Discover The Word

Thursday, December 3, 2009, Part 1

“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found’ ” (Luke 15:25-32).

IDEA: A third symptom of self-righteousness is contempt for other people.

PURPOSE: To make the listener aware of the influence of self-righteousness in their lives.

If you go to many social events, you may notice that people spend time cutting other people down. They seldom spend the evening praising others. Why do we do that?

One mark of self-righteous people is contempt for others. Listen to a case study in self-righteousness, found in Luke 15:25-32:

“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ “

The elder brother speaks with contempt of his brother.

“This son of yours . . .” How did he say these words? He was talking about his brother. There is no love expressed for the younger son as his brother. There is no gladness at his return.

His language reveals that he regards his brother as something vile, contemptible, despicable.

When we refer to people we disagree with or whose lifestyle we despise, we often slander the sinner in the name of hating his sin. What you laugh at and what you get other people to laugh at is often a dead give-away of this attitude of self-righteousness.

He prefers to think the worse of his brother’s conduct: “he squandered your money with prostitutes.” People outside the church smell that attitude within the church. They feel like outsiders—and often they are.

The elder brother speaks with disrespect to his father.

Oddly enough, the father is blamed for his grace. Everything is his fault.

There are many people who get upset with God for those that He chooses to save and those He chooses to use. We feel that He must do what we want and honor us, not others.

We don’t realize that when we disassociate ourselves from those whom God welcomes that we separate ourselves from Him.

Self-righteousness leads us to doubt the Father and His working in the world. Doubts keep rising like a toxic fog from hearts that are not in tune with the Father.