God Doesn't Care about Yesterday

What you believed about God yesterday doesn't matter.

You may have been in the pew every Sunday, studied the Bible every day in your home, and believed every teaching that Jesus gave.  But that doesn't matter.

Jesus once told a story to prove that very point...

There once was a father who had two sons.  He asked them both to go out into the field to work for the day.  The first son fired back with a sneer, "I will not!"  However, as time passed, he changed his mind and went.  The second son graciously answered, "I will, sir."  However, as the day went on, he never went out to the field.

"Which son," Jesus asked the listening crowd, "did what his father wanted?"

"The first," the crowd answered.  They were right.  Although the first son began badly, he finished well.

Jesus then turned the made-up story into a striking reality.  Staring at the religious leaders of his day, he shattered their pride by saying, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you!" (Matthew 21:28-32)

I would have loved to have seen their faces!  Prostitues?!?  The women whom we used to see selling their bodies for a few coins--they are getting to heaven before the priests and church leaders?!?  The tax collectors?!?  The traitors of our people who sell out their brothers and sisters and countrymen just to line their pockets and buy nice camels?  How does that work?

It works, according to Jesus, because yesterday doesn't matter.  Yesterday's answer of faith means nothing if today's answer is a rejection of God's truth.  Yesterday's love of Christ means nothing if today you don't care any more. 

And likewise, yesterday's unbelief means nothing to God if today we say "Amen!" to God's promises.  Yesterday's record of sins means nothing if today we look to Christ for forgiveness.

As I read Jesus' short story last night, I was shocked as I realized how relevant that idea is here in 2009.  It's applicable in two very important ways:

1.  If you think you are standing firm, be careful you don't fall!--Jesus cares little about your perfect spiritual upbringing, how many generations in your family have attended the church, or if your dad used to be a Christian school teacher.  He doesn't care if you attended a Christian university or went on a mission trip back in high school.  Jesus could care less about your past if today you are rejecting him in your heart and in your actions.  Be careful you don't lull yourself to spiritual comfort with your "pedigree" that will surely impress God.  It will not.  That's what the religious leaders in Christ's time thought.  They thought wrong.

2.  If you think you can't stand before God, Jesus has something else to say to you--You may wonder if God could ever accept you.  Could he love a man who cheated on his wife and messed up his family?  Could he love a woman who has been raped and has been numbing her unending pain with prescription meds?  Could God possibly care about the college student who has made 1,000 promises to be kinder/gentler/more loving/more patient/more self-controlled, and yet has broken every promises every time? 

The answer?  Jesus doesn't care about your past if you turn to him today.  He died on the cross for your sins to take away our disobedient "no's" of the past.  He took them off our record so that we can stand before God.  So, if you have a messed up spiritual past, messier than the average college dormroom, remember that Jesus cares about your present faith.  Trust in his forgiveness and he'll take care of your past.  Just like that first son, when we change our mind and trust in Jesus, we do what God wants us to do.

God's blessings as you live in the present,

Pastor Mike