Seoul Grace Community
Proverbs: The Wisdom of the Gospel—Pride
March 16, 2014
1. Introduction
a. Proverbs doesn’t give methods for wisdom, but what kind of person we ought to be to be wise (character
vs. a code)
b. Overall, the wise person is a humble person—if you think you’re wise, you’re probably a fool but if you’re
in touch with your weaknesses you’re on the path to wisdom (Proverbs 26:12Do you see a person wise in
their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them. Proverbs 16:19—humility is worth more than
gold)
c. The main blocker to gaining wisdom, then, is pride.
2. Our Pride
a. Pride is needing to feel better than others in some way—comes in comparison (11:12 Whoever belittles
his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent and 21:24 The proud and arrogant
person—“Mocker” is his name—behaves with insolent fury.—In these proverbs, insult is implied as
comparison emerges)
i. C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity: “There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which
everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else' and of which hardly any people,
except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that
they are bad tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they
are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of
this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who
showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular,
and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves,
the more we dislike it in others. The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit…Pleasure in
being praised is not Pride. The child who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well, the woman
whose beauty is praised by her lover, the saved soul to whom Christ says, 'Well done,' are
pleased and ought to be. For here the pleasure lies not in what you are but in the fact that you
have pleased someone you wanted (and rightly wanted) to please. 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, or
cleverer, or better-looking than others. If someone else became equally rich, or clever, or goodlooking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the
pleasure of being above the rest.”
b. Pride is needing to prove yourself among others—to establish an image that you are “ok” and “approved”
i. Arthur Miller After the Fall Quentin evaluating innocence, performance, obligation, judgment: “For
many years I looked at life like a case at law. It was a series of proofs. When you’re young you
prove how brave you are, or smart; then, what a good lover; then, a good father; finally, how wise,
or powerful or [whatever.] But underlying it all, I see now, there was a presumption. That one
moved . . . on an upward path toward some elevation, where . . . God knows that . . . I would be
justified, or even condemned. A verdict anyway. I think now that my disaster really began when I
looked up one day . . . and the bench was empty. No judge in sight. And all that remained was
the endless argument with oneself, this pointless litigation of existence before an empty bench.”
c. Pride leads to disaster (11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
and 16:18Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.)
i. Pride leads to disaster because you keep repeating the same mistakes without getting advice.
ii. More interesting observation: 13:10Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in
those who take advice.
1. Pride always makes you feel hurt—take things personally
2. The ego, because it’s broken, always points back to itself—always claims attention
because it is flawed and broken. Our hurt ego turns to pride to self-medicate.
3. The Cure
a. To cure pride, we have to accept a gift that insults us (Proverbs 3:34 He mocks proud mockers but shows
favor to the humble and oppressed. 35The wise inherit honor, but fools get only shame. AND Proverbs
18:12 Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.)
i. Some gifts insult us and this is what grace does—it comes to the humble, the poor, the needy—it
comes when we admit that a gift is given, not earned in the courtroom.
ii. This insults our sensibilities that we would have to rely on something outside of ourselves—this
proves we are not humble enough to accept God’s gift of salvation yet
iii. God always works through the weaker, the younger, the despised (Moses vs. Aaron, Sarah vs.
Hagar, Tamar, Rahab, Hannah the barren woman). He works through the unattractive girl, the
unwanted stuttering man.
1. He does this even in saving us—working through the non-descript baby born in an
unimportant town to scandalous young parents.
2. He does this in sending Jesus to the cross—is this how you would have saved the world?
Would you have died at the peak of your career and in the prime of your life as a
common criminal? This is foolish! Yet it’s the wisdom we need to be humbled enough to
avoid the traps of pride.
iv. The foolishness of the cross is the humility we need to embrace in order to accept the gift of
grace that God so freely offers!
4. Conclusion
a. This sounds good, but we get sucked back into the “courtroom” trying to prove ourselves every Monday.
How do we get out of the courtroom?
i. Back to Chapter 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (or wisdom)
ii. Fear: means awe, wonder, amazement that changes you from the inside out
b. Something in your life has to shake you and make you sit in awe and wonder more than the courtroom of
popular opinion otherwise you will forever judge yourself or be judged by others and get wrapped up in
the game of pride to prove yourself of worth—where will you find your worth?
i. Paul: 1 Corinthians 4:3 “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do
not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the
Lord who judges me.”
ii. He’s free from outside judgment but he’s also free from inside judgment! He’s knows where his
judgment lies! It’s not in the courtroom anymore!!
iii. He knows something! Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then,
and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
iv. Paul knows he is free—he isn’t burdened by the need to prove himself!
v. Only an act of sacrifice so foolish that the world would never forget it would make Paul see this
reality. Only the gospel that says you and I are so foul, broken, needy, and stuck in the courtroom
yet it was Jesus who went into the courtroom for us (literally)
1. He was tried, accused, beaten, killed so that we can stop the “endless litigation”
c. The verdict is in…and I am free. Court is adjourned