need to be kinder, they need to toughen up”

“You don't need to ask for help, that would make you look weak.”

“You don't need to apologize, you were right.”

And lastly, dignity wants to stop you from really following Christ.

There is a book by Mathew Woodley called “Holy Fools: Following Jesus with Reckless Abandon”

There are 2 passages I want to read you from this book.

(Read)

I don't think there is anything I can say that proves my point better than that does.

Lay dignity to rest, it doesn't care for you, it just wants to protect your pride.

Boast In Him

And I mean exactly that. your pride.

When we deal with pride, its usually in ourselves.

In our own accomplishments.

In our own perceived value.

In how much better we are than everyone else.

Every form that pride presents in begins with “I”.

I have.

I am.

I wouldnt.

I would.

Its the antithesis of what we were called to do.

To walk in humility.

So how do we handle this?

How do we lay arrogance and dignity to rest?

Where do we draw our lines?

In 1 Corinthians 1 we read:

The NET Bible (Second Edition) Chapter 1

26 Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters. Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position.

27 But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong.

28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something,

29 so that no one can boast in his presence.

30 He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Remember, The line of contention moves throughout the battle.

So flip the script.

Instead of I, make it Him.

We boast in the Lord.

Rejecting all credit.

All value.

All dignity.

We boast in His deeds.

We boast in how He has worked in fellow believers.

We boast in what only He can accomplish.

In what He did Accomplish.

And we mirror Him.

To live as He lived.

To serve as He served.

Jesus, God in flesh, who briefly became a little lower than the angels, not for His sake, but for ours.