The Root of Pride

Contrary to what many Christians believed, the first sin committed in the universe was not rebellion but pride. Pride was an inner attitude; but rebellion was the external outworking of pride. Pride leads to rebellion; the inner comes before the outer. Pride is the inner core that is responsible to the outer act of rebellion against God.

The first sin of pride took place in heaven and not on earth. It was committed by an angel and not a human being. Ezekiel’s description of the king of Tyre was that of Lucifer, a created archangel of immense beauty. Because of pride and rebellion against God Lucifer was cast out of the heaven where God dwells (Ezekiel 28:11 – 18).

God spoke through Isaiah concerning Lucifer:

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit” (Isaiah 14:12 – 15, emphasis).

Lucifer said “I will” five times. This was a strong indicate of pride. Notice the progression of Lucifer’s pride. Ultimately, he would like to be equal with the Creator. As a result he was brought down by God “to the lowest depths of the Pit”!

The Root of Pride

In this message we take a look at the root of Pride. God always deal with the root. When we focus on the root we will understand that God sees Pride differently. Therefore, there is a need to redefine what Pride is.

God sees pride in His people when they act and walk in independence of Him. The opposite of pride is humility which means dependence on God. A person with spiritual pride is someone who is unwilling to let God act in His own time and in His own way. He takes matters in his own hands without a clear mandate from God. The greatest temptation a Christian faces is to get ahead of God. He might walk in holiness and righteousness, but very often because of the lack of patience and long-suffering, he tends to believe God is acting too slowly. He could be a prayerful, fruitful and productive person, but he fails to wait upon the Lord and allow God to take full control of the situation.

David knows the importance of waiting upon the Lord:

“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass, cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret – it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth” (Psalm 37:5, 7 – 9, emphasis added).

“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord” (Psalm 27:14, emphasis added).

A Christian who waits upon the Lord is a humble person. He has the spirit of humility.

The Pride of King Saul

After Saul was anointed as King of Israel Samuel said to him:

“You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do” (1 Samuel 10:8, NKJV, emphasis added).

Samuel’s instruction to Saul was very clear. He should do nothing but to wait for Samuel for seven days until he bring God’s word to him.

But, before Samuel came as promised, the Philistines gathered with 30 thousand chariots and 6 thousand horsemen and multitude of people (1 Sam. 13:5) to fight with Israel. Saul was still in Gilgal and all the people with Saul were trembling with fear and many were scattered from him. Saul could not wait anymore for Samuel and so he said to his people:

“Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me” (1 Sam 13:9).

And he offered the burn offering. As soon as this was done Samuel came and said to Saul:

“You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be a commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you” (Verse 13, 14, NKJV, emphasis added).

Saul failed to keep the commandment of God and took matters in his own hands. He took control of the situation himself and failed to wait upon the Lord. The serious implication was that Saul charged God of deception. To Saul, God sent him out to do his work but let himself figured out how to get it done. He could not sit and watch and let the Philistines destroy Israel! Samuel might not be coming to bring the Word from the Lord anyway!

Consequently, God rejected Saul and David was chosen to replace Saul.

The Humility of David

The Lord has chosen David as king of Israel because of his humility – “a man after His own heart”! The man who is after God’s own heart would be obedient to God and waits upon Him and listens to His commands.

As soon as the Philistines heard that David was anointed as king over Israel, they went up to search for David (2 Sam. 5:17).

“So David inquired of the Lord, saying ‘Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?’ And the Lord said to David, ‘Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand’” (2 Sam. 5:19, emphasis added).

David did not take matters into his own hands. He humbled himself and “inquired of the Lord”. David was obedient and let the Lord takes full control of the situation. He did not act presumptuously but waited upon the Lord until he heard Him said:

“You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the Lord will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines (2 Sam. 5:23, 24).

The Philistines were defeated because of David’s obedience to the Lord’s command.

“And David did so, as the Lord commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer” (Verse 25).

David knew the benefits of waiting upon the Lord:

“I will wait for You, O You his Strength; for God is my defense. My God of mercy shall come to meet me; God shall let me see my desire on my enemies” (Psalm 59:9, 10).

Humility and Servanthood

Pride repels the concept of servanthood. Most Christians want to be masters and not servants. Christians are sons of God (Galatians 4:5) and no longer slaves (or bondservants). But most of the Epistle writers called themselves bondservants – Paul (Romans 1:1; Gal. 1:10; Titus 1:1), Peter (2 Peter 1:1), James (James 1:1).

Jesus Christ though being in the form of God chose to be a bondservant:

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and become obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:5 – 8, NKJV, emphasis added).

Jesus said to the Jews, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19, emphasis added).

Jesus was in total dependence on the Father. He never took matters in His own hands and waited for the Father to show Him what to do.

The Humbled and the Exalted

Jesus used the two Parables to illustrate a Spiritual Law that “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted”.

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9 – 14)

The Pharisee was self-righteous and trusted only himself. He was proud and despised the Tax Collector. He thought he could impress God by his “righteous” acts – fasted twice a week and gave tithes. He mentioned all these in his prayer. On the other hand, the tax collector not only humbled himself but also repented and asked for God’s mercy in his prayer and supplication.

Jesus said, “I tell you, this man (the tax collector) went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts him will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14, NKJV, emphasis added).

The Parable of the Lowly Place (Luke 14:7 – 11)

A person who is invited to a feast should not sit at the best place but the lowest place to avoid being asked by the host to let someone more honorable than him to take his place. But, if he chose to sit at the lowest place he might be asked by the host to move up to a higher place of honor. In this case, he would receive glory in the in the presence of those who sit at the table with him.

Jesus said, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).