Living by Grace in the World – How Grace Diminishes Our Pride

Esther 3
1 After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. 2 All the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.
 3 Then the royal officials at the king's gate asked Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the king's command?" 4 Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai's behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.
 5 When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. 6 Yet having learned who Mordecai's people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai's people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
 7 In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, they cast the pur (that is, the lot) in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on [a] the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
 8 Then Haman said to King Xerxes, "There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents [b] of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business."
 10 So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 "Keep the money," the king said to Haman, "and do with the people as you please."
 12 Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman's orders to the king's satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. 13 Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and little children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.
 15 Spurred on by the king's command, the couriers went out, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.

Esther 3:1-2 (NIV)  
    After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. [2] All the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.

Esther 5:9-13 (NIV)  
    Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king's gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. [10] Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.
    Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, [11] Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. [12] "And that's not all," Haman added. "I'm the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. [13] But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king's gate."

1. Pride is ruthless, sleepless, unsmiling concentration on the self

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 everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone. That is why I say that Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not. The sexual impulse may drive two men into competition if they both want the same girl. But that is only by accident; they might just as likely have wanted two different girls. But a proud man will take your girl from you, not because he wants her, but just to prove to himself that he is a better man than you. (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

Superiority Pride vs. Inferiority Pride

Humility is not thinking less of yourself but it is thinking of yourself less!

Esther 3:5-6 (NIV)  
    When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. [6] Yet having learned who Mordecai's people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai's people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.

Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)  
    Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
 
Proverbs 16:18 (Msg)
    First pride, then the crash— the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.

2.  Characteristics of Pride:

Pride makes us fools

They humble person looks for what they have done wrong, even if they only contribute 5% of the problem while the proud person makes the other person’s 5% into 100%

Pride makes us evil

We cannot stay angry and resentful at someone unless we feel superior towards them

Pride leads to being opinionated in its superiority form and leads to indecisiveness in the inferiority form

Pride is the one sin that hides itself

There is no greater pride than religious pride!

Esther 6:7-9 (NIV)  
    So he answered the king, "For the man the king delights to honor, [8] have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. [9] Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king's most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, 'This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!' "

Philip. 2:6-7 (NIV)  
    Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, [7] but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

 2 Cor. 5:21 (NIV)  
    God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

John 17:22-24 (NIV)  
    I have given them the glory that you gave me… my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

3. Our hungry spirit and needy soul can only find its deepest fulfillment in the love and praise of our praiseworthy Father who honors and robes us
 
Only when our needy and hungry hearts are satisfied with the deep love, honor and affirmation of God do we stop going elsewhere to get it

“If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize one is proud. And a big step… At least nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited, indeed.” (C. S. Lewis)

Under grace, we can easily admit our problem with pride – when we know how wicked we are and at the same time so loved, this produces humility and confidence

  I am grateful to Tim Keller, from whom much of this sermon came from…