Choose Humility over Pride I Cor



Choose Humility over Pride

1 Corinthians 4:7

Intro: This morning we come to another choice that we as believers must make in our lives. That is to choose humility over pride.

Ronald Reagan, recalling an occasion when he was governor of California and made a speech in Mexico City: "After I had finished speaking, I sat down to rather unenthusiastic applause, and I was a little embarrassed. The speaker who followed me spoke in Spanish -- which I didn't understand -- and he was being applauded about every paragraph. To hide my embarrassment, I started clapping before everyone else and longer than anyone else until our ambassador leaned over and said, 'I wouldn't do that if I were you. He's interpreting your speech.'" 

The first time I preached at our home church I was standing at the back door afterwards and everyone was coming up to tell me how wonderful the sermon was and so forth. My son who was about five came up and said, “Hi mister big shot!” Well, that sure brought me back down to earth with a thud.

Occasionally we all need to have someone burst our balloon of self importance and bring us back to reality. Such experiences are healthy because they help us maintain a proper perspective about our accomplishments. Pride is an attitude that causes us to credit ourselves for our accomplishments and to blame others for our failures. On the other hand, humility is an attitude that views both our accomplishments and our failures from God's perspective.

How do we react to the inevitable successes and failures in our life? This morning we will examine the biblical foundation and some practical suggestions for choosing humility over pride.

I. Pride Vs. Humility

A. God's Attitude Toward Pride

1. Pride Is Sin

Proverbs 21:4, “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” Pride was the first sin and

it is the most prevalent one. Lucifer was cast out of Heaven because of pride and pride will send more people to Hell than anything else. People who are too proud to admit their need for forgiveness of their sins will die in their sins.

2. Pride Is An Abomination

Proverbs 16:5, “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD.” Many times we talk about homosexuality being an abomination which makes God sick, but we don’t talk about pride having the same effect on God. Why is this so? Because most of us don’t have a problem with homosexuality and all of us have to deal with out pride.

3. Pride Is Destructive

Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” When we think we are fine, we are in a very dangerous place. This reminds me of several of my preacher friends who always traveled alone thinking they were strong enough to resist temptations only to lose their wives, their families and the ministries when they fell.

4. Pride Is Shameful

Proverbs 11:2, “When pride cometh, then cometh shame.” Of course, the shame comes after the fall.

5. Pride Is Hated By God

a. Proverbs 6:16-17, “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.”

b. Proverbs 8:13, “pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.”

6. Pride Is Forbidden By God

1 Samuel 2:3, “Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth.”

7. Pride Is Resisted By God

James 4:6, “Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud.”

8. Pride Defiles

Mark 7:20-23, “That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”

9. Pride Hinders Seeking After God

Proverbs 10:4, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”

10. Pride Causes Contention

Proverbs 13:10, “Only by pride cometh contention.” Almost all contention and strife in the local church is caused by pride on someone’s part.

You get the definite idea that God does not like pride. He sees it as a great sin which He hates. It makes Him sick (which is what abomination means). It defiles and destroys people. God has set Himself against prideful people. God hates pride.

B. God’s Attitude Toward Humility

1. Humility Is Required By God

Micah 6:8, “what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

2. Humility Is Needed For Revival

2 Chronicles 7:14, “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

3. Humility Causes God To Look On Us

Isaiah 66:2, “For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.” God responds to those who seek him in a humble fashion. Jesus gave us the parable of the Pharisee and the publican to teach us this truth.

4. Humility Brings Honor

1. Proverbs 15:33, “The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility.”

2. Matthew 23:12, “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

3. 1 Peter 5:5-6, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”

II. The Problem With Pride

Why does God hate pride so much? Why is pride at the top of the list of the seven deadly sins mentioned in Proverbs 6? Remember the definition of pride? It is the attitude that credits ourselves with our successes and

blames others for our failures. Such an attitude is the root cause of the following sins:

A. Ingratitude

1. Pride prevents us from crediting God with the good things in our lives.

2. Instead, we reach the mistaken conclusion that whatever we value in our lives: our appearance, our abilities, our families and our possessions are all somehow the result of our effort. Such a conclusion is somewhat understandable since we live in a culture that worships individualism and self-effort. But before we get too caught up in our own importance, we need again to consider the Apostle Paul's sobering question to bring us back to reality. 1 Corinthians 4:7, “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”

3. Think about it for a moment. Paul asks: What good thing in your life is not ultimately a gift from God?

a. Our appearance?

1. Perhaps we pride ourselves on our appearance.

2. We may exercise and eat all the right foods, but that isn't the key.

3. While it is possible to enhance or neglect your appearance, God's Word reminds us that every part of our body was formed in our mother's womb before we were born: Psalm 139:13-14, “For Thou hast possessed my reins:

Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

b. Our abilities?

1. My gift of preaching, such as it is, is the result of years of practice.

2. Yes, we can capitalize on or squander the talents God has given us. But James 1:17 reminds us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

c. Our children?

1. Someone might say, "My children are the result of biology and genetics!"

2. Translation: "They wouldn't be so great, if I wasn't so great."

3. Yet one only has to stand in a delivery room and witness the miracle of birth to realize the truth of Psalm 127:3, “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and fruit of the womb is His reward.”

Our children are a gift from God and we should treat them that way.

d. Our possessions?

1. Some people would say, "I've worked hard all of my life. That's why I have what I have."

2. Hard work is an important part of being successful, yet ultimately it is God who controls our financial destiny.

3. Job's life was a living illustration of this truth. Job 34:19, “How much less to Him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of His hands.”

4. Simple logic leads us to the conclusion that every good thing in life, beginning with the breath of life itself, is ultimately a gift from God.

5. And yet pride blinds us to such an obvious truth.

Pride gives rise to ingratitude, but it also brings the sin of:

B. Independence

1. Although God desires our fellowship, He doesn't need it.

2. In human terminology, God is completely self-sufficient.

3. He existed before His creation.

4. Why then the demand for our gratitude?

a. God's desire for our allegiance is based on His love for us.

b. God knows that it is impossible for us to be fulfilled apart from a relationship with Him.

c. He made us that way - in His image.

1. Think about it for a moment.

2. If you were a loving God and wanted to get the attention of your creation, how would you do it?

3. The same way a father tries to get the attention of his children – by giving them good gifts. Matthew 7:11, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask Him.”

d. God's plan is to shower us with good gifts, so that we might desire to know the loving giver of those gifts.

e. Unfortunately, ingratitude - the result of pride - leads to independence.

1. When we delude ourselves into thinking that we are somehow responsible for the good things in our lives, we decide we really don't need God.

2. Such a false conclusion was the basis for Lucifer's fall from heaven. Ezekiel 28:15, 17, “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”

3. God said. "Lucifer, you forgot that you are a creature, not

the Creator.

4. You failed to credit Me for your beauty and splendor.

5. And because of that, pride has entered your heart."

6. We find a record of Lucifer's "declaration of independence" and God’s response to it in Isaiah 14:12-15, “ How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

5. Independence is the belief that we are sufficient apart from God and is a deadly result of pride.

C. Intolerance

1. As we examine the Gospels, we see that Jesus did not deal harshly with adulterers, thieves, or even murderers.

2. Jesus' harshest words were reserved for the self-righteous Pharisees.

3. Their self-righteousness led to a hatred for other people and the false assumption that

they were the only ones going to heaven. Matthew 23:13, “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”

4. Such intolerance of others is a direct result of pride.

5. An inflated view of ourselves leads to a disdain for others.

6. Pride is so subtle that we can become proud of our humility.

We need to be careful that we are not like the Sunday school teacher who, after telling the story about the Pharisee and the tax-collector, said, “Children, let’s bow our heads and thank the Lord that we are not like the Pharisee.”

D. Inability To Accept God's Grace

1. Perhaps the most tragic result of pride is the inability to accept God's forgiveness.

2. If there is one sin that keeps a person out of heaven, it is pride.

3. Jesus illustrated this truth in His story about the rich young ruler. Turn to Luke 18:18-23.

4. A superficial reading of this account leads many to the false conclusion that money keeps people out of heaven or that one can buy his way into heaven by giving to the poor.

5. But the young ruler's unwillingness to sell all he had was a symptom of a much deeper sin problem.

a. Notice the self-righteous attitude of the young ruler.

b. After being reminded of God's holiness, the ruler quickly replied that

he had kept all of God's Law.

c. What an amazing statement!

d. It is impossible for most of us to keep God's Law for an hour, much less an

entire lifetime!

e. Jesus' request that he divest himself of his wealth was an attempt to demonstrate the young ruler's basic unrighteousness by showing that he had not kept the commandment to “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”.

6. Luke 18:17, "Verily, I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.”

a. Our mind-set is that children need to be like adults before they can become Christians.

b. But Jesus says just the opposite - adults need to become like children before they can be saved!

c. You see, a child usually has no problem admitting that he is a sinner and needs the Savior.

d. Unlike the rich young ruler, children are so unself-righteous that they are able to accept the Gospel easily.

e. That may explain why the average age of Christian converts is twelve, and there are so few adults who ever respond to the Gospel.

f. Pride bars us from admitting our need for grace.

Conclusion: The results of pride are ingratitude, independence, intolerance and the inability to accept the grace of God. What is your need this morning? Don't allow pride to get in the way of your relationship with God. Humble yourself and come to Him for forgiveness of your sins. Christian, are you far away from God in your heart. Come back to Him in humility.

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