Title: Impressing People or Connecting with God?
Text: Luke 18:9-14
Thesis: Authenticity is the mark of the person who connects with God.
Background Information:
Our story is found in the context of Jesus¡¦ teaching regarding the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus gives somewhat mixed signals in that in 17:20, he describes the Kingdom of God as presently an invisible Kingdom of the heart. But, he goes on to describe the time and the events when he will return to earth¡K he says the time is coming when people will long to share in the days of the Son of Man but they won¡¦t be able to do so because they missed their opportunity.
Our story emerges from that discussion and speaks to who will be a part of that coming Kingdom¡K a kingdom in which the proud in this life will be humbled and the humble will be honored in the next life. It is a serious text that begs for our attention.
Introduction
Steve Harvey is a comedian in transition. He is growing. I first enjoyed his humor on the Steve Harvey Show, a sitcom set in a high school where he is Steve Hightower and Cedric the Entertainer, are high school teachers. I enjoyed the sitcom but soon discovered that his stand-up routine left something to be desired in the area of wholesomeness¡K
Recently I saw his latest performance, which he did to honor his mother, at a J.D. Jakes Conference. He confessed that he was weary of the vile nature of his stand-up routine and wanted to do something for which he could be proud. He managed to do an entire routine without swearing. However, that is not to say he has arrived.
At one point in his act he described an encounter with a neighbor in which he said, ¡§I know how I should have reacted, but I ain¡¦t that good a Christian yet.¡¨ If we are honest, most of us would have to confess that we ain¡¦t that good a Christians yet either.
Vulnerability is appreciated by some but by others, no so much. But the fact of the matter is, we are all a lot like Steve Harvey. We are in transition. We are not who we once were but neither are we who we will one day be.
This week, while standing in the checkout like at the grocery store I found myself behind a lady who managed to unpeel every vestige of self-righteousness I had. It seemed to me that her lack of any sense of urgency or consideration of those in line with her was designed to drive me nuts.
That¡¦s when I realized, I ain¡¦t that good a Christian yet! I found myself judging her fairly harshly. I judged her by my high standards of checkout protocol. You have your Sooper Card out for the cashier to swipe before she begins to check you out. You swipe your debit card on the card reader while she is doing the checking. You have your pen in hand ready to sign whatever needs signed when she is finished. You thank her and get out of the way.
¡§Oh, I thank God I am not like other shoppers.¡¨
Our story today is a scathing indictment on the attitudes of spiritual pride and self-righteousness.
I. Pride and judgmentalism are indicators of inauthentic piety.
Two men went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other, a dishonest tax-collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ¡§I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else, especially like that tax-collector over there¡K¡¨ Luke 18:10-12
The Pharisee¡¦s piety was based on two things:
A. He valued outward appearances and boasted to God about it.
1. I don¡¦t cheat.
2. I don¡¦t sin.
3. I don¡¦t commit adultery¡K
B. He valued strict religious practices and boasted to God about it.
1. I do fast twice a week.
2. I do tithe a tenth of my income.
The Pharisee in our story is a lot like the little boy who, while visiting with his grandma, pulled a picture of his kindergarten class out of his backpack. He pointed to the faces in the photo one by one and began describing his classmates. ¡§This one is Robert. He hits everyone. This is Stephen. He never listens to the teacher. This one is Mark. He chases us and is very noisy. This is Sally. She always tells on everyone.¡¨ Then pointing to his own picture he commented, ¡§And this is me. I¡¦m just sitting there minding my own business.¡¨
It seems, we learn very early in life to judge ourselves well in light of others.
Our story is also an affirmation of the attitude of spiritual humility.
II. Humility and sadness over one¡¦s sins are indicators of authentic piety.
But, the tax-collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow saying, ¡§O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.¡¨ Luke 18:13
The piety of the Tax-Collector was based on two things as well:
A. He was very much aware of his sinfulness and confessed it to God.
1. He dared not lift his eyes to heaven.
2. He beat his chest in sorrow.
B. He knew he needed mercy and asked God for it.
1. He asked God to be merciful toward him.
William Beebe was an American naturalist, author and explorerer. He was also good friends with Theodore Roosevelt. He once told of how, when visiting Roosevelt at Sagamore Hill, they would play a game together after an evening of talk. They would go outside on the lawn and search the skies until they found a very faint spot of light beyond the lower left-hand corner of the Great Square of Pegasus. Then one or the other would recite: ¡§That is the Spiral Galaxy of Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It consists of one billion suns, each larger than our sun.¡¨
Then Roosevelt would grin and say: ¡§Now I think we are small enough! Let¡¦s go to bed.¡¨
Both men prayed. One man¡¦s prayer pointed out the faults of others and lifted up his own greatness. The other man¡¦s prayer was a prayer that humbly recognized his own smallness before a holy God.
Both men prayed but God discerned the differences.
III. God sees right through us¡K God discerns authenticity.
Jesus said, ¡§I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For the proud will be humbled and he humble will be honored.¡¨ Luke 18:14
God notes the striking contrast between the two pray-ers and their prayers:
A. God notes the contrast of the prayers¡K
B. God notes the contrast in attitudes.
God has the ability to see people and things as they are:
ƒæ In I Samuel 16:7, God said to Samuel, ¡§Don¡¦t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn¡¦t make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person¡¦s thoughts and intentions.¡¨
ƒæ In Luke 16:15, Jesus confronted the Pharisees saying, ¡§You look good in public, but God knows your evil hearts¡K¡¨
ƒæ Speaking of God¡¦s Word the writer of Hebrews 4:12-13 stated, ¡§For the Word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest sword, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are. Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done.¡¨
Conclusion:
They say in space, there are black holes. A black hole is described as an area that is made up of extremely dense matter¡K it is so dense and its gravitational pull so great that it pulls everything into it and nothing escapes¡K not even light.
Some believe that the black holes are necessary to the universe in that they actually serve to hold the solar systems together. Were it not for the huge gravitational pull of the black hole the universe would literally pull apart.
In our story today we, like the Pharisee may be standing before our own black hole, so to speak. Our black hole might be composed of pride, self-righteousness before God and judgmentalism toward others. We are being sucked in, and so much so, that we cannot see ourselves or others as they are.
Or we may be like the dishonest tax-collector being sucked into a black hole of despair¡K but interestingly enough, rather than falling into a black hole of despair, he finds himself drawn into the mercy of God.
One black hole is a vortex of pride and a false sense of spiritual well-being and the other, a vortex of mercy and forgiveness and eternal life.
Hopefully, by the grace of God, we will have the ability to see ourselves as God see us, and have the good sense to humble ourselves as people in constant need of the mercy of God.
As we make our way into this new week, may we be reminded in our moments of self-serving pride, that we may impress others, but it in our moments of humility that we connect with God.
