Chief Rooms; Publican and Pharisee

TEXT: Luke 14:7-14; 18:9-14

Doing things which appear right before others does not guarantee a right standing in the sight of God. Jesus probed the hearts of the men who were invited to the dinner as they sought the chief rooms in which to eat, and told a parable about taking the lower place. The parable also brought out that one should not invite his friends, relatives, and rich neighbors to his dinners, but rather the poor, lame, maimed, and blind. Our motives will determine our reward. Humility, not self-exaltation, is a hallmark of the Gospel. This is demonstrated again in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican.

QUESTIONS

1. Why do you think that those who had been invited to dinner by one of the Pharisees chose the chief rooms in which to eat?
2. How could church meetings be a possible place of testing a Christian’s motives in regard to “place seeking”?
3. Why did Christ advise the chief Pharisee not to call friends, brethren, kinsmen, or rich neighbors to his feasts?
4. Whom did Jesus advise the Pharisee to call to his feast? Why?
5. What was commendable about the Pharisee who went up to the Temple to pray? What was abhorrent to God about the same Pharisee?
6. What did the posture and actions of the publican in our text indicate about his approach to God?
7. Why is it so difficult for people to pray the simple, one-sentence publican’s prayer? Why is it vital that they do?
8. Explain the difference between the publican’s justification and the Pharisee’s.
9. Explain Luke 14:11, “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”