An all-or-nothing game

For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” James 2:11

It’s easy for us to think that we are doing pretty good in terms of our obedience to God. We always assume that our sin is not really that serious and that the real sinners are “those other people.” Maybe it’s a neighbor, a coworker, or someone you see on TV whose life is spiraling out of control. We tend to focus on our successes and minimize our failures while we do the opposite with other people. We fixate on other people’s failures and minimize their successes. This is just part of our sinful human nature.

We have to live a completely perfect life all on our own if we want to have eternal life. But that perfect life is impossible for us since we are prone to sin. It’s not that we do some bad things here and there; it’s that we are bad apart from Christ.

Our verse today reminds us again that we can’t appeal to our perceived good works to cover up our bad ones. It’s an all-or-nothing game. You might be having great success in avoiding gossip, but if you lie to your friends, you are still completely guilty before God. You might be very respectful to your teachers or your boss, but if you are consumed with silent rage when someone doesn’t treat you as well as you think you should be treated, you still stand condemned before God.

The only way for us to be saved from our sin and propensity to break God’s law is to simply cast ourselves on his mercy and plead for his forgiveness. Thankfully God has provided a way for that to happen. It’s Jesus’ perfect life lived, his death in our place, and his empty tomb.

Read

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “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.”

Luke 18:9–14

• The Pharisee named a lot of good things that he was good at. Why was that a problem?
• Did the Pharisee fail to realize something he was really bad at?
• What did the tax collector do right in this story?

Prayer

Father, we recognize that we are lawbreakers. All of us. We have an inflated view of ourselves and are tempted at times to believe that we can live the Christian life apart from repentance, faith, and your Spirit empowering us. Show us our sin so that your grace and mercy shines brightly in our lives. Thank you for the millions of ways you have been good to us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. 

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