"God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" A sermon on Luke 18:9-14

Below is a rough transcript of the sermon I preached on October 23rd.  Unfortunately we had technical difficulties that day and were unable to get a recording of the sermon, but I've had several people ask about getting a copy of the sermon.  I write my sermons to be spoken, therefore I sometimes write things in such a way that I know how I'll say it, even though that's not how it is written, so this transcript might be a bit choppy. 

Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.

In my first call, as a missionary pastor to three small congregations in southeast Missouri, I was serving in an area where Lutherans were sparse.  In fact, on occasion the question would be raised, “Lutheran? I’ve never heard of it. Is that some sort of cult?”

Of course, there were a lot of churches around.  And the focus of most of those churches was in teaching people how to live.  People were instructed to look at their lives to see if they were really walking with the Lord or not.  The main focus was on the Christian and Christian living.

Now, there is a place for looking at your life and measuring it against God’s Law to see how you’re doing.  But when we do that, measuring ourselves against God’s perfect standard of holiness, it’s not going to reveal how well you’re doing, but how truly sinful you are.

Just briefly, let’s do that.  Let’s take God’s holy law, which is summed up in the Ten Commandments, and measure ourselves against that standard.

1       1. You shall have no other gods.

Have you feared something more than God?  Been more afraid of losing your job because of doing what God commands than of God’s wrath for breaking His commandments? 

Have you trusted in something more than God?  Trusted that you’ll be okay because of the money in your bank account or your ability to deal with a situation?

Have you loved something more than God?  

Have you skipped church to do something else? 

Has the money God has entrusted to your care been used for your pleasure at the expense of His church?  

Have you spent more time on facebook, upping your image, than in prayer?

       2. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. 

      Have you consistently called upon the Lord for help? 

      Have you failed to speak His name to others? 

      Have you used His name as if it were a curse word?

  

       4.    Honor your father and mother.  

      Have you always been respectful of your parents? How about your teachers?  Your president? Police officers?

       5.    You shall not murder.  

     You might think you haven’t broken this, but Jesus says that if you’ve hated someone in your heart, even for a moment, that you’ve broken this commandment.

  

      6. You shall not commit adultery.  

     Have you look at someone who isn’t your spouse and lusted after them? 

     Have you fantasized about what it would be like to be married to someone else?  

     Have you looked at pornography? Or women, have you read one of those books that causes you to fantasize about the perfect man?

We don’t even need to go on, because the truth is, you’ve broken all of God’s commandments.  You and I are lying, blaspheming, covetous, adulterous, murderers in our hearts and don’t even come remotely close to keeping God’s law.

So then, knowing this, what do we do?

If we look to ourselves to try to solve this problem, it will either lead to pride or despair, and often times a swing between the two. 

In Missouri, my church members and my family were surrounded by people who tried to solve this problem for themselves. They would try to cover up the sin.  To try to pretend as if it isn’t there and to work harder to do better.  For those who took this approach, there was great fear that someone might find out about their sin and reveal the fact that they were truly a fraud.

Those who took this approach had to put on a mask to go to church. Not a literal mask of course, but they would put on a false front that everything was okay.  There wasn’t room to talk about struggles they might be having because such struggles would be evidence that you might not really be a Christian. Real Christians don’t do those things or struggle with those things.

Now, when those people who tried to overcome sin on their own thought that they were doing well, they would become very arrogant.  They’d look condescendingly at those who were struggling with sin and essentially say, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.

But when those people who were so prideful about how good they were found themselves sinning, they were left with two options.  They either tried to cover it up, because they couldn’t face what would happen if anyone else found out about their sin…or they despaired.

They would despair that they must not really be a Christian.  How could God love me when I’ve sinned against Him again?  I’m not as good as everyone else and I don’t think I can do everything I’m supposed to do.

Some of those who found themselves despairing would double their efforts and try again.  They’d enter back into that endless cycle of pride and despair.

But some would simply drop out of attending church altogether.  After seeing that everyone else in the church sinned too, but just pretended that it didn’t happen or tried to cover it up, these people would finally throw up their hands and say, “They’re all hypocrites.  The whole thing is a bunch of bologna.  If that’s what Christianity is all about, I don’t want any part of it!

This was the situation that surrounded us in Missouri.  People who were filled with pride and thought they had it all together, or at least who pretended that was the case, and people who were despairing and burned out on the church.

But, you know, I’m sure you’ve seen the same things with people around you here in Ohio.  I’m sure you’ve run into people who say, “Christians are all a bunch of hypocrites.”

And sometimes you might think they’re right.  Sometimes we act like we’ve got it all together. Sometimes we put on false fronts.

But that never works with Jesus.  He sees right through the false front. He sees your heart.  He sees your sinful heart.  And that might be terrifying.

Except that Jesus, knowing your sinful heart, knowing you are broken and don’t have it all together, but instead that you daily sin against God, invites you to come to Him with all of your sin, with your broken heart, and to receive from Him mercy.

But the tax collector beat his breast saying, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner!’

Christianity, you see, isn’t about teaching you how to become better so that you can show God how good you are and that you deserve to enter into His kingdom.  Christianity is first and foremost about Jesus, the very Son of God, coming into the world to save sinners.

Therefore, the church is a place for real sinners.  Here, we gather together with others who also haven’t kept God’s holy law, but have sinned against God and we confess to God and to each other, “I have sinned, in thought, word, and deed.”  We cry out to the Lord, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

And we hear God’s response, “The punishment for your sins have been taken by Jesus in His cross and passion.  Your sins are forgiven.”

We don’t have to put up a front and pretend like everything is okay.  We can come to the Lord just as we are and receive His mercy. 

You see, Jesus didn’t come to earth to save good people.  Jesus also didn’t come to teach us how to clean ourselves up so that we can be right with God.  Instead, Jesus came to call us to repent of our sin and come to Him and receive full and complete forgiveness.  He came to clothe us with His holiness and take our sins and pay for them on the cross.

So now, when we do sin, there’s no point in covering it up, because God already knows of our sin and our brothers and sisters in Christ know that we’re sinful too.  Instead, we confess that sin.  We do then seek to do better, to live a holy life and keep God’s law.  But we know we will fail.  And when we do, rather than despairing, we can come to Jesus again and again and again and say, “be merciful to me, a sinner.”  And He does have mercy.

There’s a great quote from the first president of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, CFW Walther, in his book Law and Gospel that really sums things up quite well. He says,

"'You are trying to be a pretend sinner and, accordingly, expect Christ to be a pretend Savior.'" I do not want a pretend Savior; that is why I should not be surprised that I am a real true sinner."

Fellow sinners, would you please join with me in closing this sermon with a prayer to our real savior?

Lord Jesus Christ, you know that we are sinful to the core.  You know that even after you’ve called us to faith, even after the Holy Spirit has been at work in us, we still find ourselves sinning against You. 

We break the 10 Commandments daily.  Without You, there would be no hope for us because we can’t overcome sin by our own strength.  But with You there is forgiveness.  You have had mercy on us and given your life for us on the cross so that we can know our sins have been paid for in full.  

Remind us when we do sin, that it is pointless to cover it up or try to fix it ourselves, so that instead we might simply bring our sin to You, confess it, and hear you say, “Your sins are forgiven you.  I’ve already paid for your sin in full.  Go in peace.” Thank You Jesus, for your mercy.  In Your name, Amen.