The Unacceptable Thanksgiving

“God, I thank you.”

Sounds good. Looks good on paper.

But wait a minute. We should read the rest of the story. It comes to us from Jesus as he was teaching and is found in the bible (Luke 18.10-14)

This giving of thanks was given by a hypocrite. Do you want to know what Jesus thought of hypocrites? He said that they were sons of hell, fools and blind, blind guides who would strain out a gnat and swallow a camel, whitewashed tombs, and serpents and vipers – not very high praise (see Matthew 23.13-29).

The prayer of the hypocrite sounds good at the beginning; “God I thank you,” but its plus side ends right there. The rest of the prayer is all about all the “goodness” this man possessed.

He was proud about all that he was not. “I am not like other men --- extortioners, unjust, adulterers ...” In his inflated ego, he thought that he was nowhere near as bad as they were.

He was proud of his religious endeavors. “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.”

He was proud that he was not like the tax collector who stood at a distance. The tax collector was detested by most first century Jews but especially by the Pharisees who considered them “sinners.”

The Pharisee may as well have been thanking himself for it was himself that he really worshiped. In fact, Jesus said the Pharisee “prayed … with himself.” He may have felt like his prayer was magnificent but God didn’t.

But there were two men who went to the temple to pray that day. The other man, a tax collector, prayed as well but not hypocritically. His prayer was honest and humble – “standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast.” His prayer mentioned no good deeds of his own but was plain and pure, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

The Pharisee was much more religious but the tax collector was repentant. The Pharisee was eloquent, but the tax collector was focused. The Pharisee was impressive but the tax collector was sincere. The Pharisee was proud but the tax collector was humble before God.

Jesus said that the tax collector went down to his house justified, but not the Pharisee, quite the opposite of what we would have thought.

Jesus told us not to pray like the Pharisees whose main goal was to be seen and heard. This they received. Jesus said should not pray long public prayers, but we should pray to God regularly, often in private.

When we give thanks, we are not to give ourselves credit, for that is not thanksgiving, that’s tooting our own horn.

True thanksgiving is humble. It is genuine – not feigned. True thanksgiving is truly telling the true God and Creator how grateful we are for all he’s done for us.

We should thank God that even though we are undeserving, he has graciously and mercifully provided his forgiveness and salvation to us.