PRIDE AND HUMILITY God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. (James 4:6) I.

INTRODUCTION One of the most discussed and yet suble form of sin today is the sin of Pride. Christians usually indirectly refer to it as Pride Chicken probably because we tried to dampen its impact on the person referred to; because we do not want to touch his pride. When I was younger in the faith, the message about our pride seems applicable only when there is a need to resolve a relationship conflict. To my limited experience, I can only think that the issue of pride only comes in when one need to ask forgiveness to a friend whom one is in conflict or has misunderstanding. II. IMPACT OF PRIDE Pride of life misplaces our object of security. Todays world is increasingly characterized by too much materialism which feeds pride of life. Too many objects of desires are available around for people to acquire; too many things to satisfy our pride. Example, the Cellular phones. An analysis reveals that in the US there are at least 3 new cellphone models introduced to the public every 2 days. There used to be large desktop computers mainly for use in the office. Today desktop computers uses flat screen and many new models of laptops, notebooks, netbooks, and the tablets were coming out for use not only in the office but even in homes. School children are now becoming ambitious of owning a tablet for their academic use; ordinary ladies bag before have been over-priced today through the manipulations of the showbiz and the media. Prada, Louis-Vuitton and Hermes are few brands of ladies designer bags costing a million pesos. One could rightly ask is it moral anymore to buy those stuffs when there are too many people around living on poverty? These material things often than not covets our sense of security in the Lord. When we shift our attention and focus away from God to these material things, we are in danger of losing our dependence of God and soon we discover ourselves living a life away from the Lord. Power and Position Breeds Pride. It is sad that today we mix the word leadership with being a politician. In fact, most often, we address our leaders as politicians. The two words are different, the latter most of the time has some negative undertone with it. Being in power means being able to command the pleasures of life. I have a very good illustration about this: In April 2005 my father in law who was living then at Quezon City visited Cabadbaran to spend a few days here. He was a childhood friend of the then City Mayor Boy Dako Plaza having spent so many times together playing at the rivers and woods at the outskirt of the old town of Cabadbaran...

Do not love the world or anything in the world. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 1John 2:15-16

Pride Often Hinders Good Relationship. We may not be able to engage in those lavish buying and too much acquisition of material things maybe because we do not have the resources to buy them. But there are other ways which pride creeps into our lives in our relationships. In my study of the law, I realized that many litigations were fueled by pride. Conflicts could have been resolved extra-judicially, outside the court, but because of pride, party litigants forced themselves to shoulder the huge litigation expenses and endure the hassles of court hearings, not to mention the unnecessary exposures of ones personal lives, just so to satisfy themselves that justice is served, but in truth, it is just an unsurrendered pride that is holding them from making amends. 1. A. The first problem is that pride often produces misunderstandings. Have you ever met someone who knows it all? It doesnt make any difference what the topic is, they can wax eloquent forever. And they never really listen to anybody else because they already know all the answers.
ILL. A guy who took a first aid course, & was so proud of his accomplishment in completing it. No sooner had he finished it than he came upon an accident in which a person was injured. He rushed over to where the injured person was being attended to by a woman, & took charge. He shoved everybody aside, including the woman, & said, "Give me room. Ive just finished a first aid course & I know what to do." He knelt down beside the injured person & started doing what he could. The woman he had pushed away stood there a few moments & then said, "When you get to that point in your first aid training where it says, "Call the doctor, Ill be right here." SUM. There are times when pride creates misunderstanding & a lack of consideration & appreciation for others. B. Secondly, pride provokes arguments. Proverbs 13:10 says, "Pride...breeds quarrels". If you put two people who know it all in the same room, then you have two irresistible forces, two immovable objects who will not back down, or admit that they might be wrong. And the arguments just continue on & on. Romans 12:16 says, "Dont try to act big & think you know it all," because pride provokes arguments. There are times when one needs to assert. In our judicial system, one is not entitled to the help of the court, he who does not assert his right. But there is a difference between being assertive and being argumentative. Being assertive without being argumentative is the accepted behavior in Parliamentary Procedure. Being assertive means thinking positively and communicating clearly in order to be understood. It is intellectual, not an emotional encounter like in argument.

C. Thirdly, I think pride prevents intimacy. Usually, people who are proud will not allow you to see them as they really are. They try to conceal their real self, & say things they think will impress you, & never allow you to see deep inside, because they are afraid that their real self will not be accepted. So they pretend to be something that they are not.

ILL. I have had many occasions to study cases of marriages being annulled. In one case, the spouse complained that she was tired of constant fighting with her husband. When things cooled down between them, her husband most of the time does not discuss with her the cause of their fight nor say sorry and simply pretend that they were already ok. She sees his pride is hindering him from lovingly and openly talk matters out between them to put a close to their misunderstanding and to learn from it in order to avoid the same cause in the future.

D. Pride postpones reconciliation. If people are proud, then they arent willing to back down or compromise or find a common ground where agreement can be found. So reconciliation simply doesnt take place. There are 12 words that are absolutely essential for a good marriage. Here they are: #1, "I was wrong," #2. "I am sorry," #3. "Please forgive me," & #4. "I love you." "Any relationship," he says, "has to have those 12 words in it or it simply wont work." If you have a husband who is so proud that he will never say, "I was wrong," & you have a wife who is so proud that she will never say, "Im sorry," & if you have children who are so proud that they will never say, "Please forgive me," then you have a family where no one is saying, "I love you" to each other. And that relationship simply cant work. In any relationship, if we arent willing to say, "Im wrong," or "Im sorry," or "Please forgive me," or admit that we love each other, & are desirous of forgiving one another, then reconciliation can never take place. No wonder Paul said, "Love does not boast, it is not proud."

E. Pride begets another wrong. Because one is so proud to admit that hes wrong, he has to pass the blame to others who are innocent; or he has to lie and create all sorts of justifications to his actions; or he has to manipulate people. Some politicians who are not invited as Primary Sponsors to a wedding, often does not attend the wedding anymore. They make up many excuses but the real reason is they are afraid others who sees them setting at the head table during reception might look them down.

The TELEPHONE GUY. There was a story of a businessman who was rich. Everybody look up to him because he was rich and he enjoyed it. There came a time that his business went down and the man has many bills he could not pay. One day a collector of the Telephone Company went to see the rich man. He got inside the mans gate and introduced himself. Thinking that the man was going to collect for payment of the telephone bills, the rich man immediately grab the telephone, dialed a number and pretended to talk to the supposed man on the other line. Hello? compare! I have a little problem here, the Telephone guy is here and I need money to pay for the bill. How much can you pay me? . . . P 8,000.00? Can you make it P 10,000.00? Remember, you owe me P 20,000.00. Ok when will you give me the money? On the weekend? Thats still 3 days from now!.. Actually, I needed the money today but if you say on the weekend, be sure its on the weekend Ok thank you. The truth is, there was nobody on the other side of the line. The man just pretended so he can let the collector hear that he is supposed to have money to pay the bill. So, the man faced the collector once more and said: You hear it? So, dont worry, I will pay you. I have money in hands of my Compare. I will pay you then when he pays me. Thanks for stopping-by anyway Amused, the collector then replied: Sir, I am not here to collect payment from you. Why are you here then? ask the man. To inform you that your telephone line was already disconnected

Benjamin Franklin once said:

"In reality there is perhaps not one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself...For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility." - Benjamin Franklin

When I grew in experience, God taught me more about pride - my pride particularly and along with it, humility. Even now, I continue to learn or discern the many applicability of humility and keeping my pride down as I also grow in faith and trust in God.

III. LOVE VAUNTETH NOT ITSELF (PRIDE)

God often humbled people before He made them great in order for them to learn the lesson on love. ILL. Before Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt, he had to spend time as a slave & be cast into an Egyptian prison. ILL. Before Moses, who grew up in the palace of Pharaoh, ever became

the great deliverer & leader of Israel, he had to spend years as a shepherd in the fields of Midian, a very humbling experience. ILL. Before Saul of Tarsus became the great apostle to the Gentiles & write most of the N.T., he had to be humbled on the Damascus Road by the blinding flash of light from heaven, & the voice of the resurrected Lord. II. STEPS IN DEVELOPING HUMILITY But even though we may reach the conclusion that we need to develop humility, I dont think it will come easily for most of us. So here are some steps that might help us get there. A. Let us acknowledge our mortality. Were told in Scripture that life is but a vapor that appears for a moment & then disappears. If youre my age or older you know that is true. Were on the downhill side of life now, & it didnt take long to get here. It seems like only yesterday we were young & all of life was stretching before us. But the years have come & gone so rapidly, & were coming to grips with our own mortality. The Bible teaches that our bodies are made out of the dust of the ground, & that one of these days they will return to the dust. Its humbling, isnt it, to realize that the bodies that you & I have pampered & cared for & admired will someday be nothing more than part of the earth that people walk on, & where weeds grow? A hundred years from now, for most of us, no one will even remember our names. So the first step to developing humility is to remember our mortality. B. Let us remember our own fallibility. We make mistakes. Were not infallible. Theres a saying that goes: People make mistakes, thats why pencils have erasers. We make decisions that are wrong. We say things that are stupid. We do things that are embarrassing. ILL. There is a story about a guy who went to a musical. And while the soprano was singing he turned to the man sitting next to him & said, "Thats horrible. That is really bad." The man said, "Thats my wife." Quickly the guy said, "Oh, her voice is just fine. I wasnt talking about that. Its the material. The song she is singing is terrible. Its just not right for her." The man said, "I wrote it." I admire the apostle Paul because all throughout his ministry, he never glosses over the fact that he once persecuted Christians. Again & again he reminds himself & us, "I am the chief of sinners, saved by the grace of God." I think it is all right to feel good about yourself. I think it is okay to consider

your accomplishments. But every once in a while we need to stop & remember our fallibility. It will help us develop proper humility. C. Develop the habit of giving God the glory for all your achievements or accomplishments, no matter how small. When we discipline ourselves into giving glory to God in everything, we are checking ourselves against boasting over what we achieved or against usurping the glory due to God. By simply saying to ourselves, to God be the glory or glory to God or thanks God, whenever we accomplish something of value, we are keeping temptation of pride away from us. Satan has no means of provoking our pride when we are quick to give God the glory. Some cute variations to this is the gesture of placing ones palm in the chest then pointing upwards whenever somebody congratulates or commends ones good job.

D. Develop servanthood. Jesus said "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, & to give His life as a ransom for many" [Matthew 20:28]. It is hard for me to understand how people can be Christians for 10 or 15 years & still be a "servee" & not a "server." How can we claim that were followers of the one who put a towel around His waist & picked up a basin of water & washed His apostles feet? How can we say were His follower & were still waiting to be served? How can we do that? You see, the only way we can finally begin to develop the virtue of humility is by becoming a servant, by learning servanthood. ILL. An item in Valley Morning Star reads, "The Miami Herald reported that David McAllister, 77 & blind, a nursing home invalid in North Miami Beach, FL, receives daily visits from Chris Carrier, 32, who reads to McAllister from the Bible. "Their only previous relationship occurred during a few days in December 1974, when McAllister kidnapped 10 year old Carrier at a bus stop & left him for dead in the Everglades with cigarette burns on his body, ice pick holes in one eye, & a gunshot wound that left him blind in the other eye. "When Carrier was asked how he could possibly stand to be around McAllister, to look at the man who had so brutally tried to murder him years ago, Carrier said, `I dont see a...murderer. I see a man, very old, very alone, & very scared." [Chuck Shepherd, Valley Morning Star, January 31, 1997] Thats servanthood at its best! For Jesus said, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these...you did for me" [Matthew 25:40].

E. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

C. S. Lewis said: "Pride leads to every other vice.... Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, cleverer, or better-looking than others. If every one else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone" (Mere Christianity, (HarperCollins Ed 2001), 122).
F. Embrace difficulties in life as Gods way of molding us for His pleasure. When we face difficulties in life - tragedy, business downturns, joblessness, family troubles, etc., think of it as part of Gods overall plan for our good. This God did to the Israelites:

"And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or not" (Deut 8:2).

G. Remain teachable. I like the entry by a blogger posted in one website that goes: Id rather be disagreed than agreed if thats the way I can learn and get to the higher level Part of the reason why Manny Pacquiao became champion in 8 different weight divisions a feat no one in history of boxing has achieved, is his ability to learn from Freddie Roach and his other trainers. You can see Manny used a style in one fight and yet he adopts another style in the next fight. Thats how he defeats Ricky Hatton who was a brawler and Oscar dela Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Margarito and many others. The trick is, we should continually learn in order to adopt to varying conditions around us.
CONCL. You see, the kind of love that Paul is talking about can make a difference. It can make a difference in our families, in our neighborhoods, in our nation. It is patient & kind &"does not boast, it is not proud." And it can turn our world upside down.

If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)