how good is the gospel?
That is the good news of who God is and what he's done in Jesus.
How good is God?
Because God is the gospel.
God is the good news.
But I guess the question is, is he good news in your life?
Now, we know what the answer should be, or at least the gist of it.
You know, he's great.
He changes everything.
I wake up every morning singing psalms of joy.
But is God in reality making a difference to your anxiety or your fear?
Is God in reality satisfying you, filling you with joy?
Is he so good that you can't help but tell other people about him?
Is he so good that you're busting to tell your non-Christian friends about Jesus
because you know he's the answer to the questions that they're asking?
Again, we know the answer should be yes.
But for many of us, that's not our day-to-day experience of following Jesus.
We read in the New Testament that the fruit of the Spirit,
that is the fruit of God's presence in our lives,
is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, self-control.
But then we live lives marked by fear, anxiety, worry, anger, hurry, and depression.
Why the gap?
Well, I want to suggest two possible reasons.
Firstly, we don't actually know the gospel that we claim to believe.
Now, we know about Jesus,
but we don't actually understand who he is or what he did
and how that changes everything.
Or, second reason,
we don't actually believe the gospel that we claim to believe.
So we say we believe we've forgiven,
but then when we sin,
we're crushed by guilt
and we feel like we can't pray or read our Bible to God
until we've kind of done some good deeds to balance the ledger.
We say we believe that God's in control,
but we are dominated by fear and anxiety
and the apparent instability and uncertainty of our lives.
The message that we carry,
the centre of our mission,
the message we have heard and responded to,
if you're a Christian,
is good news for us,
but first, it's good news about God.
Which is then, because of God, good news for us,
but at its core,
the gospel message,
the good news,
is good news about God
because God himself is the gospel.
And so much of our Christianity,
so much of our faith,
so much of following Jesus
and our church culture suffers
because we skip what is first and most important
and instead focus just on how
and if the gospel is good news for me,
good news for my circumstance,
and we miss the goodness of a God
who is the very definition of good.
We focus on the results of the gospel
rather than its foundation and power.
So we measure the goodness of God,
we measure the goodness of following God
based on the circumstances of my life
rather than measuring the circumstances of my life
and the goodness of them
based on the immovable goodness
of God's incredible character and faithfulness.
We focus on the results and miss the foundation.
Now, just to be clear, there are results.
The gospel works.
The gospel does something in your life,
but if you start there and you focus there first,
you miss the power of the God
who brings the results
and brings the transformation,
and then when you miss that power,
you don't actually get the transformation.
If all you're looking for is the result and change,
you miss it.
What I want to do this morning
is take us back to our roots,
to the gospel,
to what it means to believe in and follow Jesus.
If you're a Christian,
this is the immovable foundation
that we must never depart from.
You will never graduate this.
You might think,
gospel, I've got this,
I've heard it,
I know this,
but we need to hear this and hear it again
because this is everything.
If you're not a Christian,
first off, I'm just glad you're here.
I'm glad you are in the room.
I want to tell you,
this is what we believe as Christians.
This is the message of the gospel.
This is what it means to believe,
and it's yours to decide what you do with it.
But I firmly believe
that in the gospel,
you will encounter a God who is better
and more generous and more loving
than you ever imagined.
So let's get stuck into the passage.
We're going to open up in Luke 18,
which is one of the biographies of Jesus.
And in chapter 18,
we find a number of parables.
In fact, I think Steve opened up
the parable of assistant widow last week
from this same passage.
Parables are stories that Jesus tells
to give us a glimpse of himself
and the nature of what it is
that he is doing in the world.
And this short story,
just a few verses,
gives us the core
of what it means to be a Christian
and certainly the heart of the message
of what you believe and preach
here as a church at St. Paul's.
So let me run back through this passage with you
and pick out the main bits.
First off,
you've got two people going to pray.
Two very different people,
but they're both going to pray.
On one side,
you've got the Pharisee.
Now, just to be clear,
in this story,
the Pharisee is the good guy.
We're so trained in hearing this
that we kind of skip to the end
and go,
I know how this plays out,
the Pharisee's bad,
but actually in the story,
the Pharisee is the good guy.
He's done the good things.
He has a resume of goodness
that he brings to this story.
I mean, the Pharisees in Jesus' day
were the guys who worked hard to be good.
They kept all the rules
that you and I try and keep
as followers of Jesus
and the ones that we've given up
and said they're completely unattainable.
If you knew them now,
you would look at them
and be impressed.
On the other side,
we have a tax collector.
This is the bad guy in the story.
Don't think employee of the ATO.
Think qualified,
military-sanctioned thief.
In Jesus' day,
tax collectors had military backing
and clout
to not only collect the actual taxes
they were supposed to collect,
but also,
on top of that,
whatever they wanted for themselves.
So they got rich,
ripping off their neighbours
and friends
and countrymen.
They were universally hated.
Think kind of like
a parking ticket inspector.
Have you ever seen somebody
put a parking ticket
under your windscreen wiper
as you got back
just too late
and thought,
I'm so glad
that they are fulfilling
their duties
with faithfulness.
You probably have
some less spiritual thoughts
at that moment.
That's the tax collector.
So everybody listening
to this story
is clear on who
the good guy is
and who the bad guy is
and they're thinking,
we know where this story
is going to go.
This story is going to end well
for the good guy
because Jesus is supposed
to be the good guy.
They expect
if they're both going to pray,
God's going to hear
the good guy's prayers.
In fact,
the moral of the story
might be something like
the tax collector
misses out
and so be good
so God hears your prayers.
But that's not where it goes.
Jesus finishes
in verse 14 there,
I tell you,
this man went down
to his house,
pointing to the tax collector,
this man went down
to his house justified
rather than the other
for everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled
but the one who humbles himself
will be exalted.
So two people go to pray
but the tax collector
goes home justified
and only the tax collector,
not the good guy.
So how do we make sense
of this story?
Let me show you two things
that the story teaches us.
First one,
we all need mercy.
We all need mercy.
In 2006,
which is getting to be
quite a while ago,
a documentary was released
starring the former
United States Vice President
Al Gore.
It chronicled his attempt
to raise awareness
of the dangers
of global warming
and the need for a change
in the way that humanity lives
and uses the planet.
It was titled
An Inconvenient Truth.
There's been a sequel
because no one wanted to hear
that inconvenient truth.
No one wanted to believe him
regardless of what evidence
he put out,
regardless of what evidence
has come since
because if it was true,
it meant that there would be
a loss of money,
a loss of lifestyle,
that there would be
painful change
and to put it bluntly,
no one could be bothered.
In the same way,
at the core of the gospel message,
the message of this story
that Jesus shares
is an inconvenient truth.
Namely,
that we are all sinners
who deserve God's punishment.
That's uncomfortable to hear.
Something the Bible teaches us
repeatedly is that
the issue with our world
is that people,
all people,
sin.
Romans 3.23 says,
all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God.
Now again,
pay attention.
Notice it says,
all have sinned.
The Pharisee,
the tax collector,
me,
you,
all have sinned.
And so even as we speak
the gospel,
as we go on mission
to speak about Jesus
to a world
that doesn't want to hear
that it is a sinful world
in need of mercy,
we must do it
with humility
and self-awareness
that knows
that that inconvenient,
uncomfortable truth
is true for us too.
We need mercy.
All the hurt
and pain
and brokenness
we are surrounded by
and experience
in our lives
is the result of sin.
But what is sin?
Because when the world
hears Christians
say something
is sin,
they know it's not good,
but what does it
actually mean?
Because often people
inside the church
and outside the church
tend to think of sin
as a list of naughty things
that we're not supposed to do,
that we're to avoid
if we want God
to love us.
And with that misconception
comes the understandable
offence
when something
is called a sin.
Because it has this
self-righteous
be more like us vibe,
don't do that thing,
do what we do.
And nobody wants that.
Nobody wants to be told
they're not as good.
Nobody wants to be told
they're less than.
And when we do that,
sin becomes this competition,
this comparison sport,
which is exactly
what is happening
in this story
between the Pharisee
and the tax collector.
The Pharisee looks
at the bad guy
and figures,
by comparison,
he must be
a good guy.
But that's not
what the Bible means
when it talks about
it.
It uses the word sin.
In fact,
the story Jesus told,
you've got two guys
that are clearly
being set up
against each other,
as opposite alternatives.
And if sin
is merely a list
of things you shouldn't do
or good things
you should have done,
then the story makes no sense.
Because the Pharisee
is the good guy
who's done good things
and the tax collector
is the bad guy
who's done bad things.
But notice
what the tax collector
prays.
He says,
have mercy on me,
a sinner.
Sin is an identity marker.
Sin is a relational category.
It describes
your relationship
to God.
See,
when sin enters
the human story
back in the beginning
of the Bible,
the infamous forbidden fruit,
in that moment,
not only are they
disobeying God
and a rule
that he gave them,
what they're saying is,
God,
you don't get to decide
what's right and wrong,
we do.
So they look at the fruit,
it looks good,
and so instead
of listening to God,
they figure,
we know best,
our way makes more sense
than yours does
and so they do
what they want to do.
Now,
that's not just
naughty
or wrong,
it's actually
a break in relationship.
It's a rejection
of God.
See,
we either do
what God says
and enjoy all the benefits
of that
or we reject him
and we live
with the consequences.
That's what sin is.
It's rejecting
God
and his right
to rule
and as a result,
we find ourselves
alienated from him
and deserving
of his judgment.
And again,
that's every
one of us.
Not bad people
out there,
good people in here,
all sinners,
all in need
of mercy.
And here's the thing,
we actually know that.
Whether you're
a Christian or not
in this room,
you know it.
Our world
and our lives
are marked
by a restlessness.
So much
of our division
is fuelled
by fear
and a need
for some
external validation
of who we are
and how we live.
We talk
like we're independent,
like we need
no one,
like others' opinions
doesn't matter,
you do you.
follow your heart.
But the insecurity
that we feel,
the offence
we feel
when someone
questions us
doing us
is evidence
that the choices
that we're making
are not dealing
with the restlessness.
Redefining
right and wrong
hasn't delivered
the peace
that it promised
it would.
We still
clearly long
for that
external approval.
And so sin,
that is,
our separation
from God,
our opposition
to Him,
is the problem.
And when you hear
the Bible say
that you are a sinner,
don't be offended
because it's calling
out a specific action
in your life
or a lifestyle
or an orientation.
It's bigger than that.
When you hear
Jesus tell this story,
when you hear
the tax collector
who recognizes
his identity
as a sinner,
as the good one,
as the justified one,
when the Bible says
that you are a sinner,
it is not saying
you do things
that are wrong.
It is saying
you are an enemy
of God
in need of His mercy.
Not based
on your sexuality
or any other number
of hot-button topics,
but because you reject
the God
who made you.
Back in the garden again,
Adam and Eve
didn't get in trouble
for eating the fruit.
They got in trouble
because eating the fruit
was their way of saying,
God, we want your job.
We want to be in charge.
We want to choose
right and wrong.
And the gospel
is uncomfortable
and maybe even offensive,
but not in the way
people are usually offended.
If you hear right,
the gospel message
is a bunch
of forgiven sinners,
that is sinners
who have received mercy,
telling a bunch
of not yet forgiven sinners
that they need
to receive mercy
as well.
And the crazy good part
of the gospel message
and this story
is that God provides
the mercy we need
even though we don't deserve it.
That's the whole point
of this story.
God offers mercy.
So the tax collector
asks for mercy
and goes home justified.
That is,
he's declared innocent,
his guilt is gone,
he's forgiven,
he's loved,
he's brought into the family.
Why?
How?
Because he asks God
for what he needs.
If anything,
this is the scandalous part
of the gospel.
Not that the gospel
calls you out
as the one
who has rejected God,
but that despite that,
God seeing you
and knowing everything
about you,
knowing your deepest,
darkest secrets,
your hidden guilt
and shame,
the things you hope
no one ever finds out
about you,
seeing all of that,
knowing you've rejected him
and still offers mercy
and love to all who ask.
I've been following Jesus
for 26 years now
and this still blows my mind.
I don't care if you've been
a Christian for a week
or for your whole life.
This is a scandal.
God knows you.
You need mercy.
You don't deserve mercy
and yet he offers mercy.
It's even on offer
for the Pharisee.
I mean,
God is so good
and so generous
that his grace
is enough for anyone.
For the tax collector,
for the liar,
for the racist,
for the thief,
for the murderer,
for the adulterer,
even for me
and even for you.
The reason the Pharisee
misses out
on God's mercy
and grace
in this story,
the reason anyone
misses out
on the mercy
and grace of God
in the gospel
is not because
they are worse
but because
they are unable
or unwilling
to recognize
that they too
are a sinner
in need of mercy.
One of my favorite
old TV shows
and I'm dating myself
although it's back
on Netflix now
is The Simpsons
and there's this
amazing episode
of The Simpsons
where Homer,
the dad kind of character
is,
and this is classic him,
he's driven by impulse,
led by his stomach,
he gets his arms
stuck in a vending machine
and a rescue crew
is called in
to kind of help him
get his arms out
and they're sitting there
strategizing,
trying to figure out
how they can do it
and then suddenly
one of them
realizes and asks
and says,
Mr. Simpson,
are you still holding
on to the food
in the vending machine?
To which he sheepishly
releases
and takes his arms out.
He is able to be free
from his trap
if he lets go
of the food
that is inside.
This is a picture
of how we engage
the grace
that God offers us.
We are trapped
in the habit
of trying to bring
something to God,
trying to present
this resume
of how good we are,
how worthy we are.
We bring our
serving in ministry record,
we bring our evidence
of all the money
that we've donated,
kind of the good things
that we've done
and the result is
that we miss mercy.
Our hands are so full
of what we are bringing
to God
that there is no room
left to receive
what he is offering,
to receive the thing
that we actually need.
We feel like somehow
we can contribute,
we can convince God
to give us mercy.
But in trying to do that,
we actually stop ourselves
from taking
what has been provided.
Receiving mercy
means coming
with empty hands.
In fact,
worse than that,
it means the only thing
we bring
is our sin,
our failure,
our worst bits
and trust
that his mercy
is enough.
The Christian message
is not first
about you or me.
It's about Jesus.
It says that you are not
good enough,
you are not excited,
you are not appealing enough
and yet he is glorious
and he is gracious
and he is loving
and he is merciful
and he meets you
exactly as you are
and if you would just
ask,
he would give you mercy.
He would meet you
as you are
and offer you
the security
of a mercy
and love
that meets you
at your lowest
and so is sure
in every circumstance
and situation.
the Christian message
is all about Jesus.
The cross
is the picture
we get.
It is the moment
in which Jesus
takes the punishment
we deserve
and even as he dies,
hanging there
on the cross,
he is praying
for the very people
who put him there,
who crucified him.
His mercy is sufficient
for everyone
in every moment.
His mercy is offered
to anyone who asks
and his love
is sufficient
for the worst
of sinners
and when he has
forgiven you
there is no longer
any condemnation.
There is no longer
a need to fear
your failure.
There is no longer
a need to pretend
that you are better
than you are.
There is no longer
a need to come to God
only when you feel
like you have something
to offer
because that's not
how he works.
He is the one
who brings mercy
the mercy
that we need
and long for
is found only
in Jesus
and finding it
in Jesus
means letting go
of the delusion
that you can make
yourself good enough.
Letting go
of the lie
that you aren't
as bad
as anybody else.
Hearing the truth
of the gospel
that you are a sinner
in need of mercy
and coming to Jesus
empty handed
not with a resume
like the Pharisee
but with an honest
cry for help
like the tax collector.
I love
that you guys
take time
each year
for mission month.
I love
that you come back
and want to hear
a fresh God's call
to mission
locally
and globally.
I love the heart
of this church.
I was formed
by the heart
of this church
in my time here
and I've been
incredibly blessed
and encouraged
by your generosity
as we have sought
to be on mission
on the Gold Coast
but I want to finish
our time
in this passage
with a warning
and a call.
The risk
of any talk
about mission
is that you
walk away
from this month
feeling guilted
into doing
what you are
supposed to do
or you walk
away from this month
with a new set
of things
that you can take
to God
instead of empty hands.
You walk away
priding yourself
on what you do
for Him.
you feel a pressure
to satisfy
His demands
on you
but that is not
the Gospel.
In the Gospel
in Jesus
we meet
God
and we meet
a God
who is gracious
and merciful
and generous
and even the call
to mission
is a good gift
of His mercy.
Carmen expressed
it just before
it is something
that He invites us
into
for our sake.
it is a chance
for us
to be reminded
to encounter
afresh
that His mercy
is available
to all
and is sufficient
for all.
True Gospel
mission
whether that's
as a missionary
in Japan
a scripture teacher
in Chatswood High
an engineer
a teacher
a nurse
a full-time parent
or a church planter
on the Gold Coast
true Gospel
mission
only happens
as a result
of
and the overflow
of
an encounter
with the mercy
of God
in the Gospel
of Jesus.
The call
to mission
is a call
back
to the Gospel.
It's a call
back to God.
You don't come
to mission
with full hands
you come to mission
dependent
on God's mercy.
This moment
this month
like every moment
is a call
to recognize
our need
for mercy
to confess
our sin
before God
because He
is faithful
and just
and sufficient
to forgive
and cleanse you.
The call
to mission
is a daily
cry
for mercy
and grace
because you
and I
need it
as much
today
and tomorrow
as we ever
have.
To not
live
every day
every moment
every breath
in a posture
of humble
dependence
on the mercy
of God
is to deny
the Gospel.
It is to
reject
the mercy
that God
offers
in His grace.
And so
the way
forward
the next
step
for every
person in
this room
whether this
is your
first time
hearing the
Gospel
or your
millionth time
hearing the
Gospel
the way
forward
the next
step
for you
as an
individual
and for
us as a
church
community
is to
cast
ourselves
on the
mercy
of God
and find
Him
sufficient.
It is to
let go
of the
things that
you think
make you
attractive to
God
and recognize
that His
love for
you
is enough.
It is
to confess
again
and find
Him
good
find Him
generous
gracious
and
forgiving
and
satisfying
because
when you
do
you
won't be
able to
help
but speak
of what
you have
seen
and
heard.
You
won't be
able to
help
but give
generously
you
won't be
able to
help
but serve
and forgive
and love
because
in Jesus
God has
done all
that for
you
and more
I
started by
asking you
how good
the gospel
is
how good
God is
in your
life
and wrestling
with the
distance that
we feel
between what
we know
should be
true and
what isn't
ultimately
the gap
is there
because we
come to
God with
closed hands
and stop
receiving
what He
offers.
Jesus is
enough.
for your
fear,
your anxiety,
your
uncertainty
but only
when you
come to
Him
in humble
dependence
and confession
will you
encounter
Him
as enough.
So long
as you
hold Him
at arm's
length
because you're
busy
depending
on your
ability
and your
strength
and your
gifting
and your
resourcing
and your
maturity
and whatever
else it
is that
you bring
He will
never be
enough
because
you're
busy
trusting
in other
things.
The call
to mission
is a
call back
to the
gospel.
Let me
pray for
us.
Father,
forgive us
for rejecting
your mercy
and trying to
navigate life
in our own
strength.
Help us
to see how
far short
our lives
fall of
your holiness
and majesty.
Forgive us
for our
sin and
make us
more like
Jesus.
Jesus,
thank you
for your
death in
our place,
our punishment
taken and
the promise
of your
irreversible
forgiveness
and sufficient
mercy.
Thank you
for your
resurrection.
Please take
our guilt
and our
burdens and
fill us
with the
joy of
your presence
and power.
God,
we ask
this in the
name of your
precious Son,
our Savior
Jesus.
Amen.