Alignment Time

Have you ever had something in your life that you love but somehow overtime that thing becomes distorted to something negative?

And it was always a blast until inevitably a disagreement would come up over a bad call and all of the sudden everyone is mad at each other and everyone leaves recess angry.

If you went to public school you probably saw this in elementary school during recess

And because of this happening everyday for so long eventually you show up to kickball ready to pick a fight instead of play kickball.

Because all of the kids they go outside and a kickball game starts

But have you ever had it where there is something in your life that you love, but somehow overtime it gets distorted

and this probably happens on a deeper level then just kickball right?

and it starts out as a fun game of kickball for a few minutes but then inevitably by the time you get to the end of recess there were multiple bad calls that were made.

Because chance

and now everyone is angry at each other and is thinking of these great insults they can tell the other team.

But its something that most kids love but by the end of the game you hate kickball.

but you know there are things in our life that we often times love and are great things that often get distorted into things where it distorts into something that is not good.

And this probably happens on a much deeper level then kickball

because there are some people who have been married for years and somehow that marriage has been distorted over time

There are people who have families and there family gets distorted overtime into a burden.

Sometimes we even do this with church where we distort church into something that it is all about me when it should be all about God

and really the reason that these areas get distorted is because sin creeps in

And really what I want us to understand today is that there is no area where sin won’t distort what God has created.

Because Satan doesn’t go well thats there family; I don’t want to mess with that or no they really need that friend right now.

But sin destroys and distorts and there is no area that is to sacred for it to touch.

and today we are going to be looking at a story where sin distorts even someones prayer life.

So turn with me to

and really in this story it compares two men and the prayers they make

and really I want us to look at this passage not just in the context of prayer but really in the context of our entire life.

because like I mentioned there is no area that sin won’t impact in our life.

So once again turn with me to because it says:

Luke 18:9–14 NIV

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

So I just want to begin by unpacking this story for us because really this story has two men who come to the temple.

They head up the same stairs but their prayers that they make are drastically different.

Because the first person was a Pharisee and probably as most of you know a Pharisee was a religious teacher who really they had there life together

And this guy really has it together because look what his prayer looks like because he says God I am so thankful that I am not like these other people

Im not like the robbers, evil people or especially like that guy over there who is a tax collector.

and then he starts listing off all rthese reasons why he’s great.

He fast twice which the Jewish law only required them to do once a year, and hes doing it twice a week.

and then he tithes off of everything he owns.

I mean this guy has it together,

But really if you look at his prayer really what he is saying is “God, thank you for me!”

And what is so bad is if you look at the Bibles original language it almost looks like the pharasie is praying to himself.

but because of his pride even his prayer life was distorted.

Well look at the other side of the story because it says from a distance there is a tax collector (the IRS Agent, right?)

but the tax collectors were really considered the low life’s of society

And I have mentioned this before but these were not just the guys who collected money and pocketed a little extra

But they were collecting money for the roman government which was a ruthless government which would kill innocent groups of people to show there power.

And imagine this traitor coming up to you collecting money for this goverment and on top of that they take extra for them.

I mean you really would dislike this person.

But look at his prayer. Because it says he can’t even look up while praying because he is so ashamed and he beats his chest because hes so upset.

and you can imagine him looking at his life saying I am a mess upand he prays God have mercy on me a sinner

and then look at verse 14 because it reaches the end of the story and Jesus says that the tax collector left justified not the Pharisee

And really this is because the Pharasiee is really saying I don’t need God.

He almost could have made god his assistant.

But the ax collector needed God and not just needed him but he knew he needed Him desperately

All of this to say

All of this to say we have a choice on who we want to be. We can either be the Pharisee saying “I don’t really need God” or we can be the tex collector saying I need God desperately

Because truthfully we all have fallen short of where God has called us

In your relationship with God you have fallen short at somepoint

In your marriage you have probably fallen short

How you are in church

Your prayer life

You have fallen short

and the only way we can bridge that gap is through God

But the issue is often times we are to prideful to admit we did anything wrong.

And this is a real problem for us, because focus on the issues that other people have in their life by saying wow these people drink or they do that instead of saying look at my life! I desperately need God.

and the truth is it is easy to come to church and follow Christ for years but have an issue with this.

Because look at the verses right after this and I know I diden’t read this originally but it says:

Luke 18:15–16 NIV

People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Luke 18:15–16 NIV

People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

But whats so interesting with this passage is that here are these disciples who have followed Jesus probably at least a couple years now and they are telling these children to get away from Jesus.

The

but Jesus goes no let the children come to me.

Even though these disciples have followed Jesus for years their hearts were not aligned with Jesus’s.

Can I just say this happens so often where we will come to church, yet we are to proud or have a sin in our lifeor whatever it might be, but our heart isn’t aligned with that of Christ.

And what ends up happening is we end up with this weight overtime that we ourselves don’t even notice.

And I want to end on a story today because look at this picture on the screen. and I have to apologize because its a little older so its kind of fuzzy.

But this is a picture of shrek the sheep

And a few years ago Shreck became famous because he ran away from home and his shepard actually found him 6 years later.

and because he wasn’t sheered for 6 years his wool weighed about 60 pounds which is actually about 6 times the weight that a normal sheeps coat weighs.

And this sheep lived 6 years of its life carrying around 6 times the amount of weight all because he ran away from the sheapard.

But in our life to often our lives are not aligned with with where God desires and what happens is we start taking on a load that we can’t bare.

and today you might feel like Shrek, you have been baring some burdens that are just to much.

and you might be saying well you don’t know about this or that.

but imagine the weight that the tax collector had and imagine the moment he came to Christ.

Because in Shreks case the weight he carried for 6 years was gone in 28 minutes when he was with the sheperd.

and Christ wants to take that load this morning.

He want’s to bare that weight.

and shape you into who he is calling you to be.

And we are going to end the service today by taking part in communion. And really communion is a great time where we can align our hearts with God’s will.

Its a time where we can come and remember what Christ did for us on the cross and in our life

and we almost cannot help but lay down our life for him.

and if you have placed your trust in Christ you are more then welcome to receive communion here.

So during this last song come forward when you are ready and once you have the elements bring them back to your seat and we will receive them together as the body of Christ.

But also use this as a time of prayer and reflection of where you need to align your heart with God.

Will you pray with me?

The Body of Christ Broken for you

The blood of Christ shed for you