Sermon Text: Luke 18:9-14
Sermon Theme: “The Sacrifice Pleasing to God”
[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “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.”
~Prayer~
Dear Father in heaven, humble our pride so that our only hope of heaven is in Jesus, the Lamb of God, whose sacrifice on the cross was pleasing to you. Let your word go forth and accomplish this among us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Dear Friends in Christ,
The famous hymn writer Mac Davis once wrote,
Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble, When you’re perfect in every way.
Davis might not be a hymn writer, but he pens a tune that many praying at the temple wouldn’t mind singing along with. Even outside Christianity, people realize the foolishness of pride. Davis was able to capture with humor the essence of a boastful man, but at the same time speak to some truths about it. We all know how unfavorable it is to be prideful, yet we are all guilty of it.
Jesus spoke this parable to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.” Jesus was speaking to those among the Pharisees, but it applies to us as well.
The great irony of studying this parable is that it can make us Pharisees too. After hearing Jesus’ words, we can find ourselves saying, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like that self-righteous Pharisee!” In order that this does not happen to us, let’s look at these two men. While both went to the temple, they were offering far different sacrifices. In this parable, Jesus shows us what sacrifice is pleasing to God so that we too might go home justified before God.
I. Not our own
The two men that Jesus describes in our lesson are outwardly the same: they both go to the temple, stand, pray, and address God with the same term, and return home. But, beyond that, the differences couldn’t be greater between them. During the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were a respected group among the Jews. They took Scripture seriously. They lived pious lives and showed concern for their neighbors. The people looked up to them as models of faithful living. And the Pharisee that Jesus describes in our lesson was a cut above the rest—he fasted twice a week, even though law of Moses only required once a year. He gave tithes of all that he had, not just of the things that the law required. He was so zealous he didn’t even use his tithing deductions!
The fact that the Pharisee tithed all his goods, fasted twice a week, and lived a moral life was not bad. We should live good lives and be generous. The problem was in how the man viewed his life. When the Pharisee came into the temple, he stood in a place where he could be seen and heard. The Pharisee proudly prayed, “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.” Instead of praying to God, it almost appears as though he is telling God to thank him for being such a nice person.
The man saw his life of service as something for which God should reward him. He viewed his moral and generous life as evidence that God would accept him. Jesus painted this Pharisee as one of the most advanced in human virtue, but then rejected him to show that we are not saved by our works—by our own sacrifice to God. Prayer is an act of worship. But he didn’t worship God, he worshipped himself. He asks for nothing from God but brags about what he’s done for God.
This past week at Vacation Bible School we studied Psalm 23 where David writes, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness, for His name’s sake.” Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and he leads us on the paths of faith, or the paths of righteousness as David calls them. This path of faith is one of repentance and trust in Jesus, which will one day lead us to heaven. But until we leave this life, the devil constantly tempts us to get off this path and to take another way—to take a different path which he says also leads to heaven. The alternate routes that the devil suggests always sound good to our sinful hearts, appealing to our pride, but they only lead us astray.
What thoughts do you think the devil whispered into the Pharisees’ ears? “Look at all you have sacrificed in your life! Instead of going out enjoying yourself, you have committed yourself to prayer! Instead of spending your money on earthly things that perish, you have given them back to God.” Or “Look at how immoral and evil this society is. It’s hard to even think about how evil they are!” “Look at how prideful that tax collector is. To think he can come in here after all he has done!”
What does the devil whisper in our ears? “You’re not perfect, but at least you don’t bicker with your spouse as much as your neighbors.” “At least you go to church!” “Look at all the prideful and arrogant people that you go to church with. Look at the way they dress.” “How could they even be a Christian after the things they have done?”
It’s a funny thing, but the more pride a person has, the more one dislikes pride in others. C.S. Lewis once said, “If you want to find out how proud you are the easiest way is to ask yourself, ‘How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronize me, or show off?’ The point is that each person’s pride is in competition with everyone else’s pride.” We get annoyed with others’ “pride” because we are the one who wanted to be noticed, praised, or loved. We all struggle with pride in our own way, but there is no pride before the cross. Jesus says the proud will be humbled, receiving God’s judgment for their sins.
The other man in our lesson was a tax collector. The very fact that the Pharisee includes him in his list of blatant sinners sheds light on how tax collectors were viewed. Tax collectors worked for the Roman government. They often extorted money from the people by charging them more in taxes than they really owed. The tax collectors knew that the law-abiding Jews living under the brutal Roman government would do all that they could to avoid conflict with their government. And they took advantage of it.
So here comes one among this loathsome group into the temple. But instead of standing where he can be seen, he stands far off. His posture is reflective of a man who knows his sin. He knows his unworthiness. It stops him from even raising his eyes toward heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” When the tax collector came before God, he only saw his own sin. No comparisons and no excuses, just a confession and a plea. A confession of his sin and a plea for mercy. And Jesus says, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.”
II. The Lamb
The tax collector—an outcast of society, a liar, cheater, and extortioner—went home justified!? How could this be!? On the one hand, this makes us all rejoice, because we see God’s mercy displayed. On the other hand, we can also think that it is unfair. This man lived a bad life, cheated his neighbors, but somehow went home justified while the Pharisee who lived a good life didn’t? It’s unfair until we realize that none of us deserve anything except God’s judgment for our sins. And this truth to us is only revealed in God’s Word—the Bible. “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20), “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), “no one is justified by the law in the sight of God” (Gal 3:11)
It’s for this very reason that the temple existed. The temple was where the sacrifices were made to God on behalf of the people. The sacrifices showed the significance of the people’s sin. Yet, even more importantly, the sacrifices pointed to how God would save us from our sins. The blood of goats and bulls could not save us (Hebrews 9:13), but it pointed to the perfect sacrifice of the Son of God for the sins of all people. John the Baptizer makes this connection when he proclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
The sins that separated us from God were taken away by Jesus, the Lamb of God. There was nothing that we could offer to God to pay for our sins and so God provided a sacrifice for us that would be pleasing.
Think about the prayer that the tax collector offered. He said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” God is holy and he was unholy. And so, he puts mercy between a holy God and his sins. But what is even more interesting is the word that he used for mercy. While it is often translated as mercy in English, it really is the word for propitiation. The man literally said, “God, be propitiated to me, the sinner.” Now why am I making this point? The word propitiate means to “set aside anger.” It is also the word for the mercy seat where the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled. The priest sprinkled blood on the mercy seat to teach God’s people that their sins against God were forgiven by the blood of God’s Son. When the tax collector pleaded for mercy, he appealed to the blood of the mercy seat, which signified the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus on the cross. He put his trust and hope only in Jesus. And he went home justified!
And so, we too, put Jesus between God and our sins. For then we shall go home justified, as Paul says, “For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation [mercy seat] by His blood, through faith” (Romans 3:23–25).
The Pharisee offered his own works as a sacrifice to God, but the tax collector put his hope in the promised Savior. When our hope of heaven is dependent on Jesus then God himself cannot turn us away. When the devil points to our mistakes and pride in our lives, we can say, “Jesus lived a perfect life. He loved his neighbor, spoke well of others, and had no pride. By faith that holy life is mine.” Well, he says, what about all your sins that you committed? God won’t forgive them! “You are right, Mr. devil. I am a sinner, but I am a sinner for whom Christ died. He took away my sins. They are gone. So go away!”
We come to church not because we are a cut above the rest, but because we are sinners who need forgiveness and strength. This is why our service begins with confession and followed by absolution where we lay our sins on Jesus. Throughout our service Jesus unburdens our hearts in the absolution where the pastor forgives us on Christ’s behalf, in the Lord’s Supper, and the preaching of the Word. So that we can sing along with the tax collector, King David, and the apostle Paul, “Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed his blood for me,” knowing with confidence, that for Jesus’ sake, we can go home justified before God. Amen.