Grace to Sinners
6 min read
28 “The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand— 29 all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord.”
— Nehemiah 10:28-29
This ceremony was the last time in the Bible that the people of Israel reestablished their covenant with God. On the one hand, it was a truly glorious moment for the people of Israel. On the other hand, we have seen this many times before, only for Israel to turn away from God once again.
We can easily relate to their flip-flopping. We do it all the time. When we feel the presence of God at a retreat or at revival, our conviction to live our lives devoted to God seems so secure. But as soon as we get into our regular routines—making dinner and doing the dishes, taking out the trash, doing laundry—the presence of God is not even a distant memory.
True revival is worked into the daily rhythms of our lives, which for the most part is generally mundane. We have to conscientiously do so because seeking the presence of God in the mundane does not come naturally.
Walking with Christ in the mundane is the most important struggle that every Christian faces. It is in the mundane that our own identity as Christians, our relationships with others, and our understanding of God’s word is tested.
If we try to make our daily lives a fiery revival, we will probably just cause a fire that destroys people.
Some scholars believe that the time of Nehemiah and Ezra was when the Pharisee movement began. While their desire to live obediently to the word of God is commendable, what many Pharisees did not get was the spirit of God’s word. They got trapped in the details of God’s commands and lost sight of the necessity of God’s grace and the message of God’s mission.
And there are some Christians who are like that today. Unfortunately, pharisaical Christians tend to be in positions of ministry leadership. We could spend a lot of time discussing why that is the case. But the bottom line is that there is no one who is righteous—not even one. And that truth is conveniently forgotten in favor of human productivity and performance.
What I means is that in the interest of “productivity” (which in ministry is usually measured by attendance), professional polish and outward evidence of “holiness” becomes more valuable than a deep, abiding trust in God (which is usually evident in humility and stillness). And unfortunately, professional polish and outward evidence of “holiness” is usually expressed in judgmentalism and condemnation of other sinners.
Alistair Begg, one of my preaching heroes, said that we must be “very, very careful when you hear your pastor or your teacher, whoever it is, lambasting a certain area of life, especially in the realm of morality. … [Time] and time again, you will discover that that loud protestation actually sadly, tragically, proved to be a very thin smokescreen for what was actually going on in the hearts of these people.”
He’s right. The apostle Paul wrote that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). The word of God kills every single one of us. But the Spirit reveals in God’s word a supernatural grace that first comes from God and is extended toward other sinners in this boat full of sinners called life.
Father, You alone are righteous. Forgive us for when we play judge and jury. Teach us grace, and compel us to extend grace toward one another by the power of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’s name. Amen.