Posted June 1st, 2006
Luke 18 records the Lord Jesus teaching on the nature of justification by telling the story of the Pharisee and Tax Collector. Pharisees were the respected religious leaders of Jesus' time. They lived outwardly moral and pious lives that many of us wouldn't come close to matching. In fact, Jesus never condemned the righteousness of the Pharisees, he even told his disciples that "unless [their] righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, [they] would not enter heaven." (Matt 5:20) The problem with the Pharisees was their motive for obedience. In Luke 18 Jesus explained how the Pharisee exalted himself by focusing on his moral life. In start contrast, however, Jesus praises the tax collector (a social outcast because of moral failures, perhaps think of a prostitute today) because instead of focusing on his works, he focuses on God's mercy as he begs "God, be merciful to me." This is the biblical "sinner's prayer" and it expresses the terms that God requires people to come to him on in order to be saved. We must acknowledge that nothing we have or do can ever allow us to stand before a holy God. Only God's mercy can save us from God's justice, and these two intersect only at the cross.
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Posted May 27th, 2004
A vital part of our worship must be that of confession and repentance, for if we are not maintaining a healthy, reconciled relationship with God, our time of praise and adoration will be hypocritical and contrived. Different traditions insert a time of confession in their gathered worship at different times and in different ways, but all seek to focus our attention on our sinfulness in order to remember and enjoy the forgiveness God has applied to those very sins. Robery McCheyne said that "for every one look at your sin, take 10 looks to Jesus." We can spend the rest of our time of worship celebrating and enjoying God's glory - his name and works. Our fresh experience of the forgiveness of sins will make the rest of our time of worship more real, intimate, and exciting. This song is a song of desperation - because of our weakness, fear, vileness, and worthlessness, we have nothing left to except cry like the tax collector in Luke 18:13 "God, be merciful to me, the sinner!"
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Posted July 9th, 2003
I know of no other hymn writer who could express the remorse and terror of our own sinfulness than Charles Wesley. This powerful song is a cry to the God who has graciously saved us even when we shook our fist in His face and scorned His law for our own. Those whom God is pleased to save know this guilt, this cry of the penitent sinner in Luke 18:13: "God, be merciful to me, the sinner!". Like this man, we can humbly ask, "Can there be mercy still reserved for me?". Our joy as Christians is rooted in the fact that we know the answer to this question - YES!
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Reformed Praise presents Martin Luther's setting of Psalm 130 in a fresh, reflective, piano-driven setting suitable for a wide range of worship music styles.
