The Illusion of Moral Superiority

      I have many friends who are not Christians. I’ve been fortunate enough to know these friends who are loyal, dependable, selfless, and caring. I could call them if I needed anything and they would do whatever they could to help. We may not share the same worldview, but we share many of the same personal values. I see this in how they interact with their children, their spouse, conduct business, and navigate relationships. They are good neighbors and good parents. I can honestly say that I’ve seen my non-believing friends handle some situations with more grace and mercy than I’ve possessed in similar situations. So, what’s the difference then, between a Christian and a non-Christian if it’s not morality? I mean, aren’t those who trust in Jesus Christ supposed to be “better” than those who do not believe in Jesus?

     

     I feel like my non-Christian friends believe that Christians THINK they hold some sort of morally superior position over those who don’t believe, as if what makes us different is our good moral behavior. This is probably because I’ve actually seen Christians who treat other Christians as if they are morally superior to them. So, if this behavior exists between brothers and sisters in Christ, then how much more so must it exist between them and non-Christians? I believe this attitude is prevalent in the church because much of the preaching is so focused on behavior modification rather than the gospel, but that’s another subject for another time.

     What I want my non-believing friends to know, and my brothers and sisters in Christ, who may be confused to know, is that we Christians, can lay no claims to moral superiority. To be even more direct, we (Christians) are no better than our atheist and agnostic friends. ROMANS 3:10 says, None is righteous, no, not one. Even the most morally upright person, whether they are a Christian or not, fall short of God’s perfect standard. Knowing and believing this, the Christian should readily abandon any thought or attitude of outranking someone else in morality, and embrace the reality that they are a wretched sinner who is desperately dependent upon the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, the only one who has any claim to moral superiority.

     In addition to Christians embracing the reality that we are wretched sinners, we should regularly and readily confess our sin, shortcomings, and failures. When we gather together collectively as the church for worship on Sundays, we have a time of collective / individual confession. We confess that we have fallen short of God’s perfect standard, and we confess our need for God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness. We don’t do this because we believe we are better than everyone else, but because we know we are not, and we depend on the perfect life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. The idea that human beings are imperfect and just need a little improvement is not a Christian idea. Instead, scripture tells us that all humans are in rebellion to the One True God who created them and the only way to be restored is by surrender - trusting in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, not in our own ability to be “good enough”. 

     Horatius Bonar said, “Upon a Life I have not lived, Upon a death I did not die, Another’s Life, Another’s Death, I stake my whole eternity.” This reminds us that the gospel we proclaim and plead for others to believe is not a call to adhere to some subjective moral standard of improvement. It is a call to repent; to abandon any thought of being able to meet the objective moral standard of God. It is a call to believe all that was necessary for you to be forgiven and declared righteous has been accomplished in and through Jesus Christ. Put your trust in Him and rest in what he has done.

SELF: The Focus of American Christianity

While listening to an Audiobook titled, "Warrior: Equipping Men For Spiritual Victory", the author references Daniel 6:3, which says, "Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom."

In light of this passage of scripture, the author goes on to say, "God wants to escalate us to greater places, positions, and purposes, but He's waiting on our complete alignment. In essence our excellence is the permission God needs before He will enlarge our territory and increase our impact. When we hold on to any thought, habit, or pleasure that is even slightest bit out of line with God's word, we relinquish the ability to be used to our greatest potential."

This point of view is widely accepted and widely proclaimed from pulpits all across America on any given Sunday.  To put it bluntly, this is complete and utter garbage. This is only encouraging to people who like to pretend - pretend that they got it all together, know all of the answers, or are capable of doing so.  If God wants to "escalate us to greater ...", whatever that means, nothing can stop Him from doing it - Nothing! He's not "waiting" on us for anything, and if He were waiting on us and our "complete alignment", then none of us would ever be used for His glory.  "Our complete alignment" would mean perfection and that describes exactly none of us.

"Our excellence is the permission God needs?"  He, the Creator of the universe, needs no one's permission for anything.  He does whatever He pleases (Psalm 115:3).  God's ability to use any of us is never limited by our potential or our position.  This is good news to those who feel the weight of unworthiness, grasp the darkness of their own depravity, and are painfully aware of their own limitations. This is bad news for those who believe their best efforts can control or influence our God to do something He had not intended to do; namely use them for His glory.

To believe that "our excellence" gives God "permission" produces an, I earned this / I deserve this mentality.  Like, I did it and deserve some of the credit, because after all it was my "complete alignment" that resulted in God "escalating me to greater places, positions, and purposes.  God HAD to because of my "complete alignment". No human, except Jesus has or ever will obtain complete alignment to God's Word.  Whenever or if ever we think that we've achieved complete alignment is when we've lowered the standard for perfection that God has put in place, which is what complete alignment means.  

This also produces an unhealthy focus on self.  Why hasn't God "escalated me?"  That becomes the goal and the focus becomes "alignment" for your purposes and goals rather than God's glory.  We then try to get God to bend to our will rather than resting and trusting in His.  This belittles God and makes him into a powerless being who is just waiting on our cooperation to accomplish what He needs to get done and if we don't cooperate or completely align, then He cannot do what He wanted to do and we were the reason for it not coming to pass.  This is nonsense.

God is bigger, better, and more powerful than our frail, feeble, human efforts, and God has been moving in and through the efforts of frail and feeble humans since the beginning of time to accomplish all that He wills.  And He will accomplish all that He wills with or without our best efforts.  This is good news for the self-admitted sinner, the weak, the poor, the man who just lost his job, and the woman who just lost a child.  This is good news for those who've always felt like they don't quite measure up; those who've felt like all hope is lost; those who've let others down and have been let down.  Our God never, EVER fails to accomplish His will - namely our redemption, which should be our focus, rather than being "escalated to greater places, positions, and purposes".