Luke 18:9-14 Your Attitude Is Everything 1/8/04
Two men went to church. One went to tell God how good he was; the other went to agree with God that he was hopeless without God. Do you know people like these men? Can you picture them in your mind? Into which group do you fall? For we are all like one or the other.
Jesus’ parables were generally object lessons like I tell the kids; He would see something common nearby—perhaps even point to it—and spin His parable around it. To see Pharisees praying in the temple was nothing new, but this time, there was a twist.
These men went to pray. Now certainly, they could pray anywhere, but the one--the Pharisee—was a religious man who spent much time there. You would expect to find him in church. For the other—a tax collector–these were unfamiliar surroundings. Tax collectors were notoriously dishonest, and on top of that, they were working for the enemy against their own people. They were about as welcome in church as a drug pusher is today.
They stood to pray—an accepted posture. (You could stand on your head, and God would hear you, or even lying in the belly of a great fish.) Posture is not an issue. But attitude is. Look at the Pharisee. It doesn’t say, but often they would stand with arms upstretched, looking to Heaven. He prayed ‘with himself’; ‘with’ might also be translated ‘to’-it’s the same word-, so he prayed ‘with himself’ or ‘to himself’. Although he began by addressing God, God was not involved in his prayer at all. Let’s see why.
What did he pray about? What word does he repeat five times in his verse-and-a-half prayer? Do you see it there? What was wrong with the guy? Can you see he was handicapped? He had a little ‘I’ trouble? “I don’t smoke, and I don’t chew, and I don’t run with girls who do.” I just sit and pray all day. I live just the perfect way.”
Now, most of us wouldn’t say it just like that, but sometimes we act just like that. Why do you come to church? (I’m not suggesting that you stay away!) But why do you come? Do you come to see your friends? That’s good. Do you come because you enjoy the singing? Wonderful! Do you come to give your offering? The Bible says we should. Do you come to hear from God? Do you come to worship Him? That’s where our focus should be—on Him, not on us.
But what does the Pharisee pray about? God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortionists, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I thank you that I am different. I’m not a robber, an evildoer, an adulterer, or even like this tax-man. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess. The Law requires one fast a week, but I fast twice a week. I also tithe all my income. Look at me; I’m wonderful. He doesn’t quite congratulate God on how excellent His servant is, but almost.
In contrast, look at the prayer of the publican, or tax collector. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. This tax man was under great conviction of his sin. It was normal to raise your eyes to heaven in prayer, but he felt so unworthy, he could only look down, all the time beating his breast as a sign of sorrow. Now we don’t do that, but we might cry to show we’re sorry. Even while asking for forgiveness, he recognizes what he deserves. He has nothing to offer in his defence; he is a rat, and he knows it. He asks for mercy because that is the only thing he dares to ask for.
When we’re on the Christian Road for a long time, we tend to become like the Pharisee. He had grown up in the church, and it had become old hat to him. There is truth in the proverb, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” His focus had gradually fallen from Heaven, where it began, to himself. The tax-man, on the other hand, was a long way from God, and he knew it. The strange thing is that the Pharisee was even farther from God than the tax-man, but he didn’t realize it.
Consider God’s response to the two prayers: I tell you, this man-the publican-went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. God is not impressed with our evaluation of ourselves; He makes His own evaluation. And pride is the first of the seven things that God particularly hates.(Pr 6:16) For what do any of us have that was not given to us? Our very life and breath are not things we can generate on our own. The fact that we are wonderful creatures is not our own, but God’s doing. Sometimes we forget that, as the Pharisee did. Whether we like it or not, we are constantly and continuously in need of God’s grace and His power in our lives. The very Universe holds together by this same power--the power of his Word (He 1:3).
A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple the $20 dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.
Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.
My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make, and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE. WHO ARE YOU?
If you’ve asked Jesus to be King of your life, then you’re His child—His subject—but all you can do to get there is to ask. You can’t buy a place in His kingdom; you can’t force your way in; all you can do is ask—like the tax-man. Was he any better than the Pharisee? Nope. Was he worth any less than the Pharisee—even though he was equivalent to a drug-pusher? Nope. Then why does God say he ‘went home justified’, and the Pharisee didn’t? Because he realized that he wasn’t worthy; while the Pharisee thought that he was.
Rob Gilbert tells this story.
Last spring I was walking in a park. A short distance ahead of me was a mom and her three-year-old daughter. The little girl was holding on to a string that was attached to a helium balloon.
All of a sudden, a sharp gust of wind took the balloon from the little girl. I braced myself for some screaming and crying.
But, no! As the little girl turned to watch her balloon go skyward, she gleefully shouted out, "Wow!"
I didn’t realize it at that moment, but that little girl taught me something.
Later that day, I received a phone call from a person with news of an unexpected problem. I felt like responding with "Oh no, what should we do?" But remembering that little girl, I found myself saying, "Wow, that’s interesting! How can I help you?"
One thing’s for sure - life’s always going to keep us off balance with its unexpected problems. That’s a given. What’s not already determined is our response. We can choose to be frustrated, or fascinated.
No matter what the situation, a fascinated "Wow!" will always beat a frustrated "Oh, no."
So the next time you experience one of life’s unexpected gusts, remember that little girl, and make it a "Wow!" experience. The "Wow!" response always works.
That should be our response when we realize that the Creator of the Universe wants to be our friend, IN SPITE OF ALL OUR HANG-UPS, AND OUR MESS-UPS. He wants to free us from the results of all that, and to help us do better. “WOW!!” But we do have to realize that none of us ever arrives--not on this Earth. There is room for growth in everyone. Unless we are in close touch with the Creator, we may not realize that we need a tune-up from time to time, and if we’re not careful, we may slip into the self-sufficiency of the Pharisee. May God keep us tender and open to the “still, small voice”. You see, He doesn’t yell, but He sometimes whispers in our spirit that we need an oil change—or an attitude change.
