I. Introduction
Last week I read a story to you in an attempt to clearly illustrate our position before God. In the next few weeks I will continue to use that story to illustrate in more detail how our relationship with God should work. This process is important because the gospel can become mundane to us over time and then we get off course, our eyes drift away from Jesus and on to something else.
Now, when I wrote that story one of the things that occurred to me straight away is how remote Justin seems to most of us. I described him as, “growing up on the streets”; as one who “had seen and done it all” and one who “had committed crimes that should have landed him in prison for a very long time.” “Everything he had was stolen. His manners were atrocious, he smelled bad, he was always dirty and he either ignored or laughed at evil.” I knew even as wrote about his condition that most Christians would see this boy as someone else...not themselves. I debated with myself about how to make Justin more relevant to the average churchgoer and decided that I would be doing the gospel a disservice by doing so. The more I thought about it, the more concerned I became that I would even consider changing Justin’s condition rather than our belief. Let me explain by first reading to you this passage:
1 Co 1:26-31 - 26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (NIV)
II. Three evidences of our boasting
I believe that one of the number one problems in the western Church is that most Christians forget where they came from. I believe that most Christians, especially those that have been so for a number of years, have come to believe that they SHOULD go to heaven. Oh they might not admit to that belief out loud, and they might give lip service to the theology of “saved by grace”, but their lives tell another story. In the deep parts of their mind they believe that they are going to heaven because they are a good person or because they have done good things. Even in those rare moments when they doubt their salvation, in the back of their minds they are still saying, “but I’m a good person.” And when I describe this boy as one so obviously guilty and without hope of escaping justice, I believe that most who hear that description picture someone other than themselves.
Let me give to you three pieces of evidence:
A. Do you think that Justin, after escaping a life sentence because of the sacrifice of Joshua, would ever look down on anyone?
And yet, I am amazing at how a person who was pulled off the highway to hell by one who was willing to die for them can look down on others who are on that same highway. Who can speak of certain kinds of sinners with a touch of disgust in their voice. It’s as if these people are somehow worse. Somehow more deserving of hell. Oh, but they are homosexual! Oh, but they do drugs! Oh, but they neglect their children. Oh, but they are Jehovah’s Witnesses! Yes, they...they are the real “Justins” in the world...the real sinners. Those without the truth.
Jesus had much to say on this subject but I will share with you only one of his comments which he made in the telling of this parable (found in Lk 18:9-14):
9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The 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. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13“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.’ 14“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.
Let me repeat that last line: “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.”
Who went home justified? The tax collector. The sinner.
Who did not? The Pharisee. The good boy, who fasted twice a week and gave his tenth.
Why? “So that no one may boast.”
But we do boast. Perhaps not as openly as the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable. We don’t like to be as obvious as that.
Besides looking down on others, let me give you a second piece of evidence that many Christians believe they SHOULD go to heaven.
B. Do you think that Justin, after escaping a life sentence because of the sacrifice of Joshua, would ever complain about anything again?
And yet, there is so MUCH complaining! Every little thing...
that makes us uncomfortable
that hurts
that costs us more than we are willing to pay
that bores us
that threatens our free time or our wallet
anything that we simply do not like is cause for complaining and possibly even self-pity.
And if complaining about our lives isn’t enough, Jesus invites us into his Church, which he considers his bride, and we come in to that complaining. It’s the music this and the sermon that. The pews this and the children’s program that. “I’m bored”, “I’m frustrated”, “I don’t understand”, “It isn’t like it used to be”, and a million other things. It’s one thing to try and make things better, but most of this complaining is simply to make things better for only one person...ME.
Does this make any sense? Does it make any sense for people who have been saved from the fires of hell to complain about anything other than that which does injustice to Jesus?
Let me give you one more piece of evidence that Christians believe they SHOULD go to heaven.
C. Do you think that Justin, after escaping a life sentence because of the sacrifice of Joshua, would do as little as possible to serve him?
When the first Christians heard the wonderful news that Jesus had died so that they might live, they responded by meeting together every day. The book of Acts tells us that they “devoted themselves...”. “Devoted”. Would you describe yourself as “devoted”? I heard this question in high school and it stuck with me: if you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Have you heard the church statistic that 20% of the Christians are doing 80% of Christian work? I just can’t wrap my head around that. But I’m not just talking about working in the church or another Christian ministry. I am talking about the everyday pursuit of God. Most of us do not feel the need to pray, to read our bibles for ourselves, to seek out what it says and means. Most Christians are simply doing as little as they think is necessary to go to heaven. Now, this just misses the whole point doesn’t it?
Let me respond to that kind of thinking with this parable from Jesus:
Mt 22:1-14 - Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 4“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. 13“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14“For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (NIV)
What do you suppose it looks like to show up at the wedding without your wedding clothes? What kind of person do you suppose Jesus is referring to here? What kind of person is Jesus talking about when he says, “tie him hand and foot and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”?
III. How we see ourselves
There is a class of stories that are about people who have changed because they were given a second chance. The most classic of such stories is Scrooge. The point of these kinds of stories is to use tragedy (usually some form of near death experience) to teach a person the meaning of life. Scrooge becomes a happy, giving man only after he faces his own grave. What makes the gospel good news is, first, the bad news of our eminent demise. We are saved FROM something...death. Eternal death. Judgment for our rebellion, our selfishness, our greed, our drive for comfort. BUT, if we do not believe that we deserve death...If we do not see ourselves as one who was invited from the “street corners”...If we do not see ourselves as a wretch, we will never be amazed at grace.
We need a real vision of what Jesus has done for us. We need to be reminded of the desperate situation we were in when he found us. I AM Justin. We need to come to grips with the fact that we were never and are still never worthy of God’s presence. It doesn’t matter how much God loves us, we just don’t deserve to be with him. Once we come to grips with that indisputable fact, then we can come to grips with the cross. Then we can set aside all notions of worth and fully accept the gift of grace. The point here is that JESUS saved us. We are all just kids that grew up on the streets, doing whatever we wanted to, breaking whatever law we felt like breaking, concerned only for ourselves and then...Jesus saved us. And now, we only live to make him proud.
No more looking down on others.
No more complaining. No more self-pity.
No more doing as little as possible.
Let us remember. Let us remember where we came from so we can take hold of where we are going. Let us keep our eyes on the goal. Let’s give everything we have. Let’s do greater deeds, think deeper thoughts, reach higher planes. Let’s pray more, let’s help more, let’s grow more. Not to become more worthy, but to make him proud. Let’s make him proud.
