The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Has there ever been a time where you have felt like you are the best of the best?

I mean you are really good at this one thing. so much so that you might even admit you were a little prideful?

Growing up a lot of you knew I was a swimmer and in our area there were multiple leagues you could be a part of.

You could be part of a summer league that was mostly for fun, you could be a part of a club team that was really competitive, and a lot of people who did the competitive teams were part of both.

And when you did both you loved summer league because you trained year round for 5 hours a day and you raced people that would train maybe an hour a day during three months of the year.

And so we loved it because we would dominate. I mean I had gold, medals, ribbons and awards where if you looked at me you would probably think I was the next Micheal Phelps.

But then if you looked at my competitive record and that is not nearly as good.

Because like I said I swam the other league to and it was intense,

because once you turn 15 you were able to swim against anyone.

And I am not joking I would somtimes go to these meets and would be completely out of place.

Olimpians would be there, I would usually see Micheal phelps a couple times a year at these meets,

And I remember there was this one meet that was at the US Naval academy in Annapolis, which is the Navy school.

and the guys from the Navy’s swim team were there.

I mean America’s finest.

And I did not know this until right before the race, but I was racing them.

And I remember I got behind the block (which is where you five in)

And I see these huge guys, I mean probably 2 feet taller then me and completely jacked! I mean they were huge.

And I looked at my couch and just go what?

In case you were wondering I got lapped.

But you know I was thinking about my summer league experience verses this experience I was thinking about how there are times where we are really prideful and other times where we feel like we are just messed up

And more specifically I was thinking how we get this way in our walk with God.

Because there are times we enter our walk with God and we say “I’m really messed up”

I have done this or I did not do this and we end up thinking I am not worthy to be in a relationship with God.

How could a God that knows the things I have done love me?

But then there are other times where we might think the oppisite. I am a really good person.

The other day I held the door open for someone

Not only that but there was a guy asking for money and I gave him a dollar

I even paid for the persons behind me at starbucks the other day.

I mean if there was someone deserving of God’s grace it would be me!

And so today we are going to be looking at the final story in our series “The Great Story Teller” where we have been looking at these stories Jesus told during His ministry.

And today the story involves two people, one who has this view point that they are the best person in the world and the other who feels unworthy of God’s loves.

and so we are in Luke 18:9-14 and this takes place immediately after where we were last week.

And we see Jesus teaching this parable specifically to the Pharisees who viewed themselves as the best.

so once again we are in Luke 18:9-14 and it says this:

Luke 18:9–14 NIV

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

So Jesus tells this story of two men who went to the temple to pray and it starts with a Pharisee and a lot of you know this but these were the guys who really had their life together, they were the religious leaders and were high up in society.

And so this Pharisee stood by himself in the temple, he thanked God that he was not like all these other people

and then he talked about everything he did.

And we need to pause here because if we look at this Pharisee’s actions, posture and really everything about him, we can really tell that he has a huge pride issue.

Because first off He is looking down on everyone else and is really viewing himself as supperior.

And not just this but in the parable we almost see this isolation attitude, where he is standing far away from the tax collecter.

in fact it says he is standing alone.

But you know when we are prideful, we begin to elevate ourselves and delevate others.

And this is more harmful then just hurting feelings, but it actually makes it very difficult to be in community, because I can guarantee the only person this Pharisee hangs around is Pharisees and others who are high up in society.

and this is an issue because God calls us to be in community with all Christ followers.

Imagine if we decided we would have a potluck at the church and we sat down and at one table the wealthy people gathered

Then we had another table full of the middle class

and then everyone one else at another table

We would probably go this is terrible.

But thats really what pride does, because it breaks apart community.

And not only that but look at the Pharisees words in verse 11 because while pride destroys community it also does somthing worse which is it takes our focus off God.

In fact the Pharisee starts listing all his good deeds, he says “I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of all I get”

And you will notice the focus is entirely on him and not on God.

And this is an issue because the Bible tells us in Isaiah 64:6 that our good deeds are like filthy rags.

In facts the litteral translation for filthy rags in that verse is a used feminine hygiene product in Biblical days.

And this is an issue. This is bad news for us right? Because if our good deeds are like filthy rags what does that mean for us?

I mean think about it if I asked you who is the best person you know of?

Some of you might say Mother Tereasa, others might say Billy Grahm,

But regardless I look at my life and think well I am not as good of a person as Billy Grahm and Mother Teressa definitely was a much better person then me.

But this verse is saying even there good deeds are filthy rags.

What does this mean for what I am doing?

But here is the deal because lets look at the other person in this story.

Because the other person is a tax collector; he is the lowest of lows in the society and he is someone who would steel and in this society was viewed as a trader.

But this tax collector comes to God and he is actually at a distance, and he comes not even able to look up into heaven because of his shame, and he beats his breast prays “God have mercy on me a sinner.”

You know the Pharisee may have been a decent person, but his issue is the main focus of His life was Himself and he believed if there was one person deserving of God’s grace it was Him.

But then the tax collector comes humbly and says I am not good enough, I am not a good person and I do not deserve God’s grace at all in my life.

And if thats where the story ended both guys would be in a bad place, because one is to prideful to see God and then the other one would have been to ashamed.

But this is the good part while the tax collector was ashamed he realized his need for God and at the end of verse 13 says have mercy on my a sinner.

And we are told that he is justified, not by what he has done, but what someone else has done for him.

Its almost like this: There was this guy who went to my church growing up who at one point was a professional football player.

And to be honest I do not think I ever talked to him or really knew him but he had a superbowl ring and so you would assume he was one of the best football players out there.

but If I remember correctly he did not actually ever play in a single game, but he was one of the backup players that they had in case of an emergency.

and so he won was on a superbowl winning team, not because of anything he did, but because of somthing that sombody or others did.

And you know similarly if we want to be in a relationship with God its not going to be because of how great we are, but how great our God is.

You know it is so easy to get caught up in the thought process of the Pharisee here, where we have pride and go I am AMAZING! Do you know all I do for the church, do you know how much I give, Do you know how much I serve?

And we get so prideful that we become blind to it

And instead of saying “God you are my life source and let everything I do and am flow from that”

We say look at me.

But then there are some of us where we might be trying to work our way to God’s love, but here is the thing God’s love does not say I will meet you when you get your life together, but God’s love meets you where you are here and now.

Because the truth is you can’t work your way into a relationship with God, but you can recognize your dependence and He will meet you there.

What would it look like for our dependence to shift from ourselves to God?