Deadly Sin of Pride

      Pride is one of the big stories in the Bible. It begins in a very interesting place. In Isaiah 14 we read some things that are being said about the king of Babylon.

Isaiah 14:11-14

11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,

    along with the noise of your harps;

maggots are spread out beneath you

    and worms cover you.

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.”

 

Basically Isaiah is accusing the King of Babylon of exulting himself over God. This is the ultimate act of pride. Who am I in the world? I am the best! I am the greatest! I am divine! It says How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! This is the passage from which we get the Lucifer. Lucifer is not actually in the Bible. We get the word Lucifer from a Latin translation of this particular Hebrew word (heylel) that means morning star or light bearer. We have come to know the word Lucifer as another name for Satan. We get that connection from another book called the Book of Enoch.

What we can say then is that Isaiah is trying to communicate that this Lucifer character has elevated himself to divine statues and will be brought low. It is the ultimate act of pride. I think we are on safe ground to suggest that the figures of Lucifer/Satan/Devil at times personify the desire to be greater than God. Pride on the ultimate level is the desire to be greater than God, to have the knowledge of God and achieve divine-like statues. The Bible comes down very hard this impulse. In fact many would say that the sin of Adam and Eve was the sin of pride. When you look at the story the serpent coming to visit Eve in the garden we see the serpent questioning the statues that God has given to humans. They are not equal with God. God has shared some things with humans – the power of creation, his image and yet he has also set limitations. The serpent asks Eve if God really said that she would die if she ate from the tree of knowledge? Basically the serpent is questioning  the limitations. Adam and Eve eat from the tree in an attempt to elevate themselves to a certain statues. God intervenes, says no to their actions and reminds the humans that “From dust you came and dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:19) That is the human condition. You are dust. You are not divine.

 What I have described above is typically how Christians view pride. The ultimate act of pride is to lift oneself up to the statues of God. Certainly this is one understanding on pride yet there are others. For example Augustine suggests that “Pride is the love of one’s own excellence.” In the simplest possible terms pride is the love of one’s own excellence. That is probably a very subtle way of putting it. It is not plain and simple excellence. It is falling in love with one’s own excellence.

Perhaps you are aware of the story from Greek mythology about Narcissus. A basic summary of the story is that one day Narcissus looked into a pool of water and saw his own reflection. He became so in love with his own image that eventually he died. That is where we get the term narcissus. Perhaps you have accused someone else of being one. They have fallen in love with their own reflection. They are in love with their own excellence.

There is nothing wrong with excellence. When two people set off on a run someone is going to be faster than the other. One person is an excellent runner and the other is not.  The problem is not that there are ways of determining excellence it is falling in love with it. You become driven by the notion of being number one. You are defined by being excellent and you been to fall in love with it. There is also nothing wrong with having a healthy sense of self-esteem.

If a young child were to come to you and say “Look at the drawing I made in class.” Hopefully you wouldn’t look at them and say “That’s horrible! How ugly! What are these colors? Do you have any sense of line or form?” Granted we do need critique yet we also need a healthy sense of self-assurance. Sometimes religion steps in and suggests that your draws are horrible and you are horrible. Often we give that message too early and too often. It is a reason why people feel so hurt from religion or and churches. You need to have an ego before you can let go of it. Before you can deny yourself and follow Jesus you have to have a self you can deny.

Well what does pride look like?

1. Pride looks like the phrase – I am number one. Those who are driven to be number one. Those who desire excellence and fall in love with their own excellence. In everything they have to be first. First is how they define themselves. Think about how radical then Jesus’ words are when he says “the first shall be last.” Do we even believe that? Jesus must not be a very good American. In America we seem to believe that the first shall be first and the last are just losers. Second place is just the first loser. Many of us orient our lives around being number one. I have to be number one if I am anybody.

2. Being in love with what you have done. Is there anything wrong with accomplishments? No, yet falling in love with your accomplishments and now we have a problem. The moment you fall in love with your accomplishments you are communicating that I am better then you. I am better human being then you.  I am accomplished and have something to offer while others do not. Maybe you can remember your childhood arguments you would get into on the playground. Who is the fastest runner? Who was the best singer? Who was the best athlete? As adults we have probably not gone too far from the elementary school playground. When you hear adults say something resembling “I have been on this board for six years” or “My degree is in ___________”  then there is a good chance that you have fallen in love with your own experience and accomplishments.

           3. Too much thought about one’s self. Some people seem to think that every conversation is about them. What does this mean for me? This can also be found in low-self-esteem in the form of contempt for yourself. Maybe you have met someone who constantly puts themselves down. I am the truly humble one here because my accomplishments mean nothing. That passes as humility but it is really a disguised form of pride. It is still too much thought about one’s self. A truly humble person does not need to say – Hey! Look at me!  I am so humble. We often praise this mentality. I can’t receive any complements nor do I deserve a complement. That is pride creeping in.

          4. There is the pride of appearance. In the Bible we have this word vanity or vain glory. The word vanity means untruthfulness or emptiness. So you go out and get yourself some new Oakley Sunglasses or a Coach purse. Someone might say that you are vain for purchasing those expensive sunglasses and purse. Yet vanity means untruthfulness. So the sunglasses and purse don’t really count unless it is like a mask. You are putting on the appearance of greatness and unjustified boasting. Perhaps you have watched a few episodes of the TV show American Idol. What attracts people to the show is not just the great talent that is discovered but those who think they have talent. There are many who audition and are not accepted. Some of those who are not accepted are unable to accept criticism. In their minds they are the next American Idol.  They are fantastic and more than that they want the appearance of being fantastic. Thus pride can be the desire to appear better then you. You misrepresent to others (untruthfulness) who you really are.  Pride pops up most often when we consider the question - Who am I? The prideful answer is to consider how other people see you. What other people think of me defines who I am. I think most of us are like this. At work, at home, at church – what will people think if I say this or do that. We preachers are guilty of this one too. We are supposed to be a Moses type figure who are up on Mt Sinai taking down notes from a deep personal conversation with God and come down to live a holy and righteous lives. It is a big temptation for preachers and churches to prop that up.

In Luke 18 Jesus tells an interesting parable. It is the story of two men who go to the temple to pray. One is Pharisee and the other is a Tax Collector. The Pharisee is the one who is supposed to have it together religiously. They follow the religious rules and laws. The Tax Collector is a traitor. He is in league with the Roman government. The Tax Collector does not follow the religious rules and laws in the manner of a Pharisee. You can read this for yourself in Luke 18:9-14. If you are familiar with the story the Pharisee says his prayer and then the Tax Collector. The Pharisee basically uses his prayer to say Thank you God for all the blessings because it means that I am not like all these sinners around me. The language of blessing can often be the subtext for saying -thank you that I am not like so and so. Pride shows up very strongly in a religious context.

Philippians 2:5-8 is a passage that is a spring board for all kinds of theological debates. Yet, think about what the writer is saying. That Jesus has a divine nature yet does not use that to his advantage. If you read down a little further in the passage it says that Jesus became a servant- this word can also be translated as slave. This is our King. I thought kings were supposed to receive glory and accolades and use their power. But not this King. This King chooses to be a slave. And in all of this we are told that we are to have this in mind – that our king came to be a slave to all - in all of our relationships.

How did Christianity become so filled with arrogance and pride? We are supposed to be following the humble one. How did it get turned into we are the ones with the truth and you don’t. I am righteous you are evil. I know the right path you know nothing. Somehow we have turned this into a game of lines in the sand. You are an outsider and I am an insider.  I have the truth and you don’t. We are not very good at taking on the attitude of Christ Jesus who humble himself.

Consider the very simple phrase -Come follow me. That is fairly straight forward. That is what Jesus says to his disciples at the beginning of his ministry. At the end Jesus looks at Peter and says come follow me. Jesus beings and ends his ministry with the same invitation. Come follow me. If you are a follower then that means that you don’t know the way. You might have hints and guesses. But is it a trusting step of faith. For many of us we have said excuse me Jesus you are wandering all over the place perhaps I need to help you stay on the right path. If you come and follow it means you don’t have it all figured out. You step into a relationship and you are not sure where it is going to take you. Take on the attitude of Christ Jesus who did not consider equality with God something to be used to his advantage.

John 20:21-23 - Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

The first thing that Jesus does after his resurrection is talk about forgiveness. He says to his disciples now you go forgive people in their sins. This probably places some of us into some theological tension. Wait a minute I thought only God could forgive sins. Jesus stands there and says to his disciples you are welcome. In your pride, lust, sloth, wrath, gluttony, envy, greed. These desires that make you human and that don’t always lead you to good things, the resurrected Christ says you are welcome you are forgiven and you belong. Yet that is not the end of the story. We could all just go home and say – Yes, I am forgiven! Great! Yet, Jesus says now you go and extend forgiveness.

If you think about the moments in your life when you have received forgiveness was it like a mental switch. Did somebody say to you “God forgives you” and you were like “ Oh, okay thanks”. Or is it more like the times that you have experience forgiveness of another human being. When someone came up to you and said – I forgive you. I know what you have done. I love you anyway. I forgive you. The way we feel and experience forgiveness in often in our own relationships. That is the way that Jesus seems to want it. I have come to forgive you but I also now give you some responsibility. I forgive you but you must extend forgiveness to others. You must say in the name of Jesus you are forgiven. You must go and make that a reality in the lives of others. Jesus is suggesting that he is trusting his followers will be an instrument of his forgiveness.