Justified or Not?
Luke 18: 9 - 14
Intro: A man went to visit a psychiatrist. “Doc, I’ve got 2 problems.” The doc said, “Tell me about it.” The man began, “First of all, I think I am a Coca-Cola machine.” The doc sat the man down and started therapy which lasted weeks. After giving it his best shot; but, nothing happened, the psychiatrist jumped up, took 4 quarters out of his pocket, shoved them into the man’s mouth, grabbed him by the ears and shook him until he swallowed the quarters. The Doc shouted, “Okay, now give me a Coke.” The man replied, “I can’t. That’s my 2nd problem; I’m out of order.” (from “We’re All the Same In God’s Eyes”, a sermon contributed to SermonCentral.com by Craig Condon 10-9-2015)
I In this parable from Luke 18: 9 – 14 Jesus allows us to hear the prayers of 2 men who are “OUT OF ORDER.” Both described themselves well and neither lied.
A VS. 11 -12 – “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thiank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a 10th of all I get.
B The Pharisee uses the word “I” four times. He is indeed a moral person who avoided evil and picked out a number of sins of which he was not guilty.
C Point your finger. Have you ever noticed that when you point this finger there are three fingers pointing back at you? “AT least I’m not like that.
II VS. 13 – “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”
A Tax collectors bought their job and made their living by extorting money from people over and above the tax required by Rome.
B Thought himself to be a sinner. He pleaded with God to cleanse him from his sins.
C Have you ever stared at yourself in a mirror wanting to see yourself as others actually see you?
III VS. 14 – “I tell you that this man (the tax collector) rather than the other (Pharisee), went home justified before God."
A The word for justified is a legal word. It means “to be declared not guilty.”
B Our justification is not obtained by doing even good things like charitable giving. Justification comes through God’s reaching out in mercy to helpless sinners.
C When we ignore God and exalt ourselves and our values at the expense of those who are different or “other,” we are like the Pharisee because God accepts the humble and needy, not the proud and disdainful.
For Jesus to say that the tax collector, a self-confessed sinner, was justified went against everything society accepted. Today, who are the “tax collectors” in our lives? Do we compare ourselves to others bragging, “At least I’m not like that person.” Who is justified and who is not?
