Dec 18
Andrew J. NicewanderEssays God's Love, Grace, Jesus, John Newton, Justification, Pharisee, Pride, Sin
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Part 1
The Pharisee, according to his own perception of righteousness, had every reason to expect that he was right before God. He followed all of the rules, He kept away from all of the sins, and he was absolutely more righteous than sinners like the tax collector. Everyone knew how moral the Pharisee was and how utterly wicked and depraved the Tax Collector was. This reality was not to be questioned.
Yet, the tax collector went home justified and the Pharisee did not. The Tax Collector understood something vital: that he was indeed a sinner! The Pharisee was right! There was nothing in the tax collector to commend him to God. There was nothing in his soul or in his heart that would make him in any way desirable or attractive to the Holy Lord. He was utterly without help and hope apart from God’s sovereign mercy. The Pharisee missed this key point: that he too was without hope apart from God’s Grace! No matter how righteous he was, no matter how holy he was, no matter how lovely his prayers were or how much he fasted or how much he prayed, all of those works were filthy menstrual rags in comparison to the holiness of God, the holiness that is required for salvation.
This was the hope that the Tax Collector had. That someway, somehow, God would overlook the blatantly obvious sin and still have mercy. The Pharisee did not need this mercy. God had already given it to him by making him so moral and upstanding that it inspired awe in those around him. He exalted himself above the Tax Collector and above the people around him and above even God himself and Christ states that he did not go away justified. Those who exalt themselves will be brought low. Without Christ’s mercy, the Pharisee was damned.
And why was the Tax Collector justified? Was it because of his righteous and holy repentance? Certainly not! He went home righteous because God heard his cry for mercy and loved and saved him. The Tax Collector knew that he was lost apart from God’s mercy. The Pharisee knew he was saved. Christ did not come to save the righteous, but He did come to save sinners. The Pharisee did not understand this reality.
How easy it would be to hate the Pharisee like the Pharisee hated the tax-collecting sinner! “Lord, thank you that I’m not like other religious men! I humbly pray three times a week, I give to the poor twice per year, I mourn over my sins every chance I get. I thank you that I’m not like self-righteous men who try to earn their own salvation or even like this Pharisee.” God forgive us for praying such prayers! May he grant the mercy to repent like the Tax Collector, praying simply “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!”
Simply being a sinner is not enough to be saved. A man can know he’s a sinner and that he is completely unrighteous, but if he is not humbled enough to cry for mercy like the Tax Collector, he will not find salvation. There is really only one difference between the Pharisee and the Sinner. The Sinner knows he is lost, whereas the Pharisee thinks he is saved. Yet both are still lost. It is not until a man cries for mercy and believes that that man finds the salvation he so desperately seeks and needs.
Religion is a very dangerous thing. Having the understanding of salvation, or claiming to, can be an extremely powerful bargaining chip in the hands of wicked men. People engage in all sorts of insanity to find salvation. This is the beauty of Christ’s teachings, that only when one stops trying to be saved will he be in a position to attain it. Christ did not come to save the righteous. He came to save sinners. He came to save men like the Tax Collector, who had nothing with which to commend himself to God.
Yet pharisaical men are not without hope. The church’s greatest missionary, the Apostle Paul, described himself in his letter to the Philippians as being a man who had every reason to have confidence in and boast in his flesh by stating that he was “…circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6) Paul put the Pharisee in Jesus’ story to absolute shame. If that man was a good Pharisee, Paul was better. According to the righteous under the law, Paul was blameless. What was the difference then between Paul and this Pharisee? The difference is found in verse 7 and 8, as Paul states: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:7-8). Paul understood the lesson of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. He knew that his righteousness was not enough. If anyone had come close enough, it was Paul. Paul’s heart beat with that of the penitent Tax Collector, not the Pharisee. The self-proclaimed Chief of Sinners knew the wickedness of his heart and the hopelessness of trying to satisfy God’s righteousness apart from Jesus. And that same humbled chief of sinners also knew something of the riches of the exaltation of being a son of God in Christ.
Perhaps one of the most poignant examples of Christ’s mercy to a man like the Tax Collector is the life of John Newton. The author of the hymn “Amazing Grace” was a man who spent a great deal of time and exerted a great deal of effort to, like Jonah, run away from God. After many years of fighting, this man was used of God in great and mighty ways (and through his hymns and his story, is still being used). The inscription on his tombstone reads: “John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.” This is the mercy that God has for sinners. This grace is initially unlooked for, subsequently begged for and finally granted to the sinner; unearned, unexpected and above and beyond all hope. Amazing grace, indeed!
Dec 16
Andrew J. NicewanderEssays Christianity, Grace, Jesus, Justification, Love, Works
Religiosity devoid of Christ-enlivened spirituality always and without fail leads to damnation. This is a sobering lesson of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Jesus made no secret of His detestation of the teachings and theology of the Pharisees. When He was not teaching doctrines that ran contrary to the Pharisees (enraging them) or dining with sinners (deeply offending them) or teaching parables against them (confounding them), He was pronouncing woes upon them and calling them vipers and whitened sepulchers. He even saw fit to use them as an object lesson in this parable in Luke 18:9-14.
The parable in question involves two characters: a Pharisee and a Tax Collector. Pharisees were the religious leaders of their day. They were renowned for their apparent righteousness and law-keeping. They loved the honor of men and loved the sweet smell of money (Luke 16:14). They were self-righteous and devious. Jesus did not think very highly of the Pharisees. In return, they hated Him. The Gospels are filled with battles that Jesus had with these leading rulers and many of his teachings were teachings in direct opposition to the Pharisees. In Matthew 21:33-40 Jesus likened them to tenants who beat and murdered the servants of the owner of a vineyard, even going so far to murder the owner’s son. When asked what should be done to men such as those, the Pharisees ironic answer was “He will put to those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons” (Matthew 21:41). Jesus’ telling response was that they (the Pharisees) had rejected God’s chief cornerstone and that “…the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.” (Matthew 21:43). Furthermore, Jesus pronounced seven woes against them in Matthew 23:13-36, using perhaps his harshest language recorded in the Gospels. In this chilling passage Jesus referred to the Pharisees as hypocrites, children of hell, blind guides, blind fools, blind men, whitewashed tombs, serpents, and a brood of vipers. He pronounces woes on them for trying to keep people out of God’s kingdom, attempting to make proselytes into children of hell, making foolish oaths, neglecting the “…weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23), being men concerned only with their outer appearance, concerning themselves with external righteousness while being internally dead men of lawlessness and hypocrisy, and hypocritically distancing themselves from the murder of God’s prophets. Again, Jesus did not think highly of the Pharisees. Their doctrines were hateful to Him. Their supposed worship was a stink to His nostrils. He hated their wickedness and their hypocrisy. Yet, the Pharisees were the “big leaguers” of the Jewish religious climate. They were the professionals. If they said to jump, everybody asked how high. They were the Righteous. They were the ones close to God. They were the ones who were in and doing God’s will.
The tax collectors, on the other hand, were a despised lot. After Levi the Tax Collector was called by Jesus to be a disciple he invited Jesus and his fellow Tax Collectors (and other sinners) over to his house. The scribes of the Pharisees took offense to this and asked why Jesus would do such a thing, to eat with such a dirty group of people. Jesus’ beautiful answer is telling: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) Tax Collectors were a sinful lot and they knew it. They were in the employ of the Roman Empire but were Jews. They were cheats, snitches and were despised by everybody. They and everybody else knew that righteousness was impossible for them. They were not well. That Jesus would eat with them was a scandal of the highest order. Such men were worse than the Romans. Yet Jesus, because of His gracious love, came to save such men. The Pharisees knew that they were righteous. The Tax Collectors knew that they were not.
The parables of Jesus were more than quaint stories. They always had a purpose and always had a particular message and audience in mind. Quite handily, Luke very kindly interpreted this parable by mentioning the audience and purpose of this passage. In Luke 18:9 he states: “[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt”. This parable was (and is) intended for men like the Pharisees, who thought themselves righteous and better than everybody around them.
In particular, the Pharisee of Jesus’ parable was a stellar example of perceived righteousness. By his own loud, self-seeking, prayerful admission, he proclaimed his righteousness by thanking God for giving it to him. “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 I get.” (Luke 18:11). This was a man convinced of his standing before God and of his own inherent righteousness. He was fair with his money (even though he loved it too much), he was just (even if it was by his own depraved standard of righteousness), he was faithful to his wife (even if he was able to find a myriad of reasons to justly divorce her) and he was nowhere near as wicked as the nearby Tax Collector. Furthermore, this man did not just fast once a year or once a month or even once a week, he fasted two times during a week and he was sure to let everybody see how much his devotion cost him. Even more impressively, he gave tithes of all he that he got, even if it meant that he did not have enough to respectively give to his parents in their need. This Pharisee in Jesus’ parable was the standard of holiness and God-likeness.
The Tax Collector, on the other hand, agreed with the Pharisees assessment of him. He knew that he did not have the righteousness of the Pharisee. He knew that he was an extortioner, that he was unjust and that he was adulterous. He was a tax collector after all. This man knew that he was sick and in dire need of a physician. It was all he could do to fall on his face and cry to God for the simple grace of underserved, unearned, unjust and completely necessary mercy. This man was at his end. He knew that there was nothing that he could do and nothing that he could offer to God to make God love him. He quite simply had nothing to give and was ready to take anything and everything that God might give to him. This man, Jesus says, went home justified, rather than the Pharisee. This man repented of the sins that the Pharisee would never admit he had committed. This man, completely unacceptable to God was accepted and went home justified and the Pharisee who by God’s grace kept all the law was found wanting and went home condemned. In exalting himself the Pharisee was humbled to the point of condemnation. In humbling himself and simply asking for mercy, the sinful Tax Collector was exalted and justified before God.
Dec 15
Andrew J. NicewanderSermon Poems Forgiveness, Grace, Jesus, Love, Mercy, The Church
Sermon Poetry, 13 December 2009
Sermon Title – “Keeping the Unity of the Holy Spirit”
Sermon Text – Ephesians 4:1-7
In Christ we’ve life that comes from God
As men once blind we see
We’re called to love our Sovereign King
The One by whom we’re free
The sin within is raging fierce
The Spirit holding strong
Lord, give us strength to keep Your Word
Your worship be our song
In Christ we’re one, we’re unified
Once sinners all, we’re free
How do we love the ones of God?
How do we love our King?
We hate and lie, we cheat and steal
Despising Jesus’ own
Once enemies, now brothers all
We praise our Lord enthroned
We’re children of our Lord and King
Of every race and tongue
But now, in Christ, we all are His
In Christ the Church is one
We all were sinners foul and rank
Depravity was ours
But now in Christ we’re saved and cleansed
His mercy on us poured
We’re called to join with Jesus’ own
Submitting one to all
Forgiving fellows’ heinous sins
And asking love for ours
We’re bound to do the dirty work
Of loving fellow men
We’re called to build relationships
With those redeemed from sin
Lord please forgive us when we lose
The point of Jesus’ love
When pride and arrogance is strong
O’er others placed above
Lord humble us, Your mercy heal
In spirit make us poor
Relying on Your loving grace
To others place before
Your grace convict me to repent
And turn from all my sin
In self-control to love Your own
My family and my kin
You saved my soul, You made me live
You’ve loved me as Your son
In Christ my heart is born again
Redemption You have won
Nov 20
Andrew J. NicewanderSermon Poems Blood, Christ, Death, Grace, Suffering
Sermon Poetry, 8 November 2009
Sermon Text – John 18:1-13
Preacher – Pastor Mike Tardive
Kind Jesus, Your people are suffering life
With sadness and sickness and poverty strong
They’re crying with voices of weakness and sorrow
With quavering lips they are singing their song
You’ve given us cups with a drink hard to swallow
We haven’t the strength to survive Sovereign Will
We’re crying with voices of frailty and mourning
Come calm with Your mercy and make our hearts still
We suffer as people who worship our Savior
We follow our Jesus, our Suffering Lord
He drank from His chalice, prepared by the Father
Fulfilling the Scriptures, God’s beautiful Word
Our Father is Sovereign, with Providence Holy
His will is accomplished, no matter how sad
So as Jesus swallowed, our sins were forgiven
We’re bathed in His blood, and our mourning is glad
We’re washed in His mercy, we’re cleansed by His blood
Through death are we living, through blood made alive
In Him is salvation, we’ve access to Yahweh
Once sinners of darkness, now Children of Light
Nov 15
Andrew J. NicewanderSermon Poems Evangelism, Grace, Jesus, Salvation
Sermon Poetry, 1 November 2009
Sermon Text – Genesis 13
Preacher – Pastor Matthew Brennan
Lord give me wisdom to live for You
So that Your name is praised
Your glory loud proclaimed
Please give me strength to plant the seeds
Of Jesus’ Gospel sweet
So men Your mercy see
So sinners might be saved
Lord give me strength to live for You
I am a sinner small
I live with sinners lost
The sins around oppress my heart
Your name is never praised
Few sinners ’round are saved
Pour out Your lovely grace
Lord give me strength to rest in You
The sin about is dark
From dark and rocky hearts
Lord give me speech to speak Your Truth
Come save the sinners’ hearts
Your grace to men impart
Come raise from death to life
Lord give me strength to trust in You
To save the sinners’ hearts
Christ’s righteousness impute
I cannot save the sinners ’round
I just proclaim Your Truth
So men might worship You
Lord thank You for Your Grace
Lord give me strength to mercy show
To others never judge
To trust Your sovereign love
Please sensitize my sinful heart
To think on Holy things
To ponder Jesus’ Grace
To be like Christ my King
Oct 08
Andrew J. NicewanderQuote of the Week Controversy, Grace, John Newton, Love
“If we act in a wrong spirit, we shall bring little glory to God, do little good to our fellow creatures, and procure neither honor nor comfort to ourselves. If you can be content with showing your wit, and gaining the laugh on your side, you have an easy task; but I hope you have a far nobler aim, and that, sensible of the solemn importance of gospel truths, and the compassion due to the souls of men, you would rather be a means of removing prejudices in a single instance, than obtain the empty applause of thousands. Go forth, therefore, in the name and strength of the Lord of hosts, speaking the truth in love; and may he give you a witness in many hearts that you are taught of God, and favored with the unction of his Holy Spirit.”
- John Newton
Oct 01
Andrew J. NicewanderSermon Poems Evangelism, Grace, Jesus, Love, Missions, Salvation, The Church
Preacher – Dr. Tom Ascol
The Father is seeking and saving and loving
To save all His children He loves
He sent Christ tas Savior to bleed and to suffer
So sinners like us might be saved
He loves us with fervor, ’tis shown on the Cross
christ died so that sinners might live
He sought us as rebels and loves us as son
The Father His Grace to us gives
We’re called as the Body to go to the World
And tell of the Gospel of Christ
We’re called on a Mission, to tell of the Savior
So sinners like us might be saved
Dear Father, please help us to speak of Your Son
To family and friends all around
To witness of Jesus and of our salvation
So sinners once lost might be found
Oh Father, come finish Your plan of Salvation
Your Spirit come send to convert
So sinners believing might have Christ’s Salvation
Together we worship Your Name
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