Series: What He Said
Title: What He Said About Spiritual Pride
Text: Luke 18:9-14
Thesis: In the story of the Pharisee and the Tax-Collector Jesus does not compare their deeds… he compares their attitudes. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled an those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Introduction
Columnist for the New York Times, David Brooks, reflecting on human overconfidence wrote, "We're an overconfident species." He calls it a "magnification of the self," and he believes this glut of self-esteem is especially rampant in the United States. To back up these claims, Brooks cites an array of statistics, studies, and observations:
• When pollsters ask people from around the world to rate themselves on different traits, Americans usually supply the most positive self-ratings.
• Although American students do not perform well on global math tests, they are among the world leaders in having self-confidence about their math abilities.
• Compared to college students from 30 years ago, today's college students are much more likely to agree with statements such as "I am easy to like."
• 94 percent of college professors believe they have above-average teaching skills.
• 70 percent of high school students surveyed claim they have above-average leadership skills, and only 2 percent are below average.
• Brooks observes that a few decades ago it would have been unthinkable for a baseball player to celebrate himself in the batter's box after hitting a home run. Today it is routine. If you watch football games you likely see tacklers celebrating over their opponent as if they have just slain a dragon and ball carriers leaping to their feet and pointing downfield as if they are about storm the beach at Normandy. They are ridiculous displays of arrogance.
• The number of high school seniors who believed that they were "a very important person": in the 1950s—12 percent; in the 1990s—80 percent.
• According to Brooks, American men are especially susceptible to the perils of overconfidence. Men unintentionally drown twice as often as women (because men have great faith in their swimming ability, especially after drinking).
"In short," Brooks concludes, "there's abundant evidence to suggest that we have shifted a bit from a culture that emphasized self-effacement—I'm not better than anybody else, but nobody is better than me—to a culture that emphasizes self-expansion." (David Brooks, "The Modesty Manifesto," The New York Times, 3-21-11)
Keeping that sense of what some may perceive as our own individual exceptionalism in mind, then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else. Luke 18:9
I. Two People
Two men went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax-collector. Luke 18:10
In his sermon Good Guys, Bad Guys and Us Guys Haddon Robinson reminds us that the Pharisees were good guys and tax-collectors were bad guys. He likened them to the old westerns we watched where the good guys wore white hats and rode white horses and the bad guys wore dark hats and rode dark horses and the good guys always out-rode and out-shot the bad guys and rode off into the sunset singing “yippee ki yay” or “high ho silver away” or “happy trails to you until we meet again.”
We contemporary Christians have been conditioned to immediately conclude that the Pharisees were self-righteous hypocrites, which they often were, however they were also good and godly people who aspired to be good and godly people.
Tax collectors, on the other hand were known to be corrupt businessmen. They bought the right to tax in much the same was as contractor bid for government contracts today and taxed as much as the market would bear… as long as they made their scheduled payments to Rome, Rome did not care how much they kept for themselves. So tax-collectors tended to get rich by taking advantage of the public through excessive taxation.
So Jesus begins this story with two people. A Pharisee, who is a moral pillar of society and a tax-collector who is a despised and despicable member of society.
A. A Pharisee – Admired and respected.
B. A Tax-Collector – Despised.
Both men are there at the Temple for the specific purpose of praying so we have two prayers.
II. Two Prayers
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed… while the tax-collector stood at a distance. Luke 18:11 and 13
A. The Pharisee’s Prayer
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of my income.’ Luke 18:11-12
The Pharisee, as I mentioned earlier, was a good person. He was correct in pointing out his piety. He wasn’t a sinner like everyone else. He didn’t cheat. He wasn’t an adulterer. He fasted twice a week. He was a faithful tither. I would guess that he could have rattled off several more things he was good at.
The problem with the Pharisee was not that he wasn’t good at a lot of things… the problem was that he was bad at humility. He was of the charts when it came to spiritual pride.
What kind of person says, “I thank God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. I’m certainly not like that tax-collector!”?
There was a young woman who struggled with pride who went to her pastor and confessed, “Pastor, I have a besetting sin, and I want your help. I come to church on Sunday and I can’t help thinking I’m the prettiest girl in the congregation. I know I ought not think that, but I can’t help it. I want you to help me with it.”
The pastor relied, “”Mary, don’t worry about it. In your case it’s not a sin. It’s just a horrible mistake.”
The Pharisee’s lack of humility and abundance of pride was his problem. Of all the things God hates, pride ranks right up there at the top of the list: There are six things the Lord hates – no seven things he detests.
Haughty eyes (pride) , a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family. Proverbs 6:16-19
John Burke, pastor of Gateway Church in Austin, Texas, assumed that he was not a judgmental person. But just in case he was wrong, he tried an experiment. For a whole week he kept track of his judgments about other people. Here's what he discovered:
I watch the news and condemn those "idiotic people" who do such things. Most reality TV shows are full of people I can judge as sinful, ignorant, stupid, arrogant, or childish. I get in my car and drive and find a host of inept drivers who should have flunked their driving test—and I throw in a little condemnation on our Department of Public Safety for good measure! At the store, I complain to myself about the lack of organization that makes it impossible to find what I'm looking for and who picks that music anyway? I stand in the shortest line, which I judge is way too long because, “for heaven’s sake people, it says '10 items or less,' and 1 count more than that in three of your baskets—what's wrong with you people?" And why can't that checker check and what is she wearing? Come on people focus so we can get out of here? As I reflected on John Burke’s comments I found myself reminding myself of my own judgment of those guys who wear their all askew on their heads and let their pants droop down below their backsides… “For Pete’s sake, put your hat on straight and pull up your pants!”
Judging is our favorite pastime, if we're honest—but we're not! We're great at judging the world around us by standards we would highly resent being held to! Judging makes us feel good because it puts us in a better light than others. (John Burke, Mud and the Masterpiece (Baker Books, 2013), pp. 60-61)
“I thank God I am not a sinner like other people and especially so that I am not like that tax-collector.”
Then there was the Tax-Collector’s Prayer.
B. The Tax Collector’s Prayer
But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ Luke 18:13
Here is a man so completely broken and so ashamed he cannot lift his eyes. He is so broken he is beating himself… not in a way to draw attention as those who practice self-flagellation on Good Friday to demonstrate their piety but in true self-abasement. And he is crying out to God for mercy and forgiveness because he recognizes and identifies himself as a sinner in need of mercy and forgiveness.
In The Testament, novelist John Grisham paints a portrait of one man's surrender to God's will. Nate O'Reilly is a disgraced corporate attorney plagued by alcoholism and drug abuse. After two marriages, four detox programs, and a serious bout with dengue fever, Nate acknowledges his need for God. Grisham describes the transformation:
With both hands, he clenched the back of the pew in front of him. He repeated the list, mumbling softly every weakness and flaw and affliction and evil that plagued him. He confessed them all. In one long glorious acknowledgment of failure, he laid himself bare before God. He held nothing back. He unloaded enough burdens to crush any three men, and when he finally finished Nate had tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered to God. "Please, help me."
As quickly as the fever had left his body, he felt the baggage leave his soul. With one gentle brush of the hand, his slate had been wiped clean. He breathed a massive sigh of relief, but his pulse was racing. (John Grisham, The Testament (Random House, 1999), p. 374)
Two men. Two Prayers. Two Outcomes.
III. Two Outcomes
I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. Luke 18:14a
A. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled. Luke 18:14b
The Pharisee may have prayed the more dignified prayer and he likely went home relieved that he did not make a spectacle of himself as had the despicable tax-collector. But he went home no better in the eyes of God for his prayer and in fact he went home the worse for it.
The Tax-Collector’s outcome was quite different.
B. Those who humble themselves will be exalted
And those who humble themselves will be exalted. Luke 18:14c
In this story the Pharisee was doing the right things. He was doing good things but perhaps for the wrong reasons. Certainly in this story Jesus was not comparing the deeds or works of the two men. If we looked at their works, so to speak, there was no contest. The Pharisee would win by a landslide. But they both had come to pray. It was not an election. It was not a popularity contest. It was a bearing of the hearts before God. And in this story Jesus compares the attitudes of their hearts.
Jesus said the tax-collector went home that day justified in the eyes of God… those who humble themselves will be exalted.
The Pharisee came with a heart full of pride and went home a sinner.
The Tax-Collector came with a heart full of humility and went home justified.
Conclusion
The film Amazing Grace chronicles William Wilberforce as he endeavors to end the British transatlantic slave trade in the nineteenth century.
Wilberforce has made an earlier visit to his old pastor and friend John Newton. Newton himself was a former captain of a slave ship prior to his conversion to Christ and Wilberforce was hopeful that Newton would give an account of his slave-ship days. Newton, however, refused to do so, because the experience and the "20,000 ghosts" haunted him too greatly.
Now, near success in ending the slave trade, Wilberforce visits Newton and discovers that he has recorded his account. His eyesight now gone, Newton says to Wilberforce, "You must use it. Names, records, ship records, ports, people—everything I remember is in here. Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly: I'm a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior." (Amazing Grace, Samuel Goldwyn Pictures, 2006, directed by Michael)
As far as takeaways go William Barclay suggests two:
• No person who is proud or despises others can pray.
• Only the person who is utterly broken and humble before God can pray.
• Perhaps another takeaway this morning is to humbly agree with John Newton affirming: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior. Thanks be to God!
