Pride, The Original Sin

We just concluded a series on the seven deadly sins that we called "Seven Daily Sins" last Sunday at Element, and I posited that when we commit any of the other 6 deadly sins, we have committed Pride. In the same way that Martin Luther said that if we break the 2nd through 10th commandments, we've automatically broken the 1st.

Isn't pride the original sin of Satan?
What is pride, but self-worship?
And what is self-worship but having a god -- namely, ourselves - before God.

In 1 John 2:16-17, John sums up "all that is in the world" this way:

For all that is in the world -- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions -- is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

John has given us the three main ingredients of pride -- the DNA, if you will, of pride:

1. Desires of the flesh (the cravings of our appetites)
2. Desires of the eyes (lust for what's attractive)
3. Pride in possessions (finding satisfaction in stuff, experiences, accomplishments, etc)

What's interesting is that we see this three-fold essence of pride in the fall of mankind. Check out Genesis 3 and see that when Eve falls for the serpent's temptations, she sees that the forbidden fruit a) might satisfy her appetite, b) is a delight to the eyes, and c) will allegedly cause her to possess the wisdom of God.

And then as Jesus is faced with redeeming this garden fall in the desert temptation, Satan tempts him with the same three things.
1. Make these stones bread = desire of the flesh
2. Look at all the cities and take them = desire of the eyes
3. Exploit your authority over angels = pride in possessing power

The difference of course is that while Eve caved after the 2nd lie, Jesus didn't cave at all.

The practical difference in responses is that while both Eve and Jesus were responding to Satan's lies with Scriptures, only Eve ran out. Satan said "Did God say you couldn't eat from anything here?" And Eve knew that wasn't true and responded, "No, actually, God said we could eat of anything BUT this particular tree." So Satan threw another lie at her, and Eve was stuck.
Jesus, on the other hand, kept throwing Scripture back at Satan, but he didn't run out.

The antidote for temptation is the written word of God. Satan will keep bombarding you with lies until he finds one you'll believe. So make sure you don't run out Scripture when the lies come.

But we do believe the lies every day.
The good news is that while the antidote for temptation is the written word of God, the antidote for sin -- Pride and all its bastard children -- is the incarnate Word of God.

From the moment of the incarnation to the moment of the ascension, and even now, Jesus has redeemed and is redeeming our sinfulness.

But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. -- Hebrews 7:24-25

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