How do we Receive the Kingdom of God? (Luke 18:1-17)

Intro

Good morning! You can turn in your Bible to Luke 18. We will be looking at v1-17.

Last week Lenny spoke about understanding the kingdom of God. That theme continues through our passage this morning. Let’s read v1-17.

The first thing we have to understand about the kingdom of God is that it’s not going to come when we think it should. Knowing that the kingdom isn’t going to come when we want or when we expect is important because that means we aren’t supposed to worry about it.

Luke tells us what we should be concerned about right here. The question is “How do we receive the kingdom of God?” How do we enter it? The answer: through persistent prayer and humble faith.

Look at the 1st point in your notes. If we want to receive the kingdom of God, we need...

1. Persistent Prayer (v1-8).

Luke tells us in v1 the point of the parable of the persistent widow. And even though she’s a made-up figure, she illustrates why you and I need to “pray always and not give up.”

It’s normal to feel like God’s kingdom is delayed. The early church felt it. Christians in the persecuted context have felt it. Christians sense it when their nation is at war.

And you have probably felt it too. Maybe you didn’t connect the dots in your mind. But just think of a time when justice was delayed for you. Or consider a period of suffering that lasted longer than you thought it would. You prayed for answers. You prayed for healing. You wanted God to do something. But the only answer he gave you was “Wait...” “wait.”

So, what do you do? According to Jesus, you pray. You keep praying. You don’t give up.

Now, the content of your prayer can change. Maybe you’ve prayed for healing. Don’t stop asking. God is the great physician. But our prayers need to take on a certain shape.

Jesus is illustrating with the widow… she kept going to the judge. You can imagine day after day she went to the judge seeking justice against her adversary. And she did not give up even after she realized he was unwilling to do anything about her situation. She was a determined woman.

The judge is described in two ways. He did not fear God, which according to Proverbs, meant he lacked wisdom. Because “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (9:10).

And then he is described as having no respect for people. In other words, he was unfit to be a judge. He didn’t love God or his neighbor. But that’s how it is in this world. Though he is a made-up judge, we can all relate. Our nation is full of unjust judges.

So, what do we do? Do we give up on standing for righteousness? No! In the same way, we don’t give up on prayer.

In the context of the kingdom of God, our prayers ought to begin something like this…

“Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come... Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Now, you might add a prayer of thanksgiving for your daily bread, or you may need to pray for forgiveness, or for God to keep you from temptation. These things are all included in the Lord’s Prayer. But the core of the Lord’s prayer is about God’s will being done.

So, we don’t just pray for physical healing or for better circumstances. We pray for God’s kingdom to come and for his will to be done.

When we pray like that, we change. Our perspective changes.

Lenny said this last week, and it just struck me. This is a rough paraphrase. But basically, he said “we don’t want to believe that God uses the hard things in life for our good.” And because we think that way, often our prayers are like microwaved steak.

Illustration: the best steak. Cast iron sear. I’m sure some of you think you can make the best steak on a grill. All those juices are going right through the grill grate. What are you doing? But a grilled steak is still lightyears better than microwaved steak. Who does that?

We have this amazing channel to commune with God through prayer. But if we are self-focused, we really miss out on the point of prayer. And if we are thinking wrongly about the kingdom of God, and we are so focused on the “when” we will miss walking with God in the here and now.

We don’t know how many times the widow went to the judge. It’s a parable after all. For a long time, he did not budge. But eventually he got tired of her coming. It was her determination that drove him to do the right thing.

Now, if that’s true of an unjust judge, how much more is it true of God? Will he delay his return forever? Will he delay justice forever? No!

That’s why persistent prayer is important. Jesus describes “the elect” or the “chosen one’s” in v7 as those who cry out day and night (v7). If we neglect prayer, we begin to think God has forgotten us. Or worse, we begin to think God is unjust.

Yet, Jesus promises that God will swiftly grant us justice. It may not seem like God’s definition of “swift” is our definition. But consider what Peter says to persecuted Christians about God’s timing.

2 Peter 3:8 says...

“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.”

That’s not how time works for us. It seems like God’s plan is drawn out. That’s why Jesus asked in v8, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The perceived delay in God handing out justice challenges our faith. Why? Because we are impatient. We don’t like to wait. The fruit of the Spirit “is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness...”

So, we must not give up. We continue to pray, to call out to God day and night.

Don’t miss this. The widow’s only hope was her persistence. She was desperate and she knew it.

We desperately need to know how desperate we are. Jesus said, “apart from me you can do nothing.” And he meant it.

Our only hope is to keep praying for God’s will to be done. Keep showing up. Pray without ceasing until we see the Son of Man riding on the clouds.

Look at the 2nd point in your notes. If we want to receive the kingdom of God, we need...

2. Humble Faith (v9-17).

That’s the difference between the self-righteous Pharisee and the tax-collector. Humble faith also describes the kind of faith children have compared to the disciples who wanted to keep them away.

Luke tells us the point of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector. Jesus was confronting those “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else” (v9).

The story goes… Two men went up to the temple to pray. The daily public prayer times were 9 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon.

And there’s the Pharisee who is standing, probably near the front, “praying about himself.” That’s an odd phrase. But it highlights the nature of his prayer. It’s all about him.

And then there’s the tax-collector standing near the back who can’t even look up to heaven to pray because of his shame.

Here’s the thing. You and I already know what kind of faith Jesus is looking for. He’s looking for humble faith.

We view the Pharisees as hypocrites and people like this tax-collector as humble saints. Throughout Luke’s gospel, tax-collectors are associated with prostitutes and sinners. That’s the group Jesus friended.

If you’ve watched any movies about Jesus, the pharisees are portrayed wearing black clothing to communicate their sinister motives. But they wore brighter clothing to show their status and wealth. Their public appearance was respectable. They didn’t look like the bad guys.

Because, from a human perspective, they weren’t bad. They knew the OT law backwards and forwards. They oversaw not just religious affairs but also political affairs. And the common Jew would have looked up to them with hope that these guys, through their zeal and strategic leadership, the kingdom of God would be ushered in.

Notice the pharisee’s prayer in v11-12. Notice all the “I’s.”

“God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.”

That’s quite the resume. He’s morally superior to others. He fasted more than necessary, and he tithed not only from the money he earned, but also on everything he purchased.

Not every pharisee thought this way. Some of them were humble like Nicodemus. Some of them came to see Jesus as the Messiah. But many of them really thought highly of themselves.

Now compare that to the tax-collector in v13.

He wouldn’t even lift his head to pray. We pray with our heads bowed and eyes closed. But it was common for them to pray with their head up and eyes open. They prayed looking toward heaven. But his head was low. He also struck his chest. Another sign of humility. And he prayed, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”

Now, what does Jesus say about this? The tax-collector went home “justified” (v14). That’s a permanent, immovable position. A legal term. In the courtroom of God, he was considered righteous.

Why was he justified? Because God is merciful. Our sin is great, but his grace is greater. And when you get grace, it changes you. You live by faith. Humble faith. The kingdom of God starts to make sense to you when you understand God’s grace given to you by faith.

You see, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (v14).

Nothing demonstrates this point better than Jesus blessing the children.

Parents bring their children to Jesus. What a beautiful sight. Yet, what do we see? The disciples rebuking the parents for interrupting Jesus. You know, he’s really busy. Too busy for children.

That was the cultural norm. Children were an after thought. It was ok to be seen but definitely not heard. Crying babies were antithetical to “real” worship.

You would think this attitude could never exist in the church. But for some reason, dying churches are almost always churches without young families with children. Why is that?

Matthew tells us on this occasion that Jesus was indignant. That’s not just mad. That’s red hot mad. Righteous anger. Jesus said, “let the children come to me, and don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Praise God, little by little, we’ve seen God turn the tide here at Sans Souci.

The Bible is clear, “Children are a blessing from the Lord” (Ps 127:3). What we believe about children, reveals a lot about our faith and what we believe about God.

Jesus says, you can’t receive his kingdom unless you are like a child. Jesus never fully explains what childlike faith is. What is It? Children don’t take no for an answer without a fight.

Job demonstrated childlike faith when he said to his friends, “though he slay me, yet I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.”

If we want to understand God’s kingdom, we need persistent prayer and humble faith. That’s it.

Pray.