Why You Want to Stay Away from Pride

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PROVERBS SERIES EIGHT

WHY YOU WANT TO STAY AWAY FROM PRIDE

Dr. Roger Barrier

Proverbs 6:16; 8:12-13;11:2;13:10;16:5;29:23

Solomon teaches on the dangers and destruction pride brings.

●SLIDE : Proverb 6:16: 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 man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

What begins with pride ends with discord among the brothers.

“God hates Pride” is the theme of pride in Proverbs.

●SLIDE

: Proverbs 8:13: I hate pride and arrogance,

evil behavior and perverse speech.

●SLIDE

: Proverbs 16:5: The LORD detests all the proud of heart.

Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

When we understand why God hates pride so deeply, we will hate it, too!

YOU CAN’T BUILD A STEEPLE THAT’S TALLER THAN GOD

●SLIDE:

The proud teacher Dan, built a / Church and then planned / To built a tall steeple / That all of the people could see. So . . .

●SLIDE:he cut down a pine / One thousand and nine / Times seventy-five / Plus six inches high / To build a great spire / That was forty times higher / Than the steepest of steeples / That puncture the sky.

●SLIDE: “Why do you want / Such a very high steeple?” / Asked seven hundred and / Five thousand people. / “Because,” said Dan, / “I want everyone to know / How stupendous I, / Reverend Dan, am. / I’ll show them a church / They well can applaud / And build a great steeple / That’s bigger than God!”

●SLIDE:Then the sky clouded up / And a lightning bolt flashed / And a loud voice booms / As the thunder crashed: / “This is God, Reverend Dan, / Now whatever you plan /Try to remember / I’m pretty goodsized / And if you should climb / From May to December,

●SLIDE: You never could measure / How tall are the skies. / And even though all / In the whole world applaud / You can’t build a steeple / That’s bigger than God!” / God boomed and God thundered: / “See here, Reverend Dan, / Is a list of some things / That I’m taller than:

●SLIDE: I’m taller than grass / I’m taller than flowers / Shrubs, poles and trees / Chimneys and towers. / I’m taller than airplanes / Even jets in their flight / I’m taller than rockets / That launch satellites. / It’s too bad you’ve forgotten / (It’s quite a disgrace)

●SLIDE: For I’m taller than / Heaven and taller than space. / So you see, Pastor Dan, / You must tell the people / That I will always be / Taller than steeples.” / But Dan didn’t hear / The voice out of space. / He went out right then / To a very wide place / And started to build / At a very fast pace.

●SLIDE: He found the great pine / One thousand and nine / Times seventy-five / Plus six inches high,/And he stood it on end In a very strong wind / Till it disappeared / In the clouds of the sky.

●SLIDE: “Oh, Reverend Dan, / That is a high steeple!” / Said seven hundred and / Five thousand people./And as all of those/Near began to applaud/Dan beamed, “My steeple/Is higher than God!”

●SLIDE: And just as he spoke, / From the high clouds and mist / Came a thousand-mile hand / That formed in a fist. /It smashed the high steeple / Which fell all around / Shattered and scattered all over the ground. / Dan sat in the ruins / Of his tall splintered spire / Which no one around him / Now could admire.

●SLIDE: He started to cry when the voice from the sky / Said, “Dan, I’m so sorry it ended this way./But when life takes a turn/That helps us to learn / We ought to admit it’s been a good day.”

●SLIDE: No man is big who thinks he is big. / When we’re uppity-up, we’re only a clod. / We ought to remember we’re made out of sod,/ And we can’t build a steeple / That’s higher than God.

Well, I am not a preacher building a church. No, but you are building a life. And it is possible to try to build it without on your own, apart from the wisdom and guidance of God.

●SLIDE: Proverbs 15:25: The LORD tears down the proud man's house

●SLIDE: And the bitter wrecks of foolish proud lives litter the human landscape all around us.

●SLIDE: The path of wisdom does not lie along the road of pride.

It lies along the road of humility.

What is Pride?

●SLIDE: Finney: "Pride is a disposition to exalt self, to get above others, to hide our defects, and to pass for more than we are."

●SLIDE: Webster: "Inordinate self esteem; conceit; ostentatious display."

●SLIDE: Some people grow up, but most of us just puff up!!!

●SLIDE: I once heard a person say: "Some people call me outgoing, but it's not outgoing, it's me that's showing through all the time."

●SLIDE: Barrier: “Pride is an over concern with myself.”

●SLIDE: Self-Reliance: “I don’t need you or anyone else. I am better than you and others.”

●SLIDE: Self-Centeredness: “I will take from you to meet my wants and needs.”

●SLIDE: Self-Condemnation: “You are better than I; therefore, we could never have a relationship.”

●SLIDE: OVERHEAD: WHY DOES GOD HATE PRIDE SO MUCH?

●SLIDE: 1. PRIDE RUINS OUR ABILITY TO FULFILL THE GREATEST COMMANDMENTS: LOVE GOD AND LOVE OTHERS.

●WRITE ON OVERHEAD: Matthew 22:37-40: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Lets take the definition of pride and apply it to the Great Commandment.

  ●SLIDE: God Others My Self

Self-Reliance Don't need Don't need Isolated/Alone

Self-Centeredness Take/Disappointed Take/Disappointed Isolated/Alone

Self-Condemnation Rejected Inferior Isolated/Alone

Pride ruins relationships

Satan: "I will be like God." - Pride

Satan tempted Adam and Eve: "You can be as God." - Pride.

Trace fall in Garden with the chart: SR, SC, SC

Many of you are living here. I just described your life. Pride isolated and makes us alone.

●SLIDE: Proverbs 13:10: "Pride only breeds quarrels."

Exclusive company. Think of how many church fights occurred because some one got proud.

●SLIDE: A poor farmer lived in the mountains of North Carolina, worked hard but was barely able to make a living for himself, wife, and son. The son was a bright boy. One day, the farmer said to the mother, “Our son is a natural born scholar, and if he is only a poor farmer’s son, he shall have as good an education as a millionaire’s son.” The father and mother economized and raked and scraped and got enough together to send the boy off to college.

●SLIDE: The boy did well at school, and often sent a letter home, telling how well he was doing. “Mother, these letters are all right,” said the father. “They cheer my heart, but my heart is lonely for the boy and I must see him!”

●SLIDE: He loaded his old farm wagon and started for the college town. It was a long, tedious journey, but every hour of his journey, as he drew near the college town, his heart grew lighter and happier. “In a little while now, I’ll see my boy. Won’t he be surprised! Won’t he be glad!”

●SLIDE: As he drove up the hill towards the college, he saw his boy coming down the sidewalk with several college companions. “There he comes! There he comes!” said the old man. He jumped off the wagon and ran to meet his son. “My son,” he cried. His son was surprised, but not glad. He was ashamed of his father in his plain old homespun clothes.

●SLIDE: “There must be some mistake, sir,” he said. “I am not your son, you are not my father. I do not know you. There must be some mistake, sir!”

●SLIDE: He might as well have driven a dagger into his father’s heart. The father went home with a broken heart and died not long after.

Over concern with my Self.

●SLIDE: OVERHEAD. 2. GOD HATES PRIDE BECAUSE IT IS THE ROOT OF ALL SIN.

  ●WRITE ON OVERHEAD: Proverbs 6:15-18: Pride, Lies (protect self and hurt others), murder (I have the right to decide (whether or not you live), wicked schemes (deceive others), evil (hurt others), gossip (, dissension.

 ●WRITE ON OVERHEAD: Pride is the root and wicked ways are the fruit.

Pride is the essence of wickedness. Pride is like the root of a plant. If we don't deal with pride, then we'll never have victory over the wicked ways.

Like pruning plants - Prune the branches and all of the others grow stronger. Have problems with lying, murder (anger), deceit, evil, dissension? If deal with lying, all the others grow stronger.

God wants to pull out the root, not just to prune off some fruit.

By the way, Pride is universal. We all have trouble with it. It is so deceitful.

●SLIDE : The one vitamin we all have too much of is Vitamin I.

●SLIDE :: Young person: "I'm such a proud person, so I guess I'm a sinful person."

●SLIDE :"For thirty years I've struggled with pride, and I didn't even know that I was!" - Such is the Deception of Pride.

●SLIDE : OVERHEAD: 3. GOD HATES PRIDE BECAUSE OF THE ABSOLUTE DEVASTATION THAT COMES THROUGH THE SIN OF PRIDE. He hates to see people ruin and destroy their lives.

●SLIDE : Proverbs 11:2: When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Number of lives messed up because of pride.

●SLIDE : Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction,

a haughty spirit before a fall.

•SLIDE: A minister, a Boy Scout, and a computer expert were the only passengers on a small plane. The pilot said that the plane was going down but there were only three parachutes and four people. The pilot added, “I should have one of the parachutes because I have a wife and three small children.” So he took one and jumped.

The computer whiz said, “I should have one because I am the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me.” So he took one and jumped.

The minister turned to the Boy Scout and with a said smile said, “You are young and I have lived a rich life, so you take the last parachute and I’ll go down with the plane.”

The Boy Scout said, “Relax, Reverend, there are still two parachutes left. The smartest man in the world just picked up my knapsack and jumped out!”

●SLIDE : Proverbs 18:12: Before his downfall a man's heart is proud,

but humility comes before honor.

●SLIDE : 1 Peter 5 is the pride chapter of the Bible: “Satan goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.”

Roaring lion doesn't come to eat! He comes to call all the other lions to the feast.

A group of birds is a flock. A bunch of cows is a herd. What do you call a group of lions?

●SLIDE : A Pride. Pride allows Satan to have a field day in our lives.

How might pride manifest itself deep in our hearts?

•BUILD SLIDE: It's a secret fondness to be noticed.

•BUILD SLIDE:  It's a love of supremacy.

•BUILD SLIDE: It's drawing attention to yourself in conversation.

•BUILD SLIDE: It's enjoying being flattered.

•BUILD SLIDE:  It's a swelling out of self when you're free to speak - or to pray.

•BUILD SLIDE: It's loving to have your name at the top of the list.

•BUILD SLIDE: It's when the praise of men is sweet to your taste.

●SLIDE : What are we talking about? A superiority complex! "Well, thank God that's not my problem! I HAVE AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX!

I heard of a man who came running out of a Psychiatrist's office. He was so excited. Here's why he was so excited. He said, "I found out in there I don't have an inferiority complex! I am just inferior!"

How many here have an inferiority complex?

We don't like that term. Be more gentle... less harsh. Let's don't call it inferiority complex. Let's call it a "Shy Personality!" Does that sound better?

“Shy Personality! That's me. God gave to me a shy personality.”

●SLIDE: Here's an article: “Darrell Wells, Always Out Front.” Somebody said, "Some people are all front door, and the minute they open the door, you're back door." When some folks walk in the room you're back door. Darrell Wells has a superiority complex. He's always out front!

●SLIDE: But now we're on the other side of the coin of pride: show off and shyness.

●SLIDE: Definition of Pride: An Over Concern With Myself

Self-Reliance and Self-Centeredness—superiority complex

Self-Condemnation—inferiority complex

I'm suggesting that our self-condemnation, shyness, and fear of what people think of us are nothing more than the flip side of pride, which is sin.

Why are you always withdrawing? Why? What's the problem? Perhaps you're afraid? You're afraid of what others will think of you. This is pride!

PRIDE MANIFESTED AS SELF-RELIANCE AND SELF-CENTEREDNESS AND SELF CONDEMNATION FILLS THE PAGES OF SCRIPTURE.

●SLIDE : The Parable Of The Lost Son (Luke 15:11-31)

●SLIDE : The Story Of The Rich Man And The Poor Beggar Named Lazarus (Luke 1619-31).

Deal with your pride relationship while there is still time.

Prodigal Son found compassion from the Father while he was still alive.

It was too late for the Rich Man. He was already dead when he tried to deal with his pride.

●SLIDE : HUMILITY IS THE ANTIDOTE TO PRIDE

●SLIDE : Proverbs 29:23: A man's pride brings him low,

but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.

Proverbs 3:34: He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble .

Proverbs 22:4: Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.

●SLIDE : What does humility look like?

Humility is allowing our needs to be met in the context of others.

●SLIDE : Remember the old song? “He laid aside His reputation, when He came and stood by me.” Why do we hang on to ours!

It is impossible to go on to maturity in Christ until we have laid aside ours!

OUR PRAYER should be:

“Oh Lord, Deliver me . . .

from the desire to be: extolled—honored—preferred to others—consulted— approved—rebuked; from the fear of being: humiliated—despised—embarrassed—forgotten—wrong; from the fear: that others may be esteemed more than I—that I may go unnoticed while others are praised.

Amen.