Attitude Adjustment Week 3 Luke 18:9-14

REVIEW>

• • • “My attitude is the lens through which I look at life.”
    • “A complaining attitude is cured by a content heart.”

*ILL> I want to start off this week with an illustration that I have told before. Imagine that I want to do something for my wife to express my love for her. I buy her flowers, I clean the house, I finish all the honey do lists. When I present her with these gifts and she asks me why I have done this. I say, “I just love you. I love your blonde hair, your blue eyes, your fair skin.” There is just one problem…. I have viewed her wrongly.

APP> My attitude, the lens through which i was viewing my wife was wrong. That’s a pretty big deal… Which is really the thrust of our text today and where I want us to end this series. With the most important aspects of our attitudes:

Big Idea > The most important attitude in my life is my attitude towards God.

APP> This is by far the most crucial attitude that we can have. Why because it affects everything!

• • • “And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27
    • My attitude towards God affects my attitude towards others.

APP> Do you see how massively important this is? I think there are many ways that people view God that affects how they live.

Common Views of God:

• • • Rule maker
    • Puppet master
    • Genie
    • Urgent Care Physician
    • Big man upstairs

CONTEXT> In our passage today, Jesus gives us two attitudes. He tells a story, and or a parable. An earthly story that communicates an eternal truth. And he has a certain audience in mind, the Pharisees. Luke tells us in v9, the purpose behind it, “those who trusted in themselves and treated other people with contempt.

APP> We will see two types of attitudes in this passage.

1. A religious attitude:

• • • • • Now I need to clear something up here. The word religion isn’t a bad word. It comes from the Latin word meaning “To bind yourself to.” The Bible uses it, in a positive light.
        • I am using it in the negative light and how Jesus is describing it in v9.
        • Religion- my goodness earns God’s favor.

1. Focuses on the outside. “One a Pharisee” When we read it nowadays, it’s like it’s a bad word. These guys where the best of the best, if these two where running for office, we would pick the pharisee. Jesus would condemn them later and say that they where “white washed tombs” *ILL> Working at a funeral home, preparing bodies. Pretty on the outside… dead on the inside.
2. Preys for prominence. “standing by himself, prays to himself” That’s spelt right.Thats literally what the original language means! It means that he caused a scene, took his place and prayed to be heard. He says God’s name once and says “I” 5 times! APP> So who is he really praying to? Who does he really love?
3. Looks down on others. “I thank you that I am not like…” Wow… it’s hard to even read that! Is this even true gratefulness? APP> We use the phrase here alot, “those people”.It’s hard to look up to God when you are looking down on others.  Often times when we say “I’m different” we actually mean “I’m better”.
4. Keeps Score. “I fast, I give,…” the only way that you can look down on others is by keeping score. It’s by comparing.*ILL> Tape Measure, sizing people up.  Also, if you look at the Mosaic law, he is adding to it. God didn’t demand these things, he is adding to them and saying, “Since I do extra, I deserve extra.” APP> This is cancerous among Christians!

APP> Ultimately a religious attitude is a rebellious attitude.We can rebel by “keeping the rules”

2) A repentant attitude:

• • • • If we defined religion we need to define repentance as well. Repentance is turning from sin and trusting in Christ.

1. Focuses on the inside. “tax collector” Now Jesus shows us the second character in his parable. This would have been extremely controversial. Tax collectors were disposed by Jews people but Jesus is making a point. (read the text and gasp) APP> Remorse vs Repentance. Remorse is sorrowful about the consequence. Repentance is sorrowful about the person who was hurt.
2. Knows where it stands. “standing far off” This man in the parable feels so unworthy, why? The english doesn’t do it justice here but he actually says, “God be merciful to me THE sinner..” APP> Why is Jesus showing us this? Religious people are blinded by their own self. You never have to tell a person who is truly broken.. that they are broken.
3. Begs for payment. “be merciful to me” oh man… there is a lot going on here. Again, notice that the religious person doesn’t really ask God for anything? Why because he doesn’t need it, he is keeping score. This man, isn’t just asking for mercy… he is asking for God to pay his debt. The word he uses for “mercy” isn the normal word. He uses the word ἱλάσκομαι hilaskomai . It’s used only one other time in the bible in Hebrews 2:17 “For this reason he had to be made like them,[a] fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” APP> This changes everything, he isn’t asking God to just forgive his sins… he is asking God to PAY for them, because he cannot.
4. Receives approval. “went away justified” This is a bog deal what Jesus says here! The word that he uses, in the original language mean that he received approval from God. not from what he did but because of what God did. The word is in the perfect participle passive. Passive because it was something that God did for him, perfect because he will remain that way!

Close> “This parable teaches, among other things, that the decisive thing is not the past record, whether good or bad, but the present attitude towards God. Every moment before God is an opportunity to have life determined by the future rather than the past.” NICNT, Luke, Norval Geldenhuys pg 453

Big Idea > The most important attitude in my life is my attitude towards God.

APPLICATION>

• • • What lens are you viewing God through?
    • How is this affecting the way you live your life?
    • How is this view of God affecting your view of people?

Corporate Prayer:

“Almighty God, I confess that I have viewed you wrongly. I confess that at times, I have tried to earn your favor in my life by my good works. I confess all the wrong that I have done and turn to embrace Jesus Christ our Lord.

Father, I confess that I can not change myself. I ask that through the power of your Holy Spirit that you would renew my mind, soften my heart and strength my hands for the work of your kingdom.

I receive by faith the grace that you offer through your son, Jesus Christ. I pray like the tax collector, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!”

May I hear and believe the words of Jesus Christ, “You are forgiven!”

Amen!”

Portions of this sermon and series adapted from the book “Lord, Change my attitude before it’s too late!” Dr. James Macdonald.