Pride

Well, if you have your bibles, turn with me to Romans 12. And as your turning there this morning, we’re going to jump right into scripture….

And this message is one that I’ve never actually preached on before. But it’s one of the most important topics in scripture…. And the topic pride.

You see, the bible tells us… 16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:here’s what it says, first thing… 17 haughty eyes. Doesn’t take away from the other sins listed, doesn’t mean that God doesn’t hate all sins… but of all the sins that could be listed first, the first thing we see is haughty eyes.

The first thing we see is a sense of pride.

You see, here’s the problem with pride… there are certain behaviors in society, that regardless of religion… from a catholic, to a Christian, to an atheist or anything in between, that we would say are wrong… We know it’s wrong to murder, to rape, it’s wrong to rob someone… And committing these crimes and others, not only are they wrong, but they’ll probably get you locked up in prison for a very long time.

But here’s the problem what about pride… I can do it myself… I don’t need you. I don’t even need God. Hmm… I know what’s best for my life… It’s sneaky… it shows up in different ways… It’s not illegal… in fact, it’s something we’re told to embrace as a society… and yet… Not only does God hate pride. If left unchecked, it has the ability to cause complete destruction and downfall this morning. To everything that is good, everything that is from God this morning.

So, here’s how we’re going to set up this morning. We’re going to talk about the concern of pride. The destruction that it leads to and then we’ll come back to the idea of humility, and the blessing that it leads to.

But If we go back to our list, our proverbs 6 list… as we talk about pride… is there someone that embodiesall of these attributes? Look with me:

It says: 16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies. and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. Proverbs 6:16-19

You see I don’t know about you, but when I see this list. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood… These are characteristics of Satan. He’s the father of lies. There’s no truth in him… He’s crafty, he’s cunning… The bible says, he’s a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. His goal is to steal, kill and destroy.

But let me ask you a question, what was his downfall? Among other things… His pride…

You see, Satan was a Beautiful angel, we don’t like to think of him that way this morning… but he’s described in the bible before the fall in this way… Ezekiel 28 12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mounting were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub , for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.

Notice in these 3 verses… 7 times of what satan was… The word, were appears 7 times…

I mean satan is beautiful, he’s musically gifted. In fact, he may have been the head musician. He’s powerful, at one time he was blameless, and perfect, and influential, he was persuasive enough to convince a third of the angels to join him in his rebellion… What went wrong? What was the issue?

Look with me at verse 17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.

He didn’t start out this way…When he was created, he was perfect, he was a protector, he was ordained, he was beautiful… He became proud

Isaiah 14 12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star , son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

What was satan’s downfall? As beautiful as he was, he wanted to be like God. He wanted to ascend above all else... His pride got the best of him… The idea that he’s better, that knows better, there’s a sense of pleasure and satisfaction from his own achievements.

By the way, this same craftiness is the same tactic he deployed with Adam and Eve. Genesis 3: 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

We know this scripture… what do we see here? We see craftiness on behalf of satan. We see satan questioning God’s motives, God’s plans, God’s capabilities. We see a seed of doubt, planted in eve…That God can’t be trusted… and this seed takes root… begins to grow in her…(Could have been weeks, or months, or years…) Between when the seed was planted and when the weed grew… but what happens? Death resulted. The FALL.

Friend, there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads only to death.

What happened here? What was the downfall? Pride got in the way… The reason for the fall was pride.

Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

The fall of the satan, the fall in genesis… it’s the result of a haughty spirit… it’s the resulted of pride.

And the enemy has been up to the same tricks since day one… it’s - 1. the lust of the flesh 2. the lust of the eyes, and 3. the pride of life… You see pride leads to the fall, it leads to disgrace, it leads to being brought low, leads to opposition, leads to being punished, leads to a lack of love, leads to being trapped, leads to being “known from afar” psalm 138 tells us, and on and on and on… and yet…humility does the exact opposite.

For the remainder of our time this morning. We’re going to look then at the benefits of humility. And there are many benefits that we could talk about. In fact, we could take every negative with pride, and the opposite would be true with humility… But there are 3 specific benefits of Humility, I want to draw our attention to this morning.

1st Humility Leads to Unity

Go to romans 12:1-8 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Humble Service in the Body of Christ

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

As we look at Romans, you’ll recall we’ve been in this book for the last several weeks. And last week, we went from the idea of salvation, and suffering for the sake of the gospel… to living out our faith as a living sacrifice. The idea that we are to 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

But as we talk about a transformed and renewed mind this morning… Pride and humility fit right in… ultimately because it beginsin the mind.

Paul then gets to this idea of humble service in the body of Christ, in fact, In my bible that is the heading for this section of scripture vs 3-8. Paul then goes on to explain 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

The scripture goes on from there to describe the different parts of the body. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

But here’s the question… why does the text go from talking about pride… the idea that we should view ourselves with humility and sober judgement… To then, talking about the body of Christ... and using our gifts for the glory of God... ?

The answer is this, when one part of the body is off… the body as a whole is off. When there’s a sense of pride in one person… (nose in the air)… How does it affect the rest of the team?

You see, for those who watch sports, we’ve all seen this play out in the locker room. One person, they’re the QB, they’re the star running back… Things start well in the locker room, huddles go well at first, everyone’s in the same playbook… but what happens when the quarterback starts to flaunt about his play? All of a sudden, the offensive line, they’re not so concerned about protecting the quarterback… All of a sudden attitudes and egos… they can get in the way…

You see, it takes a team to move the ball down the field. We have different gifts within the church, god has placed us together…

1 Cor 12:20-26 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Let me reread vs 25.

Here’s the key… God’s design for the church, is to function as a healthy body… Mind you, I’m not reading this because I believe there is currently any sort of division within the body… but here’s where I would caution us, in the coming days, God is going to do great and amazing things through Kenton Alliance Church.

In the coming days as debt is paid off, ( Great room…) and as small groups are formed, and new members continue to join, as we continue with the mission statement of “Making disciple who make disciples!” God is going to honor that…

But 1 cor 10:12 tells us: 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

Here’s the point, do you think satan is pleased with me calling him out this morning? Do you think satan wants us to be impactful in Kenton? Do you think he wants to see men, and women, and children saved? Absolutely not… we’re in opposition to Him… We need to stand together, with unity, as the body of Christ, we need to pray for each other, we need to love each other, and care for each other…

But watch this, we need to watch our pride. We need to watch how we communicate to each other. May not be as bold as going face to face with another believer. But maybe it’s on Facebook, maybe it’s on social media… look for jabs to attack the other person, and God isn’t having any of that… Friends, we’re on the same team this morning… Team Jesus. We fight for Him… in our minds… need, a sense of humility… Would we commit to that this morning? Pride brings division… Humility brings unity.

2. Humility leads Reaching the lost.

Romans 12:16 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

As we continue with the scripture, we jumped ahead to vs 16, although we’ll go back to romans 12:3 in a moment… but as we talk about effectiveness as the body of Christ. Vs 16 continues with this idea of living in harmony with one another.

Actually, if you look at the NKJV the text reads quite differently, we’re told to 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

With either version, the idea that is in mind is to maintain a humble, contrite heart… Don’t be proud… associate with the humble, associate with people of low position. Why? Why does that matter?

First, this is what Jesus did. All throughout the bible, Jesus is a friend of sinners… Jesus came to seek and save the lost … Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve.

19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.1 Cor 9:19-23

But there is a sense of to all people, I have become all things… To the jews I became like the jews, to the weak, I became weak to win the weak… Friend for the Michigan fan, I have… Okay that’s a bit far…

Here’s the point… I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel…

To the person across town who doesn’t look like you, to the person on the other side of the track who doesn’t live on the same block, to the marginalized, to the poor, to all people, I have become all things that I might save some.

You see I don’t know about you, but I have a difficult time connecting with people that give off a snobbish attitude… can you relate with that? Someone that comes across as nose in the air, better than you… It’s tough to connect with someone like that…

What about this… what about someone that comes across as kind… as compassionate… as caring… I don’t know about you… but that that’s the type of person that’s easy to connect with this morning.

Friends, to all people, become all things… In our minds… lower ourselves, that we may save some.

3. Humility leads to Favor.

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

For the sake of time, we’ll just touch on this last point. But here’s the key, we’re told Do not think of yourself more highly that you ought… but to think of yourself with sober judgement.

This idea of sober judgement carries the basic meaning of thinking with a sound mind. And starting at this point, with an honest assessment. We realize, that the only worth we have… is what he’s given us… we realize that apart from Christ, we’re hopeless, we’re nothing at all…

Because of Christ this morning… we have a future, and a hope… You see ultimately, we come back to the cross… we come back to a point of gratitude. That every blessing 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

That who we are this morning, is only because of Him. You see James 4:6

6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

I don’t know about you… but in my life… in my marriage… in my family… as a pastor… for everything I am… I’m not looking to have the opposition of God on my life… I’m looking for his favor.

Where does favor start… It starts by asking God if there is any part within us that stands in opposition to him. It starts by asking him to reveal to us, if starts by asking him if there is a sense of pride within us.

Maybe you’re here this morning, and you feel like you’re in a season of difficulty… Opposition, hardship… Practically speaking, is it possible that there is a sense of pride in your life this morning?

Ask the worship team to come up.

1. Ask God to reveal to you if there is a heart of pride. Example of David that we read earlier: 17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart… in the same passage he would say “create in me a clean heart oh God, and renew a right spirit within me...”

2. Maybe if you were honest, a sense of pride has created a barrier between you and others. Marginalized. Reaching the Lost…