S
I think what he was trying to say, and I agree with, Is there can be a difference.
A non believer can serve the poor.. A believer can serve the poor..
Both of these works can be considered works of self righteousness.. (depending on the believers reason for doing it) but only one of them is capable of doing this work as a work of righteousness of God.
I personally would not call it self-righteousness unless the person is seeing the works as building a stairway to heaven
(sorry now everyone has that song in their head. meh heh heh)
some people actually do have the gift of helping others and look for ways to do so
it's not generally a gift people are jumping up and down to have though