Escape from Gilligan’s Island–Flee from Pride
Jun 29
“Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from a tropic port aboard a tiny ship. The mate was a might sailing man; the skipper brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour—a three hour tour.” If you didn’t know, those are the first few lines from the theme song to Gilligan’s Island, a show that ran only a few seasons in the mid-‘60s, but that anybody growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s has seen plenty of times. But even if you haven’t seen the show, it’s easy to tell you the plot: five people go on a 3-hour boat ride, but they are caught by a storm. The skipper and his first mate, whose name is Gilligan, managed to get them to an uncharted desert island in the middle of the Pacific, but the ship needs repairs and they are marooned there. The whole TV show centers around these seven castaways trying to escape the island. Can you name the characters? There’s Skipper, Gilligan (the first mate), Thurston Howell III (a millionaire) and his wife Lovey, a movie star named Ginger, a cute Midwestern girl named Mary Ann, and the Professor (a high school science teacher).
Interestingly, some see each of the seven castaways as a human embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins, which the medieval Christian Church listed to remind believers of hidden sins that Christians can easily fall into. Our sermon series this summer will go into each of these sins based on the characters of Gilligan’s Island, encouraging us to Escape Gilligan’s Island as we live our Christian lives in the forgiveness Christ won for us.
Can any of you name the 7 Deadly Sins? They are pride, greed (used to be called avarice), lust, envy, laziness (used to be called sloth), wrath, and gluttony. See if you can figure out which character represents which sin.
We’re going to start with pride because all the lists start with pride—and for good reason. We could make a case that the first sin ever commited, even before Adam and Eve sinned was pride—a perfect angel thinking he deserved more than he had, so he rebelled against God and is now known as Satan, or the devil. Can you think of which of the 7 Castaways represents Pride? It has to be the Professor. On just about every episode the Professor figures out a way to get off the island, but then one person always messes up his plan—Gilligan. Augustine called it “the mother of all sins” because it leads us to commit every other sin. And the way we’re going to flesh out this sin today is by reading the story of Uzziah. Remember him from Sunday School? I didn’t think so. He sounds really obscure to us, but in the whole history of the Kings of Judah from just after the time of Solomon to the destruction of the kingdom 400 years later, Uzziah was probably the most successful of all of them. So why don’t we remember him anymore? Pride. 2 Chronicles 26:
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 4 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. 5 He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success. 6 He went to war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. He then rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. 7 God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal and against the Meunites. 8 The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful. 9 Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the angle of the wall, and he fortified them. 10 He also built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain. He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil. 11 Uzziah had a well-trained army, ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officials. 12 The total number of family leaders over the fighting men was 2,600. 13 Under their command was an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies. 14 Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army. 15 In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.
Let’s stop there for a moment – the key verse: verse 5: As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success. It’s hard to overstate how successful this king Uzziah was. Judah always was this insignificant little kingdom, constantly threatened by its big cousin Israel to the north, Philistia to he west, and esp. Assyria to the East. It’s borders had been steadily shrinking, but now this king comes along and he beefs up Judah’s army, advances its weaponry, and actually pushes Judah’s boundaries out to its original size, there’s prosperity – It’s a golden age for Judah. By any measure imaginable, Uzziah is a powerful, successful leader. Back to that key verse, vs. 5: As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success. It has kind of an ominous ring to it doesn’t it? Let’s read on with verse 16:
16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. 18 They confronted him and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God.” 19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the LORD had afflicted him. 21 King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house—leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land. 22 The other events of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
Isn’t it amazing how quickly a world can shrink? In the time it took to light some sacred incense, Uzziah went from being one of the most powerful men of his age, to a pariah, shut up in his own private leper colony. How did it happen? 3 short steps:
1. Godly pride that said: “Lord, thank you for all you’ve done”
2. Selfish pride that said: “Look at me.”
3. Blatant rebellion against God: “I’m so great, God’s rules don’t apply to me.”
Do you see why pride is called the “Great Sin?” When we stop living for God and start living for ourselves, it’s only a matter of time before that sinful attitude drives us into other sin. We focus on ourselves instead of others, including God. Pride is basically the sin against the 1st Commandment because we’re, in essence, worshiping ourselves instead of God. Uzziah ended up buried separated from everything – his people, his family, his power, the temple of God. Even in death, he was separated from the other kings. 23 Uzziah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in a field for burial that belonged to the kings, for people said, “He had leprosy.” Isn’t it ironic that that’s what this king was remembered for? It’s really a sad story, but it could have been worse. He could have ended up separated from God forever in hell. Because those who persist in pridefully cut God out of their lives, will one day find that they have cut themselves out of the eternal life that God wants them to be a part of. It seems that Uzziah learned from his sin of pride and “rested with his fathers” in the sense that he repented and, along with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and many others, were declared sinless in God’s eyes through faith.
You know, I really should quit saying “They” This is an “Us” thing. Pride is a universal trait –we all have it. And unfortunately there’s nothing we can do to cure it! Because you can set out to humble yourself, and the minute you say, “Hey, I’ve made it! I am a humble person!” You aren’t anymore, are you? Our human nature is so twisted up in it, there’s no cure for pride – except one. The power of Jesus’ earthly life and death. It’s in his humility that we find our cure.
There was no sinful pride in Jesus at all. That’s one reason why people had such a hard time recognizing him. They expected the Messiah—the Son of God—to be this untouchable Superman who would exalt himself above everyone else. Because in their pride, that’s what they would have done. That’s what we would have done. Of course. If we were all-powerful, all knowing, and all-present, how many of us would choose to express all that potential by living and dying in such a humble way? Isn’t the whole point of being God to be glorified? It would be for us, but not for Jesus. Jesus was no Superman. He did not defy his enemies, hands on his hips, bullets bouncing harmlessly off his chest. The whip drew real blood, the thorns pressed real flesh, the nails caused mind-numbing pain, the cross led to actual death. Jesus, the only truly humble one, the perfect one, the holy one, that we’ve been singing about this morning, took on all God’s wrath over our prideful sinning – because that’s really what it is – and he paid that price for us.
That’s how pride is cured. So now, because Jesus has made us right with God, we can start over with a clean slate and move forward in humility ourselves. And don’t let that word “humility” scare you. Letting go of pride and humbling yourself under God’s direction – that doesn’t mean thinking of yourself as some worthless piece of garbage. The devil would have us think that. Certainly we don’t bring any merit of our own before the throne of God. But it is in Christ before God’s throne that God sees us as perfect and holy. We mean everything to God—and he showed it in living and dying for us. Only by looking to God and following his way and living for his glory can we ever come close to living out the great potential that God has created in each of us. That was Uzziah’s story: As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success. “As LONG as he sought…” Don’t let those sad words apply to you and your story. Don’t let the sin of pride overwhelm you and drag you farther and farther from the God who loves you. Instead, in whatever area of your life you need to, humble yourself before Jesus, and know the freedom and strength that can only be found in him, and say to him, “Everything I have is from you, Lord, and I’m going to glorify you with it.” Amen.
Sermon text: 2 Chronicles 26:3-22
Sermon series: Escape from Gilligan’s Island
Preached at Living Word Lutheran Church Waukesha, WI 6/26/2011
