WHAT IMPRESSES GOD?
10 July 2005
Scripture: Luke 18:9-14
Purpose: Share with the listener, what impresses God.
Introduction:
(Luke 18:9-14)
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth 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 and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
It was the summer of 87. I had a bike that in my mind was “the bomb”, oh it was sharp! It had big mag wheels on it, shinny rims, I thought that I was “the man” when I was on this sweet bike. (“You know, it had shocks, pegs, I was lucky”)
There was this girl that lived down the street from me. She was the kind of girl that blinds us to everything else around us, I just knew she was the one for me and I knew that I had to impress her and show her that I was cool. I had to show her my skills.
One day I came ridding by her home and I saw her standing on her front porch; I knew this was my chance to show her my skills.
I came barreling down the street at top speed on my sweet bike and attempted to jump her driveway. Notice I said “attempted”. I flew up into the air, and landed onto my back.
I had pulled several ligaments in my back and was stuck in bed for weeks. Needless to say, the girl did not see me or my bike as cool at all.
Our scripture reading for today tells us a little about what impresses someone. Have you ever tried to impress someone? A girl, A guy, or how about God?
I am sure we are all guilty of this at one point or another in our lives. It is in our nature to want to make others happy and proud of us.
I am going to share with you about just that, what impresses God anyway?
Jesus is talking to everyone of us, who at times have had a spirit of self righteousness,
At one time or another all of us are guilty of trying to impress God or is it really to impress others? Luke makes is very clear who Jesus told this parable to. He says in v.9, "To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else,”
What impresses God anyway? What moves His heart to declare us as His children?
I. WHAT IMPRESSES GOD IS WHEN YOU DON’T TRY TO IMPRESS GOD.
A. (Luke 18:10-12)
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men- robbers, evildoers, adulterers- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
1. I know immediately you are ready to jump all over the Pharisee because he was, to say the least, a little bit arrogant. I am sure we all have know people like this or perhaps have been like this at one time or another in our lives. Quite frankly, he really was an Eagle Scout. He dotted every religious "i" and he crossed every theological "t." He went strictly by the book. He had a heart for religion; the problem was his religion had no heart.
2. He was standing in the center of the inner court right in the heart of the temple. The reason he stood there was because it was there where he could be heard the clearest and be seen the best. He let everybody know just how wonderful he was and how very close to God he was.
- We read that he fasted twice a week. The Old Testament only required a Jew to fast once a year on the Day of Atonement. But this man fasted a 103 times a year more than he was required.
- Then we read that he tithed everything that he possessed. The Old Testament only required that you tithe your income. But this man tithed everything that he earned and everything that he bought. In other words, he was a double tither. Now there is nothing wrong with fasting more than once a week, and there certainly is nothing wrong with giving more than a tithe.
3. But the problem was, this man thought what many people think today--he thought his goodness gained him brownie points with God. He thought God accepts a person based on what they do for Him. He was religious and proud of it.
4. If you are trusting anything--church membership, church attendance, baptism, religion, good works--other than Jesus Christ to make you right with God, and have God to accept you, you are fooling yourself. The Pharisee thought that God would be impressed with all that he was doing.
So now we learn the first clue on what impresses God. What impresses God is when you don’t try to impress God.
Illustration:
I heard about a fifth grader that came home from school one day excited. She had been voted "prettiest girl in the class." The next day she was even more excited when she came home, for the class had voted her "the most likely to succeed." The next day she came home and told her mother she had won a third contest, being voted "the most popular."
But the next day she came home extremely upset. The mother said, "What happened, did you lose this time?" She said, "Oh no, I won the vote again." The mother said, "What were you voted this time?" She said, "Most stuck up."
- The Pharisee in our text today would have won that contest hands down. He had an "I" problem. Five times you will read the little pronoun "I" in these two verses. He was stoned on the drug of self. He suffered from two problems: inflation and deflation. He had an inflated view of who he was, and a deflated view of who God was. His pride had made him too big for his spiritual britches.
- C. S. Lewis once said, "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you are looking down, you can’t see something that’s above you."
- This Pharisee had fooled himself about himself. He says, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men." But he was like other men. Because "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Illustration:
A man was on trial charged with burglary. As he was standing before the judge, the judge said, "Sir, you can let me try your case, or you can choose to have a jury of your peers." The man thought for a moment, and said, "Your honor, what are peers?" The judge said, "Well, they are people just like you." The defendant said, "Forget it, I don’t want to be tried by a bunch of thieves."
Whether it is a big sinner or a little sinner, all of our peers are sinners and we are a peer to all sinners, because all have sinned.
I don’t care who you are or how you were raised, what school you attend, we are all sinners and no sin is larger than another.
This man was even fooled about his prayer. For v.11 says, he "stood up and prayed about himself." When you approach God with pride, you wind up talking to yourself.
- Someone said, "The only person God sends away empty is the person full of himself." Prideful prayer is nothing more than an echo in your own ears.
- Have you ever acted like the Pharisee? Do you see yourself as better than others? God is not impressed by our works but rather by our humility.
II. HUMILITY IMPRESSES GOD.
A. The contrast that Jesus gives would have been easily recognized to those hearing this parable. A tax collector was as different from a Pharisee as the Pope is from a pimp.
1. Tax collectors were the scum of Jewish society. They were the IRS of the Roman government. They charged outrages rates, they skimmed extra money off the top; they would steal candy from a baby, and a welfare check from their own mother. They were considered traitors to the nation of Israel.
2. They were so despised they could not hold public office or even give testimony in Jewish court because their word was considered worthless. The tax collector was to the Pharisee what an outlaw is to the sheriff. This man no doubt was a liar, a cheat, a traitor, and a swindler.
B. But now the story takes a strange twist. The Pharisee tried to impress God, but he didn’t. The tax collector impressed God without even trying. Now we see what really impresses God.
1. Humility is what impresses God. This tax collector was as humble as the Pharisee was proud. You could see it in his feet. V.13 says, "But the tax collector stood at a distance," Where the Pharisee went to the center of the court of the Jews and stood in the sunshine, the tax collector stood on the outer edges of the court of the Gentiles in the shadows.
- You could see it in his eyes. We go on to read that "He would not even look up to heaven,” The Pharisee was too proud to look up; the tax collector was too ashamed to look up.
- You could see it in his hands. We read, that he "beat his breast." In effect he was saying, "I know I have a filthy heart."
- You could hear it in his voice. For he says, "God, have mercy on me a sinner!"
1. God heard his prayer, for Jesus said, "I tell you that this man, rather than
the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will
be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (v.14)
2. The highway to heaven is paved with humility. On the outside you would have thought the Pharisee was much closer to God, but on the inside it was the tax collector who was close to God.
3. What impressed God so much was this man was willing to humble himself without waiting on God to do it for him. Did you know that God has a way of humbling you if you don’t take the first step of humbling yourself? God delights in exalting the humble, and in humbling the exalted.
III. BUT ANOTHER QUALITY THAT IMPRESSES GOD IS HONESTY.
1. It hit me as I was thinking about this, that there is only one thing worse than being a sinner. The only thing worse than being a sinner is not admitting that you are one! The reason why Jesus told this story was to illustrate a principle.
2. God knows our heart, why do we at times try to hide and lie about some things?
It’s kind of like when we tell our friends those small white lies about how very great we are. Who do we think we are fooling anyway?
- “I had a monster of a bass on my line but felt sorry for it and let it go.”
- “I once bench pressed a Volkswagen bug when I was the star football player in my high school.”
Or how about my all time favorite, “You know, I am a black belt in karate.”
3. The old saying goes, “you can lie to others but you can’t lie to yourself.” God knows who and what you are about, you can’t lie to him so why do we find ourselves doing just that at times?
4. As a parent I can tell you that I become more upset with my children when they lie about something rather than just being honest with me.
5. God deserves our honesty and He wants us to come to Him with a humble heart.
CONCLUSION:
(v.14), "I tell you, that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.""
1. Jesus draws a conclusion from this story that shocked his listeners. Remember the Pharisees wore the white hats; the tax collectors wore the black hats. If you had taken a vote in that crowd as to which man was accepted by God, and which man was safely in his kingdom, the Pharisee would have won by a unanimous landslide. But there’s only one vote that counts, and that is God’s.
2. But what does this story have to tell us today?
- First, we learn that it is not how you see you, but how God sees you that matters.
- Secondly, when you see God the way you should see God, then you will see you the way you really are.
- Finally, mercy is not what God pays you because you tell Him you have earned it. It is what God gives you when you admit to Him that you need it.
ILLUSTRATION:
Many years ago a man conned his way into the orchestra of the Emperor of China, although he could not play a single note.
Whenever the group practiced or performed, he would hold his flute against his lips, pretending to play, but not making a sound. For years he received a good salary and enjoyed a comfortable living.
Then one day the Emperor requested a solo from each musician. Well, the flutist got very nervous. There wasn’t enough time to learn the instrument. He pretended to be sick, but the royal physician wasn’t fooled. On the day of his solo performance, the imposter took poison and killed himself. The explanation of his suicide led to a phrase that found its way into the English language: "He refused to face the music."
Please stand with me as the worship band comes forward. Friends, The way to impress God is to simply face the music. You can face the music now and be a part of the heavenly band. Or you can face the music later and be kicked out of the orchestra. When you realize who you are without God, and on a daily moment by moment basis depend on Him to be what you need to be for God, that impresses Him.
Where are you this morning? Do you need to set some things right between you and God? Is He calling you? Let’s pray
