Intermission |07|10|12| Just a number Passage: Luke 18:9-14 Introduction: There is a vivid memory I have of high school.

A group of basketball players thought it would be funny to write numbers on the back of papers and hold them up as girls were walking by Its funny when they are holding up 8.7s and 9s, but what happened when they held up a 2? The Pharisee in this story embarrasses the tax collector, but what Jesus does is even more astounding he says, the real 10 in this story, is the tax collector and the question he leaves us with is this: this happens everyday. We are all guilty of it. As weve been talking about the past few weeks, parables, invite us to find ourselves in the story and to see the world through Gods eyes and through Gods eyes, were all 10s. notes: The scene: twice a day jews made sacrifices for atonement. So the scene takes place in the temple. the Pharisee He is the elite of Jews. Pharisees are regular jews, but have more strict standards for themselves. In the passage he is standing by himself because if so much as touches the clothes of an unclean person, it will defile him. The Tax Collector like we looked at last week with the Samaritans, tax collectors were hated because they do the work of the romans namely collecting taxes. In this passage, we dont know why hes unclean but we know that in their culture, if youre unclean, you know it and so does everyone else. So hes seen beating his chest, which is not common for men to do in middle eastern culture. He has money, but cries out, have mercy on me, but the original language is a little bit different, hes actually saying, Lord, make an atonement for

me Whatever the case, he sees all the sacrifices being made, but he feels outside of that. Discussion Questions: 1. Take a look at the passage one more time what are some words or some things that stood out to you? Why? 2. Parables invite us to find ourselves in the story and to see the world the way God does (this whole parable invites us to see people the way God sees people) o Where do you see yourself in the story? o Have you ever looked down on someone? o Have you ever been looked down on? o have you ever witnessed someone else getting looked down on? o What happened? o How did you feel? o The Truth is, this happens everyday. 3. In a sermon a few weeks ago, Pastor Dale said, when we treat people honorably, think about this for a moment what do you think this means? 4. How we treat people is a reflection of our hearts? Do you think thats true? Why? Why Not? o Think about this: self-righteousness is a distorted view of yourself Ken Bailey o How does have a distorted view of yourself, effect how you view others? 5. This passage is about more than just how we view people, its about how god views us o From this passage, how does God view us? o Have you ever felt like you were outside of Gods grace? o What does this passage have to say to that? o Is this encouraging? Why? WHy Not? Applications: 1. How can you treat others like a 10? 2. What are some challenges to treating people like 10s? 3. Where can you start this week?