The Wise Understand Pride and Humility.

Steve Gentry

[0:00]

[0:05] Well, good morning everyone. [0:07] Welcome to Village Church Online. [0:10] I’m thankful and grateful for the opportunity [0:12] to share God’s word with you this morning. [0:15] What a time to be alive. [0:16] This is a new format for me.

[0:18] This is a new format for everyone. [0:20] I wish this room was filled to capacity like normal, [0:24] but I’m also thankful for the opportunity [0:27] that we have this morning to stream this service live to you. [0:31] We’re right in the middle of a series on the Book of Proverbs. [0:34] Before we get to that, I do want to take some time out of our morning and pray.

[0:41] I want to pray for you. I want to pray for our nation. [0:44] I want to pray for our world. I want to pray for our leaders. [0:47] And so if you’ll just join me for a few moments [0:49] and maybe just pray with me and pray through the same things [0:53] that I’m praying through and we can pray together as a group, pray with me. [0:59] Father, I am so thankful for the grace of your word.

[1:05] Lord, your word prepares us to face any battle that we’re going to endure in our lives. [1:12] Lord, we’re in a moment that I think some people are just uncomfortable with [1:16] or maybe some people are worried about tomorrow, [1:19] but you’ve told us in your word that we shouldn’t worry about tomorrow, [1:24] that your eye is on every part of your creation. [1:29] And we as image bearers, we as people that you created to show your image to the world

[1:34] or your eye is always on us, you know what tomorrow holds even if we don’t. [1:40] And Lord, the glory of that is that we know we can trust you because of what you’ve shown to us, [1:46] not just through your work in history, not just through your word as a whole, [1:50] but specifically you’ve shown us through your son, Jesus Christ, [1:53] that we can always trust your heart. [1:57] Even if I don’t know what tomorrow holds, I know that I can trust you to work all of the good

[2:02] for your glory in every single situation. [2:06] Lord, I pray for those who are struggling with anxiety right now. [2:10] Lord, I pray they would be overwhelmed by an optimism from your Holy Spirit [2:14] knowing that they can trust you, knowing that you’re going to steward absolutely every part of this [2:19] for their good and your glory. [2:21] Lord, I pray that you would give everyone wisdom,

[2:24] that we would be able to hold the tension between our responsibility to act wisely during this time, [2:31] to take the advice of those who do know more of the specifics about each and every detail than we do, [2:38] as well as we could hold that intention with a trust in your absolute sovereignty. [2:43] Lord, nothing has taken you by surprise. [2:47] Nothing is happening right now that you are not 100% in control of. [2:51] And I pray that you would give us an overwhelming trust in you

[2:54] that would give way to us being able to live every single day of these unique circumstances [3:01] with absolute joy because we trust you so much. [3:06] Lord, we pray for our president. [3:07] We pray for the team that he has formed to combat this virus. [3:14] Lord, we pray for our governors. [3:15] We pray for our mayors.

[3:17] We pray for our local leaders on board of supervisors and city councils. [3:22] Lord, I just pray that you would give them all wisdom to know how to act with the good of man in mind. [3:32] Lord, I pray above absolutely everything that you would help us, [3:35] those that claim the name of Jesus, to every moment of every day, [3:41] cycle every decision through the filter of loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. [3:48] Lord, that’s the great commandment that you’ve given us,

[3:50] and help us through it all to have a supernatural trust in the gospel of your son, Jesus Christ. [3:57] Because when we do that, we are able to live victoriously through every single circumstance. [4:04] In the name of Jesus. Amen. [4:07] Well, this morning, as I said, we’re going to get back into our series on the book of Proverbs. [4:13] And this morning actually finds us in going through the themes of Proverbs where it talks about pride and humility. [4:19] Yes, I’m going to be doing a sermon on pride this morning.

[4:22] And I know for some of you, you might be thinking, oh, my goodness, Steve, you’re going to talk to us about pride? [4:28] Absolutely, I am. [4:29] See, first, this is a hard subject that that I struggle with. [4:33] But the fact is that that is a grace unto me because the Bible, specifically in the book of Proverbs, [4:39] has so much to say about the issue of pride that it aids me in my struggle with sin. [4:46] But secondly, I want you to understand that if your first response to the fact that we’re going to be talking about

[4:52] the issue of pride was to kind of think about my struggle with pride or to think about someone else’s [4:58] struggle with pride, I want you to understand that that shows that you struggle with pride. [5:04] I believe that every single person that’s watching this video right now struggles with pride in one way or the other [5:11] because absolutely all sin is rooted in the issue of pride. [5:16] It’s rooted in the issue of pride because at the basest level of sin, [5:22] what we find is a trust in ourselves over our trust in God.

[5:30] Every one of us struggles with that. [5:32] You know, some Proverbs are common sense to everyone. [5:35] You don’t need to be a Christian to understand that laziness leads to poverty. [5:40] Others, though, are not common sense. [5:42] Some Proverbs are wise to God and foolishness to men. [5:46] Such is usually the case with pride and humility.

[5:48] The world tells us to promote ourselves, get as much attention as we can, [5:54] thinking that we haven’t really accomplished anything unless someone else has noticed it [5:58] and kind of given us applaud or praised us in some way. [6:02] We’re told to trust our feelings over everything else and on and on and on. [6:07] You know, every single one of those things is rooted in pride. [6:10] You see, according to God, he’s going to tell us that those things are rooted in sin

[6:16] and that we should reject those things. [6:20] I want to start in Proverbs chapter 11, verse 2. [6:23] Here’s what the Proverbs says.

[6:31] You see, humility ultimately recognizes who I am in light of who God is. [6:38] And that verse specifically tells us that disgrace follows pride and wisdom follows humility. [6:45] Now, I want you to understand, number one this morning as we begin, [6:48] the growth that God calls us to requires humility. [6:53] The growth that God calls us to requires humility. [6:57] The choice is yours.

[6:59] What kind of life do you want? [7:01] Do you want wisdom or do you want disgrace? [7:04] See, to God, it is that simple. [7:07] Pride is the attribute that always points to others as the problem [7:11] and always believes that others need to be taught the lesson. [7:16] The proud are not receptive to correction because they don’t believe that they ever need correcting.

[7:21] That’s what other people need, not me. [7:24] Proverbs 30, 12 gives the idea behind pride. [7:27] There are those who are clean in their own eyes, but are not washed of their filth. [7:33] You see, the proud are clean in their own eyes. [7:36] They cannot imagine needing anything that they don’t already have. [7:40] You become so callous to your need for God to work in your life that you cannot even see your own sin.

[7:48] You can identify the sin and shortcomings of others, but you think that you are just fine the way that you are. [7:55] You see, pride is deceptive. [7:56] It first starts with your relationship with God. [7:59] Pride is sourced in an unrealistic view of yourself. [8:03] You see, that’s why the Gospel of Jesus is so important in this. [8:06] The Gospel of Jesus is meant to humble us.

[8:09] It reveals who we are in light of who God is. [8:13] Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God, and the Gospel shows us the overwhelming nature of God’s righteousness, [8:21] as well as the overwhelming nature of our unrighteousness. [8:25] It shows our need, and it does a great job at revealing that we are not great like we think that we are. [8:34] You see, pride creates a fool that cannot be taught. [8:37] Proverbs 16-25 notes the reality of pride that we don’t often think about.

[8:43] It says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. [8:49] You see, this is the definition of what pride is going to get you. [8:53] You cannot both claim to trust God and want him to bring growth into your life, and also think that you are always right, [9:01] and that you don’t need to change who you are or what you are doing. [9:05] They can’t both be true. [9:08] You see, if you need to grow, then you need change.

[9:12] The universal truth for every Christian is that you will always need to grow, but that takes a humble attitude. [9:20] Every day of the life of a follower of Jesus gives an opportunity for growth, [9:25] and until the day that God takes you out of this world, you will need growth. [9:31] To deny your need for growth, though, is to deny the word of God. [9:36] Proverbs 13-13 should sober you. [9:39] It tells us, whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.

[9:49] To be unwilling to apply the word in any area of your life is to invite destruction in that area of your life. [9:57] Is that what you want? [9:58] You see, that is the only path that pride can ever take you on. [10:03] Humility, though, reveres the word of God, but pride despises it. [10:09] Humility reaps great reward from God because it invites the word of God to come into your life. [10:15] See, a humble person seeks to apply it, which will always lead to life change, and will always lead to growth through that.

[10:23] C.S. Lewis once wrote, [10:24] that pride is the complete anti-God state of mind. [10:29] Pride unwinds you as God. [10:32] Friend, when your filter for the growth that you need is your own logic, then you can no longer say that you believe God’s word. [10:40] Believing God’s word is to entrust it as the filter for the growth that you need. [10:46] You see, the reason that pride and thinking that your plans are always right will always lead to death is because once you disconnect yourself from God,

[10:56] there is no hope for life. [10:58] You make a terrible God because there is so much that you cannot see about life. [11:04] There is so much that you cannot see about the future, but God sees all of it. [11:09] See, the beauty of humility, though, is number two this morning, that a life of humility invites honor. [11:17] You see, friends, you can’t force honor. [11:20] You can only choose to live honorably.

[11:24] I think everyone likes to be honored. [11:26] There is no one in this world that doesn’t in some way want to be noticed for the good that they do, want to be noted for the accomplishments that they make in their life. [11:37] But the pride comes in when you try to force it or you feel entitled to it. [11:43] Your feeling of entitlement to honor can create a pride within you that makes you a monster to other people and makes your good deeds absolutely insignificant [11:54] because the character behind those deeds muddies the deeds themselves. [11:59] See, the pride comes in when you try to enforce it.

[12:02] Proverbs 18-12 instructs us that it is pride that brings destruction. [12:07] Not what it says. [12:08] Before destruction, a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. [12:15] Do you see the distinction? [12:16] When you think about honor, we often disconnect the first half of that text from the second half. [12:22] The second half is reinforcing the idea that the only path to true honor is a path in which you aren’t actually seeking that honor.

[12:32] You see, the connection with the first half of the text is that for those of you that would rather have the honor rather than the humility, you will never truly be an honorable person. [12:44] Because it is not honorable to seek to be honored. [12:47] That is the attitude of pride. [12:49] It is rooted in self-praise. [12:51] Our culture is obsessed with self-esteem that would seek honor over humility. [12:58] Over the past 50 years, most of the bestselling books have all been rooted in the concept that the answer to just about every non-physical problem that you have is to, in one way or the other, to just feel better about yourself.

[13:13] See, when the answer, though, is always pointing to self, you can expect consequences that are rooted in pride. [13:20] I’m not talking about having a negative view of yourself, because in many ways that is the exact same problem that pride produces. [13:29] What I’m talking about is realizing that you need to understand that the reality of sin means that the answer is not rooted in you. [13:37] When you believe that you are worth more than others, when you believe that you are worth more when others say good things about you, or when everyone shouts your praise, [13:48] you’ve not attained the growth that God has designed for you to have. [13:53] Proverbs 27, 2 says it this way,

[13:56] Let another praise you, and not your own mouth, a stranger, and not your own lips. [14:03] When your sense of self-worth rises and falls on the praise of man, that is the same thing as praising yourself. [14:12] You were meant to find your identity in Jesus Christ. [14:16] You are not meant to go through this world trying to show others how worthy you are of praise, because narcissism and faith cannot coexist. [14:27] Pride leads to narcissism. [14:30] This is entitlement. This is arrogance. This is egotism.

[14:34] Now, that’s a word that we don’t use very often, but egotism is the practice of talking or thinking of yourself excessively because of an undue sense of self-importance. [14:46] Are you self-important? You see, the thirst for attention and adulation is not the way of Christ. [14:52] The thirst for human approval means you are not growing in your faith in Christ because you are not finding your identity in Christ. [15:01] Is your sense of self-worth rooted in how many likes you get on social media? [15:07] Is your self-worth rooted in how often people notice all of the things that you do? [15:13] Do you find it necessary to post every accomplishment that you have in life to get video evidence of everything that you do that you think is good so that everyone can see it, hoping that everyone would tell you how worthy and how great you are?

[15:30] See, friends, that’s narcissism. That’s egotism. [15:33] That is rooted in pride because you are finding your self-worth based on the praise of others. [15:40] Friends, quite frankly, that’s just not a healthy way to live. [15:44] That is not how God has designed for you to live. [15:47] The chief of your concern should be God’s thoughts about you. [15:52] And that’s where the problem really starts.

[15:54] Because when the chief of your concerns is where God and what God thinks about you, much of what you do that is good, it’s never going to be noticed by other people. [16:04] Much of your relationship with God isn’t something done in front of, and it’s never something that’s done for the praise of other people. [16:14] Or the things that you do for the audience of others are the things that you do for the audience of one, and that is God. [16:22] See, Proverbs 22, 4 tells us that humility and the fear of the Lord are synonymous. [16:27] Notice what it says. [16:28] The reward for humility and the fear of the Lord is three things.

[16:34] Riches and honor and life. [16:37] And those three words are very important. [16:39] Riches, honor, life. [16:41] Because those three things really do incorporate the three pursuits that most people have in their lives. [16:47] And here in the text, it says that that is the thing that you’re going to be going after. [16:52] But don’t misread it.

[16:53] See, it is rooted in how God defines those things. [16:58] You see, the humble trust God to give them what they need. [17:02] The humble roots the definition of those things and how God defines those things. [17:08] If you don’t trust God, you will be in an exhausting pursuit to give yourself those things. [17:15] But here’s the problem. [17:16] What if you define those things wrong?

[17:18] What if you think of riches in the wrong way? [17:21] What if you think of honor in the wrong way? [17:24] What if you think of even life itself in the wrong way? [17:27] If you define those things contrary to how God defines those things, you will walk a prideful path and you will miss all three. [17:37] Even if you think you found it. [17:39] But you see, the humble submit to God’s path because they define everything by what?

[17:45] By the fear of the Lord. [17:47] We’ve already seen in this series that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. [17:53] You see, that is having a proper view of who you are in light of who God is. [17:59] So you won’t constantly be seeking for others to honor you. [18:03] You work and you won’t be depressed and you won’t be insulted when people don’t notice all of that hard work that you are doing. [18:12] You won’t feel the need to boast of your accomplishments so that others will notice.

[18:17] And yes, you will even do some things in your life that you don’t immediately post to social media so that everyone will know how good and how worthy and how awesome you are. [18:29] That is how you will begin to kill pride in your life. [18:33] Proverbs 25, 6 through 7 tells the truth.

[18:46] See, that text is telling us don’t think too highly of yourself. [18:52] Don’t deceive yourself into trying to put yourself in the place of honor. [18:56] Don’t shout of your accomplishments in a crowd because what if someone that has just a little bit more of an accomplishment overshadows you? [19:04] What if you continually meet the one upper who has always done one more thing just a little bit better than you and you will be embarrassed. [19:14] You will be humiliated. [19:16] All of that self-worth, all of that self-praise, all of that self-esteem that you’ve been building will be humiliated in just a moment.

[19:25] But see, if you find your identity in Christ, you will be perfectly comfortable seated among regular humble people. [19:33] You will not have to force people to notice your accomplishments. [19:38] God will design a perfect time where people will just notice what you do and you will be praised. [19:45] And the key is that in that moment of honor, when God has designed for you to be honored, you will be called up and everyone will celebrate with you rather than be annoyed by you because they know you are humble. [20:00] Number three this morning, humility demands a posture of need. Humility demands a posture of need. [20:10] You see, friends, there’s no wisdom in pride at all.

[20:13] Proverbs 16, 18 through 20 puts it this way, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. [20:21] It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. [20:26] Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. [20:34] In verse 18, there’s two different words, but they’re synonyms. [20:37] There’s pride and then there’s haughty. Both of them have to do with height or being lifted up. [20:45] It says that when you seek those heights, when you seek to be lifted up with the praise of others, ultimately it will lead to your downfall.

[20:53] And it says it is better to be of a lowly spirit. You see, to be of a lowly spirit literally means that the essence of who you are is defined by humility. [21:05] It is a defining characteristic. [21:07] And this is what I meant earlier when I said that some of this wisdom in the book of Proverbs is contrary to the world. [21:13] It’s not common sense. It’s God’s sense. [21:16] Because right here, when it says in verse 19 that to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, he’s saying it is better to have that than to divide the spoil with the proud. [21:26] Why? Because this humble character then translates to understand that you are on the level of someone in need.

[21:35] And only someone on the level of need is someone whom God can provide for. [21:39] That is what to be poor means. You walk through life in a posture of need where God is concerned. [21:46] Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying you should be needy. [21:51] There’s a difference between taking a posture of need and having the posture of the needy. [21:55] The concept that I’m speaking about is not about being needy where others are concerned. [22:00] It is not about being a charity case. It is not about playing the victim.

[22:04] It is not about feeling entitled to everyone’s sorrow or everyone’s stuff or having people give you money or give you adulation for what a poor state you’re in. [22:13] As I said, that is pride as well. It’s not a posture that expects others to give you anything. [22:21] This posture of need is defined by understanding who you are in light of who God is. [22:27] It is the reality that your identity is not what you find pride in. [22:31] Your sense of self is defined by who God is for you and who God is in you through Jesus Christ. [22:40] It is the base level of what it means to be a Christian.

[22:44] The answer then is in verse 20. It is to live life in pursuit of what? Of trusting the Lord. [22:54] Following Jesus then, I’ll understand, requires humility. [22:57] You cannot follow Jesus in any other posture. [23:01] Those who define life all around self-worth, those who define life all around being good enough, [23:07] those who define life all around being better than everyone else, they can’t follow Jesus. [23:14] Why?

[23:15] Proverbs 3.34 shows,

[23:23] See, Proverbs 15.25 notes that God tears down the house of the proud. [23:29] Here’s what it says. [23:30] The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but what does he do? [23:32] He maintains the widow’s boundaries. [23:36] Why is it worded like that? [23:38] You see, because he’s trying to get us to understand what it is to be in need from the Lord.

[23:43] Especially in this culture that the book of Proverbs was written in, the widow had a natural sense of need. [23:51] The widow, by life circumstances, has no choice but to assume the posture of someone in need. [23:57] God wants us to understand that in light of who he is, that is how we must posture ourselves before him. [24:05] God isn’t impressed by you. God will never be impressed by you. [24:09] God is looking for someone who will posture themselves to show how great you think God is [24:16] based on the need that you have for him to work in your life.

[24:20] Proverbs 26.12 gives the reality for some. [24:24] Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? [24:27] There is more hope for what? For a fool than for him. [24:33] Friend, are you wise in your own eyes? [24:35] You see, he says something very interesting because the book of Proverbs as a whole never says anything good about a fool. [24:41] But right here, it almost feels like it says something good about a fool. Why?

[24:45] You see, when you’re proud, you can’t be taught anything. [24:50] You can’t be humiliated to a level where you will understand why you need to take a posture of need. [24:56] But a fool, a fool lives a life of humiliation. [24:59] And he’s saying that a fool is better off because a fool can be humiliated to become a humble person. [25:07] The proud though, they oppose God’s attempts at humiliating them. [25:13] Gaining wisdom requires then looking away from yourself and looking to God and his word.

[25:21] One of the most famous passages of Proverbs is Proverbs 3.5-6. [25:27] It says, trust in the Lord with all of your heart. [25:31] Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. [25:40] You see, what we often miss is the humility required to live like that. [25:46] Stop trusting yourself. You are not as wise as God. [25:50] You are not even the wisest person in the room.

[25:53] You need to learn. You need to assume the position of someone that is continuously in need of growth from God. [26:04] If you will do that, God will teach you. You will learn and you will grow. [26:11] How will you know if you’re growing? Because you will change. [26:15] You see, friends, if you aren’t changing, then you aren’t becoming more like Jesus Christ. [26:21] The root of your problem is the pride of self. [26:26] Stop being wise in your own eyes.

[26:30] Follow Jesus. That is the humble path. [26:35] See, it’s possible that for some of you, you’re hearing this message about pride and humility and you’re realizing right now that all you have is pride. [26:43] Your life has been filled with you making the plans, with you being refusing to change, [26:48] with you not realizing there are places of growth and correction in your life. [26:52] And you’re realizing right now that for the first time in your life, you need to take a posture of need. [26:59] Friends, while I will tell you, the posture of humility always begins with trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

[27:07] But the good news for you is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became a human being. [27:13] He lived the most humble life that anyone has ever lived in this world, always taking the posture of serving God the Father. [27:23] And he did that for you. [27:25] And then he went to a cross where he didn’t have any sins of his own to die for, but instead was able to be a substitute for you. [27:32] And on that cross, he paid the penalty for your sin. [27:36] And then three days later, because he is God, he had the power to rise from the dead, winning victory over sin, winning victory over death.

[27:46] And in this instance, we can say he won the victory over your pride. [27:52] So that if you will trust in him, if you will humiliate yourself to admit your need for God to forgive you of your sins, [28:01] he promises that he will because he paid the penalty. [28:04] And then he promises to give you a new life in which you can grow in humility. [28:10] If you will right now, wherever you are, if you will trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, he will save you forever. [28:20] And you can follow Jesus with your life.

[28:23] I’m going to ask you just to pray a very simple prayer with me. [28:26] By your head and close your eyes and just pray, Jesus, I believe you. [28:31] Please save me from my sin. Very simple. [28:35] Jesus, I believe you. Please save me from my sin. Amen. [28:40] Friend, that prayer is not a magic formula of salvation. [28:45] It’s only effective if you actually believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[28:50] But if you prayed that prayer for the first time, if you meant it for the first time in your life, [28:55] that means right now you’ve become a follower of Jesus Christ. [28:59] You’re a Christian and you can walk the path of humility for the rest of your life. [29:05] And for the Christians who’ve already trusted in Jesus that are watching this, [29:09] I want to encourage you to day by day walk the path of humility, [29:14] always taking inventory of the pride in your life and always taking account,

[29:19] where do I need to grow in my faith? [29:23] Because that is the path of humility. [29:27] Pray with me. [29:28] Father, I am so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. [29:33] I’m so thankful for the work that you’ve done to save us from the pride that so easily destroys us. [29:41] You’ve given us the gospel so that we can have ultimate victory over sin,

[29:45] ultimate victory over death, and ultimate victory over everything that keeps us from having a right relationship with you. [29:54] Lord, our boast is in one thing, the gospel of Jesus Christ. [29:59] May we live for your gospel the rest of our lives. [30:04] In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. [30:08] Thanks for joining us this morning.

[30:24] Thank you.