Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked

     One of the joys of being a father of two young adults is when they share their music with me. While listening to each new track, my emotions and thoughts invariably run the full gamut from tears to laughter, and praise to pondering, while I attempt to decipher why they chose the song to add to their playlist…and why they chose to share it with me.

   

     I would wager that Cage the Elephants’ Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked is probably not on the iPods of most self-professing, evangelical Christians in America who are over the age of 40. Yet, the more I listened to this song, the more it resonated with me on the great divide that has all-too-often been erected between those in the ‘church’ and those in the ‘world.’ Further, it was an indictment upon my life as a closet moralist. Though I claim to believe the tenets of Reformed theology – justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ’s righteousness alone – my daily thoughts paint a different portrait, especially as I scrutinize others’ lives.

     How many days do I consciously or unconsciously compare my ‘works’ to those around me as I seek to give cred to my awesomeness in God’s eyes? Even when I am living in line with God’s word, how can I possibly boast at my accomplishments…or bash the shortcomings of others? When I see someone living in an unwise way, do I ask, “What made you want to live this kind of life?” More importantly, do I take the time to listen for the answer?

     “Surely I was sinful at my birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me’ (Psalm 51:5). “God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 53:2-3). If these words come from the mouth of David, the “man after God’s own heart,” what chance does a wretch like me have in holding out my good works before God for his nod of approval? Isaiah the prophet crushed the theology of good works when he said, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (64:6).

     Cage the Elephant has half the equation right when they sing, “Oh no there ain’t no rest for the wicked…until we close our eyes for good.” “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.” “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” (Isaiah 57:20-21) Unfortunately, peace does not suddenly arrive for the wicked when death comes knocking. For “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left…“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

     So the question I have to ask myself is, “What am I doing to help my neighbor find rest…both now and for eternity?”

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:1-11)

     Am I using God’s word like the Pharisees, as a weapon to wound those who I’ve ‘caught’ in sin? Or as a tool that will show them God’s kindness which leads to repentance? This ‘kindness,’ however, does not imply a glossing over of sin or sweeping it under the rug. God forbid! For Jesus said, “leave your life of sin.” None of us in the body of Christ have achieved our position as sons and daughters of God by anything we have done. We can only receive it and boast in Jesus alone who saves because he took our place on the cross. “Lord, help us to drop our stones and speak the truth in love to our neighbors.” Because at the heart of it “I know we’re all the same. Oh yes we all seek out to satisfy those thrills.” We are all like sheep who have gone astray. Therefore, may those who have been found by the Shepherd point others to the ultimate satisfaction that comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ’s righteousness alone!