"The Heart of Pride"

Luke 18:9-14

Rev. Min J. Chung

(Friday Night Large Group, October 29, 1999)

 

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: God, I thank you that I am not like other men€robbers, evildoers, adulterers€or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14. NIV

 

I. IntroductionA. C. S. Lewis talks about pride, "Well now, we have come to the center.

According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil is pride. Unchastity, anger, grief, drunkenness and all that are mere flea bites in comparison. It was through pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every vice. It is a complete anti-God state of mind." C. S. Lewis is saying that pride is the root of all the sins we commit. 2 Timothy 3 talks about the end times, how people will be lovers of themselves, boastful, arrogant. If pride characterizes your life, you cant be saved, for only the poor in spirit will enter the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.") God opposes the proud, according to James 4, and gives grace to the humble. Prosthenes says pride is the mother of hell. More recently it has been said, "The worlds smallest package is a man wrapped up in himself." Different places in Scripture agree with that. In the temptation of Adam and Eve, why did they sin? Because the Devil said, "Disobey and you will be like God." That desire to exalt themselves in order to be like God was pride. We have, like our forefathers, that desire in us. Psalm 10:4 says, "In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God." If youre proud, if youre so busy and preoccupied with yourself, if youre trying to exalt yourself, there is no room for God to come in and tell us what to do, to reign in us, to tell us, to speak to us that He is the Lord of our lives. Proverbs 8:13 says, "To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behaviour and perverse speech." Proverbs 16:5 says, "The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go

unpunished." There are ample places in Scripture that talk about pride as one of the deepest and grossest of sins.

B. As we look into this text, we wont look into the details. The Pharisee looked down at the tax collector and said, "Thank God Im not like this tax collector." He was praying, but he wasnt praying to God; he was praying about himself. His intention was not to communicate with God so He could change his life and heart, but to talk about himself so that others would hear about his accomplishments. In this picture, we need to look from his perspective. The text is written from a third persons perspective. Sometimes its good to see it in that way. We can say, "Yeah, that guy is so proud." But after that we need to see ourselves from his eyes. What I intend to do is to view things from his perspective. Ill talk about three views of proud people€view of himself, view of God and view of others. Through different places in Scripture and my own experiences we want to see how pride caused him to look at himself, God, and other people. Well see some symptoms so we will be convinced that this person was proud as well as see a correlation between him and ourselves.

II. BodyA. View of Himself

In this text, the proud person (the Pharisee) looks at himself differently than the one who was praying in repentance (the tax collector).

1. Blindnessa. A proud person is blind. God sees this Pharisee as a proud

person. He was proud yet he sees himself as, "Im pretty good." Why? Because hes unable to see his own pride. He cant see himself. This is one of our biggest problems. We just cant see ourselves. Were proud and everybody else thinks so but us.

b. The first time I realized I was proud was when I was a junior in college. Boy, it was like seeing myself for the first time in a mirror. Everyone thought I was proud except me. Now when I look at myself, I have hope for every single one of you. Take any one of you€I can beat him in how proud I was then. A proud person is unable to see himself, his own pride.

c. When you look at the original language, six different Hebrew words are used for pride€lifting, to be high, majestic, presumptuous, rebellious. In Greek the words for proud occur in two different categories.

1. One word group suggests the straining of the neck. What happens? Someone is held up high because of what he thinks of himself. He thinks hes pretty high. Its means to magnify, to be haughty. Thats one particular definition.

2. Another word group talks about blindness. Hes blind to himself. In other places its used to talk about being enveloped in smoke. A proud person cannot see himself because hes surrounded by smoke. Its like theres something on your face and clothes thats not supposed to be there. You got it while eating something and youd be embarrassed if you saw it, but you cant. Youre blind. Pride envelopes us in smoke, unless youre in the mirror of Gods Word. A man can see the log in others eyes, but he cant see the speck in his own eye. Youre blind, because youre pride. Thats what the verse is saying.

d. You may even use the right language. You say, "Im proud," but you dont feel the magnitude and weight of your heart sin. You say, "Im proud," and move right on, you pass right by as if its insignificant. Let me say this if youre proud. If you do not know the weight of that sin, youll ignore it. Thats why you say, "Im proud," but you pass by and ignore it. The people who are getting what weve been saying about heart sins know that there are good desires in us if we are believers but there are bad desires as well, and the ones who cant see it are proud. For the ones who see it, it is a paradigm shift. It was always there, but they didnt see it before. Realizing the weight of that internal motive is revolutionary. I was blind but now I see. I wanted to emphasize that a lot because the journey of humility has to start here.

2. Self-exaltationa. You want to lift yourself up. The Pharisee prayed about

himself. Do you brag and talk about yourself all the time? In a cartoon strip, Garfield said to Odie, "Im tired about talking about me all the time. You talk about me for awhile." We like to talk about ourselves and for others to talk about us as well. When you are a perfectionist, why is that? You want to exalt yourself. When you want to control

things, why is that? You have feelings of exaltation and accomplishment. Why do you want to sin in anything? Some would say, "If Im going to be proud, Im going to be the proudest person." Why are you competitive? You have a fear of failure. There are many people driven by fear of failure; you wont take risks for that reason. You are confident about things youre good at. (Though it doesnt mean that youve been successful.) You say, "Serve me with respect or attention." "Many bees have been drowned by their own honey." Many times we are drowned by our own accomplishments in our effort to exalt ourselves.

3. Self-absorptiona. Youre absorbed with thinking about yourself. What about

those who have self-pity? What about those who have a sense of failure about themselves? Theyre not trying to exalt themselves, right? Theyre so down. But ah, look at why. Keep asking why. They have the same desire to exalt themselves. Theyre trying to hide themselves. They dont think, "Im this great. Notice me," but rather, "If you notice me you wont like me," so they hide. In your desire not to be degraded you hide. That still comes from a desire to exalt yourself; the desire is the same. Whether people want to exalt themselves or they have self-esteem problems and pity, they want the same thing€to be approved by people, for others to serve them under the lights, good feelings. People who are self-absorbed want to be approved by people, so they are unhappy. Those people are always caught up in self-pity. Theyre always unhappy because they want better. They want others to think better of them and they want to feel better about themselves.

b. Both "haves" and "have-nots" are eaten up with pride. The have-nots are filled with self-pity, desiring what the haves have. The self-esteem movement consists of the "have-nots" hoping to be haves. Low self-esteem is pride. They fail to get what they want. Proud people look at themselves with blindness, self-exaltation, and self-absorption. They are so self-important, whether they have self-esteem problems or a high view of themselves. They always think about themselves whether theyre thinking positive or negative things.

B. View of God

1. Being Unthankfula. If youre proud youre not thankful. If youre not

thankful, youre proud. Proud people think, "I deserve this." Are you really thankful when people give you things? You say, "Oh, thank you," but you dont really mean  it. Why? Because you think you deserve it. When an usher hands you a bulletin before Sunday service, are you thankful? No, you think, "Thats your job, boy." You think you deserve it.

b. I gave this illustration before. I told my wife many times to put water on the table before we eat. The culture she grew up with in her house was such that they drank water after  the meal. But for 23 years of my life, I drank water before the meal. I told her about the water for a few years, but she was in such a habit that she didnt do it. Then one day I got angry with her. I realized that Im not thankful for her putting other food on the table, but angry at the fact she doesnt put water on the table. Its all because I think I deserved it. Even though she still doesnt put water on before the meal, now Im thankful for the other food. Why am I not thankful? Because I think I deserve it. Proud people think they deserve it, so theyre not thankful.

c. In fact you may even complain. Why? Because youre thinking, "I deserve better." Not only are you not thankful, but you complain. Isnt that true? I complain because I think I deserve better. Do you see how prideful you are when you complain? Before you complain, be thankful for what you are given; dont think about what you dont have. Never complain. Always be thankful.

d. Let me ask you as I have been asking you for many weeks, are you thankful for your salvation? Why not? Because you think you deserve it. Thats wrong. One of the Puritans said, "We need to meditate on hell." You may ask, "Isnt that bad?" but meditating on hell does a lot of good for our soul. Even though it could potentially turn unhealthy, if you think about hell, you realize, "Man, thats where I deserve to be." Youll be thankful for the ground that holds you from going down into hell. Youll be thankful for the cross. Are you thankful for salvation? Are you thankful for small group? Why do you complain about small group? Its because youre thinking, "Im a good person so I deserve a

better small group." Are you thankful for the church? Im so thankful.

2. Seeking of Independencea. Think of that attitude. Your desire to be independent

from God is shown in your desire to be independent from people. You always want to do "what I want to do." Its independence, wanting to be free, not from sins, but from the restrictions of God. When the Bible says "free", it means being free from sin, not being free from the restrictions of God. When God says, "Do not jump off the cliff," thats a restriction. But you want to. Isnt that why people would run to hell with their freedom, despite all the warnings from God? A proud person says, "I dont need anyone. I dont need accountability for my faith. I dont need to be in small group. I dont need Christian friends." You have to be your own boss; ever craving for self-sufficiency.

b. When Jonah saw that God had saved the Ninevites, he said, "Im so angry, God! Why are you so compassionate and merciful? I knew you were going to forgive them." Its because hes not like that. Then he builds a shelter for himself. He was declaring, "This is my realm. I can pout here. I can complain here. This is my realm of independence. Dont you come in, God." We, too, build shelters in our lives and in our hearts. We want to be independent. We dont want others to touch that independence. Thats why we cant share with others when something is wrong in our lives. If you want to be free from some sin, for God to come in, you must have anaccountability system concerning that sin. But we want to hide ourselves. We dont want anyone else to know, because theyll think lower of me; also, I like it [sin]. Those are all signs of a person who wants to be independent from the will of God, the lordship of Christ and the Word that governs my life. We sing, "Lord, reign in me, reign in your power, over all my dreams, in my darkest hour, over every thought, over every word." Do you really mean that? When the Word of God comes in and does surgery, its going to hurt. Do you really mean it when you sing it?

3. Lacking In Biblical Prayera. If youre proud, you wont pray. If youre proud, you wont be

thankful. Youll seek independence from the Word of God,

from the authority of God and youll lack inbiblical prayer. You dont pray, why? Because you think you can live without God€thats pride. Remember this Pharisee? He prayed about himself. He really didnt think he needed prayer. He had no real heart. If you really believe that you need God, youll pray with all your heart. John 15:5 says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Thats a declaration of the state of human beings. Jesus is saying, "As I assess the infinite reality of this world, you cant do anything without Me." Do we really believe that and know it? We absolutely need God for life and strength. If we were really humble, wed pray like we absolutely needed to. Prayer is not just a nice thing to do. Its the inevitable reaction of a soul that sees the spiritual realm. Its not, "Oh, I guess I need to pray." Its breath. Its the inevitable reaction of a soul that sees the reality of the world, of oneself, of God. We need to pray with passion, with all our hearts. You pray the best in crisis and hardships, because you are in a state of humility. In crises we are most humble. We know we are nothing. We say, "I need you, Lord."

b. What should you do when you cant pray? You must ask God to show you the reality of your soul. The state of war, reality, spiritual realm, my future, who I am, how weak I am, how fleeting this life is, how dangerous are the temptations that lie ahead€help me to see, Lord! If you see that, youll be able to pray. Ask the Lord to open your eyes. "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord." When I cant pray with my heart, I need to see reality, that Im in a state of delusion. When youre not humble, youre deluded. Youre in a dream-state. Youre in the smoke. Lord, clear my eyes, get rid of the dirt from my eyes. Put those contacts in.

C. View of OthersWhat is the result of pride in your view of others? Ten things.

1. You Have Angera. In your relationships with others, sometimes you get angry.

It can be expressed externally€for example, shouting. Thats anger. It can also be expressed internally. Just because you dont express it externally, doesnt mean you arent angry. Its the same thing. We call it bitterness. Youre someone who

gets angry but doesnt express it. You chew on it, memorize it, stake it in your heart. You say, "Ten years ago, you said this." There are people like that. They are characterized by bitterness, withdrawing from people, pouting, being moody.

b. Why do you get angry? Because youre so important. When others hurt you, even though the relationship with that person and the love of that person is at stake, you become moody and impatient. Proud people are so moody. The are so moved by peoples dumb comments and statements. They are people asking for their own rights. "My rights! Dont offend my own rights!" You get angry and bothered with others. Why do you get angry? Because "I dont get what I want from you. I want you to like me, to respect me, to exalt me, to worship me, to praise me, to notice me, to say that Im great, to laugh at my jokes." When they dont, you get angry. "I dont like him." When you dont like someone, ask why. Keep going deeper. Why dont you like that person? Because that person is not feeding your heart idol. One of the best things a person in ministry can do is to see people with objectivity. Does that person have potential? Yes, he steps on me all the time, but he has potential. There is a Filipino proverb: "If you sow pride, you will reap war." Thats good. If youre proud, youll have war with people.

2. You Monopolize Conversationsa. Youre rigid. Youre stubborn, headstrong, intimidating. "Its

my way or the highway." "Im right." You monopolize conversations.

3. You Are a Man-pleasera. There are a couple of ways that you could be a man-

pleaser. You might be a nice person. You might say, "Oh yeah, I agree," while inside you disagree and dont like them. You can be proud like that, but you can also be proud in an opposite way. You always want to be exalted by others. People who are good in front of others want to be exalted by others. For you, how others think of you controls you. You fear men. Saul was that kind of man. He was a head taller than everyone else. He wanted everyones attention. When his sin was found out, he said, "Samuel, can you make sure to say good things about me to the

people?" He was more worried about his image than his soul. If you cant say "No" to others, you are proud. When youre always moved or controlled by what others think of you, you are proud.

4. You Cant Take Criticisma. Again, it can come in two ways. There are those people

who hate criticism. "What!? I never get angry! What are you talking about!?" "Im not proud." "I dont offend guys. I dont offend girls," while everybody is offended. Thats pride, but also if youre devastated by criticism, thats pride, too. You hear criticism and reply, "Thank you for destroying my ego," but you go home and youre devastated for a whole year. You might not be angry with the person, but you think of yourself all the time. Youre so important, its hard for you to laugh at yourself. Somebody said, "Swallow your pride occasionally, youll find it non-fattening." Its healthy to swallow your pride. [Gulp!] Thank you, Lord. Thank you for destroying my ego.

5. You Are a Bad Listenera. Proud people compose what theyre going to say while

"listening" to you. While the other person is talking, you know what youre going to say. "Come on, finish, finish, finish," then [pooh!] you say it. The funny thing is that when I meet with people I can see when theyre doing that. They want to say something but I keep talking. Sometimes I have to say, "Lets stop. Can you make sure you listen to everything I say, then talk?" After that, they really try to listen. Thats good.

b. But when you are a bad listener, you degrade that person, you dont really think that person is really important. You dont think he has anything really important to say. Youre saying, "My thoughts are worth it and yours arent."

6. You Are Unteachablea. You know it all. Because you know it all, you dont really

examine yourself. Lets get rid of these two words in the CFC language: "I know." Get rid of those two words. Just say, "I just dont know." I learned that in Ethiopia. Ato Kademo was an evangelist in Ethiopia for forty years. Five minutes before I went up to preach he said to me, "You know, we dont know a single word in the Bible." Thats true; when God says something in His infinite knowledge

and wisdom, no matter how much I meditate on it, how can I understand one word? What did He mean by that one word in the depth of all His wisdom? I felt so discouraged; I did not feel like preaching since I was about to preach thousands of Gods words. I felt so discouraged that it became a blessing time. Its because I was humbled at that time.

7. You Are Sarcastic, hurtful, jestinga. I cut others down, why? So I feel up. Some people say,

"Oh, thats just the way I am. Thats my personality." Personality can never be an excuse for inappropriate behavior that hurts others.

8. You Want Praisea. You dont want to be degraded. Even though you might

have a low self-image, you still have a desire to be exalted a little more. You hide your weaknesses. Youre consumed with yourself, your own feelings or image. Those kinds of people are the ones who get jealous. When they want praise or at least to not be degraded, they get jealous and envious. Theyre not glad for others success. Are you glad for others success? Do you know why not? Because you think, "I want to be in that position," and youre not. Lets say you studied all night and get a B minus. Then theres a guy who fell asleep while studying and got an A minus. Do you respond by shouting, "Praise the Lord!"? If not, its because youre jealous.

b. One thing that really helps is learning how to give sincere compliments. That really helps my envy. It helps me to really rejoice with them. Are you glad for others success? Do you cover up your faults or rarely seek help? Are you critical? Do you exaggerate? When you exaggerate, people praise you.

9. You Are Defensivea. You are defensive especially when youre threatened. You

blame. Its a defense mechanism. Ricochet. Complain. People who are defensive trivialize sin. You see something wrong concerning yourself, and say, "Sorry," but youre not really sorry. You quickly patch it up and gloss over it. Do not trivialize sin. Heart sins are the worst sins in Scripture. Jesus is always nice to prostitutes and Hes always so angry with Pharisees, who were guilty of heart sins. Or perhaps

you rationalize sins. "Its because of all these reasons." Theres an excuse for everything; you justify sins. You trivialize, rationalize, justify. You judge others with self-made standards. Those people rarely admit their faults. They rarely apologize or ask for forgiveness. Why? Because theyre defensive and proud.

b. These people have a difficult time repenting. They have a difficult time asking for not only others forgiveness, as weve talked about, but Gods as well. When do you have the best time in worship? When you really start to repent. There is such joy! When you start to repent, its not: "Im so bad, Lord. Im so bad," in a self-pitying manner. When you really bring your sins to the cross, really admitting those sins and asking God to help, everything flows out. There is a flow of prayer and grace and you receive power and strength; all this you attain from the throne of God. If you taste it, youll want more. Those people say, "Why do you always talk about repentance? Its bad to always talk about those things." Well, repentance is the flip side of grace. Its a door you go through to receive the grace of God. How can I not talk to you about repentance? Keep going that way. Do not be discouraged. Keep going. Pride hides ones own faults but magnifies everyone elses.

10. You Resist Authority and Are Disrespectfula. Some people just have submission problems whether with

parents, teachers, church authorities, families, husbands, bosses, police, referees, or the whole authority system in Scripture. These kinds of people judge others by how they support their own concerns. They voice their preferences even when not asked. They dont mind talking about their own preferences without much compassion or consideration of others. They are this way even toward authorities. These people are unapproachable at times and people are scared of them. If people start to say youre unapproachable and are scared of you, maybe you fall into that category.

III. ConclusionA. Lets read this again. V. 9 says, "Are you blind? Do you see yourself? "I

AM NOT like other men." Next time Im able to speak is Praise Night. Lets close our eyes and examine ourselves. Im sure there are one or two things that really hit you and showed you your pride. Lord, open our

eyes so that we may not only see You but ourselves as well. And may we see others in the way that we need to see them. May we not be blind to our own sins. May we not just be self-focused all the time, thinking about ourselves, but may we really love God and others. Lord, open our eyes so that we may see ourselves and You and others. If this church and campus are filled with the humble people of God, how people will see Jesus through you! How you will be an inviting agent in your groups! How people will be so attracted to you! We love ourselves because were proud people. We are self-worshipers. Pride is self-worship! Open my eyes, Lord, so that my desire would be to exalt and lift You up. May Jesus be lifted up! May JESUS be lifted up!

B. Proud people are self-worshipers. Youve been worshiping yourself all your life. Stop doing that! Ask God to help you so that you can get rid of the idols in your heart and become true worshipers of God. He alone deserves to be worshiped. Only when He is worshiped can you have true joy and true gratitude. Pray that God would change you. May Gods Word penetrate into my heart! Remember this verse: "Everyone who wants to exalt himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted." May Gods Word penetrate into your heart; wrestle and fight with it so your desire will be changed from exalting yourself to exalting God, so that youll be lovers of God, not lovers of self and pleasure. Lets pray that a miracle would take place.

C. If youre a believer in Jesus Christ, there are right motives in your heart. You do want to praise God. But there is another side that exists in your heart€you want to praise yourself. But as you sing praises and pray to the Lord, the Spirit of God will help us to overcome and to grow in our spiritual lives and Hell change our desires to want to worship Him. Were gonna overcome. He forgives all the sins we commit. He touches us; He embraces us. Lets go to the Lord, who gives us the hope, mercy, grace that we need. Our God is so good. Lets not be discouraged from looking at the evil things in our lives, but lets be encouraged by looking at the love of the Father. When we start to see the sins in our hearts, we become so thankful to the Lord. Do you see it? Do you see your sin with all your heart right now more so than before the service? Do you see how we absolutely need Christ? We can be so thankful for the cross. He doesnt just forgive the tax collector, but He also forgives me. Lord, thank you for forgiving me and cleansing me! Just be thankful to the Lord. Enjoy the grace of God. Pray that the Lord will continue to humble you. Worship Him like you ought to.