Well, it finally
happened. It is not surprising really. The truth is it could have (and probably
should have) happened a hundred times before. After driving in this country for
over twenty years, I received a speeding ticket. The fact it came just four
weeks after remarking in a sermon that I had never received one (see here
starting at 14:00 http://youtu.be/8KySvRQbSfI?t=14m)
makes it all the more embarrassing. I knew I was tired as we neared the end of
a 37 hour cross-country drive with five kids in the van, so I was using my
cruise control almost exclusively. But it happened anyway. I passed through a
small town in Arizona with a reputation as a speed trap. I never noticed (and
still have no idea) when I crossed from one zone into another, but a week after
arriving back home, I received a citation in the mail and a picture of my
offense from a traffic camera.
I suppose this
would be an opportune moment to reflect on the use of traffic cameras in
general and the unfairness of their use in this case, but that would detract
from the larger lesson to be learned and probably say more about my
self-justifying sinful nature than the inequity of the system. The truth is I
broke the law. Whether I intended to do so and whether I like the way my
transgression was dealt with, the fact of my guilt remains. Since I am
preaching through Romans in 2014-2015, Paul’s use and interpretation of the law
is frequently on my mind. My own transgression and its disclosure in this case
is an interesting illustration of something the apostle makes clear in his
epistle to the Roman saints.
John Stott in
his excellent commentary on Romans points out the law reveals sin, provokes
sin, and condemns sin (The Message of Romans,
IVP: 1994, 202-205). This three-fold relationship between our sin and God’s law
is amply demonstrated in chapters 3, 5, and 7 (e.g. 3:19-20; 5:13-14, 20;
7:7-13). Sin is transgression of God’s law (1John 3:4). Thus the more law is
revealed, the more sin there will be. This is not to suggest that ignorance of
the law is any excuse. On the contrary, sin existed even apart from the
explicit, written revelation of God’s laws to Israel (Rom. 5:13-14). But once
the law was given, and as individuals become personally aware of it (cf. Rom.
7:9), the nature and extent of our sin becomes apparent. If we only have the
law, our inability to keep it due our inherited depravity leaves us without
hope and subject to eternal separation and despair (Rom. 5:12-21; Eph. 2:1-3).
The law can expose our sin, but it is ultimately without power to save.
What does all of
this have to do with my tripping a traffic camera and receiving a speeding ticket?
The latter is an apt illustration of our experience with God’s law and sin. We
are driving along, blissfully unaware of our actual relationship to God’s law.
We feel confident we are doing pretty well. Maybe our moral life is a little
over the limit, perhaps five miles or so, but we feel sure we are well within
the buffer of grace. We become complacent. We disregard the signs. Then
suddenly, we find ourselves smacked in the face with proof of our own
disobedience. How do we respond? Do we seek to justify ourselves? Do we protest
the unfairness of it all? Do we lament the weight of the penalty? I did all of
these, if not verbally, at least in my mind, when I received my citation in the
mail. But these responses, while perhaps understandable in the context of a
speeding ticket, are deadly when offered in response to our violation of God’s
law.
The gospel is
not difficult to believe and accept because of the good news of free grace in
Christ. It is difficult to believe and accept because of its universal and
absolute condemnation of humanity and its testimony of my personal, desperate
need for God’s grace. The good news of the gospel is only good news for those
who hear, believe, and accept the bad news of what we really are apart from
Christ, and that is something unregenerate and rebellious people do not want to
hear, including plenty of unregenerate and rebellious people in churches. I know
I am a sinner, but I need to be reminded of it, often. I cannot rightly
understand God’s grace without first coming to terms with my condition without
it, and I certainly will not appreciate what Christ has done until I know why
He had to do it.
I wish I could
say a speeding ticket was enough to convince me once and for all that I am a
sinner and need God’s grace, but it is not enough. My defensiveness upon
receiving it is ample proof there is still far too much self within me and far
too little self-denial. I need the law to reveal and condemn my sin, even
though it provokes my sinful nature to sin still more. I love God’s law, not
only for its moral beauty but also for its convicting clarity. May God help us
to listen to His law and see ourselves more clearly in it. -JME
