OPEN IT / INTRODUCE IT …
· When does religious confidence turn into religious pride?
· What are the usual reasons that someone would “look down” on someone else?

LOOK AT IT / STUDY IT …

    Two Men – Luke 18:10
Two Men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a Tax Collector.

· What are the basic differences between these two men?
· How did their own world see and judge them?
· How much of the Pharisee & the Tax Collector do you see in yourself?  Use percentages - _____% Pharisee / _____% Tax Collector.

    Two Prayers – Luke 18:11-13
¹¹ The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector.  ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’  ¹³   “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.’

· Why do you think the Pharisee acted at he did?  Where did his feelings come from?  Why did Jesus want us to know about them?
· Why did Jesus make the Tax Collector the hero of the story?

    Two Results – Luke 18:14
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

· Why did Jesus call the Tax Collector “justified?”  What did Jesus see in him that he didn’t see in the Pharisee?
· What does “exalting” yourself look like?  How do you do it?
· What does “humbling” yourself look like?  How do you do it?
· Is it possible to be “proud” of your humility?  Explain.

USE IT / APPLY IT …
· Where is your favorite place to pray?  Explain.
· How have your prayers changed or matured?
· Why does God honor the prayers of a humble person?
· How do you think our church would receive the Tax Collector? What about the Pharisee? Explain.

As you close in prayer, allow a time a silence for each group member to consciously reach a moment of humility before God.

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