The Posture of the Heart | Luke 18:9-14

Welcome to Ontario Community Church, where we are encouraging, equipping, and engaging lives for Christ.

I'm Pastor Patrick Daly, and each week I share sermons that balance the grace and love of Jesus Christ with the truth of the Word of God.

Together, we'll explore Scripture using observation, interpretation, and application.

This helps us discover practical ways to live out our faith every single day.

Let's dive in together into God's Word.

Well, good morning, everyone.

How's the time change?

So some of us absolutely like the time change, some of us don't, and I'm reminded how in Hawaii there is no time change.

So for those of us who visit or have any relatives in Hawaii, it stays constant every single time.

So that's pretty cool for that.

Well, today, we are going to do, we're continuing our sermon series through the parables that's found in Scripture.

We've been going through the Gospel of Matthew, where we've gone over quite a few parables.

The parable of the net for last Sunday, if you remember.

Someone who was casting the net into the sea, pulling up fish and separating it, representing the final judgment that we see that is directly tied into Revelation 20,

which is really awesome when you start seeing connections not only throughout the bulk of Scripture,

but also even in books that sometimes cause controversy, such as Revelation.

But it's still part of the Word of God, and it's still important for us to read, to discover, to learn, to observe, and to apply to our very lives.

And so today, we are going to go over to the Gospel of Luke.

And it's going to be Luke chapter 18, verses 9 through 14, if you want to turn there.

Luke 18:9–14

You are welcome to use the ESV Pew Bible that's on page 1042, or whatever mobile device, or whatever Bible translation of your choice.

You know, one thing that's always, has been very interesting.

How many of you? I want to ask all of you.

How many of you have met someone that you just know they like to boast?

Some of us don't know anybody like that. I'm sure you do.

We've all met someone like that.

Someone that's very arrogant.

Someone that's very proud.

Especially those kind of people where they like to one-up you.

You tell them one story of something that's going on.

Well, I know something. Let me tell you what happened the other day.

Ah, your story's not that significant.

We've met people like that.

We find that not only in people that we interact with on a personal level, but also when we consider these little fun guys known as our phones.

We look at, you know, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X.

People that are living their best lives, right?

When really what they're doing is setting up an image to make it look better than what's actually going on.

Let's be honest here, right?

It's just like how if you have someone that's coming to visit your house and you've got to clean up really quick so you sweep things under the rug to put your best foot forward, and rightfully so.

But for many of us, we know someone who loves, who's very prideful, very arrogant, and loves to just constantly compare themselves to you.

And what we're going to find in Scripture today is that Jesus tells a parable about two men who come before God in prayer.

One of them is filled with arrogance, with pride, and the other one is filled with humility.

And it is one of them who leaves and is justified.

Let's pray together, and we'll go ahead and read this verse together.

Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, we are grateful that we are here today in this time and in this place with this time change.

We are reminded that you are the God of all time and of every season.

We certainly appreciate when the seasons change and things begin to warm up, but we are reminded that you are the God of all.

Father, we ask that you are with us in this time and in this place.

May we all recognize that you are the Lord of all.

And I pray that no matter where anyone here today is on life's journey, may they come to you.

And may they do life living and loving like you.

Father, we've been going over these parables.

May we have ears that listen to you.

May we have eyes to see the truth and the beauty of what you provide for us.

And also, may we have our hearts ready to receive your word and to live in love like you.

It is in the name of Jesus that we pray together and we all say together, amen.

Amen.

All right.

So the Gospel of Luke, like I said, we've been going through the Gospel of Matthew for a lot of their parables.

Now we're in the Gospel of Luke, page 1042.

We're going to start at verse 9 here, 9 through 14.

We all there?

All right.

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 of them was a what?

A Pharisee.

And the other was what?

A tax collector.

The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus,

God, I thank you that I'm not like other men.

I'm not like those extortioners, the unjust, the adulterers.

This is my favorite part.

Or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week.

And I give tithes of all that I get.

So we have the scene of the Pharisee right there.

But what about the tax collector?

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven,

but beat his breast, saying, saying what?

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.

I want you to picture the scene here.

You have two men that are going to the temple.

And one of them, what's very interesting,

when the Jewish people would go to the temple to pray,

they would look up to the heavens.

And so I want you to imagine someone who's finely dressed,

standing by himself, praying,

God, I thank you that I'm not like these other men.

I'm not like the adulterers.

I'm not like the extortioners.

And I'm certainly not like this tax collector.

You can get an idea of how he is posturing himself,

how he's positioning himself.

And we also can think about the posture of his heart.

We then can see that there is this tax collector.

Now, for many of us, we may know that the tax collectors

were not really viewed upon highly in society.

I mean, if you don't know that, you should know that.

And we can think right off the bat.

We can think of maybe people that are outcasts in society even today.

I mean, tax collectors may not have the greatest viewing even today.

So imagine this tax collector.

He's going into the temple.

Now, it was customary for, again,

the Jewish people to stand when they're praying.

But he's not lifting his eyes up towards heaven.

But instead, as it says in the scripture here,

he is saying,

standing far off would not even lift his eyes to heaven.

So instead of looking up in reverence, as it were,

he beats his chest,

saying what, church?

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

And even in that verse, you see that it says,

the language is saying that he stood far off.

Now, that's kind of an interesting one.

There's some debate on scholars on what that means.

Some of them say,

well, the tax collector was completely away from this Pharisee.

Maybe the Pharisee looked at him funny.

You guys have had those moments in life before

where you can tell someone's judging you.

Maybe the tax collector was far off from the Pharisee

because he wanted nothing to do with him.

It's also been stated,

again, there's some debate on this,

but we can think nonetheless,

that the tax collector was in the outer courts.

That instead, he was far off,

not just from the tax collector,

but from the presence of God.

That he felt convicted, as it were.

He felt the weight of the wrong that he had done.

In other words, he felt humble before God.

And he's praying this prayer,

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Isn't that like what we would call a sinner's prayer?

I mean, a form of one, at least.

And we see that this parable

is kind of smashed into a couple things that are going on.

The first being the parable of the persistent widow,

which we're not going into today.

But the parable of the persistent widow

is talking about humility.

The widow that's constantly going before the judge

and asking for justice,

humbling herself before the judge.

Here, we're seeing humility of the tax collector.

And then further on,

when it's talking about,

let the children come to me,

we have all heard that before, pretty much, right?

Let the children come to me,

because the mind of a child

is in awe and in wonder of the Lord.

And to think that we are to have

a similar mind of a child

can be very challenging for us.

But it's still showing this connection

with humility.

So the Pharisee stands by himself

and he prays about himself,

that he is boasting his own ego.

And he's listing his religious accomplishments,

saying that he fasts twice a week,

which is above the requirement,

and gave a tenth of all that he had

beyond what the law required.

And he's justifying himself by comparison,

rather than by humbling himself before God.

The tax collector, on the other hand,

humble and repentant.

Again, he's standing at a distance.

His eyes are downcast.

He beats his chest,

which is a sign of deep sorrow.

When we think about that.

And prays but the simplest prayer.

Not about his accomplishments,

but coming before the Lord.

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

And for those of you who love the Greek,

he's saying,

make atonement for me.

Right?

Again, think of the humility in that.

And we find that in that verse 14,

where Christ is saying,

I tell you that this man,

the tax collector,

rather than the other,

went home justified before God.

And it's this idea

that the one who humbles themself

will be exalted,

and the one that exalts themself

will be humbled.

It's this very idea, church,

about the posture of the heart.

It's not about what we do

or our accomplishments.

Rather,

it's about us coming before the Lord.

And so when we look at this then,

what can we learn from this?

I mean, not only can we,

I want you to consider this on the screen,

but also think for a moment,

this parable is more common.

We can think of the tax collectors

that exist in the world today,

and the Pharisees that exist in the world today.

How many of us,

well, you don't have to raise your hand here,

but you might know a Pharisee

who's more interested on the things

that they have accomplished

rather than coming before the Lord

and relying on Him.

Some of us may know the tax collectors.

We may know the outcasts of society

who are coming before the Lord

just wanting to be in His presence,

to be close to Him.

Can we think about people like that?

I'm sure that for all of us

in our own network,

our own friends and families,

co-workers, students and teachers,

we can think of people

who can fit that kind of mold.

And so what we can learn from this then,

number one,

is that grace matters more than works.

We think about it,

us as Christians today,

as opposed to what was happening back then,

is that the Jewish people

would constantly go into the temple

for the forgiveness of sins.

As Christians today,

we know that Christ,

Jesus paid it all, right?

Like that song says,

all to Him I owe.

And so we recognize

that there's that sense of humility

before God that existed then

and certainly can exist now

and does exist now.

That we need Jesus Christ in our life.

And it's knowing

that God extends that invitation

to every single one of us.

And it's the question of

if we respond to that invitation,

humbling ourselves before God.

recognizing that we need

that which is higher,

that which is greater than us.

And so in this,

the grace that comes from God

is more powerful than what we can do.

Can you imagine for a moment?

Imagine for just a second here

if heaven was filled with only the rich.

man,

talk about arrogance, right?

Who gave more?

Who had more?

But instead,

instead of what we can do,

it is what Christ has done for you

by His death on the cross.

Knowing that salvation

is not contingent on how much money you have.

It's not contingent on

where you come from,

what you have gone through

or what you're going through,

how many degrees you may have.

And let's face it,

in the world that we live in,

we live in a world

where it's all about

stacking things up, right?

I don't want one Ferrari,

I want five of them.

I don't want five houses,

I want 50 houses.

Right?

I mean,

sometimes,

I'll be very honest,

when I go on YouTube

or TikTok,

I sometimes see videos,

I got my third master's degree

and I'm on my way

to my second doctorate's.

Cool.

Good for you, man.

But that's the kind of world

that we live in.

Where people like to,

and,

that's the world we live in.

People like to showcase

their accomplishments.

But when it comes to salvation

that comes from the Lord,

it's a very different situation

about what God has done for us

rather than what we can do.

The second thing being,

this one's a little harder, right?

Comparing our faith with others' faith

is what, church?

It's foolish, right?

And not only can we think about this

in our own accomplishments,

my dad used to tell me

when I was very young,

don't compare yourself with others

because there will always be

someone better than you,

especially how you define better, right?

So not only is that unhealthy

when we're constantly comparing ourselves

with others' accomplishments,

who makes more,

who does more,

who's stronger,

et cetera, et cetera,

but when it comes to our own faith,

I pray that every single one of you

come to know who Jesus Christ is.

For many of us,

we may be on a journey

seeking to find truth.

And I pray that your pursuit of truth

will be coming to find

that Jesus is the way,

the truth,

and the life.

And upon believing in Christ

and being saved,

may your journey be one

that is in Christ.

Being molded by him,

right?

Just as I've mentioned before,

that God is the potter

and we are the clay,

the work of his hands.

May God mold you

and transform you

into who the Lord wants you to be.

That's the beautiful thing

about being a Christian.

Not only the greatest thing,

that we receive salvation,

that we will have eternal life,

but that God transforms

our very lives.

How many of you know someone

that wasn't a Christian

and became a Christian

and you saw drastic changes

in their life?

I know I have.

You don't have to raise your hand,

but I'm sure,

I hope you know someone like that.

Maybe that's yourself

that has gone through

such a transition.

And so comparing our faith

with others' faith

is foolish.

In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 12,

2 Corinthians 10:12

there's a mentioning

where the apostle Paul

rebukes false teachers

who define righteousness

by human comparison.

We can also see

how in Scripture

there's this constant

obsessive comparison disorder,

as it were.

People constantly comparing themselves

nowadays in the world

that we live in,

but also even in Scripture.

You know, Cain and Abel.

Right?

Or we can think of Jonah,

how he had a hardened heart

towards the city of Nineveh.

Or you can even think

of the elder brother,

right?

The prodigal son.

You can think about that.

There's many times in Scripture

where we see this.

And so we have to remember,

the Pharisee felt

that he was justified

by what he was doing.

Being prideful and arrogant

by what he accomplished

rather than the mercy

that comes from the Lord.

And the third thing

is that salvation

comes through faith,

humility to God.

It is the recognizing.

When we believe in Christ,

it's believing in the death,

the burial,

and the resurrection of Christ.

Do you realize

that it's acknowledging

the power that comes

from the Lord?

That the power of God

is far greater

than what we can do.

I mean,

if you think about

the miracles of Christ,

turning water to wine,

walking on water,

healing the sick,

raising people

from the dead,

we don't have

that kind of power,

let's be honest.

And if you think you do,

I'll talk to you later

after it.

The reality is,

it's showing the power

that comes from the Lord.

That God is far beyond

our understanding.

His power,

His mercy,

His healing,

His presence

is far greater

than we could understand

or we could ever do.

Is that not humility?

Is that not recognizing

that,

hey, look,

I can't do it on my own.

I need you, God.

Be merciful to me,

a sinner.

For we are all sinners

that are in need

of a Savior.

Savior.

And when we believe

in Jesus Christ,

yes,

it is the changing

of the mind,

but it's recognizing

the power

and the glory

and the truth

that come from Christ.

And so,

many of you know

the Ephesians chapter 2

Ephesians 2:8–9

verses 8 through 9.

Don't forget that verse 10

that comes after it.

Many of you can quote it verbatim.

For by grace

you have been saved, right?

Not of works

so that no one may boast, right?

That verse 10

speaks to the idea

of works

because there's some people

that believe,

well, you're saved by grace.

I'm good to go.

There's still a call

for us to grow in the Lord

and to do good

in His name.

Where it says

the language in there,

we are His workmanship

created in Jesus Christ

for good works.

Saved by grace

through faith, right?

So that no one can boast,

no one can compare themselves.

And we are created

so that

we can do good

in the name of Christ.

That then comes

to the application

then of,

okay,

so we've gone over

a parable

where there's this Pharisee

who's just puffed up

with pride

and this tax collector

and there's things

that we can learn.

Let us always remember

when we come together,

we should come together

united in Christ,

opening the Word of God

as the source,

learning lessons

for our own growth

and development,

but let us not forget

the application.

How can I live

and apply this

to my very life?

Number one,

examine the posture

of your heart.

As I mentioned,

are there Pharisees anymore?

Maybe not literal Pharisees,

but there are still people

that have that kind of heart,

aren't there?

I see some of you

shaking your head.

You may know someone, right?

You may know a few people

who are like that,

who are so focused

that their heart

gets hardened,

as it were.

They get angry.

They compare themselves.

I'm glad I'm not like...

And you fill in the blank.

This is a call for you

to reflect on.

Do you identify more

with the Pharisee?

If you do,

let this be a call for you

to submit to the Lord.

To recognize,

I get it.

You're accomplished.

You've done a lot.

But when it comes to God,

it's not about what you do.

It's about what's been done

for you.

For those of you that know

any modern day Pharisees,

let this be a call for you

to pray for them.

Pray for the ones

whose hearts have been hardened,

that God will soften their heart.

Whether that's you

or someone you know.

So examine your heart

and maybe

you're like the tax collector.

Recognizing your need

for the Lord.

That Jesus Christ

is all that you need.

Number two,

look to Christ

and don't what?

Don't compare yourself

with others.

Right?

Just like we see

on Instagram

or we see

in the world

that we live in,

there are some people

who just look

so put together.

Now,

I'm not saying

don't put your best foot forward.

But sometimes

the image

that we see

may not be

reality

of what's

actually going on

behind the scenes.

I should have put

some of those photos

where it shows

the image

that's on Instagram

and then it

zooms out a little bit

and it's nothing like

what the photo

is actually.

Many of you can,

you understand

what I mean

when I say that.

And so,

let this be a call

for you

to be

on a journey

in Christ

if you haven't begun

already.

And if you are,

continue to grow.

encourage one another

but certainly

don't compare.

Where you are at,

what the Lord

is teaching you

today

is certainly

going to be different

to the person

next to you

and to the person

next

and so on.

Let's remember that.

The idea

is that we all

come to know Christ

and we're all

growing nonetheless.

When we think

of

the scattering

of seeds

on the ground,

plants,

do they all

grow at the

same time?

Well,

they kind of

grow in the

same season,

sure.

They don't

all grow

at the same

time.

Some shoot up,

some take

a little bit

of time.

So too

is it

in our

spiritual walk

with the Lord.

We are all

called to grow

and to bear

fruit.

And then

finally,

extend grace

to others

devoted

like the

tax collectors.

it's important

for us

to reflect

and it's

important for us

not to compare

ourselves,

but let this

be a call

for you

to share

in the love

and the grace

that comes

from Jesus

Christ.

What that

can look like

is again

praying for

those with

hardened hearts.

It can be

having a

simple conversation

with someone

that doesn't

know the Lord.

It can be

a conversation

with a Pharisee.

let us

be

encouraged.

It's

okay

to share

in your

testimony

and to share

in the gospel

message with

others

that

whosoever

believes

shall not

perish

but have

eternal life.

And I

pray that

many of us

may have

family members

that we can

think of

right away

that we

can pray

for

or we

can have

a discussion

with.

Let us

be

like the

tax collector

who said

that simple

prayer

God

be merciful

to me

a sinner

and even

if we are

saved by

grace through

faith it's

still important

just like

when we

share in

communion

when we

are called

to do

this in

remembrance

of Christ

we are

reflecting

on the

sacrifice

that Christ

did for

us

and in

the same

way

let us

never forget

what the

Lord has

done for

us

the mercy

that he

has shown

for us

and so

in that

final verse

for all

those who

exalt

themselves

will be

humbled

and those

who humble

themselves

will be

exalted

and Jesus

asks the

question

what posture

do you

take

before God

only you

can answer

that

but I

pray

that you

may all

have a

softened

heart

ears

to hear

eyes

to see

and a

heart

to receive

let's pray

together

and father

we thank you

for this

time and this

opportunity to

go through this

parable through

the gospel

of Luke

it's certainly

a parable

that we can

all identify

with

father we

pray for

the

well the

Pharisees

in our

life

for their

hardened

hearts

or a

misunderstanding

we pray

that there

will be

a repentance

as it

were

which we

know

is the

changing

of the

mind

if there

is anyone

here who

has a

hardened

heart

we pray

that you

soften

it

we pray

for that

transformation

for those

of us

that identify

with the

tax collector

may we

continue on

our journey

and path

not comparing

ourselves

not to

become a

Pharisee

but to

be fully

devoted

to you

and I

pray father

that

we may

come to

know you

that we

all grow

together

in you

but also

may we

all be

moved to

do good

in your

holy name

you call

for us

to be

transformed

and to

act upon

this faith

that we

we love

you for

you loved

us first

and foremost

we thank

you so

much

again that

you give

us this

time

together

to worship

together

to read

from your

word

and to

delve

into it

together

and father

I pray

if there's

anyone here

that has

that hardened

heart

just be

with them

comfort

them

and show

them

it's not

about what

you do

rather what's

been done

because of

you father

and we

thank you

what you

have done

for us

we love

you

we praise

you

we glorify

you

and we

honor

you

it is in

the name

of Jesus

Christ

that we

pray

and we

all say

together

amen

amen

thank you

for listening

for this

week's

message

from

Ontario

Community

Church

I pray

that you

are encouraged

and strengthened

in your

walk with

Christ

for more

sermons

and resources

visit

Ontario

Community

Church

dot

org

may God

bless you

as you

live out

his grace

and truth

every single

day