Jesus talked a lot about self-righteousness. And he condemned it. This is what the word “condemn” means: to express total, complete, and absolute disapproval of something. Jesus rejected self-righteousness. He condemned it publicly and repeatedly. He hated self-righteousness then. He still hates it today.
In His harshest condemnation of self-righteousness, Jesus went after the Pharisees, the religious leaders of His time. Here’s what Jesus taught the people about the Pharisees. He told the people to listen to what the Pharisees said that was written in Scripture because the Scriptures are 100% true. So, if the Pharisees were speaking from Scripture, what they were saying was true and therefore should be obeyed (Matthew 23:3). But Jesus immediately told the people not to behave like the Pharisees—their behavior was out of sync with what they taught. They were hypocrites. In Matthew 23, Jesus slammed the Pharisees. I mean, He really let them have it right between the eyes. Jesus skewered them for lying, greed, selfishness, and putting on a show of acting holier-than-thou. He blasted them for their lack of mercy, injustice and unfaithfulness to what God’s Word actually said. You see, the Old Testament always taught that loving God and loving others was what He desired from true believers. God has always wanted people to genuinely love Him and love others. Acting in supposed “holy” ways – putting on a show and saying the “right” words has never been acceptable to God.
Self-righteousness was not just a problem in Jesus’s time. We all have this problem. I do and so do you. We all think we have some degree of goodness in us. Why is that? Because we compare ourselves to others. It’s always easy to look at someone else, and think, “Thank goodness I’m not like that person.” Here’s the problem with that thinking: God is not comparing you to other people. God is not looking at what you’ve done in order to decide if you make the cut or not. He’s looking at your heart, at what you believe in your heart. You see, what you believe in your heart is known by the Lord because He knows everything about you. There’s nothing He doesn’t know about you. There’s nothing He doesn’t know about me. That means there’s no hiding anything from God—not what you’ve done and not what’s in your heart or mine. God knows if you truly have put your faith in Jesus or if you’re depending on your own self-righteousness.
If you want a yardstick to compare yourself to, to get an idea of what God thinks of your goodness, your self-righteousness, look at Jesus. He’s the One to compare yourself to, not others. He was sinless. He was perfect. Try telling yourself you’re good against that standard. It’s impossible. That’s what makes Jesus, His sinless life, His death, and His resurrection so precious. He gave His sinless life to pay for the sins of all who would believe in Him. The self-righteous heart says, “I can do this on my own, I don’t need Jesus.” The humble heart prays for mercy, repents of sin and seeks the forgiveness that is only possible through the Lord Jesus. I pray this will be the day that the Holy Spirit moves on your heart and brings life to your soul. If you would like prayer or a Bible, let me know.
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