Contemptuous or Contrite? Considering the State of your Heart.

Scripture Reading

Luke 18:9–14 NIV84

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody 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 up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—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 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Introduction

As Christ continues his journey towards Jerusalem, that place of suffering and shame where he will be rejected by the religious leaders, and despised the religious community, and ultimately put to death even as the perfect, righteous Son of God, He tells a parable about two very different kinds of people.

We need to recognise as we come to this passage that Christ witnessed these people around him in his own day. He had interacted with them throughout His journey, and was prompted in this very instance to speak this parable, by those around him who belonged to one of the categories of people - those who were self-righteous.

It was out of concern, or perhaps rather righteous indignation from Jesus, that He confronted a particular group of people, a people that had a self-confidence about their own righteousness.

As we look at this passage, we really do need to come with humility, and hearts that desire to know the true state of ourselves. We need to consider the state of our hearts. As we live and interact as professing Christians with the world around us, along with other professing believers, we need to ask where our hearts are. What is the nature of our heart attitudes.

1. The Comparison (vv.9-10)

As Christ addresses this important matter of the state or condition of the heart, the heart posture, he does so in the context of those who placed themselves above others in their thoughts.

Luke 18:9 NIV84

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:

Note the attitude, or the posture of the heart of the people to whom Jesus is addressing this parable. He speaks to those who were confident of their own righteousness.

Furthermore, they were those who looked down on others. They were condescending and unkind in their attitudes towards others. They saw themselves as better than other people, or at least more righteous than others.

I don’t want us to overlook the condition of the people to whom Jesus was talking. Notice that they were confident. They were confident of their own position before God. They had confidence that they were on the right path. They had a confidence that they were right before God, but that confidence was in themselves, in some way or another.

Turn with me briefly to Jeremiah 17…

Jeremiah 17:5–10 NIV84

5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”

Notice the emphasis in this passage in Jeremiah in where ones trust is placed. The one who would place his trust in man, in people, in themselves, or others. But trust in man, whether in oneself or some powerful leader, is a vain hope.

Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful.

The only place that ones trust ought to be placed is in the Lord.

And that’s applicable in the context of what Jesus is saying through this parable. It is a vain hope indeed to place ones trust in man… in your own righteousness, in your own ability to save yourself. In your own ability to do anything, really.

As Jesus confronts these people who place their confdience in their own flesh, he is confronting the oldest problem in sinful humanity’s history. Trust in yourself, in your own thinking, in your own ways, rather than trust in God!

Our trust must be in God to save us.

As we continue, we see that Jesus proceeds to emphasize this truth through a parable.

Luke 18:10 NIV84

10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

Jesus presents his parable of two very different people.

Notice the characters that Jesus introduces.

Firstly, he introduces the Pharisee… This was the example of the self-righteous man. Little more needs to be said about this person. Pharisees fully relied on their own righteousness for attaining favor with God.

But we should consider something further, and quite important. That is, that the Pharisee was a person that fitted nicely into the temple environment. That was where he was most at home and comfortable. As Jesus conveyed this parable, his hearers would have understood immediately that the Pharisee belonged here, and he was doing one of the things that he did best - praying!

On the opposite side is the tax collector. This was a man that was despised by most Jewish people. Despised by the people of Israel in particular, because of the work that they did for the Roman Empire, collecting taxes, even from their own people, and usually exploiting them and over-taxing them.

In terms of the Tax Collector going into the Temple… well, he certainly didn’t belong there. This was no place for a tax collector. These men would have been considered unclean, and in general, would have been scorned, particularly in the temple. Further than this, it would seem extremely strange for the tax collector to pray. After all, what would such an unclean thief be doing praying to God?!

That’s the kind of idea that would have gone through the minds of Jesus’ hearers.

Christ really aimed here to set up in the minds of his hearers these starkly contrasted people in order to drive home his point that superficial, surface level evaluations of people do not reveal the heart of the people before God.

Even as we come to this text this morning, we need to ask ourselves, in all honesty… genuine humility before God… where is my heart? What am I being like?

With that in mind, let us consider the parable, and the people, in further detail.

2. The Contemptuous (v.11-12)

Christ first turns his attention to the Pharisee, to the man that we can only say is contemptuous. Although he was known to “belong in” the temple before God, his heart before God was problematic.

What does such a person look like?

Luke 18:11 NIV84

11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

Luke 18:12 NIV84

12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

Notice that the Pharisee stood and prayed about himself.

The emphasis from Jesus’ parable is on the content of the man’s prayer, which was revealing the nature of the man’s heart. What was he praying? Where was his focus?

He was focusing on himself. I thank you that I am not like.... I fast twice a week… I give a tenth… It’s focused on his work and what he does well.

But there’s also a sense in which he was focused on others… but only insofar as he could make himself look good against them. He was looking at those around him with a view to comparison for his own benefit.

As a pharisee, he was utterly preocuppied with comparing himself with people around him by looking at what they did (or did not) do.

He did not think about those around him with any sense of care or concern. Rather, he was focusing his attention on their weaknesses, with a view to emphasizing his own good / greatness.

Now, because we know this account so well, we tend to autmoatically write of the Pharisee as.... a Pharisee. We know his heart was proud.

But think about what he’s saying.

He says, “I thank you…”!!! He would have argued that He was just grateful to God for what he was.

But notice that he goes on to list those people from society that were of bad reputation. Robbers, evil-doers, adulterers… or even like this tax collector.

He’s comparing himself to these others and glad to not be like them. But as he does this, there is no deep conviction of personal sin. Having mentioned God once, he delves into self-congratulations.

Nowhere does he confess sin. Nowhere does he ask for forgiveness of what he has done. His heart is proud before God, and so while he mentions God in his prayer, and appears to thank God for something, his heart is far from God.

I appreciate the comment of William Hendriksen at this point…

Luke B. Two Prayers

He begins by comparing himself with other people. Not, however, with truly devout men like Samuel (1 Sam. 1:20, 28; 2:18, 26) or Simeon (Luke 2:25–32), but with those of bad reputation. He says that he is not a robber … as if he were not at that very moment robbing God of the honor due to him. He is not a cheat or dishonest person … as if he were not cheating himself out of a blessing. And he is not an adulterer. Well, probably not literally, but was not this proud Pharisee departing from the true God, and thereby making himself guilty of the worst adultery of all (Hos. 1:2; 5:3)?

Notice that the Pharisee also goes on to emphasize and focus on the good things that he does.

Verse 12 - “I fast twice a week, and give a tenth of all I get...”

Notice that he is saying over here that he goes above and beyond what the law even required. The Mosaic law never required a fast twice (or even once) a week. There were particular times of fasting that were set aside, but it was never stipulated to fast twice every week. This man was devout towards God… And he showed it by his regular self-denial.

He speaks of giving atenth of all that he gets… Not just a tenth of everything that came into his possession, even herbs (see Luke 11:42) rather than simply what he earned.

I have no doubt that this man really saw himself as being commited to God, as being evidenced by his works. This is what these self-righteous people were like.

As Christ spoke these words, perhaps they would have resonated with his hearers. Perhaps they would even have thought that this was a noble prayer, from a noble man.

But Christ then turns to compare this man with another…

3. The Contrite (v.13)

Luke 18:13 NIV84

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.’

The tax collector stood at a distance. He was in the temple to be sure, but he stood far away from the sanctuary. It is clear from this that his heart was burdened by a sense of personal unworthiness.

We see also that he would not even look up to heaven.

We need to recognise that there was nothing intrinsically wrong or evil about lifting up eyes to God when in prayer. Jesus did this on numerous occassions when talking to His heavenly father.

Mark 6:41 NIV84

41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

John 11:41 NIV84

41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

But even the Psalms speak of this.

Psalm 123:1 NIV84

1 I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.

Lifting up eyes towards heaven when praying to God would have been a normal occurrence, that which was acceptable. There was nothing intrinsically arrogant about it.

But we see in this man a refusal to look up because of his own awareness of sin and unworthiness before God. He knew that God was holy, and that he was an unworthy sinner, and this drove him in response to look away!

But we also note that he beat his breast. The breast / heart was regarded as the seat of sin. This again was a sign of contrition or grief (cf. Luke 23:48). The man was grieved by his own sinfulness, and was moved to cry out.

Notice then, the words of his cry… God, be merciful to me, a sinner. The verb that is used here (be merciful - hilasthēti) is found only elsewhere in the NT only in Heb 2:17. It means to expiate or propitiate.

Hebrews 2:17 NASB95

17 Therefore, He 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.

The noun form is used in 1 John 2:2

1 John 2:2 NASB95

2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

The word means to appease, to cover over sin, to remove the wrath due to him. The sinner is accutely aware, and is convicted within his own heart, of the seriousness of his sin, and his need for God’s wrath to be appeased, failing which he has no hope.

This tax collector was deeply convicted in his heart of his unworthiness. He was deeply convicted of his own sin, and his need, urgent need, for that sin to be covered by the mercy of God. He was driven by his own unworthiness.

He was praying in the way that David prayed after being confronted by his own sin of adultery…

Psalm 51:1 NIV84

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

As Christ continues, he goes on to tell those listening of…

4. The Consequences (v.14)

We read in verse 14...

Luke 18:14 NIV84

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Christ begins by saying, “I tell you.” As Christ gives his commentary on this parable that He’s just told, we see that he declares to his listeners to know the mind of God. It is a Christological claim.

Note what he declares about the tax collecter… He says that This man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. As the tax collector and the Pharisee leave the temple following their prayers, they leave in starkly different conditions.

Jesus uses the word “justified.” It is used in a forensic sense. This tax collector went home with no sin counted against him. He went home as a man deemed righteous and innocent in the eyes of God.

The experience of this tax collector was that of the Psalmist…

Psalm 103:12 NASB95

12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Micah 7:19 NASB95

19 He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.

That’s the position of the tax collector. Justified in the sight of God.

The term “Justified” means more than just being forgiven, for it also involves the gift of a new standing before God. The tax collector stood before God after his prayer possessing a new relationship (not a moral character) with God. He possessed a righteousness given him by grace.

Philippians 3:8 NASB95

8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,

This is the Gospel. That we who are sinners and unworthy before God, can cry out in confession of our sin, acknowledging our own desperate unworthiness before God, and we can then receive grace and mercy to stand as those righteous in the sight of God.

William Hendriksen writes…

Luke C. Two Results

He goes home now. From his heart the storm has been removed. All is peace now, for he is deeply convinced that God’s approval rests upon him.

The Pharisee also goes home, but he has … nothing! He might as well have stayed home that day, and never gone to the temple. In fact, this might have been better for him.

Now, we need to see that this would have had a profound impact on the hearts and minds of the hearers of Jesus. It was still the prevailing view that the Pharisees and religious leaders were the examples par excellance of serving God.

Carson et al...

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke 11. Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (18:9–14)

The modern reader will probably not feel the impact of this story to the extent a first-century reader would. We already think of the Pharisees as hypocrites and the tax collectors as those who received the grace of God. Jesus’ original hearers would have thought, on the contrary, that it was the pious Pharisee who deserved acceptance by God.

But God… God rescues those who know their sin and are broken by it!

As Christ concludes this parable, he says, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Dear friends, here is the great distinguishing mark between a true disciple of Jesus Christ, and a false disciple. A true servant of God, and a false servant.

It is a deep, heart-felt, genuinely perceived need for grace and mercy and forgiveness. It is a deep sense of ones own unworthiness. Personal conviction of sin.

Both of these men went into the temple sinners. One didn’t see his sin… at least not the weight of it, and his own need for the grace of God. One saw his sin for what it was.

The one who didn’t see his sin could only thank God that he was better than others by comparison.

The other knew he was no better, and he knew that the only appropriate way to view his own life was in light of the holiness of God. That humbled him.

Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB95

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Application / Conclusion

What characterizes your heart? Contemptuousness, or Contrition.

Perhaps that’s an unhelpful way to phrase it. The temptation when we phrase it in that way is that we weigh up what we believe to be contempt, with what we believe to be contrition, and then we put them on the balancing scales, and so long as the scale tips just in the direction of contrition, then we’re okay. And so long as we keep the scales balanced in the right direction, it really doesn’t matter too much how much contempt we continue to harbour.

We must note that the Tax Collector in this parable pictures for us the starting place of true discipleship. He saw his sin for what it is, and this led him to genuine confession and repentance before God. He cried out for God to have mercy.

As I said, this marks the starting point of the Christian life. But the Christian life will continue in such humility before God. It continues to say before God that in my own strength, in my own ability, I am unworthy. I come only on the basis of your grace abounding to me.

But I also want to make this a little more practical for our day to day lives. What marks our responses to life? What characterizes our attitude towards others in life?

Because this attitude isn’t only the attitude for us at salvation… the start of the Christian life, but it’s essential throughout our lives.

As professing Christians, do we live our lives performing in order to show ourselves worthy? Or do we live our lives resting in our identity in Christ, and then proceeding forth with joy from there?

A practical example. Growing up in an environment that is highly critical. If this is your situation, you will find that you are continually trying to prove yourself.

Elaborate…

The same can be said about the work environment. Working in an environment that is exceedingly driven, for example… there is always a sense in which you’re striving to prove yourself. It becomes a part of who you are.

If you achieve the KPI’s, then you’ve made it. If you do all that is required of you, people will say, yes, this is a good person…

Many live under this constant striving to prove that they’re good enough, far beyond what could even reasonably considered to be healthy.

A similar thing can be applied to parenting. If my children come out like this, and perform like this, then I feel that I’m a success. And the children become a display for their parent’s success or failure.

Now, you may be asking what in the world this has to do with a Pharisee and a tax collector praying in the temple. Isn’t this only applicable for when we come to church, and how we pray in church…?

And my response is, most certainly not. The Gospel impacts daily life. And what we see in the temple in this parable of Jesus is played out all over the place in our every day lives.

We’re all a little prone to this at least… is that even when the Gospel comes, you kind of don’t want to admit your utter unworthiness. We’ll even tell people that we’re “totally / radically depraved,” but we’ll defend ourselves tooth and nail when someone confronts us on a sin. Or we’ll become utterly devastated when we don’t achieve.

Why is this? Through the course of history, man has sought to go his own way. Man has sought to always prove himself through performance in his own strenght. And if you don’t prove yourself, you’re not accepted, or you’re told you’re a failure. Or you’re told / made to believe that you’ll never achieve anything… and this creates in ones mind a sense of urgency to redeem yourself… to prove yourself. To make a name for yourself.

But the problem is, you end up comparing yourself. Either up or down...

You become the Pharisee… partly because you’ve developed this thinking that you need to be better… otherwise you feel worthless and hopeless, and without meaning in life.

Why does the Gospel have no / little effect in our lives when we’re operating like this? Because we’re not relying on the Gospel. We’re not living in the joy of the Gospel. We’re not seeing our worth in light of the gospel, but we’re still trying to find it within ourselves and our accomplishments and achievements.

Now, accomplishments and achievements are wonderful things. Progress forward, growth, promotions even… these are good things… but they should never form our identity.

Same with family.

A wife should not be getting her identity from her husband. Or from her children.

Let’s go back to Jeremiah 17....

Jeremiah 17:5 NIV84

5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

Are you trusting to find your primary identity and worth in anything or anyone else apart from Christ crucified? It’s foolishness (and results in a sense of hopelessness) to trust in approval and affirmation in the sight of man.

Jeremiah 17:7–8 NIV84

7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

How is your heart? Where is your trust.

As you consider this, turn to Psalm 139…

Psalm 139:1–3 NIV84

1 O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

There is nothing hidden from the Lord…

Let me encourage you…

Don’t strive.

REst in the Lord.

Cry out to God for His mercy and grace, and then rest in the atoning work of Christ at the cross.