Throw Away Your Resumé
Luke 18:9-17 ·May 19, 2024· Joel Passmore
Part of: Luke
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There's just some amazing truths here to rest in and to remind ourselves. To kind of expose where it is that we're putting our trust and to direct us back to God. So, what we're going to explore today, there's a relationship between feeling superior and feeling inferior. I don't know if you've realized that, but the two things are related to each other. Let me explain. A few years ago, researchers, they wanted to find out how early kids started to think that asking for help in front of their classmates might mean that their classmates would think that they're dumb.
How early that happened. Do you know what they found? Age seven. Age seven is when kids begin to think, oh, if I ask this question, it might, people might think worse of me. Think I don't understand. And so, then they stop asking questions, right? Trying to not look bad is something that operates in our minds. I think we can all admit that. We don't want to look bad. Trying to not look bad, it drives us to do two things. To hide our problems and to look self-reliant and to be self-reliant.
To learn how to be self-reliant. Sometimes we work and work and work to find the things that we can do well, clean ourselves up, and we put all of our stock in those things.
Sometimes you can get so good at fooling other people that you end up fooling yourself. This is where the superiority starts to happen. The feelings of inferiority drive us to do some things, and maybe we get good at a few things, and now those things become our identity. The things that we rest in. The things that we feel like make us better than other people.
You end up in a place where you look over at somebody else and you think, I would never do that. How could they possibly do that? I would never do that. Why can't they just get their act together like me?
I'm saying all this because last Sunday we looked at the parable of the persistent widow, and Jesus was teaching us there that prayer is taking refuge in God. Well, today we have another parable. This time in the parable the people are actually praying, and two people are praying, but only one of them is really taking refuge in God. The other one is doing what I just described. Looking at himself. All the things that he's done well. And holding those things up to God.
So, Jesus is here to give us rescue from self-reliance. That may sound strange to you, because everything in your life has probably taught you to be self-reliant. I remember my dad saying to me, and I'm not criticizing him for this, but he said to me, one of the most important things that I can do as a parent is teach you to stand on your own two feet. Now, that's fine, right? But when we start to do that spiritually, and apply all those things spiritually, and we're whole people, so you start to do that in your profession, and it leaks over into your spiritual life.
That's where the trouble starts. Coming to God and saying, I'm standing on my own two feet before you, God. So, before I say too much, let's go to the scriptures. Let's read Luke 18. Jesus is going to point us in a direction that's actually harder for us, but it's better for us. Okay? So, Luke 18, God's holy word, trustworthy, reliable in every part. From him, and like Lisa said, Jesus relied on God's word as well. So, verse 18, starting in verse 9.
Let's pay attention together. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 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. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me. A sinner, 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. Now they were bringing even infants to him, that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Pray with me. Lord, help us pay attention. And even more than that, would you break down the stony places in our heart, by your spirit, so that the word would find rich, ready soil in which it can grow. Lord, we want to be changed by you. Lord, even when it's hard, that's what we're crying out to you for, is real change in real life. We want you to do good things in us, and we know that we have to come to you for that.
So do it, Lord, please. Be faithful to us, and we know that you will. Jesus, we pray this in your name. Church, I'm calling all of us today, throw away your resume.
Throw away your resume. If you want true security, stop trusting in yourself. And practice childlike dependence on Jesus. This parable, it starts like a setup for a joke. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, one a tax collector. But it's not a joke. Jesus is deadly serious. These two men come to offer two very different prayers. First, you've got the Pharisee. He is a religious leader in the community. If you don't know what a Pharisee is, he's a religious leader.
He addresses God, he thanks God, but who's the real focus for him? Himself. How different he is from others, and by different, what he really means is better. I'm not like other men. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers. These comparisons that he's making show what he really thinks about himself. I'm fair. I'm just. I'm pure. He's even looking around as he does it. I'm not even like this tax collector. You can almost picture him motioning with his hand to somebody else in the temple there with him.
He's in the house of God, comparing himself to others. Okay, so we've all been there. Then he starts describing how devout he is. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. You may not know this, but that's more fasting and more tithing than the law of Moses told people to do. So he's going above and beyond, and he's reminding God that he's gone above and beyond. I really am better than the others, God. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that I'm in your house today?
This reminds me of when our daughters were little, and they were less sophisticated about hiding these things. We'd be at the dinner table, and one of them would be refusing to eat. I'm not going to eat this. Nope. And the other daughter, I'm not naming them because, frankly, it happened with both. The other daughter would look over at her sister, look up at us, and say, Mommy, Daddy, I ate everything on my plate.
Or one of them would be crying and throwing a fit about not getting their way, and the other one would look at them and be like, I'm not acting like that. It was so transparent. It was so obvious what they were doing. We actually had to laugh about it. And we could see ourselves so easily. So easily. I know why you're doing that, and I know I can relate. I can relate. This is an attitude that the Pharisee has. He's like, the more I look around, the more I understand, God.
You love me because I'm better. Meanwhile, the tax collector is also there in the temple praying. Completely differently. Everything about him is in total contrast to the Pharisee. Jesus does this, right? He's setting up such a stark contrast, almost an unrealistic contrast, because he knows that underneath the surface, below the heart, it's very real what he's describing. The tax collector stands far off. He's probably in a remote part of the temple.
He doesn't even lift his eyes up to heaven. He can't even bring himself to look up. He beats his chest in a show of emotion. He's so torn up. And what is going on inside him? What is happening? He is convicted. He's convicted before God about his sin. He cries out, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. The Pharisee compares himself to others and thinks he's better, and the tax collector compares himself to God and knows that he's worse.
Now, before we go further, we need to pause and consider what Jesus' audience would have thought about this. The people that were listening to Jesus tell this parable.
The Jewish people looked up to the Pharisees, okay? They were not villains. They were not enemies. People didn't consider them to be arrogant jerks. We read the Gospels and we think that because we can see things through Jesus' eyes, but they were walking around like, those guys are the best of the best. They were admired for their piety, their diligence, and how well they followed God's laws. They were well-educated. They were well-read. They knew the Scriptures.
And they fought hard to have Jewish culture and religious practices maintained. Even while the Romans were around. They were some of the people helping to prop up and sustain Jewish culture and way of life as the Romans were occupying this area. They were nationalistic, and they were zealous for God and for their traditions. I mean, if you were a Jew walking around at that time, what's not to like about that? You admired these guys. You listened to them.
And remember this, everything that the Pharisee is saying in this parable is probably true. He hasn't done those things that the other men have done. He probably is fasting and tithing above and beyond what the law requires. The Pharisees were really good at being really good. That was their thing.
When Jesus told this story of what the Pharisee said about himself, the people listening to Jesus would not have said, oh, come on, what a jerk. They would have said, yeah, that checks out. Pharisees are the ideal. That's why we listen to them. I get why he's saying all that. Meanwhile, tax collectors were the lowest of the low. They were totally despised. They were Jews who were working with, they were collaborating with the Romans to collect taxes, and they collected more than they were owed so that they would get rich.
They were traitors and extortioners. The people listening to Jesus would have been grinding their teeth to hear this parable where a tax selector would even dare show his face in the temple. They would be mad that he even came.
When they heard about how the tax collector was downcast in anguish, calling himself a sinner, they were probably thinking, well, good. He should be asking for mercy. I hate that guy. If he's going to be in the Lord's presence, he should be down on his knees.
The audience is expecting that this parable is going to end with one of these two men being accepted by God. Right? That they are shocked to hear what Jesus says. That the humble sinner is the one that's justified.
I can remember watching The Sixth Sense when it came out in theaters. When the twist ending is revealed at the end of that movie, there were audible gasps in the theater when people saw it. That's how shocking the twist ending was. Those of you who were there remember. Just like that, I can imagine that there were gasps in the audience when Jesus says this. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. What? The tax collector justified Jesus?
You've got to be kidding me. That's offensive, Jesus. How dare you? To be justified, if you don't know what that word means, it means to be declared righteous, to be accepted by God in his presence. To have full permission to come and be with God spiritually now and physically later. To be with God, the holy one, the perfect one. To be accepted by God is each person's greatest need. And it should be the biggest question on everyone's mind. The fact that there's a God is spoken to us by creation and by our own conscience all the time.
All the time. What everyone ought to be asking is, how can I get to know him? How can I be right with him? I know he's there. How can I be with him? And Jesus says, look at this tax collector.
He came to God in humility. With nothing in his hand but his need. The tax collector said, my only hope is your mercy. And he completely entrusted himself to God. That tax collector had come to the end of himself. The absolute end. And he walked home, a different man. Justified. Forgiven. Accepted by God. Blessed.
Meanwhile, the Pharisee. The person who had worked so hard. Who cleaned himself up so nicely. The one who he and everyone else thought was already righteous. He goes home still far from God.
Are you beginning to see how this is like Jesus being M. Night Shyamalan here. This is the ultimate twist ending to one of his parables. They were not expecting this. It turns out that the Pharisee's good behavior can never add up to the holiness of God.
It's like stacking sand and trying to reach Mount Everest. It's never going to happen. It can never atone for his sin. He's actually got two problems. He can't be holy enough and he can't atone for his own sin. In fact, all his good deeds are themselves unrighteous. And you heard me correctly. Even his good deeds were unrighteous. Because they're coming from a heart of self-reliance. A heart of, God, thank you for telling me that there's a problem.
I'll take care of it myself. Listen, in 2020, American Worldview Inventory did a religious survey. They asked people who were professing Christians a bunch of questions. This was one of them. Well, this is a statement. They said, agree or disagree with this statement. A person who is generally good or does enough good things for others will earn a place in heaven.
41% of professing evangelical Christians said yes. 41% said that a person who is generally good or does enough good things for others will earn a place in heaven. But listen, trying to live a good life so that God accepts you is, this is what it is. It's looking at the cross and saying, no, I got this. I'm going to go around your cross to get to you, God, instead of going through it. It's like getting a life-threatening terminal cancer diagnosis and a surgeon saying, we've got to prep you right now for surgery and saying, no, I think I'm going to try diet and exercise.
It's like a thirsty child being offered a glass of water by their parent and the child saying, no, I'm going to find my own drink and then going underneath the sink and picking up a bottle of cleaner. That's what it means to think that you can earn your way to God. It is defiance and it's deadly.
Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. He told this parable to me. The Spirit prompted me this week that part of my sermon prep was to spend some time reflecting on when I thought I was better than other people. To write it down, to make a list. And I don't mean something that I could do better than other people, but I mean when I acted or believed that I was better. Maybe because of those things.
It was just sobering how long of a list it was. Now, I expected some things to come to mind. Going into it, I expected things like my diligence in school. Look, I was not very good at sports. That's putting it mildly. But I could study well. I could get good grades. My parents valued that.
I had the aptitude to get good grades. And so my GPA was something that made me feel superior. I would look at the jocks and think, how dumb they are to be spending all their time on that. This is where it's really at. This is really what makes someone special. Look at this grade that I got.
I was expecting things like that, but some things that came to mind, that God brought to mind, were more surprising. Like, when I serve other people. I mean, I'm just, I had to be honest and look at this Pharisee again and say, I'm just like you. I do good things and I think, boy, I'm really something.
God, did you see that? I hope you noticed that. Why can't other people just be like me? Why do we do this? Why do we do this? I think it's because beneath all the competency is a deep insecurity.
Insecurity was the first thing Adam and Eve felt when they sinned. The first thing they did was make some false coverings to cover themselves. They were insecure. Like them, we make our own coverings to try to feel okay, to cover over that insecurity. One way that we do that is a cleaned up life.
Morality. Respectability. A resume of comparative virtue. Because that's the best we can do, right? We can't compare ourselves to God, but we can compare ourselves to others. We can build up a resume of comparative virtue that we hold up to God and say, see, see how good I am?
Through the prophet Isaiah, God said, all of our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. Because it's all done out of self-reliance. And saying, God, I don't want your grace. I want to do it myself.
This parable pierces that illusion. Like popping a balloon. It's just immediate. The only way to be accepted by God is to tear up that resume. To throw it away. And to come to God in need. At the end of yourself, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. But the one who humbles himself will be exalted. This is why this is so hard. Because it means admitting the very thing that we've been trying our whole lives to cover up.
That we're needy. That we're incapable of solving our greatest problem. That we're sinners. Our whole life sometimes is spent covering up that fact. And now you're saying, Jesus, I've got to come to you and admit that? The one thing that I've been scared of ever saying to myself, scared of other people ever seeing? Yes, that's exactly what Jesus is saying.
But when you do, you find that you can be completely vulnerable and honest with God. When we come in humility and need, He receives us. He forgives us. He accepts us. And like the tax collector, we go home justified. Right then and there. Forever. Look at the quote on the front of the bulletin with me.
It's humbling to realize that we have nothing to offer God. But, it is quite an occasion of rejoicing to realize that everything we need is found in Christ. In this way, the humble are exalted.
Friends, God already knows the worst about you. Better than you know it about yourself. And He still wants you to come. He still wants you to come. Because there is security in His presence.
Sometime after this parable, people were bringing little children and infants to Jesus. They wanted Him to touch them and to bless them. But the disciples said, no, no, Jesus has better things to do with this time.
How wrong they were. Jesus says, the kingdom of God belongs to such people as them. Now, this doesn't mean that Jesus likes children more than adults. This doesn't mean that children have some kind of automatic free pass into the kingdom of God. What He's saying is, these little ones, without even knowing it, infants, toddlers, without even knowing it, they show the disciples how to enter the kingdom of God, how to receive it. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
Being a child means having unrestrained trust and dependence. Infants and toddlers don't worry about appearances, right? The baby is not thinking about how it looks to other people when it is screaming its head off to be fed. It doesn't care what anyone thinks of it. It's just saying, I've got a need. Meet it.
They're not trying to fix their own problems. Babies aren't crawling off to the pantry to try to mix their own formula. Little children, all they do is bring their needs to their parents. And they humbly receive what the parent gives them. That's it. They are a model of dependent living. And the complete opposite of self-reliance. That's why the tax collector is justified, because that's how he came to God.
Church, this is how we are meant to live. It is humbling for sophisticated adults like you and me. It's humbling for teenagers in the room, which you're learning to be sophisticated. And your pastor is calling you right now, don't believe the lies that if I'm good at this or I'm good at that, then I'm really somebody.
Then I really matter to God. It's not true. Don't go down that path. It is only in Christ that you are accepted by God, not because of your resume. There is a way for you to do well at sports and music and studies and give glory to God and not hold it up to him as something that he needs to accept. You can do that. It takes work and thought. It takes conviction of the Spirit. When he convicts you that you've made it an idol, you've made it an identity, confess that.
Remember that it's only through Christ that you're accepted. Adults, if any of this is resonating, this is a struggle for us too. God doesn't care how good your lawn looks or how much money you make. He doesn't even care how often you do a good deed for your neighbor. He wants you to do them, but not so that you can hold them up to him and say, See, God, aren't I great?
He wants you to be like a child and rely on Jesus. We try to create these fig leaves of competency, morality, self-esteem, and Jesus is saying, I'm the covering that you need. Stop it with that. Put those fig leaves down. I'm going to cover you. We try to hide from him, but he says, I want you to hide in me. In me. He addresses our insecurity by making us secure. Like little children in Jesus' presence, we don't have anything to fear.
The ladies who have been doing the 1 John study know this verse. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. That perfect love is found the way the tax collector found it. By throwing away the resume, by admitting your sinfulness, your need, and coming to Jesus in humility. This is what happens when we throw away our resume, our pride, our efforts, our boasting about being better. This is what we receive when we come to Jesus like this in humble dependence.
This is good news for all of us trying to build up our resume and finding that it can never get long enough. There's a better way. Let's hide in Jesus together. Pray with me.
Lord Jesus, this is a sweet mercy. Your plan of salvation. That it's not about earning it. It's about receiving it by grace through faith. Lord, it's a relief.
It's a relief because working to earn something from you, it's a treadmill that just never shuts off. Would you please give us more and more of a taste of that relief as we rest in Christ instead of continually trying to put our identity and to put our hope in what we've done.
Lord, thank you for the message of this tax collector. Make us like him. Thank you for these children that you welcomed. Make us like them. Help us to live in humble dependence on you. And we know, Lord, that there is security in you. Help us to hide in you and hold us fast. Jesus, we pray this in your name.