- Concerning how we should look into our heart, there is a huge difference between the messages we receive from our society and from Jesus.
- Today’s consistent message on looking into your heart is “Have self-esteem.” (That is, find the good in your heart; emphasize the reasons to like yourself.)
- Jesus’ consistent message on looking into your heart, however, is “Repent.”
- Jesus’ reference to repentance was not fleeting. His first message in both the gospels of Matthew and Mark is “Repent” (Matthew 4:17 & Mark 1:15). His last message in the gospel of Luke is “Repent” (Luke 24:47). One of the most consistent messages throughout His ministry (see, for instance, Matthew 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32).
- This talk of repentance seems mean and hard-hearted at first, especially in light of the seemingly sweet message to “have good self-esteem.” But if you’ll stick with me for a few moments this morning, I think you’ll find that Jesus’ message is far more merciful and inviting than it may first appear.
- Before we get into a detailed comparison of the two paths, let’s define what we’re talking about so we’re all on the same page.
a. Repentance is “sorrow for one’s sins with a resolution to turn from it.” It is not merely being
sad about the consequences of your sin or being sorry you got caught in your sin. It is the recognition that you were wrong and the turning from it. This sense of sorrow is necessary lest we end up with “cheap grace,” where we claim God’s mercy without ever admitting we’ve done anything wrong.
b. Self-esteem is the choice to look into your heart and emphasize the positive. Find those good things within you and dwell on those. Don’t be depressed about who you are; simply find the person worth loving inside you.
With those definitions in mind, let’s consider these two responses to looking into your heart:
Response #1: “I’ve got good self-esteem.”
If you say that, what exactly does that mean?
1. You’re saying Jesus was an idiot.
- If you’ve got good self-esteem and feel good about yourself, then what was Jesus doing up there on the cross? If you can be good without divine assistance, if you can get into heaven and have a good relationship with God via your own goodness, then Jesus was a complete fool. Jesus believed that His death was necessary to open the door for you to have a relationship with God. Jesus believed that your sin was so great that only His death on the cross could atone for it. Jesus believed He was making the ultimate loving sacrifice by dying on the cross to pay the price for our sins. If you can claim “I’ve got good self-esteem and so I’m alright before God,” then you are simultaneously saying, “Jesus was a complete idiot to die on the cross - my sins aren’t that
bad - I feel pretty good about myself.”
- See Romans 8:32; John 3:16, 18; Ephesians 2:8.
- When people are asked for their favorite saying from the Bible, one of the more frequent answers is “God helps those who help themselves.” That saying, of course, is not in the Bible. Actually, had those people read the Bible, they would have discovered that the Bible as a whole teaches exactly the opposite. The Bible gives us the message: “God helps those who can’t help themselves.” God stands ready to assist all those who will admit they’ve fallen short and cannot earn their way into heaven. It’s the difference between those who rely on self-help and those who rely on the cross.
2. Jesus says, “You’re clueless.”
- Jesus said that “those who are well have no need of a physician; I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17).
- See Matthew 9:13; Luke 5:32.
- Is that us? We want to pretend we’re alright and saying “I’ve got great self-esteem” pushes us in that direction. But at the end of the day, as hard as we might try to emphasize the better things in our hearts, how many of us can honestly say that we’re not sinners? How many of us would be willing to claim that we’ve done nothing serious wrong? How many of us would willingly open up the doors of our heart to inspection?
- It’s not how horrific or how frequent our sins have been that keep us from Jesus’ offer of forgiveness. The grace of Christ can cover any debt. The thing that keep us from experiencing forgiveness is our refusal to admit that we have anything to forgiven of. And those in that situation are clueless to their true needs.
3. Jesus warns, “You’re in worse shape than Sodom.”
- When Jesus sent the disciples out, it was with a simple message: “So they went out and preached that people should repent” (Mark 6:12). It’s interesting that before they left on their journey, Jesus gave them instructions for their journey, which included this insight into those cities that rejected the disciples’ message: “Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!” (Mark 6:11).
- See Luke 10:13; 11:32.
- That means that when we have heard of the Good News of the Kingdom of God and we respond in our hearts with, “No thanks. I don’t think I need to repent. I’ve looked into my heart and I don’t think it looks all that bad. I feel pretty good about myself.” that we’ve put ourselves in a position that is worse than Sodom’s. To look on the offer of mercy and grace from Jesus’ hands and push it aside puts in a dire situation.
Response #2: “I’m tired of pretending.”
- “I’m willing to admit I’m guilty. I admit that my heart has stuff in it that shouldn’t be there. I
admit that I need help.”
- When we say that, what does that does that bring?
1. It releases relief and forgiveness.
- The sad irony of claiming that you’re a good person and because of that claiming a good heart and good self-esteem is that you’ve got to live a cover-up from there on. You’ve got to find excuses for all those bad things. You’ve got to convince yourself those words you said yesterday or those actions from earlier this week weren’t really that bad after all.
- But to admit that we need the cross, to admit that we’re guilty, ironically, brings great relief. We can stop pretending to be something we’re not. We can stop trying to create an appearance of goodness to impress those around us.
- At that point, whatever we begin to build in our lives can be built on a foundation of honesty,
rather than image.
2. It initiates a changed life.
- To begin our relationship with God at the point of receiving His grace is light years away from
beginning it by working our way to Him. When we try to work our way to Him, we’re constantly wondering, “Am I doing enough? Does He love me now?” Conversely, when we start from grace, the rock-solid basis of our relationship with God is His unbelievable love. From there, change begins to happen in our lives in response to having received that love.
- Change is possible when we have begun in God’s love. For example, our greatest motivation in being able to forgive the person who hurts us is that we are forgiving them in the same way God has forgiven us.
- Jesus said in Luke 7:47 that “he who is forgiven little, loves little.” When we know how much we’ve been forgiven of, we love much.
3. It creates joy in the Father’s heart.
- Many people seem to think that God is happy when we’re all pretending to be good. The truth is that God is full of joy when we see our true state and admit to our need for Jesus. Luke 15:7, 10 reminds us that there is more joy in heaven over one soul who repents than over 99 who don’t need repentance.
- Repentance is the currency of heaven’s joy.
- Jesus loved to be around people who were honest about who they were; Jesus’ sharpest condemnation was directed toward those who tried to pretend to be something they weren’t.
Conclusion:
- It may seem at first that repentance is a harsh message, but in reality it is much more merciful,
inviting, and realistic than the call to good self-esteem.
- Make this morning your morning to stop pretending and to get real with God.
