Parable of the Pharisee & Tax Collector

We need to stay humble. We need to recognize and confess our sins, and our need for God's mercy. Because then, that is the freedom that God wants for us. 
--Fr. Randy

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Luke 18:9-14
​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.”

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KEY TOPICS
God of Mercy, sin, Parable of Jesus, heart, sinner, Pharisee and Tax Collector, Fasting and Prayer, contempt, Righteous Judge, Prayer of Faith, defile, people, publican, thinking, Pride or Humility, coat, faith, Proclaim the Gospel

Praise to you, Lord Christ. Let us pray. Come Holy Spirit. Come like the wind and cleanse, come like the fire and burn, convert and consecrate our hearts for our great good. And for your greater glory. Amen. Please be seated. Again, morning to everybody. Great to be with you all on this the 20th, Sunday after Pentecost, proper 25. Where's my stuff over here? Alright, so um what do we have this morning?
 
This parable that Jesus tells those folks in this morning's reading is preceded by another parable that he tells just before he gets to this one, and you I'm sure all remembered, it's the parable where the widow goes to the judge who's not afraid of God or man doesn't regard man. And she's wants this judge to avenge her adversary who's been harming her and continues to threaten harm to her. And the judge finally, agrees to do that for her only because she keeps bothering him, she keeps troubling him. And so in today's the parable than he gives today is about a person who is a sinner, and his sin is harming him, and causing him pain, through the actions that it causes him to do the guilt and misery that it causes him. And, as Jesus says, in that first parable, that the judge didn't care, either for God or man, and yet he did it because she kept bothering him, how much more will God who loves us and seeks after us, forgive us our sins, and free us from the bondage of our sins. And that, that the way in which sin owns us, and keeps us in bondage. So you have freed me from my adversaries from the widow. And here you have a guy, free me from myself, for you from the sin of from my own sin, my own bondage, my own evil ways.
 
But before I get to talking about that parable, first a couple of words about this morning's calling, because it kind of fits in here. In it right, we prayed give us the increase of faith, hope and charity, that we may obtain that which you have promised. Faith, hope and charity, they all go together. And they are in fact what God promises us. He promises us faith. He promises us hope. He promises us that we will become charitable in our hearts. We have faith in Jesus and His words and deeds right. We have hope in His truth, his love and the promises that he makes to us. And out of those things flow, the good works, that come from love and gratitude for what God has done for us. So they all work together. If we have faith in Christ, if we have hope and his promises, we will naturally be charitable, out of love for God and for our neighbors, which is what we are called to do. Those are the two commandments. Make us love what you command that colic praise.
 
I love that. On my own. I don't know if I can get behind some of this charity.
 
Make me love to do that. Make me love to be that way. Let us have faith and hope and charity through Jesus Christ our Lord, to do good works that were called to do for free for fun, out of love for Christ out of love for our neighbors, not be grudgingly right or to feed our pride and our ego or to make God our debtor which is what we're about to hear about in this parable I'm going to talk about remember in Ezekiel, y'all remember you Zico right? He was a great guy, God. God says through Ezekiel. Because He knows our hearts. Right? That's the other thing we learned about today. He knows our hearts. That's who we are. That's what he's looking at. Ezekiel says a new heart and a new spirit. I will put in you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh instead. And that happens, of course, through Jesus Christ. In Him, we are redeemed and are given a new heart. In Psalm 51, this almost says, Praise to God, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Because his he knows his heart is not clean. He knows he does not have a right spirit within him. So he prays to God, to give this to him. Knowing that's my problem, God is my answer. So, this is the promise that God has made for us. And if we come to him seeking it, he will give it to us ask and it shall be given knock and the door will be open. But we have to come to Him in faith, asking him to do this for us.
 
In Jeremiah, remember Jeremiah, he's a good guy. God said, I, the Lord searched the heart, and test the mind to give every man according to his ways. He searches our hearts and our minds, to give to every one of us according to our ways. I think what he means there is the disposition of our hearts. Accordingly, he goes on according to the fruit of his deeds, is the fruit, being self serving pride, that the fruit I'm trying to cultivate? Or am I doing things out of love for God and my neighbor. And of course, that sums it sort of up with Matthew and Matthew where Jesus says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
 
So it's all about this purity of heart thing we've got going on here. Purity, humility, love. This is what Jesus preaches. So in the parable this morning, what Jesus does is he describes a specific moment when two men go to the temple to pray.
 
Now, it is a parable, though still, because the similitude of this is of all the ways in which we regard ourselves as superior to others. All the ways in which we regard others with contempt. Which of course is the opposite of what the kingdom of heaven is all about. Faith, hope, charity, purity, humidity, love. Alright, so let's, let's look then at what's going on with the Pharisee first.
 
So the Pharisees stood by himself, separated himself from the others, separated himself from the rabble separated himself up front. So that he could posture he display his singular righteousness. And he prayed Thus, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people. And you notice he doesn't say as Paul does, by the grace of God, I am what I am. He says, God, I thank you kind of a plausible introduction to my vein boasting. And I'll put a finer point on that later. So he proclaims and his prayer, such as it is, that he's not like other people. I'm not a thief. I'm not a rogue, I'm not an adulterer. Like all the rest of you are I think he kind of thinks everybody else are those things. Or even like this tax collector over here, geez, calls the guy out. He's over there. What is he doing here? He's so he's fascinating on some external sort of obvious sins. And then he kind of generally applies it to all the other people. So by doing that, by pointing to the sins of others, he keeps himself from looking at the sins that are within his own heart, the only sins that are within his own mind. One of which, of course, is the very thing that he's doing here. Thinking himself without sin, and therefore superior to all the others. All the others that he can show contempt for. As if you were God Himself. Above the fallen nature of of ordinary man our blindness right to to our fallen natures to be pretty intense.
 
I was think when I was writing this, I had a flashback on a moment. I've had many of them and still do. But one moment in particular when my blindness was sort of humorous to me later when it occurred to me, but when I first got sober, I wound up in a detox center in downtown Fresno. I mean, downtown Fresno, and not the rich side of town. And so one of the things they supplied for us for drunks, because we were sobering up was a can of tobacco outside. And there's a little courtyard and some rolling papers. So we could all go out there and roll cigarettes for ourselves. Well, it happened to be like the 26th of December when I found myself there. And the day before, my mother had given me a coat for Christmas, winter and all, you know, nice coat. So I'm standing out there rolling papers with the rest of these folks, and it suddenly dawns on me I have a new coat. Here the rest of these bums, what am I doing here man? I had a new coat. I thought I was pretty sweet. You know, I was, I had contempt for them in their rambly mess. I probably was years sober before it dawned on me my mother gave me that coat. I couldn't have got a new coat to save my life. So this is pretty much an example of how I my nature, how I function. I look for why I'm better than everybody else, so that I can have contempt for them.
 
So after the Pharisee announces all these things that he doesn't do. He goes on to proclaim some of the external, righteous things that he does do. For which God should probably be indebted to him, or a little something for these good things he's doing. What does he do? He fasts twice a week. Now, Chris is nothing wrong with fasting, right, we're called fastens certain instances. But that can be something wrong with this guy's fasting. And I think we can be pretty obvious what it is. Why is he fasting? Is he fasting? Because he's trying to gain some spiritual aid for himself, to try to draw closer to God to try to have a better understanding of who he is to take his inventory to, to meditate on Scripture and verse, is he separating himself from the food for those purposes, so that he can do that? Or is he fasting for prideful ends? So that he can just himself as justify himself as righteous? Look, God, which you you own me, because I fast twice a week. And I'm letting everybody here know, I fast twice a week. Take that. Why does he give a 10th of all his income? Because he's humble, and he's and he's out of gratitude for the blessings God has given him is he is going to therefore help feed the poor and the needy, and those who have less than he has, by the way we might add, which but for the grace of God, he's not one. Or does he do it again to justify himself so that he can tell everybody I give 10th of everything I income?
 
Take that. Do you owe me God? There is a quick observation. So these are good things, fasting, tithing, but look what you know, Satan, right. When he quit, he does your look at the interest he has in our in our fallen and unredeemed state, which he does, right? And you know that he delights in the in the ways in which we can take good things and turn them into sinful exercises of sinful pride, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So on the one hand, we're doing another hand one what's going on in my heart, what's going on in our hearts? Which, by the way, is what God's looking at. Is God looking at the 10% of his income that he's giving? Is he looking at him fasting? And drawing his conclusions from that? No, he's looking at his heart. He knows what's in this guy's heart. He knows that the guy is fooling himself. It doesn't do the Pharisee any good, to proclaim himself righteous. Because God has already proclaimed him a sinner. Right, Romans three, the sentence of God is that all have sinned, There is none righteous, no, not one, not even you Pharisee. Or as John Bunyan guy, the wrote Pilgrims Progress, which we kind of vaguely alluded to today. In his commentary and his passage, he says, it is no better than what the Pharisee didn't think of himself. God had proclaimed him a sinner, a sinner by original sin, and a center by reason of actual transgressions, personally, therefore, with reference to the true nature of their state, they were both centers, and both by the law under condemnation, true, the publicans, leprosy was outward. But the Pharisees was inward, his heart, his soul, his spirit was a foul and had as much the plague of sin as had the other in his life and actions.
 
So the parable then compares, of course, this Pharisee, with the tax collector or the Publican, as he's also called, one of the Publican do, you stood afar off? From the front of the temple? He came into the temple because he wanted to be with God. But he didn't, he knew he wasn't worthy to actually even come into the presence of God. He didn't even look up to heaven. He was aware, and he was admitting to himself, that in his own nature, he was not worthy to approach God. We pray every Sunday, do we not? We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table. We remind ourselves constantly of that truth, the truth by which we live, that we are sinners saved by grace. That is the truth by which we live in freedom. Freed from the condemnation of sin. The Publican beat his breast acknowledging that my sin is in here in my heart, it's at the core of who I am. Yes, he knew he did sinful things for which he sought forgiveness. But he knew that the impulse to do these sinful things came from within his heart, his own heart who he was Mark sevens. Jesus says, For from within, out of the heart of man come evil thoughts. Sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within, and they defile a person.
 
 Now, if you're like me, you go, well, let's see how am I doing on that area and steal her and kill anybody? You know? And then Jesus, of course, when I tried to get away with it like that, what does he do? He comes along and says, Well, you know, if you think bad thoughts about another person, that's the same thing as killing them. Adultery, I think you can think committed adultery. Oh, wait a minute. Jesus says if you look at our look on a woman with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery now the Pharisee he's probably thinking he's pretty cool. But he may have skim over the evil thoughts part. Which of course he's doing left and right. He may slide across the slander calling everyone thieves and adulterers he may slide across the pride part. And then just to wrap everything up foolishness that's something I really good at. Just ask anybody that knows me. All these evil things come from Within, they defile a person. That's what defiles me is the sense within my heart. That's why when God frees me from it through faith in Jesus Christ, I am given a clean heart. I am given a pure heart. Those things which defiantly are forgiven and washed away through the blood of Christ. That's the good news. Without Christ, I'm defiled, I'm stuck, I can't do anything. Now I know of course, the world has various ways in which it tries to tap into how we improve our self esteem. And we learn here from God Himself, that our self esteem is found in Christ. If I'm loving other people, if I'm obeying Jesus, and His Word and His commandments, which I'm called to do, I will feel fine about myself. Why? Because I'm obeying Jesus, I've aligned my will with God's will. And that is peace. I don't go around thinking terrible things about myself. Because I'm simply obeying Jesus who loves me. And in His love, I love you and myself. That's the great news. I don't have to look in the mirror and say, you know, Randy, you're a good guy. When people like you got ready for the day?
 
So the Publican, knowing in his heart that he was a senator, what was his prayer? The only prayer we can have? Thanks for you to God. He says, God be merciful to me a sinner. I'm coming to you caught. I recognize I need mercy. In your mercy, forgive me, in your mercy Create in me a clean heart, which is forgiveness does. That's the thing to remember. And renew a right spirit within me. I want to live rightly right, which is, of course righteousness. So the Publican came to know that he was a sinner. God, of course, searched his heart, as he does all our hearts. But he has searched his heart too. And recognized, like God knew about him, that he was a forlorn, hopeless sinner in need of a Savior. He came to know for sure that he was only by the mercy of God that he could be justified or made right or made righteous. Paul member he cries out, Oh, what a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this life that is dominated by sin and death. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. There's the answer. The Pharisee thought he justified himself and had made himself righteous, while others of course for awful sinners. It looked outside of himself, to find the flaws, the sins of other people. So that he could focus on those and then he so that he could, in his righteousness judge them as if he were God himself, as if he were the righteous one. Thank you, God, that I am not like other people, he said. I think it may follow something along these lines. Thank you for making me among all mankind, the one who is without sin, the one who is able to judge and condemn others, thank you God. It was that very sin, that sent him away unjustified. Thinking that he was somehow righteous in his own self, as far from the truth as you can get. He would not humble himself to look for and define that sin was in his in his own heart.
 
So it kind of has to begin there, I think, doesn't it? We have to humble ourselves, to look within ourselves to be tried to be honest with ourselves as to what the nature of our heart is. The fair See, would not humble himself before God or man to confess than his fault, that even he was a sinner in need of mercy. Just like everyone else, God in His mercy, sent Jesus into the world, so that we may be recognized reconciled to God in him, not in our own merits, but in the merits of Jesus, who alone is the righteous one. In Jesus, we are made righteous, as our sins are forgiven.
 
So, the message this morning I think, can be summed up, at least partially in, we need to stay humble. We need to recognize confess our sins which we do every Sunday of course, and our need for God's mercy. Because then that is the freedom that God wants for us. So we go to God, we humbly ask Him in faith, for our redemption through Jesus, Jesus as our Lord and our Savior in Him, we are redeemed. Let us pray.
 
Father God, we thank you for these parables that Jesus gave us to instruct us in your ways and in your truth. And we pray, Father God, that you would make us love that which you command that you would pull me out of myself, pull us out of ourselves so that we would seek you in honesty and humility. Help us Father God, not to judge others as as Jesus has instructed us not to do. Help us not to judge with the love and to be charitable towards each other. In Jesus name, we pray to your Father. Amen.