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 151 to 175 of 715 results

151. The Freedom To Be Wrong

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

... ever attack them. Hung up on the need to be right. How much this cripples us we can observe in a scene Jesus once drew, about a man who prayed: God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. (Luke 18:11) This was a Pharisee, Jesus said. We may snicker at his boasting and we may dismiss him as a hypocrite but when we check his record, we find that if he were like other Pharisees, he was really trying. For example, he mentions adulterers. The ...

152. Dear Mrs. Day

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Thomas C. Short

... ’s gospel with a trace of a smile because both groups of people involved thought the other group was lost. The scribes and Pharisees always were able to identify the lost. In this passage it was the tax collectors and the sinners whom they thought were lost. On the other hand, the tax collectors and the sinners hated hypocrites and that’s how they identified the Pharisees and scribes. Consequently, they saw them as the lost people. Of course, the truth is that both groups were lost, and I’m not sure ...

153. No Telltale Clues

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

... one who has absolute, direct and unaccountable authority. It is Jesus who has the right to call and who has the right to demand. It may seem harsh to put it this way, but the evangelist is not concerned with what motivated Matthew, nor with what the tax collector was thinking, nor with why he took the first step away from the tax office. It is not Matthew that is important at the moment. The spotlight is on Jesus and the evangelist wants us to understand something about him. When Jesus tells someone to move ...

154. Proper 21 & Pentecost 19

Ezekiel 18:1-32, Psalm 25:1-22, Psalm 99:1-9, Exodus 32:1-33:6, Philippians 2:1-11, Philippians 2:12-18, Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon Aid

... glance, this reading seems to have little or nothing to do with us; we are certainly not to be numbered with the chief priests and the elders of Jerusalem, the people to whom Jesus addressed the parable, and we surely can't be counted with the tax collectors and prostitutes, although we claim to believe in Jesus, as they did. When all is said and done, however, we know that we need to hear the parable and realize that it does affect us, because we are in dire need of repentance and the reassurance that ...

155. A Zealot’s Greatest Battle

Drama

... , is looking for you. He really needs you ... he is so despondent since the death of Jesus! Matthew Thanks, Simon ... I’ll go to him at once. Nice to meet you, Barabbas. Barabbas And you, too, Matthew. Sorry I mistook you for a tax collector ... what an insult! But, you want to know something ironic? Remember, Simon, Levi also had a brother named James ... Little James, they called him. Remember, Simon? He was a sympathizer with our movement. Simon (Motioning for Matthew to leave) See you later, Matthew ...

156. Overcoming Self

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... can ever be proud of himself. He can never take a righteous or censorious attitude toward other people. He just can’t. He is in the same category. This is why Christ told the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. While the Pharisee was thanking God that he was not a sinner, the tax collector acknowledged that he had no claim on God because he was. All he could plead for was mercy. Jesus said, "It was this poor sinner who went home justified." Maybe it’s time that you should place yourself in the ...

157. When Yes Means No and No Means Yes

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... posed to the religious leaders of his day. The crowd answered Jesus by saying the son who said, "No," and then changed his mind and did the work was better than the other son. Jesus said, "That’s right," and he illustrated that by saying that the tax collectors and the harlots of the day would go into the kingdom of God before the Jewish religious leaders to whom he was speaking. This parable was told for a special reason. Jesus was saying that the Jewish leaders were like the son who said "yes" that he ...

158. Broken and Beautiful

Luke 18:9-14, Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... , it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way." But there was another man in the temple that day, said Jesus. He stayed out in the remote area, the Court of the Gentiles, not feeling worthy to come into the sanctuary. He was a tax collector- --which meant that he was an unpatriotic thief and extortionist. He was so broken by his recognition of his failings that he could not bear to look upward to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast in pathos, crying out, "0 God, be merciful to me. I am a sinner ...

159. When Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Matthew 21:23-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... sometime in the past, but if they said "yes" now, it was not too late. The officials, on the other hand, had once said "yes," but they had never let God into their lives. Jesus reminded these officials of the preaching of John the Baptist. "Tax collectors and the prostitutes believed (John)," Jesus said, "and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him." Change was possible even for these men, but they were too blind to see. They did not realize that the message of repentance was ...

160. When Heaven Rejoices

Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... pastoral care within the flock." (3) In the parable of the lost sheep Jesus is telling us that our focus should be on searching for the lost sheep. This does not mean we are to neglect the ninety-nine. But when we find ourselves among "tax collectors and sinners" we are to welcome them back as forgiven children of God. Dr. Fred B. Craddock, nationally known preacher and professor of Preaching and New Testament at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, tells about a church in east Tennessee that he pastored ...

161. Seeking the Lost

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Richard J. Fairchild

... your wisdom. Holy Spirit, bring yourself closer to us in my words and how we hear them, in our thoughts and how we think them. Use this time - and use us to accomplish your good will. Amen The Gospel reading began with these words: Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him (Jesus, that is.) And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." (Luke 15:1-2) That is the frame for all that follows in chapter fifteen, the ...

162. I Like Brussels Sprouts, but...

Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew 9:18-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... cleverly shows Jesus the winner in this dispute with the Pharisees. If Jesus' interpretation of the Law as love and mercy were not absolutely correct, how could he do these feats of faith? If Jesus had been polluted by his stubborn contact with these tax collectors and sinners, how could he have performed these divine acts of healing? The Pharisees in today's text are horrified that Jesus was associating with the "wrong sort" of people. Not only did he speak with these shady characters, but he invited much ...

163. Eleven Plus One

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the man of strong conviction, balances the doubting Thomas. The most extreme edges of Jesus' day were occupied by zealots. And what did zealots do? They killed Roman soldiers and Jewish collaborators. Who were number one collaborators? Tax collectors. So Jesus included in his team Simon the zealot and Matthew the tax collector. This isn't to say they had nothing in common. They were all Jews. There were no Roman citizens like Paul. They were all of the same class. They were all lay people. None of them were ...

164. Batman: Driven By Guilt or Grace?

Romans 5:1-11; 8:1-2; Luke 18:9-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... righteous and regarded others with contempt: [10] "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11] The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. [12] I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' [13] But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a ...

165. No Instant Maturity

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... religious. He told the Lord so. He was proficient in his religion. He had cleaned up his life in terms of the outward signs of morality. He could say with pride that he was not greedy or dishonest, or adulterous, or unjust. He compared himself to the tax collector, who was in the temple at the same time, to make point. He fasted twice a week. He tithed faithfully. He was proficient in his religious practices. But he lacked perspective. He didn’t see himself in relation to God. So, he was proud and haughty ...

166. The High Price of Short Cuts

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... wee little man. A wee little man was he. He climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see.” Did you ever wonder what heart hunger caused this chief tax collector to go to such extremes to see Jesus? It was not for gain or worldly pleasure. He had all these. Zaccheus was not only a tax collector, he was a chief tax collector. When the world has given all its pleasures and you have more plaques than will fit on your walls, there remains a hunger in the heart that God alone can satisfy. Jesus ...

167. From Pride to Humility

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... prayed to himself saying these words." I think that's a revealing little statement. He prayed to himself about who he was. He's praying, or is he? Is he talking to God who knows all things or to himself who needs to prove all things? What has this tax collector got to do with this Pharisee's righteousness? What is he trying to prove? Is he trying to prove something to himself, trying to help himself out a little bit? It's that stuff that pride is made of, that inner need that we have again and again always ...

168. Personal Politics

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... conversations, the name might be mentioned and we can feel our stomachs tighten and our breath catch. There is an autonomic response that drives us to pain and frustration. Only if we can somehow reframe the other person's image in our senses as a "pagan or tax collector" — that is, someone who needs to experience the grace of God — can we still the inner growls and get the beast of our hatred to stop bristling. It is not easy. I have two names in particular that set me off every time I hear them. I ...

169. Matthew 21:23-32

Matthew 21:23-27

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... both locals and to the garrisoned Roman army. Yet amazingly, these two most despised groups are singled out by Jesus and held up as examples of the “first son,” the son who doesn’t look good on paper but whose actions speak differently. The tax collectors and prostitutes may look bad in the eyes of the law. But they are the ones who “believed” John the Baptist, who recognized him as one who came “in the way of righteousness,” and accepted his baptism. The chief priests and elders, conversely ...

170. Jesus as Isaianic Messiah and Wisdom Embodied

Matthew 11:1-19

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... complaint regarding “this generation” is their fickleness and obstinacy: they accept neither John nor Jesus, even though they lodge contradictory claims about them (11:16–19). 11:19 Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Matthew has indicated that Jesus has no difficulty eating with “tax collectors and sinners,” and that he is questioned by Pharisees for doing so (9:9–13). Here, in the mouths of his critics, this accusation of Jesus’ pattern of befriending ...

171. The Call of Matthew

Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew 9:14-17

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... , to be a disciple of Jesus (9:9; cf. 4:18–22) is tied to Jesus’s practice of eating with “sinners” (9:10–13). Tax collectors were those who had aligned their interests with the Roman occupation and would have been despised by their Jewish compatriots. “Sinners” is a broad category that would include tax collectors and any Jews judged as unfaithful to Israel’s covenant with Yahweh. Faithful Jews would typically avoid eating with such people, since they might invite ritual defilement by ...

172. The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Luke 15:1-7

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... reconciliation to the Jews, the “older sons” of the Father (see Tiede, p. 280). They are invited to accept their new siblings and to rejoice in their reclamation. In no sense is this parable anti-Semitic. 15:1 On tax collectors and “sinners” see note on 5:30 above. For more on tax collectors see notes on 3:12 and 19:2. Talbert (p. 148) cites several scriptures to which the Pharisees could have appealed in justifying their displeasure over the company which Jesus kept (Prov. 1:15; 2:11–15; Psalm 1 ...

173. Lost

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Lost (34) Micah Tells of God’s Plan to Raise Up a Shepherd to Rule Over Israel; Then God Will Seek the Lost Sheep of Israel (5) Be Good Shepherds of Your Flock (1 Peter 5) Luke’s Witness to the Stories of Those Lost Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn ...

174. Polite Disobedience

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon

Steve Molin

... headquarters is in Salt Lake City, they aren’t going to heaven If they are the wrong sexual orientation, they aren’t going to heaven If they’re a drunk, a gambler, an addict or a Packer fan, they aren’t going to heaven These are the tax-collectors and prostitutes of the twenty-first century, and their disobedience is bold, blatant, and unacceptable. So, what about us? We’re polite; we dress up on Sunday mornings and go to church. We smile a lot, and sing hymns and pray prayers, and give money, and ...

175. The Kings of the South and the North

Daniel 11:2-35

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... of Thermopylae and Magnesia (191–190 BC). [19] After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country, Syria, but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more. [20]His successor, Seleucus IV (187–175 BC), will send out his tax collector Heliodorus to Jerusalem to maintain the royal splendor. In a few years, however, Seleucus will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle. [21] Seleucus will be succeeded by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 BC), a contemptible person, who had not been ...

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