Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

[Abiding in His Word]

...by Chaplain Mike (aka the Internet Monk)

I’m one of those preachers and I ought to just own up. So, here goes…

“Hello. My name is Mike, and I am self-righteous.”

That would be a great way for me to introduce myself at every Christian gathering. Why? Because self-righteousness is my deepest sin (and yours), my greatest sin, my most unrecognized sin, and the sin of which I ought to be most afraid. I need to be reminded of this continually.

Self-righteousness is not something I do. I express it in my words, attitudes, and actions, but those expressions reveal what I am. It is my nature, part of my default position as a sinful human being.

And the problem is, it is one aspect of my sinfulness that actually has a tendency to get worse when I become a Christian.

I have found the way.

I have discovered the answer.

I have trusted God.

I have seen the light and embraced the truth.

Oh, what dangerous ground the new Christian stands on!

But that is just the beginning. The really insidious part about this condition is....continued

[GodsStudent]

Thanks for sharing this link, Abiding. I will be saving this to read, reread and read again....

[Tevye]

The more I become an insider, the less chance
I have of relating properly to you as an outsider

Interesting perspective.

To the weak... I became weak.

"To those not having the law I became like one not having the law
(though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law),
so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak,
to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that
by all possible means I might save some.
I do all this for the sake of the gospel,
that I may share in its blessings.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run,
but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."
1 Corinthians 9

It is interesting that the Apostle Paul spoke about
becoming weak for the sake of the weak ones.
Then he goes on and talks about being assertive
as a runner in a race so as to win a prize.
Would that prize be attaining a humble spirit
that the Lord treasures above personal holiness?
Would running such a race not be running
for the sake of being the best christian
as some define what a christian must be?
Not that we should not try to be holy
as God is holy, or set apart from this world
but when others see in us that we are not afraid
to fall down once in a while and lean on God's grace, then
they will see that the Spirit of the Lord in us is full of mercy.

"The LORD is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love."
Psalm 103:8

"The saints are just the sinners who...fall down and get up."

- "We Fall Down" - by Bob Carlisle - ((((videolink))))

[burien1]

[mark s]

Yeah, I've read this a few times already . . . I think I'll read it to the Bible study group tonight . . .

Thanks, Abiding!

[Abiding in His Word]

Would that prize be attaining a humble spirit
that the Lord treasures above personal holiness?
Would running such a race not be running
for the sake of being the best christian
as some define what a christian must be?

Tevye, yes we run the race with perseverence, determination, and focus. I think the point Chaplain Mike was making is that attitude makes the difference and the danger of self-righteousness is ever present unless our focus is on what Jesus did; not on what we do. That's why Jesus said our righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees; because theirs was based on how much they knew, how holy they appeared, and how highly they esteemed their works. But our righteousness is only in Him and that not of ourselves. So we could call it "His-righteousness" rather than "self-righteousness." Big difference in attitude. Whereas the Pharisees wouldn't associate with the lowly; Paul tells us that we reach the lowly by recognizing our own lowliness (as opposed to an air of superiority or self-righteousness.)

I've always loved that "We fall down" tune. Thanks for the link. I often sing that chorus to my boys when they tell me of a failure of some kind at home or at work.

[Tevye]

the danger of self-righteousness is ever present unless our focus is on what Jesus did; not on what we do.

"whatever was to my profit..."

..to MY benefit, or MY gain...

"... I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared
to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is
through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so,
somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."

yes we run the race with perseverence, determination, and focus.

Not always an easy race to run, but who said it would be?
With all the clutter we gather along the way
and all the chatter that goes on inside
keeping us from pressing on in faith
So we worry, we fear and loose sleep.

We let go of remembering what is important
and for some who hold to a self righteousness
a law for themselves, in a moment of weakness
they fall into the trap and loose years of education.
The house they worked so hard to build has fallen.

"...if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!"
1 Corinthians 10

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect,
but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward
the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.
And if on some point you think differently, that too God will
make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those
who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you
before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.
Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await
a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring
everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."
Philippians 3

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In the real world there is suffering, there is loss, there is pain.
In our 'world' of 'the faith' we are so guarded by others, who
seem so shocked when one falls from grace, so to speak.
Shocked, when it was the self righteousness that was the wall
preventing the one from experience that which truly matures us in Christ.

Knowing... "Christ and the power of his resurrection

and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like him in his death."

This is what the Lord says:
“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?”
declares the Lord.

“This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.
Isaiah 66

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One day, when all is said and done, beauty will rise up, with glory for the humbled.

"For we know Joy is coming..." - Beauty Will Rise -