Friday, January 8

The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, 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 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  - Luke 18:11-14

This final statement of Jesus is an example of what author and professor Dallas Willard has called “the law of inversion”.  Throughout the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly said things that turned the conventional understanding of religion on its head, He had a kind of upside-down theology that often shocked the average person, and frustrated the religious establishment. Remember that Jesus told this story about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector to challenge those who were “confident of their own righteousness, and looked down on everybody else.” Over and over again, Jesus says that the Gospel does not work the way you think, it is not like “religion”. 

Matthew 19:30 - But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Matthew 20:16 – “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Mark 9:35 - Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said,  “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

Luke 13:30 - Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.

Matthew 23:12 - For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Luke 14:11 - For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Matthew 10:39 -  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Mark 8:35 -  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.

John 12:25 -  The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

To humble yourself doesn’t sound too crazy, but to put yourself last and to lose your life sounds like an impossible way to live.  The conventional cultural wisdom is that you have to put yourself first if you want to get anywhere in this life.  Indeed, this is the natural human tendency, to pursue our own self-interests, to “look out for number one”.  After all, who will defend us or take care of us, or promote our agenda, if we don’t do it for ourselves?  The truth is that aggression & self-promotion do work on the athletic field and in the marketplace.  Our culture celebrates those who achieve wealth and fame, often at the expense of others. 

However, when it comes to our standing with God, there are only two choices; you are either going to trust in yourself, or you are going to trust in Christ.  You can either rely on your own strength and your own righteousness, or you can fall to your knees and humbly acknowledge that you are totally helpless without the mercy of Jesus Christ.  Those are the only two options.  Which will you choose?

Remember that Jesus said one man went home justified in the sight of God, and one man did not.  There are only two options and only two destinations; you must make your choice.  Self or Christ, which will it be?  


Jeff Frazier