I Have Nothing

Many churches today are working on being "irresistible", or, at least, acceptable to the people around them. Their goal is noble: Reach the lost. Megachurches have sprung from this approach. Bill Hybels built Willow Creek from this approach. Rick Warren actually went door to door in his community asking marketing-type questions about what they did and didn't like about churches and what would make them come. He grew Saddleback Community Church to over 50,000 folks with that strategy. And others are hot on their tails, trying to emulate their success.

One of the first things to come off the sermon topic list was "sin". Jesus said, "Men love the darkness" (John 3:19), a way of saying that no one wants to hear about their indiscretions and how they need to change. Everyone knows the annoyance of the stereotypical mother who is always nagging her adult children to change, to be better, to fix this or that in their lives. No one likes that. No one. So what do we do instead? That's easy. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace ..." (Gal. 5:22). Who doesn't want to hear about love, joy, and peace? "I will ask the Father, and he will give you a Comforter" (John 14:16). Who isn't happy to hear about a Comforter? "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:4). Is there anyone who doesn't like gifts?

There really is a lot of "good news" in the Gospel. Forgiveness, restoration, new life, friendship with God, the power of God at work in us, oh, the list goes on and on and on. And to ignore or slight these is to miss the point. There's just one catch. These are not the starting place.

The rich, young ruler came to Jesus and asked for the good stuff. "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 18:18). Good work! You've recognized that Jesus is good. You've recognized that He's a teacher. You see that He has the answers to life in general and eternal life specifically. Excellent! What does Jesus answer? "Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me" (Luke 18:22). The man came to Jesus full. He had his own righteousness. He had money. He had everything. All he wanted was to be sure about the hereafter. Jesus told him that the thing that was required was ... emptiness. That the young man lacked.

Jesus told a famous parable about two people who went to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Before we dismiss the Pharisee, look a little longer. We've come to think of "Pharisee" as "hypocritical", perhaps even "legalistic". Jesus, however, had lots of good things to say about them. He had bad things to say, too, but lots of good things. Look at the real goodness of this Pharisee's prayer.

"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." (Luke 18:11-12).

Sure, sure, it's arrogant, but not as arrogant as it looks at first glance. He's doing all the right things and he's proud of it, but look what he says at the beginning: "God, I thank You that I am not like other men ..." He was proud, but proud of what he perceived God had done in his life. What's wrong with that?

Jesus said of the tax collector whose only prayer was "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" , "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other" (Luke 18:14). What was the difference? The Pharisee was full. He had what he needed. The tax collector was bankrupt.

This is the recurring theme of the Gospel. Yes, yes, yes, there is much good to commend it. We should know, appreciate, enjoy all of it. But the first requirement of coming to Christ is spiritual bankruptcy. The first requirement is a hunger and thirst for righteousness because we have none. The first requirement is the real and awful recognition of our sin and its horrors to God. The first requirement is "Nothing in my hand I bring; Only to Thy cross I cling." So when we try to make our churches more acceptable by leaving aside that particularly noxious topic of sin, we leave aside the first step. Without bad news, there can be no good news.

Does your sin bother you? If it doesn't, have serious questions about your spiritual state. Do you think that you are morally superior to others? Perhaps you haven't recognized the depths of your own depravity. Do you think that unpleasant things shouldn't happen to you? Perhaps you're not clear on where God found you. Worse, maybe He hasn't. We must enjoy the good news that God has given, but it starts with a true realization of the bad news of our sin. Remembering will teach us gratitude and humility and contentment and patience. Now who doesn't want all that?