Check your Attitude
What is your attitude? Good ? Bad? What ever it is it is contagious. The real question is, is it worth catching?
Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)
9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The 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. 12I 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 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
I. WHY DID YOU COME TO CHURCH?
1. To be seen like the Pharisee, you know look at me look at me?
2. To seek God as the tax collector?
The tax collector showed up because he was in trouble and he believed God could help him. His body language revealed his sense of unworthiness; he couldn’t walk to the front of the crowd, instead he kept his distance. He didn’t focus on the other people there, he focused on God.
Worship does involve an audience. But it’s an audience of one. When we come to church, we should be primarily concerned about seeking God’s face. You may receive the applause of man, but you should be deaf to it. You should be listening only for the applause of the nail-scarred hands.
Lets read that scripture again only in The Message this time.
9He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: 10“Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. 11The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. 12I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
13“Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”
14Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
II. WHAT IS YOUR ATTITUDE IN FACING GOD?
1. The Pharisee was proud of his goodness vs. 11&12
a. Pride loves to talk about “I”
b. Pride seldom admits a need
c. Pride sees the faults of others
Eph. 2:8&9 says
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9not by works, so that no one can boast.
2. I desperately need God’s mercy! Vs 13
III. HOW WILL YOU GO HOME?
1. Unchanged–Religious and proud of it!
2. Unburdened–Right with God and thankful for it!
Romans 4:7&8
7 “Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
Are we seeking forgiveness? We must start with forgiving.
And in 2nd Corinthians 2:5-10 it says
5If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake
The Message reads this way.
5Now, regarding the one who started all this—the person in question who caused all this pain—I want you to know that I am not the one injured in this as much as, with a few exceptions, all of you. So I don’t want to come down too hard. 6What the majority of you agreed to as punishment is punishment enough. 7Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet. If all you do is pour on the guilt, you could very well drown him in it. 8My counsel now is to pour on the love.
9The focus of my letter wasn’t on punishing the offender but on getting you to take responsibility for the health of the church. 10So if you forgive him, I forgive him. Don’t think I’m carrying around a list of personal grudges. The fact is that I’m joining in with your forgiveness, as Christ is with us, guiding us.
OUR FORGIVNESS IS HINGED ON OUR ACTION OR INACTION!!
Matthew 6:14&15 says it this way
14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
THE MESSAGE SAYS IT SO CLEARLY THIS WAY
14“In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others.
Is there someone you might need to forgive?
How do you want to leave here today? BETTER THAN WE CAME?
LETS CHECK OUR ATTITUDE BEFORE GOD AND EACHOTHER.
NIV
14“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.”
THE MESSAGE
14Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
