SEVEN DEADLY SINS
DR. JIM DIXON
PRIDE
1 PETER 5:1-11
LUKE 14
JANUARY 7, 1990
There was a man named Gregory the Saint who sought sanctification through monastic discipline. He was a Benedictine monk that desired to evangelize the world through the Benedictine order. In the year 590 AD, he ascended to the papacy and he was called Pope Gregory I. He purged the Vatican of corruption and the people called him ‘Gregory the Great’ but he called himself the ‘Servant of the Servants of Christ.’ In his quest for the holiness of Jesus Christ, Gregory the Great identified what he called seven deadly sins. He did not call these sins deadly, because he thought them beyond pardon or forgiveness. The only unpardonable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate and final rejection of the Spirit’s testimony to Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Gregory called these seven sins deadly, because he truly believed they were root sins, from which all sin came.
Now today these seven deadly sins occupy an important position in the order and discipline of the Roman Catholic church. Through the centuries, theologians such as Thomas Aquinas and his Summa Theologica have examined these seven deadly sins. We’re going to examine them in the weeks to come. The Bible gives inordinate attention to these seven grave sins. The first sin, that we will deal with this morning, is the sin of pride. When we think of the sin of pride, we are not speaking of the proper pride that one has in one’s home, family or a job well done. We’re not talking about the proper pride that one takes in one’s country or even the pride that one takes in a job well done. Rather, when we speak of the sin of pride, we are speaking of an inflated view of self, an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
One of the Greek words for pride is the word “tofo.” This world literally means “puffed up.” You see, a prideful person is puffed up with self. The sin of pride is not healthy self-esteem. The sin of pride is egotism, an inflated view of self and produces two horrible characteristics in people. First of all, a prideful person tends to put himself of herself above God. If you’re prideful, if you’re puffed up, if you have an inflated view of self, then somehow, someway you’re going to put yourself above God.
Now three weeks ago, as reported in The Denver Post and The Rocky Mountain News, three scientists from Harvard and Cal Tech discovered a new quasar, the most distant object yet to be discovered in space. A quasar one hundred times brighter than our Milky Way galaxy. Quasars are said to be more irregular galaxies one hundred to one thousand times more luminous than normal galaxies. It is believed by most astronomers and cosmologists that quasars have black holes at the center although, it is not known for certain. This particular quasar, recently discovered, is one on the very edge of the known universe and said to be 15 billion light years away. The light emanating from this distant galaxy has taken 15 billion years, moving at 186 thousand miles a seconds, just to reach our eyes. Incredible.
Scientists tell us that in this cosmos, in this universe, there are more than 100 billion galaxies. Our galaxy called the Milky Way is only one of a hundred billion galaxies. It is a hundred thousand light years wide and is a spiral galaxy. We’re told that the nearest spiral galaxy to this galaxy is, Andromeda, 2.2 million light years away. We’re told that the nearest galaxy to this galaxy of any kind is 1.5 million light years away. This planet is in a solar system that is only one of billions of solar systems in this one galaxy and this galaxy one of a hundred billion galaxies.
Human beings are simply specs on one little ball in space called earth, one seemingly insignificant planet in a remote corner of the cosmos in the universe. Understanding this is meant to humble us before a mighty God. The Bible says in Psalms 8, “When I consider the heavens, the work of thy Hands, the sun and the moon which Though has established, what is man that Thou art mindful of him.” The Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” And yet the Bible tells us that mankind is somehow incredibly preoccupied with his own glory. It says in Romans, Chapter 1, “God’s invisible power, His eternal power and glory and deity has been clearly perceived the things that are made” and yet the Bible says that, “Man has chosen to worship the creature rather than the Creator.” This is what the Bible calls pride, a puffed up and an incomprehensibly inflated view of self where man becomes the center of his own universe.
The Bible tells us, pride began with Satan, the fallen angel. We’re told that in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 that his sin was pride. He corrupted, his wisdom for the sake of his splendor. He said in his heart, “I will ascend above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will make myself like the most high God.” The Bible says he was cast out of heaven as a profane thing.
Well, perhaps you’re thinking, “That might be true of Satan but that’s not true of me.” Perhaps you’re thinking, “Well, I would never be so prideful.” Perhaps you’re thinking, “I don’t want to ascend above the stars. I don’t want to set my throne on high. I don’t want to make myself like God. I don’t want to put myself above God.” But, you see, the Bible tells us pride is very subtle and it creeps into our lives in subtle ways.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the pillars of Hercules – two giant rock formations on either side of the Straits of Gibraltar. In ancient times these two rock formations were called Calfay and Obea. Today they are called Gibraltar and Jeblemoosa. The ancients believe that Hercules, by the order of the gods, had placed those rocks on either side of the Straits of Gibraltar. The Straits of Gibraltar are at the end of the Mediterranean Sea where the Mediterranean Sea leads into the vast Atlantic. The ancient people believe that the gods didn’t want anyone to go beyond the Straights of Gibraltar, beyond the pillars of Hercules into the endless sea. They made a painting and minted coins that portrayed the pillars of Hercules and the Straits of Gibraltar as an endless sea with the words, “ne plus ultra,” no more beyond, and they believed that to go beyond that point was to violate the will of the gods.
Now if anybody went beyond the pillars of Hercules into the Atlantic, beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, that action was called hubris. That’s what the Greeks called it. Incredibly enough the word hubris is the Greek word for pride. It is the predominant Greek word for pride because the Greeks believed that the essence of pride was to go beyond the boundaries of God. It took arrogance. It took insolence to venture boldly beyond the boundaries of God. That was hubris, pride and how the word is used in the Bible. To be prideful is to be insolent and arrogant enough to venture beyond the pillars of Hercules; arrogant and insolent enough to venture beyond the boundaries God has established.
You see, that’s what Adam and Eve did in Eden. They ventured beyond the pillars of Hercules … beyond the boundaries God had established… beyond the law of God. Whenever you venture beyond God’s laws and God’s boundaries, in the sight of God that is pride, insolent and arrogant. Whenever I do that, the same is true.
Now you know your hearts. God knows your hearts. If there’s any sin in your life that’s premeditated… sin that you know is sin… you know the Bible calls it sin and yet you continue to practice it, in the sight of God you have placed yourself above God. You have placed your will above God’s will. You have placed your wants above God’s wants and that is insolence. That is pride. God demands one thing of you – that you repent, that you repent and come back within the boundaries of His will – that you humble yourself before a mighty God.
What are you living for? Have you ever asked yourself that? Do you ever wake up in the morning and say, “What am I living for?” It’s not a bad question. If you’re honest, are you really living for yourself? Are you really living to serve yourself? To please yourself? To honor yourself? Is your world really centered on you? If you are, in the sight of God, you have placed yourself above God and that is pride. Is Christ the center of your life? Is His kingdom your highest purpose? How do you use your money? How do you use your talents and abilities? How do you manage your time? The way we use these things reflect what is most important in our life. Whether we are most important or whether Christ is most important.
I am reminded of a story concerning Louis XIV, King of France. Louis XIV was called the Grand Monarch, the Sun King, and the Great. He ruled France for 72 years, longer than any other European monarch. He built the incomparable Palace of Versailles. If any of you have ever been there and seen the Palace of Versailles, it is just a marvel to look at. In order to build that, King Louis XIV drained the national treasuries. He taxed the people into poverty and he lived in splendor while many of the masses starved. He was once told to subject himself to the state. He responded by saying, “I am the state.” When King Louis XIV died, his body was wrapped in royal garments and at his funeral the eulogy was given by the Bishop of Paris. It was only four words. That alone made it great. He went up in front of the people. He looked over at the body of Louis XIV. He looked back at the people and he said, “God alone is great.” Then he sat down.
If you really believe that God alone is great, you will not have pride in your heart. You will be humbled before Him. He’ll be the center of your life. You’ll live for the furtherance of His kingdom and not your own and you’ll never set yourself above God.
A prideful person not only sets himself or herself above God, a prideful person is a person who also sets himself above others. Pride is placing yourself above other people. In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, only nobility could go to university or college in England. Common people were called – snabs from a Scottish word which means servants. In the sight of the noble in England, all the common people were simply snabs, servants. In the 17th century in the 1600’s, Cambridge University did an amazing thing. They allowed common people to come to the university. When the commoners came to the university, they had to fill out a form identifying their social statues. They were told they had to write the words, “sinai nobilitate.” This is latin for “without nobility.” They were snabs, and even though they were allowed to go to colleges that had to write the words “sinai nobilitate,” “without nobility,” on the form.
As time passed, the snabs, began to abbreviate those words by writing ‘s. nob.’ Snobs from “sinai nobilitate,” “without nobility.” After a period of time, the word snob began to describe anybody who was pretending to be nobility. After additional time, the word snob began to look down on other people. Then ultimately the word snob began to refer simply to anyone who looked down on anyone. Snobbery. Snobbishness. None of us want to be known as a snob. None of us want to be known as snobbish and yet if there is pride in your heart, that’s exactly what we are. We begin to put ourselves above others and we begin to view others as somehow beneath us.
Our Lord Jesus Christ told the story of two men who went into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood in the temple and lifted his eyes toward God saying, “God, I thank you that I’m not like other men, extortioners, unjust, idolators, or even like this tax collector over there for I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I have.” It’s an amazing statement on the part of this Pharisee. He could have compared himself with prophets or with priests or with kings but, you see, when you’re prideful, you always chose to compare yourself with somebody you view as beneath you. So he compared himself conveniently with the tax collector hated by society. He said, “God, thank you that I’m no like this poor slob. I’m not like this guy. I’m above this guy.” Jesus said the tax collector stood in the temple and he wouldn’t even lift his eyes to heaven. He beat his chest and he said, “God have mercy on me. I’m a sinner.” That man, the tax collector, went home justified and forgiven. Jesus said, “He who exalts himself will be humbled. He who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Do you really want to humble yourself; not only before God but before other people; Or do you really want to exalt yourself? I was recently reading about the election of 1872. It was an amazing election, perhaps, the most incredible election in the history of America. Ulysses S. Grant was the incumbent. He had been President and was running for President again. He was not considered a viable candidate because his administration was filled with corruption and he was accused of alcoholism. So the Democrats felt pretty confident and they nominated Horace Greeley. Horace Greeley was the founder and the editor of the New York Tribune. He made famous the statement, “Go west young man, go west.” He was a brilliant journalist and wasn’t much of a politician. He advocated for communal living and tried to establish social economic communities that practiced socialism. He established one agricultural community right here in Colorado. He called it Union Colony. Today it’s called the town of Greeley in honor of Horace Greeley.
Other people also began to run for the presidency in 1872. Victoria Woodhall became the presidential candidate of the equal rights party. Perhaps you’ve heard of her, the first woman ever to run for president in 1872. She was an advocate for abortion and legalized prostitution. She was called the “Free Love Candidate” and believed that sex was recreational. She said she didn’t even believe in marriage.
That same year in 1872, another man named George Francis Train, a multimillionaire, ran for the presidency. He traveled around the world faster than any other man. Jules Verne wrote his book “Around the World in 80 Days” based on the life of George Francis Train. Ultimately Francis Train went around the world in sixty-seven and a half days, faster than any other man. Of course he got into trouble wherever he went. In the course of all of his traveling over the years, he spent time in jail in more than 15 countries. But here he was, in 1872, running for the presidency of the United States. The truth was he didn’t want to travel around the world, He wanted to rule the world. He was a multimillionaire. He began to go around the country in 1872 campaigning for the presidency. He gave more than a thousand speeches to more than two million people and charged admission for his presidential speeches. He is said to be the only man to ever make money off of running for the presidency.
Now how did such a strange collection of people come to seek this nation’s highest office? Did they really want to serve? Did they really think themselves most qualified? Only God knew their hearts but psychologists tell us that many people seek positions of leadership and authority not because they want to serve but simply because they want prominence. They want exaltation. They want to ascend. That’s how it has always been. That’s how it will always be in this age of the world. That’s how it is in the workplace. That’s how people think but that is not how Christians’ are meant to think. “He who humbles himself will be exalted. He who exalts himself will be humbled.” “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. He, who would be greatest among you must be the servant of all. He, who would be first must be the slave of all.”
In conclusion, I would like to remind you of a little story in Luke, Chapter 14. Two thousand years ago in Israel it was common to have a special meal on the Sabbath and to invite guests and friends. If you were famous, powerful and were of the ruling class it was customary to invite well known or even controversial people to that meal. You need to understand that the principal piece of furniture in the sabbath meal was called the triclinium. The triclinium was a kind of couch, a sofa that held three people. At the sabbath meal in Jewish society, the triclinia, were arranged in a “U” shape. The position of highest honor sat in the middle of the base of “U”. That was the seat of highest honor. The seat on the left and the right represented honor decreasing.
Strangely enough, Jesus was invited to this sabbath meal by a member of the Sanhedrin. There came a moment when the host invited Jesus to stand up and speak. Jesus said, “You know, I couldn’t help but notice when the meal began, you all scrambled for the position of highest honor. You tried to sit in the seats of exaltation. You don’t understand the kingdom of heaven,” he said. “For those who are greatest in the kingdom of heaven are those who serve… those who humble themselves.” “in fact,” he said “at the end of this age when we stand before the Father, those who have exalted themselves in this life will be humbled and those who have humbled themselves in this life will be exalted.”
The teaching is clear. The teachings of Jesus Christ are antithetical to the teaching of this world. Whose teaching do you live by? If you really want to serve, honor other people and exalt other people, that’s Christlike. But, if in all honesty you live to exalt yourself, that’s satanic. It’s okay to have a position of prominence to serve and not for pride sake. If you sought it for pride sake, the Bible says its sin and one day you’re going to be humbled. Let’s close with a word of prayer.