Sermon Title: Hospital for Sinners 5.7.17

Hospital For Sinners (5.7.17) 4

Sermon Title: Hospital for Sinners 5.7.17

First Reading Romans 7:15-25

15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.18For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c]For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.19For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21So I find this law at work:Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.22For in my inner beingI delight in God’s law;23but I see another law at work in me, waging waragainst the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sinat work within me.24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?25Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,but in my sinful nature[d]a slave to the law of sin.

Gospel reading Matthew 5:3, Luke 18:9-14
(Matthew 5:3)“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.(A)

(Luke 18:9-14) To some who were confident of their own righteousness(A)and looked down on everyone else,(B)Jesus told this parable:10“Two men went up to the temple to pray,(C)one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.11The Pharisee stood by himself(D)and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.12I fast(E)twice a week and give a tenth(F)of all I get.’

13“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast(G)and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’(H)

14“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”(I)

I.  There was a pastor who did a sermon on generosity. In this sermon he said that we should be generous, especially to those who are less fortunate than us, the poor. After the service was over a little girl gave him a dollar. Very proud of himself for preaching such a good sermon that the little girl understood it he asked, "Why did you give this to me?" With a big smile on her face she responded by saying, "Daddy says you are the poorest preacher we have ever had!"

a.  This story reminds us that we do not want to be associated with any kind of poverty. Poverty, economically, in our abilities, or in spirit, can be embarrassing. Yet, our Lord begins the greatest sermon ever by telling us "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." This raises at least two questions. What on earth does it mean to be poor in spirit and why does the kingdom of heaven belong to those who are poor in spirit?

b.  To answer both questions we need to consider how the church, the in-breaking Kingdom of Heaven on earth, is not a Hall of Fame for Saints but a Hospital for Sinners.

II.  What does being poor in spirit have to do with a hospital? To go to any hospital we must realize we are sick. Put differently, we need to realize that we are not meeting an adequate standard of health.

a.  Typically, when people have their tonsils removed it is because they get strep throat too much. As many of you already know, I am anything but typical. When mine were removed it was because they were getting so big they were blocking my air way, and the doctor thought they had a low grade infection in them. Sure enough, when I had them removed I was able to breathe better and I had more energy. I felt like a new person, my limited breathing and energy had become normal. The standard that I had set for the amount of air I take in, and energy had become lower than what my healthy body was capable of.

b.  This is at the core of Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and tax collector in Luke 18. The Pharisee says, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector." He was pretending to pray to God, but the standard he was measuring himself against was other people, not God, and being really obnoxious while he is doing it. The tax collector, on the other hand, does not give the Lord a resume of good deeds and people he is better than. Instead, he compares himself to who God has called him to be, and simply says, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

c.  To be poor in spirit is to have the correct standard of spiritual health. This is why we, as a hospital for sinners, seek God's will through studying His word, seek His will in prayer, and small groups. When, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we get a glimpse of who God is and who he wants us to be, we have an Isaiah moment. For some it comes slowly, but for others it comes all of a sudden. However, the feeling is the same, we stand before the Lord of the universe and say, like Isaiah in chapter 6, “Woe to me! I am ruined, or I am undone!For I am a man, or I am a woman, of unclean lips, unclean hands, actions, or even unclean thoughts, and my eyes have seenthe King,theLordAlmighty.”

III.  Put differently, when we see the disparity between who God wants us to be and who we are, we realize that we do not need to go to a hall of fame for saints but a hospital for sinners.

a.  In a hall of fame for saints people are faking it. They are pretending like everything is alright and they have earned the right to call themselves a good person. In a hall of fame for saints people are constantly competing for the best kids, longest working hours, and toughest life. If their kids are getting a 3.5 your kids have to get a 4.0, if they work 50 hours a week you have to work 70 hours a week, if they got 6 hours of sleep last night you have to only get 5 hours of sleep. All so we can win some kind of over worked, over tired, over achieving trophy that our culture must award.

b.  This rat race of trying to become spiritually rich by our good deeds is well articulated by tenth avenue north in the beginning of their song called "Healing Begins" it goes like this: "So you thought you had to keep this up, All the work that you do, So we think that you're good, And you can't believe it's not enough." As we keep working and working we realize that it will never be good enough. As C.S. Lewis put it, "No one knows how bad they are until they try very hard to be good."

c.  When we try very hard to be good on our own we realize how much we need Christ's help. We realize what Paul wrote in Romans 7 is true of all of us when He wrote,"For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.For in my inner beingI delight in God’s law;but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sinat work within me.What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Put differently, we will never go to a hospital for sinners unless we need the great physician, Jesus Christ.

d.  This is part of the genius of AA. If you replace the word alcohol with sin in the first two steps you get exactly what Paul is talking about. Here is what is sounds like "We admit that we are powerless over our sin and our lives have become unmanageable." Or as Paul says, " I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sinat work within me.What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" The second step would say "We have come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves (Jesus Christ) can restore us to sanity." Or as Paul puts it, "Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Because of this, we could call church SA, Sin-aholics Anonyms. We are all recovering sinners.

e.  The great news is that this hospital for sinners, the kingdom of heaven, does not demand a certain kind of insurance, payment before hand, or a referral. Instead, as that great hymn 'Come ye Sinners' says, "Let not conscience make you linger, Nor of fitness fondly dream; All the fitness He requires Is to feel your need of Him." That's why the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit. As long as we hold on to our own righteousness, and good deeds, our hands will be too full to receive anything. The root of the word 'poor' in Greek means to crouch or to cower. Jesus uses this word because those who hold on tight and are proud of their own fitness cannot receive Christ's gracious gift of eternal life. In contrast, if we let go of our own ego and humbly crouch before our maker and say, "I cannot do this on my own," the kingdom of heaven will be ours!

IV.  Brothers and sisters this is where the healing begins. Because we do not go to a hospital just to be sick but we go to a hospital to become well.

a.  The healing begins when we follow steps 3-5 of Sinners Anonyms. We must make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. We must make a fearless moral inventory of ourselves, one of the greatest and scariest gifts of the Holy Spirit is a new self awareness. Then we must admit to God, ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. James tells us to do this he says, "confess your sinsto each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed."

b.  Now we have to be careful who we confess to, we do not want to broadcast the exact nature of our brokenness to the whole world, for obvious reasons. However, when we only confess our sins before God we can trick ourselves into believing it is just make-believe, that we are just talking to some character in the sky. However, when we talk to another human being, we put flesh on our sin, then it is real, then we cannot hide from it anymore. It is scary but when we do this, then we really need a savior.

c.  When we admit our need for Him, when we go to a hospital for sinners, we enter the kingdom of heaven. The amazing thing is that this blessing is not in the future tense, it is in the present tense. In other words, the kingdom of heaven is not some place far away, it is here. The kingdom of heaven can be found wherever people are poor in spirit. It can be found where people admit that they are unable to be who God wants them to be on their own. It can be found where people are willing to live in love, grace, vulnerability, and forgiveness. A community willing to be formed in Christ's likeness together. This community is called the church. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit and sent into the world. Sent into the world, not to show a great of a hall of fame for saints, but to share the hospital for sinners we have found.

V.  Let us all take a vow of spiritual poverty. So that we become God's kingdom of heaven here on earth. A kingdom of not just a poor preacher, but a kingdom of people with poor spirits.

a.  Spirits willing to admit that they need to grow into who God is calling them to be. Spirits willing to judge their spiritual health against God's standard.

b.  Spirits willing to examine what we have done so we might see what Christ will do through us. Spirits able to admit that we cannot make it on our own.

c.  Spirits that are not 'too good' to act silly with our youth group during a murder mystery, group of kids with special needs at Sports Camp, in the nursery here, or at VBS. Spirits that humble themselves so others to feel welcomed and loved!

d.  Put differently a people who do not want to earn their way into a Hall of Fame for Saints. Instead, a people who receive healing from the great physician, Jesus Christ, and allow themselves to be sent out to tell others about this grand hospital for sinners.

VI.  Let us Pray. Lord thank you for not making your kingdom a hall of fame for saints, but a hospital for sinners. Help us to have poor enough spirits that we might accept your transformative love, grace and forgiveness Amen.

VII.  Receive this blessing and benediction. Let us go forth recovering sinners. Sent into the world to tell the great message that the Kingdom of Heaven is here! A kingdom that is not a hall of fame for saints but a hospital for sinners. In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit you may go in peace.