He says: you keep the outside of your cup and platter clean, but the inside is full of greed which leads to all manner of wickedness. Don't you know that the one who made the outside of the cup, made the inside of the cup also? Then there's this implied question from the Pharisee (not written, but it's implied) - what should I do to fix this?
Jesus says: begin to give alms of all such things as you have to the poor, and your whole life will be made clean for you.
So is it: be generous with the poor?
There's this guy named Cornelius, in Acts 10, who was chosen by God to start the whole gentile church. Cornelius was a centurion, which meant he had to publicly proclaim that Caesar is god. When Peter shows up at his house, Cornelius bows down and worships Peter. Peter has to say: no, no! Get up! I'm just a man. You don't worship a man. That's like Christianity 101: don't worship men. Is that a guy you'd want to pastor your church? But Jesus chose him to start the whole gentile church. Cornelius asks: why me? Peter says: because your alms to the poor have gone up as a remembrance to God - and He has counted you righteous.
So once again, is it generosity to the poor?
In Acts 2, Peter was preaching to the crowd, and he said: “repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ - and anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”.
So what's the answer? You can't make a case that each individual case is not a legitimate salvation. You've got {Jesus, Peter, Paul} proclaiming people {righteous, saved, forgiven}. These are all legitimate salvation experiences - so what do we have to do?
Give half of what we have to the poor; ask the right question; answer the right question; beg for mercy; make the right confession; make a request; have the right friends; bandage people's wounds? The answer is yes.
Three things were true of all of these salvation experiences: 1) they were legitimate salvation experiences; 2) every one of them had an encounter with God and responded; 3) every one of them made an active move away from their slave-driver, and salvation came to them.
I'm not even necessarily talking about heaven and hell salvation; I'm talking about being slave-driver free.
Zaccheus' slave driver was greed; so He became generous, and money lost its hold on him - now he's slave driver free and salvation came to his house.
I believe in prayer and deliverance; but if your slave driver is greed, I could pray for you until Jesus comes back, and you'll still be greedy. The cure for greed is not prayer; the cure for greed is writing a cheque. When you write a cheque, and you release it, money loses its hold on you - and salvation can come to your house; because you're slave driver free now.
Paul's slave driver was: knowing everything. He knew everything, knew all the answers, and he finally admits: what must I do to be saved? In other words, I don't know what I'm doing; and Jesus said: okay, now you are. Hmm.
The lady caught in the act of adultery, her slave driver was: guilt and condemnation; and Jesus makes all the witnesses go away, so there's no guilt and condemnation - and the slave driver leaves.
The Philippian Jailer - his slave driver was cruelty. He had to be cruel; so he becomes kind, and cruelty loses its hold on his life, and salvation comes to his house.
The thief on the cross moved away from his slave driver by responding to God, and salvation comes to his house.
No matter where you are, hope can flow through suffering, because there's blood in the water. There is a way out of your slave driver; no matter how deep imbedded in that slave driver you are - hope can still flow.