Text: Luke 18:9-14
In
the name of Jesus: Amen.
The
spirit of Cain runs through all of us.
It is a dangerous disposition, a dangerous way of thinking and living. Having the character traits of Cain actually leads
to our damnation, the destruction of the gospel, and the condemnation of
everyone around us – even death itself.
Even
though this spirit of Cain is dangerous, the unfortunate reality is that it is way
too common in the church and in the lives of Christians. It is common because it is a part of our DNA
as sinners. It is also very seductive;
we can get seduced by the spirit of Cain and without evening knowing it, be on the
way down the path of destruction.
What
am I talking about though? I am talking
about our Old Testament reading from this morning that speaks to us about two
brothers named Cain and Abel.
Now,
“Cain, had the pedigree, the family business, the world’s kind of glory. He
belonged. He was the mover and the shaker, the big top event. Nothing less than
the world’s salvation was expected of him, and it looked like a distinct
possibility. Abel [on the other hand didn’t have] much significance; [he was] an
after-thought, a misfit. The father’s fields went to Cain, so Abel was sent out
with the sheep, and we know how the Egyptians detested shepherds.”[1]
But
what of this dangerous spirit of Cain that I have already mentioned?
In
our Old Testament reading from Genesis we hear that the church divides into two
categories or two different dispositions.
We can call this the spirit of Cain and the spirit of Abel – two
different ways in approaching the Christian faith and life.
Permit
me to explain a bit more.
Cain
goes the way of self-righteousness, he goes the way of trying to earn God’s
approval through his own works; whereas, Abel goes the way of faith, knowing
that he cannot make himself right before God by his own works.
And
so it goes. Cain desired to be made
right before God by his own works.
However, when God accepts Abel instead, Cain became jealous. His hatred
for Abel was probably due in part to his own hatred of God for refusing to
accept his righteousness – and so Cain kills Abel.
We
not only hear about Cain and Abel in our Old Testament reading, but we also
hear about them in our Gospel reading as well.
They are not specifically addressed in our Gospel reading though, but
the spirit of Cain and the spirit of Abel are present – their dispositions are
captured in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
In
our Gospel reading we hear about two men who went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee stood by himself. He was polished and had it together. He was not a thief or a rogue. He was not an adulterer, but was
righteous. He fasted daily and tithed
generously. He was the upstanding
citizen. He crossed all the T’s and dotted
all the I’s. His life was so squeaky
clean that he was confident to declare himself as righteous. In fact, he was so righteous that he felt as
if he could set himself apart from all the other lowlifes around him. He was special; he was so special that God
should’ve thanked him for all that he had done and achieved.
The
other man was a dirty filthy reject – a tax collector, the worst of the
worst. A traitor to the Israelites for
he collaborated with the grubby Roman Gentles by taking tax money from
Israelites and giving it to the enemy – Rome.
Unlike the Pharisee though, this wretched man knew that he was
nothing. At the temple, he beat and
pounded on his chest, with his head hung low saying, “God be merciful to me,
the sinner!”
The
spirit of Cain and Abel most definitely come forth in the actions, lives, and
words of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector!
Indeed, the disposition of Cain lives on in the Pharisee and the
disposition of Abel lives on in the Tax Collector.
The
Pharisee trusts himself, declares himself righteous, and snubs everyone around
him – he is Cain. The Tax Collector, on
the other hand, comes as a sinner with empty hands and sin, not even able to
lift his head – he is Abel.
Dear
friends, what distinguishes the spirit of Cain from the spirit of Abel, is that
Cain and the Pharisee trusted in themselves, whereas Abel and the Tax Collector
did not. You see, Abel and the Tax
Collector come before the Lord as sinner, Cain and the Pharisee came before the
Lord as self-righteous Saints. Cain and
the Pharisee come to give their best to God in order to be accepted. Abel and the Tax Collector come to receive righteousness
by grace, through faith, by the blood of another. Abel and the Tax Collector’s acceptance before
God was not a matter of their name, their accomplishments, or their place in
the world, or even their own assessment of how faithful they were, and
especially not a matter of their works and accomplishments. The Tax Collector and Abel’s acceptance
before God was determined by blood shed for them, for the remission of their
sins, and the sins of the world.
So,
I ask you today. Who are you? Are you Cain or are you Abel? Are you the Pharisee or are you the Tax
Collector?
If
you trust in yourself and are constantly taking inventory of your
accomplishments, if you see yourself better than those around you and think God
is lucky to have you in his church, if you pat yourself on the back for every
good work you do thinking that you are earning brownie points before God… well
you are Cain, you are the Pharisee. You have deceived yourself and are trapped
in an awful delusion. Therefore, repent
of this damning delusion. Yes, repent,
for the only thing that you can give to Jesus is your sin – nothing more. You cannot buy the Kingdom of God, especially
since the only thing you can offer to the Lord is a treasure chest full of
sinful thoughts, words, and deeds.
Dear
friends, it is so easy to go the way of Cain, to be seduced into this way of
thinking. It is easy to develop a sense
of security by what we do, for we can convince ourselves that if we do enough
good that God will somehow owe us.
However, instead of exchanging our good works for eternal security, what
happens is that our halos get too tight and we then develop a sense of
arrogance, thinking we are better than everybody else. Once arrogance sets in we begin to deceive
ourselves by trusting in ourselves and distancing ourselves from the Gospel,
the Gospel which is for sinners only.
The
Tax Collector and Abel know a different way though. Not one that looks for justification by being
smart enough, good enough, or pious enough, but rather, a righteousness that
comes from God Himself. Consider the Tax
Collector’s prayer for a moment. He
prays, while beating his chest, “God be merciful to me, the sinner!” You see, the Tax Collector and Abel knew they
were nothing before the Lord Almighty.
And
so it is necessary for you and me to lay hold of our nothingness before God
this morning. This is the reality that
we are faced with in today’s sermon. We
cannot justify ourselves. We cannot
barter with God. We cannot do anything
to acquire eternal life. Therefore, we
must come face to face with the deepest reality that we are powerless and
helpless – yes helpless – before the Lord.
We are beggars at the door of God’s mercy.
Being
a poor beggar may frighten us though, for this lack of control and this
vulnerability exposes us for who we truly are – sinners. However, knowing that we are Abel and the Tax
Collector is not the end of ourselves, but is the essence of what it means to
be alive.
Dear
Baptized Saints, to be alive in the Christian faith is to be aware of our sin,
helplessness, and brokenness. And to
know that we are poor miserable sinners in thought, word, and deed is to stand
in need of the Lord’s grace. Only when
we recognize the malady of our sin are we then able to see, receive, and
rejoice in the Savior who comes to save and forgive sinners such as
ourselves. Indeed, being honest about
our powerless and sin keeps us in touch with our neediness and the truth that
we are forgiven sinners. “There is a
beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face and do
not pretend to be anything but who they are.”[2]
Getting
honest with ourselves does not lead to despair and hopelessness, but shows us
our need for a righteousness outside of ourselves. What this means is that “to be alive is to
[know our sinful condition]; to [know our sinful condition] is to stand in need
of grace.”[3] And as we stand in need of grace, the Lord
does not hold back, but pours grace upon grace upon us. It is
only through grace that any of us can rest in the fact that we are justified –
righteous by another person’s sacrifice for us.
God
is merciful to the Tax Collector, He is merciful to Abel and He is merciful to
you and me. Yes, the Lord justifies the
ungodly; He declares sinners forgiven; He forgives sinners with tilted and bent
halos - sinners such as you and me. You
who lie in the dust of sin, you who have tilted halos, you who beat your breast
in sinful remorse, you who cannot lift your head because of the weight of sin
are forgiven – justified – righteous for Christ’s sake. You are righteous for Christ’s sake, for the
Lord declares this to you from His Word.
You
dear Blessed Saints are the church of Abel, you are the church of the Tax
Collector, for we are poor miserable sinners that gather here this day to
receive the Lord’s declaration that we are forgiven. We are here this day to receive from the body
and blood of our Lord that saves only the damned, that forgives only sinners,
that speaks of the one who justifies sinners and embraces sinners as His beloved
Saints for all of eternity.
We
come before the Lord with Abel and the Tax Collector, but we all leave this
church service and go home justified, for Jesus is our righteousness, life, and
hope.
In
the name of Jesus: Amen.
[1] Sermon for the Montana District
Pastors’ Conference (19 October A+D 2010) The Rev. Dr. John W. Sias, Pastor,
Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, Colstrip, Montana Psalm 5; Genesis 4:1-15
(Matthew 23:35/Luke 11:51; Hebrews 11:4; 12:24); LSB 585.
[2] Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt
Out (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books,
2005), page unknown.
[3] Ibid.
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