The Pharisee & the Tax Collector (Sun, Oct 23)

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Read along with Luke 18:9-14. 

Sermon excerpt from Sun, Oct 23: 

And if we’re not careful, we might leave worship today thinking something like, “Thank you, God, I’m not like that dumb, old Pharisee, full of arrogance and pride.” If we’re not careful, we just might find ourselves doing the same thing that the Pharisee did, looking down on others.

In fact, I’m afraid, generally speaking, we have a lot more in common with the Pharisee than we do the tax collector. The Pharisee is like someone who goes to church every Sunday, who puts some money in the offering plate as it goes by, who sings in the choir, who serves on a committee, who preaches the sermon.

For those of us who do a lot of good works, it’s easy for us to rest on our laurels and think we are righteous because of the things we do. We even sometimes become a wee bit arrogant like the Pharisee. And we sort of forget about or even become blind to our sin.