Self Righteousness
Humanism,
A Sin Against Grace,
And the Spirit of Lucifer
I Cor.15:10 - But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Years ago someone once said that God grace is like a turtle on a fencepost. She observed, have grown up on a farm, that once in a while she would come upon a turtle who was on top of a fence post still alive. And when she saw this turtle she knew one thing: The turtle did not climb up the post, he was placed there. And so it is with us. We did not climb up to redemption, and we are not maintaining our redemption by our own works. We were placed in God’s family by God’s grace.
Let me begin by disrobing the emperor. Self Righteousness lurks in all of us. No one can claim that he never exhibit’s a self righteous attitude either openly or through his own inward thoughts. It is a universal sin and it is abhorrent in the eyes of a Holy God.
Self righteousness comes in many different forms and camouflages itself in many different ways. All of us are familiar with the obvious and distasteful exhibitions of self righteousness which tout their own horn and claim some superior status above others. Sometimes it’s comical as in the case of Muhammad Ali, and sometimes it’s disgusting as in the case of Fred Phelps. Sometimes it appears as compassionate, sometimes it seems loving, and sometimes self righteousness wears the garb of humility. But all self righteousness is a grievous sin. I would like to explore three major elements of self righteousness.
Firstly, self righteousness comes from humanism. In essence it is a boast of the human species, and in particular, the human that is speaking. It contends that the acts of a man should be exalted and praised because he has accomplished things out of his own intellect and strength. And many times this kind of self righteousness draws other men to idolize another human being.
Sometimes people who would never speak up for themselves gravitate to those who blow their own horn, and these people receive some kind of vicarious satisfaction through someone who is boldly self righteous. Probably the most popular world wide athlete of the 20th century was Muhammad Ali whose famous statement was “I am the greatest of all time!” And he was adored by millions of Africans who only owned the very clothes on their back, but were exhilarated through his boasting and bravado. This phenomenon is duplicated in the music world, the Hollywood world, the political world, and even the church world. Again, it is pure humanism.
Secondly, self righteousness is a direct assault on the grace of God. Since a lost person cannot know the grace of God, we now are dealing primarily with professing believers. All born again believers were saved completely by God’s grace, and stand by that same grace. Not one shred of human works was in the salvation experience; it was all by the grace of God. And yet how many believers perch themselves upon some moral high ground and castigate others, including spiritually dead sinners, for violating moral directives outlined in Scripture?
But in reality, everyone violates the letter of the law every day, including all believers. But the self righteous believer contends that he did not want to sin, and that he is quick to repent. Can you see the self righteousness? That kind of believer even uses the grace of God and the forgiveness found in Christ as a platform to downplay his own sin compared to others and laud the speed to which he asks for forgiveness. It is an unseemly exhibition of spiritual self righteousness that compromises the very grace of God upon which we all stand.
Can you imagine such a thing? Two sinners exceed the speed limit. But one sinner claims that the other sinner does it on purpose and that although he did it as well, he feels bad about it. And in that construct one sinner claims the moral high ground based upon his own version of his heart’s intention. The entire spectacle is a sin against God’s grace and in reality reveals that the self righteous sinner hasn’t really addressed the nature of his own sin, but cloaks his own sin by implying he is not like the other sinner who is exceeding the speed limit. Wow! The twisted and creative fallen nature surely can come up with all sorts of human logic to justify itself! But again, it minimizes the grace of God and elevates the works of man.
Thirdly, self righteousness is the sin of Lucifer. Yes, it is demonic at its core. It was Lucifer that reckoned himself as God’s equal and refused to acknowledge God as God. And self righteousness mirrors that sin as well. When we exhibit self righteousness, whether by comparison to others or just unvarnished pride in our own “accomplishments”, we are walking in the steps of the evil one.
Now we might not be able to connect those dots as we are doing it, but if we step back and examine the situation we will find that perhaps unwittingly we are exhibiting demonic traits. The demonic does not always come as a head revolving possession. In fact, more often it comes as an angel of light which portrays itself as a friend of God and acts like God’s moral policeman when in reality it is fueled by the spirit of evil. It is a toxic mixture of humanism, a sin against grace, and a demonic sin attributed to Lucifer.
Humility is the exact opposite of the spirit of Lucifer. The devil desires for us to lift up ourselves and so doing we openly deny the Christ Who is our life. All sin is at some level a denial of the Lordship of Christ, but the sin of self righteousness is especially heinous since that sin also calls into question the power, redemption, grace, and authority of Almighty God Himself. And he who is granted forgiveness of a great and unplayable debt, must be willing to do likewise.
Matt.18:23-35 - Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Oh yes, the Lord takes this business of self righteousness very, very seriously. What was the sin of this servant to whom the king forgave much? It was the sin of self righteousness, and instead of receiving the mantle of forgiveness toward others, this servant took upon him the mantle of the Accuser. But how often have all of us heard that parable, and yet how has the church in general made it a story with some tepid application that does not actually inconvenience anyone’s flesh, and ignored the absolute implications of such a truth?
The church accuses a wide variety of what it considers unsavory characters. Rosie O’Donnell, President Obama, George Bush, many rock musicians, many actors, many politicians, all gays, all liberals, all conservatives, and on and on reads the cast of suspects. And all of it is nothing but pure self righteousness, even if what we say may or may not be true! And let a professing believer come out and admit to same sex attractions and succomb to them, and instead of prayer meetings and restoring one in the spirit of meekness, their struggle is used as a platform to assure everyone that not only are we not gay, but we believe it is a sin! And believers pat themselves on their backs for having such a pristine theology. I actually believe that had the woman caught in adultery been brought before some believers they would have had her stoned and proudly posted about it on their blogs! Jesus did not condemn her but told her not to sin again. But having know myself and many others, I suggest she might have sinned again in many other areas, even if she hopefully forsook adultery.
We are not called to be spokesmen for judgment, but we are called as ambassadors of redemption. There will come a time for judgment to be sure, and sometimes we must warn others of the impending horror. But we must never come across as condemning sinners because of their sin. In fact, their sin makes them prime candidates for redemption, as prime a candidate as we once were!
Self righteousness is a spiritual cancer that infects others and grows disproportionately while it mutates to appear as a mouthpiece for God. Go ahead, peruse the blog nation and you will find all kinds of self righteousness parading as “watchman” and “discerners”. I am not speaking of confronting error and false teachings, but many blogs castigate lost sinners, spread gossip about some moral failures of preachers, whine about liberal politicians, and in general fire incendiary verbiage directed at all kinds of people, and these attacks emanate from high atop “I don’t do that” mountain.
May I remind all of us that if indeed we “don’t do that” it isn’t because of us, but because of God’s grace and power. And additionally there are many sins which we do commit on a daily basis. And if you deny that, then your self righteousness is the most repugnant of all, because you do not need God or His grace. You, my deceived friend, have arrived. Hold the fort until we all get there. We can only hope you indeed will be there.
A Sin Against Grace,
And the Spirit of Lucifer
I Cor.15:10 - But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Years ago someone once said that God grace is like a turtle on a fencepost. She observed, have grown up on a farm, that once in a while she would come upon a turtle who was on top of a fence post still alive. And when she saw this turtle she knew one thing: The turtle did not climb up the post, he was placed there. And so it is with us. We did not climb up to redemption, and we are not maintaining our redemption by our own works. We were placed in God’s family by God’s grace.
Let me begin by disrobing the emperor. Self Righteousness lurks in all of us. No one can claim that he never exhibit’s a self righteous attitude either openly or through his own inward thoughts. It is a universal sin and it is abhorrent in the eyes of a Holy God.
Self righteousness comes in many different forms and camouflages itself in many different ways. All of us are familiar with the obvious and distasteful exhibitions of self righteousness which tout their own horn and claim some superior status above others. Sometimes it’s comical as in the case of Muhammad Ali, and sometimes it’s disgusting as in the case of Fred Phelps. Sometimes it appears as compassionate, sometimes it seems loving, and sometimes self righteousness wears the garb of humility. But all self righteousness is a grievous sin. I would like to explore three major elements of self righteousness.
Firstly, self righteousness comes from humanism. In essence it is a boast of the human species, and in particular, the human that is speaking. It contends that the acts of a man should be exalted and praised because he has accomplished things out of his own intellect and strength. And many times this kind of self righteousness draws other men to idolize another human being.
Sometimes people who would never speak up for themselves gravitate to those who blow their own horn, and these people receive some kind of vicarious satisfaction through someone who is boldly self righteous. Probably the most popular world wide athlete of the 20th century was Muhammad Ali whose famous statement was “I am the greatest of all time!” And he was adored by millions of Africans who only owned the very clothes on their back, but were exhilarated through his boasting and bravado. This phenomenon is duplicated in the music world, the Hollywood world, the political world, and even the church world. Again, it is pure humanism.
Secondly, self righteousness is a direct assault on the grace of God. Since a lost person cannot know the grace of God, we now are dealing primarily with professing believers. All born again believers were saved completely by God’s grace, and stand by that same grace. Not one shred of human works was in the salvation experience; it was all by the grace of God. And yet how many believers perch themselves upon some moral high ground and castigate others, including spiritually dead sinners, for violating moral directives outlined in Scripture?
But in reality, everyone violates the letter of the law every day, including all believers. But the self righteous believer contends that he did not want to sin, and that he is quick to repent. Can you see the self righteousness? That kind of believer even uses the grace of God and the forgiveness found in Christ as a platform to downplay his own sin compared to others and laud the speed to which he asks for forgiveness. It is an unseemly exhibition of spiritual self righteousness that compromises the very grace of God upon which we all stand.
Can you imagine such a thing? Two sinners exceed the speed limit. But one sinner claims that the other sinner does it on purpose and that although he did it as well, he feels bad about it. And in that construct one sinner claims the moral high ground based upon his own version of his heart’s intention. The entire spectacle is a sin against God’s grace and in reality reveals that the self righteous sinner hasn’t really addressed the nature of his own sin, but cloaks his own sin by implying he is not like the other sinner who is exceeding the speed limit. Wow! The twisted and creative fallen nature surely can come up with all sorts of human logic to justify itself! But again, it minimizes the grace of God and elevates the works of man.
Thirdly, self righteousness is the sin of Lucifer. Yes, it is demonic at its core. It was Lucifer that reckoned himself as God’s equal and refused to acknowledge God as God. And self righteousness mirrors that sin as well. When we exhibit self righteousness, whether by comparison to others or just unvarnished pride in our own “accomplishments”, we are walking in the steps of the evil one.
Now we might not be able to connect those dots as we are doing it, but if we step back and examine the situation we will find that perhaps unwittingly we are exhibiting demonic traits. The demonic does not always come as a head revolving possession. In fact, more often it comes as an angel of light which portrays itself as a friend of God and acts like God’s moral policeman when in reality it is fueled by the spirit of evil. It is a toxic mixture of humanism, a sin against grace, and a demonic sin attributed to Lucifer.
Humility is the exact opposite of the spirit of Lucifer. The devil desires for us to lift up ourselves and so doing we openly deny the Christ Who is our life. All sin is at some level a denial of the Lordship of Christ, but the sin of self righteousness is especially heinous since that sin also calls into question the power, redemption, grace, and authority of Almighty God Himself. And he who is granted forgiveness of a great and unplayable debt, must be willing to do likewise.
Matt.18:23-35 - Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Oh yes, the Lord takes this business of self righteousness very, very seriously. What was the sin of this servant to whom the king forgave much? It was the sin of self righteousness, and instead of receiving the mantle of forgiveness toward others, this servant took upon him the mantle of the Accuser. But how often have all of us heard that parable, and yet how has the church in general made it a story with some tepid application that does not actually inconvenience anyone’s flesh, and ignored the absolute implications of such a truth?
The church accuses a wide variety of what it considers unsavory characters. Rosie O’Donnell, President Obama, George Bush, many rock musicians, many actors, many politicians, all gays, all liberals, all conservatives, and on and on reads the cast of suspects. And all of it is nothing but pure self righteousness, even if what we say may or may not be true! And let a professing believer come out and admit to same sex attractions and succomb to them, and instead of prayer meetings and restoring one in the spirit of meekness, their struggle is used as a platform to assure everyone that not only are we not gay, but we believe it is a sin! And believers pat themselves on their backs for having such a pristine theology. I actually believe that had the woman caught in adultery been brought before some believers they would have had her stoned and proudly posted about it on their blogs! Jesus did not condemn her but told her not to sin again. But having know myself and many others, I suggest she might have sinned again in many other areas, even if she hopefully forsook adultery.
We are not called to be spokesmen for judgment, but we are called as ambassadors of redemption. There will come a time for judgment to be sure, and sometimes we must warn others of the impending horror. But we must never come across as condemning sinners because of their sin. In fact, their sin makes them prime candidates for redemption, as prime a candidate as we once were!
Self righteousness is a spiritual cancer that infects others and grows disproportionately while it mutates to appear as a mouthpiece for God. Go ahead, peruse the blog nation and you will find all kinds of self righteousness parading as “watchman” and “discerners”. I am not speaking of confronting error and false teachings, but many blogs castigate lost sinners, spread gossip about some moral failures of preachers, whine about liberal politicians, and in general fire incendiary verbiage directed at all kinds of people, and these attacks emanate from high atop “I don’t do that” mountain.
May I remind all of us that if indeed we “don’t do that” it isn’t because of us, but because of God’s grace and power. And additionally there are many sins which we do commit on a daily basis. And if you deny that, then your self righteousness is the most repugnant of all, because you do not need God or His grace. You, my deceived friend, have arrived. Hold the fort until we all get there. We can only hope you indeed will be there.
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3 comments:
Salvation is a Gift so that No One can boast
http://www.masteringthebible.com/category/studies/ephesians
I am humbled...
Lisa
Thank you Sister Kelli for the link to the sermon from Mastering the Bible "Salvation is a Gift So That No One Can Boast" from Ephesians 2:9.
To those who may be attempting to go to the link and can't find the study, it is Ephesians 2:9 "Revisited" at www.masteringthebible.com
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