By Grant Gaines
Have you ever noticed who Jesus gets mad at in the Gospels? He doesn’t get mad at the dishonest tax collectors, the prostitutes, the demon-possessed, or even those who wrongfully sentenced Him to death. No, unlike so many people in the world today, Jesus always showed unmerited grace to those who didn’t deserve it (including you and me). Instead, we see Jesus’s anger flare up most frequently against the religious group of His day – the Pharisees.
Don’t you find that rather strange? It seems like the Pharisees were the ones who were doing everything right. They were the ones who were at the Temple every Sabbath, the ones who always tithed, and the ones who never missed a daily quiet time. When I look at this situation, it seems like Jesus is getting mad at the wrong people!
But, “…The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, NIV). And what we view as an attempt to be godly, Jesus viewed as an attempt to be self-righteous or legalistic (relying on our own strength and works rather than on God).
And Jesus didn’t take this attitude of legalism lightly. In fact, in Matthew 23 (NIV), we see Jesus vent His frustrations against these self-righteous Pharisees when He calls them, “…hypocrites (vs. 13, 15, 23, 27, and 29)…sons of hell (vs. 15)…blind guides (vs. 16 and 24)…blind fools (vs. 17)…blind men (vs. 19)…whitewashed tombs (vs. 27)…snakes (vs.33)…[and a] brood of vipers (vs. 33).” That’s roughly a 1-to-4 ratio right there – one insult per every four verses Jesus spoke in Matthew 23!
The reason Jesus had (and still has) such a large beef with self-righteousness is because it makes us overlook our dependence on God and blinds us to our true sinful condition. Self-righteousness causes us to trust in our own abilities rather than depending on God’s provision. Self-righteousness causes us to notice the “speck” in our brother’s eye while overlooking the “plank” in our own eye (Matthew 7:3-5). Ultimately, self-righteousness takes us from having a, “…humble and contrite spirit…” (Isaiah 66:2, NIV) and moves us to having an independent and unrepentant, “…heart of stone…” (Ezekiel 36:26, NIV).
And the scariest part about self-righteousness is that its warning does not go out to your brother who only goes to church twice a year or to your neighbor who only uses their Bible as a drink coaster. The warning against self-righteousness goes out to the people who read their Bibles daily, who subscribe to Christian blogs, and who are faithful in their tithing. We are the ones who need to be on guard against self-righteousness, because if we don’t, we may end up like David.
That’s right, David, “… [the] man after [God’s] own heart…” (Acts 13:22, NIV) had himself a shameful season of self-righteousness in the latter parts of his life. You probably remember the story.
After committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband Uriah in an attempt to cover up his offense, David spent nearly a year running away from the Lord by refusing to admit his sin. In fact, as you read about David’s fall from grace in 2 Samuel 11, the Lord – the very reason why David was successful in the first place (1 Samuel 18:14) – is not brought up until the very last verse of the chapter (2 Samuel 11:27, NIV) when we read that, “…the thing David had done displeased the LORD.”
Think about that, for one whole year “the man after God’s own heart” looked into the mirror day after day and didn’t even recognize the sin in his life because of his attitude of self-righteousness! And if it can happen to David, it can happen to us.
So how do we avoid an attitude of self-righteousness? We would be wise to start by heeding the warning 1 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV) gives to each of us when it says, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” That’s the essence of self-righteousness. We feel so confident in ourselves that we lose our sense of desperation on God, leaving ourselves unguarded to Satan’s attacks.
Look, Jesus wasn’t mad at the Pharisees because they tried to be Godly. He was mad because they assumed that their good deeds supplanted their need for God. What amazes the Lord is not how many times you pray per day, how many Bible verses you have memorized, or the amount of money you tithe. What impresses God is a heart that is totally dependent upon Him.
And as Alan Redpath once said, “The best place any Christian can ever be in is to be totally destitute and totally dependent upon God, and know it.” Are you in this place?
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
