“Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.” Matthew 21:31
Have you ever heard the self-righteousness in your tone or words even as they are coming out of your mouth? What did you do? I am ashamed to say I had that experience yesterday when I had the opportunity to share in the human condition but instead went the route of ‘holier-than-thou.” That would be bad enough, but what made it even worse is I repeated this story several times, making sure everyone knew how cool I was because I can see what is truly valuable. I just read these words from Tim Keller. Not only do they point to the dangers of self-righteousness, but they remind me that the gospel is for people like me, who fall in all kinds of sin, including self-righteousness. Read this and rejoice with me in the gospel for the not-good.
Religion and philosophy in general says that God and salvation are only for those who are good. The gospel is also exclusive. It says that God and salvation are only for those who know they are not good and can only be saved by grace. But the gospel has a far more inclusive exclusivity! Anyone can belong to God through the gospel at once, regardless of record and background, regardless of who you have been or what you have done or how weak you are. Religion is for the noble, the able, the moral, the strong, but the gospel is for anyone. Jesus actually said that the able, moral and strongare in general farther from the kingdom than the moral failures and the spiritually weak.
(Matt.21:31).
