Luke 18:9-14
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
To justify yourself before man is very easy because the requirements and standards will be very low. As long as you join them and do what they do, they will welcome you. They would feel guilty, if you do not do what they do. Guilt is a terrible thing! It kills! To be justified before God is not easy. That is why the Devil who was Lucifer in the beginning could not match God. God is humble. There is no one on Earth who is as humble as God. If you need to see someone who is truly humble on Earth, you would have to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John over and over again and you will find Him there. The Lord Jesus Christ is the exact representation of God the Father on Earth. He represented Him fully by being truly humble. He would not talk about this in the parable above, if He isn't one. He only talked about what was real in Him and God the Father whom He had represented on Earth, or else, He wouldn't talk about it.
Here in this parable, the Lord Jesus Christ was reminding us about the divine nature of God that must be formed in us, if we really belong to God. When we claim we belong to God,that would mean we are made right before Him. To "be made right: before Him is to be justified before Him. It is possible to claim that you belong to God even when you are not justifed before God. You think that you are justified before God, but God doesn't think so. In fact, He doesn't even know you! How do you expect Him to know you, when you are proud at heart and mind ,while He is humble in His entire nature? There is no pride and arrogance in His entire nature! It is very difficult to understand this truth about God, if you have been brought up in a very arrogant environment and upbringing from birth. Just look carefully at what the Pharisee was doing and saying. All the things that had happened took place in a temple, mind you! Why did they go there? With the same intention to pray to God.
Take note of the attitude of the Pharisee here. He felt that the tax-collector was not qualified to stand together with him to pray, so he stood alone and aloof to pray to God. Just who does he think he is before God? Does God owe him something? That's the impression he gave, as though God owed him something. God doesn't owe anyone, anything! What was terribly wrong with the Pharisee, that even God wasn't there to hear him,when he prayed. He was always doing things for others to see his righteous acts. He was seeking to please others and himself,but not God. His heart wasn't with God. It was far way from Him, deep in the things of this world. Note, even when he was supposedly praying to God, his thoughts was all on money. How cursed a background he must have come from? If you are seeking to please God, you must first of all, find out what pleases and displeases Him and not what pleases and displeases you. What a self-centred, wretched person you are to be always thinking about yourself only, even when you pray to God. You were in the temple ,because you felt that it was your right to be there. You felt you were qualified to stand there. I don't know who gave you that impression. Whoever gave you that impression, is a fool too!
Even God runs away, when such people come to Him. On the contrary, why was the Tax-collector accepted of God? He was humble in his heart and mind. If you are not humble at heart and mind, you cannot come to God. In fact, you cannot come to God without Christ's divine nature being formed in you. Never can you come to Him! What made the difference between these two in the presence of God? We do not know whether the Tax-collector entered the temple in the first place. It does not say here. "He stood far away, at a distance". it says. He did not feel worthy to be there. He felt unworthy of God! How do we know this? "He would not even look up to heaven"it says here. He was in total remorse of his sins he had committed before God by beating upon his chest. That's an act of feeling unworthy before God.It is not easy to do that as play-acting in or around that temple because for fear that the other person around you would think wrong of you. He wasn't conscious of what he was doing before the other arrogant guy. The first words that came from his mouth is, "'God, have mercy on me, a sinner". Something we should all learn here is that the Tax-collector knew exactly who he was before God and he was not ashamed to admit it before Him. As compared to him,the Pharisee did not know who he was before God. He took what others thought of him to be as what God also thinks of him. That wasn't the true picture of himself here. The opposite was true of him in God's presence. that's how it is today, too!
"Who goes home justified before God" was the question the Lord Jesus Christ threw to the disciples listening to this parable. It is not important how justified and dignified you are before man who have very low standards of righteousness and holiness just like you, but how God sees you as. Do you seek to know what God thinks of you? Anyone can say anthing about you, just to jack you up for some personal reasons, maybe to get some favours from you.But, honestly, what does God think of you? You know that! You know what you have done with your foolish life-style! Don't tell me, you too don't know what you have done in your entire life? Or, are you pretending not to know? How long are you going to pretend? This parable tells us that you cannot pretend before God. He knows it all. What you have been up to, He knows it all! So stop your play-acting and admit your sins to God now, before it's too late for you. Humbleness of the heart and mind is a part of the divine nature of Christ that must be formed in us. We cannot go to God without Christformation in us, this parable tells us so!For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." Remember we told you in the book, that Christformation is the 'doxa 'glory of God in you. With this 'doxa' glory of God you shall be exalted before the heavenly Father. Are you ready for this? Are you ready to put to death the sinful nature of the Devil in you and allow the full-formation of Christ's divine nature in you, through your obedience to all that Christ had commanded?
James 4:4-10
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed." Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
