Scripture: Luke 18:9-14; Jeremiah 14:7-10;19-22 and Psalm 65
Theme: Humility Living
Title: God's Favorite Prayers
Proposition: Jesus shares with that God's Favorite Prayers are: 1. Prayers that come from a Spirit of Humility 2. Prayers that are Confessional in Nature 3. Prayers that lead to Redemption
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin of the world!
When Jesus called us to follow him we were not given a list of personal qualities or characteristics that we were to work on and acquire. Instead, as we read the Gospels we notice that when Jesus wanted his disciples to know how to live better as a disciple or when he wanted them to work on a certain personal quality he would share with them a story. Today, our passage is one of those stories.
It's the story of two men who go to the Temple to pray and worship. Both men are sincere and devout in their own way. One man was egotistical, smug and narcissistic. He was under the disillusionment that he was far superior to many others who were there praying. He makes himself the major focal point of his prayers. He prides himself on his dedication to the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting and stewardship. He knows that he has advanced in his spiritual walk and he wants the LORD to recognize his advancements.
In contrast the other man stands off to the side. It's as if he feels that he is unworthy to even be in the Temple. He keeps his head bowed and beats on his breasts in confession. This man centers his prayer on God. He calls out for God's mercy, grace and love. He readily confesses his unworthiness, his creatureness and his sinfulness.
It's clear from our passage which of the two models that Jesus approves. It is clear that Jesus wants us to adopt the model of the second man over that of the first man.
It is also clear that this passage is centered towards a particular audience. It is for those "who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else." It is for those who live and act like this Pharisee in Jesus' story.
At first, we might think that we don't need this story. After all, most of us would agree this morning that we don't think that we act that way.
+We don't think that we look around at times and judge ourselves by the actions of others thinking that we are either superior to them or inferior to them. Or do we?
+ We don't think that we look around and think that the person sitting over there just rubs us the wrong way. Or have we?
+ We don't think that at times we believe that some people possess a "holier than thou attitude" or an "I can do anything and it not be wrong " attitude. Or do we?
+After all, we would never think that we are glad that we are not Christian snobs like some people. And you would never catch us saying, "Real Christians don't do this or that"
You know what? Perhaps, Jesus' words this morning can help all of us.
We have to resist making the Pharisee the villain and the tax collector the hero or saint. After all, most of our church boards would love for someone who possesses the personal integrity and spiritual walk that this Pharisee in Jesus' story prides himself. Which person would we really want our daughter or granddaughter to date? We would want a person that could boast that they were living better than the Law or a person who had to confess that they were a sinner?
Would we not want to help this tax collector take the next step in his spiritual journey? Would we not want him to begin to display some of the very personal qualities that we see in the Pharisee - dependability, prayer, stewardship and faithfulness? What would we say if in a couple of weeks we found ourselves in the Temple hearing the same prayer from this tax collector? How would we view him?
It is here that we have to come back to our parable and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us it's true meaning. It is here we have to allow the Holy Spirit to open our minds and hearts to receive this story's true teaching and wisdom.
Jesus once again uses the reversal motif to teach us a lesson on humility. He once again tells us that the exalted will be humbled and the humble will be exalted. Jesus also wants us to understand what type of prayers His Heavenly Father loves and that is what I would like for us to look at this morning. Exactly what kind of prayers does the Lord love to hear? What types of prayers does the Lord long for us to say? I believe our friend the tax collector can help us to see that the LORD loves prayers that are:
1. Humble - Prayers that arise out of a inner spirit of humility
Humility is greatly misunderstood today. True humility is not self-depreciation. It's not allowing people to simply push you around or step on you. Being humble doesn't mean that you are always submissive, modest or that you always let others win. C. S. Lewis helps us in this area when he reminds us that “Humility isn’t about thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”
The word humility comes from the Latin word "HUMUS". It means fertile ground.1 It means staying close to the ground. It means seeing oneself in a true light which means that we see ourselves as we truly are - we are creatures that come from the dirt but we are also creatures made in the image of God. There is a divine balance that we must retain.
Psalm 144:4 (ESV) 4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
Psalm 8:5 ..."You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor."
It means that we allow the LORD to search our hearts to their innermost depths. David wrote these words - "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalms 139:23-24).
Richard Foster calls this praying the prayer of examen2. It is asking the LORD to help us to see who we truly are and not as we want to be or as we think we are. It is a joint search involving us and the LORD. For as Foster reminds us "if we are the lone examiners of our hearts, a thousand justifications will arise and declare our innocence."
That was the failure of our brother Pharisee. He used himself as his own exclusive spiritual examiner. He thought he could judge himself. That is why he was able to approach God with a spirit of self-justification. He started from the premise that his righteous behavior mandated his spiritual perfection. He was perfect because he saw that his actions were perfect. He was perfect because He was his own spiritual judge.
When we approach God with a spirit of humility we are not declaring our innocence nor are we attempting to defend ourselves. Instead, we come obeying and listening. We come before His presence with the goal of allowing God to show us what we need to see and when we need to see it. We come with an open and receptive heart and mind.
Foster reminds us that when we approach God with a spirit of humility we are also not declaring ourselves unredeemable. We do not come before God to beat ourselves up or to proclaim that we can never be forgiven. Our friend the tax collector reminds us that we serve a God of mercy who will receive us. He knew in his heart that though his sins were many " The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." (Psalms 145:8). This tax collector knew that God would forgive him and justify his heart and life.
In his book, Beginning to Prayer, Metropolitan Anthony Bloom shared with us this key thought concerning humility and prayer:
"What we must start with, if we wish to pray, is the certainty that we are sinners in need of salvation, that we are cut off from God and that we cannot live without Him and that all we can offer God is our desperate longing to be made such that God will receive us, receive us in repentance, receive us with mercy and with love." (Beginning to Pray, p 31)
II. Secondly, God's favorite prayers are confessional
Both men make types of confession. However, only one man's confessional was towards the LORD. The other man's confession was more a statement of arrogance and pride than a time of confession and contrition.
Somewhere along the line this Pharisee in Jesus' story began to believe that his own self-righteousness would have great spiritual merit. He came to believe that somehow God must answer his prayers based solely on his own spiritual qualities and merit. Somehow he got the mistaken idea that he could win brownie points with God that he could cash in when he desired.
In his prayer he confesses but it is interesting how he confesses. He confesses that he is better than the others that are either in the Temple or out of the Temple. He spends a great deal of his prayer exalting himself while debasing others. He reminds God that he isn't an extortioner, an unjust person, an adulterer or even a person like that tax collector standing over there by himself. There is something about this man that we want to laugh out loud about when we read his so called confession. But, just about the time we are ready to laugh we feel a certain twinge in our souls.
How often have we AMEN a message when the preacher has railed against some sin and wanted to raise our hands and say "THAT'S NOT ONE OF MINE!" ? We don't swear, we don't get drunk, we don't watch pornography, we don't sleep around and we certainly are not of the LGBT crowd. We seem to want to say AMEN loudest when the preacher touches on those sins that we don't participate.
But then we hear someone focusing on the sins of gossip, anger, malice, unforgiveness, selfishness, not reaching out to the poor or the brokenhearted and suddenly we are at a loss for words. There is no amen or raising our hands. When we hear we are to live a life of simplicity, practice the discipline of fasting or getting quiet before the LORD we begin to feel uneasy. Suddenly, we think that the preacher/speaker is meddling in areas that are none of their business.
The reality is the closer we are to holiness the more we realize that we need to confess our own creatureness. The closer we get to the LORD the more we know we need to confess our constant dependence on God's mercy and grace.
In Isaiah 6 we have this beautiful picture of the Isaiah in the Temple. According to the Rabbinic literature, Isaiah was royal descendant of the royal house of Judah and Tamar and the brother of King Amaziah (Sotah 10b and Talmud tractage Megillah 15a). He is caught up in this wonderful vision of God's Holy Temple. Remember his confession? In the presence of the LORD, Isaiah does what any true worshipper does - He confesses his sin. The closer he came to holiness of the LORD the more aware he was of his own creatureness and his own unworthiness.
And it is through his confession that he receives grace, mercy and love. It is through his confession that the LORD sends an angel with the coal of fire to purify Isaiah. His confession of his creatureness, his unworthiness led to his transformation and commission. Notice, too that it was the confession of the tax collector that led to his vindication and justification.
Luke is quite clear in telling us in verse 13 that this tax collector stood apart and beat his breast. That singular act in itself was highly unusual. Beating one's breast was not the normal part either prayer or confession for a Jewish male. Beating one's breast was the usual act of confession for a Jewish woman. So, why does this man beat his breast while he prays? This was Jesus' way of showing us this man's humility and his deep sorrow for his sins. He was so overwrought that he completely surrendered himself.
Whereas the other man confesses his acts of righteousness this man correctly and authentically confesses his need for God's mercy and grace. This morning let us do the same.
III. Finally, God's favorite prayers lead to redemption
Please notice the heart of Jesus as he shares this parable. It is not shared with the intention of harming his fellow Pharisees. No doubt Jesus was drawn to their dedication and desire for holiness. No doubt Jesus was amazed with the manner in which they did all they humanly could to please the LORD. Jesus was not building some type of religious straw man to make the Pharisees look bad.
All too often that is how we see Jesus and the Pharisees. We see them as mortal enemies. We see them as adversaries. But that was simply not the case. Is it true that at times Jesus was rather harsh on the things that the Pharisee taught? Yes. Is it true that at times Jesus was rather harsh on the ways that the Pharisees lived out holiness? Yes.
But it is also true that in each case the LORD was calling the Pharisees back towards true holiness and righteousness. It is true that each time we read an encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees that our Lord is doing his best to reach out to them and bring them into a life of true holiness. And it is true in this particular case that those Pharisees who were listening were to understand that God loves to answer all prayers redemptively.
We do not serve a God who desires to condemn or cast judgment. Back in Luke chapter four Jesus tells us plainly what his mission was here on earth. Listen again to verses 18 - 19
The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor,
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
That mission was not limited to the disciples or to the poor or to those whom so many thought to be sinners. It included the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the scribes. The very reason we have this parable is not simply to teach how one should pray to the LORD but to reach out to those who were making the same mistakes as the Pharisees.
We are all called to a life of progressive spiritual formation. Over and over again Jesus tells his disciples that the Spirit will teach them, lead them and anoint them with His Presence so that they may be one with the Father, Himself and the Holy Spirit. We are called to enjoy a relationship that is forever growing deeper and richer over time. Over and over St. Paul teaches in his letters that the longer we are in Christ the more we are to mature in our faith. That same message is found in the teachings of both John and Peter and the rest of the New Testament.
The mistake of our Pharisee friend in our story is not his intention to live a holy life. It is not in his keeping of the law, tithing, fasting or prayer. All of those are commendable and desirable in a walk in Christ. The mistake he made was in resting on himself rather than on God's grace. The mistake was that he was focusing on his own self-righteousness rather than on God's mercy, grace and love. We don't want to leave this parable making the mistake of saying - "God, I thank you that I am not like this Pharisee". To do that would be to make the same mistake we see him making.
The key to the tax collector's prayer is that there is no statement of self-congratulations. There is no summary of his good deeds. There is no sense that God should be in awe or in appreciation for how he is or is not living out a life of holiness. There is one common thread - "GOD, have mercy on me a sinner."
This little prayer developed years later to become one of the foundational prayers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is called the Jesus Prayer and it goes like this - "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." The idea is that one would say the prayer over and over again allowing it to open one's heart and create a spirit of stillness. With each repetition one would focus on one of the words - Lord - Jesus - Christ - Son - of God - have - mercy - on me - a sinner. By focusing on that one word ( or words) one would be reminded of God's love, the Incarnation, the Lordship of Jesus and the redemption that comes with salvation. One would be reminded that it is only through Jesus we experience justification and sanctification.
It was seen as one of the strongest prayers that one could utter before the LORD. The Jesus prayer was said to be "essential" in one's spiritual growth. The Jesus prayer proclaims our faith and humbles us by us confessing that our salvation is made possible only through grace through faith alone. It proclaims the reality that only in Christ can we find redemption and restoration. The Jesus prayer helps us to realize that in ourselves we are nothing but in Christ all things are possible.
This tax collector's prayer is one that if we will pray it can help all of us this morning. It will bring healing and happiness in our lives. It will bring God's redemption. And isn't that the true goal of any prayer to bring about God's redemption in our lives, in the lives of others and in our world?
CLOSING PRAYER/OPENING THE ALTAR/RECIEVING FROM THE TABLE OF OUR LORD
This morning, then as we come to the LORD's Table what kind of prayers does the LORD love? Is it not a prayer that comes from a spirit of humility? Is it not a prayer that is confessional in nature? And is it not a prayer that leads to God's redemption, vindication and restoration?
This morning we come to the table of the Lord as beggars, but beggars who have been invited. We come as people who have experienced God's salvation. We come knowing that it is by grace through faith alone that we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We come infilled with the breath of the Lord and we come walking in the Holy Spirit. We come to receive grace and we come in a spirit of humility, in confession and enjoying the redemption of our LORD JESUS CHRIST!
This is God's Message for us today! Praise the LORD!
1 "Humility is the situation of the earth. The earth is always there, always taken for granted, never remembered, always trodden on by everyone, somewhere we cast and pour out all the refuse, all we don't need. It's there, silent and accepting everything and in a miraculous way making out of all the refuse new richness in spite of corruption, transforming corruption itself into a power of life and new possibility of creativeness, open to sunshine, open to the rain, ready to receive any seed we sow and capable of bringing thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold out of every seed." Beginning to Pray, p 35 Metropolitan Anthony Bloom
2See Richard Foster's book on PRAYER - Chapter Three - The Prayer of Examen.
