Luke 18:9-14 Galatians 3:9-10 Audio file is at the end of text.
We live in a world that is focused on success. God has put into us a competitive spirit to be the best that we can be. This drive for excellence can get us in trouble. One day my father set a goal to try to save $5,000. When he hit that goal, he tried for $10,000. Then he told me that he woke up one night in a cold sweat and God was telling him that his striving for the goal to accumulate money was becoming an obsession.
The next morning he set up a scholarship fund at Louisiana College and gave half of his savings away to help young people get a college degree. Since that time, hundreds have benefited from his willingness to let go of self and to use his competitive spirit to serve others. Focusing on any goal can become a passion and this is one way Satan sneaks in and we don't even realize it's happening. We think we're doing something good, something excellent, something we can take pride in then our pleasure with ourselves take our focus off of Jesus.
What does Jesus have to say to those of us who think so much of ourselves? We might be proud that we saved some money, or we won a trophy, or that people we work with think we're the best. In Luke 18:9-14 we hear directly from Jesus on this topic. He says that it is better for us to be like the tax collector than the Pharisee--the professional religious guy. This was shocking to those who heard Jesus in person that day. Why would Jesus say this?
A tax collector was seen as the lowest of the low because he worked for the Roman government. Rome set the tax then the collector would collect that plus some and the plus part he put in his own pocket. In a way the Jews saw the tax collector as a bit of a thief or traitor since he worked for the pagans. The Pharisee was looked up to and admired. Once again, Jesus turns tradition on its head. He upsets the apple cart and he makes heads spin.
In this passage we see that the Pharisee stood up in the Temple and bragged upon his personal achievements in his prayer. He said something like, "Thank you God that I am not like these others around me who are big sinners and particularly I am not like the terrible tax man. I am good. I fast and I tithe.
While the Pharisee was making a spectacle of himself, over in a corner of the Temple, the tax man was slumped over in prayer begging God to have mercy on him because he knew at the core that he was a sinner and that only by God's mercy would he be able to live another day.
If you look at Galatians 3:9-10 you see what Jesus was teaching in Luke is what Jesus has been teaching from the beginning of time. This passage says,
"So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith--this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: 'Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law.' "
Paul joins Jesus to condemn the behavior of the braggadocios law-keeper and lift up the behavior of the humble. If you have brought Jesus into your heart and accepted his free gift of grace and mercy then you are called to humility and complete dependence on Him.
Let's be the tax collector. Let's memorize his prayer because this is the prayer that Jesus praised. The tax collector prayed in the posture of a beggar, "God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner." Next, accept the forgiveness promised and go and be the best that you can be as you walk by faith, not by sight.
