Sunday Message
8/23/26
Series: Who We Are - Luke 18:9-14
“Nobody's Perfect”
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
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.’
14 “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.”
We're in a series where we're looking at What Kind Of Church We All Want To Have We looked last week at how Jesus created this church family to be a place WHERE EVERYBODY IS WELCOME, regardless of your ethnicity, culture, or gender, because God loves everybody.
We looked at how there's no US versus them for God. We live in a world that's so divisive! People aren’t LOOKING FOR A CHURCH that is the same as the POLITICAL WORLD!
We also looked at how you never know who is JUST ONE ASK away from God. JUST ONE INVITATION away from coming to Christ
That's a really CORE PART OF WHO WE ARE TO BE AS A CHURCH. We are to be a place where ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY...no matter WHAT, no matter WHO, no matter WHERE you've been or what you've done...YOU ARE WELCOME What would happen next Sunday if everyone here today, got just ONE PERSON on their heart to INVITE TO CHURCH NEXT WEEK? IT WOULD ENERGIZE & REVOLUTIONIZE OUR CHURCH!
Today, we are looking at a more SOBERING reality. I mean by that, we are also TO BE THE KIND OF place WHERE NOBODY IS PERFECT. There's kind of a sting to this because this TOUCHES ALL OF US!
We all struggle with this, and ALL CHURCHES STRUGGLE WITH IT. I believe God wants to do a little surgery around that today.
This is a chronic human problem, especially for religious people, especially for people of faith. Because when we start trying to follow God, there’s a tendency to act, "Well, I'm doing better than all those people who aren't EVEN MAKING AN EFFORT. At least I’m trying!"
Here's the story. Luke 18: 9 Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else.” (Picture this “highly devout Christian”)
We know a couple of things about the audience here in Luke. They THINK THEY'RE DOING GREAT. They think they're doing better than other people, which, of course, MEANS THEY'RE DECEIVED. In Jesus' eyes, they're doing TERRIBLE, but They Don't Know It. Here's the story.
10 “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. Everybody knows right away; the hero of the story is going to be the PHARISEE. He is the really good guy. He is really devout, always does the right stuff.
The bad guy is going to be the TAX COLLECTOR. Tax collectors cooperated with Rome. They were CORRUPT. They were CHEATERS. EVERYBODY HATED TAX COLLECTORS. They EVEN had their own category – there were SINNERS and then if you wanted to talk about the worst of the worst, there were TAX COLLECTORS.
The weird thing in this story is, there's a tax collector Who Is Going To Pray To God. The question is, IF he is going to pray, WHY in the world would he go To The Temple, To God's House, with all those people around who HATE HIM?
That's the story. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’M CERTAINLY NOT LIKE THAT TAX COLLECTOR! This story is all loaded with details they would all understand.
The Pharisee stood by himself because he didn't want to get CONTAMINATED. In that day, to be ritually clean was an expression of DEVOTION TO GOD. They would work really hard at it. If you touched somebody who wasn't clean (a Gentile, a leper, a woman, a sinner, a tax collector), that would make you RITUALLY UNCLEAN. Distancing yourself from other people was understood to be one of the ways you proclaimed your devotion to God. They thought about it that way. SO, the Pharisee STOOD BY HIMSELF.
The Pharisee distances himself from other people not just physically but spiritually, emotionally, and personally. Now how does this Pharisee know he is doing so well? He says, "I FAST TWICE A WEEK..."
In the Old Testament, the Israelites were commanded to fast Only One Day A Year, on the Day of Atonement. THIS GUY FASTED TWICE A WEEK! That's 104 days a year! That's 103 days of extra credit! He is like a SPIRITUAL OVERACHIEVER.
Here is where the SCAPEL BEGINS TO CUT. All of us have a way of saying, "At the least, I’m better than them! I know I'm better than those guys, because I don’t…" FILL IN THE BLANK! That's the PHARISEE!
Then there's the other guy, THE TAX COLLECTOR. He is a LOSER. He is a MISFIT. He is a FAILURE. 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ The tax collector also SEPARATES HIMSELF, but with him, it's NOT BECAUSE he looks down on everybody. It's that he knows He Has No Business Being There. He knows he has messed up his life so badly. He is such a mess-up that if God isn't incredibly gracious, he is in real trouble! This bears so heavily on him that Jesus says He Will Not Lift His Eyes Up To Heaven. There's something inside of us, if we feel guilty about something, we don't want to make eye contact with the person we feel guilty about. If I've lied to you, if I've done something to hurt you, it's HARD for me to look you in the eye. It's even true with dogs. Did you ever notice that?
We have a Shih-Tzu, Bailee. Bailee is a very friendly dog. She loves eye contact. The other day I looked at her for like 10 or 15 seconds, and she just would keep looking at me like, "Terry, I love you." Her tail just thumps so hard. But if Bailee does something wrong, if Bailee is a bad dog, guess what? She will not look me in the eye.
If I catch her having done something wrong, I could say, "Bailee, look at me." I can do her face like this, and she'll look away because she cannot stand to look me in the eye. Dogs have such a tender conscience. CATS never look you in the eye, but that's because they're trying to think up ways to kill you
This guy in Luke "...would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast..." It was considered an extreme expression of HUMILIATION or SORROW
This is his prayer: v13- "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Again, the people listening to this story think, "Yeah, YOU GOT THAT RIGHT! You ARE a sinner! That's EXACTLY what I would expect for a tax collector to pray."
Then comes the TWIST nobody sees coming. Jesus says, vs 14 - "I tell you that this man [the tax collector, the misfit, the loser, the moral failure], rather than the other [the Pharisee, the devout guy, the good guy, the right thinker, the DO gooder], went home justified [ accepted, in right
relationship] before God." This is a phrase that describes THE POSTURE OF PEOPLE WITH WHOM GOD “CAN” WORK And then THE POSTURE OF PEOPLE WITH WHOM GOD “CANNOT” WORK with. And that runs all through Scripture.
Jesus says, "For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." Everybody's jaw hits the floor. "REALLY? THE TAX COLLECTOR?" These people all knew what it was to be a good person. Again, every human being (whether we're religious or not), we all think we know what it means to be a GOOD PERSON. We all know there are bad people out there, and we have a way of kind of EXONERATING ourselves. PARDONING ourselves.
Let's do a little righteousness audit for a moment. Back in that day, when you talk about the PHARISEE and the TAX COLLECTOR and the way they would measure who is a good person …in that religious community... Let's see who comes out on top. 1)Who do you think READ THE BIBLE more regularly: the Pharisee or the tax collector? Definitely the PHARISEE. 2) Who do you think PRAYED more often? The Pharisee or the tax collector? The PHARISEE for sure.
Who knew MORE biblical doctrine? The PHARISEE. Who went to CHURCH (synagogue) more often? The PHARISEE.
One more category. Who do you think was more aware of their DESPERATE NEED FOR GOD: THE PHARISEE OR THE TAX COLLECTOR? That would be the TAX COLLECTOR. "O God! O God! O God! I need you." No PRETENDING! No HIDING!
Jesus says, "Now I'm starting a new kind of community, and it's going to be a place where EVERYBODY is welcome: Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, female!" No more US and THEM. “Everybody is welcome!" Also, it’s going to be a community WHERE NOBODY IS PERFECT.
Hear what that means… nobody can come PRETENDING. Nobody can come acting like, "I have it all together. I don't have any real needs or problems. I’m GOOD!" The number one rule in this community is, "THOU SHALT KEEP IT REAL." I think that's part of why the tax collector goes to the temple. It's this odd detail. Why would he do that? I have to tell you, when people get real, when they go STAND in front of other people and before God and just acknowledge, "This is who I am. God, I desperately need you!" When you say those words, there's a FREEDOM that comes from not having to HIDE or PRETEND anymore.
HEALING COMES WHEN YOU ARE KNOWN. SICKNESS REMAINS WHEN YOU HIDE. We live in a world where we're taught to hide so INSTINCTIVELY, we don't even THINK TWICE about it.
Well, when Jesus starts HIS church family, it's for the MISFITS. It's for the BROKEN. It's for the SINNERS, and it's for people who have been HUMBLED because they recognize their ENORMOUS NEED FOR GOD.
What THE TAX COLLECTOR is really saying is, "I've been following MY WAY my whole life long, and MY WAY is no good. God, I have to surrender and follow YOUR WAY." *** CHURCH LISTEN! IF God is going to BLESS this church, this HAS to be a place where we KEEP IT REAL.
In AA, that moment comes anytime somebody says, "Hi, My name is Terry. I'm an alcoholic!" And then everybody says, "Hi, Terry," It's a way of welcoming and embracing that person. Now, THEY'RE not celebrating alcoholism. It’s YOU saying, “I HAVE A PROBLEM, AND I NEED HELP."
LISTEN - A Church Is Healthy When Everyone MEETS ON COMMON GROUND. That common ground is NOT a CC membership, the common ground is NOT what you DRIVE, or the LABEL on your CLOTHES. OUR COMMON GROUND IS…“I HAVE A PROBLEM! I’M A SINNER AND I NEED HELP!" At SSBC, NOBODY’S PEFFECT!!
It's about the difference between sympathy (looking down at people, like the Pharisees did) and empathy. (meeting on the common ground of brokenness and need).
Empathy fuels CONNECTION; Sympathy drives DISCONNECTION.
To me, I always think of empathy as this kind of space where someone is in a deep hole, and they shout out from the bottom. "I'm stuck. It's dark down here & I need HELP!" Then we look and say, "Hey, I’m coming down." We climb down. "I GET IT & I’M HERE WITH YOU!”
Sympathy is saying, "Oh! It's that bad, huh? No, I can’t make it down right now, but Do you want a sandwich?"
Empathy is a choice, and it's a vulnerable choice, because in order to connect with you, I have to connect with something in myself that knows that feeling. Rarely, if ever, does an empathic response begin with, "At least..." We do it all the time. Someone just shared something with us that's incredibly painful, and we're trying to "silver-line" it. I don't think that's a verb, but I'm using it as one. We're trying to put the silver lining around it.
"I had a miscarriage." "At least you know you can get pregnant."
"I think my marriage is falling apart." "At least you have a marriage." "John is getting kicked out of school." "At least Sarah is an A student."
One of the things we do sometimes in the face of very difficult conversations is WE TRY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER. If I share something with you that's very difficult, rather than ask me if I WANT A SANDWICH, I’d rather you say, "I don't even know what to say right now. I'm just so glad you told me." The truth is, rarely can a RESPONSE make something better. But, what “DOES” make something better is A CONNECTION.
I think of Jesus in this parable. In that story, there's a tax collector, and he ends up down in the pit. "I'm stuck. I'm overwhelmed. God, have mercy." There are the PIOUS, GOOD, RIGHTEOUS, SUPERIOR people way up high looking down at us.
Then Jesus descends down that ladder. He comes to be with us. He says, "You don’t have to be down here BY YOURSELF. You're not alone… I’m right here WITH YOU!" Look at the scripture. . .
"For we do not have a high priest [Jesus] who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way..." That's Jesus. "...just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence..." It's not because we're so good. "...so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
Question...When is our time of need? Well, what time is IT right now? What time do we NOT need him? Then Jesus comes down right into our CAVE, right into our PIT, right into our DARKNESS, right into our SIN, right into our GUILT. He says, "YOU'RE NOT ALONE." What He knows is only when you're being the real you (I mean, really you, no mask, no pretending, no hiding) YOU CAN YOU BE REALLY LOVED.
If you'll let him, he'll make you real like God always intended for you to be.
We're going to have a time of prayer and invite anybody who wants to join me in a prayer.
This is just a prayer for people who struggle with sin. Okay? This is kind of a bold move. This is not, "I want to pray for a distant relative who has a health issue or for something at work."
This is, "God, it's me who needs your grace. It’s ME who needs your FORGIVENESS!"
Maybe you've been carrying around resentment and anger. There's somebody in your life who you know you're supposed to love, and something inside your heart is broken. God is just saying, "If you will just ask me, I'll give you grace to do what’s right."
Maybe your career looks great, but you've been so SELFISH. You've been so devoted to yourself. Nobody else knows it, but you do. Maybe you've just train- wrecked your relationship with your son or daughter. We're going to have a time of prayer, and this is the community where NOBODY IS PERFECT. This is the community of KEEPING IT REAL.
God, we're the failures, the messed-up, the sinners, and the guilt-ridden. We're the anxious, the fearful, and the greedy. We're the betrayers. We're the resentful. God, we love you. We're grateful for Jesus. We want you to pour out mercy on us now. God, have mercy on me, a sinner. In Jesus' name.