Deadly Sin: Pride (05-Sep-25)

Seven Deadly Sins M2 Pride
The Titanic was known as the "unsinkable ship"--a ship, “Not even God could sink.”
Back in 1912 it was considered a marvel of modern engineering. It was introduced as "the largest moving vessel ever made in history." The Titanic was the pinnacle of ship building achievement in terms of size, speed, and luxury.
Today we’re look at the saga of person who at height of his power thought he was unsinkable.
In the movie version of Titanic, Jack Dawson (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) goes to bow of the ship, He raises both arms and he shouts, "I'm the king of the world!" (As a poor street kid, he was thrilled just to be on the Titanic).
The person we’re going to look at today really thought he was the King of the World. He actually was King of the entire world he knew of. He thought that he was unsinkable.
The person we are talking about is the great King Nebuchadnezzar of ancient Babylon.
Today we’re looking his ascendancy, why he crashed and how he came back.
If you have your Bibles please turn Daniel 4.
In Daniel 4 King Nebuchadnezzar begins by declaring to the world what God has done for him.
Nebuchadnezzar describes in vs. 4 being at his palace, contented and prosperous. He has this dream of a tree that so grew large that it’s top touched the sky.

Its leaves were beautiful, it’s fruit abundant. Under its wings, the creatures of the earth found shelter.

Then a voice from heaven came saying, cut down the tree, but let the stump and it’s roots be bound with iron and bronze and remain in the ground, in the grass of field.

Let him be drenched with dew of heaven and let hikm live with the wild animals and be given the mind of animal (a condition known as lycanthropy), until 7 times pass by him (which could mean 7 months, 7 seasons, or even 7 years.).

Daniel was called in to interpret the dream.

We’ll pick up the story in vs. 19.

19 Then Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him. (turned white) So the king said, "Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its meaning alarm you."
Belteshazzar answered, "My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries! 20 The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, 21 with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air- 22 you, O king, are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth.
23 "You, O king, saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, 'Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump, bound with iron and bronze, in the grass of the field, while its roots remain in the ground. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven; let him live like the wild animals, until seven times pass by for him.'
24 "This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king: 25 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. 26 The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue."
The Dream Is Fulfilled
28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?"
31 The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, "This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. 32 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes."
33 Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.
34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
35 All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: "What have you done?"
36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.
King Nebuchadnezzar is living with great power and in great luxury, but he’s cut down by God. He thinks he’s an animal and goes and lives in the wild for seven months or seasons or years… and he finally acknowledges God and is restored.

What does this episode tell us?

King Nebuchadnezzar was one the most powerful people of history, the King of all the world he knew of. He was the successful builder of what we now refer to as ancient Babylon. He created the hanging Gardens of Babylon in modern day Iraq, described by the Greeks as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Nebuchadnezzar had powerful armies. He was fabulously wealthy. He was successful in way that no one here or even in our day will likely ever be.

By any world standard, we would define this King as being “blessed.”

But, in terms of God’s assessment he wasn’t blessed.

In our culture we tend people who “successful,” wealthy, and powerful as being blessed—but in God’s economy that’s not necessarily the case.

In fact, the state of being “successful,” wealthy, and powerful can be a place of great spiritual peril according to Jesus.

Jesus said it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus is saying it is very difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, and that’s only possible through God doing something miraculous in that’s person’s life.

Thomas Carlyle said for every one hundred people who can handle adversity, I can find you one who can handle success.

Why is having success, wealth, power such so dangerous?

What cancer grew in Nebuchadnezzar because of all of these in such abundance?

Pride.

(Now there’s a certain kind of pride that’s very healthy.

Someone has had defined good pride as faith in the idea that God had when he made us. Understanding that God has created us for a good and noble purpose is a good pride).

There’s a good pride, but there’s also a bad pride, a sinful pride.

This bad pride has traditionally has been considered the first of the 7 deadly sins.

Why was pride been considered the first deadly sin?

Part of the reason is because pride is a kind of foundational vice i.e, a gateway sin for other sins…

For example, prides causes a person to think they do not need to acknowledge God.

While King Nebuchadnezzar was walking on the roof of this royal palace, he asked, “Is this not the great Babylon I have built, by my royal power and for the glory of my majesty?

Nebuchadnezzar assumes he is the great creator of Babylon.

So what’s wrong with him taking credit for Babylon the great? Was he not the one who led the building of Babylon and her great Hanging Gardens? Yes. Was he a not military and political genius under whose leadership the empire of Babylonia spread? Yes.

But who gave him his talents? Who gave him the health and the context where he could develop his talents? Who enabled him to be born into a family where he could one day become King?

Nebuchadnezzar’s sin of pride was that he was taking credit for things he had no right to take credit for.

As NYC pastor Tim Keller has said, he was committing the sin of cosmic plagiarism.

Lincoln Tatem is not only a talented musician, but he also a gifted composer and from time to time, we’ll sing a song that he has composed. Now if I stood up after he had played something he had composed, and I said, “I wrote that… you didn’t I was so musical did you? Aren’t I amazing?” and you knew that it was really Lincoln who had written the song (because you are part of the song-writer’s group here).

You would be sick to your stomach. You would be turning to the person beside you and asking, “Do you have a brown paper bag?”

When we take credit for something God has done, we’re committing a kind of cosmic plagiarism.

The greatest sin is not what we think it is… the greatest sin is to fail to love and honor God. The great sin is to break the first commandment to fail to love the Lord our God with all our heart soul, mind, and strength….

Pride causes us to sin directly against God by failing to love and honor God.

Pride causes us to sin against ourselves…

Joy comes out of sense of deep gratitude that we don’t feel we deserve. But pride causes us to think we deserve everything, we’re entitled to everything and we are not grateful for what we think we deserve.

When you some does for you and think you’re entitled to it and you think you’re entitled you don’t appreciate it. When you see something a gift you feel joy.

You hire to cut your grass, you’re not that grateful. But when your neighbor out the blue cuts your grass for you, you’re really grateful!

Pride destroys our joy because it makes think we are entitled to everything.

Pride also stunts our learning, it creates a roadblock to true understanding.

We see this happening to King Nebuchadnezzar in a dramatic way; he becomes like an animal… He loses his sanity…

While we not we may not lose our sanity, pride will darken our understanding.

How does this happen?

If we are proud, we will assume we know it all and don’t need to learn.

If we are proud, when we are presented with data that doesn’t make sense in our paradigm we’ll tend to mentally pack up and leave.

Pride says I’ve know everything, I’ve made up my mind… so try don’t confuse me with any new facts…

Pride can cause to turn from God, hurt ourselves by gutting our joy and by stunting our learning… and pride causes to sin others, because pride makes us we look down on others…

King Nebuchadnezzar, was ruthless to his enemies and oppressive to the poor, why? Because he saw himself as superior.

I think of Raskolnikov, the lead character in Dostoyevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. Raskolnikov is a young, intelligent student, but poor. He comes across, an elderly pawn broker who has money. He reasons, he is far superior, far more worthy of money than this old hag, so he murders for her money…

What causes him to do that? Pride…

What causes people to commit crimes against woman or people of other races or the poor? Isn’t it the view their gender or ethnicity or social class is superior?

Pride is a cancer leads to all kind of sins… sins against God, ourselves, and others…

King Nebuchadnezzar is humbled by God…

He’s driven away from his palace, he begins to think he’s an animal…and lives in the wild…

This would be like someone today who was living in their 7 million dollar penthouse in Coal Habour, lost it and began to sleep every night with Raccoons in the bushes in Stanley Park.

But the fact is as Nebuchadnezzar’s success, wealth and power proved NOT to be a blessing, but rather a curse, Nebuchadnezzar’s loss his wealth, power and sanity was in fact not a curse… but in the end it proves to be a great blessing, as King Nebuchadnezzar here acknowledge to the world!

My father in law, who’s now retired during his career was recognized as a gifted, insightful business leader.

When things were going smoothly for the company he was leading, he was felt it was as if the company place of danger… as it would be tempted to become complacent, but when the company was in crisis, he saw this as a great opportunity for growth.

If you are in some kind of crisis—do you see as something bad (maybe it is bad in and of itself, I don’t want to minimize that), but do you also see as this perhaps as great opportunity, long term, to become?

For the prophet Jonah his best environment for growth was not a university or even his small group, but being in the belly of whale.

As we see in the story of Nebuchadnezzar and throughout the Bible, the economy of God is very different from economy of the world. What the world defines a blessed may be a curse, what world views as a curse may be a great blessing.

Nebuchadnezzar’s sin was pride and he didn’t know it.

The problem with pride, like sin in general, is that it darkens our vision so the more we have it the less we’re able to see it. Me proud?! “What are you talking about, I’m the most I know.”

So how would we know, if we whether we’re proud?

How do we know that Nebuchadnezzar had pride?

He walks across the roof of palace and says it this not the great Babylon I have built?

He doesn’t acknowledge God… for the good things in his life…

Do you we struggle with pride? One of the ways we can know is by asking ourselves—do we acknowledge God when good things happen to us?

This past week in our home Bible study, one of our members, who comes from a Buddhist background… moving more and more in a Christ-ward direction said,
“It used to be case when good things happen to me, I was glad. But I now when good things happen I think of God and I thank God.”

When good things happen to you, do you in your heart do you thank God?

A sign there’s a healthy humility.

We also know that King is proud because as he walks across the roof of his palace, he says is this not the great Babylon I have built for my majesty?

Do we tend to use gifts to advance our self-interest (as most people do) or as means to serve God’s purpose and people?

Are our gifts being used for our glory as King Nebuchadnezzar did or for God’s and the good of people?

Now the fact is that no one has ever likely ever done anything from a total pure motive, but are we becoming people who increasingly view our gifts as from God for God and for others?

Or do things because will this look on my resume, will this help me into grad school, or impress someone?

Third question… Are we generous with our money? Daniel says in vs 27 says that King Nebuchadnezzar can show that he is humbling himself before God by being kind to the poor and oppressed.

Part of way we show that we become humbling is by giving to the poor, by giving to by giving to charity, by giving to God.

Do you see your financial resources as gifts from God to be used, at least in part, to help others or do you primarily see your financial resources as something you deserve to keep in their entirety because you’ve worked so hard for them?

When my wife Sakiko first became a Christian during her first post university job, one of the things shocked her was this call that Christians have to tithe, i.e. the call to give God the first 10% of their income.

She though 10%--that’s a lot.

Two things changed her perspective… 1st was discovering the others Christians in her church were giving 10% of their income to God…

But, the other thing that is she came over to recognize was that her mind, her family circumstances which allowed to pursue education as far as she wanted to, her gifts of writing and editing, her opportunities earn income because of these gifts… all came from God. So to give to back to God out what he had given to her ceased being a burden and became an act of gratitude.

Let’s say, you’re thinking of buying a condo or a house… you don’t have a lot of money and in order to carry your mortgage on the place you are hoping to buy you need a down payment of $30,000. But, you don’t have $30,000… you don’t have anything close to it…

You go a family friend who’s done well and ask that person to loan you $30,000.

The family friend says, this is the deal I will give you 30k, but what I want to give me back is 3k.

What I get to keep 27,000 toward my home, I just give back 3K. Would you say, “That’s unreasonable! How can ask me for that?” No, you’d say I love you. You’ll be able to give the 3k with joy.

When we really believe all that we have is gift, our capacity to produce whatever we have is a gift and when are asked to give 10% back of what’s given, to God, to the poor if we really see as gift we can do it joy…

In terms of the perspective of much of the world, doesn’t it seem, like being humble is a one way street down?

Many people think they will be much further ahead if they take credit whether they really deserve it or not, if they use theirs gifts for our self-interest and advancement, if they keep all their money and material resources to themselves ourselves.

But Bible says… If we humble ourself under the might hand of God and He will lift us up in due time…

The Christian life is filled with paradox: it is through giving that we receiving, it’s giving up ourselves to God that we find our true self, and it’s in humbling ourselves before God that we are lifted up…

If we humble ourselves and acknowledge our need Christ to lead our lives, we will be lifted up in this and the life to come.

Let’s pray (silently).

Perhaps some of us would like to take a moment to thank God for something.

Perhaps some of us want tell god that our talent and resources for Him and others.