Pride is Sin and it is Ugly because it exalts self, excludes others, and enjoys retaliation.
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Pride Is Sin And It Is Ugly
Luke 9:45-56
It was February 25, 1964. A 22 year old boxer by the name of Cassius Clay had just defeated the world heavyweight champion and a microphone was thrust into his face as he left the ring. And he declared, “I am the greatest! I am the greatest thing that ever lived! I’ve just turned twenty-two years old and I’ve upset the heavyweight champion of the world! I must be the greatest! I’ve showed the world! I’ve shook up the world! I’m the king of the world! Listen to me, I’m the greatest! I can’t be beat!”
Now, let me ask you, when someone talks like that, “I am the greatest! I am the king of the world!” how do you feel? Are you drawn to a person like that, or are you repulsed? I think most of us would say, that a person who goes around strutting his stuff, telling everyone how great he is, is a turn off. Do you know anyone that you would characterize as an arrogant person? If so, do you enjoy spending time with that person? We all instinctively withdraw from arrogant people. We would rather not be around them. PRIDE IS SIN, AND IT IS UGLY! It was the sin of pride that got Lucifer kicked out of heaven. It was the sin of pride that caused Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. And my friends, it is pride that is at the root of so many people rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. They reason, “I’m not about to admit that I’m an unworthy sinner, and that my deeds will never land me a place in heaven. I’ll never renounce myself and cast myself on Jesus Christ to save me.” Pride is sin, and it is ugly!
In this section of the Gospel of Luke, Luke is showing us the faults of Jesus’ disciples. In Luke 9:46-56, Luke gives us three brief stories of Jesus’ disciples and their failures. What is interesting to me, is that every one of these stories has pride at its root. In each of these stories, Luke shows us one of the disciples’ faults, stemming from their pride, and then we have Jesus wise and gentle correction.
Pride is sin and it is ugly, because it:
1. Exalts self
2. Excludes others
3. Enjoys revenge
1. Exalts Self
Let’s take a look at verses 46-48, “An argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest. But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side, and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”
The first thing we are told is that the disciples were arguing with each other about who was the greatest. Now Jesus had just told them in verse 44 that He was going to be delivered into the hands of men. Jesus is talking to them about how He is going to be rejected and crucified, and they are arguing with each other about who was the greatest! It’s unbelievable! What makes matters worse, is that these guys argue about who is the greatest three different times. We find them arguing about who is the greatest here, then again as they are coming towards Jerusalem in Matthew 20:20-28, and then at the Last Supper in Luke 22:24-27. That should teach us that we will never get to the place where we never have to be on guard against pride. It will rear its ugly head whenever we let our guard down.
Now, why would they be arguing as to who was the greatest? Probably, the disciples were anticipating that very soon Jesus would overthrow the Romans and ascend the throne as the long awaited Messiah. At that time, the disciples were wondering who would be His right hand man. Who would sit at His right and His left? Peter, James, and John may have been feeling pretty high and self-confident. After all, they had been chosen twice to be in Jesus’ inner circle. They had witnessed Jesus raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and they had seen Jesus transfigured. Thus, they probably assumed that one of them was the greatest. However, Judas may have figured that he was the greatest since he was the Treasurer. John may have claimed he was the greatest, because he was the one that reclined on Jesus’ breast. The nine disciples who didn’t see Jesus transfigured may have been thinking, “Why would Jesus choose that blabbermouth, Peter, to be in the inner circle? And why would he choose those hotheads, James and John? I’m a much better disciple than they? Maybe Peter, James, and John were thinking, “If those guys had seen what we saw on the mountain, they wouldn’t have any problem casting out demons.” So, what is going on here is a lot of comparing, and posturing. Each of them is arguing that they are the greatest. Oh, how ugly is pride!
So, there we see the disciples’ failure. They were exalting themselves. They were each claiming that they were greater than the rest. So, how does Jesus correct them? He takes a child. Over in Mark 9:36, Jesus took the child in His arms. Here in Luke, the child stands by Jesus’ side. So, the child was young enough to hold, but old enough to stand, perhaps somewhere between three and six years old. Jesus uses the little child as an object lesson. He says, “whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” So, what is Jesus getting at? Jesus is telling us that the truly great person is the one who is humble enough to receive and love and care for the nobodys, like this little child. There was no one with less status in Jewish society than a young child. They had achieved nothing. They had nothing to contribute. In fact, in Jewish society, a child could not be taught the Torah until they were 12 years of age, so it was considered a waste to spend time with them. Jesus was teaching His disciples that true greatness was to humble yourself to spend time with and showing loving care to the insignificant, and the unimportant, and the helpless, and the poor, and the despised and the nobodys. If you decide you’re not going to spend time and care for so and so, because they are in a whole different social circle than you, it just shows how much pride you have! If you think, “That person doesn’t even have a car, and they are renting in a dumpy apartment complex. Besides all that, they are from an entirely different race than me. I don’t want to hang out with them!” you need a stern rebuke from the Lord!
Jesus said, “for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.” I have a sneaking suspicion that when we get to heaven, we’re going to find out that those who are great, may not be the famous TV evangelists. Maybe the really great ones in God’s kingdom, are those obscure people that no one has ever heard about. They are the ones who deliberately serve the people nobody else cares about. They serve dying AIDS patients, homeless drunks, drug addicts, prostitutes, poor folks, and Internationals who can’t speak English very well. And you know what? Jesus says when we receive and care for and love folks like that, we are receiving Him! And when we receive Him, we are actually receiving God Himself! Just think of that the next time you give some money to a homeless person, or give up your time to serve a needy individual.
So, the first thing we learn about pride is that it is sin and it is ugly, because it exalts self. Instead, the Bible teaches that we are to “give preference to one another in honor” (Rom.12:10). Is that how you act towards other brothers and sisters? Do you truly give preference to them in honor? Many people have left churches because they weren’t properly recognized for their service in the church. Well, if they left because someone didn’t recognize their service, they were serving for the wrong reason and for the wrong person! Do you have a Me and I mentality, or a We and Us mentality?
I read of a missionary to the Philippines who was trying to teach the members of a remote tribe how to play croquet. He taught them the rules, and shows how they could knock their opponent’s ball out of the playing area. However, these tribal people lived in a culture where they survived through cooperation, not competition. They were confused and couldn’t understand why anyone would want to smash their opponent’s ball out of the court. The missionary told them, “So you can win.” However, these primitive tribal people wouldn’t play that way. After the first man got his ball through all the wickets, he went back and coached the others on how they could do it. When the last man shot his ball through the wickets, they all jumped up and down and shouted, “We won! We won!”
Now, contrast that spirit to the message the book The Secret, written by Rhonda Byrne. This was a best-selling self-help book in 2006, which sold over 19 million copies. Do you want to know “The Secret”? Here is what she writes: “The earth turns on its orbit for you. The oceans ebb and flow for you. The birds sing for you. The sun rises and sets for you. The stars come out for you. Every beautiful thing you see, every wondrous thing you experience, is all there for you. Take a look around. None of it can exist without you. No matter who you thought you were, now you know the truth of who you really are. You are the master of the universe. You are the heir to the kingdom. You are the perfection of life.” And now you know the secret. And 19 million people bought that nonsense!
Friends, when you find yourself exalting yourself, slam on the brakes! Someone once said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s just thinking of yourself less.” It’s not trying to lower your opinion of yourself, it’s forgetting about yourself, and concentrating on God and others. May God help us to flee from exalting self! Oh, how ugly pride is!
2. Excludes Others
Our next lesson on the ugliness of pride comes to us in verses 49-50. John came to Jesus and told him that they had seen someone casting out demons in His name, and so they tried to prevent him because he didn’t follow along with them. I’m sure, John was expecting a pat on the back and an “Atta Boy!” However, instead, He got a stern correction from Jesus who said, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”
Now, what do we know about this exorcist? Only a few facts. First, we know that he was actually casting out demons. He wasn’t just trying to do it. He was doing it. That is in stark contrast to the nine disciples who couldn’t cast the demon out of the boy in verse 40! We also know that he was casting out these disciples in Jesus’ name. He was, at some sense, a disciple of Jesus. He believed in Jesus, and the power of His name, and was seeking to deliver people from demonic torment by invoking Jesus’ name. The only other fact we know about him is that he was not following along with the twelve.
So, how was pride manifest in this situation? It was manifest in a spirit of elitism. John, speaking for the rest of the disciples, said the real problem is that “he does not follow along with us.” Certainly Lord, we are the ones who really count. If somebody doesn’t follow along with us, then we ought not have anything to do with him. In fact, we should do all we can to get him to stop ministering in Jesus’ name. John and the other disciples had imbibed an elitist attitude, an exclusivist spirit.
However, Jesus didn’t look at things this way at all. He commanded the disciples not to hinder him. He told them that in fact, this fellow was for them, not against them. We have so much to learn from this simple story, don’t we?! Oh, friends, beware of developing an exclusive attitude when it comes to your relationship with God!
I have a very good friend who belongs to a different church than me. Years ago, I invited him to come and visit and worship with us at our church. He told me he couldn’t, because the church I attended was not a “true church.” He told me that our church couldn’t be a true church, because we didn’t have the right name. I asked him what he was talking about, and he told me that in the Bible, the churches were always called “church of Christ.” And, he was right. My church was not called the “church of Christ.” In fact, I was involved in a house church, and it didn’t have any name at all! So, for my dear friend, whom I love to this day, a church can’t be a “true church” unless it is just like his church. In fact, many people who are part of churches like his, believe that they are the only true Christians on the face of the earth! I’m not joking with you. They really believe this.
Folks, one of the marks of a cult is this exclusivistic elitist spirit. Research any cult, and you will find that they believe they are the only ones who know the truth. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Moonies, you name it. They thrive and grow, because the people in that cult really believe that they have somehow “arrived” and “found the truth.”
Now, we expect that in the cults. The very sad thing, is that it is rampant within Christian churches. If you will look, you’ll find people who believe that their church or denomination is the “right” one, and all the others are looked on with suspicion. Sometimes people will go so far as to believe that their own little group or denomination is the sum total of the kingdom of God on the earth. Oh, how little and petty we have become! Often we will exalt one of our doctrinal distinctives as a test of fellowship, judge everyone else by that doctrinal distinctive. Then we view everybody else as being either “in” or “out” depending on whether they believe this particular doctrine or not. In some groups you aren’t “in” unless you believe in a pre-trib, premillennial return of Jesus Christ. Sorry, I guess I’m not “in” then. In other groups, you’re not “in” unless you believe in a second, subsequent, baptism of the Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues. In churches like ours, we can subtly find ourselves evaluating other Christians by whether they believe in sovereign grace and predestination.
Here’s the key issue. Does this person understand the gospel? If we want to find out if someone is “for us”, just ask, have they embraced the gospel of Christ? Have they been born again by the Spirit? Do they have a love for God and His word, and the lost? Do they hate sin and love righteousness. Are they headed to the same heaven that we are? Then they are “for us”, whether or not we agree on all secondary issues, or not!
The really wonderful thing is that I can go to China, or Belarus, or Mexico, and the moment I find someone there who loves Jesus and has been born of the Spirit, I feel an immediate connection. They are my brother or sister. Now, I don’t need to go down the list of doctrines to figure out if they are “in” or not. Does this person confess Christ as their only hope of salvation? It doesn’t really matter if are premil or amil or postmil. It doesn’t really matter if they are charismatic or non-charismatic. It doesn’t really matter if they are Calvinists or Arminians. What does matter is that Christ has become their life. If they are denying themselves, taking up their cross, and following Jesus, then they are part of God’s family, and my brother and sister, and I need to treat them as such.
Oh my friends, I exhort you in the name of Jesus to make the main thing the main thing. Yes, some of our secondary issues are important. It is important what we believe about the end times, or spiritual gifts, or predestination. But, never let those things divide you from another brother or sister who has the same Holy Spirit, believes the same gospel, and is going to the same heaven! Furthermore, let’s stop competing with other churches and Christians, and let’s start cooperating, whenever we can. Instead of competing with each other to see who can grow the biggest church, let’s see how we can support each other and cooperate with each other to see the Kingdom of Christ increase.
3. Enjoys Retaliation
Now, examine the final story here in verses 51-56. In this story, Jesus has resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem. He knows that He is going up to die for sin. On His way there He sent some messengers into a Samaritan village to arrange for lodging for the night, but the Samaritans wouldn’t welcome Him. You see there was a long-standing hatred between Jews and Samaritans. When the Assyrians had invaded the northern 10 tribes, and taken them captive back to Assyria, the King of Assyria had also sent other people into the northern 10 tribes to populate them. Not all of the Jews were deported. The weak, and sickly and elderly were left behind. Over time, these remaining Jews intermarried with the pagans that were sent into their region to repopulate it. Therefore the Jews would have nothing to do with the Samaritans, and the Samaritans in return despised the Jews. The Jews claimed that the temple in Jerusalem was the correct place to worship God. The Samaritans responded by setting up their own temple on Mt. Gerazim and worshiping there. Now, why would these Samaritans not welcome Jesus? It was “because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.” Any Jew traveling towards Jerusalem in Samaria would have to expect to receive ill-treatment, and Jesus did.
Well, how did Jesus’ disciples react? James and John asked the Lord if He would like them to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them! Now, why in the world would they come up with that request? Well, they are in Samaria, and they had just recently seen Elijah appear with Christ on the mount of transfiguration. I imagine that little explosions were going off in their brains. Was there something that happened when Elijah was in Samaria? Yes! In 2 Kings 1, Ahaziah, the king of Israel was injured and wanted to know if he would live. So, he sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether he would recover. However, the angel of the Lord told Elijah to go and meet these messengers and ask them, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub? Thus says the Lord, “You will not come down from your bed, but will surely die.” Well, when King Ahaziah figured out it was Elijah who had told the messengers he would die, he was enraged, and sent a captain of 50 men to go arrest Elijah. However, when they came out to arrest him, Elijah called down fire from heaven, and it consumed the men. Ahaziah send 50 more, and Elijah called down fire again to consume them. Well, this must have been what was rolling around in James and John’s heads that day. They must have figured, hey if Elijah could do it, why can’t we? We’re the disciples of the very Son of God.
However, notice Jesus’ correction toward them. It says He turned and rebuked them. The picture is of Jesus walking while James and John are speaking to Him, and all of a sudden He stopped and turned around and faced them. There was no way Jesus could let this one pass. He told them, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” In essence, Jesus was saying, “you guys aren’t anything like Me. You don’t understand Me. You aren’t manifesting My spirit. I didn’t come to destroy, to call down fire upon others. I came to save, to call down the Spirit to save men.
Now, again, I believe we are seeing a manifestation of pride. It’s as if James and John are saying to themselves, “It’s obvious these Samaritans don’t know who they are dealing with. They don’t want to receive us. Well, let’s just give them some of their own medicine. They won’t receive us. Let’s just burn them up! How dare those Samaritans refuse to welcome us. Who do they think they are? Don’t they know that this is Jesus, the Messiah, and we are His personal hand chosen disciples? How dare they do this to us!” You see, it was all a pride trip. They were offended because of their huge egos. Therefore they wanted to kill them on the spot.
Now, we might laugh at them, but we aren’t much different. Has anyone done something to you that you didn’t like, and you find yourself plotting how you can get them back? Now why are we so desirous of revenge? It’s because of our pride. Because we are prideful, if someone does something bad to us, we get offended. Because we are offended, we move to get them back. Pride, and offense, and revenge are what makes up so much of street gangs. A gang member drives by and shoots someone from another gang. The other gang goes out and kills two of the first gang members. It’s all about pride and revenge.
What did Jesus teach about revenge? He said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you?” (Mt. 5:44). The apostle Paul said in Romans 12:19, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.” Friends, when you and I seek our own revenge, we are acting out of pride, and we are disobeying the Word of God. Pride seeks to hurt our enemies. Humility seeks to love our enemies.
Conclusion
Can you see how ugly the sin of pride is? It causes us to exalt our self. It causes us to exclude others. It causes us to enjoy retaliation. What about you? Do you see any of these ugly sins in your own life? Do you ever exalt yourself, posture for position, brag about how good, or smart, or beautiful you are? Do you ever exclude others, because of an elitist attitude? “Us four, no more, shut the door.” Do you ever seek revenge toward those that have hurt you? Oh, those actions are so very ugly, when compared to the Lord Jesus.
Did the Lord Jesus exalt Himself? No, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. He was gentle and humble in heart. We find Him, kneeling down with a towel over his shoulder and a basin of water by his side, washing the dirty feet of His disciples, including the one who would betray Him.
Did the Lord Jesus exclude others? Did He have an elite spirit that was exclusivistic? No, He touched lepers, and dead corpses, and women with hemorrhages of blood. He ministered to tax-collectors, and prostitutes, as well as the religious leaders of the day. He ministered to the rich and the poor. He invited all to come to Him to have life. “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Did the Lord Jesus seek revenge? No, quite the opposite. When the Romans had scourged Him, driven nails in His hands and feet and lifted Him up on a cross to die, He said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” “As a lamb that is led to slaughter, and as a sheep is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.” “While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”
Oh, my friends, go and do likewise. Pray that the Spirit of God would make you like your master. Seek to kill the pride in your life, and live humbly before your God. Let’s pray.
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