Introduction
Once there was a lion who was proud of his supposed mastery of the animal kingdom. He proudly and confidently goes to the bear. "Who is the king of the jungle?" the lion asked. The bear, trembling, replied, "Why, why, you are, of course, Mr. Lion." The lion then gave a mighty roar of approval. Next, he asked the tiger, "Who is the king of the jungle?" The tiger quickly replied, "Everyone knows that you are, oh great lion!" Once again, the lion roared with pride. Next on the list was the elephant. The lion boldly faced the elephant and addressed his question: "Who is the king of the jungle?" The elephant immediately grabbed the lion with his trunk, whirled him around the air, and slammed him into a tree. Then he pounded him onto the ground several times, dunked him in water in a nearby lake, and finally threw him onto the shore. The lion – bruised and beaten – struggled to his feet. He looked at the elephant and said, "Hey! Just because you didn't know the answer is no reason for you to get so upset about it!" Although this is a funny story, we too have proudly strut around as arrogant kings and royalty; roaring and behaving pridefully as if we know it all or have it all together.
CS Lewis wrote, “Pride is spiritual cancer – it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.” Pride has always been the key ingredient of disaster. It was pride that turned angels into devils long before man showed up. Pride is the dangerous sickness within. What does scripture say about it? Proverbs 16, if you guys could, help me out. Scripture says that “Pride goes before,” what? That's right. The author of Proverbs warned that “First pride, then the crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.” Pride has always been a part of our problem. It's easy to trace all of our issues to pride. That includes our inability to know, experience, and give love. Recently I came to a new conclusion. There is a discussion of whether hate or indifference is the opposite of love. What I have discovered is that the opposite of love is not hate or indifference, it's pride.
All of us deal with pride at one level or another. For example, if you ever find or take a group photo, a group picture, and you are in the picture, who is the first person that you look for in that picture? Who do you look for? You look for yourself. Right? And if it’s a good picture of you and a bad of everyone else, you don’t care. You’d still say it’s a good picture. If it’s good for everyone else, and it’s bad of you, what kind of picture is it? It is a bad picture, right? We all deal with pride at one level or another. It's a topic of discussion in almost every book of the Bible. The writers of the wisdom literature of the Bible, all the New Testament writers, and Jesus himself constantly addressed the issue of pride. Today, we are going to battle the sinful sickness within us called pride and discover that pride is the opposite of love.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV - English Standard Version)
23Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
24but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord."
Scriptural Explanation
Many biblical words describe this concept of pride, each with its own emphasis. Some of the synonyms for pride include arrogance, presumption, conceit, self-satisfaction, boasting, and high-mindedness. It is the opposite of humility, the proper attitude one should have in relation to God and others. That's what this scripture is addressing.
VS. 23
Writing on behalf of God, Jeremiah described the things that men normally glory in – wisdom, might and riches. Perhaps for a modern age, Jeremiah would have added fame as a fourth thing that men take glory in by nature. To glory in something is to celebrate it, claim it as one's own doing, and proclaim it as the source of one’s happiness and satisfaction. The Lord rejects the usual grounds for boasting—wisdom, strength, and riches. Ironically, these are the things people like to boast about—how successful they are, how strong they are, how rich they are, or how many followers they have. But everything which a person might boast is worthless on the day of death if that person is not in the right relationship with God. It was true then, it’s true today.
What's the one thing we boast about today the most? Ourselves. Now we have so many other platforms on which to do that. In our age of social media, Facebook, TikTok, and the never-ending news cycles, it is a constant declaration of how great we are, what we have accomplished, what great feat we will accomplish next, and how many likes we have. Former NFL great Terrell Owens said, "I love me some me." We love us some me. From the beginning of time till now, humanity has boasted about ourselves.
VS. 24
This verse puts life’s values in proper perspective. When all the nonessential are laid aside, the only appropriate basis for boasting is that a person knows and understands the Lord. Nothing apart from this fact has lasting worth. Knowing God is the essence of true life. That is not just knowing about God; that means knowing God, personally and closely. God wants His people to emulate Him in practicing love, kindness, justice, and righteousness. Jeremiah is pointing out that Israel had fundamentally failed to emulate these aspects of God’s character.
God did not rebuke man’s instinct to look for glory; instead, God guided that instinct to its proper destination. The problem with man is not that he longs to glory in something; the problem is that he generally glories in the wrong things, leading to his own hurt, the hurt of others, and most seriously, to offend his Creator.
Let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me: God says, “Direct your desire to glory in something in the right place – toward Me.” We can take true glory, even the greatest glory, in the understanding and knowledge of God.
The false things men take glory in – wisdom, might, riches, fame, popularity – are not only misguided, they are lower. The greatest glory, the highest aspirations, and the greatest exultation is fulfilled in God and our true understanding and knowledge of Him.
One way to state the problem of humanity is that it constantly allows itself to be satisfied with these lower and lesser things. In the understanding and knowledge of God, we find greater wisdom, greater strength, and eternal riches than can be known from the world. That I am the LORD, exercising loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: This understanding and knowledge of God is what matters. Because it, one turns us back toward him, and two because it is how we are to be toward others.
KEY TRUTH
Pride is the opposite of Love.
Once labeled the first of the "seven deadly sins", pride, is love of one’s own self. It is traditionally believed to have been the sin of the angels and the first man, and is denounced as a vice offensive to God throughout the OT and NT. Many characters throughout Scripture display an attitude of pride. When the prophets speak of Satan’s fall, the attitude of pride is involved. King Solomon, who is credited with much of Proverbs, often addresses the dangers of pride. During his ministry, Jesus often confronted the pride of the religious leaders of the day, not because they were religious, but because they took solace in their religiosity rather than in God. Paul and other NT writers reinforce the concept by speaking against pride while admonishing believers to live in humility because of the gracious salvation of Christ.
Satan believed he was smarter than God. Adam and Eve thought they should be God's. The religious leaders thought they were closer to God. But Pride always comes before a what? A fall. It's why John Wesley said, "O, beware, do not seek to be something! Let me be nothing, and Christ be all in all!”
Pride refers to an unwarranted attitude of confidence in self. The word pride can have a positive connotation or two, like pride in one's work meaning working hard, or pride in say your kids, even those can quickly turn into sin when we make those thoughts about ourselves in terms of our self-worth or our boasting. Pride is often used in Scripture to refer to an unhealthy elevated view of one’s self, abilities, or possessions. Pride is never exonerated or viewed favorably in scripture. God always warns against and labels pride as a sin because ....
Pride is the opposite of love.
Recently I came to this new conclusion that pride is the opposite of love. There is a discussion of whether hate or indifference is the opposite of love. What I have discovered is that the opposite of love is not hate or indifference, it's pride. Here is why I now believe this. Since the beginning, man has tried to define love. However, as God is the author of love, then it is His to define, which He did. In 1 John 4 God defines love by His action: The sacrifice of Christ. Romans 5:8, I Corinthians 13, and John 3:16 all echo the same message: Love is sacrifice. If there is no sacrifice, then there is no love. I don’t truly love Chick-fil-a or the Tarheels as they require no sacrifice from me. It is a transaction: they give me something I want, and they get my support. A transaction. I really don’t love them, even though I might say I do. However, I do love my wife and girls because they do require sacrifice. While there are things I sacrifice for them like time, money, and resource, that is not what demonstrates my love. I have to sacrifice my pride. They come first. After my relationship with God, my wife and then my girls come first.
Here are some hard truths about pride. Pride is about you feeling better about yourself. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next person. It is the comparison that makes you proud because you think better about yourself. Pride puts your focus on others’ failures, causing you to be overly critical of them so that you feel better about yourself. Pride causes you to look at others with a microscope while examining yourself with a telescope. In your mind’s eye, you look better and feel better. But here is what pride will not tell you: None are so empty as those who are full of themselves. If your pride is bigger than your heart and your ego bigger than your head, then you’ll never know what love is & the changing power it contains.
Love requires I sacrifice my pride. I have put others above myself. I admitted there are days when I struggle because pride is a powerful force. It is an addictive drug that requires a constant fix. There are days I want to focus on myself. And pride will encourage you to scream “That’s just the way I am” in hopes that we will not hear the still soft voice whispering “Yes, but is that the way you should be?”
The opposite of love is not indifference or hate. It is pride. Andrew Murray wrote, “Pride must die in you, or nothing in Heaven can live in you.” Pride builds walls that block what you were really made for… Love. When you are willing to sacrifice for someone, then at that moment you feel true love. Once we die to ourselves, then something new comes alive in us. When pride dies, then loves comes to life within us in ways we never dreamed possible because ....
Pride is the opposite of love.
Conclusion
God said through Jeremiah, “I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things, I delight, declares the LORD.” Love, kindness, justice, righteousness. You can't be these things and be prideful. You can't elevate yourself, love yourself more than others, and not be full of pride. What our cultures promotes as self-love, you got to love yourself first and best is a subtle promotion of pride.
I googled this week's popular thoughts of self-love. There were a gazillion popular quotes on self. Let me take some of these quotes and contrast them with scripture. Think about the contrast between these statements:
You got to love yourself first to love others. - Culture
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. - John 15
If you have the ability to love, love yourself first. - Culture
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. - Philippians 2
Tell yourself how wonderful you are, how great you are. Tell yourself how much you love yourself. - Culture
Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. - I Corinthians 10
Self-love is necessary for a functional and successful life - Culture
Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. - Isaiah 1
Pride is the opposite of love.
Pride is also dangerous. Want to understand what happens when you focus on yourself (pride)? According to the American Psychiatric Association, large screening studies of U.S. samples of adolescents and young adults since 2010 have shown declines in happiness, life satisfaction, and flourishing and increases in loneliness, anxiety, depressive symptoms, major depressive episodes, hospital admissions for self‐harm thoughts, suicidal ideation, self‐harm, and suicide attempts, and in the suicide rate. This is where self-love, and pride, will take you because you will eventually realize how empty you are when you're full of self. It's not coincidental we see these trends as our culture becomes obsessed with self and pride.
The example of God, the example of Christ, is practicing steadfast love, justice, and righteousness.
Jesus laid it out in Matthew when He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
There's no pride there. That's all love.
Pride is easier to recognize than to define, easier to recognize in others than in oneself. Let me wrap up by telling you how this hit me this week.
When I'm developing my messages, I constantly try to apply them to myself so that my understanding is real. Head knowledge without application is useless. So where am I dealing with pride? When it hit me, it hit me. It’s my pride telling me this person, and this person owes me an apology. I literally stopped typing at that moment. I'm not saying they were right or did right, I'm saying that it's not love, it's not sacrificing, for me to hold onto a wrong, for me to allow that to determine how I treat them, for me to sit and stir on it and think until they do what's right, I'm withholding love, or conversation, or interaction, or working together, or anything else until they do. That's my pride. That's my pride interrupting progress. That's my pride, pausing the Kingdom's work. That's my pride, thinking I'm owed this or that. That's all pride and not love because that's not what God did with Christ. And that's not what some have done with me when I've wronged them. How times did my mom and dad forgive me when I wronged them growing up, and I didn't even know it? They sacrificed their pride because of their love for me.
God defines love by His action: The sacrifice of Christ. Love is sacrifice. If there is no sacrifice, then there is no love. Pride requires no sacrifice. And pride is the opposite of love.
“I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things, I delight, declares the LORD.”
May we be people who seek to delight the Lord. As God defined love may we be defined by our love.