Lessons from a Tax Collector

**INTRO**

Last time I spoke about the G.K Chesterton quote that says "Christianity is not so much tried and found wanting but it is found difficult and left untried." And I encouraged you to look at the life of Jesus and model his behaviours such as: Silence, Solitude, fasting, prayer, reading scripture etc.

**This is hard. Why Would we Do This? **

1. These disciplines of Jesus are the pathways to the presence of God -- to hearing his voice. If you are finding yourself sceptical that God could really speak to you, or that you could sense his real abiding presence but refuse to walk the way that our saviour walked you are fooling yourself. Do you think yourself so special that you don't have to do what Jesus did to spend time with God?

2. We are called to be Holy -- to be Gods people

1 Thessalonians 4:7 tells us "God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life."

1 Peter 1:15 tells us " but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,"

Heb:12:14 tells us we ought to "Strive for Holiness"

**Our Striving for holiness must be rooted in the grace of God**

Doing these activities (fasting, prayer, meditation) do not make us more or less worthy of God, but rather they are postures that allow us to be in the presence of a righteous God. They are postures that can shape us and sanctify us. But they do not Earn us anything before God.However, it is easy to believe that doing these things makes us holy and more deserving of Gods blessing.

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9–14)

**The Attitude of the Pharisee**

Jesus is pointing out something that happens to all of us? Just like the Pharisee cited his fasting and tithing as evidence of his worthiness, we too survey our actions and behaviours from the last few days/weeks and allow them to dictate how worthy we are of Gods love and favour. Sometimes we get to feeling pretty good about ourselves. We turn to god with an attitude that says I are worthy of your presence because I have earned it.

We can develop this attitude because we are convinced we believe the right things, read our bible regularly, we serve at church and are not just “pew sitters” in the church.

I know that I can easily become like the Pharisee and not even realize I am doing it.

You know how I become aware that I have been acting like a pharisee?

I become aware that I have been a pharisee when I make mistakes and fail spiritually and feel as though I have lost my good standing with the Lord and that I need to pull my socks up and be a better Christian.

But as we all know, our actions do not determine our status with the Lord but rather what Jesus has done for us determines our status. When we’ve had a “bad” day spiritually, when it seems we’ve done everything wrong and are feeling guilty? We must go back to the cross and see Jesus there bearing our sins in His own body.

Peter says "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." 1 Peter 2:24–25

**The Attitude of the Tax Collector **

Here is the thing about the tax collector. He obviously had imperfections and sin in his life. But Jesus praises this man and not the pharisee -- Why?

It is because both men have Sin in their lives but only one is willing to admit their sin and place themselves before a saving God while the other is suffering from a delusion of deserving.

You and I need to continually be like the Tax Collector.

We must come before the Lord beating our breast saying " God Be merciful to me a sinner."

William Carey, who went to India in 1793, is often called the father of modern missions. His vast labors for Christ included translation of all or parts of the Bible into more than forty languages and dialects. Carey’s well-known missionary slogan was: “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” Yet the same man penned these words:

"I am this day seventy years old, a monument of Divine mercy and goodness, though on a review of my life I find much, very much, for which I ought to be humbled in the dust; my direct and positive sins are innumerable, my negligence in the Lord’s work has been great, I have not promoted his cause, nor sought his glory and honour as I ought, notwithstanding all this, I am spared till now, and am still retained in his Work, and I trust I am received into the divine favour through him."

William Carrey did not come before God saying look at what I have done for you and how worthy I am of you. No, instead he came to God in the same way as the Tax Collector.

**what must we do? We need to develop the discipline of grace**

We develop in the discipline of grace through repentance.

Mutua Mahiaini, the leader of The Navigators ministry in Kenya, Africa, makes this observation:

"Repentance is one of the Christian’s highest privileges. A repentant Christian focuses on God’s mercy and God’s grace. Any moment in our lives when we bask in God’s mercy and grace is our highest moment. Higher than when we feel smug in our decent performance and cannot think of anything we need to confess.…

That is potentially a glorious moment. For we could at that moment accept God’s abundant Mercy and Grace and go forth with nothing to boast of except Christ Himself, or else we struggle with our shame, focusing on that as well as our track record. We fail because we have shifted our attention from Grace and Mercy. One who draws on God’s Mercy and Grace is quick to repent, but also slow to sin.

"Most often our sin problem is in the area I call “refined” sins. These are the sins of nice people, sins that we can regularly commit and still retain our positions as elders, worship leader, pastor. Refined sins include the tendency to judge others and to speak critically of them to other people, gossip, and unwholesome speech, even if what we say is true. We are simply not to say anything about someone else that we wouldn’t want to eventually reach that person’s ear. Only honest criticism given from a heart of love in a spirit of humility can qualify as that which builds up the other person.Which of us does not offend frequently with our tongue? The real problem, however, is not our tongues but our hearts. Jesus said, “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). So it would not be sufficient to win control over our tongues, even if we could. We must recognize the sin in our hearts.Other refined sins include resentment, bitterness, an unforgiving spirit, impatience, and irritability. God is grieved over our refined sins just as He is grieved over sexual immorality or dishonesty. I am not suggesting that being irritable at one’s spouse is as serious as adultery. I am saying that being irritable at one’s spouse is sin and that all sin grieves God and should grieve us.We have become too comfortable with sin. Because we sin so frequently, we learn to coexist with it as long as it doesn’t get too out of control or scandalous. We forget, or perhaps have never learned, how seriously God regards all sin.

My Struggles with anger/frustration