acceptance

Self-Righteousness Is Self-Delusional

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9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
    they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16     in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” – Romans 3:9-18 ESV

Paul has just said that the Jews do have an advantage, because they “were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2 ESV). They had been given the seal of circumcision as a sign of the covenant that God had made with them. They were His chosen people whom He had promised to bless them and, through them, bless all the nations of the earth. He had led them, protected them, given them their own land, provided them with His law, privileged them with His presence, and instituted a sacrificial system that provided them with atonement for their sins. So, they did have a distinct advantage.

Yet, Paul begins verse nine with a question: “What then? Are we Jews any better off?” And then he answers his own question: “No, not at all.”

Though the Jews had an advantage, that did not mean they availed themselves of it. Some, like Abraham, recognized that their righteousness was determined by faith and not by works, and they trusted in God’s promises. Better yet, they trusted in God. Martin Luther writes, “Abraham did not believe God in order that he might become the father of many nations, but he believed God as the One who is true and faithful” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans).

Abraham believed in God’s faithfulness even though he lived as a nomad, never owning a home in the very land God had promised as his inheritance. Abraham died long before his descendants became a mighty nation. And yet, he believed. He trusted in the faithfulness of God. Quoting St. Augustine, Martin Luther writes, “God is glorified through faith, hope, and love. According to a common saying, God is directly insulted by three sins: unbelief, despair, and hatred” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans).

Failing to believe in God was an ongoing issue for the Israelites that manifested itself in idolatry, disobedience, stubbornness, immorality, selfishness, and the constant urge to achieve righteousness through self-effort.

So Paul says even the Jews were no better off than the Gentiles. All are under sin. Then, to support his statement, Paul turns to the Old Testament Scriptures. Verses 10-18 are drawn from the Psalms and the writings of the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah. Acting as a prosecuting attorney, Paul brings glaring evidence to bear against all who might try to defend their self-produced righteousness before God.

Every man and woman stands guilty and condemned. None is righteous or understands the truth about God’s holiness and His determination that righteousness is through faith alone. There is no one who seeks God. Instead, they seek their own will and pleasure. They gladly accept whatever they can get from God, but they have no desire for a relationship with Him.

Paul uses the Scriptures to paint a bleak picture of man’s condition. But he is attempting to present the glory of the gospel as “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith” (Romans 1:16-17 ESV). Paul’s thesis statement for his letter is “the righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:18 ESV). So he goes out of his way to prove that, without faith, no one is righteous, and that includes his own people, the Jews.

When John the Baptist began his ministry, he had a singular message

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Matthew 3:2 ESV

Later, after John was arrested by Herod, Jesus picked up that same message.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Matthew 4:17 ESV

When we read the word “repent,” we tend to think of someone turning away from sin, and while that is an accurate reading of the word, it is far from complete. To repent means “to change one’s mind.” So when John and Jesus called the people of Israel to repentance, they were telling them to change their minds. But about what? Sin? No, sin was the outcome of something else. They needed to change their minds about God and the means of achieving a righteous standing before Him. They still believed that righteousness was based on works, had long ago stopped believing in God’s faithfulness, and had begun believing in the myth of their own capacity to please Him.

They thought they could earn God’s favor by trying to keep His law. But Jesus told them to repent by changing their minds. He was calling them to believe in Him. All they believed about God and righteousness was wrong, and therefore, their view of their own sinfulness was mistaken. Because of their “good works,” they saw themselves as righteous and without sin.

But Paul was not going to let anyone stand on the lie of self-righteousness. So he proved man’s guilt with the words of God.

“There is none who does good, not even one.” – Psalm 14:3 ESV

Self-righteousness is self-delusional. The belief in one’s own sinlessness is ridiculous. John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8 ESV). Self-deceit may make us feel better about ourselves, but it does not make us righteous before God. Faith in ourselves is not the kind of faith God is looking for.

Father, man is obsessed with his own self-righteousness. I guess we take a certain amount of personal pride in our capacity to do the right thing. But, according to You, even our best deeds done with the best of intentions are nothing but filthy rags. They are worthless and incapable of earning Your favor or forgiveness. Yet, even as believers, we continue to believe the lie that our filthy rags aren’t really filthy. In fact, we convince ourselves that our attempts at righteousness are more than good enough for You. Yet, Paul reminds us that no can stand before You as acceptable on their own merits. It is, and always has been, based on grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We can add nothing to the gospel formula. It Jesus plus nothing. I am reminded of the words of the old hymn Rock of Ages.

Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law’s demands;
could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone;
thou must save, and thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

 Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

1 Corinthians 5

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Too Tolerant For Our Own Good.

1 Corinthians 5

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?. – 1 Corinthians 5:12 ESV

Tolerance is the official pastime of today’s culture. We are expected to tolerate any and all behavior. We are demanded to tolerate alternative lifestyles and sexual behaviors. We are feed a steady diet of tolerance on TV with programs portraying every imaginable situation and circumstance, selling as perfectly normal what would have been abnormal and unacceptable just a few short years ago. Sin craves tolerance. It demands to be accepted. And while no seems to want to live in a nation that legislates morality, just about everyone wants to live in a society that protects and legitimizes sin through the passing of laws.

None of this should surprise or shock us. It is the nature of sin. It is the natural outcome of man’s sin nature and the devastating impact of life in a fallen world. But the Body of Christ should be another story. The Church is not a place where tolerance should be tolerated. Don’t get me wrong. The Church is where love, acceptance and forgiveness should reign. But acceptance and tolerance are not synonymous. They are not one and the same thing. Paul seemed to know and understand that. He knew that the Church of Jesus Christ was going to be made up of sinners who had been saved. They had been redeemed out of their slavery to sin by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. But they were not to remain in their sin. They were not to stay as they were, but were expected to grow, mature, and increasingly take on the nature of Jesus Christ Himself. So when Paul received news that there was sexual immorality taking place among the believers in Corinth, he struck fast and hard. He classified what was going on in their midst as “something that even the pagans don’t do” (1 Corinthians 5:1 NLT). There was a man who was having a sexual relationship with his father’s wife. Not only was he committing adultery, he was doing so with his own stepmother. And the members of the local congregation were doing nothing about it.

It’s interesting to note that Paul says little about the sin of this man and his stepmother. He doesn’t need to. It is wrong. It is immoral. Even the pagans would say so. No, Paul addresses his indignation against the rest of the congregation for its tolerance of the sin. They had done nothing to deal with it. He even says, “You are so proud of yourselves” (1 Corinthians 5:2 NLT). He doesn’t clarify why he calls them proud. Perhaps they were proud because they were so accepting AND tolerant of any and all. Maybe they felt like theirs was a fellowship where everyone was welcome, because after all, all men are sinners. Later on Paul indicates that they were even boasting about what was going on. But whatever it was that motivated their pride, Paul lets them know that their reaction should have been one of mourning. They should have been sorry and ashamed. Not for the couple, but for their entire fellowship. This was a corporate issue. Paul uses the well-understood imagery of leaven to explain what was happening to their fellowship due to their tolerance. “Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?” (1 Corinthians 5:6 NLT). The sin of this man and woman was more than an individual act, it had corporate implications. Their presence was contaminating the entire fellowship. It was impacting and influencing the entire congregation. Now, what seems to be evident in the text is that there was no repentance or remorse on the part of the couple. It seems that they were living in sin and expecting everyone around them to accept them accordingly. And no one was confronting them about their sin. Their sinfulness was met with silence and tolerance. That is where the danger lies. Yes, we are to accept sinners. We are to lovingly include the lost and welcome them into our midst, but we are never to tolerate their sin. We are to lovingly confront them with the truth of God’s Word and call them to repentance. Paul makes it clear that it would be impossible to disassociate ourselves with unbelieving sinners. “You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that” (1 Corinthians 5:10 NLT). But when someone comes into our fellowship, claims Jesus Christ as their Savior, and yet indulges in unrepentant, willful sin, that is where our acceptance and tolerance must end. We must stand up for the truth of God’s Word. We must understand the danger of allowing sin to influence and infect the Body of Christ. Yet the common response most of us utter is, “Who am I to judge someone else?” What a dangerous conclusion to reach. We have been programmed to believe that judging others is unacceptable behavior for a Christian. but Paul clearly states, “it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning” (1 Corinthians 5:12 NLT). The key phrase is “who are sinning.” We are not to judge another believer’s faithfulness. We are not to make judgments based on income, status, clothes or the color of someone’s skin. But we are to “judge” the sin in our midst. The word Paul uses for “judge” is one that can mean “to separate or pick out, to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong.” We have an obligation to protect the integrity, unity and purity of the Body of Christ. When sin becomes apparent, we are to deal with it. We are to lovingly confront it. We are to call one another to repentance and restoration. But if an individual refuses to repent and continues to willingly remain in their sin, we have a responsibility to act. Paul makes it painfully simple: “…you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worship idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people” (1 Corinthians 5:11 NLT). Not only that, “You must remove the evil person from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:13 NLT). Unrepentance trumps acceptance every time. But the truth is, we are far too tolerant far too often. We don’t want to judge. We don’t want to offend. We don’t want to cause a scene. So we tolerate the presence of unrepentant, arrogant sin in our midst, and then wonder why the church is weak, powerless and a mere shadow of what Christ intended for it to be.

Father, wake us up. Give us the moral fortitude to stand up for what is right – in our own churches. Help us understand that love is not tolerance. It is not putting up with one another’s sins, but lovingly calling each other to live lives of holiness. It is understanding that the corporate well being takes precedence over a single individual’s self-indulgence. Give us the boldness to stand up for what is right and righteous. But show us how to do it in love, not anger. Help us do it for the good of the Body of Christ, not out of some sense of self-righteous indignation. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org