This week the kids will be reading in Luke 18:9-17 (Lesson #27) about the Pharisee and the tax collector, followed by Jesus calling children to Himself.

Our understanding of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is crucial. If we misunderstand the point of this story, we miss the very foundation of the gospel. I encourage you to study this passage with your family in the coming week as you go through Old Story New, but I thought I would give a few points to guide you:

1. Notice in verse 9 who he's telling this parable to. This helps us understand Jesus' point.
2. The Pharisee did ackowledge God - he was giving thanks after all! I think he would readily say that he could do all those righteous acts only BECAUSE of God.
3. Read the parable putting yourself in the position of the Pharisee. I think we're a lot more like him than we care to admit! We might not see this in ourselves until we make some amazing sacrifice that we want others to notice, or we're with some real spiritual losers. 
4. Who is the tax collector today? Probably someone we would never think to show up in church.
5. The shocker is that only one of these men would be spending eternity in heaven, the tax collector. Why?
6. Let the gospel implications of this parable sink in. It's radical! It defies human logic. Mercy is extended to the broken who know they have nothing. Our righteous standing with God is not built on the things we do, even with His help! The only kind of righteousness that stands before the Throne of God is the righteousness of Another, namely Christ, and comes by faith in Him alone.

We just cannot move beyond the gospel taught here in these few verses. I'm so concerned that we get this for ourselves, and that we teach it over and over to our children. If we as parents are more concerned that our children learn good manners than we are that their hearts are clinging to Christ alone for mercy, then we have a problem. By all means, let's teach our children character, but for the sake of their eternal destiny, let's never stop preaching of the soil where true character grows: grace alone through faith alone. Nothing else! Let that spur on your joy and worship this week.

"God, have mercy to me, a sinner" through the gracious work of Christ. 

See you Sunday!

Pastor Jonathan