Intro

• Story about preaching at First Mount Holly
• Pride distorts our reality, makes us think we’re doing more for God than God has done for us.
  • Proverbs 16:18 – “Pride goeth before the fall”
  • Like he should be grateful that I’m doing the right things.
• It’s easy to become puffed up with pride, especially when you’re following the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • When we’re prideful, we’re often oblivious to reality.
  • Sometimes, as we grow in Christ, we become outraged that the world around us hasn’t done likewise. Then, we transfer ourselves from being the spiritual equivalent of the publican to that of the Pharisee. 

The Two Men

• Pharisee
  • Only about 3000 or so at a time, it’s thought
  • They were really considered to be good people, not the bad guys that we tend to conceptualize them as.
    • There is every reason to believe that the man that stands up really was the real deal.
  • They looked at the world as it was and believed that it was only through strict adherence to God’s law that the country could be saved.
  • They held political sway as a result of their piousness.
  • Notice his posture
    • HE STANDS in front of everyone.
    • He looks up to heaven.
    • Everything about his bearing suggests self-involvement.
  • Pride and judgment
    • There seems to be a strong link between pride and judgment and that’s shown very clearly in the Pharisee’s prayer.
  • The Tax Collector
    • Or publican
    • Roman system of collecting taxes relied on insiders who know the population to collect.
      • Tax collectors often collected far in excess of what the Romans wanted and then they kept that money for themselves.
        • People would literally cross to the other side of the street to avoid them.
      • Look at his posture
        • Standing off, as through hiding from the full weight of God’s holiness.

The Two Prayers

• Pharisee’s prayer
  • Is focused on self
    • He talks about what he does to prove he is righteous.
      • He really is going above and beyond.
        • The tithe was only required on certain types of income.
        • Fasting was only required once per week, doing g it twice was really adhering.
      • Is very ego-centric, comparative and thus misses the point of Scripture
        • That we are all guilty before God.
        • Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
        • Ecclesiastes 7:20 – “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”
        • 1 John 1:8 – “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
      • It is thought that this is an actual prayer that would’ve been used by Pharisees at the time.
    • Publican’s prayer
      • While brief, it’s very telling.
      • Mercy is grounded in God’s past acts.
        • Mercy seat – God, place me on the mercy seat
          • Mercy seat was the top of the ark where the sacrificial animal’s blood would be placed on the day of atonement.
            • God’s mercy is looked at as being an ongoing thing.
          • And he is super emphatic about being a sinner.
            • It isn’t “a sinner” but rather, God be merciful to me THE Sinner.
              • Absolutely non-comparative
              • Takes ownership of the problem