"Despite
the teaching of Scripture, I am at times no less troubled than Christ's disciples
were with God's determination to resist human efforts to purchase his
love. I want to believe that God must be good to the organizations I
serve, to the family I love, and the career in which I seek to advance, because
I have tried to be good. Such reasoning abandons me, however, when I honestly
compare my righteousness to Christ's standards... When I face the reality of
the inadequacy of my works to merit God's favor, then I recognize that I must
depend on his goodness and not my own. At times this dependence (on his
goodness) is scary because it lifts control from me, but there is no other
choice when I recognize the true character of my good works. For according to
Scripture, even my best works are only "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:5).
There is too much human imperfection and mixed motives in my best deeds to have
them obligate God to do as I wish...
That
does not mean, however, that God never desires or blesses our goodness.
Walking in God's ways is itself a blessing (Ps. 1, Matt. 5:3-10). For example,
being faithful to one's spouse brings integrity to a marriage that is a
blessing. Speaking honestly can enhance one's reputation and help secure
faltering relationships... Still, no degree of human goodness will lock God
into a pah of blessing according to our choosing, as though we have become his
master through our merit. God promises to bless obedience by using it for
his purposes, but the blessings that result should be seen less as credit for
our goodness, and more as evidence of his faithfulness to his purposes... Divine
blessing flows from God's mercy rather than from our merit. Thus, we cannot guarantee
that his care will flow according to our plans simply because we conform in
some degree to biblical standards. Our works do not obligate God to care for us
in the way WE think is best... God blesses according to the wisdom of
his eternal mercy rather than in proportion to our works of earned merit...
[In
Luke 17:11-19 ten lepers cry out to Jesus in desperation, "Jesus, master,
have mercy on us!"]... What does Jesus do when these desperate people
plead with him for mercy? He shows them mercy. Jesus shows pity to those
who have nothing to claim but desperation. He is moved by their desperate
cry for help. What is the message to us? Our God is not moved by
the deeds we trophy, but by the desperation we acknowledge as our own....
God's
heart is moved, not when we protest our innocence by pointing to our inadequate
good deeds, nor when we promise that we will do better in the future. Though
there is no reason for God to love us, yet he does. This is the nature of
grace that we must treasure to know the joy that God wants for our lives. Until
we recognize that there is no reason God will be moved to love us other than
the spiritual need we acknowledge, we have no good news to tell others or
ourselves. How could it be good news that God waits to love us until we reach
an unattainable standard of righteousness, or that he counts our "filthy
rags" as meritorious? Biblical faith is most evident not when we
demand that God honor our flawed deeds, but when we trust that he will
mercifully respond when we humbly and helplessly cry out, "Jesus, Master,
have pity on us!"
Those
who cry out in desperation have more hope of moving God's heart than any who
would trophy their own righteousness before him. Those who face the
hopelessness of their spiritual condition apart from God's mercy are nearer to
experiencing his grace than those who pride themselves on their goodness. Not
beyond God's mercy is the homosexual dying of AIDS, who says in a broken
spirit, "People may condemn me for a life they do not approve, but to tell
you the truth, I would have loved anyone that loved me back." In
fact, such a man may be nearer to expressing what melts the heart of heaven,
than I am on the days that my preaching, my position (as a seminary president),
and my righteousness, swell my pride to make me think I am deserving of God's
blessing.
To
experience God's blessing I must readily and repeatedly confess my own hopeless
condition. What makes me willing to do this is the knowledge that it is my
desperation that inclines God's heart toward my own. The awareness that
he does not turn away from my desperation will actually draw me to confession
and deep repentance. The assumption that God only loves the righteous will
tempt me to hide from him (and myself) the flaws under the public veneer of my
character and my fears of deeper failures...
Our
Lord's response to the leper's cry for mercy should compel us to confess our
sin to him no matter its degree or persistence. We need not have corrected the
wrong in our lives to ask him to forgive us We should not attempt to try and
compensate for our sin before we ask him to love us. Remember that Jesus
cleansed all the lepers when they cried out for his mercy, even though in his
divine nature he could have known that only one would return to thank
him. Neither past failing nor future weakness will dissuade our
Savior from showing us mercy when we honestly acknowledge our desperate need
for his grace."
One
only needs to glance at the any of the four Gospels to see the truth of what
Chapell says. God inclines his ear and opens his heart to the desperate,
but resists the proud. He embraces the sinful man who won't even look up to
heaven but in shame cries out, "Lord be merciful to me a
sinner," yet refuses to listen to the Pharisee who looks
down on that heart-broken man and brags inwardly that he is so much better and
thanks God he is not like him. Pride and self-righteousness (that is,
thinking we can make ourselves acceptable to God by our personal deeds and
efforts) pushes the divine hand of grace away, it does not (as
many curiously think) bring God's favor and blessings near. We must
always remember: "God resists the proud but gives grace to the
humble." It is the acknowledgment and confession of our
sin, deep need, and personal inadequacy that draws close the grace and mercy of
God, and the vain illusion that we have all our moral and spiritual ducks in a
row that drives it away.
If
you would like to pray for grace, here is a simple prayer I often use: "Lord
Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal God, be merciful to me a sinner."
For
His name's sake, Pastor Jeff
