Jesus does things differently than the traditional rabbi model of the first century.
Traditional Model:
Every Jewish boy would have gone through this process
1.Bet Sefer (House of the Book):  Ages 6-10

• Memorize the entire Tora (Gen-Deut)
• Best of the best would move on.

2.Bet Talmud (House of Learning):  Ages 10-14

• Memorize the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures.
• Learn the Jewish art of questions and answers (not our current learning system)
• The best of the best again would be permitted to move on

3.Bet Midrash (House of Interpretation):  About age 14/15

• Rabbis had slightly different ways of interpreting the Texts (The way they thought they should live out the Bible in order to best please God)
• The Rabbi’s method of interpretation or extra rules he would add to the Scripture was called his “yoke”, which makes what Jesus said make more sense.  He wasn’t just making some random farming reference.
• Mt. 11:29-30
• The best of the best would go up to a powerful rabbi and request to be one of his talmid (student/disciple/apprentice)
• Then the rabbi, wanting his way of teaching to continue on, would only chose the absolute best as his disciples.
• The rabbi would subject them to a series of questions and tests to see if they were able to carry his yoke.
• If they did not meet his expectations they were told to go home and learn the trade of their father and prepare to take over the family business.
• If they met the rabbi’s expectations (if he thought they were good enough) he would say to them “Come follow me”.
• They would leave everything and everyone to follow the rabbi everywhere he went.  They would follow so closely that they were said to be covered in the dust of the rabbi as his footsteps would kick up the dust.
• They would give their entire life to become exactly like him.

Jesus had His own way of doing things.  Lk 5:1-11

• Where did Jesus go for disciples?  Not a school.
• Why were they fishing?  They weren’t good enough to make it as rabbis.
• Put yourself there and just watch Peter’s face as a young rabbi tries to tell him and his friends, who had fished their whole lives, how to catch fish… Just a funny side note.

Mt 4:18-22

• Did you ever wonder why they “immediately” left everything to follow Him?  Part of it I believe has to do with the story in Lk 5, but also a rabbi thought the were good enough to carry his yoke and help him spread it.
• From that point on, the disciples of Christ were marked more by how they lived than by what they know.
• Marked by obedience to Christ’s commands – even the strange ones. Mt 17:24-27
• What was Christ’s final command to them?  Mt 28:19-20   … Not converts!
• Teaching them to obey ALL.  The goal was more disciples.
• By living the way of Christ, we are lining ourselves up with the way God designed the universe to operate, where we find fullness of joy.

Jesus’ disciples did things differently…

• Early church disciples were marked by their obedience and way of life.
• After the great commission the church started off with a bang.   Acts 2:41
• Worship of other gods: Going to the temple, sacrifice, go back to normal life.
• Early church was different.  Acts 2:42-47
• The early church was so different than popular culture they were known simply as “The Way”
• Acts 9:1-2
• “Christians” weren’t named until Antioch.  Acts 11:26 – Luke may not have cared for the name since he doesn’t use it again throughout Acts.
• References to “The Way” – Acts 19:9, 23, 22:4 (Paul later tells Timothy in a letter that God saved Him so that all would know the patience and mercy of God 1Tim 1:12-16) Acts 24:14, 22.
• Being a disciple of Christ was not merely something you said, but rather a way of living that stood in contrast to culture.
• They were driven by a passion for community, the poor, and the teachings of Christ.
• Bible belt is full of people who profess Christ yet in no way have these passions.  Sad statistic!
• Has true justification happened if true sanctification does not occur?  Can you biblically make that case?  NO!

The early church was marked by ACTION.  Is it this action that justifies us?  No.  Again Jesus does things differently… Always going after the heart!
Lk 18:9-14.
18:9 – Jesus was not afraid to confront people face to face.
18:10 – Pharisee = religious ruler.  Tax collector – Jew who purchased the right from Rome to collect taxes for Rome. Traitors.
18:11 – The pharisee  is very moral.

• His prayer is not a “bad” prayer as far as the verbage goes – It’s God-focused.  “…God I thank You.”
• God, through good parents or good teaching etc., has saved him from a life of destruction.
• We all do it.  “God, thank you for saving me from the road I was on, headed toward more wickedness and evil.”
• It’s not bad to thank Him for that!

18:12 – He’s very religious.

• He has a deep passion for the things of God.  He’s serious about his holiness.
• Fasts twice a week when the law only required one day a week.
• He tithes on everything: money loaned to him, etc…
• Not a bad prayer.  We’ll find out what’s wrong with it in a minute.

18:13 – The tax collector is broken.

• He mentions nothing religious or moral, although he probably had something he could boast in… ‘I haven’t murdered’, At least I’m at the temple’.  He’s just broken.

The next verse is about as disturbing as any found in the New Testament.

• 18:14a – If God would have only put a period there, we could all shout and rejoice that God would be so good to justify (right standing before God) a tax collector.  Then we could all go home in peace.
• But there isn’t a period, there’s a comma… forcing us to take a look at ourselves.
• 18:14ab – The tax collector has right standing before God, the pharisee does not.
• 18:14 – The problem with the pharisee’s prayer is not that he gives credit to God for the way he lives (spiritual growth), It’s that he believes his way of life (spiritual growth) justifies him.

The tax collector’s prayer says ‘I am deserving of Hell, the only way I can be saved is if by the mercy of God, he grants me justification through the cross of Christ.’
Again, Jesus goes after the heart.
Mt 21:31
The mantra of every true follower of Jesus is “Christ Alone”!

Here’s how we can become confused:  We come to Christ, He frees us from our baggage and we begin to grow in Him and live in The Way.  But, then we begin to focus on ourselves (our holiness, our victories, our happiness, etc.) and Christ is in the picture less and less because we’re working on things, trying to do and not do.  It’s in this cloud that we begin to exalt ourselves by looking down on those who are struggling and thinking less of them (like the pharisee).

We may not say that, but that’s how we begin treating others.  You see it in your church or on TV all the time.  Any time a Christian berates and beats down someone else for their lifestyles is pure pride.  Without the grace of God and His Holy Spirit giving us a new heart to desire Him… We Are Them!!!  Repentance does need to be preached, but out of love because we want them to be at peace with God through Christ, not just because they need behavior modification.

The fundamental root of Christianity is this:  All we have, we got from God.
It’s ALL Grace!

• Life
• Salvation
• Justification
• Sanctification
• Glorification

Some may say it’s dangerous to teach grace like that, that some people may abuse it.  That’s true, some probably will.

The answer:  Rom 6:1-2  “By no means” Greek = It cannot happen.

If we are in Christ, as we pursue Him, He will change us!

Sanctification will happen and we will begin to live in “The Way” of Jesus, but only because He has made us dead to sin and alive in Christ by the Holy Spirit trough the will of the Father.

Three main types of Christians:

1. Claim Christ with our words, yet have no desire for Him or holiness.
2. Claim Christ, try to live right, and then beat others down with our words or attitudes.  Thinking it is our righteousness that justifies us.
3. Remember that it’s all grace.  Live for His glory, allow Him to change us, and share His message in love with a lost and dying world.

Which one will you be?

The qualities Peter mentions in verses 5-7 are qualities people in the world and most people in the church would call fundamental and legalistic.  They think that way because for years we have had preachers tell us that these are things we must do in order for God to be happy with us.  That is the very root of religion, working to please/apease a god.  But our God was please to crush Christ for us!  That’s why Christianity is different than every other religion on the planet.  Other religions take and demand that we give and do.  Christ gave himself and came as a servant.

So you have some people that view these qualities as fundamental or legalistic, you also have a different group (mostly in churches) that say “If you do these things, God will surely bless you, bring you wealth, health, and prosperity.”  Both are PRIDE, which by the way God is a big fan of.  Both are doing things in the flesh in order to control God.  One keeps us in right standing with God, keeps his wrath away from us, the other makes God into a big old santa-like fairy in the sky bringing gifts to those on the “nice” list!

Peter give us a biblical view of these qualities.  He says we do them in order to be effective and fruitful believers.  Effective in leading others to Christ and fruitful in our own lives faithfuly leading our families and others in the way of Christ after the point of salvation.  So if you do these things with the wrong motives, you get into legalism & religion, or pride, thinking God owes you somehting because of your fleshly deeds (which by the way He considers filthy rags).  Also if you look back at verse 3, it is Him who gives us the power to do these things.

But in closing, you have a group “emerging” in the last few years that tries to avoid anything they see as religion and legalism.  They are right to avoid religion and legalism, but they avoid the actions, not the heart motives.  So now you have a group of people who refuse to do some of these things, and Peter says in verse 9 that they are blind and forgetful of the life Christ has saved them from.