Lion and the Lamb – Bethel Worship

 

“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.”

We should not too quickly look past this text of Scripture.  It’s a familiar story.  Even for our day and age. Two men go to church.  One enters and begins to justify himself.  He speaks to God boldly, “I’m glad I’m not like those losers- those men who fall so short of being good.  I’m a good guy.  I don’t steal, I’m fair and I don’t sleep around.

If that was not enough the man begins to boast about the things he has given up for the sake of God.  In fact he exclaims, “I’ve done my fair share — I fast, tithe”

If we are not careful we can have the same mindset.  Oh, we may not verbalize exactly like this man but our thoughts betray us,,,,I’m pretty good.  I’ve done good things. I give. I treat people fairly. I do all the things God expects of me. If we are not careful we can begin to think what we do somehow makes us good.  This could not be farther from the truth.

And herein lies the issue.  Nothing you do makes you good–and this is the point Jesus is making.  Your gifts to God, your sacrifices and your attitude will never allow you to be justified in God’s sight.

The other man, KNOWS he is a sinner.  He comes to God with a penitent attitude.  He doesn’t even look up to Heaven, he comes in humility and beats his breast.  He states and confesses, “I am a sinner.”  You can read it between the lines.  “God without you I’m lost. Without you I am doomed.  Have MERCY!

Jesus says this man goes home justified.

The problem is that most of us–if we admit it–all to often act like the first man and rarely act like the second.  We rarely recognize our continual need for God’s grace and forgiveness.  We seldom beat our breast and proclaim, “Be merciful to me God, I’m a sinner!”

This is what Jesus wants to remind us.  We are only good because of God’s mercy.  We are only justified because of His grace.  We experience peace only through His sacrifice.  Repentance is the doorway toward the glories of heaven. You can’t experience heaven touching earth without repentance.  You can’t experience true peace, joy, love, or forgiveness without first walking in repentance.  Repentance is the first word of the Gospel and as we walk in this truth, God will lift us up.

At the end of the day, we too must respond like the sinners we are.  Have mercy on us oh Lord.

In the days of Elisha, Jerusalem was under siege. No one was going out and nothing was coming in. Food was scarce, and people were dying.

As you can imagine, things were bad for the common person, but for the poor it was even worse. Then there was the leper. Lepers were literal outcasts – couldn’t live in the city, had to declare “unclean” everywhere they went, separate from family.

During this siege, four lepers are sitting near the city gates, starving like everyone else. They come to a realization. No matter what happens they will die – starve here, starve there, starve anywhere. Why not head over to the enemy camp, and see if we can elicit some pity and get some food? Worse case scenario..we die a quick and dirty death.

When the arrive at the camp they discover it deserted. God frightened the enemy away. They abandoned camp the night before.

These lepers have gone from outcast to king. They move from tent to tent enjoying the first ever progressive dinner. They take gold, silver, clothing. It’s an embarrassment of riches.

They are blessed.

Making retirement plans – Will you build a beach house or mountain villa? – they have another epiphany. These are very deep thinking and astute lepers.

2 Kings 7:9-11

9…“This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”
10So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened. “We went out to the Aramean camp,” they said, “and no one was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there wasn’t a single person around!” 11Then the gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the palace.

They are a blessing.

This week we are focusing on how generosity flows from an attitude of kindness. From the beginning, God designed for blessing to beget blessing. We are generous/kind because God has been generous/kind to us.

Though the lepers motivation wasn’t completely pure (self-preservation), they shared their blessing with the palace, which then shared it with the people. Out of their generosity flowed salvation. The nation of Israel was saved from starvation because of the generosity of 4 men.

When you are generous, you open the door for God’s salvation to flow. Will you be a blessing? Will you be generous?

This week we are asking the every person in the church to give something away. As you give, as you are generous, ask God to open the door to salvation.

What thing(s) have you or will you give this week?

One of the reasons I love working for and with Pastor David is how he challenges me. Sometimes the challenges are direct, but many times the challenges are subtle and indirect. Many times the challenges are from watching him operate.

One of these areas of challenge is in generosity. Pastor David, by nature, is a very generous person. I’ve referred to him before as a “YES” person. It shines forth in his generosity as much as anywhere.

I’ve found myself saying (out loud and to myself), “You want to give what!?!” These moments have exposed my own heart – greed.

Read what Paul wrote to Timothy about greed and generosity,

Timothy 6:6-11; 17-19

6Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. 7After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. 8So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.

9But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

11But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

17Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. 19By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

In his book, Enemies of the Heart, Andy Stanley states one of the emotions which ruins our spiritual heart is greed. Stanley prescribes the formula to overcome greed, and the formula is no different from what Paul says here.

We overcome greed through generosity.

If you are a greedy person, and by greedy I mean tight-fisted, stingy, frugal, selfish, penny-pinching or grasping, then you need March Kindness. You need to do intentionally kind and generous acts. You need God to do a work in your heart, and He will begin the work as you begin to give.

This week our challenge is to give something away. I’m talking to all of us greedy people (because the generous ones have already done it 3 times since Sunday). What are you going to give?

Personally, I gave to a friend who’s in need financially. If you need an idea, you can start with him. Let it be a springboard to generosity in your life.