“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him (Matthew 21:28-32).

In the mind of a first century Jew, prostitutes and tax collectors were the worst sinners in the world. They were the outcasts, the rodents of society. Things haven’t changed much in our time. Prostitution, in the minds of most, ranks among the greatest of disrespectable sins. But Jesus had some shocking words for the respected individuals of his time: “The tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.”

Moral People Are Unforgiven People

In Luke 18, Jesus told another parable. It was about two men, a Pharisee and a tax collector, who each went into the temple to pray. The Pharisee’s prayer was rejected, while the tax collector’s prayer was received.

It’s easy to miss how shocking Jesus’ parable was because “Pharisee” has become an insult to modern minds, while “tax collector” really doesn’t carry any connotations at all. But in Jesus’ time these two types of people would have been understood in a completely different way.

Pharisees went to church every Sunday. And, when they got there, they were the ones who led the public prayer. They contributed their tithes. They memorized the Torah and kept God’s law. Pharisees were well-respected, righteous men. Paul, looking back on the time when he himself was a Pharisee, said, “As to righteousness under the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:6, emphasis added). Pharisees were blameless under the law.

Tax collectors, on the other hand, were scoundrels. They were often grouped with prostitutes (Matthew 21:31) and sinners (Matthew 9:10). They were lewd in speech and licentious in behavior. They were greedy. They were self-centered. Tax collectors represented the polar opposite of Pharisees.

To put things in perspective, if Jesus’ parable in Luke 18 were given a modern twist, it might look something like this:

Two men went into the sanctuary to pray, one a pastor and the other a pimp. The pastor, standing by himself, prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this procurer. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” But the pimp, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

The pastor kept the law. He didn’t cry out for mercy because he didn’t need mercy. People who aren’t sinners don’t need mercy. If a police officer gives you a speeding ticket when you weren’t speeding, you don’t ask for mercy; you demand justice! Law keepers don’t need mercy. They just need law, and they’re safe.

But lawbreakers need mercy. The pimp cried out for mercy because it was his only hope. It was the only thing he could do. He knew his wicked past. He knew, if God was just, he had no hope. He deserved God’s wrath, and he had no excuse. The cry of the pimp was a helpless cry. There was nothing he could do; he was a sinner. His only hope was that somehow God would withhold his vengeful hand.

And Jesus, commenting on this story, said the pimp went back to his house justified rather than the pastor. The sinner was forgiven, but the saint was cast out. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14). God forgives humble people. When sinners humble themselves and ask for forgiveness, God is merciful. But the problem with moral people is they don’t need forgiveness, so they don’t ask. People who don’t need forgiveness aren’t forgiven because Christ did not die for righteous people.

Christ Died for the Ungodly

Christ’s death was not incidental; it was planned. Having existed from eternity in perfect fellowship with the Father and having all of his admiration, he put on flesh for the very purpose of being put to death. Jesus became a man so that he could die.

Not only was it planned, Christ’s death was planned with a clear purpose: so that sinners might be spared. Those who, attempting to avoid God’s wrath, boast in their own righteousness reject the need for the cross. Anyone who is righteous doesn’t need a savior. Like the pastor, they just need the law, and they’ve got heaven. But sinners need a cross, and it is for them that Christ bore the wrath of God.

Jesus didn’t die for us because we’re good people. It wasn’t because he thought we didn’t deserve to die. It was precisely the opposite. We deserved to die, but he died instead. People who think they’re deserving of God’s love make a mockery of the cross — and, in doing so, make a mockery of God.

If you’re not ungodly, Christianity is not for you. You should find another religion, and there are plenty of them which accept godly people. But Christianity is for sinners. Paul said, “Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).

Don’t Be an Imaginary Sinner

In order to be forgiven, you must be a sinner. God can’t forgive people who don’t need forgiveness. Martin Luther said, “Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong” (Sämmtliche Schriften, Letter 99). And don’t just be an imaginary sinner. Imaginary sinners receive imaginary forgiveness, and imaginary forgiveness cannot save you from the reality of God’s wrath. If you want real forgiveness, you must be a real sinner.

Jesus said prostitutes go into the kingdom of heaven before priests. The priests Jesus was talking to were imaginary sinners. They may have performed the sacrifices to atone for sins, but in their pride they denied their need for a sacrifice. They were just pretend sinners.

Priests who play religious games and paint their faces with righteous smiles will not see the kingdom of heaven. But prostitutes who come to Jesus’ feet broken before him will be met with outstretched arms.

Greater Joy for Greater Sinners

It is a good thing to be a sinner. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul called his righteousness garbage (Philippians 3:4-9). But the reason Paul called it garbage was not because it was non-existent. The argument he presented was not, “I have no righteousness, therefore it’s worthless to me.” Rather, his argument was, “I have lots of righteousness, but knowing Christ is way better than having righteousness of my own, so it’s trash to me.”

There is a joy that comes from knowing Christ as a sinner that doesn’t come from standing before God as a righteous person. Jesus took this even further, not only saying sinners can have greater joy than the righteous, but that greater sinners can have greater joy than lesser sinners. Luke tells us of a time Jesus visited the house of a Pharisee named Simon. While he was there, a woman came in, knelt, and began weeping at Jesus’ feet (Luke 7:36-50). Luke described her as “a woman of the city, who was a sinner.”

Simon, upon seeing this, said, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” Simon expected that if Jesus had known how sinful she was he wouldn’t have allowed her to touch him. But Jesus replied, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little” (v. 47).

Don’t miss what Jesus is saying here. She loves much because she has been forgiven for much sinfulness. But those who aren’t forgiven much don’t love much. If you are a small sinner, you will be a small lover of God. You cannot have maximal joy in God unless you are maximally sinful. Be a great sinner, but be a greater lover.

The Unique Joy of Sinful People

It is interesting, is it not, that Jesus said that, when people are raised from the dead to spend an eternity with God, they won’t be married (Matthew 22:30). That’s interesting because the reason God said he created Eve was: “It is not good that man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). So what’s the difference? Why was singleness bad for Adam before the fall but good for those who will be raised from the dead to live on the new Earth?

It’s because marriage was meant to teach us about our relationship to Jesus until the time that we could understand it more fully. The church is Christ’s bride, and marriage exists as a parable pointing to that. But when the church is raised from the dead and presented to her bridegroom, the parable of marriage will no longer be necessary. Marriage merely exists as a picture of what our union with Christ will one day be. Until then, it remains as a picture, but one day it will be a reality and we will have no more need for a picture.

But between Adam and the resurrection there was a fall. That means it wasn’t God’s intention in creation that it remain as it was for Adam and Eve forever. His plan was to redeem it and replace the picture of marriage he gave to Adam and Eve with a relationship with his Son. Don’t forget that Adam walked with God before the fall (Genesis 3:8). Adam talked to God and knew him personally. But he didn’t know him fully; he didn’t know him in every way for which God had created him. We will be better off in the resurrection than Adam was before the fall. We will have greater joy in God because of our sinfulness and his great salvation.

The Difference Between a Prostitute and a Priest

I titled this article “Homosexuals Go Into the Kingdom Before Republicans”. I know that’s a provocative title, and I had misgivings about whether it was a helpful title. This isn’t a partisan ploy. I’ve got no interest in discussing what party you should vote for. But, ultimately, I decided to go with the title because I think it is faithful to what Jesus said.

When Jesus said, “The prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you,” he was talking to the chief priests. Prostitutes are guilty of sexual immorality, just like homosexuals. That’s an easy parallel to draw. The reason I chose Republicans, and that was the more difficult choice, was because Republicans (and I know this isn’t universally true) generally make a big issue out of gay marriage. I imagine this is very similar to the attitude the chief priests would have had toward prostitutes. Republicans are, in the minds of many, moral people. In the 1980s there was a whole organization called the Moral Majority, and most of its members were Republicans. On the other hand, homosexuals are seen as immoral; they’re unclean. But Jesus came to make the unclean clean. He didn’t come for the healthy but the sick. Do you think homosexuals are any more sinful than you, O, Republicans? Then they will enter the kingdom of God before you.

The difference between a prostitute and a priest is not the degree of sinfulness; it is the degree of disrespectable sinfulness. The priests in Jesus’ day were just as sinful. They just didn’t sin in such a way that they were chastised. They sinned in such a way that they were honored. But prostitutes were looked down upon by everyone. They couldn’t come to Jesus and say, “I am sinless.” The only thing they could do is cry out for mercy. And that’s precisely why they enter the kingdom first.

Those Who Go on Sinning Stop Repenting

One last thing must be said. In Romans, Paul said the sexually immoral have been given over to their passions because they have suppressed the truth about God (Romans 1:24-27). Many have rejected God so long and so fiercely that God has given them up to their desires. Unrepentant prostitutes and homosexuals will be judged. And they will not always be able to repent. There does come a time when God will abandon those who have rejected him, and, like Esau, they may find themselves unable to repent. The author of Hebrews said,

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears (Hebrews 12:15-17).

Homosexuals and prostitutes must repent in order to be forgiven. Unrepentant people are unforgiven people. And there can come a hardening over your heart so hard that you may find yourself one day unable to repent. Esau sought repentance through tears, but he did not find it. Do not harden your heart. If you are a great sinner, go to Christ! He will forgive you if you turn to him! Do not delay any longer. He is your only hope, and he is offered to you now, not later. Do not sell your birthright for a single meal.

A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless (Tim Keller, The Reason for God xvii).

I have struggled with much of my own doubt. Doubt is painful. It blinds your eyes to Christ, and it robs you of your joy. It causes you to question God. It makes the small joys sin offers seem great (Genesis 3:1-6). However, as painful as it has been, and as much as I have stumbled in the midst of doubt, I am glad for much of it. When Jesus predicted Peter’s faithlessness, he commanded him, “When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). I have learned invaluable lessons through some of my hardest nights. To doubters, from a doubter, here are some of the things I have learned.

Do not be afraid of doubt.

One reason many people ignore their doubts is because they are afraid. It may sound scary even to admit you have doubts long enough to look at them. Yes, there is a high price to pay for rejecting Jesus. But, if you do not examine your doubt, you will have a hard time following Christ to the extent that he calls. And anyone who says, “I follow him,” but is not willing to put a cross on his own back, is not following him where he went: to be crucified.

If you have doubts, don’t be afraid to examine them. Repent insofar as you find sin in your doubt, and beg God to help you with them. Seek help from wise Christian friends and leaders. But don’t fear your lack of understanding. Take it to the cross. Jesus died for doubt, too, and he demonstrated great forgiveness for those with doubt during his ministry.

When Thomas doubted, Jesus was not harsh toward him. Nor did Jesus appoint a new apostle to take his place. Jesus came to him and showed him his wounds (John 20:24-29). When a father came to Jesus with his mute son, Jesus told him he could heal him if he only believed. In despair, the father cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”  And what did Jesus do?  He healed his son. Not because he had perfect faith, but because Jesus had mercy on him (Mark 9:20-27). If God command us to “Have mercy on those who doubt” (Jude 22), how much more mercy will he have on those who doubt and come to him for help?

God is not impressed by the strength of your belief. What delights God is a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17). So go to him with your doubt. Be broken before him, and plead for his help.

Do not focus on your doubt.

Dealing with your doubt is one thing, but do not let your doubt become your focus. The focal point of Christianity is the person of Jesus. Look to him!  In his autobiography, Charles Spurgeon described his conversion this way,

Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, “Look!” What a charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could have almost looked my eyes away (CH Spurgeon Autobiography, Volume 1 88).

It is those who look to Christ who are healed, and none others (John 3:14-15).

Where to go from here

Trace your doubts back to their roots. Try to identify where they come from. Are your doubts objective (you don’t believe Jesus) or subjective (you wonder if you are a genuine Christian)?  If you can get a handle on the nature of your doubt, you will be better able to seek help.

I have listed some things below you can do to deal with your doubt and provided some information on where to go from here:

• Read your bible, and spend time evaluating the person of Jesus. The crowds Jesus spoke to were astonished by his teaching (Mark 1:22). They said, “No one ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46). So go to him. See if you find the Jesus in the gospels to be a trustworthy person who speaks with authority.
• Also evaluate the character of Jesus’ followers. Similarly, Jesus’ followers gave up everything they had to follow him. Paul was a respected Pharisee before he converted to Christianity and suffered tremendously for Christ’s sake (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). Why was Paul willing to suffer so much for Christ?  Spend time reading the words Jesus’ disciples (Paul, Peter, John, etc.) wrote and see if you find them to be credible witnesses.
• Wrestle with huge theological problems. When you have a theological difficulty (for instance, the problem of evil), work on it; try to find explanations for the paradoxes you come across. Don’t feel you have to solve it soon; rather resolve to wrestle with it for months or years if that is what it takes, and find good, trustworthy theologians who can help you through your questions. John Piper and Tim Keller are two of the ones who have been most helpful to me.
• Spend time with Christians. Find some trustworthy Christians who are trying to follow Jesus with all their hearts and get to know them. They will make a lot of mistakes, but if they truly love Jesus, you’ll be able to see something different in them (1 John 2:15).
• Reflect on the witness God has given in creation. Romans 1:19-20 says God has made himself plain to the world through creation. I know it may not always seem that way because sinful people try to suppress this knowledge (Romans 1:18), but it is everywhere. You just have to humble yourself and open your eyes. Be amazed at the world God has created!  And ponder things like the moral law, which God has given us to bear witness to himself.
• Read helpful books. Tim Keller’s The Reason for God is a good place to start. And this may sound strange, but I can’t recommend Charles Spurgeon’s All of Grace enough. Though it simply repeats the claims of Christianity over and over (rather than offering evidence and argumentation), it helped me out immensely during some great doubt in my life. There is truth to the fact that the Holy Spirit works through the proclamation of the gospel to create believing hearts. Immerse yourself in the gospel more than anything else. Facts won’t make you a lover of God, but the gospel will. Biographies of radical lovers of God are helpful as well.
• Get away from distractions. Our entertainment-saturated culture isn’t helpful for pointing us toward God. Develop better ways to use your time that point you to God. Spend time outside in his creation. Spend time in your room, alone in prayer. Many times it’s good just to be quiet and ponder things that you wouldn’t have time to ponder if you sat in front of the TV all day.
• Preach the gospel to yourself every day. The primary problem in your doubt is likely not an intellectual issue but a moral issue. No matter how hard you try to believe, you won’t unless God works in your heart. You can work yourself up into a sweat trying to believe, but it won’t get you anywhere unless the Holy Spirit brings you faith. Get on your face before God and beg him to send you his Spirit. Do not just do it once. Do it a thousand times. It may take years of doubt before you begin to feel confidence in your faith again. Resolve not to give up, but to endure through your doubt. Put the gospel in a sentence you can take with you to recite to yourself. “God justifies the ungodly” is as helpful as anything I’ve ever come across.

Recommended Resources

1. Rejoice in loss.

Loss teaches us about death. When your flesh rises up pridefully to anger or embarrassment, loss can be, for you, a parable of death as you use it to put the flesh to death. When you lose, glorify God by killing your pride and rejoicing with your opponents in a shared love for God’s goodness through the game.

2. Win with grace.

Winning, likewise, is a chance to die. The flesh desires to boast in its accomplishments. When you win gracefully, you die, and God is shown to be your joy, not bragging rights.

3. Boast in weaknesses.

When you make mistakes, you die by taking it as an opportunity to boast in your weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9). Only God is capable of executing anything perfectly.  Your mistakes bear witness to the full range of God’s perfections.

4. Be amazed at God’s goodness.

God said, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). We’re sinners, so what does God do? He gives us volleyball. Be amazed at God’s goodness! We deserve the sun to fall on us and boil the oceans, but he puts it in the sky and sets paradise in front of us. When you realize the only reason the sun rose to warm the sand is due to God’s goodness and his steadfast love, you die to your old self which would have you think God owes you his sun.  People who receive volleyball with thankfulness magnify God’s goodness (1 Timothy 4:4) which is designed to bring the world to repentance (Romans 2:4).

5. Use valuable opportunities to mortify sin.

Games present opportunities to mortify sin that we aren’t always given so plainly in our everyday lives. You can mortify temper, which causes you to get frustrated when the game doesn’t go your way, gloating, which can rise in the flesh when you do well, a belittling attitude, which makes you want to speak harshly to a stumbling teammate, and pride, which wants to take credit for the athletic ability God has given you.  Don’t waste your opportunity to put these sins to death.

6. Recognize your smallness.

If you think the world is going to fall apart because you take a break to play volleyball, you don’t really realize who is in control.  At this moment, the sun is hurtling through the galaxy at nearly 500,000 miles per hour around a black hole at the center of the Milky Way.  Is it your strength that holds it in orbit?  You don’t even have the power to turn one hair white or black (Matthew 5:36). God serves us and doesn’t need us to carry out his purpose in the world (Acts 17:24-25; Luke 10:41-42). One way he serves us is by giving us volleyball to enjoy, for the sake of his glory.

7. Remember God’s purpose.

God’s purpose in the world is not primarily to convert everyone to Christianity. If that was his primary purpose, he could accomplish it. Nor is his purpose primarily to purify and disciple his church. These are both secondary purposes, which God works mightily in, but they both serve his primary purpose of glorifying himself. And one way God glorifies himself is by giving us volleyball to receive with thanks as a gift bought with the blood of the Lamb.

8. Stand in awe of others’ talents.

God is glorified when we turn away from ourselves and take notice of our opponents’ talents. Praise your opponents and teammates for their talent, and God, who gave them their talents, will shine brightly. Moreover, God has given professionals and Olympic players far superior talent for us to behold – small glories in which we can see glimmers of the glory of God.

9. Stay in shape.

Volleyball can be used as a means of exercise, and exercise keeps our bodies in the condition God designed for them. It enables us to do more in our pursuit to glorify him. When you are more mobile, you can more easily perform the tasks God has for you.  In addition, exercise helps stay off depression and mental illness. Finally, when we sweat with thankful hearts, we sweat to the glory of God.

10. Keep your body under submission.

When your body wants to give up in the middle of a game, you die by overcoming fatigue. When you deny yourself an unnecessary rest, you join Jesus who denied himself the comfort of heaven for you. This denial is not a stoic denial for its own sake, but it teaches us of our frailty, it trains us to bear difficulties, and it prepares us for war.

11. Make a ministry out of it.

Volleyball is a great way to form relationships, which can give you witnessing and discipleship opportunities.  If you die while playing volleyball, you display the glory of Christ to others, who see your actions and give glory to God (Matthew 5:16).

12. Look to the greater joy Jesus offers.

Recreation is good because the God who created it is good.  He doesn’t give bad gifts; everything he created is good (1 Timothy 4:4).  So Volleyball teaches us about the good God who created it.   He gives us joys here on earth to bear witness to the greater joy that is to come when we at last see his beautiful face.   When we realize this we die, and just as mightily we live.   The joy of volleyball is a parable – a small taste – of the joy Jesus offers.

Further Reading

Mahaney, C. J. “Don’t Waste Your Sports.” 31 Aug 2008. http://www.covlife.org/resources/2671709-Dont_Waste_Your_Sports

Piper, John. “How do you glorify God through exercise?” 31 March 2008. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/AskPastorJohn/ByTopic/13/2695/

—. “How to Drink Orange Juice to the Glory of God.” 15 September 1986. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/1986/1489/

—. “Softball, Sex and Augustus Strong.” 4 May 1982. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/1982/3299/

An interesting note is that Methuselah seems to have died the year of the flood (from my reading it’s possible he died up to 3 years before the flood, but the most natural reading has him dying in the same year).   According to MacArthur his name indicated the coming flood:

Methuselah has a very interesting name. . . .  The Hebrew means, “man of the shoot,” or “man of the shot out,” or “man of the sending forth.”  . . .  The man identified with something that is sent out, something that is shot out.  So his name signifies that he will not die until judgment is shot out. . . .  Almost every commentary you read on that clearly indicates that Methuselah dies in the year of the flood.  He is the man who will live until the shooting out of the judgment of God.

A second interesting note is that, given the most plain reading of the text, it sounds like Shem was alive when Jacob was born (and Noah and Abraham’s lives overlapped nearly 60 years).

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old. . . .
You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. . . .
You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron (Psalm 77).

God has given us a rich history of his faithfulness to take confidence in.