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188. Who Was Forgiven?


Luke 18:9-14, 2 Corinthians 7:10
Key Verse: "Godly sorrow leads to repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."
1 Corinthians 7:10

Are you surprised at the attitude of this Pharisee? You would never pray that way, right? Your prayers are much more humble! Yet, is there no one that you know that you are glad that you are better than: the homeless bum, the bragging executive, the poor single mother who is just scraping by? The human mind set is to compare. We can compare ourselves with those who have it better and covet, but we can also compare ourselves with those who fall short and, maybe breathe a prayer of thanks that we are wiser, and holier than they.

The Pharisee was all caught up in thanking God for his own good works. He was thanking God for blessing him for all the things that he was able to do for himself. He was focused totally on outward behavior, the part that he, and we, can see. He did not know of Paul's warning in Ephesians 2:8-9: "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." The Pharisee obviously saw himself as a gift to God. He had nothing to repent of. He was a perfect specimen for the Lord to examine and he was only thanking God for blessing his human efforts. He didn't need God for anything. He had it all under control.

In contrast, we have a tax collector. He knows he is a sinner. He has probably stolen much. He knows he is hated and looked down upon. He probably even knows that the frowns that come his way are deserved.

In many ways, he is actually like the Pharisee. He is probably wealthy, just like the Pharisee is wealthy. He is powerful just as the Pharisee is powerful and he is feared and untouchable, just as the Pharisee. He’s also comparing himself to others, just like the Pharisee.  In many ways, they are alike. Neither the Pharisee nor the tax collector were welcome company for the common masses.

What Jesus points out here is the heart condition of the two men. Both men trampled on the poor, but one thought that he had a right to do so while the other realized that he was wrong. One man thought that he didn't need Christ's justification because he had justified himself before God. The tax collector, however, realized that he was a sinner, in need of mercy and he thus appealed to a merciful God for forgiveness.

As long as we think we can save ourselves, we will not reach out to God. As long as we think that it's up to us, we will continue to be discouraged because we never will be able to succeed. In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power rests on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Christ loves to take the weak and broken lives of this world and remold them into lives devoted to Him. In so doing, He gets the glory. He can't use the impenetrable heart and life of a self-sufficient Pharisee, but He can use a broken life that is totally surrendered to Him.

Hymn: "I Surrender All"
Mr. Simon, A Ken Medema song, an excellent retelling of the parable!

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