NOTE: At a time of economic turmoil and under-employment it is more crucial than ever that the individual become empowered in order to empower society or church, synagogue, mosque, or temple.
In Tozer’s words to the church, he warns believers, “When people in the church only point to others for improvement and not to themselves, it is sure evidence that the church has come to dry rot. It is proof of three sins: the sin of self-righteousness, the sin of judgment, and the sin of complacency.”[pp.7-8]
Such examples of (1) crippling self-righteousness, (2) destructively bad judgments and (3) blind complacency were witnessed by America in the run-up to both 9-11 and again in the misguided takeover of Iraq less than two years later. At both those times, some churchmen spoke out, but the fingers of accusation need to often point homeward—not always outward.
Tozer then gives the counter-example of how the 12 disciples in the upper room responded to Jesus announcement that “one of you will betray me”. Those 12 disciples immediately pointed to themselves and asked of themselves, “Is it I, Lord?” These disciples exemplified humility.
In turn, humility is where all of us need to start when analyzing the source of weaknesses in (1) country, (2) society, (3) culture, (4) church, and (5) families. Such individual humility must be in place before change is possible and any spiritual--as well as subsequent church or societal--revival begins.
Mediocre-striving individuals build mediocre churches and organizations, just as mediocre-oriented leaders build mediocre administrations in governance.
SELF-RIGHTEOUS ANGER, Etc.
Self-righteous anger is one of the unpleasant characters of Christianity that my own father passed on to me. He taught me that self-righteous anger was OK. In my childhood, he raved against the wealth of the Catholic Church. (Yet, when he was homebound in his later years, he continued to watch the Catholic services on TV.) My Dad also raved against the lack of progressive taxes in his later years, and the lack of affordable health care in his later years. (Yet, he called me a radical when I tried to go further in pushing the system to be changed for the better for all.)
In the meantime, I have been educated by another Christian leader who recently taught, “There is no self-righteous anger. It is just anger.”
In short, we need to call a spade a spade. Are individuals failing the church by not reforming themselves?
Are individuals failing to reform America because they don’t reform themselves?
Are leaders and businessmen around the globe making the same old mistakes because they don’t reform themselves instead of worshipping the status quo?
Tozer writes, “Self-righteousness is terrible among God’s people. If we feel that we are what we ought to be, then we will remain what we are. We will not look for any change or improvement in our lives. This will quite naturally lead us to judge everyone by what we are. This is the judgment of which we must be careful. To judge others by ourselves is to create havoc . . . .” [p.8]
Look at the havoc many years of fighting have done to Afghanistan, Iraq and even in the American political-economic landscape. Most of the havoc came from people—especially government and church leaders, but also all individuals in each of these lands—being firstly self-righteously angry--and then secondarily allowing themselves all kinds of excesses--while thirdly making numerous excuses for their own human frailties.
Anger is anger. Anyone in anger management will explain this to you.
In addition, Tozer warns, “Self-righteousness also leads to complacency. Complacency is a great sin and covers just about everything . . . . Some have the attitude, ‘Lord, I’m satisfied with my spiritual condition. I hope one of these days You will come, I will be taken up to meet You in the air and I will rule over five cities.’ These people cannot rule over their own houses and families, but they expect tor rule over five cities. They pray spottily and sparsely, rarely attending prayer meeting, but they read their Bibles and expect to go zooming off into the blue yonder and join the Lord in the triumph of the victorious saints.”
