Grace Forgave yesterday’s Past. Grace secured tomorrow’s future. grace empowers today’s Goodness.

Resource Authors

Brad has 25 years of youth ministry experience and 17 years of experience as a Bible teacher in Christian schools. He found that the "canned" lessons found in bookstores lacked the personal touches he wanted so he began writing his own. When he was “blown-up by the transforming power of grace”, he started writing grace-based lessons for his students.

Jess is an ordained minister who thrives in unconventional ministry spaces—from addiction recovery programs to strip club outreaches and leading home-based churches. A published writer and sought-after speaker for women’s events, she is the author of A Rebel’s Religion and She, bringing fresh, fearless insight to faith, life and His grace.

The Parable of the Pharisee & Tax Collector

A Radical Grace Lesson on Humility, Identity & True Righteousness

Free

This teaching resource takes one of Jesus’ sharpest confrontations with religious pride and exposes how easily righteousness can be confused with comparison, performance, and spiritual résumé-building. In this parable, Jesus places two men side by side—one admired, one despised—and completely overturns expectations about who walks away justified.

Rooted in Luke 18:9–14, this downloadable lesson explores the parable through the cultural framework of honor and shame, revealing how deeply identity, worth, and righteousness were tied to religious achievement. Rather than teaching us how to pray, Jesus reveals what it truly means to enter the Kingdom of God: releasing confidence in what we have done for God and humbly receiving what God has done for us.

Through Scripture, teaching, and guided reflection questions, participants are invited to examine where subtle comparison, spiritual superiority, or self-reliance may still shape their faith—and to rediscover the freedom of grace that levels the ground for everyone.

Designed for small groups, Bible studies, or personal reflection, this lesson gently dismantles pride-driven faith and invites deeper unity rooted in shared forgiveness and belonging.

Includes:

Scripture passage (Luke 18:9–14)
Teaching on honor, shame, humility, and justification
Guided reflection and group discussion questions
Emphasis on grace-based identity and unity within the body of Christ

Perfect for those tired of comparison—either measuring themselves above or below others—this lesson invites you to lay down the righteousness résumé and rest in the mercy that makes us all equal at the foot of the cross.