As we look at this parable of Jesus today, we should
remember that it comes in the context of Jesus’ teaching about the
characteristics of the coming of the kingdom of God. This is what Jesus is presenting here in chapter 18. As I said last week, it’s not a
couple of stories about how to get more results from our prayers. Many people have taught this section
that way.
But this whole chapter must be looked at in the context of
chapter 17 vs. 20, when Jesus responds to a question about the coming of the
kingdom of God. So even though
vs.1-8 mentions prayer, and this parable starting in vs.9 mentions prayer, that
is not the main thrust of this teaching.
The main thrust is the coming of the kingdom of God and being prepared
for it. In last weeks parable, the
teaching was that when the consummation of the kingdom is delayed, we are not
to become disillusioned or discouraged, but we are to continue to keep praying
for the return of the Lord. In
spite of all that is going on in the world, in spite of the fact that it looks
like God isn’t paying attention, Jesus is encouraging us to not lose heart, but
keep focused in prayer on the glory which is yet to be revealed. Don’t give up. Don’t lose heart. God is going to act
in judgment, and we need to be looking for His return.
Now in today’s parable, the emphasis changes somewhat. Jesus is still talking about the
kingdom of God and will continue to do so through the end of the chapter. But specifically in this parable He is
indicating that righteousness is required to enter the kingdom, and contrasting those who think they are
righteous, with those that God declares are righteous.
Now that is a pretty significant distinction. What this
parable is teaching is that it is entirely possible to be self satisfied in
your definition of righteousness, and yet not satisfy God’s standard of
righteousness. And that would be a
tragedy, would it not? To go to
the end of your life thinking you have obtained righteousness, only to have the King of Heaven declare
you unfit for the kingdom.
Now this is a very simple parable. There are only two people in this illustration. Two men come to worship God, and yet
only one is justified. The first
person that Jesus talks about is a Pharisee. I don’t want to take for granted that everyone here is
familiar with a Pharisee. So let
me give you a quick definition. A
Pharisee literally means “separated ones”. They were a sect of Judaism that strictly observed the law
of God and consequently served as something of a public barometer of
religious fervor. Jesus said about them at the beginning
of the Sermon on the Mount that unless your righteousness exceeded the
righteousness of the Pharisees you could not enter the kingdom of heaven. To borrow a quote from Ferris Bueller’s
Day Off, “they were pretty righteous dudes.” They were known for a fastidious approach to keeping the
law. And that brings up
another important aspect of the Pharisees. They loved to be known for their religious fervor. They paraded their righteousness in
public and made sure that everyone knew just how religious they were. Jesus called them hypocrites. The word hypocrite literally means an
actor on a stage. They did their
works for the applause of men.
In Matthew 6 Jesus says three times that the Pharisees did
their good deeds to be seen of men. [Mat 6:2, 5, 16] 2 "So when you give
to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say
to you, they have their reward in full. ... 5 "When you pray, you are not
to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues
and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you,
they have their reward in full. ... 16 "Whenever you fast, do not put on a
gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that
they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they
have their reward in full.”
Now that is the negative aspects of the Pharisees, but to be
fair let’s also consider the positives.
After all, no one is perfect, are they? The good attributes of Pharisees were that first of all they
worshipped the one true God. They
recognized and had faith in Jehovah God.
They revered Him.
Secondly, they believed the Scriptures. They studied the Scriptures and memorized large portions of
them. Thirdly, they prayed
regularly. Fourthly, they were
zealous for good works. And
fifthly, they were faithful in attending the religious festivals and Sabbaths
associated with worship.
Now none of those things are bad in and of themselves. It’s all good stuff; they believed in
the one true God, they studied the Scriptures, they prayed a lot, were zealous for good works, and were
faithful in worship. Sounds like
they would have made a good Baptist, or a good Methodist, for that matter. The point is, it sounds like your
typical committed church member, doesn’t it? Basically good people, church going, God fearing
people. In fact, I would go so far
as to say that compared with the average church member today, they actually
went much further. The Pharisees
were fastidious about worshipping God.
They took it to another level.
They were the kind of people that if you knew them, you would say “if
anyone was going to get to heaven, then the Pharisees were.”
I can’t say that without remembering this lady in the church
where I grew up down in eastern N.C.
Her name was Mrs. Brown.
She was the quintessential church lady. She wore those cat eye glasses that they wore back in the
60’s, and she had a bee bonnet hairdo.
She kind of had a bad overbite too, which she was self conscious about
so she kept her lips pursed all the time.
To a little 11 year old boy, Mrs. Brown seemed like the picture of what
holiness was supposed to look like.
Back in those days, my dad who was the pastor, loved to
preach on the rapture. And I had
developed a morbid fear that somehow Christ was going to come back and everyone
was going to be taken, except for me.
Well, one day I thought it actually happened. We lived next door to the church in the parsonage. And I remember one summer afternoon, I
couldn’t find my mother or my brother.
So I went over to the church to look for them. And I didn’t see anyone at the church. My dad’s study was empty. My mother and brother were nowhere
around. And the really scary thing
was there was a day care center in the back of the church. And that was empty too.
Well, when I found the day care empty it was the last straw.
I started running around the church crying, sobbing, calling out for my mother,
thinking that somehow God had decided that I wasn’t really saved and had left
me behind. I was so upset at the
thought of having to go through the tribulation and see the anti Christ and all
that, that I didn’t know what to do. And then I thought of Mrs. Brown. I said to myself that if anyone was saved, it would have to
be Mrs. Brown. And so in desperation
I ran home and called her house.
And the phone rang and rang.
And just before I hung up the phone someone picked up the other
end. It was Mrs. Brown. I was so relieved I couldn’t stop
crying. When I told her what had
happened she said she had been leaving the house and forgotten something and
came back inside just as the phone was ringing. Thank God for Mrs. Brown. I probably wouldn’t be here today if she didn’t answer that
phone.
Now that doesn’t have much to do with my message, but the
Pharisees were kind of like Mrs. Brown.
If anyone was saved, you would have to think it was the Pharisees. From
all outward appearances these were good people, the best of people. And yet Jesus says that they were not
justified before God. So as we
look at this parable we need to figure out what was wrong about their worship.
Something was missing. So Jesus reveals what the Pharisee is missing by means of his prayer. Prayer is one
element of worship. And so Jesus examines his prayer, because his prayer
reveals his heart. Now in the
parable Jesus says that this Pharisee comes to the temple to pray. There were morning and evening prayers
that were offered at the times of daily sacrifices. And I am sure that as a good Pharisee regular attendance at
the temple sacrifices was his daily practice.
Now it’s interesting how Jesus describes his prayer. He says in vs. 11, “The Pharisee stood
and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other
people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of
all that I get.’”
Now let’s examine his prayer. First of all, notice that he is standing. We have already looked at Matthew 6:5
where Jesus describes a Pharisee praying and standing in a synagogue or on a
street corner. Now there was
nothing wrong about standing to pray, in and of itself. You can stand, you can sit, you can
kneel, or you can fall down prostrate; all of those may be appropriate postures
of prayer. But the implication
here and in Matt. 6:5 is that the Pharisee was standing in a place and in such
a way so as to be seen of men. So
that is the first indication of something wrong. This person loves the spotlight. They have to be up front,
on stage. Their attitude reveals a
lack of humility.
You know, I always feel uncomfortable when some one wants to
pray over me in public. Maybe it’s
a lack of humility on my part, I don’t know. I try to be accommodating. But sometimes I have to be just a little suspicious of these
people that will pray over you in a public place, laying one hand on your
shoulder and raising the other hand in the air. And they go off on this long prayer, supposedly for your
benefit. Maybe I’m too cynical, but
I can’t help but wonder sometimes if it is because they want to be seen to be
praying over you, to be in the position of the one doing the blessing, and you
end up feeling like you’re being used for their benefit.
Jesus says in Matt. 6:5 that they pray standing in
synagogues or on the street to be seen of men, and consequently they have their
reward right here on earth. Jesus
gave instruction in Matt. 6:6 how to pray; He said pray in your closet, pray in
secret, and your Father who sees the secret things will reward you. The point is not whether you are
standing or sitting or in private or public, the point is your attitude and
your motivation for praying. The
point is that you reveal your secrets to God, knowing that God knows the
secrets of your heart.
Secondly, notice Jesus says this Pharisee was praying to
himself. That almost seems like
Jesus misspoke. And yet I think it
is deliberate. The Pharisee may
have been addressing God, but he was speaking to himself. He was praying for everyone else’s benefit,
but not God’s. He was not praying
for God’s will to be done, for God’s kingdom to come, but he was praying to be
heard by men, to be seen by men.
I often have people say that they don’t know how to pray in
public. Listen, the way to pray in
public is not to rehearse, not to listen to how others do it and then try to
mimic their style or way of delivery.
It’s not to show how great you are at oratory or prose. The way to pray is to humble yourself
before God. Open your heart to God
and just talk to Him in sincerity and humbleness as if you were the only person
in the world. Empty yourself of
your pride. I’d rather listen to
20 seconds of prayer like that than 30 minutes of prayer from someone that
wants to show everyone all the scripture that he knows and all the doctrine
that he thinks he knows. God
doesn’t like to be used either. He
won’t accept worship which uses Him to show off.
Thirdly, his prayer reveals his pride and self
righteousness. He prayed, “God, I
thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or
even like this tax collector.”
Notice that this guy manages to mention himself five times in two
sentences. That is an indication
of where his heart is at. He is
prideful. He is comparing himself
to others, and those that do so tend to magnify others shortfalls while
minimizing there own.
Paul said in 2Cor. 10:12 about such people that “when they
measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they
are without understanding.” Such
people measure themselves by others, compare themselves to others, and think
that they are more righteous, more zealous, and view others with contempt. But the problem is that they are using
the wrong standard of measure.
They are measuring fallen men against fallen men, and not against the
standard of holiness that God requires.
God’s standard of holiness is found in the OT and the NT, and
it is the same standard in both.
It says in Leviticus chapter 11 and 19 and in 1 Peter 1, “You shall be
holy, for I am holy.” I quoted RC Sproul
a couple of weeks ago as saying that the holiness of God is the only attribute
of God that is repeated in triplicate.
Both Isaiah and Revelation declare that God is holy, holy, holy. The scriptures do not say God is
love, love, love. But it does say
that God is holy, holy, holy. And
when you measure yourself by the standard of God’s holiness, then everyone
comes short of the kingdom of God.
There is none righteous, no not one. The Pharisee only measures himself against other men. He
measures outward manifestations, and doesn’t examine his heart.
So the Pharisee’s prayer reveals that he is self
righteous. Not holy in the sight
of God, but only appearing holy to himself and to men. And to bolster that self righteousness,
he gives a list of what he does which he think constitutes righteousness. He says, “I fast twice a week.” The law only required that one fast
once a year, and that was on the day of atonement. There were other times someone could fast if they wished,
but there was only one day required.
The problem though isn’t his fasting, it’s that he did so to
be seen of men. That’s what Jesus
said in Matt. 6. Jesus said that
rather when you fast, you should wash your face and put on normal clothes so
that people won’t notice that you’re fasting. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Jesus says if you’re noticed fasting by
men, then you already have your reward.
I can’t help but wonder if those people that fast at Lent and mark a
cross on their forehead in ashes, I can’t help but wonder if they take these
instructions by Jesus seriously.
They must not.
And the other thing this guy offers as an indication of his
righteousness is that he tithes of everything that he receives. Under the old covenant, they had a
theocratic style of government that required ten percent of what you got went
to fund the national government, ten percent went to fund the national
festivals and feasts on high holy days, and ten percent every third year for
the poor. So altogether there was about a 23 and a third percent tax, that's
what funded the theocratic kingdom of Israel.
But again in Matt. 6, Jesus says the problem with the
Pharisees tithing was that they sounded a trumpet before they gave to draw
attention to themselves. And so
Jesus said that rather than tithing producing righteousness, they received an
earthly reward, they got the praise of men. Jesus said in Matt. 6 that the way to give alms was not to
let your right hand know what your left hand was doing. Now I think that had a double
meaning. It meant don’t broadcast
to your neighbor know what you are giving, first of all. But I think secondly it meant don’t
calculate your giving. There was a
sort of ancient calculator that was called a abacus. It required two hands to use it. And so I think that Jesus means don’t worry about figuring out
exactly what your ten percent would be.
But the Lord loves a cheerful giver. Give according to need, recognizing that Jesus is Lord even
of your pocketbook.
Now remember, this is a parable. It’s fictitious account
designed to illustrate a spiritual principle. So this isn’t an exhaustive list of what kinds of things
contributed to this Pharisee’s self righteousness. But these would have been exemplary things of a self
righteous, prideful spirit that was not justified before God.
The second character in the story was called a tax collector. And there really aren’t too many
positive things you could say about a tax collector. They were on the bottom of the social ladder. These guys had sold out to the Roman
government in order to get a tax collection franchise. So in the eyes of the Jews, they were
traitors of the lowest order. But
not only were they traitors, they were looked at as crooks. Because they had the authority of the
Roman government to charge any amount that they deemed obtainable as long as
the government got their share. So
the tax collector would add exorbitant fees on top of the taxes and everything
over and above the tax he would pocket.
And he had the government to help him extract these taxes by use of
force if necessary. So pretty much
everything the Pharisee said he was glad he was not in the earlier prayer was
attributed to tax collectors. The
Pharisee said I’m glad I’m not a swindler, unjust or an adulterer, like this
tax collector over here. See, the
only people that would hang out with tax collectors was prostitutes who were
also outcasts from proper society.
But for some reason, this tax collector has come under
conviction. He knows that he is a
sinner of the worst order. He
knows that technically they could run him out of the temple. But he comes to the temple, under
conviction of his sins, and he too offers a prayer. So let’s look at his prayer and what it reveals about this
man.
Vs. 13, “But the tax collector, standing some distance away,
was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast,
saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ This guy is standing as well. So there is nothing wrong with standing to pray. But this guy’s attitude is completely different. He is not standing up front, hoping to
be noticed by everyone. But he is
in the back, unwilling to even lift his eyes to heaven. And Jesus says he is beating his
breast. Now that was something
that was associated with mourning.
Mourners, especially women, would wail and beat their fists upon their
breasts as they cried out in anguish over the dead.
You get the picture?
This guy is mourning over his sin.
He is in anguish over his sin.
He has been confronted with the holiness and righteousness that God
requires and he knows that he is far, far from righteous. He knows he is a sinner. He cries out, “God, be merciful to me,
a sinner.”
This guy is exemplifying the kind of attitude that Jesus
spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount; the attitude of mourning over your
sin. That’s what Jesus was talking
about in Matt. 5:4 when He said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they
shall be comforted.” Listen,
folks, mourning over your sin is what is required in repentance. Repentance is not just saying I’m
sorry. Repentance is not just
wishing it hadn’t happened.
Repentance is not just having a relationship to God. Repentance is considering your sin as
dead. Mourning. Repentance is a desire to turn from
your sin. To renounce your
sin. To run from your sin. To hate your sin. That is repentance. And repentance is absolutely necessary
for salvation, for justification, for righteousness.
There are a lot of people trying to force their way into the
kingdom of heaven today on the basis of their self righteousness. “God is my friend, Jesus loves me and
I’m special so I’m in the kingdom of heaven. I worship God.
I do this and I do that.
I’m a good person. I turned over a new leaf.” But they have never repented of their sin. And that is a problem. That was the difference between the
Pharisee and the tax collector.
Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of
God. There is none righteous, no not one.
The Pharisee was a sinner.
And the tax collector was a sinner. Both were excluded from the kingdom of God. But Jesus says only one left that day
that was justified before God. Two
people go to worship God. Two people
pray to God. Yet only one is
justified before God. Justified means made righteous, declared not guilty
before God. Only one. And that was the sinner. Those that come to Christ must come as
a sinner, confessing their sins, repenting of their sins, turning away from
their sins. And for that person,
God will justify them. He will
declare them righteous on behalf of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.
The word for merciful that the tax collector uses there is
significant. He says, “God, be
merciful to me, the sinner.” The
word merciful comes from the Greek word
“hilaskomai” which means
propitious. That word is used only
one other time in the NT, in Heb. 2:17
which says, “Therefore, [Jesus]
had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make
propitiation for the sins of the people.”
Propitious means to make atonement.
See, this tax collector knew something that the Pharisee
should have known but did not; that is he could never achieve the righteous
standard of God. But he knew that
the sacrificial system taught that the lamb was slain as a substitute for his
sins. That was why he came there
to worship at the time of the evening sacrifice. He came asking for God to make propitiation for his
sins. That God would in His grace
and mercy provide a substitute like He did for Isaac on the altar, when God
provided a ram caught in a thicket.
And we know that Jesus Himself was the sacrificial lamb that was offered
for the sins of the world. Jesus
was the substitute that could and did live the perfect sinless life that we can
never live.
David the Psalmist said, “A broken and contrite heart, O
Lord, you will not despise.” David
knew repentance even after he sinned with Bathsheba. He mourned over his sin, and God restored him and forgave
him. On Wednesday night we are
studying Genesis and we saw last week how the Word says that Noah found grace
with God. He found it. In other words, he didn’t earn it. God granted to him righteousness on the
basis of faith. And we are saved
the same way today that Noah and Abraham and David and all the saints were
saved, through faith and repentance.
Jesus declares in vs. 14, “I tell you, this man went to his
house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Listen, pride
is the reason this Pharisee left still in his sins. And repentance, resulting in humility, was the reason that
the tax collector was forgiven for his sins. There are a lot of people today that want to be religious,
that want the recognition that comes from being religious, they like the
attention that self righteousness brings, they like the way it feels, but they
have refused to acknowledge they are a sinner. They refuse to repent, to turn away from their sins. They want to continue in their secret
sins while keeping an exterior façade of righteousness for everyone else to
see. I hope and pray that no one
here today is like that Pharisee.
Justification, righteousness, holiness according to God’s standard can’t
be earned, it can’t be faked. Because
God knows the heart. There is only
one way to justification, and that is through the grace of God extended to
repentant sinners.
The tax collector went away justified. Now there is a lot implied in that
statement that isn’t stated outright.
And I don’t have time to go into all of it today. But let me say this much; if that man truly repented as Jesus said
he did, then it drastically changed his way of life. He would have had to change the way he did business,
wouldn’t he? He couldn’t claim
repentance and continue to cheat people, to rob from people, could he? He might even have had to quit his
job.
Listen folks, let’s be honest with ourselves first of
all. If we truly mourn over our
sin, then we must consider our bodies as dead to sin. We must die to sin.
If you haven’t really done that, you can say you’re sorry all you
want. You can do religious
things. But it won’t produce justification. God knows your heart. I urge you to truly examine yourself
today in the light of God’s word and ask yourself if you have ever repented of
your sins and asked for God’s forgiveness. He is willing to forgive you. He will justify you through the righteousness of Jesus
Christ’s atonement for your sins if you will just humble yourselves today. Let’s pray.
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