Read Text: Luke 18:9-14
It has been one of the watch words of the past 10+ years. All sorts of societal ills have been blamed on the tendency of people to consider themselves more soberly than they ought. We’ve heard the catch-phrases, low self-esteem, a poor self-image. I have heard statistics that say that upwards of 90% of Americans suffer from “Low Self-Esteem.” Sociologists, Psychologists, all kinds of “ologists” have considered the impact that the poor assessment of ourselves has on society, and they certainly are great. Crime rises, conflicts increase, and our sense of morality slides as we seek to build ourselves up by tearing others down.
Realizing the destructive nature of this ailment, our government, the school systems, the court system, and even the churches have looked for an answer. “What can we do to raise people’s self esteem, and give them a more positive self-image?” That has been the question before society for the past several years now. Several answers have been proposed.
Some have tried to entice us to feel better about ourselves by telling us how good we really are. How many times have you heard the politicians quote the French visitor DeTocqueville who said “America is great because she is good and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great?” How many times have you heard the statement, maybe you’ve even said it, that “people are basically good” and all you have to do is provide them a chance and they will shine. So the theory goes that we do nothing to make people feel bad about themselves, everything to make people feel good about themselves, and eventually our society, our schools, and even our churches will be better places. It sounds great doesn’t it! The problem is, it’s a lie. Before people can ever feel good about themselves, they must first learn to feel bad about themselves.
At the conclusion of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told a story of two builders, one who built on the sand and one who built on a rock. We all remember what happened, the storms came along and the house built on sandy soil was destroyed, but the house built on the rock withstood the storm because its foundation was sure. The lesson was simple, “Build your life on the truth of God, and you can be sure that when the hard times come, you will be able to withstand the strain.”
This morning, my goal is to make sure that everyone within the sound of my voice is building their self esteem on the truth of Jesus Christ, and not on the sandy soil of political rhetoric or psychological theory. Let’s take a closer look at the parable we read earlier, and notice the contrast that Jesus wants us to see.
I. Two Men
When Jesus told the story about the Pharisee and the tax collector no one had ever heard the phrase “low self-esteem,” or “positive self-image,” but it doesn’t take a Psychiatrist to see who fit in what catagory. The Pharisee felt very good about himself (a positive self-image). He would have appreciated Oscar Wildes’ statement, “To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.” You can almost see him as he marches into the Temple area for prayer. Notice the way he carries himself, the way he dances with a flourish right up to the front of the temple area. The language Jesus uses here as he says “The Pharisee stood up and prayed...” implies that he wanted to make sure that nobody could miss the fact that he was about to pray.
Now today some of the shock value has worn off of this story because we have become accustomed to thinking of the Pharisees as hypocrites, but to the people hearing this story the first time they would have been incensed. Notice who Jesus is talking to. (v. 9)
Jesus is in Jerusalem now, and some of these guys might still be able to hear themselves praying a prayer like this. The Pharisees held a very high position in society, and they were well respected for their holiness. Jesus is slamming the religious leaders right in their face. It would be kind of like going to Rome and telling the Pope a catholic joke. Now we might think it’s disrespectful of Jesus to say this kind of thing to these men who were very good men, but it was with a purpose. These people needed to be torn down before they could be built back up. They were building their lives on the sandy soil of self-respect, and the consequences of that would ultimately be destruction.
The other guy in the story, the tax collector, was suffering from what we might call “low self esteem.” Notice the way he handles himself. (v. 13) Collecting taxes is never a very popular profession, but especially in Israel, an occupied territory where the taxes are going to a foreign government, and the tax collectors are encouraged to line their own pockets with the money they collect, he was a hated man. While people probably “oohed and aahhed” at the Pharisees’ righteousness, they might very well spit in the face of the tax collector. While the Pharisee probably got alot of positive reinforcement in a days time, there might be weeks or months go by when the tax collector might not ever have a kind word spoken to him. It’s easy to see why the tax collector would feel poorly about himself. But notice, there was a certain advantage to his position in relating to God. Because of his low self-esteem, he knew he wasn’t worth much on his own merit.
It seems to me that this goes a long way to explaining why the gospel message in the United States is not very readily accepted. In fighting the war against low self-esteem, everyone is stressing the value and worth of the individual. We are hearing messages of how good we are, how to improve ourselves through exercise or diet or self-help groups, and the underlying message is “We can do it!” We get very cocky in thinking that the solution to our problems lies in politics, or a how-to book, or maybe further education. Don’t get me wrong, there are values in all those things, but only when kept in perspective. Only when they are building on the rock of a relationship with Jesus Christ do they have any value. Don’t let anyone tell you that the answer to the self-esteem problem is in making yourself feel better about yourself. The Pharisee felt very good about himself, but he was not in the right relationship with God, therefore it was a false belief.
II. Two Prayers.
When these 2 men came before God, they approached the situation differently. Notice the difference. (Read v. 11-13) The Pharisee uses the word “I” 4 times in 2 sentences. You get the idea that he is pretty pleased with himself. His prayer is more of a religious resume than anything else. He would ascribe to the same philosophy as Robert Morley. Morely said, “To fall in love with yourself is the first secret of happiness. Then if you’re not a good mixer you can always fall back on your own company.” This fellow enjoys his own company, as a matter of fact, he enjoys it so much that he is praying to himself. That is what it says in v. 11. Not just about himself, but to himself.
Have you ever caught yourself doing that, praying another direction besides to God. Maybe a public prayer becomes more of a sermon directed to the hearers than a prayer lifted up to God. Perhaps a private prayer becomes more talking to yourself than anything. It’s easy, especially if we feel very good about ourselves, to make ourselves the target of our prayers. We can make our prayer session more of a rah-rah session if we subscribe to the “Power of positive thinking” mentality. But when we do that, the only power we are tapping into is our own, and ultimately we are very weak.
The tax-collector came before God with a humble spirit, you can feel the anguish in his voice as he said “God, have mercy on me, the sinner.” While the pharisee is praying with one eye open, looking out over the crowd and seeing who he is better than, the tax collector is focused on himself, because there is enough inside to make him sick.
David wrote in 36th Psalm “An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked; There is no fear of God before his eyes. For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.” When you look in the mirror what do you see (once you get past the initial shock, I mean)? Our tendency in this society is to not look too closely at the spiritual mirror. We don’t spend much time on introspection, looking into our souls. There are too many things to do, places to go, people to see. And if we don’t think too long, and we just look on the surface, we look pretty good. “I do lots of church work, volunteer for civic organizations, visit a shut-in on occasion, and take good care of my family. I’m a good person!” If we aren’t careful we can start sounding like that Pharisee, thankful that we aren’t like others that are indifferent to spiritual matters, and who don’t come to church, and don’t tend to their families properly.
But when we look to God’s word, when we see the type of person God calls us to be, we recognize that we are not very pretty inside. There is an ugliness about us human beings. Isn’t there sometimes when you enjoy seeing a person you are not particularly fond of get in trouble. Isn’t there something inside you that jumps for joy when you have the opportunity to share a juicy tid-bit about somebody else and can find a way to justify it without calling it gossip. Isn’t there something inside you that wants to make sure that there is somebody around when you do something good so that there is some sort of recognition. You see, God knew what He was talking about when He inspired Paul to write “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” The real difference between the prayer of the pharisee and the tax collector is their honesty. Honest prayer recognizes fault.
The last difference I want you to notice is
III. Two Results
When Jesus gave us commentary about these two men, he didn’t talk about how pompous the Pharisee was, or how honest the tax collector was. He just told us that God considered one to be able to have a relationship with Him, and the other one he rejected. Amazingly, especially to those who first heard it, the man who did everything in his life to be religious ultimately had no relationship with God, but the man who lived a terrible life but admitted his fault was heard by God, and his sinfulness was forgiven. Now there is a powerful message.
You’ve probably seen in the movies those galley ships filled with slaves pulling the oars. There is a story that tells of a certain duke who boarded one of those ships and went down into the galley to speak to the slaves. He asked several of them what their offenses were. Every man he talked to claimed he was innocent. They laid the blame on someone else or accused the judge of yielding to bribery. One young guy, however, spoke out, “Sir, I deserve to be here. I stole some money. No one is at fault but myself. I’m guilty.” Upon hearing this the duke siezed him by the shoulder and shouted, “You scoundrel, you! What are you doing here with all these honest men? Get out of their company at once!” He took him out of the galley and set him free while the rest of those “innocent men” were left to pull on the oars.
God does not desire us to proclaim our innocence. He is not interested in our reciting a resume of all of our accomplishments before Him. Isaiah saw the throne of God and he realized that even the best of our achievements is like filthy rags before the overwhelming goodness of God. He simply wants us to come before Him with a realization that there is no way that we deserve to be able to speak to Him, much less relate to Him or even call Him father.
When we come to that realization, then there is good news. Once we’ve quit trying to build our house on the sandy soil of self-esteem, torn it all down, then God starts to rebuild, this time on a solid foundation. The more we are willing to turn the project over to Him, the higher that house can go, confidently reaching toward the sky without fear of hardship and storm clouds.
But in order for God to start, we have got to admit that our attempts to build have been a failure. Perhaps you’ve been trying to get your life together, but it seems that every time you almost have things figured out, something comes along to destroy everything you’ve worked so hard to build up. Maybe there are times when you just want to throw up your hands and give it up, you want to quit trying because it always ends in failure. If that’s you, then I want to tell you that there is a way.
It is not in believing in yourself, that’s a dead-end street. Your problem is not that you need to have higher self-esteem, but you need a higher God-esteem. Once you give your heart, truly turn yourself all the way over to Him, then there is a sense of self worth that no psychologist can ever foster in you. That is because you realize that you are not worth anything because of who you are, but because of who God is making you. God loved you so much that He couldn’t bear to be without You. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to this earth to keep you from being separated from Him for eternity. If you want to feel good about yourself, there is reason to, because God loves you. However, He requires you to respond to his love by giving your life to Him.
