Confessions of a Church: Excessive Righteousness

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

Ecclesiastes 7:15-22 15 I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness. 16 Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? 17 Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them. 19 Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. 20 Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. 21 Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you. 22 For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others.

"To vax or not to vax?", this is the question.

Mask wearer or "never masker"?

Self-sustained independent living, versus being a corporate slave.

Government shill, or defy tyrants?

These are certainly controversial positions, but why stop there?

Public school, or homeschool?

Having either spoken to you in person, or through reading your Facebook posts, I know for a fact that the preceding one-liners dinged just about every single person sitting here.

All of us have pet positions which we have solidified over the years. Unfortunately, many of us arrive at our conclusions through an unhealthy exposure to memes, or by latching on to a really elegant podcaster. Rather than taking a reasoned, sustained dive into God's Word, we find a blog, or mayblog, or a nice sounding podcast chock full of sanity, and we let them do the thinking for us.

Then, we begin sharing memes which support our pet position, which wind up being very black and white, clear cut, tidy with no messy ends. After that we buy t-shirts which advertise our stance on this issue or that, telegraph our every move online to the government your position demands that you hate, all the while sitting high and mighty upon our theological throne feeling very smug, confident, and right. We move from a consumer of the tasty morsels, to gatekeepers sharing wisdom all over the internet, virtue signalling how great a patriot you are for standing up to government bullies, how brave you are for telling your overlord boss to pound sand over mask mandates. Wise and virtuous, and you didn't even need to think for yourself.

"Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?"

It isn't sinful to have a well defined position on a theological, societal, or cultural matter. It is the height of arrogance, however, to have arrived at that position without having done the homework yourself, then to wield that position like a club to bash all the less virtuous, less wise peasants over the head with it.

Pride goes before destruction,

And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

— Proverbs 16:18

At this time, if you are able, please kneel as we confess our sins to our Holy, Just, Righteous God.

Heavenly Father,

We come before Your throne full of sin, pride, fear, and anxiety.

We are desperate for peace, and in our desperation we take our eyes off of Christ while in the midst of the storm.

Rather than clinging to the Word of God, we grab hold of soundbites, only to find that those do not have the words of life.

Father, give us more of Your Son. Give us a greater hunger and thirst for Your righteousness. Help us to have the sense to run to Jesus in times of turmoil, rather than to meme masters and eloquent speakers.

Please forgive us for our lack of zeal for your Word, and give us the heart and resolve we need to dig in and find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge found in Your Son.

Help us to trust in Christ alone for our righteousness.

In Jesus's name we pray, amen.

Please stand and listen to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to his church: 

1 Corinthians 1:18-24 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!