It's the pride we have when we have done a job well, or our first-grader comes home with a gold star on his paper or we
PRIDE
A study from the series
What Keeps Me from Growing.
by Woodrow Kroll
I love to read stories from other countries. This one comes from India and it carries a great lesson with it. Once there was a great scholar who was appreciated by everybody in his kingdom because he was so learned. Unfortunately, in spite of his great learning, he had even greater pride. One day this scholar put on a gold necklace and went to the palace of a neighboring kingdom. He said, “Whoever can defeat me in wisdom will get this necklace.” Well, all the scholars in that particular kingdom had heard about this man’s abilities and they were afraid that they would lose. So they would not accept his challenge. Their king was very sad. But finally the court jester piped up and said, “I’ll accept your challenge.” Quickly the court jester said, “I will ask you four questions. If you answer any of my questions correctly, you will lose. But if all your answers are incorrect, then my king will give you anything you want.” The court jester asked his first question: “Where do you come from?” The scholar said, “I live here.” This was incorrect since he came from another kingdom and so by giving the wrong answer, the scholar passed the first test. The jester’s second question was, “How long have you been here?” “Three years,” the scholar said which, of course, was incorrect because he had just arrived. The third time the jester asked, “Our king is good, kind and generous. Do you agree?” The scholar said, “Your king? Absolutely not. He is unkind and a horrible ruler.” So again the scholar passed the test. Then court jester said, “It seems I can’t defeat you. How many questions have I asked so far?” The scholar said, “Three. You have one more. If I don’t answer it correctly, you lose.” “No,” smiled the jester. “I have already won because you answered my last question correctly. I have indeed asked you four questions.” Stunned, the scholar’s face dropped. His pride had defeated him. Pride is a temptation to almost everyone. In fact, the only people who don’t see the pride in their lives are people who are excessively proud.
Definition: The word “pride” is used in a double sense and the two meanings couldn’t be further apart. So there’s good pride and bad pride. There is a difference between the kind of pride that God hates and the kind of pride we feel when we do something well. The kind of pride that God hates arises from our own self-righteousness and that’s bad because it separates us from God. “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate” (Proverbs 8:13). Psalm 10:4 tells us that the proud are so consumed with themselves that their thoughts are far from God: “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his 1
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thoughts there is no room for God.” This kind of haughty pride comes from the Hebrew word gaavah which means “haughtiness” or “arrogance in an evil way.” But there are at least four New Testament Greek words for pride. Each carries a slightly different meaning. One word means “insolent” or “arrogant” as in James 4:6, “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” Another word means “to boast” as in Ephesians 2:9 that tells us our salvation is not earned but given by God’s free grace “lest anyone should boast.” And there are two other words, all generally used in a negative context.
But there is a good pride as well. It’s the kind of pride that does not arise from self-
exaltation, haughtiness, conceit or presumption. This pride does not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think (Romans 12:3). This is a holy pride, not a haughty pride. It’s the pride we have when we have done a job well, or our first-grader comes home with a gold star on his paper or we see that beautiful Easter dress on our daughter. Pride is good when we have pride in God. “But let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 9:24). And 1 Corinthians 1:31, “Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.’” Pride is good when we have pride in others. “I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds” (2 Corinthians 7:4). Pride is good even when your pride is in yourself if that pride is about a quality that exalts God. “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower” (James 1:9-10). But when we talk about the temptation of pride, we’re not talking about the good kind of pride, and in our study today we’re talking about pride that causes us to stumble and fall into sin.
Why Is Pride Bad for Us? Here are some examples given in the Bible showing the destructive power of pride.
1. Pride is destructive because it was pride that caused Satan to sin and brought his downfall from heaven. Ezekiel 28:17 tells how the angel Lucifer (Satan’s original name) was cast from heaven because of his pride. “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you.” Now, Lucifer was one of the most handsome angels God ever created, but he became filled with pride because of his good looks and wanted to be God. As a result of his pride, he was kicked out of heaven.
2. Pride is destructive because it often causes us to focus on our own physical features, like Satan did. Satan’s pride sounds a lot like the pride of Absalom, David’s favored son. 2 Samuel 14:25-26 says of Absalom, “Now in all Israel there was no one so much to be praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. And when he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of every year he used to cut it; when it was heavy on him), he weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.” Now, we all know hair 2
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isn’t very heavy. In fact, it’s so light it’s hard to weight it at all. But a shekel of weight in ancient Israel was equal to about 11 grams, so 200 shekels would be 220 grams or about half a pound of hair. That’s a lot of hair. Absalom was handsome and proud of it and it brought him down. Pride goes before a fall. Remember, Absalom’s father, David, was handsome as well, but God told Samuel in choosing David as king, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him (meaning King Saul). For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Pride often stems for our self-assessment of our beauty.
3. Pride is destructive because it gives us a false sense of superiority. Third John is a tiny book in the NT consisting of only 15 verses, yet it gives us an example of how pride can destroy us. Here’s what the apostle John wrote in verses 9-11. “I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.” That’s a pretty strong indictment of the proud Diotrephes. Diotrephes wanted to be first, he wanted to run the show, he wanted to be the big cheese, but John describes him and his pride as evil, one who does not know God. Pride would bring this church leader down.
4. Pride is destructive because it has a way of creeping into the work of the Lord. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that if pride goes unchecked, Christians and especially church leaders can easily fall into the trap of serving themselves instead of serving God. Pride takes a good person and because that good person is placed on the front line for the Lord, he or she gets a lot of press time, a lot of video time, and they begin to think to themselves, Hey, I must really be good. When that happens you can easily trace their pride from that point on. First come the big homes and big cars, the diamond rings, the rubbing shoulders with other so-called important people and when pride gets its hands on you, it’s hard to make it stop. I’ve seen this far too often in radio and TV ministries. Pride can also easily creep into our churches. Just as I cringe when I see radio people and the first thing they ask me is, “How many stations is Back to the Bible on now?”, I cringe when I hear pastors and staff get together and the first question asked is, “How many did you have in your services this week?” Sometimes churches promote themselves to the community in such a way as to communicate their pride. They can say it’s because they want to get more people into church, but it sounds a lot like a business marketing itself as the biggest of this or best of that. Remember the words of wise King Solomon: “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth” (Proverbs 27:2). While there are many more examples in the Bible of why pride is destructive, let me mention just one more. I think it is the most destructive.
5. Pride is destructive because it lures us into thinking that we can live well independently of God. Pride makes us think we can go it alone. It makes us believe that we don’t need God, that He is just a crutch in the time of trouble and if we are in charge of our own life, we can manage trouble ourselves. This is not only foolish, it has been proven again and again not to be true. Let’s look at some portions from Psalm 10. In the first verse the psalmist questions why God hides himself in times of trouble and then he describes the wicked this way. “The wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and 3
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renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’ He says in his heart, ‘I shall not be moved; throughout all generations....’ He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.” Now, did you notice pride in these verses? “In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him.... he says in his heart, ‘God ... will never see it’.” I think the most destructive thing about pride is that it minimizes our belief in the need for God in our lives. But those who were successful in the Bible, and in life today, are those who maximize the need for God in their lives. When Jacob minimized his need for God, he worked 20 years for Laban. When he maximized his need for God, he came back to Bethel. When Jonah minimized his need for God, he was swallowed by a great fish. When he maximized his need for God—while in the belly of the fish—he was given a second chance by God. And the stories go on and on.
The Consequences of Pride Throughout Scripture we are told about the consequences of pride. Proverbs 16:1819 tells us that “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” Isaiah 14:22 tells us that for those who defy God, there is nothing ahead but disaster. “‘I will rise up against them,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity,’ declares the Lord.” Second Corinthians 10:13 tells us that pride has sometimes kept people from trusting Christ as Savior. “But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you” says the apostle Paul. Sometimes people are so filled with themselves and their pride that they cannot admit their need for a Savior. Pride keeps them out of heaven. They don’t miss heaven because of a lack of knowledge; they miss it because of their own stubborn pride. So what is the antidote to pride? Learned humility. Some people are born humble; others have to learn the art of being humble. Listen to the counsel of God’s Word. God “gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts.” (James 4:6-8) And 1 Peter 5:5-7, “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” When you are badgered by self-pride, find a quiet corner, confess it to God and ask Him to help you learn the joy of being truly humble. It will give you a new attitude on how you relate to others, as servant, not as superior. Look, pride is like a silent killer in your body. You may not even recognize that it’s there. And when you do recognize it, it may be so strong that you are too proud to admit it. And if you won’t admit it, God can’t take it away from you. So ask Him to do a work of His grace in your life. Ask God to show you your pride. Ask Him to convict you of it because pride is sin. Ask Him to assist you in repenting of it. Ask Him to take it away from you and replace it with learned humility. And then, let your humility seep out of your life. Let others assess that your pride has been replaced with the attitude that most closely resembles your Lord, the attitude of true humility. And God bless you as you go through this process.
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A BAKER’S DOZEN OF VERSES ABOUT PRIDE Proverbs 16:5 “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” Galatians 6:3 “For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” James 4:6 “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” 1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” 2 Timothy 3:2 “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy.” Proverbs 29:23 “One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.” 2 Corinthians 12:7 “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.” Romans 12:16 “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.” Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.” 2 Corinthians 10:18 “For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
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THE BAKER’S DOZEN VERSES
Copyright © 2012 The Good News Broadcasting Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Back to the Bible P.O. Box 82808, Lincoln, NE 68501 1-800-759-2425 backtothebible.org “Baker’s Dozen” scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version®. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
