• Have we ever gone someplace and then, when we get there, entirely forget what it was we went there for in the first place?
• Like going into a room of your house to get something, and then forgetting what it was you were looking for?
• What about studying hours on end for an exam, and then forgetting everything you through you knew when the test paper is in front of you?
• Or how about coming to church, to a house of prayer, and forgetting that your intention was to pray, and so you don’t? ahhh! Has THAT ever happened to us?
• Today, as we look at a story that Jesus tells in regard to prayer and humility, we will see that two men’s prayers turn out very differently because one of them forgot what he went to do in the first place…
• Luke 18:9-14
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 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.”
• Does it ALMOST sound to you like Jesus’ opening statement in this section is like the start of a joke you may have heard… two guys walk into the temple to pray… at least one of them actually did!
• Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
• Prideful, selfish, egotistical, maybe even narcissistic are some words that come to mind when I read about the pharisee in this parable.
• It’s perhaps not too far an idea that though this is a parable, a story, it really is very much what may have been happening in reality in Jesus’ time in Israel and very much the times we live in today in the world.
• Jesus makes the pharisee sound almost like the Enemy, who’s prideful attitude about himself got him tossed out of paradise, much like Adam and Eve got tossed out of Eden for their sinful attitude.
• To say that what the pharisee actually SAID in the temple was even a prayer is insulting. He never prayed, he only made declarations about himself
• Firstly, he makes a spectacle of himself – standing by himself, out in the open, he ‘prays’
• Some translate this even as… TO HIMSELF – the arrogance!
• He thanks God, not for anything about Who God is, or what God has done for him, but that he is not like other men.
• And I’m sure he said all this for all to hear
• I’m not like the extortioners, the unjust, the adulterers, or THAT GUY!
• I’m so special!
• Because I don’t do any of those nasty things, I must be a righteous man.
• Now, we don’t KNOW that any of that is true – but we do know that the attitude is wrong when we come before almighty GOD in prayer.
• Ben Coles mentioned this in his message a couple weeks ago when he said we can sometimes get too buddy-buddy with Jesus…
• Have we ever compared ourselves to others as we come into the presence of God and said ANYTHING like this? ‘Well at least I’m not as bad as so and so, or God, I haven’t done anything really bad, can you bless me here a little for being me?’
• The fact we can even consider being heard by the Creator of the UNIVERSE should drive us to respect, honour, glorify, praise and worship HIM, never ourselves or anyone else.
• But his boasting does not stop there – now he speaks of how good he is in his own eyes, perhaps thinking God does not already know him – another mistake
• He fasts, denies himself food – twice a week – wow! (Law only required once a YEAR! Day of Atonement) so this is just a show
• I fast – between meals. But having control over your appetite in such a way like the Pharisee said, can become just ritualistic and have no deep meaning. You fast? So what?
• He also tithed of everything he got. He was a good giver in the offering. One of those the leadership may pay special attention to, you know, cause they finance the place…
• Guess what, God does not need our religious piety and our showiness to be worthy of His grace, what he truly desires is our heart. God cannot be bought off!
• This kind of attitude towards a persons’ worthiness of God’s attention is not only indignant, it is dangerous. If we are to think for even a moment that we DESERVE anything from God, or are somehow worthy of His blessings, or worse yet, MORE worthy than anyone else simply because of who we are, our wealth, our position, our intelligence, our political views, our career, our ethnicity, our family heritage or ANYTHING… we are one thing only, and that is deluded.
• This description Jesus give us if the pharisee SHOULD sicken us… as I believe it was His intention to have all those listening be sickened of themselves, should their attitudes towards God be in any ways similar…
• Compare all that to this Psalm
• Psalm 51:17 - The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
• Broken, contrite, remorseful, repentant, humble
• THIS is the picture of the tax collector – a man, who also came to the temple to pray that day
• A Jew (because he is in the temple), perhaps a picture of MATTHEW, a Jewish man, now a disciple of Jesus’, who once collected taxes for Caesar. One who would have been detested even by his own people, now serving the Lord
• He can’t even come close to the front…he is too ashamed
• He can’t lift his eyes to heaven – he knows himself and like a child who cannot look their parent in the face when they’ve done wrong, he cannot bear to look towards his Heavenly Father…
• In his self-reflection and abject humility, all he can do is beat his breast, pound his chest and beg for the mercy of God unto him, a self-proclaimed sinner
• God, be merciful to me, a sinner!
• That such a lowly person, could even think of coming into the house of God, was an act of courage and will
• He chose to come to where he knew God would hear Him
• He paid no attention to those who may look down on him because he realised it is not any other, least of all the pompous Pharisee, who’s opinion of him would even matter when it comes to his judgment.
• He came before God, too ashamed to come too close, but he came
• He prayed, not a long-winded, full of big words, fancy, rehearsed, repetitive prayer – but a cry from his heart.
• My friends, THAT is what God longs to hear when we pray, our heart
• Not for ourselves and our victorious lifestyles, but our desperate need for mercy and grace and salvation for us, sinners
• For others, for sinners
• For our city, a sinful one at that
• For our nation and it’s leaders, who need Jesus more than they need a place of power
• For each other, and our boldness to share the Gospel with others
• Our prayers for many things, sure, but mostly, for God’s mercy, lest we receive His judgment
• And so, we should consider how we pray.
• Are we praying in pride or in piety?
• Do we pray to be heard by others or by the Lord?
• Do we pray what we’ve heard others pray, or do we pray form the heart
• Do we come in expectation of what God will do for us or in humble adoration for what He has already done?
• Do we thank God for the wrong things, or are we thankful for the cross on which he paid for everything?
• Closing Song – Once Again
"Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
