I am reading Jerry Bridges "Respectable Sins." I think this book deserves consideration from everyone in the church. This book has really caused me to ponder sin within my own life. It is easy to spot in others, that's for sure, but we don't easily see sin hidden in our midst. Jesus told us to be aware of the log hanging out of our own eye before dealing with the speck in another's. That is a scary word for me. I realize that I have the tendency to minimize my own sin, and though it is glaring at me like a huge log hanging out of the front of my face, I can be completely oblivious to it while looking at others failures. We tend to look at the sins of others through a telescope. It makes even the smallest sin look huge. Then we turn the telescope around and look at the vague image of sin at the other end and feel really good about ourselves.
It is easy for us as Christians to hide our little sins behind the massive sins of others. Our gossip is tolerable when held next to the other guys adultery. Our worry and anxiety is harmless next to the homosexual sin in our community. I don't have to address the ungodliness in my own life as long as I decry the sin in your life loudly enough. But this is not the gospel. The gospel is for sinners.
Luke 18:10-14 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (11) 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. (12) I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' (13) 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!' (14) 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."
So there is hope for the adulterer and the homosexual. Equally there is hope for the gossip and godless. That hope is that "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." We all come to Christ the same way, "nothing in my hands I bring, only to thy cross I cling."
It is easy for us as Christians to hide our little sins behind the massive sins of others. Our gossip is tolerable when held next to the other guys adultery. Our worry and anxiety is harmless next to the homosexual sin in our community. I don't have to address the ungodliness in my own life as long as I decry the sin in your life loudly enough. But this is not the gospel. The gospel is for sinners.
Luke 18:10-14 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (11) 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. (12) I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' (13) 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!' (14) 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."
So there is hope for the adulterer and the homosexual. Equally there is hope for the gossip and godless. That hope is that "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." We all come to Christ the same way, "nothing in my hands I bring, only to thy cross I cling."
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