Luke 18:11-12 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
We have the blessed promise in God’s Word that He will honor prayer, but the fact is that not all prayers are honorable such as the Pharisee’s prayer.
The Pharisee’s had a high standard, they believed the law to the letter, they were generous for they tithed their garden fruits, and they were dedicated to the temple in their fasting and prayers.
Clovis Chappell was talking once to a man who said they were decent men. He replied back to the man, “yes they are decent alright, they were decent devils?”
Jesus said, on the outside, they looked like whitewashed tombs but on the inside, they looked like dead men bones. When this man began to pray, he gave himself away for he revealed his inward self; his true identify. Let us notice what his prayer reveal about his attitudes.
I-NOTICE IT WAS A DISHONORABLE PRAYER:
A-Because He Was Self-Centered:
1-In verse 11, he is praying with himself. He is not praying to God but simply boasting to others about the good things he was doing. He had “I” trouble.
2-Jesus said, they loved to stand praying in the market place that men might hear them.
3-It is not the purpose of prayer to show off before men, but to pour out our heart to God.
4-D.L. Moody said, “I can always tell when a man is a long way from God for he is always talking about himself.”
5- Corrie Ten Boom used to tell the story about a proud woodpecker who was tapping away at a dead tree when the sky unexpectedly turned black and the thunder began to roll. Undaunted, he went right on working. Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the old tree, splintering it into hundreds of pieces. Startled but unhurt, the haughty bird flew off, screeching to his feathered friends, "Hey, everyone, look what I did! Look what I did!" This old woodpecker reminds me of people who think more highly of themselves than they should. Usually they are so busy bragging about their achievements and their greatness that they fail to recognize God as the source of all their abilities. They are suffering from spiritual delusions of grandeur. Without the Lord no one amounts to anything, and in our own strength we cannot please Him. 1
6-During the Battle of the Wilderness in the Civil War, Union general John Sedgwick was inspecting his troops. At one point he came to a parapet, over which he gazed out in the direction of the enemy. His officers suggested that this was unwise and perhaps he ought to duck while passing the parapet. "Nonsense," snapped the general. "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist--." A moment later Sedgwick fell to the ground, fatally wounded. 2
B-Because He Was Scornful:
1-He counted others as nothing. He thought that God couldn’t possibly love them. He was good and everybody else was bad.
2-He was trying to elevate himself by downing others.
3-He had forgotten that the Bible says, your love for God is measured by your love for others.
4-In our relationships with others, often what passes for love is little more than a neat business transaction. People are kind to us, so we repay them with equal consideration. When they treat us unjustly, our negative response is really what they asked for. Everything is so balanced, so fair, so logical with this eye-for-an- eye and tooth-for-a-tooth kind of justice. But Christian love never settles for only what's reasonable. It insists on giving mercy as well as justice. It breaks the chain of logical reactions.
General Robert E. Lee was asked what he thought of a fellow officer in the Confederate Army who had made some derogatory remarks about him. Lee rated him as being very satisfactory. The person who asked the question seemed perplexed. "General," he said, "I guess you don't know what he's been saying about you." "I know," answered Lee. "But I was asked my opinion of him, not his opinion of me!" 3
II-NOTICE IT WAS A DECEPTIVE PRAYER:
A-There Was No Repentance:
1-In his prayer, there was no guilt of sin, no confession of sin.
2-He thought he measured up because he was measuring against the wrong standard, man-kind instead of God.
3- In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Willie Loman found a way to justify everything he did. He showed no concern when his children got into trouble by their lying and stealing. He figured, "It's no big deal. After all, that's what politicians do all the time." Willie was finally fired from his job, and in the end he committed suicide. Rationalization led to disaster. The famous physician and author A. J. Cronin took the opposite path. In his autobiography he tells how he came to see that his own wisdom and resources were totally inadequate to meet his deepest spiritual needs. He finally surrendered his heart to Christ, or as he put it, to "the inexorable appeal of the Cross." Of his experience Cronin said, "I had made the immense discovery of why I was alive." Repentance led to life. 4
4-Falling into sin doesn't condemn anybody, but staying in it does. A visitor at a fishing dock asked an old fisherman who was sitting there, "If I were to fall into this water, would I drown?" It was a queer way of asking how deep the water was, but the fisherman had a good answer. "Naw," he said. "Fallin' into the water doesn't drown anybody. It's staying under it that does." 5
B-There Was No Request:
1-He was self-sufficient for God had nothing to give him. He was too wrapped up his own worth.
2-He needed to realize that God is the source of all blessing, and He is able to meet any need we have if only we will ask Him in prayer.
3-Dr. Helen Roseveare, missionary to Zaire, told the following story. "A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded. 'Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won't feel so lonely.' That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it. Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, 'If God sent that, I'm sure He also sent a doll!' And she was right! The heavenly Father knew in advance of that child's sincere requests, and 5 months earlier He had led a ladies' group to include both of those specific articles." 6
4-Among those in the court of Alexander the Great was a philosopher of outstanding ability but little money. He asked Alexander for financial help and was told to draw whatever he needed from the imperial treasury. But when the man requested an amount equal to $50,000, he was refused--the treasurer needing to verify that such a large sum was authorized. When he asked Alexander, the ruler replied, "Pay the money at once. The philosopher has done me a singular honor. By the largeness of his request he shows that he has understood both my wealth and generosity." 7
C-There Was No Rejoicing:
1-There was no praise or thanksgiving. He did not say, I thank thee.
2-Soneone has said, what he was really saying, God you ought to be thankful that I am not like other men such as the publican.
3-How often we fail to praise God for what he has already given us. How often we approach the throne of grace with arrogance, as if to say, look, how lucky you are, God, that I here today.
4-John Wesley was about 21 years of age when he went to Oxford University. He came from a Christian home, and he was gifted with a keen mind and good looks. Yet in those days he was a bit snobbish and sarcastic. One night, however, something happened that set in motion a change in Wesley's heart. While speaking with a porter, he discovered that the poor fellow had only one coat and lived in such impoverished conditions that he didn't even have a bed. Yet he was an unusually happy person , filled with gratitude to God. Wesley, being immature, thoughtlessly joked about the man's misfortunes. "And what else do you thank God for?" he said with a touch of sarcasm. The porter smiled, and in the spirit of meekness replied with joy, "I thank Him that He has given me my life and being, a heart to love Him, and above all a constant desire to serve Him!" Deeply moved, Wesley recognized that this man knew the meaning of true thankfulness. Many years later, in1791, John Wesley lay on his deathbed at the age of 88. Those who gathered around him realized how well he had learned the lesson of praising God in every circumstance. Despite Wesley's extreme weakness, he began singing the hymn, "I'll Praise My Maker While I've Breath." 8
III-NOTICE IT WAS A DANGEROUS PRAYER:
A-For He Was Blind To His Reality:
1-He was blind to the fact that there was anything wrong in his life. He didn’t see the sins in his own life.
2-There is a great difference in being whitewashed and in being washed white.
3-I read the story of a man who wore a coat with many patches on it. Someone asked him what were their meaning? He said, those on the front of his coat, which were many, represented the sins of his neighbors. He was then asked about the one patch on his back? He replied, that patch was his sin but he couldn’t see it.
4-The Pharisee was like that, he felt like he was alright because his sins were few. He was not like the publicans with many sins.
B-For He was Blind To His Response:
1-He should have responded to God with a broken heart. but he responded by trusting in own self. He was trusting his own righteousness, his own good works.
2-As someone had said, “God cannot save peacocks, one cannot strut to Calvary, he must come on his hands and knees,”
3-He couldn’t see his greatest need, which was God’s mercy, for he was filled with own pride. He failed to see his need for mercy for he was to busy looking for faults in others.
4-A Person displeased with a photograph of herself complained to the photographer that the picture didn’t do her justice. The photographer replied, “It isn’t justice you need, but mercy.
5-Everything we have in our possession we got in one of three ways. We either were given it, earned it, or stole it. But righteousness is a possession we can neither steal nor earn. It is a gift of God. 9
Conclusion-The Pharisee returned form the house of God just as he was, nothing about him had changed. But praise God there was another prayer offered that day by the publican. He asked God for mercy, and God answered his prayer and he left the house of God justified.
Does prayer change you? we ought to be like Jesus as he prayed one day upon the mountain before the disciples. As he prayed he was transformed. He was changed.
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