Podcast: Parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14)

Hey, friend, welcome to another episode of the podcast, whether

you are watching us as we were sitting here recording this with

coffees and Bibles and other things in hand got work, work

like work. So grateful to be able to do

this and it almost started praying there and I'm just like,

it's I love. I just love that we're

appropriate. I know, I know, I just love that

we're able to do this and have conversations that we really

hope and pray are are helping you have conversations.

So, you know, admit 100% like podcasting feels like very much

1 directional and it, it's not intended to be that, right?

Like we're having a conversation.

We know that you're listening to this and maybe you listen to it

with a, a small group of people. Maybe you listen to it ahead of

conversations and then have conversations with a small

group. But also we know that people are

listening on your commutes and as you are doing various things

day-to-day. So here's the challenge for you.

Don't let this end here with just listening.

Allow this to challenge you to have conversations.

And I would put it this way this week because we're talking about

prayer conversations with someone else, another human

being in conversations with God. So try to have two other

conversations about some of this stuff this week.

And the other layer is that we, you know, your sermon this past

Sunday clearly sparked something because there has been

conversation happening. When I opened up my questions at

courtrightchurch.org inbox, there was a couple questions

there, three questions there that were like significant

questions that are like. And so that's another layer of

this conversation is that, you know, if you are like, hey, I

don't agree with you on this or this feels weird to me, like

being able to name that and and dialogue about.

It so. So I think sometimes I think

sometimes people assume that pastors exaggerate their

stories, especially on opening points.

So for the last two weeks, I have said that this like the

topic of prayer. I get more questions on prayer

than I get about anything else. And I think some people would

hear that be like, yeah, you're just saying that maybe you get a

lot of questions. But do you know, Yeah, is it

really actually more than everything else?

And I just, I think it's it's perfectly fitting that that's

not this in this case, that is not an exaggeration.

And and we got, you know, we've we've received a lot of

questions. So thanks for sending in your

questions this week. We love that we have a starting

place that we already know you're thinking of.

So we're going to hop into those.

But Luke 18, the parable of of these two, these two guys who

are praying really it's, you know, it's a parable light, I

would call it. But it is a story about two

people who are praying very different prayers in very

different ways. And the challenge is to think

about the way you pray and for us to think about the way like

for me to think about the way I. Pray and in in both of these

past two passages on prayer there like the, the section

starts off with like Jesus, Jesus kind of sharing the point

of why he's about to share these, these stories about

prayer, right? Like, so it's like the first one

Jesus told the tables of parable to show them they should, they

should always pray and not lose heart, not give up.

And then for this one, to some who were confident of their own

righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this

parable like, so, so like we get the framing for exactly why

Jesus is, is sharing these parables right off the get go,

which is kind of interesting. Yeah.

And so I think it's helpful to know, and we're reading from

different versions here, but I really like the way this

translation opens the parable. So he also told this parable to

some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.

So I think that there's, you know, I read this version and I

go, wait a second, we're not supposed to trust that we're

righteous. Hold on, right.

Am I supposed to question my, like, salvation until the day I

die? Like, am I supposed to die with

the fear of God, like literally shaking in my boots of, you

know, how this thing is going to turn out?

And then I read this translation, I go, oh, OK, uh,

to some who trusted in themselves that they were

righteous. And so it, it just gives a

little bit different of a nuance that Jesus is really speaking

here to people who have chosen to trust in themselves to do

what only God can do. So right standing with God and

ultimately right standing with others with people can, I

believe only come via right standing with God.

And that is given that is a gift, it is imparted.

It is not something that we earn.

It is something that causes us to work.

For sure it is hard. But this is, you know, what we

talk about is the righteousness of Christ that is earned by the

life and actions, death and resurrection of Christ being

given to the believer. So then the response is how odd.

I live my life in response to what what Jesus has given to me,

what God has given to me. And I think so many of us get

this, get this twisted. And I don't mean that in like a

mean way. I just think that it can be bent

so even subtly that we go, yeah, but I know that people don't

treat me that way. Hmm.

So what do I need to do? That sounds too good to be true.

Like, what do I need to, what do I really need to do to earn this

thing? And.

And so that's how this guy's praying, right?

And so then we get a whole lot of messiness in these two

prayers and some really good questions.

So just to sort of recap, so these two men when they go to

the temple, right, which is I think noteworthy, especially

with the, the proximity for, for a couple of these, for the, for

the ways in which they position themselves in the temple.

And, and so the, the Pharisee kind of praise is fairly like

arrogant prayer, which you argue is almost not a prayer.

Like it's, it's more just like, I'm just talking to myself, you

know, and then this tax collector who stood at a

distance, he could not even look up to heaven, but beat his

breast and said, God have mercy on me, a Sinner.

So the first question that they came up was, how do we square

the humility of the tax collector standing far off with

the command of God that we see in Scripture to approach the

throne of grace with boldness. So we see that in Scripture that

like, hey, like we can, we can ask God bold things.

We can come before God and and, you know, not, not demand of

God, but that we can approach God with a sense of, of

confidence, right. And and so the the writer of

this question appreciates that parables and sermons can't cover

everything, which is that's yeah, absolutely.

But it's, it's a it's a worthwhile conversation around

like, OK, humility. Was the tax collector being

humble or something else? Yeah, let's talk about.

It yeah, I don't think that the tax collector is on the surface

just simply standing off by himself as an act of humility.

I think it would probably be closer to like a shame response

in someone. So there's varying discussion on

where this tax collector would have been, but very likely he is

in the location within the temple that the the Gentiles

would have. So the court of the Gentiles,

Yeah, the court of Gentiles is as if you were a Gentile as far

into the temple as you could go. So you know it, it very much

carries this tone that he is excluding himself from the place

where he ought to be. Like because you like the

Jewish? Right, likely Jewish.

Yeah. And you know, but by virtue of

his chosen occupation, his saying, well, I kind of, you

know, self selected my self out of community.

And so I think that the tax collector is in my mind modeling

more of a shame response to the choices that he's made and the

life that he lives. Then he is modeling good healthy

humility. So CS Lewis has this great what

about humility? He says humility is not thinking

less of yourself. Humility is thinking of yourself

less. So it is a quantitative thing,

not a qualitative thing. Humility isn't about beating

yourself up and OHS, woe is me and you know, nobody likes me,

everybody hates me. Going to the garage to get worms

and like. Shout out to Worm theology.

Right. That kind of that kind of

response is, is I think a much more and I'll say this

carefully, like natural shame response.

Hmm. So I see the I see the tax

collector as recognizing the depth of his life choices and

where that would have placed him before God.

So. So I think that in that way,

what he is doing is actually exceptionally bold.

Hmm. So the fact that he's standing

far off means that he sees himself as excluded from the

covenant people of God. He's got no right to be there.

He has no right to approach God. He has no right to ask God what

he's about to ask him. That's how he views himself.

And yet he still does so actually think.

It's a very bold move that this this guy makes.

He's like. Twisting it on his head.

I love it. He's like, I know, I know

exactly what what I've done, but the only chance at this that

I've got is if you have mercy on me, Like I can't fix this on my

own. I can't, I can't change, you

know, enough of the things to make everything right.

Only you can. And so in that way, really, I

think what a lot of what a lot of writers write about this

parable is that it is foreshadowing righteousness

earned by Christ on the cross through his death and

resurrection. That has much more to do than

just simply by being about prayer.

That this, this is this is Jesus teaching about prayer.

And this is Jesus foreshadowing the way in which all of

salvation history is going to unfold because of his death and

his resurrection. So you see all of salvation

history immediately present here, right?

You get the worldview that says I've got to earn the right for

salvation, I've got to work toward it.

I've got to have all my life figured out and I'm going to do

all the things outwardly that I can, and yet inwardly the gospel

says, hey, you can still be a mess.

And then you've got this guy who on the outside can't figure any

of it out and has made some very devastating choices for his own

life and for others has turned his back on his own people,

excluded from community, excluded from religion.

So that's the other piece that I think we lose here is that

religion in in our day and age has become so insanely

privatized that we think, oh, you can, you know, if you're

excluded from one community, you go and find another community.

Even like, you know, even if you've done nothing wrong and

you're excluded because of everything's going on over

there, like even if you self exclude, you can just go find

another community. You go find another church man.

Like this happens all the time. Like, listen, I don't like the

music over at this church, so I'm going to go come here.

You said something that offended me, so I'm going to move to that

church. And like, you know, we get

people who shared. Around never happen.

Listen. Listen topic for another day.

But but we we have this capitalistic, like consumerist

mentality when it comes to religion that says I get to be

the deciding factor, the agent in which community I'm involved

in and to the degree that I'm involved.

And if I don't like this, I'm going to go find what I do like

over here and listen like for some of that, I think there's

some beauty in that. I think there's beauty in the

fact that not all churches are cookie cutter and that there is

a church like if listen if the way we do music with a band and

drums. If if that's not a place where

you can genuinely stand and worship God, lift in the name of

Jesus, then I'm grateful that there's a church down the road

where you can. But I think the the mentality is

it's so insanely privatized that you are the 8.

You are the deciding agent that we miss for this guy.

For this tax collector to be excluded by his community is to

be excluded religiously. So for like the 1st century

collectivist Jew, this would be like you would be just you would

not have a religion. Basically like you would be

removed from your religion entirely.

Right. And, and, and absolutely like

removed from any means of like experiencing the salvation of

God through any of the ritual practices.

Excuse me. So you know, this, this guy know

he can't, you know, he knows he can't even go into the place

where he ought to be. And, and so I, I think it's

actually a much more bold request of God then it is

anything else, because he realizes that he can't, he's got

nothing and that his only hope is not in himself, but it is in,

is in God. And so I, I do think like it's,

it's a beautiful foreshadowing of, of the gospel, which would

say there's nothing you can do to earn this and you are going

to exhaust yourself trying. The only hope that we have is

forgot to be merciful on us. And that's, that's the hope of

it. So, yeah, so I see him.

I see him reflecting some shame. I don't necessarily see him

reflecting in this moment, humility in in a healthy way,

but I do see him speaking exceptionally boldly.

So I wouldn't misconstrue his his distance as not being bold.

I I think it actually probably represents greater boldness.

There there's a lot of subversion in this parable where

where Jesus is flipping things on its head.

And and I think he does that even in the way that I would

imagine the for for Jesus to say that this guy praying this

prayer who is the least likely candidate goes home justified.

Yeah, you know, goes home as the one who is, who is put in right

relationship with God, right. Like that.

I, I would imagine, would be bold and shocking unto itself in

that way for the hearers. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

So everybody, everybody's looking around at what's

happening, assuming that the Pharisee is the one walking

away, justified, and the tax collector is the one walking

home, not justified. Now Jesus is telling a story.

So you can picture Jesus telling a story and people listening and

then anticipating a specific outcome, and then that outcome

being exactly the opposite. They're going ohk, OK, OK, So

what does it communicate about the Kingdom of God, right?

Like this is, this is a Kingdom where the, the more you attempt

to raise yourself, U exalt yourself, the lower down you

actually become. And, and I think that that's

just like a, that's just a statement that Jesus is making

like, like the harder you try, the worse it's gonna go, right?

Like, so this would be like, I'm in this battle right now with my

bathtub that I broke. So the tub was drained.

Like this this. Isn't a parable.

No, this is this. This is not.

Well, this is I guess sure it could be, but it's also based in

this is currently what's happening in my life.

So, you know, pray for me because I've got three daughters

and one bathtub and the bathtub, the bathtub was clogged, right?

Like I'm learning this about like, I don't have a lot of

hair, OK, I don't have a lot of hair.

Some people in my family do. And so the tub was clogged.

The drain was clogged and I needed to fix it.

So I did that. I fixed like I, I was, you know,

cleaning the drain out and needed to remove the actual

drain because it's got a hair trap in it and I needed to pull

that whole thing out. Well, it's a little bit too

corroded and so I used the tool to unscrew the drain and I

snapped the hair catcher in the bottom.

So now I got to get the drain out, but the tool to get the

drain out didn't work. So that's a drain removal tool.

So now there's something called a drain extractor tool that I

had to go and get also so that I can abstract the broken drain,

and I'm just hoping that the whole thing doesn't end with me

having to replace my entire bathtub.

And, Rabbi Grant, what's the point of this parable?

I. Have lost my point entirely

gone. Entirely gone.

Fantastic. OK, so here's here's the point.

Here's the point. The harder you try, the further

away you're going to get, right? And and the harder I'm trying to

fix this stupid tub, the further away I've gotten.

I've done that before from. From fully functional tub,

right? So I just think that like our

human inclination is to try and when it doesn't work, when you

meet resistance, you try harder. And then when you meet

resistance, you push harder and you break that, you break the

drain and then you're buying more tools and hopefully not a

brand new bathtub. But I think that's, so that's

what I want people to hear about the big picture, you know, sin,

salvation, Kingdom of God in its arrival.

What's the point to the thing? The point is that I think this

parable, while talking about prayer also is pointing us

toward the fact that there's no amount of hard work that will

earn the Kingdom on your behalf. But the good news is that God

wants to generously give the Kingdom.

And what does he say we need to do?

We need to ask. And that's what this, that's

what this tax collector is doing.

So we get the one guy, the Pharisee, he's not asking for

anything. There's no dependence, there's

no request made of God. He's like, thanks for all of

these things. My life is perfect.

God, how lucky are you to have me and the tax, the tax

collector standing off, He's the one who actually asks God for

the thing. And so that's, you know, we just

talking elsewhere about ask. Continue asking, keep asking and

be bold in your asking and God will give you the Kingdom.

So that's what this this tax collector experiences.

He asks boldly, and God gives him what God promises to give

him. Hmm.

So continuing on with that, because that obviously that, you

know, we talked about how that would have been quite the, you

know, quite the disruption for the hearers to hear that this

tax collector is the one who goes home justified.

And then at the end, Jesus says, I tell you that this man

referring to the tax collector rather than the other went home

justified before God for all those who exalt themselves like

the fairs he was doing will be humbled and those who humble

themselves will be exalted, right.

And and so I want to talk a little bit about that word

exalted. That was the second question

that came in was that that can feel a little bit weird.

Like I can feel a little bit kind of almost like icky of

like, well, I'm going to I'm going to humble myself so that I

can be exalted. Like, and I don't even know what

that means. Like does that mean like I'm

going to like be put on a pedestal and praise like?

I hope not. I sure.

I sure. Because that's awkward.

And so then because you could imagine that slipping into then

that person who has been exalted turning in, you know, turning

prideful, right? Yeah.

I could imagine a scenario where there's someone who, you know,

someone who sort of started at the lowest of the low and then

they make their way to the top and then they become who they,

you know, never wanted to be. Like, think about someone who,

you know, like, went to the top of the food chain.

They become a billionaire and all of a sudden they're the

least humble person on Earth, Right?

Which often happens. That does happen, yeah, for

sure. So this is like the cyclical

nature of parables. You could just keep reading it.

So, you know, everyone for everyone who exalts himself will

be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves.

Right. Like, you could just go right to

the right to the top again, like.

OK, well, I guess I missed it. Yeah.

So this, this word exalted is like, this is where some work is

is helpful. And yeah, you know, admittedly

you can't do all this on a Sunday and then a sermon.

But that's why we do this. Like this is the exact reason

why we love having these conversations for this reason.

So exalted, I think carries this.

Yeah, put on a pedestal, like lifted up, like I almost picture

like, you know, somebody, somebody's when they're exalted,

it's like, well, you get like a royal or like a king, like a

dudes gotta wear a crown and like jewelry and robes, right?

Like that's where that's where my head goes.

It's like I. Don't think about Jesus being

exalted. Yeah, like.

I forget that I don't like, don't put a robe on me, right?

Like you'll never catch me wearing a gown to preach.

And it's like, forget it, it's not happening.

But we have that tradition. What kind of within the church

right of, of raising certain people up, maybe in in improper

ways or in unhelpful ways? Pastors.

Yeah. Political figures.

The word there whoops, so literally means to raise up and

just to temper the word a little bit, because I do.

You read this and you go, well, what does that mean?

Everybody who humbles themselves will be exalted.

I guess if I humble myself, I can be exalted too.

Well, so it's actually the same word that John uses in the

Gospel of John to talk about Jesus being raised up on the

cross. So that should take a little bit

of the wind out of your sails. OHS.

I thought I felt it right. I felt that.

Yeah, like so when when Jesus is raised so so John talks about

Jesus being raised up on the cross.

That's the word that's used hoops.

So, and part of that is just that that's the word that means

to raise up, but part of it is that that's the word that's

being used. And so when Jesus again, just to

add to the foreshadowing of Jesus's death, um, we, we know

that this, this parable is about prayer and we know that this

parable is foreshadowing Jesus's death and his resurrection.

Well, what's the same word used to talk about Jesus being raised

up to new life hoops. So, so the same word that John

uses to talk about Jesus dying on a cross, literally being

raised up on a cross. Whoops.

So is also used by John and then later by Peter.

So Peter is giving this sermon where he says that Jesus is

exalted. He says he exalted Jesus is and

that same hoops. So, so when the early church was

wrestling out what this means, like when the they're, they're

really referring to being raised up in, in his death and then

also being raised up in his new life, resurrected life and Jesus

being exalted, raised up where he, you know, the creed says

sits at the right hand of the father, same word in all of

those instances. So I think it, that helps temper

the, the reality of it because it, it carries this, I think

very significant meaning for you and I for listeners, which is,

yes, it's talking about being raised up, but really I think

what Jesus is talking about is being raised up into Kingdom

life. So this means identifying what

Jesus is death. It means identifying with his

new life. It means identifying with the

Kingdom. And so it's, it's not like this

isn't like a, well, if you humble yourself, you're going to

get the A1 position, right? Just, you know, if you're

humble, humble yourself, you then will be given exactly what

you want in life. Like that's not what Jesus is

saying. Jesus isn't saying that you will

be exalted. It's not even saying that you

will be exalted by human beings, by people.

He's so you know, it's, it's not Jesus isn't saying if you humble

yourself in a group of people, they're going to see that and

they're going to raise you up and they're going to honor you

and glorify you. No, he's saying the work that

you have to do, we have to do me is to humble yourself like

that's So I think it's helpful also to look at where Jesus puts

the sub, like the subject who's who's acting on these things.

That's my role. That's my my.

My role is to humble myself and not to exalt myself or to put

myself in a position where I'm going to be exalted.

Nor is it others roles. Yeah.

To exalt you, Yeah. Or to exalt me.

Yeah. It is to humble ourselves.

And so I think that as we do that, what what we're doing in

greater and greater measure is identifying with the raising up

that Jesus lived, the raising up on the cross to die with in in

in perfect humility, right? The being raised up to new life

and the being exalted and sitting at the right hand of the

Father. So you know my role, your role,

listeners role is to humble ourselves because as we humble

ourselves, we identify more with the life and teaching and

example of Jesus. Yeah, and even in his raising.

Up this passage has so much more kind of like salvific context to

it than I ever thought before. We kind of were looking at it

like in our, you know, sermon prep last week and during the

sermon and even now as we're talking.

And so I'm even just connecting this idea of being exalted

potentially to the idea of, of this tax collector being the man

who went home. Justified, right?

But there is, there's gotta be a connection there between the,

the, the salvific language being used.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so he what Jesus is saying

is that this this man went home saved.

Yeah, right. Like to use kind of modern

language like he got saved do met Jesus.

Yeah, right. Like this is this is what he

went home in right standing with God.

And so I think it's meant to change the way we pray, um,

because prayer has everything to do with salvation and the work

that God is doing in my life, in your life.

What? So even just to expand a little

bit more, right, Christians for a long time have talked about

two different things when it comes to, I'm using air quotes

here, salvation. So we've talked about

justification and sanctification and you can and and this is a

very simplistic view of those things, so much so that it's

flawed. OK, so caveat.

But you for the caveat. We talk about justification as

the like a moment of salvation. Now I think we are all filled

with moments, plural, of repentance and turning and

turning again, right? This is an ongoing thing.

But the to to the point of these words, the churches typically

talked about justification as being a moment of imparted

righteousness, the moment where you are made clean, made right

with God. And different theologians talk

about it in different ways. Carl Bark talks about being

woken up to the reality of Jesus death and resurrection.

We become awake to who we really are and who God really is.

So there's a, there's, there's an instant, right?

So maybe that's a prayer that you've prayed.

Maybe that is like working toward a recognition of your own

sin and need for God and an outside Savior acting upon

yourself. But like again, very, very basic

view of of justification, the moment where you are made right

with God, where God's righteousness, where Jesus is

righteousness is given to you. Sanctification is this ongoing

lifelong work of being made into to a greater measure the

likeness of Christ. So that work never ends.

Paul's got language like now we see him part.

But then I shall see fully. Now I know in part.

Then I shall be known fully, right?

Or know know fully just as I am known fully.

So, so there's, there's language.

We've got language around this within the church and again,

very simple view of it for today.

But like you can talk about this righteousness here as this man

walking away justified because that's that's the language that

is made right. He is justified before God.

He is his. His standing has been declared

clean, even on good terms. However you would like to

describe the thing. So yeah, the the whole thing has

everything to do with it. Now what I was gonna come back

around to is prayer has everything to do with our

salvation life because it's in prayer where God gets to do the

hardest work of sanctification. Saying hey like this is how you

become greater and greater made into the image of Jesus.

And, and justification is, is all the work of God and

sanctification is this weird, sort of like we're doing a

little bit of our thing, but God is still the actor in, in our,

in our sanctification. I was just reminded of his first

lesson, Onians 5, which says May God himself, the God of peace

sanctify you through and through.

Like just the idea that like, hey, this is God, this is God

still doing that work. We've got we've got a role to

play in it, but we've still got doing the work prayer.

And prayer is the way that God will often reveal the thing that

hey, like, hey, I'm gonna show you something.

It might be uncomfortable. It might be a little bit, you

know, it might make you feel like you need to change some

things in your life. Yeah, yeah, God is going to do

what God is going to do. Like I, I wrestled this out.

You're like, I had a line where where I think in in one

iteration of the line, I said God can't do anything with a

prayer that says, God, how great am I, right?

Like, you know, how lucky are you to have me?

And I changed that line in conversation, right?

Like you, you brought this up in preparation, which is like, you

know, God is going to do what God is going to do.

And and so to say God can't do something is to put a limitation

on God that doesn't exist. So I think it changed it to to

say, you know, God won't do very much with a prayer that says,

you know, how great am I? How lucky are you to have me?

I, I just believe that to be true.

God can do everything with a prayer that says, God, be

merciful to me, have mercy on me.

I, I know that I need you. And I think the prayer is just

the practice of showing up and reminding ourselves that we need

God. Hmm.

I mean, there are a lot of things that prayer is, but at

present, the posture, the position that we put ourselves

in for God to do his best work, Yeah.

That's good. So one final question, and this

is this is an interesting place, I think for us to to close out.

So the writer asks as I reflect on listening to someone this

week who just keeps missing out because they really don't see a

place for God in their life. I find that I can pray and thank

God that I have him and am not like them with their rejection

of God, which, you know, in this person's view is compounding

their misery that all the things are going through.

It's it's really making them struggle.

The fact they don't have God in their life.

And, and so just providing a little bit of insight on, on

that perspective of like, how do we, how do we pray in a way that

that like doesn't other people like, because the way, that, the

way that the Pharisees praying, he's othering the, the, the,

the, all the people that are, that are lesser than him, right?

That are less morally upright than him.

But like, how do we pray in a, in a, in a way that feels

appropriate for when we know like, hey man, like I God, thank

you for the grace in my life. And also, I pray that that

person would have it, you know? Yeah, I think you answered the

question. Yeah, I think that's, I think

that's exactly it, right. So I would say think about like

a three tier hierarchy here. Think about like 3.

You know, it's it's not like a game of like a good, better,

best. But but let's talk about, I

think, you know, great place to start and to land and to end in

prayer is gratitude. I think what gratitude is at its

core is, is being, is practicing being thankful for what someone

else has done in your life, right?

Like it's I don't know that it's gratitude to be thankful for

what you've done, right? Like, I don't know that that's

so. So are there instances for sure?

Can we, you know, split hairs and find certain circumstances

maybe, you know, avoid sort of real hard, definitive, absolute

language? But, you know, I think at its

core, one of the ways that my prayers of gratitude have

changed is in the language. So you know, I heard someone

talking about and I, I don't remember who this is, but I

heard somebody talking about how sometimes we can start gratitude

from a self centred place by accident.

I'm thankful for, I'm thankful for this.

I am thankful for that. I am thankful that and you know,

that's really what this prayer that was taught does.

You highlighted all the eyes. I am thankful, right?

Yeah. And so for a long time, I prayed

that way. I'm thankful.

So what's wrong with that? Well, on the surface, nothing my

prayers sound more like God. Thank you for right now and and

it was like convicting to hear this person talking about it

because you know, in their mind it was to start with.

I is to miss them, miss the boat.

Right on what gratitude is. Change the subject.

God, thank you for thank you for this.

So I think that there's a way to be grateful for what God is

doing in your life that doesn't just circle back on yourself

necessarily, but that is genuine gratitude.

Like gratitude is so powerful, but genuine gratitude for what

God is doing in your life. So I think that's one, right?

2 would be allow that prayer of gratitude to shape the way you

pray for others. O God, thank you for what you

have done in my life. And because I've experienced it,

I know how desperately this person needs to experience it.

So would you do the same thing for him, for her, as you've done

for me? Like they need you desperately.

So I'm praying on their behalf for you, for you to move.

Hmm. That is a that's a good prayer.

That's not the prayer of the Pharisee.

Yeah. Um, so this is first.

It is acknowledging entirely what God has done in your life,

and it's acknowledging that there are others who also

desperately need God to move in their lives too.

What it's not is 3 Tier 3 God, I thank you that I'm not like that

person because I think even in even even if it is like even if

you're you've, you've you're praying it because you're

thankful that you know and experience God's love and grace

in ways that somebody else does. I just think that automatically

what you've done is create this like defining line between you

and this other person. Yeah.

And it puts you on the good and right and correct side and then

on the wrong side. So you know, like if this

person's listening and I hope they are, I would just say be

very, very careful as to who is the subject in your prayers and

of your prayers and who is acting right and what is the

language around me and you insider outsider.

Like I do think it's natural to be like OHT, like I could not

imagine what my life would be like if I did not have Jesus.

Well, flip that around got things that I don't need to

Hmm's and it is right and good to be praying for other people.

So I think that would be the last thing I would say is your

prayers of gratitude shouldn't make you dwell more on what you

have. They should make you dwell more

on what God is doing and what you long for God to do in others

lives. That's that's a good, that's a

really good thought, because I think that maybe another,

another angle on it could be that we, you know, we pray for

things like God, Thank you for protecting me from, you know,

this scenario or like, you know, because we could so easily, you

know, but for, you know, like there's kind of a bit of a

cliche now, but like, but for the grace of God, I could be

like that person, right, which can also other that, you know,

those people as well. But there is a sense in which

it's good to pray. Like I got thank you for

protecting me from that. You know, maybe that that person

that I almost married, that could have been a disaster for

my life, right? Like, like there, there's I'm

not that's not a real life example, but like there's

probably some people who are like, man, that I, you know,

like dodged a bullet. Thank you, Lord, Yeah.

So so let me give you a an actual like a real world example

from my childhood. I can remember my, my dad

praying at dinner time and praying this like almost the

same prayer every night. But it was a prayer that that

began by saying like, thank you for what you have provided for

us and help us to be mindful of those who do not have what we

have. Hmm.

And so it's, that's not a prayer that says, ah, there's a whole

lot of people hungry out there. God thinks we have food, right?

That's backwards. It's a prayer that first

acknowledges and honors and is is thankful toward God.

God, thank you for what we have. Sometimes that was food.

Sometimes the pair was food. Sometimes with the prayer was

family and community. Sometimes the prayer was a warm

place to live and be and have our existence like to grow up.

And then he would always turn and and pray and help us be

mindful of those who go without these things tonight.

So whether that's without a place to like a warm place to

sleep, whether that's those who go without community and

meaningful relationships, whether that's people who go

without food often many of those same things at the same time.

And I always like as a kid, I'm like, really, you're gonna make

me think about this right before I eat.

Now I feel bad about what I'm eating and like the like, but

man, I'll tell you that prayer, like it stayed with me.

And I find myself praying it more and more now as I have

kids. And, you know, I think about the

way that I pray, teaching them how to pray and how to be and,

and how to position yourself toward other people.

And I find myself going back to that.

You know, you reach a point in your life where like you're

you're. You just go.

I guess my parents were right about more than I wanted them to

be. Right, well, I love, I love the

way that that like kids can catch on to those things like

you reflecting. That's cool because even for,

for my daughter, like we, you know, often we'll pray

especially like in the cold winter months, you know, like

something similar where we're like, God, God, thank you so

much that we have a warm house and God, we pray for those that

don't that, that God you would help you would help them to find

shelter in place. Like all the things like, and

there there's something that's like almost an unintended good

consequence where we're often I hear her talking about like I

was talking with my friends the other day and we're going to

like, when we're older, we're going to start a hotel that's

going to be just free for anyone who needs to stay there.

And I'm like, and I nearly started crying one time because

I was like, Lord, like, that's so beautiful.

The way in which you're at work in her life just turned like

encouraging her to like to be the answer to to the prayer, you

know? Yeah.

So I think that's, I mean that's as as practical as I can make it

today. I I do think be grateful for

what God is doing, not for what you are doing.

And be grateful for what God is doing good and allow your

prayers and allow the way you pray to shape your posture

toward others so that you are asking on their behalf and

praying for them and incorporate that into your prayer life.

I think I think that would be a prayer to pray.

That's a great place to end. Yeah, so we hope that this

podcast has helped you in some way Have another conversation.

So have one conversation with somebody in your life and go and

have a conversation with God. Please know that we're praying

for you and we look forward to seeing you in the next episode.