2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Have you ever thought about the thin line that exists between righteousness and self-righteousness? A lot of us have had to deal with this question. It came up the other day in a conversation that I had with a friend. I believe the Lord was using this friend to prompt me to write about it today. Before I was ready to do that, I had to go to the Lord both in prayer and through looking at the Scriptures to get His perspective on this thorny question. It makes sense to begin with definitions. To be righteous is to be in alignment with and acceptable to God. To be self-righteous is to arrogantly usurp God’s sovereignty and Christ’s right to judge. While these two definitions seem to make the matter clear, it is not always so clear when applied to people’s individual circumstances. That is why the line between them appears thin at times.
The issue of God’s dealing with righteousness comes up in GN 7: 1, “The Lord said to Noah, ‘Go into the boat with your whole family. I have found that you are the only one in the world who does what is right.” Two lessons from this citation are: 1) God’s frustration with the sinfulness of man is so great as to motivate him to destroy all but those living creatures which are to be on the ark; 2) God alone has the sovereign right to determine what is righteous and what is not. The issue of righteousness is so important to God that later when Abraham came on the scene, He decided to call this Chaldean-born man to establish a nation of people who are meant to dedicate their whole lives to the worship of Himself, the Jews. Due to His omniscience, God knew the content of Abraham’s heart and deemed him acceptable, thus imputing righteousness to Abraham’s account (GN 15: 6). To date, a large number of Jews throughout history have not used their free agency to conform to God’s goals for them, but a remnant of His chosen people have. As I have said before, God has not given up on His people, so the story of the Jews is not over yet (RO 11: 25). God’s relationship with Abraham is nothing short of remarkable. This is shown in GN 18: 17-19 when God discusses His decision not to hide from Abraham that He has decided to destroy Sodom where Lot, Abraham’s nephew, lives. “And the Lord said to Himself,’ I will not hide from Abraham what I am going to do. His descendants will become a great and mighty nation and through him I will bless all nations. I have chosen him in order that he may command his sons and his descendants to obey me and do what is right and just. If they do, I will do everything for him that I have promised.”
Most of you know the story of Job. Satan challenges God that he can cause Job, a righteous man, to lose his faith. God allows this challenge to be carried out with the one limitation that Satan is not to take Job’s life. Job engages in conversations with his friends as he attempts to deal with his own response to a series of problems and losses Satan sends his way. Job 4: 7 is a request Job’s friend, Eliphaz, makes of his stunned friend. “Think back now. Name a single case where a righteous man met with disaster.” This request came after Eliphaz reminded Job of how he had been there for his friends before all his own troubles started and how he had encouraged them. Eliphaz’s request should give us pause to see if we can do the same. The other day, I wrote a devotion on the theme passage for last weekend’s Cursillo retreat for men, JER 29: 11-13. When you read it again here, it will shed light on God’s perspective to Eliphaz’s request of Job. “I [the Lord] alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for. Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. You will seek Me, and you will find Me because you will seek Me with all your heart.”
Now, let’s look at God’s perspective on the issue of self-righteousness. There are three citations which begin with the same message, but in their completion shed light on God’s expectation for righteous behavior. Hosea 6: 6 “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have My people know Me than have them burn offerings to Me.” MT 9: 13, “Go and find out what is meant by the Scripture [MT 12: 7] that says, ’It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifice.’ I have not come to call the righteous people, but outcasts.’ “ MT 12: 7, “The Scripture says, ‘It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.’ If you know what this means, you would not condemn people who are not guilty.” Kindness, constant love for God, and refusal to condemn others in judgment are these expectations. A person who is self-righteous does not exhibit this behavior. He does the opposite, thus usurping Christ’s sole right to judge. God never intended us to be unkind to others, even our enemies. Christ taught us in MT 5: 44, “But now I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Nowhere does God make his perspective on self-righteousness clearer than in Paul’s criticism leveled against traditional Jews who are hypocrites in RO 2. RO 2: 13, “It is not by the hearing of the law that people are put right with God, but by doing what the law commands.” Remember Christ’s words in JN 14: 21? “Whoever accepts My commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. My Father will love whoever loves me; I too will love him and reveal myself to him.” Paul goes on to say in RO 2: 14-16, “The Gentiles do not have the Law; but whenever they do by instinct what the Law commands, they are their own law, even though they do not have the Law. Their conduct shows that what the Law commands is written in their hearts. Their consciences also show that this is true, since their thoughts sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them. And so, according to the Good News I preach, this is how it will be on that Day when God through Jesus Christ will judge the secret thoughts of all.” Later in RO 2, Paul asserts that these judgmental traditional Jews say they depend on the Law and boast about God. They teach others, but why don’t they teach themselves? (17-21). In other words, God through Paul is asserting that these Jews are hypocrites. Finally Paul defines what a real Jew is in (29). “Rather, the real Jew is a person who is a Jew on the inside, that is whose heart has been circumcised, and this is the work of God’s Spirit, not of the written Law. Such a person receives his praise from God, not from man.” Even though most of you are not Jews, this principle applies to any righteous person, Jew or Gentile. That is why this message originally directed at self-righteous traditional Jews is so important for us too.
Tomorrow, I plan to talk about the challenges this thin line provides in our modern day lives. In the meantime, join me in this prayer:
PRAYER: O Lord, You have given us Your perspective on righteousness and on self-righteousness in the Scriptures. We thank You for that and ask your guidance in applying it to our personal lives and relationships. Help us, O Lord, to see the limits between Your Sovereignty and our responsibility to respond in righteousness to it. In Christ’s name, amen.
Be encouraged that God’s guidance to help us to achieve discernment is available to us. Know that you don’t grapple with this problem alone. Take comfort in knowing that you are loved and cherished by your Lord, Who wants you to seek Him out and Who wants to shower His grace upon you. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn