Sermon in Seattle 09.10.2011

May the love of the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and always. Let us join together in opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Dear Heavenly Father, our righteous God and Creator, we ask you, dear Father, that you be with us at our service gathering and bless us with your words. Those words of encouragement and those words which uplift us on the journey that leads to heaven.

Dear Father, we come before thee with prayers of thanksgiving for the many blessings which you have granted us here for our earthly journey. But above these, dear Father, we thank you that you have called such weak and poor ones to dwell in your grace kingdom. Therefore, we approach thee in the name of thy Son, our Lord Jesus, and ask that you strengthen us on the journey. Give unto us, dear Father, consciousness of that which is right. Give unto us, dear Father, consciousness of sin. And give unto us, dear Father, that grace that we could journey keeping faith and a good conscience.

Dear Father, we also thank you that you have given us this free land where we can gather around your holy word. And we therefore pray that you give our leaders the wisdom that they would guide this land. And also the lands of those other countries where, especially where believing people dwell, that they would rule and govern in fear of you, dear Father.

And we also remember this morning those who are in service of our Fatherland. And we also remember this morning that we are in service of our Fatherland. And we pray that we are in service of our Fatherland.

Many remembered you and asked that I send the greetings. Where we had that weekend of special fall services, there were some from further east on the prairies, Outlook and Dunblain area, and then also from Montana, as well as that area of Alberta, and in fact all the way from Toronto. God did bless us with a nice weekend of fall services and I think those kinds of services, it's a reminder in one way I think how important it is that we consider our priorities in life because life is busy but it's also good and important to pause in this busy life at those opportunities where we can to gather around God's word. So many greetings from there.

The text this morning is from the Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 18 beginning with the ninth verse. One of the texts for this Sunday is similar in this sense that it relates to prayer. It happens to be a different text but from one of the Psalms which was a prayer of David. And this text you'll also notice has to do with prayer in the life of mankind. And it says in Jesus' name, And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.

Two men went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon 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 that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Amen.

We notice from Scripture, and I think even the Sunday school age students notice this, that many times in the life of Jesus, his teaching and the things that he knew in this life were important, he often did so using some kind of a, he taught those things using some kind of an example that was very, you might say, easy and simple to understand for the everyday man. He often, of course, performed miracles. And many that saw those were moved in the right way. Some were not moved in the correct way. But he also used examples in his life where he did, he actually, he healed and cared for people's temporal needs as well as their spiritual needs.

But Jesus also taught using parables. And when he used those parables, it didn't necessarily or often at all involve some kind of a miracle that happened, but it was an everyday event that spoke very strongly to the listeners.

When we consider the audience also, we know that Jesus gave different lessons or different topics or showed different priorities in life depending on the audience that was listening. In this case, it makes clear who you might say was the target audience or who Jesus was speaking to because Luke recorded who the audience was and who the listeners were. It says in this ninth verse, the first one that we read, Jesus picked a particular audience or a particular listener.

Why? Well, we know the purpose of mission work, not only in our time, but we would have to say in our time, is that it would speak to the heart of the listener whose heart in some way would be troubled or burdened and could find God's kingdom.

Jesus, during his life, also made one miraculous thing, crystal clear we could say. He made no question about this issue and that is, if one is truly seeking the kingdom, they will find the kingdom. Beyond all obstacles, all barriers that might seem to be in the way with the human mind, God can break those barriers. That is a miracle. We see it from Scripture and we also have seen it in our own time. And we would have to say in every time of visitation, those believing people have marveled at the work of God. Seek and ye shall find. That portion could be no more clear than anything else.

If one is truly seeking, regardless of where they were born, what kind of a family, what kind of a country, what kind of a culture, God can bring such a one to the threshold of his kingdom. And the great miracle is that through the door of that kingdom, that one can be brought through the hearing and the understanding, the comprehension of the living words of the gospel. Those simple words that reassure a bird in one that all of their sins of their entire lifetime are completely blotted out as far as the east is from the west. Though they be as crimson, they shall be as white as snow. That's what Scripture teaches.

What is prayer? Because this, and that's a valid question. In fact, there was a Sunday school student this morning that asked a similar question, a very basic question. This one happens to be what is prayer? Well, in some sense, we could say it's certainly the speaking of the heart to God, but also, a prayer is some kind of a request for benefit, we could say.

What kind of benefit? Well, sometimes, of course, it's some temporal thing, but more often, it has to do with our spiritual condition. And in particular, when we look at the example that Jesus gave in this parable that he spoke about prayer, it had to do not with temporal goods or life, but with eternal life, eternal things, and one's condition of heart.

We also know that prayer can be spoken, and perhaps most often is spoken, on behalf of oneself. But not always. Very often, prayers are spoken on behalf of another person, parents. I'm sure that you know very closely what I'm speaking about there. We think of our loved ones and our family, our children. In a sense, we could certainly say those kinds of prayers are what we sometimes call prayers of intercession. They're very common.

Sometimes prayers of intercession where we're speaking, you could say, on behalf of another person or people or even another nation. They're even spoken, they're even read or given sometimes at service occasions, in particular, large services. Those of you who were in Michigan this summer, past summer, recall, probably, that there were some prayers of intercession. Those are certain types of prayers and there are many types. Prayers on behalf of ourselves, prayers on behalf of others, prayers for temporal goods, prayers for spiritual warfare.

Do we commonly pray for temporal welfare this life? Of course we do. Children know. Give us this day our daily bread. God provides even those things. We are completely dependent on God for those things, even though we live in a culture and a society, a nation, that has been, regardless of how difficult, sometimes economically, it has been greatly blessed.

We think in a temporal sense, how David wrote in his psalm, and in a temporal sense we can say, I shall not want. We have everything we possibly could think of in a practical sense. Too much, sometimes. God is the giver and taker of those things.

Prayer also, and I think more importantly, especially when we think number one of a child of God and the journey that we have, we are speaking about spiritual things that God would guide us, protect us, on the way. Why? Because we feel our own poorness. We feel the closeness of the world and not just the young, but certainly the young as well. It is not far from any one of us.

So Jesus then gives us an example about prayer, prayer, and in doing so he picks two types of people. One of them is what's called a Pharisee. It was one of the dominant groups of religious people of the time. Many, many people in Israel among the Jewish people were of this sect sects of Hebrews that were called Pharisees. And by and large they were intended to be self-righteous. In other words, they felt that their salvation was based on their own works and their own merit and that the things that they did in this life could be pleasing to God.

When we think about the Pharisees, just a little bit about the character of them, they basically have existed all the way up to the present. Not just in a temporal sense or in a kind of an image of where there's self-righteousness, but actually the Pharisees became historically today's rabbinic Jews. When you trace Judaism back through history, it becomes quite clear that the Pharisee people became the group that we call led by the rabbis of today.

The other groups, like for example mentions the Sadducees, are gone. For all practical purposes, do not exist anymore. The Pharisees have become in a sense for those conservative Jews, the rabbinic type of Jews where they don't have any priests anymore. There are no Jewish priests. None. They ceased to exist when the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.

So who became the leaders? The teachers. The rabbis. Jews. And our modern day Jews stemmed directly from the Pharisees. They were self-righteous. And even though in our time many nice God-fearing religious Jewish people, unfortunately they have not found God's kingdom on earth. They've held on to their religious traditions in a remarkable fashion, but have not been able to comprehend God's grace kingdom on earth.

So this is the one that we had that was praying. Self-righteous person. And we can tell by the prayer that Jesus describes that came from that Pharisee that was there by the temple what his condition of heart was.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Paid his church dues, in other words. He paid his annual or monthly dues to the church. He was proud of that. He had kept that up. He mentioned some of the other things that he is not like these others. Look around. There is a lot of corruption and sin in society.

Does one who travels on the road to heaven look at the others, let's say at work, or school, and say, you know, I am sure glad I am so much better than that person. Of course, we have to say we are very fortunate. The most fortunate of all who have been called into the kingdom, but it is a grace kingdom. It is for great beggars, the weak, and the poor.

Do we look at others as a head taller? People at work, people at school, and say, you know, I am so much better than that scumbag. I would say not. Because we know our own weakness. We know our own poorness. We know how we have begged to hear the gospel for our many failings. And it is a remarkable thing, those on the outside, it has not been that uncommon that they have noticed when looking at a person who is a believing person. Something is different about that person.

What is it? You know, I had an experience, this one happened to me in Africa, and it was the close of one of the trips, and we sat down with some of the Africans who had been with us on the trip, and they asked me, there was a few of us, probably six or seven or eight of us, sitting around a table, basically waiting to go to the airport. They said, well, what did you think? And I gave them my thoughts on the trip, and related how it was wonderful to be there, and I said, well, what have you thought? And they said, you know, we've noticed something amazing. And I said, well, what's that? They said, well, every minister that's come, they're different from any other minister from other churches we've seen, and we've seen many. They have many churches, you can name any church, it's there, in Africa, with some kind of a mission. He said, but every minister that's come, he said, they're not like the ones from the other churches. They don't feel like they're better than the listeners. They comprehend that they're poor and weak, but yet they preach the living word.

They noticed and you'll find in your lives, and I'm sure you probably already have, there is something different. It's nothing of our own, no merit, no honor, no glory, but that which the Holy Spirit affects in the heart of a child of God, a humbleness, a humility, a love for sinners. And this hope that one sinner who's on the outside can find God's great kingdom on this earth and we would want to be ready to preach the good news about that kingdom to the weak and the poor.

That was the condition though that this Pharisee had. He looked at the others and his head was high. He was proud of what he had done in his accomplishments in this life and in his heart. He knew unfortunately he was sadly wrong. He knew that God would be happy with what he's done. And he even looked down on this publican.

What is a publican? We mentioned a little bit about Pharisees. A publican was among the most despised in the society of those times. He was a tax collector. And it was widely known and I'm sure that it was widely practiced that when they collected the taxes, which nobody particularly liked taxes, but the publican would then skim his portion off the top. And many of them were extortioners, cheaters, and they were therefore despised. People didn't like them. They were among the lowest.

But why would Jesus pick a publican as an example of one who prayed? Well, because this publican, and in fact we have examples of publicans. Matthew, the gospel writer, the apostle, had been a publican in his life. Zacchaeus, you probably remember the man that was in the sycamore tree that was too short, he couldn't see above the crowd, so he climbed the tree to see Jesus. Zacchaeus received the grace of repentance. He had been a publican, and he said he would restore to all those people that he cheated. He probably cheated a lot of them before he received the grace of repentance. He would restore that to them. He experienced a change of heart. He experienced the grace that's offered in God's kingdom.

Jesus picked an example of a publican because they were considered the lowest. People didn't particularly like him. But what was the heart of this publican that Jesus uses as an example? He said, the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote on his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner.

Here's a key point. Both of these men were praying men. They both acknowledged a creator. And when we think about prayer itself, we also see, you might say, an image or a picture of human culture or human behavior. And that is, humans are different in that aspect from all other creatures that God made.

We know in the very first portions of the Bible, it says, God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. And he became a living soul. That's the nature of man. Man is, regardless of what cultures have been studied, and perhaps every culture we can think of, anthropologists and so forth, have studied them. Man is a spiritual or a praying creature. It's in us.

Prayer can become so overwhelming in a person's life that there are groups that actually in some ways are compelled or feel it's important or need to pray many times a day, even formally. Does God hear those prayers? Prayers? Well, we need to look at what the Bible says about such prayers.

Just because man prays doesn't mean that God listens. Can he hear the prayers? Certainly. We know God is not only omnipotent, in other words, all-powerful, which he is, he's also omniscient, which means he is all-knowing and all-seeing.

What does God's word say about it when we look at what the prophets wrote? In fact, in the very first portion of the very first prophet that's recorded in Scripture, he says, and when you spread forth your hands, he's speaking about those whose heart is not in the right condition, those who not fear God in the correct way. He says, when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear.

An amazing thing. He says right here, he will not hear. It doesn't mean that he never hears, but when one comes to God, with that kind of a prayer, it doesn't matter if they pray many times a day, but those kinds of prayers that the prophet is speaking about, he will not hear.

However, we also know this remarkable thing about prayer, that God not only hears, can hear, does hear, the prayers of his believing people, he also hears the prayers of unbelievers. It's not some, prayer is not something that's exclusive in this way, that God only hears the prayers of the believing people. And there are scriptural examples again.

What about Cornelius, the centurion, who brought his prayers before God? Unbelieving man, but in fear of God. And there's no question when we read that account in the book of Acts, it was also recorded by Luke, the gospel writer who he read this from, that Cornelius was a seeking man. Roman, yes. Soldier, yes. Centurion, had over a hundred men. But he noticed something different in the lives of those Jewish people who were basically subject to him. And he longed for something in his prayers. He asked God.

And before Cornelius even received the grace of repentance, which he did when Apostle Peter came to him. But before that even happened, God said, that I have heard your prayers. Was God going to leave Cornelius in that kind of a condition where he was an unbeliever, but he was seeking the kingdom? God will not leave such a one in that condition. It doesn't matter what walk of life they may come from. It doesn't matter what country or nation or culture they're from. God will not leave such a one, a seeking one in that condition.

And then he said, of course, we know what happened in that one. Peter was sent, was within a few days, to the house of Cornelius. And all the listeners, Cornelius' family and so forth, the Holy Spirit came on them. They received the grace of repentance under the preaching of Peter.

God can hear and does hear the prayers of unbelievers.

There was a young man, probably junior high age, that had related an incident in his life. This was a kid from an unbelieving house. Parents were having troubles, subsequently divorced, but this boy was troubled. And in fact, they had had various religious groups into the home, whatever groups they were, who knows, the kind that come door to door. And nothing seemed to help, but in his bed at night, going to bed, this boy had a prayer. And his prayer was this, dear father, simple prayer. Dear father, take me and my best friend over the whole world and show us the right religion, the right group.

And lo and behold, I don't know how long it was, but it wasn't that long, probably a matter of a year or two or less. That boy in some far away location for where he wasn't even a Christian congregation there, ran into some believing people. He noticed something's different in the lives of these young people who he became friends with. And that young man then, actually from the father, of those friends that he'd met, heard the living gospel. All your sins are forgiven in Jesus' name and blood. And that boy believed that gospel.

He'd had a prayer. God heard the prayer. God will not leave such a one that's truly seeking in the condition of unbelief, but will bring them to the threshold, yea, to the door, and through the door, into the grace kingdom.

Is it something that that boy, or Cornelius, or anyone else on their own has done to merit? No, it's completely of God's grace. Jesus said, no one comes to the father, but by me. And then those who believe in him come to the father, through Jesus. That's how Jesus explained it.

So we have these two that are praying men, both of them. One whose prayer is acceptable, one whose prayer is not. What does that tell it? What do we learn, we could say, from Jesus teaching an example in this parable about prayer? What is the most important? Is it important? Is it the most important thing that a person prays? Prayer? We would have to say, the most important thing is not the act of praying. The most important thing is condition of heart.

What was the difference between these two in condition of heart? It becomes very clear in Jesus' teaching. One was self-righteous, knew in his own mind that he'd done good, paid his dues to the temple. He didn't do these horrible things that these other people did. He was a good person in his own mind. God rejected his prayer.

What about the other man? What was the condition of heart? It's very simple. It's very clear. Because here Luke, in his descriptive way, in God's word, describes, he smote on his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Lead me to the kingdom.

We also can quite clearly see that the publican in this condition was not the free child of God with a good conscience. It certainly happened in our lives that we become burdened. But this man was a seeking man. He was a publican. No doubt he fits the description of the publicans of the time. He was a cheater. That's what they did.

Zacchaeus was a perfect example of a real life, not even a parable. The one who climbed the sycamore tree, who was a publican, and had cheated a lot of people. He received the grace of repentance. The publicans in the same condition.

What does it say here when we read this? It says, about these two. Jesus then describes the difference between how God perceived these two hearts and conditions of hearts. He says, I tell you, this is what Jesus said, this man, and he's talking about the publican, the cheater, who had sorrow over sin. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

And when we look at the Greek words, it's precisely what this means, because it is important. It means that this way, that God heard the prayer of this publican over the prayer of the self-righteous Pharisee. He went, what it specifically says, more justified. In other words, God was pleased and happy. And God had compassion on his humble prayer and his condition of heart.

He said, here, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased. But listen to God's words, and he that humbleth himself, which the publican did, shall be exalted.

God will not leave one in such a condition. And it could be that many times in sin, in our lives, we certainly feel ourselves to be sinful and poor, and we have a similar prayer. There's no question about it, God be, especially when a sin burden has been on our heart and our conscience, and it happens, because we carry corruption.

I think even the school-age kids would probably readily acknowledge that sin sometimes bothers us. Maybe it's something that happened at home, and then we begin to feel troubled and burdened.

I can remember as a young person with that kind of a prayer, because sometimes it's not so easy to speak about sin, and it keeps bothering us. It bothers our conscience. But we've been reminded again and again in God's kingdom that confession itself, although it's not our salvation, we're saved by faith. Confession is a great grace gift, that when sin bothers us, we can speak about that matter, go to a fellow traveler in whose heart dwells the Holy Spirit, and speak about those matters, and then we again hear the reassurance of the gospel, that life giving word that says, dear son or dear daughter, all your sins are forgiven, in Jesus' name, and in his blood.

That's the power of the gospel. It could also be, and I think in some senses we could say often is, in the life of young people, because the teen years and those type of years, maybe even after that, they're not easy years, they're years of turmoil, in some ways, our lives are changing, the young person is passing from childhood to adulthood, and the things that go along with that, they're not easy.

At times it can be very difficult. Mom and dad look back and it doesn't seem that long ago. They can vividly remember their experiences as a young person. Sometimes, as one brother had described it, in that time of youth, someone even from a believing home can actually wander in what you could call twilight. That time when it's not really still daytime, you could say, and it's not really nighttime either, but it's shadowy.

We don't know in our lives, where do I stand? Where is my life leading me? Sin is bothered. I felt the pull of the world. It's so close to me. Those things we feel. And in that sense, prayer, we would have to say, of the humble heart of a young person. It's important. God knows. He hears those prayers.

Even those moments when we can't seem to even form into words the right kind of a prayer. But the heart cries for help. Dear Father, keep me as a child of God. Does God hear, does God see such a condition? He does. He hears those prayers.

And many parents say in their lives they remember how they had just such a prayer. And God heard the prayer. God brought comfort. How? Through His living Word that again said, all of your sins are forgiven. In Jesus' name and precious blood.

Sometimes it's the preaching directly from the pulpit. You might see the general proclamation that does reassure even now to the weakest and the poorest. The one who feels that their footsteps waver moment by moment. You, especially you, can be uplifted by the life-giving gospel. Sins are forgiven. And in the name of Jesus and through the drops of redeeming blood that He shed on the cross on behalf of all mankind, it pays to believe.

And to those that perhaps are listening, that have not yet found God's kingdom, but travel under a burden of sin, and have had the kind of humble prayer that the publican had that was very simple, and just said this, God be merciful unto me, a wretched sinner. He will lead such a one to His grace kingdom. And He has a grace kingdom here on this earth.

The Bible teaches that it does, and we can comprehend that teaching through that kingdom through the teaching of the Holy Spirit and no other way, not with a human mind, not with intellect, not with studying, not with reason, but only if God in His great grace through His Holy Spirit reveals the kingdom. And this is a great miracle. He can and does, and we've seen in our time how that mission work that started in antiquity and continued throughout the ages, continues up to today.

Believe even now, all sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood. And I also desire to hear and to live of that same gospel. Can you preach the gospel to me? I promise to believe with you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let's close with the benediction. The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make His face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.