The Joshua Victor Theory

 Sermon Outline: ·          Parables: ordinary story with spiritual meaning. Look for the surprise/unexpected. The recognized sinner is “justified”, while the apparently upright religious person is not. ·          Who are the Pharisees? Model citizens, lay leaders with intense dedication to their own version of religiosity. Highly respected. Tax collectors? Despised. Took more than allowed, worked for enemy. ·          Dimensions of the story/pitfalls to avoid o    Comparisons/treating others with contempt (look at all those terrible people) o    Self-righteousness/trusting yourself, nothing to repent (look at my record!) o    Boasting before God/not a real prayer (my good deeds should impress God; reward) ·          What is it aiming for? o    Humility established in...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. What can turn us from prisoners, slaves, or children under guardianship and into freed people, adopted sons, and full-fledged heirs of God? That’s the change our reading is about today. We’ll look closer to see how, but first of all realize this isn’t a status change we can accomplish by our power. Getting free from the power and slavery of sin is something only God can do by His grace. Only He can make us His heirs. This is about what God does for us, not what we can do for ourselves. First, you should know the audience of this letter. Galatia was a Roman province in the middle of what is now Turkey, and Galatians is one of St. Paul’s most important letters. So urgent that he skips his usual formalities and launches sharply to the point. With fiery urgency he tells them the very Gospel of Jesus Christ is at stake. They’re surrendering the true Gospel for a counterfeit. His urgent message is sent to get them...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today’s parable may be familiar: the Pharisee and the tax collector. Two men are praying to God in the Temple. They stand up before God and before men. But with two very different attitudes and   outcomes. Jesus approves the tax collector with this phrase: “ I tell you, 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.” Jesus approves the tax collector with the word “ justified.” That’s God’s verdict—God has declared you innocent; righteous in His eyes—justified. The other possible verdict is “condemned”—God declares you guilty, or unrighteous in His eyes. Justified or condemned, innocent or guilty—these are the two opposite verdicts. The surprise is that Jesus doesn’t justify the man who appears better, more law-abiding, and religious—namely, the Pharisee. But instead, the tax collector, a d...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Of all the topics debated during the Reformation, and of all the teachings of the Christian faith that the Lutheran Reformers stood for, justification was the most important. Martin Luther and the Reformers called the teaching of justification the “ article on which the church stands or falls.” If the article of justification is destroyed, the church falls; so we have the highest duty to get this teaching right. The main question is whether justification includes our good works, or rests on faith alone. Our Gospel shows our salvation depends on this teaching! How does “justification” tie in with our reading today? The parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, says it was that the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who went home justified. Probably if we use the word “justify” in our daily conversation, it’s almost always to describe someone trying to excuse or defend their own beh...