To Love With All Your Heart...Continued from page 3

Fran Sciacca

 

 

 

7. Distill from each of the following verses a brief statement of what you understand to be God’s standard of acceptance:

 

Isaiah 6:1-5

 

 

 

Luke 5:4-8

 

 

 

Romans 3:22-23

 

 

 

8. Now look back at Luke 18:9. Based on what you’ve discovered so far, why does it make sense that Jesus was so incensed with people like this Pharisee?

 

 

 

9. Jesus clearly declared the tax collector to be righteous. Why is this so important, considering our condition and predicament as human beings?

 

 

 

RECAP

We sin because we are sinners. It is natural. We perform deeds of unrighteousness because they are the fruit of our unrighteousness. We are accountable to God for what we do and don’t do, but more seriously, we are condemned before God for who we are. While it is true that we can make feeble attempts to improve our conduct, we cannot change our condition. Left to ourselves, we are hopelessly, helplessly, timelessly damned. This is very bad news for even the best of folks. However, it’s the truth. At our best, we can be only negligibly righteous. And this is as true for the urban pimp as it is for the suburban, minivan-driving mom.