Luke 18:18-30 - Riches and the Kingdom

We have seen how it is not the self-righteous or those who are clever or important in their own eyes who will enter the kingdom of God. Now we see that it is not the rich or powerful either who will enter. 

A young ruler comes to Jesus asking how he can inherit eternal life. The ruler referred to Jesus as "good", Jesus questions his use of this adjective, maybe trying to make the ruler think about who Jesus really is. Then He reminds the man that he knows the commandments. The ruler claims to have obeyed these all his life. In saying this he was probably being truthful, at least an outward level. He probably had lived a respectable life.

Jesus then tells him to sell all he has and follow Jesus. Now this is not a law Jesus is giving, but He was going to the heart of the man. The man was living for himself, and in his case money was the sign of that. So the man became very sad.

Jesus declares how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom. When we receive blessings in this life we have a terrible tendency to start to worship the blessings instead of the One who gives the blessings. We put value on the blessings instead of on the One who blesses. 

The disciples are shocked at what Jesus has said. They reckon by now that it is impossible to get into the kingdom. Jesus' answer is that it is only God who can bring a person into the kingdom. 

The disciples had left homes and families to follow Jesus, the question naturally arose of what the consequences would be. Jesus assured them that they would not lose out, but would receive blessings in this life and the next. Now this is not a "prosperity" gospel, but blessings are not wrong. The key things is are we devoted above all to Christ and do we love others. And where is our trust?

Luke 18:9-17 - How to enter the kingdom of God (1)

Jesus now tells another parable designed to shatter our preconceptions of who "will go to heaven". Luke was writing for a mainly Greek audience, so makes the purpose clear, pointing out that there were those who were confident of their own righteousness. More than that, they looked down on everyone else.

So Jesus tells a parable of two men standing in the temple praying. One is a self-righteous Pharisee, praying proudly before God. He boasts of the good things he does, and looks down on various "sinners", in particular the tax-collector who is also in the temple.

In contrast the tax collector knew that he was a sinner and approached God as a sinner, pleading for mercy. Jesus declares that it is the tax collector who went home right with God. We need to humble ourselves before the Lord.

This theme continues with the little children. People were bringing their children to Jesus and the disciples rebuked the parents for doing this. So we see that it is also the followers of Jesus that need to watch their attitude and can have many misconceptions. Ie you and I need to watch our attitudes. Jesus declares that we need to receive the kingdom as a little child. 

So the two parables tell us that we need to come in humility, aware of our own sin, and we need to guard against being full of our own cleverness.

Luke 18:1-8 - Keep on asking

Luke tells us plainly what the purpose of this parable is. We are to keep on praying and not give up. Answers to prayer sometimes seem slow in coming, or it can seem that God is not listening at all. It is always worth asking God.

Jesus teaches this lesson by choosing someone whose character is the exact opposite of God's. The judge feared neither God nor people. A widow had a case and was persistent in confronting the judge with the matter. She wasn't looking for special treatment, only justice.

The judge was refusing to do anything, but eventually got fed up and decided that the only way to get some peace and quiet was to give her justice.

So if an unjust judge will eventually do the right thing if we persist, how much more will God grant justice? For God is just and is concerned for people. 

See how we are referred to: "His chosen ones". We are chosen by God, we are privileged and need to recognise our position. We also need to see that we need to keep on asking. Note also that it is not just asking, but "crying out" to Him day and night.

What Jesus is concerned about is whether or not He will find faith on earth. We are in a relationship with God, and the essence of any successful relationship is communication. The way to communicate with God is to show faith in Him.

Luke 17:20-37 - What really matters

The Pharisees wanted to know when the kingdom of God would come. Jesus declares that it was in their midst, because He was in their midst. The kingdom is the person of Jesus Christ. The issue is how do we respond to the person of Jesus. The Pharisees wanted to avoid that issue, and certainly did not want to commit themselves to Jesus. Similarly, there are many people who are fascinated by the "last days" and other things surrounding the second coming. Most of this is an excuse to avoid the real issue. The best way to be prepared for the return of Christ is to be committed to Him today.

Jesus then turns to His disciples. People want to focus on events and signs, Jesus puts the focus on the cross. Moreover, when He does return absolutely no spiritual insight nor theological training will be necessary to work out whether or not it is He! We must focus on following Christ today.

Indeed immediately prior to His return people will be carrying on much as normal. And when He does return the time for debate will be over.

Luke 17:11-19 - Healed or Blessed?

Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, travelling between Samaria and Galilee. On the way He came across ten lepers. They would be outcasts in society, as well have the effects of the disease itself. They called on Jesus to take pity on them. Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priest. If a person was cleansed of leprosy they had to show themselves to a priest to have this verified (Lev 13:2,3). Now at this point they had not been healed. On the way they were cleansed. Jesus sometimes tells us to do things and it seems that not everything is in place, not everything has been taken care of that needs taking care of. Many things will be taken care of along the way. We cannot follow Jesus if we demand that everything is sorted out, everything made clear before we follow.

Only one of the lepers returned to Jesus to thank Him. This one was a Samaritan as well, a people looked down on with disdain by Jews. Jesus asked where the others were. Ten were healed but only one was blessed. The other no doubt gladly received their healing, but had no gratitude to God, did not learn anything about God. Only one was blessed. He came to Jesus. 

It is important that we do not just treat God as a prayer answer machine. We need to develop a relationship with Him. Eternal life is knowing the Father and knowing the Son (John 17:3).

New Year Message

A sometimes publish an extra New Year message at this time. This year may I point you to my New Year message in my other blog, Thoughtful Resources.

We can look forward to this year for one reason alone, our confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of the increase of His kingdom there will be no end.

Happy New Year to you all. 

Luke 17:1-10 - Sin, Faith and Duty

All sorts of things happen in life that can cause us to stumble. Naturally we should seek to avoid them, but inevitably we will not always succeed. The thing that we should be most concerned about is whether or not we cause others to stumble.  Jesus gives a very severe warning about this, urging us to take all steps possible to avoid doing this.

Jesus then turns to the matter of dealing with those who sin against us. His command has two sides to it, rebuking others and forgiving them. Most of us don't like doing either. We want to avoid confrontation and would far rather sweep something under the carpet, or hold a grudge against someone. It seems a lot easier to do that, but it is not the Jesus way. Now we must not go to the other extreme. This does not mean we should make a big issue out of every little offence. Proverbs 19:11 says it is to a man's glory to overlook an offence. many things should just be brushed off and forgotten about, but when something serious arises we need to follow the instructions here.

Moreover, we are to forgive repeatedly. Notice also that this is if they repent. If someone refuses to admit they are in the wrong when they clearly are (and it is not just us who think they are), then we must not hold a grudge against them, but we must also recognise that forgiveness is a two way process. One person has to repent, the other has to forgive.

The apostles saw that this requires great faith. Jesus gave a surprising answer. They only need a little faith. We need to focus on using the faith that we have, rather than moaning about our lack of faith. 

Finally Jesus tells his disciples not to be proud of their service of the Lord. We are to serve the Lord without continually looking for appreciation.