Two Worshipers
Parables
Pastor Gary Tolbert
January 13, 2007

Intro: Legalism and hypocrisy, it has been a scourge upon the Church since the days that Jesus condemned the Pharisees. It seems that Jesus always was on the other side of the Pharisees and Sadducees and they were always against him. It is true that they plotted his death and were able to carry it out with the help of the Roman government.

This morning we are looking at that parable of the two worshipers, the Pharisee and the tax collector. Here legalism and grace are personified.

Adventists are especially sensitive to the life of a Pharisee because we are often accused of being Pharisees since we are sticklers for the seventh day Sabbath and a few other things. And then when one Adventist refers to another Adventist as a possible Pharisee it's even tougher. I will try not to do that today. If you happen to be closer to the Pharisee’s camp then the grace camp then I will hope that the Holy Spirit will reveal that to you.

Maybe some definitions are in order. Legalism: You can be saved or even get points with God by good works. Grace: God's undeserved, loving and merciful attitude toward us. In other words, God's love is unlimited and unconditional; he loves us right here, right now, and just the way we are.

Not having grown up in the Adventist church and gone through Academy and grade school I have not experienced the challenges of figuring out the difference between legalism and grace. I say that because I have heard from many Adventist who have had a challenge in dealing with what they perceive as a childhood experience that emphasized obedience to the law as the most important thing for a Christian. As they got older they struggled to understand grace. And they sometimes look upon that early experience as a very negative thing and now still struggling to accept grace they try to distance themselves from the church of the past. And if they see the present church at all like the church of the past they want to distance themselves from the present church.

Unfortunately that's not just an Adventist problem. It afflicts other denominations as well. Philip Yancey in his book "What's so amazing about Grace" talks about his early experience in the Baptist Church and how it was so legalistically centered. He looks back on a lot of his friends who today are no longer Christians who say it is because of their early legalistic upbringing. Many parents today have watched their children abandon the language, heritage, and customs of the family in order to adopt the new teenage culture of America. Many strict Christian families have watched as a child abandons faith, casting aside rules and beliefs as easily as one casts aside a two-small jacket. Legalism makes apostasy easy.

Yancey says that one day I realized the church of my childhood had taught me the proper way to behave, and the Bible college had given me more advanced knowledge but neither had cured the deep illness within. Though I had mastered the external behaviors, my sickness and pain remained. For a time I cast aside the beliefs of my childhood, until God wonderfully revealed himself to me as a God of love and not of hate, of freedom and not of rules, of grace and not of judgment. To this day some of his friends who rebelled along with him remain alienated from God because of their deep distrust of the church. The church has spent so much time inculcating the fear of making mistakes that she has made us like Ill. Ill-taught piano students: we play our songs, but we never really hear them because our main concern is not to make music but to avoid some flub that will get us in trouble.

I. The Pharisee

Luke 18:9-12, Two worshipers. Two people have gone to the temple to pray. One is a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

Pharisees believe in keeping the law of God and Moses strictly and also other laws which where rabbinical traditions, little laws that clearly define perfection. Actually Pharisees were seen as the heroes of the day. They were the reformers, seen as leading people back to God. They were the examples to follow and they were seen as showing the correct way to live as godly people.

They actually believed that good religious works could balance out the sins in their life. It was like a scale which would go right or left depending upon good or bad deeds. And if perchance the scale was completely even at the end of one's life the Pharisees believed that father Abraham would put his finger on the side of good to help them and they would be saved.

Ill. Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka, 212 rules, outdated, handle no money, no meal after lunch. It is easier to hear examples from Buddhism then from our own community of faith. But hypocrisy is one reason why many people reject Christianity. Christians profess "family values," but some studies show that they rent X-rated videos, divorce their spouses, and abuse their children at about the same rate as everybody else.

By its very nature legalism encourages hypocrisy because it defines a set of behaviors that may cloak what is going on inside. In a spiritual setting like a Christian school or church everyone soon learns how to look "spiritual." The emphasis on externals makes it easier for a person to fake it, to conform even while fighting an inner problem. Because of this mask that people put on, real problems like depression, promiscuity, addictions go unaddressed, they remain hidden, but not for long. When one concentrates on conforming to the behavior around them it is easy to ignore what's going on inside.

The only viable alternative to hypocrisy is honesty. Honesty leads one to repentance. God's grace can cover any sin, including murder, infidelity or betrayal. Yet by definition grace must be received, and hypocrisy disguises my need to receive grace. People are more important than rules. Jesus came to save the sick, the healthy don't need a physician Matthew 9:12, 13. Unfortunately the religious ones who really are sick think they are healthy and reject the physician.

Religious piety becomes idolatrous and exclusive. It sorts all of life into profane and sacred boxes. A tight web of holy rules protects the "righteous" from the contaminating influences of the evil ones. From inside the protected holy box the self-righteous sneer at the pagans whom they've effectively barricaded out. Jesus blurred the fine lines which mark off the sacred and profane areas. By embracing sinners he made it clear that the new Kingdom welcomed all regardless of their piety or sin. Ill. The movie Ironweed.

Lest you think it can only be the conservatives who are in danger of legalism, liberals can as well. Morris Venden, in his book "Hard to be lost" explains that there were two kinds of people in the days of Christ, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Pharisees were the conservatives, Sadducees were liberals. They were both legalists because they both lived apart from God and felt their own works bought them salvation. They didn't even recognize His Son.

There are two kinds of legalists – Ill. Black legalists and red legalists. The black legalist was the Pharisee who got his security in the standards and rules and regulations of the church he upheld. The red legalist was the Sadducee who found his security in the rules and regulations and standards of the church he abandoned. You see, the red legalist, or the Sadducee, is the one who’s sure he is not a legalist, but he wears the jewels, and he drinks this and he goes there, and he eats that. And he says he's not a legalist? He's just a legalist of another color, that's all. Why? Because both the Pharisees and the Sadducees have their attention on the rules and regulations. One upholds them, and the other abandons them. The person, who lives his life apart from Jesus, whether he is red or black, is still a legalist. Do you follow me on that?

II. The Tax Collector

Tax collector collected for the Roman government. He also would charge a little bit more for himself so he could make a profit. Usually the tax collector was a Jew. And if so he was despised by all other Jews. For the Jew, paying tax to Rome was bad enough, but it was far worse to assist Roman in collecting those taxes. Taxes constantly reminded the Jews that they were inferior and slaves of the Roman government. The land of Israel was considered God’s land and Jerusalem God’s city and it was an insult to God to have to pay taxes to Rome. So the people would take out their frustration on the tax collectors. They were despised by all, rarely seen in the temple. They are always linked with sinners.

III. The tax collectors prayer

Luke 18:13, 14, He stood at a distance. The tax collector stood off, alone as if ashamed to be seen. His head was bowed, his frame was trembling and as he prayed he beat upon his chest, tormented because of his sins. He asked God for mercy. In the original language, the word for "a sinner" is really "the sinner." In other words, to this man his sin was so great that he considered himself an example of all sinners. He was a representative of the vile sinners of earth. He considered himself just as the Pharisee had pictured him, a robber, an evildoer, and an adulterer. But Jesus said this man went home justified, he had made peace with God and the Pharisee had not.

Why was he justified, but the Pharisee not? Partly because he realized his sinful state and the Pharisee did not. By his actions and by his repentance it shows that the Holy Spirit was working close to this man. The Pharisee also was a sinner but there is no evidence that the Holy Spirit was working with him.

Ill. Prostitutes, tax collectors and other sinners responded to Jesus because at some level they knew they were wrong and to them God's forgiveness looks very appealing. As C. S. Lewis has said, "Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God: the proud, the greedy, the self-righteous, are in that danger." Ill. Your niche.

IV. The Pharisee’s prayer

The Pharisee walked into the temple and found a play of prominence. There he stands erect before the front and speaks as if God was there to give him audience. In the background, off to the side and not far huddles the tax collector. Though the Pharisee is by himself in the main temple area, he recognizes the tax collector. In his prayer he compares himself with this obvious sinful man. After he is shown himself to be better than the tax collector he then continues to show how worthy he is. Ill. Good Christian, my dog. Pharisees were only required to fast once a week, this man fasts twice. Pharisees were only required to give a 10th of their increase; this man includes everything in his tithing.

The Pharisee was all caught up with himself; self works, self-made man, and self-righteous. The life of the Pharisee is a besetting temptation for every good religious person. We escape evil sin only to fall into subtle sins of the spirit. Because we do good we think we are good. But only God is good. The true saint is never self-consciously good, for he is aware of the temptations which surround him and he is never sure just how completely he has conquered them. He is always less aware of his goodness than of his danger.

How do we keep from becoming like the Pharisee? How do we keep ourselves from despising others; from looking down on the poor, the uneducated, the untalented, and the unsuccessful in life? When we know someone is doing wrong and we know we are doing right, how do we keep ourselves from looking down on them?

Ill. Sunday school teacher, who told her class this parable. After she had expounded at some length she closed her presentation by saying, "Now, children, let us thank God we are not like that nasty Pharisee." When we begin to feel superior to him, then the whole unlovely process begins all over. The mistake of the Pharisee was to make the comparison. This tendency helps us to sleep with an easy conscience. For there is always someone worse than I am. All we have to do is compare our best with his worst to appear in a rather good light. But we are lying to ourselves. It's not about what we do or don't do. It's not about us, it's about Jesus. Ill. Alcoholics Anonymous.

Conclude: Ill. Stephen Mosley’s story of boring worship.

Two Worshipers

Parables

possible screening information

Luke 18:9-12, Two worshipers

Matthew 9:12, 13, Jesus came to save the sick

Luke 18:13, 14, He stood at a distance