WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Do turn up Luke 18 that was read earlier, page 877. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:23.000 ! Luke 18 verse 14, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:29.000 ! Humility. Humility could be the king holding a door for a servant. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:33.000 We would think that was a very humble thing for them to do. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:40.000 Humility could be when someone unwittingly asks the CEO, you know, 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:43.000 could you take this for me, take my coat? 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:47.000 And the CEO just quietly takes it and goes and hangs it up. 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.000 We would think that that was very humble. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:51.000 They say nothing, they just go and do it. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.000 They're treated like a servant and that's okay. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:00.000 But another kind of humility is much more difficult. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:06.000 It is the humility that is required for us to be completely transparent, 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:10.000 completely open, vulnerable. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.000 It's the humility to be real. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:21.000 Now wherever you look these days, there's someone talking about the need for these characteristics. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:26.000 Transparency, openness, vulnerability, being real with people. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:30.000 It's especially the case among men. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.000 There's more of that chat now than ever. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:38.000 Because men often don't feel able to be open about their emotions. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:41.000 And so we bury them. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:44.000 We're not vulnerable and we're not real. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.000 And so we bury our emotions. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:53.000 But we can only do that until, we can only do that for so long, then they become unbearable. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:58.000 The biggest killer among men in the 20 to 45 age bracket is suicide for this reason. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:05.000 We can't actually be vulnerable, open, transparent and real. 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:10.000 But whether you're a man or a woman, we all find this kind of openness difficult. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.000 It's alien to us. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:16.000 So with other people, even those closest to us, we pretend. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:21.000 We use humor rather than going deep. 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:22.000 We talk a lot. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:26.000 We put up defenses so that they can't get too close. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:29.000 We say we want close relationships. 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:33.000 We say we want vulnerability and reality in the way that we interact with others. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:38.000 But we put up our defenses and we keep people at a distance. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.000 It's also true with God. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.000 We say that we know that he knows everything. 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.000 He knows us inside out. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:48.000 But we pretend. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:53.000 We pray the words that we think he wants to hear. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:59.000 We use language with him that we think sounds right and holy. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:04.000 But we don't talk about how cross we are with his providence in our lives. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:09.000 How frustrated we feel about the circumstances that he has placed us in. 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:12.000 We say that we know that he's in control of everything. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.000 We say that he knows us inside out. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:24.000 And yet when we come to pray, we don't express any of the frustration that we feel because of where we are. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.000 It's a strange thing, isn't it, when you think about it? 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.000 Because he knows our hearts inside out. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:36.000 And yet we say these things that aren't really true about how we feel. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:42.000 Of course, we can read lots and lots of books about God rather than spend time with him. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.000 We overwork to keep him at a distance. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:45.000 We overconsume. 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.000 We feel sorry for ourselves. 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:57.000 And all of these things, we do them in order to keep the beauty and the reality and the presence of God out of our awareness. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:02.000 Because if we can do that, we can keep God at arm's length and we can stay in control of things. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:09.000 Well, at the start of this new year, we are thinking about what it looks like to belong to God's kingdom. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.000 What our posture should be as those who belong to Christ. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.000 Especially when we face opposition for the fact that we belong to him. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:17.000 We name the name of Christ. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:18.000 That is difficult. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:19.000 We're opposed for that. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:20.000 How should we live? 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:26.000 And last week, we saw that this will involve not getting distracted from living faithfully. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:32.000 And recognizing the great privilege that we have to live in close communion with God. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:41.000 And as we follow on from what we saw last week in this next section of Luke 18, we see the spirit in which this communion with God is to be pursued. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:48.000 And that is in a humility that is fully open and completely dependent. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:52.000 Fully open and completely dependent. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:53.000 Two points this morning. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:54.000 The first is this. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:57.000 I want us to see, first of all, the humility of openness. 00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:59.000 The humility of openness. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:02.000 Verse 9 to 14. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:03.000 And Jesus uses a parable. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:04.000 He did that before. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:07.000 And he does so in response to a problem. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:09.000 It's a problem that's made clear in verse 9. 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:16.000 Some of the Pharisees, can you see, trusted in themselves that they were righteous and they treated others with contempt. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.000 So there's no openness. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.000 There's no openness to other people. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:23.000 They are treated with contempt. 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:25.000 And there's no openness to God. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:32.000 God is surplus to requirements because, well, these people have obtained their own righteousness. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:35.000 They don't need God for anything, so they don't need to be open to him. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:40.000 So Jesus tells this parable to shake those who think this way out of their delusion 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:46.000 and to awaken them to a better way, a more mature way, a more human way of relating to God, 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.000 and I suppose by extension to others. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:53.000 Focus here, though, is in how they relate to God. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:55.000 Jesus describes two people. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:00.000 A Pharisee, an upstanding religious figure at the top of society, 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:10.000 and a tax collector, a figure who is chosen in the parable specifically because tax collectors were held in such contempt by absolutely everybody. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:18.000 Here is the picture of respectability and the picture of complete revulsion. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:24.000 One is a religious insider and the other a total outsider to the things of God. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.000 And Jesus takes us to the temple, verse 10, you see. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.000 And doing that isn't a coincidence. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:38.000 It is the place, the temple is the place where God is most present in the context of the story. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:46.000 And it is the place where mankind, the people who go to the temple, should be most honest and most open. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.000 If you think about it, what do you do in going to the temple? 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:56.000 You're going there to bring your sin into the light before God and have it forgiven, have it atoned for, dealt with. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:01.000 So it's the place where God is present and where people should be the most honest and the most open. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.000 And here we are, these two men are at the temple. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:10.000 But despite the setting, despite the presence of God, only one of them is really open. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.000 Only one of them is truly humble. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.000 And it isn't the one we expect. 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.000 If you're familiar with the story, you know how it goes. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.000 We expect the religious one to come out on the right side. 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:24.000 We expect the tax collector not. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:27.000 But look, verse 14, only one goes home justified. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.000 Only one, that is, is in the right with God. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:32.000 And it is the apparent outsider. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:39.000 Which means the one who appears to be the insider is the one who is actually lost. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.000 And the goal of the parable is that we would examine ourselves. 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:48.000 That we would hear this and we would examine ourselves in light of these men's prayers. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:54.000 And choose to reject the way of the Pharisee and to embrace the way of the tax collector. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:58.000 So let's listen in and compare the two. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:04.000 The Pharisee, verse 11, standing by himself, prayed thus. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:11.000 God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:13.000 I fast twice a week. 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:16.000 I give tithes of all that I get. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:22.000 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.000 But beat his breast saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:30.000 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.000 I want to highlight a contrast between these men in four areas. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.000 The first is their view of self. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:39.000 Their view of self. 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.000 The Pharisee talks a lot about himself. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:42.000 Did you notice that? 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:46.000 There are five mentions of the first person, I, in the prayer. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.000 It is a prayer of self-trust and self-confidence. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:55.000 Indeed, verse 11, when we're told that the Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus. 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:58.000 The word translated by there is ambiguous. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:02.000 It can be translated about or to or by. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:08.000 Now, I think that ambiguity is deliberate because it communicates the self-centered nature of the prayer. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:13.000 It is a prayer that is to himself, about himself, with himself. 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:19.000 I, I thank you that I am not like, and so on. 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:22.000 He's the subject of the verbs. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:23.000 He is self-righteous. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:27.000 He doesn't ask God for anything because he doesn't need to. 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:28.000 He is self-congratulatory. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:31.000 He is very impressed with the kind of person he is. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:33.000 And he is self-justifying. 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.000 He outperforms everyone else. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:37.000 I'll say more on that in a moment. 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:43.000 The tax collector, by contrast, has let himself go. 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:47.000 God, be merciful to me. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.000 God is the subject of the verb. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.000 And he is the one who is in need. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:55.000 He has no claim to righteousness, no desire for self-defense or promotion. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:00.000 Rather, he is self-surrendered and completely honest about himself. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.000 That's their view of self. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.000 The second contrast is in their use of words. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:11.000 Now, in the original, the Pharisee speaks here about 30 words. 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:14.000 The tax collector, just six. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:15.000 Now, why is that relevant? 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:22.000 Well, because we know that very often talking is how we stay away from being really present with God or other people. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:24.000 One author has said this, 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:30.000 For many people, life is talk, talk, talk, narrate, explain, discuss, and analyze. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:37.000 And if words won't come then, rather than face the possibility that silence will bring me into attention of the present, 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:40.000 they fill things up with filler words and noises. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:51.000 You know, like, just, sort of, um, uh, end quote. 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:57.000 Words are often a way that we avoid openness, both with others and with God. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:03.000 Don't forget, Jesus himself told us that we don't need to use lots of words when we talk to God. 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:09.000 That's how unbelievers behave, Matthew 6, because they think that all their words will impress him. 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:19.000 It may be, actually, that lengthy prayers are empty because in all our talking we're keeping God at a distance. 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:26.000 The tax collector uses six honest words that open his heart to God and God's heart to him. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.000 Their use of words. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:35.000 Thirdly, I want to contrast their appeal to performance. 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:37.000 The way they appeal to performance. 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:40.000 The Pharisee, he has all his bases covered, do you see? 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:51.000 When it comes to morality, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:53.000 Then his piety. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:55.000 I fast twice a week. 00:11:55.000 --> 00:12:00.000 I give tithes of all that I get. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:11.000 When this Pharisee looks in the mirror each morning, he can give himself a wink and a nod of approval and he can say, you, sir, are winning. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:21.000 This man, this pillar of society, thinks all of his moral effort and his religious devotion are the means of his appeal to God. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:24.000 He has performed. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:27.000 He has done what it takes. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:30.000 The tax collector, total opposite, do you see? 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:33.000 He says, I'm done for. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:35.000 I am completely stuck. 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:38.000 I am helpless, without hope. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:41.000 Apart from your grace, God, I'm nothing. 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:43.000 He makes no appeal to himself. 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:44.000 He makes no excuses. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.000 He is honest. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:46.000 He's unfiltered. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:49.000 And he is fully open before God. 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:56.000 Now just to say, part of the Pharisee's problem here is a superficial understanding of sin. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:02.000 He thinks that because he does the right things and stays away from the wrong things that he's good enough for God. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:08.000 But the problem with that attitude is that it fundamentally misunderstands the nature of sin. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:12.000 Sin runs much deeper than mere external behavior. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.000 It's obviously seen externally. 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.000 Extortion, injustice, adultery, those are sinful things. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:20.000 But those things flow from a deeper source. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.000 They flow from an internal problem. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.000 Sin goes to the very core of our being. 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:27.000 Sin goes to the heart. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:33.000 And that heart is self-centered rather than turned towards God. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:40.000 And that is why a message of be nice to people and say your prayers won't ever work. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:48.000 I've been finding myself in conversations a lot recently with people who think that the world is divided into good people and bad people. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:54.000 And they think that if you can just be a good person and not a bad person, well then everything would be fine. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:00.000 If people could just get on board with the goodness project, well then the world would be a better place. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:09.000 I was with someone after New Year who said to me, they said, we don't do commandments in our family, but here are my rules for life. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:20.000 And he took down a stone, mark you, a stone from the shelf on which he had written the five rules that his family were to live by. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.000 And it was the usual stuff, treat others well, be kind, etc. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:29.000 No, I'm really pro treating other people well and being kind and all that kind of thing. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:31.000 But it's never going to be enough. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:44.000 It's a fantasy because, well for a start, define good, define kind, define what it means to be generous without a fixed standard of goodness and generosity. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:52.000 And the bottom line is that the reality of our hearts is that they're always pushing us away from those things. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:55.000 They're always pushing us in another direction. 00:14:55.000 --> 00:15:08.000 However hard we try to be kind, our hearts always drive us back to ourselves, like the Pharisee in the parable. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:12.000 And that takes us then to the fourth area where I want to contrast these men. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:16.000 So their appeal to performance is contrasted. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:21.000 And then comparison, the way they think about comparison. 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:23.000 Remember Jesus' audience here. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:25.000 Look up at verse 9. 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:27.000 Those who treated others with contempt. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.000 Those who looked down on other people. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:31.000 Think they're better than them. 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:36.000 And then the Pharisee thanks God that he is not like other men. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:41.000 You see, when sin is only about external behavior, 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:45.000 you look at the behavior of others and you measure yourself in respect to them. 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.000 And when your behavior is more respectable than theirs, well then you're a good person. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:52.000 And so you can feel superior, like the Pharisee here. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:58.000 But when it doesn't quite measure up, well then you're a bad person and you feel inferior. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:08.000 The truth is, when you keep sin at an external level, whether you're performing or you're not performing is neither here nor there. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:12.000 Because in both cases you feel contempt for other people. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:17.000 So either you're succeeding and they're beneath you so you can look down on them. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:21.000 Or you're not succeeding and they're better than you so you're jealous. 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:23.000 And you treat them with contempt for that reason. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:26.000 That's what the Pharisee can do. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.000 He's outperforming the tax collector. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:32.000 He looks over at him and he feels very superior. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.000 Gives himself a wink in the mirror and everything's fine. 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:40.000 Because he operates by comparison without any regard for the condition of his heart. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:42.000 Look at the tax collector. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.000 He stands at a distance. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.000 His head is bowed, verse 13. 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:51.000 He doesn't actually see anyone else. 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:58.000 And because he knows himself to be a sinner, he doesn't appeal to God on the basis that he is better than anyone else. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.000 He simply knows his need of God's mercy. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.000 And by the way, his appeal actually is really important. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:13.000 The word for mercy here means make atonement. 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:15.000 And remember where these men are. 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.000 They're at the temple. 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:19.000 Where the ark of the covenant rests. 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:21.000 Where the mercy seat is. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:24.000 Where the blood of the lamb is sprinkled to atone for sin. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.000 So the tax collector isn't saying, 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:29.000 God, I'm so ashamed I'm a really terrible sinner. 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:32.000 Please let me off because that's what you do. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:34.000 He's saying, 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:38.000 Oh God, make atonement for my sin. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.000 Which is the very thing. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:51.000 The same Jesus who speaks the parable is on his way to do on a cross in Jerusalem. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:56.000 That is the journey that Jesus is on as he tells this parable. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:01.000 The Pharisee is self-centered. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:03.000 He talks too much. 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:04.000 He appeals to his performance. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.000 And he compares himself to others. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:10.000 He is the embodiment of unreality. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:13.000 And as a result, he is lost. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:19.000 The tax collector is humble, open, submitted to Christ. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:20.000 And so he is real. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:27.000 And it is that submission that I want to suggest is key in all of this. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:29.000 You see, it would be easy to go through that list and say, 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:31.000 Don't be like the Pharisee. 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:32.000 Don't be like the Pharisee. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:33.000 Don't be like the Pharisee. 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:35.000 But if we're honest, 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:37.000 If we're honest with ourselves, 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:42.000 The qualities that he displays here come much easier to us than humility. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.000 Putting on a front is much easier than being open. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:51.000 But it's only easier until the pressure becomes too much. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:57.000 The parable is showing us that this openness is actually possible. 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.000 You see, I suspect some of us here are thinking, 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:07.000 Well, you're telling us to be vulnerable and open and real and kind of connected, as it were, with our emotions. 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:09.000 I'm not that kind of person. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:13.000 But that's another way of saying, I'm afraid to be this open and this vulnerable. 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:16.000 Because it means giving up control. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:19.000 It means dropping our defenses. 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:24.000 And I've spent a lifetime cultivating these defenses. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:29.000 See, none of us are naturally this kind of person. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:31.000 That's the point. 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:33.000 That's the whole point. 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:40.000 And so it's important that we know that we can be humble and we can be open in a tax collector-like way. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:43.000 You see, we don't need to fear openness. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:54.000 Because in surrender to Jesus, we are giving ourselves to one who loves us and who gave his life for us and who will never leave us or forsake us. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.000 And in that, there is real freedom. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:01.000 If you think about it, openness with someone who is going to hurt you. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:03.000 You don't want that. 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:07.000 Vulnerability with someone who is going to jump on that and exploit you. 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:08.000 You don't want that. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:19.000 Reality and openness with somebody who might be kind of responsible and respectful with that at the moment, but then leaves you. 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:20.000 And leaves you exposed. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:21.000 You don't want that. 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:23.000 Jesus is none of those. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:25.000 He loves us. 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:27.000 He gave his life for us. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:29.000 And he will never leave us or forsake us. 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:31.000 In Matthew 11, Jesus says, 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:37.000 Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your soul. 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:42.000 That rest, that soul rest, is what all of us long for. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:55.000 But as long as we keep Jesus at a distance, as long as we keep putting up our defenses, holding on to our control, keeping him at arm's length, that rest will always elude us. 00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:06.000 But if we allow him in, if we open up every corner of our hearts to the Lord Jesus in true humility, he gives us rest for our restless souls. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:08.000 Indeed, look at verse 14. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:11.000 He will, in the end, exalt us. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:16.000 Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:19.000 But the one who humbles himself will be exalted. 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:26.000 Now, what follows then in the next verses helps us press this in a bit further. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:29.000 So the tax collector embodies the humility of openness. 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:34.000 But in 15 to 17, Jesus takes us to the root of how it is that we can live this way. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:37.000 And he describes here the humility of dependence. 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:42.000 That's our second point, the humility of dependence, 15 to 17. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:46.000 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:49.000 And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:55.000 But Jesus called them to him saying, let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:01.000 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:06.000 We know that infants are completely dependent. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:16.000 The little ones that we have amongst us this morning, they need everything from their parents. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:20.000 The ones in the story here are completely dependent. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.000 They couldn't get to Jesus unaided. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.000 They had to be brought to him, we're told. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:28.000 Infants are unable to help themselves. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:31.000 They require others to do everything for them. 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:39.000 And Luke places these verses here because this was the posture of the tax collector as he came to God. 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:54.000 One author says this, he has, the tax collector has the nakedness, dependency, unselfconsciousness and simplicity about him that mark the tiny infants who Jesus says are those who enter the kingdom. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:23:01.000 Look at the newborns over coffee when you see the little ones that we have among us. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.000 They don't care what you think about them. 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:09.000 They are not worried about whether you like the way they are dressed or the way their hair is. 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:14.000 They don't put up defenses when they want something, they ask for it. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:15.000 They just cry. 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.000 They don't care who is around, they don't care who hears them, they just cry. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:23.000 And when they need something, they go for it. 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:27.000 When they need food, they reach out, they grab it and they stuff it in their face. 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:31.000 Or they get on their mother's breasts or whatever it might be. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:33.000 I'm ready to sleep. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:36.000 They don't care who is around. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:42.000 And of course their parents meet their every need with love. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:47.000 You can only relinquish your ego. 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:52.000 You can only be comfortable in silence. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:24:02.000 You can only embrace weakness and resist comparisons when you know that you are fully accepted in the Lord Jesus. 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:05.000 The Pharisee created his own identity. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:08.000 His identity was respectable and acceptable. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:11.000 And he created it for himself. 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:13.000 He had to keep performing. 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:22.000 And he had to keep telling others, including God, about his performance and how well he was doing compared to others. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:27.000 You know, the truth is we all have our own versions of this and it is a punishing way to live our lives. 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:35.000 How much of what we say and do, how much of the way we present ourselves, particularly if we are online, how much effort we put into presenting ourselves. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:40.000 It's all about the identity that we have created for ourselves. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:48.000 It's all about our desire to keep people thinking that we are impressive or like the Pharisee, respectable and acceptable. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:55.000 How much of the time that we spend or the time that we waste on social media is driven by image and performance and comparison. 00:24:55.000 --> 00:25:01.000 And then we wonder why we are so anxious. 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:16.000 But if like the tax collector, we don't create our own identity, but we come to Jesus in complete dependence like a newborn. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:22.000 We are welcomed and we receive the identity that is given by God. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:27.000 Over our heads, the words, verse 14, justified. 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:30.000 It's one word, justified. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:33.000 It's stamped in massive letters. 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:36.000 Accepted by God. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:41.000 You know, although he was in very nature God, Jesus humbled himself. 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:46.000 He was open and vulnerable in his weakness before and his dependence upon his father. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:51.000 And he descended, we know, to the lowest point, Philippians 2, death on a cross. 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:53.000 And he did it to atone for our sins. 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:57.000 And because of that, the apostle Paul says, he went to the lowest place. 00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:02.000 Therefore, because he went there, after his humbling, he is exalted. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:06.000 After his death, he is raised to life and he is vindicated. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:12.000 And as it was for him, so it is for all who are united to him by faith. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:20.000 What that means for you this morning, if you are trusting the Lord Jesus, is that you have the approval and the acceptance of heaven. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:25.000 In the Lord Jesus, the voice from heaven says of you, my beloved. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:39.000 My beloved. 00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:50.000 In whom I am well pleased. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:51.000 Despite all of your sin. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:57.000 In Christ, that's what God our Father says of you. 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:03.000 In Christ, that's what God our Father says of you. 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:04.000 In Christ, that's what God our Father says of you. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:08.000 In Christ, that's what God our Father says of you. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:12.000 And when you get that, when that hits your heart. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:14.000 When you understand it. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:18.000 My beloved, in whom I am well pleased. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:20.000 Despite all of your sin. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:22.000 Despite what is true about you. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:24.000 At your worst. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:25.000 In Christ. 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:26.000 When you get that. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:27.000 When you get that. 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:30.000 That frees you to be truly humble. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.000 That frees you to be fully real. 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:39.000 It is only when you humble yourself to depend on the Lord Jesus. 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:44.000 The way a nursing infant depends on her mother. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:47.000 That you can get yourself out of the way. 00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:50.000 You can stop thinking about yourself. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:52.000 You can use fewer words. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:58.000 You can not pat yourself on the back about your abilities or your gifts. 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:03.000 In fact, you don't even worry what other people have or don't have around you. 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:12.000 The humility of dependence is what opens the door to the openness of the tax collector. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:16.000 It is the humility of Christ. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.000 And so it is the humility of reality. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:23.000 That's what we need. 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:27.000 That's the posture that we're to have. 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:29.000 As citizens of the kingdom of God. 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:33.000 And that's what we have in Christ. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:38.000 Let's pray that he would help us to live out of that more and more. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:39.000 Let's do that now. 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.000 Let's pray together.