Pride
Message Notes:
Today’s message is the final sermon in the “Seven Deadly Sin’s” series. Final message theme: Pride.
Thinking about every day life, in American culture today, we unquestionably value humility over pride. But this has not always been the case in human history. Three to four hundred years before Jesus (and into His days) much of the Greco-Roman world saw “humility” through the lens of “humiliation.” It was associated with being crushed or debased.
The teachings of Jesus challenged every form of pride or arrogance, and elevated humility instead.
Matthew 23:11
•Luke 14:11
•Matthew 20:28
•Luke 18:10-14
Augustine on pride:
•it is the foundation of sin
•it makes the soul desert God (thinking God is unnecessary)
•it leads us to think God is not the source of life, but rather, I am!
Tim Keller’s pride definition:
•Pride is the CARBON MONOXIDE of sin. It silently and slowly kills you without you even knowing.
Pride is dangerous because it is sneaky — it infects us unknowingly.
•(1) It creates an inaccurate, hyper-inflated view of myself.
•(2) It makes you then feel you don’t need anyone’s help
•(3) It finally leads one to disdain others (the great unwashed)
•See Revelation 3:17 (the church at Laodicea)
Pride is not the only thing that blinds us to the true nature of our soul (see low self-esteem in the link). Humility is the “sweet spot” between the two.
Discussion Questions:
Take some time considering when pride has brought pain to your life or relationships. Why did it? How?
Explore a time in your memory when pride led you to isolation / withdrawal from people. “I don’t need anyone’s help!” “I can do this by myself!”
Can you think of a time when pride inhibited you from confessing your sins to God or another person?
Have you had any champions of humility in your life? Who were they, and what about them did the most to influence you?
Try to memorize the following verse this week:
1 Peter 5:6 — “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”