Remember Luke is trying to help the early church get beyond this concept of who is in and who is not in with God. Jesus often said those who considered themselves on the inside, the first in God's Kingdom, were really the last.

Of course, the Jewish religion claimed they were in because they were the descendents of Abraham. Since God promised Abraham he would be the father of a great nation, they claimed preference over all the other humans on the earth.

Their religion actually taught that there were some people who were born without souls, "the people of the land" as they were called. Such non-Jews were regarded as non-persons.

Then there were those who were born Jews but did not keep the 613 laws their religion had made from the Ten Commandments. Such persons were considered "sinners" and deserved to be punished by God.

Jesus told this story. I just want to take a moment and read it to you again, this time from the Message Translation of Luke 18:9-14

"Jesus told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people; Two men went to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: 'Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people-robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.'
Meanwhile the tax man slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look, up, said, 'God, give mercy, forgive me, a sinner'.
Jesus commented, 'This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face, but if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."

As the followers of Jesus Christ, we must take into consideration this important teaching. We must never fall into the category of those who think they are better than anyone else.

If you are looking to score points with God, you need to know that God is not looking at you with a magnifying glass on how you measure up to keeping a set of rules.

God is looking at each one of us through the lens of his mercy, and when he finds that we are sorry for our sin, and seek his forgiveness, that is what matters most in his eyes. God has the remedy for that, Jesus Christ.

What have you done this week you are truly ashamed of and sorry about?
Which day or hour would you like to rewind and live again and make a different choice?

Are you sorry enough to admit you were wrong and ask for forgiveness?

What we don't know from just reading this scripture is in this culture a tax man was considered the scum of humanity. He was born a Jew, but he worked for the hated Roman Government.

He knew the amount of tax you owned, so he could tell you anything and you had to believe him. For example, if he knew your taxes amounted to $300 dollars, he may say, "Your taxes this year amount to $1,000, but if you will pay me by Wednesday, I can let you go for $500. Of course, you want the great savings, so you do whatever it takes to get it paid by Wednesday, and he pockets the extra $200.

Tax men had the authority to have the Roman law come and get you and rough you up or take you to jail, or he may threaten to sell your children if you did not pay. And these things happened to non-cooperative Jews.

Tax collectors were considered the friend of no-one, and they associated with only other tax collectors. They were always rich; people always talked about them behind their back, accused them of being traitors to the faith, but were always afraid to actually confront them for fear of what the next tax charge would be.

Jews loaned money to each other with no interest. They were to always protect and stand up for each other. They believed they were the chosen people of God, the best the human race had to offer. When one of their own profited, through means of the Roman Government at the expense of another Jew that was simply unforgivable.

This tax collector knew he was not complete. He was ready to repent and was so sorry for his sin that he was begging God for forgiveness.

The other man, a Pharisee, the religious one who had kept all 613 laws and had a gleaming record of righteousness stood with his head held high and basically told God how lucky God was to have him. He was thankful that he was not a sinner like that tax collector standing over there in the shadows where no one could see him. This righteous man could hold his head up high for he was the cream of the crop!

Luke opens this story by saying that this story was told by Jesus in the presence of those who considered themselves on the inside of God's pleasure and thought common folks were beneath them.

Jesus took the story to a more intense level when he said the other man praying was a tax collector.
The Pharisees who were listening knew how the story would end. Because the tax collector was such a wicked sinner he would be struck with lightening or leprosy, or part of the building would fall on him and the one who kept God's laws would be praised for his righteousness.

The religious were on the inside, and everyone knew it. The sinners were on the outside and there was no possible way they could ever get on the inside.

Were they ever red-faced when Jesus finished the story? Jesus said, "The tax collector went home justified."

Open the pew Bible, and take a look at any page. Do you see the pages are printed in two columns? Do you see that the right edge of each column is as straight and smooth as the left edge? In printing terms we would say that the columns are "justified". They come out even every time. Each line is made to fit into the pattern.

Now that happens because some of the lines have been drawn out and some have been shrunk until each fits one fits. Each line individually has been "justified"

That is what happens when we give up our sin, confess it to God and seek his forgiveness.
When God sees our desire to be forgiven, God shrinks our sin, and expands his love and we fit into what God is doing in our lives.

Those who come to God in prayer with a long list of their credentials never fit. They are way too long-winded, and have such a high opinion of themselves they can't fit into what God is doing.

Their lives are consumed by what they are doing. Their focus is always on themselves. Like the Pharisee in today's scripture, often they try to make themselves look good by making others look bad.

Do you know people like that? Some even hang out with people who are a bad influence so they will look good. "So what if I stole a few bricks from the job site, at least I didn't steal a truck load of plywood like one guy I know. I'm glad I'm not that bad."

"So what if I drank a little too much. It wasn't as bad a that one guy who was smoking pot and he had been drinking all evening. I'm glad I'm not as bad as him!"

"God you know how hard I try to be good. You see that I have come to church on time, I have sat quietly, and I even put money in the collection plate. Can you believe those people sitting across the aisle? They only come when they don't have anything else to do. They are so stuck up. They spend their money on themselves. God you are lucky to have me."

Jesus said, "For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."

I read a story about a woman who was a great cake decorator. Her daughter was asked to bring something for the basketball team's bake sale. The woman baked a cake but the middle fell and she did not have time to bake another.

She decided to cut out the fallen middle, put in a roll of toilet paper decorate it beautifully, and then tell her daughter to buy the cake back at the bake sale and bring it home.

She finished decorating the cake, her daughter was ready to go and as she was leaving the woman said, "Now Brenda, here is $25. Take this cake to the school, pay for it and take it back to your car."
The girl came home from the bake sale without the cake. "Mom here is your $25; you didn't have to buy back your cake. As I was carrying it in a woman came up and said she wanted to buy the cake and paid the money and took it."

The next day the mother had to go to bridge club meeting at the home of the person who bragged about how she did everything absolutely perfect. She would often cite the mistakes of Martha Stewart.

When it came time for refreshments the hostess presented the cake she had bought at the bake sale. Immediately the creator of the cake stood thinking she would take the cake from the hostess and lead her back into the kitchen and explain. Just then the hostess said, "I hope you like this cake I made it myself" and the creator of the cake sat down.

Don't we all delight when the guy who thinks he knows it all, gets the pie in the face? Much of comedy is made on exactly that theme.

Hyacinth Bucket, on the British Sit. Com "Keeping Up Appearances" has made us laugh on Saturday evenings for decades putting on airs and being humiliated in the end.

There are also those who put on airs with God. They live a shinny happy life on the outside. Everyone may think they are the best of saints. Even though they know that there is something broken. Something is broken that is unfixable by any kind of self-help book or program, no matter how extreme the make-over.

We all have been there in the shoes of the Pharisee trying to make ourselves look good, when we know we are not. We try to say being thought well of is enough, but we know it is not. We know in the sight of God we cannot pull out enough good and shrink enough bad to fit into what God has designed us to be.

When you have that feeling, where are you going to turn? Who can help?
Who you gonna call?

There is only one to call upon and only one way we will be heard. It is through the attitude of humility. Only when we humble ourselves, admit we are incomplete; life is not the picture we paint to our friends on Sunday morning.

We must call upon the ONE who can give us the help we need.

In the scripture for today we have two men talking to God in the beautiful Jerusalem Temple. Surrounded by unsurpassed beauty they prayed. One prayed, "You know, God, I really belong here in your presence. I tithe everything I have, I fast and pray and I am a good guy. Just ask anyone. Thank God I am not like some of the riff raff that come here. They have problems galore. They fuss and fight with their family, they get sexually involved with someone who is not their spouse. They get hauled into court. They cheat in school, and lie to cover their laziness. They swear and take the Lord's name in vain. Then they have the audacity to show up here. You know there should be somebody at the door who could tell people like that to stay away from a place like this. When they show up it gives us all a bad name."

The other man was in the same place, surrounded by that same beauty of the Temple but he was reminded of the magnificent love of God. Compared with his life he was overwhelmed to the point of tears when he considered the fact that he was even allowed to call upon the Lord's name. He cried for mercy and pronounced himself a sinner and begged forgiveness.

Jesus said God couldn't do anything with the first guy. He believed he didn't need any stretching of good parts and shrinking his bad. He was all good, no bad. He didn't need God to help him clean up his life. He left in the same shape as when he went and he could not fit into what God had for him to do. He was doing it all on his own, or so he thought.

Friends, there is always the danger that as we hear about God's great mercy we think it must be for someone else. We don't need it. We are just fine the way we are.

The other man cried for mercy, and God could take his life and apply his love to it and stretch the good in the man and give him opportunities to do better, and he could shrink the sin in his life, reminding him that he was forgiven and given a new beginning.

Jesus said, "That man went back home changed. He was justified. He could now fit into what God had for him to do.

Friends, every time we pause to pray and every time we come to worship God we are reminded of the fact that we are far from what God has in mind.

We need God's mercy regardless of how righteous we may pronounce ourselves. We should leave this time of prayer and worship and personal reflection changed men and women, changed boys and girls.

Our God wants to stretch out our love for him and one another and shrink our selfish motivations so we can fit in with the rest of those who are serving his Kingdom.

No one else can do it. There is no other way to be justified, to fit in to what God is doing; there is no other way to peace...

Luke 18:9-14

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breasat and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

(From the New International Version of the Bible.)

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