Two Men

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Be and Become Podcast, featuring Francois Carr, a hard quality and collective life ministry. Francois's international ministry equips and encourages pastors, ministry leaders, and fellow Christians as they discover what it means to truly be and become the followers they were meant to be. Thank you for joining Francois today as he offers a few words of encouragement from God's Word.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Have you ever had this experience that after spending some time reading in the scriptures and even praying, that you walk away from that moment of quietness before the very face of God with nothing in your heart and no experience with God at all? Or when you show up on a Sunday morning at the worship session and the pastor is preaching, you've come with the intention to pray and to hear from the Lord, but you walk away even from that Sunday morning or Wednesday night prayer meeting with no encounter or no real word from the Lord or truth that has come to your heart. Now Jesus tells us a parable in the book of Luke chapter 18, and give us a reason for that when he speaks about the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. He said, There are two men that have come to the temple with the intention and the purpose to pray, but only one of them in verse 14 will walk away from that encounter, be blessed by the Lord and receive something from him. Now Jesus has given us a promise in John chapter 14, verses 21 and 23, that if we love him and we obey his commandments, then he and his father will reveal themselves unto us and will even come and dwell with us. There are so many promises in the scriptures that when we pray is that he will hear and that he will answer, that we will knock, that he will open, that we will call upon his name, and that he will reveal great and mighty things to us. There's a wonderful promise that when we come to him is that we will receive something from him. But in Luke chapter 18, the Bible explains to us in verses 9 through 14. Maybe the attitude of the heart is one of the most important preparations to meet with the Lord. That's what Jesus is actually speaking about here in Luke chapter 18 when he speaks about these two men. Now they were two men. One is called the Pharisee, a man of the cloth, a man of the law. In other words, they've had so many rules, regulations to the law of Moses, it almost becomes impossible just to be able to obey and to do all of those and to be a very good, let's say, a Christian from back in those days, but even for us. And the Bible says he came and he stood up. At the place of prayer, he stood up, because they usually stand when they pray, and then he prays thus with himself. The Bible says, God, I thank you. In other words, he was not praying before the face of God. He was not praying to God himself, he was praying and speaking to himself. The Bible tells us that we need to lift our hearts and direct our hearts to the one before whom we stand. It's actually a Hebrew principle called covenant, that when we come to the place of prayer or the place of meeting is to direct our hearts to the one before whom we stand. And so this man was standing at the place of prayer with the intention to pray, to be in the very presence of God and to hear from God, but he was praying to himself. His heart was directed unto himself and not unto the Lord before whom he was standing in that moment. And then he prayed, he said, Even Lord, I thank you for making me not like all these other people, but that you make me better than them. When he compares himself with the other people that he mentions in that in that moment. He was even boasting as he was speaking to the Lord that he's not as bad as all these other people, these men, the extortioners, the unjust, the adulterers, or even as the tax collectors standing next to me at the place of prayer. And then he continues by saying he was fasting twice a week, and he gave a ten percent of all his finances that he possesses in that moment. He was a very good I want to s use the word in brackets, Christian back from those days, but that had no real relationship with the Lord Jesus himself. And then there was the other man the Bible says the tax collector standing afar off would not even so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. As we look at this, you will see that the tax collectors they are employees from the Roman Empire. They come from a Jewish background, a Jewish employees of that empire. In other words, they are the people that is rejected by their own people because of what they are doing for they are seen as deserters because they are doing something for the Roman Empire. They collected tax for the tolls, for the land, for the customs, the 1% of your income, and there's tax on agriculture, there's all kinds of tax that they have to hand over to the Roman Empire, and then they add commission to that, and that's how they make their living. And so they are rejected by the people from their community. So this man was standing afar. The Bible says he doesn't want to go close to the temple. He felt so unworthy just to face the Lord and just to be in his very presence, beating his heart and his breast, and said, God be merciful to me, a sinner, as he was crying for mercy. So he was standing at a distance. He felt so unworthy to face the Lord, he was ashamed, he was embarrassed, and he just cried out for mercy in verse 13. And the word that he's using here, the word me a sinner, is a word coming from the Greek language that simply means I am the sinner, the biggest of the sinners. From all these people around the temple, I am the biggest sinner here today. That's the attitude from his heart. I have come, I felt so unworthy to face the Lord and even to hear from him, to be in his presence, because I'm the I'm not just a sinner, I'm the greatest of all sinners. Paul uses the same phrase in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 15, when he says, God has shown him grace as the greatest of all sinners, that Jesus Christ may be revealed to the people that still will believe in him. And so this is the attitude from this man's heart. He felt so ashamed and embarrassed and unworthy. The Bible tells us in James chapter 4, if we humble ourselves before the Lord, that he will then exalt us in the right moment. The Lord is near to those who is brokenhearted, Psalm 34, verses 18. But if we come before him, like the Bible says in James chapter 4, verse 3, we ask, but we don't receive, because we ask in the wrong way. Or Psalm 66, verse 18, because God will not hear because of the sins in our heart. Well God has turned his face away from us in the book of Isaiah, chapty chapter 59, verses 2. And so when I look at this passage, I realize so many times when we show up in a meeting on a Sunday morning or even spending some time in our quiet time, we come with the wrong attitude because there might be something within our heart that we try to justify or to reason or to explain. And just like the Pharisee, we look at our own work with God and what we've done for him, instead of just coming like the tax collector, unworthy and willing to humble himself and cry out for mercy and see the sin that he has committed as the biggest of all sins, which is the reason why he could not receive anything from the Lord. And then Jesus said in verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other one. So he walked away from that encounter, blessed by the Lord, because he has come feeling unworthy. He was directing his heart to the one before whom he was standing. And so I want to encourage you in this day. If you meet with the Lord, spend some time with him in the reading of his word, and just make sure that there is nothing within your heart to justify yourself and to look at our own righteousness, but rather come like the tax collector standing afar, crying for mercy, confess those things that we believe is the reason why God might not meet with us, because he has given us a promise. If we love him and obey him, he and the Father will come to us and dwell with us and speak to us. And may you experience the wonder of God's answers and God's blessing and God's presence and God's nearness in this day, in this week, as you come before him to pray and to seek his face and his presence. May God bless you and may you walk away from that encounter. Be blessed by the Lord Himself. God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Thank you for listening to this Be and Become episode with Francois Carr. For more information about the ministry, visit the website at ConnectedLife Ministries.com. We hope you'll join Francois next time as he continues the conversation on what it means to be and become the follower you are meant to be.