I Am Not Like Jesus

Every week I write a brief-ish devotional to help our congregation prepare for the Lord's Day. Occasionally I post a version of them here. This is the one for Saturday evening, August 5, 2023.

Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day. I don’t know who said it first, it has been attributed to many different people, but the saying is true and deserving of heartfelt agreement that: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” Sin deceives and enslaves. It wants you to believe that it is harmless, that you can remain in control of it, that it’s not a big deal. Sin is a liar, and it makes a liar out of you. But no one is really convinced by the lies, no one, that is, except the person who is telling them. Everyone else knew that the emperor was naked. Deep down the emperor knew it too. But he needed to believe he was wearing beautiful clothes. He needed to believe that he was wise, because the only other option would be to admit that he was a fool.

“Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God” (WSC 14). Now most of us have enough trouble dealing with the transgression of the law to keep us busy for the rest of three lifetimes, even with the Spirit’s help, but it is the want of conformity unto that is the real punch in the gut. That means that insofar as I am not like Christ—whose character exemplifies, defines, and is revealed by God’s law—I am guilty of sin. Sin isn’t just what I do or fail to do. It is who and what I am. This means I am more sinful than I know, and the more I learn about Christ, the more sinful I will realize myself to be. This explains the paradox of sanctification: as I grow in my apprehension of God’s holiness and in my own experience and pursuit of holiness, I see more of my own unholiness by contrast. I feel more sinful even as I am actually becoming less so.

God is patient, but I am not. Even on my best day, my patience is not like his. I may be able to grit my teeth and put on a happy face, but that is not like God who delights in mercy and patience. God is kind, but I am not. Even at my most generous, my most compassionate, I am more likely to be kind to the lovely and good, whereas God has shown his kindness to the worst, including me. God is light and in him there is no darkness at all, but not so in my own heart where there are still many shadows. I want the light to drive out the darkness, I think, but I am afraid of what may be exposed there. Maybe it is better to make peace with the darkness, to leave it in the corners of my life, or so I tell myself, but there is no darkness with God. All is light and truth and goodness and purity with him.

The law of God is not a list of rules and requirements. The law is a “transcript” of God’s character, as Dr. Bahnsen used to say (and likely others before him). And the command of God’s law is to imitate God and to walk in love even as Christ loved us (Eph. 5:1-2). How are you doing with that? I hope you are doing better than me. I’ve got my hands full just trying to keep the lists of commandments, but they are not the point. The character of a divine image-bearer; that is what the law reveals and requires, and what it continually exposes is my want of conformity unto it. God help me. Thank God he has and is and will.

Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day, and we anticipate gathering together to confess our sins, to receive and hear God’s pardon, and to have our covenant with him renewed. We will confess God’s law, and we know we will be convicted by it. We pray for and welcome that conviction. But we do not fear it, because though we are convicted by the law, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). Pardoned, delivered, and sanctified by the righteousness of Christ, we welcome the law as an ally, not an enemy. We delight in its truth, goodness, and beauty. We meditate day and night on its precepts. We seek to order our lives according to it. We hope and pray and strive to see our character more and more defined by it and not by what is natural to us.

The Lord’s Day is for sinners. They are the only people Jesus came to save. I am that sinner, and so are you. So come to Jesus in humble, heartfelt repentance and faith. Put away your pride, your foolishness, your delusions about yourself and all the wisdom, gifts, and accomplishments you imagine you can claim. Admit the truth, that you are naked, a naked fool parading down main street. Jesus will forgive naked fools who know they are naked. He will clothe you himself, make you a son in God’s house, and welcome you to the party of a prodigal who has returned home. Do not listen to the folly of your own heart. Listen to Christ, to God’s law, to his summons, and welcome home. --JME

Subjective Definitions of Personhood and Growing Evangelical Compromise

Western society is in the throes of debate over identity and personhood. Our nation denies personal rights to the unborn, allowing babies at an early stage of development in the womb to be killed, dissected, and discarded. At the same time we allow men with male sexual organs to “self-identify” as women and to join natural-born, biological females in gender-specific restrooms, changing rooms, and showers. If it were not simultaneously terrifying and deeply troubling, this juxtaposition between such contradictory notions of personhood would be truly fascinating. We might think a person insane who cannot distinguish a person’s gender based on unmistakable body-parts but who is absolutely certain a developing fetus in utero is not a human person entitled to legal rights and protections, but in this case it is not an isolated individual but a significant segment of western society, including many in the halls of government, who have fallen into such disordered thinking.

If you are tempted to shake your head sadly and pity the wicked confusion of all those lost people in the world, let me discomfit you with the assurance a similarly disordered mindset is rapidly making headway in the evangelical community. There is a significant debate over how to think about and identify Christians who have same-sex attractions but choose a celibate lifestyle in obedience to Christ. This seems a simple question with a straightforward, biblical answer. Every believer struggles with the temptations of a lingering sinful nature. I do not refer to myself by those temptations or struggles, nor do I embrace those temptations as if they constitute an orientation that, in part, defines my personhood. But an increasing number of otherwise conservative evangelicals are favoring defining an entire category as same-sex attracted or gay Christians. These brethren affirm that such believers must abstain from the practice of homosexual behavior, but they concede that such attraction is an aspect of personal identity and may even be otherwise morally neutral.

Do not misunderstand the issue. There certainly are believers who truly trust in Christ who are attracted to persons of their same sex. But this temptation is disordered, not creational (Rom. 1:24-28). It is sinful, not fundamental (1Cor. 6:9-11). And not only the behavior but the desire itself must be mortified, daily (Luke 9:23; Col. 3:5-8). Being a Christian does not mean never again feeling the temptation of lusts which are contrary to the will of God and the teaching of Christ, but it does mean a fundamental rejection of those desires as good, wholesome, or defining in terms of our personal identity. We are not defined by our sins or our temptations; we are defined by the image of God bestowed upon us at creation, the image which is created anew in Jesus Christ (Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 8:29; Col. 3:9-11). We are defined by grace, not the sinful and disordered temptations which the world tries to re-categorize as neutral orientations fundamental to individual identity. Homosexual attraction is disordered, whether a person ever acts upon it or not. We are to repent of and mortify it, not make peace with it in ourselves.

Make no mistake. Once Christians embrace deviant sexual desire as a category for defining personhood, the practice of corresponding sexual behavior will not be far behind. You cannot consistently maintain the position that same-sex attraction is central to your personal identity and permanently suppress or reject the expression of that personal attribute. A Christian may struggle with same-sex attraction his or her entire life. It may always be a temptation, and it may make heterosexual relationships impossible or unattractive. But our sinful desires are not who we are in Christ. A Christian is not defined by disordered attraction. Our identity is in Christ, with whom our life is hidden in God as we await glory. –JME

Sin, the Law, and Speed Traps

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

Both Saint and Sinner: How Does This Truth Help Me? (Part Four)

Over three other posts (here, here, and here) we have discussed the truth that every Christian is, in this life, both a sinner (Rom. 3:23; 1Tim. 1:15) and a saint (Rom. 1:7; Gal. 3:26-29). We observed that while both terms are used to describe believers, our identification with Christ is primary and determinative in terms of our character, behavior, and hope. Since God has given us the new birth (John 1:12-13), we are being remade in the image of Christ (Col. 3:9-11). Jesus has redeemed us from sin’s penalty and power; therefore, we have power to resist sin and practice righteousness (Rom. 6:15-18). Because the Spirit of God dwells in us, we have confidence in our union with Christ and eventual resurrection (Rom. 8:9-11) and power to resist the fleshly temptations that remain (Rom. 8:12-17).

This is where our discussion of Christian identity becomes practical and helpful. The Bible does not command behavior in order to create a new identity; it commands behavior on the basis of our new identity (Eph. 4:17-24). God speaks to us as a Father, not instructing us how to earn His love and acceptance, but how to live in light of it. Therefore, we ought to hear the commands of Scripture, not with the despair of those under the penalty and power of sin, but as those liberated from it and reconciled to God.

This gives us great encouragement and power for obedience. We obey God ought of joy and gratitude, not slavish fear or terror of His wrath (1 John 4:17-19). God’s work of regeneration and reconciliation, coupled with our union with Christ and the Spirit’s indwelling, shows us we can overcome sin because Christ has defeated it (Rom. 6:1-18).

Anyone who says they cannot do what Scripture commands denies this work of God in their lives. It is unbelief for me to tell God I cannot do what He enables me to do by grace. Can I love my enemy (Matt. 5:43-48)? Yes, I can by grace. Can I forgive my enemy (Col. 3:12-15)? Yes, I can by grace. Can I overcome bitterness, depression, anger, and despair (Eph. 4:25-32)? Yes, I can by grace. The power does not lie in me. It lies in the One who gave Himself for me, who now lives within me (Gal. 2:20; Php. 4:13). Do you trust Him enough to surrender yourself entirely to Him? -JME

Both Saint and Sinner: Which Identity Defines Me? (Part Three)

In two previous installments (here and here) we discussed every believer’s “dual identity” as both saint (Rom. 1:7) and sinner (1Tim. 1:15). Though many vigorously deny it, the Bible uses both terms to describe Christians in this life. But while the Bible describes us as both, it is evident one “identity” is primary in the Christian’s life.

Salvation is more than believing certain facts, saying a prayer, or receiving baptism. It includes a new heart (Ezek. 36:26), adoption as God’s child (Eph. 1:4), redemption from slavery to sin (Titus 2:14), and reconciliation to God (Col. 1:21-22). Salvation is not merely God forgiving what we have done; it is Him changing who we are. We are a “new creation” (2Cor. 5:17). “Our old self was crucified” with Christ (Rom. 6:6); now “Christ…lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). I am a child of God and an heir with Christ (Gal. 4:4-7). Though I sin and fall short, “there is now no condemnation” because I am in Christ (Rom. 8:1).

Because I still sin and realize my imperfection, it is appropriate to describe me as a sinner. But I am not just a sinner, not even primarily a sinner. I am, by God’s grace, a saint. Christ has changed my relationship to Him, and that changes everything. Whereas once I was “foolish, disobedient, led astray” and enslaved to my sin (Titus 3:3), Christ has become for me “wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1Cor. 1:30). Though I was dead in my sin “having no hope and without God” (Eph. 2:1, 12), “now in Christ Jesus… [I] have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). I have peace with God (Rom. 5:1), and having been reconciled by Christ, I have eternal life and “will never perish” (John 10:28).

I am a sinner, but that is not who or what defines me. The Bible commands me to live according to the reality of the change God has made in my life (Eph. 4:17-24). God adopted you; live like His child (Rom. 8:12-17). Christ redeemed you; sin no longer has power over you (Rom. 6:15-18). The Spirit dwells in you; don’t live in ways that grieve Him (Eph. 4:25-32). We are not working for grace; we are working from it. -JME

Part Four

Both Saint and Sinner: How Can I Be Both? (Part Two)

Previously we noted the disagreement between some believers regarding the proper identity (or way to identify) Christians. Some insist believers are saints, not sinners, whereas others insist they are sinners, not saints. But we found that the Bible describes Christians in this life as both (Rom. 1:7; 1Tim. 1:15).

How can both ways of identifying believers be true? There are two answers to this question, one relating to justification and the other to sanctification. Justification (God declaring us righteous) is based, not on our merit or work, but on the righteousness of Christ (2Cor. 5:21). Therefore, while God declares us righteous and holy, we are, in fact, personally unholy and sinful at the time (Rom. 5:6-8). We are both saint (by divine declaration) and sinner (by our deeds).

Sanctification (holiness and conformity to Christ) involves the progressive growth in grace as we obey Christ in the power of the Spirit (Rom. 6:16-18; 2Pet. 3:18). But this progressive sanctification is always incomplete in this life (1Jn. 3:2-3). We are becoming more like Jesus, but we are not altogether like Him yet (2Cor. 3:18). We still fall short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23). Therefore, while we are growing in saintliness, we still stumble and are sinners (1Jn. 1:8-10). We are both saint (by trajectory) and sinner (by weakness).

Now some will say that our frequent failures and mistakes as believers should not define us as sinners. I wholeheartedly agree, and that will be our subject in the next installment of this series. But when we sin we are, in one respect, sinners. Paul clearly states, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am [not was] the foremost” (1Tim. 1:15). There is a sense in which even though I am God’s child, I still am properly described as a sinner. My shortcomings are not merely mistakes; they are transgressions against the glory and goodness of God. He loves me. He accepts me in Christ. But I must never view my acceptance in a way that underestimates the gravity of my sin. I am, by God’s grace, a saint, but my appreciation for that grace is all the greater because I realize that I still am a sinner. -JME

Part Three: Which Identity Defines Me?

Part Four: How Does This Truth Help Me?