Topic No. 9 - "I'm Holier Than You Christianity"

I’ve done it.  You’ve done it.  It’s been done to me, and it’s been done to you.

This unmistakably holier-than-you attitude is extremely destructive to true brotherhood and proper fellowship and unity. Luke 18:9-14 records this teaching of Christ concerning self-righteousness and its effects on these matters. Those who elevate themselves in their judgment of themselves as compared to their fellow members bring on themselves this condemnation. God does not justify them when they make this kind of judgment.

Having a holier-than-thou attitude is very caustic to true sisterhood and proper fellowship and harmony.

Luke 18:9-14 says,

“⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

   ¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

   ¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Our nature seeks to exalt itself above others, to esteem itself "holier than thou" (Isaiah 65:5).

“Yet they say to each other, 'Don't come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!' These people are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away.”

God will humiliate those who seek to exalt themselves for He does not pay attention to the spiritually proud but to the contrite and humble (Isaiah 66:2).

“These are the ones I look on with favor:
   those who are humble and contrite in spirit.”

Each person is responsible for cleaning up his character and humbling himself before God. Each is not responsible for judging his brother so critically it drives a wedge between them and separates them. Such a person does not even see his own sin! In such a case, he could not be in God's Kingdom because that manner of thinking would continue right on into it, and God will not allow it there.

Humility is the key to oneness with God. Consequently, it is also the key to oneness with our brethren. God's way of achieving oneness is for each person to be so attuned to God that he is motivated to do everything possible to ensure that the relationship (with God or fellow man) is never broken.

Remember that God is judging us individually within each group. An attitude that we should not allow to grow in us is to think that we are the only ones who retain a true-church identity. The other side of that same concept is that, even if we agree that others are still part of the true church, we are still better than they are—indeed, everybody else is less than we are by comparison.

Luke 6:42:  How can you think of saying, '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.

KOTH Questions and Answers:

1. Have you ever experienced someone's "I'm-Holier-Than-You" attitude towards you?  How did that make you feel?
2. Did that attitude draw you closer to Christianity...or push you away from it?
3. Define "humility."
4. How does God want you to witness to someone?
5. In what way can you have more humility when witnessing to others?