Sermon Tone Analysis

CALL TO WORSHIP

We meet in the presence of God,

who creates us in love,

redeems us through faith

and sustains us with hope.

We come with joy, and we come with sorrow,

sad at our failings, grateful for God’s acceptance.

May we know God-with-us as we join in worship.

Hymn 175:Here I am to Worship

PRAYERS

Beautiful God,

you astound us with your love and your grace,

your abundant welcome and your faithfulness.

You are constant and ever-present.

We worship you today

and will ever sing your praise.

Amen.

Lord, we are sorry when we have considered ourselves

in any way superior to others you have made.

Forgive us when pride becomes the centrepiece of our lives,

and open our eyes to see where this is a danger.

We repent of our assumptions and tendencies

to claim the moral high ground, to judge rather than to love,

to use our words as ways to trample on others’ worth.

Forgive us and restore us, for in puffing ourselves up

we let your people down.

In Jesus’ name, restore us.

Amen.

God, who forgives all who are genuinely sorry,

cleanse our hearts and make us new.

We cherish your grace giving us a fresh new slate.

May the words we write upon it

be honouring to your name.

Amen.

Collection

Hymn 504: May the mind of Christ my Saviour

READING

“Give to the Most High as he has given to you, and as generously as you can afford.

For the Lord is the one who repays, and he will repay you seven fold.

Do not offer him a bribe, for he will not accept it; and do not rely on a dishonest sacrifice; for the Lord is the judge, and with him there is no partiality.

He will not show partiality to the poor; but he will listen to the prayer of one who is wronged.

He will not ignore the supplication of the orphan, or the widow when she pours out her complaint.”

Luke 18: 9-14

Hymn 495: Dear lord and Father

SERMON

Our first reading reminds us of who God is no one can bribe or parlay will him, it reminds us that what we have is given by God, and his grace is not something that can be bargained with.

Our second reading give an account of God’s forgiveness.

Who remembers a great example of status in a comedy sketch very old now it was back in 1966, “I know my place” which had the very tall John Cleese, he had a bowler hat and rolled up umbrella, next to him was the middle sized Ronnie Barker, with white collar and trilby, on the end was the very small Ronnie Corbett, he had a flat cap and overalls, John Cleese was literally looking down on the two Ronnies, with Ronnie barker looking up to John Cleese and down and poor Ronnie Corbett who said at the end of each sentence “I know my place” although I think his last line was “ I get a pain in the neck”

Maybe we might wish to be something like the Pharisee, standing tall because society judges us to be ‘righteous’.

We probably don’t want to be like the tax collector cowering in a corner.

But Jesus’s parable challenges us about such attitudes.

he points out what is really important.

What matters, Jesus says, is honesty: in recognising our shortcomings and in having the courage to own up to them and seek God’s help to overcome them.

Then, perhaps, we will recognise out true worth – and that of others – before God.

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector: The Pharisee makes for an easy target.

He’s so obnoxious and arrogant and self-assured you can’t help but love to hate him.

The tax collector, on the other hand, in reality should be the one we ought to despise.

Remember in Jesus’ day, (and perhaps today) tax collectors were little more than white collar thieves.

Given the chance, they’d sell their own mothers’ homes if the owed tax.

Yet, in this parable we take pity on the tax collector because he’s contrite and beat down by his own feelings of unworthiness.

We naturally root for the underdog.

The twist of the parable is that, in condemning the Pharisee because he’s such a show off, we condemn ourselves: “God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men…” In this way, we are just as guilty as he is.

And that’s the point – in judging others, we judge ourselves – just as Jesus taught his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged.

For with whatever judgement you judge, you will be judged, and with whatever measure you measure,

it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-5)

The question is how can we keep from judging others?

How can move from judgment to compassion?

That’s what I’d like for us to think about in the sermon this morning.

First, let’s take a closer look at the Pharisee.

Luke says he’s standing in the Temple by himself.

Now, there’s some debate about the translation here.

The phrase could read, he was standing by himself praying, or it could read, he was standing praying to himself.

The Pharisee doesn’t confess his sins.

He doesn’t pour out his heart to the Lord.

He doesn’t ask God for strength or help or guidance or mercy.

He merely reports to God all the reasons why God ought to be proud of him.

“It would seem that the Pharisee is both standing by himself and praying to himself.”

But let’s be fair.

The Pharisee prays, “I fast twice a week.

I give tithes of all that I get.” (vs.

12) Now that’s more than the Law required.

He also says that he gives a tithe of everything he earns.

In the book of Deuteronomy, we read, “You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes forth from the field year by year.”

(14:22) If you take that literally, you could make a case for limiting your tithe only to your crops.

In other words, you’re not obligated to give a tithe from, say, the sale of your sheep.

But it’s not enough for the Pharisee to satisfy the minimum requirements of the Law; he gives a tithe of all his income.

This man’s not only righteous, but he’s also super-righteous.

And so, he stands by himself.

But again, let’s be fair.

He may be standing by himself because he doesn’t want to associate with such low-lifes as this tax-collector, and he may be standing by himself because nobody else feels worthy to stand by him.

He’s in a league of his own.

So, not to take away from the prideful manner of the Pharisee, let’s give him credit.

He worked hard to get where he was and, if we were honest – except for his lack of humility – we wish others were more like him.

Raymond Bailey says,

“Pharisees make good elders, stewards, or deacons.

They are the ones who do the work of the church and provide the financial support necessary to support religious institutions.

Pharisees were devoted to God and righteousness, and most of their faults were the result of over-striving for holiness.

Their zeal was often misguided, but at least they had zeal in their desire to please God.”

What’s important is to ask: What is it that makes us work so hard to please others in the first place?