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Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Tim 2:15
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These Things Doth the Lord Hate: A Proud Look
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009: By Pastor Hubert Ulysse
When Pastor Ulysse started the sermon with Psalms 139:23-24, we all had the opportunity to stand and read it together. He asked us to stand quietly if the worlds of David were not really true to how we want God to act toward us, but if they were true, we read these scriptures together:
Psalms 139:23-24 23. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24. And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Pastor Ulysse recounted the story of how he felt when he was becoming the bishop over the mission churches in Haiti. It was a very strange time for him because he had left Haiti, come to America, joined the Navy, and become an American citizen. Then, he was leaving all of that behind to take his family back to their country to do a work for God. He talked about how careful he had to be that he did not allow anyone to think more of him than the should because he had come back to a poverty stricken country from a place of so much comfort for the sake of the gospel.
“More than anything, I wanted to make sure that I was not exalted or worshiped. That place is God’s alone”
The way Pastor Ulysse felt about pride is something we all need to learn from as we look at our lives in God. We must be careful that we do not allow ourselves to be proud. The Bible teaches us that God hates a proud look.
Proverbs 6:16-19 16. These six [things] doth the LORD hate: yea, seven [are] an abomination unto him: 17. A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18. An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19. A false witness [that] speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
This pitfall of pride can be seen in scripture when the Publican and the Pharisee came to pray at the temple in Luke chapter 18.
Luke 18:10-14 10. Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
These two men came with very different attitudes toward God. And, neither one were wrong in their assessment of where they stood. The Pharisee did fast, give tithes, and keep away from sin. All of those were true statements, and from the surface, it would be easy to think that the Pharisee was living in a way that was pleasing to God. The Publican also came before God with the truth about where he stood. He was aware of the fact that he was a sinner, and did not try to hide that from God (because God knew already). The difference between these two men was their pride. Only the Publican was “justified” in the sight of God. The Pharisee, on the other hand, let his pride stop him from being forgiven by God.
Proverbs 6:16-19 16. These six [things] doth the LORD hate: yea, seven [are] an abomination unto him: 17. A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18. An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19. A false witness [that] speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Pastor Ulysse pointed out that the word hate in the scripture above means to reject. When we are proud, we force God to reject us.
In verse 19, we see that there are actions that a person can take on that will make God turn them away, but in verse 16, we see that God will turn away even a proud look. A person does not have to be proud in order to be rejected by God, all they need is a proud look or a manifestation of pride in their life. The pride described in the Bible here is “an undue sense of one’s own superiority/ over value of self/ or arrogance”.
In contrast, there are things in our life that we should be proud of. We should take pride in our education, our heritage, our upbringing, or our work ethic. What God is warning us about here is spiritual pride, and this scripture gives us a clue about just how seriously God feels about that.
Pastor Ulysse gave us several examples of spiritual pride:
Job 33:9 I am clean without transgression, I [am] innocent; neither [is there] iniquity in me.
In John chapter nine, we read about the people who had to come to terms with their pride in accepting that Jesus was doing miracles and healing blindness who did not want to follow him. They kept coming back time and time again with questions and decided they would rather be disciples of Moses than of Jesus because they had too much pride to follow someone who did the “work” of healing someone on the Sabbath.
In II Kings, we read about how upset Naaman was that Elisha wouldn’t even come out to see him. He almost missed a healing because his pride was hurt to the point that he was being disobedient to the instruction from the man of God.
II Kings 5:10-12 10. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 11. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12. [Are] not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
In Esther, we see Haman being full of hate because of his pride being hurt because of Mordecai’s position. He then went home to brag about the things he did have to try and puff himself up and make himself feel better.
Esther 5:9-13 9. Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. 10. Nevertheless Haman refrained himself: and when he came home, he sent and called for his friends, and Zeresh his wife. 11. And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all [the things] wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. 12. Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and to morrow am I invited unto her also with the king. 13. Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.
In Daniel, we learn about the pride of the King that was so strong he though that Babylon was built by his power and not by God’s. Right there on the spot, God took Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom from him. Pride is a dangerous thing.
Daniel 4:30-31, 37 30. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? 31. While the word [was] in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, [saying], O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
37. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works [are] truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
So with all of these examples of pride in the Bible, it is easy to realize that we all have to struggle with making sure that we don’t allow pride to creep into our lives and get us off track. One way to check if we have pride in our lives is to check our motives. If every time we do something we ask ourselves, “Why am I doing this? Is my goal to lift myself up, or is it to lift God up?” If we ask ourselves that question every time we decide to do something (or not to do something for that matter) then we will have a safeguard against pride creeping into our lives.
There are so many negative things that pride can bring to our lives, but there are also some positive things to have pride in. There is a proper sense of personal dignity and self worth. God did not save us so we could mope around saying “I’m not good enough, I don’t want to have any pride, so I just want to publicly acknowledge that I’m worthless.” That statement is simply untrue. God makes us worthy. He makes us valuable to his kingdom. We need to have some pride in what God has done for us. In Romans we read about this balance that we need to achieve in our thoughts toward God in regards to pride. We need to remember who we are, and more importantly whose we are.
Romans 12:3 3. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Pastor Ulysse talked about what happens when we don’t understand pride. There is a difference between pride and dignity. Here are some things to help us begin to understand pride from God’s perspective.
Genesis 23:1, 4, 6,10-11, 14-15 1. And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: [these were] the years of the life of Sarah.
4. I [am] a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
6. Hear us, my lord: thou [art] a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
10. And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, [even] of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying, 11. Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that [is] therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.
14. And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, 15. My lord, hearken unto me: the land [is worth] four hundred shekels of silver; what [is] that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.
The reason he prayed for land to bury his dead was not pride. It was dignity.
Pastor Ulysse talked about his role as a father and a provider for his family. If because of some unforeseen circumstance, he found himself in a place that he could not buy food or clothing for his family, he would have to ask for help so he could maintain the dignity of being a provider for his wife and children. He said that doing that would certainly be a blow to his pride. It would not be easy. But that is something he would have to do. That is his responsibility, to feed and clothe his family. It is not the role of his wife and children to fend for themselves. To make them do that would be wrong. There are times when pride needs to be set aside to maintain the dignity of fulfilling our responsibilities (both in our natural families and in the family of God).
Pastor Ulysse went back to the story in Luke of the Pharisee and the Publican to discuss God’s reaction when we lift ourselves up by putting others down. He hates it and will not tolerate it.
Luke 18:9-14 9. And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10. Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. For the most part, we know what we need to be doing for God. We do and say all the right things, but God judges our heart. If we are doing and saying all the right things but have pride in our hearts, God will not accept them. We have to be right in our hearts, not just in our actions.
If we are proud and think that we have it all together so much so that not one else is as good as we are, that is an abomination to God just like the “big sins” that we talk about in church. We have to stop comparing ourselves to others to lift ourselves up. Instead, we need to be proud of the fact that we are God’s children and of what He is making us into. We can rejoice in our calling, but not at the price of being proud.
