Most of us will admit that from time to time we do or think
wrong things. We understand that God may not really approve of such
behavior on our part. How do we "get right" with God?
In the Book of Luke, Jesus offers us this helpful parable
(Luke 18:10-14):
"Two men went up to
the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector.
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank
you that I am not
like other men ---- robbers, evildoers, adulterers ---- or
even like this tax
collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "
"But the tax
collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to
heaven, but beat
his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "
"I tell you
that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.
For everyone who
exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles
himself will be
exalted."
In one sense, the Pharisee certainly was a good man.
When he says he gives a tenth of all he gets, that means he's generous to the
poor. When he says he doesn't commit adultery, that means he's a
faithful husband.
But let's look at the Pharisee's prayer ---- whenever we
write a thank-you note to someone, aren't we thanking them for things
that they have done? However, this Pharisee says, "God, I
thank you," and that's it. That's the last reference to God in the
prayer. This prayer is all about the Pharisee himself. This
is self-worship. Underneath the veneer of God-centeredness is utter self-centeredness.
Underneath the veneer of all that God-talk and all the God-activity and all the
morality, is adoration of self.
The Pharisee's view of acting morally right and being
righteous seems to have two characteristics:
1.) His understanding of sin and virtue
is completely external. It's completely focused on
behavior and the
violation of, or the keeping of, rules. It's not looking inside.
It is not
looking at
character. Sin is perceived completely in terms of discrete external
actions.
Notice he doesn't say,
"God, I thank you that I am getting more patient. I'm getting to be
a gentler person. I
am able to love people I used to not be able to love. I'm able to keep
my joy and peace, even
when things go wrong."
2.) The Pharisee says, "I'm not
like other men," implying, "I am so much better." ----- Is
he
perhaps looking down
on those 'other men'?
Now, consider the tax collector. What can we learn
about repentance from his attitude?
If you think of sin externally and compare it to the sin of
others, as the Pharisee did, there's always somebody who has committed more
sins than you. You are only ever a sinner, you are never the
sinner. The Pharisee, however, is thinking of sin in relative terms.
On the other hand, what the tax collector is saying is,
"All I know is I am lost, and where everybody else is does not
matter. The tax collector is not just looking at what he's done wrong, he
is not just looking at his discrete external actions ---- his whole
understanding of himself is that he is the sinner. It is a
part of the identity he was born with. He asks for mercy. He
sees he depends on God's radical grace. He cannot cure the problem
himself, it is beyond his own will power.
The attitude of the tax collector shows us that real
repentance involves real sorrow over sin and the way it grieves God. Fake
repentance is merely sorrow over the consequences of sin and the way it has
grieved YOU. Self-pity may appear to be repentance, but it is not.
Jesus says the tax collector went home "justified"
before God. What does Jesus mean by "justified before
God"? What is "justification"? Scholar and
Presbyterian pastor Timothy Keller says that in this parable, Jesus introduces
us to a universal problem ---- the problem of righteousness, and then Jesus gives
us two figures, each of whom represents a particular solution to the
problem. One solution does not work, says Keller. The other one
does work.
The Pharisee is trying to justify himself by his good deeds
and by his conscientious religious practices. He is keeping God's rules,
but in such a way (focusing on the external) that it makes him feel good about himself.
So, he can say, "Now, God, you owe me." He is keeping God's
external rules as a way of getting "right" with God. He is not
depending on God's radical grace. The tax collector, on the other hand, shows
by his words and actions that he is utterly depending on God's mercy.
"Justification" is a legal term, borrowed from the
law courts. It is the exact opposite of "condemnation".
To condemn is to declare somebody guilty, whereas "to justify" is to
declare a person free from guilt or sin. The Bible refers to God's act of
unmerited favor by which God puts a sinner "right"
with Himself ---- not only pardoning or acquitting him, but by accepting him,
and treating him as being free from guilt or sin. No matter what we
attempt to do for ourselves, only God can do this.
We are justified and thus treated as free from guilt and
sin, only because of God's unmerited favor. God's love and acceptance of
us, says Pastor Keller, is secured through Christ, and we obey God's law out of
a desire to delight, resemble and know Jesus.
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage some personal growth this year
at CPC.
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