A couple of weeks ago I had the incredible privilege to attend CBM (Chinese Bible Mission) Senior High Camp in what I suppose you could call Northern California (I’m guessing north of the Bay area counts??).
Regardless of terminology, it’s safe to say that I walked away from that experience with a renewed perspective on the gospel and my own sin. Thank God for the pastor that spoke for teaching the Word so faithfully!
One of the messages that week was based off a few verses in the Gospel of Luke:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—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 all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
— Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)
To keep myself from regurgitating the whole of that message, I’m going to focus specifically on the Pharisee’s attitude in his prayer: a concept that the pastor put forth as self righteousness. (By all means, though, think about the passage when you’ve got the time. The message it puts forth is fairly simple, but it has a lot of weight.)
Thinking about this passage and today’s church, Christians today are all too often like the Pharisee. He based his gratitude to God on the fact that he was not like other people: “‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector” (v11).
Versions of this that might surface in our own minds include, Wow, I’m sure glad I’m not like that person because I don’t ___________ [insert behavior that we’re too good for]. Maybe you’d put drugs, drinking, or smoking into that blank. Or dressing immodestly. Sometimes, in the context of the church, we’re tempted to say I’m glad I don’t use the Lord’s name in vain or well, I don’t use verses out of context like THAT pastor.
Now I am not affirming or endorsing any of the behaviors listed above. But what came at me in this message is that no one should be approaching their own righteousness in that way, either.
No Christian should be feeling good about themselves because they’re not like other people. Just as surely as our worth does not come from being like other people, neither does it come from being unlike other people.
Righteousness comes from Christ alone. His sacrifice counted equally for the most detestable of sins as well as the undue pride that makes us hold other sinners in contempt.
When we are saved, we should never forget to step back and say, Wow, do I ever not deserve this. We should never neglect to adopt the attitude of the tax collector: that we are wretched sinners facing the wrath of an Almighty God before whom heavenly beings cry out “Holy, holy, holy”.
The fact that you are not committing certain sins is not of yourself, either: it is of the grace of God. Another thing I learned at camp was that we’re all tempted in different ways, and we all struggle with different sins. Why should the person weighed down by, say, a basket of apples, want to sneer at his comrade weighed down by a basket of oranges? Both baskets contain fruit; both are a problem in their lives.
I thank you, God, that I am not like them. How often do we settle for such a sad standard of what counts as righteousness? How easily do we get so puffed up of our own ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ that we cease to be awed of Christ’s redemptive work for us while we were still dismally wallowing in unrighteousness?
Why do we need to compare ourselves to others, in any way, when the cleansing of Christ’s blood brings us into the everlasting love and delight of God?
This is an exhortation to me as well as it is to many Christians out there. Let’s continually put aside the manifestations of pride in our attitudes and instead seek to be humbled by our amazing God.
Well, I aimed for a shorter post there so that it could fit better into reader’s busy schedules, but I think I’ve failed 😛 Do you like the length of my posts, though? Any thoughts about what I’ve written about today? Comment below — I’d love to hear what you have to say! 😀
Literature for The Light 