Humility
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Do you ever dream of being great? Do you ever have those moments where your thoughts run away with you, and you’re suddenly at the top of the ladder, the submit of the mountain, in whatever field that may be. Maybe it’s the CEO of an international company, travelling first class, rubbing shoulders with the big wigs, making the multi million pound decisions. OR maybe it’s running out onto the sports pitch with the crowd singing your name, in the team tracksuit, people looking autographs. Or maybe it’s simply being the popular one in school, the one everyone wants to be around, to hang out with, the one that calls the shoots and leads the group.
Maybe your thoughts of grandeur look very different, but for most of us, they come in some form or another. Within each of us there is this longing to be great! And that shouldn’t surprise us, you think back to the very beginning in that garden. Adam and Eve in perfect fellowship with Almighty God, but then comes the tempter…Did God actually say , ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’…You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God...’
Within each of us there is the constant ringing of the serpent’s voice, take it, and you will be like God! It plays out in 10,000 situations from the smallest to the biggest each day! Pride lurks in the dark corners of nearly every decision that we make in life! So this morning, right on the mouth of Christmas, when we celebrate the most extravagant display of humility, in the coming of Christ. I thought we could finish off our time in Proverbs looking at this topic that in many ways underpins everything else! Our decisions, our money, our friendships, our words, so much will rest on humility!
So let’s consider...
The Pretense of Pride
The Pretense of Pride
‘Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall’ ()
‘One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in Spirit will obtain honor’ ()
‘Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence on Him’ C.J Mahaney
Here is the thing that is so ridiculous about pride, it’s a nonsense! It’s the worst of delusions! That constant temptation that we might be like God in any area, that we have reason to boost, that we are something in and of ourselves that’s worthy to be praised! It’s one of the worst and most ridiculous lies we could ever fall for!
Think again of Adam and Eve, they dwell in a paradise created by an all powerful God, they themselves owe their very existence to this God. He formed them from the dust, He breathed into their nostrils, He gave them their food to eat! They’re were dependent on Him for everything! And then they’re fooled into believing they can ascend and be like Him! This is madness, it’s foolishness at it’s worst!
But it marks everyone of us! As the preacher in says… ‘...the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live...’ Pride is one of the worst kinds of madness, because it creates a false reality! It makes us think we are something apart from God, it causes us to in some way put ourselves in the place of God!
And that’s why He hates it so much!
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes,… () And that is why He is committed to opposing it!
The Lord tears down the house of the proud but maintains the widow’s boundaries. ()
There are numerous examples in Scripture of God’s ‘tearing down’ when it comes to people’s pride, one that seems so obvious is in the account of Babel…...
These people wanted to build something that would ascend to the heavens, that they might make a name for themselves! The irony of the account is that God has to ‘come down’ to their tower and deal with them!
God will always tear down the false ladders we erect! When we are fooled into trying to aspire to God’s position, and forget that we are completely dependent upon Him, He will cause us to fall off the ladder we’re climbing!
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