God, I Thank You

I've been listening to John Piper the past two days and must say that is one solid dude in Christ. I will not be so foolish as to glorify the messenger, so praise God for working through this man to teach the Word clearly to all who turn their ear to him. Much of what I am saying here comes from greater understanding I have because of this message:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/did-jesus-preach-the-gospel-of-evangelicalism

I listened to a teaching of a story Jesus told today that floored me in a sense. It's short, and I've heard it and read it many times -- so much that I've never really slowed down in it enough to check out the details. There are just some things in the Word that are right in front of my nose sometimes that I don't even see. That's probably a sad pointer that I should get into it more and do more of my own studying.

The story is very short, so let me just put it here, from Luke 18:10-14:

"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Whenever I got to this, I thought "Duh, it's against works righteousness. All this crap I do doesn't earn me anything before God. The point is that it's God who does the saving, not our own efforts."

I missed something that is so small and yet so huge. It lies solidly in four words -- "God, I thank you". The Pharisee was NOT a legalist trying earn his own righteousness with his good works -- he thanked God for making him the way he was. Thus, he gave God the credit for the change inside of him. That's not earning anything.

Let me pause and throw in a side story here. The story is one I've heard of a Sunday school teacher who teaches the story and then blows it at the end by saying "Thank you God, that we're not like the Pharisee." The person telling the story says the teacher blew it because she was acting just like the Pharisee. Now I admit I didn't quite get that. I thought she was okay -- after all, if the Pharisee was trying to earn something, then wasn't it right to say "Thank you that we're not like him" -- not to be superior in anyway, but because we understand that salvation is a gift from God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross -- nothing we earn.

I missed it, but I get it now.

The Sunday school teacher and the Pharisee acted in the same manner, not because they trusted in themselves -- neither did. They both gave God credit for making a change in them; however, despite giving God the credit for the change, they both still looked to themselves and their own righteousness for justification -- even though they acknowledged it was God given.

Let me make that more plain, maybe just for myself -- if we look to our own righteousness as a basis for our standing before God, even if we give God the credit for the change he's made in us, we're looking to the wrong thing. We must ALWAYS point to the cross. It is NEVER our own righteousness that counts for anything -- it is Christ's righteousness given to us by grace that counts before God.

I must admit I have been guilty of this very thing. I don't know to what extent, but I know that I've certainly thanked God for changes he's made in me -- taking bad stuff out and putting good stuff in. I don't think it made me look down on the unsaved in the same way the Pharisee did, as I still remember the old life I came from and know how easily I could have been in much dire straits in life on this earth. But I do know that I've looked down on my own brothers and sisters -- jumping to quick judgment on perceived sin in their lives -- focusing on specks in their eyes without seeing the plank in my own. I know I've been critical of members of my spiritual family and failed to show grace in the same way I've been shown grace.

I think this evil in my mind almost certainly was a result of falling into "moral deism" to some extent and looking inward instead of to the cross, always to the cross. I can't say there wasn't good intent behind any of it. I still think there's a lot of "easy believism" without any move toward holiness and honoring God with our very lives, and I still think there's a lot of knowing what God's Word says and then ignoring it. I want such evil in my life less and less, but I don't want the pursuit toward that end to make me ever, ever, EVER forget that when I stand before God, I don't want him to be looking at anything in me, other than Christ and his righteousness that was freely given to me.

Let us never boast "I was a wretch that God saved and made good!" but rather let us boast "I am a wretch that God saved, isn't he good?" Let us never forget that moral transformation is not the root of our good standing before God -- rather it is the fruit of our good standing before God that came about solely by grace through our faith in Christ.