SUCH GREAT MISTAKES: FAILING TO SEE THE SIN IN ONESELF
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. Such Great Mistakes
a) We consider another theme evident in many of the parables, namely the great and terrible mistakes that people make.
b) The parables that Jesus told often portray people making tragic and terrible mistakes, or on the other hand, being wise and avoiding such mistakes. People generally seem blind to the terrible mistakes they are making in life. Christ's poignant stories so vividly show up these mistakes, that it is hard to remain blind once the point of a parable sinks in — if only you will let it. A burden of Jesus's teaching is to enlighten humankind, to help us realize the mistakes we have made, and how we can overcome them.
c) Usually the wisdom of our times tells us that the mistakes we are making are things like not thinking positive, not managing our time and money, not practicing meditation and relaxation, not planting trees, or not giving up smoking.
d) Those, and a hundred other things, may well be serious mistakes, but they do not compare with the enormity of mistakes made on a spiritual level. These mistakes are utterly simple. Even a child can understand them. Yet people go on making them whether blindly or deliberately.
2. Failing To See The Sin In Oneself
a) The Foolish Pharisee
Luke 18:9-14
9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
b) The Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and one can be justified only through Jesus Christ (Romans 3:23-24). Most people, however, don't realize this. Many think they are righteous enough on their own to satisfy God. To point out this fatal mistake, Jesus pictures a Pharisee in prayer next to a tax gatherer also in prayer. The Pharisee's prayer was self-righteous, prideful, and greatly mistaken. The result was that he was not justified (made right). The sin he did not recognize in himself condemned him in God's eyes.
The End ...
1. Such Great Mistakesa) We consider another theme evident in many of the parables, namely the great and terrible mistakes that people make.
b) The parables that Jesus told often portray people making tragic and terrible mistakes, or on the other hand, being wise and avoiding such mistakes. People generally seem blind to the terrible mistakes they are making in life. Christ's poignant stories so vividly show up these mistakes, that it is hard to remain blind once the point of a parable sinks in — if only you will let it. A burden of Jesus's teaching is to enlighten humankind, to help us realize the mistakes we have made, and how we can overcome them.
c) Usually the wisdom of our times tells us that the mistakes we are making are things like not thinking positive, not managing our time and money, not practicing meditation and relaxation, not planting trees, or not giving up smoking.
d) Those, and a hundred other things, may well be serious mistakes, but they do not compare with the enormity of mistakes made on a spiritual level. These mistakes are utterly simple. Even a child can understand them. Yet people go on making them whether blindly or deliberately.
2. Failing To See The Sin In Oneself
a) The Foolish Pharisee
Luke 18:9-14
9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
b) The Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and one can be justified only through Jesus Christ (Romans 3:23-24). Most people, however, don't realize this. Many think they are righteous enough on their own to satisfy God. To point out this fatal mistake, Jesus pictures a Pharisee in prayer next to a tax gatherer also in prayer. The Pharisee's prayer was self-righteous, prideful, and greatly mistaken. The result was that he was not justified (made right). The sin he did not recognize in himself condemned him in God's eyes.
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