Luke 10:29
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
The verse above is the question that led to Jesus’ telling of the parable of the Good Samaritan. What strikes me this morning is not the parable, but the motivation of the lawyer who asked the question. The man asked Jesus who his neighbor was, not for informational purposes, but with a desire for self-justification.
Often we do the same thing, though we do not want to admit it. When we look at the commands of God with an eye toward making ourselves look good, we have a problem. When we look for loopholes in the word of God that should allow us to feel good about ourselves, we look like this man. When we find ways to apply the black and white of the text to our actual actions while ignoring the spirit of the law and the state of our hearts, we attempt to justify ourselves.
The problem is, none of us can justify ourselves. We are not compared to a basic standard of goodness that we sometimes meet and sometimes don’t. We are not compared to the righteousness of other men. We are not in a legal courtroom where we might get out of trouble based on technicalities. No, when we are judged, we stand before an infinitely perfect and infinitely holy God. We do not compare. We have no hope of self-justification. All our acts, even our righteous ones, are as filthy rags in the sight of God if not sanctified by the blood of Christ (cf. Isaiah 64:6).
So, let us not think for a moment to justify ourselves. Let us never try to get out from under the righteous commands of God by finding technical loopholes. Instead, let us accept the righteousness of God and our own guilt. Let us rest in the shed blood of Jesus as our substitutionary atonement. Let us realize that Jesus is our only righteousness who took our deserved punishment. Then let us obey and love our God in gratitude for the work of the Savior and out of a desire for the joy of seeing the glory of our Lord.
Father, I reject any notion that I can justify myself, my thoughts, or my actions by my own standards. I know that, left to myself, I am guilty before you and deserve your punishment. I thank you for Jesus. I know that he died to pay the price for my sin and rose from the grave to finish my justification. My only hope is Christ. I have no righteousness that belongs to myself alone. I ask that you will help me to love you and serve you well, not for my justification, but out of a desire to know you more, to see your glory, and to honor your name.
Pastor Travis Peterson 