The Pharisee and The Tax Collector (Summer Encounter 2011) Cyberpunk + Blu

The Pharisee and the tax collector (Summer Encounter 2011) « Cyberpunk + Blue Twin
The Pharisee and the tax collector (Summer Encounter 2011)

Filed under: Bible by Arthur — 1 Comment
20 January 2011
These are my notes from the talks at Summer Encounter, the annual conference of CMS in
South Australia.
Dr David Williams is the head of development and training in CMS. His talks covered the three parables in Luke 18:1-
30.
2. The Pharisee and the tax collector
It’s easy for us to think that this parable (Luke 18:9-14) is simply about who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong.
As with the previous parable, this is a shocking tale of status reversal. It’s about who has the position of honour and
who has the position of shame.
To some who were confident of their
own righteousness and looked down on
everyone else, Jesus told this
parable: “ Two men went up to the
temple to pray, one a Pharisee and
the other a tax collector. The
Pharisee stood by himself and prayed:
‘ God, I thank you that I am not like
other people — robbers, evildoers,
http://arthurandtamie.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/the-pharisee-and-the-tax-collector-summer-encounter-2011/ (1 of 6) [2/3/2011 12:39:28 AM]

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 and said, ‘ God, have
mercy on me, a sinner. ’ I tell you
that this man, rather than the
other, went home justified before God.
For all those who exalt themselves
will be humbled, and those who humble
themselves will be exalted. ”
The context of the story is the Jerusalem temple, a place of prayer. The temple is the religious centre of Judaism,
where sin is dealt with. Yet it’s also the cultural centre of Jewish society, clearly expressed in the temple boundaries:
Jews are allowed inside, Gentiles are kept outside, males are up the front, females are up the back. It’s like the way a
mosque reveals both Islamic religion and Islamic culture.
And in both the cultural dimension and the religious dimension, the Pharisee clearly feels at home, while the tax
collector feels alienated. The tax collector is on dangerous ground: he’s a corrupt extorter of Jews, a collaborator
under the authority of the Roman occupiers, working against his own countrymen. The Pharisee is out the front
praying confidently and visibly, while the tax collector is far off praying in desperation and in hiding.
It’s easy for us to think of the Pharisee as a legalist, someone trying to earn his way to God via good works. Not so.

He’s someone who believes that he’s a child of the covenant by birthright, one of God’s children. This is the sense in
which he is ‘confident in his own righteousness’ — not his own works, but his status as a child of the covenant. This
is why he thinks that he belongs here. In contrast, the tax collector is a man with downcast eyes beating his breast.
He’s not trying to gain attention, but is genuinely distressed, feeling abandoned. He does not belong here. His
prayer is literally ‘Be propitious to me / make propitiation for me’ — he throws himself on God’s mercy as a
bankrupt sinner, seeking rescue.
The whole point of the temple is sacrifice, dealing with the sin of God’s people. The people’s sin must be dealt with
in order that God’s wrath won’t destroy them. This idea of ritual cleanness and uncleanness is central to coming
before God.
For us, dirt is about hygiene and bacteria; something can look clean but be dirty. But in other cultures, this is simply
not the case. Mary Douglas, anthropologist: ‘Dirt is matter out of place.’ Something can be clean in one place (shoes
are not dirty in and of themselves) but dirty in another (shoes on the dining table are dirty). Food on my plate is
clean, but food on my shirt is dirty. My bedroom and my son’s bedroom both contain clothes, but one is messy
(clothes on floor) and the other is not (clothes packed away). Cultures all have taboos and understandings about dirt
as matter out of place .
In the Old Testament purity laws, uncleanness (menstruation, ejaculation, etc) is all about matter
out of place . The purity rituals are to enable the unclean to become clean again — and all of
this is intended to be symbolic of our need for cleanness before God. So the temple stands at the heart of coming
before God.
The Pharisee is confident that he is clean — he is in the heart of the temple believing that he is not out of place. But
the tax collector knows that he is dirty, and that he is dirt — he has no place here, he is matter out of place.

This is why verse 14 is so stunning: ‘It is this man, the tax collector, who went down to his house justified. Everyone
who exalts himself will be humbled; everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.’ Imagine a British royal function
in which a grubby street child is seated first, in prime place, while the royals are left outside in the yard — that’s
what this is like! In the world’s eyes, the tax collector is a disgrace who shouldn’t even have made it as far as he did
in the temple, but in God’s eyes, he’s honoured.
How is this reversal possible? Well, the Pharisee has forgotten the ancient truth: it is only by atoning sacrifice that we
can come before God. This truth is embodied in the very temple structure itself — the whole point of the temple is
for filthy people to be washed clean! For the Pharisee to come as he does is actually undermining the whole point of
the temple. The Pharisee’s attitude is like going into a hospital ER and boasting that you don’t have a broken leg! Of
course, that’s not the point of an ER. Yet the tax collector has stumbled on truth: he has come seeking propitiation
in the place that it’s actually available.
The question: which of the two hearts do we have?
6 key lessons on heart health
1. We must see ourselves as God sees us. The tax collector comes acknowledging that he is dirt, yet he is honoured!
So too us: we are dirt before God, and yet we’ve been clothed with righteousness in Christ. We can only
acknowledge God’s grace and righteousness if we’re aware of our sin.
2. We must not see ourselves as the world sees us: as good people. For those of us who are leaders in our Christian
communities, others typically perceive us as powerful and attractive, and we are easily deceived. Our righteous
deeds are like filthy rags. It is only the grace of God, the propitious work of Christ on the cross, that brings us into
relationship with God.

3. Don’t treat Jesus like the Pharisee treated the temple. For all the Pharisee’s assurance, he forgot the whole point
of the temple. Meanwhile, the tax collector has miraculously stumbled on the true meaning of the temple, which is
the meaning of Jesus for us: he came to give his life as a ransom for many. It’s easy for us to talk incessantly about
Jesus yet make Jesus a source of boastful pride. Where is my trust and confidence? Well, how do I know I’m a
Christian? It’s easy for me to answer that with a list of all the things I’ve done: ‘I’m David Williams, I became a
Christian in 1983, I was a missionary in Kenya for 9 years, and now I train missionaries.’ No — those righteous
deeds are like filthy rags. That’s a Pharisee heart. The only basis of confidence is the cross of Christ.
4. Don’t allow God’s means of grace to become a source of pride. One of the stunning things about this Pharisee is
that he boasts in God’s gifts as if they’re his own achievements. Yet these gifts — prayer, reading, fasting, tithing —
are all given by God with the intent of creating in his people a dependence on God. They’re meant to turn us to God.
5. Confess your sin. A generation before David Williams, new Christian disciples were taught to kneel by their beds
at the end of each day, think over the day’s sins, and commit them to God. We’ve lost that discipline. Do you
regularly, honestly, wholeheartedly bring your sins to God? Do you have an accountability partner? And why not?
We’re afraid of what people might think — and that’s a Pharisee heart. Consider the ways that we introduce
confession in our local churches: ‘Think back over the last week and what you’ve done wrong, we’ll take a moment,
and then we’ll confess to God.’ This betrays an awfully light view of sin when everything
about me is matter out of place, in need of propitiation. We need the righteousness of Christ.
6. Have no contempt. This is a diagnostic question: if you treat others with contempt, you are inherently trusting in
your own righteousness. Where do you show contempt? In social status? In Christian maturity? In theological purity?
Some diagnostic questions: Would you prepare your sermon more thoroughly if you knew that John Piper would be
listening? Would you put more effort into an adult Bible study than into a children’s Sunday School class when know

one else what you’re saying? If so, you’re treating others with contempt — a Pharisee heart. Yet the tax collector
throws himself on the mercy of God — and we’re not to give honour to the honourable but to the repentant. The
riches of the gospel is that though we are matter out of place, God clothes us with grace

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The Pharisee and the tax collector (Summer Encounter 2011) ● Recent comments
Filed under: Bible by Arthur — 1 Comment
20 January 2011
❍ Tamie on Learning Community from
These are my notes from the talks at Summer Encounter, the annual conference of CMS in South
Muslim Women
Australia.
❍ Elizabeth on Learning Community from
Dr David Williams is the head of development and training in CMS. His talks covered the three parables in Luke 18:1-30. Muslim Women
Eric on The greatest story ever told, as Banjo

2. The Pharisee and the tax collector ❍
Paterson might have told it
It’s easy for us to think that this parable (Luke 18:9-14) is simply about who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong. As with the
❍ Tamie on She Can Read
previous parable, this is a shocking tale of status reversal. It’s about who has the position of honour and who has the position
of shame.
● Recently

To some who were confident of their own ❍ Arthur
righteousness and looked down on everyone ■ The greatest story ever told, as
Banjo Paterson might have told it

else, Jesus told this parable: “ Two men
■ Mission partnership (Summer Encounter 2011)
went up to the temple to pray, one a ■ New blogs
Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

❍ Tamie
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ■ Learning Community from
‘ God, I thank you that I am not like Muslim Women
■ She Can Read

other people — robbers, evildoers,
■ How Summer Encounter changed what I pray
adulterers — or even like this tax
collector. I fast twice a week and give a

● Earlier
tenth of all I get. ’ But the tax
Select Month
collector stood at a distance. He would
not even look up to heaven, but beat his

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a sinner. ’ I tell you that this man, AFES Anglicanism Australia Bible
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justified before God. For all those who
exalt themselves will be humbled, and evangelism family femininity feminist
those who humble themselves will be theology Film gender God gospel
exalted. ”
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The context of the story is the Jerusalem temple, a place of prayer. The temple is the religious centre of Judaism, where sin is
Politics Prayer reading religion Ridley
dealt with. Yet it’s also the cultural centre of Jewish society, clearly expressed in the temple boundaries: Jews are allowed
Ridley Melbourne sex
inside, Gentiles are kept outside, males are up the front, females are up the back. It’s like the way a mosque reveals both Summer Project 2010/11
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Tanzania theology Twilight weakness
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And in both the cultural dimension and the religious dimension, the Pharisee clearly feels at home, while the tax collector feels
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alienated. The tax collector is on dangerous ground: he’s a corrupt extorter of Jews, a collaborator under the authority of the
❍ Bible
Roman occupiers, working against his own countrymen. The Pharisee is out the front praying confidently and visibly, while the
❍ Bits
tax collector is far off praying in desperation and in hiding.
❍ Book
It’s easy for us to think of the Pharisee as a legalist, someone trying to earn his way to God via good works. Not so. He’s
someone who believes that he’s a child of the covenant by birthright, one of God’s children. This is the sense in which he is ❍ Church
‘confident in his own righteousness’ — not his own works, but his status as a child of the covenant. This is why he thinks that ❍ Culture
he belongs here. In contrast, the tax collector is a man with downcast eyes beating his breast. He’s not trying to gain attention,
❍ Design
but is genuinely distressed, feeling abandoned. He does not belong here. His prayer is literally ‘Be propitious to me / make
❍ Film
propitiation for me’ — he throws himself on God’s mercy as a bankrupt sinner, seeking rescue.
❍ God
The whole point of the temple is sacrifice, dealing with the sin of God’s people. The people’s sin must be dealt with in order
❍ History
that God’s wrath won’t destroy them. This idea of ritual cleanness and uncleanness is central to coming before God.
❍ Jesus
For us, dirt is about hygiene and bacteria; something can look clean but be dirty. But in other cultures, this is simply not the
❍ Man
case. Mary Douglas, anthropologist: ‘Dirt is matter out of place.’ Something can be clean in one place (shoes are not dirty in
and of themselves) but dirty in another (shoes on the dining table are dirty). Food on my plate is clean, but food on my shirt is ❍ Ministry & mission
dirty. My bedroom and my son’s bedroom both contain clothes, but one is messy (clothes on floor) and the other is not (clothes ❍ Mission
packed away). Cultures all have taboos and understandings about dirt as matter out of
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In the Old Testament purity laws, uncleanness (menstruation, ejaculation, etc) is all about matter out
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of place . The purity rituals are to enable the unclean to become clean again — and all of this is intended to be
❍ RRoundup
symbolic of our need for cleanness before God. So the temple stands at the heart of coming before God.
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The Pharisee is confident that he is clean — he is in the heart of the temple believing that he is not out of place. But the tax
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collector knows that he is dirty, and that he is dirt — he has no place here, he is matter out of place.
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This is why verse 14 is so stunning: ‘It is this man, the tax collector, who went down to his house justified. Everyone who exalts
❍ Woman
himself will be humbled; everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.’ Imagine a British royal function in which a grubby
street child is seated first, in prime place, while the royals are left outside in the yard — that’s what this is like! In the world’s
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How is this reversal possible? Well, the Pharisee has forgotten the ancient truth: it is only by atoning sacrifice that we can come
before God. This truth is embodied in the very temple structure itself — the whole point of the temple is for filthy people to be
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washed clean! For the Pharisee to come as he does is actually undermining the whole point of the temple. The Pharisee’s
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attitude is like going into a hospital ER and boasting that you don’t have a broken leg! Of course, that’s not the point of an ER.
Yet the tax collector has stumbled on truth: he has come seeking propitiation in the place that it’s actually available.
Sign me up!
The question: which of the two hearts do we have?
6 key lessons on heart health
1. We must see ourselves as God sees us. The tax collector comes acknowledging that he is dirt, yet he is honoured! So too us:
we are dirt before God, and yet we’ve been clothed with righteousness in Christ. We can only acknowledge God’s grace and
righteousness if we’re aware of our sin.
2. We must not see ourselves as the world sees us: as good people. For those of us who are leaders in our Christian

communities, others typically perceive us as powerful and attractive, and we are easily deceived. Our righteous deeds are like
filthy rags. It is only the grace of God, the propitious work of Christ on the cross, that brings us into relationship with God.
3. Don’t treat Jesus like the Pharisee treated the temple. For all the Pharisee’s assurance, he forgot the whole point of the
temple. Meanwhile, the tax collector has miraculously stumbled on the true meaning of the temple, which is the meaning of
Jesus for us: he came to give his life as a ransom for many. It’s easy for us to talk incessantly about Jesus yet make Jesus a
source of boastful pride. Where is my trust and confidence? Well, how do I know I’m a Christian? It’s easy for me to answer that
with a list of all the things I’ve done: ‘I’m David Williams, I became a Christian in 1983, I was a missionary in Kenya for 9 years,
and now I train missionaries.’ No — those righteous deeds are like filthy rags. That’s a Pharisee heart. The only basis of
confidence is the cross of Christ.
4. Don’t allow God’s means of grace to become a source of pride. One of the stunning things about this Pharisee is that he
boasts in God’s gifts as if they’re his own achievements. Yet these gifts — prayer, reading, fasting, tithing — are all given by
God with the intent of creating in his people a dependence on God. They’re meant to turn us to God.
5. Confess your sin. A generation before David Williams, new Christian disciples were taught to kneel by their beds at the end
of each day, think over the day’s sins, and commit them to God. We’ve lost that discipline. Do you regularly, honestly,
wholeheartedly bring your sins to God? Do you have an accountability partner? And why not? We’re afraid of what people might
think — and that’s a Pharisee heart. Consider the ways that we introduce confession in our local churches: ‘Think back over the
last week and what you’ve done wrong, we’ll take a moment, and then we’ll confess to God.’ This betrays an awfully light view
of sin when everything about me is matter out of place, in need of propitiation. We need the
righteousness of Christ.
6. Have no contempt. This is a diagnostic question: if you treat others with contempt, you are inherently trusting in your own
righteousness. Where do you show contempt? In social status? In Christian maturity? In theological purity? Some diagnostic
questions: Would you prepare your sermon more thoroughly if you knew that John Piper would be listening? Would you put
more effort into an adult Bible study than into a children’s Sunday School class when know one else what you’re saying? If so,
you’re treating others with contempt — a Pharisee heart. Yet the tax collector throws himself on the mercy of God — and we’re
not to give honour to the honourable but to the repentant. The riches of the gospel is that though we are matter out of place,
God clothes us with grace.
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this:
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Pharisee, sin, South Australia, status reversal, Summer Encounter 2011, tax
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1 Comment:
Sam Cohen
20 January 2011 at 9:46 pm
Good stuff. Thanks for putting it up.
(Btw, you have a typo in the last paragraph
“school class when know one knows else”
know->no.)
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The persistent widow (Summer Encounter 2011) « Cyberpunk + Blue Twin
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The persistent widow (Summer Encounter 2011) ● Recent comments
Filed under: Bible, Mission, Prayer by Arthur — Leave a comment
17 January 2011
❍ Tamie on Learning Community from
These are my notes from the talks at Summer Encounter, the annual conference of CMS in
Muslim Women
South Australia.
❍ Elizabeth on Learning Community from
Dr David Williams is the head of development and training in CMS. His talks covered the three parables in Luke 18:1- Muslim Women
30.
❍ Eric on The greatest story ever told, as Banjo

1. The persistent widow
❍ Tamie on She Can Read
These three parables are culturally very strange for us. We’re going to take a non-Western cultural perspective on
them. Although these stories are familiar to us, their culture is different to ours: an honour-shame culture. Each of the
● Recently
http://arthurandtamie.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/the-persistent-widow-summer-encounter-2011/ (1 of 9) [2/3/2011 12:42:41 AM]
stories involves status reversal: the big person is brought low and the little person is honoured. Although status isn’t
❍ Arthur
that important in Australia (tall poppy syndrome!), it is in much of the world: important people are honoured and
■ The greatest story ever told, as Banjo
unimportant people are shamed. If on a school visit Julia Gillard ignored the school principal and just talked with the
kids, we might be okay with that, but if that happened in Asia, it would be an intentional and severe shaming of the ■ Mission partnership (Summer Encounter 2011)
■ New blogs
principal. As Westerners, we miss the shock of these three stories.
❍ Tamie
The parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8):
■ Learning Community from
Muslim Women
Then Jesus told his disciples a ■ She Can Read
parable to show them that they should ■ How Summer Encounter changed what I pray
always pray and not give up. He said:
“ In a certain town there was a judge ● Earlier
who neither feared God nor cared what Select Month
people thought. And there was a widow
● Tags
in that town who kept coming to him
AFES Anglicanism Australia Bible

with the plea, ‘ Grant me justice
against my adversary. ’ For some time he Book book review Christian

refused. But finally he said to Christianity church history
CMS complementarian Culture Design
himself, ‘ Even though I don ’ t fear God
evangelism family femininity feminist
theology Film gender God gospel

or care what people think, yet because
this widow keeps bothering me, I will

Jesus leadership love Mark Driscoll
see that she gets justice, so that marriage ministry mission
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she won ’ t eventually come and attack
Politics Prayer reading religion Ridley
me! ’” And the Lord said, “ Listen to
what the unjust judge says. And will

Ridley Melbourne sex
Summer Project 2010/11
not God bring about justice for his
Tanzania theology Twilight weakness
chosen ones, who cry out to him day
Women
and night? Will he keep putting them
● Categories
off? I tell you, he will see that they
❍ Bible
get justice, and quickly. However,
❍ Bits
when the Son of Man comes, will he
Book
find faith on the earth? ”
❍
❍ Church
‘Persistence’ in the Christian life is not like New Years’ resolutions: it has to work! This parable is about unfailing
❍ Culture
persistence. Some parables don’t have an obvious application, but this one does: we ought always to pray and not lose
❍ Design
heart.
❍ Film
(The parable’s context is Luke 17:22ff: will you be ready when the Son of Man returns? When the Son of Man returns,
God
life will be continuing normally — there won’t be signs!)
❍
❍ History
Why has the woman gone straight to the judge, without hiring a lawyer? Why are we told that the judge doesn’t fear
God? Why tell a story about a widow and a judge in the first place? ❍ Jesus
Man
This judge ‘neither fears God and (literally) before people he was never ashamed,’ words that instantly transport us
❍
into an honour-shame culture. It’s not about right-wrong, but what will bring honour or shame to a family. In ❍ Ministry & mission
Australia, a lifeguard blows the whistle, and everyone stops to watch who’s doing wrong. But in the Middle East,
❍ Mission
someone blowing a whistle doesn’t get any reaction, because people don’t have a right-wrong mindset. In Australia,
❍ Music
we think of ourselves as individuals with personal rights, but in honour-shame cultures, people think about
❍ Politics
themselves in relation to their families and what will bring honour or shame. An extreme example is honour/shame
killings. When David Williams was walking in Nepal once, he came to a fork in the road and asked a local, ‘Is this the ❍ Prayer
track to Amppipal?’ The response: ‘Yes.’ But it wasn’t! David took the wrong track and of course thought that the ❍ RRoundup
person had simply lied to him Because it’s an honour-shame culture, however, a response of ‘No’ is completely
❍ Tanzania
inappropriate. In Nepalese culture, David had asked a ridiculous question.

❍ Uncategorized
First-century Palestinian culture held honour-shame and right-wrong in tension, and this judge is a total disaster on
❍ University ministry
every cultural count. The judge’s role is to implement God’s law, and the fact that he won’t is a disaster for the widow.
❍ Woman
But there are additional social expectations, to bring honour and harmony to the community, yet the judge
won’t do this either. He’s shameless , which is completely out of place in this culture. And it means
● Subscribe by RSS
that no one can make any appeal to him according to either standard, because he refuses to be bound by
RSS - Posts
any. The widow’s situation appears hopeless. Her plight is symbolic of the most dispossessed and powerless people:
❍
the widow, the orphan, the alien. We know that the widow has no one to care for her because otherwise, she would ❍ RSS - Comments
have sent a male relative to speak to the judge. Ironically, here, the widow’s complete lack of status actually enables
her to act outrageously: she is so lowly, beneath contempt, that the judge will not throw her into jail, as he otherwise ● Subscribe by e-mail
would. It’s sort of humourous, with the widow popping up in every moment of the judge’s day, heckling him. Receive notifications of new posts
So then, will the disciples keep praying or give up? ‘Give up’ in this case is not ‘give up praying’ but ‘give up
discipleship’ — the sense is ‘Pray, or give up following.’ The point: we must pray persistently, and pray persistently for Sign me up!
justice, as a fundamental expression of what it means to follow Jesus.
5 key lessons about prayer
1. Persistent prayer is the fundamental expression of dependent faith. ‘When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith
on the earth?’ It means, ‘Will you keep going in your walk with me?’ Being a Christian is all about living by faith —

how? — by praying persistently. Faith = trusting God = praying.
2. An un-lesson — what Jesus doesn ’ t say. Persistent prayer is not about technique. Jesus says
nothing about disciplines — how long to pray, where, etc. So the question is simply, What will get us praying?
3. Persistent prayer flows from a right view of God. God is unlike the judge in every respect: he cares for us, cares
what people think of him, and loves to answer. Satan’s lie is that God is like the judge — mean, silent, absent,
untrustworthy, unreliable, capricious — and that prayer is the desperate attempt to convince this cold God to listen to
us. But God is not like that! To hold this right view of God is itself a battle of faith!
4. Persistent prayer flows from a right view of ourselves. While the judge doesn’t mirror God, the widow does
mirror our own situation: we are dependent. We need help! But prayer is hard in the West because we are so in control!
In Nairobi, the ‘everyday prayer answer’ is normal because people have so little. (Or for CMS workers in the
first 3 months on assignment!) We bring nothing to God, we have nothing, yet we only need to ask! The way that
Australian blokes refuse to ask for assistance in day-to-day situations is a serious
spiritual problem! It’s not being ‘fiercely independent,’ it’s pride. We need to
recognise our dependence. So what are we asking for at the moment? James says, you don’t receive because you don’t
ask! What are you asking for this year?
5. Persistent prayer seeks God’s justice achieved at the cross. Will not God bring
about justice for his chosen ones, who
cry out to him day and night? Will he
keep putting them off? I tell you, he
will see that they get justice, and
quickly. However, when the Son of Man

comes, will he find faith on the earth?
Praying for justice is ‘Your will be done’ — that God would put things right. The widow prays because she wants things
put right! That must be our prayer. Yet we live our lives in a little box: the stuff that I think I can control. Of course,
what gets us praying is losing control of our box! But here are two lies. The truth: you are never in control of your box,
yet you can make a huge difference to the world if you pray, because God will do things! Prayer is powerful and
changes things — because it anticipates the return of Jesus. CMS people must pray! CMS people of a generation ago
were known as people of prayer . They were praying for Nepal to open up, and it did — so why are we not
praying the same for Saudi Arabia? God has done it before!
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The Pharisee and the tax collector (Summer Encounter 2011) « Cyberpunk + Blue Twin

The Pharisee and the tax collector (Summer Encounter 2011)

2. The Pharisee and the tax collector

who has the position of shame.

To some who were confident of their

own righteousness and looked down on

everyone else, Jesus told this

parable: “ Two men went up to the

temple to pray, one a Pharisee and

the other a tax collector. The

Pharisee stood by himself and prayed:

‘ God, I thank you that I am not like

other people — robbers, evildoers,

http://arthurandtamie.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/the-pharisee-and-the-tax-collector-summer-encounter-2011/ (1 of 6) [2/3/2011 12:39:28 AM]

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 and said, ‘ God, have

mercy on me, a sinner. ’ I tell you

that this man, rather than the

other, went home justified before God.

For all those who exalt themselves

will be humbled, and those who humble

themselves will be exalted. ”

mosque reveals both Islamic religion and Islamic culture.

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bankrupt sinner, seeking rescue.

as matter out of place .

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in the temple, but in God’s eyes, he’s honoured.

in the place that it’s actually available.

The question: which of the two hearts do we have?

6 key lessons on heart health

acknowledge God’s grace and righteousness if we’re aware of our sin.

relationship with God.

http://arthurandtamie.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/the-pharisee-and-the-tax-collector-summer-encounter-2011/ (4 of 6) [2/3/2011 12:39:28 AM]

http://arthurandtamie.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/the-pharisee-and-the-tax-collector-summer-encounter-2011/ (5 of 6) [2/3/2011 12:39:28 AM]

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Cyberpunk + Blue Twin Welcome!

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Eric on The greatest story ever told, as Banjo

Paterson might have told it

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To some who were confident of their own ❍ Arthur

Banjo Paterson might have told it

Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ■ Learning Community from

‘ God, I thank you that I am not like Muslim Women

■ She Can Read

collector. I fast twice a week and give a

not even look up to heaven, but beat his

CMS complementarian Culture Design

exalt themselves will be humbled, and evangelism family femininity feminist

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Receive notifications of new posts

6 key lessons on heart health

righteousness if we’re aware of our sin.

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