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He Has an Attitude
A sermon by Dr. James
Flamming
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia
First in a series on “The Mirror Stories of Jesus”
Sunday, October 1, 2006
I
begin this morning a series of sermons on Jesus’ parables. I am calling them,
“The Look-in-the-Mirror Stories” because the parables encourage us to look at
ourselves, to look in the mirror. They are not about them, but about me,
about you, about us. I encourage you to turn to Luke the 18th
chapter.
The
scene was an elevator in downtown Richmond. It was comfortably full—which is to
say it wasn’t jam packed, but it was full. But it wasn’t a quiet ride like most
elevator rides are. There was one who was speaking—on a cell phone. Now why is
it people speak louder on cell phones? Especially when everybody is around them,
I don’t know. But at any rate, somebody was really getting carved up. Between
the lady who was in the elevator and whoever she was speaking to--and one of the
phrases she used I’ve heard many times, but it seemed to catch my attention--she
said, “Well you know, she really has an attitude.” The other lady on the end of
the line—I’m assuming it was a lady—was going talk for a while and then came the
reply, “Look, everybody knows she has an attitude. Forget it.” About that time,
the elevator came to her floor and doors opened. She walked out. The doors shut
and I thanked the Lord for little blessings.
Do
you have an attitude? See, we have made attitude synonymous with negative
attitude. Everybody has an attitude. The question is what kind. And in a parable
that Jesus told, there are two men and you will be interested to know that Jesus
did not have a positive attitude to both of them. The fact is, one of them, he
didn’t have a positive attitude at all toward. I ask you to look at the 9th
verse of the 18th chapter. “Now to some who were confident of their
own righteousness [that can also be translated comfortable in their own
righteousness] and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable.
‘Two men went up into the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you
that I am not like other people—robbers, evil doers, 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 [one translation says ‘he put his head in his hands.’] and said, ‘God
have mercy on me, a sinner.’” I tell you that this man, rather than the other,
went home justified before God. Let me read that in our terminology. “I tell you
that this man, rather than the other, was saved. For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Two
men. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. A creation of the Roman
Empire. What they did when they conquered a country was to pick out some
enterprising citizens of that country and they would hire them to collect the
revenue. For many it was a good job, well paid. The trouble is, of course,
everybody hated them. It was like being a traitor. The tax collectors had no
friends. And many times they cheated. One chapter over you have Zaccheus who
when he finally comes to himself and repents says he’ll give back twice what he
cheated them of.
Now
the other one was not a tax collector. He was a Pharisee. They lived in an
environment of religion. We live in a secular environment when God has no part.
They lived in a religious environment and at the top of the heap—Pharisees.
Pharisee comes from the same word as pure. Pharisees were intent on being
pure—pure in their belief, pure in their behavior, pure in their
politics—and the one thing they would not do is associate with people who are
considered impure.
Two
men. And Jesus, at the very outset, talks about those two men and makes it clear
that the one who was the Pharisee was the bad guy and the one who was the tax
collector was the hero.
The
two of them went up into the Temple to pray. The devout went to pray three times
a day, 9 o’clock, 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock. Now, you can pray anytime, anywhere,
but it was thought if you prayed in the Temple you got a better chance of it
being heard. And the Pharisee prayed like this: “God, I thank you that I’m not
like other men, [notch above, you see] robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even
like this tax collector.”
Now
to be honest, the Pharisee really didn’t pray, he gave God his religious resumé.
And it was impressive. The truth is, I have a lot more in common with the
Pharisee than I do with the tax collector. So do you or you wouldn’t be here. I
believe in the scriptures. They did. I believe in prayer. So did they. I believe
in faithful attendance at church and so did they. I tithe. So did they. I’ve
even been known to fast. This Pharisee guy and I have a lot in common. How can I
escape having an attitude like he had? The answer is very clear. To own up in an
honest way to your inner self and what you find there.
Paul
says we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God and that includes me
and that includes you and if that includes all of us, we had better start
worrying about or own confession rather than parading conceitedly our religion.
Contrast between the Pharisee and the tax collector was very, very clear.
And
it is very uncomfortable.
One man lifted up his eyes to heaven and told all about himself. The
other man put his head in his hands and said, “Oh, God, have mercy.”
One man pled for pardon and the other presented to God a religious
pedigree.
One man offered his brokenness and the other his tithes.
One man offered his sin and the other his superiority.
One man dialed up Heaven to put his name on the Sabbath Day bulletin
as a righteous one, and the other dialed up Heaven’s 911.
The
Pharisee had misplaced comparisons. You see, he had lost the vision of what God
was trying to do with him. He was comparing himself to other people. As long as
you compare yourself to other people, you can come out on top, because you’re
better than somebody, I know. But the Pharisee, having done that kind of
comparison, lost sight of the vision that he was to love God with all of his
heart, mind, strength and soul. And he lost the vision of what God was trying to
do with his life. For a Christian, when a Christian begins to compare
himself or herself with other Christians they’ve lost sight of the Lord Jesus.
They’ve lost sight of what he did on the cross. They’ve lost sight of the fact
that he has something very important for them to do and all they are doing is
comparing themselves with somebody else.
One man offered his brokenness and the other his tithes.
One man offered his sin and the other his superiority.
One man dialed up Heaven to put his name on the Sabbath Day bulletin.
The other, Heaven’s 911.
The
Pharisee had misplaced comparisons. Do you? Do I?
Friend, listen to me. God has an attitude toward a person who cannot be honest
about his or her own weaknesses but only pays attention to somebody else’s
weaknesses. God has an attitude toward someone who can see another person’s
fault, but will not acknowledge their own.
God
does not want our pedigrees, he wants to be our physical physician and our
spiritual physician. He wants to make us whole. He wants not our conceit, but
our confessions. Clearly the hero in Jesus’ parable was the unlikely one—the tax
collector. You know, I believe he probably went into the Temple that day at one
of the turning points in his life.
Some
years ago, I received a phone call from a friend of one of our sons. He was in
Richmond, going to lecture out at VCU and wanted to see me and we had breakfast.
I was so glad to see him. I hadn’t seen him in years. He wanted to talk. I let
him. He told me his story of the last two or three years. He had struggled with
alcoholism and wrecked his car. Got thrown out and wound up a ditch in the mud.
He said, “I got up from that mud and I said to myself it’s time to change.”
He said, “I started going to AA. I started going back to church. I walked down
an aisle to let them know I wanted to be saved. I gave my heart to the Lord . .
.” and all of a sudden he just started crying. We were in a restaurant down on
Broad Street and he was crying like a baby. Embarrassed, I handed him my little
handkerchief. He said, “You can’t believe the difference this has made in my
family. The best thing that ever happened to me was to wind up in the mud, in
the ditch.”
I
have to believe that the Publican, the tax collector, had wound up in a ditch in
the mud and he left that place and he brushed off the mud and he walked to the
Temple. He may not have ever been in that temple before. And the scripture says
he stood a long ways off, but he put his head in his hands and he prayed.
I
want you to compare these two prayers, will you.
Bill
Hybels’ book is what we’re studying in our groups this fall. To Busy Not to
Pray. Actually this was published ten years ago, it’s the tenth anniversary
of it. Easy read, but it deals with the basics of prayer. In it he has a chapter
where he talks about how to proceed in prayer and he used the A-C-T-S path. It
came from a bunch of Roman Catholics during the Colonial Era here in America. A
stands for adoration; C for confession; T for thanksgiving; and S for
supplication or petition. You look at the Pharisee’s prayer. If A-C-T-S are the
ingredients of good praying, there’s not a one of them in the Pharisee’s prayer.
He doesn’t adore God. He doesn’t confess anything. The only thanksgiving is how
good he is. And he doesn’t pray for anybody else. This guy may be
religious, but he doesn’t know anything about prayer. He can make all the
meetings and he can be president of the board, but he is not a pray-er.
Meanwhile, the guy who has brushed the mud off his britches, he’s standing a
long ways off. He is so full of confession and he starts in the right place. God
(adoration), be merciful (petition) to me a sinner (confession). By the way, the
language of the New Testament has the not a. He is confessing a
specific sin. It’s a lot easier to say, “Yeh, I’m a sinner,” than it is to
confess your particular sin, or mine.
You
know, one of the interesting things about the New Testament is how it brings us
into real life and back in the 8th chapter there’s a story about a
woman who had an issue of blood for 12 years. That meant she was outcast, she
was rejected, she was considered unclean, and she couldn’t live in intimacy with
anybody. Twelve years. Excluded. Rejected. And she wanted just to touch Jesus.
One
day we were having a Bible study some years ago and Dr. David Thomas was
teaching that and I told you once how he put us in a group. He picked one of the
men to be Jesus, and then he picked several to be the disciples around. He said,
“Just get very close, as if you’re in a big crowd.” And then he picked one of
the women, A strong woman. Leader woman. Not an emotional person and said, “You
be the woman and try to get through to Jesus.” She tried to elbow her way and it
wouldn’t work. She tried to push her way, wouldn’t work. And finally she got
down on her hands and knees and literally crawled through that forest of knees
in order to finally get to where she would be like touching the hem of Jesus’
garment. When it was finished, David said, “You can be seated” and all of the
guys took their seats and the woman was still sitting there, weeping. She said,
“I just never understood how hard it was for her to get to Jesus and how
important it was that she just reached out and touched him.” And she said, It’s
so easy for me to get to Jesus and seldom I reach out and touch him.”
Mike
and Madeline Edens were back in town. They’re our missionaries to Iraq. Finished
their three-year assignment. Had hoped to start a church there, but things have
just unraveled in the nation. The Sunnis, the Shia, the Kurds have all divided
into their separate camps. He brought together before he left, did Mike, the
Christian leaders from all three of the groups that are no longer living
together nor speaking--all in the same room. They have only one thing in
common—Jesus Christ is their Lord. He was prepared that they would observe
communion. Before they did, prompted by the Holy Spirit, he went to get a basin
and a towel and began to wash their feet. And one of them said, “Not mine.”
There is a cultural taboo here, because you’re not allowed for anyone to see the
bottom of your feet. Said, “You let me wash your feet.” But Mike wouldn’t do it.
He washed his feet and while he was washing his feet, as Jesus washed the
disciples feet in John, the man started weeping. Went to the next one and he
wept. And all the way around--some of them were Kurds, some of them were Shias
and some of them were Sunnis, some of them were from other language groups,
spoke very little of the other’s dialect—but they were one of heart and one of
soul around the table of the Lord.
And
that’s why on that night Jesus took the bread and he broke it and he said,
“Bring your brokenness to my broken body and let’s get together. Bring your sins
to my cross. I died in behalf of you. Bring your brokenness to my brokenness and
we will, together, learn how to love one another.”
And
on that night he took the cup as well and he said, “This is my blood which is
shed for you for the remission of your sins.”
Will
you pray with me?
O
Lord Jesus, as we come to this time when we bring our brokenness to you whose
broken body allows us to feel your spirit and your love and your forgiveness. O
Lord, take away our pride during this time and allow us to feel humble before
your presence. Allow us to each one, O God, to feel your touch in the most needy
place in our lives. O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus, call us by name and let’s get
together. In Jesus name we pray and for his sake. Amen.
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