Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 26 to 50 of 715 results

26. Why Jesus Likes Sinners

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... . The Pharisee wasn't like the riffraff of society, and thank God for it! I am thankful for the kind of values that have been instilled in me, aren't you? Some of us could pray the Pharisee's prayer with some justification. But listen to the prayer of the tax collector. Standing far off, he would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." I can almost see him, can't you? No illusions. No pretense. He knows what he is and what he has done. He is so ...

27. Luke 19:1-10

Luke 19:1-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Zacchaeus in verse 8. Some scholars view verse 8 as Zacchaeus' confession of repentance and his pledge of reparation for the past sins he has committed. This assumes, of course, that Zacchaeus, like the crowd, understands himself as a sinner. His occupation as tax collector has placed him outside the boundaries of his Torah community, and he must make amends. In Ezekiel 18:21-22, the Jewish way to salvation is through the twofold path of repentance and reparation. Having pledged to give half of all he has ...

28. The Signs Of Salvation

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... been wisely said that "we can never attain the self-containedness we so impiously desire. We can live in forgetfulness of him, but not with peace of mind. We can live without his blessing, but not without his judgment."2 Zacchaeus had alienated himself from God. Just as the tax collector in Jesus' parable, he is trapped by his profession and by his wealth. Even Jesus had said it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it would be for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. So here ...

29. Are We On Speaking Terms With The Almighty?

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... right when he said, "We must lay before God what is really inside of us, not what ought to be in us." The Psalmist says in Psalm 145:18, "The Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth." This is why God heard the prayer of the tax collector. It was an honest declaration. He had called upon God in truth. The Pharisee could not go home justified for he had not confessed his sin and his need. When we talk with God, we need to be totally honest. The Pharisee talked at God, not with God. The Pharisee ...

30. What Impresses God

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... Jesus said, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other." (v.14) A highway to heaven is paved with humility. Now on the outside you would have thought the Pharisee was much closer to God, but on the inside it was the tax collector who was close to God. Because the Bible says in Ps. 34:18, "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit." What impressed God so much was this man was willing to humble himself without waiting on God ...

31. A Lesson From Prayers Overheard

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... of a pass. "How did you stop him?" "We watched his eyes!"1 These words may hold the key to our discovery of the "central luminous truth"2 of the parable about two men who went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The key to this parable has to do with the direction of each man's eyes. But more about that in a moment. On first reading there seems to be no great mystery here. Blinded by our stereotypes, we have long "known" that the Pharisees were insincere and self ...

32. The Calling of Levi

Mark 2:13-17

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... Mark first circulated, this kind of story was seen as precedent for the ingathering of Gentiles (who were also seen as sinners/outcasts by many religious Jews) and showed Jesus as the pioneer of this welcome of religiously unacceptable people. Additional Notes 2:14 Tax collector: The figures mentioned here and in vv. 15–16 were Jews who raised taxes for Herod and the Romans. They were often accused of greed, for they obtained their jobs by bidding how much money they could raise, and their own reward was ...

33. The Gift Of Inadequacy

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... powerful little about its customs." (1) May I say to you, friends, there are a lot of folks who have been in the kingdom a long time who know powerful little about its customs. Two men went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was praying, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people." Then he listed the sins of other people. The Pharisee reminded God of all the righteous things he did on a regular basis, "I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my ...

34. The Good, The Bad, And The Justified

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... better had he had Gregory Peck there to whisper in his ear that if he had to remind God who he was, then he wasn't. The tax collector, on the other hand, didn't have to tell God who he was. He knew who he was and he knew that God knew who he was ... is this man who went home justified." To be justified means to be declared "not guilty." It means to be declared right. The tax collector is declared to be in the right relationship to God while the Pharisee, who is so certain of his own righteousness, is shown to ...

35. Jesus Eats with Sinners and Heals the Sick

Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew 9:14-17, Matthew 9:18-26, Matthew 9:27-34

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... salvation to sinners (1:21). This is a powerful message to preach in our churches. But it likely will have little impact unless coupled with a corporate way of life that embraces those considered to be outsiders. If Jesus was known as “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (11:19), should not the church be typecast the same way? 2. Jesus as healer and miracle worker comes from God and is worthy of our trust. These are not new themes; instead, they continue the motifs begun already in chapter 8: Jesus ...

36. Saving Sinners

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

... spent the past several minutes mentally in applying the sermon to some other wretched soul who really ought to be here this morning listening to all of this. To us it's quite obvious that the sermon isn't very relevant or meaningful personally. Jesus calls a tax collector here. He says he's come to deal with people who need a doctor, not with those who are well. He says that the call is out to those considered outcasts, not the respectable people. This I say is sobering, for there's nothing most of us are ...

37. Children

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

... he very tall. So he climbed up in a tree to at least have a look at Jesus, and to wave to his friend as he went by. Well, Jesus saw him and invited himself to supper. The next day, the rabbi at our synagogue denounced Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners. The day after that, the revolutionaries killed two of my dad's workers and tried to make it look like bandits had done it. My dad called all of his workers in for their safety and kept us at home. We heard later that Jesus had proceeded to ...

38. Zacchaeus

Luke 19:1-10

Drama

Jerry Eckert

39. The Transforming Power of Grace

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... going to repay fourfold. Luke tells us "Then Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost'" (vv. 9-10). Zacchaeus, the tax collector, encountered the presence of God in Jesus Christ. All the smelly garbage that accumulated in his life and drove others away was taken away and replaced by God's unexpected, unwarranted, forgiving, healing, transforming love. It is a story not unlike that of John Newton ...

40. Feasting and Fasting

Luke 5:33-39, Luke 5:27-32

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The contrast between the self-satisfied righteous and the repentant sinner is typical of Luke; see the parables of the two sons (15:11–32) and of the Pharisee and the tax collector (18:9–14). Only Luke includes the phrase “to repentance,” an important caveat: Jesus offers spiritual salvation, not mere acceptance for those who have failed morally. 5:33 They said to him. The questioners are left unidentified. The third-person reference ...

41. The Good

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

... who just waltzes into the temple, doesn't sing the hymns because he doesn't know them, and can only get out just a few words of the prayer, "God, er uh, like God, uh, be merciful to me a sinner. Er, uh, like, amen." Jesus said that this sleazy tax collector, staring down at the tips of his eelskins and mumbling, was justified by God, but not our Citizen of the Year Pharisee. I'm sorry that your mother had to hear this, because I know full well that she has told you otherwise, but here it is in the Bible ...

42. When Self-esteem Gets Out Of Hand

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... my humility more acceptable to God than letting my self-esteem get out of hand? But can I identify myself with the tax collector? Surely I am not that bad. I do consider myself a person of integrity. I am honest, and I do have some measure ... for others. But wait a minute. Now I am sounding dangerously like the Pharisee who paraded his virtues. I think I will go stand with the tax collector and join him in his simple prayer. "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." For while I may not be exactly like him, I do know ...

43. Two Parables about Prayer

Luke 18:9-14, Luke 18:1-8

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... In the original setting of this parable it would be reading too much into this verb to find here the whole Pauline theology of the acquittal of the sinner before God through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. The point is rather that the repentant tax collector was regarded by God as more “just” than the self-satisfied Pharisee. Such a conclusion challenges every conventional notion of “justice.” The basis of God’s assessment of the two men is not a simple record of what they have done but their ...

44. Sick People Like Us Will Always Need The (Divine) Doctor

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... with those Gentiles. What does all this have to do with you and me? I mean, we are not like that low-life with whom Jesus associated. You and I are good, decent people. Gee, we are a lot like the Pharisees who chastised Jesus for eating with the tax collectors and other sinners (Matthew 9:11). You know the answer he made: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick ... I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners" (Matthew 9:12-13). These ...

45. Jesus Calling and Accepting the Outcasts

Mark 2:13-17

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... or that he is one of the “many” who followed Jesus in 2:15.1However, Matthew’s Gospel identifies Matthew with the Levi of Mark, and it is best to see them as the same person, perhaps a brother of the James of 3:18. sitting at the tax collector’s booth. Levi had bid for and received a seat at the customs booth outside Capernaum (perhaps on the Via Maris, the main trade route that passed by the city) and collected the indirect taxes on trade goods, tariffs, and so on for Herod Antipas (not the direct ...

46. The Calling of Levi

Luke 5:27-32

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... Luke emphasizes Levi’s total commitment to Jesus. Indeed, the great banquet that follows underscores further that in Levi’s mind a complete break with the past has been made. He invites many of his friends; among them, of course, would be a large crowd of tax collectors and others. It is likely that he wishes to introduce Jesus to his guests and to make known to all his decision to follow the man from Nazareth. The call of Levi and the giving of the banquet furnish the occasion for the critical question ...

47. Two Contrasting Prayers

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... religious group in first-century Judaism. Listen as he haughtily prayed: “God I thank you that I am not like other men…” He then went on to tell God that he was not an extortionist, not unjust, not an adulterer, and certainly not like this tax collector who had the audacity to come to the temple to pray. The Pharisee went on to say that he fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all he received. All of these are commendable traits; nonetheless, there seemed to be something wrong with the prayer ...

48. “Love Your Enemies” Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make Any

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the Baptist. These were the people who had heard his call to repentance. These were the people who had responded to his invitation to baptism. These were the people who had recognized and revered the divine hand guiding John’s mission and message. What those tax collectors and prostitutes had done in the past was overwritten and overcome by what they had done in John’s presence. Faith and repentance bumped up the bottom of the heap to the first in line. This was not a message that went down well with ...

49. Love Your Enemies Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make Any

Matthew 21:23-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

50. Luke 19:1-10

Luke 19:1-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... altered. Zacchaeus, for his part, appears delighted to be singled out by this person whose presence attracts the population of the city. Yet, if Zacchaeus rejoices, the crowd grumbles: "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner" (v.7). The chief tax collector now hurries down out of his tree as he had been asked (v.5). Then an extraordinary thing happens. Zacchaeus, who had been out on a limb, promptly goes out on another. With the complaints of the crowd ringing in his ear, Zacchaeus "stood there ...

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