It Should Be Easy to Pick Out Who God Likes Best . . . or Maybe Not

0:00In today's reading, Jesus tells a story on prayer, but I think through that story, He wants us to pick the guy we think God likes best so He can teach us a lesson. Sometimes we assume that God likes who we like and what we like. It should be easy to pick out who God likes best in this story. Let me read it to you. This is Luke 189 through 14. He told this story next to some who are completely pleased with themselves over their moral performance and look down their noses at the common people. Here's the story. Two men went up to the temple to pray when a Pharisee and the other a tax man. The 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. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income. Meanwhile, Jesus said 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. Jesus commented, this tax man, not the other one went home,

1:05made 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'll become more than yourself. You see, the two guys were a Pharisee and a tax man. Really, it's the story of a church guy and a shriek guy. The church guy basically says, I haven't done bad stuff and I have done all the good stuff. The shriek guy says, I've done all the bad stuff and I am a sinner. They are both seemingly doing the same thing at the present, praying. But for prayer to be prayer, God has to hear it. Verse 11 says this, the Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself. God wasn't listening. I love how Danish philosopher Soren Kirkergaard sums it up. It's so much easier to become a Christian when you aren't one than to become one when you assume you already are. If my wife and I have a disagreement and I am in the wrong, I have two ways to try to fix it. The first way is that I do a

2:06lot of good things for her. That's self-righteousness. I give her gifts, do the dishes and the laundry. I'm being a good boy now. I'm making myself acceptable to her. I keep doing stuff until the guilt is gone. That's the first guy you prayed. He's trying to make himself right before God to show how good and righteous he is. But the problem with this is that the offense is never addressed and fixed. It's still on his account. Or I can pursue the second way with my wife to fix the complications. The atmosphere is thick. What needs to happen? I need to offer an apology. I ask her for forgiveness. Why do I want her forgiveness? Because it puts the relationship back in order. Happy home, good meals, good conversation. I want to be forgiven so things can be happy between us. Things can be set right because the thing that separated us is now addressed and the relationship can be restored. Forgiveness is the way to remove the obstacles so we can talk with each other. The second way to find yourself back in relationship is by saying you were sorry. That

3:10is the heart of the gospel. The only way to become a Christian is to understand that forgiveness is the starting point about doing good deeds. You are not raised into being right with God. You can't make yourself likable to God, but you can come to God and say that you're sorry for the things if you've done against him. Two men went to the temple and both prayed, but they didn't leave with the same thing. One left right with God, the other left in the same condition as he was when he walked in. I remember the story of a lawyer and a doctor sitting in the church service and both heard the same message. The doctor made his decision that day to be born again. The lawyer did not. And like the Pharisee and the tax collector, one left with God and the other left exactly the same way. It took the lawyer three weeks to make that born again decision of saying to God, I'm sorry. The lawyer said to the doctor, how did you do it faster than me? I could have died and gone to hell. The doctor said, while I pleaded guilty, you were pleading your case. That's Luke 18. And the two guys who prayed one day, I thought it would be easy to see who God

4:17liked best, but it's the worst guy because he asked for mercy.