HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH PROBLEMS?
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
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.”
Luke 18:9–14 [NIV]
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.
1 Corinthians 10:13 [NIV]
3 Types Of People.
1. The Comparer.
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.”
Luke 18:11 [NIV]
1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
James 4:1 [NIV]
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
Matthew 7:3 [NIV]
12 “These who were hired last worked only one hour,” they said, “and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.”...15 “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”
Matthew 20:12, 15 [NIV]
12 When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they lack wisdom and behave like fools.
2 Corinthians 10:12 [AMP]
18 The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 12:18 [NIV]
2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
Proverbs 18:2 [ESV]
2. The Prover.
12 “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.”
Luke 18:12 [NKJV]
3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:3-4 [NIV]
39 Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself!”
Matthew 27:39-40 [NIV]
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.’”
Matthew 7:21-23 [NIV]
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
Genesis 32:22-28 [NIV]
3. The Confronter.
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.’”
Luke 18:13 [NIV]
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23–24 [NIV]
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’ 20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”
Luke 15:17-20 [NKJV]
6 All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.
Isaiah 64:6 [NKJV]
17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:17 [NKJV]
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.”
Luke 18:14 [NIV]
7 Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7 [NKJV]
The tax collector went home justified because he was honest, not because he had it all together. Real honesty happens in community. Join a Life Group this week and find people who will walk through it with you.
