“Be not righteous over much: neither make yourself over wise: why should you destroy yourself?”
When I read through the Bible each year I inevitably come upon Ecclesiastes. (lol) This book contains some thoughts that make me scratch my head and say “What did he say?” I want you to bear with me for a few minutes and let’s see what this verse tells us, or at least what they told me. Do not be “righteous over much” means to be too righteous. Is it possible to be too righteous? Jesus thought so, because he took the scribes and Pharisees to task for their self-righteousness. We have a good example in Luke 18:9-14. In verse 9 Jesus accused the Pharisees of being self-righteous: “And (Jesus) spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in them, that they were righteous, and despised others.” The verses that follow tell us of two men who went to the temple in Jerusalem to pray. Their prayers indicated their righteousness. Here is the prayer of the Pharisee: “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God I thank you that I am not as other men are extortionist, unjust, adulterers, or even this publican'…” I think you get to the point. When we get to the point that we claim to be righteous ourselves to the point that we despise others, or look down on them, we are “righteous over much.” Incidentally, the publican (tax collector) simply prayed “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus commended that simple prayer. Today, we would say that the Pharisee was smug in his own righteousness. This does not mean that we should not live righteous lives but that we need to realize that we ourselves are not righteous, because righteousness is a result of faith in Jesus Christ. We should not be ashamed of living a righteous life. We just need to remember that we were made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ not by our own efforts. In Romans 4 Paul wrote about the faith of Abraham. God has promised him that he and Sarah would have an heir, which happened when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90. In Romans 4:22, Paul wrote about Abraham’s faith: “That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness.” In verses 23-25 Paul gives us the basis of our righteousness: “But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24. But for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord. 25. Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Whew! I hope I have adequately explained to you what it means to “not be righteous much.” Bro. Joe
2 Comments
Lloyd Story
2/13/2018 09:37:22 am
A true lesson on our times. It seems our society is more about "me" and what I've done rather than what the Lord has done.
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Tim Bice
2/13/2018 10:45:54 am
Good stuff, Joe! Thank you for your faithfulness to the Scriptures and always pointing us to Jesus. I appreciate you, "Mr. Tucker."
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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