• Love is not proud or arrogant. The word “proud” in the Greek means to “puff up,” or “to have a big head,” or an inflated opinion of oneself.
• Pride cannot co-exist with love because it is centered on self seeking recognition, power or status. For the Christian we are to seek to serve Christ and others, Galatians 5.13.
• The perfect example of humility and love is the Lord Jesus in Philippians 2. We are admonished by Paul to follow His example of considering the needs of others not must our own.
• Christ having the essential attributes of and being equal with God did not considered the glory He enjoyed something to be grasped but emptied Himself to be a bond-servant and was obedient to the point of the cross. He then was exalted back to the Father’s right hand. He came not to be served but to serve, Matthew 20:28; Luke 14:7-11. To humble ourselves is to be exalted, to exalt ourselves is to be humbled. He demonstrated humble service in many ways, John 13. and 3:16f; 15:13 no greater love than one would lay down his life for his friends. He served many thru the miracles.
• We humble ourselves to God by obedience and recognizing His ownership. Romans 12:1f; 6:13f; I Corinthians 6:19f; John 13:34f; 14.15. Pride centers on how great we are, humility centers on how great God is and how we can serve Him and other believers, Galatians 5:13.
• Satan exemplifies sinful pride in Isaiah 14:12f and Ezekiel 28:12. Lucifer’s megalomaniac pride caused him to have the ambition to be as great as God,”I will be like the most High.” His heart was lifted up because of beauty and his wisdom corrupted by pride.
• He seeks to cause us to fall in the same way to be unfit for leadership I Tim. 3:6f and cut off from God’s power and help; Proverbs 8:13; 6:16, God hates it; Proverbs 11:2; leads to shame; Proverbs 16:18 goes before destruction; Proverbs 13:10 leads to strife; Proverbs 29:23 brings low; James 5:5 God opposes; Psalm 101:5;
• Pride brought many men low. Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 [ he learned from this!]; Belshazzar, Daniel 5 [weighed in the balances and found wanting]; Naaman II Kings 5 [almost missed the miracle]; Haman [executed], Esther 7, Peter, Luke 22:31f, 54f [denied the Lord].
• The Corinthians had pride problems. They argued over which leader to identify with, I Corinthians 1-4; spoke poorly of Paul for lack of eloquence; forgot that the gospel came to them not from them, I Corinthians 4:1-14; boasted of their tolerance of gross sin, I Corinthians 5; sued one another in court, I Corinthians 6, were insensitive to those with a weak conscience with food, I Corinthians 8, dishonored God in the Lord’s Supper, I Corinthians 11 [let’s not try to be 1st in line at potlucks, I Corinthians 11.33]; boasted of spiritual gifts, I Corinthians 12,14 lacking love, I Corinthians 13; denied the resurrection, I Corinthians 15.
• Our humble attitude draws God’s attention to our prayers. Isaiah 57:15; 66.2;

Psalm 138:6; Psalm 86:1; I Corinthians 1:26f; II Corinthians 12:5; II Corinthians 3:5f; 4:5f; I Peter 5:5; Ephesians 3:12,20; Luke 18:9f.

• Other examples of humility include John the Baptist, John 1:26f; 3.29f [He must increase, but I must decrease]; Paul called himself “chief of sinners” in I Tim. 1.5; and Philippians 2 “…willing to be poured out as a drink offering,”
• He cites Timothy and Epaphroditus as those who were unselfish in their care for the church there. Jesus illustrated such love in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:29f. Husbands are to love wives as Christ loved the church, Eph. 5:25f.
• Love does not behave rudely. Rude people are offensive in manner or action, discourteous, lacking in basic social refinement. It is translated “shameful or indecent” in I Corinthians 12:23. These don’t care enough for those around them to act politely and are insensitive to feelings or sensitivities of others.
• We saw above how rude the Corinthians were.
• One writer said,”Good manners are the oil that reduces the friction of human interaction…the ill-mannered person is “all about me…” We seem to be having in our culture a renaissance of rudeness over a generation ago…saying and doing things earlier generations wouldn’t have done.”
• We have to “speak the truth in love.” Ephesians 4:5; Galatians 6:1. Often people are harsh, judgmental,critical and want to argue. Matthew 7:1f; I Corinthians 6:10; Titus 3:9f; II Timothy 2:14f; Proverbs 25:11; 15.1 [soft answer turns away wrath]. Haven’t we all known such people?
• James rebukes the churches that treat the wealthy different from the poor, James 2:1-9, reminding us “to love our neighbor as ourselves.” Respect for elderly was taught in Leviticus 19:32.
• We need to be polite to our brothers and sisters in Christ as we are members of one body, Romans 12:4,5,10; 13:8. We need to be polite to the unsaved so that we can have a good testimony and prepare them for a chance to receive the gospel. I Peter 3:8-16; Titus 2:11f; Colossians 4:5f we certainly should not be judgmental and self-righteous.
• Examples of rudeness include Simon the Pharisee.
• He didn’t extend normal polite amenities to Christ. Luke 7:37f. He was disdainful of a repentant sinful woman who came and wept at Jesus’ feet anointing him with oil and wiping with her hair.
• The Pharisees and Sadducee were continually rude to Jesus. He demonstrated politeness and consideration, John 2; Luke 24:28; etc.
• A glaring and almost fatal example of rudeness was Nabal to David and his men, I Samuel 25.
• Conclusions. Let us by the power of the Spirit seek to be humble before God and always be polite and considerate to others even if we disagree with them.