Pastor Slaughter
Pentecost 14
8/26/2021
Pride Goes before the Fall
Proverbs 16:18-19
“In a certain pond, there were two ducks and a frog who were neighbors and the best of friends. They played together all day long during the summertime. But as the cold drew near and the water dried up, the ducks realized they would have to move. This would be easy for them, but what about their friend the frog? Finally, it was decided that they would put a stick in the bill of each duck, and then the frog would hang onto the stick with his mouth, and they would fly him to another pond. And so they did. Just then, a farmer looked up and said to his wife, “What a great idea! I wonder who thought of that?” Proudly, the frog said, “I did!” Thus illustrating: “Pride goes before a fall!” (taken from “Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, page 1100, illus. #4824).
I think that silly illustration really describes pride quite well. There are all kinds of things in life that we are proud of right? The wood worker could be proud of something that he created. The parent could take pride in their children academically or athletically. We take pride in our accomplishments. We take pride in our achievements. We take pride in our work, our family, our things. When does being proud of someone or something turn into an issue of pride? Our lesson says, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit precedes a fall.” Maybe the question we need to ask is, “Are we that frog flying on a stick about to fall?
What is pride? Why does King Solomon warn us against pride? What’s so bad about it? When we talk about pride, I think people can use it in two different ways. For example, if someone says, “I pride myself on being the first to graduate from that university.” In that sense the person is saying that they have satisfaction from being one of the first people to graduate from there. If we use the word “pride” in the sense of having satisfaction in something, I don’t see anything wrong with it and that is not what Solomon is getting at. He is not talking about finding satisfaction in work or something else. Instead, Solomon compares pride with a humble spirit.
When we compare pride with humility, what is the difference and what is Solomon getting at here? The proud person wants to take for himself what belongs to God namely the glory. At it’s essence…it is as though pride is elevating itself above God. I think pride is so closely connected to selfishness. It’s interesting that King Solomon says, “Better to share a humble spirit with the oppressed than to share stolen goods with the haughty.” It’s interesting that he equates the stolen goods (the pleasures of life) that particular sin with pride or being haughty. It’s like he is equating pride with doing whatever it takes to get what you want. It’s putting the self above God and above others.
Paul says in Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourself.” Paul does something very similar to Solomon. Paul doesn’t use the word pride, but when talking about humility he compares it and says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit…” Solomon “better to share a humble spirit with the oppressed than to share stolen goods with the haughty.”
What’s at the center of this pride and the opposite of humility? It’s selfishness. To share in stolen goods with the haughty, to satisfy the desires of the flesh. Doing things out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. That pride is what looks out for number one and places itself above others.
Where there are sinners living and working together with sinners that pride and selfishness are always going to rear their ugly heads. The devil will work especially hard in a congregation like ours. His goal is simple. To cause disharmony and strife. And what better way to do that than to appeal our selfish nature and inflate our pride. Where we look down on the gifts of others or find ourselves envying someone else’s gifts.
What sinful pride does is it seeks to minimize one’s own weaknesses and tends to exaggerate one’s own strengths. And the opposite is true when that sinful pride looks at the others. It tends to minimize other’s strengths and exaggerates their weakness. What does that do with our relationships here at Trinity? It causes friction among people. It causes divisions. It focusses on what we want as opposed to serving others. It not only places the self above others but pride leads us to think we deserves it.
Are we like that frog ready to fall? Our lesson says, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit precedes a fall.” Why does pride lead to destruction? Not only can it destroy our relationship with other people, but it can also lead to a broken relationship with our heavenly Father. The real danger of pride is when the glory falls on us and not where it is supposed to be, on God. To raise we up instead of God is to be proud. Such haughtiness is but for a moment, as God brings down the proud. Why? Because what pride essentially says to God, “I don’t need you. I don’t need your mercy. I don’t need your forgiveness. I don’t care what you say in your word, I am still going to do want I want because that is what I deserve.”
A very simple example. To find an illustration for the sermon, I googled the word pride. The first thing that popped up, the LGBTQ community and the gay pride flag. What greater better example there is than that, where God says something is a sin and where people will either change what God’s word says or simply not care what it says.
Do we do that at times? Where we don’t care what God’s word says because its not what we want to hear. Where we don’t care what it says about our relationships with others because we are deserving of something else. Where we think our time, our comfort is more important than gathering together and worshiping, where study of God’s Word becomes whatever.
Solomon encourages us “Better to share a humble spirit with the oppressed…” Solomon says it is better to be humble and oppressed than it is to have life’s pleasures and be proud. Why? Because to have this godly humility, means that we recognize our continuous need for the Lord’s mercy and help. Pride says “I don’t need your mercy God” Humility says, “Lord I increasingly need your mercy every day of my life.” The more we recognize that need for mercy, the more we see that mercy in our lives. What is mercy? God not giving us something that we deserve. As we see our ever-increasing need for mercy as we look at our sins, we see the price that was paid for those sins. Do you see what happens? We take the focus off ourselves and focus on Christ. The more we focus on Christ and his forgiveness, you know what it does? It crucifies our pride because it is giving glory to Christ for what he has done.
King Solomon encourages us to live humbly by recognizing our continuous need for the Lord’s mercy and help but also recognizing that all we have comes from God and should be used in a God pleasing ways. To live humbly means to recognize the gifts that God has given to us and to use them for service for our neighbor and for God.
I think there is danger for us as well. Some people think to live humbly means to bury one’s talents and gifts. If someone has the gifts for teaching, well I don’t want to flaunt my talents, so I am not going to serve. But isn’t that an issue of pride as well? Where you take pride in how “humble” you are. But to live humbly recognizes where our gifts come from. And seeks to use them. If it is teaching, then teach. if it is helping with Sunday school, then help. If it technology, or worship or help serving, We live our lives humbly when we recognize that our gifts and talents come from God and so we use them.
We don’t want to be like the frog! We may find satisfaction in work we do, or in our families but let us not turn that satisfaction in something or someone into a issue of pride. But we want to live humbly. Seeing our continued need for God’s mercy in our lives and to use the gifts that he has given to us to serve him and one another. Amen.