Kaleo San Diego Church > Sermons

Righteousness

David Fairchild
Jun 15, 2008
Series: Encountering Jesus

TEXT

Luke 18:9-14: "He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get." 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.'"

INTRODUCTION

It is easy to miss the inner beauty of the things we're most familiar with simply because we've become too familiar with them.

This parable is so simple and seems to have such a clear and simple message that it is understandable how we might pass over it or simply skim this passage in Scripture because we've come to assume we "get it." Why waste time dissecting this passage when its elegance and beauty is found in its simplicity? Shouldn't we just let the parable stand on its own without our need for commentary?

Sometimes our familiarity with even our spouse can cause us to stop looking at them with fresh eyes and we can come to take them for granted because of our familiarity with them. A great relationship is often a matter of both parties refusing to ever become so familiar that they stop looking at each other. This can be true with parables. Their greatest strength is their simplicity, yet it is because of their simplicity that we stop plumbing their depths. Parables are simple, but they are never simplistic.

This particular parable introduces a problem and provides two alternative solutions to the problem. Jesus is showing us the universal problem of righteousness. Jesus then shows us the only solution to this problem.

The problem of righteousness is set in v. 9 as we see someone, the Pharisee, who is trying to establish a righteousness of his own. This attitude of self-righteousness created in him a sense of superiority and caused him to look down at others.

They key word and the clue to this parable and its meaning is the word "justification." In v. 14 Jesus says "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other." The parable is given to answer the question: How is a person justified and made right before God?

The word ‘righteousness' in our culture is almost always set in a negative context. ‘Righteous' or ‘righteousness' is a word that means to be shown that you're in the right, or that you are just and treated as such. It means that you've passed scrutiny and are accepted.

The two solutions presented to this problem of righteousness are the outside-in approach vs. the inside-out approach. Jesus teaches us that only one works.

In this story at this ancient time, we see this problem and assume we're so removed from it that surely in our day we're not worried about being righteous, are we? Yes we are. We are a culture consumed with passing scrutiny and feeling accepted and in the right.

What are we hungry for? What are we doing in our culture? We're hungry for approval. We're hungry for acceptance. We want to be shown that our standing is a good one, that we're in the right. We long for such things.

Some cultures are more obvious than others. For instance, in shame cultures, like in Japan, the idea of self-esteem gives way to social-esteem. Tokyo is filled with business men who've lost their jobs and have not told their families because of the shame it brings upon them. Instead, what many business men do is get dressed in their suits in the morning, grab their briefcase, and head off to a place where they can meet up with other men who've lost their jobs and haven't told their family. If after a long enough time they don't find a job, they simply don't come home one day. The shame is so great that they leave and move somewhere else. It is such a shame to their family that often times the family would rather not know about what happened.

Now, in our culture we sneer at such a shame culture and yet they do the same when they see us spend 8 billion dollars a year on plastic surgery, botox injections and chemical peels to boost our self-image. They wonder how in the world we could spend some much energy trying to be accepted and so much time worrying about how others think of us.

We grow up trying to prove ourselves. When we're young, we try to prove to everyone how brave we are, then we try to prove what great lovers we are, then we try to prove what a great spouse we are, then what great parents we are, then we try to prove how successful we are until in our old age we realize how much of our life was spent with an unquenchable drive to prove ourselves and make ourselves feel approved.

What is it about us that is desperate for someone from outside ourselves to declare to us that they're proud of us, they approve us, they think we're beautiful, they love us and believe in us, and they accept us? We are all hungry for this no matter how much we say we don't care what others think of us. Only the most hardened people, the most detached and hurt say such things.

The way we've come to handle our need to feel approved and righteous is through the modern movement of self-esteem.

We're all starved for someone outside of us who is greater than us to say we're wanted, we're accepted, and we're right in their eyes. This is a universal need.

How do we deal with our need to feel justified? How do we deal with our universal need to be made right, to be counted as right? This is what the parable is all about.

Verse 9: "He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt"

Jesus does for us what most psychologists and educators refuse to do in our day. He draws a straight line from our self-righteousness and self-confidence to our despising and our contempt for others. He sees a direct correlation between self-esteem and other-loathing.

This is a dangerous statement in our time with our doctrine of self-esteem. It's dangerous to say that we shouldn't have high self-esteem and we shouldn't attempt to breed self-esteem in our children. So much so, that my statement may have already ruffled your feathers because this is what we've been taught our whole lives. Self-esteem is basically the same as trusting in ourselves. It's fundamentally a doctrine that teaches us that whatever we need can be found inside of us if we'll look hard enough. So, we should develop enough deposits of positive feelings about ourselves so that when we look we only see good and not bad. This will help us become good people and treat others well.

A psychology professor at SDSU by the name of Jean Twenge wrote a book recently titled Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled - and More Miserable Than Ever Before.

She lays out a compelling case, a case that is growing in popularity among psychologists, that the self-esteem doctrine we've been feeding ourselves and now our children for the last 40 years has failed miserably and has left us in greater despair and hopelessness than before. This current generation "Me" born after 1970, has both the highest self-esteem on record along with the highest rates of depression.

She shows that the self-esteem doctrine (and it is a doctrine with those who evangelize others to believe in its tenets) has created an epidemic of narcissism, entitlement, unrealistic expectations, depression, anxiety, loneliness, cynicism and feelings of control, and blame-shifting (problems come from the outside).

Whereas the baby-boomer generation spoke of life as a journey of self-discovery, they only spoke of self-esteem with an accent. Not our generation Me, self-esteem is our native language. The culture of ‘self' is our hometown. Twenge writes:

We don't have to join groups or talk of journeys, because we're already there. We don't need to 'polish' the self ... because we take for granted that its already shiny. We don't need to look inward; we already know what we will find. Since we were small children, we were taught to put ourselves first. That's just the way the world works - why dwell on it. Let's go to the mall.

The rise of ‘the self' is perfectly mapped out in the data Twenge analyzed. As part of her research, she examined almost 70,000 college students' responses to the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale. What she discovered is that by the mid 1990s, ‘the average GenMe college man had higher self-esteem than 86% of college men in 1968. The figure for women was 71%. Similar trends have been shown in children's attitudes toward themselves. Twenge argues that what is mysterious about their high self-esteem figures is that the late 1980s and 90s were not very child-friendly years and divorce rates were high - something which often affects how children feel about themselves.

Twenge argues that the self-esteem figures rose over this period not just because of baby boomers' parenting style, but because they were systematically subjected to self-esteem building exercises in school. Twenge argues that this has had profound implications for the personalities, attitudes and skills of Generation Me.

Academic Standards

In line with some other critics, Twenge points out that during the time that self-esteem building exercises were common in school, the academic performance of young Americans dropped considerably in relation to other countries. She also says that ‘grade inflation has reached record highs'. For example 18% of American young people starting out in college in 1968 reported they had earned an average A in high school. The figure in 2004 had soared to 48%. Further evidence supports Twenge's claim that self-esteem has risen while academic standards have not. For example, one survey of the mathematical skills of students in 1989 in 8 countries showed that American pupils came in at the bottom of the class. However, when they were asked to rate their mathematical ability they topped the league. The opposite was true for Korean students.

Narcissism and Entitlement

Twenge has indeed found in her research that narcissism is much more common now than in past generations. Only 12% of teenagers in the early 1950s agreed with the statement 'I am an important person' but by the late 1980s, this had risen to 80%. Other psychologists have also found a rise in narcissistic personality traits.

Twenge links the rise of narcissism with the growing sense of ‘entitlement' among Generation Me. She says this can take the form of students ‘demanding' better grades, irrespective of the effort they have put in, or speeding drivers and road rage which has become increasingly a feature of contemporary society.

Depression, anxiety and loneliness

Twenge presents evidence on the rise of depression in the USA, particularly in young people. But she goes further than this and looks at the incidence of anxiety. She analyzed data on over 40,000 college students and 12,000 children who completed anxiety measures between the 1950s and 1990s. As she says herself, the results are stunning:

Anxiety increased so much that the average college student in the 1990s was more anxious that 85% of students in the 1950s and 71% of students in the 1970s. The trend for children was even more striking: Children as young as 9 years old were markedly more anxious than kids had been in the 1950s. The change was so large that 'normal' schoolchildren in the 1980s reported higher levels of anxiety than child psychiatric patients in the 1950s. This may help explain why the suicide rate for children under 14 has doubled in the past twenty-five years.

Another startling finding from Twenge's research is that ‘when' you are born now has more influence on your anxiety level than your family background. In other words, young people from stable, loving families are more vulnerable and more at risk from anxiety because of the times in which they live.

Twenge argues that one of the reasons why depression and mental health problems have increased is that the pre-occupation with ‘the self,' means that when life is challenging or disappointing young people cannot put it in perspective. But she believes that it is also because young people are much more lonely and isolated than before. Research indicates that four times more Americans nowadays describe themselves as ‘lonely' as compared with those in 1957. Twenge believes that for young people this loneliness often results from the collapse of dating, later marriage and a high divorce rate. The frequent moves demanded by modern business can compound the problem. Echoing the famous line from Janis Joplin's song 'freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose', Twenge argues that young people pay dearly for their values of independence, freedom and putting themselves first. She writes: 'I often feel that many of us are one breakup, or one move away from depression - our roots are not deep enough, our support system too shallow.'

In one of the most perceptive passages in the book, Twenge writes:

One of the strangest things about modern life is the expectation that we will stand alone, negotiating breakups, moves, divorces, and all manner of heartbreak that previous generations were careful to avoid. This may be the key to the low rate of depression among older generations: despite all the deprivation and war they experienced, they could always count on each other.[1]

Self-esteem, self-centeredness, self-confidence, looking to ourselves to approve ourselves, looking to our feeling about ourselves to fix ourselves, can not be the answer. It doesn't work psychologically, and certainly we know it is not just harmful but fatal biblically. Self-focus ultimately ends in self-destruction.

One way to tell is how you take criticism. Do you get angry or defensive? Do you get quiet and withdrawn or do you respond sharply? Why? Why do you think it is so difficult to hear someone criticize you? Could it be that you believe you're great and others who criticize you are just trying to hurt your opinion of yourself? Could it be that you believe you're not and you're trying to prove your goodness by defending yourself to others?

Why are we so impressed with celebrities in our culture? What is it about them that causes us to celebrate them? Is it their self-determined and self-assured actions that show everyone that they can do what they want?

Verse 10: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector."

The Contrast

This story is based upon a contrast. It's a contrast at two levels. The first contrast is between the Pharisee and the tax collector themselves. The second is between a normal outward judgment on their righteousness and acceptability before God and God's judgment.

The contrast Jesus gave would have been readily visualized by those of His time. We have a poor image of Pharisees because of the things Jesus has taught us about their attitude, but the people of this day didn't. The Pharisees were the most highly regarded of the various sects of Judaism.

They were a body of religious leaders whose chief concern was to ensure that God's Law was honored and observed. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, so was the Apostle Paul before he met Jesus.

The other person in this parable was a tax collector. A no-good, money-grubbing, cheating, manipulating, lying, Roman collaborator and therefore a traitor to the Jewish people. Tax collectors were Jews empowered by the Roman government and they would auction off the right to be a tax collector once a year. Whoever bid the most was allowed to act as a collector. They would collect taxes for Rome, and anything they charged above and beyond what Rome required, they could keep for themselves.

Needless to say, they were not loved. They were despised by the people. People would cross the street to pass on the other side to stay away from them. When Jesus spoke of these two men, a Pharisee and a tax collector, it was as though He had spoken of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and a rapist.

Many of us are less like the Pharisee today, with his uplifted head and his solid moral character, than we are like the tax collector-but in a different form than the one described by Jesus.

In our day, we have the worst of both worlds. We have turned this parable to say, "I thank you, God, that I'm not so proud as this Pharisee; I am an extortioner, I am unjust, I am an adulterer. But I'm still special and I'm still worthy. That's just how we are, and that's just what I am, but at least I admit it, and because I do, I'm a little better than the rest who lie about it. Because I don't try to hide my sin, because I'm honest enough to admit it, you should hear my prayers and you should be pleased with my sincerity."

The Pharisee: Outside-In

Verses 11-12: "The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'"

This prayer is neither petition nor confession.

The Marks of a Pharisee

Externally oriented

Let's look at the makeup of this kind of thinking. Notice that it's almost exclusively external. He is looking at his outward behavior, his piety, the sins he doesn't commit like others.

We don't see him thanking God for a softened heart towards others, more love and kindness in his heart. We don't see him speak of what is happening inside of him at all. His prayer and perspective is exclusively external.

You can see that his view of sin and of others is dominated by external behavior. For him it's about keeping and breaking rules.

Separatistic

He's not only exclusively external, he's also a separatist. It says that he was standing ‘by himself,' or other translations it might say that he was praying ‘to himself.' The reason they differ is because the exact meaning is difficult to translate in English. It literally means that he moved away from others to be by himself.

This is what a self-righteous heart does. It causes our hearts to treat sin and others solely in external ways. We judge them based upon a variety of external factors. This causes us to remove ourselves from those whom we deem have failed externally. Everything that is wrong is "out there" not "in here." So, if I can avoid people who are not measuring up to my standards, I can avoid sin and becoming like them. I avoid places that I don't agree with. I don't read things I don't agree with. I don't have friends that have different values than I do and who don't behave the way I want them to.

Legalistic

He thanked God that he didn't commit the same sins as other sinners, and he mentions sins that are commands like; stealing, being unjust, and committing adultery. Clearly the Scripture speaks to us about such things and tells us not to do them. So at this point he's at least accurate. But then he sneaks something in and rises to the level of God's command. He says ‘I fast twice a week.' That's a great practice, and certainly the Scripture wouldn't say he couldn't do such a thing, but it's not commanded.

Fasts were only commanded once a year for the Jew on the Day of Atonement; any other time it was up to the individual as to when they would do it. Frequency and occasion differed for each person and God allowed this freedom so that we would be able to fast as often as we'd like. But the Pharisee snuck this in with his lists of things he didn't do and put it on his resume. Why?

Something is going on in this man's heart that causes him to use his fasting as a way of showing how righteous he is. He's trying to show God that he's not just different, but better than others.

If we're not careful about our understanding and belief of the gospel, we'll do the same thing. We'll take something that is a personal preference, even if it's good, and we'll turn into an occasion for treating others with contempt. Treating others with contempt means that we literally despise them. It's not just a harmless difference of opinion; it's a matter of looking at another with a kind of inward scorn.

We'll take neutral things and make them ultimate things. Why? Because we're so hungry for approval and acceptance that we're willing to despise others so that we'll feel secure that we're okay.

How does this work out in our church? How about worship styles? How about our start time? Our meeting location? How about how we see individuals worshipping God? Do you think those who raise their hands are too expressive and not contemplative enough? Do you think that those who don't raise their hands are clearly not in touch with the Spirit? We do this in the very act of worshipping our God! This is how deep it goes. It's an outside-in view of righteousness.

This Pharisee is no hypocrite. He lived consistently according to His claims and beliefs. Yet, look at his prayer. He begins his prayer by thanking God, but then never mentions God again. He doesn't confess or petition God. He thanks God, but His thanks in really in His own efforts and merits. Sure, He'll give lip service to God for allowing him to be so good, but ultimately it's his goodness he's claiming.

In a twist here, the good man is lost and the bad man is saved. The good man who believes in his own righteousness is not right before God and the man who sees that he's not right before God is made right before God. Why does Jesus teach this over and over again? Because the outside-in approach not only fails to work, it's spiritually deadly.

How do you handle the problem of righteousness? How are you dealing with this hunger for ‘rightness' and approval? It has to be with the gospel.

Active vs. Passive righteousness

In the Christian life, we know that God is a Father. However, for most of us, this image is not helpful because He feels so distant. If you've ever been in a home, or met children who seem despondent and unloved, you begin to wonder what kind of father they have who would cause them to feel so frightened of him and so sad when he's mentioned. I wonder if when people come into the church and look at our lives, more so than our lips, do they ask the same question? Are they saying to themselves, "what kind of God do they serve that seems so far away, so distant, so difficult to please?" What do our lives say about our God?

If our heart has no assurance of His love and closeness to us we drift away into the worst of worlds. A world where we know He's there with our minds, but experientially it seems like we're straining for Him and just missing His presence.

If righteousness is being made or counted in the right, approved, and accepted, then it's important to know how we get this kind of righteousness. Is it something that we actively develop with God's help so that He'll approve us or is it a righteousness that comes solely from Him, that we can't develop but can only receive by faith?

This is what the Apostle Paul was getting at in Romans 3:

Romans 3:21-22a: "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it-22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe..."

It's a righteousness that comes apart from the law (which means apart from active obedience) and is only received through faith in Jesus. It's something that is only received passively. Like a field that receives rain, it can do nothing to get the rain and can only receive it.

When we ask the question, "If you die, what is the grounds for your entrance into God's presence?" Most, if not all, will answer "Jesus alone!" And that is the right answer.

But when I ask the question, "How does God feel about you today?" If we're honest and we do the hard work to think out how we're acting and feeling towards Him, many will say that He's disappointed in us.

So how do we come to change our view of His disposition towards us? Do we go out and work hard so that we're feeling good about our standing before Him? Or is the way we mature and grow, the way our orientation towards Him changed the same way we came in? Is it Jesus plus nothing, or is it Jesus plus our active work and righteousness?

If we keep looking at our lives in order to measure up, all we'll see is an angry or disappointed God who is off in the distance with His arms folded and His brow furrowed. This is most certainly a struggle and it shouldn't be diminished.

But what this parable is teaching us, and what this passage from Paul is teaching us, is that in this life we have, right now, a righteousness that is apart from my efforts and is not my own. It was given to me by faith and right now, this very moment, my Father in heaven is absolutely overjoyed with me because I am counted as fully and completely righteous before Him this very moment. That's how He sees me. That's how He wants me to see Him seeing me. He desires that we see ourselves as already approved and accepted as His children, not trying to gain His acceptance as orphans. He wants to be our Father, not some distant task master who is never satisfied. His joy over us is secure and complete because the righteousness He's given us is so beautiful and perfect since it's the very righteousness of His own perfect Son. Not through what I've done, but through what Jesus has done for me.

What flows from your heart in response to Him? What are you feeling towards Him this very moment? Are you living with joyful gratitude in all that He's done to bring you to Himself? Are you worshipping a God who's face is pleased and satisfied or are you worshipping a God who is cold and distant? Do you believe what we said last week about God being infinitely and eternally joyful and a God who exults over you and sings loudly over you because of His satisfaction with His Son? Or are you still on the performance treadmill wondering how to make Him happy?

What can you do about this? The only thing we can do is trust that He's true, that He's right, and that His gospel, His good news, really is just that, "good news." Do we believe how good this news is?

When we come to believe in the gospel we shouldn't have some vague idea that perhaps God will accept me. When we believe, we should believe all the way, to the point that we know that as we've turned from our sin to Him, God fully accepts and receives me as His very own Son. He loves me to the same degree and with the same passion that He loves His own Son. He is as pleased with me now as He is with Jesus. Not when I die. Not when I live up through growing in maturity. But this very moment. Today. Fully and completely.

Double Imputation

This is because Jesus did two things for us. If you're a Christian, you've come to believe that you've failed to live up and that you've tried to be your own master, your own lord, and your own savior. You've built your life on something other than God. It may be sex, money, power, comfort, control, pleasure, or any other thing than God. As you've been struck by the reality that you've sinned against God, you've come to believe that Jesus came and went to the cross for us. He took our sins onto Himself and stood in our place as our substitute and received the punishment from the Father that we deserved. My record was transferred to Him and by faith my sins are forgiven.

Most Christians get this. Most of us would heartily "amen" such a statement. However, this isn't the only thing He's done for us.

There is a second part to the gospel. Jesus had a record too. He lived a life too. Except His life was lived in utter and perfect obedience to the Father. He never sinned against Him. He fully loved His Father with all His heart, mind, soul, and with all His strength. He kept the whole Law and never failed in any way, even to the smallest degree. And His perfect record, the sum total of His life, His perfect obedience, is transferred to us by the same faith and is given to our accounts. Our standing before God is now perfect. Look at Romans 4.

Romans 4:3: "For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.'"

It doesn't say that it was counted to Him as forgiveness. It says it was counted to Him as righteousness. There is a difference between the two. We are not only forgiven, we have something even better, we're counted as righteous. Our account is full and overflowing with His righteousness.

Being forgiven is only half the gospel story. Without the other half we set out in this life trying to become righteous. We start by faith and then live by our own efforts.

We don't only need to be forgiven by God, we need to be made right.

If I sinned against a human king and was brought before him, guilty and deserving his judgment and punishment and he forgave me of my sins against him, this still doesn't make us close. He may forgive me and I feel wonderful, free, and even deeply grateful for his forgiveness, but this doesn't mean he's going to say, "Now come over here and give your dad a hug and let me put my robes, my ring, my shoes on you and let's have a feast to celebrate my approval and acceptance of you as my very own." As a matter of fact, if I only have his forgiveness and I'm filled with gratitude, I might even leave his courtroom determined to show him how grateful I am by impressing him with my hard work and labor. I might live the rest of my days trying to please him but never knowing whether I've done enough for him to be impressed.

What about the times you've received a notice in the mail from your bank. The notice that looks different from all the other banking letters. When you open it you're dreading these initials: NSF. Non sufficient funds. That is a terrible feeling isn't it. To know that you've so miscalculated your account that you wrote checks that had no money in your account to pay them is horrifying. And what does the bank do? Charges you NSF fees. Depending on your bank, these fees can be huge.

Let's say you've really messed up and didn't watch your account for a whole month but kept writing checks because you though you had money to cover them. Then, you find out you bounced 20 checks at $25 dollars a pop! How do you feel? Not only do you feel broke, you feel indebted. It's not just that you have no money in your account, you have debt owed to the bank now. That's worse.

Now if you felt terrible, went to the bank and spoke with the branch manger and pleaded your case. What would you hope they would do? Clear your debt right? You certainly couldn't demand it, but there may be a small spark of hope that they'd have pity on you. Then, wonder of wonders, you catch the manger on a good day. They feel for you and tell you that they'll erase all your debt and you'll owe them nothing. Do you feel happy? Sure. Grateful? Of course. Rich? No! All that happened is a clearing of your debt. You're still broke. You've only come back to a zero balance in your account. You're forgiven, but you're still poor. You might be grateful, but the status of you poverty hasn't changed. All they've done at that point is to help you recover by forgiving your debt. But it's up to you to go work to build your financial righteousness.

What if the bank manager said, "Not only am I going to forgive you of your debt, I'm also going to transfer one million dollars into your account?" Then they went on to say, "I've been investing for 30 years and making all the right financial decisions. And the money I'm going to transfer to you is my own personal savings from all these years. I'm going to empty my account and give you everything I have and those late fees I'm going to take into my own account and be responsible for."

What would you say? You'd probably be confused. You might think they're nuts. You may even think it's too good to be true. But you wouldn't casually leave with only a little smile on your face out of gratitude. This transfer would change your disposition and your financial life. Of course this pales in comparison because we know the value of Christ's righteousness far exceeds anything we could have ever hoped for. Righteousness is all the wealth of Jesus' merit in my account. It is His positive account credited to mine. It's everything that He's earned given to me by His grace alone, through faith.

I don't only want God to forgive me and that's it. This might give me warm thoughts of His mercy and grace, but it can still leave God distant in how we see Him. If we don't believe that we're not just forgiven, but made right with Him, we'll not have the assurance of His pleasure towards us and His desire to be close. We won't feel welcomed in. I may spend the rest of my days trying to prove to Him how grateful I am but never quite sure if He's satisfied.

Sadly, what most do after a long period of time, is simply give up trying to make Him happy because they don't feel they can ever live up. They either withdraw completely, or they settle for a Christianity that is so one-dimensional that there is simply no joy, no rejoicing in their life. This lack of rejoicing always spills into how we treat and view other people. If we can never rest, if we're always working, we'll look down our noses at others who aren't. We may even say things like, "This person doesn't understand the holiness of God," or, "This person shouldn't even call themselves a Christian." Let alone how you'll treat someone that doesn't even pretend they're a Christian. Someone like this tax collector, a sinner who is the worst of people we can imagine, will be utterly and completely despised by us.

Being forgiven is wonderful, but being made right is even better! That's good news! That's the gospel! That's a gospel that brings joy. That's a gospel that will set us free to live lives in complete confidence in Jesus. This is the news and truth that your relationship with God is sure and secure today! This means that every day we have something to share about our faith, not just what He did for us when we first believed.

Now do you see why the Pharisee not only showed that he didn't owe God a debt, but that he was also righteous? He not only avoided the sins he listed, he also was building a righteousness to commend to God. This is how we was able to live each day and face himself. It caused pride to such a degree that he was not only distant from God, he was distant from others. He thought he was close to God and far from this sinner, but Jesus is showing us that he was far from God and close to this sinner. As a matter of fact, he was even worse off than this sinner.

The Tax Collector: Inside-out

Verse 13: "But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'"

The difference between the Pharisee and the Tax collector is the difference between chapter 7 and 11 in bankruptcy.

The Pharisee has filed chapter 11 with God. It's a temporary bankruptcy. This is chosen by a basically healthy company that, given time, can work through its financial problems. It has assets that will still rescue it.

The Tax Collector has filed chapter 7. This is for a company that is at the end of its financial rope. It's not just that it's in deep debt, but that it has no viable future as a business. It's forced to get rid of its assets. The company is finished. It's all over. The owners and investors lose everything they've put into the business. No one likes chapter 7. Your assets won't save your company, only claiming you can't save your company actually allows you to claim chapter 7.

This man doesn't simply say, ‘be merciful to me a sinner,' it's a definite article and he's saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner.'

A whole new way of finding approval. When he says ‘be merciful to me...' he's asking God to atone for his sin.

The gospel creates an identity you receive now, not just an approval in the future.

The Gospel

v. 14 Gospel irony: whoever elevates himself will be brought low and whoever is brought low will be elevated.

Jesus' humiliation (brought low) leads to His exaltation (exalted in glory).

This man isn't just asking for some blanket pardon, he's asking for a substitute to atone for his sin. He realizes that he is not able to atone for his own sin.

This turns us into different people, not just better versions.

C.S. Lewis said this in his book Mere Christianity, in the chapter titled "Nice People or New Men?" He writes:

A world of nice people, looking no further than that, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as the miserable world and more difficult to save, for mere improvement is not redemption, though in the end redemption will improve you to a degree that you can't even imagine. God became man to turn creatures into sons, not simply to produce better kinds of the old creature, but to produce a new kind of person. It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better, but more like turning a horse into a winged creature which is a whole new kind of being altogether.

Lewis is saying that what our Father has done for us in Christ is not intended to simply make us nicer, more moral, and better versions of the old us. He's making us into someone new, someone free, someone who is redeemed, not just reformed.

Spurgeon's Carrot Story

[1] http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/pp/overview.php?p=c2lkPTYmdGlkPTAmaWQ9MTcx