A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

KEEP IT REAL

Luke 18:9-14, Preached at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, October 28, 2007

A pilot and three passengers—a boy scout, a priest, and an atomic scientist—are on a plane that develops engine trouble in mid-flight. The pilot rushes back to the passenger compartment and exclaims, "The plane is going down! We only have three parachutes, and there are four of us! I have a family waiting for me at home. I must survive!" With that, he grabs one of the parachutes and jumps out of the plane. The atomic scientist jumps to his feet at this point and declares, "I am the smartest man in the world. It would be a great tragedy if my life was snuffed out!" With that, he also grabs a parachute and exits the plane. With an alarmed look on his face, the priest says to the Boy Scout, "My son, I have no family. I am ready to meet my Maker. You are still young with much ahead of you. You take the last parachute." At this point, the Boy Scout interrupts the priest: "Hold on, Father. We're all right. The world's smartest man just jumped out of the plane wearing my knapsack!" Sometimes we’re not all we’re cracked up to be.

Our text this morning is about not being all you’re cracked up to be, and yet still being one of God’s own. Of course Christians know this as the grace of God, where God loves us and justifies our bad behavior and spirit; what is required of us is to have our heart pointed in the Lord’s direction, to have faith in God, in other words.

The best comparison is that of parents, loving parents whose children can’t stop the parents from loving them, even if they talk back, throw food on the floor, do all sorts of unwise, unhealthy, mean-spirited, and uncaring things, and even make a royal mess of their lives. It’s in parents’ spiritual DNA to love their children unconditionally, and even if at times painfully for us, which reminds me of the story of a customs officer at the U.S.-Canada border. A man comes through the border crossing one day with his four- or five-year-old son. The customs officer asks the man if he has anything to declare. The man says no, but he looks suspicious, so the officer presses on. "Are you carrying cigarettes?" The man answers no. "Are you carrying any kind of booze?" Again no. "Do you have any type of cameras, or film?" “No.” At that point, however the little boy looks up at his father and says, "But he’s getting warmer, huh, Daddy?" To expect anything “less” from our children is unrealistic, which is where God is with us also. The Lord has come to see his children with eyes wide open: We are not Adam and Eve, before the fall. We aren’t perfect all the time. Far from it. So be honest with God. Tell it like it is. We don’t have to hide our warts and blemishes from God. Come clean and feel how good and right it is to trust God to understand you. As scripture says, “God knows those who trust in him.” Nahum 1:7

What we want to see this morning is that dropping the holier than thou act helps us become holier than we are now.

Now as far as this goes, I would have to say that you are a pretty humble lot of Christians, and not very holy, err, I mean holier than thou. We don’t try to impress each other with how good we are, or how often we go to church, or how well our children have turned out, etc. We aren’t in competition with each other, like other Christians seem to be. But more importantly, I believe this is so because we have taken Christ’s gracious life seriously. We truly know that it is not our goodness that gets us to God, but God’s grace that brings us home. Who are we to boast about what God has done for us? It would be like bragging that we were born, hardly our own doing to say the least. Now once we are alive physically we can keep or not keep ourselves alive, and so it is with our spiritual life. But we know that it is God who calls us to spiritual life with him in Christ Jesus. If you are inwardly attracted to Jesus’ story, to the living God that we find in Christ’s life, then you have heard God’s call to follow him and have begun to do so, at least in your heart. It is at this point that God has given you a Christian spiritual life.

In our scripture reading we see a man who has forgotten that he was born spiritually. He has forgotten that his goodness “is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” Eph. 2:8 This Pharisee went up to the temple to pray, a commendable act indeed. One translation says that he was "standing by himself." "God, I thank you...." That seems to be a good start for a prayer. Don't we often begin a prayer with "O God, I thank you for all your many blessings" without being too specific about what those blessings are? But this Pharisee was quite specific about the things for which he was grateful. He was grateful for those things which he thought set him apart from and above other people. "God, I thank you that I am not like other people." Then he began to list the ways in which he was different. He evidently had a low estimate of his fellow human beings, for he lumped them under a list of disreputable characters: "thieves, rogues, adulterers." He singled out one of his temple companions as a special example of someone whom he was glad he was not like. A tax collector in the minds of most law-abiding Pharisees was at the bottom of the moral, ethical, and religious totem pole. Such an assessment had good basis in fact. Tax collectors were notoriously dishonest. They were looked upon as traitors to their own people because they worked for a foreign occupying power, the Roman Empire. They had a reputation for greed and defrauding the poor. So the Pharisee let God hear how good he was. You know what must get to God about this? The implicit request that the Lord disown this person, this human being. Can you imagine God having to listen to people constantly trying to black ball from their Maker’s heart and care those whom they think are beneath his dignity? It would get really tiring. And this doesn’t go on just in prayers, but in every day life, in attitudes, legislation, in churches, in our hearts. Instead, we should do just the opposite, as Jesus said: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” Go the second mile. Take Christ’s path. Take extra time to pray for those who stand against you. You never know when your prayer will turn someone’s heart toward God’s goodness.

 In his book, How to be A Successful Failure, Bishop Fitzgerald tells a fascinating story about a young man who was caught one day "stealing sheep." He was charged and convicted. As a penalty, the jury of villagers decided to make an example out of him. They took a branding iron and branded his forehead with the letters "ST"...meaning of course, "Sheep Thief." The brand was permanent and a constant source of shame to the young man. Penitent, he turned to God. He asked God for forgiveness. He was determined not to be remembered as a thief. “With courage and with God's help, he began to live in a new way, giving to others, helping others in every way. He performed endless small acts of kindness for everyone. He was thoughtful, helpful, compassionate, caring, generous and always dependable. Decades and decades went by, and of course he became an old man. One day a visitor came to the village. He saw this elderly man and wondered about the letters on his forehead. He asked the people of the village what the "ST" on the man's forehead stood for. Strangely, no one could remember, but they suspected that the "ST" was an abbreviation for the word "SAINT."
          Another person went to the temple to pray, but his posture and actions showed no arrogance nor pride. He beat upon his chest as a sign of remorse. He had good reason to feel miserable about himself, for he was a tax collector with all the disreputable baggage that weighed down the position. But he looked at himself honestly and made no excuses for his numerous misdeeds. He prayed briefly, earnestly, sincerely. He made no pretense of giving thanks. He had no list of good deeds that might cause God to look favorably upon him. One sentence was his prayer: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Jesus' verdict: "this man went down to his home justified rather than the other." "Justified”: Accepted by God, made right with God, put in a just relationship with God. He knew that God is righteous, hates sin, and will bring the sinner to judgment. He knew he could not hide himself from God, and he had no virtues with which to mask his unrighteousness. But he had enough faith in God to believe that God could be merciful, even to him. He had nothing to offer; he had no ground to stand on except the undeserved grace of God. We are no different. Before God, nobody is any different. All fall short of God’s perfect will for their lives and none can make him or herself clean. It is God’s love for you that is your answer and your true hope. Turn to God for grace that saves. As scripture tells us: “It is God who justifies.” Rom. 8:3  Don’t rest on your own actions. Cling to Christ Jesus, with a heart of faith, and find there the wonderful mercy of our God. Jesus summed up the parable with a saying which must have been a favorite of his, since we find it elsewhere: "All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Former Miami Dolphin football coach Don Shula tells a priceless story on himself. He said that he wished to take his wife to a quiet place for vacation. They chose a small seaside town in Maine, where they could relax without people recognizing them. When they arrived, it was raining so they decided to go see a movie. When they entered the theatre, the house lights were on and they were surprised that the handful of people gave them a warm little round of applause as they took their seats.  Secretly pleased, Shula whispered to his wife, "I guess there isn't any place I'm not known." A man came over with a friendly smile and shook hands with Shula and his wife.  "I'm surprised that you know me here," said Shula. "Should I know you?" asked the man puzzled "We’re just glad to see you folks; the manager said he wouldn't start the film until at least ten people came in." The apostle Paul gave this warning to the Roman Christians and to us: "I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think." Romans 12:3

In all things, try your best. Don’t look for the reward but look to fulfill your duty. We each have different gifts, and so nobody does all things well. God has given us our calling and our capability. Like good workers, do what is asked of you and what is given you to accomplish. There is right pride in a job well done, in doing the most with what you have, and in being servants of God almighty. But it is not a pride of being better than others but of having done what God entrusted you to do. Let our self-esteem rest on the bedrock of doing God’s work, on humble service in Jesus’ name, and not on comparing ourselves to others. What God needs are people who do his will, love his creation and creatures, and live joyfully the gifts of life and spirit.

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