Sermon Date: Feb. 20, 2011
Sermon Title: Burn Up
Sermon Text: Prov. 14:12, 16:25, 11:2
Small Group Text: Exodus 7-10 Question of the Day: Is my pride in check? If not, a burn notice is probably on its way. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." [6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 1 Peter 5:5-6 (see also James 4:6)
We do not want God’s opposition in our lives. We want God’s grace and favor in our lives. And it’s our choice, which we have – contingent upon our willingness to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Pride is a hard concept to define. We just know it when we see it; and more often than not, we tend to see it in others before we recognize it in ourselves. Pride is the opposite of humility – which is a Christ-like grace (Rom. 12:3; 15:17, 18; 1 Cor. 3:5; 2 Cor. 3:5; Philip. 4:11) and a condition of mind and heart that is well pleasing to God (1 Peter 3:4). Usually, pride exposes itself in an overinflated sense of one’s own skills, accomplishments, social status, or possessions. The Scriptures use various words to describe the concept including arrogance, presumption, conceit, self-satisfaction, and boasting. But in the long run, pride is actually a form of idolatry – the object of worship being oneself – as a person attributes to him/herself the honor and glory properly due God alone. Full-blown pride precludes repentance because there is no sense of one’s own sin and culpability before God. It’s a short step between this attitude and a spirit of superiority, contempt and cruelty as other people’s inherent value is dismissed – their abilities and roles devalued or even exploited for personal gain. Pride can be vicious. In Christian circles, pride is sometimes considered the “root of all evil.” It has even been designated as the final degradation of unrepentant sin. Either way, pride is a serious problem and ends only badly for the arrogant of heart. Perhaps this is why there are manifold warnings against this particular sin throughout the Bible, e.g., Proverbs 16:5, Romans 12:3; 1 Cor. 13:4; Phil. 2:3; James 4:6 (and dozens more!) One of the best known examples of the destructive power of self-willed pride comes from the book of Exodus and is personified in the person of Pharaoh who set himself up as a god – refusing to recognize the true and living God of heaven and earth (Exodus 5:1-2; 7:812:33). A contest ensued, forcing God’s hand in opposition to the arrogant Pharaoh, causing Egypt to release the Israelite slaves, God’s covenant people. The events reported in this passage of Scripture are important for their contribution to the Biblical concept of God’s ultimate sovereignty over the prideful conceit of humanity. We would do well to take the lesson to heart. Read Exodus 5:1-2 In an unguarded moment of self-importance and fancying himself as Israel’s liberator, Moses had murdered an Egyptian taskmaster forty years prior to this story. But the old Pharaoh, Thutmose III, was dead and a new, younger Pharaoh, Amenhotep II, now ruled the empire. Imagine a 22 year Pharaoh being confronted by the 80-year-old Bedouin shepherd, Moses. It was more than mere ages being contrasted in this confrontation. 1