Pride

Good morning! Close your eyes, and listen to these descriptions. What kind of person comes to your mind?

The world seems to rotate around them and only them.

They do not like having their worldview challenged.

They have few close friendships

They talk badly about the friends they do have behind their backs.

They may seem charming but have a cruel side.

They have a need to be right.

They have a need to look good, even at the expense of others.

They treat people who aren't like them or perceive to be beneath them poorly.

They are more concerned with looking good than doing a good job.

What would you call a person like that? selfish, ignorant, arrogant, egotistical, Haughty, conceited, proud . . .

Is it a pretty ugly picture. But that is what pride does. It is considered one of the seven deadly sins. Yes pride, it is a sin. But in our world's context, it seems to be an acceptable sin. Who hasn't said that they are proud of themselves or someone else? I think we all have been or are guilty of this sin. And if we are being honest with ourselves, we wonder why its a sin sometimes. Shouldn't I be proud if I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps? I got that good job. I got that PhD, I got that big house. I got that big car. Ya I'm flaunting but I deserve to. I have earned it. Yes, I'm proud. In our society its a badge of honor to be prideful. It almost seems that if you are not proud, you have low self-esteem and don't really matter. I feel like you almost have to boast even to be heard. Only when people know how amazing you are will you be treated with the respect that you deserve. At least that is what the world keeps saying.

What does God say? The New Testament is full of great examples of pride and why its wrong. But as I was going through the pericope and look at the readings I realized the Old Testament also has great examples and it is one of these accounts I want to share with you today. I chose the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5:1-19. It’s about a man who won great victories but had fallen ill to leprosy. Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is a long-term infection by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae or Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. And its main symptom is a lack of feeling in nerves, so its easy to injure your self and not realize it. For a soldier its important to have your nerves work correctly. When He found out he was sick he was encouraged to go see the prophet in Israel.

Lets read it 2 Kings 5:1-19

2 Kings 5:1–19 (ESV)

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife.

She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.”

And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.

And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house.

And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”

But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.

Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”

So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.”

But he said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.

Then Naaman said, “If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord.

In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.”

He said to him, “Go in peace.”

What an interesting account, did you notice that this guy's pride could have cost him his healing, his recovery? How many times in our lives has pride cost us something? Maybe a relationship, a friendship, a marriage. For some of us a car accident, by golly we are not gonna let that person in, its not your fault they are late for work . . .

We all have pride. We think in church because we are not suppose to have pride that it doesn't exist, but oh it does. For instance, if you don't get to be part of the group or board you wanted, if you don't get to go or participate in an event you wanted, if you don't get to sing, if you don't get to read or usher. That bruised feeling or should I say bruised ego is a sign of our pride. But as I said earlier the world encourages pride, its a badge of honor.

Psychology Today has a list of things to be proud, I narrowed it down to ten

Who you are

The challenges you've overcome

The lessons you've learned

Being able to forgive yourself

Being able to forgive others

Doing things even when you're nervous

Taking the next step even though you're scared

Trying something new

Quitting a job you hate

Everything and anything

Did you note that last one? “Everything and anything?” Seems like with this list you can be proud of anything.

The reality is if you realize that you have a sin nature and that you were born sinful. You realize that you have nothing to be proud about and the good you do is because of what God has done in your life. To dismiss God's influence in your life and say you did it all your self is to deny the existence of God. Fact is Pride allows us to be selfish and judgmental, inconsiderate of others. Pride is based on your own self worth, and the moment that is threatened. You now have license to act on your behalf. Even if those actions can be harmful to others. Pride is always about oneself and what we can do to feed our flesh.

The Bible reminds us that pride can lead you to make poor choices based on wanting to maintain your image, pride can cause you to be unapologetic, pride leads to comparison and lack of contentment, pride can cause you to be inconsiderate, pride causes you to trust your thoughts more than God's truth, and if we aren't careful, pride can become the underlying issue in our lives.

Slowly but surely the world is realizing that pride us not an asset. Psychology Today who I earlier quoted saw pride as a positive, but it did show the other side of the coin. In another article they wrote it stated, “Why Pride Is Nothing to Be Proud Of." It stated that Pride Is Shame-Driven. Pride prevents us from acknowledging our human vulnerabilities. This shame-driven pride makes us too uncomfortable to say, "I'm sorry, I was wrong, I made a mistake." When pride rules, we believe we're always right. This makes it difficult to sustain intimate relationships; nobody likes being with a know-it-all.

Scripture clearly states the pride of oneself is wrong, and if you must exude pride it can’t be in you, but in the Lord. We can boast in the Lord, boast in our weakness, and boast in the cross of Christ. While others boast about their strict observance of rules or service rendered to the Lord, Paul says that he would rather boast in the cross of Christ. The religious boast about their religion. Those who think they can be saved through works boast in their good works. Those who are saved by grace, however, boast in the cross of Christ, which is the power of God to those who are being saved (see 1 Cor. 1:18).

We can be proud of the fact that Jesus paid it all, that we had nothing to do with it. Jesus died on the cross for the all our sins including pride, receiving him as our personal Lord and savior guarantees heaven. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:8-9

Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

I am sinful. I need Jesus the only good I have ever done is because of Christ in me. Any good that we do ourselves has an ulterior motive. Only through Christ do we do things not to boast or be prideful but out of love. When we boast we boast in the Lord. Our pride is in what he has done for us, when we live life like that we will be a better witness of Jesus Christ.

One could argue that Naaman was really prideful, after all he went to Israel to get help. But as the story reads Naaman thought he deserved better treatment because he was a famous general and won many battles. We find even in his “humility” he was prideful. He learned as we should that doing what God says, (in his case speaking through Elisha) Is better than doing something great.

We want to hold onto our pride, but we're called to something better, we're called to surrender to Christ.