One of the easiest thing to do is judge people based on who
we think they are. It’s so disheartening to see Christians waging war with
sinners in the quest that righteousness must prevail. It’s we against them
campaign. We see them as rejects because we cannot imagine ourselves live life
on such filthy and corrupt standards. We also cannot imagine the love of God
upon them because they are sinners in the hand of an angry God.
One of the major thing we have failed to do in the past is
to find out God’s perspective on this issue. Jesus gave a wonderful parable to
shed light on God’s view on we see others in Luke 18:9-14
To
some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to
pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I
am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax
collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all
I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a
distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said,
‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather
than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves
will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Self-righteousness is when you
make your boast in your own ability to stand perfect and blameless. There are
many who preach themselves and not Christ as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:5a “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as
Lord…” We see people lay claim to the blessings of God in their lives because
they were faithful and holy all the way. What they don’t know that they are saying
is this: God owed and payed me my dues” The truth is that when it comes to
grace boasting is excluded because the blessings of God on us are based on the
free gift of righteousness.
Self-righteousness reduces the standards of God to our personal life philosophy. People say "I don't like using face make-up, so everyone who uses one is going to hell." It may be a doctrine and church greed that says "We fast 3 times a week in our ministry" so it implies if any other church does not do so then they are serious in serving God. All it ever does is to point you to you. Realize that Christ is the centre.
It is easy to look at “one
sinner” and say “I can’t be like this Tax collector” because you see him cheat
because of greed but when you look at the man in the mirror you would have
seen one driven by greed too in a
different format. When you judge someone in your self-righteousness, you are
actually judging yourself. It’s the same
thing with a Prostitute, many will criticize one and if they looked deeper then
they would find out that they also had their own sexual indiscretions hidden
beneath the mask of religion.
What was God’s
conclusion? Romans 3 gives us great insight
9 What does all this mean? Does it mean that we
Jews are better off[a] than the Gentiles? No, it doesn’t!
Jews, as well as Gentiles, are ruled by sin, just as I have said. 10 The Scriptures tell us,
“No one is acceptable to God!
11 Not one of them understands
or even searches for God.
12 They have all turned away
and are worthless.
There
isn’t one person
who does right.
17 They don’t know how
to
live in peace.
18 They don’t even fear God.”
19 We know that everything in the Law
was written for those who are under its power. The Law says these things to
stop anyone from making excuses and to let God show that the whole world is
guilty.20 God doesn’t accept people simply because they
obey the Law. No, indeed! All the Law does is to point out our sin.
21 Now we see how God
does make us acceptable to him. The Law and the Prophets[b] tell how we become acceptable, and it isn’t by obeying the
Law of Moses. 22 God treats everyone alike. He
accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ. 23 All of us have
sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. 24 But God treats us
much better than we deserve,[c] and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us
free from our sins. 25-26 God sent Christ to be our
sacrifice. Christ offered his life’s blood, so that by faith in him we could
come to God. And God did this to show that in the past he was right to be
patient and forgive sinners. This also shows that God is right when he accepts
people who have faith in Jesus.
Everyone has
been concluded under sin both the Jews who had the laws of God and the gentile who
was the dog not worthy of the bread. The grace of God has redefined who is
accepted and blessed by God; The man who has faith in Jesus.
Everyone in
Adam is the same, no sinner is lesser or greater. Everyone is the same, none is
more or less righteous. The gift of faith made available a righteous that is a
Free gift from God. So the blessings of God are now based on this free gift and
not our righteous credentials.
This grace
does not encourage us to judge people because of their lifestyles and keep away
from them. The grace upon Jesus made sinners attracted to him and some dined
with him. Why? It does not condemn but shares the love of the Father God in a
non-threatening way. It is patient and kind. It believes the best even in the
worst person. The grace does not make us judge but makes us see all judgment in
Jesus.
