Through God's Eyes

Though God’s Eyes

Community Service- Beef and Dairy Days

August 22, 2021

Scripture: John 4

Introduction- Greeting

Before we get to that central scripture, I’m going to do a A little set up

Start with a question this morning-

How many of you really hate watching the national news today?

How many simply turn it off now?

Do you know what I really hate about the news, whether it’s left or right?

The obvious pandering to one side of the political spectrum at the expense of the other. It’s not news, it’s giving information that inflames the senses of the people toward a certain view, and that view causes us to look at those who don’t hold that view as less than us.

The result is as a nation we are separating into camps. The left camp and the right camp. We never meet in the middle, but just throw verbal bombs over our walls at each other and think the other side is pure evil.

I want to give you a little clarity this morning about this tactic because the fault doesn’t lay with the media.

You need to identify the source- it’s not just foreign interference in our county, bad worldviews, or ultraliberal or ultraconservatives.

The origin of this movement to create this kind of hatred and division is coming from the kingdom of darkness.

Jesus said that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. The bible also says that our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, and authorities, and powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (John 10:10/Eph 6:12)

If we allow these attitudes about others who think differently then we do, it will affect the way we view them.

Most of us have our secret dislikes of other people or people groups. Here in rural areas, we don’t get a lot of exposure to people of different cultures, but only see snippets of the bad examples of them on the evening news. It unconsciously can form a certain prejudice to develop inside us.

This is not just about cultural differences, It can also be seen when someone you know really messes up in life- we think, “Well, I have never even thought of doing that stupid thing.

What is wrong with them?

Thank God I’m not like that person”

The enemy of our souls allows that pride to slip in about not being like that person.

But what does Jesus say about this?

Jesus told a story, called a parable, concerning this mindset of thinking maybe we are better than that person over there-

In Luke 18 Jesus describes a religious guy called a Pharisee and a tax collector standing in the front of church praying.

The Pharisee, looking up toward heaven, is praying about how awesome he was- he obeyed the law, he gave a tenth of all of his income, and he was much better than that other guy over there being a tax collector.

In other words, “God You are blessed to have me on your team”

The tax collector had a different kind of prayer.

Now, let me just say something about the tax collector before we look at his prayer. When Jesus taught this parable, The entire area of Israel has been conquered by the Roman Empire. They are under the boot of the Roman governors who taxed the people to the point of starvation. To collect these taxes, they employed local people, who knew everyone in the area, to get this money for Rome.

In other words, these tax collectors were traitors to their own people, and enriched themselves by working with and for the enemy, and even took more than what was required to keep it for themselves.

So when you see tax collector in the bible- that is the lowest, of the lowest person on earth. They were hated so much that they needed Roman guards to make sure their neighbors didn’t kill them.

This is the other man in the story. What is his prayer?

His prayer- God have mercy on me a sinner. He said this prayer not even being able to raise his eyes toward heaven because he felt so horrible standing before God.

So Jesus is comparing the super religious guy to this scumbag tax collector and says, ““I tell you that this man (the tax collector), 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.”

Jesus tells us it’s about our heart condition- is it prideful- filled with our own accomplishments and boasting before God and our neighbors, or is a humble heart, knowing that if we are saved from our sins, it’s only going to be by the grace and love of God.