Humility (2)

Luke 18:9-17

Luke 18:9–17 ESV

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 am 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.” Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 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. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

This portion of Luke is a vital passage when considering our heart posture towards God and towards others. Humility is an essential virtue in a Christian’s life and essential when it comes to salvation. The best definition of humility before God that I could find is “the disposition of valuing or assessing oneself appropriately, especially in light of one’s sinfulness and creatureliness.” Simply put, humility is looking at ourselves rightly and when we do that, we will see ourselves as sinners. Humility towards man means that we should think of others more than ourselves as Philippians 2:3 says “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” This passage will teach us about humility in the form of a parable, namely the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. A parable is a story that illustrates a moral truth using analogy or comparison. Jesus usually tells parables so that we as fallen sinners can understand. Lets get into the passage

V. 9 - Luke introduces this parable by telling us who Jesus was talking to. He says that Jesus is speaking to those who trusted themselves to be righteous and also treated others poorly. We should listen to these words because we also do these things sometimes. We sometimes treat others poorly and think we are better off than them, so Jesus is also speaking to us. John Calvin introduces the parable greatly when he says: “Believers must not come into the presence of God but with humility and abasement. No disease is more dangerous than arrogance; and yet all have it so deeply fixed in the marrow of their bones, that it can scarcely be removed by any remedy.” Calvin is telling us how important these words Jesus is about to tell us.

V. 10 - The main characters of this parable are a pharisee and a tax collector. They both go to the temple to pray. The pharisees were the religious rulers in the day of Jesus and they usually are portrayed negatively when they interact with Jesus. This is mainly because they added laws to the Old Testament and they depended on their obedience to these laws for their salvation. They also were outwardly “holy” but inside they were evil. The tax collector is the complete opposite of the pharisees. Tax collectors were outwardly evil because they were corrupt in their dealings with the tax money and over-taxing the people. They were looked down upon by the public. These two people are polar opposites outwardly, but both were the same inwardly, they were depraved sinners.

V. 11-12 - In these verses we see the pharisee’s prayer at the temple. We see that he stands by himself; this was mainly to be seen by the people as holy, the pharisees were called out many times by Jesus for doing this. The pharisee here thanks God that he is not like other men, especially the tax collector and how he fasts twice a week and gives tithes. Notice how he boasts about his own achievements even though he thanked God. His heart had the wrong intentions even though he began with the right words, instead of boasting in the grace and mercy of God, he instead boasts in his own doings. The pharisee makes the great mistake of thinking too highly of himself and too lowly about God. He believes that his works are the reason that he can be righteous.

V. 13 - In verse 13, we see the complete opposite with the tax collector. We see that he is standing far off from the temple and would not even lift up his eyes, unlike the pharisee who was standing so that he could be seen. The tax collectors body language showed that he was being humble, knowing that he wasn’t worthy to lift his eyes to heaven. He then beats his chest and says “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Notice the lengths of these prayers between the pharisee and the tax collector; the pharisee said a longer prayer while the tax collector just said a few words, but his words were glorifying God instead of glorifying himself. He notices that he is a sinner and he needs God’s mercy. This is the epitome of humility, knowing that only by God’s grace can one be saved and we see in the next verse that He did receive grace and was saved. God’s grace is also the same for us, his elect; just as the tax collector wasn’t chosen and saved for his own righteousness, we as well were not chosen because of our own righteousness, it was all because of the sovereign will of God that we were chosen and saved. God still deals graciously with us despite our sins and He is still just to forgive His children. Grace cannot be earned or merited because by definition it is something unearned, therefore no one should boast about their righteousness like the pharisee, but instead should boast in the mercy and grace of God like the tax collector did.

V. 14 -

V. 15 - 17

This passage is a follow up of the passage before. Jesus gives another illustration of humility in the form of children. The disciples rebuked those that were following Jesus from bringing their infants to Him, but we see Jesus saying to bring the children to Him. He then says “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” When we think of a child or infant, we think of dependence upon their parents and others. They know that they are not able to care for themselves and need someone else to care for them. This is a sign of humility, we should also have this attitude towards God, we are not able to save ourselves and we depend upon Christ to save us from our sin.

Now I want to talk about humility when it comes to other people. The grace of God should cause us to be humble and out of that humility we will live lives that are fruitful in the eyes of the Lord. Humility will cause us to have fruitful relationships with other people. Knowing that we have no righteousness of our own, we will then treat people with love instead of contempt and we will think of others more than ourselves. we should not see ourselves as better than someone else because if God didn’t give us grace, we would still be lost sinners. There was a story that I thought was a great illustration for what humility can look like when dealing with others.

To end off, I want yall to meditate on the best example of humility. We see in the garden of gethsemane Jesus praying to the Father. He prays this prayer: “My Father, if it be possible, let sthis cup pass from me; tnevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” The cup in this passage is the cup of suffering on the cross. Jesus’ last words in his prayer are what we should ponder on daily and pray daily “not as I will but as you will” this is the greatest illustration of humility, he was submitted perfectly to the Father and we see the fruition of his submission at the cross. He willingly took the penalty of our sin for us, he was beaten, nailed and hung upon the cross because of his humility to the Father and because of his love for his people and by faith in Christ’s atoning death on the cross, you will be in relationship with the Lord and you too will be able to live a life of humility for the one that died the death of humility on your behalf.

We as sinners can never be righteous enough to earn salvation, salvation is solely on the grace and mercy of God.