I’m Glad I’m Not Like…

The latest message from Griffith First Christian Church in Griffith, Indiana. This message is based on Luke 18:9-14.

You Think You’re Better Than Me?

Jesus often turned the tables on the conventional thinking of His day.  The Pharisees were honored and looked up to and the tax collectors were despised and looked down upon.  People don’t know what goes on in the hearts of other people.  You and I cannot see what is going on in the souls of those around us.  I love the way that Luke describes the Pharisees in verse 9.  They…:

were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else​… – Luke 18:9 (NIV)​

So Jesus tells them a story.  Two men go to the temple to pray.  One is admired by men and the other is loathed.  God knows the heart, though.  The Pharisee boasts about himself and his righteous acts.  The tax collector throws himself upon the mercy of God, knowing that he is unworthy to be in God’s presence.

When we get to the point of thinking that we’ve somehow earned grace by our good deeds or righteous acts, we’ve missed the mark.  When we get to the place where we believe that we are better than anyone else because of our righteousness, we are pridefully sinning.  Our job is not to judge others based on outward appearances for God knows the hearts of us all.  Let God be the judge and let us throw ourselves on His mercy for we all are in need of it.

Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “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.’

14 “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.”