Good morning, church. If I haven't had the opportunity
to meet you, my name is Ben, and I get the privilege
of being down at our Prescott Valley location.
I get to oversee that campus and just know that
you are welcomed and loved. And as always, we
want to slow down and just welcome our family
online. We love you so much out there in Paulding
and Baghdad and the rest of our online family.
I think when I was up here... A couple months
ago, a few months ago, I think I called Paul
Dad. It's not Paul Daddy. It's Paul Dan. And
we just love you, Mike and Sue Lynn. We're so
thankful for you. But welcome. Does anyone have
in their family somebody that has a reputation
of repeating the same stories over and over again?
I think every family has that. In our family,
it's my dad. He loves to tell. the same stories
over and over. In fairness, you only got so many
stories, but he always says he doesn't need new
material, he just needs a new audience. And one
of the stories I've heard countless times is
I used to sleepwalk all the time. I mean, it
was a problem. I would wake up with cuts above
my eye and on my forehead and cheek from running
into stuff. There was one time I sleptwalked
from my best friend's house four houses down
and across the street in my little underoos at
seven, and my dad answers the door, and I was
just asleep with my finger in the air, and I'd
just been ringing the doorbell just over and
over and over again. His favorite story to tell,
though, is when we used to do this camping trip
with father -sons, and it would be anywhere from
six to eight sets of father -sons. somebody had
this gigantic military tent. And so we would
all sleep in there and there was room to spare.
And this was the 80s. So there's no talk of GMOs
or too much sugar. We're downing Coke. We're
eating Star Crunches. And as you might expect,
the boys would go to bed first and then the dads
later. And so I woke up the next morning. And
I noticed there was a father and son missing.
And I was like, Dad, where's Tim and Jason at?
And he just starts dying laughing. And at some
point in the middle of the night, I had been
sleeping, sleepwalking around the tent, and I
ended up going number one all over them. I thought
they were the bathroom. 38 years later, my dad
cannot stop laughing as he... He visualizes that
father's face and that anger as he was packing
up his sleeping bag and his son at three in the
morning and leaving, going home. He still owns
them. Who doesn't love a good story? And we've
been in a collection of talks, stories as told
by Jesus. And we've been looking at parables
he taught. In all, Jesus taught 40 parables.
It's good to know that a parable is just a story
that runs parallel to a truth, okay? And Jesus
is the master storyteller, y 'all. And today
we're gonna look at the tax collector and the
Pharisee who go up to the temple to pray. And
so we're gonna be in Luke 18, verse 19. To some
who are confident of their own righteousness
and look down on everybody else. We all know
who these people are. They're too heavenly minded
to be any earthly good. Their Bibles are usually
bigger than everyone else's, but only to hit
you over the head with it. And Jesus told this
parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray,
one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Okay. So Jesus, in telling the story, immediately
introduces two characters. And it's important
that we understand these characters because the
audience definitely understood these two different
people, okay? The Pharisee has a bad reputation
today, but back then they were super admired.
They were looked up to. They were the religious
leaders of their time. If we need to be honest
with ourselves, if Pharisees were around today
in that context, these would be elected officials
in the way they presented themselves. This would
be somebody you would want your daughter to date.
They didn't drink much alcohol. They went to
church every week, temple. They tithed and they
knew scripture inside and out, okay? No one appeared
to be more dedicated to God than this bunch of
people. Okay, so we need to understand that.
In fact, as the audience was listening to him
back then, their eyes and ears, it would have
made sense that the Pharisee was going to the
temple to pray. Okay, then you have him introduce
the tax collector. This is someone who worked
for a foreign government. They had a reputation
of overcharging in taxes so they could lie in
their own pockets to get rich. They were synonymous
with cheating and stealing. They were the lowest
of the low. Even within scripture, You could
interchange sinner and tax collector, okay? So
these two characters would have immediately invoked
emotions within the audience. And it really needs
to do that to us. And they would have also attached
expectations of the outcome based on these two
characters. Because Jesus is the master storyteller.
Next verse. The Pharisee stood up and prayed
about himself. God, I thank you that I am not
like other people. robbers, evildoers, adulterers,
or even like this tax collector. Okay, so the
Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself. Other
translations say he prayed to himself. So you
could say accurately that this Pharisee was praying
to himself about himself. Our prayer posture
will be a reflection of our posture in life.
What does our prayer posture, our prayer life
look like as we go through the day? Is it all
about what we need and what we want? And don't
get me wrong, God calls for us to pray for the
desires of our hearts, but that's a piece of
it. Are we waking up every morning and praying
that the Holy Spirit will put a family or a person
on our heart and we pray that they're blessed,
that their finances are blessed, their business
is blessed, their children, their health? Are
we going throughout our day and inviting God
into it? Do we invite the Holy Spirit in before
we send a text message or an email? Do we ask
him when to be quiet and just listen? Do we pray
before we go to the store? We just assume we're
gonna make it back home. Do we understand our
desperate need and the sovereignty of God to
be involved in everything we do? I remember in
recovery, I learned this, probably one of the
best lessons I ever learned. And it was learning
to accept people where they were at without approving
of their choices. And the saying we would say
is, that's just where they're at today. That's
just where they're at today. And what do I mean
by that? I mean, if you would have met me before
I met Jesus, I was a train wreck. And now, just
because I'm on this side, by the grace of God,
sharing the gospel with you. If I meet someone
in day one of knowing Jesus, or maybe they haven't
met Jesus, that's just where they're at today.
I mean, we all know these people. They don't
have the ability to see how selfish they are.
They cannot see how judgmental they are or how
angry they are. Because that's just where they
are today. It doesn't excuse their behavior.
It doesn't mean we don't have hard conversations
when needed. But what it does do is it softens
your heart. And it goes, man, that's just where
they're at today. I used to be there one day,
and I still have a long way to go. It helps us
from playing the comparison game, which we saw
this Pharisee do. He goes, at least I'm not like
so -and -so. At least I'm not like this robber.
I'm not like this tax collector. I'm not as bad
as old Jimmy over there. I don't know a Jimmy
either. But it helps prevent the comparison game
as if what my neighbor does or doesn't do has
any reflection on how I view myself. Next verse.
I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that
I get. Okay, so he's not only superior in what
he avoids, he's also superior in how he performs.
See, the Pharisees had become addicted to this.
There were 613 Mosaic laws, and they had added
thousands of oral laws, okay? And when he goes,
I fast twice a week, that was actually more than
was required. When he goes, I pay tithes of all
that I get, again, he's making a statement. I
do more than is asked. It's almost as if he's
saying, God owes me a thanks. See, they had added
all these extra rules where they would even break
down the herbs in their garden and give 10 %
of that. They had become addicted to tradition
and religion, and it was even more important
that everyone saw them live out this religion.
See, I grew up in the South in Alabama, and everybody
goes to church. It's generational. You know what
to say. You know how to say it. You know to wear
pastel colors on Easter. You do. It's a way of
life. And I remember when I started in ministry,
I didn't know nothing, y 'all. And I was working
on my first Easter. And as many of you know,
when someone says he is risen, you say he is
risen indeed. I didn't know that. So I'm working
parking. I'm like the front guy at the parking
thing and waving everyone. And someone drives
by with their window down. He is risen. I go,
you betcha. Another car. He is risen. He sure
has. This goes on. And as traffic starts backing
up, this very, very sweet lady had said it and
I said something silly. And she goes, you're
supposed to say he is risen indeed. And of course,
I acted like I knew that. So, you know, for those
next five he has risen, I nailed it. I mean,
I was a pro. He has risen indeed. It was like
I've been doing it my whole life. Now, there's
nothing wrong with that statement. It's true.
Traditions are good. But what we have to be careful
of is there's no power in the tradition. There's
no power in the religion. Okay, following these
laws the way they were was breathing life into
these Pharisees. It was giving them life and
breath. But we know the only breath and life
comes through Jesus Christ. The only power is
him as our savior and us being sealed with the
Holy Spirit and then that pouring out through
us. as his goodness working through us. See,
the Pharisees had become experts at hiding the
brokenness of what was in their hearts while
becoming masters of their outward expression
of religion. God isn't looking for religion.
God is looking for relationship. God does not
desire the sacrifice of bulls. He desires a broken
and contrite heart. So if God is looking for
relationship, then we have to ask ourselves,
what kind of relationship is that? In Matthew
7, verses 21 through 23, not everyone who says
to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that
day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesize in your
name? In your name, drive out demons and perform
many miracles. And then I will tell them plainly,
I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.
Do you see the similarity of this parable and
the scripture? Again, it is people listing off
the things they've done for God. I honestly envision
someone sitting across Jesus at a table and they
just. slide the resume on over to them. Jesus,
I don't know if you've been paying attention,
but I've been doing a whole lot for you lately.
The new in this verse, I never knew you. That
word in the Greek is gnosko. It's an intimate
knowing. It's the way a husband and wife know
each other. This is nothing of the physical.
But we know what that is. It's an intimate, we
know their biggest shortcomings and their greatest
successes of who they are as people. This is
an experiential knowing, okay, this word. And
full transparency, I've never been to school
for Greek. I've never spoke it, as you might
tell from my accent. But I also believe we live
in a time where there are enough resources that
if you have a desire, you can learn something
and study it. And I also believe we have a responsibility
on this stage to teach the second and third and
fourth layer of what God is teaching. Because
new in the English doesn't cut it. New doesn't
tell you the depth of the relationship. I mean,
he doesn't even recognize them. There's no intimacy.
There's no experiential relationship. I mean,
you can know your pizza delivery guy, but you
don't know him. I mean, I know he's going to
bring me a meat lovers with added bacon, but
I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's
going on in his heart or in his head. There was
a time when several years ago, I had this relationship
that friendship and it went sideways and it really
caught me off guard. I had no clue anything was
wrong. It came out of nowhere, and I was meeting
and talking to someone. And in the beginning,
there was attempts at reconciliation. And honestly,
I was grieving this friendship. And as I was
talking to somebody about it, they really explained
it. It was because I really thought our friendship
was here, and the truth is it was over here.
And he gave me this illustration of a property
or someone's house and how everybody falls within
this illustration at some level. As you look
at a house, the front yard is where you might
see someone and you recognize them and you say,
hello, hey, how you doing? But you don't know
anything about them. Then you might have some
people that are on your front porch. You're going
to have similarities. You might talk sports or
family or kids, but everything is very surface
level. And there's nothing wrong with these first
two. You need people across the board. Then you
might have people in the living room or kitchen.
Here, you're starting to open up about things
that are happening within your life, but very
rarely are you vulnerable. Then you have people
in the bedroom. And again, nothing of the physical.
This is only for a few, okay? But the main indicator
is you go from talking about what's happening
in your life to talking about what's happening
on the inside of you. You know each other's good
and bad. You know each other's struggles and
wins. You know how to spur one another on. You
know when something's just not quite right with
the person that day. You remember week one, Pastor
Todd said, our proximity to God allows for understanding.
Where's Jesus in this illustration? Is he on
the front porch? Is it all surface level? And
if that's where you're at today, that's okay.
But know God has more for you. Maybe Jesus is
in your living room and you shared some things
with him, but there's also a lot that you hide
from him. And there's a lot you keep him out
of. I want you to know God desires a more intimate
relationship with you. Next verse. But the tax
collector stood at a distance. He would not even
look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. These prayers
couldn't be more different. These characters
couldn't be more different. Jesus is the master
storyteller. This prayer is one of humility and
desperation and dependence. It says that he stood
at the back of the temple, which now we know
that Pharisee had to be at the front. His eyes
are glued to the floor while his voice goes up
to heaven. There's a need, an understanding of
a genuine need for the mercy of God. God be merciful
to me, the sinner. Many translations say a sinner.
I think this one is more accurate though. A sinner
allows us to minimize our sin. I'm just one of
many sinners. I mean, we all sin. The sinner
takes singular focus on it doesn't matter what
my neighbor does, good or bad. I'm the sinner,
and I need the Lord. It says very clearly in
Scripture that if you've broken one law, you've
broken them all. But we don't like to look at
it like that, do we? We'll go, this person murdered
and this person stole. Murder's worse. I'm not
disagreeing that murder's worse. But God is in
heaven and goes, you're both lawbreakers. See,
what the Pharisees had done was, is they took
this Mosaic law that was supposed to be a mirror
that reflected your brokenness and dirtiness,
and then they tried to clean themselves with
it. The law was never intended for that. The
law was always intended to point you to the need
of a savior in Jesus Christ. Because we've all
sinned, we've all fallen short of the glory of
God. There is no one good, not even one of us.
Luke 18, 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. So
the cool thing about this parable is it has really
strong bookends. You don't need much for interpretation.
We know who they're talking to, self -righteous
and people that look down on others. And then
we also know what will happen with these two
heart postures. If you exalt yourself, God will
humble you. And if you humble yourself, God will
exalt you. See, church, we can't miss this, the
effect that pride has on the heart. I wonder
if I was to ask everybody, if you had to think
off the top of your head the absolute worst possible
sins you could ever commit on this earth, would
pride make your top five? Would pride make your
top 10? In Luke 10, 18 it says, Jesus saw Satan
fall like lightning from heaven. Satan wasn't
kicked out of heaven because he drank too much.
He wasn't kicked out of heaven because he was
sexually immoral or because he committed murder.
He was slammed to earth because he was prideful.
We don't have time to teach this today. But for
you note takers, Isaiah 14, verses 12 through
14. And Satan gives these five I will statements,
okay? He goes, I will be like the most high.
I will elevate myself. I will be the authority.
I will be worshiped. I will, I will, I will.
See, I think we can make a case that the absolute
worst sin is pride. Because it's the biggest
lie ever told. That we have anything that is
not his. We get a spiritual gift or a talent
and it's some personal accomplishment to us.
What do we have that we have not received from
God? And why do we act as though we didn't receive
it? When we compare ourselves to others and say,
well, I'd never do that sin, or just in any manner
we're comparing, we're struggling with pride.
This happens with good things too. I read my
Bible a whole lot. This person doesn't even know
this book. They don't even know this verse. They
don't even know this tradition. We're struggling
with pride. If at any point in this message you
go, whoo, My neighbor really needs to hear this.
My wife, my friend, my sibling, you need it.
I need it. You're struggling with pride. See,
this parable teaches that self -righteousness
and pride blind us from our spiritual need. why
humility opens the door to a genuine relationship
with God, a gnosco relationship. And when we
don't have this intimate relationship with Jesus,
we can confuse our glory for his glory. The apostles,
James and John, approached Jesus and said, Jesus,
we have a request, and whatever the request is,
we'd love it if you did it. And he goes, all
right, well, what's your request? And they come
before him and go, they replied, let one of us
sit at your right and the other at your left
in your glory. You catch that? Oh, Jesus, this
is in your glory. You see how easy it is for
us to confuse our glory for his glory? But you
know what I found interesting as I was studying
this, praying on it? They had an opportunity
to be at his right and left. At the cross. And
they were nowhere to be found. Now, I'm not judging
them. I honestly can't imagine how the apostles
felt. They believed and knew with all their heart
that this was the Messiah, God in the flesh.
And all of their emotions and five senses were
challenging this belief as they saw God dying
on the cross. See, if we are in a position where
we exalt ourselves, we just judge this behavior.
But if we take a posture of humility, we recognize
what our brothers did and immediately turn it
back to ourselves and go, have I ever done that?
Have I ever confused my glory for God's glory?
The answer is yes. I believe we all have. I even
think of this position. Being on stage is a knife's
edge, y 'all. You receive compliments. You're
very familiar to people. You have to constantly
check the motives and condition of your heart
that you don't confuse your glory for God's glory.
Even writing a message like this, I have to first
filter it through my own heart before I could
ever teach it to y 'all. In fact, if Pastor John
or Pastor Todd or I'm up here teaching you something,
more times than not, it's because God is in the
process of teaching us something, and then we
just get to share it in a message format with
y 'all. We're just all player coaches up here
in desperate need of a Savior, and we need His
mercies every day. But then we have to ask ourselves
as a church, is there things in my life where
I confuse my glory for God's glory? Is it your
success? Is it your bank account? Is it your
looks? Is it your family name or the influence
you have in the community? And look, pride's
sneaky, y 'all, because we know what to say and
how to act. We know to say it's in your glory.
I know the tone and posture to use when receiving
a compliment. So we have to get before God, even
when we answer right, and go, God, is there anything
that I take credit for? Is there anything inside
of me that when I hear a compliment or I think
about my looks or my intelligence or my bank
account or influence, is there anything that
just puffs my chest out? Just an inch. And if
it does, God, I come before you and I repent.
And I am sorry that I've taken credit for anything
that is yours. All that I have is from you. I
can do nothing apart from him. None of us can.
I think about the pitfalls of growing up in the
greatest country where we are so blessed in abundance.
Our checks are direct deposited. We turn a knob
and the water comes on. We have heat and air
and houses and cars. Our grocery stores are full.
You can get medication. Not all things, but most
things can be fixed through procedures and medical
advancements. And then we start to have this
expectation that when those things don't happen,
we get a little fussy, don't we? We start to
think we're owed this. Because we're so used
to living this life. Waiting for food when what
we deem is too long. Waiting too long in a line,
we get a little fussy, don't we? Something breaks
down in the car or house. Poor customer service.
Bad vacation experience. A delayed flight. We
get fussy. Traffic. You go, what does this have
to do with pride? When we start to have expectations
that life should look a certain way and we're
owed something, we've stopped giving the glory
to God. Think how we cheer for our sports teams
and our kids. Do you do that every direct deposit?
I don't. Every time my water works, every time
I eat all the meals I want. Am I cheering? Am
I on my feet just praising God? Or have I become
accustomed to the blessings he's given me? And
we have to be able to ask ourselves those questions
because when we get fussy the few times it doesn't
happen and we have an expectation that life should
look a certain way, we have become the main characters
of our story. We're not the main characters,
God is. My life is not about me. It should be
about God and others. It's certainly not about
my glory. It's about God's glory because Jesus
is the master storyteller. He is the author and
perfecter of our faiths. Are we in a heart posture
where we can lower ourselves and admit that?
So that we can be exalted through Christ and
he's magnified to where you don't even see who
we are anymore. You only see Christ. Are we in
a position of humility where Jesus can tell our
story? Let's pray. Father God, The Lord is great
and most worthy of praise. Father, I thank you
for your blessings, Lord. I thank you for the
blessings I'm unaware of. Lord, I come before
you and repent of any time I've taken credit
for something, Lord. Lord, where I have not given
you the glory, I pray that you would search our
heart and know our thoughts. Lord, that you would
put... point out anything that you find offensive,
Lord. Lord, pride is so sneaky. It shows up in
so many ways, Lord. Show us our blind spots.
Put people in our lives, Lord, that show us these
things, Lord, where we can bolster one another,
Lord. Encourage one another and grow together,
Lord. That the way we love one another and love
you, Lord, points people to you, Father. that
the spotlight is not on us, but it is on the
cross, Lord. I thank you for your goodness. I
thank you for your love, Lord, that you would
be magnified and worshiped as you deserve, Lord,
that every day we would offer our bodies as living
sacrifices to you, Lord. All that we have is
yours, Lord. Let us never lose sight of that.
In Jesus' name, amen.