The Weakest Link
Passage: Luke 18:9-14   

As we study the 38 PARABLEs, keep in mind that every PARABLE has a central truth. Every PARABLE has "a moral to the story", a truth Jesus wants us to see!!  

Jesus told this PARABLE about two men; one called the Pharisee, the other one called the publican (that's publican, not republican). We learn from this PARABLE it is not enough just to be in church. You must be in church for the right reason.

The number one reason you are to be in church, if you are a Christian, is to worship God. The number one reason you are to be in church if you're not a Christian, is so that with your ear you might hear the word of God; so that through your heart you would experience the work of God; so that eventually in your soul you could enjoy the worship of God.

Now the way you worship reveals what you think of God, what you think of self, and what you think of others. Some of you are going to learn today that worship is your weakest link. Others are going to learn that you are the weakest link in your worship.                                 READ—Luke 8:9             

If any of the following things are true about you, you are "the weakest link."   

I. you are the weakest link. If You Do Not Accept the necessity of Righteousness Of God

Luke makes it plain who Jesus was speaking to when he gave this PARABLE. "Also He spoke this PARABLE to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others." (v.9) He was talking to very religious people who did not see God the way He ought to be seen, or see others the way they ought to be seen.

This is represented by the Pharisee. "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, �God, I thank You that I am not like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector." (vv.10-12)

Two men went to worship before the altar. One was a good, Bible-believing,         faith practicing, tithing Pharisee.                                                                                                The other was a money-grabbing, immoral, corrupt tax collector.

Now the Pharisees were the most highly regarded group in all of Judaism.  I know we are often quick to criticize the Pharisees, and we'll be quick to criticize this one, but we must recognize that this man was a very religious man. He dotted every religious "i" and he crossed every theological "t." But as you're going to see the problem was not that this man was "bad," but that as "good" as he was, he was not good enough.

We are told that he tithed of everything that he possessed. The Old Testament only required that you tithe your income, but this man tithed everything that he earned and everything that he bought. In other words, he was a double tither. We are told that he fasted twice a week. A Jew was only required to fast once a year on the day of atonement so this man fasted 103 times a year more than he was required. He was super religious. The problem was- he knew it—and trusted in that for his righteousness!!!

The Pharisee used prayer as a means of getting public recognition, not to seek fellowship with God. In fact, the Pharisee stops just short of congratulating God on what a great job God did in creating him! He sets himself apart, not just from the tax collector, but from all other men! Every time I read this PARABLE, that old song comes to mind, "Oh, Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way."  It all comes back to our attitude!!!

Let me just stop right here and give you three truths that we could already learn from this Pharisee that you should never ever forget if you intend to be right with God.

You will never get to Heaven on the basis of the things you did not do.

You will never get to Heaven on the basis of the things you did do.

You can only go to Heaven by accepting what God has done for you.

If You Are Counting On Anything Other Than “Undeserved Grace”-You’re Fooled!

It is so sad because this man was even fooled about his prayer. Verse 11 says "he stood and prayed thus with himself." The Greek language literally says, "to himself."        He thought he was praying to God, but he was just talking to himself. As someone has well said, “The only person God sends away empty is the person full of himself."  

So, listen carefully to this lesson. If you do not accept “the righteousness of God as the only way to be right with God”, you can’t worship God- & you are the weakest link.

II. You are the weakest link- If You Do Not Acknowledge the Worthiness Of Others

"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, �God, I thank You that I am not like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector." (v.11) This Pharisee  suffered from two problems: inflation and deflation. He had an inflated view of who he was, and a deflated view of who others were.

His pride had made him too big for his spiritual britches. C. S. Lewis once said: "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course as long as you are looking down you can't see anything that's above you."  

This Pharisee had a good eye on himself, a bad eye on others, and no eye on God!

We all need to remember Rom. 12:3, "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

We shouldn't be surprised that the Pharisee looked down on the publican, because everybody did. You see, publicans were tax collectors; they were the scum of Jewish society; they were the IRS of the Roman government. They would charge exorbitant rates, skim extra money off the top, and steal everything that they could and get away with it because they worked for the Roman government.

But there was one huge difference between the publican and the Pharisee. The publican was as humble as the Pharisee was proud.

  You could see it in his feet.Verse 13 says, "And the tax collector, standing afar off..." As the Pharisee stood in the sunshine, the publican stood in the shadows.                              You could also see it in his eyes. We go on to read, "he would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven..." The Pharisee was too proud to look up, while the tax collector was too ashamed to look up.

 Story about Pastor Maiko and Poor Teens of Tegucigalpa

The tax colletor came to God in humility, admitting to God what God already knew about him. Notice what Jesus said, which probably shocked the crowd. "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (v.14) If you had taken a vote in that crowd as to which man was accepted by God and which man was not, the Pharisee would have won by a unanimous vote. But there is only one vote that counts, and that is God's.

Now here is the point: If you do not see that we are all unworthy of anything except for the grace of God, and that we are all equally in need of the grace of God, then you cannot worship God and you are the weakest link.

III. You are the weakest link- If You Do Not Admit Your Own Sinfulness

Listen to what this publican says: "God, be merciful to me a sinner." There were two prayers prayed that day; one prayer didn't get higher than the temple ceiling… one prayer made it all the way to heaven. God heard the prayer of the publican, for Jesus said, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other." (v.14)

The publican's address to God was full of humility, repentance for sin, and desire toward God.  THANK God, that we have this short prayer upon record, as an answered prayer. He declared himself to be a sinner, guilty before God. He had no dependence but upon the mercy of God; upon that alone he relied.  Justification is of God in Christ; therefore the self-condemned, and not the self-righteous, are justified before God.

“The highway to heaven is paved with the concrete of humility”. On the outside you would have thought the Pharisee was the one that was close to God. But on the inside it was the tax collector who had God's heart. The Bible says in Ps. 34:18, "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit."

Do you know what really impressed God so much about this man? He was willing to humble himself . God delights in exalting the humble, and in humbling the exalted.  That's what it takes to worship God; an honest heart and a humble heart. Worship requires humility and honesty, and God can only be worshiped in the right spirit.

May I share something with you…….. Neither the Pharisee nor the tax collector is the hero of this PARABLE. There is no hero here.  Both of the characters in the story are sinners. One sins knowingly and the other unadmittedly, but both come to the altar of prayer as sinners, just like us.

When you see God the way you should see God….then you will see yourself the way you really are, and you will see that you are just like everybody else-in need of the grace of God.            And only then will God give us that grace!!

Grace and salvation are not what God pays you because you tell him you've earned it; it is what God gives you when you admit to him you need it.

This is a PARABLE about prayer and worship, about a typical Sunday morning worship service in every church every where. Jesus says that in any church service, you mainly find two sorts of folks:     Pharisees and tax collectors.

Very few of us are one or the other ALL the time…… but most of us are sort of like one or the other some of the time.

There are times when we come to worship as good, Bible-believing, righteous Pharisees who ask for nothing and get exactly that.                                                            We are so pleased with ourselves, so competentOH, WE MAY NOT BE SO OBVIOUS...

We have a good week or two… Satan leaves us alone for a few days & We pray-thank God I’m not one of the old-fashioned, fundamentalist like those others. Or, Thank God I’m not like those atheists that don’t believe in God.                               Or, Thank God I’m not like those Pentacostal, or Quakers, or even  those TV evangelists.    And we go home to Sunday dinner with a gnawing “emptiness”…. because we were so full when we got to church…. that nothing else would fit.

But there are other times, hopefully, when we enter this house of worship as tax collectors…needing everything…. Empty… Lost… Painfully aware of our sinfulness ……..and our need of God's mercy.
And we go home with even more than we dared to even ask for.

The French have a proverb that provides insight for worship. They say: "A good meal ought to begin with hunger." You know it is almost impossible to enjoy even the best of meals when you're not hungry.                                                                                 But if you notice when you are starving almost anything tastes good?

As we approach worship, we must have a hunger to meet God, to taste His Mercy and Grace.

      If we come to worship with our own self-sufficiency; not feeling as if we need His righteousness; refusing to acknowledge the worthiness of others; refusing to admit our sinfulness; not hungering and yearning for His forgiveness and grace-- we cannot worship.

 How Hungry are you today??  May God give all of us that hunger for Him that brings us to church so that we can glorify Him together as Tax Collectors.