Don’t Be A Hypocrite

January 22, 2023

Luke 18:9-14

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.”

Read Luke 18:9

1. How does this description of Jesus’ intended audience prepare you to understand the parable that follows?
2. To what extent do you struggle with being confident in your own righteousness? With looking down on others? When/How are you most likely to fall into these traps?

Read Luke 18:10-12

1. Discuss the differences between Pharisees and tax collectors. What reputations did they have? How did people generally look upon them? What motives did people typically ascribe to them.
2. Describe what is revealed about the character of the Pharisee in his prayer. To what extent do you personally struggle with those same character issues? Where do they reveal themselves in your life?
3. Based only on his prayer, where does the Pharisee seem to be placing his faith? How do you tend to do the same?

Read Luke 18:13

1. In what ways is the tax collector’s prayer different than the Pharisee’s?

Read Luke 18:14

1. Discuss that final sentence. How does that work? How have you found it to be true in your own life?
2. This parable leads us to the inevitable conclusion: “Thank God I am not like that Pharisee!” What does that conclusion reveal about us?