Well, tonight we're looking at Luke chapter 18.
So if you want to turn there in a Bible, that would be great.
Looking at one of Jesus' parables.
Last week we looked at the parable of the persistent widow,
teaching us that we should pray always and not lose heart.
Jesus talks about his people who cry out to him day and night.
So that parable encourages us to pray and to keep on praying.
And this parable that we're looking at tonight teaches us how to pray,
the attitude with which we should come before God.
In particular, humbling ourselves and exalting God rather than vice versa.
So Luke 18 verse 9 to 14, let me read this parable for us.
18, Luke 18.
Yep, page 877 in the Pew Bible.
There we go.
Luke 18, beginning at verse 9.
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous
and treated others with contempt.
Two men went up into the temple to pray.
One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
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.
I fast twice a week.
I give tithes of all I get.
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.
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.
This is God's word.
Well, appearances can be deceiving.
Recently, I was looking on Craigslist
because I was trying to help somebody who was looking for a new apartment.
And I've never had to use Craigslist to find an apartment,
but maybe you have,
or maybe you've done that along with somebody else.
And if you've done that, you know that the photos posted
and the descriptions listed
do not always match the reality of the property.
So, some experiences I've had,
a friend of mine said,
oh, I saw this house that's posted for rent.
And it happened to be a block down from where we used to live.
But in front of the house was a for sale sign.
He said, but no, on Craigslist, it says it's for rent,
not for sale.
Well, it was a scam.
It was a complete scam.
It wasn't for rent at all.
The person who was posting on Craigslist
didn't even own the house.
Another one, my wife and I,
this didn't involve Craigslist,
but my wife and I, several years ago,
were just sort of looking at houses in New Haven.
And we weren't even really wanting to buy one,
but we just wanted to sort of see what was out there.
And so, we talked to a realtor.
And the realtor said,
here's a few houses.
Let me take you this one.
So, we walk up to the second floor.
And literally, from one side of the room to the other,
you could almost slide down.
Like, there was at least a two-foot difference in height,
and there was no steps.
The floor was, the house had settled into the ground.
And so, the floors had become completely warped.
Of course, you would never know that from any description
that was posted about it.
But even the realtor said, after looking at that,
you don't want to buy that house.
I could go on, but you get the point.
Now, what we see in this passage
is that appearances can be deceiving in church as well.
The Pharisee, there's two,
this parable's pretty simple, right?
There's the Pharisee and the tax collector.
Two guys, they both go up to the temple,
they both stand there praying,
and the Pharisee had an appearance of righteousness.
Now, if you've read the Bible a lot,
or if you've been in church for a long time,
and you hear the word Pharisee,
you might think that means a hypocrite.
Someone who just pretends to be religious,
but they really aren't.
But in Jesus' day, that's not what people would have thought.
So, the Jewish historian Josephus said,
the Pharisees are, described the Pharisees as,
a class of Jews, a group of Jews,
who consider themselves the godliest of the nation,
and the most rigorous followers of the law.
For the most part, that's who they sought to be.
The name Pharisee means either separated ones or holy ones.
And that's what they sought to be,
is separated and holy unto God.
So, the Pharisees knew the Bible,
and they studied it very carefully.
Unlike the Sadducees, who was another Jewish group at that time,
the Sadducees only believed in the first five books of the Bible,
the books of Moses.
The Pharisees believed in the whole Scripture,
the whole Old Testament,
all 39 books.
The Pharisees, unlike the Sadducees,
believed in the resurrection.
They believed in angels.
They believed in demons,
because the Bible talks about them.
They believed in all those things.
They could explain to you all those things.
They could explain to you about God's sovereignty,
and human responsibility,
and how they fit together.
And they had good explanations for that.
And they not only adhered carefully to all the Scriptures,
but they also knew the history of,
the interpretation of them.
And they followed the oral traditions of the rabbis.
Besides that, the Pharisees were honest,
and law-abiding citizens,
unlike the Zealots,
who were violent revolutionaries.
They were well-respected in the broader community,
unlike the Herodians,
another group who were sort of involved
in corrupt political schemes.
Right?
The Pharisees, it seemed like they were the best group of them all.
They were honest, law-abiding, upstanding citizens.
They knew the Bible.
They believed in God.
This Pharisee was faithful in his marriage.
He says, I'm not an adulterer.
He paid his workers.
He said, I'm not an extortioner.
He, um,
and he didn't just do the minimum that God's law required.
He went over and beyond.
He fasted twice a week.
Now, the law only required people to fast once a year,
on the Day of Atonement.
But the Pharisees had developed a practice of fasting
on Mondays and Thursdays,
and praying,
as part of their devotion to God.
And he says,
I tithe on everything I get.
Now, again, strictly speaking,
the law only required tithing on flocks, crops, wine, and oil.
Sort of the main things.
But the Pharisees even tithe from their herbs.
Right?
They'd pick their mint from their plant,
and they'd make sure to tithe.
One piece of mint for every ten pieces they took for,
you know, nine pieces they took for themselves.
Right?
They were very careful.
They did all these things.
The Pharisee seems quite confident and comfortable
coming into the temple to pray.
He stands.
He prays.
He walks confidently.
He feels comfortable when he comes in.
Right?
So if you think of a Pharisee,
you think of like a regular churchgoer,
someone who lives a moral life,
someone who has a good reputation,
someone who goes above and beyond
what God's law requires in some ways.
He's the kind of person that you would look at and think,
if anybody is a righteous man,
that would be a righteous man.
On almost everyone's definition.
Now, contrast,
the tax collector.
So the tax collector would have worked for the government.
And back then,
the government was the Roman Empire,
and everyone agreed.
There was no disagreement.
Everyone agreed the Roman Empire was oppressive and unjust.
And the tax collector's profits came from extorting,
the extortion of their own people.
The way that many tax collectors' jobs worked was,
their boss would say,
you have this area of land,
from Jerusalem,
to Bethlehem,
to Nazareth,
or wherever.
Right?
These three cities,
and the area in between them.
And at the end of the year,
you need to deliver to me
10,000 denarii,
or whatever.
Right?
You know, a million bucks.
So you go collect your taxes.
And your salary is whatever you collect,
on top of that.
And so the tax collectors,
many of them became very rich,
because they found ways
to get a lot of money from the people.
And so,
you know,
there were lots of things that the different,
the different Jewish groups,
the different Jewish rabbis,
disagreed on.
But one thing they all agreed on,
in Jesus' time,
the rabbis agreed that it was okay
to lie and deceive tax collectors,
because they were considered so corrupt.
And they were in the same category
as thieves and murderers.
Like, tax collectors,
thieves,
and murderers.
Those kind of people.
You don't,
you don't even have to tell them the truth,
because they're so corrupt,
and so unreliable,
and so wrong.
Wrong.
So,
a Jewish man who collected taxes
would have been expelled from his synagogue,
disqualified from being a witness in court,
and seen as a disgrace to his family.
Tax collectors were despised and hated.
So, let me just give you a few modern examples,
some of them might resonate more with you than others,
about what a tax collector might have looked like.
So, think about the owner of a strip club,
or the CEO of a casino
that intentionally seeks to make money off compulsive gamblers,
or a slum lord,
who never fixes up his rat and roach infested houses,
and just wants to make a lot of money off him,
or a drug dealer,
who runs the streets in the hood,
or the big dude,
who owns the pawn shop,
who's probably connected with the mafia.
Yeah.
That's what a tax collector would have been like.
He was working for a shady business,
and he was benefiting from it.
And when this guy walked into the temple,
you can see he wasn't used to being there.
I mean, if this was the temple,
this isn't a temple,
it's just where we meet together,
but if this was the temple and he walked in,
he would have sat in the back right behind that pillar,
where nobody would see him,
and nobody would notice him,
because he felt like,
I don't belong here,
and I'm not used to being here.
Now, that's why the end of Jesus' parable is so surprising.
Look at verse 14.
Jesus says,
I tell you,
this man,
the tax collector,
went down to his house justified.
That means righteous.
That means right with God.
That means forgiven.
That means accepted into God's family.
Having God's stamp of approval.
That's what justified means.
Rather than the other.
Jesus is saying,
at the end of the day,
the tax collector was righteous before God,
and the Pharisee was not.
You see how surprising,
and even scandalous of a story this would have been,
for Jesus' hearers.
Right?
Especially for any who were Pharisees.
Now, why?
Why does Jesus say this?
Jesus sees the reality that goes deeper than the appearance.
See, if you look at what the Pharisee prays,
his prayer is all about himself.
He starts with the word God.
God, I thank you.
And then he just starts talking about himself.
Do you notice how many times he says,
I?
God, I thank you that I
am not like other men.
I fast twice a week.
I give tithes of all I get.
God, I thank you that I am.
It's all about how,
what he does
makes him better
than everybody else.
Verse 11 could even be translated,
it could be translated,
the Pharisee standing by himself,
prayed,
or it could be translated,
the Pharisee standing,
prayed to himself.
right it's interesting the pharisee's prayer puts himself in the center and god on the edges
the tax collector's prayer is the opposite
tax collector humbles himself in light of a holy god
he says god be merciful to me a sinner
now the pharisee's prayer is much longer than the tax collector's tax collector's prayer is very short
and it's not wordy he's probably not used to praying a lot but he gets right to the point of it
god be merciful to me a sinner
and he uses a very interesting word when he says be merciful it's the word that is usually
translated god make atonement for me it's the word that was used to describe what the high priest did
when he went into the holy place once a year and he offered a sacrifice to cleanse the people of
israel from all their sins and he went and he offered that sacrifice before what was called
the mercy seat called the hilasterion and that's the same word that's called the mercy seat sort of where
god
offered his forgiveness to the people through the sacrifice that the priest offered on their behalf
and the people received mercy as a result and that's what the tax collector says god make atonement for me
make a sacrifice for me to make me clean
she doesn't come parading his own accomplishments he has he knows that he has nothing to offer to god
he comes simply empty-handed saying god have mercy on me that's the only way i can come before you
is if you have mercy and if you cover over my sins by a sacrifice
and at the end of the day jesus said he went home
justified before god
he was right with god at the end of the day and jesus i mean how amazing is that jesus doesn't say
well at the end of the day the tax collector was a little closer than the pharisee
no he doesn't say at the end of the day the tax collector had made a couple steps in the right
direction and maybe if he kept on making steps in the right direction then he would be approved and
accepted and forgiven by god no he says he went down to his house when he left that temple
god he was right with god
and the pharisee despite all the good things he did
wasn't
now
what do we take away from this
i want to say three things
three applications three things that we can take away from this passage number one
it's a word of warning
it says jesus told this parable
to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt
and so this parable is perhaps primarily a warning
it's not just what you do that matters it also matters why you do it
you know there are many things that can motivate people
to act in ways that look good and appear righteous
two of those things are pride
wanting to preserve your own reputation
and fear of other people
wanting to please others
and wanting their approval
and if you combine both of those things
those two things put together can motivate you to do a lot of
good things
well
because you know if there's something that's
you're tempted to do
that's bad
but you think that you'll be found out
and it'll be embarrassing
then you're not going to do it
because you don't want to be embarrassed
or if you think people will look at you
in a more negative light
you won't do it
because you think
somebody's not going to think so well of me
I mean if you put just those two things together
pride and the fear of man
fear of other people
that can motivate all kinds of good things
it can motivate fasting and praying
it can motivate tithing
right especially the way the Pharisees did it very publicly
so that everybody knew
it can motivate you to come to church
maybe not so much here in New England
right you don't get a lot of social props from coming to church here
but in some places
right that's the respectable thing to do on Sunday
sometimes people come up here from other parts of the country
and that's really the reason they went to church
their family did it
or
most of their friends did it
or
you know
it just sort of feels like the right thing to do
and you
you know
and then you come
to a place like this
and you have to examine your motives
you have to say
why do I come here
see it's not just what you do that matters
it also matters why you do it
and this is also sometimes
why people who seem to be
very good and moral upstanding citizens
sometimes get caught
with horrible things
whether it's a crime that lands them in jail
or a secret sin
that nobody knows about
or a pattern of
abusive or controlling behavior
behavior that
lies under the surface
it's because
the things that are motivating
to do all the good things
all the things that make them appear good
in some circumstances
let's say if
if somebody gets
if they get criticized
they're gonna blast you off
because don't you dare criticize me
right
or maybe you get the silent treatment as a result
so there's a warning
it's possible to do everything the Pharisee did
and go home
not right with God
and facing ultimately God's judgment
and punishment
and that's a
that's a
a serious warning
now how can we know
well I'll get to that later
how can we know if we're
if we're falling into that Pharisee trap
I'll get to that in a minute
so it's a word of warning
but it's also a word of hope
it's a word of hope for
people like the tax collector
if you feel like
when you come to church
or when you hang out with Christians
if there's some part of
if there's a big party that feels like
I just feel like I don't quite belong here
I don't
I know that I don't measure up
and some other people
you look at them
and they're clearly more mature than I am
and I just
I just don't know
whether I really belong here
and so maybe some days
you don't come to church
because you really feel that
and so you stay away
or you don't pursue Christian friendships
because you feel that shame
and you know deep down inside
you're not worthy
to come before God
and come among his people
there's a word of hope
for you
because Jesus said
the tax collector went down to his house
justified before God
that God looked upon him with favor
and mercy
and grace
and that word justified
it's a
it's like the judge's gavel
right
if you ever had to deal with the courts
or if you've gone with people to court
what happens the first time you go to court
they continue it
then what happens the second time
they continue it again
right
and again
and it's not unusual to have
right
five six seven eight court dates
dealing with the same thing
because they
take a long time to make decisions
that word justified
is as if you walk into court before God
and the judge slams the gavel down
and says you are not guilty
you can go free
I mean
how liberating that is
if you come into God's presence
and you know that you don't deserve to be there
and you know that you're actually guilty
and yet you hear
in Jesus Christ
God the Father
saying to you
Jesus Christ has made atonement for you
and so
I will have mercy on you
it's the most liberating thing in the world
I mean it's amazing if
if you've ever been in a court case
and you've
or you know someone who's been there
right
and they've been under the weight
of this fear
of what's going to happen
am I going to get thrown in jail
am I going to have to pay a fine
how am I going to pay the fine
I don't have any money anyway
and you get that verdict
not guilty
set free
how much more
if that is the verdict
that you have before the God
who created all things
before the judge
of the universe
and that's what Jesus says
we can have
through him
so there's a word of hope
for tax collectors
I mean
just consider
some of the people we consider
great leaders in the Bible
just three
Moses
well when Moses was young
and impulsive
he killed an Egyptian
he murdered someone
who was beating up
on his fellow Hebrew
now yes
was he trying to do justice
yeah
but did he murder someone
yeah he murdered someone
and so he had to run away
for 40 years
he had to face
some of the consequences
of that
but God wasn't done with him
and God took Moses
who was prone to
impulsive anger
and made him into
the leader of God's people
or think about David
when he was middle aged
and
didn't have quite enough
what to do
and he fell into adultery
with Bathsheba
and then he
arranged for her husband
to be killed
great King David
a man after God's own heart
and that's what he did
a horrible
evil
thing
or Paul
who had persecuted Christians
and when Stephen was being stoned
he stood there
giving his approval
personally
you know nearly all of the great leaders
in the Bible
had some pretty serious character flaws
and or
moral failures
nearly all of them
but what happened
what's the difference
I mean the Bible says
the wages of sin is death
but what happened
so that their sin
did not result
in death
and judgment
if you look at King David
King David wrote a psalm
Psalm 51
he wrote the psalm I quoted
Psalm 32
that I quoted at the beginning of the service
but he also wrote Psalm 51
and if you look back there
Psalm 51
page 474
in the Pew Bible
the psalm begins this way
well it's
the title says
the psalm
a psalm of David
when Nathan the prophet
went to him
Nathan had confronted him
after he had gone into Bathsheba
after he had committed adultery
with Bathsheba
and David said
have mercy on me
oh God
according to your steadfast love
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions
wash me thoroughly
from my iniquity
and cleanse me
from my sin
David didn't make any excuses
he didn't come to God
and say
but God
I've been a pretty good king
I've been a really good king
I mean
you know
when Saul was coming after me
I didn't kill him
I mean
yeah
I sort of
messed up here
but
but you know
I've still done a lot of good
I really deserve to be
blessed for all the good I've done
no
he doesn't do any of that
he says
have mercy on me
oh God
according to your
steadfast love
and he goes on
I know my transgressions
my sin is ever before me
against you
and you only
have I sinned
and done what is evil
in your sight
so that you may be justified
in your words
and blameless in your judgment
he goes on
he doesn't hide his sin
he doesn't excuse it
he doesn't explain it away
he has both
a general sense
of his sinfulness
and a specific
concrete
understanding
of his specific
concrete
failures
what I want to end with is
my third point of application
it's a word of warning
it's a word of hope
but what's the difference
what's the difference
between the Pharisee
and the tax collector
right
and how can we tell
how can we
how can we have
how can we
see
in our own hearts
what that looks like
and I think
one thing we see
in
in David's psalm
and in the tax collector
is
he has both
he has a sense of
his own sin
both generally
and specifically
now some people
have a sense of their own sin
generally
so they'll say
oh yes
I'm a sinner
you know
yeah I'm not perfect
I acknowledge that
but then if you actually
ask them
so
are there any
but if you
if you listen to them
they never actually admit
any particular things
that they've done wrong
if you ask them
you know
are you a sinner
before God
they'll say yes
I am
but if you confront them
about something specific
they've done wrong
then they'll say
but
well I had a reason
for doing that
and I have an explanation
for this
and really
no it wasn't that
now other people
are the reverse
other people
will sort of
reluctantly admit
that they have
committed sin
in very specific areas
but in general
they would say
but generally
I'm a good person
I just
okay
I did
I admit it
I lied
I was wrong
I shouldn't have said that
but
generally
I'm a good person
David has both
a sense of his
general
sinfulness
he says
against you
have I sinned
even from my mother's womb
I've been born in sin
but he also
confesses
yes
I committed adultery
yes
I did that
that's one of the
ways we can
see
that the Holy Spirit
is actually bringing
conviction to our hearts
and shining his light
in our hearts
is that
we have both a general
and a specific sense
of our sin
okay
if you look at the tax
collector in the parable
he calls himself
a sinner
right
he has a general
sense of sin
and then if you look
at Zacchaeus
in the next chapter
who's also a tax
collector
he confesses
a very specific
sin
you know
if I've defrauded
anyone
I will pay them
back
he's actually
willing to
make amends
so
if you combine
those two
you see both
but I think
that's one way
we can tell
the Holy Spirit
is working in our hearts
when we have
both a general
and specific
sense of sin
second thing
the Holy Spirit
produces
is
the fear
of the Lord
and that
word
the fear
of the Lord
is used
throughout
a lot
of the Bible
and it doesn't
just mean
being afraid
of God
and it doesn't
mean being
terrified
by God
and running
away from him
it means having
it means
having God
at the center
of our picture
and living in
reverent obedience
before him
but it also
means
Psalm 130
the end of
Psalm 130
sorry the middle
of Psalm 130
Psalm 130
verse 4
verse 3 and 4
says
if you oh Lord
should mark
iniquities
oh Lord
who could stand
in other words
if God kept
a list
of all our
sins
no one
would pass
the test
but he says
but with you
there is
forgiveness
that you
may be
feared
so the fear
of the Lord
is the kind
of fear
it's like
the kind
of fear
that
a child
would have
if they were
wandering
into a busy
street
and their
parents
suddenly
snatched
them out
of traffic
and they
realized
that if
their parent
hadn't
snatched
them out
of traffic
the bus
would have
run over
them
and so
what do
they do
after that
they start
listening
to their
parent
they start
obeying
their parent
they start
trusting
their parent
even when
they don't
understand
what their
reason
for their
parents
commands
they have
a right
kind of
fear
of their
mother
or father
and that's
the kind
of fear
of the
Lord
that the
Bible
is talking
about
that's
the kind
of fear
of the
Lord
the tax
collector
had
he stood
at a
distance
he beat
his
breast
and the
way
those
verbs
are
written
it's
an
ongoing
action
it's
not
just
a
one
time
demonstration
but it's
an ongoing
posture
of repentance
and confessing
his sin
and acknowledging
he's unworthy
to stand
before God
so he has
a kind
of a
fear
of the
Lord
knowing
who he
is
in light
of God's
holiness
and then
knowing
who he
is
in light
of God's
mercy
so sin
general and
specific
fear of
the
Lord
and
three
our
attitude
our
attitude
towards
prayer
and other
good works
let me
end with
you can
turn to
Philippians
I want to
end with a
verse from
Philippians
because
Paul
in
Philippians
chapter
three
page
981
if you're
looking
at a
pew
bible
Paul
describes
himself
as a
Pharisee
that
was
the
school
that
was
the
apostle
Paul
was
trained
in
he
would
have
fit
the
description
of
this
guy
who
came
to
the
temple
fasting
twice
a
week
giving
tithes
of
all
I
get
he
knew
the
scriptures
he
was
an
upstanding
citizen
of course
he persecuted
Christians
because he
thought that
he should
at one
point
but
but this
is what
he says
in
Philippians
chapter
three
verse
seven
and on
he says
whatever gain
I had
in other
words
whatever
gain
I
had
whatever
privileges
I
had
from
being
born
into
a
certain
family
whatever
moral
accomplishments
I
had
as a
Pharisee
whatever
gain
I
had
I
counted
as
loss
for the
sake
of
Christ
indeed
I
counted
I
count
everything
as
loss
because
of
the
surpassing
worth
of
knowing
Christ
Jesus
my
Lord
for
his
sake
I
have
suffered
the
loss
of
all
things
and
count
them
as
rubbish
and
here's
where
it
is
not
having
a
righteousness
of
my
own
that
comes
from
the
law
but
that
which
comes
through
faith
in
Christ
the
righteousness
from
God
that
depends
on
faith
you
see
the
apostle
Paul
found
righteousness
from
God
not
by
his
efforts
and
his
works
but
by
faith
in
the
work
of
Jesus
who
had
died
on
the
cross
for
him
and
who
had
been
raised
from
the
dead
he
found
justification
before
God
just
like
this
tax
collector
you
see
at
the
end
of
the
day
Jesus
is
not
saying
that
you
have
to
become
like
a
tax
collector
and
join
the
mafia
or
work
for
a
shady
business
or
do
all
kinds
of
crazy
things
or
go
to
jail
right
Jesus
is
not
saying
you
need
to
do
that
what
he's
saying
is
you
need
to
have
that
same
humility
that
tax
collector
showed
I
mean
isn't
it
amazing
that
Paul
the
Pharisee
right
Jesus
is
saying
the
tax
collector
went
home
justified
and
the
Pharisee
didn't
but
yet
Jesus
saved
Paul
the
Pharisee
man
who
was
good
in
all
kinds
of
ways
and
who
obeyed
the
law
and
yet
he
brought
him
to
his
knees
at
the
foot
of
the
cross
so
that's
the
point
of
this
parable
as
Jesus
says
in
the
end
everyone
who
exalts
himself
will
be
humbled
but
the
one
who
humbles
himself
will
be
exalted
let's
pray
Lord
Jesus
we
thank
you
for
this
parable
and
we
pray
that
you
would
help
us
by
your
Holy
Spirit
to
take
it
to
heart
as
a
word
of
warning
against
trusting
in
our
own
righteousness
and
treating
others
with
contempt
as
a
result
but
Lord
that
we
would
receive
it
also
as
a
word
of
hope
and
promise
Lord
this
is
what
you
came
to
do
you
came
to
lay
down
your
life
for
sinners
like
us
and
everyone
who
comes
to
you
can
know
that
forgiveness
that
the
tax
collector
knew
and
Lord
I pray
that
every
person
in this
place
would
not
leave
here
without
knowing
what the
tax collector
knew
being justified
before
God
Lord we
call out to you
have mercy on us
and make us so that we do
so that we're aware of our sin
and so that we do all the good works that you've called us to do out of a fear of the Lord
more and more
Lord not to promote ourselves not to
bring our accomplishments before you but
simply to say thank you for what you've done for us
we pray this in your name
amen