Gospel for October 23, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 18:9-14
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus returns to one of his favored methods of teaching to draw the contrast between self-righteousness and true repentance and humility.  He tells a parable that features two characters — the Pharisee and the tax collector.  Note that Jesus’s audience here is the Pharisees:

He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.

Because we are so familiar with the “types” of these characters if we have read the Gospels, we sometimes lose perspective.  The Pharisee in Jesus’ time was not considered a villain.  Far from it.

The Pharisee was a member of a highly selective Jewish religious fraternity.  Pharisee means separated ones because these individuals had devoted themselves to the highest moral standards and obedience to God’s law.  Jesus himself points out elsewhere that the teachings of the Pharisee were in themselves good.  It was the practice of the Pharisees that he criticized — sometimes for their hypocrisy, sometimes for their cold-hearted self-righteousness and judgmental nature.  His demand for holiness exceeds that of the Pharisees!

Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:19-20).

The setting of the parable is the temple, and the Pharisee and the tax collector have come to pray.  The first “protagonist” in the story is the Pharisee, who gives thanks to God that he is not a sinner.  The sins that the Pharisee mentions are sins.  Make no mistake about that — extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers.  The first, extortion, is an abuse of power by the mighty over the weak.  The second word unrighteous, means unjust — not simply those who are ritually or religiously unjust, but those who flout laws governing social relations.  And adulterers are clearly in defiance of God’s commands.

Jesus is not in disagreement with the Pharisee about these sins, as we see by reviewing his teachings elsewhere.  And when the Pharisee compares his righteousness to the tax collector praying nearby, we have to remember that tax collectors weren’t hated just because they were the IRS of their day. Tax collectors were in collusion with the occupying imperial forces of Rome, and typically practiced extortion and worse toward their hapless victims.

Moreover, the spiritual disciplines that the Pharisee brags about were also endorsed by Jesus elsewhere:

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.

Jesus himself practiced fasting, and in Matthew’s Gospel he assumes that his disciples will fast:

when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face; so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:17-18).

And Jesus says of the scrupulous, detailed tithes practiced by the Pharisees, in keeping with the Scriptures:

you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone (Luke 11:42).

Jesus is not critical of the Pharisee for his “righteousness” or his spiritual disciplines, but for his judgmental attitude and his lack of humility.

Which brings us to the contrast between the Pharisee and the tax collector.  The tax collector is deeply aware of his own unworthiness to be in the presence of God:

the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

The tax collector knows that he is a sinner in desperate need of God’s forgiveness.  The Pharisee believes, it seems, that he is beyond reproach and has earned God’s approval.

Jesus’ judgment is clear:

 I tell you, this man [the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.

This message concerning humility and pride is central in Scripture.  The Song of Mary, uttered by Jesus’ mother before he was born, summarizes this message.  She says that the Lord:

has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
 He has put down princes from their thrones.
And has exalted the lowly.
 He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:51-53).

APPLY:  

Our take-away from this passage is not “Jesus doesn’t care if we sin, and doesn’t care whether we practice the spiritual disciplines or not.”  That is not the message here.

Rather, Jesus is contrasting the self-righteous and self-exalting attitude of the Pharisee with the humble repentance of the tax collector.  It is interesting that Jesus uses the word justified.  The root of the word justified  that Jesus uses here is the same used repeatedly by St. Paul to describe his doctrine of justification by faith throughout his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians.

The message is the same — justification  is not something that we earn, or that we accomplish for ourselves.  Justification is a gift of God, that we receive with humility by faith.  Grace means gift. 

Such grace is available to all who humble themselves and recognize their utter dependency on God.

RESPOND: 

Many years ago when I was a young pastor I resolved that for one day I was going to be perfect.  I was going to avoid negative words to my wife and children; I was going to be kind and helpful; I was going to do the right thing, pray, do good deeds, the whole “enchilada,” so to speak.

Perhaps one way to do that might have been to stay in my room all day and avoid contact with anyone, right?  But I knew better. I knew that true righteousness meant being proactively good, not just passively.

I don’t really remember how long it took me to realize that I had sinned, if not in deed at least in thought.  I know it wasn’t all that long.

But I do remember one key insight that I had — my effort to be perfect had a unique effect on my perspective.  I was no longer focused on God.  My focus had become on me!  Seeking my own righteousness, and justifying myself, meant I was missing the very source of righteousness, holiness and love — God himself!

That is the problem with works righteousness.  We delude ourselves into thinking that somehow we can climb some “stairway to heaven” by our own effort.  But even the most righteous person still falls short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

In fact, religions and philosophies that seek to create such a “stairway” through works, pillars, paths, or even the Law, fail to grasp the sheer transcendence and holiness of God.  None of us can possibly reach God by our own efforts.

Instead, God has come to us through Jesus Christ, so that he might lift us up to God.

That’s what the tax collector learned.  Any good works or spiritual disciplines that he (hopefully) practiced after his justification were the result of his new relationship with God, not the method used to earn God’s favor.

Lord, I am not an extortioner or an adulterer, and I hope I’m not unjust.  I do practice the spiritual disciplines of tithing and fasting.  But I don’t rely on any of my own meager ‘accomplishments’ for justification.  Like the tax collector, I plead with you — ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ Only for Jesus sake, I trust, may I be justified.  Amen.  

PHOTOS:
"Foot Of The Cross" by timchallies is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for October 27, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 18:9-14
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus returns to one of his favored methods of teaching to draw the contrast between self-righteousness and true repentance and humility.  He tells a parable that features two characters — the Pharisee and the tax collector.  Note that Jesus’s audience here is the Pharisees:

He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.

Because we are so familiar with the “types” of these characters if we have read the Gospels, we sometimes lose perspective.  The Pharisee in Jesus’ time was not  considered a villain.  Far from it.

The Pharisee was a member of a highly selective Jewish religious fraternity.  Pharisee means separated ones because these individuals had devoted themselves to the highest moral standards and obedience to God’s law.  Jesus himself points out elsewhere that the teachings of the Pharisee were in themselves good.  It was the practice of the Pharisees that he criticized — sometimes for their hypocrisy, sometimes for their cold-hearted self-righteousness and judgmental nature.  His demand for holiness exceeds that of the Pharisees!

Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:19-20).

The setting of the parable is the temple, and the Pharisee and the tax collector have come to pray.  The first “protagonist” in the story is the Pharisee, who gives thanks to God that he is not a sinner.  The sins that the Pharisee mentions are  sins.  Make no mistake about that —  extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers.  The first, extortion,  is an abuse of power by the mighty over the weak.  The second word unrighteous, means unjust — not simply those who are ritually or religiously unjust, but those who flout laws governing social relations.  And adulterers are clearly in defiance of God’s commands.

Jesus is not in disagreement with the Pharisee about these sins, as we see by reviewing his teachings elsewhere.  And when the Pharisee compares his righteousness to the tax collector praying nearby, we have to remember that tax collectors weren’t hated just because they were the IRS of their day. Tax collectors were in collusion with the occupying imperial forces of Rome, and typically practiced extortion and worse toward their hapless victims.

Moreover, the spiritual disciplines that the Pharisee brags about were also endorsed by Jesus elsewhere:

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.

Jesus himself practiced fasting, and in Matthew’s Gospel he assumes that his disciples will fast:

when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;  so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:17-18).

And Jesus says of the scrupulous, detailed tithes practiced by the Pharisees, in keeping with the Scriptures:

you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone (Luke 11:42).

Jesus is not critical of the Pharisee for his “righteousness” or his spiritual disciplines, but for his judgmental attitude and his lack of humility.

Which brings us to the contrast between the Pharisee and the tax collector.  The tax collector is deeply aware of his own unworthiness to be in the presence of God:

the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

The tax collector knows  that he is a sinner in desperate need of God’s forgiveness.  The Pharisee believes, it seems, that he is beyond reproach and has earned God’s approval.

Jesus’ judgment is clear:

 I tell you, this man [the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.

This message concerning humility and pride is central in Scripture.  The Song of Mary, uttered by Jesus’ mother before he was born, summarizes this message.  She says that the Lord:

has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
 He has put down princes from their thrones.
And has exalted the lowly.
 He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:51-53).

APPLY:  

Our take-away from this passage is not “Jesus doesn’t care if we sin, and doesn’t care whether we practice the spiritual disciplines or not.”  That is not the message here.

Rather, Jesus is contrasting the self-righteous and self-exalting attitude of the Pharisee with the humble repentance of the tax collector.  It is interesting that Jesus uses the word justified.  The root of the word justified  that Jesus uses here is the same used repeatedly by St. Paul to describe his doctrine of justification by faith throughout his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians.

The message is the same — justification  is not something that we earn, or that we accomplish for ourselves.  Justification is a gift of God, that we receive with humility by faith.  Grace means gift. 

Such grace is available to all who humble themselves and recognize their utter dependency on God.

RESPOND: 

Many years ago when I was a young pastor I resolved that for one day I was going to be perfect.  I was going to avoid negative words to my wife and children; I was going to be kind and helpful; I was going to do the right thing, pray, do good deeds, the whole “enchilada,” so to speak.

Perhaps one way to do that might have been to stay in my room all day and avoid contact with anyone, right?  But I knew better. I knew that true righteousness meant being proactively good, not just passively.

I don’t really remember how long it took me to realize that I had sinned, if not in deed at least in thought.  I know it wasn’t all that long.

But I do remember one key insight that I had — my effort to be perfect had a unique effect on my perspective.  I was no longer focused on God.  My focus had become on me!  Seeking my own righteousness, and justifying myself, meant I was missing the very source of righteousness, holiness and love — God himself!

That is the problem with works righteousness.  We delude ourselves into thinking that somehow we can climb some “stairway to heaven” by our own effort.  But even the most righteous person still falls short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

In fact, religions and philosophies that seek to create such a “stairway” through works, pillars, paths, or even the Law, fail to grasp the sheer transcendence and holiness of God.  None of us can possibly reach God by our own efforts.

Instead, God has come to us through Jesus Christ, so that he might lift us up to God.

That’s what the tax collector learned.  Any good works or spiritual disciplines that he (hopefully) practiced after his justification were the result of his new relationship with God, not the method used to earn God’s favor.

Lord, I am not an extortioner or an adulterer, and I hope I’m not unjust.  I do practice the spiritual disciplines of tithing and fasting.  But I don’t rely on any of my own meager ‘accomplishments’ for justification.  Like the tax collector, I plead with you — ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ Only for Jesus sake, I trust, may I be justified.  Amen.  

PHOTOS:
"Foot Of The Cross" by timchallies is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for October 8, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Philippians 3:4-14

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul focuses on his own autobiography as a witness to the Gospel of grace that he proclaims.  In this passage we see through Paul’s  eyes his own transition from a self-righteous overachiever to a man completely dependent upon Christ.

He begins by demonstrating to the Philippians that he has a great personal resume, in purely human terms.  He has every reason to have confidence in the flesh if the goal of salvation is to be reached through human achievement.

The list he offers highlights his accomplishments as a highly committed, deeply  religious person:

circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

His place in the Judaism of his day, regarded as the true faith of the Chosen People, was absolutely secure.  Not only had he received all the normal marks of an observant Jew — circumcision, a place in the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews — he was a member of the most exclusive religious “fraternity” of his day — the Pharisees.

To be a Pharisee was to be a part of a highly scrupulous group.  The word Pharisee means those who are set apart. They were renowned for their strict observance not only of the Law of Moses, but also of the Oral Law, that body of traditions, interpretations and applications that had been passed down by generations of rabbis.

Moreover, Paul’s zeal for his faith was so intense that he sought to root out those whom he regarded as heretics, this new Jewish sect that were called Christians.  His quest to rid the world of this threat led him to Damascus — and conversion!

Yet, Paul could honestly say that his devotion to the law of Moses was so impeccable that he was blameless.

However, compared to the glory and grace that Paul had come to know in Christ, his own accomplishments are meaningless to him:

However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.  Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ….

Note the three-fold reference to loss, which illustrates that Paul has given up all  of the achievements and credentials of his former life.  In comparison to knowing Christ, his long list of merits are mere trash.

Paul reiterates the core of his message of grace when he outlines his new aim, to be found in Christ:

not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

Throughout his epistles, Paul has made it clear that it is impossible to establish one’s own righteousness by obedience to the law.  While the law is holy and just and good, the human capacity to fulfill the law invariably falls short.  Only by complete surrender through faith in Christ does the believer receive the:

righteousness from God based on faith.

Paul states clearly his own personal mission statement:

that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death;  if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

This highlights an important aspect of Paul’s spirituality — that faith in Christ means identification with Christ’s cross and his resurrection.  We can see that very clearly in Galatians 2:19-20.

 For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

Nevertheless, Paul confesses his own deep humility, acknowledging that he is still in the process of growing when it comes to following Christ:

Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

There are two key points that are striking here.

First, there is the paradox that Christ has already made Paul his own, yet there is a response still required in order for Paul to continue to make Christ his own.  Christ’s grace has already accepted Paul as he is.  But Paul is aware that identifying with Christ’s crucified and resurrected life requires that he press on to make it his own.

There  are several analogies that spring to mind — we are embraced by someone who loves us, but we also must embrace them in return if we are to experience the completion of affection.

But Paul’s own analogy brings us to the second point — Paul uses an athletic analogy to describe his spiritual journey:

Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

One can almost see the stadium and the runners as they are being cheered on by the crowds.  Paul runs his race so that he may cross the finish line and receive the ultimate prize.

So, the analogy prevails.  He has been selected for the “team” by the grace of Christ. It is time to forget those previous efforts of self-directed achievement that fell short of victory, without looking back.  And now he strives to excel in the spiritual contest with his utmost effort so that he may fulfill the high calling of Christ.

APPLY:  

Ours is an achievement-oriented society.  From our first report cards that our moms put on the refrigerator to the lists of awards and honors and degrees that follow our names in our resumes — we are hungry for recognition.

While this may be admirable and desirable from a human point of view for our resume building, this is not how we experience the glory of Christ.

Christ’s grace is available to all, from the president of the United States to the homeless woman pushing a shopping cart filled with her only possessions.

As Paul tells us, Christ has taken hold of us by grace.  He has already offered himself to us completely and without reserve.  He emptied himself of all but love, and offered his life on the cross so that he might raise us up with him.

What response should this elicit from us?  If we fully grasp what Christ has done for us, it inspires us to give all that we have and all that we are to follow him.  This is the path to sanctification.

We remember, however,  that even this striving toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus is still not our accomplishment.  It is not something that we achieve, but rather something that we receive by grace.

As Paul reminds us in his paradoxical statement earlier in this letter to the Philippians:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13).

No matter how intense our effort, how earnestly we press toward the goal, we are enabled to do so only by God who is at work in us.  That is why we are truly humble before God, who is the author and finisher of our salvation.

RESPOND: 

When I was a young man, I went to a Christian counselor concerning my depression.  He recommended a book that helped me to apply all of my theological training to my personal problems.

The book was The Search for Significance by Robert McGee.  I can sum up the message very simply — we are taught in our culture to base our self-worth on our performance and the opinions of others.  Our accomplishments and the opinions of others become the mirror in which we measure ourselves.

Unfortunately, even the most accomplished and most popular persons in the world, in their most honest moments, must accept that they fall short of perfection. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has nothing to say to those who do not accept that they are sinners.

The Gospel of grace tells us that we are already accepted for Christ’s sake.  We are loved.  There is nothing more that we need do in order to be more acceptable to God. Our acceptance by God is not based on our performance or the opinion of others. Christ has performed all that needs to be done for us to be reconciled to God. And Christ’s opinion of each of us is that we are worth dying for!

When I read McGee’s book, and began to apply its message in my own life, it liberated me from the effort to establish my own righteousness or to “prove” myself.

And, when I could accept that I was already accepted by Christ, I was free to give my very best effort to press on toward the life that he envisioned for me.

I had “made the team” already.  But now I didn’t want to simply sit on the bench.  I wanted to excel and perform at the highest level possible – not for my own sake but for Christ’s sake.  My motivation for obedience and excellence was no longer to bolster my ego or my resume, but gratitude for what Christ has done for me.

Our Lord, whatever I have accomplished is rubbish in comparison to the glory of knowing you through your death and resurrection.  I receive your grace with humble gratitude, and press on toward the goal of your high calling.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"Philippians 3 12 copy 2" by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for October 23, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Luke 18:9-14

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus returns to one of his favored methods of teaching to draw the contrast between self-righteousness and true repentance and humility.  He tells a parable that features two characters — the Pharisee and the tax collector.  Note that Jesus’s audience here is the Pharisees:

He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.

Because we are so familiar with the “types” of these characters if we have read the Gospels, we sometimes lose perspective.  The Pharisee in Jesus’ time was not  considered a villain.  Far from it.

The Pharisee was a member of a highly selective Jewish religious fraternity.  Pharisee means separated ones because these individuals had devoted themselves to the highest moral standards and obedience to God’s law.  Jesus himself points out elsewhere that the teachings of the Pharisee were in themselves good.  It was the practice of the Pharisees that he criticized — sometimes for their hypocrisy, sometimes for their cold-hearted self-righteousness and judgmental nature.  His demand for holiness exceeds that of the Pharisees!

Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:19-20).

The setting of the parable is the temple, and the Pharisee and the tax collector have come to pray.  The first “protagonist” in the story is the Pharisee, who gives thanks to God that he is not a sinner.  The sins that the Pharisee mentions are  sins.  Make no mistake about that —  extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers.  The first, extortion,  is an abuse of power by the mighty over the weak.  The second word unrighteous, means unjust — not simply those who are ritually or religiously unjust, but those who flout laws governing social relations.  And adulterers are clearly in defiance of God’s commands.

Jesus is not in disagreement with the Pharisee about these sins, as we see by reviewing his teachings elsewhere.  And when the Pharisee compares his righteousness to the tax collector praying nearby, we have to remember that tax collectors weren’t hated just because they were the IRS of their day. Tax collectors were in collusion with the occupying imperial forces of Rome, and typically practiced extortion and worse toward their hapless victims.

Moreover, the spiritual disciplines that the Pharisee brags about were also endorsed by Jesus elsewhere:

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.

Jesus himself practiced fasting, and in Matthew’s Gospel he assumes that disciples will fast:

when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;  so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:17-18).

And Jesus says of the scrupulous, detailed tithes practiced by the Pharisees, in keeping with the Scriptures:

you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone (Luke 11:42).

Jesus is not critical of the Pharisee for his “righteousness” or his spiritual disciplines, but for his judgmental attitude and his lack of humility.

Which brings us to the contrast between the Pharisee and the tax collector.  The tax collector is deeply aware of his own unworthiness to be in the presence of God:

the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

The tax collector knows  that he is a sinner in desperate need of God’s forgiveness.  The Pharisee believes, it seems, that he is beyond reproach and has earned God’s approval.

Jesus’ judgment is clear:

 I tell you, this man [the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.

This message concerning humility and pride is central in Scripture.  The Song of Mary, uttered by Jesus’ mother before he was born, summarizes this message.  She says that the Lord:

has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
 He has put down princes from their thrones.
And has exalted the lowly.
 He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:51-53).

APPLY:  

Our take-away from this passage is not “Jesus doesn’t care if we sin, and doesn’t care whether we practice the spiritual disciplines or not.”  That is not the message here.

Rather, Jesus is contrasting the self-righteous and self-exalting attitude of the Pharisee with the humble repentance of the tax collector.  It is interesting that Jesus uses the word justified.  The root of the word justified  that Jesus uses here is the same used repeatedly by St. Paul to describe his doctrine of justification by faith throughout his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians.

The message is the same — justification  is not something that we earn, or that we accomplish for ourselves.  Justification is a gift of God, that we receive with humility by faith.  Grace means gift. 

Such grace is available to all who humble themselves and recognize their utter dependency on God.

RESPOND: 

Many years ago when I was a young pastor I resolved that for one day I was going to be perfect.  I was going to avoid negative words to my wife and children; I was going to be kind and helpful; I was going to do the right thing, pray, do good deeds, the whole “enchilada,” so to speak.

Perhaps one way to do that might have been to stay in my room all day and avoid contact with anyone, right?  But I knew better. I knew that true righteousness meant being proactively good, not just passively.

I don’t really remember how long it took me to realize that I had sinned, if not in deed at least in thought.  I know it wasn’t all that long.

But I do remember one key insight that I had — my effort to be perfect had a unique effect on my perspective.  I was no longer focused on God.  My focus had become on me!  Seeking my own righteousness, and justifying myself, meant I was missing the very source of righteousness, holiness and love — God himself!

That is the problem with works righteousness.  We delude ourselves into thinking that somehow we can climb some “stairway to heaven” by our own effort.  But even the most righteous person still falls short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

In fact, religions and philosophies that seek to create such a “stairway” through works, pillars, paths, or even the Law, fail to grasp the sheer transcendence and holiness of God.  None of us can possibly reach God by our own efforts.

Instead, God has come to us through Jesus Christ, so that he might lift us up to God.

That’s what the tax collector learned.  Any good works or spiritual disciplines that he (hopefully) practiced after his justification were the result of his new relationship with God, not the method used to earn God’s favor.

Lord, I am not an extortioner or an adulterer, and I hope I’m not unjust.  I do practice the spiritual disciplines of tithing and fasting.  But I don’t rely on any of my own meager ‘accomplishments’ for justification.  Like the tax collector, I plead with you: ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ Only for Jesus sake, I trust, may I be justified.  Amen.  

PHOTOS:
"Foot Of The Cross" by timchallies is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.