Introduction

My friends, we continue today with our third sermon on "Wisdom, Folly, and Madness": Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise. It is a bit of a mouthful: do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise. This sermon is directed first and foremost at myself. Why? Because over these past years, I have been overrighteous, and it was foolish in the extreme.

You see, I have come to realize that I am a soft-hearted man. I have one saving grace—I am adaptable. The moment I see I am wrong, I change. I see another mistake, I change again. Today, I am making yet another correction. In this church, we often like to change people, and we dignify it with the name of "pastoring." Is that what pastoring truly is? It does not seem quite right, does it? It turns out much of what we called pastoring was simply being overrighteous.

Why do we become overrighteous? Take, for instance, a person diagnosed with cancer. We pray for them desperately; our longest prayer session lasted thirteen hours. In the end, it was of no use. You might say it had some effect, because he was previously bedridden and completely strengthless, yet he could get up and walk. But then you must admit it was futile, because the very next day he collapsed again. Why? Because he never changed his ways.

Later, I realized that I had been overwise. I was self-righteous, I was overrighteous, and I could not change a person's destiny. I studied the matter deeply once more and realized that these things actually come from God. When a person violates God’s word, a curse is formed, and when that curse bears fruit, it becomes judgment. If God is judging him, what can I possibly do? Do you understand this? It brings me great pause.

I then observed a very curious phenomenon: these people all think rather highly of themselves. They all believe they are thoroughly decent. "Pastor, you know, I am a very kind person." I ask, "You are kind? In what way?" "Well, look, when I see an old lady carrying groceries across the street, I help her carry them. And when the church meets, I am always the first to arrive to set up the chairs." Is this what makes a good person? I ask, "Have you ever done anything bad?" "Oh, plenty." So are you a good person or a bad person? Good heavens.

They get cancer, yet they still think they are good people: "How could God be so blind as to let this happen to a person as good as me?" God’s eyes are sharp and penetrating. I speak with deep feeling because I have ministered to many such cases. These numerous instances have forced me to constantly reflect and adjust, reflect and adjust. What God has made crooked, I cannot make straight. If God has made it crooked, how can I possibly bend it straight? I would be contending with God! Let me tell you, whatever logic a person holds inside, that is exactly how they will live. People do not believe there is anything wrong with themselves. If a person believed their way was wrong and harmful, they would not do it. If they believed it would cause them loss, they would not do it. If they believed it was to their advantage, how could they resist doing it? Is that not so?

I am deeply moved by this. To think oneself a good person is a highly dangerous thing. To think that one must act righteously to change others—that is called being overrighteous! Therefore, from this day forward, I ask you all to help me. I still have bad habits that I have not fully corrected. In my pastoring, I am always trying to change people, am I not? From now on, I will not change others; I will change myself. If you wish to change, you may come to me, and we shall explore the way together. If you do not wish to change, I will not seek you out, and you need not seek me. We shall leave it at that.

Why? Because I cannot afford to be overrighteous any longer; I cannot continue in this folly. Even just a couple of days ago, I behaved foolishly again. I hated myself for it. How could I fall into the same old pattern? But then I thought, it is no easy thing to rid oneself of a deep-seated habit, is it? Help me, my friends. I realized that to be overrighteous and overwise is to destroy oneself. As the Scripture says, why destroy yourself? It only brings shame and ruin.

Ah, this repentance is good. This repentance is excellent. It is well with the brothers, well with the sisters. Peace to the brothers, peace to the sisters. All is well, all is good. How wonderful! If I deal with your flesh, and you bare your teeth at me, what is the point of that? From now on, let us all strive to change ourselves. You strive to change yourself, and I will strive to change myself. Let us engrave God’s word upon our hearts, and let His word and His Spirit transform us.

Of course, we must still preach God’s word. What the word says, we shall say. If the word says this, we preach this. If people can receive it, let them receive it; if not, let it be. It is only natural for people to suffer a little, is it not? Sometimes I care too much; I do not want people to suffer, and so I become overrighteous. I tell them, but it is of no use!

For so many years—as we say in Northeast China—I have eaten so many beans, yet I still did not know the raw smell of them? If you bite into a raw soybean, you will find it incredibly unpleasant. I actually thought I was some man of God, when in truth I was merely an overrighteous man. You see, these people must repent. If they change themselves, if they desire to change, then the matter is easily resolved. As long as a person is willing to change, God will surely help them.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us begin to readjust our inner logic. Once you adjust it, you will live out the results of your own logic. A person’s perception of things can be changed. Is there not a saying: "Mountains and rivers are easily changed, but a man's nature is hard to alter"? Since nature is hard to alter, let us not try to change their nature. But what can we change? We can change their inner perception of things. And even then, it is not I who change it, but they themselves who must desire to change. You see, when I lead prayers in our groups, some say, "Pastor, I agree with what you said; in fact, my thinking is exactly the same as yours." Where is it the same? You are overrighteous just like me, and you are self-righteous just like me. Undoubtedly, we are all sinners. In my journey of ministry, I have come to realize that I still have many lessons to learn.

Once, there was a case of domestic violence. The wife called me while her husband was outside kicking the door. She had locked it, and the door frame was about to come down. I thought the husband was rather foolish; if it were me, I would have gotten an electric jackhammer and demolished the door. I first called the police, and then I went down myself and brought her out, otherwise she would have been beaten.

In truth, she had been beaten for many years. Was I not being overrighteous? I learned many lessons from that, and the "beans" I ate that time were very bitter indeed. After I brought her out, I looked for a place for her. I drove all over the place to find her an apartment. Once the apartment was secured, she brought her husband right back in to live with her. I do not know if her skin was itching for another beating, or what it was, but I simply could not comprehend it.

Later I asked her, "What are you doing?" She replied, "Actually, my husband is quite a good man." Well, fine, very, very good. Excellent. Let me tell you, do you think a mind like that will change? I did my utmost to help her, thinking she would be grateful, but she still possessed the mindset of an abused wife. When her husband was not beating her, she turned her manipulative ways on me. I thought to myself, what kind of business is this?

Since then, I have made it a rule for our leaders—not my leaders, but the leaders among us: when you encounter such domestic violence, do not interfere. If she does not get beaten, she feels uncomfortable. If she truly found it unbearable, she would have left long ago; she would not have dragged it out for so many years. Do you understand? There is no need to interfere. I have found this situation to be quite common. Never be overrighteous. If she did not like the abuse, she would have resolved it long ago. Since she does not wish to resolve it, we should not interfere in the affairs of a husband and wife.

If you interfere, I guarantee you that one day she will tell you, "Actually, my husband has this virtue and that virtue, he is quite good." Otherwise, how could they have stayed together for so many years? If there are those among you experiencing domestic violence, now that you have heard me, make your own decision. You do not need to come to me for endorsement.

I will not advise you to divorce or not to divorce, to separate or not to separate. I do not care. I care only about one thing: can you elevate your inner knowledge, your logical system, and your wisdom so that you know how to handle it? Do not end up saying, "Actually, he is quite good, it is I who am bad." In other words, the outcome of a person's life is the result of their inner perception. It is not just that their perception is flawed, but that they themselves believe their perception is correct. A person's life is not long; why must one insist on being beaten? Some people are beaten into their eighties and still do not wake up. Just the other day, a friend told me his father had died. He said his father died after a marital dispute—he jumped from the building at eighty-eight years of age. Remarkable, to be able to fight until eighty-eight.

There was a short video online that was highly amusing. An old man and an old woman, both hunchbacked, one holding a stick and the other a broom. My goodness, their martial arts skills were superb, trading blows back and forth. The old couple were just exercising, were they not? If they accidentally fell from the building, that would be another matter. This is what we call "nature." A person does not see any problem with their own behavior. How could they? They do not even know there is a problem. Therefore, I tell you, everyone thinks they are right, and everyone thinks they are a good person.

If the other party does not believe they are wrong, you must never interfere. If you wish to repent, we shall pray together. If you do not wish to repent, what is the point of praying? Prayer will be of no use. What kind of people have I seen? They organize intercessory prayer teams. Some time ago, a sister in our church was approached by another sister from her former church, a self-proclaimed prophetess, who wanted to recruit her into a prayer team to pray for their former pastor, hoping he would repent.

Praying for him to repent? Is that not witchcraft? Do you understand? I mutter some prayers here, and you change over there? What do you call that? It is witchcraft. I see many intercessory teams doing exactly this. There was a brother who claimed to be the "watchman" of his church. He told me he was praying desperately behind the scenes for his pastor, hoping the pastor would turn away from his erroneous theology.

His pastor is still alive and well, but this watchman has already passed away. He prayed until he got cancer, and yet he kept praying. I have never seen such a person change. Some sisters among us have prayed for their husbands for many years without any change. The husband does nothing but beat her and insult her. I cannot understand it, but she thinks she is doing something great.

Therefore, when we speak of wisdom, folly, and madness, is this not madness? Even God does not force her pastor to change, yet she thinks she can? Remember: do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise. I have committed both of these errors. I repent deeply. If in a few days you find me falling into the same pattern, please forgive me. I am just like you; it is not easy to change a habit.

What am I trying to bend? It is like a spring; I pull and bend it with all my might, but the moment I let go, it snaps right back to its original shape. I go back to bend it again, sweating profusely. I might as well do something else. If you are willing to change, it is your blessing; if you are not, that is also your lot. If you fall gravely ill in the future, what has that to do with me? Nothing. I will preach the word of God as it should be preached. Books like Ecclesiastes must be read thoroughly. Every person has what we call a "core logic" or a "core mindset"—something programmed deep inside them. Those who know computers understand this: if you buy a drone or some smart device, the moment you connect it to your phone, it first updates its firmware. There is a thing called firmware, software that is hardcoded into the device. The software is what it is, and the device will behave accordingly; you cannot change it.

For us to walk out of folly, we must realize that our firmware—the hardware, or "hard-body" as they say in Taiwan—is just like that. If you buy an electric car, it must be charged; you cannot put petrol in it. It is an electric car or a hybrid; that is its nature, and you cannot change it. If it is a petrol car, you cannot charge it.

Therefore, what God has made crooked, how can you make it straight? Do not try to straighten what God has made crooked; to do so is to be overrighteous. My friends, sometimes I still cling too much to this present life. Why? Because I do not want you to suffer in this life. But in truth, a little suffering is good. How fitting it is to live out the reality of what one is. If one is born to be abused, and later marries an abusive husband, is that not exactly what matches her inner state? To suffer some physical pain is only natural.

Someone wrote a comment on YouTube, saying, "Whoever interferes is the fool. I once helped a victim of domestic violence, only to end up pleasing no one, and the victim ended up saying her husband was actually very good." They were playing a game, digging a pit for others to fall into, running a scam as a couple. Let us deal with this thing inside us: "do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise." For what is crooked is crooked, and what is bent is bent. If they wish to change, let them change; if not, let it be.

Scripture

In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness. Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise—why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool—why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes. (Ecclesiastes 7:15-18)

Prayer

Prayer of Reflection and Trust

Lord Jesus, open our minds. Grant us the grace to constantly reflect upon ourselves, to examine our hearts, and to deal with our own shortcomings. Let us use Your Word as a mirror to examine our inner selves. Show us when we are being overrighteous, when we are foolish, and when we are arrogant. Grant us a wise heart so that we may see through the illusions of this world and walk in the fear of You. Help us to recognize this truth: what God has made crooked, who can make straight?

O God, You rule over all. You sovereignly govern all things in heaven and on earth. My resolve is to fear You and to trust in You. Whatever I do, I will live by Your Word. O God, we often go astray; have mercy on us and constantly set us back on the right path. Let us understand that to live is to trust in You. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Biblical Background

Consider Solomon. He lived a full life, and when he summarized his life's observations, he noticed a troubling reality: good people die young. A man could be genuinely good, doing good deeds all day long. Yet, if he helps someone who fell on the street, he gets framed and extorted—sheer misfortune. The righteous perish in their righteousness; good people do good things, yet it leads to their ruin. Lei Feng is a classic example, as is Qu Yuan—both were good men. Solomon saw many such cases. On the other hand, the wicked prolong their lives in their wickedness. It defies common understanding.

Indeed, if you observe closely, you will arrive at the same conclusion as Solomon: many people think they are quite good, and indeed they are. Yet, they did not survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the wicked continue to do evil and enjoy long lives. It seems utterly absurd. If you observe this, will you not be perplexed? Of course you will.

Was Solomon perplexed? Absolutely. In his perplexity, he asked: what is this all about? He reached a conclusion: do not be overrighteous. When the righteous go to extremes in their righteousness, they die early. Do not be overly wise either—why destroy yourself? This is a profound conclusion.

His preceding statement was equally profound: "Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?" If you try to straighten what He has bent, you are contending with God. If God bends something, it is simple for Him—it is bent in an instant. By His thought, things are created or destroyed. Yet, you try to straighten it. The next day you find it bent again; you straighten it again, and on the fourth day, it is bent once more.

This is very similar to my experience ministering to the critically ill. It exhausts me, and frankly, it must weary God as well. I work to redo today, God undos tomorrow; I redo again, and God undos again. What are we doing? Eventually, God says: "Let this person be removed and perish." You are constantly causing trouble. Can I not execute judgment on an individual? Why do you keep standing in the way? This is being overrighteous.

This is highly intriguing. Solomon’s summary is excellent. How did he arrive at this? Let me explain: there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and never sins. The truth is, those who claim to be righteous have merely self-canonized. Do you understand? It is like making a grand official hat at home, putting it on, and pretending to be a high-ranking minister of the court. It is a counterfeit title, not one bestowed by the King. Yet, they genuinely believe they are of high rank. Solomon concluded that there is actually no such thing as a righteous man. There is not a single righteous man on earth who does good and never sins—not even one. All are sinners; they merely perceive themselves to be good.

Let me tell you, brothers and sisters, many pastors who have passed away were genuinely good people. They worked hard, served God diligently, and thought well of themselves. Yet, they met an untimely end.

Why? Because man must not presume himself to be good or righteous. Do you understand? These are self-appointed titles. Someone once said to me, "Pastor, I have observed that pastors in churches often end up living quite miserably. Meanwhile, those in the congregation who are indifferent, unenthusiastic, and mediocre seem to live quite well. Does this not perplex you?" Indeed, God deliberately allows such perplexing things to exist.

What is the root cause? Those "good" people are actually sinners, but because they believe they are good, they are ruined. A person who knows he is wicked and does bad things might not provoke God's wrath as much as a sinner who does a few good deeds and consequently believes he is a righteous man. Do you see it now? Believing oneself to be a good person is a highly destructive mindset.

Having identified this law, I must remind myself daily: "I am a sinner, I must repent." I wake up in the morning: "I am a sinner, I must repent." I sit down to eat: "I am a sinner, I must repent." Of course, do not take this to a neurotic extreme, constantly muttering it to the point of mental illness—that would make you a sinner in a different sense.

The answers Solomon found to these life questions are outstanding. We must not be perplexed. When you see the suffering a person undergoes, you can deduce how cluttered their mind is. The most toxic thought in a person's mind is the belief that they are a good person. I have ministered to many cancer patients; without exception, every single one of them believed they were a good person.

Perhaps I can offer you a piece of advice that is far more effective than any health supplement. What is this supplement? Never consider yourself a good person. It might just save your life. Solomon summarized this beautifully.

Let us look at what Solomon said: "Do not take to heart everything people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you." Why? "For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others."

No matter how good a person claims to be, if we were to record every word they have ever spoken, they would be condemned. They have certainly cursed and judged others. We rarely do what we believe to be wrong; we only do what we believe to be right. Therefore, we always justify our own words, even when we are cursing others.

Let me illustrate how common this is. I often see employees gossiping about their bosses. Have you noticed this? If you have never worked in an office, you might not know, but employees love to gather and criticize their superiors. Later, when you get promoted to a managerial position, your subordinates will treat you in exactly the same way.

And you still consider yourself righteous? You cannot even control your own tongue. How are you righteous? You gossip about others, yet you claim righteousness. There is no righteous man, no truly good person. The belief that one is good is the most lethal spiritual cancer cell. If you can grasp this truth, it will be powerful. I, too, have done a great deed of charity by sharing this with you. Why? Because I am telling you that we are all sinners.

Do you think you are a good person? I have only done one good deed in these few minutes, and immediately after, I return to being a sinner. I say this half in jest, but the reality is that none of us are truly good or righteous. I classify all of us as sinners, which is exactly how God classifies us.

Solomon conducted this experiment and analyzed it thoroughly. After his analysis, he earnestly desired to know wisdom, to investigate, and to seek out the scheme of things. He wanted to understand wickedness, folly, and madness.

He searched thoroughly, but he did not find it. He said, "I applied my heart to know, to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things... which my soul still seeks but I cannot find." Did he find it or not? He found that the righteous perish in their righteousness, and the wicked prolong their lives in their wickedness. Therefore, do not be overrighteous, and do not make yourself overwise—why destroy yourself?

It is difficult to make sense of everything in this world. Why? Because you are looking at worldly events through worldly logic, which cannot explain them. You must view them through a spiritual lens. When you do, you realize that life on this earth is fundamentally a spiritual matter. People analyze, write papers, study genetics, and research organ transplants.

What is the ultimate use of all this knowledge? It cannot avert disaster. Some people desire to live to 150. One day, they might find a 160-year-old man—frail, emaciated, with zero quality of life. If living to 150 means looking like a dried shrimp, I would rather pass. Those who study how to extend life to 150 rarely consider the practicalities. From retirement at 60 to 150 is 90 years. How much money will that require? It would be a life of immense toil.

I have a friend in Singapore who fell gravely ill. He told me, "If I don't treat it, I die. If I treat it and get cured, I still die." I asked, "How so?" He replied, "If I am cured, I will have spent all my money and be bankrupt." It is a grim calculation. Sometimes, an earlier, peaceful departure is better than prolonged suffering. Of course, I do not claim this opinion to be absolute truth.

Therefore, if you seek truth, do not look for it solely within the confines of this present life. If you do, the accounts will never balance. You will ask why a decent person died so young. But in the spiritual realm, the ledger is perfectly balanced. In the spiritual realm, self-righteousness is a grave issue.

Solomon’s worldly research did not fully reconcile. He found only this one essential truth: "God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes." He also noted a crucial point: "The one who fears God shall escape them all." This is the key. Fear God, trust Him, and do not be self-righteous or overrighteous.

Being overrighteous leads to sickness. If you want to avoid illness, stop trying to be a self-proclaimed saint. Acknowledge that you are a sinner. Even the wicked do not die before their time unless they are excessively wicked.

What is the ultimate goal? To change ourselves. Self-correction is the greatest wisdom a person can acquire. Once we adopt this mindset, we stop struggling against reality.

When people mistreat us, we can reflect: "I am a sinner; this is what I deserve." They treated the Lord Jesus far worse, and since I am not greater than my Master, is it not normal for people to treat me this way? With this perspective, your heart will find peace, joy, and contentment. Stop looking for trouble, stop insisting you are always right, and adjust your attitude. Wisdom is paramount.

Why? Because the day of death is better than the day of birth. Death is the destiny of every man, and the living should take this to heart. How we die is not the main concern—whether our blood sugar or blood pressure fluctuates, or whether our emotions go up and down, the end is the same. Therefore, let us make a decision: from this moment until the day we close our eyes for the last time, let us choose joy.

When trouble comes, reflect: "Ah, perhaps I have been overrighteous again." When there is joy, enjoy it fully. Be happy day by day. If you can be happy for two days, why not aim for three? In the past, we looked for trouble, making ourselves and others miserable. Let us stop doing that. Let everyone be joyful.

If someone insists on gratifying their flesh, let them be. If I try to stop them forcibly, I will only make myself their enemy. When their choices lead to trouble, they will have to face the consequences. If they still do not wake up, so be it. Amen.

The righteous perish in their righteousness, and the wicked prolong their lives. Many believe they are righteous when they are not. Does performing a single righteous act make you a righteous person? Absolutely not.

The Righteous Perish in Their Righteousness, and the Wicked Prolong Their Lives

The Danger of Over-Righteousness and the Path to True Wisdom

This phenomenon of a righteous man perishing in his righteousness is something I have observed all too often. It is a common sight. Consider those who merely drift along in the church, doing just enough to get by. They face no crises; they are quite alright. If you choose to coast along, nothing untoward happens to you. But then you have those who serve with intense activity, harboring the illusion that they are making a monumental contribution. They view themselves as thoroughly good people, convinced that God is in their debt, that their brothers and sisters are in their debt, indeed, that the entire world owes them a living. That is the beginning of their ruin.

If you ask me to find fault in some of these individuals, I honestly cannot find much. Among those I have encountered, some were genuinely decent people by human standards. Yet, their demise was agonizing, ravaged by cancer. You might ask, "Were they not truly good people?" Indeed, they believed so themselves. I had a dear friend, a victim of cancer, who was by all accounts a good man. On one occasion, perhaps pushing my own righteousness too far, I told him plainly that his sickness was a curse. He nearly struck me, and I had to make a hasty retreat. He was indeed a good man in the eyes of the world. Whenever he met preachers, he would invite them to his company to share the Word with his employees and other believers. Afterwards, he would present them with a generous honorarium—I received one myself once. Yet, he died of cancer. He departed this world believing he was an exceptionally outstanding, Lord-loving person.

Let this be a warning to you all from this day forward: never indulge in the self-congratulatory notion that you love the Lord deeply. That is precisely what it means to be "over-righteous." Do you understand? It is far safer, and far more accurate, to constantly feel that your love for the Lord is insufficient, and that your understanding of His truth is severely lacking. That is the starting point of spiritual safety.

The most fatal spiritual condition is for a man to believe he is essentially good. In the spiritual realm, this is the highest level of offense against God. Let us compare King Saul and King David. Saul did not commit many conventionally heinous acts, but he possessed a supreme self-righteousness. He insisted, "I have indeed carried out the solemn command of the Lord." But God said, "No, you have not." How did such a massive discrepancy arise? Saul genuinely believed he had been obedient. David, on the other hand, never felt he was enough. Where is the human logic in this? There is none. It defies human reasoning.

Therefore, to the wicked I say: do not overdo your wickedness. Do not be over-wicked, and do not be foolish—why destroy yourself before your time? Do you understand? A wicked man may commit some folly and survive, but we must never presume ourselves to be righteous in this world. Why do some wicked people seem to escape immediate judgment? Because when they do something underhanded, they actually recognize it as such. Paradoxically, acknowledging one's own moral failure is far safer than harboring a delusion of self-righteousness.

There is Not a Righteous Man on Earth Who Does Good and Never Sins

Read the Scriptures and see if this is not so. I am laying bare the truths of Ecclesiastes Chapter Seven for you. Without this exposition, I doubt you could navigate its complexities; it took me countless readings and divine revelation to arrive at this understanding. There is not a single person who consistently does good and never sins. If nothing else, the words of our own mouths condemn us.

What did Jesus say? Every idle word men speak, they will give account of it on the day of judgment. Let me give you an illustration. Suppose something is stolen from my home, and I declare, "Whoever stole from me deserves to die!" But what if, on some other occasion, I myself have taken what was not mine? When I stand before the heavenly tribunal, God will say, "This man deserves death." And what of my title as a teacher? It matters not; the sentence is passed.

If I protest, "This is unfair!" God will reply, "How is it unfair? You have condemned yourself by your own standard. You declared that thieves deserve to die, and you yourself have stolen." Thus, we pronounce our own judgment.

Therefore, do not judge, lest you be judged. Be extremely careful. We are all sinners in absolute need of the Lord Jesus. Do not look to me, and I will not look to you; we must look solely to Him. We are all sinners who require the cleansing blood of Christ, who must feed on His flesh and drink His blood. Do you understand? We need His blood to cover the transgressions of our lips. This is the essence of salvation. We commit countless wrongs, yet we perform one or two good deeds and think ourselves magnificent. That is a highly dangerous state of mind.

Consider the Work of God: Who Can Make Straight What He Has Made Crooked?

How profound these words are! God has fashioned this world and its inhabitants in a certain way; can you alter it? I certainly cannot. If a person is utterly convinced of their own rectitude, how can I change them? I cannot. If it were a toddler of two or three, a firm correction would suffice. But when dealing with grown adults, physical or forceful coercion is out of the question. If pastoral care were merely about physical domination, the church would descend into a boxing arena.

If I were merely a gym manager, we would spend our time physically battering one another's flesh. But that is not our calling. Our ministry must ascend to a higher level. We cannot engage in mutual destruction, trading insults and curses that will eventually be exposed before the heavenly court. What would become of our Chinese Mingding Doctrine then? We must cease such folly.

What then must we do? We must observe the work of God. If God has allowed a person to be lazy, and their laziness eventually breeds sickness, we can gently advise them: "The Lord suggests you are somewhat idle; if you disagree, so be it." That is the limit of our intervention. We pray for God's mercy, but to press further would be to overstep into self-righteousness.

If a person is stubborn, let them be stubborn. Control your own reactions, compose yourself, and do not be over-righteous. What God has made crooked, you cannot make straight. If I attempt to force it straight, I become over-righteous, and God may well remove me for meddling in His affairs. We must focus on disciplining ourselves. Has God made you crooked? Do not blame Him. It is we who crooked ourselves.

Let us be clear: God created you with all your physical faculties intact and a sound mind. Yet, from youth, human beings begin to warp their own thinking, developing a rigid, distorted mindset. Is it God who made you crooked? No. God created man upright, but He allows you to persist in your stubbornness and crookedness if you so choose. The remedy is simple: admit your condition. If you ask me, "Pastor, am I crooked?" I will tell you that you are warped beyond measure—perhaps a full three hundred and sixty degrees. You are so twisted you have become like a pretzel, yet you still claim to be straight.

We must recognize how twisted we are internally. We find fault with everyone else, yet we remain highly satisfied with ourselves, viewing our own warped perspective as the gold standard. It is highly ironic. If a person is short, or overweight, or flawed, you cannot point it out without offending them. It is a form of psychological fragility.

In such matters, I choose to commit them to God. Can we do this? Yes, we must. God has not commissioned us to straighten what is crooked in others. If you recognize the crookedness in yourself, then work on your own alignment. If you were once a twisted pretzel, strive to become straight.

Have you ever tried to manually straighten a pretzel? The moment you let go, it snaps back into its twisted shape. You must realize that you cannot change another person. Even changing oneself is an uphill battle, attempted only in times of crisis and quickly abandoned when the crisis passes. We must acknowledge that God sovereignly rules over all.

Fear God and Depart from the Extremes of Self-Righteousness and Wickedness

We must move beyond human judgments of what is "righteous" or "wicked." Our sole standard must be obedience to the Word of God. We must fear God. Why must we abandon these human categories? Because judging by "righteousness" and "wickedness" is simply operating under the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

We must fear God because whatever you receive in this life is what you deserve; nothing that befalls you is an injustice. God allows trials so that we may examine ourselves. In times of adversity, reflect. And what should we reflect upon? The fear of God.

If you truly fear God, would you dare to boast of your own goodness? To do so is to invite ruin. We must confess our shortcomings, avoid meddling in what God has made crooked, and focus on straightening our own lives according to His Word.

Be Upright

By the grace of Jesus Christ, strive to be an upright person. If you admit you are a sinner, there is hope for you. If you admit you have done wrong, there is a way forward. But if you insist on your own righteousness, you have no hope; your only destination is destruction. Consider what the Scripture says: "Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes."

Look at the endless schemes we devise. We are born relatively uncomplicated, but through worldly education and experience, we learn to twist ourselves. We warp our own minds through self-justification, until we view the world through a distorted mirror.

Therefore, acquire wisdom. If you see someone who is spiritually twisted, do not point it out bluntly, lest they react in anger. Focus instead on your own alignment. God created us upright, yet we choose to twist ourselves and invite unnecessary suffering.

People suffer from severe illnesses, undergoing agonizing treatments, yet they place all their hope in human institutions while maintaining the delusion that they are "good people." It is an stubbornness that defies reason.

We must recognize our own internal distortions. It is easy to spot the twists in others while assuming we are perfectly straight. We must change ourselves. This message is a call to self-examination—for me to change myself, and for you to change yourself, rather than focusing on the faults of others.

In our service, let us act within our measure and avoid over-righteousness. If someone invites your correction, then offer it. But if they have not asked for it, do not impose it, lest you invite conflict and turn the church into a battleground.

In conclusion: do not be over-righteous, and do not be overly wise in your own eyes. True wisdom lies in self-discipline. In our pastoral work, we must minister according to people's spiritual hunger. We offer help to the extent that they desire to change. We cannot force change upon them; they must choose it for themselves. One day, you will thank God, and indeed thank your own decision to change, because that desire is where the Holy Spirit begins His work, transforming you into the image of God.

Amen. May God bless you all.