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Who Am I? Luke 18:9-14

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 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. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 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.’ 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.”

Take ten chickens. Any ten. Put them in a pen together, and spread a little chicken feed. In short order, you will witness an amazing phenomenon. In a matter of minutes, the chickens, previously strangers, will form a hierarchy based on dominance; or, in everyday language, they will establish a pecking order.

Instinctively, they will determine, through a series of skirmishes who the number one chicken will be; then the number two; the number three; all the way down to the unlucky number ten chicken. Much is at stake in this dance of domination. Chicken number one pecks at and intimidates chicken number two, without experiencing any kind of retribution from chicken number two. Chicken number two will take it from chicken number one but will turn around and peck away at chicken number three, who will in turn take out its frustration on chicken number four. The pecking order continues all the way down to chicken number ten, who, needless to say, has a pretty miserable life, pecked but no one to peck.

From the first moments in the Bible man has sought to be bigger or better.

Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation to be like God.Cain killed Able because of jealousy.

It is one of the toughest subjects in the Bible. It is tough because we are human and there is something in everyone of us that wants to be first or a step ahead of everyone else.

In his book, Descending into Greatness, Bill Hybels writes, “In the vocabulary of the world, ‘down’ is a word for losers, cowards, and the bear market. It is a word to be avoided or ignored, and certainly not discussed seriously, especially in polite society. It is a word that colors whatever it touches, even the otherwise proper company of words that it keeps: down and out, downfall, downscale, downhill, down hearted and worst of all down under. A word, it seems only of the unfortunate lips of the weak, the poor, or the dead.

If all that weren’t enough, there is the crowning blow against the word: Its antonym is ‘up.’ And up, in our high voltage society is a word that has come to cherished, almost worshipped. It is a word reserved for the winners, heroes, and those who know their bull. It is a word to be admired and pursued, the unspoken talk of the party, the way to influence whoever is present: upscale, up and coming, upwardly mobile, upper class. The word of the chosen few and the strong.”

There is no question when you read the Bible where the teaching of Jesus goes with this subject.

Philippians 2 makes it clear that descending or humility is everything the world cracks it up to be.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus . . . made Himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a servant . . .”

It is demotion, anonymity, servant-hood, downscaling, decreasing, losing, and dying.

Luke in chapter eighteen records the parable you heard read earlier in the service. What lessons did Jesus want to teach us from this story?

Let’s pray and ask God to open our minds and hearts to hear His voice today on this important subject.

1. The reason Jesus gives for the parable: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable.”

There have always been people around who will look down their noses at other people. In the book of Acts, the relatively new Jewish Christians were refusing to let accept the Gentiles into the faith and the church. They thought of Gentiles as being unclean because they did not follow Jewish customs.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:12-14, “. . .at that time you were without Christ, being aliens fro the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who broke down the middle wall of division between us.”

There is no excuse for looking down on other Christians as though somehow we have a corner on God.

Do I believe what I believe about the Bible. You better believe it. My belief gives me no right to look arrogantly at those with which I might disagree.

One of the greatest dangers to Christ followers is that we become so enamored with ourselves and our abilities and our gifts and our talents that we begin to look down on other people as though somehow we have achieved some great high and lofty position over them.

We see it in every facet of society. We take ourselves so seriously. We too often seek to position ourselves in such a way that our greatness will be recognized and admired by our peers.

Education is needful and important however sometimes we have failed to realize the distinction between knowing and doing it.

Coming from the world of collegiate education I can tell you that we have put such a high premium on education that we accept people based on their credentials instead of their productivity. I would rather have twelve people who have a heart for God and a humble, teachable spirit than a hundred people with walls full of degrees that can talk a good game but have trouble playing the game.

It sometimes reminds me of a great Ross Perot quote when he described one of his political opponents to Larry King as having “a big hat, big boots and no cattle.”

Humans have always had this need to feel better than other people. We feel tall when others are small.

In his book, Kingdoms in Conflict, Charles Colson tells of the aggressive behavior of those who made up the leadership base while he served in the White House.

Charles Colson who has become a great Christian leader and advocate of helping prisoners find Christ. Colson served in the White House during the administration of Richard Nixon. As you may remember this was not the finest hour in the history of the presidency in our country. Colson writes about the President’s last trip abroad, in June 1974. He was accompanied by two senior aides, Al Haig and Ron Ziegler, both of whom were vying for top position. The trip, begun in the Soviet Union and including stops in Iran and Israel, was a vain last ditch effort to divert attention away from the president’s political crisis. By that time everyone knew Mr. Nixon couldn’t survive the political clamor more than another month or two; his entire administration was about to collapse. Even so, the advance team was equipped with tape measures and meticulous instructions to insure that in all sleeping accommodations Mr. Ziegler’s bed and General Haig’s bed would be an equal distance from the president’s. It is laughable and reprehensible to us now as we look at the silly games politicians often play.

Is it any different than the games that sometimes we play in our little worlds?

2. The roles of the two personalities: A Pharisee and a tax collector.

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 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. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’”

The Pharisees were deeply religious people who tried to insure that they would do nothing to displease God or break His rules. They often created fence or hedge laws that were man made rules which were much stricter than God’s laws. The thinking was that if you kept the manmade laws you would have no chance of breaking God’s laws.

Over the years these laws accumulated into hundreds of rules many of which were absurd but over time they became no longer optional. They became just as important as God’s laws in the minds of the Pharisees.

I don’t know of any group of people that got on Jesus nerves more than the Pharisees.

In Mathew 23, Jesus accused them of binding heavy burdens, doing their works to be seen of men, loving the uppermost seats at the feasts. He accused them of cleaning the outside of the cup but leaving the inside dirty.

This Pharisee was arrogant and full of himself. His ego was big enough for both men who were attempting to pray on this day.

The other man in this story was a tax collector. I told you last week that Jesus parables were almost always loaded with the most inflammatory language possible.

The Pharisees thought they had a corner on God so He used them as an example of what not to do.

The tax collector was part of the most despised class of people in this culture. They went around collecting taxes from their own people to pay the Romans who had taken over Israel during these days. Tax collectors were known as scandal, cheats and traitors. They were hated.

What did Jesus have to say about them. Well some of them became some of His first followers. Mathew and Zacchaeus come to mind.

3. Two prayers offered: Rejected or received?

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 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. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 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.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.”

You and I have the opportunity to come to God.

We have been extended invitations to follow Him, come to Him, and be like Him.

Can you envision this Pharisee striding into the temple hoping that others would notice his incredible dedication to God?

He prayed mainly so that other people could hear him. Ever heard anybody do that?

This represents and army of people today who have made church about themselves. They would never think church about church being for unchurched or lost people. It is for them and for their customs and their ways. The ultimate goal is to make church still be the way it way when they grew up.

I believe with all my heart there will be a lot of prayers prayed today that will be hard for God to hear because the people praying them will be in the way. There are prayers that will be rejected because we have gotten in the way and made ourselves number one instead of God.

There was another man in the temple that day. The Bible simply says, “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.”

He stood at a distance.
He would not even look up.
He beat on his chest.
He spoke in total humility. “God, have mercy.”

James 4:6, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.I Peter 5:5, “Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility.”

4. Ruling principle of the parable: God gives grace to those who serve him humbly.

The Bible is full of the teachings of Jesus which instruct us to humble ourselves.

Jesus in His teaching tells us to beware of the scribes which love to be seen of other people. Love to be up front.

In fact in the Message Bible, Mark 12 states, “Watch out for the religion scholars. They love to walk around in academic gowns, preening in the radiance of public flattery, basking in prominent positions, sitting at the head table at every church function.”

I occasionally attend meetings where ministers meet. I must be honest with you, I would like to avoid most of them like the plague. Maybe its because we don’t know what else to talk about but in most of those settings the first things that they want to talk about it how many people did you have on Sunday? Within a group setting this very quickly produces a pecking order based on the size of one’s congregation. I have always hated it. Unfortunately it seems to be human nature. Not everything can be judged by numbers.

The scripture lesson today sums it up best. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Samuel Brengle is a historical figure in the Salvation Army. A leader, great author and promoter of living the life of holiness. When Brengle first came out of seminary he was destined to be a great orator. His gifts were affirmed by everyone around him at the time. When God called him to be an evangelist and then to join the Salvation Army, he responded and went to join the army of street evangelists who were very visible in the late 1800’s. Brengle brought his talents and gifts and couldn’t wait to get out on the street and begin use his great oratorical skill to help people follow Christ.

Brengle was not warmly received by the corps. Even his meeting with founder William Booth did not make him feel overly welcome. General Booth said, “Brengle, you belong to the dangerous classes. You have been your own boss for so long that I don’t think you will want to submit to Salvation Army discipline.”

When he received his first assignment he could hardly believe it. He wanted to get on the street and preach but he was told to black the boots of the other cadets. Down in the little cellar he found himself with eighteen pairs of muddy shoes, a can of blacking, and a sharp temptation. It was not the lowliness of the duty but the apparent waste of his time and talent that had wounded him. Remembering the Lord’s story of the man who buried his talent, he prayed, while his brush moved inexpertly across the toe of a clumsy boot: “Lord God, am I burying my talent? Is this the best they can do for me in the Salvation Army? Am I a fool? Have I followed my own way 3000 miles to come here and black boots?”

As if in direct answer, in imagination he saw a picture: Jesus was washing the disciple’s feet. His Lord, bending over the feet of uncouth and unlearned fisherman, washing them, humbling Himself, taking the form of a servant. Brengle saw it all of the sudden in a new light. He began to black boots with authority and with a song in his heart. He was following in His Lord’s footsteps.

He wrote years later, “I had fellowship with Jesus every morning for a week while down in that cellar blacking boots. It was the best training I could have had. I was humble, but now I was practicing my humility. I saw what the Salvation Army stood for—service. My new prayer was, ‘Dear Lord, let me serve the servants of Jesus. That is sufficient for me.’ And do you know, that experience put a key in my hand to unlock the hearts of lowly people all around the world for the next forty years.”

When we hear stories like that and yet it represents something that we must fight against if we would truly be Christ followers.Christ is calling us today to serve Him in humility.

To avoid arrogance.
To run from pride.

To surrender our talents and gifts to Him.

We get in trouble when we start believing our own press clippings and releases. –Swindoll

Let’s open ourselves for a moment of reflection and introspection before Him.

God we admit to you today that we are nothing without you.
All that we have you have given us.
All our talents and gifts come from you.
You have given them and you can take them away.

We surrender our selves to you. In the spirit of the tax collector from this story we say to you, God be merciful to us.

The Message: Mathew 23

“Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them.“ The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s law. You won’t go wrong in following

2003/03/09