As you may have noticed, my wife McKenzie and I have moved to a joint online worship service for our two churches based on the lectionary texts. This week is based on Psalm 23 and you can find the video of that service here.
However, I know many were following my original Lent Series, “Finding God at the End of Your Rope”. Fortunately this is a series I preached at a previous church so I have audio recordings available which I will continue to share here each Monday through Lent. For this one week, however, I was away serving on a weekend Pilgrimage retreat team, so I do not have this particular sermon recorded. I did, however, at least want to offer a few devotional reflections which you will find below.
Next Monday I will be sure to share both devotional reflections and the actual audio sermon. For now, I hope you find these reflections helpful and continue to follow our Sunday online worship videos as well. All Sunday worship videos during this time will be available at https://www.craigsefa.org/worship.
Empty to Be Filled
Finding God at the End of Your Rope - Part 4
Sunday, March 22, 2020
John 9:1-41, Luke 18:9-14, James 4:6-10
All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.
Luke 18:14b
"God, thank you that I am not like __________________________________________" (Fill in the Blank).
For the Pharisee in Luke 18, the answer was easy. "God, thank you that I am not like this tax collector." For us, the answers may not be as clear, but we all have an answer even if we would rather not admit it. If you can't think of an answer, try mine on for size...
"God, thank you that I am not like that Pharisee".
The problem, of course, is that the minute we fill in the blank, we become the very Pharisee we don't want to be. We immediately elevate ourselves above someone else, as though we are somehow more worthy of God's favor or grace. We thank God for our blessings, recognizing that they are entirely undeserved. "But by the grace of God," we say when we see someone less fortunate, and yet even this statement of praise and thanksgiving exposes our pride. Are we more fortunate because God gave us more grace than the person who finds themselves in a worse situation? You see the dilemma. Even in our gratitude we somehow start to feel like God's favorites.
It is said that even those who learn to be humble will become proud of their humility. How do we get out of this trap?
Perhaps the Pharisee was off to a good start when he said "God, thank you." His problem is our problem. We tend to say too much.
The only appropriate response to God's grace is "Thank you... Period."
When we stop comparing ourselves to others and start examining our lives according to God's standards, we quickly realize that we are all like the tax collector. We all come before God as sinners crying out for mercy. When we experience mercy, there is nothing left to say but "Thank You."