Self Righteous Indignation: A Biblical View
Posted: Thursday, January 08, 2009
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
Most of us are guilty of some type of sin on a pretty regular basis. I know I am. I am thankful that most of mine are of omissions and involves no one except me and my Heavenly Father. I can depend upon Him to judge me righteously and I know that He has said He will forgive me if I repent and confess to Him. I also know that He does not lie and will do exactly as He said. Obtaining forgiveness is always up to me, no others, not even Him, because I already have His word.
Let's suppose you should discover one in a fault as the verse above says. How many others should you divulge your findings to before attempting to "restore" this one?
Maybe Matthew 18:15 will tell us more clearly "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." (emphasis mine jhh) What a beautiful verse!
Other scriptures help also, or should. (Luke 17:3) "Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him."
(Luke 17:4) "And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."
Often there are those whose indignation over the sin of others cause them to ignore the scriptures above and in order to appear more righteous than the brother, they will confide their information to others. And once this is started, a raging fire results which causes irreparable harm to the brother who could have been restored if only the verses above had been heeded. To some, it becomes a vendetta and they get worse and worse until they draw blood. They become so absorbed in destroying this person they deem to be so evil, they are totally oblivious of the sins they are accruing to themselves and the damage they are inflicting upon a brother in Christ. A simple trespass, even already repented of, cannot be stilled without depicting the brother as a common criminal. "...Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19)
The original sin of the overtaken brother might well be one that, once repented of, could be forgotten with no permanent harm to anyone. Yet, the sin and resulting damage caused by the wagging tongue(s) of those who have "...feet that be swift in running to mischief", (Proverbs 6:18) is far greater and more difficult to remedy. Although true repentance and confession may gain forgiveness for the gossiper, the damage done to a brother is far reaching and may never be repaired. Something I, or anyone else, should have difficulty living with.
Where harm is done, repentance involves more than simply deciding to stop whatever it is and asking forgiveness, but it demands recompense if possible. But with tongue damage, how does one repair character assassination, a broken spirit, a damaged career, or even possibly causing a soul to be lost? "...It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!" (Luke 17:1)
(James 3:6) "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."
(James 1:26) "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."
Righteous living requires a lot of struggling to overcome our own weaknesses rather than verbally assaulting our brothers and sisters for theirs. We ought to pray diligently for strength. Prayer can help...a lot. My most eager entreaty in my early morning prayer is that He will grant me the clarity of mind and the strength to go through the day without sinning against Him. May we always have a penitent and forgiving heart. Never a "more righteous than thou" attitude. It not only can cause one to spend eternity in hell, it will.
Maybe Matthew 18:15 will tell us more clearly "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." (emphasis mine jhh) What a beautiful verse!
Other scriptures help also, or should. (Luke 17:3) "Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him."
(Luke 17:4) "And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."
Often there are those whose indignation over the sin of others cause them to ignore the scriptures above and in order to appear more righteous than the brother, they will confide their information to others. And once this is started, a raging fire results which causes irreparable harm to the brother who could have been restored if only the verses above had been heeded. To some, it becomes a vendetta and they get worse and worse until they draw blood. They become so absorbed in destroying this person they deem to be so evil, they are totally oblivious of the sins they are accruing to themselves and the damage they are inflicting upon a brother in Christ. A simple trespass, even already repented of, cannot be stilled without depicting the brother as a common criminal. "...Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19)
The original sin of the overtaken brother might well be one that, once repented of, could be forgotten with no permanent harm to anyone. Yet, the sin and resulting damage caused by the wagging tongue(s) of those who have "...feet that be swift in running to mischief", (Proverbs 6:18) is far greater and more difficult to remedy. Although true repentance and confession may gain forgiveness for the gossiper, the damage done to a brother is far reaching and may never be repaired. Something I, or anyone else, should have difficulty living with.
Where harm is done, repentance involves more than simply deciding to stop whatever it is and asking forgiveness, but it demands recompense if possible. But with tongue damage, how does one repair character assassination, a broken spirit, a damaged career, or even possibly causing a soul to be lost? "...It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!" (Luke 17:1)
(James 3:6) "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."
(James 1:26) "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."
Righteous living requires a lot of struggling to overcome our own weaknesses rather than verbally assaulting our brothers and sisters for theirs. We ought to pray diligently for strength. Prayer can help...a lot. My most eager entreaty in my early morning prayer is that He will grant me the clarity of mind and the strength to go through the day without sinning against Him. May we always have a penitent and forgiving heart. Never a "more righteous than thou" attitude. It not only can cause one to spend eternity in hell, it will.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Unless you give mercy you shall receive no mercy says it all. However having mercy, forgiveness, compassion does not obsolve the sin. Only true repenting does that. So if we find a person or a society in sin we must go to them and speak to it. Too often we limit it to a person. yet if a law be sinful then we are obligated to speak to that sin in the law to they who make the law and remind them of that. If greed be their goal thenw e are obligated to remind them. Howerv, if we are in error or we perpertrate the sin then we shouid ask their foregiveness for our sin. Joel you allude to gosip and that is a sin yes and the just man sins in more ways then they recognize at times. If that sin hurts anotehr directly or indirectly we need to make amends.I agree Robert. I based this article on a situation I knew of once when a young gospel preacher was almost ruined by 2 or 3 busy bodies. I kindly took him under my wing and helped him through it. He is one of the best speakers I have heard.
Joel, I enjoyed your words. We as a people could do so much better if we read more of James. Thank you for an inspiring article.Thank you Nancy, for your kind words.
Hi Joel, I thought this article is very good. I am currently in a situation where I met my current husband 3 years prior to my conversion. I advised him that I am going to dedicate my life to the Lord and we cannot continue to live our sinful lifestyle. He would not leave so we got married. for the past 3 yrs of our 8yr marriage he became addicted to pornography as a form of revenge toward me and some issues we were having in our marriage. He is a passive-aggressive person. I was extremely hurt and felt intense betrayal, disrespect, dishonor and so on. In attempt to try and work it out I took him to my pasor for councilling. My pastor pretty much dismissed the whole thing saying this is 'small stuff' and just asked him if he was going to clean it up. He offered no help to me or us as a couple. He did not advise my husband of the severe damage he caused to our relationship and harm he caused to me. He did not advise my husband that he needs to ask for forgiveness from me or anything like that. It was a very callous attitude he showed towards the situation. He only told my husband that he needs to attend church more often instead of just coming when we have a dinner. I am still angry about the adultery my husband did in our marriage and I am also angry at my pastor for the way he treated the situation without care. I stopped paying my 10% tithes to the church because I felt abused and mistreated by a man that should have compassion towards the children of God who has been wounded and not need to be restored. I believe he did this because he felt that I was made a wrong decision when I married this man. We were together 3yrs before I became a christian and we agreed to get married. It is not like I was in the church and went out and found someone outside the church. I had to go to several other brother and sister for advise and assistance because I did not receive it from my pastor. The did not agree with the way I was treated. They too have been treated terribly by him and are also very angry and hurt. I have been called self righteous by my pastor and an elder (which is his brother) because I find it very difficult to continue my marriage because of what my husband did. If I cannot trust my husband not to stab me in the back who can I trust? He was caught in a sin (a fatal sin to marriage) so my reaction to not want to continue the marriage is a fair one. I don't believe my husband has repented even though he started coming to church more often. He has stopped doing the pornography as far as I know but since he has been coming to church for 7 months he has not gone to the alter or taken full reponsibility for what he did. I believe a part of that is because my pastor did not treat the situation as serious but said it's 'small stuff'. What are your thoughts on this matter.
Well, your situation is quite complicated and it is difficult to know just what the real solution may have to be. But I do disagree with the one who said it is "small stuff." It is very serious and needs both you and your husband's serious attention. I would advise both of you to find a good Christian counselor and iron out this thing some way. Your souls can depend upon it.
Becoming devout, studious and working Christians is the way to resolve most things like this. If Christian obedience is first and foremost in a couple's minds, they can usually work things out.
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