August 28, 2022 Trinity 11 The Sunday of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

Trinity 11
Luke 18:9-14
August 28, 2022

“Stop Believing in Yourself; Believe in God’s Grace for Yourself”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“You’ve got to believe in yourself!” It sounds so good and optimistic. Sounds logical to believe in yourself. And we’re so used to hearing it that we even think it’s a Christian thing. Doesn’t God want everyone to believe in themselves?

But no, He doesn’t. This is how Luke 18:9 starts today, “Jesus also told this parable [of the Pharisee and tax collector, that is] to some who believed in themselves….” Jesus specifically told this parable because believing in yourself is a problem and leads to other problems.

The problem with the general advice, “You’ve got to believe in yourself,” is that it’s second-rate advice. It’s not sufficient for everyone. It’s the advice of a world that has lost God. It’s what Dora the Explorer says to kids, “Believe in yourself,” because Dora doesn’t know who God is. It’s the best advice our schools can give to kids because they can’t talk about God and His grace. It may work in a certain case to tell someone to believe in himself and he stirs up his will to work harder. But it’s not sufficient for most people.

Would you tell someone dying of cancer, “You’ve got to believe in yourself?” Would you tell someone who’s an alcoholic, “Believe in yourself?” Their SELF is the problem. There’s a reason step 2 of the twelve-step program is believe in a higher power. Not believe in yourself. Would you tell someone whose family member just died, “Believe in yourself?” Doesn’t sound too compassionate or helpful. Would you tell someone with mental illness, “Believe in yourself?” Their SELF is the problem.

There’s much better advice. Advice that’s sufficient for everyone and in every situation. Advice that’s true. The advice of the tax collector. “You’ve got to believe in God’s grace.” If Dora the Explorer really knew what was best for kids, she would tell them to believe in God and His grace.

Do you know what happens when your motto is, “Believe in yourself?” You become a hypocrite. You must keep believing in yourself to a point where you think you really are better than other people. And you look down on them with contempt. “Jesus told this parable to some who believed in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.”

The Pharisee stands proudly by himself. He believes in himself. In fact, believes his self to be far superior to other selves. He prays, ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other men, those greedy extortioners who cheat people to get money, those unjust, unrighteous people who don’t come to the Temple as often as I do, those adulterers who divorce their wives, or even like this tax collector here.”

He’s not like every one else. So he thinks. He believes his self to better than others and more important. And what’s his proof for the fact that he’s better, “I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.” Whoa! Look at him! He fasts 2x a week and gives ten percent. Whoop-de-do!

This is a classic smokescreen. A classic sham. Classic cover-up. You focus on a couple things that make you look good and make you feel proud to believe in yourself—like you fast twice a week and give ten percent to church—and then you ignore all the other hundreds of sins that you’re guilty of.

We’re experts at this smokescreen technique. We believe in ourselves because we’ve picked the couple small things about ourselves that we’re proud of. I’m so thankful I’m not on government assistance like other people. At least I work really hard unlike other people. I’m so thankful I’m not overweight like other people. I’m so thankful I don’t drink too much like other people. The pro athletes who tell us to believe in ourselves focus on how hard they’ve worked to become great at basketball but don’t mention all the other sins they’re involved in. When we “believe in ourselves”, what we really mean is that we’ve handpicked a few things that make us feel we’re better than the rest.

I was so thankful for a sweet woman at El Paso Health Care the other day when I did the Bible study out there on this parable. It just so happened that she was at the door when I walked in and so we walked together through the building to the outside patio where we were going to meet. She said the people were all done out there with the smoking break and she said, “I don’t smoke. My mother taught me better than that.” I laughed. No big deal.

Then we’re doing the Bible Study and I ask, “What are some ways you guys believe in yourselves and convince yourself you’re better than others?” And this sweet woman laughed and said, “I just did it on the way out here. I told you I don’t smoke and my mother taught me better than that.” Bingo! I so appreciated her honesty.

I remember well a woman telling me she was so thankful for her good kids—they didn’t drink or smoke. I happened to know that her kids weren’t exactly angels in other areas of life.

Pay attention to this Pharisee. This is what you and I all do when we believe in ourselves. We forget all the wretched sins we commit and convince ourselves we’re good and better than others. That’s a second-rate way to live coming from second-rate advice that doesn’t know the better way.

There’s a better motto to live by. Believe in God and His grace. It’s the motto of the tax collector. The tax collector doesn’t play games and say, “At least I’m not like this stupid Pharisee who’s a hypocrite.” No, when He prays he stands far off, in humility not even lifting up his eyes. He beats his breast and says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

What if you’d have told the tax collector, “Hey, stop beating yourself, you need to believe in yourself!” He would’ve said, “The only thing I believe about myself is that I’m a terrible sinner and I need mercy.”

What the tax collector knows is that there’s one thing that will never, ever fail you or fail to come through for you. If you’re motto is, “Believe in yourself,” then you’re doomed for failure. You can muster up your will in a few situations but the evil, sin, and death in this world is much stronger than you and will eventually win.

But God’s grace will work in any and every single situation. God’s grace and mercy will never, ever fail you. This is a motto to live by forever—Believe in God’s grace for you. He has grace and mercy for you. Just out with the sins. Don’t hide them. You’re selfish. You drink too much. You  don’t take care of your body. You’re a glutton. You curse under your breath. You have dirty thoughts. Angry and hateful thoughts. You don’t give ten percent to Church. Not even close. You watch too much TV. You’ve yelled at your family. Whatever it is. Don’t smokescreen it away saying you fast twice a week and you tithe. Don’t smokescreen it away saying, “At least I don’t smoke.”

God’s grace will cover it. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus says that God exalts the humble. He exalts those who believe in God’s grace for them.

Exhibit A: The apostle Paul. He’s got quite the checkered past. Remember that he was Saul, the hateful and murderous man trying to arrest, torture, and kill Christians. But look at how He talks about himself in 1 Corinthians 15 today. “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am now, and his grace toward me was not in vain.”

Does Paul believe in himself? Never. He knows his sins full on. He believes in God’s grace. “I am what I am now because of the grace of God.” That’s a motto for you. Look at yourself and say, “Any good in me is there because of the grace of God. I believe in God’s grace for me. I am certainly the least of Christians and unworthy to be called a Christian because of the sinfulness in my heart. But by the grace of God I am what I am.”

Believing in God’s grace is first-rate advice. Sufficient for every single time and place. Exhibit B: the tax collector Zacchaeus. Jesus made up the tax collector in the parable. But Zacchaeus is a real, live human being who believed in God’s grace and not in himself. What did he say when Jesus came to his house? He stood and said, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. And I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

Zacchaeus didn’t give a smokescreen about how he fasted twice a week. He came out with it, “I’ve defrauded people.” Of course he has. He’s a tax collector. That’s what they did. But he believes in God’s grace for him. And God’s grace is sufficient for everything. Even turning the hearts of tax collectors.

Speaking of tax collectors and money and defrauding and giving tithes, I’ll use more example from the modern day. Dave Ramsey is the founder and head of Ramsey Financial Solutions. We’ve hosted a few of his classes here at our church called Financial Peace University. He helps people to work toward financial peace. Now I know people could point out a few flaws with the program or his theology but I like it overall and in one way he’s a great example of what we’re talking about today.

Dave starts out all those classes with a long description of how he utterly failed. It’s got to be quite embarrassing to tell over and over again about how he had to declare bankruptcy. But his motto didn’t become, “Believe in yourself.” By God’s grace Dave and his wife were directed to God’s Word. He was the tax collector praying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And that’s what I love so much about the financial classes he teaches. Number one on every budget sheet is what? Giving to God. Everything we have is grace and that’s where we start. Dave Ramsey learned it a very hard way. But the only thing worth living by is God’s grace. It starts and ends there. So when you take those classes you learn not only practical steps to better use the money God gives you, but you learn first and foremost that every bit of every dollar is a gift of God’s grace. That’s the most important.

Jesus says, “I tell you, this man, the tax collector, went to his house justified rather than the other.” So will you go home to your house justified today if you also believe in God’s grace for yourself and stop believing in yourself. You, like Paul and Zacchaeus and Dave Ramsey and the Pharisee and the tax collector, have many and great sins that you’re ashamed of and failures that you can’t hide away. Stop believing in yourself. It’s not sufficient. Believe in God’s grace. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And go home justified because the grace of God is the one thing that will never, ever fail you.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.