Amen. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Luke chapter 18.
Luke chapter 18. Jesus is the master teacher.
He knows how to grab you and take you in.
Every time I prepare a message on the words of Christ, I'm just hoping that I don't get in the way.
Because his words are true and they have a way of just kind of turning everything upside down.
I compared it a few weeks ago to when I used to watch boxing and give them some body blows
and finally they drop their hands and open up their head and knock them out.
And in the same way, Jesus had a way of speaking to folks in such a way that made them sensitive to what he had to say.
In other words, he speaks of the poor who are rich, the humble who are great,
the sinners who are forgiven, and the righteous that are really the sinners.
He even does that when he teaches on how to pray.
And in our passage today, he shows us the kind of prayer that works.
And I believe he shows us how we ought to look when we pray.
Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse 9, it says,
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'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week.
I give tithes of all that 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.
Jesus said,
Two men went up to pray.
Now, to go to the temple, you had to go up.
Jerusalem is a high point.
And any time you leave Jerusalem, you go down.
So it became synonymous with going up to worship.
When they talked about going up, they talked about going to worship.
Even if you're looking down from the Mount of Olives,
where the Garden of Gethsemane is,
the Temple Mount sits a little lower than the Garden of Gethsemane.
But even when you look at it, you still have to go down into the valley
and come up to go to worship.
Therefore, they were going up, being a righteous act of worship.
One man was a Pharisee.
Now, the Pharisees knew how to look.
They had to look.
Matter of fact, they were very concerned about their look.
Deion Sanders' approach is look good, feel good, feel good, play good.
And that's kind of like the Pharisees, you know.
All Pharisees, we knock them a lot because Christ knocked them a lot.
But they weren't bad people.
They lived upright lives.
The one that this one did more than was necessary.
When he brags at the altar about fasting twice a week, that wasn't necessary.
The reality is the law taught them to fast on the Day of Atonement.
But some would go, as my daughter would say, they were a little extra.
They would do a little extra.
And they would fast a couple of times a week,
particularly on Monday and Thursday.
And to emphasize it even more, they would pale their faces with whitener to show their misery.
Nevertheless, don't misunderstand me.
This is not a bad man.
He would be considered upstanding.
He would be considered a pillar.
He went the extra mile.
Not only that, but he gave extra, too.
One was to tithe their income, but...
And one still to tithe his or her income.
But not everything.
They would tithe...
Some would try to show out the things that they harvested.
They would try to tithe on those things as well.
Jesus mentions when he speaks to the scribes and the Pharisees
and how they loved to tithe on mint and other herbs just to show.
But in reality, there were so many other parts of their life that wasn't right.
Scripture is very clear that we're still to tithe our income, but not on everything.
I mean, listen.
When the harvest comes in and you get those wonderful, beautiful tomatoes at the house,
you don't have to bring the preacher the best you got.
You don't have to do that.
You can wait until they get old and rot.
But I'm telling you, it's not a biblical requirement.
But if you do, don't brag about it on the altar.
And that's what he was doing.
He, along with many Pharisees, went above and beyond.
The problem with them going above and beyond is they went above and beyond for the wrong reasons.
And Jesus verbally attacks them instead of the sharded sinner.
Why?
Because they were glorifying themselves instead of God.
They were so prone to be proud of themselves and their upright living that they gravitated,
listen to me, they gravitated toward looking right and being proud of how they looked.
They lived to be seen and looked down on anybody that didn't look the part.
That wasn't up to par with what they wanted to appear to be.
Just listen in verse 11 and 12 of the eyes that are in his statement here.
When he said, God, I thank you that I'm not like the other men.
I fast twice a week.
I give tithe of all I got.
Again and again, the emphasis was on I.
Concerned about what he looked like.
Luke even says before the parable, he mentions why Christ mentioned the parable in verse 9
when he said he spoke of people who trusted in themselves and treated others with contempt.
Literally, that means they counted others as nothing.
They were not concerned with anyone else.
They were concerned about themselves.
And they thought they were enough.
They thought they could live good enough to be right with God.
And the reality is they couldn't live good enough to be right with God
and we can't live good enough to be right with God.
We need a Savior.
There was also a tax collector there.
A crook.
A schemer.
He didn't look so good.
There were people in church that day going, what's he doing here?
He don't belong here.
But I'll tell you what he was doing there.
He was humbling himself before an almighty God.
Now, I don't want to make light of his sins because they were many and they were bad.
Jewish tax collectors were appointed by the Roman government to collect taxes from their very own people
and they were paid by the fees that they would add to the required tax.
They were notoriously known as extortionists, ripping people off.
Even Zacchaeus, when he came to the Lord, he said, because of what he had done as a tax collector,
he said, I give 50% of all I have to the poor and I will pay back fourfold anyone that I have defrauded of anything.
That says two things about this man and about Zacchaeus.
That one, they were crooked.
And second, they were changed.
Notice it says he was beating his breast.
That don't relate to our culture as much as it does to that culture.
It means he's hurting.
It means he's mourning.
It means he's ugly crying.
It means he's regretting.
He's remorsing.
It means he's sorry.
Not that he got caught.
He's sorry that he was wrong.
He's not asking God to look past his sin.
He's not asking God to help him feel better about his sin.
No, he says, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Literally, he says there, oh, God, be perpetuous to me, the sinner.
Now, that verb there comes from the same word as used for the mercy seat where the blood of the offering was sprinkled.
What that gives us clue to is that this crooked Jew had a background that helped him to understand the necessity of sacrifice.
He had been taught better.
There was a grandma praying somewhere in the background, I think.
There was a mama that brought him up the right way, apparently, because he knew the word.
And he didn't have a lamb.
He knew about a lamb.
He knew about a priest.
He didn't have a lamb, but he asked for forgiveness.
He didn't have a priest, but he asked for forgiveness.
And humbly, yet boldly, he came before the throne, helpless, broken, needing a Savior.
Now, you would expect a Pharisee in the temple, but you would not expect a Roman tax collector.
One flattered himself.
One was absolutely humiliated.
One pretended to be righteous, but was not really.
The other didn't pretend to be righteous, and he was made right.
One stood in an open, proud position, drenched with self-pride.
Now, Herbert Lockyer says this, he asked for nothing, confessed nothing, and received nothing.
There's not much worship in that, folks.
The other prayed at a distance.
He stood away.
He was ashamed.
And he cries out ashamed.
He's beating his breast, remorsefully and broken.
And as I pondered on that man last weekend,
I thought about what he must be feeling and what he must be saying in his heart.
I couldn't help but think of that old song, Rock of Ages,
that says, not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands.
Could my zeal, no respite, no.
Could my tears forever flow.
All could never sin erase.
Thou must save, and thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring.
Simply to the cross I cling.
I mean, this man looks dirty.
And he's the one that gets clean.
And the one that looks clean is the one that leaves dirty.
One is justified, one is not.
One is forgiven, one is not.
Because you've got to see your guilt in order for it to be made right.
So the Pharisee was concerned about how he looked in prayer,
and the tax collector was not, and yet his prayer was effective.
And effective prayer looks pretty good.
And when Jesus says that, the righteous establishment comes unglued.
They don't like it?
So what does that parable say to us?
What does that mean to us?
Well, I think it means, I think it tells us how we should look when we pray.
First, when we pray, we need to look up.
We need to look up.
Because worship's not about us.
It's about God.
I want to ask you a rhetorical question.
I want you to think about it, not only in our time together this morning,
but throughout this day.
Why are you here this morning?
I mean, many go to church to see what they can get out of it.
I came because I want you to bless me today.
I came because I want you to serve me today.
I want to see what's in it for me.
And I'll just tell you, friend, that's not worship.
That's no different than when you leave here and you go to a restaurant,
make an order, waiting on somebody to serve you.
I mean, that's no different than going to a show
and saying, I paid the money, perform for me.
Worship is turning our eyes upon Christ.
As the old song says, looking full in his wonderful face
and allowing the things of this world to go strangely dim
in the light of his glory and his grace.
Worship is not about what do you have for me today,
but Lord, what do you want of me today?
And I'm kind of weird because I don't like to call this hour a worship service
because I think it does a disjustice to what we're supposed to be doing here.
To me, this is a worship hour.
At least you hope it's an hour, right?
But anyway, it's a worship hour.
We're to serve him when we leave this room.
We serve him throughout the week.
We serve him when we meet the people walking down the streets.
We serve him as we follow his lead, as we trust in the Lord
and lean not on our own understanding,
but in all of our ways acknowledge him.
That's how we serve.
Worship is adoring him, putting him in proper place and privilege,
but it's not service.
I'll just tell you, I'm glad you're here, but this is not enough.
When you come in here, you ought to sing with all your heart.
You ought to pray with all your might.
You ought to listen and obey and give obediently
and then go and then serve
because sitting is not serving.
The first act of worship is to look up.
The greatest scene of adoration and worship of God in Scripture,
I believe, besides the book of Revelation,
is in Isaiah chapter 6.
When Isaiah goes before the throne of God in prayer,
God gives him a vision in the midst of horrible times in his country.
And I believe it's a pattern for us
because it begins with Isaiah being caught up
with the magnificent presence of God.
And my friend, we need to get caught up.
I pray that we get caught up.
That's how we ought to begin our worship.
Jesus teaches us in the model prayer.
Our Father in heaven, holy is your name.
The first thing we ought to do in prayer is look up
because it's not about us, it's about him.
And then we also ought to look in.
Because when we look up to the Lord, it's amazing how,
I don't know how to describe this,
but it's amazing how when we look up to the Lord,
how there's a reflection that we can see of ourselves
and the mess of the state that we're in.
After Isaiah worshiped at the throne of God,
he said, woe is me, I am lost.
I believe our lives will change when we see God for who he is.
And as this Pharisee did, missing meals and tithing double
does not fix the state that we're in.
We have to see that without the grace and forgiveness of God,
we are all in a mess.
We're in a mess.
And until we see that, until we acknowledge that, there's no hope.
I mean, among Christians, there are many that do not smoke,
do not drink, do not cuss or run with those who do.
They're pretty people.
They are excellent at golf or fishing or hunting or fixing.
They have beautiful, clean, wonderful homes and spotless cars,
and they put their all in their career and can show the fruit of it
or at least part of it.
They may even be stewards of what they have,
and they give faithfully and they attend faithfully
and they speak eloquently.
They seem to have it all,
and they attempt to show that they do, in fact, have it all.
Just check Facebook.
You'll see.
But if that's the case,
if that's the case for you,
you've received your reward.
I mean, that's it.
Because the problems that we have are within us,
and there are many.
And they are not solved if they or if we will not admit them to God.
We don't even admit them to ourselves oftentimes.
And to confess our sins literally means to agree with God
on what our sins are.
To agree with God on our sins,
that Christ died for our sin,
and that our sins are a big deal
because he died for them.
Even the little white ones,
the little sins.
Confess it,
and confess it all.
But I want to be clear,
confess it to God.
I'm with Spurgeon,
who said,
if you ever make a confession before man,
let it be a general one,
but not a particular one.
Because focusing on the gory details
of your past stupidity and testimony time
makes for a distraction.
It actually is another form of selfishness.
But confessing it to God
is getting it right.
And through the scope of the Holy Spirit of God,
we have to look inside of ourselves,
and we get to look inside of ourselves
and see what's really wrong with us.
I want you to imagine something.
I want you to think about someone
going to the doctor
and making an appointment
and going to see the doctor
and getting in there
and saying,
Doc, I want you to know
that I am in perfect health.
I mean, my lungs are clear,
my muscle tone is perfect,
my digestion could not be better,
my circulation's better
than anybody else I know.
I have no infections,
I have no diseases,
I have no hurts,
I have no ailments.
Matter of fact,
I was sitting in the waiting room
out there looking at everybody.
Man, I'm telling you,
I am in perfect health,
especially compared to them.
What's the doctor to do?
What's the point of your visit
except to brag about how great you are?
But yet, that's sometimes
the way we come before the face of the Lord.
Lord, look at me.
But to really worship,
to seek the face of God,
you got to look in.
Tell you what else you need to do,
you need to look out.
It is easy to criticize this Pharisee.
I mean, Luke tells us in the beginning
what to look for
before he ever started the parable.
And folks don't like people
like this Pharisee.
Those perfect people
or those people who think they're perfect.
I mean, who does he think he is anyway?
Don't like folks like that.
But let us be careful.
Some that criticize him
will not spend the time
that he does in prayer.
Some will criticize him
for bragging about his tithe,
yet in reality,
they're robbing God themselves
by not being stewards
of what God has given to them.
So be careful
because when we start criticizing others
for what they're doing,
we're doing the same thing
the Pharisee was doing.
Ivan,
Ivor Powell said this.
He said,
it's very easy to criticize a man
who has only climbed
halfway up a ladder,
but if we have not even left the ground,
our mouths should remain closed.
If we're not careful,
we'll be like that Sunday school teacher
that taught this parable.
And at the end of it,
she said,
now let's thank God
that we're not like that proud Pharisee.
So when we pray,
look out.
Look out for surface prayers
that do not get to the heart of the matter.
Look out for sin
that we try to justify
but are much more wrong
than we think they are.
Look out for our attempts
to avoid the reality of our sin
and make it sound a lot milder
than it is.
Euphemisms in prayer
is dangerous.
Look out about holding our head up
so high
even before the throne of grace.
I'll tell you how you ought to look
when you pray.
You ought to look out.
And then lastly,
I believe you ought to look around.
And when you open your eyes
at the close of your prayer,
you ought to look around.
I noticed something about this Pharisee.
I noticed about the tax collector too.
It says the Pharisee stood
by himself.
But it also says
that the tax collector
stood
at a distance.
We're to pray alone.
We're to spend time
with God alone.
But we are not to stay there.
Because when we get right,
we have to open our eyes,
get up from our place of devotion,
or today,
get up from our pew
and look around
and see where God
would have us to serve.
It's easy to enjoy God alone.
I do it practically
every morning early
before anybody else
in my house is up.
But then they get up.
And then you got to go
face the world.
You are not faithful
to his plan
if all you do
for him
is alone.
I said,
I don't consider this a service.
I consider it a worship hour.
But I want you to know
you'll have the opportunity
in just a few minutes
as we leave this place
to serve others.
And I have no idea how.
But God has strategically
placed us here
to use us
in a mighty way.
Even where we are now.
Do not miss
the blessings
of Pickens First Baptist Church.
Spurgeon said,
Satan hates Christian fellowship.
It's his policy
to keep Christians apart.
I've learned it.
Learned it from the Nature Channel.
Watching those hyenas
go in a pack
with a lion
hiding in the brush
waiting on one hyena
to hang out
to hang out too long
by himself.
And then he attacks.
That's why Scripture says
he's like a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour.
And he'll sneak up on you too.
Let's get together.
Let's make a point
to step outside
of our comfort zone maybe.
We are blessed
with the opportunity
for small groups.
We are blessed
with prayer groups.
We are blessed
with groups
that walk through
a study together.
We are blessed
with groups
that just get together
weekly,
reflect on a few things,
pray together,
and fellowship together.
In a couple of weeks
we'll have our
Thanksgiving meal together.
We'll celebrate
the Lord's Supper
around the table.
We'll have the opportunity
to fellowship together.
And Satan loves
to keep us away
from those things.
He loves to keep us idle.
He loves to keep us
between places.
Not committed.
Just continuing on.
muttering on
instead of really
investing our lives.
So let's get together.
You want to know
how you look
when you pray?
You look up.
You make him
the focus of your prayer.
Our hope and prayer
is not to change heaven
but to change us.
So look up.
Look in.
Look out
because we can easily
get in trouble
thinking too much
of ourself
and then look around.
Let God use you.
It's interesting to me
how Jesus closes this.
as the worship hour
closed
the Pharisee went away
even more guilty
than the one
that he came in with
and that dirty old
tax collector
left justified.
That's what Scripture
says.
He left justified.
You know what that means?
That means he left clean.
So my question today is
how are you going
to leave today?
Oh, Pastor, I'm fine.
I'm not a Pharisee
and I'm not a tax collector.
Yeah, I know.
Pharisee realized
my question is
did the Pharisee realize
that he left
in worse shape
than he came?
Probably not.
And a lot of folks
leave church
the same way.
And I'm just saying
quit standing over there.
Truly
know where to look
how to look
when you pray
and then do
what he tells you to do.
with every head bowed
and every eye closed.
I ask you this morning
where are you at?
I don't mean the address.
I know that.
I mean,
what is it in your life
that you need God
to intervene in?
That needs to change
in you.
It's possible
that one's here
this morning
and you've never
you've never
surrendered your life
to Christ.
You may have been
part of church.
You may not have been.
You may have been
raised in a good home.
You may not have been.
But in reality
in your own life
there's never been
a time when you've
surrendered your life
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You've asked him
to forgive you
and to cleanse you
and to come into your life
and change you.
And if that's your story
I want you to know
that today's
the day of salvation.
you have the opportunity
to come to him
and be changed
by him.
Maybe you're here
and you do know
that you're a Christian
but the reality is
you ain't praying right.
You ain't looking
in the right place.
You ain't looking
the right way.
God needs to do
a work in your life
and I'm thankful
this altar is open.
I'd love to pray
with you if you'd like
or you can do it
right where you are.
Whatever God
leads you to do
I just think
you ought to get it
settled before you
leave this place.
Maybe you're here
and God's drawing you
to this fellowship.
You know this is
where you're to be.
I just ask you
to obey God.
Just do what
he tells you to do.
Maybe you've made
a private decision
but you've never
made that public.
You've never been
baptized as a believer.
I want you to know
you're welcome to come.
I'd love to talk
to you about that.
Jesus told us
about a proud Pharisee
and a dirty sinner
so that we could
see our own life
and see what it is
in our life
that needs him
to touch
and to change
and I encourage
you to do just
that this morning.
Heavenly Father
I love you
and I thank you
for the privilege
you give us
to worship
this morning Lord.
Lead us
oh God I pray
right now
to simply be obedient
to follow you.
In Jesus precious name
Amen.