Living for God's Kingdom Part 2

Welcome to you all, thank you Kings Grace for allowing me to preach again this Sunday. My name is Joe Carey, I’m an Elder of Grace New Plymouth and studying towards being a full-time pastor. Today is part 2 of a two-part series of living for God’s Kingdom. Last week we looked to the parable of the Good Samaritan to see how Jesus’ death on the cross is why we should imitate the example of the good samaritan. This week I bring us Luke 18, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. To continue to understand what living for God’s kingdom should look like in our lives.

So with that, I ask you…

Have you ever been so confident in something, only to find out that you were wrong?

My wife, Ness, and I were driving from the Coromandel back to New Plymouth. I was so confident in my sense of direction, I made the call to go on some back roads. I was telling Ness how North is that way, West is this way. We were bypassing Hamilton. And I was avoiding all the towns around, This was going to save time. Then the confronting truth hit me, as we slowed down into Cambridge traffic like it must have been lunch hour or something. Crying kids in the back, Ness clearly unimpressed with my confidence and sense of direction and me having to humbly say, ok babe you can use google now.

I was confident in myself, and boy I was wrong.

In the bible, there is a group of religious people who were very confident in the way they lived their lives. We are told that Jesus is speaking to this crowd of people. Jesus explains how to correctly be justified before God thus, how we ought to live for his kingdom. Let's begin by understanding the context.

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:”

So Jesus is speaking to some who have confidence in their own righteousness. That is, they think they are doing what is needed to be right with God, they think they are living life right. Last week in Chapter 10 we learn that we must Love God and Love others in order to live the right life. This group of people, however, didn’t love others so much for they looked down on everyone else who they judged was living life wrong.

So this was a tense setting. For Jesus has been traveling a long way on his journey to Jerusalem to die on the cross remember Chapter 9 tells us of Jesus’ mindset that he resolved to hand himself over into the hands of men, so after having had many conversations and teaching in parables, here we find ourselves with a crowd of self-righteous people, there were also the disciples, and others who have followed him thus far. So let’s see what Jesus has to say, I’ve put this sermon into three key points:

First key point:

Two men went to the temple to pray

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.”

First observation, these two men both go to the temple. That’s like saying these two men both went to church. It is the same concept for understanding this parable. Of course, the temple does have more depth to discover, however for today, think of these two men as going to church, much the same as we would experience today, just a couple of men at church.

Second observation, these two men pray. That is they both speak to God in what is called prayer. Which is very much the same as we would see in the church today.

One man is a Pharisee. I’ve just mentioned to you the crowd that Jesus is addressing. So you could imagine the ears of the audience perking up, like okay Jesus what are you going to say about us. Now in society at the time, the Pharisees were the ones trying to make everyone think they were living life right. By society's standards, they were on the top of the list of impressive people.

The other man was a tax collector. Tax collectors were pretty much the opposite of Pharisees in society’s standard. They were near the bottom of the list of impressive people. Now I’m not being rude here, it’s important to know how low down the ranks of society Tax collectors were in order to understand the depth of this parable. See tax collectors worked for the Romans who were the oppressors of Jews at the time. They also were known for adding extra tax for their own profit. Nobody would consider a tax collector to be living life right.

So Jesus is contrasting two different ends of society's expectations for who is justified in God’s sight. Let’s see what happens.

The Pharisee, who stands by himself at a designated place of prayer in front of the temple entrance, prays these words: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people - robbers, evildoers, adulterers- or even like this tax collector.”

Let’s just pause right here.

This Pharisee certainly gives a list of people groups that are not admired in society. Throughout the world, you wouldn’t find a society that upholds robbers, evildoers, adulterers as titles to aspire towards. So it makes sense in a way that someone who isn't’ those things would want to say, yea God, aren’t I doing well that I’m not like them.

The Pharisee goes on to pray: “I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”

This guy is a step above his other Pharisee mates, Jewish law stated that only certain items were to be donated; this man donates more than he is required to. Even in his fasting, which means to go without food for a time of prayer. This man is doing above and beyond the requirements of Jewish law. Basically, he’s a hard out religious man that would impress even the Pharisees

But do you see what this prayer is, pointing out other people who are bad? Pointing out all the good he does. This is self-righteousness. It's a pretty common attitude. I wonder if you have heard people speak like this? Do you ever find yourself speaking self-righteously? Particularly when there are major issues going on in the world? As you consider that, know that there is good news at the end of this parable.

Because at this point Jesus brings in the contrast. He first describes the Tax Collector's actions:

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast”

Three actions are stated here. First, Standing at a distance. That is a distance away from the entrance of the temple. Consider the Pharisee to be standing roughly where I am, if the door to the temple is the back wall behind me. Our tax collector is standing way out on the other side of the road in the big car park lot out front. He is keeping his distance.

Secondly, he doesn’t look up to heaven. The common Hebrew prayer stance is to look up, to speak to God above. This man does not do that. He is at a distance and he does not lookup. Thirdly, he beats his breast.

Now universally, a man doing this is generally expected to be someone who is deeply reflecting, I mean physically they look troubled. They certainly do not look proud. This tax collector is not raising himself up but standing in a humble position.

So Jesus has described a man who by his actions is humble with his approach to praying at the temple. In contrast with the proud Pharisee, who is standing looking up and around at others. So after giving a physical description, Jesus then tells us the tax collector's prayer:

‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

The tax collector in his simple and short prayer, says more than the Pharisee did. The tax collector is saying a lot about who he is speaking to. God, Have mercy on me. This man recognizes the authority of the one to whom he is talking to. There is no need to ask someone for mercy if that person has no ability to grant it. For example, one might ask for mercy from a judge or a police officer, or even a debt collector. That’s because these are groups of people who have the power to be merciful if you are subject to them. This tax collector is speaking to God. So what is he saying about God? He recognizes that it is God who grants mercy.

Mercy from what you might ask? Well, listen to what the tax collector says about himself.

In two words he says everything there is to know about himself and the mercy he is very much desiring. Two words that state, he is deserving of punishment. That he is worthy of God’s wrath. Listen for these words:

‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

A sinner. Me, a sinner. There’s nothing else to add. In this short prayer, this tax collector states that he is deserving of punishment on the day of judgment because he acknowledges that he is a sinner. This man is recognizing that he is not living the way that God has said to live. Our tax collector knows he is not living life right.

Furthermore, he is stating that he has no power to save himself. This man is asking for mercy. I mean, if you could pay back your debt, then you do not need to fear the debt collector. So we have a man who knows he is not living right with God and so asks God for mercy.

So the first point of this parable is that two men went to the temple to pray. We’ve seen the contrasting prayers they offered and the manner in which they offered them. That was the first point. Two men went to the temple to pray.

The second point is this:

The humble heart is justified.

Jesus finishes his parable with this:

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Unpacking the first sentence. It was the tax collector who went home justified before God. What a role reversal. Everyone expects the overly religious person to be going to heaven. Even the somewhat religious person might think they have a shot.

Here Jesus plainly states to the crowd that included self-righteous people, that the Pharisee in this story was unjustified before God. Imagine hearing that the way to inherit eternal life is not what you thought it was. Let that sink in for a second. People who thought that being religious and doing religious stuff, like donating money, going without food, not being a robber or wrongdoer. That these things would be the way to eternal life. All of a sudden Jesus is clearly stating that this is not the case.

In fact, more so, the tax collector, the guy who nobody likes, he, with his humble attitude, is in fact the one who is justified before God.

What a shock. I mean even today that's still shocking. Many of us will have faced this reality in our own walk with Jesus. Maybe we still do today. Or even, maybe you're not a Christian and you see those in the church speak self righteously. We need to know that Jesus is saying this pharisee, who does religion better than anyone you know. Was not justified. But rather the one who acknowledged he is a sinner in need of mercy was justified.

And Jesus didn’t leave it at that. He gives the full explanation of this parable in his final sentence: “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

There it is. The lesson for us and the crowd he spoke to. In contrasting the two men who went to the temple, Jesus teaches this lesson with how it looks in practice.

The Pharisee exalted himself, he was declared unjustified before God. Meaning that the Pharisee was not living life right. The Tax collector humbled himself and he was declared justified, exalted. The humble tax collector was living life right.

The tax collector in this parable is the model of humility and obedience. This is a humility that is straight up, not dancing around the issue, the tax collector owned his life choices and in faith that God is merciful, he threw himself on God’s mercy. This is not a matter of simply saying the prayer but rather in faith living it out.

This brings us to our third and final point:

Humility is faith in Jesus

Those who declare Jesus as Lord must wrestle with this internal battle of how you view your justification. Is your confidence in inheriting eternal life found in the religious ways you live? serving? giving? I’m not a wrongdoer attitude?

Or is it in Christ?

You see the Tax collector was unable to save himself, he asked for mercy. Unlike the Pharisee who thought he could justify himself. What the Pharisee failed to understand from the old testament scripture is that no one can save themselves. Not even the heroes of the Old Testament. All needed to trust in God for his mercy. The Tax collector understood this.

So what does it mean to trust in God for his mercy?

Let’s see what Luke records for us immediately after the parable

People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

This is no random story added by Luke. This is the picture of mercy that Jesus provides. Let the Children come to me. Using another example of society's outcast. Children and babies were outcasts because of their dependency and their general lack of ability to do things. It’s kind of like how we might say to a kid “Don’t worry about it you’re too young to understand.” Children got passed off a lot.

Jesus states that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. The outcasts, the marginalized.

His parable was contrasting a high society figure against an outcast. Here the outcasts are being highlighted again.

This time though, it was the disciples who did not think the children were worthy of Jesus. They were rebuked for holding them back. Jesus tells off his followers for not giving children access to Jesus. Another role reversal of societal expectations. Children suddenly accepted and were given a place of belonging, where they would not have been expected to be.

One of the blessings of being an outcast is that one is so much more aware of where they don’t belong. Some time ago, I was invited to a place where I don’t belong, the projection room at the cinema. You know the room, it’s where the movie projector is set up and the guy presses play. There’s a big door that says NO ACCESS. So on this special day, I got to walk through that door. That sign did not apply to me that day. I had access. More than that I count this day special because I knew I didn’t belong in that room. Yet like a pig in mud, I was giddy all day about it.

Now here is the reality for us. For me especially, I know that I’m a sinner. I have a problem living for God’s command to love Him and others more than myself. I recognize that in my heart I have robbed others, committed evil, and done plenty of wrongs. I am an outcast who is undeserving. And I don’t say that in vain, maybe you know this of yourself also.

Well, friends, I have good news for you.

We simply need to come to Jesus. “Let the children come to me” For he takes away the sins of the world. Nothing we can do will impress God to justify us. We need Jesus for Jesus is God’s mercy. The one who died on the cross, taking the punishment for our sin, that we may call on Jesus’ name and be justified before God. The tax collector asks God for mercy, God gives Jesus to make the payment in place of the sinner. Have faith that Jesus has done this for you.

Therefore we need to come to Jesus in order to live life right.

Then we can receive the Kingdom of God like a child. Like a tax collector, like an outcast. God has given us access to God’s Kingdom through Jesus. We don’t belong there, we haven’t done anything to earn it. But we have access because of Jesus. We can belong there because of Jesus. So let us be giddy for the rest of our lives. Receiving the kingdom like a child. Did you watch a child receive a present on Christmas? My boy Arthur shouts for glee whenever the postman drops mail off. Let us receive the Kingdom with joyful childlike glee. What wonderful words Jesus has spoken.

This sermon is about living for God’s kingdom. I said last week that an authentic Christian life is not defined by what we say about our faith or our lives, rather by a love for God and a love for others. Here, we have further unpacked an example of Christian conduct for relating to one another. The emphasis here is to be humble. because it is through faith in Jesus that we are justified. Jesus has done it all. He has even given us the humility we need, that is a merciful God. Therefore We must have faith in Jesus, not faith in ourselves and the way we see the world.

I asked you at the beginning if you had been so confident in something, to find out that you were wrong?

I plead with you, Don’t get this wrong. Like I told my wife to open Google for directions home. I'm telling you, open your bible for directions to live the right life. It’s a new year, don’t make a new you, just a renewed you, shaped by the words of scripture, living a life that is right by God. So today’s lesson was: be humble this year. Join that with last week’s lesson:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and body, and love others as yourself.

You are set for a fantastic year.

Let’s pray:

God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen