Thursday, February 8, 2007

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Part 28 of 44

TEXT: "Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise 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, and he who humbles himself will be exalted' " (Luke 18:9-14).

IDEA: Humility comes from seeing ourselves before God.

PURPOSE: To help listeners understand how to be humble.

What makes a good joke?

What makes a good story?

There are a lot of answers, but one answer is the way the story ends.

There is in the realm of story-telling the rule of final stress. Sometimes in the stories of Jesus, that’s where there is a sting in the tail. Here’s the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Read the story again and think about how it ends.

The ending: “for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14b).

How would you go about humbling yourself?

I. What suggestions would many people give for humbling yourself?

One is to talk in a more modest way.

Uriah Heep: “I’m an ’urmble man.”

Another is to sense that you’re humble, but not to advertise it.

A third is not spoken, but it is comparing yourself with people better than yourself rather than with people who are worse than you. This reverses what the Pharisee had done. We think it would be easy for the tax collector to be humble because, given his lifestyle, he had a lot to be humble about.

II. Given the parable that Jesus told, where does humility come from?

It is crucial to realize that the parable takes place in the temple. Not even in a synagogue.

To the Jew in the ancient world, what did the temple represent? It was the place where God was, where the approach to God was made through the sacrifices.

The tax collector in the temple saw himself before God. He didn’t compare himself with the Pharisee, nor did he compare himself with tax collectors he knew who were worse than he was. He cries, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Humility comes when we see ourselves before God.