Holier Than Thou?

 

For many, many years, some Christians have been labeled by the unsaved world as holier than thou. The meaning here is intended to insinuate that the Christian thought of himself/herself as being a better person than the unsaved individual. In a lot of cases, these unsaved individuals may be right. In today's society and culture, there is a sharp divide between Christians and non-Christians and many times, it is the fault of the Christian individual.

Far too often, there is an 'us versus them' mentality by Christians and the world. Now, I'm not anti-Christian; I am a Christian myself. But what is so visible in the Church today is the fact that not only is the culture rushing into the Church, but the Church is also bleeding into the culture. Allow me to explain what I mean. As the Church in this country bleeds into the culture, it acts and responds the way the world does. If the world is going to call me a name, I'm going to call the world names. That's a simple example. As the culture invades the Church and its influence is prevalent, the Church begins to act and respond in the same way as the secular culture. 

A lot of this comes from too much media viewing such as 24 hour cable news channels. Generally, the world loves the liberal outlets while the Church loves the conservative outlets. Depending on how many hours a day is viewed, each side will take the main talking points from these outlets and use them in their rallying cries and demand, because of them, they are right. (And regardless of which one is viewed, they all love to incite) Now, I'm sure we can all understand why the world would act this way (sin nature) but why do Christians act in the same manner? Because, they have allowed themselves to be influenced by the world's behavior. Social media is just as dangerous. It's so easy to sit at a keyboard and post nasty comments; and many times to people they don't even know! Any Christian suffering from these types of media influence needs to establish some rules and boundaries for themselves and that would include more prayer in their lives.

How can this be? How has the Church allowed this to happen? Why would Christians allow this influence in their lives? First, not every Christian or every local church is guilty of these practices but far too many are. For years, the Church has borrowed secular practices and schemes for church planting and growth. These churches have used secular marketing practices to plant and/or grow their church attendance. They use a variety of attractions to get people in and then water down the message to keep them coming in.

As the gospel message is softened so as not to offend anyone, salvation becomes harder to understand or obtain. The Bible, in general terms, is not the document used to teach or preach from. Again, they don't want to offend anyone. Christians are not hearing the word of God preached or taught and they are not encouraged to read and study the Bible on their own. Also, they might not even come to church with a Bible or have a Bible app on their phone since it is never taught from. 

So, you have a part of the Church which is not being fed spiritually but are being fed a feel good about yourself message. They are being fed a social gospel/justice message. How can these people be expected to tell anyone about Jesus when they barely know Him themselves? But some of these people think they are the core of Christianity and will be quick to remind others who they are and attempt to put nonbelievers in their place.

No Christian should ever take that position with any nonbeliever. Even those who attend a solid, sound Biblical church and read and study the Bible on their own. We should never attempt to correct a nonbeliever and put them in their place. (And where is their place?) We are never commanded to go out and win the argument. We are told to go out and tell the unsaved world about Jesus and that doesn't mean we force feed them either (MT 28:19-20). If the Lord opens a door to tell someone about Him, take that opportunity and tell them in the way the Holy Spirit would lead. But if that person tells you they have heard enough or they don't want to hear anymore, then stop. Don't insist on making them listen because you will just turn them away. Remember, we tell them about Jesus and plant the seeds but it is God who does the work in their hearts. It is God who brings them in, not us.

Jesus tells us in MT chapter seven not to judge people,

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?  Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.  MT 7:1-5

Here's our problem; we all have a log in our eye and we need to remember that when we have an urge to tell someone about the speck in his/her eye.  Don't play the holier than thou card even with other Christians. Before you go to another Christian, go to God first and ask Him to get the log or logs out of your eye/s. The Bible does tell us we are to rebuke and correct Christians who are in sin but it also tells us how to do it. We don't do it with pride or a 'Hey look at my spiritual life' type of attitude. We do it with love and compassion and with a degree of awareness.

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.   Gal 6:1

And, of course, MT 18:15-17 tells us how to handle a person who sins against you. Jesus goes through the steps of this process and nowhere does He tell us to remind this person how much better a person we are in comparison to him/her.

We live in a time which is vile and corrupt. Churches and some Christians have fallen into the ways of the secular culture while still thinking they are better than others. The old holier than thou phrase does still apply today for some but it should be taken as a wake-up call. If I was to be labeled with that, I would hope I would hear it as a need to change my Christian lifestyle and start praying and asking Jesus to forgive me. Remember, we are to be witnesses for Jesus according to His word and not the world.

 -Bill Petite