(This is a lesson I discussed with our elementary aged children yesterday. For the first time I decided to include some quotes at the end and see if they could understand and appreciate them.
It is impossible to walk with God and please Him without an abundance of His grace being poured out on us every day. And yet He clearly says He only "...gives grace to the humble."
So we probably should be a little more sober about the problem of pride than we are, and give a lot more attention to the pursuit of humility. To that end - this lesson on pride).
Definition of Pride: 1. Having inordinate self-esteem; possessing a high or unreasonable conceit of one's own excellence, either of body or mind. 2. Arrogant; haughty; …. From Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
Synonyms of Pride: Arrogance, Boasting, Conceit, Loftiness,
I. How God feels about pride, arrogance, boasting, conceit, etc.
“…Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.” Proverbs 8:13
How does God feel about pride?
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,…being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, …they are… arrogant, boastful…” Romans 1:18, 29, 30
What emotion of God is directed towards those who walk in arrogance and boasting?
“ … God is opposed to the proud…” James 4:6
“…for God is opposed to the proud,…” I Peter 5:5
What does it mean to have God opposed to the proud?
Do you think it is a good idea for God to be your opponent?
II. What God says about pride, arrogance, boasting, conceit, etc.
“A man’s pride will bring him low….” Proverbs 29:23
How so?
What would that look like?
“ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts….deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit…envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” Mark 7:21-23
What does Jesus say of pride?
Where does it come from?
What does it do?
“Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?” - 1Co 5:6
What is the danger of boasting (about one’s sins) in a church or congregation and not dealing with it righteously?
“For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy.” II Timothy 3:2
What is the context of this statement? (last days)
“But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” James 4:16
How were they boasting?
What did James say about their boasting?
“…the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” I John 2:16
Who is the god of this world?
Quote: Pride is the only disease known to man that makes everyone sick except the one who has it.
Quote: “It is pride that is at the root of all other sins: envy, contention, discontent, and all hindrances that would prevent renewal.” Richard Baxter
III. How God would have we Christians to live:
“For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” Romans 12:3
How should we think/feel about ourselves?
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;” - Philippians 2:3
How should we regard others and ourselves?
“Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” James 4:10
How do we do this?
What is the promise for when we do this?
“You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” I Peter 5:5-7
How are we to relate to one another?
How are we to relate to God?
What is the promise for doing so?
Quote: They that know God will be humble; they that know themselves cannot be proud.” John Flavel
Quote: “I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master.” John Newton
Quote: “Humility is born by looking at God, and His holiness, and then looking at self and one’s unholiness. Humility loves obscurity and silence, dreads applause, esteems the virtues of others, excuses their faults with mildness, easily pardons injuries, fears contempt less and less, and sees baseness and falsehood in pride.” E. M. Bounds
Quote: “The essential vice, the utmost evil is pride….If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud…If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.” C.S. Lewis
Quote: “A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God; of his dependence on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom.” Jonathan Edwards
Quote: “Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.” Andrew Murray
Quote: “Oh man, hate pride, flee from it, abhor it, do not let it dwell with you.” C.H. Spurgeon
Steps:
1. Pursue your relationship with God. The more we think about Him the less we will be obsessed with ourselves
2. Ask God to cleanse you from pride
3. Show active interest in others
4. Ask God to help you be more humble
Comments