Luke #41: Kingdom Perspectives (18:1-34)
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: Luke 18:1-34
N:
Welcome
Welcome
Bye, kids!
Good morning, and welcome to family worship with the church body of Eastern Hills. Whether you are here in the room, or online, thanks for being part of our celebration of Jesus today.
If you are visiting with us for the first time today, thanks for choosing to worship with Eastern Hills! We would like to be able to thank you for your visit and to pray for you, so if you wouldn’t mind, please take a moment during the sermon to fill out a visitor card, which you’ll find in the back of the pew in front of you. If you’re online, you can let us know about your visit by filling out the communication form at the bottom of our “I’m new“ page. If you’re here in the room today, you can get that card back to us in one of two ways: you can put it in the boxes by the doors at the close of service, or I would love the opportunity to meet you personally, so after service, you can bring that card to me directly, and I have a gift to give you to thank you for your visit today.
Thanks to Safety & Security Ministry teams.
Announcements
Announcements
Church budget discussion for 2026 budget tonight at 5:30 pm here in the sanctuary. Welcome to come if you’re visiting.
Opening
Opening
Last Sunday we considered the biblical concept of the “now-and-not-yet” reality of the Kingdom of God—that the Kingdom is a present, active reality which was inaugurated or started with Jesus’s earthly life, while at the same time understanding that we will experience a later, fuller, consummation of that Kingdom when Jesus returns again to judge the world. The King’s coming will be obvious, sudden, and divisive: and that division will be permanent. Anyone who hasn’t entered the Kingdom in its “now” state will not be able to enter it when it is fully consummated.
In this morning’s passage we draw even closer to the end of Luke’s “travel narrative” section of his Gospel as we continue our series on The Story of the King. Today’s focal passage is 34 verses long, so it is quite a read. Feel free to remain seated if you need to. But for those of you who are able, please stand in honor of the recitation of the Word of God, and join me in your Bibles or Bible apps in the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Luke:
1 Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up. 2 “There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect people. 3 And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, 5 yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’ ” 6 Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? 8 I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” 9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 15 People were bringing infants to him so that he might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 Jesus, however, invited them: “Let the little children come to me, and don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 18 A ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.” 21 “I have kept all these from my youth,” he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich. 24 Seeing that he became sad, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?” 27 He replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 28 Then Peter said, “Look, we have left what we had and followed you.” 29 So he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers or sisters, parents or children because of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more at this time, and eternal life in the age to come.” 31 Then he took the Twelve aside and told them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. Everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. 32 For he will be handed over to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked, insulted, spit on; 33 and after they flog him, they will kill him, and he will rise on the third day.” 34 They understood none of these things. The meaning of the saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
PRAYER - Christians being persecuted and put to death in Nigeria (7,000 this year alone)
You may have noted that I always put reading glasses on when I do announcements or read from my Bible on Sunday mornings. I didn’t use to need these things. This Bible is a large print edition, and I still need my glasses to read it confidently. Fortunately I preach from my iPad, and I can make the text bigger. On my phone, I have resisted making the type larger, and I have to get my glasses out whenever I want to read something on its comparatively small screen. This fact presented me with a wonderful illustration for this morning’s message earlier this week.
The annual meeting of the Baptist Convention of New Mexico was this week in Las Cruces. I was unable to head down there until Tuesday morning. Woody Weed was also attending as a messenger, and was waiting until Tuesday as well, so he asked if I wanted to carpool. I needed to be at First Baptist Church of Las Cruces by 9:30 am that morning to practice with the New Mexico Singing Churchmen. Given that the trip from my house is like 3 hours and 20 minutes, that meant that we needed to hit the road by 6:00 at the latest, but 5:45 seemed like a good, safe buffer.
Woody and I had chatted about it, but hadn’t pinned down a time until Monday night. Woody texted me and asked what time I thought he should pick me up and what my address is, and I just texted back really quickly...without putting on my glasses. Next morning, I texted Woody at like 5 to let him know that I’d be out front when he arrived at my house, so he wouldn’t have to get out of his car or anything. Just before 5:45, I went outside to wait. 5:45, no Woody. 5:50, still no Woody. That’s not like Woody. 5:53, I thought, “What if I typoed my address?” So I opened our text string, but couldn’t read it, so I got my glasses out. Nope, address was fine… so I reread the whole text. The time I sent him? 6:45.
Having a clear perspective really matters. I carry around readers so that I can pull them out and read small print, like on my phone, whenever I need to. I have two pairs that I wear at my desk in my office: one for looking at my computer screen, and another for reading print things or writing. I have readers on my nightstand, on the end table by my recliner, and on the desk in my office at home. My eyes need help to see things rightly.
But it’s not just my physical eyes that need help. My spiritual vision can be just as blurry. I misjudge people and situations. I don’t see my own heart correctly, and I sometimes am blind to what God is doing right in front of me. My perspective on the Kingdom of God is often not 20/20.
In today’s focal passage, Jesus is calling us to see things the way He sees things: to see perseverance in prayer as powerful, not pointless; to see that true greatness is found in humility, not self-exaltation; to see that children can be an amazing illustration of how we should pursue Christ; that even good things can become idols that turn us away from prioritizing the Kingdom; and all of that begins with having a new kind of lens: a Gospel lens. Kingdom eyes see differently.
1: Persevere in prayer (1-8)
1: Persevere in prayer (1-8)
We begin in chapter 18 with the parable of the persistent widow. I’ve mentioned this a few times, but I’ll mention it again: we shouldn’t take parables too far by turning them into allegories, where everything in the parable stands for something else. Parables in general have one main point: an earthly story with a spiritual meaning. Fortunately, we don’t have to guess about the meaning of this one—Luke opens with the meaning.
1 Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up.
We don’t have to guess. We just have to read it: This parable teaches us that we need to persevere in prayer—to keep praying until God answers. I won’t reread most of our focal passage today for the sake of time.
The parable has two characters: the persistent widow, and the unjust judge. The judge cannot possibly be God, because he “didn’t fear God or respect people.” (v. 2) He is in violation of the Great Commandment from Matthew 22:37-39, so allegorizing this is out.
Widows were generally included in the lowest strata of Jewish society, because they couldn’t own land and had very little means of making a living. They often had to rely upon the kindness of others for their survival. This widow had some conflict with someone else in the community, and her only recourse was to beg this judge for justice. So she does. Persistently.
Even though the judge doesn’t actually care, he realizes that he can’t put her off forever… she just won’t give up. So he decides to grant her request before she “wears him out,” which might be a reference to him risking his reputation if he doesn’t address her case.
Jesus provides the interpretation for us as well by making an argument from the lesser to the greater. If this unjust judge, who doesn’t want to help this widow, would grant her request, how much more so will God answer His children, people He loves and wants to provide for, when they pray?
Jesus spoke about this in the Sermon on the Mount using another illustration:
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.
Persevering in prayer is an indication of our dependence on God, our reliance upon His promises. So we are to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking on that door. James 1 tells us that, “Every good and perfect gift,” comes from Him, so He is the Source of all that we need, and thus, He is the One to ask. And one thing that we need is justice—which only God can truly provide.
This actually connects to last week’s message on the future consummation of the Kingdom of God at Jesus’s return, as we see in verses 7 and 8:
7 Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? 8 I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Jesus is going to return, and He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31), and true justice will be administered. He will do so in His time and in His way, but He will do so. In the meantime, He does not delay in the way that we think about it, as Peter argued in 2 Peter 3:
8 Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.
Will Jesus find any of His people persevering in prayer like this when He returns? That is up to us. Paul tells us:
2 Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving.
However, looking at prayer with a Kingdom perspective demands that we see ourselves rightly as well, as those who are in need of God’s justice, mercy, and grace. This brings us to the next part of our passage:
2: Practice humility (9-14)
2: Practice humility (9-14)
Again, Luke explains to us the meaning of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector before he tells us what Jesus said. This parable had a specific audience: the arrogant and self-righteous:
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:
The parable says that a Pharisee and the tax collector both go to the temple complex to pray, probably at one of the prescribed prayer times (9 am and 3 pm).
The Pharisee’s prayer might not be too far off if he actually seemed to be thanking God in what he prays, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Instead, we see that he stands where others can hear him as he lifts up his prayer “about himself” in verse 11. He asks God for nothing, making no petition, no request. He is pretty sure he is awesome. This isn’t about how God had worked in his life—it’s about how lucky God is to have him instead of some of the spiritual “losers” that he saw around him, including this tax collector.
Certainly, the Pharisee in Jesus’s parable is like the ones Jesus spoke to back in chapter 16:
14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and scoffing at him. 15 And he told them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight.
The Pharisee in the parable didn’t see himself rightly, so therefore, he didn’t see God rightly either. He thought he was so great that he could no longer see God’s greatness. He needed a Kingdom perspective.
In contrast, the tax collector mourns over his sinfulness on the fringes of the temple court, refusing even to lift his face to God, but beating his chest as he cries out to the Lord, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” The word that he uses for “have mercy on” means literally “make atonement for.” He sees his humble spiritual condition, and knows that only God can remedy it. This is humility. He had a Kingdom perspective.
Jesus gives us the interpretation of the parable in verse 14, speaking as one who knows the mind and heart of God:
14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
If the last part of verse 14 sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve seen it before in this series: Jesus said exactly the same thing in Luke 14:11:
11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The tax collector went back home “justified.” He hadn’t earned anything through his humble approach to God. He had been given justification because he wasn’t trying to justify himself, because he knew he couldn’t. He knew that only God could justify him, so he fell on God’s righteousness instead of touting and trusting his own.
We want to think that we’re like the tax collector… and we are. We are all sinners in need of God’s mercy. But we are also like the Pharisee. We are all, in some way at least, blind to our need for God, trusting in our own righteousness, our own strength, our own abilities. I know that I fall into this trap in my own heart.
I love that the concepts of atonement and justification are linked so closely in this passage. They are also linked closely in Romans 3:
20 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law. 21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
We’re never going to earn salvation. To be saved, we need God’s level of righteousness, and that only comes through faith in Jesus, because none of us will make the grade on our own. But Jesus died and was raised for this purpose—that we could be freely justified by believing in Him for our redemption. Faith in Him is the only way that we can be justified.
And once we’re saved, we are to continue to have Kingdom glasses on—seeing that we are but humble servants of the Lord, serving Him in humility and gratitude for what He has done for us and called us to.
10 In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we’ve only done our duty.’
A Kingdom perspective is one where we see both ourselves and God rightly: He is Master. We are servants. He is Creator. We are creature. He is King. We are subjects. He is perfect. We are not. We follow Him in a trusting humility, which is what the part of the passage is about:
3: Pursue Jesus (15-17)
3: Pursue Jesus (15-17)
There’s something about human touch that is somehow transcendent. Scripture tells us that the laying on of hands is a part of many blessings and commissions in the New Testament (see, for example, Acts 8:18, Acts 13:3, 1 Tim 4:14). And in the next part of our focal passage, people were bringing their children to Jesus so that He might touch them. The disciples, probably thinking that Jesus was too busy or too important for such a lowly task, tried to stop them from doing so.
16 Jesus, however, invited them: “Let the little children come to me, and don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
What does Jesus mean by this last statement? Many think that He’s saying that we need to blindly believe without reason, because kids believe all kinds of things without reason. I once had a great discussion with someone who thought this was the case, and they were really bothered by that thinking.
But that’s not what Jesus is saying. He’s not saying that we need to check our brains at the door when we come to Him in faith. No, childlike faith is being “all-in” in pursuing Jesus, not believing things that aren’t real.
Childlike faith is an extension of the humility we just talked about in the last section: It’s complete dependence, like how children completely depend on their parents. That complete dependence allows children to live with abandon, because they trust that their parents will provide for them, care for them, love them, support them.
This is what it’s like when we approach God in humble faith, with a Kingdom perspective. We’re like the little boy who laughs uproariously at being tossed into the air by his father, because he knows dad is going to catch him, so he can enjoy the flight. We’re like the little girl who can dance and twirl around the living room for her mom, knowing that her mom will see the beauty in it be pleased by it.
We come to Jesus like this. And that childlike humility and trust frees us to live with joy, to live with hope, to live with abandon because we know that we are loved. Peter said it this way:
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Following Jesus changes our pursuits, changes our perspectives, and changes our priorities, which is what the next section is about:
4: Prioritize the Kingdom (18-30)
4: Prioritize the Kingdom (18-30)
When we prioritize something, we make it of greater importance in our thinking and actions. Unfortunately, what often happens is that we prioritize how to get into the Kingdom—what Jesus can give to us—instead of King Jesus Himself. This is what happened with the rich young ruler in the next section. He comes with a question:
18 A ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Whenever someone refers to Jesus as “teacher,” it’s because they don’t believe that He’s Messiah. Regardless, this young ruler (probably a Jewish ruler, not a governmental ruler) asks an honest question. He just doesn’t realize that he’s asking the source of eternal life Himself:
3 This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ.
The young man didn’t have his Kingdom glasses on. He thought that if he could just get a formula, a checklist, for getting to heaven, he’d be all set. Jesus knows this, so He gives him the checklist that the young man is expecting, essentially calling him to obey the second tablet of the Ten Commandments, the ones dealing with how we interact with people: Don’t commit adultery, murder, or theft, don’t bear false witness, and honor your father and mother. Jesus knew how he would respond:
21 “I have kept all these from my youth,” he said.
This man had been outwardly righteous (but certainly not as righteous as he thought he had been). He had the rules down. He was checking all the boxes. Some think that Jesus, by not refuting his statement, affirms that he had kept all of these things from his youth. The fact is that there was no point in Jesus refuting it, because He didn’t need to: the man’s issue wasn’t on the outside, but on the inside. That’s what Jesus was getting to: his priorities.
22 When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich.
And Matthew and Mark both record that the young man went away after being grieved by this request. He chooses NOT to follow Jesus, because he already has a god that he worships—money. He had wealth, and his wealth had him. He didn’t have a Kingdom perspective. For this man, his wealth was an idol in his life, and Jesus revealed that fact with His instruction and invitation. He had to choose whether Jesus was treasure enough for him. And it is clear that He wasn’t.
This isn’t a prescriptive command for all of us. We don’t have to take a vow of poverty in order to follow Jesus. It was specific to this man, because it was the thing that was keeping him from prioritizing the Kingdom of God. We’ve already seen in our study of this Gospel that wealth will become our master if we prioritize it over God:
13 No servant can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
and that it is what we treasure that has our hearts:
34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
So Jesus calls this man to a radical discipleship. Since wealth was his idol, it was his wealth that had to go. Anything that we prioritize above Jesus Himself is an obstacle to our holiness. Again, it is Jesus who saves, not our renunciation of things, and not the sacrifices that we make. But the fact is that Jesus wants all of us, and in Matthew He (using hyperbole) says that anything else that gets in the way needs to be gotten rid of:
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
After the rich young ruler went away sad, Jesus used it for instructing those around Him:
24 Seeing that he became sad, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Jesus’s was a radical departure from Jewish thought of the day. The Jews nearly always saw wealth as a divine blessing, even when it was possessed by the wicked. It wasn’t a barrier to godliness.
But here, Jesus says that wealth can be a stumbling block: that it is easier for a camel (the largest animal in Israel) to go through the eye of a needle (the smallest opening) than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom because of this issue of priorities.
But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, because:
27 He replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
God certainly can give wealth to whomever He chooses. And I thank God that there are godly people who are also wealthy and who use that wealth for godly purposes. See, it’s a question of priorities: what’s more important? God? or money? God? or work? God? or your hobby? God? or your spouse? God? or your children?
Anything, even a very good thing, can become a bad thing when it becomes a ruling thing.
We have to keep our Kingdom glasses on. We must see the Kingdom rightly, and keep everything else in its rightful place underneath it. The reward of following Jesus is greater than any promise that any idol can make. We must cling to the Gospel, which means we must understand the Gospel, which brings us to our last point:
5: Perceive the Gospel (31-34)
5: Perceive the Gospel (31-34)
Our focal passage closes with Jesus taking the Twelve aside and making the clearest explanation of what awaited Him in Jerusalem. He has said it a couple of times before in Luke, and alluded to it a couple time more, but this is as explicit as He gets:
31 Then he took the Twelve aside and told them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. Everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. 32 For he will be handed over to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked, insulted, spit on; 33 and after they flog him, they will kill him, and he will rise on the third day.”
This is what Jesus did for us. He was promised in the Old Testament, and His death was foretold in passages like the end of Isaiah 52 through chapter 53. Jesus died so we could have life in Him. Jesus paid the debt that we owe for our sin so that we could be justified. He suffered in your place and my place, so we wouldn’t have to. And He overcame death so that we too will overcome death if we belong to Him by faith. This is what the Gospel is all about.
Our Kingdom glasses are 20/20 about this. Unfortunately, the disciples didn’t have as clear of vision as we do.
34 They understood none of these things. The meaning of the saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
The disciples didn’t understand it… they didn’t see it… until after Jesus rose. But we can see it clearly. Trust Jesus for your salvation, because faith in Him is the only way to enter the Kingdom of God.
And if you’ve already trusted Christ, already believed the Gospel, then keep it in view by walking humbly with Jesus, rejoicing in your salvation, submitting to Him day-by-day, moment-by-moment, keeping your eyes on Him:
1b Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Closing
Closing
This is full circle for the point. We have to see the Gospel clearly if we’re going to see anything else clearly. Believing the Gospel gives us a Kingdom perspective on prayer, on humility, on faith, and on our priorities. We need to put on our Kingdom glasses and keep them on as we walk through life.
If you’ve never trusted in Christ, then you don’t have Kingdom glasses to wear. That Kingdom perspective starts with faith in Jesus, believing that He died for your sins and rose again, and surrendering to Him as your Lord in that childlike way I spoke of earlier.
Salvation
Baptism
Church membership
Prayer
Giving
PRAYER
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Bible reading (2 Thes 2:13-3:18, Ps 106)
No Pastor’s Study tonight for Budget Discussion at 5:30
Prayer Meeting
Instructions for guests
Benediction
Benediction
7 But I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
