Doing the right thing the wrong way Part 1
The two men who prayed, Pharisee and a tax collector (publican)
Introduction
A. We are starting a new sermon series on “Doing the right thing the wrong way.” The Bible is full of stories where two people do the same thing, but one does it the right way the other does it the wrong way. Two men who did the right thing and prayed but one did it the wrong way and one did it the right way. Two men who built a house one did it the wrong way and one did it the right way. Two men who did the right thing and offered sacrifices, but one did it the wrong way and one did it the right way. There are also many stories of people who tried to do the right thing but did it the wrong way, like when King David wanted to bring the Ark of God into Jerusalem and he went about it the wrong way. Or when Moses tried to correct the nation of Israel because of their complaining but he went about it the wrong way.
B. It is so easy to do the right thing the wrong way. This is especially true of church going people or Christians. We want to do the right thing but we don’t always do it the right way. When we see someone doing something wrong it may be right to say that it is wrong but how we go about it makes all the difference. I think people who have gone about doing the right thing the wrong way have done a lot of harm to the name of Jesus Christ. When we do the right thing the wrong way, it often comes across to other people as mean spirited or self-righteous. I know that is how it comes across to God. Today we shall be looking at one of these situations with two men who went to pray.
C. Today we are going to talk about the two men who prayed. This is a story of two men who did the right thing, at the right time, in the right place, but one of them did it in the wrong way.
D. We are going to start in the gospel of Luke but before we do…
Honor God’s Word
2 Tim 2:15 “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, and become someone who can rightly divide the word of truth.”
Read Luke 18:9-14
Praying is difficult for most people Luke 18:9-14
A. Prayer is intimidating to many people. Many people struggle with praying out loud. Many people struggle with thinking that they don’t know how to pray correctly.
B. There is so much misunderstanding when it comes to prayer. Some people think that if their prayer is in the King James English it is sure to be heard. Some people think that if they pray long prayers with lots of scriptures in them they are sure to be heard.
C. Jesus said in Matthew 6:7 but when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
D. Rather than worrying about the exact right way to pray we should be more concerned about our attitude when we go to prayer. Our attitude is what is more important to God than the exact words we pray.
The contrast between the two men
“Two men went up into the Temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector (KJ-publican).”
A. The Pharisee
1. The Pharisees were a religious political party in Israel at the time of Jesus, similar to America today, we have political parties. With one obvious difference, our political parties have separated themselves from any attachment to religion. Today we have Republican, Democrats, Libertarians, and several others, in Jesus day Israel had Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and several others.
2. A Pharisee was a pious man in his daily living. He knew the Law of Moses and lived it. He sought to apply it to everyday life. He was a hardworking church member. He was a Biblical fundamentalist. He read and studied the scriptures and believed every word of them. But even more important he was not ashamed of the scriptures; he talked about them constantly. He was a missionary, a church planter. The Jewish communities scattered around the Mediterranean world were the results of the efforts of the Pharisees.
3. He was a devoutly religious man. He was very interested in spiritual things. He was decent and upright had integrity. Honest in his business dealings. He was liberal with his money. He gave tithes of all that he possesses.
4. This Pharisee was really a good man. He was loyal to his church, and he was generally a decent man. He would be welcomed in any church today.
5. In Jesus’ time, the Pharisee would have been considered the good guy–he wore the white hat. He was a synagogue leader in his town. All Pharisees were super-religious men who were extremely careful about obeying the Torah, which is basically the first five books of the Old Testament. They also followed the Mishnah, which explained how to obey the Torah. There might be several chapters in the Mishnah devoted to one single verse in the Torah. In addition, they followed the Talmud, which was a commentary on the Mishnah. These guys lived by the book!
6. Now there is nothing wrong with fasting more than once a week, and there certainly is nothing wrong with giving more than a tithe. But the problem was, this man thought back then what a lot of people keep thinking today--he thought his goodness gained him brownie points with God. He thought God accepts a person based on what they do for Him, or in other words, he thought he could get to heaven by his good works. He was religious and proud of it.
7. He couldn’t see the truth because his “I’s” were too close together.
B. The tax collector
1. Now he was a different sort of fellow. He was looked upon as a traitor to his nation and to his God. He allowed himself to become a pawn in the hands of the enemy, the Romans. The master passion of his life was getting money.
2. He collected the sales taxes and since he was the one who decided the value of an item he could adjust the sales tax up or down as he saw fit. The fact that the tax collector could arbitrarily set the tax led to flagrant injustices; therefore the tax collectors were universally hated throughout the empire.
3. Tax collectors were also hated because the taxes they collected helped to support a hated conqueror, Rome. Whenever a Jew took a job as a tax collector he was immediately despised by the whole community and excommunicated. He was ostracized. His testimony was not acceptable in a court of law. It is interesting to take note that one of Jesus 12 apostles, Matthew was a tax collector who gave up his business to follow Jesus.
4. He was as opposite of the Pharisee as black is from white. He would not be welcomed in most churches today. They were a bad bunch of people. So bad that throughout the scriptures the word ‘tax collector’ was often used to refer to the lowest form of sinner. Often you find in the scriptures this phrase, ‘then the tax collectors and sinners drew near to Jesus.” It is interesting that of all the sinful things that people did, tax collectors was the one that was linked with the sinners, you don’t find ‘and all the alcoholics and sinners drew near to Jesus.” Nor do we read, “All the sexually immoral and the sinners drew near to hear Jesus. We read, “And all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to hear Jesus.” They were the bottom of the spiritual food chain. They were ‘exhibit A of true sinners!’
5. I wonder if Jesus was telling the story of one of His 12 disciples, Levi, who in fact, was a tax collector.
6. A tax collector was considered the scum of the earth, the very bottom of the religious food chain in Israel. Hired by the pagan Romans, he could charge exorbitant taxes and keep most of the money for himself. He was considered the villain–he wore the black hat.
C. The Pharisee in Jesus day was the most religious person around. He basically did everything right. He did his best to keep the laws of Moses, and he prayed a lot. The tax collectors were on the bottom rung of respectable occupations in Jesus day.
D. In this story Jesus says a Pharisee and a tax collector went to the Temple to pray at the appointed hour. This is a parable for churchgoers. Both of these men went to church, which is an interesting point. I often hear people say, “I am not going to church because there are hypocrites there. Well that should not keep you away; there is always room for one more!”
E. But both of these men were churchgoers. I think some of us might miss this. They both believed in God, they both prayed. But one got it right and one got it all wrong. It is possible to do the ‘right’ thing but to do it wrong.
F. We tend to put people into TWO categories: the good and the bad. God puts people into two categories, but His two categories are: the PROUD and the HUMBLE.
G. He doesn’t put people into the categories of ‘good and bad.’ Does anyone want to guess why not, because before God no one is good. We are all sinners. The sooner we realize this the better our lives will be. You may look good on the outside. You may do a lot of things right, but remember this. God looks at the heart. Before God there is neither Pharisee nor tax collector. Before God, all men are sinners; the only difference is some admit it and others do not. That is what this parable is all about. The danger of being self-righteous is that you can’t see it. The Pharisee was so proud of his goodness and righteousness that he was blind to the fact that he was still a sinner. The tax collector on the other hand knew he was messed up and was willing to admit it to God.
H. If you had been a good Jew listening to Jesus, when he mentioned the Pharisee, you would have cheered, “Yeah! Hurrah for the good guy!” When He mentioned the tax collector you would have cried, “Boo! Hiss! Boo!” But Jesus is always full of surprises. He introduced a good guy and a bad guy, and by the time He finished the parable, the good guy had become the bad guy and the bad guy has become the good guy!
Two contrasting prayers
A. Pharisees’ prayer
1. “God I thank You, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.” In just two sentences he mentions himself FIVE times. This is a prayer about himself!
He has no eye upon God, no connection with God. At best he may have glanced at God, but surely God was not the focus of his prayers that day.
2. How do we know this? Whenever a soul gets a vision of God, there follows always a sense of sin. When Isaiah saw the Lord, high and lifted up, he at once saw himself as a man of unclean lips. When there is no sense of sin, we may be perfectly sure that there is no sense of God. Most of his prayer was what I would call “negative” goodness. He is bragging about all that he does not do. Even his fasting is a boast of what he does not do, he does not eat. The only real good that he does is he gives tithes.
3. “I thank you I am not like other men”
a) How ridiculous this is. Yet people still pray this way today or at least say this or think this. “Well I am a good person; I am not as bad as that guy.” We still have Pharisees today wealth.
b) We have racial Pharisees, who think that they are superior because of their skin color.
c) We have social Pharisees, who thank God that their forefathers came over on the “Mayflower”
d) We have intellectual Pharisees who speak with contempt of the morons and the masses.
e) Then there is the wealthy Pharisee, who thinks that he is superior because of his faults of his own to deal with, he is quick to point out his fellow’s faults. That is too often the case.
f) Then there is the religious Pharisee, who prides himself on his own goodness and the strictness of his faith.
g) Then there are the unreligious Pharisees: Pride self not ‘religious hypocrites’ works both ways!
h) Paul in 2 Corinthians said, “Comparing ourselves among ourselves we become fools,” we deceive ourselves! Looking down on other men, and elevating ourselves by pointing out the vices of others, is deceptive. We can always find someone compare self with make us look good.
B. Tax collector’s prayer
1. I have often heard people say, ‘wow he prays so well, I can’t pray that well.” Well let’s look at what Jesus says a good prayer really is.
2. Honest. It was broken hearted prayer. “Be merciful to me a sinner.” It was this broken hearted prayer, which won him acceptance with God. In Ps 34:18 we read, ‘Lord is near to a broken heart and saves such as are of a contrite spirit.” In Ps 51:17 we read, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart God won’t despise.”
3. He claimed no superiority. He knew he needed God’s forgiveness and mercy. His prayer is a confession of sin. He has not only done wrong, but he is wrong. No hedging, no offering of excuses. That is encouraging. As long as we continue to offer excuses for our sin we have not been convicted of our sins.
4. It was short and to the point. This is a seven-word prayer! His prayer was short and to the point. He was not praying to impress people. He was praying to get God’s attention.
5. He was in need of God. How often we go to church with no sense of need. We just go, to see our friends, because we are supposed to go, it is what we do. How often do we go to church because we are in need of a great God who forgives?
6. His eye was on God. His eye was not wandering. He could have prayed, “Well I am a sinner, it is true; but even then, I am a saint beside that old sanctimonious bonehead that is standing up there extolling his virtues and congratulating the Lord on having such a perfect servant as himself.”
7. This tax collector did not want to compare himself to anyone. For him this prayer was only between him and His God. He is not on parade. He knew he was in need.
8. This is what is called the sinner’s prayer. When a person prays a sinner’s prayer HE IS JUSTIFIED. Justified means to be freed, to declare or pronounce one to be just or righteous, to be forgiven. Jesus said the tax collector was justified he was forgiven of his sins and would be accepted in the presence of God. The tax collector would not go to Hell.
It is possible to do the right thing the wrong way
A. It is possible to do the right thing the wrong way. Not just with prayer, but this is also true with reading the Bible, going to church, giving money or helping someone out.
B. What caused this problem? How did this Pharisee miss the way? This is the danger of being religious. He read his Bible, prayed, tithed, and went to church. These are all good.
C. But they did not help the Pharisee for the simple reason that he has made them the end in themselves. It is not a question of how many chapters we read in our Bibles each day. It is not a question of how many minutes or hours we spend on our knees. It is not a question of how many services we attend and of how many sermons we hear. The question is what use we make of all these. Do they bring us to know Jesus better? Are we more patient more cheerful, more loving, more courageous because of them? Do they send us out like a man refreshed to love his brother? They had the opposite effect on this Pharisee because he made them an end rather than a means to an end.
D. We must always remember that holiness is not an end in and of itself. Our goal is not to “become holy.” Our goal is to get close to God. Holiness is the path we follow to get there and holiness is also the result of being there. But holiness is not the goal. Holy living can easily become a point of pride that can kill us spiritually.
E. This is a parable about humility. We must always be careful of pride creeping in to steal the blessings of God. It is sneaky. Like what happened to this tax collector after he left the temple. He heard that Jesus had told a story about him and the Pharisee. He said to himself, “That’s me he was talking about! What do you know? I’m famous! I’m the example of how all men should approach God and pray to Him.” So the next day the tax collector went to the temple. He looked around to see if anyone there recognized him. He beat on his breast and cried out, “Lord have mercy on me!” Then out of the corner of his eye he saw the Pharisee going through his daily prayers. And to himself the tax collector thought, “That pompous pious old fool, I’m glad I am not like him!” No just kidding, but that is the danger of self-righteousness, spiritual pride.
Summary
A. Someone has said Pride is the only sickness everyone can recognize except the person who has it! The danger of being religious is that it can lead you Hell while making you think you are going to Heaven.
B. Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.”
C. The question we need to answer today is, “How will you go home?” It is possible to do the right thing, come to church on Sunday, or pray and worship God at church on Sunday and do it the wrong way. It is possible to leave here UNCHANGED.
D. Maybe you are here today and you feel a little out of place because you aren’t really a religious person. In fact, you have done some dumb things and messed up your life in a big way. Congratulations! Like the tax collector, you are the best candidate for salvation! The hardest people to be saved are those religious people who think their goodness makes them VIPs with God. The easiest person to be saved is the one who will admit to God that he has sinned royally and has to have his mercy, or he is a goner.
