His Eye is on the Sparrow

As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord takes thought for me. Psalm 40:17

What is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him? Psalm 8:4

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7

These verses came to my mind one evening while I was on a walk. It is when I do some of my best thinking, and the Lord is so kind to give me those times. There are no distractions (besides those of my own mind), and I am in the midst of God’s beautiful creation. I mean, who wouldn’t want to go on a walk with this as a backdrop?!

These days people, out of concern, often ask me, “How are you doing?” And I honestly don’t know how to answer them. None of the usual replies seem sufficient. For the most part I am doing okay (which is how I wind up responding). The Lord has been gracious to give me the strength needed for each day and has given me His indescribable peace. He is very kind to give me the morning time to spend with Him to prepare for the day ahead. And, let me tell you, I need this time alone with Him. Spending time with Jesus is the only reason why I am doing as well as I am in the middle of all of this horror. But it’s not like I don’t have my days (like yesterday) where I am tired and weary and hurting and overwhelmed and, well, just plain broken.

I have a lot on my shoulders and, most of the time, I don’t feel the weight of it all, which I guess is another one of God’s many graces. Every day presents a new challenge and trial, and I wear many hats to do the things that need to get done. Usually the response of others to what I am going through helps me see a glimpse of the magnitude, but I suppose I won’t really realize the full weight until after it’s lifted. At least that is how it was in South Asia. The burden of living in a different culture, learning a new language, and being surrounded by spiritual darkness weighed heavily on my shoulders, but I didn’t realize it while I was living in the midst of it. It wasn’t until after I returned to the States that I sensed that a burden had lifted, and I felt “lighter.”

A lot has happened these past few years, especially this year – much of it unpleasant – that the Lord has used to grow and change me. I am not the same as I used to be even back when I graduated from seminary in 2010. The bitter circumstances have left their wounds, but, most significantly, the Lord has used them to strengthen my faith, clarify my priorities, deepen my trust in Jesus, grow me in the knowledge of God’s Word, and refine me. And He did this all through brokenness. I am learning that that is His master tool. Only when we are broken and humble before Him can His glory and greatness shine through. Brokenness is where He does some of His greatest work. And, trust me, my independent-self needed some breaking and refining. I used to consider myself a pretty compassionate person, but the Lord has worked some tenderness into my heart through all this that wasn’t there before. It doesn’t take much to make my eyes well up with tears anymore. Seeing anyone who is in some kind of emotional pain or who is grieving sends a piercing pain through my heart. I mean, I can barely watch anything even remotely sad on TV now without tearing up. MASH, The Waltons, Up (yep, even a cartoon), and The Lord of the Rings, have all done their part in making the tears fall. This is not like me, at least the old me, but I guess it is now. The Lord tells us to be tenderhearted (Ephesians 4:32; 1 Peter 3:8; cf. Colossians 12:3), which doesn’t come naturally so the Spirit works it into our hearts through the circumstances God brings to help us obey this command.

As usual, the Lord meets me where I am. He wounds, but He also heals (Hosea 6:1). He has brought a few songs into my life this week to remind me that nothing is wasted. Every ounce of everything He has allowed into my life is preparing for me a glory I cannot even conceive of with my mind (1 Corinthians 2:9). It will be better than I can imagine (Ephesians 3:20). The weight that I referred to, both the big and small, is doing something unseen and majestic. It is preparing for me a particular weight of glory beyond all comparison that will make all of these trials, all of this suffering, “light and momentary” (2 Corinthians 2:16-18; cf. John Piper’s sermon on this text). Indeed, I am poor and needy, but my Lord takes thought for me and His thought is to do me good both now and forever.

What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9

Good People Don’t Go to Heaven

Good people don’t go to heaven. This truth has been bouncing around in my head for several weeks now. I realize it is a scandalous statement that goes against everything we believe as humans, especially humans living in the American culture, but, according to the Word of God, it is true. I cannot tell you the number of people who have told me in recent weeks that they are “good people” or that someone they know is a “good person” when talking to them about their status with God. And, by human and societal standards, I suppose they are good. In fact, I used to believe the very same thing about myself before Jesus saved me and showed me otherwise. God’s Word, however, tells us something very different:

As it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.” Romans 3:10-11 (cf. Psalm 14:1-3; 53:1-3)

No one is good except God alone. Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19

Whether doctor, factory worker, homemaker, strip-club dancer, or whatever, each one thinks, “I’m a good person.” And, sure, compared to somebody else, we might be “good,” but not compared to God. He is perfect. He is the definition of good. These two men say it well:

“The terrible condition of man’s heart will never be recognized by people who assess it only in relation to other people…our depravity is a condition in relation to God primarily, and only secondarily in relation to man. This is the great awakening that needs to happen for people to see the extent of their sin and the greatness of the Savior.” John Piper, “Whatever is Not from Faith is Sin – Really?”

We should not be surprised that the secular world confuses sinners and sociopaths, prison and hell. Christians, however, must understand the differences. One need not be a monster, by human definition, to go to hell. The sinfulness of “normal” humanity is quite enough for that. But there are monsters among us, and Ariel Castro’s crimes and his lack of moral understanding put him in that category as well.” Dr. Mohler’s blog post, “'‘I Am Not a Monster’ – Ariel Castro as Sinner and Sociopath”

God is the essence of perfection and so is His standard. He requires perfection. You don’t have to be a sociopath to be deserving of hell. You need only to be a sinner, and we all qualify for that. So where does that leave us? I haven’t met anyone who says they are perfect. Usually they say, “Well, I’m not perfect…” But that’s the standard and absolutely no one meets it. No one. We all offend God in more ways that we could ever realize and He requires those who offend Him to be punished. So what do we do? What can we do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Isaiah 64:6

All of our righteous deeds, our good deeds – the ones we depend on to outweigh our bad deeds and make us right with God – these deeds are like dirty, soiled rags to God. They are worthless and they earn us nothing in His sight; nothing, that is, but death.

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

BUT. Did you notice the “but” in that last verse? We cannot do anything to make ourselves good, to make ourselves right with God, to save ourselves from His anger and fury. But God can. As Pastor Bryan said last week, “A good God came to be good for us.” He so loved the world that He gave His Son Jesus Christ to die for us, to take our punishment, so that whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life (John 3:16). They are set free and declared not guilty. The perfect record of Jesus Christ, who obeyed God completely and loved others perfectly, becomes ours, and He becomes our sin and takes our punishment (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is how we become “good” in God’s sight. C.S. Lewis calls it “the great exchange.” You can spend your whole live serving others, but you won’t pay off the debt you owe to God. You can go to church every week, but that still won’t cut it. You can give all your money to the poor, but that won’t work either. You can be a very moral person, but it gets you nowhere. God sets the standard, and His standard is perfection. And He sets the terms, and the term is that we turn from our sins and believe in His Son Jesus Christ who loved us and gave His life for us so that we may live (Ephesians 5:2). There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12). He is the only way. This is good news! This is a good God. This is how you can be good in God’s eyes. Repent and believe and be saved.