A radio caller the other day had struggled to find acceptance in his own community of orthodox Jews and raised this question: "Are people harder on those in their own group than they are on outsiders?"
It's not a bad question. It seems to be a problem in religious communities everywhere: Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, Baha'i, Christian, and more. I've experienced it myself, seen it in the news, and listened to the experiences of friends from other faiths. As I mulled it over, however, I began to wonder if the issue wasn't less about faith communities and more about grace vs. works.
Ironically, living under a system where you try to earn salvation or God's favor by keeping the law, doing good, or being morally upright cultivates a judgmental heart. You live through the strain of fighting your nature to resist doing the things you shouldn't and actively do the good things you don't really want to do, and in the end if you're "successful," you become a morally upright person who expects the same from the others in your group. After all, "I was able to do it; you should be, too." Those who fail are seen as spiritually lesser people who just haven't tried hard enough. It may not be overtly stated that way, but within the hearts of the successful do-gooders, the judgment is there, looking down on others in the group with disappointment (at the very least) and self-righteous pride in their own ability to make the cut.
Contrast that with life under a system of grace in which I see myself as I really am--no hiding or sugar-coating to impress the other religious people in my circle--just a person whose nature is to run my life on my own apart from God. I replace Him with a myriad other things I love more and set myself up as the ultimate master of my fate, the decision-maker, the authority over myself--my substitute god. Before the creation of the world, God knew I would exist and choose myself as ultimate, living as if He didn't exist or have any right to my life...and before setting all of it in motion He provided my only way of escape from the damning treadmill of self-effort and self-righteousness: the perfect God-man, Jesus, who laid His life down in my place and bought me at great cost to Himself. When I trust that what He did for me was enough to save me, and that His sacrifice applied to my life changes my standing before God, I am overwhelmed by His grace.
That grace overflows onto the lives of those around me. I'm no longer critical, inwardly judgmental, self-righteous, and expecting others to meet a standard. I am overwhelmed, aware of my unworthiness of such a gift, amazed that He would set His love on me, and overflowing with love for people still on the treadmill.
It is the system of works and self-effort that creates judgment for others in our own group. I have experienced it firsthand with people who say they're trusting God but live in their own strength without any experience of intimate community or the strong freedom that comes from God's grace. This kind of grace from God creates groups of people who love each other deeply, supernaturally, intimately, with no strings attached and no judgment rendered. This is not theory; I have experienced it firsthand, and there is nothing like it. God's gift of grace evaporates self-righteousness and replaces it with love for those struggling with sin...because I see myself as a co-struggler and recipient of undeserved favor. I see others differently and am free to pour love into the lives of those who struggle with me.
