Luke 18

Intro:

Our Second Kingdom reality, tied so closely to faith is Humility. We gain nothing by coming to God in the lie of pride. The principle God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble is so important God repeated it three times (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5)

V1

We start with the purpose of the first parable. Luke tells us that Jesus said this parable that we might not lose heart in prayer. Man is created with a spiritual instinct He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11, so prayer often comes naturally. Yet obstacles come in the way of effective and constant prayer, so Jesus knew we needed to be both taught and encouraged always… to pray. Jesus did not mean that we should always have our knees bent and eyes closed in prayer; but we must always be in what is sometimes called the spirit of prayer. Paul mentioned this idea in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 when he wrote, pray without ceasing. It’s hard to measure how much good such constant prayer would do, and how much bad it would keep us from. Often we fail in praying because we lose heart. We become discouraged, and then no longer pray as we should. It is easy to lose heart in prayer because prayer is hard work that we too often approach lightly. In Colossians 4:12, Paul praised a man named Epaphras because he was always laboring fervently… in prayers. Paul knew that prayer was hard work that required fervent labor. It is easy to lose heart in prayer because the Devil hates prayer. If prayer were powerless, it would be easy. It is easy to lose heart in prayer because we are not always convinced of the reality of the power of prayer. Too often, prayer becomes a last resort instead of a first resource. Remember that Jesus lived a prayerful life, and He ever lives to pray for His people (Hebrews 7:25). We must therefore not lose heart in prayer. Whatever it is you are dealing with this morning, do not lose heart, pray and pray and pray. Seek the Lord while He can be found.

V2-8

So let’s look at the parable now of the widow and the unjust judge. A judge who did not fear God nor regard man: The judge was ungodly, both as a man and a judge. Yet in the end he answered the woman’s request. The only reason he gave her what she wanted was because the woman wouldn’t stop bothering him. The unjust judge only reluctantly answered the woman’s request. Jesus did not give this parable to say that God was like the unjust judge, but unlike him. God loves to answer our prayers, and He even helps us when we pray. God is on your side when you pray, not against you (as the unjust judge was against the widow). The woman had to overcome the judge’s reluctance to help. We might often feel that we must do the same when we pray – use our persistence to overcome God’s reluctance. My sons try that, “Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad.” until finally I go. “WHAT?!” Unjust Judge… This misses the point of the parable entirely. Jesus did not say that men always ought to pray and not lose heart because God is reluctant, but because He isn’t, and that is our encouragement to prayer. Sometimes it does seem to us that God is reluctant to answer our prayers. Yet the delays in prayer are not needed to change God, but to change us. Persistence in prayer brings a transforming element into our lives, building into us the character of God Himself. It is a way that God builds into us a heart that cares about things the same way He does. There are several contrasts between this judge and the God who hears prayer.

1. The judge was unfair; God is fair.
2. The judge had no personal interest in the widow; God loves and cares for those who petition Him.
3. The judge answered the widow’s cry out of pure self-interest; God loves to bless His people for their good also.

Jesus probably had in mind the prayers of persecuted believers, who long for justice and who cry out day and night for God to avenge them and deal with their persecutors. Those in the fire of persecution need special grace to persevere and to not lose heart in prayer. They need to be assured that God is not like the unjust judge, so we should keep praying to the Lord who will resolve all things righteously. If you’re in the fire this morning, be reminded Our God is a righteous, wonderful Judge:

• We come to a judge of perfect, good character.
• We come to a judge who loves to care for His children.
• We come to a judge who is kind and gracious.
• We come to a judge who knows us.
• We come to this judge with an advocate, a friend who will plead our case before the judge.
• We come to the judge with promises to encourage us.
• We come to the judge with the right of constant access, to a judge who has a personal interest in our case.
  
  

When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? This ties Jesus’ thought to His words about His coming at the end of the previous chapter. Unless we know who God is (being not like the unjust judge) and unless we are people who pray without losing heart, we don’t yet have the kind of faith Jesus will look for when He returns. Now Jesus is going to link that idea of prayer, and faith, and the humility to trust God in another parable.

V9-14

Jesus gives a lesson in humility with a parable to rebuke the self-righteous. The connection between those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and those who despised others is almost inevitable. If I credit myself for a supposed great and spiritual walk with God, then it is an easy thing to despise another for their supposed low and carnal walk with God. Everyone looks great compared to Hitler, right? At least I’m not Hitler. Two men went up to the temple to pray: In this parable, both men prayed, but both men did not come to God the same way. One with pride, the other with humility. The Pharisee went up to the temple to pray, but he did not pray. He spoke with himself, not with God.; he prayed thus with himself, and in his short prayer he repeated the word “I” five times. It is entirely possible to address your words to God, but actually be praying to yourself, because your focus is on yourself, not on God. Your passion is for your agenda, not God’s. Your attitude is my will be done and not Thy will be done. The man was full of praise, but he rejoiced “not for who God was but rather for who he was! Let’s focus in on the Pharisee here for a second. God, I thank You that I am not like other men: In his (so-called) prayer, the Pharisee praised himself, and compared himself to other men. It isn’t hard to have such a high opinion of self when you compare yourself to other people; it often is not difficult to find someone worse. I fast twice a week: In those days many Jews fasted on the second and fifth days of each week, because they believed that Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the law on the fifth day of the week, and that he came down with the law on the second day of the week. They thought themselves holier if they fasted on these days. The spitting image of the pride the scriptures speak of in a negative light. “Holier than thou.” Let’s look at the tax collector: The Pharisee relied on his own power and deeds before God, but the tax collector relied on the mercy and compassion of God. He recognized that he was a sinner who needed the mercy of God. The idea behind him beating his breast was that one was so aware of their sin and heart corruption that he hit at his own heart as a punishment. The Pharisee thought he was not like other men; that he was better than them. The tax collector also thought that he was not like other men; that he was worse than them. The ancient Greek word translated be merciful is hilaskomai; it is actually the word for an atoning sacrifice. The fullest sense of what the tax collector said was, “God, be merciful to me through Your atoning sacrifice for sins, because I am a sinner.” This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: The justification of the tax collector was immediate. He humbly came to God on the basis of His atoning sacrifice and was justified. He didn’t earn his justification, and he didn’t have a probationary period; he was simply justified. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 18: 14 Essentially, the Pharisee saw prayer and his spiritual life as a way to be exalted, but the tax collector approached God in humility. True humbleness is simply seeing things the way they are. The Pharisee saw himself as something great when he wasn’t, and the tax collector saw himself as a sinner needing God’s mercy, which he was.

V15-17

Jesus now uses children as examples of humility. Children love to come to Jesus, and it says something about our Savior that children loved Him and that He loved children. Jesus was not a mean, sour man because children don’t love mean, sour people. Our dedications this morning mirror a bit of that. It was the custom for mothers to bring their children to some distinguished Rabbi on the first birthday that he might bless them. That He might touch them: Jesus knew that these infants, though they did not understand speech or Jesus’ eloquent teaching, could respond to a touch. Jesus knows how to communicate in the way we need. Matthew 19:13 says specifically that He might put His hands on them and pray. With this, Jesus blessed the children. The laying on of hands is used Biblically as a way to bestow blessing on another (Acts 6:6, Acts 8:17, Acts 9:17, 1 Timothy 5:22, 2 Timothy 1:6). One of the points that surely gets across is, because children love to come to Jesus, we should never block the way – or fail to provide them a way. We know more about Jesus than the women of Judea did; so there is no good reason for us to keep our children from Jesus. Children receive the blessing of Jesus without trying to make themselves worthy of it, or pretending they don’t need it. We need to receive God’s blessings the same way, through humility. Not only did Jesus welcome these little human beings as members of the kingdom of God; He also extolled them as model citizens of the kingdom, because of their capacity to trust and love. Therefore to trust and love Jesus displays the kingdom’s reality of humility.

V18-30

We look at the story of the rich young ruler who questions Jesus. Good Teacher: This was an impressive and perhaps surprising way to address Jesus. “Good Teacher” was a title never applied to other rabbis in Jesus’ day, because it implied being without sin and complete goodness. Jesus, and everyone else, recognized that Good Teacher was a unique title. What good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life? This question demonstrates that this man, like all people by nature, had an orientation towards earning eternal life. He wanted to know what good work or noble deed he should do to inherit eternal life. Why do you call Me good? In this, Jesus did not deny His own goodness. Instead, He asked the man, “Do you understand what you are saying when you call Me good? Because no one is good but One, that is, God.” It was as if Jesus said, “You come to Me asking about what good thing you can do to inherit eternal life; but what do you really know about goodness?” “The argument is clear: either Jesus was good, or he ought not to have called him good; but as there is none good but God, Jesus who is good must be God.” V20-21 You know the commandments: This ruler was an educated Jew of his day, so of course he knew the commandments. Jesus could appeal to the man on this common knowledge. You shall not murder: Jesus asked the man about the commandments relevant to man’s relation to man. In response, the young man claimed, “All these things I have kept from my youth,” thus claiming to fulfill all of God’s commands regarding how we must treat other people. It is fair to ask if this man really had kept these commandments. It is likely that he actually did keep them in a way that made him righteous in the eyes of men, in the sense that Paul could say concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless in Philippians 3:6. But he certainly did not keep them in the full and perfect sense in which Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount. V22-23 So when Jesus heard these things: Jesus spoke the following to this one man, in light of who the man was and what he said. What we have to realize is this was a specific word for a specific man, yet in principle it has application for all. Mark’s account adds something here. Mark wrote: Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him (Mark 10:21). The response of Jesus to this man was said in love – no doubt, because Jesus perceived that he was misguided and empty. One might say that this man had climbed to the top of the ladder of success, only to find his ladder leaned against the wrong building. You still lack one thing: Though the man had everything – riches, an outwardly righteous life, respect, and prestige, Jesus could still say to him, “You still lack one thing.” The man had everything but knew that he did not have eternal life – so he really had nothing. Instead of challenging the man’s fulfillment of the law (which Jesus had every right to do), Jesus pointed him to what is commonly called the first table of the law – the laws having to do with our relationship with God. He thinks he nailed table 2, how to deal with man, but Jesus challenged him to put God first; to fulfill the law to love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus asked the ruler to give up his money because He could see money was an idol. He asked him to give it to the poor because He could see that he didn’t love others the way he should. The call to forsake everything and follow Jesus is a call to put God first in all things. It is full obedience to the first table of the law, which dealt with a man’s relation to God. We may make two mistakes here. The one is to believe this applies to everyone, when Jesus never made this a general command to all who would follow Him, but especially to this one rich man whose riches were clearly an obstacle to his discipleship. Instead, many rich people can do more good in the world by continuing to make money and using those resources for the glory of God and the good of others. The second mistake is to believe this applies to no one, when there are clearly those today for whom the best thing they could do for themselves spiritually is to radically forsake the materialism that is ruining them. Yet we notice that Jesus simply called this man to be His disciple, in saying, “Follow Me.” He used similar language in calling many of His disciples (Matthew 4:19; 8:22; 9:9; Mark 2:14). Jesus simply called this man to be His follower; but for this man it meant leaving behind the riches he had set his heart upon. The principle remains: God may challenge and require an individual to give something up for the sake of His kingdom that He still allows to someone else. There are many who perish because they will not forsake what God tells them to. It takes great humility before God. V24-27 Jesus explains the problem with riches. Jesus didn’t change the demands of discipleship when the rich man walked away. He did use the man’s sorrow as an occasion to teach His disciples and all who would hear. How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! Riches are a problem because they tend to make us satisfied with this life, instead of longing for the age to come. As well, sometimes riches are sought at the expense of seeking God. Clearly Jesus said that riches are an obstacle to the kingdom of God. We usually only think of poverty as a problem. Jesus told us that riches may present a much more serious problem. We often excuse ourselves from what Jesus said here because we don’t consider ourselves rich. Pride in what we have or who we are can overtake the humility needed to surrender your life to Jesus like the rich young ruler. That is the serious problem. For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God: With this humorous image, Jesus illustrated the difficulty riches present to entering the kingdom of God. We immediately think of this as being impossible. Who then can be saved? The response from those who heard this is true to human nature. We also find it hard to see how riches can hinder us from the kingdom of God. We think only of the blessing and good that riches might bring. They had probably hoped that their following of Jesus would make them rich and influential, and prominent leaders in His Messianic government. “In a culture where wealth was regarded as a sign of God’s blessing and where a religious teacher was therefore expected to be at least moderately wealthy, the lifestyle of Jesus and his disciples was conspicuously different. We remember what Paul said to Timothy: But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:9-10). The things which are impossible with men are possible with God: It is possible for the rich man to be saved. God’s grace is enough to save the rich man; we have the examples of people like Zacchaeus, Joseph of Arimathea, and Barnabas. These all were rich men still able to put God first, not their riches. Jesus is not saying that all poor people and none of the wealthy enter the kingdom of heaven. That would exclude Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to say nothing of Kings David and Solomon. V28-30 and we’ll wrap up the rich young ruler here as Jesus shares about our reward and the solution to the problem of riches. See, we have left all and followed You: In contrast to the rich young ruler, the disciples did give up everything (or most everything) to follow Jesus. Peter wondered what reward would be promised to them who obeyed where the rich young ruler disobeyed. I hope you hear our Lord’s words over you this morning: Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

V31-34

Jesus again announces His coming fate in Jerusalem. I want to draw your attention to two things here. First, In saying “all things,” Jesus emphasized the aspects concerning the Son of Man that were commonly neglected and overlooked by the Jewish people of His day – that the Messiah would suffer and die as a sin-bearing servant. Jesus reminded His disciples of His coming suffering and death, emphasizing the shame and humiliation He would bear. And Second, Jesus triumphantly told His disciples that the story would not end with His suffering, humiliation, and death. He would rise again in resurrected glory. He confidently announced to His disciples that this would happen. Embodying the kingdom reality of Humility, Jesus shares about His destiny, death, and resurrection.

V35-43

We close with Jesus Healing a blind man. The blind man couldn’t see Jesus, but he could hear Him – so, hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. Instead of giving up because he could not seek Jesus by sight, he sought Jesus the way that he could – by hearing. The man heard Jesus was passing by, and was desperate to get Jesus’ attention. He would not be embarrassed, and he would not be shut up. He knew that Jesus was the Son of David, meaning the Messiah, and kept shouting for His mercy. The blind man knew he needed mercy from Jesus. He didn’t think that God owed him; he wanted mercy. V40-43 What do you want Me to do for you? This is a wonderful, simple question God has not stopped asking. Sometimes “we go without” when God would want to give us something simply because we will not answer this question, and we do not have because we do not ask (James 4:2). Jesus asked this question with full knowledge that this man was blind. He knew what he needed and what he wanted, but God still wants us to tell Him our needs as a constant expression of our trust and reliance on Him. It requires great humility to ask for something, even and especially from God. The blind man knew how to submit to Jesus – he called Jesus “Lord” and asked to receive his sight. Receive your sight; your faith has made you well: Jesus granted the man’s request and healed him of blindness. Jesus connected the man’s healing with the man’s faith. The man’s faith is connected with the humility to ask. There were many notable aspects of this man’s faith that made him ready to receive from Jesus. It was faith that wanted Jesus. It was faith that knew who He was. It was faith that knew what he deserved from Jesus. It was faith that could tell Jesus what it wanted. It was faith that could call Jesus Lord. He received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God: The blind man, now healed and saved, began to follow Jesus. The way of Jesus became his way. Through faith, witnessed by the kingdom reality of Humility.