New Thoughts (02/15/10-02/19/10)
Who is represented by the elder son? If we are to properly understand the second half of this parable, we must first understand the answer to that question. The NET would have it that this older son is representing the scribes and Pharisees. That’s certainly one possibility. If we take Luke’s setting of the parable to be accurate, then it at least fits the scene, which opened with the Pharisees complaining about Jesus’ choice of company. Oh, look! He hangs with sinners instead of us (Lk 15:2)! This has (again, supposing these collected parables were truly poured out on this one occasion) led to a series of illustrative examples to explain heaven’s concern for the lost. So, yes, we could accept the older son as symbolizing the religious aristocracy.
We could also, I suppose, read more into it and see the elder brother as Israel and the younger as the Gentiles. This would doubtless be a case of reading future events back into the present teaching, but is that necessarily an invalid thing to do? If it is reasonable to see future events unfolded in ancient prophecies, and if Jesus is a prophet, is it out of the question to suppose there might be prophetic content in His parables alongside any current application? Honestly, it may very well just be a particular Gentile conceit that wants to see us identified for consideration by our Lord and Savior. On the other hand, such a noting of the Gentiles as children of God would stand alongside a great deal of older prophetic material, so it’s not completely out of the question. I suppose it depends in part how much one accepts that this parable is spoken on the occasion indicated by Luke.
Be that as it may, I am rather more concerned with present application than with historical. The scribes and Pharisees, at least those present in this scene, are gone. I am not. So, as I consider who is represented by this elder son, the first question I should be asking is, “Is it I, Lord?” I have surely spent time as that younger son. But, am I also the elder? Honestly, I don’t need to ask. If I needed to ask, I should doubtless suppose I did not. That I recognize the propriety of the question already declares to me the answer. Why, yes, it is me. In what way I shall attempt to unfold as the study continues.
However, let me first turn to this basic point: Sin is a lie. I am not saying that the suggestion that we sin is a lie. I am not saying that lying is a sin, though it is. No. The fundamental truth is that sin is a lie. It is the product of the father of lies, so this ought not to surprise us. The power of the lie is the power of sin. Sin does not succeed by honestly laying out its offer to us. It clouds the true offer. It presents a pleasant seeming front to cover the seedy reality of its outcome. Sin dresses itself in eye candy, lest we perceive the wretched reality of its influence and run from it.
The lie of sin does not stop at hiding its own true condition, though. Sin will lie to us about our own condition. This is one of the major avenues of temptation, convincing us that things are not what they are. It is thus that the Scriptures warn of the exceedingly deceptive practices of our own hearts. We are perennially prone to thinking we are either doing better than we truly are, or that we are much further from redemption than we truly are. It seems an honest self-assessment is nigh to impossible for a man to make. It is rare enough to find a believer who is willing to regularly ask God to show him his heart, show him the truth of his condition. It is rarer yet to find one who welcomes the answer when it comes. The sad fact is we rather enjoy our lie. We like that feeling that we’re doing alright. Me and God, we’re like this, you know? Yes, there is truth in that, but we quickly abuse that truth by thinking we can go along without concern now. We don’t have to keep ferreting out our sinful ways, because God’s on it already.
Listen! It’s well and good to know that God has your back. It’s wonderful! But, it’s no reason to stop seeking to be done with the sin that remains. It’s no reason to sit back and ‘just wait on God’. It is a mystery that all but defies our capacity to accept, but there it is: We are utterly incapable of disabusing ourselves of sin apart from God’s purpose and power working within us, yet we are called to “work out our salvation in fear and trembling” (Php 2:12). We are called to do this in the very same breath that we are told God is doing the work (Php 2:13). Indeed, the fact that He is doing the work is given us as the reason we ought to work all the harder! Because He is doing it, you do it! No, your works cannot move you even the smallest incremental step closer to righteousness, to salvation, to redemption. That work was completed at the Cross and that’s an end to it. Yet, the call remains: Work! Strive! Seek with all that is in you to be done once for all with the sinful ways of the old man of the flesh. Just do so knowing that He is working in you, with you. Do so with an ear to the Holy Spirit, that you might know where the work is fruitful at the moment, and where it is the futility of self-effort.
I dwell on this point because it bears on the issue of the elder brother’s problem as it relates to us today. See, the lie of sin is there in his anger. Oh! I wonder if this is not always so? Granted, there is, according to the Scriptures, a righteous anger that is devoid of sin, but I dare say that is the rare exception, at least in me. But, look you at the outburst this young man releases upon his father. “Look, Pops! All these many years, I have been slaving away for your benefit alone. I get nothing out of it. Not even a small party with my friends. I have no interest in the fruits of my labor, they are all for you. I am a slave in your household, working as one coerced. What for?”
Oh! Listen to the lying flesh whine! All of this selfless labor I have done on your behalf. There’s nothing in it for me, but I do it all for you. Whine, whine, whine! And nothing could be further from the truth. The answer his father gives him lays the lie clear: “All that is mine is yours.” No kidding! In truth, there is nothing left that is his. He already parceled it out to both his sons back at the start of this tale. Let’s face it, young man. If there was no party it was for the simple reason that you didn’t want to cut into your own stores to provide it. It was because you preferred profits to parties. So, don’t go whining about it now. Indeed! Is this not the real issue behind your anger? That a calf from your stocks has been slaughtered? It’s not that your father is celebrating your brother’s return. It’s the cost.
It’s like Judas at that moment when Jesus was honored by anointing for his impending burial. He was upset by the loss to his coffers, not by the terrible injustice about to be visited upon his Teacher. He was concerned about his cash flow rather than the flow of heaven’s grace.
And, don’t you think for a moment that we are free of this terrible envy. We play the same games, and we play them in the very house of God. How, you ask? In the way we serve. Sure, and there are those who may avoid this issue, but I tell you it is prevalent. We see our piece of the ministry, and we see how hard we work at it, and in our eyes, all these others are slackers. Why, the lion’s share of the congregation isn’t doing anything! And, when it comes to those who are, who among them labors as we do? Hah! We slave away week after week. We take no joy in the work. Oh, maybe we did at some point, but the joy has long since gone out of it. It’s just a job. And we don’t even get paid for it! Why, I work harder around here than I do at work. And what’s in it for me? What’s the point? I feel like a slave, chained to the oars in this galley of a church. No recognition. No pay. No nothing. It’s pointless, but I have to keep on doing it anyway.
Then, some new member shows up and whoa! He’s all it, isn’t he? Up there preaching, getting the shout out practically every week… Must be some family connection happening there, because it’s clear that to get any recognition in this joint you’ve got to be from the right clan, right?
Listen! I’m not just fashioning this stuff out of thin air. I’m fashioning it out of experience! I’m telling you that this is a battle I fight in myself, and I thank God that He has turned my attention to this elder brother’s example, that I might recognize the nonsense my thoughts have been spouting in my mind’s ears. Lies! Pure jealous envy all dressed up in a caricature of righteousness.
Nothing’s in it for me? My son, all that is Mine is yours. No recognition? Well, then, lad, who are you doing it for? Is it all about you or all about Jesus? Because, if it’s all about you, then it’s all about worthless anyway, and there’s nothing in it to be recognized, is there? Nope. No, there is that which you do around the house of God that you would just as soon not be doing any more. There is so much that is behind the scenes and under the radar, that goes unappreciated except when it goes wrong. But, you are hardly alone in that. Many others labor in quiet ways, unseen and unannounced.
Oh, understand this! The glory of the preacher is not greater than the glory of the sweeper. This is not the economy of man that we are dealing with, but the economy of heaven. Much like the tithe is designed as an egalitarian sacrifice on the part of each one, the value different from one to the next, but not the degree; so it is with service. Each child of God serves according to his capacity to serve. Some do great things and some do small things. But, what is the cry? Despise not the small beginning (Zech 4:10). [This is not the reference I had in mind, but it is the closest I can find this morning.] Don’t let jealousy destroy the good you are doing. Don’t you see? If envy consumes you, you are wasting your inheritance every bit as much as this brother you are railing against! Do you really suppose your attitude honors your father any better than the claims you have leveled against your brother? I think not! How does it honor your Father in heaven to accuse Him of injustice?
Oh, you foolish, foolish man! Repent of this evil upon your heart. Seek not an earthly reward for heavenly service, but know that the One you serve sees your service. Know that your Father in heaven has looked upon your every effort on His behalf, and He is well pleased by the desire you show, if not by the methods you have chosen. Don’t you see? Even now, as you walk in salvation, your best efforts at doing righteousness are constantly marred by the sinful attitudes of your heart. Even now, your full and complete dependence upon the finished work of Christ is undiminished. Yes, and those of whom you have allowed yourself to become jealous? They are in the same boat as you. They are just as consistently marring their righteous deeds by their sinful flesh, and they are just as fully and completely dependent upon the finished work of Christ. If there be any righteousness in either of you, it is all Him. That is the clear and constant Truth of the Gospel. It is all Him, and none of me.
It is the lie of the flesh that sees this labor as a bondage and subjection. It is the lie of the flesh that sees this as work done under compulsion, and devoid of freedom. Cast that thinking away! It is poison to the soul. Oh! Let your mind be renewed this morning by the clear message of the Gospel. Rejoice and be glad that there is yet a place for you in the house of God. Rejoice and be glad that He abideth yet, willing and working within even to the end of your days, until that work He began is a work He has finished.
Can it be? Can we really reach a point of looking at this service in the house of the Lord and thinking, “I labor without freedom. I serve as in bondage.” Well, yes, we can. We are that perverse. And yet, in its way, this is no perverseness. It is what we were told. We have “been freed from sin,” our first bondage, “and enslaved to God” (Ro 6:22). We are absolutely bound, bound by the chains of our Master’s love. But, this is no burden to bear. It ought not to be, at any rate. It is a joy and a blessing. We are not bound by chains of dread, but of love. We are not enslaved against our will, as we were in our sins, but we are now enslaved with wholehearted accord. We have willingly and gladly taken upon ourselves the mark of our Master.
Truth be told, though, there are times. There are times when we tire of the labors. There are times when it seems as though the whole business has become a pointless drudgery like any other job we might be employed at. This is no bad reflection upon the house of God. It is a bad reflection on the nature of man. We are inclined to sense the drudgery, to prefer the excitement of new experience to the constant pace of responsibility. This is ever a danger to the body of the Church, for it infects every member thereof. We are all of us inclined to find the new idea, the new experience more interesting than the constancy of faith.
What is it, after all, that will entice a man (or a woman) to look beyond the marriage for satisfaction? It is that this one to whom we have been wed lo these many years is familiar to us in every way. That other one is novel, offers the excitement of change, a new experience, new fields to explore. Admittedly, that is not the whole of it, but that is a large part of it.
And, we bear these same attitudes with us into the house of worship. Many have become chasers of spiritual skirts, with eyes that wander after every new thing that presents itself as Christian experience. They will make any number of excuses for their behavior. Oh, the Spirit will protect us from error. Oh, we trust our leadership. They would never allow something in here that was not of God. Look. You may as well expect the brakes on your car to stop the vehicle without you having to step on the brake pedal. We are all of us called to seek out the Truth from God’s Word. We are all of us responsible to see to our own spiritual condition, to ask God on our own behalf whether there be any wicked way in me. How dare we insult our High Priest by insisting on a proxy between me and Thee? We return to the types and shadows all unthinking, and yet dare to call ourselves children of the Most High. Well, child. If child you be, then grow up! Become a son. Enter into the maturity which was purchased for you by the blood of Christ. Though you are indeed a bondservant in the house of your Lord, no longer shall you labor as one without freedom. No! Labor as one gladly choosing to serve. Labor with the love of a true son for his Father.
I want to return to the lies that sin speaks in our ears, though. Not literally, no, but as a topic. When I was reading through this text in the various translations, there was a perhaps unintended juxtaposition that I saw in the Message. The full quotation of Luke 15:29 from that version reads, “Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends?” This is the emotional lie of sin speaking. And yet, the seed of truth is hidden within the lie. Let me reveal that hidden seed. “Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends?”
That’s what jumped out at me. I’ve been serving you for me. You know, this was the real situation for this older brother, as his father makes clear. “All I have is yours.” If he had wanted a party, he could have done so at any time, for the estate had already been shared out. So, all this posturing of ‘serving you’ was in reality nothing but ‘serving me’. It is at best what we refer to as enlightened self-interest. Now, that is not necessarily a bad thing as motivations go. But, if that’s all it is, then there’s certainly nothing meritorious and sacrificial in our actions.
It’s interesting. We had gone into a similar discussion the other night at our weekly meeting. We had been discussing the change of motivation that comes with that change of ownership spoken of in Romans. We spoke of the reality that we no longer pursue the course of the Law out of some fear of reprisal, but rather as a joyful expression of our love for the Lawgiver. We just want to please Daddy. In the course of that discussion, the question arose, “Have I really changed?” Anybody who’s been a few years in this pursuit of the Lord knows that question, has felt it arise repeatedly. I stumble upon it constantly. I review notes from years back, and find myself in the same battles, with the same sins, and I wonder, “Have I really changed?”
Now, that question, coming in conjunction with this study, took a different course in my thinking. I was still on the matter of motivation. Has my motivation really changed? Am I doing all this for love of my Father, or am I doing it for me? Is it all just enlightened self-interest? Is it still an effort to ‘keep my nose clean’ so that I can be the more certain of acceptance before the throne of God? Or is it truly an expression of love for God? I have little doubt that the answer to these questions is not as it should be. I have little doubt that there is that self-interest driving much of my activity. But, I wonder: Is that necessarily a bad thing? Can it be that God, in His Providential willing of my redemption, has chosen to use this inward condition of my being to prompt me towards a greater sanctification? It is not, after all, as if I am the formal cause of my redemption, and surely such an unrighteous motivation is not the formal cause. Yet, can God, for Whom all things are possible, not make of my self-interest an efficient cause that produces sanctification?
I want to be very careful of this issue. I am not about to accept that we can happily continue on such a path, with nothing but self-interest to motivate us. If this is our sole reason for pursuing righteousness, then we are guaranteed to fail. It cannot work for it is back to attempting salvation by works. But, God is in the habit of taking us in the condition He finds us. He begins His work in us while we are yet His enemies. Likewise, we are all aware of unbelievers who are yet counted as doing good. In us, He can take that motivation of self-interest and use it to start us down the right path. But, along the way, other motivations supersede. Indeed, I don’t think I state the case too strongly if I suggest that there comes a point where, should our thoughts continue to suppose we are acting solely on the basis of self-interest, it is as great a lie as when our heart sought to convince us nothing was wrong with us at all.
Here, again, it is not a question to avoid, this matter of checking motivation. But, I am returned to a lesson from years back, when I was studying John’s letters. The heart, in its wicked deceitfulness, used to do its evil work by telling us we were better than was truly the case. Now that we have come to Christ, and are aware of our salvation by faith, the heart has not suddenly become perfectly virtuous overnight, or even over years. No! We are still assaulted by the very thoughts of the heart, but the nature of the assault has changed. The father of lies knows that we would no longer buy the idea that we are so marvelously good, so instead he seeks to attack the confidence of faith by convincing us that we are far more corrupt than we are. If we are not busily poisoning whatever works we do already, he will seek to inject poison into the process. If we are doing things as God prompts, he will seek to convince us we are just doing as we please, with no thought for God at all. He will seek to convince us we are doing things God does not want of us. He will do anything he can to convince us that we are driving ourselves farther and farther away from the God who calls us closer and closer.
I do not say that every pang of conscience as to this matter of motivation is false, and that we are ever and always doing things for the right reason even if it feels to us as if we do them for the wrong reason. Not at all! But, the deceptiveness of the heart requires that when those doubts arise, we do not simply take them at face value. Rather, we must take them to God and seek His answer. If there is indeed an issue that He seeks to bring to our attention, we can be assured that He will make that clear to us. If there is no issue, we can be equally sure that He will make that clear to us. The key is to take the question to Him, to pray the so-called dangerous prayer that David prayed. If there be any wicked way in me, Lord, reveal it, that as You work upon me, I can walk free of that wickedness and set it behind me for all time.
If, my Lord, I have been serving You for me, indeed, reveal this to me, that we may effect the needed change, You and I. OK. You. I am as incapable as ever, but if I am not aware of Your work, how can I join my will to Yours in the accomplishing of it? No! I would be aware of You working in me, aware of what You are seeking to change that I might put my efforts, however meager, toward seeing that change come about. Lord! I confess that there are times when I feel as though the things I do for You are really about me, and inasmuch as I feel that way, I seek to repent of it. If I am doing for me, what use is that? No! Let those things I do be expressions of love for You and no more. Let them be for the joy of knowing I contribute to Your plan, Your purpose. Bring me back to that place of, “nothing else matters.” It’s been a long time, God. Yet, that truth, Your truth, has not changed. There has been an aging of my soul, dare I say a hardening? If that is truly the case, soften me as only You can. Yet, I do not believe that’s the case. It’s more a mellowing, a maturing? Oh, I pray it is a maturing! But, keep that first love alive in me, Holy Spirit! Keep the fire burning that I may both worship and serve You in spirit and in truth.
Now, then, the fundamental issue that is on display in this older brother is jealous envy. This is at the root of his complaint. He is envious of the redemption of his brother. He knows, or at least supposes that he knows, what his brother has been up to. We can try and play the home psychologist game and guess that he’s projecting to some degree, here, but that’s unnecessary. Let’s suppose he has heard news of his brother’s exploits in that far country. It’s not impossible. Nor does it change the case. He is jealous because his brother is being accepted back into the household. He is jealous because his brother is getting the attention and he is not. That is really the crux of the issue, isn’t it? That is, after all, what jealousy is all about. How come he gets the attention and I don’t? It’s been there at the core of every sibling rivalry, every family feud, every street fight and every war. Pride wants attention.
Jealousy in a man is the outworking of pride. Envy is the handmaiden of jealousy, and is thus another outworking of pride. Pride supposes that I deserve to have as good as that other, whoever that other may be. If he possesses what I do not, it strikes me as unjust. It matters not what other things I may have that he doesn’t. It matters not if the only reason I don’t possess this thing he has is that I have opted not to obtain it for myself. Nothing matters but that he has it and I don’t. It’s not right! I deserve it, and if it hasn’t been provided for me, then my Provider is clearly unjust, isn’t He? Oh, dear! What have I thought? I cannot level such an accusation. And yet, I do. That is exactly the accusation that envy and jealousy necessarily make, whether we allow our thoughts to arrive at that thinking or not.
In the case of this parable, that jealousy and envy have entered right into the house of God, right into the matter of salvation. If the NET is correct in assigning the Pharisees and scribes as those symbolized in this elder brother, then we see this picture emerging. Here were the scribes and Pharisees, who had been ever so careful to observe every least bit of the Law as they perceived it. They were as scrupulous as they knew how to be. And, for the sake of argument, let us suppose they were as scrupulous in private as in public. It really doesn’t change the outcome anyway. But, from their perspective, they had been keeping all these odious commandments, bearing the weight of constant attention in trying to avoid even the appearance of sin, and how was this Holy Representative treating them? He would have nothing to do with them. And, when He did find Himself speaking with them, it was always in rebuke.
But, these others! Harlots! Tax-gatherers, for crying out loud! Sinners of the worst sort, and He’s perfectly happy to welcome them into His company. You see, the pride that powers their jealousy also blinds them to what has been going on in anybody else. They don’t see the change in these with whom Jesus consorts. They just see the past, the reputation. As it I when they consider themselves, they see only what they expect to see. So, they cannot celebrate the sinner who has been restored to grace. For one thing, they don’t comprehend the role of grace. They’ve been working. Where’s the grace in that? No! It’s been work. Of course, they haven’t recognized the closed door at the end of all that effort, but that’s another issue. Jealousy and envy, pouring out of their pride, have completely distorted their perspective, and they cannot rejoice in those things that make heaven rejoice, because the rejoicing isn’t over them.
They are still immature children jealous of the newborn brother because they are no longer the center of attention. They’ve never grown up.
Now comes the hammer blow: They are we. The same issues plague us in the church today. The flesh has not somehow gotten less vile over the years. For all that we love to tout how much we’ve advanced over those benighted folk of earlier times, it just isn’t true. We are every bit as prone to Pharisaic behavior as ever the Pharisees were. We are every bit as prone to religious pride as ever the scribes were. It plays out over and over again!
It rises up in us when we see a new member of the congregation being singled out for service or for praise. Why! I’ve been laboring here behind the scenes for years, and this young pup shows up and he’s all glory boy. God! It’s just not right! What about me? C’mon! I’ve been doing so much for You all these years, and where’s my kudos? Where’s my attaboy? Huh? How come I’m never brought up to the front of the house and given such glowing reviews?
Or, we can take the example of those who have become so fixed in their specific bit of dogma that they are no longer willing to look at Scripture for the Truth, only for corroboration. “Why, you’ll never convince me of that, you’ll never get me to accept that it isn’t thus and so.” You know, there’s a place for such confidence, to be sure. But, when that mindset causes us to start trying to muddy the clear text of Scripture, there’s a problem. When we start trying to game the text to keep from seeing things as we do, there’s a problem. The problem isn’t stupidity, and it isn’t that the Bible is incomprehensible. The problem is simply pride.
Oh, listen! I’m yelling at myself here, so let that be clear! Pride causes us to become firm in understanding that we don’t really have. It is very difficult to maintain an appropriately open mind year after year, to keep coming to these times of study with the intent to learn what the text says. As the years proceed, there are more and more things that I have come to accept as settled. I tend to forget that it wasn’t always so. I tend to forget that I was equally certain things were settled when I still held an opposite view on the matter. You know what? It’s pride that rises up on the defensive when the views I have are challenged, or simply disagreed with. It’s pride that does not respond from love in those circumstances, but rather from superiority. You still believe that? Loser! Now, isn’t that a fine display of Christian character!
But, this is what pride, envy, jealousy do to us. This is the stuff we’ve got to watch out for, because this is the stuff that poisons the fellowship of communion. You know, there is a place for confronting error in a brother. It is good to seek to bring a better understanding of Truth, particularly if the one we see in the wrong is in a position of leadership. Now, understand that I am not talking about a conscientious espouser of heresy. I’m talking about somebody who, although teaching from a good-faith understanding of Scripture as best he can grasp it, still teaches things that are not sound. Yes, they should be brought to the Truth. But, they should be brought there in loving fashion, on the basis of a clearer understanding. We cannot club them into the Truth by simply insisting that they’ve got it wrong and we’ve got it right. We cannot simply point to our choice of reliable sources as opposed to those they refer to. It’s worse than pointless. It’s sinful pride preening in hopes of garnering applause.
No, there is a different course we are to take. And, frankly, if this is the way we’ve been doing things, then we do little to promote our claim. If the fruit of our doctrinal purity is pride and anger, then however pure the doctrine may be, our application of it is hideously grotesque! So, let us be resolved to have done with the sins that so mar our confession. Let us be done with the envy that seeks to divide the household. Let us be done with the jealousy that breeds anger. Let us be done with pride. If we are proud, let it be in Christ alone and all that He has done. For ourselves, nothing. My righteousness is even yet a pile of filthy rags, however much I may be inclined to boast about it. But, yes! Let us not allow jealousy to corrupt the good things we may do.
It has occurred to me that this is one impact of this elder son’s issue. If I look at his claim, that he has been ‘serving you, never neglecting a command of yours,’ there is something good in that, isn’t there? If I could come before God and make such a claim in good earnest, I should be most happy. Now, let us suppose that this young man is correct in this assessment. This, then, is a good thing. It is good to obey the Lord in all things. It is good to serve Him and Him alone. But, jealousy has made it evil. Sin has found opportunity in that good work to produce a bad work. Thus it is with all our works. This is at the root of our righteousness being filthy rags. It is because we cannot manage a truly righteous work while we remain in this sinful flesh.
Now, I hear good men of God in our day suggesting that this is solely because we have not truly ascertained the power of God that is given to us. That sounds nice, but I’m not convinced. For one thing, experience convinces me that this view is wrong. Can somebody point out for me so much as one Christian in all the history of the Church who has so full laid hold of the power of God as to arrive at the place of true righteousness? I don’t believe so. Every hero of Scripture is handed to us with their defects evident. Men are imperfect by nature, sinful by nature. Even Paul tells us that his struggle with sin was nonstop, and that he was not always successful in that struggle. “I do what I do not wish to, and what I wish to do, I don’t” (Ro 8:19). If that is not the common experience of the Christian, then I’m not sure what is!
Oh, I’m quite aware that there have been those through the ages who have tried to explain this verse away, claiming that Paul was speaking in the voice of the new believer, not for his own situation. These are the ones who would have us to believe that perfection is available in this life. I dare say that their own examples would hardly uphold that opinion. The inner man of the soul, even in such as espouse these things, is surely sinful, and marked out as such by the very Scriptures themselves. The one who says he does not sin is a liar, and is calling God a liar (1Jn 1:8-10), for He says that all men have sinned (Ps 14). Sadly, this is our story and our song every bit as much as the glorious Truth that our Jesus has paid the penalty of our sins, redeemed us from the death that was our due and adopted us into His own family.
Where then is boasting (Ro 3:27)? It is excluded not only by faith, but by experience given an honest appraisal. When the heart’s lies are exposed and the true condition of the soul made manifest, we must surely recognize once again that all our righteousness is Christ alone. Apart from Him, there is nothing in me to sing about. This may leave the unbeliever scratching his head, wondering what the point of belief is, but it is the Truth. If the Christian appears to be a hypocrite, it is because his sins remain, his need for repentance remains, his utter dependence upon the risen Christ Jesus remains. I am wholly convinced (if not wholly comfortable) that this utter dependence shall not abate this side of the grave. Yet, I am also wholly convinced that in that day that I stand before my Lord and Savior, all that I have been unable to eliminate in this life will be cast away in that final moment, as I am made fully like Him.
In this life, we will have tribulations. That is one of the assurances we have from our King. I think we would do well to stop looking at the devil for all that tribulation, although he will doubtless lay behind enough of it. But, let us attend instead to the log in our own eye. Let us be concerned with the tribulations that we cause ourselves as we battle our own flesh and its sinful desires. Surely this effort is of greater worth in the eyes of our Savior than all our railing against the powers of hell. What use if we go confronting demonic forces in everybody around us, but leave our own sins unaddressed?
It would be easy, contemplating this incessant issue of sin corrupting every good thing I do, to fall into despondency. It would be easy to decide it’s not worth trying because failure is inevitable. But, that is the feeling promoted by attempts to earn entry, not the feeling promoted by expressing the joy of salvation accomplished. When we are moved by love for Jesus, rather than fear of hell, we are able to move in confidence in spite of the certainty of error on our behalf. How can that be? It is quite simple, really, and it is found in the twin portraits painted by this parable. You see, however often we may wander afield, our Jesus is always there in the field. However far we may stray in those wanderings, He is there, and He will intercept our course and point us back to the true path.
This is the confidence of faith. It is not that I am confident I shall never sin again. Quite the contrary! I am quite confident that I shall doubtless sin again before this day is through, probably before it is even well started. This is not something I say with pride. It is not something I take as an excuse to breeze through the day carefree and unconcerned as to my sinfulness. No way! But, it is sufficient cause to be done with kicking myself over the failures. That accomplishes nothing but to weaken resistance to the next temptation. No, my confidence is simply in the certainty that my Shepherd Jesus will not allow my wandering foolishness to carry me beyond His ability to call me back. There is, after all, no place I could wander off to that He is not there, and where He is, there is a signpost pointing me towards Home.
Look: If I consider the things He protected me from when I was not even willing to admit His existence, how much more can I trust Him to protect me when I am His brother, His betrothed? With Paul, I am convinced that nothing in life or death, in heaven or hell or anywhere between, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ro 8:39). Being convinced of that, I know I can count myself amongst the things that cannot cause that divide.
You see, it is there in the promise of God. While it is true and certain that we are made slaves in the household of God as He purchases us out of the slavery of sin, it is also true that we are adopted into the family of God as true sons and heirs of the household. This is important to grasp! You see, as Jesus taught, the slave is not a permanent member of the household. He doesn’t remain a part of the household forever. But, the son does. Sons are of the household forever (Jn 8:35). This is the foundation of knowing that whom the Son makes free is truly free (Jn 8:36). We have been purchased out of slavery to sin into slavery to righteousness, but… we having been bought into that slavery, we have not been left in it. We have been adopted into the family, and our days of abject slavery brought to an end. No more! We are sons of the house of God, children of the Most High! We are of His household forever by His own choosing (and no other reason). Again: This is my confidence. This is Paul’s confidence. For all those who believe, this is confidence. Nothing can separate us, not even ourselves!
