Pride's Punishment and Humility's Honor

"Dishonest scales are detestable to the Lord,but an accurate weight is His delight. ² When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom. ³ The integrity of the upright guides them,

but the perversity of the treacherous destroys them. ⁴ Wealth is not profitable on a day of wrath,

but righteousness rescues from death. ⁵ The righteousness of the blameless clears his path,

but the wicked person will fall because of his wickedness. ⁶ The righteousness of the upright rescues them, but the treacherous are trapped by their own desires. ⁷ When the wicked man dies,

his expectation comes to nothing, and hope placed in wealth vanishes. ⁸ The righteous one is rescued from trouble; in his place, the wicked one goes in. ⁹ With his mouth the ungodly destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous are rescued."

Proverbs 11:1-9 

Proverbs is direct and forceful in rejecting pride and honoring humility. Pride is pagan behavior. It has no place in the lives of God's people. Pride is a declaration of independence from God if not an assertion of war against Him. Pride therefore draws God's scorn, sparks His ire, and guarantees His judgment.

Heavenly Father,

Lord, we thank You for Your truth today, reach down and touch each of us open our hearts, our minds and eyes, that we would each receive Your message. Father, my prayer is for us all, whole church family, my own life, and those within my own family, other pastors, bishops, elders and leaders, teachers, and all those who serve You, in whatever capacity they serve, and all who worship You.

I pray that You would bring before each of us, our short comings, that we may be convicted, so that all our words and all our actions would be found honorable to You, that we would embrace the privileges that we have, that we would never fall and become subject to the abuses that others before us have been so prone to succumb to, that You would give us the Spirit of strength in the truth and in Your Spirit would do a work in us, individually, and as a church, to bear the commands of Christ with integrity, credibility and faithfulness, that You deserve. We know there are many that named Your name who are nothing more that living corpses, dead in Spirit and because of this, many churches, pastors are useless.

Father, as Your church, we want to be vibrant, alive, effective, never proud and always humble, but most of all, faithful to live out the truths in Your Word, that we proclaim.

Lord, we know that it is Your desire to be able to use us, let that also be our hearts desire.

O gracious God, sustain us and strengthen us, not apart from Your will. Teach us to faithfully follow and be obedient to Your commands, Your path of righteousness, so that we might always bring honor and glory to Your name.
In Jesus' name
Amen

Good Morning Beloved,

Thank you for joining us today

Today's Message: Pride's Punishment and Humility's Honor
 
I invite you to open your Bibles with me, to Proverbs chapter 11, verses 1 through 9. I believe that
God has a powerful message for us today, in this rich text, one we all need to hear, particularly in this day and age of self. Where everyone seems to have an overinflated self image of themselves,
put their selves first. However, God has a Word for us today, on these destructive, very self serving destructive patterns. Allow me to read to you from our text today, Proverbs 11:1-9.

"Dishonest scales are detestable to the Lord,but an accurate weight is His delight. When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom. The integrity of the upright guides them,

but the perversity of the treacherous destroys them. Wealth is not profitable on a day of wrath,

but righteousness rescues from death. The righteousness of the blameless clears his path,

but the wicked person will fall because of his wickedness. The righteousness of the upright rescues them, but the treacherous are trapped by their own desires. When the wicked man dies,

his expectation comes to nothing, and hope placed in wealth vanishes. The righteous one is rescued from trouble; in his place, the wicked one goes in. With his mouth the ungodly destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous are rescued."

 
Allow me to be so bold as to say, before we begin our study in the marvelous text, God has provided us today, the haughty, the arrogant are damaging to their communities. Because, it is impossible for us to love our neighbor as ourselves, when we have an exaggerated sense of our own importance! The proud expel all their energy and love, upon their own distorted image of self, selfish needs, self serving wants and desires, allowing only a remaining pittance for others. This is not loving your neighbor!

Pride and humility are the result of attitudes and opinion we harbor within us and the choices we make. The harmful results of pride are repeatedly contrasted with humility and with its benefits. So the message in Proverbs, is a hard hitting one, a hammer banging hard against pride and drives home the importance of humility.

Proverbs 11:2 teaches that a person's choice between pride and humility is also one's choice between wisdom and dishonor. "When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom." "When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom." This assertion help us see our choice between pride and humility more clearly. Humility leads to wisdom but pride leads to disgrace.

The main purpose of this book is to teach wisdom to God’s people. Proverbs are short clever explanations, which are easy to remember. They contain truisms. These are things which are typically true however, not always. Proverbs was written primarily by Solomon, the wisest king ever to rule, however some of the later sections are written by Lemuel and Agur. It was written during Solomon’s reign 970-930 B.C. Solomon asked God for wisdom to rule God’s nation and He granted the request.

Scripture has quite a lot to say about pride.
I Corinthians 10:12, says, "So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall."

As well Scripture teaches us, in Proverbs 16:18, "Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall."

And there's an old adage, which says; "What goes up must come down; what bows down will be lifted up."
It is "shame." "wisdom." "Pride."

"As to the terror you cause, your presumptuous heart has deceived you. You who live in the clefts of the rock, you who occupy the mountain summit, though you elevate your nest like the eagle,
even from there I will bring you down. This is the Lord’s declaration.
Jeremiah 49:16

Pagan human pride does not walk alone. Its inevitable companion, is always lurking in its shadows, waiting to pounce, is "shame." Shame is the lightweight, the worthless opposite of honor or glory. "Humble" people, the Hebrew word, enûm; is used only here in the Old Testament, recall the demand of Yahweh to "walk humbly with your God." In Micah 6:8, "Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God."

Humble people, also find a different kind of companion,wisdom. Their humility teaches them the limits of their human strength and knowledge, so they are therefore, willing to learn all they can from wise, trustworthy teachers and companions.

The choice is really two choices. Choose between pride or humility, and you have chosen the companion who will either drag you into shame or lead you into wisdom.
It may be hard to admit that we are prideful but its not difficult to recognize if one is truly heeding wisdom or not. Proverbs 13:10 teaches that humility takes advise but pride produces quarrels. "Through insolence comes nothing but strife, but wisdom is with those who receive counsel"

Pride or insolence, means an unyielding arrogance. Here strife is traced directly to its source. An inflated, know-it-all or "know much more than you" view of oneself leads to quarreling. In contrast to one who takes no counsel a wise humble person is willing to learn and take advice. Proverbs 12:15, "A fool’s way is right in his own eyes, but whoever listens to counsel is wise."

Proverbs 15:33, reveals to us that godly wisdom and humility comes before honor. "The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom, and before honor comes humility"

"The fear of the Lord" not only is the beginning of knowledge, but it also teaches wisdom. By fearing, which is reverencing, trusting, obeying, serving, and worshiping of the Lord, a person therefore learns wisdom. Humility, which results from our fear the Lord, must precede honor which is wisdom's companion. "Fear of the Lord," has no room for pride!

Before there can be honor, there must always be humility. Before Joseph was prime minister in Egypt, he spent a significant amount of time in prison. Before Moses was a leader in the desert, he first had to spend time on the backside of the desert. Before Abigail became the wife of David, she humbled herself and offered to wash the feet of the servants of David.

So why must this be? Because otherwise, we tend to think honor is somehow due to our great ability, our charming personality, our exceptional intellectual, some great insight, or tremendous spiritual ability. Therefore, the Lord allows us to go through humbling circumstances, in order that we will be able to join the apostle Paul in saying, " But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective. However, I worked more than any of them, yet not I, but God’s grace that was with me."
I Corinthians 15:10

There are numerous Proverbs, which convey the message that pride is punished. The certainty of pride's punishment is demonstrated loud and clear in Proverbs 16:5, "Everyone with a proud heart is detestable to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished."

The fate of the "proud", the root idea implied is "elevated" or "high" as in Proverbs 16:18, and is to be hated or "abominable" as despicable a term as is possible in Hebrew; to "the Lord." So insulted is Yahweh that He personally sees to it that no proud person will "go unpunished" This punishment is guaranteed by an oath. "Though they join forces" describes a "handshake" or some other gesture where two parties join hands to seal an agreement or strike a bargain.

Proverbs 11:21, you may recalls, says, "Be assured that the wicked will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will escape."

"Be sure of this" conveys the intensity of the divine commitment and the certainty of retribution.

Proverbs 16:18–19, teaches very clearly, that pride leads to destruction. "Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.. Better to be lowly of spirit with the humble than to divide plunder with the proud."

Here is the clear inevitable consequences of "pride." "A haughty, which is another word for "high" spirit" is the opposite of "humble or low"in spirit" In both instances, "Spirit" describes the totality of inward attitudes which reveal themselves in outward signs, words, and actions. The results of lofty self-exaltation are calamitous. "Destruction" is a absolute and total shattering of what the person has and is. It is, therefore a crashing down as if a fall from a cliff or high place.

The message of verse 19 underscores the dangers of pride by amplifying the teaching of verse 18. So damaging, so dangerous is pride that it is infinitely better to retain "a humble spirit" and keep company "with the lowly" people who live with day-by-day dependence on God than to consorting with the "proud." Those who may be financially successful and share in the division of their often ill-gotten loot, or "spoil". The spoil which the proud "divide" ultimately will bring God's punishment upon those whose share in it. Their pride itself is contagious, and so their very company—rewarding though it may seem—is a menace to sound living and thinking. Proverbs 18:12, again warns the proud and points to those God will honor. "Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud,
but humility comes before honor." A clear message, we see over and over again, all throughout the Scriptures, we are warned about being prideful. Yet, so many today, are full of themselves. Refusing to heed God's Word.

Within the first line of 18:12, which echoes the calamitous words of 16:18: "destruction", which translates the same Hebrew word sheber, or breaking, hope or shattering. The act of pride here is centered in a "haughty, "lifted up" in ones heart." The picture is a person whose thoughts and decisions are both selfish and unrealistic, and most certainly, in direct contrast, with the Word of God.

A haughty person sees himself as larger than life, and imagines himself, that he can accomplish more than he's able or he does, and  quite often, fantasizes that others will rally to his supreme greatness. When none of these things comes true, his life breaks into pieces with no one to care, let alone come to his rescue. His destruction evokes more scorn than sadness or sympathy. "Humility," meaning a devout and pious dependency upon God and an overall concern for the well-being of others, in contrast, leads to "honor" or glory in the community. People trust its selflessness, and are attracted to its esteem of others, therefore hold no fear of threat or ambition from it.

In addition to the clear-cut punishment threatened in the previous passages, pride brings one to a risky precipice of danger, and of destruction. Proverbs 15:25-26, teaches us that pride offers no protection, there is no protection in pride. "The Lord destroys the house of the proud, but He protects the widow’s territory. The Lord detests the plans of an evil man, but pleasant words are pure."
The contrast here is deliberate and powerful. "Proud" persons will find their whole estate, or "house" here means dwellers, buildings, and holdings, wiped out because of their self imposing claims of exaggerated worth, achievement, and invulnerability. However, when "the Lord" marches to "destroy," they who thought so highly of themselves will have nothing or very little left. Their presumptive pride garners them no protection. For they made the Lord their enemy.

On the other hand, the Lord has become the Guardian to "the widow," only here in the book of Proverbs. The widow, is the symbol for one who is defenseless, powerless persons in society. Deuteronomy 10:17-18, says "For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

Then, in Psalm 68:6, teaches "God provides homes for those who are deserted. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a scorched land."

Her territory, or boundary, will be kept inviolate by the righteous Judge of All the Earth. Neither God nor man will intervene when judgment strikes the proud. Then Proverbs 21:24 announces that pride will leave the haughty person with no prestige. "The proud and arrogant person, named “Mocker,”
acts with excessive pride."

The very status that pride presumes is rob by that very pride,  presumptuousness, as described in Proverbs 11:2. Others call the "arrogant" man a "mocker," or "scoffer", in some translations, an address as demeaning as the Hebrew tongue can spit out at another person. Mocking reveals that a person thinks he is superior to others. This attitude is detestable to God and others, referencing Proverbs 16:5.

Then, in next, in Proverbs 26:12, reveals that pride offers no prospects. "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." "Wise in his own eyes" is an apt depiction of pride. It is a solitary act of self-evaluation, a motion seconded by no one. It is the verdict rendered by pure ego utterly heedless of the opinions of others. "There is more hope", confidence, patient expectation; of reform and blessing "for a fool." Even a fool is less defeat by his own self-embellishment, and less resistant to the counsel or correction of others. The point, of course, is not the potential of the fool, for he does not change easily or readily. It is this incorrigibility of the proud, who is far removed from a reasonable understanding of himself and dead set against any correction to that misunderstanding.

No true perspective is a another danger faced by the proud as proclaimed in Proverbs 27:1–2. "Don’t boast about tomorrow, for you don’t know what a day might bring. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth—a stranger, and not your own lips."

Then, verse 1 reminds them that they are powerless to predict their future, "tomorrow", exploits. The root word of "boast," meaning "praise," Proverbs 25:14; "The man who boasts about a gift that does not exist is like clouds and wind without rain." The idea is clearly an act of bragging about what one will achieve, or where one will go, as though the future were in human not divine control. For ignorance of "what a day may bring" should promote humility not presumptuousness. James's strong says, "Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.' But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil" James 4:15–17, teaches us, "Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it."

Verse 2, then suggests that the proud lack the perspective to effectively evaluate. The synonymous lines both underscore the fact that we stand far too close to ourselves to see clearly either our strengths or weaknesses, our virtues or vices, to see the truth about ourselves. Sound evaluation can come only from others, and to be most effective, they ought not to be too close to us; for "another man" implies an outsider, perhaps even a foreigner or stranger, which underscores the sense of distance. Neither friend, neighbor, nor family member would be described in such terms. Outsider "praise" In Hebrew "hll", the root for praise in the Psalms and the base of "Hallelujah, " may not always be accurate but it is always more seemly than self-praise which shades over into the boasting described in verse 1.
 
In Proverbs 29:23, there is a  choice! A choice between humiliation or honor. "A person’s pride will humble him, but a humble spirit will gain honor.." Pride brings one down while humility leads to honor. In a nutshell that is what Proverbs teaches about God's dealings with the proud and the humble. "Pride" is derived from a word meaning "elevated," or "high." It implies elevating ourselves, then looking down upon others, thinking of ourselves, higher than they, or in other words, we are better than others.

"Low," implies abject humiliation. The term was used for bowing in humility before elders or superiors or being forced to bend low to masters or even to God. The Hebrew root shaphal occurs in the geographical name of the "lowlands"—shephelah—that bridge the hills of Judah to the coastal plain of the Philistines, Deuteronomy 1:7. "Humble ,or low in spirit" is the direct opposite of "pride" and depicts the person who does not overvalue himself and consequently devalue his fellows. Starting low means there is no way to go but up. However, modesty gains "honor" by not threatening its neighbors and when worn well, it retains, holds fast  honor, with weighty respect, because it is not abused. Though God may level us, our family, friends, and foes. There is something about the attitude of arrogance in others that drives us, even challenges us to topple them from their lofty, self-assigned eminence.

We are eager to expose their ignorance, calling their bluff, disprove their abilities, proving their limitations. Pity the team that mocks its opponents to the press! The scoreboard board will cry out for revenge, and as often as not the high are brought low. The beatitudes that encourage us to be "poor in spirit" and "meek" in Matthew 5:3-5, are direct descendants of this proverb. They too assume that we have a choice and that choosing wrongly always brings results diametrically opposed to what we ask for. "Seek and you shall find" is a promise only when we seek what God deems right.

To catch fully the terror of pride, we need to hear Yahweh denouncing everything that exalts itself.
Isaiah 2:12-17 teaches, "For a day belonging to the Lord of Hosts is coming against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—it will be humbled— against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan, against all the high mountains, against all the lofty hills,
against every high tower, against every fortified wall, against every ship of Tarshish, and against every splendid sea vessel. So human pride will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted on that day."

In Closing....

Beloved, when we are tempted to boast, with a sense of exaggerated pride concerning ourselves, lest we remember, pride cast Nebuchadnezzar out his mind, King Saul out of his kingdom, Adam out of the Garden of Eden, Haman out of the royal court and Lucifer out of heaven.

I believe, it is safe to say, that many, if not most of us, would think ourselves to stand, exclaiming we are faithful, obedient, knowledgeable. It would be easy for us to fall into the same category as those with whom God was displeased. 

May we keep the words of the apostle Paul, in I Corinthians 15:10, close to our hearts and minds, "But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective. However, I worked more than any of them, yet not I, but God’s grace that was with me."

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

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