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Luke 18:10-14
Excerpted from: Faith (Part Six)Think about "trusted in themselves" in relation to what the instruction was in the parable just before that. It was about enduring, persevering faith. That concluded with, "When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on earth?" He is speaking about people who trust in themselves.
Why is it so critical that Jesus would zero in on this subject, which is a contrast between pride and humility, directly after the admonitions on faith and persevering in prayer? Well, the reason is because humility is essential to right relationships - most importantly with God, but with men as well.
Notice some things in particular about this parable about these two men. In verse 9 it says that the Pharisee - this certainly refers back to him - was a man who despised others. What we are dealing with here is religious egotism. "Despised others" means to count as nothing. If you despise something, you count it as nothing. How can I have a good relationship with somebody that I despise? Can I have a good relationship with God if I am one who exalts himself against Him? Can I have a good relationship with somebody in my neighborhood, somebody at work, maybe even my wife or my husband - can I have a good relationship with them if I despise them, if I exalt myself over them?
What this begins to show is that we are dealing with a misguided confidence in the self which causes a person to magnify himself and actually brings a person at war against God. So on the one hand we have a self-applauding law-keeper. That is what he says here. He said, "I do not do as other men. I am not an extortioner. I am not unjust. I am not an adulterer."
The proud one, the one who exalted himself, deluded himself into believing that he had a righteousness that he did not possess. His prayer is full of self-congratulations: "I am not as others." You see, "I . . . I . . . I . . ." He says it five times. It is kind of a circle, his prayer is, with him at the center. There is no lowly feeling expressing what he owed God, no thanksgiving for what God had given him, no praise for what God is. He asked for nothing in the prayer. He confessed nothing and, of course, he received nothing. He did not get justified. But there is a very pronounced comparison with others. The man was filled with conceit and totally unaware of it.
The publican on the other hand, did not delude himself into thinking that he was righteous, and he was not. Remember, though, something as we go on here - Jesus, in another place, said the publicans and sinners go into the Kingdom before the scribes and Pharisees. A great deal of it has to do with the fact that the publicans can see that they are sinners and the scribes and Pharisees cannot, and this hindered their relationship with God, as we are seeing very clearly here in Luke 18.
What made the difference was the true evaluation that the publican and sinner makes of himself in relation to God as compared to the evaluation that the scribe and Pharisee made of himself in relation to God. So the difference in this parable is that the one found himself only good, the other found himself only bad.
How different in approach to God the two are! Anyone who thinks that he is going to supply anything of worth to the salvation process is deluding himself. The one flattered himself and was full of self-commendation. The other sought mercy and he was full of self-condemnation. Their approach and attitude toward God and self were poles apart. One may as well have been at the North Pole and the other at the South Pole.
The one stood apart because he was not the kind of man to mingle with others who were sinners, or I might say, inferiors. I really think that applies better to the overall sermon. The other stood apart because he considered himself unworthy to associate himself with others. The one haughtily lifted his eyes to heaven; the other blushed to even look up. The one was puffed up with merit, the other pleads for mercy.
. . .Luke 18:9-14
Excerpted from: The Problem with PrideWe have seen how pride can distort our relationship with God. Now let us take a look at how it can distort our relationship with each other. Let us go over to Luke 18 for our next example. This is the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. And to set up this message, Jesus appears to be speaking to both His disciples and definitely the Pharisees, those that were gathered around Him. Throughout chapters 18 and 19, you can read of what Jesus said and see small indicators that He was either talking with a group or directly to His disciples.
It is interesting here. The comparison that Jesus draws is just interesting to me. He specifically mentions a Pharisee, which was really a person who was part of a religious group at that time, and then a tax collector, which notably is a profession, something that you do for a living versus a political affiliation. Also of note is how the Pharisee's puffed up or prideful assessment of his own life and conduct is so much higher above everyone else, you know, the extortioners, the unjust, the adulterers, and oh yeah, this tax collector guy. So Jesus is showing that pride, very similar to what happened in Satan's mind, clouded his thinking. He thought that somehow he was up here, way above all the riffraff of the world, and he was doing great. The reality though is that he was failing at best and at worst missing the mark.
How many times have we compared ourselves to others? The Pharisee was clearly trying to point out specific sins that others were committing, while casually omitting his own and even focusing on what he thought was going to put him above others, which was tithing and fasting. The "no pride, no problem" phrase would help us remember that we, in fact, actually do have sins and problems, issues that we need to work on and overcome. Time would be better served on focusing on what we should be changing in our lives versus what we think others should change in theirs. The problem is that it does not feel good when we focus on ourselves. It feels better to say, "Well, I mean, I have these sins, but at least I'm not doing X, Y, or Z. That person's far worse than me."
How many times have we heard or even said that? Jesus was calling that out in this very example. "At least I'm not as sinful as that other person over there," pride tells us. If we removed the pride and let humility reign in our lives, I would suspect that we would be a lot more productive in our spiritual lives and in overcoming.
Now in these scriptures, and in this example, we have seen that removing pride, you know, "no pride, no problem" from our comparison of ourselves with others will help us to focus on the real issues, the problem that we need to face and overcome. We cannot let pride tell us that we are fine.
Now a quick recap. We saw in the first example with Satan that pride, once fully born, can grow and cause us to think that we are something that in fact we are not, and even cause us to take actions to appease the pride that is puffed up in our lives. With Eve, we saw that pride can trick us into thinking that we do not need God, that we can somehow lean on our own wisdom and live without our Creator. And with the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, we can see that pride can lead us to having a false perception of ourselves and lead to false comparisons of ourselves with others, which inhibits continued spiritual growth and damages both the relationship with others and our relationship with God.
Luke 18:9-14
Excerpted from: Don't Take God for GrantedHere we see an example of one man who thought that he was doing wonderfully well. He probably knew more than the tax collector ever would. But the tax collector had the humility to humble himself before God and to try and change.
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